How to turn 22.

You go TRIBAL!! I just had the best birthday dinner with the family at "Tribes" in Dubai. Yes, you guessed it, African food. AND they sang and danced for me!! If you are vegetarian (Leanne)- don't even think about it. It is meat galore!

Camel, goat, ox, calamari, beef, lamb and even chicken was on the menu. So ofcourse, we tried a little bit of everything .. camel sausages were delish.

Their birthday songs were SO good and if u listen closely you can hear them sing something about "hakuna matata" and then finally wakka wakka at about 2:52 ...Nishanth sings along (I apologize).





Our massive and delicious salad

Chicken, Camel, Beef and Lamb sausage (from left to right) with fig&onion dip

My African brudda and I

Nishanth's lamb. umm there's something growing on it....

Peppered Beef Potjie. i like the bowl more than the food

Dad's baby calamari with goat cheese and potatoes. exotic enough?

We took a walk and said hello to the chefs who were really nice!

African art on the menu. aka. my new bf

Best server ever and my beef packed to go (which I forgot at the restaurant)

Nishanth's girlfriend.

We are family.

Me, brought to you by: 22 yrs of smiles, love and good food.


THANK YOU! - I loved reading everyone's wall posts/messages and hearing voices from all around the world today.  love love love

How to get ur hair did.

I have honestly been avoiding this day since I got here. It's been around 2 and a half months since my hair has seen a hair salon. I've been going to Mark's Salon in Westdale (Hamilton) for the past 3 years! I miss my Zohan-look alike-balding-palestenian middle aged hair saviour.  Mark - this one's for u. 

How to find a hair dresser/ "The One":

• Every other building has atleast two "Ladies Hair Saloon" with fully tinted bay windows
• What is "Saloon"? it's Salon misspelt - everytime. 
• Why only Ladies? Because it's taboo for men and women to cut their hair at the same place (I think this is consistent with Canada for the most part)
• Why fully tinted? Because it's taboo for men to peer inside (I can appreciate that)
• There are five "saloons" within a 2 minute radius from my home - So I shopped 
• My criteria included hygiene, modern equipment, quality hair products and a hair dresser with some sort of skill or atleast good hair.
• I have thick wavy hair that can't be tamed easily - so some good irons will be necessary.

Salon #1
- A well dressed hair dresser in all black sporting bangs and shoulder length light hair with highlights - approved
- A good selection of hair colours and great customer service - approved
- 800 Dhs = 220.680627 Canadian dollars . wtf?
- I used to pay $75 for a root touch up and maybe $125 for full colour. max!
-SO i told the lady to go jump in a mine  that I'd make an appointment when I get home and clear my schedule.

Salon #2- Platinum blonde philipina with a pixie hair-do greets me at the door (Cool I guess, but was that an accident? i'm nervous) "hi maam, how u like?"
-"umm hi, can I see your hair colours and prices?"
- She had a selection of literally 10 hair colours and said it would cost me 400 dhs plus 150 for a colour wash. That's 110 dollars plus 40 bucks.
- "150 for the colour, what's the 400 for?"
- "Hair dressing maam"
- I pretty much grunted and walked out with the same line as Salon#1

Salon #3- FIVE philipinas greet me at the door and immediately seat me in front of a mirror - This is too overwhelming. "Hi maam, sit ma'am, what u have ma'am?"
-"Just a moment to breathe"
-Then this lady from inside a random little room peers out and says " you lookalike u hab thee dry hair ma-damn and also berry long... this will take atleast eight to ten bottles ma-damn"
- Thanks for dissing my hair before even saying hello. "How much?"
-"800 dirhams madam"
- "DIE"  "Thank you"

Salon #friggin4
- ONE lady greets me at the desk, nice hair, smiley .. finally! could this be the one!?
- The customer in the chair getting her hair done had great hair
- Good selection of colours and I didn't need an appointment.
- I almost settle before even asking her the price. (which turned out to be 500dhs flat)
- So she pretty much mixed the colour, got someone to apply it and someone else to wash and blow dry.
- 40 minutes later "Madam would you like ur hair blow dried straight or curled in?"
- " Just straight with some volume would be great thanks"
- "no problem ma'am"
- She blow dried my hair painfully ANDDD 30 minutes later.. I look like I'm going to prom.

Why was the salon called "Lemoni"?? .. I don't know. 
Great service but i'm not entirely sure if this "The One" yet

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

How to move in.

This week has been hectic! The Family finally moved in to the new place and it has been hard work, time consuming, confusing and fun.

Hard work:

• Cleaning out two massive fish tanks and not killing any fish in the process
• 4 fish have been laid to rest
• Father Merwin did most of the work; we gave him good company
• Waking up earlier than or at the same time as my parents was impossibly hard to do
• 2 naps were conquered during the day to compensate
• Pretending like your doing work when really your suitcase has been packed for hours
• I travel light, most of my stuff is still on a ship somewhere.
• My mom's closet is a nightmare; i refuse. i can't.

Time-consuming:

• I decided to decorate my room by painting a simple mural on the wall
• not so simple - it took FOREVER
• I messed up in a few places and was effing frustrated
• Shopping for extra kitchen cabinets and a bed while we're at it.
• that furniture shop that opened down the street is useless
• thank god ikea is open until midnight on the weekends!!!!
• ikea is a nightmare at 10pm
• u get great ice-cream for 99 fils to compensate (fils are like the cents of dirhams - ur welcome.)
• Calling the government of Canada to figure out where the hell ur permanent driver's license is
• self explanatory - government "customer service" is brutal.
• they said "You have to come in -in person" to be able to get it mailed out again.
• suck it Canada.

MEANWHILE - Since we just moved from the 8th floor (802) to the seventh floor (706) and the hallway layout is exactly the same; most times one of the following situations occur from the elevator ride:

1. Getting off on the 8th floor (wrong) and walking towards ur old apartment - fail
2. Getting off on the 7th floor (right) and walking towards the wrong unit - fail
3. Getting off on the 8th floor (wrong) and walking towards the right unit - fail
• This happened today - I actually turned the doorknob thinking I was on the 7th floor and I heard the building security yelling out as he was walking by "MADAM this is EIGHT ZERO SIX" - oh shit!
• I'm sorry people of 806 - it was an honest mistake

And
Here are some pics from my work in progress that took away a good chunk of my life
(also, i clearly dont know how to format pictures, sorry)


.

my little birdy! isn't he cute??

the other one! they are actually meant to be looking at each other. 

the tree in progress - i actually had to use a ladder to finish it

ALMOST done - and surprisingly creepy looking.

How to move. again.

The Family is moving, again! And for once its in the same area. In fact, it's from the 8th floor to the 7th floor- barely enough to be called a "move". But yet, it's the same process all over again...

When I was younger (under 13) I always told my parents that when I grow up I will never..NEVER move and i'm sure I was just as dramatic about it too. Ofcourse, that's really not how life's panned out for me so far considering i've moved homes eleven times in the past 21 years (see below). I feel blessed and sometimes even superior to others (not gonna lie) because of my experiences, but it's also made me dysfunctional in a lot of ways. No, I am not gonna self-diagnose myself on my blog - I'm sure my family, friends and Nissy(especially) can vouch for that statement.

Anyways- Moral of the Story: 

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”-RW.Emerson

There's just no winning. This time I'm just going to quit the whining, pick my new room's colours, and lift boxes with a smile on my face. And don't worry, I'll post pics! #IamPopular

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I never really sat down and thought about how many times I've moved in my life. It's always felt like one too many and here's my timeline to prove it (with wiki links for the more peculiar places):

House #	Age	Place
1	(0-1)	Bangalore, India
2	(1-3)	Chennai/Madras,, India
3	(4-5)	Umm-al-Quwain,, UAE
4	(5-6)	Umm-al-Quwain, UAE
5	(6-7)	Umm-al-Quwain, UAE
6	(7-10)	Abu Dhabi, UAE
7	(11-15)	Scarborough, Canada
8	(15-17)	Ajax, Canada
9	(18-19)	Hamilton, Canada
10	(19-21)	Hamilton, Canada
11	(21-now)	Dubai, UAE