Oh, nice story! It really made my day so far...you all should read it too!!!

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=84608&d=30&m=6&y=2006

Finally women considered human beings and not pieces of flesh!!

Lots of new, interesting and learning experiences in the past week. First of all we have new roomates! Well, we have new "real" roomates and finally the black house is full: we have a european supremacy with Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Portugal and Poland...a little auberge europeenne;) but since Asia is growing and expanding in the world picture we couldn't avoid having a whole new asian family moving in! This time they're not though human beings but indian rats! Our lovely beloved rat was hanging out under our cauch one day when suddently we hear a lot of little noises...my Finnish housemate Jaana comes in my room "vitto, vitto!"...our rat just gave birth!!! We called our security guy who was like "no rat no rat". Dude, there are like 10 of them!!! He finally saw the little hairyless rat-babies but couldn't kill them cause in India everything is a god and even rats are gods (I learnt there is also a rat temple!). So he just put them out the door, but u know that it's a tough life out there, their mommy and tons of food is in our cool house...they will be back soon!!!

Luckly we left the house that night. Marsha and I went out for dinner with Adi...very nice! You can imagine how the other indian guys around were looking at him...lucky man with two white pieces of flesh! (I'm just in a mood where I hate every male being in the universe, if you keep reading you'll find out why!) Then we went out for shisha (lovely!) and caught a bus at 11.30 for Agra. Before we left Adi was like: remember, you deserve something like the Taj Mahal....awwwwwwwww! Ok then, not all males are terrible. And we should seriously appreciate much more the nice ones that are out there.

Got to Agra at 5.30 in the morning, at 6 we were the first visitors to get in...WOW! No words, absolutely gorgeous! Indian poet Tagore tried to express the Taj beauty in words: "a teardrop on the face of eternity"...very nice, but still not enough! It's so beautiful and perfect, seems almost fake and surreal...the light was perfect playing nice games with the white marble...the water in the lake reflecting the Taj majestic beauty...no, I really cannot describe it in words!
We then went to the Agra fort and under the rain admired the back of the Taj, this times with the light playing games under the storm....

Took a bus to Barathpur at night, got to a guesthouse where we saw Germany-Sweden from a cracked ESPN that was going on and off all the time...and being with two German guys it was really really funny!
The next day we rented bikes and went to a national park...it was very nice until we got lost for 5 hours, under the burning sun, ran out of water, had to ask directions to a tribe in the park (who of course couldn't speak english), then these guys offered us water but it was of a ugly brownish color and even if almost dying from dehidration we couldn't manage to drink it! A girl almost fainted...but we managed to survive and come back home!!! Except from the sunburn on my shoulders it was a very pleasent adventure, maybe a little too extreme, survivor style...but I liked it!

Then one night while we were eating in a restaurant this guy approached us and gave us his business card. He organizes promotion for a scotch brand and wanted foreign people (aka: white pieces of flesh) to do promotion in bars and clubs of Jaipur. Sounded like fun and a little diverse thing from hanging out with AIESEC trainees all the time, so Jan and I decided to go to his office for a chat. I was waiting for Jan on a bench reading my book when this guy approached me: "are u indian?" Where? Can u use a better pick up line, come on! Anyways, he was a dutch guy who had been in India for a month already doing parachronic healing...sounded interesting and Jan was late so he sat down with me talking bullshit about Karma, energy shields, etc...then at one point he started doing some stuff with his hands "dude, what are u doing?" "I'm feeling your energy"....mmm, I was feeling a little unconfortable...but you expect to meet people like that in India, right? Anyways, while this guy was cleansing my negative energy away a group of curious Indians gathered around us...luckly Jan showed up, but then we started talking to this Indian guy (who by the way was wearing a cheerleading shirt!) who had been to both Italy and Germany playing drums...he's a drum player at night in bars in Jaipur, and during the day he's a rickshaw driver;) so he gave us a ride to the promotion guy's office, and I'm not sure how but he put a huge sound system on his rickshaw, and we were riding around Jaipur with pumped hindi music, and with blue lights coming out of the rickshaw....so funny!!!!

At the guy's office we realized he was doing a real interview! In India, come on! So he wanted me to write my CV right there...the ugliest CV I've ever written, but anyways! He liked it and wanted me to start from the next day. Cool! It was a really nice experience, met different people while selling scotch, had to avoid flirts and people offering me drinks, but my boss was with me all the time so I felt really safe. And then he told me right from the beginning: you work only for me and not for anybody else. I didn't understand at the moment how important that was! As soon as he left for one minute, the guy from the beer promotion approached me and gave me his business card to work for him! Cause of course a white piece of flesh in a bar with Indian men is like water in the desert...but of course I sticked with the scotch promotion and actually had a lot of fun with it!
So I went there yesterday as well (and this job pays pretty good too, and I was enjoying the easy money;), and realized that my boss was trying to set me up with his nephiew! And I have to admit that the guy was kind of good-looking, well dressed, so I accepted a beer and had a chat with him...after word number 10 I realized that he was Indian and there is nothing to do! I'm so sorry, I don't want to be discriminating or culturally close-minded, but there is something missing! Call it savoir-faire, call it charm, whatever, but they really don't know how to talk to a woman...or maybe, really, they just see women as pieces of flesh and that's why they talk to us like that! After having stratigically avoided the second beer and the invitation for dinner with an imaginary boyfriend in the States, it was finally time to go. My boss wanted to offer me scotch and I though "weird!" cause I didn't first of all think I was allowed to drink there while working, and then he had told me how he stopped drinking and became a total vegeterian...anyhow, then he asked me if Jan was my boyfriend, and then the difference between a boyfriend and a friend. Seriously, people here have no idea of the whole "dating thing", and they know that there is something different than arranged marriages out there, but they have no idea on how it works and they just fantasize on it in an extreme way. So here I am, white piece of flesh, who "dates" and "has boyfriends" and why not do that whole "dating thing" with her?
And me, genuinly stupid naif girl, I wanted to give the lesson "dating 101" to my boss trying to make a better world, because maybe one day he'll explain it to somebody else etc and India will be a much more livable country. So in dating 101 I explained how you can have only one boyfriend but many friends, even guys, and you usually spend more time with your boyfriend, you spend time alone and you get phisical, you hug and kiss. "So am I your boyfriend or your friend?" "You're my boss!!!!" (and you're ugly, you're extremely unpolite, you're 39 and you're married) "But I want to be your boyfriend"....I acted like I didn't hear, called Jan who was at Harriet's farewell party and had him give my boss directions to Orange house (where the party was)...my boss gave me a ride there on his motorbike...and I knew nothing would have happened but I was so scared and just wanted to cry and scream and yell to the whole world "I'm not a while piece of flesh!". Then while on his motorbike he was like "hold me as a girlfriend, hold me tight" AHHHHH so disgusting! I just slapped his back and yelled "Just take me home!!!"
Luckly nothing happened but I'm so fed up with it! Of course I won't come back to sell scotch and I don't want to see that guy's face ever again, but I AM SO FED UP!

Oh well, it's part of my learning-growing experience...Since in India my opinion of men has so decreased, and I have so little trust now! It's really a shame, because there are really some amazing guys out there, but I think now I really learnt how to appreciate them much more. At the party Adi and Supreet were there...if it wasn't for them I would seriously hate all Indian men! I'm so glad I've met them and that we're friends...and then there was a new Italian guy!! Seemed a little shy but very very nice...I'm looking forward to know him a little better;) And he said that there is another Italian girl coming this weekend! Yes, Italian supremacy, let's overthrow the dutch regime;)

Tonight there is the match...let's go team, we should make it! But I won't be able to watch it...I'm leaving tonight for Jaisalmer...12 hours of bus, leaving at 11 pm, getting there at 11am...I'll die in in the bus! Once there we'll leave for a camel safari, spend the night in the desert and come back on Sunday....I think the 12 hours will be worthed!