One year ago at this same time I was in Minnesota. I was enjoying the snow, good coffee, and time with my family. Because Romel and I were in our own respective hometowns last Christmas/New Years we decided this year we would go to Nagaland. The place my husband hails from.
Nagaland is a small state in Northeastern India where they grow and eat a lot of rice and pretty much any animal that is capable of breathing. I know I've explained this a million times, so that's all I'll say.
We could not afford to fly there so we took the train. India is great in that regard; if you cannot afford to fly, a train ticket to the same destination is considerably less expensive. However, a place that might take three hours to fly to will take a day and a half to reach by train.
Romel and I boarded our first train on a Wednesday morning and we reached his parents house on the following Saturday night. I won't even mention the return journey. Let's just say the return journey solidified my resolution to never ride a long distance train in India ever again.
You'll see in the photo below Romel and I are enjoying our wonderful seats on the second train of our three-train journey there:
Now, you'll see how unimpressed we are with our travel arrangements and the train life:
Train food is hit or miss. It's either delicious or it's disgusting, there is no in between. You have to be careful also. We try not to buy food from the train's pantry car because I've heard stories of people finding rat parts or other gross things in their food. Plus it's just not that good. I really lucked out with this one snack, it's all fresh peas, chopped tomato, onion and chickpeas. Nothing cooked in oil. It was really good too! Sadly, it was the only time I saw this food on any of the trains.
This is the familiar scene from Romel's parent's backyard:
I really do love Nagaland. The people there are incredibly hospitable and always inviting us to their homes for chai and snacks or dinner or just to spend time with us. Even though I'd sit there with a smile on my face not understanding anything that was being discussed, I still enjoy my time in Nagaland. I'm attempting to learn the language, and I'm getting better, but it's not easy for me.
In Nagaland Christmas is a holiday you spend with friends. There are bonfires at every house every night for two weeks over Christmas and New Year's Day. There will be barbecues (mostly pork) and picnics at faraway lakes or rivers. People give each other cakes as gifts. There is not really any exchange of any other gifts. You will not see families waking up early on Christmas morning to open presents. If there are presents under the tree they are decoration only. Christmas is about spending time with your friends and family and eating a lot of food. I don't ever actually feel hunger whenever I'm there because we are constantly eating something.
Nagaland is the only state in India that is declared a "Christian" state and so that means Christmas decorations are everywhere and they put our light-decorated houses to shame. There are lights and fire crackers and fireworks every night!
Here is one of the many creepy Santas I saw around during the holidays: Apparently Santa is white because in India you'll see people dressing as santa also wearing terrifying plastic white-skinned santa masks. When an Indian person wears a mask of a white-haired-white-skin fat man, it's quite scary looking. Fortunately, this was a dummy:
It is a much simpler life at Romel's parent's house. There is no running water which means no hot water on demand. Laundry must be done by hand which you see me attempting below. I can do it, but it takes longer than your average Indian and I'm pretty sure I still don't know how to do it right after all these years.
All in all, it was a blessing and great time of rest in Nagaland for both of us. It was our last time to see Romel's family for two years. It will be sad to not be able to see them for that long, but we know without a doubt that this next season is our time to adjust to life in the United States.
Romel's visa is coming along swimmingly. He is currently on his way to Pune to pick up an important document which has been the hardest one to get in this whole process, and it wasn't even that difficult. Every piece of this immigration process is falling together so perfectly. It is just further confirmation for us that this truly is the right time for us to come to the U.S. We still have a couple months to go, but we will be there soon so get ready to finally meet my husband everyone!
