It's a wonderful life

Anniversary

2010-07-20T21:43:00.015-04:00

Our third wedding anniversary was on 19th July. Since 19th was a working day for both of us, we decided to celebrate our anniversary on Sunday the 18th. We started the day by an authentic sri lankan lunch (a brunch actually) prepared by me. I cooked few meals we both loved and enjoyed the lunch together.

Then we went to see the movie 'inception' followed by a dinner at an american restaurent. The movie is one of the best movies I've ever watched, because of its faboulously crafted storyline in combination with the great direction and performance by all the actors and actresses.

For the dinner we thought of going to a Japanese restaurent at first because my husband is a fan of sushi meals. Later we changed our minds because of the preference to have a variety in the dinner menu. For our main meal we had steak cooked medium with few other dishes. The dinner was wonderful and we both enjoyed it.

We took a bunch of photos of the day and I'll add some soon.

After sometime..

2010-07-16T14:34:00.011-04:00

I was just reading my blog today and realized how important it is to update that more frequently. It reminds me the memorable moments I had during past years. Not that I haven't had time to update it, but did not have so much to share during past few months.

This year's summer seems to be long and hot. It was hot & humid even in May this time. I prefer Spring and Fall over Summer and Winter. In fact Summer is much better than Winter for me. You can spend plenty of time in the outside and enjoy the sunny weather. I know, after 2-3 months shivering weather will be here once again :-(.

We went to Sri Lanka for about two weeks on May and came back on early June. We were really happy to see our parents and relatives after a long time and had so much fun there.. Well, there is almost a month left for the Fall semester to start, and I have to get back to do my studies while continuing my job. Can't believe how quickly time passes.

Happy birthday!

2010-01-31T15:59:00.006-05:00

Best part of my life is having a loving husband like you!
Happy birthday to my dear husband.. I bought a surprise gift for him and he did not have a clue about what that is until the last moment.

Well it is a kindle..He never ever mentioned that it is one of his favorites..I knew he likes iphone, ipad, nexus and several other stuff.. This was something came to my mind when I was searching for gifts in Amazon.

He is happy about the gift..(In fact he mentioned that this is the best present he got after a long time..). First thing, downloading all his favorite books including 'Lost Symbol'.

Christmas vacation 2009

2009-12-29T13:10:00.018-05:00

Exams were over for this semester. So chamikara and I decided to go on vacation for a week. As we are experiencing enough snow and freezing temperature we preferred to go to west coast for warm sunny weather . On our way back we went to Vegas. The first four days we stayed in LA and San diago and then drove to Vegas for the next 3 days. It was a busy time and little bit crowded in Disney parks, but we managed to visit most of the attractions (hint:use fast passes). Some of my favourite rides in Disneyland park are Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Johns,space mountain.

Next day we went to Disney California adventure park. I was bit nervous about going on 'California screaming' which is a long (about 3 minutes ride) & faster (55 mph) roller coaster with 120 feet height and have about 100 feet drops. Even though I screamed throughout the ride I loved it.. one of the rides I really did not like was 'Tower of terror'. You feel a sudden drop from a 13 storied haunted building and you keep getting that experience several times in the ride. We watched Disney's most famous parades in the evening. Night time in Disney is spectacularly beautiful.

Universal studios in Hollywood is one of the places you should not miss.There we went on some fun/adventure rides based on movie themes like Jurassic park, mummy returns etc. Live shows based on certain movies were nicely created. (I loved Water world show). We also went on the tour in the back lot of the studio and saw some of the sets created for famous movies and TV shows.

Wisteria lane:

We headed back to Vegas after visiting Sea world in San diago. They have very nice live shows with trained dolphins, seals and whales. Shamu-the killer whale show is one of the most breath taking shows I have ever seen..

Last three days in Vegas was a relaxing time. Both of us are not fans of gambling, but we enjoyed those few days. Just before leaving the hotel we visited Hoover Dam which is located about an hour away from Vegas. We returned to Indy during a snow shower and it was not an exciting experience for us..We unpacked stuff, got ready to go back to work from the next day with more refreshed feeling, until we go on a nice vacation again..

UK trip

2009-07-19T16:51:00.004-04:00

In the beginning of this month my husband and I went a short trip to UK. It was just a week but we had a wonderful vacation over there. We stayed at our uncle's place who lived in Leicester which is about two hour drive from London. Before visiting London we searched the famous places there and made a plan of the trip accordingly. (especially this site gave lot of information for that. http://www.virgin-vacations.com/site_vv/101-things-to-do-in-london.asp ). During the stay at our uncle's place we had traditional English breakfast which consists of bacon, fried eggs, baked beans, sausages, toasted bread etc. Also, we had chance to eat one of the most popular take away food in UK called "Fish 'n Chips" and it was delicious. After spending two days at our uncle's place we headed back to London.

On the first day we visited London eye which is one of the biggest tourist attractions in London. Entire view of London can be seen from this 30 minute drive on the ferris wheel. Then we visited Big ben, house of Parliment which has lot of architectural and historical importance. The cruse ride on river Thames was an unforgettable experience. Our next visit was to Tower of London and visited the beautiful crown jewels in UK. We used the underground rail system called 'Tube' to go to the places we wanted to visit and it was just a few minutes ride to the destination. In the evening we visited Trafelgrar square, Picadilly circus, Leicester square.

On the second day we went to Madame Tussauds which is one of my favourite places I visited in London. Like the london eye this place also considers as a famous trourist attactions in UK. The next visits were to London museum, Science museum, and natural history museum. In the evening we did shopping in the oxford street which is england's busiest shopping street.

On the next day we visited Bakingham palace and watched the guard change ceremony. The guard change ceremony occurs everyday at 11.30 AM and the ceremony lasts for about 30 minutes.

In the evening we went back to Leicester. As we did not have enough time we did not get chance to visit Windsor castle and stone henge which are located far from the London city.

Overall we had a very nice time in London and experienced the different food, culture at UK. I found that the food, clothing etc, are bit expensive in London compared to those in US. If you are planing to visit London, I would suggest you to take a tube map, london map and a list of things you are planning to visit before your visit. (and of course an Umbrella/Jacket too..London weather is unpredictable). After the one week trip we came back to US and now its time to think of our next trip.

Presents...Presents...

2009-02-12T17:43:00.012-05:00

This year, both of my husband and I gave each other surprise gifts. My husband's b'day was on 31st January and I was thinking of a present for him since December. I knew that he was looking for a piano keyboard for a long time and thought that it would be an ideal gift on his b'day. After reviewing various brands I bought him a brand new keyboard on his b'day. I couldn't imagine how happy he was.

He gave me a gift today which I didn't expect at all. He bought brand new study table and a chair which I needed for a long time. Along with those I got my valentine day gift as well. I am so excited to have all these gifts.

Strawberry picking

2008-06-03T12:35:00.013-04:00

Its strawberry season.. The season has started couple of weeks back and we also looked forward for a possible time to tour in a strawberry farm. We went to pretty prairie berry farm with some of our friends yesterday..It was really fun and took about 30 minutes to reach there.

-At pretty prairie berry farm-

The strawberry plants are smaller in height and they were planted in rows parallel to each other. We were given a flat to pick strawberries as much as we wanted. Each one chose a row and started picking from the beginning of it. My husband and I planned to go for couple of rows but the flat was full even before we finish the first row.. Picked only the deep reddish berries because they are tastier than raw ones. Yum yum..They were delicious and we could not wait until we go home to taste them.

-The strawberries we picked-

Strawberries we bought from here were less expensive than the ones we used to buy from the grocery store. And very sweet too. We picked nearly 7 lbs and it cost $1.09/lb. As soon as we went home we kept them in the freezer. Strawberries last only couple of days even in the freezer.. So I am going to make Jam from it.

updated!

2008-06-02T10:52:00.013-04:00

In the beginning of summer my husband and I went a two day trip to the state capital Indianapolis. Visited lot of places which have architectural and historical importance, leisure parks and gardens including military park and white river state park, museums during this time. Spend some time on shopping in famous shopping malls in this city. Also we visited Indianapolis motor speedway and hall of fame museum which is a museum for automobiles and auto racing and did a tour on the famous racing track.

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On 31st May we went to the state Buddhist temple for celebrating the Wesak festival. Everything was nicely organized and there were lot of events. The temple located in a nice calm place just like the temples we used to go when we were in Sri Lanka. Some of the Sri Lankans who lived in West Lafayette including us participated in singing Buddhist carols in that day. Sorry, I don't have any photos with me..My bad, I forgot to take my camera..

Some of the information of that event is available in the following site.
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/June15234653CH.html

Quick update

2008-04-30T15:51:00.017-04:00

Have I neglected my blog?..Actually, after my busy working week days, I usually look for a free weekend with my family(i.e. my husband and I) and did not want to spend much time in front of the computer. Thought to find more time for my blog which I updated from the time I came to live in US..Sooo, I am back!..

Other than working and resting nothing much happened in past few weeks. Hope I can add more blog entries in coming few months..Summer vacation will be starting and probably my husband will be free from exams for a while.

Haven't had much time to enjoy the spring yet..Hopefully we will get more time to experience the beauty of the spring. Spring has officially started on 21 March. Some times temperature goes down to 0 C, but mostly we get nice sunny weather with gentle breeze. I got to know that there will be a spring snow which usually happens every year. It is nice to see light green leaves and blooming flowers covered trees.

Back to work

2008-02-22T18:46:00.003-05:00

I got a good job offer from Purdue and now I am continuing my career in software field as before. Hope this would add good experience for building my career.

Birthday

2008-02-10T15:55:00.001-05:00

On 31st of January we celebrated the birth day of my husband. I made this lovely cake for him on his birth day..

Homemade spices

2008-02-10T14:42:00.000-05:00

All the spices I brought when I come here are over now. Even though some of the spices are already available in the local grocery shops, the exact curry powder we use in Sri Lanka for preparing a meat curry was not available there. So, with the help of a recipe that my mother-in-law put in to my luggage when I come here, I thought to make this by my own.

For this we need following spices which are available in most of the Indian grocery shops in US.

while heating..

ta da!..home made curry powder for making meat curries.

Easy and Delicious

2008-01-26T15:26:00.000-05:00

Yum!!! This was prepared using some bread, butter, milk and eggs. Its simple and easy. All the ingredients can be easily found in the fridge. Here is my recipe.

6 or more bread slices broken in to small pieces
4 eggs
2 cups of milk
sugar (preferred amount)
1-2 tea spoons vanilla

mix eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla and beat well. On a baking dish put the bread. Melt the butter and drizzle it over the bread. Then pour the above mix and soak the bread well. Bake in 350F 45-50 minutes.

Short and simple. Within one hour there will be a nice bread pudding to be enjoyed as a desert.

Trust me. Its tastier than it looks :-)

Weekend specials

2008-01-21T16:27:00.000-05:00

As I thought earlier I prepared some of my favorite deserts over this week end. My second attempt for the blue berry muffins went well. I found the reason for the problem. So I made my mixture bit thicker this time. So muffins looked good.

Yum yum..These are Chocolate cookies I made. Isn't it good to make whatever I like and enjoy it every time.

This is another my favourite..Chocolate mousse. I found the recipe while browsing some cooking sites. It was great. Luckily my husband enjoys everything I make..

All Beethovan

2008-01-20T13:56:00.000-05:00

Beethoven is considered as one of the greatest musicians ever been in the world. Even though I am not lucky to see a concert done by himself, I was fortunate enough to see the work of the decedent musicians at stage. Yesterday I went to see a concert called 'All Beethoven' in which the third symphony of Beethoven was performed. It was a great musical event and I felt that it is like a meditation for the audience.

The concert was conducted by a great musician, Hal Weller. There was 50 musicians in the team(The above picture). There was approx. 24 violin players, trumpets, clarinets, flutes, Timpani,oboes,Horns, Strings and many other instruments.

This is about the history of this symphony..Did some search and found these information.

Eroica symphony was first written for the emporer Napoleon Bonaparte. According to the historical records, when Beethoven wrote the symphony he had the highest esteem for him and named that as "Bonaparte". However later when Bonaparte had declared himself as an Emperor, Beethoven tore symphony manuscript title page because he knew that Bonaparte will think himself superior to all men, and become a tyrant. The torn page had to be re-copied and it was only now that the symphony received the title "Sinfonia eroica".

Favourite deserts

2008-01-18T21:53:00.002-05:00

Last week I tried preparing some of my favorite American deserts. The attempt went well with some of problems. So thought not to put photos of them. However, my husband and I enjoyed these food which do not commonly prepare in my country.

First, I made a pumpkin pie and the problem was after it baked the center of it sinked a bit. But it was yumee... On the next day I tried blueberry muffins. Those are one of my favorites. However, the blue berries sinked to the bottom after I baked it. :( Thinking the reasons for those problems. If you have any idea about that please let me know.

Well, this weekend will be a long weekend. This time I will prepare my favorite cookies and hope I can put the photos of those.

A nice Story -"My sister's keeper"

2008-01-05T20:13:00.000-05:00

Last week I read a novel called "My sister's keeper". The story is fabulously crafted and at the end of the novel I became a fan of Jodi Picoult's novels.

Anna, who is the third child of Sara and Brian plays the major role in this novel. Since Anna's sister Kate is suffering from a severe promyelocytic Liucamia, the parents wanted to have a perfect matching sibling for organ donation. Anna is aware that she was born for fulfilling that purpose. Whenever Kate wants such organ from Anna, she will also be hospitalized with Kate. Even though Anna has a healthier life she always faces painful surgeries through out her life for helping her sister. But when Anna needs to donate one of her kidneys to Kate, Anna refuses to do that and brings a lawsuit against her family for the rights of her body. Anna loves her sister a lot..But she is not willing to do that for her. Then the story follows with lot of confusion among the family members and their relationships.

Each line of story is nicely created and because of that the readers would not miss any part of the novel..Its up to you to read the rest of the novel and enjoy this terrific story.

Happy new year

2008-01-01T14:13:00.000-05:00

Wish you a happy new year!

Yesterday we participated for a 31 evening party(a Sri Lankan get together) at one of our friend's house.

As usual yesterday also there was a snow fall. It was not that heavy compared to the snow storm we had in early December. However, it was our first driving experience while snowing.

After having dinner there was a Sri Lankan musical event and every body participated for that by singing. At 12 AM 2008 we all greeted each other and had milk rice(a meal we have in auspicious times).

This is the first time I have not been with my parents in the new year. I miss every body in Sri Lanka. Some times we feel that we are not alone because of the Sri Lankan community we have.

Me skating

2007-12-29T19:20:00.000-05:00

Some of our friends who live in Bloomington came to visit us today. I like today because I had my second largest cooking experience by preparing a lunch for them.

I was looking forward to go skating with friends and today we decided to go there after lunch. Skating is not very difficult. But not very easy too..

See how I struggle to walk without touching anything..(he he)

After skating 2 rounds, still I am bit worried to go to the center of the ground without any support since it is a common thing for the beginners to slip and fall on the skating ground.

once an hour they clean the ground by spraying water and within a small time the surface layer will freeze.

We are improving..

Hope I can do better next time..

Leisure times

2007-12-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

These days my husband and I are enjoying the Christmas holidays.He got two weeks vacation from his academic work. Fewer plans for traveling because of the weather and the limited time. Unlike the summer vacation, this vacation is limited to two weeks.

As usual, lot of Sri Lankan get together events are planned ahead. Tomorrow there will be an Alms giving ceremony of one of our friends home. I am looking forward to participate it since it is an rare event in here. We have one Buddhist temple with three monks for the state and most of the Buddhist Sri Lankans living here used to go there.

I am very keen on preparing newer food and give my husband a surprise. Today I prepared a chocolate pudding. Although it is not new to others, I just prepared it for the first time. Still not tasted it. Waiting until the dinner.

Snow storm

2007-12-16T01:14:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we participated for a dinner at one of my friend's house. I remember yesterday because of the experience we had. There was a "Severe weather alert" notice on TV on last few days saying that there will be a snow storm yesterday..However we did not think that it is much severe until we experience it. According to the past records there will be 3-4 snow storms per winter season in our state.

When we left from house there was continuous snow showers. At that time the snow was about 2-3" high. It was our first driving in snow storm. We felt that it was very risky to drive on the snow because at one point our vehicle slipped towards near by wall when we apply breaks..Fortunately nothing got damaged. Finally, with a help of our friend who has prior experience in driving in snow storms, we could reach to my friend's house. After couple of hours later we came back home with even worse situation. The snow storm was much stronger. During the dinner there was 4" snow gathered on the vehicles. We felt that travelling in snow storm is like keeping our lives at risk..

The roads were slippery, The road was not clear, and some times the roads were not continuously cleared because of the regular snow fall in the storm. However, that was a new experience for both of us.

Experimental dinner

2007-12-10T23:41:00.001-05:00

Today I enjoyed preparing my first casserole dish. It was for dinner.."It is easy to prepare American food", I remembered one of my friend's words.

Ok, If that so I will try it..I searched for the recipe in the internet and looked for the necessary ingredients... I could find most of them in the fridge, so I did not need to rush to the super market.

My casserole dish(Since I did some modifications to original recipe) included chicken, sausages,potato, cheese, bread, milk and some spices. It did not look as a perfect casserole, since I am novice cook in preparing American food.

We could not wait until we taste it..mm..Taste was not bad..We had a great dinner..Actually it was a delicious dish for my husband..So, I also hope that my first attempt went well..

I Will upload photos of my casserole dishes in my next cooking attempts..

Ice covered trees

2007-12-09T13:35:00.000-05:00

Today I saw a spectacular view from my bedroom window..I looked at the beauty of it for a while..They look marvelous. These Ice covered trees are one of the eye catching things during winter. I just took the camera and got some photos of them.

This type of ice is commonly known as icicles. When it rains during winter or snow melts and the water drips from branches and they will re-freeze at lower temperatures. There are various phases of ice which will appear as various shapes of snow flakes and other ice forms.

Do this ice coating of branches damage the tree when harsh winds occur? Do the branches cannot withstand when the weight of the ice covered on them are increased?

Most of the trees which are not flexible enough to bear that, would loose its branches. Also small trees might fall at the harsh winds.

I saw some branches of trees were touching the ground because of the heavy ice layer on it.

First day of snowing

2007-12-08T14:44:00.000-05:00

As we expected there was a snow fall in wednesday and thursday nights. It was very cold. For us it was an exciting experience. Watching the snow fall and the squirels bathing in the snow was quite interesting.

This is what I saw when I woke up in the morning. The whole place was covered with snow.
Its like a white carpet lied on the floor. At night the light reflects from it and made more brighter than other nights.

A squirel is very busy..May be it wants to play in the snow.. or it may look for something it hid in the ground.

Even we had to do more things before traveling somewhere..see..

I have found a video in youtube.com which says the mornings of this season can be even worse some times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prAHIcDVIk8

This can happen to anybody.. he he.

Settlers of Carton

2007-12-04T18:05:00.000-05:00

Settlers of Carton is a very interesting board game, which can be played by multiple people. I got chance to learn this game from Aliel who is one of our good friend. Even though this is originally developed in German, the game is very famous in here too. The features of that game were its expandability, constant involvement of the members and the non-combating nature.

Our team consisted of myself, my husband and Aliel. Yey!, I made the longest road..However my husband played well in order to become the winner by making the maximum points.

This is how the game is organized, according to what I understood.

There are hexagonal set of cards each having one of the following resource printed in it. They are Lumber,wood,wheat or some kind of grain,brick, ore, sheep. There are cards to represent the desert. First we arrange the cards randomly to make a land which is surrounded by sea representing cards.Then we have to place 1-12 numbered pieces on each of the land randomly(desert cards wont get a number).

Each person has 6 road items, 4 settlements, 2 city items and set of cards to be used.We have to roll a dice two times and add the two values and that will represent one of the number on the hexagonal cards. When a card is selected according to the number we get, all the members who have settlements adjacent to that card will get that resource each. If he/she has a city then the number of cards he get would be different. If the total number is 7 then that person can limit other user from obtaining a particular resource and take back a card from him.

In order to make a city, road, settlement etc. there should be particular numbers of similar cards with the player. For example, for building a road we need 2 similar kind of cards. So we are allowed to exchange cards among users.

You have to be wise by deciding where to build the city/road so that we will get maximum resources. Also we can decide whether proceed with building city or getting a property card like soldiers etc.

There are lot more things to learn in that game..Even though it is much more sophisticated than other card games it is very entertaining. Thanks for Aliel for teaching us such a nice game.

A sunny day

2007-12-03T21:13:00.000-05:00

It is another sunny day in Fall. But very cold and windy. cold as -5 C and wind chill is quite hard to bear. Even when we want to go out for a walk its hard to do it without warm jackets. Most of the days in the past few weeks were cloudy and rainy. According to weather forecasts there wont be a sunny day in coming two weeks also..

It is said that tomorrow will be the first day of snowing and there will be 3"-5" snow. But according to the weather predictions of my area the highest snow fall expected in the winter will be 26". Along with the weather changes from season to season we can see the change of the length of the day. The earth is some times far from the sun because of its elliptical orbit. The scientists believe that the above factor and the tilt of earth are the reasons for such global weather changes.

I have found some videos of the snow storms occurred in here in past years in Youtube.com. This shows how severe that the weather here could be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG8LbPWzAho

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pFecS5qJ3Y

May be I will put my own video about the winter in the future in my blog..

However, I am looking forward to have that wonderful experience....(Most people here say that the first winter experience would be not that hard because we are so enthusiastic about it)

Ratatouille

2007-12-02T16:20:00.000-05:00

Today I watched a film called "Ratatouille ". I looked for animation films made in this year in the library and found that the Ratatouille has a very high demand among the borrowers. I felt curios on watching this as soon as possible. I hold the item for the 20th position. This means I have to wait 40 weeks to borrow this. No way...

I ordered it from Netflix and I got the film today. Yes,the film is very nice. It is nice as the other works of Brad Bird (The Incredibles) and the works of Pixar Animation Studios (Cars,Finding Nemo).

For me, this film is one of the most advanced animation films ever made. The story is inspiring and very nice. I wonder how the creaters of this film got such a nice idea. The Rat Remy is so enthusiastic on what he likes and so determinant. Even though the story goes around this rat and a garbage boy that tells a great thing for our life.. Watch it, you will see..

Pot Luck

2007-12-01T23:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I participated for a pot luck at Munyee's house. The main feature of that was the food at pot luck represented foods from several countries. I was very enthusiastic on participating for that because I never got chance to taste real Chinese, Korean, Singaporean, Indonesian food made by the people who actually knows the exact recipe used in their countries..I may try them in future, since some of them told me how to prepare them.

There was a very delicious Korean soup from Olivia. According to her that soup was good for our health. The taste was also good. Munyee prepared a nice Singaporean dish which was made from mushrooms. It was very good. We had a very good lunch with delicious and different foods.

This is what I prepared. A spicy Sri lankan chicken curry. For that I have used a special spice powder which is a combination of all the spices. We usually get the ingredients(raw materials) and grind them in order to get that combined flavor.

The weekend

2007-11-25T17:37:00.000-05:00

Ok, after a long time I have started to update my blog..

Most people in US had a long week end due to the Thanks giving last week. Me and my husband also had lot of things to do during this time..

The morning of Friday was allocated to do Black friday shopping.. We were able to buy a GPS navigator and a very good digital camera for a 50% off price from the original price.

This is the GPS navigator we bought..Before this, it was very difficult for us to rely on the paper maps when we go in unknown area..

In the evening we participated for a Thanks giving dinner which was organized by Sri lankan community living here. It was very interesting. Food was delicious.

Saturday I was busy with cleaning my apartment..I made a curtain for our bedroom..I am not good at sawing, but I could made nice set of curtains for our bedroom windows.

Life in US

2007-11-15T21:33:00.000-05:00

We came to US on 3rd of August. Fortunately, there were several friends of us to help..It was 4 pm when we arrive to Chicago, and then we took a Purdue transport service to come to the university. It was almost 9 PM when we arrive to Lafayette..We thought that we might not be able to get the keys of our apartment since its too late..So thought to stay at a hotel and go to the apartment next day..However our Sri lankan friends already arranged everything in our apartment and have waited until we come..We are thankful for their help.

It took some time for us to settle down..When we came here it was end of summer here.We felt that the weather here is quite similar to our country.But that feeling did not last long. Now the temperature some times goes down to 25F(-4C), but hope that this will reduce more.(acording to last year records). It is very hard for me to bear this cold climate..specially things get worse when there is a windy climate..But I love to see snow..We look forward to experience our first winter...

Humidity here is quite low, which made my skin dry.. One good thing about that is we dont get swet.. But we used to keep an Humidifier inside our apartment to avoid skin damage.

No one in my country would beleive if I say we buy water here..Since the water is bit salty we used to buy purified water.. Its quite cheap so its ok to our monthly budget..

One important thing I have noticed here is that the road system is quite different from my country. We used to drive on the left side of the road where as in here we drive in right side. The steering wheel is also on the opposite side and that made us confused when we first started to drive..

Cost of living is quite managable because the prices of grocery and other foods are quite cheaper. Clothing here is bit expensive. I brought all the spices I need for 6 months and the clothes when I came here. But once I came here I found several indian and asian shops which provides materials for preparing spicy foods..Both my husband and I want to have rice and spicy curries for at least 1 of our daily meals. So this is a great advantage for me.