India Theme Park

Monday, November 8

     Holy crap a gazillion things happen and a week flies by without any blogging!  Maybe I could turn this blog into some reality show where I leave you dangling by a thread each week, "stay tuned for Frolic sin Fronteras, summer season 1."  Get it? Summer season? baha! I'd like to thank Barb Ryan for my pun skills,  and the honking motor vehicles outside my window for sleep deprivation.
    I'll start by explaining "babox" like I promised last entry.  There are many occasions where Colleen and I will find a situation completely normal until one reminds the other of how extremely strange, awkward, hilarious, or foreign the situation really is.  Now we use "T-II" when we encounter something that we have only seen in India, and it typically refers to one individual thing.  Example: I see a man on a motorcycle, steering with one hand, rolled up mattress in a one arm bear hug.  I would say 'babox' when referring to an entire situation.  Stating 'babox' calls attention to the situation so that both Americans can take a step outside the box and glance in at the absurdity of their lives at that moment.  Example:  Summer and Colleen get on the Disco Spin (equivalent of the 'merry mixer') at the local theme park in Kannur.  Summer says, "babox" and instantly both Americans freeze the situation at hand and take a gander at whats happening.  We are on a sketchy carnival-like ride, listening to Indian techno, barefoot, soaking wet pants and long shirts, and watching a mother and her baby no more than 1 spin around in the car next to us…..oh and the baby is laughing and clapping to the techno beat.  Yeah thats cool…. wait WHAT?!
    Now you are just dying to find out about this theme park experience!  Anis Sir decided that we should see the local amusement park and gave Colleen and I tickets to attend on Sunday!  We had a cute little RIMS group go and we all had a blast.  I was very impressed with Vasco de Gama's Ship (a rickety replica of the Battering Ram at Busch Gardens), the mini water flume ride with one 6 person car for the whole park, the Wonder Show (sit in a theater that moves with the movie) the twisty water rides, and the gender separated wave pool that went off only at 3 pm.  At the beginning of the day when we all placed our belongings in the locker, I was told to remove my shoes.  "i thought we were riding the dry rides first," I said.  …:::look at the American awkwardly:::…"yea we are," replies Aaliya.  Summer--"Well, don't we have to wear shoes to ride the dry rides? Like isn't that required?"  "No! Of course not! How would we ride the wet rides after if we had our shoes on!?" exclaims Aaliya so matter of factly.  Well there I go breaking Rule #1…dangit its so hard sometimes!  So we frolicked about the park barefoot wearing long pants and shirts on dry and wet rides alike.  I was elated to arrive at the Wonder Show,--who knew that India had a rendition of the old school Questar or Corkscrew Hill from Busch Gardens?  We all settle into our seats when the screen illuminates to a Windows Desktop.  We watch the cursor move to a folder, double click, and then double click again on a Run Program icon.  Bahhahaha it took all I had to not die laughing!  Aside from the awkward intro of some old man in overalls sending us into the deadly coal mine roller coaster, it was so much fun!  Aaliya cracked me up with her Barb Ryan ride-screaming skills as every twist, turn, and twitch jolted a piercing screech.  The day was a great break from the school's chaos, and we all trudged in Monday morning with big silly grins.  It was a great time!
    The theme park also prompted another Sumleen term of which I'll let you decipher  yourself: 'lawsuit'