A dairy farm, grad school, some other bits and bobs, too...

Yep, you read that right. After a fruitless search, I have concluded that finding a job here is probably one of the hardest things I've ever tried to do.  So, I put my tail between my legs, threw in the towel on the job hunt, and have decided to bring grad school up from the back burner. Who needs to save for retirement or plan for the what if's anyway, right? 

Classes started Thursday and I'm finding my new student rhythm, trying to fit my readings and assignments into the other parts of my life. It's going pretty well, a little tight time-wise, but it'll even out. It's an online program, which I'm happy about because that means I can take everything with me wherever I am in the world, and I won't need a separate visa since it's a UK university. 

Before the rush of new classes, a friend and I went to visit a dairy farm about an hour away from us. It's run by our friend Ana, a Maine native, who makes awesome cheese for a few restaurants here and in Mumbai. Her husband oversees the needs of the goats, buffalo, and cows that supply the milk, and she was so gracious to give us a tour and show us the animals.  

Her place is like an Indian Petit Trianon, away from the city and filled with nice things to see, hear, and smell.  She has an actual backyard with grass, a killer view of the hills, fruit trees, herbs, flowers, peace and quiet, and a farm on top of that. I mean look at that, is that not perfection? 

I went home with a cooler full of cheese that afternoon (ricotta, mozzarella, chèvre, and feta) and for dinner Marc and I devoured an entire plate of it -- so GOOD! Later I made caprese skewers, a beetroot and feta salad, and some mini Italian Ricotta Pies...talk about farm-to-table!

Since my partner has some off-time coming up, we decided to take advantage of it and book some travel within India, something we've been looking forward to doing. Of course since we have our new camera and GoPro, I'm sure there will be some colorful posts coming up -- Kerala, Chennai, Delhi, Agra, Pondicherry, Goa...can't wait!

In other news, a Dunkin' Donuts and a Sephora opened up here in the mall (whaaaaat?!), my partner had his first golf lesson and nailed it, and we just had our first annual "wellness exam" (spoiler alert: we're both fine), which was basically an all day affair where we went through a battery of tests at the hospital: hemogram, blood group & RH factor, fasting blood sugar, postprandial blood sugar, HBA1C, lipid profile, routine urinalysis, routine stool analysis, chest x-ray, ECG, thyroid function test, serum creatnine, abdomen and pelvis ultrasound, treadmill stress test, serum calcium, urea, blood urea nitrogen, mammogram, PAP smear, pulmonary function test, 2D echo, HBSAg, eye exam, nutrition counseling, ENT exam, gyno exam, and a followup with a doctor to go over all the lab results...for $150.00!!!!! I still can't believe all of that was only $150.00. 

Well, my next post will probably be travel related, I always have so much fun writing those :-)

Here are a few snippets from the past few weeks!