MINDBLOWING DEALS

One day my friend called and asked "did u buy the printer"...............I asked what was that.........she said it was a deal and we r getting that in free .......i thought she was joking and laughed but i was mistaken. she was telling it seriously ....................i asked her with the confused mind how can that be possible............

She said companies in US have a concept , which people are habituated to call "deals",and is aimed at increasing sales for a particular product. But whatever may be the motto behind this marketing strategy we get the items almost free.... but i wonder how can we get a thing without paying a penny........

It looked strange and i wanted to try it because of my enthusiasm .......

I ordered the item which she told.....we have to pay when ordering the item.then after receiving that particular item we have to submit a form for the money back.............this is the procedure....but we r not sure that we get our money back 100% ...sometimes we may miss the cheque sent by them,or the mailed form we sent may reach them after the due date etc...but once we get habbituated, it is difficult to come out of this situation........whether we get the money or not...........

After that every now and then i visit some sites for any deals...we get good deals very rarely.......at the time of THANKSGIVING in USA some of the stores put some good deals for the public.......at that time we get some of the electronic goods for less price when compared to other days......

some people wake up early and some may even don't sleep on the night before the particular day for getting the deals .............................

Whatever may be the case I believe this is a great time pass with some value addition.

911 IN EMERGENCY

Here in America we have a good facility........that is calling 911 in emergency .......I came to know about this only after coming here....

This 911 call is for emergency......Everyone needs to know about calling 911 in an emergency......... police officers, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, and so on are our emergency workers.....

In olden days people had to find the right phone number in an emergency............If there was a fire people phoned the fire department........ If there was a crime, people called the police.......... If someone got hurt, an ambulance had to be called....... Finding a number for any of these emergency workers could be very confusing - especially if a person was in a hurry or in an unfamiliar area.......

In 1968, the U.S. government worked with the phone company to establish 911 as a central number for all types of emergencies..........When you call 911, an emergency operator, called a dispatcher, immediately connects you to the person you need ........

Today, it's as simple as dialing 911. With those three numbers, you can reach the fire department, the police, or an ambulance........

In schools also kids are taught the importance of 911.....

I want to share one incident with u all regarding this

One day one of the neighbours of my relative invited her for lunch ........when she went there the situation was very serious ...........she saw the ambulance and cops over there......she got confused and enquired ..........cops said when her neighbour was cooking food suddenly she fainted and her 1st grade son called the 911 . The cops also said "she got fainted because of anemia and now she is ok " ......... by knowing this my relative didnt get any words to express about the amazing usage of 911........

she was very thankful to the emergency system and the child who responded timely.....

when she told this to me i felt soooooooooo amazing......isnt it good?....then i came to know the importance of this emergency number.
Every now and then we hear such an amazing usage of 911

This number is so handy and very easy to remember even for kids also...............

VOLUNTEERING IN SCHOOL

I want to write about my volunteering experiences in school........when i was in india i heard a lot about schools in america .whenever any one tells me about education system in america i used to listen with opened mouth.

After coming here to kingsport(tenneessee)some of my initial days i felt so exited....each and every bit is very precious to me.after some days passed i felt like boring.... and at the same time one of my friends was going to school to pick up her son .As she dont know driving she used to walk to school.so i thought of going to school to give her company.

One day when we were in school , one lady(office assistant ) was standing and distributing papers....... i got curious and picked up one paper .that was about wanted volunteers.......that lady said "if u r interested u can sign and join as volunteer in our school".

WOW i didnt think about volunteering in America.......i took that paper and came home and consulted my husband.....he said its good for me as i dont have any other time pass ,but iam scared to sign those papers.....there seems so many rules and regulations but my husband said thats nothing just some formality........then i signed those papers and the very next day i went to school to submit those papers.

I said that lady, " iam very much interested in volunteering and i will come daily at my convience"........so that i can finish my house hold works

That is elementary school.It is upto 5th grade.

Next day i went to school with some excitement.she gave my name tag and told to hang it around my neck.........at that time i felt like a queen and walked around the classes.......that day was like a dream to me.All kids(whites)were moving around ,.......and i felt like iam in heaven with all angels.........All children were looking at me and some were asking about my bindi,nose stud,bangles etc..........when iam telling them about all that they didnt understand and its hard for me to explain them about those things........
In my initial days i didnt get to understand what the kids were talking about.Their accent was very different when compared to adults.it took time for me to understand..but now and then i get confused .....

I used to sit in the office room whenever i had work.....sometimes they used to give me lot of cutting stuff and my fingers get tired ........ if i dont have any cutting work i will assist in the spanish class.Spanish teacher is very good and she teaches the children very patiently.she never scolds anyone in the class room.she told me that in America we should not even scold a child,if that child complains to their parents it gets worse.....

I like the system of not scolding the child.but its very difficult to teach a kid very patiently when they r not good in studies without scolding............ofcourse some kids are very naughty in the class.

In the beginining i was very afraid of touching any kid...

school staff was very good and kind to me even though i dont talk much .

some times i go to assist kids in their physical activities .Its like a fun to me.

One day they offered all volunteers a free lunch,but i didnt go...........as..i dont know what the food will be...i mean being a vegetarian i didnt try any american food stuff.......so i was missed on that day.......

If a kid wants to discontinue the school and continue it in some other places he/she doesnt need to take any transfer certificate from existing school, as they fax the related certificates to the new schools. The very next day they can join the new school...isnt it sounds good...........

On the last day of the academic year , they will give all volunteers a appreciation certificate .When i received mine i was on cloud nine......

FARMERS MARKET

There were very few Indians at our place , which is a small town in the state of tennessee. Every now and then we have gettogethers and habituated to discuss from recipes to our new inventions to space, virtually anything and everything. Once in such a meeting one of my friends told that here in kingsport, between may and october we will have farmers market.i thought its a joke and laughed because I heard about farmers market happens only in India . I thought she was making some fun .but later i realised that it is not a joke ,when i browsed the net.
and yes ... she was right..

I waited eagerly and the season came. We landed there in the first week of May,But alas ! it was a bit diappointing and we did not find much there. After giving some gap again we were there in August , wow! we had what we thought. We will get some Indian vegetables too. I was impressed a lot and understood that the peak season for the farmers market is only from August to October.

Though it was disappoining that we have this facility only for three months I was happy to see lot of varities of vegetables and fruits at a reasonable price. In India we see this farmers market throughout the year.

FUNFEST IN KINGSPORT

My friends kept telling me that in kingsport we will have funfest in july month. I dont know what is that, but i was very exited and looking forward for that...

Funfest is the summer festival commonly known as Kingsport Fun Fest ,began in the year 1980 when Kingsport Chamber staff and board members conducted their annual weekend retreat to discuss matters of paramount importance. , the group sought to create a program that would build a more positive attitude about the Kingsport community and a more friendly nature among its residents.

Fun Fest's sole objective was "to promote unity, harmony, fellowship, and cooperation among people". all events (to the extent possible) here will be free of charge or at a low cost, and open to the general public. Events are appealing to all age groups, and to people with varying interests.it is an event for one week.

Finally the day arrived and one fine evening we went to see what it was .All kingsport locals gathered there and there were few food stalls also.We had groups of people hanging around, busily engaged buying,eating,chatting and enjoying .There was heck of a lot activity.As it was one week event and it will held in differnt places in kingsport.Every day we had different kind of activity. The day we went was a balloons day.They put big balloons sponsored by different organisations. When it became dark the balloons were glowing and it was so amazing to see.Out of seven days we went for only two days.

Last day was fire works day.It was a great event and one should not miss.but unfortunately we missed that day.

ATLANTA TRIP

As the christmas vacation is nearby we, all indian families r thinking to spend vacation on going out and seeing the places .15 days before the vacation time we all started planning. gents r making plans in the office and ladies r planning on their own .first we decided to go to florida and booked rental car and ladies even completed planning what to wear ,cook etc., but due to some reasons we cancelled that florida trip and planned to go to atlanta which is 5 hrs drive from kingsport.

I got very excited about the trip as it was the first long drive in US......

Atlanta is the major commercial and transportation hub of the southeast United States, and its international airport is one of the busiest in the world.. and Atlanta is home to many major corporations, including Coca-Cola, which was founded there in 1892.it is also a major educational center, with many prestigious universities ....

In Atlanta ,fiirst we went to see coke museum."ooooohh" there r different flavours of coke with different tastes made by different countries.ofcourse i liked indian coke. hahah

Next day we went to CNN. it is a huge building .The studio tour features a number of behind-the-scenes demonstrations. Here you'll learn just how they make images--like weather maps--appear behind the anchors and correspondents. Here you can make a video of yourself reading the day's top news stories, or have your picture taken with a variety of Turner personalities on the Studio Chromakey.

Control Room Theater---A one of its kind, re-creation of CNN's main control room, where guests will see and hear the truly behind-the-scenes elements of 24-hours news, live. this is worth seeing......

Next we went to GEORGIA AQUARIUM.It is the Largest Aquarium in the World .Georgia Aquarium opened on November 23, 2005.The Aquarium will enhance Georgia tourism and provide local residents with a world-class entertainment attraction they will want to visit again and again .it has More than 100,000 Animals from 500 Species and Eight Million Gallons of Fresh and Marine Water . Located in Downtown Atlanta, across from Centennial Olympic Park and the Georgia World Congress Center. "aah" there r so many places to visit in Atlanta..

Zoo is also Worth watching.From there we went to INTERNATIONAL MARKET., ah i was dying to c that market as i heard that there we get all types of vegetables ,groceries which we find in India. But this place is incredible and it has a mind-boggling selection of international foods and all sorts of standard and unique veggies and fruits. Infinitely better quality than those available in standard stores. I was really confused what to pick and what not,but made a big bill to my husband.Its a long time we were on roads , so decided to go back to rest.

Next morning it was raining a lot but we decided to see the temple in Atlanta,which is very famous..."oh" god it is really good.... .Indian temple in usa "WOW"that too beautifully constructed .I felt blessed seeing lord Venkateswara..The main IDOL really look like tirupathi Venkateswara..

Our trip was completed and successful with many worth seeings ..

But this trip was incomplete if i wont mention about INDIAN RESTAURANT .On our way back ,we landed in MINERVA restaurant .After a long time we tasted Indian food stuff in USA..While we were entering we got to hear a lot of old hindi movie songs which i cant forget...there we ordered large pesarrattu,uttappam etc., and enjoyed a lot.. With a joy filled heart we returned to kingsport

This trip had a great experience ,which will remain as an indelible memory in my life

INDIANS IN KINGSPORT

There are certain special things that one never forget in ones life and my stay in kingsport is one among those.It was my first place in U.S; with a calm and peaceful scenic surroundings...

Kingsport ,Tennessee in Sulivan county,is 20 miles nw of johnson city, Tennessee and 132 miles nw of Charlotte, North Carolina. The city is located in the Johnson city Kingsport- Bristol metropolitan area.

Kingsport has a population of 44,905. Indian population is abt 300 to 400.housing is very cheap ,rentals are also cheap. people say that the grass isn't always greener on the other side.well here it is.

Temp here
Jan 26 to 46
apr 43 to 70
jul 64 to 87
oct 44 to 70

95% of commuters drive to work. Commuting to work in Kingsport tends to be by cars. people elsewhere might commute hours everyday.,but generally not in kingsport,where the commutes are shorter than a lot of places.

We stay at Allandale Falls ,with a beautiful scenic view and a backyard . .when snow falls it looks beautiful...Here we have some indian families,who are always ready to help, and are very friendly with full of fun. Occasionnaly we have family gatherings,parties,etc., if one family hosts a party all other ladies go and help in cooking.its a lot of fun.........