Bus ride and sugarcane juice and bouncy house...Oh my!!!

Wow - it's hard to believe that it's our last week here.  This time next week, we'll be boarding our flight back to Seattle.  Better not think about it too much - makes me sad.

We took a bus ride today - just to take a bus ride.  We were hoping to catch the bus that comes right in front of our colony (subdivision), but it arrived a few minutes early, so we missed it.  (No, it doesn't wait till the right time).  My dad took us to another bus stop that is on a main road, but we had to wait there quite a while before the next bus came.  We skipped that one because it was too crowded.  Caught the bus right behind it, though...  B. was pretty excited about being on the bus.  I think J was too, but he couldn't enjoy the sights from the bus as much, since he was too short to look out the windows.  Eventually, the kids started wilting in the heat...this was not an air-conditioned bus.

Once we got to the station, also the bus depot, we decided to look around a bit before heading back.  We encountered quite a variety of goods on our little walk: sunglasses, watches, snacks, shoes and even score a couple pajama "suits" for B.  It was a hot day and i don't think the kids were able to handle too much more of it...so we took an auto back. 

Good thing too, by the time we got home, it was past 1:00 p.m. and we still needed to grab lunch and get a nap in before we headed out again at 5:00 p.m.  We had another dinner invitation this evening.  While Dad was filling up the car, mum and i were able to grab some sugarcane juice.  Man!  I can drink this stuff all day!  So can the kids!  Our hosts showed us a little park/playground behind their flats - with a bouncy house.  The kids couldn't get enough and didn't want to go in for dinner.  Fortunately, it was getting dark and the mosquitoes can be quite persuasive.

Yummy dinner!  Got home around 11:30...it's been a long day

Seen in our neighborhood....

One thing's for sure....they've got more covering their car than we do on ours back in the USA!

Seen on the way to relative's flat...

It certainly looks like a telephone pole....but we told this was a tree. It's preserved as part of a neighborhood "green" effort to....well....save trees. This effort called for the new road we were on to be laid around this tree without cutting it down.

The Arbor Day Foundation should be impressed.

*SLUUUUURP!* Ahhh!

Nothing like a nice cold bottle of badam milk
on a hot Indian afternoon!

Seen at a roadside store...

Pretty good deal, eh? 

ARGH

The day started off well enough.  We went to the park and played quite a while.  J. even spent a little time on the swings - a flat board with chains to hold on to...not the snug little seats you find in the States.  But he enjoyed himself.  S. and i got a chance to talk and sort things out.  I'm still in a funk, but at least he and i are ok.

After we got the kids bathed and fed, they went down for their naps in time for mum and i to go shopping.  We went to General Bazaar - haven't been there yet and it's chock full of stores...yeah.  We actually bought quite a few things that i'd needed and unfortunately, because we went to other places first, we found that many of the things i was looking for were much cheaper here than at the stores where i actually bought them.  ARGH!  Next time we're coming here first!  I'll have to bring S. back here, i'm sure he'd enjoy it.

When mum and i got back home, the kids were still sleeping - yeah!  But S. and Dad couldn't get as much done since they had visitors.  Guys from a bank who came to talk to us about investing with them. The plans they were giving us sounded too good to be true with excellent interest rates.  No taxes or fees?!  Really!?  We were ready to sign on...but since the power was out, we couldn't get copies of our IDs made.  They left, promising to return with the necessary paperwork.

They did come back an hour later...but the current was still out.  ARGH! What is going on!?  We signed a bunch of forms and promised to make copies as soon as we got power and send them over to the bank.  S. was a little skeptical at the speed of signing...the guy just gave us blank forms to sign and said he'd fill in the rest later.  That is a little how they do things here, but i'm glad S. asked to read some of those forms.  Still, the number of forms and signatures was a bit daunting.

Power remained out till just after 7:00 p.m. - 8 hours!!!  How is anyone supposed to get anything done?  And they give us no prior notice, or anything...just shut it down.  Guess why?  Yup - they were cutting down another tree.  Somehow our side of the street has the power lines, so anytime a tree has to be cut, it's on our side of the street..ARGH...how did we get the short end of the stick?  They should have put the power lines in the middle of the street, where it would be easy to chop down a branch or two, instead of felling entire trees.  A few years ago, we had to chop down three of our coconut trees - very sad, since we had wonderful coconuts. 

Well, anyway, we had to start making dinner by candlelight...thank goodness it's a gas stove, but still very hard to see what you're making.  By the time the power came back, mum was halfway through preparing dinner - it was a fun dinner, since she didn't want to take too many risks with curry.  Just after we had finished, another couple guys showed up from another bank to talk about investment options.  I can't believe they came this late.  They spent more than an hour talking to us about our options. ARGH! I sat for a few minutes and listened, but had to get the kids ready for bed - thank goodness i had that as an excuse.  In my defense, you really can't expect to show up that late and have people stop their lives for you, especially when young kids are involved.  Well, we promised to "think through" what they said and bid them goodnight.

It's late.  I've listened to too many big words like "compliance policy" and "ulip vs. term life" and i can't remember...i'm tired.  Been up since 6:00 a.m. to go to the park...no nap...no fan for 8 hours...can't think anymore...

Picked a fight w/S. last night because i was crabby after the phone call.  Still in a funky mood tonight and don't feel like talking to anyone.  We ran an errand to the bank and S. looked into investing there.  The manager said he'd come and talk to us tomorrow.  Fine...i don't care.

Spent the rest of the day at home...still "processing"

Ugadi and an outing

I am emotionally spent as i write this.  My thoughts are very distracted, so please excuse my rambling.

Today is Ugadi - the Telugu New Year, and since we are Telugus - it only applies to our state.  So, it's a holiday for everyone here.  Mum and Dad took us on a little outing...to a mall.  It's has six floors: the top is a Pub (probably quite pricey); then a theatre - only hindi and telugu movies; then the food court with a small department store, a hallmark type store and an arcade.  Kids enjoyed "riding" on the broken carousel, the motorbike games. We got a few snacks here - 12% tax - yikes!.  Next floor was the men's: clothes and electronics, then the women's and then the grocery/restaurant floor.

It was a fun excursion, although a bit far - we got lost twice.  Also, this place is quite pricey, like shopping in downtown Chicago vs. small town Missouri.  But it was fun just to look around and we were able to "afford" couple juice boxes for the kids.  Oh...and i got some cinnamon and cardamom at a great price.  Might mean nothing to you, but it's wonderful enough for me to write about it.

Came home around 9:00.  Made a phone call at 9:30...have been in a daze since.  I'm sure you're all wondering what the phone call was about.  It was just one of those supremely unexpected conversations that has left me dumb founded, drained, puzzled, saddened and still processing...  We've all had those, haven't we?

Rs.10 KFC icecream cone - definitely worth it!

We relaxed this morning and went in the evening with mom to get some shopping done.  I know i've talked quite a bit about going shopping, this includes everything from groceries to knick knacks...so everyday we do a little bit of shopping since most things are fresh and used straightaway.  Back in the day (when i was growing up) we didn't have refrigerators, so our meals consisted of what the local vendors would sell.  Any non-veg. was sa special treat and only made when we had company.  A regular meal was rice or chappathi and whatever veggies the vendor had and maybe dhal. Simple but yummy!

By the time we were done, it was pretty late and we'd have to go back and make dinner, so it'd be really late by the time we actually ate.  I saw a Dominoes nearby and suggested we chow there.  The kids were excited and Dad prefers tha to KFC...so we sent the men and the kids ahead while mom and i made one more stop.

I was really looking forward to dinner.  When we caught up with the rest of them, we found that they didn't order dinner after all, just a couple appetizers which they chowed down before we got there.  Men!  Can't depend on them to do anything.  Well, that's not true, but we felt like that when we walked in to the restaurant.  So, I ordered and we had to wait a while to eat...grrrr (i'm not angry, it's just my stomach growling).  Fortunately, the restaurant had a couple tele's on, one playing a cricket game, which was the favored show, and the other had random bits of trivia playing...kind of like when you're in a theatre waiting for the movie to start.  It entertained us long enough and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. 

After that (and my favorite part of the day), we went downstairs and bought icecream cones for everyone at KFC.  They're only Rs.10/piece and yeah, they don't fill the cone part, but for a less than a quarter, we're getting a decent amount of really good icecream, it's not ice milk either.  You can't  beat that.  We might make this a regular thing one warm nights, that and we only have a few more days here, so better make good use of this deal.

Another long day...

The church we visited today was quite far...in the same "suburb" as my "far" aunt. Since Dad was speaking, they invited us all and even sent transportation. *The driver was a lovely fellow - hard to find folks like him these days*

The church met upstairs - women on the left and men on the right. At some point during the service the children were asked to leave for their own thing...we decided to check it out as well. Of course, as soon as the kids saw S. they were mesmerized by him and he created quite a bit of distraction. The teacher asked us if we'd like to speak to the kids, but we declined, not wanting to draw any more attention to ourselves. (I think) since the kids were distracted by S., the teacher decided to engage them in entertaining us with English songs. About 30 kids stood up and sang at least 10 songs for us (with actions) and in the end we taught them a song as well. Once there was some downtime, S. became a celebrity with some of the young boys, peppering him with all kinds of questions, etc. B. also got quite a bit of attention from the girls. I ended up being the papparazzi...and if felt that way too, i could hardly get any clear pics.

After lunch, we visited with my aunt for a little while, before heading back home. We left the house this morning just after 9:00 a.m. and got back around 6:00 p.m. - it's been a long day. The kids are dirty and cranky, hopefully they'll sleep well tonight.

Sleeping in...

I can't believe it...S slept until past noon.  We were all so tired after this week, so the first opportunity we got, i.e. today. We slept in and woke up at various times.  I woke up at 9:30, J was next at 11:00 and both S and B had to be woken up for lunch just after noon.  I'm glad they got their rest...tomorrow is going to be a long day.

We did a little more shopping this afternoon...well, mom and I did.  We only have two weeks left...better start cracking.  The thing about shopping here is there is no one stop shop, you have different items in different places.  Ex: groceries, different kids of fabrics, steel wares, etc.  There is no super Wal-Mart here.  Plus, it takes us about an hour to get to all the good stores and in this heat, we can maybe go to a couple stores/day.  It's quite a process.  All that to say...yikes! only two weeks.

Another dinner invite.  The food was delish!  The corn and coconut was one of my favorites and the grape and pomegranate salad.  Man!  Gonna have to duplicate that sometime.  The kids were wiped by the time we came home.  J fell asleep on the way, but woke up once we got in the house...this kid and his power naps...took a little while to get him back to sleep.  

Mozzie death count today - about 20

Seen at the exhibition...

A month ago (how time flies!), our family attended a Hyderabadi exhibition (i.e. fair). Only now have I collected pix from that event and arranged them for this post....however, I figured if I back-posted it to the date it happened, it would likely not get viewed by our faithful readers (all five of you!), so here they are, a month later....



Rows and rows of colorful outfits


Bangles galore!


Kids munching on "kurkure" (sort of an Indian cheeto)


Auditioning for the "laughing house"!


A small train motoring through the crowds


Enjoying same train ourselves


Train ride -- view from above (watch your feet!)


Fountains!


"J" meeting new people


Yet another color-filled booth


Happy kid!


Yummy rooftop dinner


Another view of exhibition from same rooftop


The "faces of America" beckon exhibition attendees to sample their produce! (click above pic for larger pic).

And yes....know that even American corn is "100% Vegetarian"! :-D

Holy Cows!

As most folks familiar with India know, buffaloes, cows, bulls, oxen, and every imaginable bovine creature meander all around, showing up in unexpected places.  Like past our in-laws' house, as Dad and "J" witnessed (click pic below for larger pic)...

Note the brownish-red fence at the far left.  My in-laws and their neighbors had to put them up to keep these animals from grazing on their garden plants.  Pest-control of the sort seldom seen in the U.S.

A looooooooooong, but accomplished day

Today started off quite early...we woke up around 6:00 a.m. and got the children up too and were off to the park.  Park hours are 5:30 - 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 - 8:00 p.m.  This is really the best time for us to come, it's much cooler at this time of day and there's far less of a crowd.  The kids had the playground all to themselves and loved it!  After they played a bit, we took a couple laps around the park...S loved the feel of the dew wet grass under his feet and so did B and J.

We got home by 8:00 a.m., just in time for breakfast and dad to get to the office.  I thought i could keep the kids up to 11:00 a.m. and then put them down for their naps.  But J didn't go to bed the previous night (morning) till after 2:00 a.m. and B after midnight, so they had less than 6 hours of sleep.  That and the running around the park...they didn't make it past 9:15 a.m.

The plan was that we'd tire them out so they'd sleep really long and then mom and I could go out shopping.  But they went down so early, we didn't get a chance to get our act together before they woke up.  And since Murphy has never been wrong...they starting waking up just as we were walking out the door.  We did manage to escape, but heard later that J woke up shortly after we left, but B went back to bed and woke up just before we came back.  We were only gone 3 hours: 2 hours for the commute and 1 for shopping.  Not the best deal!  Anyway, shopping rocked...1 hour is NOT enough, we'll have to go back again.  It's hard to believe that we have a little over two weeks left...time has raced by!  How did that happen?!

We were invited to dinner by some friends who've known my dad for about 40 years, now those are old friends.  The meal was excellent, as expected, and the mozzies had a pretty decent dinner as well.  Their compound is beautiful with foliage, but it also lends itself to loads of mozzies.  They did not spare an inch of open flesh...poor kids and us.  When we got home we did our usual mozzie killing exercise...it took a couple hours, but we killed almost 30 mosquitoes!  All were asleep, but S and I and, man! i am thankful that we got so many...here's to a good night's sleep...

Masala KFC

We were hoping to get up early yesterday to go to the park, but that didn't happen..  Most of the day we just stayed at home and chilled.  Did try calling up folks through skype in the morning...but the connection was a bit scratchy...still a connection, so no complaints.

The day was spent as most days are spent hanging out, although we tried to keep B from an afternoon nap, so she's sleep early, in order to get up early for the park.  While waiting for J to sleep, B wanted me to read her "The Chronicles of Narnia" - so we started on the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" as she already recognized the characters.  I was actually quite surprised that she paid attention to the story even though it wasn't a picture book.  My little girl is growing up *sniff sniff*

So, we wanted to go out for dinner and decided to take our neighbors (good friends also) out as well.  My mom make the deal, but only after she had agreed to the plan, did we find out that due to a prior engagement, they weren't free until 9:30 p.m., which is when we'd all head out for dinner!  We didn't think the kids could make it that long, but with junk food, anyone  can.  

Our friends called and said they'd be ready to go at 9...so off to KFC we headed.  This was our old neighborhood - i'd lived here back in 96, before my parents built their home.  I'd walk this road everyday to work and it was just a little main road.  Now it's bustling and there's a KFC, Subway and Dominoes right where i walked every day.  I guess i'm glad it wasn't there when i lived here...

Once at KFC, and the main reason for this post, was the metal detector we had to go through...at a fast food.  I was so shocked...seriously, is this a terrorist threat.  Later when S and i were discussing it, he reminded me of the bomb blast at a German bakery in Pune.  To think we have to be worried to grab a bucked of fried chicken.  B and J had much fun going back and forth through the detector, which i didn't mind too much, since there were very few customers - what did i expect at 9:30 p.m.  It was really weird to eat with a metal detector a few feet from us and of course KFC just isn't KFC anywhere else.  They just didn't have the colonel's recipe.

We were out of there by 10:30 p.m. and thought they were waiting for us to leave.  While we were backing out, S wondered out loud when their closing time was and jokingly i replied, "whenever the last customer leaves."  At that exact moment, we saw another car pull out, a man get out and walk right into an unlocked and lit KFC - at 10:30 at night!  Wow - they really are open late.  I wonder if they would have closed earlier if we weren't around...

"farmer's market"

We checked out a farmer's market today.  I'd seen it on my way home last week and thought it looked huge, so wanted to check it out.  Yeah, it was huge...i don't think we made it to the end before we had to leave.  I would love for something like this to be in Seattle...fresh veggies for cheap prices.  The farmer's markets stateside are so expensive, it's just cheaper to go to the big chain grocery stores.  On Monday, my mom got the equivalent of 10 cents/lb. for tomatoes.  Can  you beat that?!  Best i can do is have a veggie garden of my own.  Maybe i'll get on that this year, now that they're going to charge for having a pea-patch.  

The farmers market gave me ideas for gifts...so even though i didn't buy anything this time around, my head is full of ideas.  Next time i need to get there before it gets dark.  

Also on the way there, my uncle showed us a park with a playground.  Some of the "playgrounds" around us are really pathetic, so when they suggested this as a place for the kids to play, i was very skeptical.  This place is awesome and very well maintained and it's open from 5:30 - 9:00 a.m.  Who goes at 5:30 in the morning - well, we're planning to check it out at 6:00 - when it's cool outside.  Once it's 10:00 a.m. here, it starts to get quite hot and you really don't feel like going out at all.

Besides, if we go out early, we might be able to get the kids good and tired for a long nap, when we can go out shopping...and then they'll even go to bed a little early.  Hmmm...sounds like a plan.

S

Today started out relatively normal.  My dad had a meeting, so i was a bit excited to find i could get on his computer.  By the time we had the kids sorted with their breakfast and other stuff, i was able to get online around 10:30 a.m.  Wouldn't you know it...the power went out at 10:45.  First we thought it was a mistake and would come back on at any minute...it didn't.  Then we thought they were doing their brown out thing a little earlier in the day and the power would be back on by 12:30...it didn't.  Around 1:00, mom went to see what the problem was...turns out, every once in a while, our municipality cuts tree branches by the power lines.  Our power lines are not insulated, and therefore are live wires.  If a tree branch touches it, it'll most likely catch on fire...which will consume the entire tree and most likely the house that "owns" the tree.  Hence the regular pruning of trees.  And while pruning, they turn off the power box that feeds these wires...today was our turn.  I asked mom if the city knew, so that they couldn't combine our brown out with municipal pruning...of course not.  The municipal guys were done around 2:00, but of course that was in time for our city brown out and we continued in the dark heat until 3:00 p.m.- more than 4 hours!!!  In the middle of the day!!!  It was sweltering - even S had a "glow" about him.  On the bright side...we didn't have to pay for this sauna.

Later today, a couple of friends stopped by.  It was nice to spend some time with them...haven't been able to do that since we arrived.  They were kept entertained by the kiddos and J even put on a little "show" for them.  Of course, B couldn't be outdone and tried to be like J, but was later convinced she was cute by just being herself.

My reflections tonight centered around how much i appreciate S.  Since we've been married, i've come to appreciate the hard work that goes into a good marriage.  And i am in awe of couples that have been married for 50 years...i want us to be one of them.  I've also learned that unless both of us consistently work on your marriage, it will not last, no matter how hard one of us tries.  In recent years, i have several friends whose marriages have failed due to several reasons, adultery, abuse, addiction, etc.  Some are fortunate to have married again, others are still looking and hoping, and still others are done with the whole business and worse - they have lost hope.  I can't blame them...i just pray that God will heal their wounds and return the hope of a lifelong love.  

As i dwell on these thoughts, i realize that i don't appreciate my husband enough.  I have a good marriage, in fact, for having just crossed the five year mark - i have a great marriage!  Things i love about S:
He does not let me schlump through my marriage, but encourages me to sort through issues straightaway and not let them fester.  I am the festering sort and i'm glad he doesn't let me do that in our marriage.
He is not a "philanderer" - i never have to worry about that.
He treats me better than i deserve.
He challenges my faith.  He's not afraid or apathetic toward asking hard questions...of himself and of me.  
He still tells me i'm beautiful and isn't too shabby looking himself.
He makes me laugh
He pushes himself into a more meaningful relationship with God, even though the methods might be a little unorthodox. He really seeks to unpack Scripture and make it as applicable to life as possible.
He loves our kids.  No one else loves my kids as much as i do, except him.  They might not be dressed properly, or fed, but they will be safe and loved.  I can't ask for more.


I love you, S

cabbage patch doll

Was woken up early this morning by S..couldn't sleep, too hot.  It's become quite warm within the last week...our fans are on practically all the time, but sometimes it seems we're just circulating the hot air.  Best times are in the early morning...it's just perfectly comfortable around 6:00 a.m.

Anyway, was woken up again a little while later  by B...mosquito bites.  The poor girl...i don't know why these buggers like her so much.  Her arm was peppered with bites and since she's allergic to them, they swell up.  To add something exciting, she got bit on her right eyelid, so that started swelling too.  I rubbed some calamine on her and got her back to sleep.  But i couldn't get back to sleep...it was too stuffy and the air from the fan wasn't getting to me, just the mosquitoes.  Plus, i could hear the sounds of the neighborhood waking up, i.e. maids coming to word and sweeping the "yards".  I knew our maid wasn't far behind, so stayed up in the living room.  Thought i might be able to catch a nap later in the day, but of course, with young kids, that's not going to happen while they're awake. 

B went out on an errand with S and my dad...some mosquitoes found her while she was waiting to get on the scooter.  By this evening, her face looked like a cabbage patch doll.  Both her eyelids are puffy and if you didn't think she had Chinese blood in her before...well, you should see her now.  They've acquired a taste for J as well, so i'm doing damage control there too.  My poor kids...

One of my mom's friends dropped by and when she saw our kids, told us her way of getting rid of mosquitoes.  It was a long shot, but at this point i'm willing to try anything that might give us fewer bites.  So, we tried it about an hour ago and i became almost giddy...it worked!  I must have killed between 20-25 mosquitoes...I haven't felt such a sense of accomplishment since i gave birth to J.  Just kidding, but you know what i mean...it felt good to see the sparks fly and smell the burnt flesh.  Die buggers, die!

There is still at least one mosquito in our room and it's been taunting me ever since i've been typing this.  Too bad it doesn't know that it's going to die shortly and i am going to sleep very peacefully.

PS:  B asked if God is happy when we kill mosquitoes...what would you say?

sunday

Just got back from church...plan for the remainder of the day...REST

Went for a short walk, got some badam (almond) milk - yum!, walked back.  Good day.

Why do i not learn!?

Earlier today S said that he would like to visit Charminar at night...or dusk, just to see what it looks like at that time of day.  Fair enough.  (Charminar is in old Hyderabad, we live in Secunderabad - akin to St. Paul and wanting to go to Minneapolis)  It takes about an hour to get to Charminar, but it does have some great shopping, so of course, i'm ok with it.  Now, how to fit it into the schedule...

We were invited to lunch by one of my parents friends - a pastor and his wife and their four daughters.  As we're talking about what time to leave for lunch, Dad mentions that his afternoon/evening is free.  So (idiot me) i jump in and announce that since Dad's free, we should all got to Charminar after lunch...and a plot is hatched.

Lunch was excellent...as is custom in more formal relationships, the guests (we) ate first and then the family.  Thankfully, the younger kids ate before we did...i'd hate for them to wait.  The "parsonage" was behind the church and it was quite small for a family of six.  Yet, there didn't seem to be a disgruntled spirit there - they were quite happy...or they seemed happy the couple hours we were with them.  (This time back home has been rather introspective for me - pages in my mind that would take years to fill up here.)  S was shocked and fascinated that a family of that size could live in a home that small.  It wasn't that shocking to me as i've seen homes that are smaller, but looking through his eyes and B's was an experience.  It was refreshing to see happy kids who didn't think they were deprived at all, even though, others seeing their "situation" might think they were.  They played with B quite a bit...i hope some of their contentment rubbed off on her.

SIDE NOTE:  Their mom was married when she was 16 and their dad, 21.  She's my age and her eldest daughter is 17 - yikes!

After lunch, we stopped home for a bathroom break and to rest/refresh and then headed out to Charminar.  That time of day, we hit rush hour and it was bad.  There was not too much daylight left when we got there.  First item of business was grabbing some sugarcane juice...yumm-O!  It was hot and muggy then, the sugarcane juice was exactly what we needed.  Would have been better if it was chilled, but nothing beats fresh sugarcane juice.

Time to shop...we had hardly shopped 15 minutes when it began...
"Can you carry me?"
"I'm hungry"
"Can i have a snack?"
"I want this ____"  and then...
"Can we go home?" - this by my dad!  Seriously!?  Ok, this time, i've really learned my lesson. Do not take my kids...OR MY DAD...shopping.  B was doing better than him...maybe he was tired, but it was like having another kid with us. Sheesh!  I think we shopped a total of 30 minutes, waited 20+ minutes for a taxi and came home.  Next time, we're leaving the kids with my cousin (fingers crossed), my dad by himself and S, myself and mom are going shopping.