Has It Been That Long?

Wow, time does fly when you are having fun!!!! Did I just say that I am having fun in India? I must have hit my head, just kidding. I just looked at the date of the last post, and it was September 10th. Charles thought that I would have an easier time staying up with blog, so he passed it along to me. I am not sure I am doing any better!

So let's find out what has been happening since my last entry. N went to Mumbai to compete in the swim meet. What a great time was had by all! There were quite a few parents from our school. That was nice since these trips can start to get a little pricey. We had to fly and get a hotel room for three nights. I made some posters, and the parents were in Raptor T-shirts (school mascot). We cheered. I yelled (only at N when I wanted him to race faster!). My vocal chords were out of practice, and by the last day I was beginning to lose my voice. Are you anxiously awaiting the results of the swim meet...Here they are: N - first place for 50 M freestyle, 1st place for 100 M freestyle, 1st place for 400 M freestyle relay, and 2nd place for 400 M medley relay. Needless to say, he was on cloud nine. Okay so he is still there. He broke all his personal best times as well as set new school records. He was angry that he did not beat the SAISA record for his age. He missed his flip turn and missed the record by just a second. Overall, it was a great time. He is now swimming after school to improve his other strokes. Above are a few snapshots of the weekend in Mumbai.



Mumbai is not so different from Chennai. There is still a lot of traffic, people everywhere, nice houses, and homeless people. One thing that is different is there is a Hard Rock Cafe. We had a nice meal the first night after the swim meet. Another difference is all the actors and actresses due to Bollywood. We stayed in a nice hotel, and while my mom and I were waiting for Charles do pay and check out of the hotel we could tell there was something that was going to be happening. Pretty soon, there was a scurry of hotel people and in walked a celebrity! I had so many thoughts running through my head, and by the time that I realized it was really the person that I thought it was, I was too late with the camera. He actually stopped and waved for people with cameras. It was John Travolta. Charles walked passed him and gave him the nod.

After we arrived home from collecting the girls from my friend's house, we headed home. We got to the end of the street, and it was blocked by large machinery and dirt piles. Our driver and Charles got out of the car to find out what was going on. They are putting large black tubes along the road possibly for some sort of water system. They happened to dig up the area right in front of our road and the only access to our road. After all, it is a Sunday night and who would need to come down the road! Well, after about 15 minutes they put the tube in the ground, covered it with dirt, and ran over the dirt a couple of times to pack down the dirt.

I have been taking a photography class with some friends. We are learning a lot, but oh it can be confusing. So many variables for taking good pictures. Luckily I have some good software to fix most of the glitches. I am enjoying the class and learning a lot. We will be testing my knowledge for sure when we are on vacation to Thailand!

My mom has been with us for two weeks. We have been pretty busy, but she seems to be enjoying herself. She is telling us she will return in December.

We celebrated E's 10th birthday. We had a nice party at a place called Playhouse Kipling. They organized and did everything. I only made the invites and goodie bags! We had a treasure hunt, bounce house, Mehendi tattooing, arts and crafts, and great food. Earlier in the day we hosted the school swim team party. They were presented with their medals. It was a good time had by all!

My mom was able to experience one of our "usual" India days. The day of the parties the sun was shining brightly and it looked beautiful. Within a couple of hours we were in the middle of a thunderstorm and torrential downpour. We made the backup plans for the parties, but then the sun came back and it was very humid. We lost power and had to run the generator. Just some of the things that no longer really phase us, but it was good for Mom to see first hand some of the minor incidences that occur here.

We are getting ready for Thailand. It should be a great time!

Are You Ready For Some...

I know football season has begun in the U.S. This is the favorite time of the year for Charles and I, and we are really missing home now. Charles has yet again used his "powers", and we are able to watch some good ol' American Football.

We are ready for some football (Especially Favre getting tackled over and over and over again)...
We are ready for the cooler temperatures...
We are ready for hot showers...
We are ready for hours of uninterrupted power outages...
We are ready for our next R&R...

This week has had some mixed feelings. We have had some great times this past week with our dear friends here in India, but there has been usual "Oh, India" moments.

First, I need to update the swim meet results. N was able to push himself hard and improve his personal best times for his individual races. He even pushed hard enough to bring his team to a 2nd place finishing in a relay that his team was getting behind. He will be heading to Mumbai to represent the school. Congrats! I almost forgot. The school swim team needed just one more girl to enter another team in the freestyle relay. M was reluctant, but the coach was persuasive. She practiced just 10 minutes before the races started. She did a great job, and she also got a medal! Not bad for no practices and only swimming in one race. All three kids came home with medals. E loved it, and she is talking about working hard and getting some lessons to improve.

E is being her usual crazy, creative, wonderful, joyful self with a little "whine" here and there! I cleaned out my paper from scrapbooking and card making. She is loving it. She has started paper quilling again. I cannot wait to see the fantastic project she is working on in her class. Last year she made a fairy. It is fantastic. She has even made birthday cards.

M has been coming out of her shell more and more. She has joined MUN, which is a debate team/club. She is also in a group called Reaching Out. They are a group of kids that help in the community. They will raise money and do community service projects. She is also planning on participating in three sports this year!

It continues to be hot here. There are many days there is little if any breeze and very humid. We have had many days of rain since we came back in August. We have had some good thunderstorms as well. The rain does not really cool it off here, but if it is overcast the heat does not seem as intense.

We have had our share of cold showers inside the house this past week. Our water heater started acting a little temperamental, so we tried a couple of different things. It became apparent that our showers were not as warm as they had been. We called the plumber/electrician. Yes, he is a plumber and electrician. He came and fixed the thermostat, and he mentioned to turn it on just a few minutes before we want to take a shower. Well, that did not work, and we still had cold showers. Now, cold showers are okay for the Indians, but we, Americans, love our long hot showers. Our plumber got sick, he had a religious festival/holiday as he is Muslim, and then we was busy. Finally after 5 days of using the kids bathroom or taking a cold shower, he shows up and makes a fix. Unfortunately he does not have the right part, so the fix is only temporary. The fix concerns me as it leaves the wires outside of the heater and exposed. The water heater is just a few inches from the shower. I took pictures for evidence in case I am electrocuted in the shower. We are hoping for a fix today with the correct part.

We have woken many nights to consistent beeping from the under voltage we have been experiencing. Not sure of the reason for the under voltage. We also have had many outages lately as well. We just shrug and say, "Oh, India".

We are very anxious for our R&R trip to Thailand. It has been many weeks, and the constant living conditions start to wear on a person here. It is still about 4 weeks away, but my mom will be here in the meantime. We will also be going to Mumbai, but there is not much in Mumbai.

We have been having some great times with our good friends. We have been watching the Michigan games on Sunday with another family. Our children get along great, so it makes it easy. We usually head out to brunch and then back to our house. I found Tostitos tortilla chips about three weeks ago. I gave in and purchased the overpriced bag of chips since they are my favorite. I could not believe how yummy and FRESH they were! These little things can really make your day.

I started a photography class last week. It is pretty good, and I am finally going to learn to take my camera off the automatic setting. I am excited to use some of the knowledge on our next trip.

One of the hardest parts of living here is the constant turnover of people. Ex-pats come and go all the time, and it can be really hard. This week I will be saying good-bye to a dear friend. Living here you can really come to depend on your friends to know just how to help you get through the day, week, or even month. The friends that we have made here have really helped our time here go as well as it has.

Well, it is official. We have been gone long enough to apply for our extension for Charles' visa and our residency papers! We managed to get through that without too much frustration although it was 3 hours of our life that we cannot really ever get back!

Yes, this is long. I am sorry, but I have not been able to get on the computer and get things into the blog with the crazy schedule and internet interruptions.

Just some thoughts

I have been thinking of what to post. I start and then I delete. I am not sure why I am having so much trouble, but it is driving me crazy. Maybe it is the 7,000 thoughts that keep going through my head about this country we are currently living in or the number of things that continue to baffle me when I am riding in the car.

I can at least start with a funny story. Our bedroom is on the second floor. There is a door right outside the bedroom door that leads to the roof. Midnight usually goes up to the bedroom with me in the morning when I am getting ready for the day. She has been going crazy lately. Looking out the window, pacing back and forth, and whining. I finally decided to just let her out the door. She ran outside and then stopped. Looked up, and she saw a black crow and a chipmunk on top of the hut. I call it a chipmunk, but the Indians call them squirrels. These things are small just like the chipmunks back home. As I am watching what Midnight will do, I hear noise like baby birds in the spring just after they have hatched. I had the thought that the crow had a nest in the hut and the chipmunk was invading the space. I soon noticed that the noise was not coming from the bird but from the chipmunk. Crazy, we have chirping chipmunks!

I am going to make a statement that may sound unkind, but I am not trying to be unkind in any way. "They just don't get it". I often find myself sharing this statement with my friends or Charles. Here is just one example. We went to a birthday party at a place called Fun City. It is similar to Chuck E. Cheese. They have arcade games, some rides, and a party room. This one is new, and it is a pretty nice place. They put it on the top floor with a glass roof. Guess what, I think Charles lost 15 pounds in sweat alone. Why would they even think that was a good idea when they built the building? Another story, E and I were in line to recharge her card. They give the kids swipe cards to play the games. I stepped out of the line, but I was still next to her. Promptly the two adult men behind her stepped in front of her. WHAT! She is a child, and they are adult men. I took her arm and put her back in front of them. They did not even have a reaction! Not a sorry, nothing!

Saturday is our local swim meet. It should be good. N has to wear a speedo (it is a longer one). He was cracking us up last night. He modeled it for us. Charles told him that he has chicken legs. The girls were just shaking their heads, and I am sure thinking about how crazy he is. He told us that his time will probably improve because it is tight.

I know our lives are richer (I do not mean financially) for having lived here, but I just have to shake my head some days - like why do you sweep a patch of dirt? They are sweeping it off the pavement. Why do you have signs all around the city about keeping our city clean and green when there is garbage everywhere and people throwing garbage out the windows all the time as they drive down the road?