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.
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