Soooooooo excited to report that the flat is ready for move in! Savannah and I will depart from our dear friends here at the Hotel Aloft in Sholinganallur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu (say that 3 times fast) and head up the OMR Expressway to our new little town of Padur, Chennai, Tamil Nadu tomorrow at check out time! I like the name of our sub-city better. Shorter and easier for this Texan accent. Although that is not what I based my decision on, I am glad it worked out this way. Just to give you an idea of some of the names where we could have wound up: Our office is in Kandanchavadi. Savannah's school is currently in Neelangarai, with a branch also in Shollinallur, but moving to Padur. It seems my Indian neighbors like to have as many letters in a word as possible and really don't understand when I try to sound them out - For instance, one of the room keepers at the hotel asked where we are settling. "Padur," I proudly stated, with my high school Spanish rolling of the r intertwined with my much-thicker-than-I-ever-realized Texan accent. He replied with a blank stare. "Padur," I repeated, "further down the OMR, near my daughter's school." Registration! "Oh, Padurrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" he says. Uh, yeah. That's what I said. Sigh. Clearly room for improvement in this accent/language barrier.
Unfortunately, to go along with the excitement of the move, Savannah is sick again. My poor punkin has a tummy bug or is just not adjusting to the food here or something. She was fine Wed/Thurs and up until around 7 tonight. As I was leaving the flat heading back toward the hotel, I got a text that she was ill. She looks pretty puny, has a headache and upset tummy. If she doesn't shake it by tomorrow I guess we will head to the doctor. Part of me thinks her body is just adjusting to the new environment, but I don't want to take any chances, so if there's any more fever or nausea then we will go see a professional... nursing sure isn't my strength.
We are settled with a helper to stay overnights with us beginning on Monday, Lakshmi (shortened version of her very long name), who speaks broken English but can understand us very well. I met her last night and again tonight and feel very comfortable with her already. Savannah has yet to meet her, but I know she will like her. And Lakshmi isn't scared of Dynamo, which is great news! We also have a driver lined up. I have not met him yet, but will do so tomorrow. Sure hoping he speaks some English because Savannah has some pretty funny stories of the drivers who took her to school the first couple days and how their communication happened... or didn't happen. One funny story was when the driver wanted her to call someone - maybe Gideon, maybe me, maybe the school? - when he could not find her school, but using her iPod Touch. Not a phone. But he kept poking the front of it and gesturing to her to make the call. That was the night she made me hit the mobile phone store and get her something she really COULD make calls on.
So, starting Monday I will be in the office full time, finally contributing to the team I came over to help and guide. I am excited and anxious. The sheer amount of people to meet - over 100 in our "NAM One Team" alone - plus the other floors in the same building - is enough to make me a bit nervous. Trying to learn names (I am bad with a group of 4 or more, much less 100+!!), and not easy American names, but traditional Indian names and remembering who does what... Oh, I could go on. Instead, I will entertain you with another funny accent story. Harish is the manager I worked with directly when I visited in February for the Diversions transition. I thought him "y'all" (which he does NOT say properly, still!) and he just made fun of me for saying "thank you!" too much and for butchering names. So last night he told me, for the third or fourth time since I have been in the office, that I am too quiet and he's coming over to check on me. So I say something about one of the girls who is helping get my mobile set up with 3G, who asked me to, as she said - quit calling her ma'am because she is not ma'am, she is Sulo. <Hello! Everyone is ma'am or sir to me!> Her name is Sulochana. I say it pretty well, in my opinion. Well, Harish told me to repeat it and then laughed. A lot. Then he asked me to say some other names. The other night I said Asif (another manager on the team) and now I am scared to say it because apparently I say it allllllll wrong. Ah-seef, I am told, is not the correct pronunciation. But I can't say it the way they do! So I will just holler HEY YOU from now on. And hope they know when I am meaning them.
All in all, it's been a pretty good week. Very exciting to be moving into our new place tomorrow. It's really lovely, the flat itself, and the complex that it sits on. I will take some good photos this weekend and share them soon. I sure hope my girlie gets better soon and appreciate your well wishes and thoughts sending her a speedy recovery... And we are still missing you guys, so maybe a few prayers for comfort, while you are at it? We are making it. Pretty well, I think. Just get a little sad when we have too much down time, probably.
On that note, I will wrap it up. Sending big love and hugs from Sholinganallur for one last night of sleep and will catch ya' from Padur next time!
Unfortunately, to go along with the excitement of the move, Savannah is sick again. My poor punkin has a tummy bug or is just not adjusting to the food here or something. She was fine Wed/Thurs and up until around 7 tonight. As I was leaving the flat heading back toward the hotel, I got a text that she was ill. She looks pretty puny, has a headache and upset tummy. If she doesn't shake it by tomorrow I guess we will head to the doctor. Part of me thinks her body is just adjusting to the new environment, but I don't want to take any chances, so if there's any more fever or nausea then we will go see a professional... nursing sure isn't my strength.
We are settled with a helper to stay overnights with us beginning on Monday, Lakshmi (shortened version of her very long name), who speaks broken English but can understand us very well. I met her last night and again tonight and feel very comfortable with her already. Savannah has yet to meet her, but I know she will like her. And Lakshmi isn't scared of Dynamo, which is great news! We also have a driver lined up. I have not met him yet, but will do so tomorrow. Sure hoping he speaks some English because Savannah has some pretty funny stories of the drivers who took her to school the first couple days and how their communication happened... or didn't happen. One funny story was when the driver wanted her to call someone - maybe Gideon, maybe me, maybe the school? - when he could not find her school, but using her iPod Touch. Not a phone. But he kept poking the front of it and gesturing to her to make the call. That was the night she made me hit the mobile phone store and get her something she really COULD make calls on.
So, starting Monday I will be in the office full time, finally contributing to the team I came over to help and guide. I am excited and anxious. The sheer amount of people to meet - over 100 in our "NAM One Team" alone - plus the other floors in the same building - is enough to make me a bit nervous. Trying to learn names (I am bad with a group of 4 or more, much less 100+!!), and not easy American names, but traditional Indian names and remembering who does what... Oh, I could go on. Instead, I will entertain you with another funny accent story. Harish is the manager I worked with directly when I visited in February for the Diversions transition. I thought him "y'all" (which he does NOT say properly, still!) and he just made fun of me for saying "thank you!" too much and for butchering names. So last night he told me, for the third or fourth time since I have been in the office, that I am too quiet and he's coming over to check on me. So I say something about one of the girls who is helping get my mobile set up with 3G, who asked me to, as she said - quit calling her ma'am because she is not ma'am, she is Sulo. <Hello! Everyone is ma'am or sir to me!> Her name is Sulochana. I say it pretty well, in my opinion. Well, Harish told me to repeat it and then laughed. A lot. Then he asked me to say some other names. The other night I said Asif (another manager on the team) and now I am scared to say it because apparently I say it allllllll wrong. Ah-seef, I am told, is not the correct pronunciation. But I can't say it the way they do! So I will just holler HEY YOU from now on. And hope they know when I am meaning them.
All in all, it's been a pretty good week. Very exciting to be moving into our new place tomorrow. It's really lovely, the flat itself, and the complex that it sits on. I will take some good photos this weekend and share them soon. I sure hope my girlie gets better soon and appreciate your well wishes and thoughts sending her a speedy recovery... And we are still missing you guys, so maybe a few prayers for comfort, while you are at it? We are making it. Pretty well, I think. Just get a little sad when we have too much down time, probably.
On that note, I will wrap it up. Sending big love and hugs from Sholinganallur for one last night of sleep and will catch ya' from Padur next time!
I can't read it since there's a funky google man covering up the post. Probably just me. haha
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