I am Blogger Dumb. Here are the pictures...

from the last post.  I give up trying to edit it.

Amma.

First thing I need to send a quick THANK YOU to Maggie & Harish for carrying back some wonderful gifts and deliveries from some H-town loves, including some PINK MOSCATO wine for me (yippee!!), a blingy backpack for Savannah, some chicken fixin's, some pinto beans (who would have thought it would be so hard to get dried beans??!!), some nail polish, remover and cotton balls & shirts for the kiddo and an all-American toy for Dynamo.  I am forgetting about the melatonin (someone needs some sleep), cough drops and some other goodies, I am sure.  And big love and thanks to all you wonderful ladies who filled up the bag for us - Brandy shopping for the backpack & goodies for me!!, Rhonda running around & shopping for food stuff, packing and repacking to make it all fit, Mom for sending the shirts, nail polish, and Jennifer for sending Dynamo's favorite new toy and me some WINE!  It's like Christmas over here!

Hole in sidewalk

Tonight on the way to work I looked to my left and saw a young man offer his hand to his lady friend to cross a big hole in the sidewalk.  I found this especially sweet because there is not a lot of chivalry here.  That is something I miss from home... all my sweet southern boys and men opening doors for us and the "Yes, ma'ams" and "Thank you, ma'ams" that I grew up listening to.  I don't know if you can make the hole out in the picture or not, but it was pretty big.  Just a sweet gesture that got me thinking about the special men in my life.  Missing my daddy and getting me all teary-eyed on the way to work.  Just what my mascara didn't need.  But it was too late, the thoughts started and I just kept reminding myself he will be here in 5 days!  I never talked to my dad on the phone at home, and he doesn't do e mail or texting, so our conversations consist of pass-through messages through Mom or our one-time Skype date with the entire family a few weeks ago.  I need to start calling him.  I will.  I miss my sweet, southern gentleman daddy.

Now for some funnies:
There is a French lady expat in our office now.  She is a tall blonde named  Andee or Aimee, I haven't officially met her yet.  Last night a guard brought check for me to redo.  But it was actually for her.  And the night before last I was waiting on a form but never got it.  Gideon said the guard tried to deliver it to the other white lady.  I  guess all white people look alike...  


One of the girls on the team was IM'ing with another colleague last week when I was at her desk and she typed "amma" a couple times.  I asked her what that means and she told me it's like "yeah or OK" so I started saying it to her.  She got a big kick out of it and asked me on Monday if I learned anymore Tamil over the weekend.  I think I must be a cheap form of entertainment with my thick "American" accent and loud laugh.  Oh, speaking of loud laugh... Harish just got back from a two week trip to the US and got to enjoy some discussions around the presidential election.  He told me one of the debates included someone saying, "The economy isn't that bad, I mean it's not like people are washing their clothes in the river."  I proceeded to spit a big drink I had just taken of my water out ALL OVER my desk and laptop because that totally happens here.  And it was funny to see the look on his face when he told the story. 

This week I finally started going to gym at the complex. All the guards were excited to turn on the music when I went in.  Loudly.  It's hard to turn my iPod music louder, but I do it.  And they all smile really big when I come in or out.  







My daughter's scores in Tamil are higher than English. What is wrong with this picture?
 
I have 4 Airtel accounts...  2 mobile phones, digital tv, home phone linked with internet.  They are all individual and I can't seem to pay them without getting a disconnect phone call that I can't understand or an SMS message sending me to the website where I can't log in.  it's like AT&T, except with a thicker Indian accent.

Here is an example of my colleagues who can't understand my American accent - whether it is typed or spoken:

 Sweet Indian Colleague 1:15 AM

i didnt get u Nikki

im sorry

Grant, Nikki 1:16 AM

LOL sorry, i am speaking american

Savannah waiting at the veggie stand at our complex that I send her to almost daily

And I just thought I'd add a couple pictures to show the veg stand that is on our complex and I force my child to go get us fresh tomatoes and cucumbers all the time.  Doesn't she look thrilled?  :)

After my last post about being here for three months, I got really sad and had a rough couple of days.  Not sure why, it just happened.  So I had to keep myself busy all weekend.  Luckily, the container unpacking was on the agenda and I got it ALMOST all done and organized.  I am still waiting on someone to come help fix the wardrobe door in the extra bedroom that fell off so we can put the computer desk in there, but other than that... all set.  I did decide a couple boxes (hopefully!!) are in storage that were intended for ocean.  Those included a few wall art and decor items, so my walls are still boring. Boo.  And all my DVDs and CDs, many of which were just purchased and still in the packaging just for this trip.  Double boo.  So I am hoping they are safely in storage and we will unpack them in a couple years.  In the meantime, I guess I will go shopping and see what I can find to decorate from here.  Not money I wanted to spend, but decorating is always fun, so I guess I will force myself.  Probably with Mom next week.  (Can you tell I am a little excited about them coming? I can hardly wait!)

I guess that's about the gist of what is going on here, nothing too exciting.  Hope everyone is doing well and very much appreciate your prayers and thoughts.  Can't tell you enough how much they mean to us and help get us through those rough days.  Love and hugs from Chennai!

3 months!

October 10, 2012. 

3 Months since the day Savannah and I left Spring, Texas, and started our new life in India.  It hasn't been easy.  My need-to-control-everything-around-me-personality did not mesh well with the moving to India experience that God had in store for us.  That hurry-up-and-get-it-done persona of mine has faced more than a few challenges here in this land of cattle in the road but not on our plate. Missing our family & friends was excruciating at first. It has lessened enough that I don't randomly burst into tears, but it is still real & present enough that if I think about it (y'all) too much, I'll get teary-eyed. And it doesn’t matter if I am at work or not.  I imagine my neighbors think I am a pretty big cry-baby.  I still get choked up when I end a phone call & try to get "love you & miss you" out. It's rough. But it’s manageable. Probably more manageable these days because there are a lot of distractions. 

Here are some adjustments to date:

·         Dynamo had to become accustomed to walking on a leash and not having free-reign of a yard to run around, while Savannah and I had to grow accustomed to walking him several times a day instead of just shooing him out the back door. 

Dy in the lift, itching to get out

·         We thought we were ready to leave the hotel after nearly a month, but then reality set in when we made it to the flat and had to handle things on our own.  ie: bed linens (landlord handled furniture, sheets were on the ocean in a container...), groceries (hotel offered room service or breakfast), communication with our driver (hotel drivers spoke pretty good American-English), wine (hotel had some and a glass every few nights helped with our transition), coffee (hotel made this and our coffee machine was in a container...), adjusting to full night shift (worked only 5 ish hours/night when we were at the hotel), and so much more that I can't think of right now.

Savannah with her hotel-made lunch

·         We had some interesting, sometimes humorous, sometimes frustrating, conversations and shopping trips to purchase our basic necessities while we waited on our ocean freight.  I counted the days until it arrived.  First countdown was for Aug. 24.  Then Sept. 4.  Then Oct. 1.  We had it delivered Oct. 9.  One day before our 3 month mark here. 

Some of the food we unloaded from our ocean freight

·         We learned to live minimally. The kitchen had only 4 plates, 3 bowls, 6 forks & spoons, 2 pots and 2 skillets.  We had one sheet per bed and one blanket that we brought on the planes with us.  After a couple weeks, we bought Savannah another blanket and I took both of the carry-ons in my room.

·         Although I still complain about it - and I probably always will - we've pretty much adjusted to the power being out for hours at a time and using generator-only things (this means no AC, clothes washer, microwave, or geyser, AKA: water heater). 

·         Savannah is now an official dishwasher (much to her chagrin), as the flat did not include an automatic dishwasher and they are quite expensive. 

·         Our clothes air dry, as dryers are very uncommon here. About once a week our dining room looks like a US-ladies' store exploded as we dry more than one load at a time.

·         We have a convection-microwave oven but no "real" oven.  None of my baking sheets will fit... still unexplored territory there.  We will figure out how to use it before we leave.  I hope.

·         Beef is available at limited locations here.  It's not like "our beef" from the USA, though, so we pretty much stick with chicken. No pork. No turkey. We've eaten mutton (depending on who you ask, it might be sheep, it might be goat.  I sometimes wonder if it's just whatever was wandering down the closest street and convenient at the time they needed it), but we don't love it.  We've eaten some pretty yummy prawns (shrimp).  We've eaten fish a couple times but don’t enjoy it enough to make it a staple.  We eat chicken just about daily.  And fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.  And rice.  Sometimes pasta.  Savannah likes when Lakshmi puts masala sauce on the chicken and is pretty tired of my salt, pepper, garlic powder, diced onion, skillet chicken.  We can have some variety now that our container is here, though.  We have some gravy mixes, cream of mushroom soups, various spices, and more to make that chicken not quite so boring.  We really enjoyed our Zatarain's red beans and rice, a-la container, tonight for dinner along with the staple tomato and cucumber salad.  Who knew we'd miss dried beans so much? 

·         Savannah has done very well adjusting to her new school.  She went from 900+ kids in her 9th grade at ORHS to less than a dozen in 9-12... Quite a change, but she never ceases to amaze me.  She has made friends with just about everyone and has her India-BFF, Ila.  She has made friends with the "Padur girls," some younger girls who live in an orphanage and attend her school, painting their nails on occasion. 

·         Overall, she doesn't complain that we do not get to just up and go like we did in Texas.  On the other hand, I am still getting adjusted to not being able to drive anywhere I want, anytime I want. 

We both still face communication challenges and I haven't made time to learn the language, but Savannah got a 98% on her Tamil exam last week!  At least I can count on her to read me something or write her name in Tamil should we have a reading and writing emergency. LOL I am a firm believer that a smile goes farther than words, anyway, and most people understand "Thank you," so what else does this Texan really need to know? 

Now that my phone is equipped with 3G (although much slower connection than in the US, it does the job), we can use some apps to find things and venture out more confidently.  We are talking about travel around the county.  Delhi to see the Taj Mahal.  “God’s Own Country,” Kerala.  And mountainous, Ladakh.  Around Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and more, but I don't know where else just yet. I would like to plan some travel for the upcoming US Thanksgiving 4-day weekend but we will see how that goes.  And then shortly after that, we will head home for our 2 weeks of the holidays!  Yay!!!!  Next weekend my parents come in for 10 days, so I will take a few days off from work and Savannah is (hopefully... probably should check on this) out from school one of the weeks.  We are really excited to have them come.  Can't wait to give them both big hugs!  And we probably won't want to let them go, but it might be a little easier knowing our trip home will be less than 2 months away.  And then, by that time, as my mom reminded me, we will be about a quarter of the way through our stint here.

You’ve probably already read most of this if you’ve been keeping up with our blog throughout this adventure.  But it helps me realize how far we’ve come in just a little amount of time, so I shared my thoughts. And we still appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.  Each day does bring something new and we never know exactly what to expect.  Here’s to a less stressful next three months, with family visits and travel interspersed I am sure it will fly by.  Love and hugs!

Do You Need a Laugh??

Holy Moly, what a night!  I know you are wondering why in the world I would post again in one week, and I sure don't want you to get used to it because it probably won't happen that often, but I have quite the story to share and I figure I better do it now, while it's on my brain and I can remember most of it pretty clearly.  It's long. I know you've already learned I cannot tell a short story.  Sorry!
Today I woke up around 5 PM, as usual, hit snooze a couple times, read my e mails and got ready for work.  I told Savannah she and Lakshmi can come with me to work, pick up "take out" on the way in and swing by the grocery store, Nilgiri's, on the way home because our complex store has been closed much of this week and we went to the mall this weekend and did not hit the grocery store.  In Spring, Texas, this would be uneventful. Even if it were a holiday, the store would be open. Some store.  Nearby.  And we wouldn't require pre-planning and a driver to pick up our groceries.  However, as Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz with a Grant-girl spin: Dynamo, I don't think we are in Texas anymore.  Lakshmi is usually at our place between 6-6:30.  Every now and then she is a few minutes after that, but she is very dependable and I never worry about her not showing up.  Well, tonight it was 6:45... 6:50... almost 7, when I usually leave for work and she had not called or anything.  Of course, we were hungry and ready to go and 7 is my normal leaving time, so I started to get a bit worried. Savannah, my still very impatient child, had been asking me where she was for 45 minutes already - like I had a clue!  Sitting on the couch, flipping between America's Got Talent and the X-Factor (these shows play ALL the time here, and I never watched them at home, but they are American and make us feel connected, probably, so we watch them here) and my phone rings.  Gideon (our saint of an Admin guy I am so thankful for) is calling to tell me Lakshmi called him and was at the doctor and she will be here in about half an hour.  Well, that's not going to work for her ride along.  So I explain our plan and he tells me to pick her up on the way back. OK no problem, let's roll.  And we do.  On the way out, Savannah asks me to give her my debit card for the grocery store, but I tell her to hold on because we are eating first and I'll need it there.  We stop at the new Chick Punch near us and order our food for "take away."  They never understand when I say "to go" or "carry out" and Savannah has to remind me every time, "Mom, it's take away," in a very annoyed oh-my-gosh-I-cannot-believe-my-mother-still-does-not-know-this voice. I'll learn.  After I say it wrong a few times and I get the blank stare or "Maam, I can't get you," we figure each other out. LOL.  So we leave with our food and begin to eat on the way.  OK, but hold on.  Let me digress for a minute and tell you the funny thing about take away food here.  Everything has tape.  They pack it up like it's going on a ten-year, cross-country journey, not just out to the car or home to be eaten.  It is so funny.  They even put a piece of tape in the lid of the cup Savannah's soda came in.  She was cracking up and mentioned "let me untape my drink so I can have a sip" about a dozen times between there and my office.  She's quite the comedian.  OK, sorry. Back to my story. I eat a little bit then check my e mails (it's so nice to have 3G, have I mentioned that?) and have a note from our clearing agent for our container freight that arrived Monday night.  And I need to go to the customs office.  Tomorrow.  At 10:30 AM.  Right when I need to be sleeping.  So a little bit of panic sets in because I realize this is not going to work out well for me and the presentation I have planned with a colleague tomorrow and tonight with the normal work I need to be doing.  Sigh.  So I have to call Gideon.  Poor Gideon, I tell ya.  Maersk doesn't pay him enough to put up with us.  Whatever his salary is, I can assure you, it's not enough.  He says to go ahead and confirm and we will figure it out.  He will call me back in half an hour.  So we drive and go through not too much traffic and get to my office around ten minutes til 8.  I explain to the driver that I need him to take Savannah to the grocery store (it's the one we always go to and he thinks it's very funny, I guess, because we are such creatures of habit and chuckles every time I say it - "Oh yeah, Nilgiri's on ECR, Nilgiri's."  I should mention that our favorite western restaurant is next door, so this is our typical Saturday night - living the crazy life in Chennai!). And then I tell him also, after the store to please pick up Lakshmi on the way back to Padur to drop them off.  He is visibly annoyed, checking his watch and mumbles something about "after nine o'clock" and who knows what else.  But he's been off during the day all week, so then I am annoyed because I don't ask a lot during the week - Savannah to school and me to work.  I only use him one day on the weekend, usually only a half a day at that, and always make sure he has a full day off.  I am not a terrible American dictator making him work 24/7, and HE has not answered his phone a couple times when we needed him, even after discussion of, "I will call you on such and such day around this time," but I don't make a big deal about it.  Well, to him.  I probably do on FB and to you all.  LOL  Anyway, he doesn't know all that.  I always smile and tell him, "Thank you," so I AM nice to him! Moving right along.  Savannah texted me and said he was very annoyed and driving really fast and crazy (really, there's no other way to drive around here, so I am not sure how much craziER it could get, this doesn't worry me anymore) and asked me to have Gideon call him.  Poor Gideon.  I am pretty sure I called him at least 10 times tonight.  So I talked to Gideon, explained the driver was a little annoyed and Savannah was worried and we talked about me leaving work early to get some sleep before tomorrow and he made arrangements for a midnight pick up instead of 5 AM. All set for the meeting with customs. A few minutes goes by and I am set up at my desk, going through e mails and Savannah calls.  In a very hushed, but panicked voice, she whisper-yells: "MOM!  YOU DIDN'T GIVE ME YOUR CARD!!!  And we are almost to Nilgiri's!"  OH MY GOSH!  Yeah... this is typical Nikki-ness for Spring.  But I can't be this forgetful in India, where EVERYTHING takes planning.  So I literally laugh out loud, because of course I forgot to give her my card after she asked me for it.  And of course the driver is already annoyed.  And of course she wants ME to tell the driver "never mind, take her home"!  Well, guess what happened?  Yep, I called Gideon. (See?  He needs a raise!) So Gideon tells me I probably need to go sleep anyway since we have to do the customs thing in the morning, so I should take the night off and go meet her at the store.  He will get me a Maersk driver to meet her at the store and take us home and to send our regular driver away when I get there.  Gideon's a genius, I tell ya. OK, I tell my co-manager that our Lakshmi isn't feeling well anyway, since she was at the doctor and we haven't heard back from her, Savannah is stranded at the store without a way to pay, and I have to meet the Indian Customs guys in the morning, so I am going to take the night off, if he is OK with it.  He's a pretty cool guy, so we laughed about it for a minute while I waited on the car and then packed up to head out.  My neighbors looked at me a bit confused.  One guy asked if I was leaving for the night.  "Yep, nothing like a full 10 minutes of work to wear an American out! See ya tomorrow!" I know they all think I am nuts, anyway.  May as well play to it.  LOL  Soooooooo I walk downstairs and a driver I have never ridden with is there.  I tell him "Nilgiri's on ECR near Neelankari and Pallavakum" and he gives me the blank stare.  He asks, "House?" "Nope, Nilgiri's first. Then house."  "Padur? house?"  "No, not yet.  Padur after Nilgiri's in Neelankari."  "House."  No more questions. This is a statement this time.  Aw, hell, I don't have time for this!  But I have to laugh, I mean what else can I do!? My daughter is roaming around a store with no way to pay, probably already has almost everything loaded up, and is being followed (as we usually are) by the store personnel.  I am trying to tell the driver who speaks little to no English where I need to go, but my thick Texas drawl is getting in our way of effective communication.  For once I KNOW where I want to be and even have the dang small-area names right!!!!!!  There are times when I have no clue, and I am sure that's got to be frustrating for the driver.  But this time I KNOW IT and I can't make him understand, so it's frustrating to me.  But still funny, because I can totally picture Savannah wandering around this pretty small store, up and down every aisle with the mini-buggy (yes, I just said buggy, for all your cart-folks).  And at the same time, I feel bad because I know our driver was already trying to hurry, and here I am holding him up even more.  OK, regroup.  After a couple more times of repetition and hand gestures pointing to where I think the ECR is, he goes to get a guy who is beside the building, talking on his cell and smoking.  I hear a few words I don't know and then, "English?" A reply of "yes," and then a guy I don't know comes over to see if he can help.  And he can't.  Because he speaks almost as much English as the driver.  So I laugh more because this is just fricking hysterical at this point.  I am sure that Savannah is surely being escorted to the back room at this point, with it being probably half an hour after she called to tell me I forgot to give her the card, and we haven't even made it out of the parking lot yet.  And it's another 20 minutes or so to the store.  Poor little guy walks away after he can't figure out what this dang Texan is trying to say, and I decide it is time.  I will call Gideon.  Again.  And Gideon kindly tells the driver what needs to happen and we take off.  I realize a few kilo meters down the road that the driver is going the wrong direction.  Of course he is going the wrong direction.  We are heading into the city, but the store is the other way, heading toward Padur.  Sigh. "Hi, I think you need to turn around" - pointing behind me - "Neelankari and Padur is back there."  We are at a light.  He is turning right and looks at me like I am nuts.  I am pretty much accustomed to this look now.  I don't blink and say, again, "We need to go that way - toward Padur," and I know as soon as it gets out of my mouth that those were the wrong words. "Oh, house? Padur?"  Double sigh.  "No, OK, take me wherever you are going."  I wonder if I should text Savannah at this point or see how this plays out.  I think I am going to give it another five minutes.  Maybe this is a short cut.  Another route.  A side street.  But I recognize the billboards and flyover street and know we are heading towards Adyar and NOT where I need to be... I could use a big margarita right about this point. 
I text Savannah: Lots of traffic.  You might try to find an employee and explain I'm coming.  And then you can go drink a smoothie next door. Just a suggestion. You can tell driver to go and I'm coming if you think you can communicate with him.  And I'll need him at 8:30 in the AM.
Sav: I'm not leaving the store. Absolutely nobody speaks English.
Me:  LOL OK
Sav:  Don't laugh.
Me: Oh it's just all so funny.
Sav: Maybe for you because you're sitting in the car.  Not for me, awkwardly doing circles around the tiny store.
Me: That made me LOL more.  Sorry, trying to get there.  (Especially since I had already visualized this!!)
And then, out of nowhere, the driver says, "Nilgiri's center on ECR - down here," and points ahead.  Hmm OK, buddy, if you say so.  We go a couple minutes and curve to the right again and, by golly!, if we weren't on the ECR!  Whoo hoo!  So I text Savannah a couple shops I see to let her know I am close. 
Sav: Thank God.  People are getting suspicious.
Then, immediately following: Suspicious like, why is this crazy white girl reading the prices on all these cheeses and not getting any!
And then I was there.  We paid for the stuff, explained to our driver he could go (he was super nice and cordial... I think Gideon has some super calming powers...) and asked him to pick me up at 8:30 AM.  Morning.  He asks "AM or PM?"  Because when I said AM and MORNING first, it wasn't clear enough, apparently.  Soooooooo after all that we went next door and our restaurant was open.  We had tiramisu and got chocolate muffins for breakfast.  It's been a stressful night, we deserved dessert. Twice. LOL
Fortunately, all is well.  Lakshmi was here when we got home.  She was not sick, I don't think, but just had a check up or something.  I apologized, explained crazy plans as best I could, and she went to sleep.  It's almost 1 AM and I have to be up early so we can HOPEFULLY get our belongings!  Yippee!  So I better sign off for the night. Hope you had a good laugh at our story.  Sure appreciate your prayers and thoughts - cannot tell you enough how much it means to us when we get a virtual hug or a sweet note of encouragement.  We love and miss you all very much.  Later! 

Various Pics from our Time Here

Here is a VERY random collection of photos from my phone during our time here.  Enjoy!  - Um, yeah, I have spent half an hour trying to get these in order.  Sorry, no order for you, read the captions.  LOL

View down the street to our left as you exit the apartment complex.

Cows Dynamo wants to play with. They live across our street.

View to the right out of our complex.

Typical "shopping center" down the OMR in Chennai

Dy hates the lift.  Always wants out, stands with nose to the door, all the time.

"Shopping Center" in Kamchipuram where we registered for FRRO.

View of generator area from my balcony.  Oh, and the pool LOL

Mahabalipuram beach ride

Mahabalipuram beach "rides"

Mahabalipuram beach

Some goats eating the flowers off the bus at Mahabalipuram

Sav showing off her buys at the beach

Beautiful sunset over our complex

View directly in front of our balcony

View from balcony at Dy's level LOL

Grounds at our complex

Sav at the "photography studio" for our FRRO pics

Official Indian school schedule

Cop outside the Kanchipuram police station

Savannah and Ila outside our fave western restaurant

Sav & de-alcoholized beer (WHY!!!??) at the beach

More beach

Temples at Mahabalipuram beach behind the kiddo

You, Castes, Gandhi (again), Coffee & a little big of Bling

My last post was a rambling mess, but a handful of you commented that you enjoyed the cultural aspect of it, so after some thought I have decided I have a few groups of followers for this blog:

- Culture geeks.  Forget about Nikki & Savannah, you want to hear about the people and traditions and environment.

- Family who feels obligated to read this thing and keep updated with Savannah and Nikki. 

- NAM coworkers interested in some "GSC recon" and wonder what's really going on over here and why it isn't all "fixed" yet.

- OTCS coworkers interested in what the heck this crazy American is doing over here and what and why I really think about everything.

- Close friends who are annoyed that I don't e mail or text enough to keep in touch.

- Someone who can't sleep and needs something unintelligent enough to offer a slight bit of entertainment but not enough action to keep your eyes open for long.

- Others laughing about the complaining Americans whose traffic is impeded by cows and goats, that struggle with lack of AC and power on a regular basis, whose accents are so thick they get crazy looks half the time they are speaking, and who thought it was wise to bring a dog with them to live in India... 

Where do YOU fall on this list?  Whichever you are, I can assure there is much more interesting stuff out there to read, but I am flattered that you would pick our crazy adventure to follow.

So I'll try to cover a little bit of everything for everyone.

Let's start with another little something for my culture-buffs. Castes. Quite the topic nobody discusses... I was in a class a few years back and the text indicated that there is no more caste system in India. A girl in the class was from north India and still had family there. She disputed the text and told us that although it is quite the taboo subject, the caste system is alive & well in India. I was interested to see this for myself. Will I get in trouble for writing about it? I hope not. Here are my thoughts: Yep. She was right. The lady that stays with Savannah overnight, Lakshmi, is wonderful. Very sweet and kind and even helps with meals sometimes now, too. If I were to tell my local friends or colleagues the lady that stays with Savannah they would not know who I meant. She's commonly referred to as our maid. She's even been called our servant girl by a couple people.  I was told that I need to watch my valuables (ie: cell phones, Nook, etc) closely and keep my bedroom door locked when I am not home by more than one person. That makes my heart sad. I am very thankful to have someone I can trust to stay with Sav while I work nam hours. And I am thankful to have someone who can help with cooking & cleaning, too. I might even get a little spoiled with that aspect. But I just don't have it in me, nor do I want the mentality, that she deserves less or is treated differently than us because she was born in a "lower caste" than me. She is very underpaid, in my opinion.  I tried to pay her more than the agreed monthly fee, but she would not take it.  Savannah said her friend told her we have "the most spoiled maid in India" because we don't have her doing a lot of typical maid-like duties.  I make Savannah do the dishes, I cook most nights, we do our own laundry, etc... I understand it is ingrained in this culture, but we hope we show her the same respect, appreciation, and love we do everyone else.

Savannah & Lakshmi

Cost of living win: My daily prescription for thyroid in the US was about $7 a month/generic, $20 for name brand with insurance. I picked up 100 pills - over 3 months' worth - Saturday for about $2.

Savannah is out of school all week.  She had some final exams last week and only went to school half days.  About a month ago I was hounding her to get with the front office at her school and bring home a holiday schedule so we could plan for visitors and trips.  As you know, I am pretttttty excited about my folks coming later this month, for which we were able to plan as a direct result of her finally walking up there and hand-writing the schedule.  Hand-written because we are in India, after all, and we cannot have something published on a website or printed out.  That hand-written schedule did NOT include this week.  I am told her school is very unorganized and often plans are made or changed last minute... I wonder to myself if this is a school issue or an Indian issue??  Anyway, she better still be out the week my parents are in.  She will find out next Monday.  Oh, India. Sigh.  

Today is Mahatma Gandhi's birthday and it is a national holiday.  Gandhi is considered the father of the Indian independence movement and used non-violent protests and influence working with the country's poorest classes (he even oversaw the first inter-caste marriage).  His face is on the Indian Rupees we spend.  Savannah learned about him last year in World History after she told her teacher we were moving here and impressed her current teacher with the extent of her knowledge on this country's historical figure.  Gandhi had great influences on many civil rights leaders world wide, including America's own Martin Luther King, Jr. for his non-violent and loving approach to his opposition.

Saturday evening Savannah, her BFF, Ila, and I went to Express Avenue mall, which is quite similar to the Woodlands Mall.  After an hour and a half drive on a Saturday evening with little to no traffic (yeah, we won't be doing this often), we found lots of international stores and chains we recognize... pretty high end stuff, for the most part.  But I was excited to hit a health and beauty store with brands like L'Oreal, Neutrogena, Oil of Olay, Nivea and a few others I can't think of now.  I was out of lots (see next paragraph, where all our belongings are not in our possession yet...) so I stocked up like it was going out of style.  I made sure to buy some "hair fall" shampoo and conditioner, as it seems my hair is still falling out.  And, by the way, growing in gray.  My roots are awful.  My next mission might be to find somewhere that does good color.  I am scared... but it is a necessary step.  Last week we bought coconut oil because everyone here uses it and I figured, "when in Rome!" and "it can't hurt - already falling out as it is..." and it was less than a dollar.  So I started that almost a week ago.  I haven't noticed a difference yet, but I have read a lot online and EVERYONE swears by it.  Lots of thick heads of long hair over here, so it's worth a shot.  After EA we were looking forward to a western meal, a restaurant called Sparky's Diner that looked really fun and American!  However, after we finally found the place - even with 3G iPhone maps, our driver is sometimes challenged finding where we are trying to go - it was CLOSED.  Before 8 PM on a Saturday.  We were really disappointed, but not defeated.  I used my handy-dandy "AroundMe" app (Thank you, MAX!) and found another restaurant that sounded pretty western.  And we couldn't find it anywhere.  Dang iPhone maps app.  So then we tried another, an Italian place, and really enjoyed it.  I will tell ya, though, I could have used a nice glass of wine with my meal, but that just doesn't happen here.  It is SO WEIRD to me!  I don't know why, but I always ask.  I guess I am hoping one place will magically say, "Yes, we do.  Would you like Riesling or moscato?"  And then I will fall over in shock and not even get to enjoy it. LOL  A girl can dream... Since I did not get to enjoy an adult beverage, we had fancy coffee.  Our baristas were quite the artists!

 Our container came into the port of Chennai Monday and discharged the vessel just after midnight... that is pretty exciting.  I met a clearing agent tonight and turned over my passport, signed several papers and gave a copy of my FRRO (Foreign Residence Registration Office - like US immigration) permit so they could start working with Indian customs and get us our goods... With tomorrow being a holiday, they will begin working on this Wednesday.  He was optimistic that we might be able to clear for delivery by the weekend.  One thing I have learned living here so far (almost three months already!!) is that NOTHING happens in the timeframe someone first provides.  So I am realistically hopeful that we might have our goods by next weekend.  Would I LOVE to have them sooner?  Sure (like a month ago when they were due!!).  But do I expect them before mid month?  Nah.

On the horizon, we have a trip planned for the weekend after my parents leave to hit that French Province I mentioned a while back, Pondicherry with some friends from the office.  It's a couple hours drive from here and we are going to stop on the way there and back to see some other sights along the way.  I am really looking forward to it.  It's been a big adjustment not being able to just get in the car and go wherever, whenever.  This will be a nice weekend away and not have to worry about planning our driver, etc.  I am concerned about my sleeping... I am pretty accustomed to sleeping until 3 PM or so Saturday afternoon and then running out with Savannah, staying up late and then sleeping almost all of Sunday.  This will be a challenge... my first sleepless weekend.  I see lots of coffee in my future and hopefully some understanding friends & coworkers when Cranky Nikki rears her ugly head.  I am pretty sure they don't know what they are in for.  Lucky India.

One last little story and I'll be done... last week a girl on our team was wearing some sparkly jewelry. Bling, if you will.  Most of you probably know I am a sucker for all things blingy, shiny, sparkly or pink.  Well, these earrings were everything but pink.  Really cute and fun.  So, of course, I had to compliment her!  This weekend after we ate, there was a shop downstairs that had some fun stuff, so I bought myself a pair of blingy bangles and earrings (seeing her all blingy let me know it was OK to wear these to the office) and I wore them to work Monday.  A little bit after I got in, she came over with a gift.  For me!  She said she had gone shopping with her aunt over the weekend at T. Nagar and saw this and thought of me.  I am SO wearing these to work Tuesday!  So thoughtful and sweet of her... she knows the way to this American's heart, for sure. 

It's October 2 here - we've been here just under 3 months, have less than 3 weeks left until we get to hug my mom and dad, and less than 3 months until we are home for the holidays. We are more familiar with our surroundings and have and understanding of realistic expectations for just about everything related to life in India these days. We still miss home, friends, family, wine & margaritas (well, I do... Savannah better not!), Mexican food and convenience shopping more than I can explain.  But every day is getting a little easier and I think we are getting more comfortable.  We have been treated with kindness by almost everyone here, which has made the transition easier.  I do wish there was a way to grab my sweet nieces and pull them through the Skype screen, but until tele-transport is invented, I guess I will settle for 2D chats on the computer and looking forward to home visits when I can hug and kiss them in person. We appreciate your kind notes through e mails, FB, texts and your continued prayers for us. We love and miss you all.  Take a minute to celebrate the life of Gandhi today, and celebrate all he lived for: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world," Mahatma Gandhi