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!
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!
Funny! This took me three days to read.
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