A Good Day

Rich told me several days ago that I need to write a positive blog. Well, I had a pretty decent day today, so here's all the positive, fabulous things that happened today:

1. Even though the high temperature today was 114 degrees, we managed to stay cool all day, thanks to car A/C, swimming pools, and generators. We are so blessed.

2. Isaac and I mowed the lawn together this morning. It felt so normal and suburban to do such a thing. And a little physical exercise is always a good thing!

3. Umesh, our handyman, showed up and fixed a bunch of things that were bugging me--a leaky toilet, a screen door that wouldn't stay shut, a broken light, and an outlet that kept frying multiplugs (literally . . . last night it was sizzling). When he shows up, Umesh is the greatest! Perhaps the greatest part about all of this is that I delegated to Sarita the job of calling him, waiting for him, and directing him. She did a superb job arranging it all.

4. I knew we would be gone all day but I had enough foresight to leave instructions with Sarita to make dinner for tomorrow (Sunday). So I don't have to cook and we have enough food I could even invite someone over.

5. Before bed we all knelt in a row on Isaac's bed and Russell volunteered to say the prayer ("because I in the middle!"). He always goes on and on and we can't catch it all, but he is so sincere and reverent. Most of tonight's prayer revolved around Grandma and Grandpa and trains. I think he blessed the food too. But so sweet.

6. Graham tried tofu rolled in wheat germ today and he liked it! He's also been eating graham crackers in the car when we're on the go and he loves them.

7. I hired a driver named Roy Issac today who can start Monday, speaks English, has good references and experience and will work for a reasonable salary! After having major communication and navigation barriers to lumber over today with my current driver, this will be a welcome relief. And he doesn't need a place to live, so that means one less person living here to cause trouble. Hooray! Now I can go explore the city more without worrying about getting hopelessly lost and hopefully start sending the driver out on some of my errands. Blessed again. What a relief. And Isaac is thrilled that we will have a driver named Mr. Issac and we also know Isaac Isaac Pritchett.

8. We went to a birthday party for Isaac's classmate Charlie at the British High Commission Lounge. It wasn't as formal as it sounded on the invitation, our kids didn't make any scenes, and I wasn't too socially awkward and chatted with some interesting people I hadn't met yet--a woman from Peru and some Japanese new mothers, and an American heading off to Moscow or Singapore.

9. Sister Pritchett from our branch invited us to ACSA (the American Embassy club). We had hamburgers, fries, root beer, M&M's, and swam in a wonderfully shaded pool and Isaac got to walk their dog Jaya (he likes dogs now since he's spent some time with her). The Pritchetts have been so good to us. Brother Pritchett wants to go back to the USA to teach economics at Harvard soon, but we're hoping they decide to stay.

10. Rich is in Taiwan on business but we have talked to him several times today. I also talked to Dad in New Zealand. What a blessing our mobile phones and phone networks are! I am happy to hear Mom is also a little better from whatever disease she caught in Delhi and that Dad survived the earthquake that hit Tonga while he was there for work. Blessed again.

So there you have it, Rich . . . a completely positive blog.

A Day in the Life of Mindy

So there’s never a dull moment in India. Here’s the play-by-play run-down of my day:

4:00 am Isaac woke up complaining his arm hurt. I think it’s growing pains. I gave him some Tylenol after distracting him didn’t work and he finally went to sleep.

4:30 am Couldn’t sleep so I emailed and blogged on my newly set-up computer

6:30 am Took a very quick shower in order to have hot water before it ran out

7:30 am Sent Isaac off to school with Rich and the driver

8:00 am Tried to figure out how to direct Sarita and Sudhir to do the things I want around the house and while I was thinking they were working and I realized they’re doing pretty much everything I would ever do and more. The only thing we’re really missing is a good cleaner to scrub the bathrooms with so I can see how really bad or good they are. Still looking for that . . . Have yet to see Comet or anything like it.

9:00 am Received a surprise visit from the American Women’s Association (AWA) Welcome Committee Chair Sandie Axelson. She lives down the road and was stopping by to make sure I was finding my way to the meeting

9:30 am Sent Sudhir to the market to buy laundry soap, bread, and stuff to make cholle for us (which turned out to be garbanzo beans).

10:00 am Went to the AWA meeting at the Delhi Golf Club. It was extremely posh, and I was (again) very under-dressed and the only one with my children. But I brought Sarita with me to help and it was nice. I met several moms with young children and got an idea of what AWA is all about. They do shopping trips and culture meetings and community outreach programs.

12:30 Picked Isaac up at school and we had lunch (hamburgers and mint chip ice cream cones) in the cafeteria with Marcia and her kids (Thomas & Ellie) along with several other families from Belgium, Australia, Korea, and somewhere else in Europe.

2:00 pm Returned home from school and fed Graham.

3:00 pm Received a visit from a merchant selling stools made of rope and bamboo. I told him I may be interested in buying some and he said he’d come back in a half hour with the stools I was talking about buying.

3:30 Received a visit from our driver’s sister. It turns out he sent her because he doesn’t speak English very well and wanted her to tell me that he doesn’t want to work for us anymore because he can make more money as a taxi driver and wants to make sure we can survive without him. The irony of this is that we have another driver lined up for next month and were trying to figure out how to tell him!

4:00 pm Merchant returned and I bought two stools and three cute little kid chairs and a table for 1000 rupees (about $20).

4:30 pm Went to this amazing fruit and vegetable market called Ohkla Market with Sarita, Isaac, and Graham while Russell stayed home with Sudhir and did puzzles. While Graham slept in the car with Maraj (the driver) we braved the market. It’s basically this long dirt road with people sitting on either side with big piles of produce in front of them. It’s loud, smells of animal dung, but the produce is beautiful. Sarita walked the whole line asking prices and then we turned back around and got the things we wanted at the best prices. We got a huge bag (so heavy that Sarita and I had to carry it together) of potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, onions, ginger, and cilantro for about 100 rupees ($2).

5:30 pm We got home and Sarita realized her cell phone was missing. I think someone stole it from her at the market. She went to her room to make sure she hadn’t left it there and came back and I could tell she had been crying. I would cry too if I’d lost a cell phone that had cost me almost one month’s wages! I wished they'd stolen mine instead. I called Rich and he suggested we just buy her a new one. I agreed—after all, we call her all the time and use up her minutes anyway.

6:30 pm I fill up the bathtub a whole three inches or so for the boys to take a bath (that’s all the hot water there is). We read “Homer Price” (Thanks, Aunt Amy!) in the kitchen so we can watch Sudhir make chapatis (like wheat tortillas).

7:00 pm Isaac and Russell eat their chapatis at their new little rope bamboo table with cheese and apple juice. Daddy gets home and holds Graham and practices saying his numbers in Hindi (he’s been learning them from Maraj while he drives him around). We’re so glad when Daddy comes home!

7:30 pm Isaac slips on the water draining from the washer and bites his tongue and starts bleeding. Daddy flees to the bedroom for two hours of conference calls (he added that part—I’m not bitter!). Russell asks me to pick him up and take him to bed.

7:40 pm Two men show up to assess our air conditioning needs. They say we need 12 tons of AC power and Freescale has currently only allowed 7 tons. We’ll see what the next guy says. The landlord’s daughter returns my call from earlier that day and assures me that she’s sending someone to REALLY fix the leak in the wall upstairs so it stops growing mold, but it will take a week or so. Glad we haven’t moved up there yet!

7:50 pm Isaac goes up to the roof to hang laundry, which he’s been begging me to do all night. Last night he was lamenting that he has to go to school and miss out on all the laundry fun (“When I go to high school, it will be even worse. I won’t get to do ANY laundry!”)

8:00 pm Isaac goes to bed.

8:15 pm Sarita and Sudhir finish cleaning the kitchen and I finally get to try their yummy cholle (garbanzo bean soup with cilantro, red onion, lots of garlic, and tomatoes) with chapatis.

9:15 am My day goes full circle and here I sit doing the email thing again. Phew!