Friday, January 11, 2008

Another day

The kids are at there fourth day of school. Mason seems to be adjusting, each day a little easier. Everyone says to give him a few weeks and he will be just fine. I met with 3 of his teachers yesterday and they were very impressed with him and are going to continue to monitor him and help this adjustment period. We are looking forward to this weekend as it is a 3 day weekend. The kids have Monday of in celebration of Pongal...a festival celebrating farming (crops, animals, etc). They say that Thursday is the day celebrating the animals so the cattle will be adorned with flowers and have there horns painted. I feel sad for one cow we pass every day to school as he is missing one horn, perhaps they will give her a prosthetic horn that day! The ride to and from school is just amazing. On the way to school we take very main roads but the way back to the house is very different. Our driver calls it the short cut, but in essence we are cutting through the "life" of India. The road is barely wide enough for one vehicle but amazingly 2 can fit. Today some woman were laying at the side of the road, evidently resting from working at a construction site. The pulled there legs up so that we could fit through. You may wonder why would women work at a construction site, well they do very manual labor. They are often seen carrying 12 or so bricks on top of there head or carrying buckets of sand or rock. It takes a very long time to build a house. All the building are made out of concrete and wood. We have some homes going up next to us and it has taken one year to get the framing done and then it will be several more months for it to be finished.

We are still waiting for the internet, satelitte, and electrician to show up. I remember people warning us about real time vs Indian time. I truly see now what they mean. India moves at incredibly slow pace. The work will get done...eventually.

We are going to be ordering meat from a meat market this weekend that will deliver to our house. Supposedly it is fresh and the pigs and cows are fed well as opposed to garbage. I am not sure what the cuts of meat will be but we will figure it out. So far we have had tacos, chicken and noodles, pork roast, pinneapple chicken and pizza. We have had fresh grapes, pinneapple, coconut, green beans (yummm-NOT!) and carrots. Cleaning the fruits and vegetables is more time consuming but since I don't have to clean or do laundry I should have plenty of time!

The pool is coming along nicely. They were delivering more materials last night. The big trucks only drive at night to keep the road congestion at a minimal. However I have been told big trucks can be out if they pay off the police.

Please keep in touch! Have a wonderful day!

3 comments:

Mother of the Mad dogs said...

I realized I had not enabled comments to my blog! Early days. My girls will be in 6th and 2nd grade - are your children in them too? Also my husband & I are coming out Jan 19th to look for a house. I showed my girls yr house last night - they love the idea of living so close to the ocean. Would you mind replying to my blog which neighbourhood/District yr in?
Thanks.

Hannah Grace said...

Jennifer,
This sounds so amazing and your house is fabulous. I was showing the kids where you are and they are so intrigued by your blog. How can we especially pray for Mason...what is he struggling with as far as adjustments go? Let me koow. I want to come to India, and visit. I have always thought the people of India are so beautiful. My brother John who lives in the Detroit area lives in a subdivision with alot of families from India. They are so friendly to John and his family. Keep me posted on how things are going.
With Love,
Janie

Anonymous said...

Jennifer,
I have been so anxious to read your blogs. It's almost like reality tv! I'm glad you all are adjusting and I am sure this will be a great experience. I would say sign me up if I didn't have to clean or do laundry!! I'm glad the kids have friends from the states. You guys will have met so many people through this and I bet remain friends with some. It really is a once in a lifetime experience. I'm going to send pics of emily that I never got to you. Today were are haeding out to sell Girl Scout cookies. Maybe you won't be fundraisers there!!
Take care and keep in touch. Our e-mail is bmaster@dishmail.net.
Rachel