Our first snake

We had our first say, at least that is what I was told. We ran into our neighbors at dinner last night who mentioned that our guards chased a snake over the wall onto their property yesterday. Their guard promptly killed the snake....a baby cobra! (If anyone feels this was wrong to kill this snake just send me your address and we will box up the next snake and mail it to you.) Our guards didn't mention anything to us, our driver or the night guard about it. We did have some friends children over yesterday and maybe they didn't want to create panic by saying, "Ma'am we just chased a snake over the wall." Wise choice in my opinion. I am really bummed I didn't even get to see the snake (dead or alive), but I did manage to see the photo the guard took of the dead snake. The snake was about 1 1/2 feet long and was a "baby" snake. After the snake was killed they burned the snake to keep other snakes from coming to find the dead snake. But I am sure you too are wondering where the mama snake is??? The neighbors actually had a snake in their kitchen a few weeks ago but believe it made its' way in while workmen were working on the house (door left open). For now I keep telling myself snakes can't climb steps, right?

A years time

It is just amazing that one year ago we first ventured to this amazing country. While having dinner with friends this weekend it dawned on me that one year ago we first visited India to find a house! Absolutely amazing! I would have never in my wildest dreams invisioned that I would be so content to live so far from "home". But here we are nine months later (nine months ago we boarded the plane) and settled into our life here so far away from the midwest! Wow! God has truly been gracious to us. Moving to India was the hardest thing I have ever had to do and I have done it! One thing that makes India possible is the network of friends. We have made a great deal of friends here and are able to get together often. I had always heard while on an expat assignment your friends become family and now I understand why.

A Hindu Wedding

We have attended wedding receptions before but never a wedding as they are often at 6 am in the morning but today we attended the wedding which began at 9 am. The wedding was held at a marriage hall which had a roof, a concrete floor and open walls. Music played by various instruments. Breakfast, tea and coffee were served in an adjacent dining hall and drinks were frequently passed out during the ceremony. The groom works for Ted and was very honored to have us attend. We were of course the only western couple there and had our photo taken frequently! I took lots of photos, I chose to take my point and shoot camera so I wouldn't be so obvious but oh I wish I had my Canon there! The ceremony lasted around 1 1/2 hrs in which there were many rituals performed. They threw a lot of flowers, sprinkled oil, adorned each other with gee (clarified butter I think), washed feet, etc. The one thing that really stuck out was how much of a role the parents played. In India not only do a man and woman unite in marriage but the family does as well. The fathers each put gee (I think) on each others cheek and the mothers did the same. The groom washed his father's feet and the bride washed her mother's feet. The wedding seemed to be completed when the drums were beating very fast as the bride was present a leather like thin necklace which signifies the marriage.

A hard life under the sleeping trees

I have said so many times that India is an incredible nation of millions of people. The poverty here is enormous and sometimes overwhelming. The only difference between the people here and myself is that they were born in India and I was born in the United States. People everywhere have the same basic needs in life. Some needs are met more easily than others. Here the people seem to be faced with such adversity but they continue forward. Now not everyone here is subject to such great poverty but an incredible amount are. Every time I go out I am faced with poverty right in my face. Am I used to it? Yes, but does it still make an impact? Yes! I hope that in 2 years I can still say that. On the way to school we have been seeing the blue tents which the government will probably eventually remove but for now they have set up camp. Early in the morning the women prepare food over a wood fire, you can see some pots between tents. The clothes are washed with a bucket of water and beat again the ground and hung to dry. For now this beautiful tree lined street (the trees are called sleeping trees) gives these people shelter from the intense heat and a place to call home.

Running low on diesel fuel

Lately we have been experience a shortage of diesel fuel. Many of the vehicles here run on diesel so this is a huge matter. Trucks, autorickshaws, SUV, cars, generators and vans (our is a diesel Toyota) run on diesel so without diesel the ecomony could really come to a halt. I am not sure what the exact problem is but I have heard that there is such huge demand with the ever increasing population and the number of companies moving here. When this happened in June I read an article that a tanker just didn't make it to port, but I have not heard this happening this time. So for whatever the reason was I was thankful that our vans were pretty full and we avoided the mess of waiting in line. One thing that is so different at gas stations here are they are all full service, meaning they pump your gas for you. They seem to employ a lot of people, women included (they wear a salwar with the gas station vest over it). So the next time you gas up and don't have to wait in line be thankful for no lines and cheap gas (it is over $5 a gallon here).

Going Vegetarian

After our trip to the US this summer, the hardest part of living in India is the meat...or I should say the lack of quality meat. Now granted living in the midest USA we are blessed to have some of the best tasting meat in the world, or so I think. Buying good beef or pork here is difficult. Meal preparation is always a task for me here. I have come to realize how much I relied on hamburgers, pork chops, bratwurst, steak, etc for our meals in the US. India has plenty of chicken and very fresh chicken but I can't find the nerve to buy from the street chicken shops. Seeing fresh chicken completely covered in flies just does something to my stomach. Plus seeing the poor little chickens panting behind the counter waiting to become someone's dinner just isn't appealing to me. Now granted I do feel the God put animals on the earth for the purpose of food, but I just prefer to just see the meet shrink wrapped and on a plastic tray. I remember one time in the US we had some old hen's we decided to butcher, thank goodness I had to stay in with the kids. I ended up giving them away as I just couldn't eat my hens. I have recently been buying my meat from a local butcher shop that delivers and after receiving frozen chicken breasts with hair (not feathers) and minced beef (hamburger) with pieces of grass I decided to shop elsewhere. The meat shop consists of 3 deep freezers and the packages are pretty much covered in blood. And of course the smell, well we won't go into that. I realize now how much I took for granted the supermarkets in the US. I am trying to learn some new dishes with the help of our neighbors cook as the only other option is to go vegetarian, but many of you know that I am not a huge vegetable fan. Feel free to send me chicken recipes!

A temple festival

This past weekend there was a temple festival help at the temple at the end of the street. The weeks prior they had spent much time painting the temple and decorating it for the festival. The decorations included ornamental lights, flowers, banana trees and leaves. It was really interesting to see. I have asked about the festival but still do not understand what it was about. We saw our maid and gardener and they were thrilled to have us visit. The food preparation began early in the morning and was cooked in huge pots over a wood fire. When evening approached they blocked off the road and set up a long row of tables and chairs. Everyone knows how I love taking photos but I am always a little hesitant about taking pictures of people. I always like to check with Bhaskar if it okay for me to take photos. He assured me they would not mind and I was amazed at all the kids surrounding me asking me to take their photo. I was disappointed with my photos though, I am still trying to figure the camera out:)

Saraswathe and Sampeth and family (our maid and gardener)

Off to school

The kids completed their first full week of school and it went great! Yes, they started school early but they do have more holidays than US schools as they have both Indian and American holidays off and in the end they go the same number of days. The kids are enjoying their teachers. It is great to have them start school at the beginning of the school year. They adjusted last January but it was tough on them. I am so proud of our kids for the way they have handled moving to India. As a tradition I always take photos of them on the first day of school, one photo is by the house and one is of them walking out down the driveway to wait for the bus. In their younger years I was able to photo them getting on to the bus but as the boys have gotten older I have been banned to hiding in the bushes so not to be seen. The photos this year are taken in front of the house and walking to the van.

Logan 5th grade, Mason 7th grade and Emily 2nd grade

Shoes, no service

In the US you will sometimes see a notice outside the door to a store stating, "No Shoes No Service." Well today in India I experienced the opposite as I could not enter a store with shoes on. So you guessed it I didn't go in. For those of you who don't know me well, I am a bit of a germophobic (although my sister won't believe I am getting better). Removing my shoes (of course I had to have sandals on today) and walking barefoot on the floor where lots of other barefeet have been just isn't something I was willing to do. Going barefoot in a house doesn't generally bother me, it was the fact that lots of other feet are going barefoot and you just don't know where those feet have been! I was so tempted to find a music store that would let me shop with my shoes on, but finding anything in Chennai isn't the easiest and I wasn't willing to attempt this. So I stuck my head in and said I was looking for a keyboard stand but was not taking my shoes off, so the transaction was completed with me standing outside! I bought a keyboard stand and kept my shoes on!

Catching up on sleep and friends

Coming back to India has been an adjustment....trying to readjust to a 10 1/2 hr time difference is not an easy thing to do but we are getting there. You have to force yourself to stay up as late as possible and not nap all day long. On Friday we decided to have some friends over which grew to a party of about 23 people. It was great to see old friends and meet new friends. They thought I was crazy but I knew it would be good to keep me busy and awake. Half of the people were kids so the house was a bit noisy but they had fun.

I have not seen the monkeys back, but I did see a begging dog yesterday. We were driving home from a friend's house and saw a dog limping on the street and walking up to a lady carrying bags of which I presume had food in them. My first thought was the poor dog had a broken leg and was really hungry. But what I witnessed was amazing, the lady ignored the dog and continued walking and the dog walked away too, without a limp! He was faking a broken leg to get food!

The kids are gearing up to start school on Monday. Emily is quite excited as she has several friends in her class. I am looking forward to meeting new people at school. There have been several people I have been emailing that have moved here and at last we can meet at school. It should be a fun year for all!