Continuing our story....

I have designed the new blog to continue the story of our life as we live in the United States. You can find the new blog at www.greenamericans.blogspot.com.
Stop by and let me know what you think! I may not have as much to write about but we'll see. I have learned you never know where life may take you!

Back to reality...gulp

Well, we are back in the "real world". I realize what truly incredible experience India was now that I am back to reality! What a life we had over there. Everyone wants to know how I feel about being back. Well, lots of different emotions. I can't say that I am sad to be back but I do miss India. I can't imagine 2 years ago I would have uttered those words. But I do miss it...the colors, sites, cow lined streets, the people, less hectic schedules, etc. There are a lot of things I don't miss...dirt, poverty, UHT milk, shopping at Fresh and Frozen, cleaning produce, etc. We seemed to pack quite few things in the last few weeks of life in Chennai that I wanted to share with you. I am so thankful that we had our time in India!

Sundar and his family

Outside Bhaskar's gate

Bhaskar and his wife, two sons, mother, sister and nieces

The kitchen

The packers~did a great job!

Put this in the sea shipment please...see you in 2 months Logan

Millie's last walk to the beach with Aruna

Logan and Harry (will miss him climbing over the wall!)

A trip to Pondicherry~past the salt mines

The finished product heading to market

The reason we went to Pondicherry~to get a photo of the right eye

Cute huh? She should really paint those toes

Wide Load coming through

Lotus flowers in a temple pond

Chilling out by the pool at Fisherman's Cove (we stayed here when our house was packed up)

Checking Millie and Cleo in at the airport

Our neighbors were on the first part of the trip!

Waiting in Frankfurt Germany...halfway home

Millie and Cleo under the engine...glad they didn't forget them!

I have really enjoyed keeping this blog the past 20 months or so. It has been a fantastic way for me to journal our time in India! I am glad that I have been able to share our experiences with friends and family. I am also very thankful that I have been able to use this blog to teach others about our experiences of being an expat in Chennai India! I have loved being able to handle the technical aspect of publishing this blog. I have truly enjoyed photographing the part of the world we have been blessed to see. I am not sure exactly what to do now. I do want to continue blogging but will most likely begin a new blogspot so that Our Time in India can remain just that...Our time in India. So check back and I will let you know were you can see Our life in the US! Thank you everyone for you love and support!

Back in the USA

We have now been back in the US for 4 days and are beginning to get over jet lag. It was a very busy week last week with the packers, end of school and saying goodbyes. It is hard to believe that our time in India is over. Seems like a dream in one way that we were ever there. But we were and what a great experience it was! I still have several more blogs that I need to add about things that we did before heading back to the US. I hope to work on it in a few days. I just don't seem to have the time like before since I am now the housekeeper, cook, driver, and gardener!

Happy Birthday Logan

Today Logan is 11 years old. I can't believe how big is he getting! Seems like he was just a baby. We can't imagine not having him in our family. He adds such a dimension to our family...mostly laughter and noise:) He is a great kid and loves to keep us laughing. We are so proud of him and all he does. We are truly blessed to have such a great son as Logan. Happy Birthday Logan! We love you very much!!

See you later...not farewell

One thing about leaving anyplace whether it is leaving a home or leaving a family reunion, goodbyes are hard for me. I cry at the drop of the hat! Saturday night our dear friends Alan and Juliet hosted a party in our honor, the last time we would all be together in India. Over the past year we have gotten together with 4 families, 10 adults and 10 kids for dinner and drinks every Friday or Saturday night...sometimes both! We have made such good memories and have had so much fun together. We have learned to understand British and Scottish people talking. Yes, they speak English but it sounds a wee bit different than the Midwest English we were used to. We have learned a lot of terms and phases. The evening began with some cocktails on Alan and Juliet's rooftop while hearing the ocean waves crash and the warm breeze blowing. Then we headed down to dinner where Juliet once again set a lovely table! She should be a party planner because she can make a table look gorgeous! We toasted with champagne flown in from London (thanks Ian!) and started dinner. I had no clue what we were in for after dinner. They presented us with a beautiful collage of photos from our travels we have taken! Everyone knows how I love photography and I always wondered how I could display the photos, now I know! Ted had managed to sneak our hard drive over to Yan's house where they all spent hours cutting photos apart. It is awesome! But the evening wasn't over...they gave me a beautiful Saree as well as some head decorations and some beautiful decorated rubber gloves so when I have to go back to doing my own dishes I shall feel like a queen! Of course to go along with it Ted was presented a Maharajah hat and a flashing ganesh decoration. To complete the evening we were given a list of things that we could do back in Illinois to make it feel a bit like India.

1. Stop the local garbage pickup and sprinkle it liberally around your yard.
2. Allow the cows to roam freely about your property and neighbors property.
3. When asked for directions always give directions even if you don't know where they are trying to get to, and simply point them back in the direction that they just came from.
4. When having repairs done in your home, insist that the electrician or plumber, be accompanied by a small boy and only allow them to use a single screwdriver while doing the work.
5. While driving your car use the horn liberally.
6. Put up a guard shack at the end of the drive complete with a log book and record everyone who comes and goes.
7. Have your morning constitution overlooking the stream in the woods.
8. When driving just drive down the center of the road. Make sure to use your horn a lot.
9. Stop and pee along side the road frequently.
10. Throw any trash we may accumulate in van out the window.
11. When giving an answer refuse to answer yes or know, just bob your head sideways.

The great group that helped make India a great experience

Jane Goodall's visit

Several months ago our neighbors hosted a fundraiser cocktail party where Jane Goodall was the guest speaker. I can remember watching her on TV as a child and was fascinated by the life she led living with the chimpanzees. We were able to have our photo with her and get an autographed book. Unfortunately Ted was unable to be there as he was en route to the US.

Please don't say thank you

I was at store today shopping for some silver jewelry. Whenever I shop, unless I am extremely irritated with the shop, I am polite. I like to say please and thank you. But today the sales clerk, very nicely said you don't need to say please and thank you, I am here to serve you. I told him I believe being polite (saying please and thank you) was important to me. I explained that by me being polite he could still help me and that I felt it would be rude of me to forget my manners! The other funny thing was he kept wanting me to sit down while looking at jewelry but the fact that I am so short made it hard to get a good look at the jewelry, so I stood. I actually joked and asked if he would get in trouble if I didn't sit down:) Soon I will be back to the US where it will be hard to find a salesclerk in a three mile radius of the store and I will wish for a brief nanosecond I was back in India!

Traveling ATM

We needed to get quite a bit of cash to purchase something for a friend who had to leave India suddenly. Banking in India is an interesting experience as is just about everything else. The bank that we bank at, or I should say Ted banks at (I am not on the account-too much paperwork involved for that!) is located in the city and is quite a drive in and I hear from Ted quite an experience inside. I have never been inside since I am not on the account. But I have an ATM card with Ted's name and use it to get rupees at just about any ATM. The ATM however limits the amount of money you can take out, that is if the ATM has power. It is not uncommon for ATM to either be out of cash or unable to give cash to due power outages.

note the sign written on cardboard~power cut

Since we needed a large amount of rupees today we emailed the bank president to request money to be delivered. We have done this once before and I must say it is pretty convenient! The guy drives a two wheeler to the house with a brief case loaded with rupees. He comes in and Ted gives him a check. The only glitch was that Ted made the check out wrong and the guy spoke no English, but we got it figured out! So we got the rupees, ordered our friends stuff and didn't have to visit the bank or the ATM everyday for a week! I am quite sure I will never again have an ATM show up on my door step!

17 years of wedded bliss

Today Ted and I are celebrating 17 years of marriage! If anyone would have said on our wedding day that we would celebrate 2 anniversaries in India I would have laughed in their face! But here were are! We are being joined by friends this afternoon for a Midwest cookout complete with beef ribeyes smuggled in by Ted! I am so blessed to have Ted for a husband and as a result three beautiful kids! Happy Anniversary Ted, I love you!

Another Chicken Bike

We were driving down the street and I saw live chickens being weighed on scale outside a shop. I asked Bhaskar to turn around so we could see how these chickens would be transported, instead of turning around he just backed down the busy street. Makes sense, this is India after all...what road rules?? We saw the chickens coming toward us, they were tied to a bicycle! More photos of a chicken bike. I seem to be a bit obsessed with this but only a few more weeks and I will never see anything like this again! The guy didn't seem happy at all while I was filming and taking his photo but as soon as we passed him he was smiling from ear to ear!

Koimbedu Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Market

Thursday morning I arose before dawn to begin the drive to one of the largest fruit, vegetable and flower market in Chennai. The market actually starts to set up around 2 am, wholesale goes from 5-7am and it is open to the public from 7-9am. My friend Liz and I left at 5 am and arrived around 5:45am. It an amazing sight to see the hustle and bustle of this huge market just as the sun was rising. There were lorries and bicycle carts all over the place waiting for goods to be loaded. We started on the vegetable side. I have never seen so many vegetables in one place. The colors were fantastic! We saw so many vegetables some that we had never seen before. People were eager to pose for photos but had a bit of a hard time understanding that I couldn't give them the photo. I wish I could go back and give them a copy but it would be impossible. I was constantly being told to get out of the way as people were on the move with produce! I can't tell you how many times I got wacked with a sack of something! There were a few bicycle carts but no shopping carts or trolleys here. Mostly it was pure and simple man power. Men carried gunny sacks on there back, they had metal hooks hooked through the bag to hold them. Others carried baskets on their head piled high with boxes and some just stacked things on their shoulders. The market was alive with people! I kept thinking that this was what India was all about. We must have walked for about 2 hours and then we headed to the fruit section. There were rooms piled high with mangoes, watermelon, bananas, pineapples, etc. We bought a few things. One interesting thing was that a few times prices were quoted to us by a young person and when the older person came over the price shot up drastically! People continually asked where we were from. One laborer who had very good English asked my why I was in India. Of course I told him that my husband was working here. He wanted to know what I did so I told him I was a mom with kids and just stayed home with them. He then looks at me and says, "You are a housewife." That still makes me laugh because I didn't think he would understand if I told him I was a housewife. Too funny! So an incredibly wonderful experience again in India. I really enjoyed getting out and experiencing what India is really about. We discovered that we missed the flower section but at that point we were so hot and sweaty we decided we would just imagine what it would have been like! Enjoy the photos of a very busy market in Chennai!

Market at dawn

Tea time

Banana leaves that will be used for plates

Sorting limes

Chili peppers

Beautiful eggplant

Sorting coconuts

Beans and peas...what gorgeous colors!