The rescue of an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle

Yesterday I had the incredible opportunity to go a observe the move of an injured Olive Ridley sea turtle. My neighbor Liz had heard from the local turtle lady Supraja late Thursday night that a turtle had came ashore near a resort about 25 minutes south of our house. Supraja accepted the challenge to relocate this turtle to a spot to recuperate and rest. Before the turtle could be moved out of the area permission had to be granted so a hole was dug beneath the deck at Temple Bay Resort and the hole was lined with a tarp and filled with sea water. The turtle rested in this make shift home over night. Thursday morning I met Supraja down at Temple Bay and did my first photo shoot....of a turtle none the less! The turtle most likely had an encounter with a fishing boat resulting in a cracked shell and missing front flippers. She probably was coming ashore to lay her eggs but had a difficult time moving forward and seemed to be stuck on the beach. With permission granted to move to a new location, the turtle who is about 2 ft in diameter, took her first and hopefully only one car ride up to a turtle hatchery not far from our house. The turtle is now in her temporary home where she will receive medicine on her cracked shell to help heal the wound and some time for her missing flippers to continue to heal. In a few weeks she will be taken out to sea, beyond the breakers and released. What kind a life she will live will never be known. Perhaps she will learn to survive without her front flippers or not. The turtle also shares a home with other turtles who have yet to hatch. This particular area in Chennai is a very active spot for these turtle to lay eggs and groups actively walk the beaches at night looking for nests. When nests are spotted the eggs are dug up and relocated to safe spot and reburied at the exact depth of their original nest and hatch around 60 days later. We had the opportunity to release these tiny turtles last March.

Caught at last

We have big news, our guest has been captured! It was a mouse and fairly large one too! The live trap worked. I came down in the middle of the night to see him nibbling on the cheese. We really weren't sure if the trap would work but fortunately it did. We think he is probably the only one but just to be safe the trap will stay out the next few nights along with the glue traps. We took the live trap outside this morning and asked the guards to let the mouse go a long way from our house, but being that neither of them are Hindu I believe the mouse may have met his demise instead.

An unwelcome house guest

We arrived home (that is really weird because I truly feel I have two homes now!) Saturday morning around 4am. The flight from London to Chennai was pretty smooth and time went fairly fast as our good friends Fraser and Helen from Chennai were also on the flight. We thankfully got all of our luggage and headed home. When we got home we discovered that we had a house guest, an unwelcome one! We seem to have some sort of critter that left little packages in the kitchen and ate some food while we were gone. Now granted the cat and dog were gone most of the time but they have been here with us the past several days and they haven't caught it yet! So yesterday I informed the driver we needed a mouse trap. About thirty minutes later the maid comes in with a live trap with a peanut (not peanut butter). So last night I anxiously set the trap out on the counter (thank goodness for bleach to clean it all up!) and I also put a little piece of bread to go with his peanut. Well, the clever little creature headed into the trap and dined on the bread and left. I woke up around 2 am to check to see if I had captured anything and found he had escaped! So I rebaited the trap, put some duct tape sticky side up and headed back to bed. I eagerly bounded down the stairs at 6 am certain that I had caught the critter (okay I am secretly holding out for a chipmunk) only to find that he did not come back. Disappointed Ted said it was time for mouse poison or a better trap. After a few emails I found out that they do have glue traps and I went and bought some. So tonight Mason and I tweaked the wire that triggers the door to shut, used cheese instead of peanuts and have set the glue traps out. So the wait is on. What could it be? Stayed tuned, hopefully I will have news soon!

Mason adjusting the trap

Glue trap #1

Glue trap #2

Venice, Italy

Instead of flying straight back we took a slight detour to see a bit more of the world and break up the trip a bit. We flew from Chicago to London then to Venice, Italy. On route we weren't that excited about going and wondered why we chose Venice. It basically came down to the long list of European cities easily within reach on London and the flight coast. And the fact that Ted said this was it if I ever wanted to see Venice so there we were! The flight from Chicago to London was a decent flight, we left Chicago around 10 pm so we were ready to sleep once on board. Then in London we had checked some bags into storage and headed to London's Gatwick airport to board the flight to Venice. Once in Venice we boarded a water taxi and went to our destination. The directions were kind of vague, such things as walk for about 10 minutes to taxi stand, ride boat for about 30 minutes, walk about 7 minutes, etc. Ted masterfully found the way to our hotel even though it was dark! The kids were great with helping with the luggage. We were glad that we had left most of our luggage behind in London as there are lots of bridges in Venice. The hotel was a nice hotel that was built in the 1500's. We didn't head to Venice with any sort of agenda or schedule, we just wandered the city and toured a few sights. The history behind this city is just incredible and we didn't even begin to see a fraction of it! I loved the cobblestone streets, the beautiful bridges, the flower boxes hanging from windows, the dogs dressed in their coats, the ladies in their fur coats and hats, the lack of noise from cars and horns, the gondola ride, the people that just sang as they walked down the street, etc! The one thing that I did miss was grass....there isn't any grass anywhere. Well, except for the dog park that we passed but it smelled so strongly of urine that is wouldn't be enjoyable for anyone but a dog. We went to St. Mark's square which is famous for all the pigeons. We took some crackers to attrack them and eventually had pigeons all over us. Fortunatuly none of us got pooped on! From St. Mark's Square we toured the Saint Mark's Basilica which was incredible, it had beautiful pictures made out of mosaic tiles which each tile was no bigger than 1/4" . This Basilica was at once time the personal chapel for the ruler who lived in the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale di Venezia) which we also toured. The Palace stretched on forever and the kids really enjoyed seeing the prison. We decided that prisoners wouldn't have lasted the winters as we were very cold with our winter coats on! Probably the highlight for me was riding in the gondola and having the boatman sing to us in Italian. The views from the water were spectacular. One of the funniest moments we had was when we learned that cuddlefish was really a fish like we were thinking of. Ted and the boys decided to order a 2 course meal. The first course was seafood pasta. They thought this would be pretty safe, if there were creatures they didn't want to eat they could just pick them out. However it appeared the pasta only was served with clams in the shell. Ted and Logan ate most of theirs. Mason remembered learning about the anatomy of clams in biology class and decided that he really didn't want to eat them. Emily did take a bite just to say to tried clams! Then the second course came, Grilled Cuddlefish with fresh vegetables, we all assumed that the Cuddlefish was a type of fish but soon we learned that cuddlefish is a type of squid and had all the little tentacles and everything. I was glad I ordered plain pasta that night!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Back in Chennai

We are back in Chennai as of around 4am this morning and feeling quite exhausted. Friends managed to keep us awake quite late tonight so hopefully we will all get a good nights sleep. I am hoping to post photos of Venice, Italy tomorrow.

One year ago today

It is so hard to believe that one year ago today (January 2, 2008) we loaded up 23 bags, 3 kids and a dog and drove to Chicago to begin our journey to India! I can't believe how quickly the time has went. I was so distraught about the move I thought for sure it would be miserable, but it has been an experience of a lifetime! I look back at the year and see the things we have learned. I will forever be so thankful that we were brave enough and trusted God to see us through our time in India. We have had a delightful time home in the US this holiday season and it is quickly coming to an end. The kids have had the chance to have lots of sleepovers and play dates with friends. Ted and I also have had the chance to visit with many friends. This was a very hectic time and not quite as relaxing as this summer. It is a bittersweet feeling to leave. I miss the life and friends in India but when we are back in India I too will miss the life and friends here in Princeville. Every time we head back to India I worry about how the kids will readjust. I think that everyone is a little sad to head back and I pray the feelings will be short lived. I have tried to explain to them that living in India is a just a season in our lives, hopefully in the end we will all bear more beautiful fruit. I am so thankful for the ways in which we can communicate with friends and family and it makes us not seem so far away. So please keep up with the emails and phone calls (hint, hint) and for of those of you with web cams lets make use them this year!

As I look back on the past year hear is an interesting list I put together of things I have learned, observed or miss while being in India:

converting rupees to US dollars comes naturally
keeping an eye on the exchange rate
learning how much a stone is in pounds
talking about economic policies over lunch with friends
leaving early due to flooded roads
not having to carry in my groceries or unpack the bags
when the lights go out expect the generator on within minutes
using bottled water to brush my teeth
carrying toilet paper in my purse
stopping by five star hotels just to use the restroom
having someone else walk my dog
discussing how many cups equals 400 grams of flour
What is the difference between strong flour and maida
learning what maida is
cooking in Celsius
sending the drive out to get a fresh chicken but specify I do not want the head or feet attached
remember what days the Muslims go to mosque and plan my shopping accordingly
ordering my meat over the phone and having it delivered
buying milk by the case and keeping it in the pantry
having the electrician and plumber here at least once a month
having someone follow you constantly in a store
always asking for the best price
making sure there isn't poop (all kinds) outside the car door!
weaving around cows and goats on the road
asking if we can get a baby water buffalo
buying only carrots with the tops still on
learning that avocados are called butter fruit in India
looking forward to grape and orange season
hearing all sorts of languages that I can't understand
convincing the locals that hens will lay eggs without a rooster
trying to understand why the hens won't eat carrot peels like US hens
not throwing any food in the trash
expanding my cooking abilities and being creative
not getting junk mail
not having to put gas in the van
not having to put on coats, mittens or boots
having my kitchen cleaned up when I am done baking or cooking
learning British phases and what they mean
realizing that only American's celebrate Thanksgiving
meeting people from all over the world
thinking that a 7 hour plane ride is fairly short
seeing men urinating at the side of the road is natural
belching is acceptable...a bit difficult when I correct a child for belching just after the driver let one out!
never carrying any keys
not being able to turn on western music on the radio
travel, travel, travel....need I say more?
disappointed when I didn't get to take a photo of the cobra that went over our wall
learn about Hindu holidays and rituals
discussing the daily schedule and task to Bhaskar every morning
learning how to text on a mobile phone

Our Christmas Memories

We had a wonderful Christmas day. The kids enjoyed opening their gifts. After a wonderful breakfast we all headed out for a walk through the woods. It was just beautiful. There was nice snow and the woods were just beautiful. Attached is a slide show of some activities prior to Christmas day and our walk on Christmas day. We then feasted on some delicious Beef Prime rib for our Christmas dinner. Enjoy the photos!

Make a Smilebox slideshow