Christmas is Coming Early to Us!

August is going to be a great month! I can just feel it! Tomorrow is August 1, and if all goes well, we will take possession of our house. Unfortunately, pest control didn't get done when it was suppose to, so the house has already been cleaned before the spraying. As I'm sure I really don't want to know what they use in pest control here, I'm insisting that I be able to reclean the house fully before anything of ours gets moved in. Ughh...since I don't particularly like cleaning (in fact, let's just be honest, I hate cleaning), I am not looking forward to this. However, somehow my husband has agreed to help me out with this, so hopefully it should go pretty quickly.

Our sea shipment from Beijing has arrived here. It is still being cleared through customs. Steve received an e-mail over the weekend that it was cleared. Good, we thought we could have it delivered whenever this week. Yeah right, too good to be true. They contacted Steve on Monday that they needed some more documents filled out. Steve has heard that he physically has to go down to give a value on everything so that an import tax can be figured...however, no one has officially told him this yet. We are hoping that everything gets figured out soon, and that we can schedule to have our stuff delivered to our house on Friday.

It will be great to finally be in our own place and to have our own stuff back again! It'll be like Christmas opening the packing boxes to see what they hold. Lots of excitement over the little things...things that we take for granted until you are without them for almost two months. (Of course, it'll also be like Christmas with all of the wrapping paper (just not decorative, but instead packing paper), boxes, and quite the mess I'm sure we'll have fun making. Also, I'm sure we'll have the post Christmas let down of "oh, this is all there is."

However, that will soon be remedied by the arrivement of our food shipment towards the end of August. Christmas once again at our household! My mom has finished my shopping for me, and my dad has delivered the food to where it is to be shipped out. I got an e-mail from my mom that they wouldn't let my root beer be shipped. Hadn't really thought about that, but I'm guessing that India customs thinks that this is actually alcohol and not pop. Anyway, here are some photos that my brother sent to me of all of our food at my parents' house.

Does that really look like over $1200 worth of food to you? Of course, have you ever added up how much you spend in 3 months on food? I still have no idea if I'm shipping enough or not. Oh well, I'll make it work...it's better than nothing!

Here is the food loaded in the trailer on it's way to be delivered. Steve was very happy to see all of the cans of chicken. He has now declared this to be one of his favorite foods.

Anyway, so it will be Christmas for a second time in the month of August when this arrives. How am I planning on dealing with the post Christmas let down after the food? By going on vacation! Still working out all of the details of where exactly we are going, but I'm planning on dragging Steve out of town around September 1 for a few days...whether he likes it or not!

P.S. Steve saw monkeys yesterday when coming home from work! Ummm...we're not in Kansas...oops, I mean Illinois...anymore!

"Summer" is about over.

Yes, even though it is HOT all year round here in Chennai, India, the summer is just about over.

When I was younger, summer was always defined by when school ended and when school started again. This continued through high school until college...where summer became much shorter because I always took a summer class. Well after college graduation, I continued to work for the university, and thus my summer was still defined by when the spring semester ended and the fall semester began. I actually hated summer then, because as the workers' compensation coordinator for the university, my job was much busier during the summer months...somehow everyone seemed to need to have surgery and be off of work during the summer. Go figure, I wonder why this was???

Well after leaving the university, my summers haven't had any definition for a couple of years. Not having school or university ties, summer began whenever and ended whenever I wanted it to...I actually didn't even think much about it. Last year, my summer seemed really long. We found out that we were moving to Beijing in July and moved in September. It was still really hot in Beijing through October. Therefore, it just seemed like I had an extended, but very busy summer.

This year, I learnt that my summers would once again become defined with distinct beginning and ending points. Originally, I thought I would be spending the summer in Beijing. The plan was to go back to the U.S. in April or May, and then be in Beijing during the typical summer months. Well of course, we found out in April we were moving to India, did end up going to the U.S. in May, and moved to India in June.

It was at this time that the realization came that even though I don't have any children, as long as I am living abroad as an expat, my summers will once again be defined by the ending and beginning of the school years. Why you ask? Because as soon as school is out for the year, the majority of everyone with kids heads to their home country to visit family and friends. I had known this was going to happen in Beijing and thus was preparing myself to have a nice quiet summer while most of my friends were gone. I was going to catch up on reading and working on my scrapbooks. Well with the move to India instead taking place, my summer has turned out to be much busier than anticipated. However, I have found that Chennai is just as quiet with most people also being gone. I have been very thankful that another couple from our company decided to stay in town with their son this summer. I have really enjoyed hanging out with her and her son...if it wasn't for them, I probably by now would really hate India. People told me that it is rough moving to a foreign country during the summer...your spouse goes off to work everyday, and you are stuck trying to make friends...just there aren't any people here to make friends with.

Anyway, "summer" is coming to an end here in Chennai. The American school starts classes here on August 6. Therefore, everyone has started coming back to town (it takes a good couple of weeks for most people to completely get over jet lag). This week I have enjoyed having lunch with and finally meeting some ladies who I have been e-mailing all summer while they have been out of town. While they have been very helpful answering my questions via e-mail, it really is nice to know that now I can just pick up the phone and call them if I have any urgent questions or problems that I need help with. Like my only friend this summer has told me...you know you are doing OK in a new place when you finally have names and numbers in your cell phone.

So, yes, even though it will still be hot here, summer is just about over. I am thankful for that for the reasons already mentioned, but also because that means August 1 is almost here...and we finally get to move to our house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Next week will be a very busy, but yet glorious week in our household! I can hardly wait!

So Tired of Apartment Life...

In Beijing, I loved living in our apartment. It was a relaxing place with an awesome view of the city (and of the mountains if and when the pollution was low). Here it is completely different, and I am so sick and tired of being here in this apartment.

The apartment building is very small...only 11 apartments, and I don't think they are all occupied. Anyway, every day they bring us breakfast (interruption #1), and if we don't set the breakfast dishes out in the hall, then about an hour later they come to get them (interruption #2). Then about an hour after that, they come to clean (interruption #3). Cleaning takes place every day...and every day there are no less than 3 people to clean our itty bitty apartment, and it takes them an hour to do so. After they finally leave, generally there are no interruptions until the afternoon. Then, if we have sent any laundry out, they bring the clean clothes back (interruption #4). About half of the time, they don't bring all of the clothes at once, so then about 30 minutes to an hour later, they bring the rest of the clothes (interruption #5). Then they bring us our cookies and bottled water (interruption #6). Then right before bed, they bring us the bill to sign for having the laundry done (interruption #7). Not to mention that I am tired of the cleaning people touching and moving my stuff around! Luckily so far (knock on wood), we haven't had anything stolen...however, they did take a newspaper clipping that I had ripped out of the paper and threw it away thinking it was trash. Anyway, you get the point that I am tired of living here and being disturbed all of the time. Just leave me alone!!!

Well after not leaving the apartment, after getting back from Beijing late Tuesday night, for 4 days because I was sick with a cold, I finally left Saturday afternoon. Saturday night, Steve and I went to a comedy play that reminded me so much of the productions of Conklin's Barn Theatre in Goodfield, IL. Someone at work had given Steve tickets to this comedy production, which at first I was reluctant to go, but in the end, I was happy to have went. First it got me out of the apartment, but second, it actually was enjoyable. The actors did a good job, and you could actually understand what they were saying.

Anyway, this will hopefully be the last week of apartment living. Our sea shipment has arrived here in Chennai. Steve has to sign some documents and turn over his passport and then hopefully it won't take too long to clear customs. I think Steve and I have decided to go ahead and move into the house on August 1 even if it is not completely ready. I am just about ready to go nuts here in the apartment...and the frustrations of the house...having the electricity go out because the generator hasn't been installed yet, probably not having internet, cable, and telephone will actually be welcome as long as I don't have to be interrupted 7 times a day! Or at least these new frustrations will be welcome for at least a couple of days before I am ready to strangle someone...but hey, at least I will have my own bed to sleep in and some comfortable furniture to sit on. I'll take it!

Finally...

The lease on our house has been signed by all parties. The landlord has received his check for the 10 month security deposit (yes, this is normal here in India). Now, all we have to do is continue to wait...wait for the landlord to get the house ready...wait for our sea shipment to arrive.

The details about the house...it is 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths, and supposedly 3800 square feet. I honestly think that they measure houses weird here as there is no way it is this big. It actually has a lot of waisted space in it...which seems to be the norm with Indian houses...right in the middle of the house is a huge 2 story atrium. The house has an open dining/kitchen area...and off of the kitchen is another kitchen that they call the wet kitchen. We'll be using this room for our food storage from our quarterly food shipments. Also, the house has a TV room, a puja room (prayer room that we can use for either storage or a library or something else), a storage room, a patio room, a walkout roof terrace that has a swing on it (not sure if and when we'll use this as during the day it will be extremely hot and at night the mosquitoes will be out).

The house is brand new and pretty much completely furnished. We are having the landlord take out a few furniture items in order to accommodate what little furniture we have coming from our apartment in Beijing. Most of our stuff is still in storage back in Illinois as we felt we didn't need to drag it across the world to Beijing...little did we know that we would end up in a huge house in India only a few months later. We'll work with what the landlord is providing...and I'm sure we'll probably buy a few pieces of India furniture to go with our American and Chinese furniture.

Sorry to everyone who thought they would be coming to visit us on the ocean...the house is not on the ocean...it's not far, probably less than a half mile, but unfortunately, we cannot see the ocean :( Also, the house does not have a swimming pool. Everyone thinks we are nuts for not having the landlord add one in...however, we just aren't big swimmers...no matter how hot it may be here. We would much rather sit in the air conditioning...which by the way is not necessarily standard here...we actually had to negotiate in extra A/C units as the house did not have any in the dining room or kitchens. As far as I know, central air does not exist here in India. Every room has individual A/C units in it...which means a remote control for every unit. Just what I need in my life...more remote controls to keep track of! I think one of my first tasks once we move in is to get my label maker out and mark every remote with which room it is from. Also instead of a swimming pool being added, we felt that it was more important to have the landlord provide all the major appliances. We felt that it wouldn't be a good investment for us to buy appliances here that will be useless to us when we move again in a couple of years.

OK, you have to use your imagination a little bit and piece these photos together to get a sense of what the house looks like. I guess I was in a hurry to take photos so didn't really get a good shot of the house.

A photo of the dining room looking into the kitchen.

Another photo of the kitchen. It is actually a fairly large kitchen compared to some of the ones I saw in the houses here.

This is a view off of the roof terrace of the coconut farm across the street. This is where I am sure a million snakes live! If only I could figure out some way to set up an electric fence around my property to keep them out...any one have any suggestions on how to do this? Also, yes, the street is not paved...I'm sure it will be quite messy during the heavy monsoon season...hence one of the reasons why we are getting a SUV. The little building you see is the servant's quarters/guard shack. Also, yes the property is fenced in...very common here. We will have security guards hired by our company.

Well, the house isn't ideal. I really wanted to live in another apartment like we did in Beijing...however, decent sized ones just don't seem to exist here. Chennai does not have a lot of tall apartment buildings like other major cities do. However, considering the limited options we had, we had to take the first house that was somewhat acceptable for us. All of the other houses I looked at needed major remodeling work. The landlords here are willing to do just about anything to a house...however they won't do it until after the lease is signed, and they receive the security deposit. Since we were already here living, we had to take a house that didn't need major renovations...and this was the only one available to us.

The house is south of the main city of Chennai. It will take Steve probably 25 to 30 minutes to get to work...and if I want to go shopping in the city, it will probably take well over an hour to get there. However, there are some grocery stores near us, so I probably will only go into the city maybe once per week. The traffic actually isn't too bad out where we will be living...the farther away from the city the better it is...however, on the flip side...the farther away from the city you get, the less reliable the electricity is. Therefore, a generator is an absolute must have. Our house truly is out in the middle of nowhere...after living in the middle of Beijing, I'm once again going to have to get use to the quietness of having no neighbors. I'm a little concerned about how I will do when Steve is traveling...I'm hoping that I have a little bit of time to adjust to the house and get to know the security guards before this first happens.

OK, well I think that covers more than the basics on the house. We are hoping to move around August 1. However, I have a feeling that this will probably occur more towards the middle of August. The sooner, the better, as far as I'm concerned...this little bitty apartment is about ready to drive me nuts!

My Grandparents Have Been Corrupted!

Just wanted to let everyone know that my grandparents have joined the internet world. They got their first computer a few months ago so that they could play bridge on it. Well now, they are hooked up with internet. I like to think I am the root cause for this...my cousin had taken copies of my blog postings to them to read. Well now they can read them by themselves, and they have even sent me a couple of e-mails.

Anyway, hi Grandma & Grandpa! Welcome to the internet world!

Back from Beijing

I have returned to Chennai from my trip to Beijing. It was a short but good trip. I had a great time, but I think I was ready to come back to Chennai. Of course, I was not ready for the long trip...all the flights were on time, but it still took me 20 hours from door to door to get back...a very long day. Somewhere in those 20 hours, I managed to catch a cold. Therefore, since I have been back, I haven't left the apartment...if it wasn't for the fact that I am now convinced that India beds are even harder than China beds, I would probably still be in bed. Oh well, blowing my nose keeps me from scratching the dozen mosquito bites that I have on my legs that I received on my last night in Beijing...and who said that the mosquitoes are only bad in India?

Anyway after 4 heavy pollution days in Beijing, I am even more appreciative of the clear blue skies and white puffy clouds of Chennai. For some reason when I lived in Beijing, the pollution never seemed to get me down...maybe I just knew that I had to live with it. However, this trip back, the pollution just seemed to get to me...I guess I knew that the grass was greener (or in this case, the sky was bluer) somewhere else. Anyway, unless you have experienced the pollution of Beijing, you'll just have to trust me that it is bad. I can tell you it is bad, but unless you actually see it firsthand, you will truly never realize just what I'm talking about. My mom experienced this when she visited. She had heard me talk about it, but when she saw it with her own two eyes, she made the comment to me that she didn't realize just how bad the air pollution really is in Beijing.

With the summer Olympics in Beijing just over a year away, the Chinese government has assured that there will be clear blue skies during the entire Olympics. Well, even though I have seen firsthand how bad the pollution can be, I am convinced that this will happen. Why? Well, the government will shut down all of the factories and will limit which cars can be on the roads. Can they really do this? Yes! It happened last fall while Steve and I were living there. There was an African summit in Beijing...and for a week, the sky was blue and beautiful in Beijing. The factories had closed down and only cars registered in Beijing were allowed to drive in the city. One of our friends happens to work outside of Beijing, but lives in Beijing. His car is not registered in Beijing...so during this week, he had to take a taxi to the toll booth to meet his driver who wasn't allowed to come into the city. Anyway for the Olympics, I'm sure that the driving restrictions will be more severe...there has been talk that on certain days if your car license plate ends in a certain number you can drive only on those days. Also in the news the last few days has been talk about how the Chinese government is going to send rockets up into the skies to break up any rain clouds before they reach Beijing. The government is promising that the opening and closing ceremonies will be dry as the main Olympic stadium is not enclosed.

Here is a photo of the Olympic Stadium in Beijing that is currently under construction. It is also known as the Bird's Nest. The picture is hazy because it was a typical polluted day when I took this photo.

Other news from Beijing...if you have missed it...last week there were reports that some street vendors in Beijing are using chopped cardboard as a filling in steamed buns. Yum, yum! Now today there is another report out that the first report was false and that the reporter made the whole story up...hmmm, not sure if I'm believing this or not. Of course, I won't be standing in line anytime soon to try the steamed buns of the street vendors...any of my Beijing friends want to volunteer to do this?

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere

Now everyone will know when it is 5 o'clock in Chennai...I have added the time to the right hand column of this blog. Chennai is 10 1/2 hours ahead of Illinois. Hope this helps everyone out...and prevents you from calling me when it is the middle of the night here! Of course, first, I have to get the internet phone working again...maybe in a couple of weeks...as soon as we move to the house then it hopefully will work again.

Greetings from Beijing!

I'm not sure if this blog will post or not. I'm in Beijing, and the blog site is all in Chinese. Then when I try to view my blog, it won't come up since we are pretty sure that the government has a block on these blogs.

Anyway, I am having a good time in Beijing. It is nice being back to organized traffic...which if you would have asked my opinion on this a few months ago, I would have never have said that Beijing traffic is organized. In fact, when compared to traffic in the U.S., traffic in Beijing is absolutely horrible! There is no city in the U.S. (at least none that I have been too or seen on TV) that the traffic here can be compared to. However, after being in India for a month, the traffic here in Beijing is very organized and structured! Beijing just has a bunch of cars, bicycles, and people walking. Chennai has not only cars, bicycles, and people walking, but also millions of motorbikes and auto rickshaws who think that they can go wherever they can squeeze...thus making two lanes of traffic into 5 or 6 lanes. Plus in India, you have the cows, goats, dogs, and chickens in the streets. Not to mention, India drives on the wrong side of the road.

However, even though I'm enjoying the better traffic, the pollution has been absolutely horrible here in Beijing. I have been assured that right before I arrived this week that there were actually 2 clear days in a row (I don't know though...I think my friends may just be pulling my leg with this story).

Anyway, I am enjoying my time here...been doing some shopping and of course lots of eating! However, in a couple of days, I will be ready to go back to Chennai...after all that is my home now (even if we don't have a house yet)...and I think I'll take the horrible traffic over the pollution any day!

One Year Later...

It was one year ago today that I got the e-mail that would change my life forever. Steve sent me an e-mail that said exactly this: "Just heard that I am suppose to be getting a call today to lead the HR Service Center in Beijing. We'll talk tonight." Well of course that would be the night that he had a work dinner and didn't get home until late. I think I paced holes in the carpet while waiting for him. When he did finally get home, he told me that he accepted the position in Beijing, and that we would be moving ASAP. What ever happened to the "We'll talk tonight" part? OK, to be fair, we had already talked several months before about the possibility of moving overseas, and he knew that I was willing to go wherever...however, this all came out of the blue and was totally unexpected, and we were both very excited! I don't think I got any sleep that night.

Anyway, here is a recap of my last year:

July 11, 2006...found out moving to Beijing, China
August, 2006...went to BJ for a week, quit my job
September, 2006...moved our dog and 2 cats to my parents, sorted and packed house, moved to Beijing, met new friends
October, 2006...went to Shanghai, China
November, 2006...unpacked our stuff in BJ
December, 2006...went to U.S.
January, 2007...went to Harbin, China, to see Ice and Snow Festival
February, 2007...finally sold Morton house, went to Vietnam
March 31, 2007...Steve asks me if I would want to move to Chennai, India...I said yes in about 2 seconds, but I think he thought I would say no this time, which is why he actually asked me
April, 2007...came to Chennai for a visit
May, 2007...went to U.S., celebrated a milestone birthday, took my mom back to BJ for a visit (her first plane ride, and my dad couldn't go because his passport hadn't came)
June, 2007...packed and moved to Chennai, said goodbye to a bunch of new friends (thank goodness for e-mail), met some new friends
July, 2007...this brings us up to the present.

I guess it has been a busy year. Steve and I have enjoyed every minute of it. We are looking forward to what the next year ahead will bring. I for one am hoping that it is a little less active (at least with the moving part). Anyway, I think this "new year" will be starting off on a good note as I have received word that our good friends, R & J, back in Illinois will more than likely be having their first baby in the next 24 hours. Congrats to them! (Which brings up another point to those of you who just won't let it die...I will NOT be having a baby anytime soon...or anytime in the future!)

As far as my next year is concerned, I'm starting it off with a trip back to Beijing. Steve was suppose to be going back there for meetings, so I bought a ticket to go with...after all, not too much happening here with us moving any time soon. Well now Steve is not going, but I decided to go ahead anyway and just stay with some friends. I leave late tonight...and unfortunately for all of you who are already addicted to my blog, there won't be any postings for a week. All of my friends in Beijing are not able to read my blog...we are guessing the government has some sort of block on these types of things. However, I promise to post something as soon as I get back in a week...hopefully it will be about how we have a lease signed on a house and how we will be able to move soon...gasp (sound of me holding my breath). Until then, everyone take care!

India's wildlife

India has a lot of creatures wondering around. Being hot all year round, Chennai especially has a wide array of animals. Cows, goats, and dogs are seen on a daily basis just wondering the streets. Also, I have seen a far share of birds that I don't recognize. I went out and bought an Indian bird book to figure out that the green birds I see flying around all of the time are in fact just parakeets! In the paper this weekend there was an article about how a baby pangolin was found near Chennai. So, I had to pull out the book I got on Indian mammals to figure out that a pangolin is in fact an anteater!

Anyway, some of the most common creatures found in India are geckos and snakes! Yuck! I'm really not looking forward to any encounters with either of these. Let's just say that Steve and I had our fair share of geckos when we were in Vietnam in February. The one restaurant that we were in had about 20 of them crawling around on the ceiling right above our table! We were so grossed out that we quickly ate a few bites of our dinner and got the heck out of there! I haven't seen more than one or two geckos at a time here in India, so hopefully we won't ever have to repeat that experience. The last experience that we had with a snake was when we lived in Chenoa and somehow a garter snake got in through the back screen door and was in the door frame. Let's just say that after we got it out, the back door was never opened again while we lived there. I'm honestly surprised that we never had any snakes at our Morton house. A few mice, but I can actually handle those.

Anyway, back to the snakes and geckos of Chennai. Our friends have had around 6 snakes on their property since they moved here in March. This includes a couple of cobras (poisonous), a couple of kraits (more poisonous than cobras), and some green tree snakes (still haven't determined if they are poisonous or not...however in my book, all snakes are poisonous!). Anyway, Steve has now started referring to their house as Snake Club! I was at their house for the first time on Friday...didn't see any snakes, but did enjoy meeting their beautiful golden retriever dog. He really made me miss our dog and cats. While I was at their house, they did point out to me just how small geckos can be. For whatever reason, I was thinking that geckos and lizards are always big (I guess I have seen that gecko on the Geicko commercial too many times). Anyway, baby geckos are very, very small...we are talking smaller than the size of your small finger. Ughh...now I have to worry about them getting in through any little crack in the house...and let's just say, Indian houses have a lot of cracks. Not to mention that geckos have been known to hide in shoes! YUCK, GROSS, DISGUSTING!

Well this morning, these same friends had another gecko in their house. They accidentally caught it. See photo below.



Yes, that is a lint roller with a gecko stuck on it! They thought it was dead, but come to find out it was still alive! Anyway, click on this link to read their blog on this.

Where In The World...: Pranks and Geckos

I told them that they may have actually invented a way to catch small geckos. Just put a lint roller on a really long handle! Anyway, I truly am NOT looking forward to having geckos in my house...but it will happen sooner or later...this I am sure of. I'm actually surprised that we haven't had any in the apartment yet. Knock on wood! Anyway, I guess now I need to invest in an Indian snake and lizard book!

Diet Pepsi Crisis

I have to tell you about Steve and his diet Pepsi. As most of you know, Steve is addicted to the stuff. Anyway, here in India for whatever reason, plastic bottles of pop (which are about twice the size of a can of pop) cost 5 rupees less than a can of pop does. ($1 equals about 40 rupees) It honestly makes no sense to me why this is...maybe plastic is cheaper than aluminum? A case of 24 of canned pop costs about $15 USD. Anyway, with as much as Steve drinks, it makes more sense for us to buy bottles, since you get about twice as much for a little less cost.

Well I had found a grocery store in one of the shopping malls where I was buying the bottled pop at. I had been there 2 weeks in a row and had got some. Well, of course, this last week when I went to get some more, they didn't have any bottles. When I asked if they had any in the back room, they claimed to have never carried bottled diet Pepsi...only canned diet Pepsi. Of course I had to inform them that just the previous week I had bought bottles there.

Anyway they told me to come back in two days and that they would have some. Just to play it safe for fear that maybe now bottles where going to be hard to come by, I told them that I wanted 4 cases. (Plus I hadn't seen bottles in any of the other grocery stores I have been to.) Well, I went back 3 days later (giving them an extra day), and of course, no diet Pepsi in bottles. However, this time I actually got someone who sort of knew what he was talking about and was taking me seriously that I really wanted 4 cases of bottles and not cans. I think he could see that I was really starting to get ticked off. He told me to come back the next day. I said that I would not, but asked if they would deliver it (they had signs up in the store advertising free home delivery). Anyway, he took down my address and phone number...and low and behold a few hours later called to say that they could deliver that evening...of course, I wasn't at home, so I set up for them to deliver on Saturday at 4pm.

Well 4pm on Saturday came and went, and no diet Pepsi. At 5:15, I called the store...and right away, they recognized me as the diet Pepsi lady! Anyway, they assured me that my delivery would be coming that night. Well 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm, came and went without any delivery. By this time, Steve has given up hope that he is going to have anything to drink on Sunday. Well finally at 9pm (only 5 hours after when it was originally suppose to come), they finally show up with our 4 cases of diet Pepsi in bottles! Crisis adverted!

Lesson learnt again on delivery...make sure you give them a specific time frame of when you want the delivery made. To be fair, I had been warned about this happening here...the culture here in Chennai is very laid back...no one gets in a hurry about anything. Anyway, now I have learnt my lesson. But on the positive side, Steve didn't die of thirst on Sunday...plus it really was much easier to have the cases delivered directly to us instead of picking them up at the store, so I think this will be a reoccurring event in our household every couple of weeks. Now when we finally move to our house, I'll have to find a store near the house that will do the same thing...crossing fingers that this is easily accomplished.

Trip to the Post Office

Well, I went to the post office yesterday. I needed to go to mail a couple of letters to Steve's mom and aunt. Neither has e-mail (so can't read this blog) and since our internet phone still isn't working, I wrote them letters to let them know what's going on here. Anyway, I didn't know what to expect. Of course, this experience wouldn't be disappointing.

First, I had to find the post office. My driver dropped me off and pointed to a building and said that the post office was in it. Well, after going in a grocery store and looking like an idiot...come to find out the post office was in the next building over.

Once I actually found the post office, I stood in a very short line (yes, an actual line...in China, people don't know how to stand in line and it is very common to have people cut in front of you...so because of the upcoming Olympics, the China government has designated the 11th of every month as "standing in line" day for people to practice...something that most of us learnt in kindergarten). I told the lady behind the counter that I needed to mail the two letters to America. She told me 15 rupees each (which at first I had heard as 50 rupees...I really need to work on figuring out what they are saying here), so I paid my 30 rupees and received my stamps in return.

Well, unlike the peel and stick stamps in the U.S. or the old fashioned lick stamps from a few years ago, stamps here (and also in China) have no adhesive on them. Well, then I spent a couple of minutes looking around the lobby for the "glue." In China, this is actually a glue stick or a giant glue stick wheel. Well after a couple of minutes, a gentleman took pity on me, and pointed me outside. Yes, I actually had to leave the post office to find the adhesive for the stamps. Outside the building was a little folding table with a bowl of "goop" in it. Well the same guy who pointed me outside to begin with, actually showed me how to use the goop. You have to stick your finger in it and then smear it on the stamp. Then there is a bowl of water to clean your finger afterwards. Well after the stamps are finally attached to the envelopes, I couldn't figure out where you actually drop them at. Well, you had to go outside the actual gate of the post office to find the mail drop box. So after a 3 step process, my letters were finally mailed!

We'll see if the letters actually make it to Illinois or not, and just how long this takes. When I was telling my girlfriend here about my post office experience, she told me that there is a good chance that the stamps will get stolen off of the envelopes before the letters actually make it out of India. She told me next time to request that the envelopes be metered instead of applying stamps. Ughh! Oh well, I guess it's better to find this out now on letters to my mother-in-law and aunt-in-law instead of when I'm trying to mail something more important!

07/07/07...What a lucky day???

Well today is suppose to be a very lucky day being that it is July 7, 2007, or 07/07/07, or 7/7/7. However, to me it just seems like any other day. Nothing really lucky has happened to me today. Of course, on the other hand, nothing unlucky has happened either...so maybe I am lucky in this sense.

Now, if we were still living in China, today (07/07/07) is not considered a really lucky day. Everyone in China is waiting for August 8, 2008. Eight is the luckiest number in China. People actually pay more for a telephone number if it has an eight in it. So, next summer, a lot of Chinese are planning to wed on 08/08/08. Plus, probably one of the biggest things in recent Chinese history will occur on 08/08/08...this is the opening day of the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Anyway, good luck today to everyone that something lucky may happen to you.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Well, I hope that all of my fellow Americans have a great July 4th holiday! For Steve and I, today will be like any other day...Steve went to work, and I have a few errands to run. No special plans to celebrate the holiday.

July 4th is one of my favorite holidays...no pressure of gift giving, decorating, or baking...just getting together with family and friends to eat, eat, and eat! Then, to top it off, watching fireworks! Who could ask for a better way to spend the day? So, since we are missing out on all of the get togethers and food today, everyone in the U.S. needs to eat an extra hot dog, hamburger, piece of watermelon, and slice of apple pie for Steve and I.

Enjoy the day and be safe!

Julie


P.S. This is a photo of the fireworks that occurred in Beijing during Chinese New Year's in February. The fireworks are set off by local people...not the government...all families set them off because they believe that the noise of the fireworks will ward off the evil spirits and that they will have a great new year. Anyway, because the fireworks are not organized...people set them off non stop for 2 weeks...at the end of the 2 weeks, they are illegal again until next Chinese New Year. This photo is from the height of the celebration on the eve of the New Year...and the photo definitely doesn't do justice to how many fireworks there were and how loud it was!

A Couple of Odd Things...

While I was out and about today running some errands, I saw a couple of odd things I thought I would pass along.

While I was in a department store, I saw a sign for a trial room...I'm guessing this is the fitting room to try on clothes??? Does anyone know if this is a British influenced term that India uses? I've never seen or heard this term before.

Also, while shopping at a grocery store, I saw mutton hot dogs! I'm not quite that desperate yet for food, so I had to pass these up. Here in Chennai...the majority of the people are vegetarians. There are a lot of people who practice Hindu, and they don't eat beef. Plus, there are a good number of people who are Muslim here in Chennai...so they don't eat pork. Steve and I actually ate at a 100% vegetarian restaurant the other day. It wasn't even Indian food...they served a lot of Mexican and Italian food. It was really good...Steve didn't even know that it was a totally vegetarian restaurant until after we left. Anyway, good meat is going to be hard to find here...but for now, I have to pass on the mutton hot dogs.

Pizza Delivery Mishap

First off, I have to tell everyone that the food situation for us isn't the greatest right now. Here in India there are not a lot of Western food products to be found. So far, all I have found at the grocery stores to buy is diet Pepsi (Steve is very thankful for this), cereal (a lot of different varieties of Kellogg's cornflakes, such as mango flavored), milk (treated milk that you buy in a box off of the shelf...same as soy milk in the U.S.), juice, instant pasta, canned tuna, and potato chips. Therefore, because of this limited selection, we will be receiving from the U.S. quarterly food shipments. In Beijing, there were more than enough western food items, so we did not receive food shipments living there.

Trying to figure out how much food we will consume in 3 months has not been fun. I'm sure I'll end up with a bunch of something that I really don't need and will be wishing for more of something else. At least though, we will have food. My mom is my designated food shopper, and I think she is having fun spending my money shopping for me. Anyway, the problem we are facing is that we moved here on June 14, and our first food shipment will not arrive until probably the end of August. So, in the meantime, between what food I was able to carry from Beijing and what limited food we can buy here, meal time has been very interesting. Steve always asked what the options are for supper...and every time I tell him the same thing, cereal, tuna, or pasta. We have had a lot of tuna surprise dinners and a lot of bowls of cereal for supper.

Anyway, so this leads up to the story about us ordering pizza. Both Pizza Hut and Domino's are here in Chennai. We were told by a reliable source that Domino's always has pepperoni but Pizza Hut doesn't always have it. Therefore, Sunday night, we decided to order our first pizza here in India...after a couple of weeks of tuna and cereal, we were ready for this special treat! (By the way, there are other restaurants that we can eat at, but we can't go out to eat every night when Steve doesn't get home until after 7 normally.)

Well, Steve called Domino's to order a large pepperoni pizza. He gave them the address to the apartment building, the telephone number, the order...then he said a OK a bunch of times...then he repeated the order...and finally after what seemed like a really long time to order a pizza, he hung up. Of course, I'm asking him how long before it gets here, how much will it cost, etc. Steve said that he really couldn't understand the guy on the phone, but he was confident that we would have pizza coming because when he said the address to the apartment building, the guy knew the name of the apartment complex.

Well, 45 minutes later, our phone rings...the pizza delivery guy is in the lobby and could we come down to get our pizza. Yippee!!! Pizza has arrived! I go down to the lobby and right away know that something just isn't right. Sitting on the lobby counter are 4 or 5 pizza carriers. They had brought us 8 pizzas!!! Plus they also brought us drinks, which we didn't order. After much discussion about what we had ordered, and a couple of phone calls back to Domino's by the pizza delivery guys, I finally paid for my one large pepperoni pizza and went back to the apartment. As Steve and I are enjoying our first slice of pizza and I'm telling him about the fiasco in the lobby, the telephone rings. It's the guy from Domino's pizza calling, and he wasn't too happy! He wanted to know why we changed our order...of course, we are telling him that we only ordered one pizza, not eight! Anyway, the guy just wouldn't give up, so finally I just had to apologize for about the umpteenth time about the misunderstanding and hung up on him!

Well, after reflection on the whole situation, Steve thinks he finally figured out where things went wrong with this whole process. He thinks that when he ordered he said "a" large pepperoni pizza, which the guy heard has "eight." Steve and I really felt bad about the whole situation, but what were we to do with 8 pizzas? Not to mention that I don't even think we had enough money on us to pay for that many. So, no more ordering from Domino's...at least not until we move and we'll be ordering from a different store that is!

Plus, note to self, always say the actual quantity in numbers.

Life in India, Days 1-18

Just want to bring everyone up to speed on our first couple of weeks living in India. After about a week in a hotel, we have finally moved to a small 2 bedroom service apartment. We'll be here until we can get moved into a house...which I hope is soon, because I think Steve is starting to feel a little spoiled here.

The apartment brings us breakfast every morning...we get to pick off a list of about 3 things what we want the next morning to eat. We normally either get an omelet, an egg sandwich, scrambled eggs, or a breakfast burrito. It's actually pretty good...however, they sometimes have some weird side dishes that go with the main breakfast. For example, this morning we had an omelet and our side dish was about one tablespoon of mashed potatoes!

Also, every afternoon around 4:30 or so, the apartment brings us two cookies and a bottle of water each. Anyway, I think Steve may be in for a wake up call when he has to go back to eating cold cereal for breakfast, and I don't serve him cookies in the afternoon. (OK, maybe I'm also getting use to this life of luxury!)

On to the house...we still do not officially have a house yet. We have selected one and met with the landlord of the property. After some negotiations, everyone has agreed on everything, but now we are just waiting for the landlord to actually sign the lease and for the legal department in Steve's office to sign it. Once that is done, then the landlord will get his deposit...here in India, a typical deposit is 10 months rent! (Dad, don't be getting any ideas...I don't think any of your renters will give you a 10 month security deposit!) Then, we just have to wait for the landlord to get the house ready for us. He has to provide new appliances plus get us a generator (electricity goes out multiple times per day here, so a generator is an absolute must have). Anyway, we are hoping to move in to the house around August 1 or so. For those of you who are dying to hear about the house...you will just have to wait. For fear of jinxing this whole thing and having to start back at scratch with the house hunting, I'm not telling anyone about the house...except that it is next to a sod farm and a coconut farm. As soon as the lease has been signed, I'll tell everyone all about it.

Let's see, what else can I tell you about life in India...the monsoon season has started early here. With the exception of today...I think it has rained every day since we arrived here. For those of you who don't know...Beijing is very dry. In the 9 months we lived there, it only rained maybe 5 times total. Therefore, I'm actually enjoying all of the rain we have had here. The other night Steve and I were laying in bed watching TV when I heard water gushing. I thought that a pipe had burst or something like that...nope, it was just pouring rain outside! I had completely forgotten what that sounded like. Anyway, the rain here hasn't been as bad as some other parts of India. I think in northern India there has been quite a bit of flooding. Besides the rain, the other thing I am loving about Chennai...NO POLLUTION!!!!!!! Of course, the locals here think the pollution is bad. Ha! Go to Beijing if you want to see some pollution.

OK, well I guess this post is long enough. I will be doing another post soon about our experience of ordering pizza. Trust me, you don't want to miss this posting.

Let me know what questions you guys have for me. Take care!

My First Blog Post!

How exciting this is! I have had numerous requests to start a blog about life in India. After reading the blogs of a couple of other ladies who live here in Chennai, I have finally been inspired to start my own blog. For those of you who have ever seen my scrapbooks, you will know that I am the queen of journaling, so I don't know why I never thought of doing a blog before. This will replace my occasional mass e-mails to everyone. I should be able to provide more information this way, and you will have the luxury of reading this whenever you want (which I hope is often). Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys this! Comments and questions are always welcome.