Well, having internet working at our house was very short lived. We only had it a day and a half. Wednesday night at about 11:30pm, I woke up to a big storm going through. Well after our experience last week of being struck by lightning, I decided that I really had better unplug the computer, modem, internet phone, and printer. I didn't really feel like losing these very important items if the house were to be hit again.
Well, we didn't get hit by lightning again. However, Thursday morning when I went to plug everything back in, the power cord to the modem came apart in my hands. It's the type that has a box like thing on the end of it that you plug into the wall. Well, the box just completely came apart, and even after putting it back together, it wouldn't work, so therefore the modem wouldn't come on. Ugh!
So, now I am back at Steve's office building in the food court using the free wireless internet. Supposedly, our driver was going to go to the internet company today and exchange the power cord. I'm hoping he is successful...having internet again at the house was a big tease! I'm really impatient not having it knowing that a stupid little power cord is the only thing preventing me!
On a good note, our satellite dish was fixed yesterday. So, now we have TV again. I was getting a little tired of watching movies...most of which my husband was picking out...he's the type who picks out movies to watch just because he knows I won't like them! How sweet he is!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Spiders!
OK, there is actually a good side and a bad side to this blog post. However, they both involve spiders.
First, the good side...my friend Stephanie's daughter, Sophia, is just adorable. Here is a recent photo of Sophia dressed up in a spider costume.
First, the good side...my friend Stephanie's daughter, Sophia, is just adorable. Here is a recent photo of Sophia dressed up in a spider costume.
There is a link in the right hand column to Stephanie's blog about her life and experiences living here in India. She has been here a little over a year (unfortunately, just started writing her blog), and she is living, breathing proof that someone who has lived in central Illinois can survive here in Chennai. I am so fortunate that our husbands work for the same company, and even though our friendship has just began, I know it will be a friendship for life. That is one of the awesome things about being an ISE or ex-pat...you meet wonderful people from all over. Just in the last year, I have met numerous people from every nook and corner of the world...I now have friends scattered everywhere and with the internet and e-mail, it is possible to easily stay in touch with everyone...both old and new friends.
Well, I'm sure you all remember my post about my friend with the gecko on the lint roller. If you are new to reading my blog, look under July's posts and read the post titled India Wildlife for the story about the gecko. Anyway, a link to Danie's blog is also in the right hand column. Danie was the first person I met after moving to Chennai. I will forever be thankful and grateful to her that she decided to stay around this summer. If it wasn't for her, I'm sure that my first couple of months here would not have gone as smooth. Anyway, she is definitely another friend for life.
However, on to the bad side of this post...this friend Danie has dedicated her most recent post on her blog to Steve. If you have been following along, you will know that the snakes...but especially the geckos have just about freaked my husband out (side note...we haven't had any geckos in the house for about a week now...I think that they were just all in here when we moved in and now that we have got them all out...or killed them...that maybe we now will only have one every now and then). Anyway, the latest thing for my husband to get freaked about (and OK, I must admit, I'm freaked about this myself) is GIGANTIC spiders. Gecko/Snake Danie (by the way, last time I checked she was up to 14 snakes on her property since March) had this spider in her house.
Well, I'm sure you all remember my post about my friend with the gecko on the lint roller. If you are new to reading my blog, look under July's posts and read the post titled India Wildlife for the story about the gecko. Anyway, a link to Danie's blog is also in the right hand column. Danie was the first person I met after moving to Chennai. I will forever be thankful and grateful to her that she decided to stay around this summer. If it wasn't for her, I'm sure that my first couple of months here would not have gone as smooth. Anyway, she is definitely another friend for life.
However, on to the bad side of this post...this friend Danie has dedicated her most recent post on her blog to Steve. If you have been following along, you will know that the snakes...but especially the geckos have just about freaked my husband out (side note...we haven't had any geckos in the house for about a week now...I think that they were just all in here when we moved in and now that we have got them all out...or killed them...that maybe we now will only have one every now and then). Anyway, the latest thing for my husband to get freaked about (and OK, I must admit, I'm freaked about this myself) is GIGANTIC spiders. Gecko/Snake Danie (by the way, last time I checked she was up to 14 snakes on her property since March) had this spider in her house.
So now Gecko/Snake Danie will be referred to as Gecko/Snake/Spider Danie. I think I'll just shorten her nickname to GSS Danie. Anyway, back to the spider. She said that this thing was almost as big as her hand (you can all read her blog and send her comments about why her hand wasn't in the photo as a reference to how large this spider actually was). Anyway, if it wasn't for the fact that I can see the eyes glowing in the photo, I would just think GSS Danie was just starting to decorate a little early for Halloween. Our Australian friend wasn't at all fazed by this...she says that giant spiders are common in Australia. Yikes, and I always thought that Australia would be an easy place to live.
Anyway, all of this is once again one of the reasons why we get paid extra to live here, and why we get paid to go on vacation out of India...or at least that's what I keep telling myself over and over and over and over and over again. Anyway, the countdown has begun...Steve and I are leaving in a couple of weeks to go to Dubai for a few days. For those of you who are not so good with world geography...Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates, which is in the Middle East next to Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Dubai has become a big tourist destination and is famous for building their own islands shaped like palm trees in order to give themselves more coast line. Their mall also has an indoor snow ski slope. Anyway, we are definitely looking forward to getting away for a few days!
Anyway, all of this is once again one of the reasons why we get paid extra to live here, and why we get paid to go on vacation out of India...or at least that's what I keep telling myself over and over and over and over and over again. Anyway, the countdown has begun...Steve and I are leaving in a couple of weeks to go to Dubai for a few days. For those of you who are not so good with world geography...Dubai is in the United Arab Emirates, which is in the Middle East next to Saudi Arabia. In recent years, Dubai has become a big tourist destination and is famous for building their own islands shaped like palm trees in order to give themselves more coast line. Their mall also has an indoor snow ski slope. Anyway, we are definitely looking forward to getting away for a few days!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
We Have Internet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, I'm still in shock that I actually have internet at our house. We've only been in the house almost a month without it. I think at some point I had just about given up any hope of actually getting a DSL connection here. But, we have it! It's great!
Of course, in true India style, it wasn't what I would call a "normal" process in connecting it. Yesterday, our landlord had called me to see if I would be around this morning, because the company (government ran) wanted to come do the connection. OK, no problem. The landlord said that they would be coming between 9:30 and noon. Well noon came today, and still nobody had shown up. Generally if this happens here in India, chances are they aren't coming any time soon...at a minimum they'll be at least a couple of hours late. After all, the satellite people were suppose to come back yesterday morning to fix the cable TV, and they still haven't shown up. Well low and behold, at 12:05, the internet people show up. You all know the old joke...how many people does it take to change a light bulb? Same thing applys here with hooking up the internet. Not one, not two, not three, but four people show up to basically plug the modem in. To be fair, one of them was actually the electrician who wired the house, but the other three were all from the internet company.
The first thing I asked them when they walked in was how many connections I was getting. I said I wanted at least three if not four connections (not asking a lot since we do have 3 computers plus an internet phone). The response I received was basically..."sorry madam, but only one connection is allowed." Seriously?
Then they want to know how many telephones I have in the house. I say "three." Again, the response "sorry madam, but only one telephone connection is allowed." Seriously?
From what I gather, the telephone and broadband connection is all on one line. By having more than one phone plugged in, it splits up the connection and either there won't be an internet connection or it would be really, really slow...sorry, I'm not the most tech savvy person in the world, so I'm not quite sure I'm understanding this correctly but I think this is the basics behind it. Anyway, two of the three telephones had to be unplugged in order to hook the internet up.
Anyway, the people from the internet company did tell me that I could have some "systems" people come in to split my internet connection so that I can hook up more than one computer at a time. I'm trying to avoid going with a wireless router, mainly because our internet phone and one of the computers doesn't have wireless capability. Anyway, I'm guessing that these "systems" people are not with the internet company. I'll have to figure out who exactly "systems" people are. Also, the electrician is coming back in a couple of days to rewire something because I guess the current wiring is making our internet connection be slow. I don't know...it seems pretty fast to me. I'm almost inclined to tell him not to touch anything...why fix something that isn't broken? So, in a couple of days, if I disappear again, you'll know what happened. The rewiring went haywire! In the meantime though, I'm just happy to have something...some internet is definitely better than no internet!
Of course, the true test for the day was to see if our internet phone would work. I unplug the computer's internet connection and plug in the telephone. Go to make lunch because it takes a few minutes for the phone to configure and work. Come back...and the phone isn't working. Ughh! Start to get frustrated, but before doing anything drastic...like throwing the phone across the room, I determine that I forgot to bring a drink to eat with my lunch. Go get drink, come back, and low and behold, the internet phone appears to be working (I guess I wasn't patient enough in giving it time to load). Anyway, it is now around 1pm...who am I going to call to make sure that the phone is in fact working? Let's see 1pm here is like 2:30am in the U.S. Who should I wake up out of bed? Being the nice person I am, I decide to actually call my friend in Beijing who also has the same internet phone. As Beijing is 2 1/2 hours ahead of Chennai, no problem in waking her up. She is actually at home, and I talk to her for over an hour. It is sort of weird to call a U.S. telephone number from India to reach someone in China. Anyway, currently it is now 3:30pm here...which means it is 5am in the U.S....still too early to call parents? OK, maybe I'll be nice and let them sleep a couple of more hours. After all, I have a month of e-mails and news to catch up on!
Of course, in true India style, it wasn't what I would call a "normal" process in connecting it. Yesterday, our landlord had called me to see if I would be around this morning, because the company (government ran) wanted to come do the connection. OK, no problem. The landlord said that they would be coming between 9:30 and noon. Well noon came today, and still nobody had shown up. Generally if this happens here in India, chances are they aren't coming any time soon...at a minimum they'll be at least a couple of hours late. After all, the satellite people were suppose to come back yesterday morning to fix the cable TV, and they still haven't shown up. Well low and behold, at 12:05, the internet people show up. You all know the old joke...how many people does it take to change a light bulb? Same thing applys here with hooking up the internet. Not one, not two, not three, but four people show up to basically plug the modem in. To be fair, one of them was actually the electrician who wired the house, but the other three were all from the internet company.
The first thing I asked them when they walked in was how many connections I was getting. I said I wanted at least three if not four connections (not asking a lot since we do have 3 computers plus an internet phone). The response I received was basically..."sorry madam, but only one connection is allowed." Seriously?
Then they want to know how many telephones I have in the house. I say "three." Again, the response "sorry madam, but only one telephone connection is allowed." Seriously?
From what I gather, the telephone and broadband connection is all on one line. By having more than one phone plugged in, it splits up the connection and either there won't be an internet connection or it would be really, really slow...sorry, I'm not the most tech savvy person in the world, so I'm not quite sure I'm understanding this correctly but I think this is the basics behind it. Anyway, two of the three telephones had to be unplugged in order to hook the internet up.
Anyway, the people from the internet company did tell me that I could have some "systems" people come in to split my internet connection so that I can hook up more than one computer at a time. I'm trying to avoid going with a wireless router, mainly because our internet phone and one of the computers doesn't have wireless capability. Anyway, I'm guessing that these "systems" people are not with the internet company. I'll have to figure out who exactly "systems" people are. Also, the electrician is coming back in a couple of days to rewire something because I guess the current wiring is making our internet connection be slow. I don't know...it seems pretty fast to me. I'm almost inclined to tell him not to touch anything...why fix something that isn't broken? So, in a couple of days, if I disappear again, you'll know what happened. The rewiring went haywire! In the meantime though, I'm just happy to have something...some internet is definitely better than no internet!
Of course, the true test for the day was to see if our internet phone would work. I unplug the computer's internet connection and plug in the telephone. Go to make lunch because it takes a few minutes for the phone to configure and work. Come back...and the phone isn't working. Ughh! Start to get frustrated, but before doing anything drastic...like throwing the phone across the room, I determine that I forgot to bring a drink to eat with my lunch. Go get drink, come back, and low and behold, the internet phone appears to be working (I guess I wasn't patient enough in giving it time to load). Anyway, it is now around 1pm...who am I going to call to make sure that the phone is in fact working? Let's see 1pm here is like 2:30am in the U.S. Who should I wake up out of bed? Being the nice person I am, I decide to actually call my friend in Beijing who also has the same internet phone. As Beijing is 2 1/2 hours ahead of Chennai, no problem in waking her up. She is actually at home, and I talk to her for over an hour. It is sort of weird to call a U.S. telephone number from India to reach someone in China. Anyway, currently it is now 3:30pm here...which means it is 5am in the U.S....still too early to call parents? OK, maybe I'll be nice and let them sleep a couple of more hours. After all, I have a month of e-mails and news to catch up on!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
No Food, No Internet, No Cable, No A/C...
Steve says that I have it so "bad" off. Actually with the list of things we don't have, I'm still doing fine. I just like to complain at times. Hopefully our food shipment should be coming any day...considering that my husband has volunteered me to cook for a few people on Thursday night, I hope it comes soon. If not, I'll have to really be creative on what to make. I tried to tell him that we should just go out to eat, but he said that the people are in town all week and will be sick of eating out by Thursday night.
No internet has made me really productive at home. The house is completely organized. This is like a new record for me. In all of our other places, I have just got organized in time to move again (jeez...I hope this isn't a sign that we will be moving again...Steve keeps joking that we will be in Russia by Christmas). Now, I am working on my mom's scrapbook of her trip to Beijing that I have promised her to be done for Christmas. Supposedly, the internet is to be hooked up by month's end...they better hurry since there is only one week left in the month. Of course in India talk, by month's end could very well mean by the end of this month, by the end of next month, or by the end of the following month. Who knows?
Yep, we don't have cable television. We did have it when we moved in. However, on Tuesday night, the house was struck by lightning (Steve thought he had been shot...he had never been in a house that had been struck by lightning and it scared the living daylights out of him...for me growing up on a farm, this was almost a yearly occurrence and I had pretty much anticipated this was going to happen...I had even thought to unplug my computer). The satellite receiver plus both satellite cable boxes were damaged. Also, one DVD player was damaged. Also, the air conditioning in the family room is out. All of these issues are to be fixed on Monday. For some reason, I'm actually confident that this will be the done on time. In the meantime, Steve is about ready to go nuts without TV. It's not like we get a lot of channels, but he has to have it on at all times. I on the other hand hardly ever turn it on...there's just nothing on to watch. Since the DVD player that went out is in the bedroom, we have now found our old portable DVD player and hooked it up to the TV...I knew I was dragging that thing around for some reason.
So, here's to having a good week of getting everything repaired, installed, and delivered. Crossing fingers and toes and holding my breath!
No internet has made me really productive at home. The house is completely organized. This is like a new record for me. In all of our other places, I have just got organized in time to move again (jeez...I hope this isn't a sign that we will be moving again...Steve keeps joking that we will be in Russia by Christmas). Now, I am working on my mom's scrapbook of her trip to Beijing that I have promised her to be done for Christmas. Supposedly, the internet is to be hooked up by month's end...they better hurry since there is only one week left in the month. Of course in India talk, by month's end could very well mean by the end of this month, by the end of next month, or by the end of the following month. Who knows?
Yep, we don't have cable television. We did have it when we moved in. However, on Tuesday night, the house was struck by lightning (Steve thought he had been shot...he had never been in a house that had been struck by lightning and it scared the living daylights out of him...for me growing up on a farm, this was almost a yearly occurrence and I had pretty much anticipated this was going to happen...I had even thought to unplug my computer). The satellite receiver plus both satellite cable boxes were damaged. Also, one DVD player was damaged. Also, the air conditioning in the family room is out. All of these issues are to be fixed on Monday. For some reason, I'm actually confident that this will be the done on time. In the meantime, Steve is about ready to go nuts without TV. It's not like we get a lot of channels, but he has to have it on at all times. I on the other hand hardly ever turn it on...there's just nothing on to watch. Since the DVD player that went out is in the bedroom, we have now found our old portable DVD player and hooked it up to the TV...I knew I was dragging that thing around for some reason.
So, here's to having a good week of getting everything repaired, installed, and delivered. Crossing fingers and toes and holding my breath!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
India Tattoo
OK, so I really didn't get an actual tattoo (like I'm going to subject myself to that much pain). However, I did get the India alternative to a tattoo...Mehendi. Mehendi is normally done for Hindu weddings and is applied to the hands, arms, and palms of the bride and female guests (also, I think some men get it done as well). It can also be applied to the feet and legs. Mehendi is also done for other celebrations, but most definitely for weddings. A friend's sister was visiting India (which reminds me, I haven't received any confirmations of anyone coming to visit me), so she hired the Mehendi lady to come to her house and invited some ladies over. We had a blast getting decorated, chatting with each other, and of course, eating.
Here is a "wonderful" photo of me getting Mehendi applied to my arm. This lady applies the gel-like substance to you free hand...no stencil or anything like that.
This is a photo of my finished design...all total, it probably only took the lady 10 to 15 minutes to apply this to my arm and hands (can you imagine what it would look like if I tried to apply it and the mess that I would have). It takes about 2 hours for the "gel" to dry and then it flakes off leaving the design behind in a brownish color. I had this done on Friday and now on Wednesday, it is finally just starting to fade away. Of course, for those of you who know my husband, you will know that he does not like it. He asked me to wash it off...ha, not possible, it has to wear off. Then, he thought that hand sanitizer would take it off. Then, he asked why I had so much done. The latest he has said is too not have it done again. Yeah right! I like it and if the opportunity comes up, I'll definitely have it done again.
These are my friend's feet. For those of you who know me...there was no way I was letting my feet be done. I don't get pedicures, and I don't wear open toed shoes, and I'm definitely not getting Mehendi done to my feet either!!!
Anyway, I really enjoyed taking part in this cultural experience. I hope to partake in many more over the upcoming months.
This is a photo of my finished design...all total, it probably only took the lady 10 to 15 minutes to apply this to my arm and hands (can you imagine what it would look like if I tried to apply it and the mess that I would have). It takes about 2 hours for the "gel" to dry and then it flakes off leaving the design behind in a brownish color. I had this done on Friday and now on Wednesday, it is finally just starting to fade away. Of course, for those of you who know my husband, you will know that he does not like it. He asked me to wash it off...ha, not possible, it has to wear off. Then, he thought that hand sanitizer would take it off. Then, he asked why I had so much done. The latest he has said is too not have it done again. Yeah right! I like it and if the opportunity comes up, I'll definitely have it done again.
These are my friend's feet. For those of you who know me...there was no way I was letting my feet be done. I don't get pedicures, and I don't wear open toed shoes, and I'm definitely not getting Mehendi done to my feet either!!!
Anyway, I really enjoyed taking part in this cultural experience. I hope to partake in many more over the upcoming months.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Blog List
Just a quick note to those of you who read any of the blogs that I have listed in the right hand column. Some of the addresses to these blogs have recently changed...therefore I have updated the links, and you should be able to link to these blogs again. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Happy Belated Independence Day!
I am not over a month behind with this greeting. Yesterday, was Independence Day here in India. Therefore, Steve was home all day. Surprisingly, he only had a couple of phone calls and was only on the computer a little bit. We spent the day watching TV and relaxing. I did force him to go for a walk with me. The ocean is approximately a half mile from our house, and since it was a fairly cool day by Chennai standards...it was only 88 degrees when we walked...I wanted to go check the beach out for myself.
Anyway, I had heard that the beaches in Chennai are not the nicest in the world. I would say that is a pretty fair assessment from what I saw. There are flip flops littered around the beach. Little grass huts occasionally (not sure whether people live in these or not)...plus we are close to an area that I would guess is a fishing village...in other words, local people have their houses on the beach with their boats. Anyway, in the photo above, you will see a dark area on the beach with a bunch of black birds in it. This is actually a bunch of fish that have been laid out to dry. I actually just saw something about this on TV the other day, but wasn't paying close enough attention to know why this is done or what is done with the fish later. Anyway, the beach had quite the fishy smell until you got on the other side of the fish and then the wind was blowing the odor away from you.
After our trip to the beach, Steve and I both commented that we wish we had the ocean view. We will walk back again. However, for whatever it's worth, I am sort of glad that we are at least a half mile from the ocean...not sure what the chances are of another tsunami hitting...but Chennai was damaged by the one in 2004. Don't worry though...I don't lose sleep at night worrying about this.
Well, we weren't even gone an hour, but on the way back up the dirt lane to our house, some cows had wandered to our road.
This is our house and the dirt road that leads up to it (should be loads of fun during heavy monsoon season). I had taken a closer photo of it when we walked to the beach. However, I figured everyone would enjoy seeing a photo of it with the cow.
In other news...Steve has determined that geckos don't like the cold. After all, if they liked cold, they would be in Illinois...right? Therefore, he has determined the best way to insure that geckos aren't in the bedroom at night when we are sleeping is to keep the room at sub arctic temperatures! I may have to put the flannel sheets on the bed after all!
Anyway, still no internet at the house. Still don't know when it'll be installed. Not too much else going on. Just enjoying the space and room of the house...not missing the apartment at all...enjoying sleeping in my own bed...waiting for our food shipment. Life is pretty good!
Monday, August 13, 2007
Still No Internet
We still don't have internet at the house. So, how am I posting this you are probably asking? Well, I finally figured out that there is free wireless internet access in the food court of the building that Steve works in. I honestly think that Steve is in cahoots with our landlord about not having the internet installed at the house until after I have it all organized :) Unfortunately, this is not the case...the only internet that we have available where we are living is the internet provided by the government. While I have heard that this is actually the most reliable service available, it also takes time to get hooked up. Our landlord calls to check on it quite frequently, but in all honesty, who knows when it will be connected. In the meantime, I'm very thankful that I own a laptop, and that I have found the free wireless access. Now, I just hope that the battery on my computer holds out for awhile longer. For whatever reason, I'm having computer issues today and the battery icon that tells me how much longer I have has disappeared. Since, I've looked around and of course there is no place to plug in, I've decided to not waste my battery life trying to figure out how much time I have left until my computer dies. Hopefully, I still have another couple of hours...since Steve isn't planning on leaving work until then. My backup plan is that I brought a book along to read.
Anyway, life is good here. The house is almost all organized. For being such a large house, there is absolutely no storage room since there is a lot of wasted space. Not to mention that I have a lot more to store here than in Beijing...i.e. winter clothes, flannel sheets, coats, boots, etc. Anyway, luckily our landlord did install a lumber room. OK, what is a lumber room you are probably asking? I have no clue where this name comes from, but what I would normally call either a large closet or a small storage room, our landlord is calling a lumber room.
Let's see...oh yes, we have had at least one snake in the yard. For all I know, we may have had more, but I haven't exactly asked. The only way I found out about the first one is because the security guards requested flashlights after the first snake. They said it was only a small one...but then showed me that it was the length of their arm...plenty big enough as far as I'm concerned! I didn't inquire as to what kind it was...as far as I'm concerned all snakes are poisonous! Luckily, the snake was killed and disposed of before I even heard about it.
Geckos, geckos, and more geckos. These things are everywhere! I am starting to get more use to them (or maybe just accepting the fact that they aren't going away, there's no way to get rid of them, they are small and get through the littlest cracks, and I have to live here for a long time). Anyway, I am having fun torturing Steve with the geckos. I keep harassing him about them being in his shoes...to the point where it was taking him about 10 minutes every morning to put his shoes on as he had to tap and beat each shoe to make sure there weren't any hiding in them. It was quite amusing entertainment for me. Now, he has just resorted to putting his shoes into a large rubbermaid container every time he takes them off. The other night in bed, he jumped about a foot when I went to pick a piece of fuzz off of my pillow! He thought it was a gecko or a bug I was going after. This morning, I awoke to him using my shoe to kill a baby gecko. A few minutes later, he was using a different shoe of mine to kill a centipede type bug. I guess maybe I should resort to keeping my shoes in a rubbermaid container to just keep my husband from killing things with them. Anyway, I have now starting referring to him as the Gecko Killer. Before I get a bunch of e-mails from people who love geckos...the one my husband killed was very, very small...and up until today, we have just been using a broom to get the geckos out of the house (a very long process by the way...that doesn't always work if the gecko gets behind some furniture). This is still our preferred method as I honestly don't want to have to clean gecko guts off of my shoes.
Besides that, not too much else going on. I've been reading a lot during my breaks of organizing the house. No internet, so reading is the next best thing. My goal is to have the house pretty much done be the end of this week and to start scrapbooking next week. I have promised my mom a scrapbook of her trip to Beijing for Christmas, so I need to get started as time will fly by the next few months. I am still working out our R&R (rest and relaxation) trips for the year. We have 3 trips to take this year as part of the benefits provided by our company. Also, we have home leave to take this year. So, when you start doing the math, we will basically be gone every month between now and the end of the year. Therefore, I need to get busy on the scrapbook, and I guess I should start worrying about starting my Christmas shopping.
Anyway, I will do another post in a couple of days whenever I make it back to Steve's office building. In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days of summer. I had better go as my low battery light is finally starting to flash.
Anyway, life is good here. The house is almost all organized. For being such a large house, there is absolutely no storage room since there is a lot of wasted space. Not to mention that I have a lot more to store here than in Beijing...i.e. winter clothes, flannel sheets, coats, boots, etc. Anyway, luckily our landlord did install a lumber room. OK, what is a lumber room you are probably asking? I have no clue where this name comes from, but what I would normally call either a large closet or a small storage room, our landlord is calling a lumber room.
Let's see...oh yes, we have had at least one snake in the yard. For all I know, we may have had more, but I haven't exactly asked. The only way I found out about the first one is because the security guards requested flashlights after the first snake. They said it was only a small one...but then showed me that it was the length of their arm...plenty big enough as far as I'm concerned! I didn't inquire as to what kind it was...as far as I'm concerned all snakes are poisonous! Luckily, the snake was killed and disposed of before I even heard about it.
Geckos, geckos, and more geckos. These things are everywhere! I am starting to get more use to them (or maybe just accepting the fact that they aren't going away, there's no way to get rid of them, they are small and get through the littlest cracks, and I have to live here for a long time). Anyway, I am having fun torturing Steve with the geckos. I keep harassing him about them being in his shoes...to the point where it was taking him about 10 minutes every morning to put his shoes on as he had to tap and beat each shoe to make sure there weren't any hiding in them. It was quite amusing entertainment for me. Now, he has just resorted to putting his shoes into a large rubbermaid container every time he takes them off. The other night in bed, he jumped about a foot when I went to pick a piece of fuzz off of my pillow! He thought it was a gecko or a bug I was going after. This morning, I awoke to him using my shoe to kill a baby gecko. A few minutes later, he was using a different shoe of mine to kill a centipede type bug. I guess maybe I should resort to keeping my shoes in a rubbermaid container to just keep my husband from killing things with them. Anyway, I have now starting referring to him as the Gecko Killer. Before I get a bunch of e-mails from people who love geckos...the one my husband killed was very, very small...and up until today, we have just been using a broom to get the geckos out of the house (a very long process by the way...that doesn't always work if the gecko gets behind some furniture). This is still our preferred method as I honestly don't want to have to clean gecko guts off of my shoes.
Besides that, not too much else going on. I've been reading a lot during my breaks of organizing the house. No internet, so reading is the next best thing. My goal is to have the house pretty much done be the end of this week and to start scrapbooking next week. I have promised my mom a scrapbook of her trip to Beijing for Christmas, so I need to get started as time will fly by the next few months. I am still working out our R&R (rest and relaxation) trips for the year. We have 3 trips to take this year as part of the benefits provided by our company. Also, we have home leave to take this year. So, when you start doing the math, we will basically be gone every month between now and the end of the year. Therefore, I need to get busy on the scrapbook, and I guess I should start worrying about starting my Christmas shopping.
Anyway, I will do another post in a couple of days whenever I make it back to Steve's office building. In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying their last few days of summer. I had better go as my low battery light is finally starting to flash.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Moving Day #3
Well, I woke up this morning and decided that today will be the last moving day for us. Once again, I didn't get much sleep, and after accessing how much is left in the apartment, I determined that if the driver takes Steve to work and comes back for me that everything that is left can be squeezed into the vehicle in one trip.
So after today, we no longer will be moving...just cleaning, unpacking, and organizing. Anyway, I wanted to post this as the internet has not been connected at the house yet, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again or to check my e-mail. If you don't hear from me in a few days, now you will know why...it's not because we have been eaten by killer geckos or anything like that. By the way, I don't dislike geckos or snakes...I just don't want the geckos in my house...they can eat bugs and insects outside of the house. As far as the snakes go, I'm OK with them also as long as they are far, far away from my property :)
So after today, we no longer will be moving...just cleaning, unpacking, and organizing. Anyway, I wanted to post this as the internet has not been connected at the house yet, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again or to check my e-mail. If you don't hear from me in a few days, now you will know why...it's not because we have been eaten by killer geckos or anything like that. By the way, I don't dislike geckos or snakes...I just don't want the geckos in my house...they can eat bugs and insects outside of the house. As far as the snakes go, I'm OK with them also as long as they are far, far away from my property :)
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Moving Day #2
Our second moving day went about as well as I expected. Steve and I left the apartment with a car load of stuff and arrived at the house at about 9:15 this morning. We spent a couple of hours cleaning the family room and master bedroom before the movers showed up with all of our stuff. They were actually about 15 minutes early...which is virtually unheard of here in India. They had two trucks full of our stuff that they unloaded for a little over a hour. Then they went to lunch and went to get the rest of our stuff. While they were gone for two hours, Steve and I cleaned out the kitchen cabinets. They finally came back with the rest of our stuff and quickly had it unloaded and were gone. Amazingly, all our boxes showed up...none were mysteriously missing. However, a lot of them have been opened...so I'm curious to actually see whether or not anything has been stolen out of them.
Throughout the day, I was finally able to do some laundry! Our new washer and dryer work great! I haven't messed with the dishwasher yet, but I'm sure it's probably pretty similar to U.S. dishwashers. Also, the permanent generator is now officially hooked up and ready for use.
After unwrapping the majority of our big pieces of furniture, we haven't had any major damage to anything. However, every piece of furniture has several nicks, scratches, and places where the varnish has been rubbed away. I'm not too happy about this, but I knew it was coming after seeing how they had packed things in China. When they first started packing in Beijing, I had told them to wrap things well and if I caught them not doing so, I brought it to their attention. However, they just had too many people in too many rooms for me to watch all of the time...and unlike our packers in the U.S. who took forever to pack us, the Chinese packers were in a big hurry. Anyway, now I will spend a lot of time photographing and documenting all of the damage that has occurred. I'm not sure that we will get compensated for any of it, and I guess I will have to just accept that my furniture is no longer perfect. I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later with all of the moves we have done in the past few years. If I want to move, I'm going to have to accept some wear and tear on our stuff. It still makes me mad though as we didn't have one new scratch or nick when we arrived in Beijing...and now less than a year later, everything is marked up.
The other excitement of the day occurred with our first gecko/lizard in the house. We were cleaning the family room. I was cleaning the entertainment center, and Steve was cleaning the windows and door leading out to the deck. Well, the windows have bars on them which makes it a little difficult to reach through to clean the windows. I suggested to Steve that he just open the windows and go outside on the deck to clean them. He had just got outside, and I had no more than said jokingly to him to watch out for the snakes and geckos on the deck when he squealed. He was cleaning the window frame and there was a very small gecko on it. Well, he didn't see it because it was dark brown...the same color as the woodwork on the window. Anyway, to make a long story short...I got our new India broom (by the way, anyone considering a move to India, bring your own brooms and mops...the ones that are available for purchase here are made cheap and don't work well). With the broom in hand, Steve was finally able to knock the gecko out onto the deck...after it had scurried all over the window frame and door frame inside the house. I was laughing very hard although Steve didn't think this whole experience was very funny. Anyway, one gecko down...and I'm sure a lot more to come!
Well, Steve and I are exhausted. We have decided to stay tonight and tomorrow night still in the apartment...even though our bed was assembled (and I had to refrain from crawling in it this afternoon), we still have at least two more trips of stuff out of the apartment. It's just easier to make one trip per day from the apartment to the house as the traffic is pretty bad and it takes about 1 1/2 hours to get there. So, tomorrow, Steve is back to work. I will drop him off on the way out to the house. I will work on unpacking and starting to organize things.
This weekend will be much of the same...unpacking and organizing...plus we still have a lot more rooms to clean (Steve has finally talked me into hiring a maid as the house is just too large for me to keep clean all of the time...especially if I want to have any social life or free time here). Also, we have to determine where to put our love seat. The family room is only big enough for our couch and oversized chair. Originally, we thought we were going to put the love seat in the office...however, it won't fit through the door. Right now, it is just sitting out in the foyer. I'm guessing this will probably be were it will end up staying as I'm not sure it will fit through any of the other doorways. Don't worry though...our foyer is HUGE! Luckily for us, the family room has the outside entrance to the deck, so the movers where able to bring the couch and chair through this bigger door. I don't know if our furniture is just really big or if India homes just have small doors.
Anyway, I've about had it for the day...so I'm off to bed!
Throughout the day, I was finally able to do some laundry! Our new washer and dryer work great! I haven't messed with the dishwasher yet, but I'm sure it's probably pretty similar to U.S. dishwashers. Also, the permanent generator is now officially hooked up and ready for use.
After unwrapping the majority of our big pieces of furniture, we haven't had any major damage to anything. However, every piece of furniture has several nicks, scratches, and places where the varnish has been rubbed away. I'm not too happy about this, but I knew it was coming after seeing how they had packed things in China. When they first started packing in Beijing, I had told them to wrap things well and if I caught them not doing so, I brought it to their attention. However, they just had too many people in too many rooms for me to watch all of the time...and unlike our packers in the U.S. who took forever to pack us, the Chinese packers were in a big hurry. Anyway, now I will spend a lot of time photographing and documenting all of the damage that has occurred. I'm not sure that we will get compensated for any of it, and I guess I will have to just accept that my furniture is no longer perfect. I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later with all of the moves we have done in the past few years. If I want to move, I'm going to have to accept some wear and tear on our stuff. It still makes me mad though as we didn't have one new scratch or nick when we arrived in Beijing...and now less than a year later, everything is marked up.
The other excitement of the day occurred with our first gecko/lizard in the house. We were cleaning the family room. I was cleaning the entertainment center, and Steve was cleaning the windows and door leading out to the deck. Well, the windows have bars on them which makes it a little difficult to reach through to clean the windows. I suggested to Steve that he just open the windows and go outside on the deck to clean them. He had just got outside, and I had no more than said jokingly to him to watch out for the snakes and geckos on the deck when he squealed. He was cleaning the window frame and there was a very small gecko on it. Well, he didn't see it because it was dark brown...the same color as the woodwork on the window. Anyway, to make a long story short...I got our new India broom (by the way, anyone considering a move to India, bring your own brooms and mops...the ones that are available for purchase here are made cheap and don't work well). With the broom in hand, Steve was finally able to knock the gecko out onto the deck...after it had scurried all over the window frame and door frame inside the house. I was laughing very hard although Steve didn't think this whole experience was very funny. Anyway, one gecko down...and I'm sure a lot more to come!
Well, Steve and I are exhausted. We have decided to stay tonight and tomorrow night still in the apartment...even though our bed was assembled (and I had to refrain from crawling in it this afternoon), we still have at least two more trips of stuff out of the apartment. It's just easier to make one trip per day from the apartment to the house as the traffic is pretty bad and it takes about 1 1/2 hours to get there. So, tomorrow, Steve is back to work. I will drop him off on the way out to the house. I will work on unpacking and starting to organize things.
This weekend will be much of the same...unpacking and organizing...plus we still have a lot more rooms to clean (Steve has finally talked me into hiring a maid as the house is just too large for me to keep clean all of the time...especially if I want to have any social life or free time here). Also, we have to determine where to put our love seat. The family room is only big enough for our couch and oversized chair. Originally, we thought we were going to put the love seat in the office...however, it won't fit through the door. Right now, it is just sitting out in the foyer. I'm guessing this will probably be were it will end up staying as I'm not sure it will fit through any of the other doorways. Don't worry though...our foyer is HUGE! Luckily for us, the family room has the outside entrance to the deck, so the movers where able to bring the couch and chair through this bigger door. I don't know if our furniture is just really big or if India homes just have small doors.
Anyway, I've about had it for the day...so I'm off to bed!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Moving Day #1
Well, we took possession of the house today! We arrived at the house this afternoon and the first surprise we had was not a snake or a gecko...but the fact that our generator was there! The landlord had thought it was going to be a week or two before it was installed. Well, he said that they had just brought and put it in this morning. Now, they are working on hooking it up, but it should be up and running in a day or two. Great news!
Besides that, the house is also great! All of the appliances are very nice. The landlord did a great job of picking them out and having them installed. The landlord and his wife seem like very nice people. So far, I think we have hit the jackpot with them. He was very thorough showing us around the house. I honestly think that if we have any issues come up, he will help us out without any problems. From my understanding, this is not necessarily the case here in India...a good landlord is not a given here. Of course, it probably helps that he lives here in Chennai and that the house was built to be used as a weekend home. However, their kids are pretty active in school right now, and they just found that they weren't using it as much as they thought and decided to rent it out. Lucky for us...we get a great house!
Well, after the herd of people somewhat cleared out of the house...it seems like everyone was there...I honestly have no clue how many people where floating around the property today...Steve and I were able to do a little bit of cleaning. More so though, we talked about where to put our furniture when it is delivered tomorrow. Then we ended up moving 4 couches around the house (the house is partially furnished by the landlord as we don't have much furniture in our shipment) to accommodate what little furniture we do have coming.
Anyway, the game plan for tomorrow is to go out to the house with another load of stuff out of the apartment and to work on cleaning the house (yes, believe it or not, Steve is actually taking a day off of work...of course, I wanted him to also take Friday off, but no such luck on getting him two days in a row). As no one has been living there, the house just has a good coat of dirt on it and needs a good scrubbing. Fun, fun for Steve and I. The movers with our furniture and other stuff are suppose to be coming at noon...which by India standards means they will probably show up around 3pm. Then the unpacking and organizing fun will begin!
Well, I have to go...need to do research on our washing machine. I think I figured it out, but before I actually run it, I want to look the manual up on line so I don't screw it up...like flooding the house or having soap coming out everywhere! Of course, it would have been too much to ask to have the manuals to the new appliances left with them. Oh well, not complaining...at least I finally get to do my own laundry finally!
Besides that, the house is also great! All of the appliances are very nice. The landlord did a great job of picking them out and having them installed. The landlord and his wife seem like very nice people. So far, I think we have hit the jackpot with them. He was very thorough showing us around the house. I honestly think that if we have any issues come up, he will help us out without any problems. From my understanding, this is not necessarily the case here in India...a good landlord is not a given here. Of course, it probably helps that he lives here in Chennai and that the house was built to be used as a weekend home. However, their kids are pretty active in school right now, and they just found that they weren't using it as much as they thought and decided to rent it out. Lucky for us...we get a great house!
Well, after the herd of people somewhat cleared out of the house...it seems like everyone was there...I honestly have no clue how many people where floating around the property today...Steve and I were able to do a little bit of cleaning. More so though, we talked about where to put our furniture when it is delivered tomorrow. Then we ended up moving 4 couches around the house (the house is partially furnished by the landlord as we don't have much furniture in our shipment) to accommodate what little furniture we do have coming.
Anyway, the game plan for tomorrow is to go out to the house with another load of stuff out of the apartment and to work on cleaning the house (yes, believe it or not, Steve is actually taking a day off of work...of course, I wanted him to also take Friday off, but no such luck on getting him two days in a row). As no one has been living there, the house just has a good coat of dirt on it and needs a good scrubbing. Fun, fun for Steve and I. The movers with our furniture and other stuff are suppose to be coming at noon...which by India standards means they will probably show up around 3pm. Then the unpacking and organizing fun will begin!
Well, I have to go...need to do research on our washing machine. I think I figured it out, but before I actually run it, I want to look the manual up on line so I don't screw it up...like flooding the house or having soap coming out everywhere! Of course, it would have been too much to ask to have the manuals to the new appliances left with them. Oh well, not complaining...at least I finally get to do my own laundry finally!
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