Germany Trip, Part 2

A couple of things I was looking forward to during our trip to Germany was a visit to a castle and shopping at the Christmas markets.

Well we were able to walk around one castle, but unfortunately it wasn't open on the day we were there. I guess I was expecting the castle to look like the ones in the fairy tales. Since, this was my first time to see a castle, I was little surprised to see castle ruins instead of a castle that a king and queen would have lived in. Nonetheless, the walk around the castle was nice and relaxing. No one around but us...if the castle would have been in China or India, there would no doubt have been a gazillion other people.

This a photo of the Konigstein Castle ruins. The thing that always amazes me about the old structures that I have now seen in China, India, Germany, etc. is that there is nothing this old in the U.S. Nothing that even comes close to matching the age of these places. There is a lot of history to a place like this.

On Friday, the traditional biggest shopping day of the year in the U.S., we went to a Christmas market in Koblenz. It was just a small market, and we didn't end up buying much. However, we did have a blast eating at all of the food stalls. Plus, the drive to Koblenz was very peaceful...part of the way we were driving through the beautiful countryside of Germany, and the rest of the time, we were on the interstate. If I didn't know better, we could have been anywhere in the U.S. Traffic in Germany is definitely along the same lines of traffic in Illinois. S and I decided not to rent a car while we were in Germany. Having not driven much in the previous year and coming from riding in India's traffic, we didn't feel that it would be safe for us to try to drive in unfamiliar territory. Nonetheless, under different circumstances, I would definitely have no problems driving myself around in Germany.

Another thing that amazed S and I were the stands at the Christmas market. You are probably looking at this photo saying to yourself...what's so special about it? Well, S and I are use to seeing every day permanent stands here in Chennai that look like the Big Bad Wolf could blow over with barely a huff. These temporary stands that are only put up for a month or so looked so nice and sturdy...not to mention the time and effort that went into decorating the outside of them.

We were about a week early for the big Christmas markets to be open. We went into Frankfurt on Saturday and walked around. There were a ton of little stands that were being prepared for the opening of the Christmas market this weekend. Don't know if you can see clearly in the above photo, but even with the Christmas markets not yet open, there were a ton of people out. I can only imagine what it is like this weekend with the opening of the markets. Keeping track of our group of 10 in this crowd was not always the easiest...especially since we looked like everyone else. At least when we are touring places in Asia, if we get separated from each other, we are much easier to spot being the minority "white" people.

I can't remember what exactly these building are...I want to say city offices but could be wrong about that...anyway, I just think they are very cool looking German architecture.

This is one of my favorite photos from our trip of our friends' son, Adam. He's almost 3 years old and couldn't quite figure out why the sign was on the ground. He even tried to put it back upright!

At the end of our walking tour of Frankfurt, it was time to stop for some frankfurters and beer at a German restaurant. Can't go to Germany and not have beer and frankfurters! Somehow with all of the bread, Thanksgiving dinner, bratwursts, frankfurters, and other food I ate during our trip, I managed not to gain any weight. Probably because my body needed the extra calories to keep my metabolism going so I wouldn't freeze to death! I just hope the same holds true for the 3 weeks I'm in Illinois. Normally I gain weight when we return to Illinois, but I'm hoping that my body will just burn up the extra calories to keep me warm. I guess I need to do a pre-Illinois weigh in this weekend, so I will know in a few weeks time whether or not this theory is true.

OK, I'll do one more post on our Germany trip in the next few days. You have to bare with my minimal postings the last few days. Since returning from Germany, I've pretty much been going non stop preparing for our trip next week to Illinois. Of course, I can't complain too much to S...he tells me I have it sssoooooooo rough since he has worked about 80 hours this week, and it's only Friday. Plus he has to work tomorrow. OK, I guess he wins!

Germany Trip, Part 1

I absolutely LOVED Germany! We had a great time, and once again, we were wishing that we had a few more days to spend there. Of course, S's job intervened, and we had to come home so that he could leave again on a business trip. Next year, I'm definitely planning our vacations well in advance so that S can block the time off on his calendar in order for us to stay longer at these places.

We arrived in Frankfurt early on Wednesday morning after a very long overnight flight from Chennai. Leaving at 2 am from Chennai for a 9 plus hour flight is not my idea of a good time. In fact, we had so much fun doing this, that we have decided that we'll do the exact same thing next week when we fly from Chennai to Frankfurt to catch our flight to Chicago. Fun, fun.

Anyway, after arriving, we took a taxi ride to our hotel and arrived there at about 8:30am. It was a little weird that at this time it was just barely getting light outside. It was even more strange for us that it was completely dark by 4:30 in the afternoon. Here in Chennai the sun comes up around 6 am, and it doesn't get completely dark until 6pm. So, we checked into our hotel, showered, and rested before heading out to try to find our friends' house.

We ended up walking around the small town our friends live in quite a bit during the time we were there. Even though it was a little chilly and misty most of the time, it was great to be able to walk in a nice, clean environment without any trash, stray dogs, cows, men urinating, etc. In fact, one of my favorite quotes of the week came from S when he said something along the lines of "look, what a novice concept, dogs on leashes." Not having been in Europe before, I didn't realize that dogs are allowed pretty much anywhere. I was a little shocked when we walked into a bakery on the first day, and there was a dog in there.

Speaking of bakeries, it's probably a good thing I don't live in Germany because of all of the bakeries. About every 3rd store is a bakery, and boy did we eat a lot of bread while we were there. We had a pretty traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberries, green beans, and dressing. Unfortunately canned pumpkin wasn't to be found, so we actually ended up with no dessert on Thanksgiving. Hard times, I'm telling you! It was great being able to spend time with our friends from Beijing and their relatives. Everyone just made S and I feel like part of the family.

Living overseas and away from our blood relatives, we miss out on a lot of holidays. However, some of the people we have met in Beijing and now here in Chennai have become not only very dear friends but also like family members to S and I. This was the second year now that we have spent Thanksgiving with this couple. We are already joking about where we are going to meet for Thanksgiving next year!

Anyway, more on our Germany trip in the next post...

EXTRA, EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT...

CRITTER APPREHENDED!

Last week before leaving for Germany, I finally had our driver take me to buy a couple of rat boxes. He had been telling us about these boxes, but I thought that I could catch the "mouse" using my mouse trap or sticky traps. Well after having the thing make me mad last week...read previous posts if you haven't already done so...I decided it was finally time to get the rat box.

Anyway, I am now the proud owner of two of these wonderful looking boxes. Only 30 rupees a piece (less than a $1 each). Quite the deal! OK, didn't really matter what they looked like to me as long as they worked. So, our driver says that we have to bait with coconut. Huh? Whatever...once again as long as it works. Anyway, he baits the traps with a piece of coconut and dried fish...let's just say our house has a wonderful smell to it now! Anyway, the concept of the box is that the rat goes in and when it eats the bait off of the hook that the lid will spring shut. I'm not thinking this contraption is going to work...after all since I'm convinced we have a little mouse, I'm thinking the mouse can then escape through the metal bars on the top and the back of the trap.

So, the traps are set, and we go to Germany (by the way, I promise to have a post about our trip soon). We come back to find that all of the coconut and fish gone, but the traps haven't been tripped. Ugh! At this point, I'm pretty much ready to give up and put a bowl of food out for the critter and just adopt it as my pet. Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of getting the poison that someone offered me and going that route. Anyway, today our driver asks about the rat box. When I tell him all of the bait is gone, but no rat...he calls it "brilliant." Quite a big word for our driver to be saying. But yes, I have to agree the thing has now avoided 3 different types of traps and probably has an IQ level that could be considered brilliant.

Well our driver insists on baiting and setting the traps again. Fine, whatever...if it makes him happy...I really don't care any more. I have more important things to worry about...like going to the U.S. next week. So, tonight I am talking on the phone all night when I finally decide time to fold some laundry and go to bed.

I walk back to the laundry room and see the lid to the box closed. Not really worried...since I'm pretty sure the thing is a mouse and could have tripped the trap and climbed out. Since S is still gone, I decide I have no choice but to look in the box to see if anything is in there. The problem being is that the box is sort of under an open counter, and there is no way for me to see in it without moving it. Now keep in mind, I am not a person who freaks out at the sight of a mouse or rat...just really prefer to see them when they are dead. So, I put on big snow/ski gloves and get the baseball bat and squat down to shove the box around so I can see in the back side (I'm pretty sure that I was quite the sight, but hey whatever works). I turn it, and sure enough nothing. Well, being that it is sort of dark, I decide that I had better get the flashlight to look in the box before I go moving the box anymore. Well with the flashlight, sure enough, there is a critter in the box...and in my opinion, it is definitely a rat! OK, I am now breathing deeply. I go outside to get our security guards, and after saying rat about 10 times and pointing to the house, they finally figure out what is going on (keep in mind that our security guards speak pretty much no English and that our driver does the translation for us and he has gone home for the day). Maybe next time I should jump up and down and scream, and they would get the picture quicker.

Anyway, the rat has now been disposed of. When our security guard brought the box back in (after all I'm pretty sure we only had one critter, but just in case, the trap has been reset), he said that the rat was big. Well, heck yeah, the thing has only been eating apples, cat food, coconut, and dried fish. If I were on Survivor, I would probably have roasted it to eat!

So, the critter has been caught. In the haste to get it out, I didn't get a photo of it. S probably won't believe me that we caught it since he wasn't here. Plus, I figure that no one reading this blog wants to see a photo of a rat. You'll just have to trust me on this one!

So, the latest count...

snakes, 5
rats, 1
geckos, countless

Boy, isn't life in India fun???!!!

In Station

S and I are back "in station." That's what they say here if you are in town...out of town, you are "out of station." Anyway, we arrived back in Chennai and to our house very late last night from our trip to Germany. S had to turn right around and leave for a business trip today...so back to the airport for him...I guess that means he is "out of station" again. I on the other hand am on my way back to bed...where I hope to be "stationary" for a few hours. So, more later...

Critter Update Part 2

This is an update to my blog post from earlier today. So, if you haven't read the earlier post, you might want to read that one first.

So, I am back in the office working away. I have an empty cup that needs to go into the dishwasher. It is now dark in the house, so as I walk into the kitchen and flip on the light into the wet kitchen/laundry area, I swear I see something move on the floor by the dryer. Am I seeing things? Is this "critter" getting the best of me? So, I decide to leave a couple of sticky traps with crackers on them, plus I set my one mouse trap from the U.S. with a cracker (for some reason I don't use the traditional peanut butter...once again not thinking). I turn off all of the lights and go back into the office, which by the way is clear on the other side of the house. Not 5 minutes goes by, and I hear the mouse trap trip. Critter finally caught!

Couldn't be so lucky. The darn little thing got the cracker and tripped the trap but got away. So, now the thing has successfully got off of a sticky trap and avoided a traditional mouse trap. I swear I have a critter with super powers. SUPER CRITTER! Anyway, now the mouse trap is set with peanut butter. This is an all out battle. Full fledged war. Julie vs. Critter. So far, Julie-0, critter-2.

P.S. By the way, there is more styrofoam coming out of the A/C unit. So, now I don't know if I have a critter living there and one living in the guest bedroom, or if it is one in the same critter. The plot thickens...

Critter Update

I am finishing up the packing for our trip to Germany today. Being that the temperatures in Germany will be in the 30s and 40s and the temperatures here in Chennai still get well into the 80s every day, winter clothing is a must. Besides sweaters and jeans, we will definitely need coats, hats, gloves, etc. We'll be walking around outside quite a bit as I plan to walk from the hotel to our friends' house at least one way every day. According to the map I pull up on the internet, it will be about a 1.5 mile walk. Why walk in the cold? Well we decided it would not be the best idea in the world to rent a car while we are there. Being that we haven't really drove ourselves much in the last year, and being that we ride around in the India traffic, we didn't feel that it would be safe for us to try to navigate ourselves around unfamiliar territory in a foreign country. Plus, I am really missing walking...we walked everywhere in Beijing. At the time, I thought walking in Beijing was somewhat hazardous, but in hindsight and compared with walking here in Chennai, Beijing was quite a nice place to walk around. So, anyway, I figure we can just bundle up in Germany and get some exercise in every day...probably will need it after what promises to be a good Thanksgiving feast.

Anyway, this brings me up to the critter update...I needed to dig out our winter coats, etc. Being that our house doesn't have a lot of storage in it, when I was unpacking, I just put all of our winter gear into a cardboard box and shoved it in the corner in our spare bedroom...not like we were going to need it any time soon here in Chennai. On top of this box was another box with our winter boots in it and a basket with clothes that need to be donated to charity. So, I move the basket and smaller box to get to the big box full of coats. I open the box and right away know that our critter (right now I'm still thinking that we have a single critter and not multiple critters) has been living in this box...let's us say there are bathroom remnants every where in the box.

So, I'll be the first to admit that at times I don't really think about things before I do them. No, I didn't go digging through the box...back to that in a minute. Nope, I was storing 4 bags of cat food right next to this box. When we moved here, we had thought we would get a kitten (now, we probably won't, but that's a whole other long story), so I had my mom put some cat food into our food shipment. Now, what was I thinking just leaving the cat food sitting out??? This is India...you just don't do stuff like that! So, sure enough, on the side of one of the bags is a dime sized hole. Let's just say that by the number of droppings in this box, cat food must be full of fiber!

What to do? What to do? I really needed to get the hats and gloves out of this box (and now I have to wash them). Now, I'm not scared of mice at all. However, I didn't really want to go digging through the box by myself, because I really didn't want to have it come flying out at me and end up who knows where in the house. I have doubts of whether or not I would be able to trap and kill the thing myself. Plus, what if it is the bigger version of a mouse? Don't even want to really think about this, but who knows? So, time to call in Krishnan, our driver.

We definitely don't ever have any excitement around our house. We are very boring people. No kids. No pets. Don't entertain very often. Nothing exciting ever really happens around here...with the exception of the occasional snake in the yard, our guards must be bored out of their minds most days.

So I get Krishnan to tell him what the situation is. He comes running with the head security guard...you would have thought there was a fire as quickly as they came running! They carry the box out of the house, down the driveway, and outside the gates to the dirt road next to our property. By this time, the other two security guards plus the gardener have arrived from their various posts around the house. Excitement, excitement!

What did we find in the box? Nothing but a bunch of droppings. They pulled all of the coats, hats, and gloves out, and no critter was found. Major let down! However, the stinking little varmint has chewed a hole in the sleeve of my good long black dress coat plus numerous holes in hats and gloves. Ughh! It must now die!

So, now my sticky traps are set up in a different room. I'm more than determined now to catch this beast! I will win! It has been a long battle, but in the end, I will be victorious! Plus, if I don't catch the critter soon, we are going to have big problems with another food shipment set to arrive any day now. Not so concerned about my food, but once again we are storing food for a family moving here in January. I'm afraid if the thing isn't caught before we leave for the U.S. in two weeks, we will find a major mess when we return.

I'm off to wash the winter clothes and to bait my sticky traps...this time with cat food! Plus, I guess I need to find a container to house the 3 bags of uneaten cat food. Oh well, they are probably full of bugs by now anyways.

Happy Birthday Bud!

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Bud,
Happy Birthday to you!

So, I was going to call and wish my brother a happy birthday when it was 12:01 am in the U.S. on his birthday, but then I figured I didn't want to make him mad at me since Christmas is coming up pretty quickly. Instead, he just gets a public birthday greeting!

It has been a pretty low key weekend here. I dug out our winter clothes yesterday in preparation for our trip to Germany this week. I am so excited that I'm going to be able to wear something other than summer clothes. Right now, I'm hating all of my shorts, capris, T-shirts, and short sleeved shirts. Of course, it was bound to happen when I have been wearing them all for 6 months. Clothes shopping here in Chennai really isn't great if you are looking for good quality, reasonably priced, Western style clothing...so I've been wearing the same things over and over and over again for months now. I'm ready for some jeans and sweaters weather!

So, besides taking this opportunity to wish my brother a happy birthday, I'll also say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! As I finish up some last minute packing and shopping this week, I'm not sure if I'll get around to writing any more posts. Therefore, if traveling this week, please be careful. My mom was concerned that we are flying on the busiest week/weekend of holiday travel...then I reminded her that Thanksgiving is only an American holiday and that traveling from India to Germany should be like traveling between these two countries on any other day. Also, eat until your hearts content (or your pants won't fit) on turkey, potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, cranberries, pumpkin pie, and whatever else you can stuff in. I know S and I are looking forward to eating good in Germany (and probably drinking good as well). We'll be thinking about all of our family and friends back in the U.S. (and all over the world for that matter)...just a few more days until we'll see a lot of you in Illinois!

When Nature Calls...

Yes, this post is about going to the bathroom. Why? Well, I have had a request for more photos of the inside of our house. So, you are getting photos of our bathrooms. Plus, this is proof for my former co-workers at ISU that Western style toilets do exist in India, and that I don't go in a hole in the ground! The main reason though is that unfortunately what I am about to write about going to the bathroom is what I deal with on a daily basis living in India. Since this blog is about my life in India, there are certain times when unfortunately the topic isn't going to be the most pleasant to discuss.

If you don't want to be grossed out, you may want to skip reading the next few paragraphs. Just skip ahead until you see photos. While living in Beijing, we would occasionally see men urinating along side the roads. Not very often...and when we did it was normally taxi drivers parked under the overpasses that were going. However, in the 9 months that I lived in China, I did on two different occasions see people going "number two." Yes, gross. Now here in India, seeing men urinating along side the roads is a way of life. It is not an occasional thing. Every time I leave my house, it is guaranteed that I will see this happening. Normally, I see this numerous times while I'm out. While I haven't actually ever counted how many men urinating I see in one day, I'm guessing the average is at least 5 to 10 per day. Haven't seen any of the other yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Anyway, men urinating in the streets...not a shock to me anymore...just the way of life here in India.

As far as public bathrooms go...in China, we based restaurants, shopping malls, etc on whether or not they had a Western style toilet. Most of the time we could find one...normally it would be the handicap toilet. However, I did use the squatters on many occasions. I figured when you have to go, you have to go. The thing that got me was the brand new, very nice shopping malls that had gross bathrooms. The really sad thing about this is that often times these bathrooms had full time attendants. Now, here in India, the public bathroom situation is not near as good as China. For one, there aren't near as many. I guess probably because there aren't the big buildings like Beijing had. Most of the stores are individual...and probably if I really went looking down alleys and back streets, I probably could find bathrooms. I'll pass though. Here in India, when you have to go, you hold it! Honestly, if I know I'm going to be out all day long, I plan my day to make sure that I stop at places where there is a decent bathroom...normally the big hotels. Besides at the airport, I haven't had to use a squatter here. Oh, I know they exist...just goes back to the fact that I'm not going to go unless I'm at home or in a hotel.

Also, I should probably mention for those of you who don't know, that the left hand in India is the one used for bathroom functions. Therefore, when dining or eating Indian food, one should only use their right hand to eat...no utensils are used.

So, what about the bathrooms in our house? We have 4 bathrooms...all with Western toilets. Being that there is only the two of us, we really only end up using two of the bathrooms...saves me from having to clean all of them all of the time.

This is a photo of the bathroom off of our master bedroom. S calls it the prison bathroom.

These photos are of the bathroom off of our office. It is actually the nicest bathroom and the one we use to shower. It's kind of hard to take decent photos of such a small area, but I'll try to explain what you are looking at. Right past the toilet, there is a drop (hard to tell in the photo because the tile is the same). This is so the water doesn't run all over the bathroom from the shower. Adjustable shower rods don't exist in India, so we don't have a shower curtain. At first this bothered me, but now we are just use to it. I actually have really grown to like this concept, and if ever we build a house, I would live to have this design in one of our bathrooms. The bathroom is L-shaped. So around the corner from the toilet (see second photo) is the sky light area. This is the area that was originally completely open to the outside before we made the landlord put plexi-glass over the opening, or we wouldn't take the house. I guess when it rained the water would have just run down the walls to the rocks (there is a drain in the rocks). You can see the framing that divides the rocks from the shower to once again keep the water in the shower area.

So, there you have it. A post on bathrooms. I'll try to come up with something a little bit better for my next post.

The Verdict Is In...

So, the A/C people decided to show up today. They do think that a rat was living in our A/C unit. However, they don't think it has been in there recently. They went outside to look and told me that there are no holes for the rat to get in...that everything has been sealed off. So, they think it was in there and chewed up the styrofoam before the sealing. What is coming out of the A/C is just the remnants of the rat chewing the styrofoam before the sealing.

So, do I believe their verdict? NO! Their theory doesn't explain why the styrofoam only came falling out at night (when the A/C was turned off). It doesn't explain why the styrofoam only comes out every now and then. However, instead of arguing with them, it's just much easier to agree with what they say. They cleaned out all of the lose styrofoam that was still in the A/C unit. The guy also took a photo of the chewed up styrofoam. So, now if any more falls out, we will know for sure that something has been back in there.

If their theory is correct, then this means that the apple eater came in the house some other way. I don't see where this could have occurred since our house is actually pretty secure. I guess it's possible, but I tend to like to believe my A/C theory more. I don't believe that the critter has been in the house recently. I still think it comes in through this A/C unit every now and then. Also, I don't think it is a rat, but just a mouse. I think a rat would have gone through our trash. So, we shall wait and see what happens. Heck, I may even put some apples back out in the bowl!

Cold Spell

Chennai is having a cold spell. It's about 7:15 in the morning, and it's 69.7 degrees outside. Brrr.... I may have to wear a sweatshirt today! Definitely the coldest it has been since we moved here 5 months ago.

Killing Spiders

On average I kill one to two spiders a day in my house. I have no clue what kind of spiders they are. I find them all over the house...on the walls, on the floors, on the bathroom sink, on the side of the kitchen cabinets, etc. There is no pattern as to where I will find a spider on any given day. They are small...probably about size of a dime or slightly smaller. However, they are quick. The most effective method in killing them...whacking them with a magazine. For some reason, the bug spray I have doesn't seem to work well on them. So, I find the squishing and smashing method to work much better.

So, here are my thoughts as I killed my daily spider this morning (this one was on the floor at the base of our staircase). If I kill one to two spiders a day, and we are going to be gone to the U.S. for 20 plus days, does that mean we will come back to around 20 to 40 spiders all over the house???

Just my thoughts...

Another McDonald's Story

I have previously posted about how in different countries the menus at the McDonald's are slightly different. You can always get your basic cheeseburger, Big Mac, or french fries that pretty much taste the same no matter where you are in the world. However, I have mentioned how I have now had green curd, pineapple/taro, date, and banana pies and a green bean curd sundae at the various McDonald's around Asia. None of which you would get at a McDonald's in the U.S.

Well, here's another new one. You won't find this at any U.S. McDonald's. Fireworks with your meal! Another blog I read is written by a woman who has been living here in Chennai for quite awhile. She travels quite a bit around India, Asia, Africa, etc. Her latest travels took her to Hyderabad, India. While there recently, she got a free box of firecrackers with her meal purchase. Seriously! To read her blog, India Ink, just click on the blue words. She even has a photo of her meal and "prize." Only in India....

Happy Belated Diwali

Thursday was Diwali. What is Diwali (also known as Deepawali)? Basically, it boils down to being the India version of Christmas (plus throwing in some July 4th activities). It is by far the largest festival celebrated by India and is known as the Festival of Lights. Traditionally, it is a Hindu religious holiday, but like Christmas is to most Americans, it is celebrated by most Indians regardless of their religion.

I was really looking forward to this holiday here in India. I really enjoyed celebrating Chinese New Year when we lived in Beijing. Even though S was off of work on Thursday and Friday, and we could have went away for the weekend, we chose to stay in Chennai. We were invited to our friends' home for a cookout and to light "crackers." The first few times I heard the word cracker here, I thought they were referring to something you eat. Nope, cracker is a term used here for fireworks. Almost overnight, cracker stands popped up on every block selling fireworks of every shape and size to people. Like China, local people here in India love to light off fireworks.

Anyway, unfortunately, we were not able to go to our friends' house as S forgot it was Diwali and scheduled a very important conference call. The call was set at a time that if we went to the cookout we would have been there for a short time before coming back home. By the time the call was over with, it wasn't worth going. I was really mad at S for ruining the holiday for us. Then, I found out that a local Indian had to go to the office to call in for the call. Let's just say S got an earful from me about not being sensitive enough to the local customs here. How would he like it if he has to go to the office on Christmas Day for a call? (OK, bad example as S probably wouldn't care.)

So, what did we do to celebrate Diwali at our house? Not much. Watched TV. Oh, and handed out money left and right. It is customary (and pretty much expected) to give all staff money for Diwali. For us, this meant giving money to our 6 security guards and to our driver. Even though we don't pay for these people ourselves, we were still expected to give money. I was actually OK with this as these 7 people work very hard for us and only earn about $100 per month. What I didn't particularly care for was that we were also expected to give money to the gardener, the garbage collector, and the electrical people (the ones who come to fix our electricity when it has been off for a long time...happens about once per week that they have to come out and at that time we also have to give them a tip). Does anyone in the U.S. give money to their garbagemen or electrical people at Christmas?

We were able to see a few fireworks from our house. Not many though. I was honestly expecting more, but I think we live to far away from the city that we weren't able to see the majority of them.

Anyway, I am making a commitment that next year, I will be harping on S from day to night for a month before Diwali to not schedule any meetings or calls. I really feel it is important to participate and learn about the culture we are living in. We don't have to totally embrace and agree with everything here, but at least if we try to learn just a little bit, it will help us to understand a little more the way of life here. In the meantime, there are some more major festivals and holidays coming up here in January. Maybe these I will be able to celebrate a little more.

Slithering Snake

Friday afternoon, our doorbell rings. It's our driver telling me that just now the security guards have caught a snake by the guard house. He said it was a green snake. Would I like to see it? Well, of course, I want to see it. S wanted no part in viewing it.

On the left is Ramu, one of our head security guards, and on the right is Moorthy, who obviously had no problem holding onto the snake. By the way, at the time of these photos, the snake is still alive.

While the snake isn't very big in diameter, it probably was about 4 feet long. It doesn't look very big, mean, and vicious in this photo. But hey, a snake is a snake as far as I'm concerned. They told me that this snake was "no poison." Also, I was told how they were going to kill the snake, but I won't share those details in case I have any snake lovers reading my blog.

Well after seeing the snake, I had to run inside and get out my reptile and amphibian reference book to see if I could figure out what type of snake we had. It was actually pretty easy to identify as there aren't that many long slim green colored snakes that live in India. It was a long-nosed whipsnake. My book says that whipsnakes found in Asia have the best vision of any snakes. The main reason for this is because they eat lizards and thus have to be able to see them camouflaged in vegetation. Great...now that we have one less whipsnake around our property we'll probably gain a million more geckos! Can't win for trying here! The other thing my reference book tells me about this type of snake is that it is mildly venomous (even though our driver and guards told me it wasn't). Further research tells me that a bite from this snake will just cause swelling for a few days, but not death. Trust me, I'm not going to volunteer to see whether or not this is true.

So, this slithering snake was number 4 for us. Four down...who knows how many more to come?

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

Yep, that's right. We put up our Christmas tree and decorations today. It was now or never. We have less than a month in India before heading to Illinois for most of December. Next weekend, we will be packing for our trip to Germany over Thanksgiving. The following weekend, we will be in Germany. The weekend after that, we will be packing for the trip to IL. Then we are in Illinois. So, we either put the tree up this weekend, or it wouldn't go up at all.

This was the first year that we have ever had a 360 degree tree. Normally we have to shove it in a corner somewhere. Not in this house. It went right in center square. We were able to put lights and ornaments all the way around it. Of course, no electrical plugs in center square, so we had to run a 15 foot drop cord across the floor. But hey, we can live with that.

Was it weird putting up our Christmas stuff on November10...before Veteran's Day and before Thanksgiving? A little bit. It felt even weirder putting the stuff up when the outside temperature was 85 degrees here today (in the shade). We were wearing shorts and T-shirts. Now, I realize that parts of the U.S. (and other place that celebrate Christmas) are warm in December...but not where I'm from. Illinois is cold at Christmas! Last year, being my first out of Illinois for Christmas, Beijing was just as cold. Not Chennai, India, though! It's still hot here!

Just a few more days until I can freeze my behind off in Germany. The current daily highs in Frankfurt...mid to high 30s. The current daily highs in Chennai...mid to high 80s. I think I need to be finding where I stuck all of my sweaters and sweatshirts. Brrr....

Time Change

OK, I am only a week behind with this post, but better late than never. India does not change time. Yes, we are sticking on the weird 1/2 hour thing. Why? I don't know. This is India...don't ask questions.

Anyway, now we are 11 1/2 hours ahead of Illinois time. I have finally figured out how to update my clocks on the right hand side of this blog. It should all be accurate now.

I hope everyone has adjusted to the time change without major problems. You think one hour is bad...I'd take it over the 11 1/2 hour change I have coming in a few weeks when we travel back to the U.S. Talk about messing a body up. I can hardly wait (sarcasm)!

Ant Fact

Here is a little known fact about ants. They can survive a 50 minute wash cycle in the washing machine. Unless you want to try this out yourself, you'll just have to believe me on this one.

Just store this totally useless bit of trivia in the back of your head...you never know when it may come up in a game of Trivia Pursuit or maybe you'll be on Jeopardy some day. Maybe I should start my own TV show...Julie's India Believe It or Not.

So I Waited...

...all day on pins and needles for the people to show up to service our A/C units. Couldn't hardly wait to see what is in our one unit that I believe our apple critter resides in. So, what was found? What is the mystery creature? Is it a gecko, a mouse, a rat, a chipmunk, a mongoose...what is it?

Well the suspense continues, because the people never showed up. Suppose to be here at 11 am...of course being India, I figured if they were here by 2pm, I would be lucky. But, no...never showed up at all.

Oh well, so goes life in India. Just another day.

It's Going to be One of Those Days...

I can just feel it!

Not even 7 am yet, and I have already had the pudding scared out of me by a gecko. Went to put my cereal bowl in the sink, and the stupid thing was on my counter. Since our counters are black and this gecko was dark brown, I didn't see it until I almost set my cereal bowl on it and it moved. Luckily, I didn't drop my Longaberger bowl. That would not have been good! Then I spent 10 minutes chasing it around my counters before I finally got it out the window. I'm sure the security guards (who can see everything in the kitchen because we don't have any curtains in this room) think I have lost it as I was dancing around the kitchen chasing the thing in my PJs. Now, I need to disinfect all of my counters to get rid of the gecko germs. Gross!

Next up, they are coming to service our A/Cs. I can't wait to see what they find when they open the unit that I believe our apple critter has been living in for two months. Maybe we'll get a clue about what it is. Hee, hee...this should be fun. I'll have my camera handy in case something interesting comes flying out when they open the A/C. Knowing our luck, nothing will be found!

Stay tuned...

Our Car & Driver

Never say never. I said that I would never have a mini van. I don't like them, and I'm sorry but I don't want to look like a soccer mom. Now for people with kids, I'm sure a mini van is the best thing since sliced bread.

Well, we moved to Beijing last year and what do we end up with? A mini van! Since our company was paying for our car and the driver to take us around, we only had a couple of options and couldn't be picky. We had the option between a car or a mini van. Now most of you are thinking for just S and I that a car would have been fine. Nope! You forget that we had a driver, so there was always an extra person in the vehicle. That didn't leave room for many other people. Therefore, we took the mini van, and more than once, we had it completely full of people or suitcases. I ended up being able to tolerate the mini van...plus it probably helped that it was a Buick, and I have owned a whole lot of Buick cars.

I grew up with a father who would only own Chevrolet and GM cars and trucks. Ford was a four letter word in our house. Ford stood for Fix Or Repair Daily and Found On Road Dead. I said that I would never have a Ford. So, guess what? We move to India and end up with a Ford!

Up until today, we have had a Toyota SUV. While it was new, I haven't liked it from the start. It wasn't comfortable to ride in...and with India traffic, you really want to be comfortable in your vehicle. Also, it didn't have automatic locks, which is a must have here for a number of reasons. After our driver left my bag unattended in our car with the doors unlocked...and my bag contained my laptop computer...I about had a cow. Well, low and behold, a couple of weeks later, our Toyota had automatic locks installed.

Anyway, I asked S what other options we had for vehicles besides the Toyota. I knew I wanted an SUV if at all possible. Riding in a car here almost makes me car sick. I don't feel well at all when I get out. Plus, with monsoon season bringing flooding roads plus living on a dirt road, I felt that a SUV would be a better option for us. Well, S came home and told me that the only other option besides the Toyota SUV would be a Ford SUV. I had actually been in my friend's Ford and had found it to be much nicer than the Toyota. Automatic locks, cup holders, back seat A/C controls. Since I didn't have a option to get a Chevy (still don't know why as I have seen Chevy SUVs here), I decided the Ford would be the way to go.

Well, S brought me home the brochure to pick out what color we wanted (big deal for me because in Beijing we only had two color choices...silver or dark blue). So, we decided that we wanted our Ford to be mystic wine colored (in other words, purple). This all occurred back in July, and our Ford was to take a few weeks to reach us. Well it is now November 6, and we are finally getting it today. I guess the big problem was that the new Ford model hadn't been approved yet, and there weren't any old models left. Typically India.

So, this is a photo of our driver, Krishnan, with our new Ford Endeavor. He was like a kid in a candy shop today. All excited. Showing off the new car to all of the security guards. Plus, I'm sure all of the other drivers know that we got a new Ford. I had to go out today, and I could tell he was all nervous driving it. We went slow, and on more than one occasion, I saw him flinch when a motorbike got too close to us. Of course, this is India...it's only a matter of time before it gets scraped and scratched up (a topic for a whole other future blog post).

So, what's it like having a driver? Well, they pretty much become like a family member. In fact, I think I have liked our drivers better than I like some of our family members (won't mention any names here). When our first driver in Beijing had a serious heart attack, S and I were devastated. He ended up being OK, but then we had to hire another driver, who we ended up liking as well. As far as Krishnan goes, he is a good driver...but more important here, he speaks good English...not necessarily an easy thing to find with drivers here. He seems to be pretty happy driving for us. He is even looking to move closer to us, so he doesn't have such a long commute to work every day. To me that says something, given that he only makes around $100 per month (plus whatever extra S and I give him) and has a wife and 2 young sons to support. I think by driving for us he knows that he will be making this amount every month...before us, he would only do airport runs and temporary assignments...not guaranteed to have someone to drive for every day, which means he wouldn't get paid or earn any tips if he didn't work.

So, anyway, we have a Ford. Fix Or Repair Daily. Actually, Ford should become India's national motto...there is always something broke here every day (another future blog post), Fix Or Repair Daily just seems to fit...as does having a Ford SUV.

Mail Update

We have received mail! Yippee!

We received a card from S's mother and a card from S's aunt today. I didn't know either of these were coming. The letters that I know are coming still haven't arrived. The thing is is that these two letters are postmarked October 27 in the U.S. This means, it only took them 10 days to reach us. Not to bad. I think the only way we received them so quickly is that I had sent my driver to the post office to mail some letters for me, and he knows that I have been waiting on mail. So, he intercepted these before the "15- 20" day period that it would have taken to deliver them directly to our house. I think the other letters that I know should be coming must have already left the local post office, and thus who knows where they are and if and when they will ever show up at our house???

Gosh, and people complain about the U.S. postal system. It works pretty efficiently compared to the "system" used here.

So, Beth & Carrie...still waiting on the postcards. Patiently waiting. Very patient. Remaining calm. They will show up. Breath deeply. Breath slowly. Be patient...OK, enough of that. If they don't show up soon, I may go postal!

Rabies

Most Americans only know about rabies because they have to get their dogs and cats rabies shots every year. In the U.S., rabies shots are required for dogs plus you have to register that your dog has received this shot (or at least in Illinois you have to).

After we moved to China last year, I was at a couple of different presentations where doctors were speaking. These doctors were strongly encouraging and recommending that people living in China also be vaccinated against rabies. I didn't even know that this was possible. The only thing I remember ever hearing about people getting rabies shots were after they were bitten by an animal, and it was unclear whether the animal had received it's annual rabies shots. I think the thing I always heard was that then the person would have to receive shots into their stomach after the bite.

In China, the government has implemented not only the one child per couple policy, but it has also implemented the one dog per household policy. The point of this is that if only one dog was owned then the owners would be able to afford the rabies shot for the dog.

Now, I lived in Beijing for 9 months. During this time, I don't ever recall seeing a stray dog. There would occasionally be a dog off of a leash. I am sure that in more rural areas of China there are plenty of stray dogs. The report I could easily find on the internet reported that there were over 2500 cases of human rabies in China in 2004. Anyway, I started having the thought that maybe S and I should get the human rabies vaccine. Some of our friends did the series of 3 shots in Beijing. I decided to see if we could get it back in the U.S. I checked when we were there in May and found out that the easiest place to get the set of shots is through the local public health department.

Well, now I am living in India. There are stray dogs everywhere here. Hundreds, thousands of them in Chennai alone. The few times that S and I have went out walking to the beach, we probably have encountered around 20 to 30 stray dogs each time. The dogs pretty much stay away from us. Nevertheless, I have already determined that we were going to get the rabies shots when we were in Illinois in December. The shots are very expensive. Even through the public health department, which only charges $10 to administer each shot, the shots are around $175 each. Multiply this times six (3 for me, 3 for S), and the cost is over $1000. I need to check with our insurance company to see if we can get this covered. Either way, we are going through with the shots. We will be in the U.S. just enough days to be able to receive all three shots.

Now after receiving these shots, we are not totally protected from rabies if a dog bites us. We would still have to go receive medical treatment of two additional shots. However, without these pre-exposure shots, if we were to be bit, we would have to receive 5 shots. I think after living here in India for almost 5 months now, I will feel a little better having had the pre-exposure shots.

Yesterday, our company had a panel of doctors from the big hospitals and clinics here in Chennai talk to us ISEs. I honestly thought the entire morning felt like I was sitting through health class again. Most of the topics covered were about things that we already know about (plus a lot of the details and facts about health they provided were not the same as what we have been taught in the U.S.). I wish they would have covered topics more relevant to us being foreigners in this country. Anyway, I had hoped the topic of rabies would be brought up. It was. They told us if we were bitten to wash the bite area with soap and water and to seek medical treatment to receive the 5 shots. I asked about pre-exposure shots for humans. The answer I received was that they only recommend these shots for veterinarians and zookeepers. The general public is not at a high risk of rabies exposure like these people are. Hello? Have you been outside? Have you seen the stray dogs everywhere?

So, this morning, I decide to do a little more research into whether or not we should receive the rabies vaccination. I visit the Center for Disease Control website. Sure enough, we fall into the category of "infrequent" risk category. Basically what this means is that we are at a greater risk than the general population for being exposed to rabies. The general population falls into the "rare" risk category. Because we are spending a lot of time in India, we are bumped up to the "infrequent" category (this is in my opinion on the way I read the information). For this category we fall into, it is recommended that we receive pre-exposure immunizations for rabies. Please note that small children in India are at an even higher risk of being exposed to rabies, because they often times will go up to dogs unknowingly, be bitten, and not report the bite to their parents.

Anyway, I decide to also do a little research on just how many human rabies cases are in India every year. From the few different websites I checked out, I gather that there are between 20,000 to 30,000 cases of human rabies every year in India. This actually may be a low number because I guess India does not require that cases be reported. Another website I read estimated that 1 person in India dies every 30 minutes due to rabies. No one really knows what the exact number are here. The one constant fact I did find though was that India by far has the most cases of human rabies than any other country. No other country even comes close to the numbers India reports.

So, what are we going to do? S and I are definitely going forward with getting the rabies shots when we are in the U.S. It'll give me a little piece of mind knowing we have had these shots when we are out and about with the stray dogs everywhere here.

Happy Hallogiving and Happy Thanksoween!

Last year, we were not able to put up any Halloween or Thanksgiving decorations as our sea shipment didn't make it to Beijing until the week before Thanksgiving. By the time we unpacked everything, we decided just to put up a few of the Christmas decorations.

This year, we decided to put up both the Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations at the same time. Why? Because we want to put up our Christmas tree early. With us going back to the U.S. the first week of December, it wouldn't really be worth putting up the tree for a couple of days if we waited until after Thanksgiving. Plus, we are going to be in Germany for Thanksgiving, so by the time we get back, I will be in full pack and get ready to go to the U.S. mode...and won't have time to decorate the house. Therefore, we have jack-o-lanterns and ghosts mixed with turkeys and pilgrims scattered around our house. They have actually been out for over a month now. They will be coming down next week.

S has next Thursday and Friday off of work as it is Diwali here in India (more on that later...but basically Diwali is the Hindu equivalent to Christmas). Therefore, over the four day weekend (since we have decided to stay in town and not go anywhere), we will put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house in snowmen (I'm sure it will be weird putting up snowmen when the average temperature right now here is still in the 80s). This way, we will be able to enjoy our own decorations before heading to my parents' house in December (plus maybe it will put me in the Christmas shopping mood). By the time we get back to Chennai at the end of December, I'm sure we'll be tired of Christmas, and it will all come down.

So, Happy Hallogiving...or maybe it's Happy Thanksoween?! And don't forget...only 7 1/2 weeks until Christmas...do you have your shopping done?

Back Up and Running!

Finally, we have internet again! Nine days later and all that was wrong was a blown fuse. Go figure...this is India!

Now that I have internet again, I have 9 days of e-mails, blog readings, newspaper stories, etc to catch up on. Last week, the World Series was half over with before I even knew it had started. S and I thought it didn't start until the weekend, so by the time we found out, we were only able to catch the last 2 games. Go Red Sox! I bet I have some happy nephews in Massachusetts celebrating this week. Who knows what else I have missed by not having internet access.

Also, with internet again, I really need to get our hotel room booked for our trip to Germany in a few weeks. Not to mention, I still have move expenses to submit. Plus, I need to check to see if we received our tax return and if S got paid in October. So, I guess my Friday will consist of being on the internet all day. Tonight, I need to plug our internet phone in and call my mom, my brother, and my cousin for sure.

Internet. Life is good!