Quick Update

Quick update:
-Tara has what she’s dubbed the “Ghandi Revenge”- lots of toilet time, but that might be TMI for most of you…thankfully, Little Bump is still moving around a lot and this has been a big reassurance.
-Mike is hosting some visitors from Mustang’s Houston office this week- lots of meetings and lunches out.
-Catherine is patiently waiting for her toys to arrive. She’s sleeping through the night, but fighting naps (what else is new?). Usually happy, but occasionally cranky and has learned the fine art of back-talk. Not many spankings yet, as she tends to settle down after a warning, but man, we are in for it once she turns 13!
-Our shipment has been delayed by a few days (big surprise here!)….we’re now looking at Tuesday, March 31st. This is a mere 3 weeks late. We are thankful to have the comfort of the corporate apartment- living in a hotel for a month would have been a nightmare…
-Working on small projects, like getting all the windows in the new apartment windows washed, and all the drapes dry cleaned.
-Tara had an appointment with Dr. Soni on Tuesday, and all looks good- measuring a week ahead, but the science behind this is somewhat sketchy….
-Overall, we are doing fine- patiently waiting for the shipment so we can have our things and our FOOD!

Pictures are here!

I finally figured it out! Here are some pics taken since we left, until just a few days ago...more to come!

Gross me out, man!

Catherine and I were at the local supermarket (called D-Mart) today. Not really a supermarket by American terms, more like a shoppette. It’s a vegetarian place, no chicken or eggs.
I was trying to find some spices and things- chili powder and black pepper in particular. Silly me, chili powder is called Kashmiri powder- no wonder it’s taken me 2+ weeks to find it!
Anyhoo, Catherine was waiting patiently by the cart in the 2-foot-wide isle, when all of a sudden she whips her head around to me, gasps and says, “Mom, I just saw a rat!”
I froze right where I was standing- I was so grossed out. Apparently, she saw it amongst the bags of sugar that were piled up against the wall…..
Needless to say, we bolted outta there as soon as possible. Uck! Just a day in my (new) life….!

Antecdote of the week

Apparently, Indians love white babies and kids.
As a result, Catherine gets much more attention than she’s ever wanted. They’ll just walk right up to her and touch her cheek and stroke her hair. They all want to know her name and how old she is. She’s kinda gotten used to this- she’ll answer about 50% of the time.
Yesterday, we were down in the grassy park below our apartment building, and Catherine was running amongst the palm trees- I was trying to get her some exercise. We were hanging out near a gazebo where a young couple was sitting. The young man yelled over to Catherine what I think was “Hello”, and they sat staring at her for a few minutes while she dabbled under a particularly short tree, stroking the palms.
The young man turned to me, pointed in Catherine’s direction and said, “What do you call this?”
I said, “What do you mean, the tree?”
He nodded and smiled, then waved and called out to Catherine “Hello, Tree! Hi, Tree! Have fun, Tree!”
I almost peed my pants laughing! You gotta love the language barrier!

I hear your pleas for pictures!

I've gotten lots of requests for pictures- and I want everyone to know that they are definitely coming!
I'm fighting with a very sporadic internet connection lately, and it's made it hard to post anything at all....thus this very short entry today (gotta get something on here before the system boots me off again!).
Can someone out there tell me about Picasa web albums through Google and how to connect it to my blog? I'm having difficulty understanding how that works, and it would be easiest for me to use this type of album because I do have so many pictures already!
Quick update- we are still in Octavius (this is the name of the building we're in), but we're due to move into Evita (our new building) next week! HOORAY! The plastering and painting has gone MUCH faster than ever expected and I'm very relieved. So, it looks like we'll make the move on Thursday, March 26th. There is quite a lot of stuff here in Octavius, so the moving company will drop off boxes this weekend so we can start to pack it all up. Then they'll haul it over to Evita for us.
Our daily lives consist of grocery shopping, playing, errand running, movie watching, etc. I'm trying desperately to establish a routine, but this has proven to be a little more difficult than expected, due to the fact that stores to not open until 10 or 11 am...so we rush out, do what we have to do, and try to be back for 12:30 lunch and 1:30 nap. The playground down below our building opens at 5 pm, so we are there every evening for an hour before it's time to come up to make dinner.
Everyone has been so nice with emails, facebook postings, comments on this blog…thank you for remembering us and sharing in our adventure!
Our phone is now up and running, so feel free to call! And keep a look out for pics- they are coming!

Gracy, Leticia and Sachin

Gracy and Leticia are our new housekeepers! They started on Monday and they are fantastic! They are sisters, and both speak moderate English. They'll both come M-F, showing up at 10, leaving at 5, unless their work is done earlier. Gracy is a cleaning machine, and Leticia will help run the house, cook a little, clean and watch Catherine and BabyWax occasionally.
I must say, I was hesitant to have people in my home everyday, but I sure have changed my mind! :) The house is completely sterile and they do laundry and dishes with a smile. They are very friendly and we've sat and chatted comfortably to get to know each other. Catherine was a little shy on the first day, but by the second, she was dragging them into her playroom to play together!
Sachin is our driver, available to us 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. We'll probably end up giving him Sundays off, but for now, we truly need him, as weekends will be spent shopping and touring. Catherine LOVES him-she runs to him and gives him hugs. His English is OK, so it's hilarious to watch Catherine talk his ear off and he just nods and laughs. The great thing about Sachin is that he knows where EVERYTHING is in this city- so we don't have to do so much investigating. We just tell him, "We want table lamps" and he brings us to a table lamp store!
I had an appointment with my OB/GYN here, Dr. Soni. She is very personable and open to communicating with my Stateside doctor, Dr. Cole. She understands our concerns regarding this pregnancy and has agreed to see me every 2 weeks- which I'm fine with, now that I'm feeling him kick. Dr. Cole emailed me to let me know that the amnio results have come back and all the chromosomes are showing normal, so that is a big relief. The baby is very active now- his favorite time of the day is around 6 am. We are still struggling with a name, but we have 15 weeks to decide.
I found meat yesterday- a mere 10 minutes away! They offer everything that we'd consider "normal"- beef, pork, ham, turkey, salami, fish, cheeses. They do offer local beef (which is actually buffalo) for a significantly lesser price than the imported, true beef. So, I ordered 2 kg (about 4.5 pounds) to try it out. If it's not so good, I'll switch over to the imported stuff. I also ordered pork chops and ham for sandwiches- I'm soo excited! It will be ready for pickup today- so we are eatin' good tonight! :) Hooray!
Things are lookin' up! :)

I'm a new woman!

Wow, it's amazing how much better one feels once jet lag recedes....we are all on a more reasonable schedule now and it's a HUGE relief. Catherine has gone to bed at 8 pm for the past two nights and has gotten up around 6:00 am. Mike and I are making it until about 9:30 pm (barely) and waking up to the sounds of Catherine humming away in her bed. Aaahhhh, the feeling of normalcy!!! I'm a new woman! To which Catherine says "Mommy, I'm not a new woman, I'm a new child!" Haha! :)
This comment stirs up thoughts of her as a grown woman and freaks me out! I so hope she remembers her life here- after all, Mike and I are partially doing this for our kids. We want them to be well-rounded and aware of other cultures and love people from all around the world!
I attended a ladies' coffee yesterday and it was completely fascinating- everyone was SO nice, and everyone has such an interesting story. Some of them have not lived in their homeland in years and years- and I admire this about them. They've chosen to see the world and experience it full on!
I know my previous post may have sounded a little negative...and I apologize about that. There are certainly aspects to life here that are challenging- and I'll probably end up venting them on this blog. So brace yourself- haha, just kidding!
We are headed out in search of friends (playgroup) and meat (beef in particular) today- should be a fun day! Have a great day everyone!

Is it ONLY Day 4???

It looks like we are nearing the end of our jet lag...although Catherine refuses to wake up from what I intended to be a 30-minute nap...we are now nearing 1.5 hours, which means she'll be up at 4 am (or earlier) again tomorrow....ugh. Makes for a LONG day!

We went over to our permanent apartment today (now that the previous tenants have moved out), and determined which areas need to be replastered/repainted....which is basically the entire apartment. Looks like we'll be here in this little place for a while....I shouldn't be surprised; after all, it IS India....I'll leave it at that. I'll need to start looking for a significant amount of furniture- and furnish the entire kitchen as well. Sounds fun, but to be honest, it's so much work to just GET anywhere, it's bound to take a while. We did hit one electronics store yesterday called Croma and got a toaster oven, a blow dryer and a hot water kettle. The blow dryer was $60!! Quite the luxury here apparently....

I'll attend a ladies' coffee tomorrow, so hopefully I should start meeting some other people- I think Mike is getting sick of me by now- I'm up his *ss and not letting him out of my sight! I'm still a little nervous to be alone here, although there's no basis to that whatsoever...just getting adjusted. We went for a walk yesterday, and by the end of the 1-hour ordeal, I was about to cry- I just wanted to be back home in TX again! It's so dirty and loud and crowded here, there is no such thing as a leisurely walk down the street. We walked in the door and washed hands, faces and feet. Isn't that sad- after only 1 hour?? Thus the housekeepers- it's so filthy here, I'll need all the help I can get to keep the house "clean".

Catherine sorely misses playing outside- and the fact that she could run out the back door and swing....city living is just not the same, and it's really really sad. It will take some major adjusting on our part- there ARE playgrounds and parks, but strangely, they are open only during certain times (to keep the vagrants out), so they are teeming with filthy dirty Indian kids during the time that they are open- and you know how Catherine is around crowds- she will NOT participate. Playgroups meet at members' homes here- now I know why!

Our first day, we had lunch at Papa John's Pizza (funny, huh? It was actually REALLY good!), but otherwise, I've been cooking all our meals here at the apartment- it's amazing how one can get by with only 4 forks! It's bare bones here, which is fine, but I'm sure that soon enough, I'll be ready to get outta here! The lack of meat is already becoming an issue- I'm already craving steak! There is tons of chicken (and emu, mutton, goat, amongst other things), but that can get old after a while. I'll need to make the 45-minute drive this week to stock up on some beef and pork. I did manage to find peanut butter and the fresh produce here is AMAZING! I cannot get enough of their tomatoes! We might order in tonight to get a break...but tomorrow night, guess what we're having? Chicken! Hahah! There are some other challenges- we must drink, rinse produce/dishes/toothbrushes and cook with only bottled water. Can you imagine how long that takes? I cannot believe how much work it is- for all of you over there in the States, don't take your tap water for granted!!

We have a playgroup to attend on Tuesday- looks like a lot of the members are foreigners from around the world! The head of the playgroup is Dutch and there are Brits and Germans and Singaporians (is this even right?) amongst the Americans. I'm excited about this- it will open our eyes to many parts of the world all at once.

Now that the U.S. has "sprung forward", the time difference is now 11 hours ahead of Houston. Dang- just when I got it down! Unfortunately, our phone number is not working for the time being- we have been having sporatic internet connection and hope to get it fixed this week, or the next, or the next.....seems to be the theme around here! I'll let you know when we've got it up and running.

Love to all!

The Eagle has landed!

We are here- and we are tired. The trip was incredibly long- 36 hours total (not to include the 1-day delay in getting out of Houston due to the big storm in Newark).
We are staying in a corporate apartment just 2 blocks from our permanent apartment- we are staying here until the new place is replastered and repainted. I'm anxious to get settled! Looks like our seavan will arrive March 18th, let's keep our fingers crossed!
We've already been busy, busy....we did some shopping today for some small appliances and some groceries- now THAT is an adventure! More on that later.
I wish I could write more, but I'm so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes straight. Thank you everyone for checking in, and for your emails/facebook postings. It means a lot!
I'll write more in the next day or two- many more details, etc. But for now....good night! :)