S. Asia First Impressions -101

We have arrived (2 weeks ago) and are beginning to feel some-what "settled"; although our home furniture consists only of mattresses on the floor and two wardrobes. I hope to post amazing before and after pictures in the next week or so of our flat, that wow you all and take away any concerns you may or may not have about our living situation. Truly, our place is nice, by any standard, and we hope to make it better and truly feel like home soon.

Several have said they want to see pictures of our new city/home...sadly, and very out of character of me, I haven't really got any yet. We have been so busy, literally just trying to make it from one day to the next of getting necessities and meeting the boys needs, and finding our way around, that I haven't felt at leisure to snap any photos (except a few of the boys that I hope to put up soon). Plus...I can't use internet on my mac yet and I've turned into a bit of a mac snob lately and don't like using Kit's pc more than I have to. (His touch pad is awful and every other sentences gets deleted if I blink the wrong way).

Here's the brief 101 on our first impressions:
Having never been here and only heard about it and seen limited photos from my hubs, I tried to set my expectations very low so I'd be sure to be pleasantly surprised by how much better it is than I imagined. And it worked...I am surprised daily by how much "I can get here" (ie western comfort things like fabreeze and even Chili's, though I've yet to take advantage of those things), although those things do cost a pretty rupie to buy. But in lots of other ways I've been pleasantly surprised. The housing options have been better than I expected, (although that kind of made our decision process harder) our area of the city is not horribly crowded or smelly, we all enjoy riding rickshaws, I haven't phsyked out on anyone yet for following me around constantly in the department store. In a lot of way it is like Thailand, but more crowded, crazier driving, and a lot of trash on the ground. Although from what I hear, our city is the "cleanest-greenest" city in the country so what I'm seeing should be "light" for S. Asia.

The hardest things adjusting to have been the poor air quality (lots of burning of trash, fields, pollution, dusty) and knowing how to respond to our kid's pushing and testing every boundary in the middle of department stores...make that every store we've been into. Thankfully we are all doing better today than we have been both with the air/allergies and our kids attitudes We had mommy-Hudson and daddy-Jackson date night which was a blessing for all four of us and is going to become a weekly routine but we'll swap kids each week. I think they just needed us to slow down (even though we have SO much to do) and sit on the floor to play with them or go out for ice cream to give them some undivided attention. But in all honesty, the stress of their responses and our responses to them, has been the hardest thing by far.

The food is awesome and we have so much variety here. Our "society" (gated flat community) is really great, centrally located, with a shady garden area that has a walking path, swimming pool, playground (not so good), tennis court (being built), and work out gym. Our bedroom balcony over looks the garden and will be a great place to meet with the Lord in the quite mornings. We love the "night culture" and are adapting our schedules (even the boys) to stay up later in the evenings b/c that's when everyone comes out and communes with one another and then we take our mornings slower b/c not much happens before 10am anyways. Fresh fruit is right outside our gates daily and so cheap! Grapes are in season right now and the black ones are the most delicious grapes I've ever had! So sweet! Strawberries are also in season so we're enjoying those, esp. at the Natural icecream store around the corner. Today we found a tiny cafe around another corner that serves American style breakfast and Indain-style Mexican food! We ate in the loft area above the kitchen and the boys loved the tiny chairs and tables and playing cards while we waited for our food. I think that will be a frequented place for us to eat as a family.

*Photo credit below

Jackson and Hudson have loved the rickshaws and Hudson yells "rickshaw momma!" everytime we climb in one and every time he spots one close by (which is constantly when we're riding in one). Jackson loves to pay the rickshaw driver and practice his Marathi with "Dunyavad!" (Thank you). They've received tons of attention and with attention comes plenty of cheek pinching and chocolates. Hudson (our chocolate lover) is in heaven! Jackson does NOT like the cheek pinching and I overheard him telling a very young mother (looked 16) at church "don't pitch my cheeks, that is NOT nice!" He is used to us telling Hudson not to pinch and scratch Jackson's cheeks but doesn't quite understand the difference in motive yet. I'm so thankful our boys are out-going but even they get overwhelmed with all the attention at times and we have to rescue them. Everyone loves to rub their blonde hair and pick them up when they oblige. Oh, and YES Jackson has seen a camel! While we were trying to cross an insanely busy intersection one night, a big one just trotted right in front of us. He was pretty speechless, mind you he was jet-lagging. But I think he understands now why mommy won't allow him to have one as a pet in our flat.

One of the best things we are SO thankful for has been our friends (both Americans and Indians) who have helped us our tremendously these past two weeks. They've gone above and beyond to make sure our needs are met and that we had a good "landing". We are so grateful for their thoughtfulness and patience with us and can't imagine having done this on our own. We are also so grateful that jet-lag really wasn't bad for us. From the first night, our boys and us, slept till at least 5:30am and that turned to 7:30 within two days. Now we're hard pressed to wake up before 8am :)  Adjusting to the food hasn't been an issue for Kit and I (no Delhi belly yet) but the boys have had a smiggen of it here and there. Well, on that note, I guess I'll end it! Maybe I should have ended this sooner but I figure if you read this whole post, then you are probably one of the few who care about such intimate details :)

*Photo credit James Douglas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRzM_jl0-Tk&feature=share