My Family Moves to India

is sometimes too much for me. Take these last two weeks:

Generator down again, which means that we had no power after dark for two days in a row. My back-up lantern failed (battery had burst), and then my back-up batteries failed (nothing in them. Cardboard and foil - of course, I bought them here in India.) Then I burst. Generator man had to get a replacement coil from Bangalore. Once again, the generator is fixed - for a while.

Hot water heater pipe busted open - same pipe that they fixed just two weeks ago. They used a cheap soft plastic tube, which melted when the hot water came through it. So no hot showers for a while.

Illness - I've been in bed for two days with a cough and fever; visiting parents-in-law have had Delhi Belly. Kids seem fine, though.

By far the worst part, though, has been the near-constant traffic accidents that we have experienced. Four in two weeks - evenly divided amongst the drivers, or I would be firing one of them for suspected substance abuse. Thankfully, by God's grace, no one has been injured. Two involved motorcyclists - one of which the motorcycle was caught in our bumper and dragged along until we could safely stop - it was a miracle that the rider was able to jump off in time and wasn't drug along also. One involved a pedestrian, and in the latest episode, just today, the car's brake failed and it rolled down a hill and into a lorry.

Saddest of all, K and B, my parents-in-law, who are only here for 5 days, have been involved in two of the accidents. I'm afraid that is all they will remember from India!

Ah well. Enough griping. I feel better today; fever is gone. It's Valentine's Day and S bought me a lovely necklace. I'm not normally a jewelry person but this is a really tasteful (meaning: Westernized and not too gargantuan) peice of Indian artmanship. I'm enjoying gardening, although the weather is heating up, so soon I won't be able to do much.

Best of all, I'm planning our next rest and relaxation trip, in April. I'm plumping for Vienna, although S has yet to hear of it. Waltzes, great food, musuems, architecture, castles, gardens, Lippizzaner stallions....the birthplace of classical music.....ah, I can't wait! Not to mention the hallmarks of civilization for me - hot water and reliable electric!

I'm also working on our summer trip to the US. We will be visiting Chicago; Niagara Falls; Columbus, Ohio; and Decatur, Illinois. The Decatur bit got added on the end as a business trip for Shawn, which works well since I've discovered that it's really a lot of work to convince doctors and dentists in the US to take on a new patient who lives abroad and is only available a week or two a year.

Explanation: we didn't keep our house in the US, and had no intention of spending the time or money to return to Decatur (no offense, we just don't have family there). Instead, I had intended on doing annual dental and physical check-ups in Columbus, Ohio, where a couple of my siblings live. But, last year, that proved quite a chore. I very nearly didn't get my highly important annual mammogram (remember, I'm a breast cancer survivor, and would like to keep it that way!) because of the complicated procedures required just to get an appointment. (Referrals...out of state doctors.....insurance complications....oh my gosh. The system rivals the beaurocracy here in India.) It will be MUCH MUCH easier (I'm hoping) to get appointments with our hometown Decatur doctors. So we can get everything taken care of in one shot. I hope.

Do we use doctors here in Chennai? Yes. And they are good. They are especially expert in the local parasites and diseases that are not prevalent in the US - when we leave India, I intend to have everyone go for a final parasite check-up, just as a precaution. But the facilities - the hospitals - are not always good. And, it's just comforting to have an annual check-up in your home country. Mindsets differ.

As well as planning vacations, we are also preparing for our beloved nanny cum cook, Crystallyne, to leave us. Hopefully it will not be permanent, but we don't know. Truly reminescent of Mary Poppins, Crystallyne blew in with the wind and has been invaluable in helping with L and J. She has the rare gift of being able to get along (and direct) both of them - something which is quite tricky, since they are polar opposites. Usually if you get along well with L you are too high-energy and violent for J; and if you click with J, you have no interest in constant motion and soldier uniforms. She is also wonderfully positive, which is good for our family. Crystallyne returns to the US in early March and is going to spend the summer with her family in Idaho; what happens next is anyone's guess, but we would certainly love to have her back.

E is also preparing to move on, but when and where, no one knows. Because of her unusual academic background, she does not yet have three years of high school grades to show the colleges that she has applied to. Therefore they are deferring their acceptance decisions until she finishes this last year of school - which will give her the required three year's of grades on her transcript. So we wait. It certainly will be dull around here without her sparkling personality and highly entertaining love life. (I hope I am safe saying that - I don't think that any of her boyfriends read this blog. If they do, well, sorry, you've got competition.....loads of it.....)

And one of my favorite family members, kitty? She is doing well. She and Ginger, the dog, are finally done with their shots (whew. No more worries about rabies or feline distemper!) Next month they go in to be spayed. We will then be bona fide responsible pet owners.

Guess that about covers it. Stay tuned.....rumor has it that we may soon have high-speed internet - there is actually a cable for it draped through my shrubbery. We only lack the modem....should only be a couple more weeks to get that - making it a full year to get internet out here!!!

We do, but not as bad as Danie! http://earthtodanie.blogspot.com/

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You know Bob Vila? I need him. Right now. I am living in the fixer-upper from he**.

Last week in the middle of a spectacular lightening and thunderstorm, our generator went on the fritz. Partly. It used to power the entire house, but now it only powers about a third of it.

Sadly, that third does not include the water pump. So after a few hours on generator power, we have no water for washing or flushing toilets. (Remember, drinking water comes in a bottle.) We discovered this as we were attempting to get ready for church this morning.

This in addition to the fact that the water pump sits on a rotted base that needs replaced, causing it to vibrate and create tremendous wear on its belt. While we are "out of station" next month, that is all supposed to be fixed. In the meantime, we keep extra belts on hand, and Mr. Fixit has to run out and put a new on one now and then, else we go dirty.

The electric to J's room has been out for a month. Some problem with the switches, or the circuit breaker; even Mr. Fixit can't figure it out. Time for a real electrician, one who can charge me to tell me that he can't figure it out. I would have taken care of this by now, only more pressing things keep breaking.

Tonight I took a cold shower, since apparently our hot water heater is no longer working.

The exterior was re-painted right before we moved in 6 months ago, but since no one bothered to remove the dirt and mildew before they painted, we can now watch the flakes fall when it rains. S is talking about power washing the outside and re-painting it. Truly I don't care. It's nominally amusing to watch the paint fall with the rain.....

Except I DO care when the rain comes in the house, so we had to double-time it to fix the leaking windows in E's room.

This list does not even begin to cover the small things: replaced lights, iffy plumbing, repaired caulking, and on and on and on....

All this in a country where they still carry the cement for building in little tin plates on their heads.....get the picture? NOTHING gets fixed quickly and NOTHING gets fixed correctly the first time. Or the second time, or the third time.....construction sites remind me of scenes from "The Flintstones". I keep waiting for a dinosaur to pop out.

I feel like I'm on some sort of reality TV show......"survivor" of the homemaker in India, maybe?

Some people have such interesting blogs, all about their travel adventures around Asia and India. I'm afraid that mine is more prosaic, since it is mainly aimed at those who are moving to Chennai with their families. It's other purpose is to keep our families caught up on what we are doing. I apologize for the dullness, but I hope that some find it useful. There was such a paucity of information about what daily life was really like when we moved here, that I wanted to try and fill the gap.

I promise, someday we will get out of Chennai and there will be more interesting posts. Also, someday, I'll get to a high-speed internet cafe and post the pictures that I have for everyone to see.

We have planned a couple of trips to local sights here in India, but unfortunately, every time, Shawn gets sick. I'm hoping that we can end that streak this weekend and see Mammalapuram, a world heritage site that's only 45 minutes from our house.

Meanwhile, another of the kitties has passed away. Snowball died last night; from her labored breathing, I think she caught pneumonia. Two out of three dead within a week. I feel like India is winning. (I know that sounds odd but remember, I'm on the down side of culture shock; it feels personal. In the US, I would have to sign a bunch of papers, pay a bunch of money, and certify that I'm not a crackpot, but I would get a healthy, weaned kitten. Here, I do none of the above, and I get none of the above.)

Marmalade is still alive but she's hanging on by a thread. At least I found kitten nursers; I found the "big" (I use that term loosely) pet store at Spencer's and they actually had kitten bottles. INCREDIBLE!! They had a lot of pet stuff, including wire crates. The store is called "Kennel Mart". Marmalade nurses easier than Snowball did, so maybe she has a chance. I don't know.

I'm torn now between rushing right out to get more kittens (fighting back) or taking the prudent track and waiting to see if Marmalade lives or not. On the one hand, if Marmalade dies, I could clean and disinfect before we got new kittens. On the other hand, since the kittens were sick when they came, I can't imagine that they have anything that the ones still waiting to be adopted don't have. I guess we'll just see how I feel. Sometimes spontaneous is nice.

On a different track, tomorrow is the first day of school. Yesterday we met J's teacher, Ms. B. Since I am room mother this year, J and I went over and helped her set up her classroom. Ms. B has taught in two other Asian countries, has 3 grown children (but sure doesn't look it!), and brought her long-haired Chichihuahua puppy to the school for the day. All in all, a winning combination. We enjoyed helping out and getting to know her. That brave woman has only been in Chennai a little over a week - barely over jet lag - and is starting teaching tomorrow! That's something I'd never try.

L of course is just excited to be going back to Ms. P. He is getting very bored at home. I'm excited too. I'm working on getting him in to the audiologist for a detailed hearing exam - one in which we can find out if he has trouble with auditory processing or not.

So....onward and upward. Last week I had an enjoyable time with some new friends - L and her daughter M (the girls hit it off immediately - they were holding hands within an hour!) and son I; and our friend neighbor, A and her baby P. I really want to try and get out more and enjoy the friendships that can be formed.

Last week we did some preventative maintenance on the water pump. Apparently it was on the verge of complete collapse. I am very thankful for staff (the two drivers) who notice these things and point them out to us. This is a great blessing, because if I had to go out and check all of the dozen or so machines and outbuildings every day (or even once a week), it would take a lot of my time. Not to mention the fact that I don't have a clue what to look for, unless the thing has actuall fallen apart. So, with Mr. Fixit and Mr. Engineer (S) working together, we got the thing patched up until we leave on our next trip in October. Then the landlord is going to replace the entire unit. He wanted to replace it immediately, but my driver, bless his heart, sorted the whole mess out and we didn't have to leave the house for three days while they did so. Whew. Another household crisis averted.

We also discovered why the electric was off for two days straight last weekend. (This length of time is unusual. Generally it's only an hour or two each week. It's not a problem as long as you have a driver who can run back and forth for petrol for the generator constantly.) While taking a walk with L, I noticed a large singed patch of earth and a pile of black feathers underneath our transformer down the road. It appears that a crow shorted the thing out. Either that, or someone had bird BBQ underneath the transformer. I'm betting on the former.

Well, I'd beter finish preparing for my primary time today. The teacher is out of town so I have the lesson as well as the music....still no idea what I'm doing musically but at least we are getting the kids to pay attention better. Today there is no AC at all in our building (we are switching buildings and they are supposed to be installing the AC units from the old one in the new one), so I'm taking a break and only attending primary. I don't think I can take the full 3 hours in the heat. It is still in the upper 90's here; much better than before, but easy to dehydrate your body.

Maybe next week we will be in our new building and we'll have both AC and classroom space..... Here's hoping!

Not a very original title, but accurate.

School is over as of today. No one is happier than me. I managed to be civil to J's former teacher when I picked her things up, but it was hard.

J & L are running around like wild Indians. J has a distinctive Tamil accent that she uses when she speaks to the Tamil people. It's pretty hilarious.

S took a couple of hours off today and hooked up his plasma TV. That leaves the entertainment room as the single last bastion of complete disaster. sigh. I tried to begin unpacking it today, but I'm so tired.....the kids and I have had sinus infections and colds. Some virus.

My curtain rods are coming next week. Yippee! Maybe by the time we leave for the US I'll have curtains up. ha ha.

I went light shopping the other day. This involves walking up and down the littered, potholed sidewalks (when there is a sidewalk) from dirty shop to dirty shop, and then fighting off the salesmen who cluster around you like flies to honey. Of course you are supposed to haggle, but I'm usually too tired and in too much of a hurry to put my heart into it. I wound up buying 4 lights, and only got cheated on one of them. The cheating was quite creative - they sold me the light but when we went to pick it up, they wanted me to pay extra for the bulbs. Ha. Good one, guys.

The reason that I had to go light shopping is because I was misinformed about my US lamps working over here. I thought that they worked with only a plug adaptor. Nope. Four thrown breakers and burnt-out bulbs later, I figured out that there must be a bigger problem than I realized. Turns out you have to have them re-wired for 220 volts. Luckily, this is cheaper than buying all new lamps. I found a shop that rewired them for about $10 each - probably another rip off, but like I said, I was in a hurry - and so now I have American lamps with Indian wires.

The nice thing is that I had them re-wire them for a minimum of 100 watts, so at least they give out more light than they used to do.

So, eventually, I won't feel like I live in a dim cave after dark. The lights that came with the house are mounted about 2' from the ceiling - which is about 14' up - and point up, so they don't do much to dispel the gloom. I'm happy to have some better lighting.

The generator and the city electric both went out at the same time today - haven't had no electric at all in a while - and I learned that generators have batteries. Not only that, our generator has an old battery that has to be charged once in a while. Live and learn. Thank goodness for Mr. Fixit.

I visited a good friend here, E, and it was wonderful to compare stories and feelings. So nice to know I'm not the only one!

Tomorrow we are heading out on a road trip. Yep, we're crazy. We are driving to Bangalore, about 3 or 5 or 7 hours away, depending on which driver you ask. It's India's district conference, so we have church meetings, plus I really want to visit our friends there. I'm very excited, although since I haven't been out in rural India yet, I'm expecting a very different experience.

Should be a good blog entry.