Ok, now I'm caught up.... so much happens that I want to share!

August 7, 2009
Well, yesterday turned out to be a great day (hold on to your hat – it’s a long one – gee, I wish I could include the photos!)

- The pharmacy had the meds we needed…well, have the order – but it was progress!! (“The remainder will be here tomorrow, mam. You come back tomorrow.” No, next week, please hold it (we’ll see what happens next week!!)

- We got MEAT! There is a “shop” called Fresh and Frozen… the driver and cook were very happy to take me there. Good news, I had been told about it before. It didn’t smell, seemed lean (that is now a realative term in India!) and they had meat – little packets in freezers and even very fresh – I loaded up… whole chicken, chicken breasts (I think), minced beef from Bangalor, mutton (lamb)… we got meat!! Even cooked the whole chicken last night – that was funny describing to Pryia how to roast a chicken with potatoes, carrots, onion & mushrooms… she wanted to grill it in the handy-dandy-fancy-shmancy grill/microwave thingy and ended up putting on the stove, worried it had only a little water! (I moved it to the oven after she left. She was worried to leave without it not being finished with the cooking part!!) It was pretty good for a skinny chicken…

- Milk – I’ve gotten the “boxed” milk and the kids liked it – they were even excited about it… but we were out (OUT) so we stopped at the little grocery store, uh oh, they were out, too! So I went out on a limb and bought the little, 1/2 liter bags of milk – yes, bags they look like the little freezer blocks you get when you order things in the mail. And, loandbehold, the kids liked that, too!!

- The cable TV has been only in Tamil (the local language) and very limited channels (Bollywood x5 – think really bad soaps with spontaneous singing!). We had NO information on the cable account or the company, for that matter, so we were ”waiting” (not sure for what!). Well, after getting home with a very successful (yet long time in the car – 2 hours) shopping trip, there was a little round man with some slips of paper saying he was the cable man. Kumar dutifully escorted him to me and the cable box… evidently the service had been turned off due to lack of payment…well, no one was here…” what do we need to do to get it back on??” “Pay last month and this.” “How much?” “350 rupees for each month” (that’s roughly $8) I happily give the guy the Rs. He toodles off saying he will return with a receipt (hmmm, I think!) Sure enough within and hour or two he shows back up with a “charged memory card” and tahdah – we have English channels!! I can watch the news… I’ not telling the kids about the cartoon network!!!

- And then the WATER – we have bottled water in 25 L jugs that are plopped on top of a cool dispenser with hot and chilled dispensers. The initial delivery was 7 jugs – we only drink the stuff, not bathe in it, so that seemed like a lot (there is also a filter hooked up to the sink we can use to cook with – here my grandmother was always boiling and bottling her own when she was living in India & Nepal) Well, I hought we’d need to call someone – guess what – a little truck showed up to exchange the empty for full – no call, they just came by – that’s good to know!

- Oh, Kutima and he husband live in the little hut on the corner of the property (yes, it is taking me a lot to get over the contrast … us in the monster house, AC, fridge, multiple bathrooms… and four people in a concrete floored hut – sleeping on the floor… oh I feel really weird) Anyway, they are the “groundskeepers” or “gardeners” Initially, there were put on the property by the homeowner to prevent squatters from invading the property… they really don’t seem to put forth much effort, even when asked to do something… there is a edge around the pool/driveway that needed trimming and there is grass growing between the pavers (it’s supposed to be there) that needed trimming… They have been asked to finish this but kept saying it was “too short” (through a lot of jabber and hand motions) In their defense, they are using a little hand tool that looks like a mini-sickle. But really, no effort. Well, Kutima was seen trimming a bit in the front – it’s not even and wasn’t much – but it was progress!! Today Munaswamy finished around the drive/pool (that was started 2 weeks ago!!)

Wow, what a great day – then to seal it – there was a full moon rising over the Bay of Bengal, we went to the roof to see it and the surf. Then we got an extra treat of festival fireworks in the next village. What a really great day…

Today was nice, not quite as many bits of landmark events but nice… orientation at the School… girls met their teachers, boys got a tour of the school, Jamie found out they had a snack area with some US snacks (there goes his allowance!). We had lunch with my friend JJ at a Thai restaurant (and the kids ate & were happy!) and finally, we stopped at the French Loaf (bakery for really good bread!). Then, of course, the kids sealed the day with a swim in the pool!

It’s the little things that make life happy!!