Monkeying around and going to the birds

April 28, 2016

We started our walk late so we didn’t make it to four loops. First we decided to take photos of the peacocks/hens that hang out here and then we came across other non paying residents we had not seen before: a small family of monkeys. They were not impressed by us. So now within this huge city we have seen elephants, camels, monkeys, peacocks, scads of birds, loads of street dogs and a neighboring cat. The cat will come into our yard and three or four birds of the same species will sit on the gutter and put up quite a racket.  I am not sure if they are saying ’get outta here’ or warning others of ‘cat approaching’. The cat ignores them. Either way they consistently do this when the cat comes over the fence into our yard.

I left with Ron and went to the hotel where we stayed when we arrived. I had befriended the housekeeper who cleaned our room, Vijay. One day he told me how he had a terrible problem with acne and I told him there was medicine to treat it. Long story short, we got the medicine with the help of Vijay’s supervisor, Vinod. Vijay called me last night to say it was working so today I went by to say hello and say how happy I was for him. It was a brief visit and I reminded him we would pay for more medicine if he needed more. I came back to the house and waited for workmen to come and for a delivery from Amazon. Not much happening today. Our friend, Kaninik, who helped us get set up with our new wireless printer/scanner/copier and who set us up with an internet provider mentioned that is you need any workmen to come to the house, they will think nothing of coming at 8:00 p.m. but they will assume you are deranged if you ask them to come at 9:00 a.m. Too funny.

Late in the day, my neighbor Kamla came over and asked me to come for a visit. She has been so kind and generous towards us. She showed me her lovely home. She loves to cook and it is evident. She has three refrigerators, and two kitchens. She took out one bathroom next to the kitchen and converted it to a fabulous pantry. Because Amdavad is so dry they buy a year’s supply of some dry goods such as wheat and spices.  She grinds her wheat daily. Her pantry was orderly with scads of plastic containers filled with every manner of dried beans, lentils and who knows what else. I was impressed. I have been quizzing her about food safety and how she treat various veggies to avoid any stomach issues. She couldn’t believe that I didn’t have a pressure cooker so I confessed that I had never used one!

April 29

I walked up to the society office to get the registration form and approved plastic bags for kitchen scraps and plastic drum that we use to put our garbage in for daily pick up. Sankar came back to work today and had a lot to do since the house had not been cleaned  since Monday. He showed me the dust pan and how full it was. It does get dirty here. He also had a lot of laundry to do today. It doesn’t take long to dry on the line in this weather! I am cooling off the ironing room as that is next on my to do list for today. It is another day to stay home waiting on possible deliveries. So far (3:15) no deliveries but they usually show up around 5:00. I am still waiting for the fry pan to show up. Today I sautéed some eggplant in a saucepan and it took forever doing it in small batches. Oy!

I gave Sankar the night off as we are going to an art show at CEPT. I will meet Ron there after work.

Reflections and some trust

April 25, 2016

 This is the beginning of our fourth week in India. As we start to finally settle in we are working on smoothing out the little bumps in the road. Here’s a list to give you an idea of how it goes: staying on top of the water purification which is constant and slow. We now have a water pitcher and four one liter glass water bottles that we fill as we empty each container and rotate them as we use them. That way we always have water to drink and cook with. The dining room AC drips water onto the buffet, our cell phones have hiccups (mine locks up almost daily requiring taking out the battery and reinserting it which I cannot do because of arthritis in my hands, Ron’s cell turns itself off frequently and cannot be turned on until he plugs it into a power source for seconds), we are dependent on a friend’s son who is 19 to get us set up with internet and he rescheduled his Saturday appointment for tonight. We can use our phones for internet but it is not adequate. Today I need to stay home all day because of Amazon deliveries and a plumber who is to come and resolve the lack of hot water, We have not been able to find mayo without sugar (ick) or good mustard (what can I say, this is a minor problem but it adds up to one more thing to get resolved), One other factor for me is learning to cook in a place that does not have familiar food or food availability. I have no oven and the kitchen has no AC which makes cooking uncomfortable for a southern magnolia blossom. This is a flavor of how it goes.

Now there are some wonderful things going on as well. We continue to be humbled by the friendliness of the locals towards us. This morning on our walk we made it through four loops in our development, totaling 40 minutes. We met others who were doing the same. One stopped us and it turned out he lives right next to us. We met his adult son our first day here. Our neighbor offered to help us in any way he could. He even told us how to get a trash bin from the ‘society office’. Here neighborhoods are called societies. Our development is a gated community and has an office on site. Apparently this is a very high end society. We were told the CEO of Shell Oil India lives here. There are BMW’s and Mercedes here as well as Toyotas, etc. We now are settled enough in the house to make our breakfast and sit on the veranda to finish our coffee before Ron heads to work. We watch birds and chipmunks from the veranda. They chirp, sing and squawk. All in all it is coming together and getting easier.

 

Each shopping trip we are able to find items to make our life easier as well. Yesterday we bought an electric kettle so we don’t have to use the gas burner to heat water for coffee. Today a printer, coffee maker and iron should arrive from Amazon. Later in the week a fry pan. Did I mention that every fry pan (with one exception) I have seen in four different stores has been a coated pan? When I went back to get the one pan I saw it had been sold. That will teach me. If I see it and it is what I need I had better buy it then! Yesterday we also got a large wire basket with handles to put dirty dishes in so Sankar can easily carry them all outside where he likes to do the dishes. When he came to work today, I showed it to him and he was delighted and shook my hand. It was a sweet moment.

Ron is getting in the groove at work. He is dependent on Meghal, the Director for making the initial contacts with people in local government and today she has arranged a meeting with someone from Ahmedabad. Meghal leaves for a month in May so Ron is hopeful to make contacts to keep him busy in May. After our two years in Rep of GA Ron has no patience with sitting and having no work to do. BTW most local pronounce the city name as Ahmdabad so I will start spelling it that way.

Sankar told me his wife got sick and had to go to the hospital yesterday and it cost 1000 rupees for her to get a shot. Now he is working and I am trying to get him to go home to be with his wife. He is worried about her and worried about money and probably worried about his job security. I gave him some money to cover his expenses and asked him to go be with his wife, yet he continues to work. He just finished with is current project and left for home. I told him to come back tomorrow. I said if Hasha is sick to stay with her.  I am never quite sure how much he understands but I think he knew he still has a job. Several hours later he returned and told me Hasha was back in the hospital and he needed money. It was one of those moments when I have to ask myself ‘is this real or a scam’. Given who I am I decided it was real and went upstairs to our hidden stash and got what we had, 8500 rupees. I brought it back downstairs and countered it out. He took 5,000 and then said ‘6,000’ referring to the fact I had given him money earlier. I felt like I had done the right thing at that point. Then he made a gesture that we had learned when we visited Raju in Navsari years ago.  As a gesture of respect a person lowers himself and touches the feet of the person they are honoring. Somehow this does not strike me as something a con artist would do. I figured the worst case scenario is I am out 6,000 rupees and Sankar is out of a job. Time will tell. I have stayed home all day waiting for Amazon and the plumber. Hopefully they will appear before day’s end. Of course the day is long here. Shops stay open to 8, 9 or 10 o’clock.

Ruff around the edges to start; but getting easier every day

April 21, 2016

We arrived at the house a little early but the owner’s relative was there to greet us. He speaks very limited English. He showed us a few things that didn’t require much explanation then we waited for the broker, Anurag, to arrive to fine tune the details. It turns out the owner had not taken care of the water problem and they waited until we unloaded all our things to tell us. Folks it is 107 degrees here and parts of the house have no AC: the kitchen, the bathrooms, the hall, landing and stairs. Ron and I worked to get things unpacked then decided around 2:00 he needed to go to work and I needed to shop for groceries and other household items. We tried calling a cab which is ordinarily an easy task…however when you don’t speak the language and cannot describe your location ...well it was a bust. We started walking into the little commercial area to catch a auto rickshaw. The driver dropped me off at a hi end mall and Ron went onto work.

I went to my first store and discovered I was incapable of making simple decisions like choosing a bath mat. It dawned on me it was now 2:30 and I had not eaten since breakfast. Low blood sugar had seized me. I then went to the food court and couldn’t make a decision. When I finally did the cashier waved me on. I had no idea why. When I approached another counter I was informed I had to buy a food court card and use that to pay for anything I ordered. I ordered a spring roll. The only choice for water was a liter bottle. Since I had a lot of shopping I passed on it as I didn’t want to have to be carrying it around. It took me two hours to buy a few groceries and household items like plastic garbage bags, resealable bags, door mats, a bucket, etc. I was exhausted. Okay, so now I had to carry a bucket filled to the brim with items and three bags which turned out to be heavy. I mistakenly took an up escalator designed for grocery carts thinking I would arrive near the auto rickshaw station. Nope. I ended up at a motorcycle parking lot. So I arranged my bags and bucket in my arms, walked up about eight steps and started walking to my goal. About every twenty paces, I had to stop, rest and rearrange the bags. On my forth or fifth time doing this a driver spied me and came onto the property honking his horn to let me know he was coming to my rescue. I could have kissed him I was so relieved. Remember it is now the hottest part of the day. I tipped him well as I was so appreciative. He was so pleased he helped me carry things to the door.

I started unpacking and removing the packaging on the items I had gotten. All the kitchen items need to be washed. That won’t happen today. BTW, we've been told you can wash the dishes in the faucet water but they must be rinsed in filtered water. The relative returned at 5:00 giving me hope for a shower tonight. He worked with another guy for about 30 minutes. By now I was in the AC in our bedroom putting shirts on hangers I had gotten. My feet were killing me and I was dehydrated and sweaty from working in the kitchen and getting way dehydrated and grumpy. The relative left saying no water until tomorrow. I have decided that maybe Indians are like people from the Rep of Georgia. They don’t do anything requiring spending money until they absolutely have to. From my perspective, the owner has known for awhile he had a water issue. Due to the signing delays he had more that adequate time to get it fixed. If it isn’t fixed tomorrow I am gong back to the hotel and tell the owner he can pay my bill until his house is livable. We can’t flush toilets, can’t bath, can’t cook or set up the kitchen or clean. That’s another thing, everything has a fine layer of dust, so before I could put anything away like clothes in drawers, I had to wipe out the drawers and shelves with the water the guy had drawn for us and placed in two buckets.

Ron got home around 6:30 and we rested for a short while. I could hardly move. We again found a rickshaw driver at the front gate and went off to dinner. We sponged off and now are relaxing in bed in the AC with an overhead fan. Surely tomorrow will be easier.

House pictures:

View of one ark from our driveway

Our House

The house we rented is a development built about 15 years ago called Asopalav Bungalows.  There are 56 houses in the development and the society operates a swimming pool and two parks. Click on the pictures to make them larger. There are 3 bedrooms, each with king beds  (and hard Indian mattresses that are about 3 inches thick). The media room is not yet operational as we don't have satellite connection yet and the projector is out for repair.  Internet at the house is a work in progress.

Front porch where we enjoy coffee in the morning

Living Room

Dining Room

Miss Tricia in the Kitchen

Basement media room

Downstairs bedroom

2nd floor landing/office

2nd floor landing

Our room

2nd floor guest bedroom

April 22, 2016

 Sorry about the rant from yesterday. We were let down and irritated not to mention exhausted. Today, I poured water from the buckets over Ron so he could bathe and go to work, sort of clean. We opted not to eat breakfast because there was no way to wash utensils, bowls or plates to eat on. I waited and a little after 9:00 the owner’s father, Dashrath, came by and got the water working. He brought one of the two housekeepers with him. Shankar and his wife Hasha (pronounced Ah-shah) will work for us M-Sat from 9-12 and I think Shankar returns in the evening to do kitchen clean up. I am not sure how necessary that will be, but will wait before changing his schedule. He said their cost would be 8,000 rupees. I was glad because it was higher than what I had been told housekeepers charged. Eight thousand rupees is about$120. Dashrath took me on his motorcycle and Shankar followed us on his bike to the near by grocery store to get the supplies he would need for cleaning. It may seem strange to you to have someone come daily but if you saw the effects of bad air pollution, and the general diry environment, you would see it is necessary. It is awful. The house was spick and span when we viewed it two weeks ago and now if is so dirty with a film of girt on every surface. We may not need that washing machine because Shankar told me he did the washing and showed me the area where he did it.

After Shankar and Dashrath left I started working on the kitchen. First I worked on getting some clean water. As an environmentalist, I am horrified at the waste of water to get clean, safe, potable water. Our filtration/reverse osmosis system gains one liter of water for every six liters of waste water that cannot be used because it is toxic. Then the clean water goes through a series of 3 filters. I was told you can’t even water plants with it. So, I started the system and it comes out in a slow flow. I had the clean water go into a new bucket I bought to use as a rinse bucket for dishes as I have yet to see a dish pan. Since this process is slow I unwrapped items and removed labels etc. The washing area is just outside the kitchen so I used straight faucet water to wash kitchen items, rinsed the soap off then did a second rinse in the clean water, dipping items into the bucket. I placed things on a tea towel then put another load in the sink to soak while I dried and put things away. I repeated this until I couldn’t stand anymore. It was 12:30 and I hadn’t eaten since dinner last night. I showered (it took five minutes for me to figure out how it worked) then ate last night’s leftovers for lunch.

I walked up to the street, found an auto rickshaw and returned to the shopping center and got more needed items. Too much to carry again but the store had an employee take it for me all the way to the rickshaw. I gave him a good tip. Once I got home I repeated the morning activities until I had exhausted myself. I called Ron and he told me not to work so hard. I laughed and said ‘good luck with that’. I reminded him of how he had set up the condo within a few days of moving in, including have hung wall hangings and artwork. I went upstairs to rest but couldn’t nap so after a bit went downstairs and made more water for rinsing dishes and washed, rinsed and dried the last of the dishes. I met Ron at CEPT as we wanted to attend a lecture on a proposal to modify the state's caste quota system to include the Patel caste, a significant caste in Gujarat. It was give by a French academic and went too long for two tied puppies. We left after the lecture and before Q & A. It was after 8:00 so we headed to a big restaurant near our neighborhood and had a salad, went shopping and got an ironing board and some coffee mugs (tomorrow will be our first day making coffee at home) and came home. We headed upstairs immediately and prepared for bed. It is now 11:00 so that is enough. It was a much better day. Tomorrow is Saturday, our housekeepers will arrive at 9:00 and we can relax.

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April 23, 2016

Since we are not quite set up for cooking both in terms of cookware and food, we had a scrambled egg sandwich for lunch, using a saucepan, as we have yet to get a fry pan. It is all part of the adventure, folks. In the afternoon we returned to the mall and got a lot of needed items at the grocery store. It was a lot to carry so we opted out of going to the housewares store until today. We came home and put things away and rested in the AC. Around 6:00 Sankar’s wife, Hasha, arrived and started touch up cleaning of the floors and washing dishes that had accumulated. She is quite pretty and wears sparkly clothes. Around 7:00 Sankar was back and started cleaning the catch basin at the head of the driveway. It had a lot of leaf litter in it . He is very thorough and proud of his work. He also likes recognition.

We made our first dinner: boiled potatoes, carrots and cauliflower. We have heard that night soil is used here in produce production. I have no way of knowing when it is used and not used so we have to be cautious about peeling food and soaking food. For those who don’t know, night soil is the use of human feces for fertilizer. Just as we were ready to serve our meal another man came in. He is the brother of the owner…we think. He brought two more gas canisters for the hot water. We hope to have hot water by Monday but like everything else we will see how that goes.

Our gardener, Malee, who came with the house comes by in the evening to water and not much else. He cuts the grass with a push mower since it is a small plot. He is handsome and appears to speak no English but he let us know he expects us to get some plants to fill in. On the corner of the property is a shrub and has been partially pruned and the rest appears to have had limbs just broken off…it is a travesty. I don’t know who did it but it isn’t my idea of plant care! See photo.

April 24, 2016

 It’s Sunday. Yesterday Sankar, one of the housekeepers, arrived a little after 9:00 and worked his hinny off. The entire house was quite dirty due to air pollution and dirt here. Be thankful for the air you breathe in the US. At 11:50 Sankar came into the living room and a look of panic came over his face when he saw the clock. He must have another client. I told him to go, that it was not a problem. He speaks little English but I could tell he was worried either way: that I would be upset or his other obligation would be. Since he works a split shift here, it made no difference to me if he was not finished at noon. He said he would return at 6:00. I again reassured him it was no problem. We still have no hot water in the showers. Homes here, like Thailand, do not have hot water in general and not in the kitchen. Around 11:40 a man showed up to check the AC and got it working; then another man came and the two of them carried a gas canister to the roof After working a while they came down and let us know they could not get the hot water heater to work but had called a plumber who would come on Monday. We are fortunate because water is delivered via pipe to a water storage tank on the roof three hours a day. The tank is large, maybe 500 gallons, so water sits there a while absorbing the heat before you use it. So our showers are not bitter cold but not warm.

Ron found a dry cleaner a few blocks away and took a pair of wool pants to be cleaned for 40 rupees, about 65 cents US. Eat your heart out!

Today was grand. We got up a little after 7:00 and did three laps of brisk walking around the development with its 56 homes. There appears to be resident peacocks and hens here, around 8-10. Almost all of the homes are the same light terra cotta color and a few are white. So we got almost 40 minutes of walking in. We will aim for four laps tomorrow. We need to complete our exercise before 8:00 or we might die from the heat. Just kidding. We showered and had our breakfast: oj, granola, and coffee. After breakfast we took our coffee outside and sat on the veranda, watched and listening to a jillion birds that were singing, chirping and squawking. It was such a delightful experience. 

There are still a few ruff spots but we are inching our way to a routine that gets easier daily. Next week we hopefully will have reliable internet where we can Skype, download stuff and communicates anytime. We may even consider having cable which we have never had at home.

Ron has figured out a way to connect to the internet via our cell phones; although its kind of slow.  But we were able to make some purchases on Amazon.in for an iron, a fry pan and a coffee maker.  They will arrive on Monday, except for the fry pan which will come later int he week.

After Sankar left at noon, we headed to the mall to finish up the shopping for house wares. We ate at the food court. OMG the racket is horrendous, the food…well it is a food court, Indian fast food. Need I say more?

We came home from a big shopping and rested.  Then we ate cold leftovers for dinner. Not a bad day at all. 

Is this the end?

April 20, 2016

After Ron got home from work and rested a bit, we walked down the street and had prints made of the photos I made of the children earlier today. We walked over to the neighborhood where they lived and one or two of the kids were outside, recognized us and called out for others to come out. We had enough copies for each to have any photo they were in. They were wild with excitement and promised to make sure everyone got their photos since not everyone was present. Some mothers came outside due to all the excitement. One asked me to photograph her baby but we didn’t have the camera with us. I am sure if I went back more people would make that request.

We are supposed to sign lease papers today but finding a time when all parties can meet is akin to herding cats. If it happens, swell.  We can move tomorrow. If not, it will happen some time in the near future.

The same young man, Vijay, cleans our hotel room everyday. One day he mentioned his acne to me. I told him there were medications for acne. He immediately asked ‘what medications?’ I said I didn’t know. I went on line and discovered a list of medications but learned it depended on what type of acne. So I wrote out the list and told him he had to see a doctor first. Because of language limits on both our parts, I asked the manager of the hotel to explain to him that it was critical to see a doctor first but I was willing to pay for the medications once he found out what was needed. The young man’s supervisor, Vinood, spoke some English and offered to get the medications. He told me the ‘boy is very poor and he is from Rajasthan’.  Today Vinood showed up with the medications (three) and I asked how much I owed him. He declined to take any money but I insisted since I had imitated the move. It turned out to cost 300 rupees, about $4.50. I was thrilled Vijay asked for my cell number. I asked him to call me when he needed more medications. Yay team!

Is this the end?

It happened at 1:00. We signed the lease papers and the broker, Anurag, arranged for a car to come and transport us and our luggage to the house at 9:30 tomorrow. Yahoo! In the afternoon we attended a talk about the state of the profession of architecture in India given by the president of the university, Bimal Patel, who has a doctorate from Berkley. We then came back to the hotel, went out to dinner and then returned to pack-up, which only took a short time. Tomorrow Ron will take part of the morning off to help us move and learn the house systems: gas cylinders, water filtration, home theater projection, etc. Everything will be all right in the end….

Wildlife, Mississippi and smiling kids

April 19, 2016

 So far we have seen cows, camels and elephants on the city streets in this very large city.

 Today I had nothing on my schedule, so I spent the morning in our room, catching up on email, watching BBC News and reading the paper. I ate leftovers from last night in our room and decided to go out for an Americano and take the camera with me. I went to Mississippi, my fave place to eat and for espresso. It has the coolest décor, particularly for India. The interior has pressed metal floors and m walls as well as the counter and ceiling over the kitchen area.  On the side walls are numerous round framed logos and photos from rock groups mostly from the 60’s-80’s. Maybe I am just reminiscing and thinking back to that time in my life.

I took some photos; one of a man hauling a refrigerator on the back of his bicyclUS is notorious for fattening cows using corn which they cannot digest so large agribusiness farms keep vets on staff to keep the cows alive with medications and antibiotics due to the acid created in the stomach from eating corn instead of grass.

e and  some of cows on the busy streets and stopped to watch a hungry cow nose through a smoldering ash pile for any morsel of food. It is pretty darn sad to see this. Most cows here are not owned from what we have been told so they depend of the kindness of the community to feed them. Let me tell you, poor people can’t feed themselves much less can they feed stray cows which are viewed as a sacred animal, the mother of all civilization. Cows have evolved to eat grass, not leftover fast food and rice which is often what I see them eating. The

 

But I digress…I then strolled down the lane where the kids swarmed us on Sunday. Same kids showed up today and let me take their photos. They all talked at once, calling me ‘Auntie’, asking where I was from, and asking me to take a photo first with this friend and then that friend. What fun! What beauty and innocence. It made my day. They pleaded with me to return tomorrow. Hopefully I can find a place to print photos and will take them copies to have at home.

Today we got word that we will sign the lease papers on Wednesday and can move in on Thursday. I will NOT count on it thus saving myself another false move date. If it happens I will be thrilled and if not…’it’s not the end’ according to Ron’s new mantra. Over all life is good. Our temps this week will range from 106-107. I got really hot today as I stood out in the sun with the kids for quite a while, talking, asking and answering questions. I know one phrase in Gujarati that is a greeting. When I said it they howled they were so shocked and happy to hear me speak their language.

We just found out one of the people from CEPT who needs to be present to sign the papers cannot be there tomorrow. And so it goes….

No house, no internet, and we're doing fine

April 15, 2016

 Today we had temps of 106 but according to the weather station it felt like 110. Yikes, I thought it felt like living on the sun.  Late in the day we met with three people from the university and the broker. Negotiations went on for about 15-20 minutes and when it was all over we were pretty much where we started. Welcome to our world. What was established was we would sign papers tomorrow, Saturday and move in on Monday. Not knowing this was how it would go, I carried 90,000 rupees in my purse, most of the bills were in 500 rupee denominations and I felt like a drug lord with a suitcase full of money. Turned out we didn’t need to hand over the money until the signing of the lease agreement so I brought it back to the hotel.

We went out for dinner, then caught an auto rickshaw to an expo of hand loomed textiles. Unfortunately we never found the place. There was a huge venue for expos and we were let off at the wrong end. We walked around the outside fence until we found an opening and talked to some security guards who spoke no English and discovered it was too far away to walk with the evening radiant heat from the sidewalks.

April 16, 2016 

We slept in and took ourselves out for an American breakfast where we tried to go last weekend but couldn’t find the place. We enjoyed two cups each of espresso drinks, eggs and toast. It was a real treat even it we had to wait until 11:00 when they opened. I have yet to find a place that serves espresso that opens before 11:00. We came back and called the broker to see when we would meet to sign the papers. He put me off and said he was waiting for some details from the owners. We waited until 3:45 and called again for an update knowing the person at CEPT would be leaving his office around 4:00. There will be no signing until Wednesday. The owners, who live in Surat, are in Mumbai for the weekend. They will get the papers Monday, sign them and hopefully we will get them Wednesday. So we will move at the end of the week or during the weekend. Ron handled it well and I did not. I was convinced that we would move in on Saturday. Now I think we will be lucky to get in next Saturday. Ah India.

April 17, 2016

Today we slept in again, went to the same place again for an American breakfast. Ron had a banana cinnamon waffle and I had fried eggs and toast with another Americano. Afterwards we headed to the mall to see the only English speaking film in this town of 7 million: Disney’s Jungle Book in 3 D. In Portland it would cost $15. Here it was $2.50! Yahoo! We enjoyed it even though it wasn’t our usual movie fare. It was a great distraction and we needed to get out of the hotel. The theater was full even though it was also playing in Hindi on another screen. I saw one other family who were Caucasian. Afterwards we walked through the mall. At one point I ducked into the restroom and when I came out Ron was surrounded by a group of five young Indian men who were chatting him up. People are so incredibly warm here. We always get smiles and a pleasant hello. We did a little more shopping for our house: kitchen items and a coffee grinder. I have not seen a coffee maker but I brought two coffee cones and filters so I am not worried.

We came back to the hotel and rested a bit then went out for cold lemonade and fries. We decided to walk back to the hotel using a back street and were swarmed by 10 kids who were eager to talk to us. All of them spoke English and were totally delightful. We passed by a ‘dairy’ right in the middle of the city with 10-12 cows in a small confined area, maybe four US standard lots.

There was some kind of protests today in the state of Gujarat and apparently some in Ahmedabad. As a result wireless internet was cut for 36 hours and will resume at midnight Monday night. It’s rather funny because the hotel finally got internet service today! LOL. The service was cut to prevent using social media and texting that might add fuel to the fire, so to speak.

Adopting a new mantra

April 12, 2016We are making progress. We hope to get into the house this week. Last night we had dinner with new friends from CEPT. They live in a quiet neighborhood in a brand new apartment house that is quite expensive but absolutely lovely with beautiful furniture, curtains, etc. They were helpful giving us some tips about shopping, drinking water, etc.

This morning I woke up to a case of what is affectionately called “Delhi Belly, aka traveler’s diarrhea. I am sure it was from yesterday’s $1.00 lunch on campus as I didn’t feel well afterwards. Ron and I ate the same meal so go figure. Anyway I skipped breakfast and quickly recovered. I decided I had best get busy shopping so hired an auto rickshaw to take me to a recommended mega store for sheets and towels. I was fortunate to land a driver who spoke English and knew the store. I was not wild about the quality of the merchandize but had been told they had the best sheets. I got one set because I realized I didn’t know the size of the beds. They look like king size beds but the largest sheets they carried at the store were double. Like Sri Lanka the pack comes with one sheet and two pillow cases. I went ahead and got two packs of the same pattern. There were no solids. I will continue to search out better stores. The towels also were not a good quality. Since I don’t know Ahmedabad yet it was more important to get a few basics so we can move in. I managed to get two towels, two sheet sets, a bath mat, dish and laundry soap, pot scrubber, floor rag and various stainless cooking utensils for $66. I will go out later today or tomorrow in search of more items. 
When I returned from shopping a staff member helped me up to our room with the items. I couldn’t get my key card to work. All of a sudden the door opened from inside and there was another staff member in our room. Not sure why he was there but I will talk to the manager later today. We are keeping jewelry, cash and passports locked in one of our suitcases because the two safes they have provided don’t work. I am not sure why the university uses this place other than it is close to campus.

I left for lunch and only ate half of my lunch in case my digestive problem wasn’t resolved. It took me several searches through all our suitcases looking for the needed meds before Ron told me to look in his brief case. Bingo. We always travel with Cipro, a antibiotic and Imodium, guaranteed to stop the flow so to speak. I was so grateful that this wasn’t food poisoning which is a totally wretched experienced that I have had in three different countries. Anyway I am all well now.

April 13, 2016
Today I called my new driver, Jignesh, who speaks English and off we went to the upscale mall, Ahmedabad’s newest and biggest which is now four years old. I found a terrific store and got everything I needed: a set of cookware, cutlery, a knife set, glass food storage keepers, and a trash can for the kitchen. I will come back to this store for any other needed items. Right now I just want the basics so we can spend our first night at the house and figure out what else we may need: coat hangers, shower curtains, more kitchen equipment, ???? 
It was 107 today. May is supposed to be hotter. Really?

Today we found out that the person at CEPT who can seal the deal with our lease is out of the office until Friday. At the earliest we will move Saturday morning. Ron got pretty frustrated. But he has now adopted a new mantra to help keep his frustration in check: Everything will be all right in the end. And if it is not all right, it isn’t the end! It really helps. 

The best news is: tonight we found a specialty grocery store that carries out favorite chocolate: Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who cares that is costs double what it does in the US. We bought the three bars they had. They also carry good cheese. Most cheese here is processed which I don’t consider cheese. The exception is paneer. We saw aged cheddar (white, the best), Edam, blue, and brie. Life is good, real good. We even saw granola. At home I make our granola, but here, there are no ovens typically in homes. At 107 degrees why would you want one?

. 

We're not in the south anymore Toto!

April 10 2016

Today we viewed four apartments and none were as nice as the house we saw on Friday. They ranged in price from 45,000-55,000 rupees per month (that's $680 to $830USD). The house is 60,000 per month (about $900USD). All properties are about the same distance from CEPT University. I told Ron I strongly preferred the house even if we have to bear the added expense.  The house is 10,000 more rupees than budgeted for our housing. Monday we will notify the university and ask them to handle the negotiations and details of obtaining a lease. The house is ready to move into…we think. Only furniture is provided. I will need to shop for sheets, towels, dishes, cutlery, waste baskets, etc. I am hopeful we can move in soon but have no idea how long this will take.

This morning I suggested we go to a restaurant we had visited early in our time here. They serve a western breakfast of eggs and toast and coffee I had written down the address printed on their menu and we asked a clerk in the hotel to tell the auto rickshaw driver the address. It turned out the restaurant had moved but had not updated their menus. After asking a series of people for directions we gave up and came back to the hotel to eat.

 It was unfortunate because the driver was frustrated but he spoke no English and he was illiterate. This was another learning for us. We have discovered this is true for many drivers, so handing them the address on a piece of paper will not work. They will only be useful to us when we can speak enough of the local language to give directions which means it will be awhile before we learn any Gujarati and know where the various streets are. Now we are thinking about hiring a car/driver but don’t know how that will go. When you are in a developing country with lots of NGOs usually this wouldn’t be a problem. But we are in Ahmedabad and I don’t think that will be the case here. I also think it will be a problem that there are almost no tourists or expats here. There will be fewer places to buy the kinds of goods we are used to or food items we may want. I have yet to see any good coffee on the grocery shelves. Almost all is instant.

Ron had a late afternoon meeting with Manvita and afterwards I went downstairs to say hello. The three of us visited for awhile then Manvita invited me to go shopping with her. It was helpful to go to another grocery store to see what was available. Manvita pointed out a display of organic items: rice, lentils and beans. I was glad to see some items available.

I got back around 8:30 and we decided to try a sandwich shop we had not seen before. It was a self serve place. As we approached the counter to look at the menu, the owner said 'do you like mayo?' I thought that was odd but I ordered a sandwich described a veg salad with mayo. My grilled sandwich arrived with a tablespoon of mayo on top each quarter of the sandwich, just plopped on top. Ick. Using my napkin, I scrapped off the mayo. I bit into the sandwich and discovered a mayo sandwich with a few tiny microscopic veggies mixed in. I almost puked.   Needless to say I didn't finish it. It was a first and last visit to this shop. I can't fault the owner as she did ask but holy crap Batman....I did have friends growing up who ate mayo sandwiches. It made me sick to think about back then so nothing has changed for me in regards to mayo sandwiches. I wrote my dear childhood friend in Atlanta to tell him this story and he wrote back ‘I’d be all over place. I don’t think you are really Southern’!

Finding our way

April 9, 2016

Today we hired a local tour guide but told him we were not interested in seeing tourist sites. We wanted an orientation to Ahmedabad: high end grocery stores, bookstores, pharmacies, etc. He started us off with a tour of old town Manek Chowk, a traditional open air market that was hot, crowded and pure India. We got to drop in on a small class at a government school with about six young children, sitting on the floor of a dingy room. Walls desperate for paint. No decor no furniture. But the kids were delightful reciting a lesson for us. We also stepped into a metal working shop with men sitting on the floor constantly hammering copper vessels. The noise was deafening and I do wonder about hearing loss from such a trade. 

Each street in the market had a focus: antique textiles, bookstores, kitchen wares, decorative objects made of brass, copper or silver, etc. As Nirav lead us out of this maze of commerce, he pointed out two or three ‘kitchens’. He told us if we wanted to help poor people it was best to not give them money but to contribute to these kitchens that existed to feed the poor. I handed him a 500 rupee note and he carried it over to one of the kitchens and they immediately started calling (yelling) and about 20 people ran over to the kitchen to eat. It was unsettling. They can feed each person for 25 rupees.

Have I mentioned cows? They are everywhere on the streets and sidewalks. Nirav said most do not belong to anyone but they are fed by the citizens. In the market one of them kept trying to charge us and Nirav guided us away from the animal.

We saw a workshop where men were making hammered copper pots.... what a racket it made with all the tap tap tapping!  Too much noise for all day

We also visited a local pubic school where small children were learning the local language.  They sang for us and ofered us a prayer.  Very sweet faces.

After the market we ate our first traditional Gujarati thali. A thali is a meal served on a stainless steel platter that has five or six small bowls. A series of men with one to four serving dishes came by to fill a bowl or to drop some chutney on the platter or bread on the platter.  We had mango juice, thick and pulpy, mung beans, chili paneer (cottage cheese), three kinds of bread, rice, dal (lentils), curried potatoes, a mystery dish that some had a delicious blend of finely chopped unknown, tartlets filled with veggies, sugar glazed fried crunchy pretzel thingy. Moving around the restaurant was a man whose job it was to be mindful when a customer’s plate was lacking. He would snap his fingers and with a hand signal he would alert the appropriate server what item was lacking and what table to go to with the item. Given how noisy India is, it was refreshing that instead of yelling to the server, he snapped his fingers.

After lunch we went to a high end mall: the newest and biggest one here. We were sad to discover the grocery did not have any good chocolate and no decent coffee. These are two items that are important to us. There is one more store here than sells imported foods that appeals to expats so I have my fingers crossed. Otherwise I will go online and see what I can find. I saw an ad today for Amazon India. By 3:00 we were tired and came home. We rested and soon fell fast asleep until 5:00.

So much to learn

April 7, 2016

When we arrive in a new country there is so much to learn. Sometimes it is a trail and other times it is a hilarious experience. I’d like to start off with a hilarious one I had yesterday then move on to give you a sense of how it goes. Keep in mind we have visited India six previous times.

Yesterday, I asked where the toilet was in the admin building at CEPT. Indians give vague directions at times or we are just kind of dense…probably the latter. I found it with some additional help. So I go in and there are western toilets (as opposed to squaty potty where you straddle a hole in the floor). No paper is provided generally in this part of the world, except in hotels, so always carry your own. After using the toilet I pulled up my pants and turned around to flush the toilet; yet did not see a handle nor did I see a bucket to bucket flush, which is often how it is done. Then I saw the handle on the wall and turned it. Out gushed a strong stream of water that shot right between my legs and hit the wall behind me with great force and splashed my backside. HA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well actually that is not what I said. I quickly turned off the water as I had about flooded the floor. I still have no idea how to flush that sucker but it certainly cooled me off. I had to leave with a wet backside, but heck, they don’t know me here…yet.

So here are some mental meanderings of things we are adjusting to or learning in our new home.

The heat has been 99-104 since arrival with low humidity which will change when the monsoons come in a couple of months and I hear it is not a pleasant experience. At night the heat persists as it radiates off the roads and sidewalks.

Sanitation in America is bordering on anal when compared to much of the world. Here the streets and sidewalks have lots of sand, dirt, scraps of food, dog poop, leaf litter, scraps of paper and plastic. I wash my feet multiple times a day because they get dirty wearing sandals.

Traffic is really loud here with horns blaring constantly. Because of that I prefer to live

in a quiet neighborhood here but Ron would like to be in the center of things near the university. The driving is mind boggling. At any given moment expect drivers to be on the wrong side of the road because it is more convenient for them. Because they drive on the on left side of the road we must be vigilant when crossing the street and look the opposite way we are used to. Given how they drive we take nothing for granted and look both ways constantly. The roads are very crowded with bikes, motorcycles, auto rickshaws, buses, trucks, dogs and cows.  Even elephants and camels, too.  We have been forced off sidewalks numerous times by motorcyclists or because vendors have set up on the sidewalk and you can’t pass without stepping into the street.

Indians have a high tolerance for close proximity so we are amazed by how close they drive to other vehicles. If we are in a auto rickshaw we can reach out in any direction and touch another person or vehicle. I wish I could convey how it goes in a busy intersection but some kind of magic happens as everyone from every direction converges and threads their way thought the congestion by forcing their way through the tangle of vehicles. It is a matter of boldness, courage, quick reflexes, mindfulness and a good eye not to mention excellent brakes. It is completely terrifying at times. Ron and I now wear our face masks because in an auto rickshaw we are right at the perfect place to breathe in exhaust.   

We popped into a grocery store the other night as it was the first one we had seen. We could hardly move in the aisles due to the tight spaces and stocking of shelves. If you have ever been in a Chinese market you may know what I am talking about. I think it will be a terrific challenge to find familiar foods and other items. I have tried twice to buy tissues and both times was offered paper napkins. We have hired a local guide for Saturday  to take us around town to show us high end grocery stores, bookstores, and neighborhoods. I am hopeful that a good detailed map can be purchased because looking for rentals without knowing the lay of the land is not a very satisfying experience.

So far we have been blessed finding restaurants that have been clean and safe with no stomach issues. But it is another thing to adjust to here. Which ones are safe and clean??? Learning menu items is another thing to adjust to. Fortunately menus are in English here. Yay! We are learning the phone system. We get daily calls and when we try to call back we get a message saying the number does not exist.???

One of the really great things here is how incredibly friendly people are, partly I guess because there are so few Caucasians here. We have been here a week and have met four Caucasians all associated with CEPT. When we walk down the street or into a restaurant, heads turn. Today I was eating lunch and a woman from the next table walked over and sat down to chat me up. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear a lot of what she said because of the loud music. She said she would call me after her baby is born in two months. Another real treat is the dress here. Women’s textiles are a feast for our eyes. Lovely colorful saris and traditional dress with the long shirts and pants. It is hard to not stare. It is rare to see a solid color. Most often there are great designs and patterns of cloth. I love seeing the Indian women construction workers in hard hats and saris. Hopefully we can get a photo to share.

We have found good espresso near the hotel but the shops don’t open until 11 or later. I fear finding good coffee in the grocery store will not be happening but perhaps I can get it on line for Delhi or Mumbai where there are Starbucks shops. There are seven million people in Ahmadabad and no Starbucks…who knew?

The plant life and sculptures on campus are a real treat and I am thankful as it serves as a respite form what we have seen thus far of Ahmadabad. I am hopeful that there are some prettier parts of town than what we have seen thus far.

One of my fave things I have seen is the street lights on campus. They are hung from the tree limbs not on a traditional lamp post. Pretty cool, I’d say. Photos attached.

Because of malaria, dengue and other mosquito borne illnesses we must spray on repellent multiple times daily. I also smear on sunscreen because of the potential for skin cancer. We were encouraged to forgo malaria pills by our travel clinic nurse practitioner and we agreed as the medication is quite hard on the liver. She knew of a more natural repellent that we were able to get at REI so we are happy about that.

That brings you up to date on some of our current adjustments and there will be many more. Right now it can be overwhelming some days; Ron is learning a new job and how things work here to add to the stress of what I have just described. Some of you may ask, ‘why I god’s name are they there?’ The short answer is in 1997 after a three week tour in Asia (China, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong) we decided we wanted to travel and live in developing countries when we retired. We felt that being in developing countries requires much more of us than traveling in first world countries and we felt that being in developing countries would help us from getting too stodgy, too set in our ways or thinking there was only one way to do things. We have never regretted that decision, even when the adjustment gets rough.

Adjusting,times 3

April 4, 2016

I have been waiting all day for the broker to take me to see places. He is now on his way and it is 3:45. Folks we are on IST: India stretchable time. Life has many adjustments for us. Today I had a corn sandwich. I told you they have created some unique dishes with veggies here. It was delicious! We have been here since Friday and today is Monday. I have not seen any more whites other than one professor at the university and an Italian couple who work at the university. At lunch yesterday five charming young girls came over to our table to chat.

I young man from UMC came along with the broker to serve as a translator. Our friends Manvita and Meghna founded UMC. The broker was on a motorcycle with a driver and Vinay was with me in a auto rickshaw.   I saw three places today. The first had no AC. Not possible for this gringo in this heat. Next place was a townhouse. Since places are not maintained here a new place gets worn down pretty quickly which was the case here. But it had potential. I told the broker we were close but I still wanted to see more. He took me to his office to meet the boss. Anurag spoke excellent English and told me of a house that he thought I would like. He said foreigners had rented it before. So we drove there and were met by the owners. The place was in chaos as they were cleaning, painting and wallpapering. Furniture was piled up in places but the bottom line was it looked better than anything I had seen by far. I told the realtor I wanted Ron to see it. I decided to wait a few days in hopes that it would be more presentable before taking Ron there.

April 6, 2016

We have been trying to contact someone at a high rise we were shown by Meghna’s  husband. Today we went over there and were told to come back later. I am finding it quite difficult to look for places on my own. I don’t know the neighborhoods or the systems here. If neither of these two places work out then I will see about hiring a broker which will cos a month’s rent. At this point it feels like it would be worth it.

Yesterday we met a retired prof from CA. He is teaching for a few semesters at CEPT. He gave us a few tips on grocery stores and coffee shops. NO Starbucks here folks which is amazing given he size of Ahmedabad. Mike is the fourth Caucasian we have seen and met here. So far all the whites we have seen work at CEPT. We are a true minority/rarity. When we walk to dinner each night we pass a small veggie cart and a little three year old boy runs up to us and waves wildly. It is charming. Last night he said ‘bye bye’ as we passed.

We have started wearing our masks. A few people here do wear them and many women on motorcycles wrap their heads in a large scarf covering everything but their eyes. It is downright exotic looking. Riding in auto rickshaws and on motorcycles you are right at the level to be breathing in exhaust.

New and Old Friends, getting oriented

April 3

It is Sunday morning and still no Internet. Yesterday, we used Ron’s phone to access our email but that isn’t working today. We have an appointment to see an apartment at 11:00. I found it on line in December but seeing it in reality is a requirement as far as we are concerned.

Yesterday we mostly hung around the hotel. In the morning we looked at the second place the university staff had picked out for us. It was a large three story house. It was a little dated looking. The hot water heater used wood to heat the water for the washing machine, not electricity or gas. That was a first for us. It had one bedroom on the ground floor, two bedrooms on the second floor and one on the third floor. It turns out that it is a shared house. So we would rent the ground floor with kitchen and laundry privileges and others would rent the second and third floor. There was one entrance to the house so the other renters would be walking through our part of the house to get to their part. Not for us. I told Ron I would hire an agent to help me find us a place since the university’s choices were far off our idea of a suitable place. Later in the day I got some tips from our friends here on good neighborhoods, promise of sending some agents my way and tips on some useful websites. We finally found an ATM that took Ron’s debit card and got some cash. My card which is identical to Ron’s on the same bank didn’t work so we will have to call Monday night to see what is up.

We went out to dinner with Scott, Ron’s two former colleagues, Manvita and Megdha, her husband and Manvita’s adult son. It was a great restaurant with a varied menu with dishes from around the world. They had chicken on the menu so I had a chicken risotto which was great. It is another good place to return to at later date. The vast majority of restaurants here are ‘pure veg’ as this is Hindu country and no alcohol is served anywhere in the state of Gujarat.

A Man in a Hat

Ron wears hats year round. In the winter it is to keep his head warm and in the hot weather to protect his head from the sun. So here in India he wears a Panama hat and he looks like an older Indiana Jones. To my eye he is more handsome than Harrison Ford. When we are out walking the Indian men on the street notice his hat then notice Ron. They call out to him with a friendly ‘hello’ or ‘hello sir’ and with a charming grin. I think they all would like a hat like his.  Ron thinks they are laughing at him.  We’ll probably never know.

We are definitely in the ‘adjusting phase’ of being in a new culture and location. We are adjusting to the very hot days, a new currency, a very different diet, limited access with no car and no decent pubic transportation. (riding in an bus with no AC in this climate would cause me nausea) adjusting to having no Internet since arrival although has been the worst of the challenges.

Did I mention that our neighborhood is quite dirty. Dirt is on the sidewalks, leaf litter abounds as dies some trash. I wash my feet frequently because they get dirty wearing sandals here. We have so much to be grateful for in the US.

I asked on three separate days to have someone unlock the locked safe in our room. Each time I was told, ‘okay I will send someone up.’  After the third request someone called from the front desk and admitted they didn’t know how to unlock the safe. So they brought another one up and put it on the bottom shelf of the closet. You have to stand on your head to read the instructions and set your code. However it doesn’t work either. It is unlocked but beeps loudly when I try to set the code. So for now my safe is our locked suitcase.

Fortunately we have lucked out with every restaurant. The food has been excellent. The food is very oily as much is fried here or the dishes with sauces are heavy with oil, but all of it has been well prepared and tasty. We are amazed at the low cost. Last night at a nice restaurant with cloth napkins and tablecloths and a large wait staff, we ordered drinks (this is a dry state so drinks have no alcohol), a fabulous roasted cauliflower dish that had been marinated and grilled with onions and peppers, two kinds of bread and another veggie dish that was wonderful. All of that was a bit over $10 for the two of us. Saturday the restaurant served some meat dishes (chicken, lamb and seafood but never beef in India). McDonalds was only allowed into India by agreeing to not serve beef. We have been struck by how many dishes are possible here with only veggies; things I never imagined..

Today we looked at a place I had found on line before leaving the US. It had three bedrooms, three baths (Asia style), living room walled off in a glass cube so it could be air conditioned. That left the kitchen and dining room without AC, the two hottest rooms in the house since they were next to each other. It was the best we have seen but not good enough shall we say. I am afraid the house hunting will take longer than I had hoped but that is all part of the package. Ron got a call at lunch from a person who works with Manvita who offered to help me on Monday. I have my fingers crossed since I really don’t know how house hunting goes here. It is helpful to look as it helps me to refine what we need and communicate what we need. One major difference between the US and India is maintenance of buildings, homes, structures and infrastructure. Relatively new buildings look quite worn from lack of maintenance. After seeing three places I think we definitely will have to spend some money adding furnishings like mattresses, a desk, and more and equipping the kitchen at the very least. Mattresses here are thin foam pads. Beds are low to the ground. The kitchens have either had no tableware and cookware or it  was inadequate. None of this concerns me. It takes be back to our experience in Sri Lanka where we rented a brand new house completely unfurnished. Those furnishing now reside in our Thai house.

The neighborhood we are in now doesn’t have much in the way of shopping. I have not seen a pharmacy since arriving. The shops nearby are small clothing stores or really tiny stores with dry goods. There are some street produce vendors. But I have not seen a grocery store yet. Since I don’t have internet I don’t know what the temperature has been other than damn hot. Last night we walked to a restaurant for dinner and walked home at 8:30 and it was still damn hot with the heat radiating off the street or sidewalk.