Monkeys, Birds and dealing with the help

June 27, 2016

Goodness where does the time go? We had a relatively good week. Our humidity has been creeping up. It is 58% today and the temps have fallen to 100 degrees today. So we no longer have a dry hot, we now have a wet hot and it is still damn hot. Our walks in the morning have been shortened to three loops through our society instead of 3.5. We both get too hot due to the humidity. It feels a lot like Sri Lanka.

Sankar continues to offer me a challenge. He called yesterday to say he had a fever and did not come to work.  This morning he called Rahul to tell me he was sick, needed to go to the hospital for medicine and he would send Hosha over to pick up the money. I told Rahul tell Sankar no need to send her as we no longer were giving him any loans. We just had this discussion last week. No more loans. He was argumentative with Rahul and said he would come to work. I told Rahul I did not want him here if he was sick and I still would not give him any money before payday which is the end of the month.

He came anyway while Rahul was taking Ron to work. He could have won a role in an Indian soap opera with his performance. He came into the living room acting as though he was having a heart attack and other maladies as well. He chatted away and I have no idea what the hell he was saying. Then he started cleaning. I ask you why you would do that if you were so sick. When Rahul returned I asked him to again tell Sankar to leave but he is a butthead as I have mentioned before and he refused. He worked for two hours. It seemed to improve his health

At one point Kamla called to see what was happening as I had texted her to tell her he was not coming to work because he was sick and later texted her to say he was here acting sick. He cleans their cars every morning so that is why I had alerted her. She said to have him come to her house now. He went over there and she told him to stop badgering us about money. She paid him money she owed from Saturday when her son had borrowed Sankar to deliver a package using his auto rickshaw. It took close to four hours. So even after he had money for the hospital he continued to work here. I am pretty sure the rickshaw he is renting had another breakdown and he needed money for repairs. He came to work on his bicycle today. Regardless, I am finished being the bleeding heart as he lied to either me or Kamla this morning. Kamla said she told him his wife was useless and he should dump her and Sankar said he had sent her away this weekend to her mother’s home. Funny that she could come over this morning to pick up the money he wanted to borrow. So I have been taken in by this man. I still respect his work but not his word.

Saturday we tried another Italian restaurant and had another good experience. We are starting to build up a few choices now of decent restaurants where we don’t need to worry about getting sick. Afterwards we walked across the courtyard where there was a large bookstore. We have been to another outlet of this same store. I found a crossword book, not the NY Times but okay. We got three DVDs, one from 1984, a good Indian bird book and some office supplies. When we came out there had been a cloudburst and everything was soaked. Fortunately it had stopped. When we got home 10 minutes later we discovered we didn’t get a single drop. The monsoons are late for us this year. Some parts of Gujarat have had flooding and all we have had is a couple of sprinkles and one short downpour.

I went shopping one day last week and found some unique and gorgeous silk scarves and bought two, one for me and one for a gift. I was curious so read the tag and discovered there was a website and an email address. I visited the website www.neelgar.com and fell in love with what I saw. No on line shopping however. So I emailed the designer and asked if there were other outlets that sold her scarves in Ahmedabad since the store I visited had only four to choose from. She invited me to her home. OMG what a story. She has a degree in design and worked for a state run craft emporium initially after school, creating designs for rural women to make textiles. This eventually grew into her own business. When she started she had eight women who worked for her. She now has 600 rural women who create these incredible scarves/shawls using techniques that are centuries old. You can read about it on her website to save me writing about it. My favorite technique is called bandhani (the word bandana comes from this). The scarves take one to 12 months to make and are priced accordingly. All are silk. Some are a heavier weight silk and that adds to the cost as well. The prices ranged from $19 to $330 which is unbelievable. She sells them in the US for four times as much. I shall do some serious shopping at her home.

We spent over an hour on our first visit. I learned a bit about her history and saw many samples of her work. I bought four more scarves and a stole for myself. I went back the next day to pick it up as it had needed to be finished on the edges and I bought yet another one. OY! She is heading to Delhi for an exhibition but we agreed to have lunch and another viewing when she returns.

June 29, 2016

Yesterday morning a troop of monkeys hung out by our place so I got some good shots of these fun creatures. Locals see them as a nuisance and scare them away but I have always been enthralled watching them because they are so much like us and their facial expressions are intriguing.

Today I tried a new salon for a mani/pedicure. This is the fourth one I have visited. I am going back to the Hyatt mainly because it is clean. India has a very different standard of cleanliness. This place had an upbeat, cool décor but upon closer inspection the floor was dirty, the tray table the tech was using was dirty and I had multiple flies on me throughout. The place had AC and a closed door but somehow flies were present and a bother. The tech threw several of his tools on the floor when he was finished with them. I wasn’t impressed. The cost was significantly less than the Hyatt but no thanks. I don’t think of myself as a snob or as anal retentive about dirt. However I want a personal care appointment to be a pleasant and relaxing experience. When the surroundings are not pleasing or relaxing I rather pay a higher price for a better experience. Did I mention the ubiquitous TV was blaring away upstairs? A personal pet peeve in a salon yet commonly found throughout Asia.

On an entirely different subject, daily I see people living on the street here. I don’t think I have written about this in the blog. It is heart breaking. Families can be seen living on the sidewalks. Often they are next to a low wall of maybe three and half to four feet high. Usually there is an empty field of dirt on the other side that is sometimes used for expos. I think the homeless folks use it as their toilet as well. They are right next to four-six lanes on never ending traffic and traffic is loud here. Everyone uses their horns incessantly to warn pedestrians and other drivers that they are nearby. I am not sure sidewalks ever cool off here so they are in the brutal heat 24hours a day. They are also in filth all day with no place to wash. Sometimes I will see a jug of water and a child being washed with a quick pour over but the homeless sleep on the ground mostly although a few have a single rope cot. Some of these homeless have small businesses such as a vegetable or fruit cart. One woman I see regularly makes simple baskets and a couple of men make crude bamboo blinds that roll up. I can hardly tolerate the heat and I am never in it for more than 30 minutes and usually I am in the heat long enough to walk from the house to the car and the car into a store. I cannot imagine living on the sidewalk here. Dirt is everywhere on the streets and sidewalks. The air is filthy. You wouldn’t believe how much dirt Sankar sweeps up daily and our house is closed up most of the time. We open three doors in the morning to air out the house and to let heat that has built up escape. The kitchen door, the back bedroom door and the upstairs door to the porch are left open for about 30 minutes. If Sankar misses a day of work his dust pan is loaded with dirt when he sweeps upon his return.

There is another segment of society here that lives in impermanent ‘houses’. Structures that have been scabbed together with found materials and they are scary. They look like they would be used as torture chambers because there are no windows and there is only an opening in the front but without doors. So they are dark, hotter than hell and filthy. They are usually grouped together to form a small slum neighborhood. I assume this is how Sankar lives but I don’t know. India has rules about renting and you have to get some sort of formal permission from one state to the next in order to rent legally. Every time I see the homeless and the slum dwellers my heart aches.

Since buying the bird book on Saturday, I have been identifying birds on our property without the aid of binoculars. I am pleased that I have identified the following birds:

Red naped Ibis

Black Headed Ibis

Indian Robin

Jungle Babbler

Indian Peafowl

Common Myna

Every morning after breakfast I sit on the veranda and watch birds as they get insects/seeds on our lawn and in the trees and scrubs. Then I thumb through my bird book, read about the birds and make a positive identification. I spied the ibis on the society green across the street from our house. They are there many mornings when we go for our walk between 6:00-7:00.

Life is good.

Outings, a great store and a new restaurant

Father’s Day

June 19 2016

We went out to lunch at one of our favorite places that offers light fare. We celebrated Father’s Day by going to Lokayatan Folk Museum, small local museum that had a wonderful collection of tribal wood carvings, ceramics, metalwork and our all  time favorite, exquisitely embroidered and tie-dyed textiles. I was caught drooling on the glass display cases. 

Another museum with festival masks, another Bergman favorite, costumes and an elephant skeleton were on display. Both were set in the peaceful grounds of the Shreyas Foundation. Peacocks were everywhere as were other birds including the Rosy Ringed parakeet. Neither museum was air conditioned so I limited my time as I still don’t have much tolerance for the heat. As the monsoons approach the humidity is rising and the temperature is going down. Today was the first day I actually felt cool in the morning. It is all relative as the temperature was still above 100. Each week the monsoons are predicted to arrive. So far they haven’t.

Life is getting easier every day and our stress has dropped considerably. India is just hard for us. Literally every time someone is scheduled to come to the house to work on some problem, they do not come. A man who is supposed to hook up the home theater projector with permanent cables as opposed to a temporary fix using cords on the floor was scheduled for Thursday. He was a no show but showed up on Sunday but didn’t finish the job so he will schedule again and we will wait for his arrival and most likely he will not show. This gets old when it happens every time. When we tell Indians about this they laugh because it is just an accepted practice and no one seems to find it troublesome. Since we do not have live-in servants or full time servants it requires one of us to hang around waiting. OK enough complaining. I continue to be surprised at the lack of common goods here. Yesterday I wanted to buy a glass or metal mixing bowl. I went to the high end household goods store and all they had were glass decorative bowls. I went to the supermarket that has a house wares section and found a metal bowl one size only. There were other metal bowls but they had straight sides which isn’t a good design for bowls. Obviously it was made for some purpose that I don’t know about here.

Tuesday June 21, 2016

Today’s local paper had an article about an online store that helped rural women by allowing them to work in their homes and earn money by making clothing and accessories. The company uses designers to create clothing. The store sends out kits with all the needed items for the women to sew the items that will be sold online. I was excited by the mission and the products so I went on line to read more about the store. I learned that it was headquartered here in Ahmedabad and according to their website there were two stores in town so I called to make sure the addresses had not changed. I have learned from previous experiences here to confirm hours and location as websites are NEVER maintained. Sure enough they do not have any stores in town. I told the person on the phone that was not what their website said. HA! Later I got response to an earlier inquiry over the internet and was told I had two options: on line or shop at the office location! You have to love India!

Tonight we tried a restaurant that opened recently. They serve Italian and North Indian cuisines. OMG what a treat. We order four dishes and each one was great. If you didn’t guess we stuck with the Italian part of the menu. We had Crunchy Cigar Rolls, phyllo dough wrapped around a mixture of walnuts and spinach. YUM! Beet and pear salad with feta, another rwinner, and mushroom and pine nut ravioli. The mushroom sauce had milk in it so I asked for a substitute and they recommended a lemon butter sauce which was divine and to our surprise they had Ron’s favorite dessert bread pudding. We will make this place a regular stop. It is near our house and everything was delicious. If we go when they open for dinner at 7:00 we have the place to ourselves. The décor was what I would call Modern Italian with lots of glass and mirrors. We decided this was the best restaurant we have been to here thus far.

Two stories about the right hand and left, the capital, and a lavish Hindu temple,

June 17, 2016

Two stories to tell about how things go in India…at least in our experience here. This week I had an appointment with a glaucoma specialist mainly to establish a relationship in case I had any problems here. Last summer I had a traubeculectomy on my left eye. The clinic wanted to do some tests. At one point a technician dilated my eyes and told me to wait in the reception area with my eyes closed. After about five minutes someone came over to me and handed me the bill for the services and told me to pay at the desk outside the reception area. I walked to the desk outside and there were several people at the counter and one person behind the counter. Someone else came over to me, took the bill and asked for the payment. Keep in mind we stand out here. We arrived April 1^st and I have seen fewer than eight Caucasians since then in this city of six or seven million folks. I took out my credit card and handed it the woman who then took me to a room where someone processed the payment. I was taken back to the reception area of the eye clinic and told to have a seat. There were no seats available as the room was filled to capacity so I said aloud, ‘I think I’ll take a stand not a seat’. Then the technician who earlier had told me to keep my eyes shut came over and said ‘shut your eyes’ and at that point a gentleman stood up and gave me his seat. If it wasn’t so funny I would have to wonder does anyone who works there have any idea what anyone else who works there is doing.

Parliament building

Next story: On Friday Ron took the day off because he needs to work on Saturday. We visited Gandhinagar, a planned city built in 1970 as the new capital of the state of Gujarat. 














Rahul suggest we visit a place that had something to do with Gandhi but we were unsure of what he was saying. So we drive up to this huge cone shaped structure and look for an entrance. Rahul always stays with the car. It was a museum. The guards opened the door and signaled for us to go across the way to bag check in. I carry a large backpack purse and it wasn’t allowed inside the museum. When we go to that place a young woman in a loud officious voice told us to go to yet another building next to door to buy tickets. So we go buy tickets and go back and check my bag.  Then we go back to the original building and again the guards came out and point to the ticket building. Ron showed them our tickets but again they said to go back in. It turns out the ticket seller was supposed to give us an additional laminated ticket that had a number on it. We get that item and go back we go to the entrance to where the guards AGAIN come out and tell us we can’t come in until 3:00.  I need to ask why one person could not have explained these details and why were we sent to the bag check first instead of the ticket seller as it was closer to the entrance, right across from where the guards were??? Welcome to our current world. Ron was in no mood to wait so he returned our tickets although there was no refund, the laminated tickets and we picked up my bag and left.

On the brighter side we visited Akshardham, a famous Hindu temple built in 1992 by a wealthy sect of Hindus  to commemorate Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781-1830). This huge temple is set in a 22 acre site. Because of a terrorist attack a number of years ago, security is high and we had to check cell phones, my purse and Ron's camera & phone.

A Great Day

June 16, 2016

Our weather temperature is down to 106-108 this week. Where did I put my sweater? It is an improvement. Yesterday I had a difficult day. Sankar, our housekeeper, has rented an auto rickshaw in order to earn more money. He can actually live on less than I pay him but his mother’s surgery has created more debt for him so I assume that is why he has taken this step. He is excited about it. But yesterday his head seemed to be in ‘auto rickshaw’ He came to work and washed the three cars next door and brought me with some plants for our garden. I was thrilled as he has wanted to replace some plants that died and to add more. I had hoped to go with him but he went on his own for whatever reason.

I went upstairs to do something and Sankar told Rahul, the driver, he was leaving to have his rickshaw serviced and told Rahul to tell me he would be back later to work his hours. I was quite angry because he did not talk to me and even madder when he never showed up. Hosha, his wife, came over around 1:00 to tell me he would be here at 2:00. She speaks no English. I told her in English that he had better show up and that I was leaving at 2:00 for an appointment. Needless to say it was stupid to say anything but I was loud and forceful so I hoped she would get my drift. He did not show up and did not come for his evening shift. So this morning when he drove up we were out on out walk. I did not make eye contact with him as he drove by. When we got back to the house, he said ‘sorry’ and I made it clear we would talk with Rahul arrived. He apologized again and again but I let him stew as he needed to see I was upset. When Rahul came I took both of them outside. I told Sankar I was sorry I didn’t speak his language and had to have Rahul be a part of this conversation. Sankar would not sit in a chair, showing deference as is done here. I tried to get him to sit at our level but he wouldn’t. There are so many parts to culture, tradition and behaviors within cultures.

I started by asking him if he wanted to still work for me. I thought that would get his attention and it did. Throughout our conversation he had trouble making eye contact and frequently looked down and when he spoke he mumbled or spoke very softly compared to my direct and forceful voice. I had instructed Rahul to make no comments of his own which of course he did do. OY! Anyway I told Sankar he has lost my trust by not coming back to work yesterday and not calling me which I have asked him to do on three occasions.

I cited his behavior last week when he agreed to help Kamla when she was short staffed and had a house full of company. He failed to show and turned off his phone so she had no way of contacting him. She told me she would never ask him again. I told him her husband was the president of this society and knew all the residents. She would never recommend him to anyone here. I told him his behaviors had consequences.

I gave him the option of reducing his hours if he wanted to expand his rickshaw time. He asked how that would impact his pay. I currently pay him for five hours a day and his hours would be reduced to three a day. When he saw that his salary would go from 9,000 rupees to 5400 he quickly opted to continue his five hours. He knows I pay way above scale here and that he has it easy here. Most employers would never loan money and I doubt any would invite a ‘servant’ to spend the night in a guest room which I did when he was ill.  I told him if he ever did not come to work without calling me again his job would end immediately. I think he knows I am serious now. I told him all of us have days where things come up and we need to change our schedule and I was willing to do that but he had to talk to me about it rather than just taking off or not showing up. I told him I cared about him. If I didn’t care about him I would have fired him yesterday. At the end I told him of our custom of shaking hands when an agreement has been made. He smiled and shook my hand firmly.

Yesterday I decided to try a new place for a mani/pedicure. The place I have been going to is located in a real funky complex with broken tiles, poor lighting and lack of cleanliness. The salon is cramped and three women work on my nails at the same time. They love the tips I give them and are sweet but the setting is a jumble with the  TV going, someone working in the same room behind a curtain on a client and family members hanging out in the small space. So after finding out that the Hyatt has a salon I made an appointment. What a contrast. The room was darkened, the pedicure chair was the type we have in the US with an attached tub and massage option built into the chair.  I found the massage more annoying than soothing. No TV, the space was open, not cramped and there were no other clients although there was room for more. Given that the rate is the same as the US I think there are few people other than travelers or ex pats who would come here.  My technicians were sweet women who come from Sikkum and Northeast States. Sikkum borders China, Bhutan and Nepal. It was a relaxing experience and helped my mood which had been darkened by my reaction to Sankar’s behavior.

Ron and I have started watching our favorite News Hour in the basement in the home theater on the projector. We usually follow it with an episode from Bletchley Circle. We have actually seen season one before but we are stumped to find something more entertaining. We are open to suggestions if any readers have some, please email us.

Ron had a great day at work today. Last week he visited a friend whom he has known for 10 years and with whom he worked a few years ago. Ron asked about resources in India for training. She referred him to a man who was overseeing some money for local government training from a defunct organization. Today Ron and his coworker went to meet with the man and he willing to support the training program, but the University will need t present a proposal that will have to be approved; however things look very proising. Now that’s a great day.

The Post Office and a Birthday

June 9, 2016

I made my first trip to the post office this week. It was on a piece of property with several buildings that were four or five stories high, dull looking structures and no landscaping, just sand. The buildings were housing for government employees. It looked more like a prison.  Ick! No AC units here and very few windows and no balconies. Probably no circulation either. Hot, hot, hot.

Off to one side was a building of several stories and there were three windows for service on the ground level. So, patrons would be outside the building standing at one of the windows. I was told which window to go to which was the wrong one…you have to love India. Rahul got out of the car, went to the right window and waited while the employee finished what she was doing on her computer. I got the stamps and then Rahul started going back and forth between the three windows looking for something that turned out to be a glue pot. I found it off to the side of where it should have been. The glue pot was the bottom three inches of a plastic water bottle that had been cut to use as a glue pot and it had with what looked like homemade glue and a stick. He took the stick and smeared glue onto the stamps. In hot and humid climates, envelopes and stamps do not come with glue as the heat would seal your envelop before it got out of the store. Everything is different here and everything takes longer than what you would expect.

I still struggle with food here. It is quite difficult to find fresh crisp veggies. I have yet to find a firm red or yellow bell pepper though there is no shortage of squishy ones. The only lettuce available is iceberg and it can be found only at a specialty shop not the grocery stores. For the first time since we arrived I found fresh parsley this week that wasn’t completely shriveled up. I grabbed it and came home to make marinara sauce, Ron’s favorite. The next night I cooked noodles, reheated the sauce and tried to heat some bread in a fry pan since we don’t have an oven. Only two of my three burners would light for some reason, most likely operator error. Anyway I am juggling three pans on two burners trying to get dinner on the table. I had to turn the ceiling fan off because it plays havoc with the gas flames. The kitchen turned into an inferno and I was not having any fun at all. Ron walked in to help and quickly got out of the way as I was in a tizzy. Fortunately he loves me big and knows how to maneuver around my moods. We had a lovely Italian meal with whole wheat noodles, marinara sauce and fresh parmesan, hot bread, fresh salad and a wilted cranky cook. Will I ever find my way in the kitchen here? Stay tuned. Perhaps with the monsoons which are due around the 20^th of this month.

Sankar’s mom had her back surgery and it cost 30,000 rupees ( a little less than $500 USD). He did not ask for another loan. I would just like to pay her bill but both Ron and Kamla have told me not to give/loan him anymore money. I am behaving. Kamla is in a lot of pain wit her back problems and is supposed to stay off her feet and out of the kitchen but she doesn’t mind well either. She also is having staff coverage problems and her sister arrives tonight so I suggested she borrow Sankar and let him help her out. Nothing here at our home is urgent and I can tolerate a day or two without the house being swept or mopped.  So Sankar is hopping back and forth between our houses which are right next door to each other. Last night he left to go to Kamla’s and said he would be back. He didn’t’ show up so we decided to go ahead and cleanup the kitchen. Ron and I are a great team and do clean up quickly with no fuss. About 30 minutes later Sankar came back to clean up the kitchen. I told him ‘you help my new best friend and I help you’. He left at 9:30 to then go to the hospital to see his mom. He was back this morning at 7:30 to start washing the Badlani’s three cars. I asked Kala when she wanted him today.  He worked about two hours here then went over there. I told him to take care of himself and he didn’t need to come back but he insisted so I expect him after a bit.

June 12, 2016 

Yesterday was my birthday and we celebrated by being tourists. I had a great birthday. We went to the tribal museum and had a fellow who spoke no English accompany us the entire time explaining things in Hindi. Too funny. Then we went to a craft emporium and bought a small wall hanging with a tree of life motif. 

We went to the Hyatt for dinner because their Pan Asian restaurant serves Thai dishes and they were good. We are tired of Indian cuisine as it is so rich, heavy and oily. My wonderful neighbor baked me the prettiest birthday cake ever. Chocolate! Yum. It was a good day. It has gotten humid here. The temps are down to 110 with a low of 87 at night not counting the radiant heat from the hard surfaces that absorb heat all day.. However due to 49% humidity when it is 95 before noon it feels like 103. So 110 feels like HELL! NO relief any way you look at it.

On Friday I took time to explore a shop I had seen from the car that looked interesting. OMG it was my kind of place with beautiful textiles. They had indigo clothing with beautiful designs, wood block print textiles for clothing, bedding and table linens. Beautiful jewelry and home furnishings that were exquisite. I wasn’t in the mood to shop but explore and see that it is a place to return to with shopping in mind. It was the best place that I have seen so far. I was beginning to give up hope. Fab India isn’t as fabulous as it was the last time I was here which I think was 2008, I think.

Life is good!

It can drive you crazy

June 4, 2016

Our new driver Rahul started Thursday. He is extremely cautious making us both nervous which is rather funny. He drives slowly but we think this is because he is learning a new vehicle and he is new to us. After three days he seems more relaxed but Ron isn’t. In India drivers drive VERY close to other vehicles, pedestrians, cows, etc. So today I suggested Ron sit in the back where he can’t see as much and I sat in the front seat. It helped. Since Rahul works full time it means he sits around the house when not driving. This being India he usually sits outside although I have told him he may sit inside and that he won’t disturb me. This being India he insists on using the servants toilet outside.

It is wonderful being able to go out and be in the comfort of an air conditioned car versus a hot auto rickshaw. No worries about having the right change to pay the fare or someone who doesn’t speak English to understand where I want to go, etc. It has reduced our stress in those ways.

Today is Saturday so we decided to have a play day. Ron had a meeting this morning at 11:00 with his co-worker who has returned from her month of travel in the US. Rahul and I picked Ron up and we went to lunch then went to the Tribal Museum which was closed although the website said it was opened all day. So we decided to go to a government run craft emporium to see what crafts were available here. It had the accordion door closed three-quarters of the way down. Its website also said it was open all day today. Can’t believe everything you read! So we ended up at Crossword Bookstore which had no crossword books for adults. Bummer. We did find a better street map although it only lists major roads but it is better than the map we have that was published 17 years ago!

When Kamla and I first got together, Sankar said to be in perfect English ‘your new best friend’. When I told Kamla she said ‘for life’. My new best friend for life thought she had sciatica and found out it is much more serious and will probably require back surgery that will involve a rod and screws to support her spine. She is quite anxious. I went to visit her yesterday. She was taking a medication that made her sleep much of the day. I visited for about 20 minutes until more relatives came to see her. She is basically bed ridden for now so no more cooking. Her husband said “I am worried about my wife’. I said I was also. ‘Kamla is the engine of the house’. She really does take care of so many things there, not the least of which is cooking three meals a day for her family.

At the same time Sankar decided to bring his mother here from his village for her to get diagnosed. Apparently she also is having back pain and other issues. She has been hospitalized and is having various tests done to determine what is going on. Hopefully they will find out soon.

First rain, trip home and cooking vegies

May 29, 2016

During dinner tonight it started raining, really hard rain with lots of wind. After dinner it started up again and we stepped outside to enjoy it on the veranda. Our neighbors, the Badlani’s were outside in the rain and beckoned us to join them. Apparently when the first rain comes it signals the end of summer and it is a tradition to go outside and get soaking wet. On the green was a young family with two kids, twins, who were dancing and swinging the kids around. We joined them and introduced ourselves. I felt like we were in a Bollywood movie where people stand around and chat or dance in the rain. It was a special event for the two of us. When the rain stopped the mosquitoes came out in force so we headed home, soaked to the skin.

May 30

Ron was expecting his coworker to return today but she didn’t. He is eager for her return so they can get to work and get the program going. He has been working on curriculum, creating PowerPoint presentations and assessing needs for training based on interviews and writing a report of his findings.

I spent the entire morning working on travel schedules for us to come home in late July. After Ron got home he called for mileage tickets but found out over half the flights were not available. Oy, all that time and nothing to show for it. So we completely changed our route and our plans. We had hoped to fly through NY and see our family there but now with our new schedule we fly through LA. Due to long layovers in Abu Dhabi we will get visas on arrival and spent the night in a hotel near the airport. That will take some of the pain out of the long trip. It is a 30 hr trip going to the US and 37 hr trip returning with long layovers in Adu Dhabi.  At this age I have no desire to spend 30-37 hrs in airports/planes. I would need hard drugs and copious amount of alcohol to endure such torture so I will opt for buying a visa, a hotel with a clean bed and taking a rest in between flights.

In the afternoon I walked up to the neighborhood veg stand and got fresh tomatoes, beautiful eggplants and carrots. Kamla sent over a lunch today that looked so good I decided to save it for dinner and augment it with a fresh salad. I spent some time cooking a mix of eggplant, carrots, onions, and red and green peppers for our lunches and for a pasta salad. I bought a new pan on Sunday used frequently here called a kadai. It looks like a large deep fry pan, about 11 inches across and five or six inches deep. It cut my cooking time in half  using it and the fry pan together. Anything to get out of the kitchen asap.

Our temps have dropped to 110 with 44% humidity (which is much higher than previously). So even though it is cooler than 120 it doesn’t feel like a big difference due to the humidity. Oh well.