Saturday, June 4, 2016

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.

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