Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Sit for hours, then going with speed and back to sitting for hours. Welcome to India, again

Monday Aug 8 2016
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
We just are returning for our two week break in the US. We saw so many friends and all our docs for a great trip. The Portland weather was PERFECT! One day the temps got up to 90 but we didn’t find it uncomfortable while our friends complained about the heat…sissies!

I think I only made a couple of lunches (sandwiches) and maybe two dinners, one was a hearty salad for guests Gary and Edmund, long time dear friends. The rest of the time we met friends for lunch or dinner, often in restaurants. Neither of us gained weight and still stuck to our regime of smaller helpings. Almost every night I indulged in ’ice cream’ made from coconut milk since I am lactose intolerant but again I ate ½ cup per serving and was pleased I didn’t have any weight gain. It was an indulgence that isn’t available in Ahmedabad so I relished it. I was surprised that we didn’t exercise while home as the weather was perfect for our morning stretches, floor exercises and long walks but…our schedule was packed each day with either one or two medical appts., meeting friends and shopping for things we needed in India that we can’t get there.  One day we met friends for coffee and another couple an hr later for coffee and lunch. We walked twice.

Our return trip was the mirror image of our flight home. Returning ,we left Portland at 9:00 in the morning Saturday, flew to LA and had a five hr. layover then left LA around 5:30 p.m. for a 16 hr flight to Abu Dhabi arriving at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday. I watched four sessions of Night Manager, a great British series and all of a TV series of War and Peace, six hrs. It made the trip fly by. I nodded off from time to time as did Ron.  Upon arrival in Abu Dhabi, we checked into the on site hotel, never leaving the building and had a hot bath before crawling into bed and watching a little news and Olympics but turning off the lights at 10:30. We slept until about 4:45, drifting in and out of sleep for about 30 minutes, then woke up. Today is a gift as we don’t get back on the plane until 1:00 for a 2.5 hr. flight home to Ahmedabad. Ron has tomorrow off to recoup and we will catch up with grocery shopping and just relaxing.

One of the highlights of our trip was seeing our son Mark and his family. Rachel and the boys arrived Saturday afternoon and Mark arrived late that night. They spent all day Sunday and part of Monday morning before heading to S Oregon for the Britt Festival where Mark performs each summer. The family stayed with us with the boys on the floor of the guest bedroom with M &R in the guest bed. It was wild and fun and as grandparents exhausting. Ha! 

Tuesday Aug 9
The monsoons are HERE! I woke up at 3:40 this morning and gave up trying to go back to sleep a little before 6:00. I put on my exercise clothes and headed out the door for my walk. Ron was still asleep…sort of. After one lap if was misting so I got my umbrella then on the second lap I was getting wet even with the umbrella as mist turned to down pour so I gave up and came back to discover Ron up and starting to do some floor exercises. I joined him as we both are disappointed in how little exercise we have been doing. It poured rain at least four times today. It is now 8:30 p.m. and it is pouring.

We went grocery shopping this morning and I was quickly thrown back into reality. Three items I needed were not available, a problem when using imported items. Sometimes the shops run out before the next shipment. We came home for lunch and returned to the Voadaphone store to complete our transfer to a different plan. OMG, Ron had to have two passport photos and his passport with his Indian visa, two copies of our house lease agreement, a reference. He had to sign every page in multiple places. He said he had bought houses and had less to sign. We have never experienced anything like this when getting a phone plan. It took an hour with two men working on this. India makes everything harder than it should be.

When we got home it was almost 4:00 and my lack of sleep was slamming me so I went upstairs to take a nap. I was too tired and couldn’t get to sleep. Ron went up at 8:30 tonight and crawled into bed. I will join him shortly as I am exhausted.

August 10, 2016
We woke up around 7:00 to rain. It rained continuously most of the morning. No need for AC last night while we slept nor this morning. It is lovely in that respect. The down side is finding a break in the weather to exercise and laundry takes days to dry. With hand washing there is no ‘spin’ cycle!  I am hanging out at home waiting for Vadaphone to send a rep to confirm that we live at this address. Like I said, India likes to make things complicated.


Rahul rides a motorcycle to our house and now that is it raining he arrives soaked to the bone. He doesn’t wear rain gear as he doesn’t find it useful. So I gave him a towel and he changed into his spare clothes that he keeps in the car. So many differences here.

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