Carrots and Ice.
One day I came out of the kitchen and said something to Nathaniel about peeling carrots. He said, "Peeling carrots???" incredulously like he couldn't imagine why I would be doing such a thing. I had to explain to him that carrots don't always come small and peeled and washed and in nice little packages. Hmmm. Maybe I'd better plant carrots in my garden next year to show him!
Also since we've been here, both kids at different times have come into the kitchen while I've been in there doing stuff and asked what that was on the counter. "Ice trays," I said, "you put water in there and put it in the freezer to make ice." "Oh!"
You just don't think about some of the things our kids don't know because of all the conveniences we have!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Getting Around in India
For the first two weeks we were here, we used a lot of public transportation to get around. This mostly included rikshaws. There are bicycle rikshaws, which are basically bicycles with a "carriage" in back. You pay your driver based on how far you are going. We would use these when we weren't going too far. We could get our whole family on one, with the kids sitting on our laps, although we only did that for short rides as it wasn't very comfortable. The kids really enoy riding on these rikshaws - I think it is fun for them to be up high and right where they can see all the action! One day Hannah Beth told me that she wanted to ride in a rikshaw at least once every day!
The other type is a motorized rikshaw. We would use these for farther distances. They were a little bigger, so they were more comfortable for us all to sit in, although Nathaniel would still be on my lap. True to form, Nathaniel could fall asleep in either mode of transportation! Inside the motorized rikshaws, it has what kind of looks like motorcycle handles/steering. I would say it is more like a big motorcycle than a small car.
Here is Hannah Beth sporting her new sunglasses and enjoying a ride in a motorized rikshaw.
This isn't a very good picture of it, but I was trying to show how close everyone drives to each other here. There are roughly lanes on the roads, but the cars, motorcycles and rikshaws all crowd right in and pass within inches of each other. They use their horns all the time to tell each other that they are behind them or coming through. They don't go very fast on most roads, so I haven't been too fearful of a major accident, but I am constantly amazed that we haven't been side-swiped or bumped by any other vehicles. Most cars do have scrapes and dents on the sides of them, though!
The family we are taking over for here owns a car, and they have a driver. They are letting us use their car and driver while we are here, and we are paying for the gas we use. It is a small car, but is great for our family, and the driver knows where most things are and we don't have to worry about navigating through the traffic (plus it has air conditioning!). When our driver is off, we either walk to places close or use the rikshaws. We are blessed to have a big shopping area close to us - within walking distance - that has restaurants and shops.
The other type is a motorized rikshaw. We would use these for farther distances. They were a little bigger, so they were more comfortable for us all to sit in, although Nathaniel would still be on my lap. True to form, Nathaniel could fall asleep in either mode of transportation! Inside the motorized rikshaws, it has what kind of looks like motorcycle handles/steering. I would say it is more like a big motorcycle than a small car.
Here is Hannah Beth sporting her new sunglasses and enjoying a ride in a motorized rikshaw.
This isn't a very good picture of it, but I was trying to show how close everyone drives to each other here. There are roughly lanes on the roads, but the cars, motorcycles and rikshaws all crowd right in and pass within inches of each other. They use their horns all the time to tell each other that they are behind them or coming through. They don't go very fast on most roads, so I haven't been too fearful of a major accident, but I am constantly amazed that we haven't been side-swiped or bumped by any other vehicles. Most cars do have scrapes and dents on the sides of them, though!
The family we are taking over for here owns a car, and they have a driver. They are letting us use their car and driver while we are here, and we are paying for the gas we use. It is a small car, but is great for our family, and the driver knows where most things are and we don't have to worry about navigating through the traffic (plus it has air conditioning!). When our driver is off, we either walk to places close or use the rikshaws. We are blessed to have a big shopping area close to us - within walking distance - that has restaurants and shops.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Our Temporary Home - First 2 Weeks in India
We are here in India so that Thomas could take over running an English language school. The owner of the school and his family planned on going back to the US for 3 months. We arrived here 2 weeks before they left so that Thomas could be oriented to his new job, and so that we could learn how to get around here. The plan was for us to live in their apartment while they are in the US. They also have 2 children, although older than ours, so the space and furnishings are perfect for us. Before they left, however, we stayed at the apartment of a friend - a single American gal. She was so gracious to give up her space for 2 weeks for us!! Here are some pictures of our time in that temporary home.
It is a small apartment, and there is no table. We ate most of our dinners with the family, but we ate breakfast and lunch at home. So, we used a washable mat over a small "coffee table" which is really just a large basket. We had our kids sit on a cloth (to protect the couch), and lean WAY over their plates. It was actually pretty funny to watch, but they did really well with it, and we saved a lot of messes! Here is Nathaniel showing how it's done.
They do have hot water, showers, and good water pressure here, which is really nice. The one main difference with the showers is that most of the pipes are on the outside of the wall!
This is anothe view of the bathroom. In the left corner of the room is the washing machine. Instead of a dryer, though, the clothes are hung up to dry on drying racks. The shower is to the right, and up in the corner above the toilet is the hot water heater. You just turn on the water heater 5-10 minutes before you want to take your shower, then turn it off before you start - because you are never too sure about the wiring!
This next picture is of what I called the play room while we were there. It was set up for the kids to sleep in, but most of the time we were there they slept in the master bedroom with us (because it had an air conditioner, and they were up and down a lot with jet lag). After a while I got tired of digging into the suitcases trying to find things, so I laid the kids' clothes out on one of the beds so we could find things more easily. The other bed has clean laundry on it - the drying racks were here. We kept the kids' toys in this room, too.
Next is the kitchen. The contraption up on the wall is the water purifier. It has one wire that drains dirty water into the sink. Tap water here is not safe for us to drink. We use the filtered water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth.
And the stove! A two burner gas stove, with the gas tank sitting right there! You have to turn the gas on on the tank, then light the stove with a match or lighter. We didn't have an oven in that apartment, or a toaster, so we toasted bread in a frying pan over the stove.
This is the small living room. The TV and VCR didn't work, so the kids watched movies on our computers. This also doubled as our dining room.
Master bedroom (and door into second bathroom). You can see the one air conditioner above the bathroom door. It was already hot here, and this apartment stays pretty hot, so we used the air conditoner to keep the one room cool so we could get comfortable while falling asleep.
Silly girl - I realize this picture is sideways, but I thought it captured a cute expression. The kids were happy and transitioned well.
And this is Nathaniel reading up on what to do in India! :) Actually, what he told us was that he was pretending to be Thomas! I must say we have cute kiddos!
It took almost the whole 2 weeks to get over jet lag. The kids are still having some trouble getting to sleep, but I don't think that is jet lag anymore, I think it is the changes in location and adjusting to a new place and a new way of doing things. Some nights are better than others. Once asleep, though, they sleep great through the night.
It is a small apartment, and there is no table. We ate most of our dinners with the family, but we ate breakfast and lunch at home. So, we used a washable mat over a small "coffee table" which is really just a large basket. We had our kids sit on a cloth (to protect the couch), and lean WAY over their plates. It was actually pretty funny to watch, but they did really well with it, and we saved a lot of messes! Here is Nathaniel showing how it's done.
They do have hot water, showers, and good water pressure here, which is really nice. The one main difference with the showers is that most of the pipes are on the outside of the wall!
This is anothe view of the bathroom. In the left corner of the room is the washing machine. Instead of a dryer, though, the clothes are hung up to dry on drying racks. The shower is to the right, and up in the corner above the toilet is the hot water heater. You just turn on the water heater 5-10 minutes before you want to take your shower, then turn it off before you start - because you are never too sure about the wiring!
This next picture is of what I called the play room while we were there. It was set up for the kids to sleep in, but most of the time we were there they slept in the master bedroom with us (because it had an air conditioner, and they were up and down a lot with jet lag). After a while I got tired of digging into the suitcases trying to find things, so I laid the kids' clothes out on one of the beds so we could find things more easily. The other bed has clean laundry on it - the drying racks were here. We kept the kids' toys in this room, too.
Next is the kitchen. The contraption up on the wall is the water purifier. It has one wire that drains dirty water into the sink. Tap water here is not safe for us to drink. We use the filtered water for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth.
And the stove! A two burner gas stove, with the gas tank sitting right there! You have to turn the gas on on the tank, then light the stove with a match or lighter. We didn't have an oven in that apartment, or a toaster, so we toasted bread in a frying pan over the stove.
This is the small living room. The TV and VCR didn't work, so the kids watched movies on our computers. This also doubled as our dining room.
Master bedroom (and door into second bathroom). You can see the one air conditioner above the bathroom door. It was already hot here, and this apartment stays pretty hot, so we used the air conditoner to keep the one room cool so we could get comfortable while falling asleep.
Silly girl - I realize this picture is sideways, but I thought it captured a cute expression. The kids were happy and transitioned well.
And this is Nathaniel reading up on what to do in India! :) Actually, what he told us was that he was pretending to be Thomas! I must say we have cute kiddos!
It took almost the whole 2 weeks to get over jet lag. The kids are still having some trouble getting to sleep, but I don't think that is jet lag anymore, I think it is the changes in location and adjusting to a new place and a new way of doing things. Some nights are better than others. Once asleep, though, they sleep great through the night.
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