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.

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.

Jet Lag

We made it safely to India! We had a 2 hour flight from Charlotte to Newark, which was delayed for about an hour, and then a 15 hour flight from Newark to Delhi, which was also delayed for more than an hour. The kids did really well considering such long waits and long flying times. Hannah Beth got motion sick on the airplane (quite a bit) but was such a trooper and did not whine or complain. They both slept a good bit on the plane, although it took them a while to give in to sleep! Nathaniel was getting tired of being in his seat toward the end of the flight, but we all were, and he did great.

Right now we are in a temporary place for the first two weeks, and then we will move into our home for the next 3 months. Where we are right now we don't have internet, so I haven't been able to post before now. In another week after we move into our new place we'll have internet more consistently and I can post more and add pictures.

We have been here a week and our bodies are still getting used to the time change. We are sleeping at night, but sometimes we have stretches still where we are awake for a while. It is getting better, but it has been a slow process for us. We only have one room in our current place with air conditioning, so we lately we have all been sleeping in there. It is the hot time of year in India! We skipped right over spring this year and have gone straight to summer!

I knew there was no way to really describe India to our kids before we got here, and that they just needed to experience it. They have done SO well with all the changes and with everything that is different here. In fact, Nathaniel tells us that he wants to stay in India! Hannah Beth told me that she wasn't so sure about things at first, but now she likes it.

BIG NEWS on TWO FRONTS!!

I really need to start blogging again! Life is changing and twisting and turning, and you may want to hear more about it!

First off, we are heading to INDIA in less than a week!! Most of you who follow this blog (although I don't know who all of you are!) probably have received our updates and know a bit about this venture. For those who want more information than I can give on the blog, feel free to email me or send me a comment (that I will keep private) with your email and/or snail mail address. In a nutshell, Thomas is taking on a short term work assignment there, and the rest of us are joining him for the adventure! The kids and I will be there for 3 1/2 months, and Thomas will be there for an additional two weeks to work with a short term team that will be heading over. We are really excited about this opportunity and are eager to see what God wants from us and for us during this time. We have our Indian visas in hand, we are working on tying up loose ends here and beginning to get our suitcases filled! The kids are also excited about this trip, and have been mostly positive about it from the beginning. They are almost as fascinated about what the airplane ride will be like as they are about India itself!

We are taking Hannah Beth out of school for her last nine weeks of Kindergarten, and I will do some homeschooling while we are there. Hannah Beth is doing great in school, and knows most of what she needs for first grade already, so it should be pretty low stress for us. Her great teacher gave me a list of things for her to keep working on and the things that they haven't covered yet. Thankfully with Kindergarten you can use manipulatives that are around the house and easy to find, so I won't have to take too much stuff over there. We will have access to internet and email while we are there, so we can use the internet for schooling as well. I told Nathaniel that he will be homeschooled, too, since it will be easiest if he sits down when Hannah Beth does and works on his level. We don't have him in any preschool, but he is a smart little boy already! I think he will enjoy that time as well.

Our big news on the SECOND front is that the Lord has blessed us, and we are expecting our third child! We were a bit surprised at this, but also extremely thrilled! The timing really seems to be good, if I am going to go overseas while pregnant. I am 11 weeks pregnant, so I will basically be over there during my second trimester. This SHOULD be the easiest part of pregnancy, and I am praying that will be so. I have had an extreme lack of energy, which has been frustrating while trying to get ready to go. I have also had a decent amount of nausea (and a bit of sickness). One of the hardest things for me lately is dinnertime. It is SO hard to cook for my family when nothing sounds good to me. Added to this problem is the fact that we are trying to only buy staples and fresh produce so that we can eat what is in the fridge and pantry before we leave, and I am not always excited about the options that are left. However, this should all pass soon, and hopefully I will be able to eat and cook while we are in India. All my doctors have cleared me to go, and they have great medical care in India. The kids are very excited about having a baby brother or sister, and they occasionally ask how much longer it will be until the baby is born (I wonder how many more times I will hear that question!!).

So, I will try to keep you more up to date now about our trip and our pregnancy. I will definitely start taking more pictures to share as well.