India: In-dee-uh; verb-move, change, or occur in the dramatically changeable manner of a roller coaster

It's been awhile, so I'll take you back a few weeks.  I was sitting on the toilet flicking ants off my feet in the middle of the night doing what you do in India.  Try your hardest to fight off all of the bacteria, viruses, dirt, grime, filth, and rot that seem to seep their way into anything and everything here.  After several trips back and forth from the bathroom to the bed, I finally felt like I was 'done'.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  Whatever I had simply shifted its focus and I started vomiting harder than I'd ever vomited before.  After four years in the Marine Corps, and even getting my name on a plaque at a bar (Big Helyn's), that's a pretty profound statement for me to make.  I remember having this weird moment of clarity between heaves, likely a result of being mildly dehydrated, sleep-deprived, and having a fever, and I was staring into the toilet thinking, "How could there be so much food in my stomach?  That's what's making me sick.  I'm eating too much food."  After the fact, I thought my prognosis was pretty funny.  I'm glad I didn't decide to become a doctor, because I'm clearly not ballooning up over here.  In fact, I'm down to around 180 lbs, and wearing the same size jeans I wore in high school.  Fortunately, I recovered quickly and was back to my usual self in a couple days.

After recovering from my first bout with 'Delhi Belly', I was feeling healthy, but watching what I ate a little more carefully.  I was also getting very excited for our upcoming trip to New Delhi and Agra.  We were planning to stay at a really nice hotel, and I was eager to seek out some adventures with Thumper in a new city.  The morning of our departure I woke up freezing and feeling a little off.  At first I thought maybe I was just feeling off because it was 3 am, and we were getting ready to travel for the first time in India.  Once again Dr. Pancho was horribly wrong.  My immune system was fighting with everything it had at another stupid, stupid, stupid, STUPID case of 'Dehli Belly'.  You can imagine how much fun it is to wake up a two-year-old at 3 am and take them on an hour-long drive, followed by a two-hour flight, followed by another hour-long drive, all the while it's between 90 and 105 degrees.  Now do it while you're running a fever and have explosive diarrhea.  Welcome to India!

I just needed to get all of that out of my system...no pun intended.  I spent an entire day and a half hunkered down with Thumper in the hotel room, and thoroughly missed out on seeing any of New Delhi, but I recovered quickly again, and was feeling better by the time we got in the car for the four-hour drive to Agra. It was absolutely amazing to drive through farmland and open fields.  Legs and I spent the entire time daydreaming about Eastern Washington and the Pacific Northwest.

In Agra, we stayed in a phenomenal hotel that actually had a view of the Taj Mahal. We hired a tour guide to take us through the Taj Mahal in the evening, and we got to see one of the most spectacular monuments in the world at sunset.  The river running behind the Taj Mahal, the wild monkeys climbing walls and pillars everywhere, the mosque next to the palace, it all created a stunning environment that will never be replicated anywhere.  There was such a peacefulness walking through the palace gardens, and simply standing and looking out over the river was wonderful.

So, the roller-coaster continues in India.  It amazes me how I could go from feeling so crappy, and disgruntled to feeling such tranquility in a single trip.  Thumper, Legs, and I had a beautiful time at our hotel, and at the Taj Mahal.  Our stay in Agra and the time we got to spend together absolutely made up for all of the inconveniences along the way.  I'm sure that we'll continue to swing back and forth from thoroughly enjoying the adventure we're on, to missing home with all of our hearts.

Happy Travels!

Pancho

Jerky for Dinner

That's right.  Reeses, Teddy Grams, Elk Jerky, and more candy.  That is what we will have for dinner every night this week thanks to some AMAZING family who have turned these frowns upside down :-)  Well, the care package, the encouraging phone calls, and then supportive e-mails from friends and family are really what did the trick.  Today is an 'up' day on my roller coaster.  I won't bore you with the details but last week was a rough one (to include two death notifications within 24hrs after I got the after-hours phone for the first time) but we got massages at the end of the week, spent time with friends in the Old City over the weekend, and had some time to ourselves to just be.  Needless to say, all of your support has made such a difference and we can't thank you enough for your love as it follows us around the world.  

Missing Home

Pancho and I have been feeling particularly homesick today.  There are parts of this lifestyle that are incredible (getting paid to live and work in other countries) and there are parts of this lifestyle that are at times hard (living and working in other countries).  India has been wonderful so far but for us country kids from rural Pacific Northwest, the constant crowds, buildings for days, pollution, lack of freedom for women, and the isolation that comes from not being able to drive ourselves anywhere starts to take its toll.  We daydreamed today about owning our own home in the country, living within reasonable travel distance from family (ok, half way around the world might be just a little too far!), and enjoying a slower-paced life.  We got on the computer and looked through pictures from the last seven years and could almost feel the Yakima River.

That said, at the end of the day I sat outside with Thumper and watched kids clean themselves off from the Holi celebration while the call to prayer wafted through the hot evening air from the local mosque and I was overwhelmed with happiness.

Ups and downs....

We welcome any pictures of the Pacific Northwest you have lying around as we decorate our space and try to remind ourselves of home!

Allergies and the Crazy Girl

A few quick notes to make you smile.

#1:  Our driver says they just burn leaves here but the piles of burning trash I see everywhere indicate otherwise.  I realized today that I'm not getting sick, I don't have a cold, I am just sensitive to the extreme car pollution on the roads and all the smoke in the air from the burning piles of garbage.  I thought I was just allergic to pollens!  On a similar note, they fumigated the courtyard of our building and I looked out the window to see nothing but fog and thought the apartment was on fire.  Don't worry, just spraying for mosquitoes.  Our air conditioner caught on fire last weekend and that wasn't nearly as smokey. 

Burning Trash

#2: On the way to work this morning I saw a girl I'd seen before sitting on the median of the road next to a burning tire.  I asked our driver why she's always sitting there and if she asks for money.  He laughed and said, "No, no, no, she is not asking for money, she is crazy!"  I asked if she stays somewhere nearby and he said, "No, she is not staying anywhere, even she does not know what she is doing!"

#3: There is a new cafeteria at work operated by a nearby restaurant and I can get a huge plate of rice, noodles, chicken, or Chinese vegetable ball things for $1.  Street food cooked in a totally sanitary kitchen at the Consulate.  A.mazing.

#4:  Thumper is really trying hard to say "fork," "Foster," "fan," "sit," "shirt," and "sure," but it just isn't working for him yet... he can, however, say "I like juuuuice," and he runs through the house screaming it over and over :-)

It's late and I can't pull together a coherent blog post so I leave you with those pearls from our Hyderabad experience.  Next time Pancho or I will write about Thumper's Kangaroo debut, our trip to Golkonda Fort during which Pancho experienced a pickpocket attempt, and our first Holi festival which will happen next week.  Missing you all!

Legs

Oh, India.

This morning I left for a short 5 km run to a local park.  It was early, so traffic wasn't too bad; however, I did have a car, driving the wrong direction on the road, cut me off, then stop right in front of me so they could load up some supplies from a store.  As they got out of the car, they looked at me like I was the crazy one because I was running for no apparent reason.  A few minutes later I had a Tuk Tuk cut me off in the same manner so that he could give me a ride.  He yelled, "Sir! Sir!" as me motioned to the seat with his hand.  I shook my head and kept running, and I think I literally blew his mind.  He's probably still sitting there trying to figure out what had happened, and perhaps thinking he should find a new job since he couldn't even talk a Westerner into his taxi, who, clearly, was in desperate need of a ride.

Like we've said before, India is full of extremes in every direction.  Poverty meets luxury.  Chaos meets tranquility.  Beauty meets trash.  On the way to the park this morning I ran by all sorts of people sleeping on the side of the street, just waking up to start their work day.  Having grown up in the United Sates, it seems so foreign to see people who work a full day cleaning, or in construction, or perhaps trash removal, and they have no place to go but to the small grassy median in a round-a-bout.  They get water from a large tanker truck that stops and opens a faucet for them to fill their water bottles, and they likely work all day so they can afford a meal that evening.  

As I pass all of the homeless workers outside and step through the gates to the park, it's as if I cross some threshold into a different reality.  Inside the park, well-dressed Indians are everywhere practicing yoga, or doing odd exercises as they walk along the well-manicured gravel path.  I could hear people in the distance laughing and yelling as they played some game, probably cricket.  The park was like a sanctuary from the injustice outside.  It was almost depressing as I neared the gate on my way home, and I knew that I had to leave this safe, blind, oblivious place and, once again, run through the smoke from burning trash, run past the people lining up for water, run through the wafting urine.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't dislike the portion of my run from our house to the park.  It's as if I'm a little kid getting ready to sprint from one 'safe base' to another.  It's hard to face the reality that we live in such luxurious conditions while people struggle to get through each day.  The worst part of it all is that no one here seems to strive for anything better for themselves.  Just as the wealthy people blindly go about their day in the pockets of solitude, the poor people go about their day everywhere else.  It seems as though no one here has any desire to 'learn to fish', they just want 'fish'.

Happy Travels!

Pancho

Three Weeks In...We Got This

We are adjusting extremely well to life in India.  There are many times throughout a typical day where I stop and stare at someone or something, trying to figure out if I'm actually seeing what I think I'm seeing, but for the most part life is fun.  This morning while I was taking Bambi for his usual walk, I saw a lady heading up a dirt path, leaving a partially constructed building.  She looked to be some type of hired help, like a nanny or housekeeper, and, a child, who I assume to be her son, came running out after her.  He was screaming through sobs and gasps that he wanted his mama to stay at home with him and play all day long.  (I don't actually have a clue what he was saying.  He was maybe 2 years old and was probably trying to speak Hindi or Telugu.)  Since we're sort of going through a similar phase with Thumper, I was curious to see what she would do to calm her little half pint and how she would send him back into their dilapidated house a happy little camper.  Much to my amazement, she picked up the closest stick she could find and threw it as hard as she could at the little boy.  The Hindi rolled off her tongue with fire, and that little boy wasn't quite sure if he should dodge the stick, or let it hit him for having the audacity to ask his mother to stay home.  Luckily the stick missed him anyway, he hurried away crying, and scampered into their shell of a house.  She, on the other hand, nodded and strolled by me as if this were a perfectly normal occurrence.

On a much more serious note, the city suffered quite a tragedy last week.  We were perfectly safe throughout the event; however, it was quite scary having something like this happen so close to 'home'.  It was touching to see many people offering aid, comfort, and whatever resources they could to help victims of the bomb blasts.  I've heard many stories about people lining up to donate blood at hospitals, including outreach on Facebook for specific types of blood in short supply.  It is important to remind ourselves that this is not a normal occurrence here, and the local population was likely just as frightened as we were.  During terrorist attacks like this one, cell service is often cut off to prevent further communication between terrorists and also prevent further explosive detonations via cell phone triggers.  As a result, it may be difficult for us to contact everyone immediately to let people know that we are okay, however, the internet proved very useful for notification purposes last week.  If you weren't part of the email list or on our Facebook page, and want to be, please let us know.

Happy Travels!

Pancho

5k in Hyderabad

Well we managed to get out of bed bright and early this morning for some much needed exercise!  We joined some colleagues and a group of expats working for Deloitte and did our first 5k in Hyderabad!  The sun was still rising and it was already hot out...I understand why the race started at 7AM.  Unfortunately our jogger stroller is on a boat somewhere between the US and India so we put Thumper in the backpack and tried to jog for the first mile.  Thumper wasn't having much fun bouncing around and pretty quickly started tapping Pancho's back saying "all done Dada, all done!"  So we walked the rest of the way but it was just as fun.  

The race was along the Hussain Sagar Lake which is one of Hyderabad's 'places to see' and it was beautiful.  The smell was a little over powering at times and once you get to the shore you quickly realize that this lake is not for swimming but from afar it is wonderful.  In the middle of the lake there is a large statue of Buddha and I believe there are boats you can hire to take you out to the center....we aren't quite up for that yet.

Before the race started a few Indians tried taking pictures of Thumper with their cell phones and I politely said, "no photos, please."  It wasn't working very well and I was just getting frustrated.  We had been warned that this happens and had decided that we'd rather people not photograph him without our consent.  Then the race started.  I wouldn't be surprised if our pictures are on Facebook pages throughout the country.  People were taking pictures of us left and right.  People who looked like they were the race organizers, people in plain clothes, there were video cameras from news stations that jogged with us a while as we nervously smiled and kept going.  We have now decided that we will go crazy trying to keep Thumper out of photos...and have succumbed to India's curiosity.  Look for us on TV24 :-)  I did discover that my Telugu is much better when I'm angry and I got my point across with one photographer who just wouldn't stop even after we gave him a few polite smiles.

All in all, the race was fun and it was great to get out and see more of the city.  Below are some photos from the morning.

Backing up a little, we have finally adjusted to India time and have pretty much settled into our apartment.  We won't get our stuff from Seattle for about a month or so but we are slowly acquiring things that make this place more like home...a mango tree, a guava tree...you know.  We also found a great cheap framing store and just got a bunch of photos framed so hopefully we'll get them on the walls soon.

We have hired a driver as well as a housekeeper who helps watch Thumper and cooks South Indian food twice per week.  They are both awesome so far and life is so much easier with their help.  Hiring people to help us has been a challenge for us personally but it really is culturally how it works.  Not to mention, I am terrified of driving here and there are no street signs or addresses so without help we would be in trouble. 

Pancho, Thumper, and I have crossed the street on foot FOUR times by ourselves!  I will get a picture on here soon that shows why that's such a big deal.  Here is an example of what the roads in our area look like.  Imagine crossing I-90 one lane at a time by simply putting your hand out and hoping the buses stop.  Okay, they're only going about 40mph but it's crazy nonetheless.  

I love my job and am slowly getting up to speed with my interviews.  I'm doing about half of what my colleagues are currently doing but you have to start somewhere!  I've done one full day of Telugu interviews and am starting to get back into the language groove.  Our driver laughed a little when I told him I would be doing interviews in Telugu :-)

We are doing great and are really enjoying all that India has to offer!  It has definitely been the biggest cultural shock I've experienced and I'm sure there will be both good and bad days to come but for now we can't believe we get paid to do this!

Legs

Hussain Sagar Lake

Buddha Statue

Let the race begin!

Along the route...

Public Urination...totally common

Trail next to the lake.  We were running on the road.

Also along the route...don't worry, it's non ionizing radiation.

Around 2009 we made a 'visulization' list of where we wanted to be in the next couple of years.  It included having a baby, moving somewhere hot, moving somewhere with palm trees, living abroad, and having a motorcycle (that one was Pancho's and he's pretty close to convincing me that it's safe???).   Look where we are now...Thumper came, India is hot and there are palm trees.  Pancho almost has a motorcycle.

Note the thick black bunch of cables entering the top floor bedroom in the green building.