A View from the Top

Only in India

And we thought we wouldn't find a tree here!

Arabica? No. Arabicaah.

I Love Technology!

Thanksgiving Day. There I am (H) Skyping my family back home.

For Mimi and Papa (Happy Thanksgiving)

Princess Grace of India

Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. We love you all and are thankful for you.

Hurry

J is gone for a couple of days. We are going about our daily routines, but when he's gone we think about him. Hurry home, Daddy. We aren't the same without you.

Request

We have friends here who are struggling with some unexplained illnesses in their kids. Nothing hits closer to home than when our children are sick, right? And especially if we can't quite figure out what to do about it. That's the situation in which they find themselves. Please lift them up today. Ask that their kids would get well, and that they'd experience the 'peace that passes understanding.' Thanks so much!

Charlie Brown

I'm listening to Christmas music on iTunes right now. It's a beautiful thing, people. J is out ordering furniture, the kids have finished school for the day, and I'm nursing a cold to the wobbly voice of Rosemary Clooney. G sits beside me now, pretending to paint her nails herself, and layering hair binders on her wrists.

She just said, "Mommy, do you hear your voice? You sound like Charlie Brown right now. No, actually, like the one who sucks his thumb."

Sniff.

Weather on the Mountain

Trip to the Zoo

I Heart the Internet

Some of J's Latest Images

Our Landlady

J took this picture of her and her grandnephew. Isn't she beautiful? I just love her.

Nightly Routine

Don't you love the red and green walls? Too bad you can't see the pink one by G's bed.

7/11

Last night our family enjoyed a fun meal and conversation with our landlords and their families. The kids played, the grown-ups talked, the food was wonderful...

At one point, the eldest landlord began waxing eloquent on politics, history, religion, and the state of the universe--in limited English. He announced that Americans are afraid of Middle Easterners because of what happened years ago.

"You know, Americans have fears. They have problems with trust now. It's all because of what happened on 7/11."

I had to concentrate very hard on his beard and not look in his eyes, or he would see. Oh the irony! The irony of an Indian messing up the date that changed our country--and coming up with 7/11. The name of the one gas station chain they seem to love in the States...

For Better and For Worse

G seems to be getting better, PTL. D, on the other hand, is listless and miserable. It's kind-of strange being 31 and taking care of a 19-year-old as if she's my daughter. It's giving me a little training for the future, I guess. D is normally very competent and collected. She has more homemaking skill in her little brown finger than I have ever had in my entire being. But when she's sick, she's a little girl again. She lets me give her medicine that she hates, and take her temperature every six hours. She trusts me if I say, "D swallow this. You have the flu and this will make it better." I feel responsible since she doesn't have parents to care for her here. Please pray for her quick recovery and that the rest of us would not get whatever it is that she has. Thanks!

Not again.

I hate to be the bearer of bad blog posts, but now D is very sick. We need your prayers. She seems like she has the flu, and well, you know if she has it...

The other weird thing is that G is getting over her little cold virus/conjunctivitis thing-y, but now she's breaking out in hives periodically. Not at ALL sure why. We've given her a couple of doses of Benadryl for kids and it seems to help. Until the next time.

Again, if anyone has had any experience with kids getting hives after a virus, please let me know...

Arrgh.

Day One

Today marked the first day of Hindi with my landlady. I wanted to have regular conversation time with her, and it turned out that she wants to 'teach' me grammar. She used to be a teacher (and really, it seems like everyone is a teacher in India--or they say they are). Anyway, before I could say, "No really. I just spent five months learning grammar. I really need conversation time," it was settled.

So, notebook in hand, I went downstairs this afternoon for my first 'lesson.' Mrs. Dolly spoke Hindi to me as if I were a very slow, very large kindergartner. Which is fine, because I kind-of am just that. We started back with the, gulp, alphabet. But you know, I think all the review is going to be helpful in the long run. And she doesn't speak good English, so in the end I'm still having conversation in Hindi. Like so many other things I've experienced here, I just pictured it differently...

Nope.

Thanks to everyone for your help about the Pink Eye. I'm sure G's got the viral kind and we know how we're going to treat it. You all are the best.

On another note, there's a huge music festival going on here. Bands and singers from all over India have been featured, and we've gotten a 'front row seat' whether we've wanted to or not since our apartment is in the middle of town. Most of the music has been popular Indian love songs in Hindi. I feel like I could sing some of them in my sleep.

But last night, as I was trying to trick myself into thinking the drumbeats from outside were just the beating of my own heart, I heard a familiar tune. It was Bon Jovi--well, no it wasn't--but it was his song. The singer must have thought that the key to performing western music is to get really, really angry before a show, dig deep, and then grunt out the lyrics. 'Cause...that's what he was doing.

"It's my liiiiiife. It's now or never (grunt). I don't want to WAIT forever (yelling the word wait). I just wanna LIVE while I'm ALIVE (more yell-emphasis)."

It was totally weird.

I didn't know if J was awake or asleep, so I just quietly whispered this little word of censure: nope. Just--nope.

Pink Eye

I have a conundrum. About a week ago, middle son had what appeared to be a nasty cold. Lots of drainage, but no fever. Nothing unusual except that he had what looked like the beginnings of Pink Eye in one eye and then later in the other. I waited a couple of days and just watched it. It never seemed like a really bad case, and then one day it just cleared up on its own. So did his drainage for the most part.

Then, last night (several days later), G started developing what also seems to be a bad cold. The kicker is, one of her eyes is red and looks like it's got conjunctivitis, too. It looks a bit worse than C's did. I had her wash her hands, and I washed her eyes. I'm going to watch her, but I have a question: is it Pink Eye if it heals up on it's own without medicine? Is it safe to not treat eyes that look yucky or is that a dangerous thing? Has anyone ever had a kid who only had goopy eyes when they also had a cold or some other virus?

Eventually, I'm going to have to go the doctor if we don't get better around here. I was just hoping to get some mom-opinions, and advice before we did.

Thanks!

Me, after being sick for three days...

Blech.

Well, I followed J down the path of sick-as-a-dog. Last night, I spend some real quality time with the toilet. I'll kindly spare you the unattractive details. I'll just say that I didn't realize the human body was capable of losing so much fluid so consistently. I ought to be a prune. Instead, I look mostly normal; that is to say, I look tired. Sigh. At least I'm a little better now...

A Win

Today was the first day of homeschooling since we've relocated. It went astonishingly well despite the fact that we were awakened in the night by dreadfully loud drumbeats, and someone shouting over the entire city, Desting. One, doo, thee. Over and over, I might add. It's possible that just the tiniest little inappropriate word escaped my husbands lips. It's possible that I hated the police--who did nothing.

However, no matter. School was fantastic and I got an opportunity to speak Hindi with my landlady. Just enough Hindi, in fact, to realize how much I miss my class time and how my speaking is slipping down the tubes without regular conversation time. I laid the hints on thick with Mrs. Dolly, the landlady, that my speaking sorely needed her. She agreed to help me.

So today feels like a win.

Making Do

We don't have all the furniture we will have yet. Since we are quite literally living in a hotel, we are using some of the furniture already in our apartment. Of course, I want comfy couches and a dining room table on which to have school. But the thing for which I'm most excited is bookshelves. What homeschooling mom doesn't love shelves to put everything 'school' on? Above is our temporary solution, namely, the floor.

Yuck.

We are all sick around here. I mean all of us. Well ok, not D, who seems to have the constitution of a Clydesdale. As for the rest of us we have (as a collective body): perpetual coughs, colds, and Pink Eye. And guess what happened to Daddy? Daddy woke up at 4:00 a.m. writhing in pain. Before the sleep had fled my brain, I heard someone vomiting forcefully in my bathroom.

At first I was sure it was Abraham Lincoln and I wondered why he didn't use his own bathroom (my dreams have been a little weird of late). Then I realized it was J. Poor him. He's been dragging today. But C's Pink Eye is looking better so that's good.

And what does the homeschool mom do when her kids are sick? Read stories, pop popcorn and snuggle? Um, well, she kinda lets them play video games while her hubby sleeps. Meanwhile she turns on the hot water heater and dreams of a shower that stays warm until all the conditioner is out of her hair.