Camping Trip

We are so blessed to be part of a playgroup here with a core group of kids. Some of the moms are adventurous AND organized and come up with fun outings. Last week was our first overnite trip as a group. The moms and kids went camping at our local zoo which is about 1.5 hours away with traffic. Brian laughed when I told him I was going camping...I'm not much of a nature girl..."been there, done that" pre-kids and not so keen on roughin' it with 3 children:) But this was not what I would call "real" camping. The tents were more like houses made out of tent material. There were 3 twin beds w/full linens, side tables, a rack to hang your towels, an oscillating fan, a rack to hold your suitcase, a plug to charge your cell phone and an attached bathroom with heated water:D Not bad.

The kids had a blast with plenty of space to roam, dig and yell. In Bangalore, like most big cities, you can start to feel caged...like a billboard on I-10 in Houston used to say..."Stop living like bees" (Referring to apartment living, they were marketing home sales). Sometimes I feel like a bee:) So fresh air, nature and space to run gave plenty us of R & R.

Next to laying in the hammock, the safari ride was my favorite. We've been to the zoo several times before but the line for the safari ride is always ridiculous. This time we got to skip the line. There was a bear section, lion section, white tiger and tiger sections. We also visited the butterfly park and the zoo.

Poor Haddon was sick most of the time. And we were blessed to have to visit the village doctor which I wish I could have video footage of so I will remember how amazingly fortunate we Americans are with our clean, spacious doctors offices and private hospital beds. This place was about the size of walk-in closet and I was praying that we wouldn't get sick from just being there. It also acted as a hospital with two sick cots (which were both occupied). The doctor visit cost $1. Man, I have it so good.

So as not to end on that "preachy" note...one more thing to show that this was a plush camping trip...buffet at every meal:) We loved the pet deer that came up to us at the campsite and the kids LOVED the ride in the back of the Lodge's truck (see pics below). They could have just done that the whole time and thought it was a great trip:)

Bald and Beautiful

Something that fascinates me in Indian culture is that many little girls have boy short or shaven haircuts. Not all of them, and probably not even a majority of them in the city (many more in rural villages do) have hair this short but it is a prevalent practice. I have asked why and the info I have gathered is like usual: from observation and surveying friends so it's not cultural expertise:)

Religious reasons: Hindus do it as a sacrifice at the temple...they shave their heads as an offering. Like in this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAxo9gzOf1w which is disturbing to me but I have to remember it is cultural and not intentionally abusive.

Non-religious reasons (which means Hindus, Christians and Muslims all practice it ): My favorite and most common reason: if you cut/shave the girl's hair at one year and 3 years old, it will help it to grow into thick, beautiful hair and perhaps change the texture (if the hair is coarse it may grow back in as silky and smooth). Others do it for easier manageability, lice prevention or, if due to the texture, it wouldn't look good long.

I think what fascinates me about this is that long hair in India is a woman's prize and treasure. I would say over 99% of women have very long hair. It's interesting to me that little girls would have boy short hair when long hair is so desired. But it seems to be a means to an end....so that the girl WILL have beautiful, thick, long hair some day.

Week in Review

After 2 "dry" weeks there were some "blog postable" moments this week:)...

Kai got his hand stuck in the elevator as the door opened! Every mom's nightmare...if they think of that one:) The door was half-open and stuck with his hand wedged inbetween the door and the wall of the elevator. He was crying, Haddon was crying, I was panicking and hoping my adrenaline rush would be able to pull the door shut to release his hand, but not so:) Some neighbors ran to get the security guards. When they arrived one was smart enough to bend the door back (it's thin) so that Kai could get his hand free. So easy. Why didn't I think of that? Well it was traumatic:) But he was fine. We put some ice on it and he could wiggle all his fingers so I knew there were no broken bones. He was playing w/toys 20 minutes later and had a story to tell Daddy when he got home from work..."Daddy...hand....stuck...hurt":)
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I grocery shop once a week. I go to the same store around the corner. Most neighborhood grocery stores are the size of a convenient store. At this particular one there are usually about a dozen employees around 19 yrs old all for this small store and I go at a non-peak time. Because of these factors and b/c I look different, I'm usually inundated with greetings from every staff member, offers to help me, stares, laughing and talking in their native language about me, and the 4-5 different employees who randomly stop at my cart and stand there watching what I'm putting into it. They obviously don't have much to do. After 2 years of this it doesn't bother me, I'm used to it. But this week a nerve was struck.

Since I do the shopping for a whole week worth of food and most Indians shop for about 2 day's worth, I spend MUCH more than most customers. I also have 5 mouths to feed with American tastes which cost more than Indian foods. So, at the check-out, the cashier at the next counter who wasn't checking anyone out kept leaning over the computer monitor to see what my total bill was. She gawked, made big eyes and laughed... she'd done this another time before. Gotta blow it off. Well, there were 4 employees at my little checkout counter, all staring at the monitor, all speaking in their native language, using english numbers, guessing at how much I was going to spend and commenting on what the total was at the moment. I was boiling at this point. I told the guy who speaks the best english that I would not come back if people sat around and marveled at my bill. He told the guy bagging to stop but he still kept trying to guess the total! Ahhhh! I already feel so guilty that I get (am blessed) to buy so much food so I think my frustration was part guilt that what I spend on 1 week of food is what these employees make in a month (for my American friends, the grocery bill for 1 week here is comparable to shopping in the States...it's about the same), but also that I feel like a "freak show" and I just want to blend in like a chamelion so I'm not stalked and gawked at in the store:) Will I shop there next week...yes, I have other choices but this one has more food:) and it's convenient...so i'll learn to deal with this too...it's a part of adapting that never goes away, you just learn to ignore it.