Just a little Note

I was enabling the "Comment Moderator" which allowed me to receive an email when someone left a comment. But it also hindered the comment from being published immediately. So I've disabled it and comments should be able to appear instantly. I didn't want anyone to get annoyed and not comment again:)

Haddon Scooting

Kenoa and the Rap CD

Wednesday night Brian took us to this nice restaurant, Kenoa, he had eaten at with work. (Nice restaurants in India are half the price of American "nice"--which is very NICE!) It felt like we were in another country. It was a very beautiful, open air restaurant with a Polynesian feel on top of a multi-story building. It was down this dirt road--I'm not really sure how anyone could know it was there. I'm always grateful to get out of the house midweek so I had to blog about it since it's the only thing that happened out of our normal routine so far this week:) I know it's superficial and boring to post pictures of the interior of a restaurant but it was like a little getaway for me--felt sort of like being up in a tree house as a kid-- so i had to show you:)

Also a nice thing about being a westerner and eating out is that we are usually the only ones in the restaurant until we are about to leave:) Indians eat later--around 9 or 10 pm. So we never wait in line and usually have the place to ourselves!

As we ate it started to storm, which was cool being in an open air restaurant, but that meant we'd have to walk the dirt/mud road about a 1/2 mile to get to the main road to find a rickshaw ride. We called a taxi which you never know if they'll actually come or take an hour to do so. This nice couple and sister invited us to ride home with them. They had an 8 month old baby too. So, in the Indian way, we all piled in this little car...9 people in all:) This couple lives right across the street from us in another apt complex. The weirdest thing was that the guy changed music cd's as we were getting in the car. What was now blaring on the stereo was american rap music. I was hoping it was toned down rap but oh it wasn't! There were 4 small children in the car and i just couldn't understand why he wanted to make sure we heard it. I thought maybe since we were americans, he assumed that's the music we listend to so he put it in for us:D It had terribly obscene lyrics so Brian and I were trying to keep up the conversation so we could "cover our children's ears" by talking over the music. Thank goodness we only live about 5 minutes from the restaurant! Very strange:) But we were very thankful for the ride!

At the Playground

Washer and Dryer Appreciation Day!

Hopefully this video will help you appreciate your washing and drying machine! This is a housekeeper in the common area of our flat washing clothes. The clip only shows a small portion of the work she is doing. First she dips the clothes in a bucket of clean water. Then she dips them multiple times in bucket of detergent water, then she lays them on the ground and scrubs each piece, dips them back in the detergent water, rinses them off in the clean water bucket, wrings them out then hangs them to dry. She has to do this many times b/c not all the clothes she is washing fit into one bucket load. All while wearing a long skirt!:D This is everyday, and most housekeepers have multiple homes they take care of. I'm sure after that she has to fold and put the clothes away too. I really appreciate the washer and dryer Brian bought me!! Although our housekeeper did this huge chore for us, our clothes looked "worn" from the scrubbing and smelled sour from drying in the humidity. Thank you Lord for luxuries we don't deserve!

Party time at Sobha Aquamarine

This was a party held Saturday night for the whole complex. This picture doesn't show much of the party--the dancing is in the background which you can't see. All the women and children wore their best outfits and a dinner was served. The DJ played dance music at full blast til 11:30 pm. I felt a little intrusive so i didn't get close-up shots. Although one neighbor (in the green and orange saree) was nice and asked me to come dance:). There were lights strung up all over the trees and bushes and the outfits were so colorful. The sad part is this was a party honoring two goddesses. Hindus celebrate many religious festivals and worship many gods/idols (a term they use). The largest festival will be coming up in November--the festival of lights. It lasts for 10 days I believe. The children are often off of school for a religious holiday. Please pray that many Hindus will know the Truth and be able to have an eternal party! Side note: yes, the "snow" (dust) is still in the air:)

Indian Art

These pics are for my Mimi who has been asking to see Indian artwork. This was a little area at the mall where artists were selling thier work. I'm still on the lookout for more!