Elijah has six teeth now! He has four on top and two on bottom. I'm always trying to take pictures of him and get him to show me his teeth, but it's always hard to do. However, one day he was really cooperating by showing his bottom teeth, so I took a lot of photos. I also got a few other great faces he makes, so I wanted to share them. He is just too cute!
Only in India do husband and wife show no PDA, but men show other men all kinds of PDA, such as holding hands, putting their arms around each other, and talking so close to one another's faces you'd like they were about to kiss.
The family we're living with were trilled when we decided we should all go to Agra to see the Taj Mahal together. They Love the Taj, and are always talking about it's beauty with such pride. So, we rented a car to pick us up at 7am to go to see it, and maybe another attraction, and then come back home that evening. We had no idea at the time what the day would entail.
Packed in the car were our family of three, our friend's family of six, their nephew and niece, and the driver and his son = 13 people in a five seater (with two little seats in the back) SUV.
The traffic was horrible, so it took us an hour or two longer to get there than it usually would. However, when we got to the parking lot for the Taj a group of tour guides and transportation guys practically attached us once they saw our white faces. We let the dad of the family and Neal handle the guys, and they chose for us a tour guide and a man to take us to the entrance...a man driving a camel.
There was a very long line to enter the big gate that led to the inside, but since we had a tour guide he took us around all the people. Women went through one group of bars and men through another - everything is segregated here. Once inside it was like a different world. The pictures will say everything.
The gate you entered through to see the Taj
The first sight you see once inside the gate. So beautiful, especially with the green surroundings
Our tour guide did a great job taking pictures of the family for us (left below). The picture on the right below is the side column of the Taj and the guess house/waiting area. Whenever someone would come to visit that is where they would stay/wait. Everything is so elaborate!
These last two pictures are two of my favorites!
I love the green grass - hard to find here.
Although we enjoyed seeing the Taj, we were all very ready to leave. It was 107 degrees that day. So, after leaving the family decided we should go to a place called Dolphin, which is a water park. They apparently had this planned in their minds, but Neal and I had no idea and we didn't come prepared at all. We were very curious what we'd do once we got there since we didn't bring our bathing suits...and what they'd do for bathing suits. We've never been swimming with Muslims, so it would be interesting.
On the way there our driver knew that the turn for the water park was coming soon and there wouldn't be an opening in the median to turn. Therefore, to avoid having to backtrack he just went on over to the other side of the road and drove on that side in the oncoming traffic until we reached our turn. While driving the incorrect way he complained about the other drivers in his frustration of not everyone moving when he blew his horn. To him this was a big problem. However, I agree with what Neal said, "Honestly, I think we're the problem."
When we got there we were told we could rent bathing suits - long pants and shirt for the women, and a mid-thigh speedo for the men. So strange! Basically almost everyone matched if they were actually wearing a swimsuit. Some people, however, just got in with their clothes.
Neal took Elijah in the water and there was a crowd of about 20 men following them at all times.
On one side of the park there was a big round room with loud music. Neal, Elijah, and the mom and I went over to see what was happening inside. They were tons of men with their speedos on dancing in some spraying water to the loud music. The mom said it was something very popular for everyone to do. Neal and Elijah went inside for a little while, but Elijah didn't want to stay long. Neal said it was very awkward. Afterwards, Neal got the dad and son to go on one of the big slides. The dad was very nervous and held onto Neal all the way down. I also got the mom to hike up her pants and walk around in the pools with me to cool down. She would hold my arm as we were walking so that she wouldn't fall. By the end of the day both the mom and I had our pants completely soaked from water. It felt so good!
On our way home the sun went down fast and a storm came up very quickly. There was dust and limbs flying all over the place. The car was being pushed by the wind because it was so strong. Neal and I were praying for the Lord to protect us and get us home safely. We pulled over on the side of the road for a little while. The storm finally calmed enough for us to continue driving.
About 30 minutes before we arrived at home the mom asked me if we wanted to go to her mother's house for the birthday party of her niece. The niece was turning 2 years old and the whole family, all nine kids with their children, were gathering to have a meal together and celebrate - very packed house. So, we of course went and ate with the family and got to know them better, which was a blessing. They are always so welcoming, and it was good to get to visit the grandmother and grandfather's house.
Once the meal was finished everyone gathered into the living room around the little girl and her cake. They lit around 10 candles and counted to three then everyone blew out the candles...spit was flying. It made us smile because it was a lot like our own culture.
The cake was then cute for everyone to get a small sliver in their hand to eat. The adults apparently have a tradition of smearing the cake on each others faces, which is what they ran around the house doing. The dad of the family we stay with was one of the best at this game and got one of the aunts really good. Then he grabbed the big jug of water and dumped it over her head in order to wash the cake off. Everyone was laughing.
We had a wonderful day! Once we arrived back at home at 11pm we were exhausted and ready for bed!
Elijah was telling us a lengthy story one night and we got it on video...there's three parts.
#1, Elijah starting the story and hand motions, which are always involved.
#2, Elijah telling Mom all about the events that happened.
#3, Elijah finishing the story even when no one is around. He'd taken a break, so we thought he had already finished, but then when we left he started again...he didn't even need anyone to listen.
Only in India does your driver complain about how bad the traffic is while driving on the wrong side of the median where all cars are coming towards you.
We actually have a legit coffee shop in our city. I was very surprised and excited! Coffee Day has become a place where not only do we obvious go to get some good coffee, but a place where we can have a little taste of home, which is sometimes very needed. It also has AC, which we still don't have, so we like to go when we are just too hot to study or work at home. Elijah enjoys going because the people there are so sweet to him. They always want to "play" with him, which is holding him and showing him all the deserts in the glass, and the blender machine, etc. They always want to feed him something sweet, which is very kind, but not something I'm okay with. Although we are relaxed there and we trust the people, we still have to keep our eye on them.
Elijah loves to stand in the chair, hold on to the windowsill and look outside.
And of course Elijah is always a celebrity anywhere he goes.
We went during the middle of the day and the sun was very intense, so Elijah wore his adorable hat. He doesn't like to wear it, but I make him:)
Only in India does a woman bring out three glasses of water, serve the first three people, and then when they are finished take their glasses, pour more water in, and serve the next three people.
While looking through some pictures of the family we're staying with I noticed a beautiful park they had visited. They told me it was here in the city and that they wanted to take me to see it. So, the next morning at 6am the family, aunt and two kids, and myself piled into the car to head to the park. It was so pleasant being out that early and seeing all the families out playing together. The park had so much grass...gosh I loved it. I miss seeing grass!
Here's two video's of a blindfolded tag game the kids and aunt played.
After the park we went to the dad's brother's house. I (Kristen) got to meet two of the brothers and their wives. We were of course served some water, snacks, and then a fruit drink. We got to go see the new house one of the brothers is building down the street. It was a beautiful three story house with three bedrooms on each level and big balconies. They said they would live in the bottom and rent the two levels above them, which is very common here. I was thankful to spend the time with the family and have the opportunity to meet more of the extended family.
Only in India do security guards stand in front of the railway crossing gate to make sure that only motorcycles, bicycles, and people cross the railroad while a train is coming and no cars.
Only in India do you find cars, buses, motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, rickshaws, people pushing carts, elephants, horses with a cart full or people, water buffalo pulling a cart loading with stuff, and cows doing whatever they want all on the roads together.
This is the first of many "On in India" posts. I'm aware that not everything I post only happens in India. There are probably many other countries in the world where some of these things happen. However, these things DO NOT happen in America, and since I live in India it seems as if they only happen here, and thus the title of the post.
Mother's Day weekend was spent in Delhi and it was a great mini vacation. Although a lot of our time was spent shopping for our new apartment, which was fun and tiring, it was still refreshing. We got to do many things that we enjoy - eat at Italian restaurants, eat at Chili's, get some great Costa coffee, hang out with friends at the mall and for a game night where we used to live, go swimming, sleep in a super comfy bed and even Elijah had his own comfy bed with a little comforter and pillow, and best of all stay in a room with AC, which delighted all of us. Elijah slept better during the weekend than he has since we've lived here. I (Kristen) was so thankful for good rest for him.
Elijah absolutely loved sitting and playing on the bed. Whenever we'd come back to the room we'd throw him on the bed and he'd just laugh and get really excited.
On the actual day of Mother's Day I got my nose pierced. I've noticed and been told by my Indian friends that here the way a woman signifies she is married is by her nose ring. They don't exchange rings at the ceremony, the woman just gets a stud in her nose a couple of days before the wedding. So, Neal and I decided I should show India that I'm married too. I went with two friends to a shop that does piercings and tattoos. This shop is the only one in Delhi that any of us know about that actually cleans the stub before sticking it through your nose, which is something very desirous. I was really nervous before getting it done, and the guy just laughed, then he went to work. First, the guy put a blue dot on my nose where the hole needed to go and then gave me a mirror to look and make sure that's what I wanted. Then he stuck the clean wire attached to the diamond through my nose. Next he took some needle nose pliers, stuck them up my nose to bend and cut the wire. Then he stuck his finger in there to make sure things were okay. My left eye started crying during all this (as did my friend's who also got her nose pierced), but it was over and my nose had some bling:) The pain wasn't as bad as I anticipated.
When we got back to the room there were a dozen roses waiting for me. Neal said he talked with the people at the hotel while I was in the shower and asked them to get some placed in the room. They were beautiful and it was so sweet of Neal!
That night we went to eat with a couple friends at the Big Chill, which is an Italian restaurant. One of our guy friends always wants to hold Elijah like he's his buddy. He even fed Elijah and put him to sleep while we were eating.
Our last night we took Elijah swimming for the first time. He didn't know what to think at first. I was hoping he'd start kicking his legs, but instead he just pulled them up as high as he could. Elijah and I pretended we were on a motor boat by making the noises together while zooming around in the hot tub, which isn't actually hot (you don't need hot in 105 degrees).
To end our last evening we ordered room service. Neal got a burger, which he was thrilled about (he craves burgers often) and a coke. I got a pizza, and some tiramisu with some decaf coffee...it was so good! What a great Mother's Day weekend!
We woke up at 4:30 in the morning the Friday of Mother's Day weekend in order to catch the train to Delhi. Our language helper borrowed a car from a friend to pick us up at 5 am so that we could be to the station a little early. He knew it was our first time, so he wanted to show us around the station and where exactly we should go. We were appreciative of his kindness.
We met a very sweet couple while waiting for the train to come. We enjoyed speaking to them in Hindi and learning about their family. When our train arrived the number on our ticket was not the same as the number on the train, so the family helped us identify which train we should get on. When the train arrived our car was on the far end of the station, so the man ran with us to show us which train car to get on. There are so many kind people here!
(This video is of one of the trains flying by our station - they go so fast!)
Once on the train we realized our beds (we were on the AC sleeper car) were not in the same compartment. We both had top beds that were less than two feet from the ceiling, which meant you couldn't even sit up completely. The great thing about leaving so early in the morning though was that Elijah was ready to sleep again once we started going.
Right before arriving in Delhi Elijah met another little boy who was a little over a month younger than him. It was so cute watching them interact.
We were so excited to eat a home cooked meal just like in America. Although I've cooked a lot of meals here, this was the first one so far that I've made with a chicken that I had to clean and prepare myself. Before now we've had meals veg style, or with some chicken from a local restaurant. Neal was gracious enough to have the chicken butcher take the guts, neck, and other crazy stuff out of the bag before bring the chicken home to me. Although that stuff was removed, it was still gross cleaning it. Neal even said after watching the process it makes him want to find and purchase the packaged and frozen stuff instead. However, we had a wonderful meal of bbq chicken, green beans, and potatos...so good!
It's very normal to see monkeys almost everywhere you go. They like to sit and hang out on the roof tops, in trees, or just about anywhere. Sometimes you also see them doing other things, such as crossing the street by the cable wires overhead. Neal got this cute video of a mama monkey with her baby on her back crossing the street.
When we hired a lady to wash our dishes and clean our house we didn't know the package would come with her two youngest boys. She is such a precious, gentle spirited woman, but her boys aren't always as gentle. I guess with boys you can expect things like hitting each other, jumping on each others backs, running around, grabbing, pushing, and moving your furniture. It hasn't always been so easy to love the boys when they don't listen to the rules in your house. However, one thing about it is they love Elijah, and he loves them. I've tried to practice loving them well and doing things with them like sitting down and reading a book, or letting them sit and play with Elijah. They are good about sharing their toys or other things, like sunglasses, with Elijah, which is very kind. They like it when he plays with their things.
The local people have told me to not allow the boys into my house. They've also said to not trust my cleaning lady and to always watch everything she does. However, since I want to follow the teachings of Jesus I know that showing love and kindness to this woman and her children is all part of it.
Neal has faithfully been out looking for apartments for us. He talked with the dad of the family we've been living with, but he couldn't help as much as we hoped. So, Neal has traveled throughout the city stopping and talking to almost anyone and everyone he saw working on or close to a new apartment building. He finally found one that had an opening, so he took Elijah and I to see it. None of us were very thrilled with what we saw, or smelled. As Neal says, "It smells like someone died in there." Not our first choice, needless to say.
From there we wanted to ride around on a rickshaw a bit to see if we could find anything else. Our rickshaw driver with incredibly smiley and nice. He figured out what we were doing and started helping Neal talk to the people at each apartment building. He would follow us up to see every apartment we looked at and would walk around smiling. It made Neal and I laugh so much, but we were very thankful for his kindness and patience. Whenever Neal would take pictures he would always
try to stick his head in or tell Neal to take one of him.
We decided to pay him well because of all the help he'd given us, but unfortunately it came back to bite us. We got a knock on our door two hours later and our cleaning lady was telling Neal he needed to give more money to his rickshaw driver (we didn't know why she cared). Then here he comes around the corner...of all the rickshaw drivers in the city this one just happened to be the cousin of our cleaning lady...and one who wasn't satisfied even when we blessed him.
Our visits to different apartments were really good for us in the long run. Even the landlords were so kind and they wanted to hold Elijah while we looked around the apartment. We found the apartment we wanted to purchase during our visits. When we walked into the apartment, even though it wasn't finished, we both loved it, especially me (Kristen). So, praise the Lord, we found our place and we've even finalized everything and will be moving in soon.
These are pictures of the apartment we ended up renting and will move into within a week or so. It's not finished yet, so it might be hard to picture how nice it is, but trust me, it's wonderful!
We haven't purchased much since we're not in our permanent place. A washing machine is one of those things we have not yet purchased. We were getting low on clean clothes, so we started brainstorming what we should do. There's a dry cleaner in front of our current house, but we knew that option would be kind of expensive for the amount we would need washed. We'd heard of a person who could get your clothes from your house, wash them, press them, and then return them for a small fee. This option sounded wonderful. The only problem was that we didn't know where someone like this was located or how to find them. Therefore, we knew we needed to ask the family we're living with.
I (Kristen) went next door to talk with the mom about what we wanted. Since my language is very limited, I tend to use a lot of hand motions. They understood what I was talking about, and suggested the dry cleaner. When I expressed my reason for not wanting to use the dry cleaner they understood. The next door neighbor came by to visit and the mom told her what I was wanting. Neal thought he'd seen one of those types of clothes cleaners coming to our neighbors house one day, so I asked the mom if she used one. They discussed this in length, and I didn't understand hardly anything. Then the mom told me that she (the neighbor) could wash my clothes because that's what they do. I asked if they did that as a business, and they said yes. They told me the price and said I could bring the clothes over later.
The next day I got together all our dirty clothes, and took them to her house. When she came to the door she looked at me like I was crazy. I asked her about washing the clothes, and she went to get her daughter who spoke a little English. She translated for me that Friday she would come to wash them at my house. I was surprised that she would do them in my house, but I told her Friday would be great.
Friday came, and she didn't show. Neal and I just laughed because once again we think we didn't understand correctly, or that we just confused them. Why does this happen so often! It's so funny!
So, I had no other option but to wash the clothes myself.
Neal and I took turns washing the clothes because it was taking a long time and we at different times had to leave to do something else.
We would have dried the clothes on the clothes line on the roof, but our neighbors had company over and they were all on the roof. So, we rotated the clothes on the chairs with the fan blowing on them.
Of course, this was the night the grandmother of the family we're living with decided to come visit us and see our house. I was so embarrassed!
On one side of the park there was a big round room with loud music. Neal, Elijah, and the mom and I went over to see what was happening inside. They were tons of men with their speedos on dancing in some spraying water to the loud music. The mom said it was something very popular for everyone to do. Neal and Elijah went inside for a little while, but Elijah didn't want to stay long. Neal said it was very awkward. Afterwards, Neal got the dad and son to go on one of the big slides. The dad was very nervous and held onto Neal all the way down. I also got the mom to hike up her pants and walk around in the pools with me to cool down. She would hold my arm as we were walking so that she wouldn't fall. By the end of the day both the mom and I had our pants completely soaked from water. It felt so good!
We went during the middle of the day and the sun was very intense, so Elijah wore his adorable hat. He doesn't like to wear it, but I make him:)
