Mother's Day Weekend

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!

Train Ride to Delhi

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.

Meal like Home

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!

Monkeys

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. 

Our Cleaner and Her Boys

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.

Apartment Shopping

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!

Washing Clothes

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!