The good days, the bad days and the mundane days.

I have to be inspired to write here. So when life is not that interesting or less than pleasant it's hard to write and be dull and depressing. Questions and comments inspire me :) Or if I come up with a particularly catchy title. So if you want more information - ask away.

The good, the bad and the mundane. Seems like life reflects life back home.

Life in India is good when:

The baby sleeps right when you want him to and takes nice LONG naps.
The girls spend all day playing with minimal fighting and don't trash the place.
They focus on school and do everything without balking.
They are thrilled to be able to cout to 5 in Hindi. (If we can get them to 9 they will be useful if anyone needs to call customer service. Thanks Adriane for that one.)
The girls actually eat Indian food and ask for seconds.
You have a maid come in and wash your floors and bathrooms every weekday.
Your maid teaches you how to make Chipatti's (similar to a tortilla)
You discover cooking with gas is a piece of cake.
You get a little more settled every day.
You find something imported at the store that's just like home! Cause for rejoicing!
They have Kentucky Fried Chicken in India.
They have Papa John's in India - and they DELIVER to your building.
You meet other people in your building complex from the states that have kids too.
You hear from people back home and know you haven't fallen off the face of the earth.
You think the next 49 weeks will be a piece of cake.

Life in India is bad when:

The baby is fussy ALL day long and doesn't want to do anything but eat
The girls fight all day long and trash the place.
When the girls aren't fighting they are playing with the baby - even when you've just gotten him to sleep.
They look at you like a deer in headlights when you ask them to pick up and frustration turns to anger lightening quick.
You are so tired you want to curl up in a ball and just hibernate for the next year.
Your whole body just aches.
You have to stop at 2 different stores just to buy bread and milk.
You want to cry, but if you start don't think you will ever stop.
Just about everyone is hard to understand - and they think the same of you.
You can't sit around and eat bon-bons while someone else cleans your house - so you spend each afternoon trying to do as much as the maid does.
You don't have the right kind of flour to make Chipatti's correctly - and you had no idea there was more than 1 kind of flour.
You still have piles of stuff on every horizontal surface and despair that you will ever get it all put away.
You fail to do the calculations on the prized imported item at the store - only to discover you paid $11 for a normal sized container of parmesan cheese.
Philidelphia cream cheese is $6. Thank goodness I didn't buy it.
It's the middle of the day and I can't talk to anyone because it's the middle of the night back home.
I'm too exhausted at night to stay awake to talk to anyone back home.
It's the beginning of week 3 and how am I ever going to survive the next 49 weeks.

Life in India is mundane too.

We get up.
We call people back home.
We try to get the girls to clean up, get dressed and start school
It's lunchtime before I know it.
The maid shows up and the race to clean begins.
We try to finish school
Madeline will occasionally nap in the afternoon
The maid leaves and it's time to start dinner.
Dinner is a pre-packaged Indian dish (think indian food in an MRE type package) and I heat it up and make rice to go with it.
We spend some more time on the computer with people back home.
We put the kids to bed.
We stay up a bit longer and fall into bed - only to do it again tomorrow.

Thanks to all who have emailed, posted on here or on facebook, chatted on here, facebook or skype. Scott now knows what he has to get to get our Indiana phone # working over here. I will let you know when it's up and running.

I love hearing from everyone.

Dawn