Safe and well

Just an update to let everyone know we are all safe and well. With all of the terrible news out of Mumbai at the moment we have had loads of emails wondering if we are ok.
The truth is that we aren't even in India right now as we are enjoying a week on the beautiful island of Langkawi. We are all very relaxed and having fun by the pool and at the beach each day.
We head back to Chennai this weekend and we hope to arrive there and find all is peaceful and quiet. Well, as quiet as a city of 7 million people can be.
For all of you whose geography is not great, Chennai is along way from Mumbai, Chennai being on the southern east coast and Mumbai on the northern west cost (sort of) so we are not near any of the trouble. But in saying that I suppose we don't really know what can happen. We plan to stay away from the big hotels, like the Meridian where we go to the pool. Most of the hotels now do a bomb check all cars when entering the car park, which has kind of freaked us out at the start but you just get used to it after a while.
So thank you all for you concern. Its comforting to know we are in every ones thoughts. And we will try to stay as safe as possible. God willing.

Christmas?

Help, I cant find Christmas!

It seems to me that Christmas in India is non-existent.

I cant believe that it is nearly the end of November and Christmas is just around the corner.

If this is so, where are all the Christmas decorations in the shops, Advent calenders with goodies in them, Christmas cards and wrapping by the box load, beautiful big ham on the bone in every butchers fridge, junk mail bulging out of the letter box, box's of bonbons adorning the top of supermarket shelves and those catchy carols playing in shopping centers everywhere.

My life is so different here in India and the fact that I'm not working is probably the hardest thing to get used to. My life at home would be frantic right about now, madly shopping trying to get all the presents bought now, as the salon would be keeping me working long hours with not much time left to shop come closer to the big day.

So here I am in India with all this time on my hands and no clients to squeeze in and no Kmart, Target, Big W to fill in my days. About the only thing to worry about is where we are going to spend Christmas. The options seemed endless, but the time factor for Andrews work schedule was tricky. So the kids and I are off to Thailand for 11 days, with Andrew joining us for 4 days over Christmas. How different this year will be with no family to share it with. (also no broken ankle this year to hinder my plans, I hope)

The next few weeks will be spent in a very different way to normal, I will be decorating the house with a very minimal supply of decorations, doing some Christmas baking in my new but very small oven and hopefully getting some Christmas cards in the post, lets hope Indian Post will look after me and they all arrive home.

So as you are all madly racing around getting stressed to the max with the pressure of the festive season, spare a thought for us and know that our thoughts and prayers will be with you all when you are stuck in that queue trying to get into the Bay City Plaza car park.

Oh, the other thing the kids are worried about is whether Santa will find them...........I do believe he only comes to good boys and girls.

Yoga

Last week some friends and I took our first Yoga class and I am happy to say I am going back for more.
We have met another expat wife who, since coming here 3 years ago has taken classes to become a Yoga instructor. So she kindly offered her services to us to try out one of her lessons. The 3 of us were a bit worried about how we would cope with it but she was very kind and started us off with a beginner class. It was pretty easy but still took some effort to slow down and let the mind relax enough to concentrate on breathing properly.
You know how much STUFF is constantly going through your head,

1. What's for tea?
2. How is Mac going at his new school?
3. Does my bum look really big in these track pants?
4. I need to buy milk and bread.
5. Must post of that parcel that has been waiting to posted for 2 weeks now.
6. Gotta pay the phone bill
7. Gee my hips hurt sitting cross legged for the last 5 mins.
8. Hope Victor isn't sick of waiting for me
9. Oh I really need to paint my toe nails
10. I wonder if I will ever be able to sit cross legged Yoga style and it not REALLY hurt.
11. Stop thinking brain and relax.
12. BREATH.

So 1 hour later we were all nicely relaxed and keen to continue with our classes next week. Although I did have grand plans of doing a couple more classes in between but with Mac not being well and not wanting to let me out of his sight that wasn't going to happen. So I look forward to next Tuesday and my hour of "ME" time, relaxing. (Please God let Mac be well)

Amazing

Heh I just got on to the blog to do a post and I am amazed that it is warmer in Melbourne than it is in Chennai today.
It is very overcast and is trying to rain.
We are having a quiet day at home as little Mac is still not feeling well at all. Just had him to the Doctors and we are off to a pediatrician latter today, he has high temp and cant stop coughing. He hasn't moved from the floor in the playroom all day, thank heavens for cable TV and kids shows all day.
Yesterday I read in the paper that we where to have our power disrupted today and the power was to be off all day...... But guess what, it's 1pm and we still have power. AMAZING

Frocked up

Saturday night was a big night out for Chennai expats, it was the annual OWC Ball.

( Overseas Woman's Club)

So not to be left out of all the fun we frocked up and left the kids home (gasp) with Margaret to have a well deserved night out.

It was so nice to go out with no appendages. We where picked up by Noelene and Graeme's driver, Suresh, who I think was just as excited as we where to be our driver for the night. And I must say he certainly did look after us well. When we got in the car he put some good mood music on and we all sat back in anticipation of the night to come (Gee you can tell we don't get out much), with a Sula or two to be had.

The event this year was held at a lovely hotel somewhat out of town called the "Asianna". It was a buffet dinner with the best Salad, something we don't get much of here, and to top the dinner off was a scrumptious dessert buffet.

Another plus about the evening was the reasonably priced wine. There is a HUGE luxury tax on alcohol in Tamil Nadu so we usually end up paying about Rs400 for a glass of wine (Sula) which works out to around $12.50. Now I do enjoy a wine but not that much, so we where very pleased to find a bottle of wine at the ball was only RS800. What a treat. I am sounding like a real soak, which I am not, but gee, a girl sure needs a vice when living in Chennai.

The DJ played some great music and had the crowd up and dancing the night away, apart from my dear husband who is still insisting on dancing on the inside. And when has that ever stopped me hitting the dance floor??? Never......

So the night was just about over when I thought I should check my mobile and as Murphy's Law should have it I had 6 missed calls and 6 text messages from Eliza saying that Mac had woken up crying and was running a temp and would not settle, Oh dear, poor Eliza and Margaret sure had their work cut out for them.

So that was a very quick way to end the night and get home to a sick boy, only after a very funny ride home.

Suresh is a scream and you never really know what is going to come out of his mouth next. And it usually starts with.

"Madame may I speak freely?"

"Yes go ahead Suresh"

"Oh Madame may I say your hair is looking very wonderful tonight"

Andrew and I in the back seat just about peeing our pants

"Thank you Suresh, it's just my natural curls"

"But Madame so nice, how it like that?"

"Suresh, just a bit of hair product"

"What Madame?"

Oh no, what have I started?

"You know Suresh just some mousse and Hairspray"

"OH..........Now Madame?"

"Yes Suresh"

"You know Barack Obama?"

"Yes we certainly do Suresh"

"My hair go like his"

Now we are really cracking up in the back seat

"Well Suresh you know he is African American and he has very thick curly hair"

"But Madame can i use some product to get it like that?"

"No sorry Suresh I don't think so, but you do have VERY nice hair"

"Oh (with a head wobble) thank you very much Madame"

So needless to say we all had a great night with lots of fun and laughter and we got home to a sleeping boy and a very relieved Margaret. God Bless her.

Good Things

In our lives we meet many people and they all come in different shapes, colours and sizes.

The saying "Good things come in small sizes" certainly applies to our maid Margaret.

She would have to be one of the kindest, nicest people I have ever met.

Always so happy and willing to please.

She is a woman of great strength and character and a true woman of God. She has amazing faith and does not suffer fools.

She has had many hardships in her life, has raised two beautiful girls and is still smiling.

And she is my Friend, in a place where I have few.

Here she is with my Dad And Mum.

What more could a girl want??????

Just before Mum, Dad and Kerrie arrived we (Margaret and I) finally talked Master into allowing us to buy an oven.

Some of my friends wondered why I would even need his approval as when have I ever asked him whether or not I could buy something before... But alas now being a unemployed stay at home Mother and not having my income helping our family's budget I feel the need to be slightly more conservative on the spending front. Not that I find shopping in India much fun anyway.

So off we headed to the appliance shop and came home with a small bench top oven, some may not quite as excited with a mere small oven, but I was in Heaven. After leaving my double oven at home, I felt at a loss with only my convection microwave oven, plus after the dilemma with the missing instruction manual, which I can happily say was rectified by Aunty Heather and Dean in Australia, thanks again. I have been busy baking lots of Banana cakes as we have a never ending supply of brown banana's and many other baked goodies. I am still yet to make scones and I am considering a pav very soon. Master will be happy.

And the best news ever came when we opened the box and found not only one manual and recipe book but TWO. Wonders will never cease.

Preparing for our guests

Margaret thought that it would be a nice surprise to make a Kolam (flower offering) for our visitors arrival. So she enlisted the help of her two daughters Jasmin and Pretty, they came armed with a bag of sweet smelling flowers and petals to make this beautiful arrangement. They got to work outside our front door with lots of chatter, laughs and even a disagreement or two. Victor also made his presence felt with a bit of advice thrown in.

It was great to watch them create this and it made me feel quite envious that this was something that comes so naturally to them, but give me a bag of flowers and I wouldn't know where to start.

Mum, Dad and Kerrie certainly did get a great surprise when they arrived at the apartment and there was lots of Ohh's and Ahh's and lots of photo's taken. How lucky we are to have such wonderful help and great friends in Margaret and Victor. They where both just as excited to have our family staying here and are now constantly asking after them, I guess in a lot of ways they have become our Indian Family...


This is Margaret and her girls.

India Post

Last night the door bell rang at 6pm and the guard was at the door with a parcel for me, YIPPEE.

It was a pressie for my birthday and I had to blog this as we where so amazed at the state that the parcel arrived in. We had been warned about the difficulties getting things posted to us over here and now I know why.

Take a look at the rope that had been tied around the parcel after it had been opened and the gift inside also unwrapped and just shoved back into the envelope with no effort to re-wrap the gift at all. And knowing my dear friend who sent it, it would have been beautifully wrapped when it was posted, I have managed to resurrect the ribbon and will recycle it in a scrapbook project in the future.

The rope was then sealed with some sort of black wax and stuck to the envelope.

Even though the parcel had been opened the gift was still there and I was very spoilt (thanks Ky). One of my friends here had a parcel delivered that was minus the chocolate bar and mug that was supposed to be there, I guess Indian customs officials are rather partial to Cherry ripes.

Life Begins At 40

Well the inevitable has happened

I can quite happily say I am now

"40"

It's unreal that one day you are turning 21 and in the blink of an eye you are now 40. How quickly life flies by.

My special day certainly started with a BANG, in the form of a Huge thunder storm, probably the biggest one we have had since arriving in Chennai. We awoke to thunder, lightening and heavy rain at about 5am. The morning soon progressed with phone calls from drivers saying they couldn't get their motorbikes through the water on the roads as it was so deep in some places. The next call was from the kids school to say there was no school today due to the heavy rain (Great no peaceful lunch today). The kids where delighted. I had some nice Skype calls from my peep toe princess friends all wearing their 40 tiara's, very funny.

We then spent the morning sitting waiting for a delivery man to arrive with an important work document for Andrew to arrive. No show and after many frustrating phone calls we gave up and headed off to Spencer Plaza to do some shoe shopping, 6 pairs and one hour later we emerged from the first shop we went into and the kids where anxious to get out of there, (any wonder) I must add that only one of the pairs was for me and that was miracle in itself to find a pair to fit. This shop had the best service I have ever seen, the 10 or so men working there really new their stuff. The shoes are all stored in a loft above the shop and they stand below a hole in the ceiling and call out what they want and the next minute you have boxes of shoes falling down out of the hole. We went in initially to get shoes for Mum and Kerrie, but when I showed an interest in a pair of cute black, blingy, peep toes the hunt was on to get a pair to fit. It was hilarious to hear the commotion that my size 11's caused. But alas they where triumphant and I now have a lovely new pair to wear with the new frock I am having made for a Ball we are going to next weekend.

The day was still to become more exciting as we misplaced Victor when it was time to go home. The underground car park at the shopping center (which I might add freaks me out) has no phone signal, so we were outside waiting for our driver who was 2 levels underground waiting to get a call from us. Half an hour latter we finally found him and we headed off to go out for dinner, only to find that the restaurant we were going to is closed on Tuesday nights. So we ended up having a nice meal at a hotel close to home, but the most disappointing thing was the desert menu sucked.

So that was what turning 40 was like in Chennai, just another day in India!!!

GASP

I cant believe how long it has been since I last posted anything on here. You could say I am in a "Blogging Slump".
There is so much to write about I just don't know where to start. The last 2 weeks have been great as we were very lucky to have had my Mum, Dad and sister Kerrie staying with us for 12 days. It was great to see them and spend some time with them. It was amazing to watch them experience Chennai for the first time and to see and hear their amazement about this crazy but special city. It brought back all those memories of our first few weeks here, when we drove around in a daze, absolutely amazed at what we where seeing before our eyes. Now we get in the car and are still surprised by what we see but it all seems so normal, Oh dear that sounds like we have become desensitized.
Our visitors enjoyed their time here and I am sure Mum and Dad will be back again soon. Kerrie had a great time shopping with some girly advise on clothes and shoes. The suitcases went home just as heavy as when they arrived,we where very spoilt with lots of goodies and treats for us all, plus the Christmas pressies up in the highest cupboard that are awaiting 25 Dec.
Victor and Margaret also enjoyed having them here and Dad and Victor became good mates. Kerrie had a few cooking lessons with Margaret so will be cooking up an Indian meal or two back in her kitchen at home, she also took home some must use ingredients.
The kids loved having Grandma and Gramps around and Mac had some good battles with Aunty Kerrie who wasn't putting up with his nonsense. Sam enjoyed a couple of games of cricket with Gramps along with the new stumps they managed to pack in their cases. Spoilt boy.
There was lots of photo's taken so if anyone is interested in seeing a bit of Chennai give them a call and go and fill in an hour or two. I am sure you will be very welcome.
So this week has been a bit quiet now they have gone home, they house is back in order and I have found a school (day care) for Mac to go to, to fill in some of his long boring days, it will be a good break for both of us. I need it.
So Monday look out, I will be a free woman for a couple of hours, what will I do???????????????
Maybe catch up on some blogging, scrapbooking, reading, go to the gym(GASP), or just have some quite time alone somewhere in this city of 8 million people.