The Three Amigo's Take On Chennai

Wow, what a great day we had today with my friends Renee and Anne-Maree, who have blessed us with their company by coming to visit us in Chennai for a week. We set off early this morning with my friends driver Mustafa, as our car was at the doctors getting ready for a trip away this weekend. Mustafa is the guy to know when you want to head to Parry's corner, the shopping hub of Chennai. Now, when I say shopping area, don't get me wrong....this is no swanky shopping mall. It is narrow streets filled with little shops with anything your heart desires. If you can put up with the traffic, crowds of people, smells, rubbish, motorbikes speeding by dodging people through narrow lanes then it's the place for you.

Mustafa, our fearless leader, carrying our bags of treasures. We did not open a car door or carry a bag all day. He really looked after us so well.

We went in search of bling, and did we find it. 1000's of Rupee later ($20 Aussie) we left with bags full of Bangles, rings, bindi's, meters of ribbon, happy, but hungry, hot, dirty and thirsty.

Everything was "Very cute sister" according to the salesman.

BLING.

The girls with their goodies

From one extreme to the next we headed straight for a wonderful lunch at Good Earth, in the plush, up market suburb of Nungambakam. This would have to be my favorite shop in Chennai. A stunning homewares store full of the most elegant items to adorn your home and the best cafe in town. The contrasts in this country are endless and constantly blow my mind. Thank heavens for these places we can go to for some normality and treats. It makes life livable.

Then we hit the fabric store......wow, oh what fun. Need I say more.

Driving along Marina Beach we came across the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, freedom fighter and a very important figure in India's history.

This little family of goats caught our attention at the fishing village. The smell also caught our attention when the windows were down.

We arrived home 8 hours after we left to find our wonderful Margaret had cooked up a storm. Dinner was a mix of Masala Dosa, Idli, chutneys and other Indian goodies. All so yummy. The girls are loving the food and we need to stay home at least one day to have a cooking lesson from Margaret.

Poor Margaret, I am the WORST Madame, yesterday was her Birthday and I forgot. I was too busy thinking about my visitors and showing them the sights of Chennai and I clean forgot. Oh I feel awful, but I quickly sent her off home with some money to take her girls out for a birthday dinner. Tomorrow I am taking my visitors to Nalli Silk shop so we will choose a new Sari for Margaret's birthday gift.

Stay tuned for tomorrows adventures as the three Amigos take on Chennai again.

Mates

Mac has made a great little friend at school and they just love one another. This week his friend is away on holidays and Mac is really missing him. We got to school today and Mac looked at the cubbyhole that holds Ryan's shoes and was devastated to find they weren't there.

They love to get to the big kids school at the end of the day to kick the soccer ball around and have a run around together. It helps that Ryan's Mum has become a great Friend to me also. Just two more people we will dearly miss when we return home.

Mr Squirrel

We have a regular little visitor who likes to come and hang out on the air conditioner box outside Eliza's bedroom. I see him come to visit as I sit at my computer. He is a big time waster and it's so hard to get a photo of him. I think he knows I love to watch his acrobats as he scales the wall without a worry in the world, it amazes me he doesn't fall.

These little guys are everywhere around Chennai, scampering through the trees and scaling high walls.

Snooze Time.

I think sleeping would be one of the all time favorite things for Indians to do. They can sleep anywhere, anytime, anyhow.

Needless to say driving down the main road through Chennai the other day we came across this guy having his morning nap in the back of a laundry van and he was totally unaware of the chaotic traffic and tooting going on around him.

These guys had slipped off their shoes and left them on the footpath while the settled down for an afternoon nap

Got to love this security guard having a nap while on duty.

The Seasons Of Friendships

Eliza and Holli saying their last goodbyes

Friday was the last day of 3rd term and it was a sad day for Eliza.

It was because her good friend Holli was leaving Chennai with her family on their next big world adventure. They had become really great friends and were both so sad to have to say farewell. We are all now realizing this is how life is when you live in a nomadic community. People coming and going all the time. It's just another season in our lives of friendships. Seasons come and go and so do people we meet along the way. It's not that we forget these friends that have been placed in our lives when we needed them the most, but we will treasure what they have brought into our lives.

At the start of the year there where 7 kids in Eliza's advisory class, now with Holli leaving on Friday, it's down to 3. Eliza and 2 boys, James and Luca. Fortunately they get along well and have loads of fun together. They have decided to change the name of their advisory class from "The Kingfishers" to, "A series of unfortunate events".

James, Eliza, Holli and Miss Kathy, their Advisory teacher.
I guess this is the first of our goodbyes, with many more to come in the next few months. The friendships we have made while living here have been such a blessing and we will hold them close in our hearts as we all move on.

My 'To Do List'

This is one of my favorite photo's from my trip to Parry's Corner shopping district last month. What a cruiser.

Also, this mode of transport is still on my 'To Do List', although I do pity the poor rickshaw driver who gets to pedal me around town. It's truly one of those real Indian experiences, getting up close and personal to ride around in a rickshaw.

REMEMBER TO,

India Calling...

I have just read an article in the 'Geelong Addy' my local news paper at home in Oz, that reports that an Indian Telecommunications company are about to launch a Mobile phone that runs on Triple A batteries. This enabling people living in rural areas with out regular power supply to have the use of mobile communication. The phone will sell for a mere Rs1600, that's about $38 Aus.

Also in the article it stated that now 45 out of every 100 people here in India now have a mobile phone with an average of 15 million new customers every month. And I can certainly believe that. In a land of contradictions we often see the most humble people sitting talking on their mobiles.

Highlights And Lowlights

Recently while Gramps and Grandma were visiting Gramps introduced us to his Highlights and Lowlights of the day. Every night at dinner he would ask us all individually about our day and what were the highs and lows.....

Now 2 weeks later, every night at dinner Mac asks us to tell him what our highs and lows were for the day.

It is a really fun thing to do and it is interesting to hear about everybody day. Sometimes we are so busy going through to motions of the after school craziness that we forgot to communicate with our families.

So tonight at dinner this was our highs and lows.

Eliza- High, Pep rally at school. Low, homework.

Sam- High, Swimming at school for sport, Low, didn't have one.

Me- High, the end of my 2 hour visit to the dentist, Low, yelling at the Airtel guy about our never ending Internet issues...

Mac- High, Going to Parent Choice and doing a 50 piece puzzle, Low, coming home to watch TV and play the DS at the same time

Andrew-High, Building 41 SPECIAL Prototype engines today, Low, finding out a work colleague has been diagnosed with Lung Cancer.

What was your Highlight and Lowlight for the day?

It's Time To Go.......The Purdy's

Yep, say it ain't so, but we have finally been told we are on the move.

Homeward bound.

Andrew is needed back at Ford Australia.

Don't know where, when or why yet, of course we are waiting for all that to come out in the wash. It would be great to know all the details one day soon . PLEASE.

Bittersweet thought have been raging through my head since the BIG phone call.

Not ready to go home yet, still so much to see and do here

It's back to work for me and I have no idea what I want to do. I think I may have hung up my scissors.

We are finally feeling settled here

Big kids are at an AWESOME school

Andrew loves his job, but not the travelling

Getting used to the rubbish, beggars and men peeing on the side of the road. (well sort of)

Mac has 2 great little mates and loves going to school

Just got used to plastic bag milk

It's amazing what you can do with Chicken.

etc etc etc.

And on the other hand,

Looking forward to living in our new home

driving myself around

Grocery stores filled with fab fresh food

Beef

Kids being reunited with their Grandparents

Seeing their Cousins, Aunts and Uncles

Reconnecting with old friends.

Chatting face to face, rather than on skype

Kids having some Independence

Walking anywhere we want on clean footpaths.

etc etc etc.

So now the journey begins again, but in reverse. Packing the house and shipping all our worldly possessions home and saying goodbye to our new friends. I will be so sad to leave my Margaret here, goodness my life is in for a VERY rude awakening. She has been such a wonderful help to me and our family but she has also been a friend to me, one who I admire immensely. Her love of life and the way she loves my family as her own. I know she will miss her "Sweet Boy" Mac.

It would be amiss of me to say life in India has always been easy. Sure to those of you at home reading my blog might think I have a perfect life, I do in lots of ways, but life has been tough at times too. Especially the first 8 months, there were plenty of times I could have packed up and come home, but what would that have accomplished? Nothing. We needed to prove to ourselves that we could get through those bad days and move on with a positive attitude and embrace our dreams. It has shown us that as a family we can endure a lot on our own and we need to be supportive of one another.

Living as an expat you meet plenty of people, some happy to be living their dream and some that do nothing but complain. We have so much to be thankful for. Wow, our life is so great here in many ways in comparison to home. All you have to do is look out the window here to realize how lucky we are to be living in this country with the advantages we have as Expats. Sure we all miss the comforts of home and family, but for most it's a short time in our lives and it's a CHOICE. So why do some people embrace the opportunity's given to them and some can't wait to get out?

For me, I think it's called GRATITUDE. And I am so grateful to all our family and friends, old and new, for their continuing love and support while on our journey.

Holi- The Festival Of Colour

Holi, named after the goddess Holika, is a very popular spring festival that marks the end of Winter and the coming of Spring. The festival is usually celebrated in North India and can last for a few days. During Holi people burn an image of Holike as a symbol that the good has defeated evil. After the bonfires comes the throwing of colour. People throw colored powder and water over friends and passerby's.

It's a very happy festival and we were thrilled to be caught up in the celebrations on a trip to Parry's Corner on Monday. While trying to keep our distance and take some photo's we were spotted by a group of boys who happily posed for us and then started to wipe powder on our faces. Not to be afraid of some excitement we enjoyed feeling a part of their festivities. Wiping the color off was the problem. Thank heavens for sanitizing hand wipes in my bag. They remove anything.

Milk

I have finally succumbed to buying milk in these little 250ml bags.

We always bought it for Margaret to make Tea with, but just the thought of where it may have come from and was enough to put me off drinking it. Possibly because there are so many water buffalo's around and the fact that the cow population grazes all day on plastic and garbage you never really know what you could be drinking. It costs about Rs12 a bag 28 cents Aud.

A couple of months ago we ran out of our Nestle Long life box milk and I was desperate for a coffee so I thought I would give it a go. And it was nice, really nice. I am a milk LOVER, and drinking long life milk for the last 18 months has been a killer. So now everyday we buy these little bags of milk and then we put it on the stove and boil it, and boil it, and boil it. You know what boiling milk is like, if you take your eye off it for a second and it has boiled over and made a huge mess on the stove top, wasting half of it.

So with my new adventurous spirit I have now even been making my our Yoghurt and Ricotta from my little bags of milk. It always surprises me what you can do when you want something badly enough.

Disney Land Wannabe....

We are trying to plan our last R&R at the moment, it has been the grand plan all along to take the kids to

"The Happiest Place On Earth"

aka, Disney Land. Looking into airfares, accommodation etc, we have found that the big trip to the States is going to have to wait. It has blown the budget big time.

So what to do?

Driving up north in Chennai yesterday we came across Chennai's version of Disney Land. Lots of fun rides (don't know how safe they would be) wild life (the homeless street dogs) and just what you need at the end of a long hot day scaring yourself silly, a lovey polluted river to cool off in.

Certainly not my idea of 'The Happiest Place On Earth"

My Amazing Granny

On Sunday my Amazing Granny celebrated her 96th Birthday.

Here she is sitting down with my sister Kerrie at her Birthday tea. Mum had been busy baking some of Granny's fav's, Pavlova and Ginger Fluff. Mum had taken home a cute Lotus Flower candle from their trip to India which was a bit of fun. Granny has always been a fabulous baker and all my life I remember her baking up a storm to supply us with her home made cakes and sponges. I only hope one day I will be able to bake a sponge like her.

We are so proud to call her our Granny.

Granny, Kerrie and Jordan.

Dad took this photo of us on his computer all the way from India singing her a Happy Birthday on Skype.

Still in our PJ's as it was early Sunday morning here.

Aren't we lucky to have Skye to keep in touch with our family and friends. I certainly has made living here much easier.