February 29, 2012

How often do I get to write a blog post on February 29?! I love leap year!! There was a woman in the Dutch newspaper who just turned 25, or 100 since she was born on Feb 29. So neat!!

Here are some more pics:

One of the temples in Hyderabad

Mikey's birthday celebration

During Mikey's birthday celebration we all of a sudden saw some feet hanging down the window, it really cracked us up :)

Mikey chose his pediasure over his delicious cakes from The Westin

February 19, 2012

Okay, finally as promised, some pictures of our apartment!!! We are slowly settling in. I can't believe how much stuff you need besides the basics as furniture. Such as drapes, towels, sheets, silverware, glasses, knifes, little things as rope, tape, etc. I can't find nails to put up the elephant murals I bought. But we are getting there :)

Here are some pictures of our living room/dining room; kitchen (our fridge doesn't fit in the kitchen); master bedroom; guest bedroom; Mikey's room; balcony...

After the balcony picture, there is a picture of a little tent village I saw. The contrast between rich and poor is so huge. The economy in Hyderabad is booming, but unfortunately there is no trickle effect. I am still amazed every how day how little people speak English. I guess we are still in a very conservative area of India. Most women wear sarees. I think they look beautiful. There are so many people here that everything seems overcrowded. They are able to squeeze so many people in a bus or tuktuk, that half the people are hanging out on the side. I have seen 5 people on a motorcycle. Most women sit sidesaddle on the back of a motorcycle, and often with a baby in their lap!!!

This week, I had my first road side coconut water. Robert's office manager Shiva and my driver Venkat got one for me. I loved it!!!

This weekend we celebrated Mikey's fifth birthday!! We had a fun lunch with Manjusha and Ravi and their kids. And with Rob's colleagues Steve and Patricia. Pictures will follow later as I dropped my phone in the toilet (luckily a relative clean toilet), but the phone is not working anymore and it had most of my pictures on there :(

February 14, 2012

Our driver Venkat has been so nice! He takes me shopping, he helps me translate, he holds Mikey's hand so he doesn't run away. He's been such a great help. He has 2 children (a 6 year and 4 year old) and we want to meet them sometime so Mikey can play with them. Last week he showed me pictures of the 5 month old baby girl his sister just had. Friday night he told us he spent all night in the ER with his niece. She went home that night. Yesterday things took a turn for the worse! The baby was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and had to be intubated. Unfortunately the baby did not make it. She passed away yesterday. I am so sad! I wish Venkat and his family all the strength they need to carry this horrible loss!

February 8, 2012

We had such a fun weekend! Robert loved driving everywhere. We had no idea where we were going, I thought we were going to end up in Mumbai :)

We actually found a really good Italian restaurant. On Sunday, Rob's colleague Steve arrived from the USA, so Rob dressed Mikey up in his traditional Indian outfit. Everyone loved it!!! There were even more pictures taken of him everywhere!!!

We had a fun brunch at the Westin hotel, Mikey got to enjoy some more time with 'his' tuktuk!

Monday we were able to find a guitar store for Steve. And Robert bought himself a drum, Mikey was sooooo happy when he saw it :)

My Indian Boy :)

Mikey cannot get enough of the Tuktuk!!

I am still not really settled in at home. I don't have a stove yet, so I can't really cook. I haven't really found the 'produce' yet that I like, but I am going to try out a different grocery store today.

The last week, we had a temporary car with a driver who does not speak any English, so I couldn't really go anywhere. The car issue is still not solved, but at least our driver Venkat started yesterday. I can just tell him what I want and he drives me there. He knows the city and he knows where everything is!! And he can translate for me when I need him to :)

Yesterday, Robert didn't know that both drivers were waiting downstairs and Robert had the key of the car. He decided to drive to work himself. About half way to work, he keeps hearing this horn right next to him. Driving in India, it is impossible to drive without hearing any honking so he didn't pay attention to it. After it persisted, he looked up to his right and saw our driver Venkat on his motorcycle WITH the other driver Salim on the back!!!! They chased him since Rob left our apartment building!!! It just cracks me up that Rob was being chased by two of his own drivers and they couldn't keep up with him!!! Today we found out that the car actually belongs to the other driver Salim and Venkat told us that Salim couldn't believe how 'the American' was driving in Hyderabad. He didn't look like a foreigner at all!!! So funny!!!

Mikey went on a little school outing today, hope he's doing fine....

February 3, 2012

I can't believe it's Friday again!!! Exactly a week ago we moved all our suitcases (total of 16 cases) out of the hotel. We needed two cars to get it to our apartment. Then we waited all day for our furniture to arrive. We went to the little grocery store outside our community to buy some basic stuff to clean the house. They finally got here at 4pm and put everything together by 8.30pm. I am so glad we were able to sleep in our comfy hotel one more night. We were exhausted!

Saturday was moving day. Today, a week later we still have not received all our appliances. Two people will deliver a box the size of a milk carton, but then someone else has to come another day to install it. It's becoming quite frustrating, but I guess you have these 'problems' anywhere. Also, I come across most people not speaking English. I really thought that was the first language here, but unfortunately it's either Hindi or Telugu. I guess I will have to learn a new language :)

On Tuesday I hurt my leg and couldn't walk, so we had to send Mikey to school a day early. He has been doing so great!!! He really is adjusting amazingly well!!! On Wednesday I was so sick all day that we ended up in a clinic at night. It turned out I had food poisoning!! I got some medicine through IV, hope it was sterile :)

The total price of the doctor's physical and all the medications: $15. I still don't know how that is possible!!!

So instead of getting settled in the last few days, I spent my days in bed.

Once again, I was so glad Mikey could go to school and stay there until Robert was able to pick him up.

Today I hired a girl to come clean the house every morning. Of course she speaks no English so she brought her sister to translate. We also hired a driver and he should start today. I am excited because he does speak English (we stole him from the hotel where we stayed) and he is really nice with Mikey. Driving really is a skill here in Hyderabad. Robert was brave enough to take us out driving one night and he did really good. Especially considering that there don't seem to be many street rules :) You basically have to claim your territory at all times.

When I go shopping with Mikey, I feel like I'm out with a celebrity. People are still constantly taking pictures of him. So weird. But then again I think the Indian people are so beautiful, I want to take pictures of them all the time as well :)

I will update soon with some more pictures!!