the calm

Everyone has left now, the calm has come! I'm enjoying the different style of company and interaction with aunt jyotsna. She's able to relax now and hang out with us more, less time in the kitchen. She even played carrom with us tonight, and did quite well!

expectations

Today, actually yesterday, was a good day! I went to Beeby Ka Mukhbarra (mini taj mahal) that's a rickshaw ride away from the church with Vaibhav, Hursha, and Kshitija. We went in the morning while Jeevan and Vipul were at school :). Afterwards we sat at a shop nearby and had some soda and snacks while laughing at a guy that had movie producer posters up in the shop and was wearing all white with a huge mullet. Wish i would've taken a picture!

Came back for another wonderful meal, i think Aunt Jyotsna is in the kitchen almost all day hard at work. I read my book while the others took naps, Uncle Baru and I played carom somewhere in there too. After the kids got back from school , Vaibhav, Hursha, Kshitija, and I took them to Cididad Gardens (the zoo). It got dark pretty quick but we still had fun. Enjoyed some ice cream afterwards.

Later that evening we celebrated Apictcha's birthday. She's the daughter of the grounds keepers. They have 2 sons also. Her name means expectations, they had already had 2 sons and were expecting a daughter, it turned out to be a girl so she met their expectations and was named after that. She turned 10.

That's all for today! Vinay Kaka gets back from his pastors meeting tomorrow, he's been gone for a few days. So after that we might have some day trips planned.

Oh, and i'm uploading more pictures now, so be sure to check those out!

the market

Just got back from the market with Vaibhav and Ajoba. It was good to get out in the mix of things. The sounds of horns and the random smells are good. Ajoba says I have the same laugh as my mom, hah! I like the small outings that I get to go on now that the cousins are older, seems more like normal life.

Day 4

I think its day 4 of this trip. Today we were supposed to go to dualtabad fort, but it turned out we weren't ready early enough so we didn't go. The day consisted of a lot of chess and carom since it was hotter than the other days, which probably means it was ok that we didn't go to the fort since it involves lots of walking. Vaibhav and I took a trip to panchaki, not sure exactly what it is, but it involves a water powered grinder and a mosque that's a few centuries old, and has a lot of little shops setup around the pool of water. Was able to find some cool buys. On the way back we sat and had some Pepsi, yummy. The rest of the day involved eating. I think hursha and kshitja leave tomorrow, that will be sad! I'm going to have to start being more aggressive about getting out to do things or I think I will start to get stir crazy soon. Good night!

pictures!

pictures have been uploaded! click the photo album link at the top. lot's of these are thanks to Vaibhav (pronounced waybo), he likes to take pictures :)

Sunday!

The day started early, around 730 or 8 to have breakfast befor church. There we're supposed to be big festivities today but they were canceled because a church member died during child birth last week. Church lasted for about 2.5 hours, of which I understood the word amen, and other random English words that were mixed in, but very little. After that the cousins teased me that they had trouble staying awake usually, and how it must be even worse not understanding anthing! Did lots of meet and greet and lots of kisses on the cheeks from old ladies I don't know. Oh, and before that dads cousins showed up unexpected to suprise ajoba(grandpa) and that was fun. They stayed for lunch which was gigantic and the trying to get you to keep eating never stopped! Food is great though, they keep trying to make seperate curries that aren't as spicy for me, I finally convinced them that I didn't think the spicy version was very spicy and am now eating that. Then LOTS of pictures were taken of everyone. Which was followed by a good afternoon nap. Cards, carrom, badminton, and ice cream followed.

Oh and almost forgot! Me, kshitja, Rachel, and jeevan all rode a camel! They were selling rides on the street for 5 rupees each, which is 10 cents. Ill upload the pictures as soon as I can! Goodnight!

going to sleep

Laying down for bed now. Had a great first day! Had a couple naps today, a few meals, played some badminton out front with hursha, kshitija, vipul, and jeevan, they are all so big now! Except hursha, kshitja is even bigger than her now! The girls took me down to the market in a rickshaw around 7 so they could pick up a birthday card for ajoba, we also sat and had some chocolate mousse, but that's a secret! Somewhere in there we played carrom and uno too. The only downside is everyone speaking a different language than me when we're all just sitting around. Well that's my update, goodnight!!