Sharing Sufferings: Hardships in India--Part 2

Part 2--continued from yesterday's post

Never Ever Fitting In

One of my dear friends that has lived in South Asia longer than me, that has more national friends than me, that speaks better Hindi than me, that doesn't have as many home/child demands (at least not yet) as me, whose children go to an Indian school, and such...will still say even as all of those things that possibly help in making friends and having relationships, the truth is....we will still be outsiders.  And, that is hard to think that all the time we live here, all the investments, all the language learning, the moving of our lives and families to give them to this place, all these hardships we endure....that we will still, always be an outsider....that's a hard thought!  Just to clarify--Being an outsider is different from being a friend or having a good relationship.  I do believe those are very doable.

Beggars

It's hard to see poverty all around you all the time....and it's even sadder when you find yourself getting used to it and less and less phased by it.  It's hard to be in an auto rickshaw and have little dirty and dusty little scarred and marred hands tapping your leg and asking for money--even the smallest amount so they can have "bread to eat."  That is just heartbreaking.  It's hard when your own children out of compassion want to give and give to them, but they don't understand how sometimes that very giving could just hurt those kids and other kids and the "circle" of this even more.  It's sad to not know what to do to help them...and to feel helpless and like you have no heart at all because sometimes you do nothing.  Ugh!  It's hard when you try to do something like buy them some bananas and they pridefully say, no I don't want that, I want papaya or chocolate.  Or when your kids intentionally plan and save uneaten, good food from McDonald's because they really want to give it to them, and then the older, bigger kids swarm and hit the one--the specific one--your kids were wanting to give to and take it away and eat it.  It's also sweet when you figure out little things you can do and you get a chance to know some of these kids because you see them "working" in the same spot and can chat with them and give them food or little pieces of candy or little toys.

Bribes

People asking for bribes.  Figuring out when it's a bribe or when it is and "expedition fee" that you should give because that is the way it is done in this culture.  Or wondering if people are just always asking for extra money from you because they assume or expect that you are rich and wealthy because of your white skin (AKA the "skin tax") when you are not.  It's hard to feel like you have to judge motives and try to discern what is right all the while wanting to be compassionate and generous and help those in need.  It's hard to know when you fight over that $0.25 or $0.10 (ridiculous and absurd to fight over, I know) to make a point or just get over it because it is just $1.  Feeling torn in these situations gets so old and hard and you have to fight the temptation or tendency (or maybe both) to just not do anything or labor in thought about what you can and should do.

Eunuchs

It's hard when the Eunuchs come and knock and bang and play their drum yelling on your windows asking for money because you have a new child...and they undress themselves to show you that they are, in fact, Eunuchs.  

Human Life--Unvalued (especially baby girls) & a Double Standard

When someone you know tells you that they do not eat eggs because they (like most Hindus) believe that it is "a baby" (exactly the said word, translated to English), but yet, you know that she aborted a precious baby from her own womb.....and it's even more sad because I also know that she regrets that and hates that and lives with that choice every. single. day of her life.  Deep sadness and sorrow.

Traffic

Traffic...it is an incredible thing to behold...to see...to be a part of as a passenger....to be part of as a driver.  Traffic in India.  It is incredibly mind blowing and it is incredibly hard.  I remember growing up asking my mom to take me for a ride.  I LOVED riding in the car.  I loved going out in the country on long winding roads looking at the fields, pretty trees, rivers, houses....all of it.  But, so far, there has been NO road that I have been on in India that I have enjoyed!  If they are in the city, they are crowded and horns honking and little bumps going on and swerving and cutting others off and throwing the hands up to gesture at people.  And, if you are out in the beautiful, beautiful (and we have lots of it in our state) areas that are outside of the busy cities...usually the roads aren't kept up and it's bumpy and rocky and still there are lots people there too (see below) or a taxi or large truck comes flying right at you and passing you within an inch, scaring you to death, because the road was wide open for them!!!

CROWDS

There are just A LOT of people in India.  Everywhere you are...a lot of people.  Even in the spacious, empty places...lots of people!  I've definitely have gotten used to this.  I hear when you go back to America, the kids often wonder where all the people are!

Hitting a Child (with a car)

This is actually more personal to Gray--he hit a child that ran out into the road as he was driving by.  Now, don't you start judging (you Westerners, because I'm sure if you live in India you likely understand this situation).  He was going along on his way to work in another city on one of those more empty roads.  A man was working out in a field and had his child with him (like many laborers--especially the poor in villages--do).  The child was probably about 7 years old.  Gray was going along pretty fast and noticing the child was there, he did slow down.  And, when he noticed the child was running out, he slammed on his brakes.  By the time he hit the child the car wasn't fast at all, and it only bumped him in the ditch.  So, it wasn't that bad at all....but still......

Now, you have to know that in India when an accident such as this happens, usually the offender flees and flees as fast as possible....because, well, the ramifications are not a ticket or court or such (though that may happen at times).  The village (or people around/involved) is coming out to drag you out of the car and maybe beat you to death or at least shake you up.  I've lived in India long enough to know how this works, so it was a little bit of a hardship for me as well to hear this news and wonder what in the world would happen.  I was praying and praying and praying and not letting my kids know and still trying to do school.

So, when I say Gray stopped and got out and went to the child, most of you readers are thinking....well yeah...that's the right thing to do.....but in India, this is a BIG deal (you could lose your life for it).  He was quite shaken up from it obviously then, and a little longer too.  Anyway, he took the dad and the kid (who was doing very well, just crying so much) to the hospital.  It's an INCREDIBLE story, but for now, I'll just highlight a few things...on the way to the first hospital, the dad just kept saying words of blessing to Gray because he (the dad) was so glad Gray--the one that hit his kid--was helping him and that he didn't leave.  Then, after going to 3 different hospitals because of 1. to leave the village before the others heard about it and came.  2.  to get better care.  3.  to go where our friends could help out.  The man that was chasing Gray on the motorcycle the whole time (from the village), still wanting justice and thinking he was fleeing, upon finding out that Gray was NOT fleeing and was helping was so apologetic (which is a big deal) and wanted to have chai with him.  I think this is actually a neat story, you should ask to hear the whole thing in person sometime.  With my limitations because of the internet, I'll leave it as a hardship, because it was a crazy, scary day because of how things work here.  Although, I can truly say in the end it was a sweet story of God.

Traveling Husband
He's away all week right now!  It's hard when he's away for long times.  Hard to wonder how he is--his traveling mercies, out and about on the roads of India, and honestly hard that it's me 24-7 without him at all.  

Cooking Everything from Scratch

I know that from scratch is good, and many people are getting back to this.  I think I'm a more "convenient" type cook.  I like easy, fast, so I can spend more time on other things that I value more than food.  I've come a long way.  I learned how to cook a lot from scratch when I lived in Europe before...and even when I went to the US, there were quite a few differences in my cooking....like only making pancakes from scratch, not buying salsa in a jar again, never buying can mushrooms again, and making brownies from scratch....just to name my big ones I remember from that time.  I've had to make even more changes....like soaking and cooking beans, making yogurt from scratch--though we have long gone back to buying it--we just had to find where to get it from and knowing some tricks to make it better, having to use fresh tomatoes for any and EVERYTHING with tomatoes (which I actually love, but I imagine I will love buying some good ole cans of diced tomatoes), rotel, my own dough for "crescent roll" things and "homemade hot pockets," cinnamon rolls from scratch, pizza dough from scratch, tortillas from scratch, trying to make liquid coffee creamer (one day I may go black because I think I'm ridiculous with my coffee), peeling my broccoli stalks for soup, BBQ sauce, cream of chicken and mushroom soups....you get the idea!  I already know I will not make cinnamon rolls from scratch.  I will not make tortillas from scratch (as good as they are--TOO much time), I cannot wait for those popping cans of the biscuits you can peel--even though I love my homemade biscuits...my stepmom got me hooked on those peeling biscuits--love them!  I can't wait to have some divine liquid coffee creamer.  I have come to see that from scratch isn't always hard...it just takes planning (I'm a P--not a J--for those of you familiar with Myers Briggs) and a little time--didn't I write about things taking more time already???!!!!

Being a Woman in a Man's Society

This is a hard one to even try to explain the depths, and the crazy thing is that because of another hard thing--being an outsider--I'm blessed that I do not even know the depths of how hard it is to be a woman in India.  But, after living here 3 years...I know enough to know it is HARD.

Saying Good-bye too Many Times

This just never gets easy.  And, even though we are JOYFUL to come to the US in just a couple of weeks, it's going to be hard to say these short-term good-byes.

No End in Sight
It's different to live overseas for one year, or two years and know you're returning to familiar, your home culture, your family and there is an end in sight.  It's a whole different ballgame when you commit and sign up for "until God leads us otherwise."  That is hard and adds an unexplainable twist to all of the said other hardships.  They are harder when they aren't temporary.  They are harder when you know that day after day, this is life...the norm.  They are harder when you know you've "chosen" this for your kids' childhood (actually not you, but God, I'd say).  This fact, this hardship, brings about more stress and intensifies things just a bit.  

This, of course, is not an exhaustive list (Others that just don't come to mind this week.  Others that I'm not at liberty to share on the internet--like our work or friends' stories that are hard that we work with.)....just a running one to give you some idea and to share these hardships, sharing life!  I will NOT leave it at this.  I look very forward to looking at the flip side of the coin and highlighting the good in some (not all ;) of these very things.....in another post!

Sharing Sufferings: Hardships in India--Part 1

In my last post, I started talking about how I haven't been in touch well and how I haven't shared some of the "culture pains."  Instead of possibly trying to answer future questions of what things have been like, I thought I'd try to start sharing some of these things on the blog.  First up, here are some of the hardships we've faced the past 3 years.


It would not be a true Brandy Gainor post if I didn't give a disclaimer and explain myself just a bit....
(smile...don't roll your eyes ;)

1.  Though these hardships are meant to be reflective on our lives as living as expats in India, some of these things are India specific and some are not.  I imagine that some of you deal with these things as well no matter where you are--all over the world.  I'm not going to categorize any of them.

2.  Some of these hardships are also our greatest blessings.  So, when I call them hard, I'm not necessarily saying horrible or even bad.  Some might be good...but hard!  To explain what I mean--one hardship for me has been that every. single. day of this 3 year term I have been either breastfeeding or pregnant or both.  For 3 years straight--I'm assuming here that Wint will continue to nurse until we arrive in the US just in a few weeks.  That is a blessing, a very good thing.  I'm so thankful God has blessed me with 2 great pregnancies and even more--2 precious baby boys these last 3 years and that I have been able to nurse them both.  Both are GIFTS--undeserved blessings--and good things, but it has been hard to do language, culture, homeschooling, life (no matter where you are), "work," relationships, time with the Lord--all of that these 3 years while pregnant and/or nursing.  Anyway, I'm not going to explain all of these and label them as good or bad....I'm labeling them as hard.  Some may be good, some may be bad, some may be both!

3.  I'm calling them hardships instead of suffering because I don't feel like we've really suffered.  They have been trials, which I also believe can be good and bad or both.  Things have been hard, but because of my personality and my desire to see the Lord work in my life and evidences of His grace and goodness, I try to see the good and can always think about others who have much more difficult circumstances and true sufferings in life.  I can always think of the Word and the Gospel, and God has been good to allow me to see the good in most of these things and to praise Him and enjoy this incredible journey.  What a blessing!!!!  I know this isn't the case always, so I see this as an amazing grace from Him.  So, I'm not saying look how bad, how hard, because I know SO many others that have had it much harder and truly suffered in other circumstances or difficulties they have had (in life in general or in life overseas)....and because some of this is good!

4.  It's long...so I've divided into 2 parts.

Finally, without further ado...here are some of our hardships...in no particular order:

Tropical Sprue
Though I said these were in no order, this obviously, almost always comes first in my mind.  Parks having stomach issues that consistently brought diarrhea, whininess, no appetite, and hardships to our lives for almost a year and a half was one of the hardest things to deal with.  Doctor visits, extra travel, interrupting school and life, not being able to get proper or adequate medical treatment or diagnosis (for a while), lots of diapers and medicines and expensive calories trying to get him to gain weight, multiple blood drawings from a 1-2 year old, procedures that us adults would even despise, fear of infections or complications with anesthesia, fearing the worst, etc...  And, in talking to adults that I know that have had this...it is miserable.  How sad for our baby boy!!!  This has been the hardest one for me--watching my baby go through something that I knew...FOR SURE...we would NOT be dealing with if we did not live in India!  Though I'm not going to label them all India specific or not, I do know that this Tropical Sprue is very specific to our geographical location, and if we lived in the US, he would've never had it!  That, sometimes, was hard to swallow and just made me so sad!

Missing the Presence of our Family and Friends
I've already said that I don't communicate and talk with my family and friends as much as I'd like because of the time difference (so 2 hardships right there).  But, even greater than those 2 hardships, is not seeing and spending time with our family and friends. Being in their presence!!!  Quality Time with them. Not hugging their necks and watching them love on and spoil their grandchildren.  Not spending special meals and holidays together.  Knowing my mom spends so many days alone when we could be hanging out with her.  Not going to special events like when my niece graduated from high school or another played golf in state championship or my nephew competed in the High School State Championship Football Game.  Not being there for the birth of our niece or nephews.  Not celebrating my grandfather's 85th birthday party.  Not going to my grandmother's funeral or Gray's grandfather's funeral.  I'm thankful Gray's parents have been able to visit us 2 times and see our lives over here, but it has been 3 years without seeing my parents and family.  That is hard!

Isolation/left out on the play ground
At first we were novelty--Americans living in our neighborhood, but as that wore off, we (especially our kids) became the outsiders.  Though I love that we do not get all these special treatments that are fun and annoying--it makes us feel a little more normal around here.  But, it can be hard to watch my kids get bullied, mocked in another language, or left out because they are different.  This is NOT that big of a deal because now, finally, the majority of the time, their playing and interactions with friends are so good and awesome, and better than that, we're seeing where Sarala is learning to handle the hard things very well and respond well.  That is grace and growth in her life we are so thankful for!  We have come a long way in this, but there was definitely a time of great struggle.  This one gets better and better!  She LOVES her friends dearly now, and it's fun to watch friendships bloom.

Language, language, language
Enough said!

Playing Cops and Robbers
My husband, in dealing with some things that happened in which the police had to get involved, spent some days and nights out with the police, doing investigation, watching security films, and on a stake out ready to drive the vehicle to chase someone or going from place to place thinking said person might be caught.  I was NOT happy about this and could NOT believe how this was working.  But, this is just the way it is done here at least in this case.  The cops are "helping you out" and doing you a service, so it's right that you were there working along with them.  Um, yeah, this is QUITE different from how our judicial system in the US works, huh!!!  What a learning experience!

A Friend Stealing
A sweet lady that was in our lives almost everyday was caught trying to take some very, very small things from us.  Things we would have very freely given.  But, still, it's the act of the stealing by a friend that gets you--the violation of trust, not necessarily the item or monetary amount that goes along with it.

Delivering babies in a different Culture
My first delivery, though good and fine was hard--all the differences that I will not mention on the internet.  My second delivery was great (especially after having experienced one delivery here)!  But, my fear and anxiety and selfishness of not wanting it in India made it hard!  I'm know--it doesn't help that I had other deliveries to compare it to.

Worms, Staph, Stomach "Issues," and More
These are some "medical conditions" that I don't like to talk of because I think they are gross, but they are part of life here, and we deal with them on a normal basis.  It is just part of life.

Lack of Time Efficiency
Everything takes longer!  And, because of that...I don't have the time to write about what all these "every things" are....I'm given my extra time that could be given to this blogpost to doing all of these said "every things."  ;)

Extra Everyday Tasks 
Much like the above every things, but a little different--filling water bottles, hanging clothes to dry, dusting more, waiting on water because you have run out and called the truck hours ago or a day or two ago, giving water the all the workers that come by.

Power Outages
Our electricity is REALLY good in our city--especially compared to places like where we lived our first year, Nepal, villages, and some smaller cities.  I am VERY quick to recognize we have good power.  But, we still deal with power outages that happen often...that interrupt the washing of clothes, the possession of hot water, the meal baking in the over, the a/c on at night, the fans on during the hot, the lights (and nitelites that help with fear) that are needed, the coffee making in the coffee pot, etc, etc.

Wearing Different Clothes
I don't like to wear suits (a kurta--which is a longer tunic-like shirt with specific pants and a long scarf), which is actually the norm and expected garb for married women (if, in fact, you aren't wearing a sari).  Even worse, I don't even like to wear kurtas (above said shirt that can be worn alone with your jeans or pants of choice).  But, I do when I need to, and it's fine.  I've learned more and more of when to wear them, what kind I like to wear, etc.  I just don't like it.  But, it's not about me and my rights.  ;)

Lack of Hot Water
Many of you have kept up with this blog enough to know I love hot water.  I miss having uninterrupted (because you have to turn the water off so it might could heat up a little more and last a little longer--plus, we don't have a good water supply), long (as in more than 10 minutes of our 25 liters (about 6 gallons of hot water--which is an upgrade to our previous 10 liters--that is 2.5 gallons for those of you not terribly familiar with the metric system) hot showers.  I miss washing my dishes with hot water--there is no source of hot water in my kitchen unless I heat it on the stove.

Lack of Friends--A Kind of Loneliness
I am an extrovert!  I love people!  I love being with people and having some deep, good conversations. I love to share life with others!  Because of being an outsider, even when I do have conversations, it's hard to go deep and good.  Because of my limited Hindi, my conversation reaches a point and then stops.  Because I've chosen to homeschool, a lot of my day that I might be spending with others is given to being in my home and to my kids (which I love and want to do...but sometimes saying yes to a good thing means saying no to a different or other good thing--this is our choice, I know.  It's hard, but I still chose it and prefer it.).  Because many times my husband (who is quite the introvert) often comes home from traveling for days or all day work and lots of conversations that drain him and he needs just us at home, we don't have others over like we would like to.  Because many days, I am just absolutely spent and exhausted from being a mom to my 5 young kids that I can't even think about hosting someone with a big meal or in a different language or going out to speak and engage.  Now, sometimes, we just do keep going and keep giving and inviting and immersing ourselves and it is SO worth it!  Hear that!!!!!  But, we also don't want to get burned out because we're not allowing for any downtime or we're feeling bad for protecting family time or we don't allow ourselves to just say no.  It is a hard thing to find balance when this is a busy, busy life!!!!  I'm SURE many of you can identify with all the things you'd love to be doing or people you'd love to be inviting or good things you just wish you weren't missing out on.  Also, I'm not terribly lonely.....I'm thankful to have some dear American friends that fill up my friendship tank and that I love and can go deep with and be challenged by--they are amazing!!!  I just long to have some good Indian friends to do the same with.  And, you can definitely be praying that for me!  I am hopeful that as I'm getting out of the little bity baby fog, the initial learning of culture and language lifestyle, the getting used to homeschooling that when we come back to India it will be different and I can give more time and energies into focusing on making friends. It takes time to make new friends!!!!  Often you don't realize this and we can take it for granted until we move to a new place where there is NO history, NO time passed of getting to know someone, NO connections, NO common bond and you have to start from scratch and work to make it happen.  It is a work....not a natural thing!

More to come tomorrow!

Some Extra Time in Bangkok

 

We ended up being in Thailand for 3 weeks as we were finding out what was wrong with Parks.  Even tonight when he was eating Okra and asking for more food, I was reminded to be thankful to have a diagnosis and get my baby some help!  He's been on medicine for a month and a half now--halfway through his course, and he is doing well!  We are so thankful!

Speaking of being Thankful...we were in Thailand on Thanksgiving and came home the day after.  

It was different and very non-traditional, but very good as well.  Here we are on Thanksgiving Day! 

 I couldn't resist posting all 3 of these pictures.  

With our kids ages and 5 of them, we often take numerous shots!  

Check out Jackson's face above, Parks in this middle one and Wint going after Sam below.  

Love it!!!

Our first week was crazy with so many doctor appointments, 

but then things slowed as we waited for the procedure, the results, the decisions and a little more tests.  

So, in that down time, we did do some fun things!

We LOVE the cheap, cheap, incredible, and awesome fresh smoothies all over.

It's often our kids' meal when we choose Thai food--which is a little spicy for the kids--at least what we like. 

 The aquarium!!!!  Ahhh!!!  Sharks!!!  Awesome!!!!

Loved looking at their teeth--they came SO close to us!!! 

 Sillies!  They pose ans ask for pictures!

 Perhaps some of the most fun was right in the house where we were staying.  

It was hot and tropical and humid.  

There were so many big awesome plants, hiding places, "houses and forts," playground, and creatures!!!!

Jackson usually had 2 frogs in his hands...and they were so big (the legs hanging off both sides of his palms)!

You have to hear them croak!!!  Such a different frog croak!

This is a tuk tuk.  Kind of like a little taxi that you ride in.  The kids LOVE them.  This one is at the aquarium, but when where using them, there is definitely no time for pictures!  Our family of 7 sat pretty comfortably in the back.  

Big boy growing so fast.  He loves just going along for the ride!  Especially if his mama is there!

He's a mama's boy for now, but I'm enjoying that because I don't know how long it'll last! 

Sweet boy chowed down on some burgers...and we did too!

 I know this is such a bad picture!!!  Sorry.

Do you see that thing?  It's a monitor lizard.  They can be HUGE!  

I'd say that one is probably an average size of what we saw. 

And they just hang out in so many places!

Right when we arrived in BKK, we went straight to our place to drop our stuff off so we could head to the hospital for an appointment right away.  While Gray was paying for our taxi and unloading, the big 3 were already checking the grounds out.  There was a moat RIGHT beside the place where we were staying!  Heart attack for me!  Side note--One of my biggest parent fears is my kids drowning and I can be nervous and uptight around water with the little ones and the boys that are just crazy wild!  Anyway, they ran to the moat--Sarala, Jack, and Sam.  I'm wrangling the little two, and I hear these kind of things..."Look at that frog swimming--it's huge."  "Oh, actually it's a snake--see it's long body."  So, I ran over there...not even knowing they were looking at a moat--for all I would've known, they could've been swimming in it.  They do know better, and there was a fence...in this spot.  Anyway, I saw it too!  Then it crawled out of the water to a hole in the barrier on the other side.  I thought it was a crocodile or something.  It was that big--right there.  After some research, we found out it was a monitor lizard.  The above picture was taken at a park Gray took the big kids to one day.  He said they were everywhere all over the place, and not too afraid of you either.  Creatures are so fun for our kids, especially Jackson!

 All of these pictures are taken at a big market where you can get ANYTHING!

Including pets and all kinds of wild animals.  We went to check the animals out!

That bird...right there...our kids were petting it!

I thought Sam was going to try for a blue feather!

Now this....this.....

These are not pets...or pet food....

These are snacks, just for you....and they were crawling!!!

Only for 20 baht!!!  Yum! 

These on the left are grub worms.  

Saw this vendor on our street walking home one night. 

Those are fried locusts...I'm sure with a little seasoning! 

More locusts! 

You can't tell here, but I'm showing the kids the fried baby frogs!  Yes!  Ahhhhh! 

And, there were ladies from the salon in line for this stuff!!!

He had a wheeled cart going by...kind of like the ice cream man???!!!! 

Ikea and the mall!  So incredible.  So awesome!  Fun!!!

We spent our last couple of days there! 

This was a little sign a lady made for our door...baby sleeping, come back later!

I thought the sign was so cute!!!

Sunday Market

We love the Sunday Market...and I guess it's rubbed off on Sarala. Saturday night, after that long day at the zoo and dinner and visiting with a friend, we had put the kids to bed. After a little while, Sarala came out saying she wanted to pull her tooth. She knew that we'd be going to the Sunday market, and she wanted to get $ from the tooth fairy to spend at the market. She thinks through so many things when making decisions and purchases. It's funny. I see little bits of me in her when she does that.

Being silly after church.

They begged me to take a picture...so there you go.

Now...the Sunday market. We had 2 Sundays there, but the second one, we were fighting the rain. Doesn't usually rain this time of the year, but maybe it was some of those storms starting to blow in. There is some shopping there, but we especially LOVE the food. Here's our first Sunday in pictures.

Pancakes.

The boys got sausages rolled up in pancakes.

Sarala and Parks got a banana rolled up in a pancake and covered in chocolate.

I got sushi...the same vendor as last year. I love this sushi!!!

And, that is my seaweed salad on the side. Never thought I'd be such a fan, but I love it.

I even bought some at the store to have at home too.

I even love these seaweed potato chips.

And, the kids and I brought seaweed strips and ate on them too.

As we walked through all the aisles in grocery stores in Thailand, we imagined that Thai people went to America, they would wonder where all the seaweed stuff was. And why is there such a small section of Ramen noodles. Or, where are all the other noodles and all of the seafood and other spices. We are quite used to missing certain foods from the US. It's kind of what we think when we walk through the aisles and wish there were more choices of cereal. More meat. More snack foods. Flavored yogurt. Cheese. I'll stop now. ;)

Anyway, back to the market.

Sarala and Parks were supposed to be sharing this banana roll,

but after just a few minutes both of them were almost done before we could pass it over to the boys.

Gray loves the huge sausage.

Doesn't it taste better when you wear it!

Quail eggs...yes, maybe they wonder where the different kinds of eggs are too.

Sarala eats at least 2 of these in one night...usually 3 or 4. She loves them.

And then we got fresh fruit juices. Oh yum! These are at some other markets too, so we had these many different nights we were out and about at markets.

My fav...strawberry lime. I think I'm going to start making more at home!

Culture in Pictures

Gray's mom snaps away when she's here. Here are some of her good shots of things out and about. Some of them are good pictures! Some of them aren't the best quality because she might've snapped them while riding down the road or quickly. However, I still think they are good, and I chose these because they show some culture of India and beauty and differences all around. Here are my favorite 5...and then there are more in an album.

Cute, young chai walla

Fun smiles and cute faces

Religious man

Pigs rolling in the mud--taken from our upstairs porch

Begging lady

Lady herding the cow

And for some videos

Worship on Sunday--singing

Notice the kids on the left laying in the floor. Cute, I think.

Count how many people get out of this Tata Magic Vehicle...awesome!

You can pack some peeps in a vehicle in India!

ladies walking down the street--wedding

Also, a friend of mine wrote a post on culture and is going to start sharing about what it's like. So, for those of you that might want to learn more about Indian culture, check out her blog.

Mandu....Again.

Thanksgiving weekend, we went to check out some fun forts. We loved the walking around and seeing such an incredible work that we knew we wanted to take Gray's parents to visit this place. Here are a few more pictures to add to our collection from last time.

This one is my fav!

Last time I had my prego belly and this time we have a new little boy. Another pic of us as 7.