Sunday, June 3, 2007

Hi Everyone--
It has been a really busy week with Craig here. Somehow he has heard that there are lots of fun (pampering) type things to do here and we have been working on them all week. Doug and Craig got in late (3 a.m.) Sunday night/Monday morning. They had plenty of travel weariness since they hadn't slept in 36 hours. Monday we went to the fruit and vegetable market and the grocery store. Craig got some great pictures of the market. If they are not in this batch, we will send them next week or the week after. Then we went to a "family" Indian restraunt. We had marsala dosa (which is fried potatoes and onions in a very thin bread type shell. They were very good and very cheap (35 rupees each).

Tuesday Craig decided he needed a shave, so the driver took us to a place that shaves men. Luckily, it wasn't the usual one I see on the bridge -- where the kid sits cross-legged and the guy sits in front of him cross-legged and the kid shaves him. This is like a bona fide men's shaving and hair parlor. I wasn't sure why I was there -- it seemed to me to be more of a dad/son bonding experience rather than a mom/son bonding experience. Craig did take Doug back on Saturday and they got shaves and head massages. So spoiled!

Craig and I also went to a tailor's and he picked out some fabric for a suit. They measured him completely, and the suit is supposed to be done this Wednesday, when we will go pick it up. I hope it looks alright and fits good. The cost -- 4100 Rupees, about $100. You know Craig has always loved suits ever since he was a little kid (about 12-18 months) and we had a suit for him for Sundays.

I got the rest of my curtains on Friday and we got them hung up. They look very nice with the rest of the room. Then on Saturday, Doug and Craig were going to get their shaves, and they saw a guy with a cart of rugs rolled up and he brought them to the house. We looked at all the rugs and brought a couple inside to see if they would match. We did find one but the guy wanted 12,000 rupees for it. No way! I wasn't going to pay more than 6,000 and that was very generous. We stalled until the driver came and we asked him about price. I stood firm at 6,000 and we ended up getting it. When Doug went out with the driver, the driver said, "not more than 4,000." Oh well, $150 for a 5x7 rug isn't bad -- it's just US prices.

Saturday we also decided to find an elephant to ride. The driver took us to one here in the neighborhood. He negotiated the ride with us -- 4 of us for 800 rupees (which is very expensive!) but he told us it would be a long ride. So the experience was just so funny!

The elephant handler got the elephant to kneel down, then he curled her tail into a loop where we stepped to go up the backside of the elephant. So Craig went first and put himself in the metal seating cage. Then Hannah scrambled up all by herself. Then I went up -- by then there was no room in the seating area. Then Doug came up and we thought we were going to die because the seating place kept slipping and we couldn't get it balanced. So by now we had attracted a crowd and they were all laughing and smiling because we were so ridiculous. There were people taking pictures and having a good time. So then we started down the road. Lots of kids came out to see us and people stopped their scooters to take pictures with their cell phones. We just laughed and laughed because we were so uncomfortable and precarious sitting up on the elephant. We had to duck a couple times because of wires crossing the road up that high. When we got back, we climbed back down the same way. Doug gave the elephant the money in her trunk and she took it right over her head and gave it to the handler. It was so funny!

Not to be outdone by that, we asked our driver to take us to a camel to ride next. He went down one street and then another and found the camel. This time only Craig and Hannah got to ride. Be sure to notice the bells on the camel's knees! Camels go much faster than elephants, and they were quickly down the street. Luckily, our driver kept up with them and went with them all the way and back. Doug got some cute pictures.

So then, there is a much more widely accepted mode of transportation in Pune -- the rickshaw. Craig hadn't been in one before, so we got a rickshaw and the driver told the other driver where we lived, and off they went. A rickshaw is a 3-wheeled covered motor bike. They don't go very fast and they don't have any right-of-way on the road, but they can get around traffic jams very easily. So that was our transportation experience for the weekend. We hope you like the pictures and they make you smile!

We went to church today in Mumbai. It took 2 hours to get there and 2 1/2 hours to get home because the traffic was much worse. It feels good to be home today. We started having rain showers last week, but everyone tells us that this is not monsoon yet -- only showers. Monsoon is supposed to start this next week. We are wondering whether we will be able to tell the difference between showers and monsoon. We will let you know if we can. The skylights are not caulked and fixed yet, but they do have blue tarps over them. Those are supposed to be fixed before the monsoon comes. Again, we'll keep you posted on that!

This seems like a huge letter! I hope it hasn't been too boring. We love you and miss you all! We are working again on our vacation plans for July and will let you know soon the dates we will be at each place. We hope you will be there!

Love, Mom