79 Loads of Bedding

Happy first day of school kids.

Sydney in her P.E. kit. So proud.

Three green lights are on, one more to go. When all four lights are shining brightly, that means we have internet. In our very own house. On our very own computer. Pretty dreamy, right? Since the frying of our modem/phone line in April, followed by our phone cord being ripped out of the telephone pole by the bus, we have tried in vain to get it back up and running. Oh no, it’s down to two green lights. This isn’t looking good folks. Anyway, some might say that the first blog back in India is off to a pretty slow start... I will probably agree, let’s see if I can amp it up a bit.

I last left off back in Minnesota, and we were heading down to Mel and Mike’s wedding in St. Louis. “The wedding of the decade”, I think that is how I described it. Well, we had a most fabulous time, the location and people were gorgeous, with Mel taking the lead in the gorgeous category. I am pretty sure that is was the hottest wedding in history. At least my history. Heat index (don’t we love the heat index, it makes the temp sound much more dramatic) was at 115 degrees. And it was an outdoor wedding. I didn’t give a rip about how hot it was, because I was just so glad to be there, and not having to watch it on video in India.

After we sweated all day, we danced all night. Then we hopped into the car - jammies on and caffeine in hand - and drove through the night up to Minneapolis to catch a plane to fly back to India. The trip was super uneventful. Planes, waiting, expensive airport food, endless trips on the moving sidewalk with the kids, jammed vehicle with luggage and people, and dosas and idlis for breakfast in Gundlupet.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Sadly for the kids, the final McDonald's meal.

Spotted deer near the tiger reserve on the drive back to Ooty.

Our first encounter with our house was that we were locked out. That was awesome. Second encounter was walking in to a musty, musty, musty house (sneeze, sneeze, sneeze), also awesome. Third encounter was with mildewed bedding and clothes...mold creeping, creeping all over. You guessed it, awesome. Fourth encounter was whilst I was throwing one of 79 loads of bedding into the dryer, the dryer didn’t work. No biggie when it’s not the monsoon, but it’s rainy and cold all the time right now. So, all this transpired over about three hours. One would think that I would have packed up the family and headed straight back to the airport. But for some reason I was as calm as a spring breeze. It’s like my body and mind were saying, “This is how we roll here. If it were different, then it wouldn’t be my life in India... Welcome back, Tarrah”.

Our temporary dryer: A heater and fan in the bathroom.

In trying to dry out our home, we're using the fireplace for hours each day. But this time of year the wood we purchase is all wet, so we need to dry it in front of the fire before putting it in.

We are back to three green lights. Progress, maybe. Jayson is looking rather annoyed. Wishing that a guy in a smart looking uniform would come and do this for him... My husband is patient. Way more patient than I.

I have gotten flashbacks this week to our first weeks when we moved here originally. The jet lag that has almost defeated us. The mornings that last forever since we all were up at 3:00 a.m. Burning all sorts of food items when cooking. The feeling of being very alone, a world away from everyone and everything that we love... None of these are very positive feelings. The great thing though, is that most of those feelings passed within a few weeks. I definitely struggled with loneliness throughout the last two years, but the feeling of being very alone is different, to me, than loneliness. Being alone is similar to “ghost town with tumbleweed blowing through” type feelings. And that passed.

Guess what folks, the internet is on. Can you believe it? I can’t. I am sad to admit that I got butterflies in my tummy when I saw it connect. I am so obnoxious. Sorry. It’s the same feeling I had when the dryer was fixed only five days after they said it would be.

We found that the trick to getting the internet working is that the phone needs to be off the hook and we need to connect to the internet within 10 seconds of the "internet" green light coming on. Seriously.

Well, folks, I promise next week’s is going to be a little livelier. Stay with me, keep on reading, I have loved writing and sharing with you all about our life here in India. Until next week...