A few minor inconveniences...

Well, we are finally in the house and very excited to be here. I was able to get most of my indian grocery shopping done and was happy to make a home cooked meal. I did the usual: soaked lentils, made the dough for roti, etc... I then proceeded to start making dinner. We have our Vonage set up and as I was talking to my dad, I realized that I didn't have any type of rolling pin for the roti. Oh well, I guess toast will have to do.

There are many things here that remind you that this is an Asian society and not the good 'ol USA. For instance - in order to use an outlet, you have to flip a switch so that it has power. There are water heater switches for each bathroom. If they are not on, you have to wait 15 minutes before you can get in the shower. There are no outlets in the bathroom so you need to find somewhere else to dry your hair.

But the kicker is there is no garbage disposal in the sink. So you have to do it the old fashioned way - throw all the gunk out by hand. The good thing is that garbage pick up is virtually every day - except weekends. Gotta love that.

The kids and I ventured out to the grocery store today. We walked down and took a cab back considering there was no way we could have carried it. It was nice to get out and smell the air and look around. Even the little one enjoyed himself. I'm like a kid in a candy store - you can get almost any Asian produce for very little money. The dry and boxed goods is what'll kill you. I think the grocery stores are destined to be crowded. There is so little space - even the mini shopping carts are hard to maneuver through. Most of the buildings here are built upwards not outwards.

All in all - we are just enjoying the differences and really learning to appreciate them.

Til next time,

S