We’re in our new home!

The big news for the week is that we are now in our home.  Our air shipment was delivered on Saturday and we spent the night last night.  Of course, the air shipment is pretty limited, so we are running with only a few things.  We are sleeping on air mattresses, we have a card table and a few folding camp chairs for our dining set, we have a few pans, plates, forks, etc. in the kitchen.  However, all the essentials are here, including a sofa and two chairs that we purchased here while we are waiting for our sea shipment to arrive.  There are no drapes yet, the place echoes terribly (all the marble floors, no furniture, no drapes, etc.), we are still figuring out how to turn the lights on, but it is home and we are happy to be here.  It is strange that we are so ready to leave a 5 star hotel for the almost empty flat, but we are really glad to be here.  Now Becca has the right sized spoon to use.  Here’s the only utensil we had before our air shipment got here.

Today I’ve been thinking about how miscommunications make for funny experiences.  At the hotel they have a big buffet for breakfast.  In addition to all the food set out, they have a couple of chefs behind the counter that will fix eggs, omelets, etc.  There are also a couple of other stations, one of which will fix you pancakes or french toast.   One morning Michelle decided she wanted french toast using the bread they had at the toaster station rather than the bread at the pancake cart.  She told the guy that she wanted two slices of french toast, but wanted the bread over by the toaster.  He said ok and told her the toast was over across the room.  So Michelle went and picked up bread and brought it over to him.  Bottom line, he fixed four slices of french toast with his bread and four slices with the bread that Michelle brought.  Of course, she really only wanted two, so I had french toast that morning.  We have had some other experiences like that where you think you are communicating, you think you understand what the other person is saying, but at the end of the day, it turns out you weren’t even on the same planet let alone having the same conversation.

We are still trying to get our car ordered.  At this point, I don’t think it will come before we loose our temporary driver.  I’ll have to call and try to get an extension.  Otherwise, we may get to try out the mass transportation here in Delhi!

We have had a lot of rain from the monsoons.  One day, Michelle and I want to a market to pick up some things and have lunch.  While we were in lunch, it *really* started pouring.  After we finished eating, we waited a while to see if the rain would let up.  The rain started slowing, so we headed out the door.  Not ten steps down the lane and it really opens up again.  We ran to a store and took cover under the awning.  We couldn’t see where our driver was parked, so we tried to call.  Of course, with all the people trying to get out of the market and call drivers, etc. we couldn’t get through.  I ended up wading in water up to my knees to find the car and our driver.  By the time we found the car and picked up Michelle, I was as wet as I’ve ever been.  Think standing in the shower with your clothes on.  You would almost be as wet I was. 

 

We also went looking for some furniture.  We need a cabinet for our DVDs and sooner or later I want a few things made here.  They have these really cool coffee tables that are made out of really old carved doors or window shutters.  Anyway, we went to this place that has a warehouse in a ‘farm house’ out in the country.  It was a pretty cool place and they have lots of things.

 

 

Cool painted cabinets

 

 

 

 

 

Some stuff that is carved

 

 

 

 

 

We really liked this one, but the drawers are too shallow to hold DVDs

 

 

 

 

When we were there, I noticed the woodworking tools that the craftsman use.  Some of the pieces they sell are really old and they have craftsmen that fix them and make them look new again.  They do pretty good work with their tools.  Wonder what they would think of my stuff back home.  I am really spoiled by my tools back home and probably couldn’t produce anything worth having if I used the tools these craftsmen did.

 

Their table saw

 

 

 

 

My table saw

 

They do most of their work by hand and these are the tools they use.  These really aren’t much different than the hand tools that we tend to use in the states – except for the fact that we tend to use hand tools that are much better made and cost an awful lot more!