Time to Socialize!

This past week we've been to some really lovely parties! The whirls started on the 8th with a fantastic rooftop party given by Doug and Jo. (With decoration help from Robert!) We had great food, friends, dancing and plenty of Christmas cheer!

The following Wednesday we were invited to a reception in honor of the Emperor of Japan for his birthday. This was hosted by the Japanese consular and his wife. The garden was fully decorated in lights and there were so many people there! Lan, the hostess, made sure I tried all of the Japanese food they had. I also found out that I like sushi! Yup - for those of you who know me well, before I moved to India, I was not open to new experiences with food. Meat and Potatoes with either corn, green beans or peas were about the extent of it. Now I eat more veggies than I ever thought I would and even enjoy them. Sushi was something I was definitely holding out on. As Rich and I were raiding the sushi bar, we had a gentleman come up to us and introduce himself as Ali. He went on to tell us his family had ruled South India for thousands of years before the British came and took over. We were visiting and the Consular General for the US came over and shook hands with our new friend and addressed him as, Your Highness. Uh,Oh! Who were we really talking to? We went on visiting with Ali and he asked us for Rich's card and said he would call us to come by his home sometime. He then gave us his card, Nawab Muhammed Abdul Ali, Prince of Arcot. I guess you just never know who you're going to meet here!
Thursday evening brought about the Christmas reception at the British Deputy High Commission. We knew more people here and there were no surprise self introductions but we had fun all in the same!
Will we get to go to all of these parties again next year? I hope so, but most likely not. This is one of the perks of being President of the OWC. Oh well, we'll always have the memories!

Santa Brunch

Today was the day Sophia had waited for! We were going to Santa Brunch and would see Santa. She had made her list and told Santa what a good girl she had been. We had gotten her all dressed up in the little green and red plaid dress my Grandma Mitzel had made for Nicole. Complete with tights and little black shoes. We were off and she was pumped. We got to about 4 blocks within the hotel and Sophia got carsick. All over the dress. It was not good. We went ahead to the hotel so we could get the dress off and get her somewhat cleaned up. But then she didn't want to leave. Luckily, we were able to borrow an apron from the bake sale and she wore that until Daddy got back from shopping to get her a new outfit.

Wanna know what's open on a Saturday morning in Madras at 9:30? NADA! Rich ended up going to Spencer Plaza and eventually found a shop open that had a really cute skirt and blouse. He got that and made it back in time for Santa Claus.

Here's what we found out about Santa - Sophia loves the idea of Santa and presents, but when confronted with Santa, she freaks out! As soon as we took her in to see him, she freaked out and decided she wanted to go home!

Daddy calmed her down and got her to do some crafts while we waited for her name to be called to go up and get her gift from Santa. Once her name was called - she freaked out again. Mommy carried her up and told her if she cried, Santa wouldn't give her the gift. We went and she was really cautious, not crying, but really giving the old man the eye. It was as if she was thinking - Oh I really want the present, but I really don't like you! She got her gift and opened it. She loved her Pocahontas doll and after we were home and the next day she told everyone she saw Santa. She left out the scary part, but we'll see how it goes come closer to Christmas!

We Need a Little Christmas....

So - Right now we need a little Christmas, right this very minute, candles in the window....You know the song. Anyway - We got out the Christmas tree and started decorating. Actually, tried to decorate is the better term! Sophia is so pumped up for Christmas this year. We could hardly keep her hands off of the tree.

We went out to let her pick out some fun ornaments and she helped put them on the tree while Daddy decorated the pillars in the living room. I have to say I think it looks quite festive here! Rich did a great job of hanging lights and the tree is fun - even if Sophia keeps moving the ornaments! We've also added white lights to the garland wrapped around the beam.

Sophia keeps saying, "I need to decorate the tree so it will snow and Santa can come." We've explained it's not going to snow here, but Santa will still find her so we need to write a letter to let him know what she wants. We can now threaten, you'd better be good or Santa won't come. This however backfired on me when I was scolding her for something and said, "Sophia, that was very naughty. What would Santa say?" She responded so innocently, "Ho, Ho, Ho?!" I know - it's very hard not to laugh! So the next time you try to scold someone - or thinking of doing something naughty - just remember what Santa would say -----

HO HO HO!

Thanksgiving Madras Style

So - what do you do when you're in a different country for Thanksgiving? Answer - find a group of Americans celebrating and eat really well!!!!

We were invited to our friend Thom's home to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner - complete with US Turkey! (The turkeys you get here tend to taste like fish). Thom makes the birds, potatoes, corn, stuffing and then asks the rest of us to bring something to go along with the meal. Since I had pumpkin, my task was pumpkin pie. This shouldn't be a big deal, but remember I have always in the past used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust. (I love that little dough boy!) This time - I had to make my own. I dug out Rich's mom's recipie and got to work.

Rich helped me with the mixing and I worked on it the next day so we had fresh crusts. They turned out pretty good. At least, Thom was happy with it, so all's well!

There was, as usual, too much food and lots of fun. The only thing missing was FOOTBALL! Oh well - can't have everything!

Maintenance

OK, OK I know, I've slacked off again. It's most likely because I don't think I have much of anything to say. Anyway - I'll try to be better about posting.

Our latest fun has been dealing with the Maintenance Supervisor our landlord has hired. I'll just refer to him with his first name. Vela. This has become a name that makes me tear my hair out and causes many giggles from my drivers. They know I just hate to hear his name mentioned because it's going to cause more work for a very simple thing. Case in point - a new ladder needed for our water tank.

We are now contacting our landlord directly instead of going through two other people as they just seemed to muddy the water. The ladder was replaced fairly quickly - really only took about a week, record time for Vela. Then I asked him about the roof over the patio as it is now like a sieve. He said the landlord is looking into permanent roofing for it and he is waiting for him to respond with a decision and money. Then Vela starts talking about the tall windows we have looking out to the sea and saying they all needed to come out and be replaced with 4ft. windows and these were quite bad and causing so many issues.

Here's the kicker - We haven't complained about the windows. In fact - this was one of the key points to the house and what gives it it's wonderful airiness. I told him there are no issues with the windows. Vela responds - oh yes, there are, Much leaking and many problems. I reminded him all of our leaks last year were due to the holes in the roof that our company engineers pointed out to him. Since the roof has been fixed there haven't been any issues. He said oh, it will only take about 1 1/2 months to get the windows changed out. (Do you note the broken record syndrome here?) I came unglued and informed him as long as sir and I are in this house - these windows stay. There is no way in hell we are going to allow him to do that type of work while we are living here. Then I basically told him to work on fixing the patio roof and making sure the electrical wiring in the garden is straight and showed him out of the house.

I had Rich contact the landlord about the windows to make sure he knew what Vela was up to. He said the windows are not even an issue and are not to be removed. What Rich and I think is - Vela is working on another house who wants the large windows and instead of ponying up the dough - he's going to take ours and buy smaller less expensive windows to put in here. NOT HAPPENING.

This brings us to the pool pump. It has gone out. We again contacted the landlord since this needs to be replaced and we don't have stagnant water sitting for a long time (Mosi breeding grounds). The landlord contacted Vela (are you cringing at the sound of his name yet?) and he sent his electrician, who pretended not to speak or understand English and talked to Rich through the drivers. He told us he was sent to get the pump, but needed payment before he would do so. We told him, no - this is a capital issue and this was to be handled with Vela and the landlord. The electrician said that Vela said it was maintenance and we were to pay. Rich blew his stack and went off - this is when he realized the electrician understood every word. To put it simply, Rich told him - he's tired of Vela lining his pockets - we pay the electrician, and the landlord pays Vela. Vela pockets the money or splits it with the electrician. This will no longer happen. Either he takes it now - or we contact the landlord. The guy left without the pump. Rich told his driver to have our electrician come and get the pump and we would bill the landlord. BUT, lo and behold - Vela's guy turned up in the evening and got the pump. I guess he figured we caught on and if he wanted to keep working, he'd better get it fixed. For our next trick - we need to get it installed!

Stay tuned!