We are wrapping things up here in India- leaving Thursday to return to the US, then leaving the following Tuesday for Korea.
My feelings about India are complicated. Personally, we have been treated practically as royalty or celebrities here with very courteous staff and hosts. Everyone loves Landon and wanted to play with him at the pool or the park. Reliance Greens is very nice and relatively clean and well maintained. However, there are many extremes in this culture. There are the young people that want to be westernized. There are the older people who think it is a break down of centuries of tradition. The poor are really poor- living in tarp shacks with dirt floors and washing their clothes in a really dirty river. The rich are really rich- the guy who built this refinery is the richest man in India and built this whole compound for the workers to live in. His son has 2 Mercedes and a Lexus, and is SO rich. Infrastructure is a problem- the water is dirty, the roads are bad, the government is SUPER corrupt, and really everything is dirty. People don't put trash in trash receptacles. There are lots of diseases here that people die of that are not an issue in the U.S. The individuals that I have met have been amazing people. They are service-minded and open to outsiders. I'm pretty sure if an Indian looking person comes to the US, they don't get mobbed for pictures, and nobody would go out of their way to ask their child's name. It is a great culture, but overall the country has lots of problems. I am glad to be leaving, but so grateful for the experience of seeing a small part of this complicated country and opening my heart to a new group of people.
Now some silly pictures:
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These shirts I bought for Landon because I thought they were TOO FUNNY
I hope someday he beats the goalie... |
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It is hard to see but the little words next to the pictures are delightful...
The fire engine says "nee-nar", the arrow pointing to the boots says "yellow wellies" and
the one pointing to the dog says "woof" |
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This one is my favorite "Sometimes I pretend to be an octopus"
Me too, cute shirt
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This assignment was pretty hard. Austin worked a 12 hour night shift and had a variety of schedules ranging from 2 days on, 1 day off, to 5 days on, 2 days off, to 7 days on, 1 day off. He slept during the day every day. Our room was nicely air conditioned but Landon did not like to stay quiet in the room, and there was not a lock on the door. That meant Landon escaped at every opportunity into the hallway which is open air and very hot. The lobby was air conditioned but Landon liked to go out front and say hi to the fish and the cars coming up the driveway. So that didn't last long. We got to see Austin awake in the morning when he came home exhausted and in the evening right before he left for work. This particular job that he did is the most labor intensive so most other assignments will not be this time intensive. Thank goodness!
Yesterday, Austin worked during the day. Landon stayed in the room for a longer period of time since the curtains were open and the lights were on. Austin got to come home for lunch, and Landon was SOOO happy to see him and surprised that he sat for a long time at lunch and ate happily, which doesn't happen that often. I am hopeful for other assignments because of this.
We flew to Mumbai today. We will see some sights there before heading home on Thursday. Hoorah!
Here are some pictures of a giant tree I found. It is a banyan tree. The roots grow down from the branches, and this one had lots of branches.
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| The tree from across the road |
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| Hindi writing, in case you were curious. I have not a clue what it says |
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| This root made a tree and now it is a free standing tree a little away from the rest of the trunk |
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