Reliance Greens is actually green!

First India Selfie- notice our sweaty selves

Courtyard of the Residency

We are settling in to life here in Reliance Greens, and for the most part life is good. We are staying at The Residency which is the VIP hotel-like lodging very close to the main gate. There are little koi ponds built into the stairs going into it, and a fountain in the lobby. There is a pretty courtyard in the middle of the hotel, with all the rooms built around it. There is a swan pond with 4 swans and 3 smaller swans/geese. Landon wants to hug them, but the swans are bigger than he is and I'm afraid he might get pecked to death if I let him get too close. There are beautiful flowers everywhere, and in general by noon, the winds pick up and it is quite breezy here. The hotel is mostly open air, with air conditioning in the rooms. There is an attached restaurant that serves some western style food, which is edible. It is all buffet style, but they also have servers bringing water around. We are gathering there is a secret menu that include items like toast, omelettes, and ice cream that we can ask for from the servers. However, this is not written down anywhere, so it is hard to tell what our options are.  The brownies today were actually pretty good, but the meats are just odd cuts and always full of bones as a rule. so it is hard to get any meat off them. There are always rice, potatoes, and cooked veggies for us to eat, though.

Swan pond. There are even some black swans!

The room is nice, and has 2 twin beds. That is ok for now because Austin is on night shift, and Landon then can have his own bed. I am so worried about him falling off, though, even with pillows on both sides he tends to flip head facing towards the foot of the bed and just move down that way. At some point, Austin might get some days off, so we set up Landon's tent on the floor with a big fluffy comforter and some pillows underneath it for padding (the floors are all stone). He slept in there last night and did quite well except he woke up a few times. Austin was up trying to stay acclimated to his night shift hours and so he was able to help him out. At one point they played for about an hour. Landon is so jet lagged that I've had to wake him up from a nap he took today, because I wanted him to sleep at night. Then we both got really sleepy right before Austin woke up to have dinner, so we took a cat nap then.

 There are lots of guards around the gates, and Austin said that when he went over to get his badge at the refinery today, there were 150 people in the office looking for jobs. I think it is a desirable place to work, even just doing lawn care or planting things. Landon and I went for a 4 mile jaunt around the township this morning. We were out of bottled water, so I was looking for Reliance Mart- a big walmart type store that no one could give me directions to, except to say that it was close. Well, I picked a road to go down, and it ended up taking closer to an hour to get there instead of 10 minutes. I ran and walked because it was hot and I didn't have water, and Landon and I found some pretty cool things along the way. First off, we came upon a herd of camels munching in a grove of trees. I didn't have my camera, but next time, I am getting a picture! Hanging out with the camels were some peacocks and peahens.

I found the rec center and pool. It is still unclear whether we can use these amenities, as they are in the township and not a part of our area. I know that there are separate times for ladies' swim and gents' swim, and I'm pretty sure there is not a "children's" swim time. I'm not sure swim diapers have made there way here yet, and I'm pretty sure that even if they had swim diapers, most people would not want their children playing in the water at Landon's age. Just a guess though.

Reliance mart is pretty cool. There is a movie theater and jewelry store attached. They have lots of Indian looking women's clothes (I'm going to browse when Landon isn't throwing a fit) and diapers, wipes, shampoo, and all of those sorts of things. I was on a mission for fruits we can peel ourselves or dried or packaged fruit of any kind. I found some raisins and bananas, but did not find any canned fruit or fruit pouches. I settled on some fruit juice, and will rely on our supply of American dried fruits for now. I was also looking for milk. They have ultra pasteurized stuff that is shelf stable, so I got some little juice boxes of milk for Landon. I was not sure which ones to get, since some looked like it was goat's milk, so I got ones with some sugar that are advertised as vanilla milk shakes. I guess I get to spoil my little guy when  not very much of the food they have here he can eat.

Exploring central park

Landon threw a fit in Reliance mart, something about walking around in the stroller for an hour didn't appeal to him, I don't know how. He was throwing things and ended up throwing our carton of juice on the ground. It promptly exploded, and I apologized to someone, and they took it away- I didn't have to pay for it.

Central park- Lando likes to run up and down the bridges

Right in back of our hotel is Central park- a giant park with lakes, lots of green grass and flowers and jogging trails and some play equipment. It is peaceful and well taken care of. The play structures are kind of scary, and Landon even had misgivings about going across the rickety bridge of the big kid play area because everything was really high off the ground, and I was not sure it would hold my weight. We will check out the little children play area next. I think my favorite part of being here is just enjoying being outdoors after being cooped up for the winter in Chicago. Landon and I will take a while to adjust to the heat, and I am trying to shift his nap time later so that he can nap during the hottest part of the day instead of late morning, which is prime time to be outside enjoying the wonderful day.