6.27.05
Hello!

All is still going well. We are keeping very busy at work, lot’s to do!

I think each one of us has had a minor bout of feeling ill, but nothing too critical. Claire is doing much better now.

New Experiences:
I was sitting in our video conference room on Thursday and a lizard ran across the floor.
A pipe burst behind the cement wall in mom’s bathroom in our apartment. They tore a hole in the wall from both sides. Mom’s room really has a “basement” feel to it right now. The pipe is fixed, the hole is fixed, the wall still needs to be patched.
A waiter from the Green Park Hotel restaurant invited us to his house for dinner. We met his mom, dad, sister, 2 nephews, and 3 friends that he invited over to watch our faces turn red as we ate the spiciest food yet since our arrival to India 2 and a half weeks ago. Wow!
Our driver was in a car accident on Saturday. No tickets, no insurance, basically we paid $35, our driver spent all day Saturday in the police station, and we are on our way. Everyone says it was our driver’s fault, but of course he says it wasn’tJ None of us were with him, so who knows.

We set up a photo album online, so that we could share more photos without clogging up your inboxes with large emails.
Here are directions to view the photos:
Go to: www.clubphoto.com on the home page there is a field to search for album owner by email address. Use Clay’s personal email ( claytman@excite.com ).

There are just over a hundred pictures up so far into 2 different albums. If anyone one wants larger files of any of the pictures, send Clay the album and the file name. No one should have to pay for anything unless they order prints.

6.21.05
Hi all!

Things are moving right along here. We are continuing to get settled. Acquiring a baby gate for the stairs has been a little more cumbersome than we initially thought. We have to have a carpenter come, take measurements and build it from scratch. Two weeks later we are still waiting for him to come.

We went to church for the first time this last Sunday. There were many similarities, but also many differences. No air conditioning for startersJ It was an early service, so that was fine. They have a culturally specific “speak now or forever hold your peace” part of a wedding ceremony. Instead of the 2 second pause we give during the service in the states. They announce the wedding every Sunday for 3 Sundays before the actual ceremony so people have plenty of time to speak up.
Also, before the regular offering, they have a special offering where people take off their shoes and go up to the altar to give money in an envelope. Clay went up during that time thinking that was how they give the regular offering, but he neglected to take off his shoes. For those of you who grew up watching Sesame Street, it was definitely a “One of these things is not like the other” moment. We are learning.

We are still on a hunt for a nanny. Clay spoke with the pastor in the church about finding one from the congregation. The pastor was very excited about that and is working on it for us.

Claire has been a little sick the last 3-4 days. We don’t know if it is her new teeth coming in, a bit of a bug, or that she drank a little water in the bathtub. She really gave mom a run for her money yesterday, but seems much better today. You should see her “moon walk”, she’s quite talentedJ Mr. Debrie must have given her some lessons before we left.

We received our US mail the other day (thanks Val!). You should have seen us. We were like 2 kids in a candy store devouring every piece. It was very exciting, credit card bills, and bank statements, how fun!

Work is going well. Clay and I are learning more about the people here on a daily basis. I think people are staring less now than they were 2 weeks ago…or maybe we are just getting used to it? Who knows, anyway everyone is so nice here it’s amazing.

A little something to leave all of you fast paced Americans with. Quote from a billboard in Hyderabad:
“Tiredness kills.
Take a break.”
Keep sending the replies; we love to hear from you….

6.16.05
Hi all! Here are the pictures I promised.

The first one is Claire helping us to get packed up for the trip. The rest are her (and one of Clay) in India. I’ll send more soon!

All is going well. We had our first taste of the monsoon rain last night. Clay and I were on the balcony around 10:00pm and the air was very still, then within about 3 seconds it felt like hurricane wind (or what I would imagine hurricane wind to feel like), then the rain came.

We are still trying to get settled in. There are constantly people coming in and out of our apartment working on things, so we haven’t quite settled into a regular routine, but we are getting there! Thank goodness that mom is here, she is doing an awesome job managing all of that while we are gone. Since appointments aren’t really kept here with strict timing, you really need someone in the house at all times. It’s kind of like the cable guy in the US saying he will show up “tomorrow sometime between 9 and 4.” Same thing, but on a bigger level.

Everyday we try new and yummy foods. Claire is devouring the mangos here (see picture), but the mango season is almost over so we are enjoying it while it lasts.

A few people in the office have offered to show me how to cook some Indian foods, so hopefully we’ll have some new things to share when we get home.

We are going to try out a new church on Sunday, so I’m sure we will have a few more interesting stories next week. There are 3 Lutheran churches in Hyderabad, so we will probably try them all before deciding on the one for us.

Anyway, we are having a great time and are managing the heat pretty well.

Miss you all!

6.13.05
Hello family and friends!

The Ehlers clan (and Joyce) has arrived safely in India. We arrived last Wednesday morning after a REALLY long flight and spent the last 5 days getting settled in our apartment. We’ve been grocery shopping almost every day, and have made several trips to buy other odds and ends, pots and pans, cell phones, etc. We are still trying to figure out all of the little nuances, like the light switches in our apartment. For starters, they go down instead of up to turn on, and then they are in crazy places all over the apartment. It’s been hard adjusting to the non-schedule that we must keep here, but we are getting there. Beware-your punctual Julianna and Joyce will be late, late, late upon returning to NE.

Our driver is great, his name is Shah and he speaks English yeah! We also hired a maid, her name is Rama, she DOESN”T speak English, so we are getting really good at miming. You won’t want to play charades with the Ehlers in a year! We are still looking to hire a nanny/cook, but we are not in a hurry thanks to mom (for both the nanny and cook partJ) Here’s another kicker, our driver and maid speak different languages, so we can’t even use Shah to translate for us! Shah speaks Hindi, English, and Arabic and Rama only speaks Telugu.

Ok, the weather isn’t that bad (or maybe I’m just getting used to it?), it’s beautifully windy in the morning and by mid afternoon we close the house up and turn the a/c on. Thank goodness for a/c and the pool.

The apartment is beautiful; we have already been swimming several times. Claire loves the water! I will send pictures of her in her watermelon swimsuit, she’s quite adorable if I do say so myself. For those of you who listened to my fears of Claire in the airplane, I thought I would share that she did really well. She slept 6-7 hours of each 9 hour flight. She has been such a trooper. She has slept through the night for the last 2 nights in a row.

Here is our contact information:
Home- 91-040-55-88-0674
Julianna Cell- 91-988-532-0358
Clay Cell- 91-988-532-0359
Joyce Cell- 91-988-532-0361
Clay Work (temporary)- 610-971-6918 (Pennsylvania #, US long distance from NE)
Julianna Work- 610-971-3354 (Pennsylvania #, US long distance from NE)

We should have internet access at home by tomorrow night.

We are 10.5 hours ahead of Nebraska.
We miss you all, hope everything