Dear Family & Friends:
Last weekend was great. Saturday Mom and I went down to the Charminar for some light shopping. We drove around the Charminar a couple of times, but didn’t climb it, it was raining pretty good. We bought some purses, some bangles (bracelets), and mom bought a metal lunch box thingie that everyone uses here. When we were buying the lunch box the shop guy asked mom where she was from, she said the US. He asked if she would like the lunch box engraved with her name, she said, “sure.” So he engraved it with her name, and then wrote “USA” under it. She said, “You should have written India.” He said, “US/India, it’s the same thing.” That made me smile.
We bought Claire a purse and some bangles. Claire had confiscated a purse from another little girl in our apartment complex and loved playing with it, so we decided she needed one of her own. The one we got her is pink with little flowers on it, she loves it and walks around saying, “burse, burse, burse” all of the time. It took some convincing in order to get her to wear her bangles, but she will wear them for a limited amount of time now. Most of the time she keeps them in her “burse.”
We also went to a shopping center called the “Big Bazaar” where they have a 99rupee store. This is India’s equivalent to the dollar store, but it’s actually the “2 dollar store” because of the conversion rate.
Saturday night Clay and I went out with some friends Ranjit and Chitra. Chitra is of Indian origin, but has always lived in the US, Ranjit has been living outside of India for the last 10 years. They have an 8 year old son and a 7 month old daughter. We went to their house for a while, then went to a Thai restaurant in the Taj Banjara. The food was great. After dinner we went to a lake called Durgumcheru Lake, it’s also called “the secret lake.” We hung out, listened to some music and enjoyed the view.
So that all was the good part of our weekend. Sunday during the day mom and I went to several book stores. Mom bought lots of books for her classes and we got Claire a new train and some big Lego type things. That same day Clay woke up sick and was sick all Sunday and some of Monday. No fun. He slowly got better throughout the week. We are full strength now.
We are experiencing quite a different July-August from those of our past in Nebraska. We have a washing machine, but no cloths dryer. So after we wash our cloths we hang them on cloths lines that Clay has so eloquently attached to our balconies. The first month that we were here our cloths would dry within 2-3 hours. Now it is taking 4 days and they are still damp.
Today one of the Kenexa drivers invited us to his wedding on August 18th. We are so excited!
Claire’s new words:
Rinusis (Rhinoceros)
Burse (Purse)
Ekaky (Exactly)
My new words:
Plaità Braid
Ear Budà Q Tip
This weekend we are headed to some film studios close by Hyderabad and hopefully to the zoo if it’s not raining. Sunday night we are having the helpdesk over to our house for dinner.
I’ll write more next week!
Sincerely,Julianna EhlersKenexa