I have a much more positive email for you this week.

Friday night we went to a dhaba called Sony International. A dhaba is an open air restaurant/park/rest area on the highway with different sections for different activities, one for drinking only, one for families. We were, of course, in the family section. In this section they had a play ground with all sorts of play equipment, and live animals, ducks, turkeys, chickens, and rabbits. By the way, they had these live animals on the menu if you are interested.
Claire was a happy girl. Oh yeah, and she rode on a “mackel” (camel for those of you who don’t speak Claire). We didn’t have our camera, so we will make sure to go on another camel ride in the future to capture the moment. (Camel wasn’t on the menu)

Saturday we went to an outdoor go-kart racing facility. Ash and Clay had a great time. Ash is a real speed racer! They felt pretty good, because they beat 8 little 12 year olds on the track. I think she will choose to wear pants instead of a skirt next time. She went around the track, one hand on the wheel, one hand holding her skirt down and still beat the boys! Clay might have weighed about 4 times what the 12 year olds did, but he had them in experience! It was pretty hot, so we didn’t stay long. Claire had 2 dishes of “icone” (ice cream). Saturday night Ash and I went to see a band from South Africa with our friend Devesh.

Sunday we went to the Salar Jung Museum. This is a museum with a collection from one royal family over the years. It’s quite amazing. One day is not enough time to see everything. Sunday night Clay and Ash went to see a jazz band.

Monday night we went to the one Mexican restaurant in town, yummy.

Tuesday night we went to a co-workers house for his birthday party. He used to own a restaurant, so it was really yummy food, lots of good seafood. Claire did a funny thing while we were there. She wanted to leave because it was getting late, so she brought me my shoes and said, “on” then went to the door and said “home.” She’s becoming quite the communicator.
Claire is doing much MUCH better. Funny story, Tuesday morning I went in to get her after she woke up, she looked at me and said, “Popo, diapa, peeze” gesturing at her poopy diaper (Translates to: mom I have crap in my pants, please get me a new diaper). When I took the diaper off she said “Thank you.” Funny girl.

Wednesday wasn’t very eventful, but our maid asked for more laundry detergent. We buy laundry detergent at least once a week; we think she might be eating it. Just kidding, we are not sure where the tide is going, but our cloths are clean so we are happy.

Thursday we opened a new Kenexa office here in town. It’s in an area called Ameerpet. At 9:00am we had a pooja to bless the office. 9:00 am was the Mahurat (see new words below for explanation), it actually started around 9:20. It was quite interesting and we took a lot of pictures. Hopefully we’ll get some loaded to the site this weekend. I will give you a play by play, but I’m not sure what a lot of it meant. They started outside of the door with lighting candles on a big squash, then breaking it and putting one half on the left side of the door and one half on the right side. Then they put 2 incense sticks in each one and sprinkled some flowers and turmeric powder on them. Then we all went through the door and there was a little place set up on the floor for praying and some offerings. They offered a lot, fruits, flowers, coconuts, sweets, etc. There was one really funny part. The priest had a cell phone on his skirt and during the ceremony he was doing his Sanskrit chanting and all of the sudden his phone rang. Instead of ignoring it, he stopped and answered it. The whole ceremony stopped while he took his call, then he hung up and started chanting again. Remind me when I get home, I do a great rendition of this situation. After the ceremony was over they gave everyone sweets and fruit to eat.

New Claire words:
Icone=Doubles for both ice cream and yogurt
Mackel=Camel
Waziwhat?=What is this?
Dada wuk=Dad is at work

New words for us:
Mahurat- This is the auspicious time when you do something.
Auspicious- According to the moon and stars this is a “lucky” or “good” time

Thought as Husker Season approaches:
It’s funny how when you are at home an Iowa State student (or any other student from a big 12 school) can be a rival, but when you both are thousands of miles away from home he is your best bud.
When we first arrived in India, we met a student from Iowa State at an expatriate event and we felt an immediate connection since we are both from the US, then even more because we are from the Midwest. I’ve been reflecting on that more now that Clay and I prepare to watch our first Husker game over the internet at 4:30am this Sunday.
We recently learned that there is another apartment in our building that is owned by a guy from India that lives or has lived in Oklahoma. We have yet to see it, but hear that he has a coffee table where the base is a cowboy laying on his back with one knee up holding a piece of glass. I’m sure no matter how hideous the coffee table, we will feel a certain connection with him as well!