It’s been a pretty slow week, but we were able to muster up a few thoughts/comments:

Sunday we found a produce market on wheels. For those of you who know Hyderabad, it was between Ameerpet and Yousufguda check post. It consists of several people walking down the street, each pushing a cart with 1-2 different types of fruit or vegetables. We bought okra, onions, potatoes, pomegranates (this was new for us), and bananas. The pomegranate is so cool, it's green/yellow on the outside, but you open it up and there are little transparent red corn shaped nuggets of fruity splendor inside. Yummy. Claire really liked it too.

Work has been really busy, lots of early mornings and late nights to get time with our US compadres. Clay actually drove to work on his own Thursday morning, for those of you who have experienced Hyderbadi traffic, you know that this is quite the accomplishment. He will be starting the Indian driver’s license application process next week. I have a feeling that as much as we complain about the service at the DMV in Nebraska, it will be on a whole different level here. I’m sure there will be lots of good stories to come on this subject.

Pitiful note about the Ehlers in India-
We order dinner from the apartment clubhouse almost every night. Partly because we are too tired to cook when we get home from work at 8:00/9:00 at night, and partly because we don’t know what to cook. There are no “dump it out of the can and eat” or “just add water” package options, so if you are going to cook, it is a commitment. The food from the clubhouse is great about 80% of the time. They have a “chicken club sandwich” that contains 1 fried egg with melted (or not melted, depending on the day) cheese, 3 (or 4, depending on the day) pieces of toasted (or not toasted, depending on the day) bread, and a slab of chicken salad sandwich spread. It’s quite the contraption. Our other favorites are Pizza Hut, Dominos, and Olive Garden (The Indian version, not the Italian version).

This weekend we are heading to another expatriate event at ICRISAT, picnic, soccer, swimming, etc. Should be fun, hopefully we’ll meet some new people. Sunday we are going to Mt. Opera which is a water park about 60 km outside of Hyderabad (weather permitting, of course).

We are still working on plans for a Taj Mahal visit at the end of October, it is turning out to be more difficult to book, more time consuming for the travel, and more expensive than I initially thought, but we are forging ahead. It’s that whole “once in a lifetime” experience that is motivating me at this point.

Claire Stuff:
-She learned "Ring around the pony, pocket full of..." but she falls down prematurely during the "Ashes, ashes" part.
-Anytime you get a camera out and point it at her she says, "Cheese."
-When we look at family pictures, every female (that isn’t mama) is “Ash” every male (that isn’t dada) is “Mark” (That’s right aunt Ashley and uncle Mark, you should be feeling pretty important right now)

New Claire Words:
Kik=Quick
Back=Piggy back ride
Brokey=Broken (she says this with a scrunched up face)
Cool

Quotes of the Week:
I keep forgetting to add this one to the weekly email, but every time I get on an airplane here I am reminded of it. As the flight attendant is finishing up final comments, s/he says, “We would like to fly you again.” That so cracks me up.

“The UPS failed because of heavy temperature” This is what is said every time we loose internet connection in the office (note that it is “heavy” not “high” temperature, also note that this happens a lot, both the occurrence and the statement). Side note-The power was out in our office for 4 hours today. Makes for a pretty productive work day.


Sincerely,Julianna Ehlers