I can’t believe May has already come to an end. June 6^th completes our one year anniversary in India. The last few weeks of our adventure in India is quickly passing us by. There’s only 18 days left until we head back to Nebraska.

We had another nice weekend. Saturday we had some of Claire’s friends over in the morning for a swim and went to a birthday party in the evening. The birthday party was at a place called “Eat Street” which is a food mall along one side of the Hussain Sagar lake. It is also attached to a mini amusement park with little kid rides. Claire had a blast going on all of the rides. Her favorites were the tea cup ride and the duckie “roller coaster.” The merry-go-round wasn’t as big of a hit.

Sunday was another nice day at the Taj Krishna, we me some people who might be potential employers for our driver when we leave. That’s a relief; we wanted him to go to a good family. We actually have 2 different interviews lined up for him this weekend, so we are crossing our fingers that one of them works out.

Monday evening we went to a birthday party for a little boy in Claire's class. It was amazing. As Clay put it, "It was the best birthday party I have ever been to." They had rented a huge room in a hotel and had games, a dancing stage, a popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, a chocolate fondue fountain, a huge spread of food, balloons everywhere, and a golfing lane. Pretty impressive for a 3 year old birthday party, I would like to see what they do for his 18th birthday party.

Tuesday night I sent some letters of recommendation home with Bindu our housekeeper to help in future employment searching. We were under the impression that she knew we were leaving and that she already had another job lined up…we were wrong. Wednesday morning she came and she was crying and crying, hugging Claire, touching her head and crying more. We feel really bad about blind siding her like that. Not only are we her employer, but she also lives with us, so when we leave she’s out of a job and a house. Not good. Now we are on the hunt to find her a new family. She had one interview last night and will have another one this weekend.

I didn’t realize how stressful it was going to be finding new employers for Shah and Bindu. I guess we have grown so close to them that we just can’t bear to leave them without making sure they are taken care of. The employment demand is definitely there, but I’ve seen how badly some people treat their house hold staff and it makes want to try even harder to make sure they are with good families.

This morning Elaine headed off to Delhi, she’ll spend one day in Delhi, then take a tour to Agra on Saturday where she will visit the Taj Mahal. Mom is meeting up with Elaine Saturday night in Delhi and they’ll head off to their week long North Eastern India tour on Sunday. Mom and Claire are going to the school's production of Alice in Wonderland this evening.

Check out the updated pictures www.clubphoto.com search on email claytman@excite.com look for the album titled “May.” I attached a few, just because they are so darn cute. (FYI-the white things that Clay and Claire have on their heads in the last pictures are called “baclavas” which are protective layers that are used when putting on shared helmets at go-karting facilities. Claire found them while packing and was quite entertained by them.)

Clay has updated the blogg with a handful of thoughts on cricket, plus an archive of random thoughts and all the weekly updates. Check it out at ehlersindia.blogspot.com