After we got home from our week long trip down south sightseeing in the State of Kerela, we were all pretty exhausted and mostly just wanted to stay HOME for a few days. So that we did. But we did venture out occasionally and loved discovering this more Americanized ice cream shop that had fried ice cream in it! Yum! So we splurged and got some one day after getting tuna fish subways for lunch.
Another fun thing we do here in India is family snuggle time every so often on our bed in the mornings. But with 4 little high energy kids, it usually turns into wrestle mania with Dad or dog pile on Mom! Makes for some great memories though and we can usually get out of it pretty easily with just a small bit of “tickle torture!” ha ha.
We also may or may not have a slight obsession with mangoes at our house. We told the kids that if we moved to India they could have as many mangoes as they wanted and we have held true to that. Sometimes we go through about 15-20 in one settings! These kids love their mangoes and we admit that we are pretty much in love with them too. I used to love American mangoes but think I’m going to find myself a wee bit disappointed now when I eat one remembering the delicious flavors and varieties of Indian mangoes!
BUT…with mangoes also comes mango juice which we realized quickly stains clothes and is tough as nails to get out. So we’ve had to get creative to make it so that we save at least a few shirts to take home with us. Here is one of our creative solutions. Love this kid!
We were of course all very happy to return back to our daily tradition of swimming in the apartment pool as well.
Unfortunately though, after about 2 or 3 days home, Adalynn and I started feeling ill. We both had fevers (Adalynn at over 103 and me over 100), and then I started in on the “loose movements” as they are called in India (I like that word SO much better than diarrhea!)
The good news was that Adalynn felt better after about 1.5 days of fevering and never had any other symptoms. The bad news is that I just kept getting worse and worse. I fevered for about 3 days, but had the loose movements for 4 days, and then also started getting cold sweats, shaky, and heart palpatations day 5. I also wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping any kind of food in my body either since it would all just come out via my loose momentes – which meant that each day I became weaker and weaker. It felt so silly going to the hospital though (they don’t have doctors offices here so you go right to the hospital) for such a silly thing as diarrhea, but we really started to get scared that I had something more serious. Malaria maybe?
Adam luckily found me some Imodium at a pharmacy which finally got the diarrhea under control but I was still very weak for several more days, and having cold sweats. Eventually my strength returned though and I was able to feel like myself again. Adam also took such great care of me – making me potato soup TWICE (because that’s all that sounded good) as well as going out and bringing me 3 different soups because he wasn’t sure which one I’d like. He even took a day off work so I could rest while he took care of the kids. I am such a lucky gal to have him! Thanks babe. Sure do love you!
Then after I finally started feeling better our wonderful maid Geetha (who came with the apartment Adobe is renting for us and whom we love and adore) invited us to come to her house for dinner. She had been secretly taking pictures of our blog books on her phone and showing them to her family and apparently they all really wanted to meet us. So we arranged a Sunday afternoon when we could go over to visit with them.
Geetha warned us that her place was small, but we had no idea how small that really meant. It was so humbling to see the conditions she was living in, and yet she is the happiest, kindest, most generous woman you can imagine. Below is a picture of the “bedroom” where Geetha and her husband and two kids all sleep. It was such a small room that neither Adam or I could even fully stretch our legs. This was also the largest of the rooms in the home, and where we had our tasty Indian dinner Geetha so lovingly prepared for us. Oh how I love the Indian people and their generous hearts! They have so little but give so much!
Drinking freshly made Mango juice Geetha blended up for us. So yum!
Geetha’s home was on the roof of a 4 story apartment building and was basically a rectangle maybe 10 feet long by 6 feet wide, with one window and no door. It was sectioned off so that in a way that there was a place for a small kitchen, an area where Geetha’s sewing machine and washer was, and then the entrance where they had a TV (but no room to sit) in what I can only describe as a hallway. This was the view from the roof.
Geetha’s sewing machine and wash room.
The kitchen – which was about the size of a bathroom stall. The pots and pans on the left are hanging on a 2nd wall. Very skinny kitchen and cooking area.
Another view of the sleeping room/main living area of the house – where we eat our dinner. This was the largest of the sectioned off rooms.
And Geethas beautiful family! We loved meeting her son and daughter – but her husband was unfortunately called into work and not able to make it. 🙁
More views from the roof!
And some pictures by Branson!
We took over some of our blog books since Geetha loved them so much to show her children and her kids loved looking through them and seeing what America looks like!
This is what happens when the kids start taking pictures of me and telling me to smile! Payback is so great!
Naveen our driver also came up and had dinner with us. We were so grateful he was there because he was able to act as translator since Geetha doesn’t speak good English and we are a bit lacking in our Kanada and Hindu. 🙂
It sure was a wonderful afternoon spent with Geetha’s family. We took Geetha over some American cookies, but it failed in comparison to the amazing meal she made for us – especially knowing how little she has. But she was literally GIDDY that we were there and kept saying how happy she was that we were at her home and meeting her family. She just couldn’t believe we had really come and several of her neighbors even came up to see us and meet us! It was such a big deal to her that we were there, but we loved every minute of it and just felt so blessed by her generosity and kindness to us. The Indian people are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. And I only hope to emulate their goodness in my own life. They have taught me so much. We sure do love our Geetha and the wonderful example she is to us!