I was at an OWC meeting a few weeks ago when one of the ladies there told me she’d looked at my blog. She then followed up by saying ‘You haven’t posted for ages’ and it got me thinking that I can’t even remember the last time I wrote on here, so it’s about time I caught you all up on what has been happening.
We had been looking to move house, mainly for somewhere cheaper but also for somewhere with less problems and we ended up finding some really nice properties – one in particular that we thought we would take. It was a brand new three bedroom house in a place called Thoraipakkam. Still not too far from Penri’s work and about 3 kms from the American School, which is handy for me for my Drama Club. We met the landlord and negotiated the contract – length of stay, deposit, extra hidden costs etc and everything was fine. Then we found out that it is very likely we will be leaving India in December. That kind of changed everything because the new landlord wouldn’t accept such a short term let and it seemed silly to up heave and move when it would only be for a couple of months. So, we are still in the same house and staying here till the end of the year.
So, our big move in December. Nothing is decided yet and definitely nothing is set in stone, but Pen and his bosses are negotiating relocating us to America, which would be really exciting … something completely new and somewhere different to India! I must admit, the prospect of leaving India is sounding very appealing. While it has been a great experience, I think both Pen and I have done our time in India and are ready for something new. We always thought we would be coming here for two years and by the time we leave in December, it will have been 18 months. We’re still not sure where we’re moving to … New York is a possibility, and if not then it could be Chicago, but who knows? Will keep you posted.
Life here has been more than hectic over the last few months. Penri is working the craziest hours you can imagine – sometimes the day shift, sometimes the night shift and some weeks he works a combination of both. As you can imagine, he is shattered! I have been busy with MADRAS Kids (Drama Group) and it’s taking up a lot of my time. There are 35 kids involved from the age of 6 up to 16 and I am planning a big show in the first week of December. The kids are all working really hard and seem to be enjoying it, which is nice. I am just hoping the parents will enjoy the show and realize the effort and enthusiasm that has gone into producing it.
I am also planning a trip home to Doha in October to see my parents and sister. Once we move to the States, I’ll be so far away from them that the chances of seeing them are slim – it’ll only be if one of them comes over to see us. I haven’t seen my sister since mine and Penri’s wedding in 2005 and I haven’t seen either of my parents for a year. I’ve been trying to persuade Penri to come with me, but it looks like he has to work and may even be making a trip back to the UK for business.
Penri went on a business trip in August – first to London, then onto New York, Connecticut, Wealing (West Virginia), back to New York and then back to London (all in 10 days)! You can imagine how exhausting that was for him, but he really enjoyed America (as much as possible when you’re moving around so much). He loved New York and thought West Virginia was beautiful. He took some pictures – I’ll have to see if I can find a few to attach.
The Empire State Building
Time Square
Hard Rock Cafe
I’ve been helping out at the Overseas Women’s Club and joined the Entertainment committee. This was obviously before I found out we were leaving! We have the big annual event (which is a ball) coming up in October so preparations are crazy for that at the moment. Then the last event I will be involved in is the Santa Brunch (as I was last year – playing the piano for the children’s carols). Then that’ll be it.
The builders are still frantically working on the two properties right next to our house. They are trying to get finished before the monsoon comes, but to be honest I don’t think it’s going to happen. It is still very frustrating because every time we come home and try to drive down our road, they are either mixing cement (on the road, in the middle of the road) or sieving sand (again onto the road) or hammering things (in the road). It always takes them ages to move out of the way. As you can imagine, it really winds us up, especially Penri. If he comes home and there is a pile of sand in the road (that they have usually just sieved), he will drive straight over it and flatten it!! Anyway, I’ll attach a couple of pictures to show you.
In front of our house
Right outside our bedroom window
I saw the cutest thing the other day. I did my best to get some photos of it, but they weren’t great. They were building on the site (just below our bedroom window) and there was a couple who were carrying stones on their head and dumping them in the foundation. They were going backwards and forwards and I just watched in fascination – it looked like exhausting work. Then all of a sudden, this tiny little girl, she can’t have been more than 2, comes around the corner carrying a tiny pot on her head with stones inside. She followed her mum up the slope and dumped them and went back for more. It was the cutest thing! I will attach a couple of photos to show you – I just couldn’t get over it! She went backwards and forwards more times than I can count – it was just so adorable!
The lady on the building site
The little girl
The whole family working
Penri and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary on July 30th. He took me away for the weekend to Fisherman’s Cove (down south on the East Coast Road). We had a garden cottage, which was beautiful. He had booked the ‘romantic package deal’, which included a massage, a champagne bath and a candlelit dinner on the watchtower on the beach. It was lovely and the food was amazing! I don’t normally eat meat in this country, but I ordered a peppered steak and it was one of the best I’ve ever had! We went swimming and just relaxed at the beach. Our cottage also had an outdoor shower (obviously with high walls built around it), but you could go outside at night and shower under the stars – it was really nice and a lovely weekend away from the hustle and bustle of Chennai.
Driving through Chennai, you see some unusual sights (as I’ve already mentioned) – things like buses packed to the core, motorcycles with families of five on them, people driving like maniacs etc but you also see some unusual signs on the roads such as “Speed Thrills, but Kills” and another one, which I thought was good was this one “Driving Faster can cause Disaster”. The other one, which we’ve seen a few times here is when you’re coming up to a junction, there is a sign there that says “Stop at Stop Line” (which makes me laugh every time)!
Anyway, this is a good time for me to stop writing as we have just lost all our electricity (again). Thank goodness for laptops! Anyway, the room is getting incredibly hot, so I think I’ll pop my swimsuit on and go for a dip to cool down.
I will write soon (before we leave) and let you know where we’re going and when.
