Newish Furniture and Naila’s 5 months

Ganesh statue on campus

  Namaste, this post is from Laura.  I apologies in advance for not having the amazing writing style of my husband, this post will most likely have errors but I promise it is from the heart.

Bernie's reading chair

Last week we had our couch and two chairs reupholstered.  This is an experience I have been looking forward to since before we arrived.  I had heard about the unique process of fixing up your house in India and I was up for the challenge.  I bought a beautiful rug (check), reorganized the furniture (check), bought some decorative pillows (check), and now it was time to buy curtains and fabric.  Courtney took us down to GK1, Greater Kailash, to Fabindia, a great store for home goods.  She helped us negotiate the overwhelming process of looking at different materials and curtain samples. We finally made our decisions and set up an appointment for the tailor to come to our house to make the slipcovers.  The next day he came, measured, and said he would be back in a few days to make the covers.  When he came back he set up shop on our living room floor.  

This is was the part I had been waiting for.  For two days he worked his sewing machine and make us the best looking slipcovers I have ever seen.  I love our living room.  It is looking more like home everyday. I hope we have enough room for all of our stuff when the shipment arrives. 

Who needs a plug?

The finished product.

My bangle baby

 Maya and Naila had another great week.  Maya likes to where her bangles and a bindi everyday.  I do not have a good picture of her bindi because she will not let me, but I did get the bangles.  Naila turned 5 months and posed for a picture in our new chair. The girls are becoming friends.  Naila loves to watch Maya, she thinks anything her sister does is hilarious.  Maya likes to know her sister is sleeping in the same room as her.  I cannot wait to see these girls grow up together.  It makes the chaos of two babies worth it.

The monsoons have continued. I don’t think this picture does it justice but it poured for about five hours, which means a fifteen-minute drive turned into a 2-3 hour drive. I am so thankful I live on campus.

Sunday morning I woke up to best sound.  Bernie was “facetiming” with friends back in Denver while they filled out their Fantasy Football draft.  I was great to see some many smiling faces and hear a little about life back home.  Here’s what you all looked like from our end.

So daily life here is great.  We wake up between 6 and 7, have fresh fruit for breakfast, say goodbye to the girls and take off on our two-minute walk to work.  If I feel like a mocha, there is a coffee shop on campus that I stop at for a cup.  We teach wonderful students who thank us for the lesson, go home for lunch with Maya, Zach, and Courtney, and back to work.  After school we usually go to the pool where Maya is becoming quite the swimmer, home for dinner, and off to bed.  I think Bernie and I are working harder than we ever had but we have so much more time to work so it makes it worthwhile.  Naila usually does not have more than one bottle a day because I am able to come home to feed her.  I love that the school is supportive of families.  The assistant principal had a question for me, when she saw me walk by she said, “are you going home to feed the baby? Can I walk with you?” AMAZING! I love that they understand my family needs. 

Thanks for following along.

So that is probably enough for this week.  Soon we will write about Indian issues.  I keep thinking about the division of labor in this country but I do not think I understand it yet.  Here is the main idea, no one does anyone else’s work.  One person mows the lawn and another picks up the cut grass.  One paints the walls, another watches, another cleans paint spills, another watches, another sweeps the room after, and another inspects the work and accepts praise for the hard work.  It is very interesting, more to come.