6 Week Check-up!

Gosh! Has 6 weeks gone by already?! It still seems surreal that we are here, once in a while I stop and think I can't just hop in my car or get on the ferry to see my friends and family. Dan and I decided to get serious and find a place to live, and could be the fact we're tired of Hotel food! Also our container finally was "de-stuffed" at the shipping terminal so now all Dan has to do is meet with Customs. My bed is going to feel soooo nice! So today we looked at a flat (apartment, and houses are called villa's), it is brand new and very nice. The best part -NO COCKROACHES!!! It is a little smaller than I would like but I think we'll bunk the boys together in one room so they still can have a play area in the other bedroom. It has a lovely view of a river and is right downtown Cochin. The pool should be finished next month so in the meanwhile to beat the heat we will just have to go to Veega Land more often! The boys are very excited to have their own place again, but there isn't a day that goes by that Ethan doesn't say he misses Grandma & Poppa's house. If every thing goes to plan we should be in next week. So a little about India. Like I stated before, everyone is very friendly, and we have gotten used to the staring. The language barrier is a bit frustrating, just because they say they speak English does not mean they understand it too! It just takes a little patience. The cleanliness has been a bit of a problem for me. Some places are good, most are just disgusting; like the bathrooms. It just makes you wonder why they like it dirty?! There is no garbage removal system here, they burn every thing so you can imagine how yummy that smells. And it's all over, in ditches, in yards, on sidewalks...... After looking at many places to rent I found that every bedroom has a bathroom, so three bedrooms, three bathrooms. They do not has bathtubs, just showers right in the middle of the bathroom that just drains into a giant drain in the middle of the floor. Most have no hot water in the kitchen, and very small tanks in the bathrooms. Their washing machines are half the size of the ones we use in Canada and most do not use a dryer, they hang every thing outside. Driving is so crazy!!! Most of the time you'll see 4 cars wide when it's only supposed to be a 2 car lane. A lot of people ride motorcycles, and it's common to see families of 4 ride 1 bike! The Government just recently passed a law that all cyclists must wear helmets - but not their passengers??!! Now don't get the wrong impression, we do like it here. I'll be honest, it's been challenging but we're here to give it a try. We have learned a little Mullullay, here's a few words in translation:

Atta - Dad

Uma - Mom

Cheta - big brother
Onioon - little brother

Korkey - drink

Kaikee - eat

Muddy - enough

Una - one

Randa - two

Moona - three

Nalay - four

Oncha - five

Every one's favourite expressions here are " no problem" and " what's the program". Their major sport is Cricket and God only knows if I will ever understand how that's played! They have no shopping malls that I have seen in Kerala; just oodles upon oodles of side walk shops. One routine I don't want to adapt to is the eating times. Breakfast is eaten around 10-11am. Lunch is usually around two and most take huge naps afterwards. Dinner is not until 10-11pm at night! Most children will eat around 8pm so they can go to bed but the parents stay up later to eat. They do not believe in left-overs, every thing is cooked fresh. So you can see life is very different here. I've added some photos of a day we spent at a 5 star hotel and had spaghetti for lunch....yummy! The birds in the cages Alex is touching were selling for 24 roopies each, so that's .60 Canadian. And yes Grandma, we chased the turkeys for ya!

Thank you to everyone!

Just a small note to say Thank you for reading and commenting on our blog. It means a lot to us that everyone is interested in our travels. We have such Awesome families!!!

Athirappilly Waterfalls

We took a day off from house & apartment hunting to visit Athirappilly waterfalls. It was another beautiful place to visit. I loved looking at the lovely view, surrounded by jungle! Saneesh told us that wild elephants and tigers are all over and people are not allowed to access the road to the falls in the evening because they all come out to wander and it's too dangerous. The water was refreshing to look at but I'm afraid of what's swimming around in there! Along the walkway there are cottages that are home to many poorer families. In one picture you can see old elephant bones that they have collected, I'm not sure if they use them for anything. The boys were so-so about this outing, probably because it was just waterfalls to them and no parks! They did perk up when we found some salamanders and hissing cockroaches....ewwww...!! Hope everyone is doing well, we miss you all like crazy; is it too early to say I miss home yet?!!

Riding an Asian Elephant

Riding an elephant, now I can say I've really experienced Indian culture. This was a breathtaking experience, even though I was screaming inside with excitement! I have always wanted to ride one, they have been one of my favourite animals for years. We decided for Fathers Day we would go see the elephants, but I was unsure if we were able to ride them. We arrived at the elephant training camp in the early afternoon, usually before the rains start. We walked around watching the younger elephants scratch their backsides against the trees, they seemed so playful. After, we wandered over to the 2 large Asian elephants eating bamboo and other vegetation. I felt a sadness come over me looking at the big chains around their legs, but I understand this is the way life runs. They are needed all over India for manual labour and are treated very well. The trainers are very protective of them, one point in the day a man started a noisy truck by an elephant and the trainer had a few stern words with him. I'll admit I was the only one scared, the boys took to them instantly. Dan took Alex first and then it was me and Ethan. I even had Ethan telling me it's okay! He really enjoyed himself, he laughed when the elephants ears tickled his feet. I was surprised to be riding bareback and only a rope to wrap my feet around for support. I felt so high in the air, and after a bit it became a relaxing sway. They don't smell the greatest but that's okay with me! They also have coarse black hair an inch and a half growing all over their bodies. Their eyesight is very poor however their hearing and sense of smell is far enhanced. We rode them for about 15 minutes each and I was sad it was over so soon. This was an experience of a lifetime, one I will never forget!

Veega Land

Veega Land was so much fun to visit. It is a huge water park/amusement park that is just awesome. It was even bigger then I imagined and there were so many neat rides to go on. The cost was $300 rupee's a person so doing the math that makes it $7.50 per person. To figure that out you take the amount and divide by 2 then divide by 2 again and then move the decimal point over to the left one space. It's not too hard to figure out but takes some time getting used to it.

The day was overcast so that was ideal to be out all day, I still sun screened the boys up and down just in case. Most men were in shirts and shorts and some women were actually in a t-shirt and pants! I couldn't believe all the things to do here, and I was amazed at the way the park is run. They consider safety a top priority and there are lifeguards everywhere. Also with the water slides, they have a lot more Family rides like a giant tube ride. What left me wondering is why Canada (well, just Vancouver I guess. I can't really speak for all of Canada) hasn't set up the easy "pulley system" that they have in place here. Take the tube rides for instance, all the water parks I've been to in Canada you have to bring up your own. Here in India they have a pulley that does the work for you. It's so much faster and convenient! They have amazing rides to go on, a water - techno show and a huge roller coaster that splashes though a huge lake. Here is the link if you'd like to check it out. http://www.veegaland.com/ Everyone was very friendly and we had sooo many people wanting their pictures with the boys. Though out the day when Dan took Ethan on some slides, Alex has his own little group of friends that followed him wherever he went. They all want to touch him and make him smile. He had really great time with the little boy in the picture, his name was Achoo; yes that's really his name! In another picture there was this "little man" walking around the park waving at everyone so we decided to meet him. He was very friendly and I found out he was 32 years old and only slightly bigger than Ethan. The boys liked it when he talked to them, Ethan later said he sounded like the guys from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! We also took Saneesh with us for a Thank you to helping us get around Cochin. He really enjoyed himself, he has a lot of fun with the boys. I just found out that he will have an arranged marriage when he turns 30. I feel kinda sad for him, but I know that's how life is run here. It definitely makes me feel lucky and special that Dan and I found each other so young and love each other so much. So to whomever comes to visit us, bring a suit cause we're taking ya!