About town

My little sidekick, Arthur, and I spend a lot of time in taxis (without a/c!) running errands while Dorian's in school. Hopefully, we will be able to buy a car (with a/c) soon, but that's another story...Here are some of the things we see out the taxi window.

As I've said before, we live in a small apartment building. Immediately after we moved in, work was begun in the apartment just above us. At first I was annoyed because the work was loud at times and seemed to go on forever, even late into the night. Then, I was further annoyed when they started using our front walkway as a work space--sawing, hammering and constructing furniture like bookshelves, tables and beds--so it's been a bit hard for us to get to our front door. But, then today at 9pm, it dawned on me, those poor guys! They are out there everyday in the heat and for very long hours. So, I've got nothing to complain about.

Uninvited guests

We live on the ground floor of a 3-apartment building and because of this we get a lot of people knocking at our door. When we first moved in, or rather moved our suitcases from the hotel to our home, there was a lot of work going on in our place so people were coming and going and doors were often open. Vendors and people looking for work came by in a steady stream, even an electrician at 5am. And, if the door was open or unlocked they walked right in until they found me. We got so tired of the door bell ringing, especially during Arthur's naps that Xavier put a do not ring sticker on the door bell, with diagram included, but to no avail. Since we've hired a housekeeper, he gets to deal with sending people away--and it's great, he's very efficient. We do, however, have certain uninvited guests that are harder to get rid off--ants. They come in small, medium and large and are everywhere! If you leave a glass out on the counter, it will be taken over by the baby ants (as Dorian likes to call them) in about 10 minutes. If you feel something tickling your arm, it's an ant. I'm hoping as the weather starts getting cooler, in another month or so, these little pests will find a new home. Unfortunately, I think they really like ours.

Picnic at Lodi Garden

But what does this sign say...no drinking from wine glasses in bushes?

Sleepy dog.

But it looks like so much fun!

It was fun to see these kids parade inside the tomb, then seconds later hearing their screams echo across the park.

Dorian and I practicing yoga from his yoga class.

My boys!

One of our favorite things to do on Sunday is to walk in Lodi Garden. Ahhh...Lodi Garden...shaded walkways, beautiful trees, nice flowers and gorgeous green parakeets that I keep trying to take a picture of but keep failing. We're lucky to be just a 5 minute walk to the park from our house. Today we decided to picnic. It was hot but we found shade and there was a slight breeze from time to time.

Arthur is so popular

Everywhere we go people stop to look at Arthur, poke him a little and, more often than not, take his picture. He, being the joyful baby he is, is all smiles all the time. I don't like people to take his photo but people can be pretty sly with their mobile phones. I also don't like it when people ask if they can hold him. It makes me feel awkward--like if I say no I'm mean. But, I do say no and I tell people not to take a picture. Today, however, while having lunch a girl asked if she could hold him and there was a bit of confusion between Xavier saying no and me looking from him to her. In any case, she got hold of him and he made some new friends. And, this time, I got to take the photos.

Special delivery

I, unfortunately, don't have a photo to post today. I'm disappointed because I wanted this to be mainly about photos and not text, but I didn't have the nerve to ask the person involved if I could take his photo. But, I will tell you about it...

Yesterday, I took the boys to the wonderful pediatrician recommended to me by a mother from school. They needed some shots. I have not been well since Sunday--runny nose, sore throat, headache, etc. When we walked into the doctor's office he was on the phone talking to someone about swine flu. So, after the shots were done, I asked him if we should be concerned. He said there have been minor cases in the schools and, noticing I wasn't well, he said I should get tested. Okay. He gave me a number to call of a lab that comes to you. Yes, they make house calls! I couldn't believe it. In France, there is an organization of doctors called SOS Medecin that makes house calls (but you still have to go out and get your prescriptions, which was hard being sick and living on a 7 floor walk-up like I was at the time).

So, the man arrives just one hour after I called to make an appointment, pulls out a white lab coat, rubber gloves and a mask, asks me a few questions, takes a throat culture and is off. Wow. I'm impressed. I even got my results back exactly 24 hours later. No swine flu, but I do have the regular old flu. No fun.

Here, though, just about everything can be delivered. All the shops at our local market deliver. All shops at the markets a bit further from us deliver. Subway delivers, MacDonald's delivers (neither of which we've done yet). There is no lack for home delivery here. But, laboratory house calls...I'm still impressed.

Water, water, water...

As a mom, one of my biggest concerns with moving to India was Dorian and his baths. Baths are fun and splashy, full of toys and bubbles. It's playtime in water. But, knowing that we had to be really careful about the water here, I wasn't sure how to get a 3-year old to really understand that we are careful with any kind of tap water and we never, ever drink it. Well, luckily the solution was waiting for us. Note the photo: big shower for big people, little shower for little people.

The little things...

It's the little things that matter. If my boys are taken care of then everything it right in this (my) world. I had never been to India before August 25, 2009. When I found out we were coming here, I heard all sorts of things from all sorts of people--one site said to bring as many diapers as possible, I heard we would have to boil milk, that things would be totally different. Things are different but that's not bad at all. Admittedly, I was concerned for my diaper supply (while waiting for the cloth ones to arrive via the movers). And, we do not have to boil our milk. We are, however, very lucky. We are in a very big city and there is absolutely everything that I could imagine us ever needing/wanting. If I can make my boys happy, especially with good food and favorite snacks we are set. Dorian has his Goldfish, his Cheerios, his dried cranberries and his favorite raisins in the little red boxes (mind you, these are things we could not get where we previously lived). I was in heaven the first time we went to the market to see all the American, British, French, Italian and Indian goods. Of course, I realize that being here means much more than finding what my son likes to eat in the States. But, it does make life easier. So, this is blog is supposed to be mainly about photos, I'm putting up this one. The eggs we buy are very good. I just wonder what "near organic" means. Any ideas?

New to this

We are new to New Delhi and I am new to this blog. I hope to keep my friends and family updated with photos of our far away lives....I'll try for one photo a day.