Finally, Another Post!

Hi again! Well, I know it's been a while. I literally ran out of things to say. Our life has settled in to a day-to-day groove here that is very nice, but not all that exciting. Mark works most of the day each day. I do housework and read or surf the net. Also all the batteries we brought from Europe have run out, and I don't know what the deal is but I have bought batteries at least five times here, and they are always DOA. It's kind of annoying. I can't get the camera to work. The batteries I just now bought allowed me to get off about three pictures, and we have a few from before, so I'll disperse what we've got throughout this e-mail. If anybody sends us a package, be sure to include some AA batteries! So no pictures, no exciting trips or news...

But I know you are missing out on getting to read anything, so let me at least think of something to tell you about. I had a friend named "sluggy" for a while. He was a slug. Sometimes his name was also "Squishy". He appeared in our bathroom one day, and though you may not believe it, I felt that he and I were sort of meant to be together. Or anyway, i just really liked him. Eventually I kind of fell in love with him.

It was the weirdest thing. There is a window (no glass) that just opens up to the outside in our bathroom. It is only about 8by5 inches, and up near the ceiling. I don't know why it's there, there's one in each bathroom and the pantry. Every day Sluggy would disappear. I'd look everywhere for him, especially if it was a day when I was going to clean the bathroom, because his slick skin seems very sensitive and I didn't want him to have to crawl over bleach and chemicals, but I could never find him during the day. Eventually I decided he must go outside each day, but where would he go? We're on the second story and it would be a long crawl for a slug to find his way to any plants or anything. Wherever he was, he would reappear after dark, gliding along the floor or the sink or the wall or wherever. Everytime I'd see him was a surprise, especially at first. Each day I thought he was gone for good, but each night he'd come back. I'd see him and say "Sluggy!" and pick him up if he was in my way or in a dangerous spot and move him. It took Mark a little getting used to living with a slug. I needed him to always check the toilet seat before he sat down and check inside the bowl before he flushed. But he got used to it and eventually really liked the slug and was glad I had such a good friend. Sluggy was with us about 3 weeks and then finally one day he didn't come back. I haven't seen him in a week. I think he might have gotten eaten by a bird. I told you this would be exciting.

What else has been going on? There have been two holidays, one is just called Puja, which must be short for something, because puja just means worship, and it happens every day. But this special Puja was a really really cool holiday. It is the day that the goddess of learning is given special praise, and it is the day that all Indian children start their studies. Every two or three year old in town goes through this ritual on this one day a year. There are some celebrations, and then the child's parent or teacher holds their hand and uses the child's finger to trace all of the letters of the alphabet in uncooked rice grains. Each letter is traced, one by one, over the top of the last one. This is the first time that child has drawn their letters. After that day the child's training in reading and writing begins. Isn't that cool? The text Mark is working on from 2,000 years ago describes this same thing. Kids all over India have learned to read and write this way on the same day for thousands of years.

The other holiday was Divali which is a fireworks holiday. Here is a picture of me on my way out the door to go upstairs on the roof and shoot off these fireworks we got. It is pretty much like our celebrations for the fourth of July. Every household is shooting off fireworks and there are some big displays. It was a lot of fun. We were on the roof, and our friends downstairs were letting them off in the driveway so every once in a while a rocket they let off would come whizzing right by us. Everyone had a good time. [Asenath, certainly in consideration of some of our more genteel readers, has left out some of the more petrifying, shall we say explosive, details of our divali fireworks show. Let me just say that there is almost certainly no regulating board governing the manufacture and sale of fireworks here. This was evidenced by the triangular cracker made of gunpowder and a folded palm leaf with a *very* short fuse that I lit (they're the little beasties in the plastic bag at the top of the pic). Short story: it didn't make it out of my hand. It was like a tom and jerry cartoon: ears ringing, hand stinging, hair blown back, stunned. Still have all ten o' me digits though. One last thought: it seems that volume is the most important aspect of fireworks here. For about two weeks before divali there were near-constant teeth-jarring bangs around our place. We were both shocked by the power of some of the bigger 'crackers'. They literally blew out the candles that we were using to light them from several yards away. The concussive blasts were shocking. We only lit two of the big boys. The sky rockets were awesome and cheap: only about 30 cents for a big flower explosion high overhead.-Mark]

We went to HappyLand a few weeks ago, which is a waterpark about 15 kilometers from our house. It was really great. Like other things the rides were a little more dangerous than I'm used to. We were the first ones there, so they'd have us waiting at the head of the slide while an employee climbed through it to make sure everything was OK. All went well and we had a great time. It is just so good to be able to get in the water since there is no shower, bath or swimming pool available to us. The slides were fun, but my favorite part was getting to hang out in this little shallow pool in front of a gorgeous waterfall. We were the only ones in the pool and sat there up to our chests in water and talked for hours. It was great. Here is a picture of Mark waiting out front for HappyLand to open.

We are planning another trip soon. There are elephant habitats not too far from here with wild herds. You can stay in cabins there and it is out in some natural beautiful place. Then I think you can hang out with some elephants and go out in a jeep or something and watch the herds. I don't know if that is really what it is like, but I am dying to go. I really like elephants. I don't think I told you about the time one walked right by me on the street here. I hadn't seen that before. It was huge! Elephants always look big, but in the zoo or a parade or whatever, since they are sort of on display it doesn't really hit me. But to see this guy just come walking right by me with a man riding on top was a totally different story. I was stunned. He had perfect attention, just walking straight ahead ignoring the other traffic around him. I could have reached out and touched him. My jaw dropped and I saw some young women watching me and laughing at my reaction (in a nice way), but I couldn't take my wide eyes off of him. It was really amazing. Mark was inside of a store and I was waiting out by the scooter. When Mark came out I told him and we went and just happened to be right behind the elephant for a good way. Then we ran into this huge traffic jam because some people were doing a pinata in the middle of the street for some reason and playing drums and all that. Elephants have those huge eyes that are so kind and wise. I really like them, and feel special when they look at me. That last picture was one I took of our neighbor's house. I just put it in there to take up some space and give you something to look at while you read.


This is a picture I painted of our future baby. Don't get too exited, I'm not pregnant, and we aren't even trying. I don't feel up to getting pregnant while we are in India, mostly because it is just a lot harder to get the basics like good nutrition covered here. Not for Indians but for us, since we don't know anything. You might have noticed both of us, but especially me, getting really skinny after we got here. I don't like to be that skinny, especially I don't like starving and being hungry and feeling weak, which is what was happening. I had the runs for two months, one of the hazards of adjusting to life here. In addition to that as I've sort of described, figuring out even how to go to the store was a lot, and then what to buy when I got there and what to do with it once I got it home. There are only ingredients for Indian food here, and I didn't know the first thing about Indian cooking. I finally got a really good Indian cookbook and I have been making some delicious meals. It has been one of my main favorite things I've been doing, and I am becoming a much better cook through it. I am really excited about that, actually. And I have put a little weight back on and feel nourished and healthy, so that is really good news.

So we are waiting on baby, but we are excited about getting pregnant after our lives are a little back to where we know we have a steady food supply and the other basics covered. This might sound weird, but it is actually quite common and doesn't feel weird at all. I've been in touch with this one "soul" or whatever you want to call it that really wants to be our baby. He's been there ever since we were in Alpine. I clearly remember the first time I realized he was there with me. He's been begging to come, making it really hard for me to wait, but I keep telling him he'll just have to wait a little longer. That painting I made is what he looks like. So we're keeping in touch through dreams and drawings and daydreams until we've prepared a place for him to arrive. I'm not sure he'll be able to wait, in which case we may get a different baby, but I really like this one, so I'm asking him to please wait a little longer. The second picture is our thought bubbles turning into a waterfall. And the last is Mark and me meditating. I'm facing forward in red, and Mark is behind me with his profile in blue. Aww.

I went to the Ayurvedic doctor about the back problems I've been having the past couple of years. She told me my spine is curving and sent me to get some x-rays. Well, what do you know, it is curving. I went in every day for three weeks for a massage while they worked on straightening it out. I think it did get a bit straighter. Also she told me her advice about how to take care of it, which I pretty much agree with and feel like I can easily do. I'm not very worried about it. I'm pretty sure that curve has been there since high school or before, because one side of my waist has a big hour glass curve and the other is pretty straight up and down. That is due to the curve in my spine, and I remember having that for a long time. So, I don't think it is getting much worse. The doctor called it a "slight" curve, and I've known people with much bigger curves who had no problems. So, I guess I'll just have to keep getting more massages. Oh well. That's a joke. I love getting massages, and I like doing yoga and staying active, so I feel fine about it.

Well, shoot, I guess I had more to talk about than I thought I did. I just had to give into writing about the more or less boring details of everyday life and what goes on in my head and heart and body, which is a little personal, but what the heck. I really am running out of things to say now, and I am definitely out of pictures. So, I guess i'll sign off. Hopefully we will go to see the elephants in a few days (unless Mark suddenly feels like he can't take a break from his work), and then I'll have some more fun pictures and stories to share with you. Until then, lots of love!

-Asenath