Thankful

I am humbled and amazed by all there is to be thankful for in my life.  My little boy, whom neither my doctors nor I was ever confident that my body would allow me to have; my husband who supports and puts up with me; a family and circle of friends that were so supportive of us going on this adventure; our new friends that we have bonded fast and deeply with; my brand-new tiny "business" that appears to have great support and a lot of excitement around it; the Himalayas that we get to gaze upon daily.  How did I ever become so fortunate?  I am truly, deeply, thankful.

Now...onto the FOOD!
India is lacking many foods that we have in the states (just as in the states you are lacking many of the foods found here), this week the focus was on the lack of turkeys. I read with a growling stomach your emails detailing your Thanksgiving menus.  I salivated, my mouth anticipating all the delicious flavors you would enjoy.  I would scour our cabinets looking for something to curb the cravings for sweet potato souffle, roasted turkey, brandied cranberries and my mom's desserts.  Potato chips, dark chocolate and pears did not seem to help (though I certainly tried!). You can find sweet potatoes here (they taste the same but are white inside) and white potatoes as well.  Cranberries?  Nope.  Green beans? Yes.  Stuffing?  Make it yourself (which, is better anyways). You can order a turkey from Delhi for a small fortune if you must.  The lovely Inn at the top of our mountain was serving "American Thanksgiving" for quite a large sum.  Since Andy doesn't eat turkey and I don't eat pumpkin pie (well, I had a couple bites this year!) or stuffing we didn't feel like paying tons of money for something called "American Peas and Corn".  Luckily, we didn't have to.  Our friend, Noel, hosted a potluck.  She gathered all the Americans under 40 and one French woman at her house.  Everyone brought a couple of dishes to share.  
They ranged from traditional: green bean casserole, homemade rolls (which looked delicious, but if I am risking a gluten response it is going to be for pie, not rolls) and pumpkin pie.  To the not-so-traditional: pumpkin momos (dumplings), curried chicken and hazelnut cake.  We feasted.  It all felt so wonderfully thrown together and comforting.  We had each other, and we were thankful.  Except for Oliver taking a nose-dive onto the coir matting, made of cocount...very very rough, the evening was a complete delight.

So much so that we are having Thanksgiving part deux tonight!  We all have traditionally spent the weekend surrounded by family and enjoying leftovers so we thought, have it twice!  This time it's at Fabi's house.  The menu will change a bit but the intention is still the same: we have each other, we are so thankful.  When you are away from those you love the most it is so helpful to be around all the new people you have come to love (and aren't I lucky to have found them?).  It isn't freezing cold outside, I didn't get to eat all my "favorites" and I really miss  seeing my family.  So it certainly doesn't feel like any Thanksgiving I have had before, but it does feel like Thanksgiving.  And I am so thankful.

Water! Water!

My friend had one of her students ask her: "Is it true that in America you can drink the water out of any sink? The bathroom too?" She thought for a moment and told the class that yes, you can drink the water out of any sink in the house and you "you can even drink out of the hose!" Amazed, the students started to ask more questions.  "How?"  "Why is the water safe?"  She even told them that there is this nutrient called Fluoride "and it is put in our water just because it is good for you and your teeth."  Mouths dropped to the floor.  When she told me this it made me think just how utopic America sounds and how dystopic India must sound to Americans, especially when it comes to water.

We have had two friends get quite ill from drinking the "bad" water.  They both had Giardia that affected them for many weeks on and off.  In each staff home there is a water purifier that you turn on and get your water from.  If you do not have a water purifier, you get your water from one of the pumps in town and boil it.

Kids collecting water in town

With all the trash, oil, grease, dumped onto the hillside and all the wild animals and people who use the hillside as their bathroom you can imagine what this does to the watershed.  We are lucky to be near the top of the rivers and higher up on the watershed.  Living in the mountains does provide you this small luxury.  I have heard horror stories (that would keep you up at night) about the rivers in south India and how the water looks coming out of the tap.  Since you may be eating while reading this, I will spare you the gruesome details.

We are hyper cautious about Oliver and the water.  We boil a pot of purified water for his bath and then add cool pitchers of purified water until the temperature is right. He splashes, plays with his toys and often tries to drink the water.  We can't take the chance he might ingest some non-purified water. We don't wipe is face or hands with anything but purified water either; everything still goes right into his mouth so no "bad" water on his hands.   We can wash dishes with non-purified water but then we rinse everything with the purified.  We always check to make sure our dishes are dry when we eat at a restaurant.

If you are eating at an unfamiliar restaurant (typically, we get recommendations from friends but this is not always possible if you are eating in a different town), you order a bottle of water because you don't want to risk that they might not serve purified.  We have even asked waiters to take our bottle and brew our tea with it because if they don't get the "bad" water to the actual boiling point it will make you sick.

I have a hunch that Oliver and I got so sick on our fifth day here because we got a little "bad" water into our systems somehow.  I was still brain dead and feeling quite upside down and was probably, unknowingly, not being as careful as I should have been.

When I get back to the states the first thing I am going to do is serve myself a nice tall glass of fluoride-enhanced water...straight from the hose.  And drink it with confidence.

p.s. My Dad prescribed Oliver fluoride drops so he gets some in his sippy cup everyday.

Small Business Plan

Have you ever had a little voice from deep inside whisper to you "THIS is what you should be doing?"
I've had a little voice for about seven years now that tells me I should open up a Gluten-Free bakery.
This voice has come to me when I was switching schools, switching careers, afternoons spent playing with Oliver while at the same time wondering how I can help financially contribute to my family.  People over the years have complimented my baking (my almond butter chocolate chip cookies are what is requested when I ask what I can bring to parties) and when they discover that everything is gluten-free they act shocked.  "No kidding!  I would never have known!" I am not sure what they expect gluten-free foods to taste like, but clearly they don't expect them to be "good."

I have often lamented my lack of options at coffee shops and cafes.  Just wanting a snack when we are out for a walk can be quite an ordeal.  I would love to have a place where families can bring their kids and know that the kitchen is committed to keeping their kids safe and that everyone can have something to eat.  I figure, why stop at just gluten?  Why not have a place that is free of the most common food triggers: gluten, dairy, nuts, soy, shellfish (easy enough).  Eggs is going to be a tough one to avoid, but I can make it happen!  When I daydream about my bakery I picture a black and white tile or old hardwood floors with pale yellow walls and old diner lights.  My bakery is located on Monroe St. in Madison.  It's central to all sides of town, good parking and good foot traffic. I not only sell in my store and handle large orders but I also supply Whole Foods Market with some nice, local options for baked goodies. A girl can dream...

Today I baked some Snickerdoodles (cinnamon-sugar cookies) for our neighbors who lend us their vacuum cleaner.  She couldn't believe I had made them with Chickpea flour and was very excited about their taste/texture.  Unbeknownst to me, she shared them with several students an staff members.   I had two students and one teacher come up to me at lunch asking if they could buy more from me.  If that wasn't a light bulb moment, I am going to need to be knocked out my a huge sack of gluten-free flour to get the message!  I get it, little voice!  I hear you! So now, I am going to go price out a couple of recipes and see if I can't drum up some interest in selling some baked goods.  It will be simple enough to do here; a man sells loaves of bread door to door and is hugely popular.  I figure a couple of emails, one day of free samples and I should be able to get a nice little side business going running out of the school's quad.  We will see how it goes and perhaps I can continue this venture when we return to the states. Seeing as how I know nothing about owning a small business, if I want to expand and actually have a brick and mortar location, I am going to have to take some classes and become far more knowledgable about everything involved.

I realize this post has nothing to do about India.  I am simply writing this to get some good energy going.  But having this idea "out there" finally (as in, not just Andy) means I can start to network and get some support.  I can't stop now either, knowing I am going to be "checked" up on.  Wish me luck! xo

No appointment necessary

One month before we left for India I was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism. Three weeks before we left I received confirmation that it is Grave's disease (I just hate that name), the autoimmune thyroid condition.  I had three weeks to pack up our apartment, our baby, my husband and see him off to India before I moved to Wisconsin with Oliver to stay with my parents until it was our turn to go.  Three weeks. Western medicine did not work.  I took a Beta Blocker for one week and felt even worse.  I was losing weight too fast, twelve pounds less than when I first got pregnant, and I couldn't stand for more than five minutes without getting dizzy.  My hair was falling out, my hands wouldn't stop shaking and on top of everything, I couldn't sleep.  That is fantastic when you have a six month old.  I was ragged.  Other pills suggested to me meant I could not nurse Oliver anymore; not an option.  I called my beloved acupuncturist, Liz, who has helped me with circulation issues, Ulcerative Colitis, headaches, fertility all with (obviously!) great success.  She treated me three times for the Graves.  Three!  I was given herbs to take and diligently swallowed my bitter medicine.  Yuck.  I was pissed, frankly.  What fantastic timing my body has!  Another Autoimmune disease?  Just put it on my list.  I went to treatments, took the herbs, silently cursed my body for turning on me and continued to pack.  No time to think, just time to DO. Slowly I noticed my hands stop shaking, my hair staying on my head where it belonged.  I was feeling ok.  Still tired, sleepless and underweight, but I could function. Liz sent me to India with three months of herbs so that I could get acclimated here and have time to find a new course of treatment.

So that's what I did today. And it was perhaps my most bizarre medical experience to date.

Everyone told me that for doctor recommendations I should talk to the head of school.  She has been here for twenty-five years and is very health-conscious, she would be able to help me.  I inquired about Ayurvedic medicine or an acupuncturist, but when she mentioned her success with her homeopathic doctor I decided that would be the option for me.  I had great success with a homeopath when I was in high school and college.  No treatment was more successful at calming my colitis.  I asked her where he was located and she drew me a map, "he's hard to find."  I asked for his number to make an appointment, "no appointment necessary, just show up!  If it looks busy, stick your head in the window and ask when you should come back."  Okaaaay.

Andy and Oliver escorted me to the doctor and Andy promised me a tasty dinner out for all my trouble.  Deal! When we turned a corner down a road I had never been down before I was so thankful for the map.  There was the store front...and there was the line out the door to see him.  I immediately became overwhelmed and did not want to stay.  Andy asked me why and all I could think of was "I'm scared."  This guy might not know any English, what if there is a complete lack of understanding and I get pills to treat something else?  People cut in front of me in line and I got more overwhelmed...I wanted to be anywhere but in that line with the coughing people.  But then, I got brave.  I feel really crappy and really tired and really upset about having to get treatment in this manner!  So I maneuvered my way in front of the last person to cut in front of me and worked my way into the smallest possible "treatment" office you could imagine.  Room for four people, standing...doctor included.  I watched him ask a young boy to stick out his tongue, then gave his mother some white pills and off they went sixty seconds later!  A husband and wife were next.  The doctor felt her neck and more white pills and then out the door!  My turn.  He actually pulled the curtain for me and told me to sit on a stool.  I explained my situation and he was shocked that I didn't bring my medical forms with me (oops!).  Why in my frantic mind did I forget those?  Did I subconsciously think they couldn't be translated?  This man spoke fantastic English and three minutes later I had two bottles of white pills, "From Germany!" labeled "Thyroid". I was told how to take them and that I should come back. I paid my 235 rupees (Just over four dollars!) and got shuffled out the door, a little dumbfounded over what just went down but also confident that this man will be able to help me even after the quickest intake and assessment ever.  The line wound down the street once I got out. I was thankful to be free of that small space.

I took my first doses after Oliver went to bed.  It feels like this crazy way of getting help for this crazy disease may just actually work. I will keep you posted. 

Life at 7,000 feet

I remember saying that I would write about our daily life once I figured out what our daily life was going to consist of.  The truth is, every day is different and I am still trying to figure out where to put in time for myself, time for cleaning, time for play into our days.

The week days all begin with me trying to get in a shower before Andy leaves for work.  If this doesn't happen, I have to try and fit it in after Oliver's nap (because the shower wakes him from his nap) which is so close to lunch time that it really stresses me out.  So I race through a shower and then get breakfast ready for me and Oliver.  Andy eats breakfast at school because it just is more convenient for him to do so time-wise.  Breakfast is a popular time to Skype with people in the States because it is evening there, so often we spend our time conversing with friends and family over coffee and eggs (for me!).

Breakfast takes so long that we usually get about 20-30 minutes of play time in before Oliver is ready to nap.  Once he goes down I try to fit in a little exercise (this piece most often gets skipped, it's just wishful thinking most days!), mostly yoga, and then I clean or make food for Oliver.  We fired our maid, so all cleaning and laundry now falls to me.  The laundry machine is non-stop especially now that we are using washable diapers, so I try to fit a load of laundry in there somewhere too.  I make all of Oliver's food.  He no longer wants to eat anything pureed (he is a big boy after all!) and he has not a single tooth yet so I am making lots of super-soft and super-small cooked foods for him.  He favorites right now are beets and pumpkin.

Oliver wakes up 1.5-2 hours later and depending on what time it is we either have ourselves a dance party, or go for a walk, or play in the field by our house.  We head down the mountain to school for lunch at 12:30.  Lunch is my favorite time of day.  We get to see Andy, I get some MUCH needed adult interaction and Oliver gets to play with his buddy Ennis on the playground.  It always flies by, but that hour to hour and a half is always a relief for me.  Once I week I usually walk into the bazaar with my friend Fabi for some "girl time".  Oliver either naps in his carrier or takes a later nap once we get home.
Once he is down for nap number 2 I finish any cleaning tasks I didn't get to before (I just wiped down the bathroom and  I am looking at a counter full of dishes), any cooking/baking I didn't get to finish and then I really really try to read and just sit still for a moment.
Oliver usually takes a shorter nap, 1-1.5 hours and then we are off to play again!  He is obsessed with holding onto furniture and taking steps right now, so we could do that for a very very very long time.  Around 4:30 or so we either go for a walk or go meet Andy at school or go into the bazaar, it changes all the time.  We were eating dinner at school with our friends (it was so easy for me, no cooking or clean up!) but I am missing cooking dinner and frankly, we need to better eating more balanced meals.  The meals at school are all starch: rice, dal, chickpeas, potatoes...I need more veggies in my life!  So we quit the meal plan for November and we will see how that goes for us.
We often take Oliver to staff gym nights on Mondays and Wednesdays and let him climb around on the mats in the gymnastics room. Other nights we just play on the floor at home the three of us, until it is time to wind down for bed.  Then Andy and I get two hours together before we are completely exhausted and turn in ourselves.  Then it all starts again the next day!

Weekends are the best.  Andy is home and we get to explore or eat out or just do whatever excites us that day.  The past few weekends we have spent one day just walking for HOURS.  I love it.  We leave after Oliver's morning nap, get lunch out, and just walk until it is dinner time.  Oliver naps in his carrier and Andy and I get to spend some time out of the house (a must for me!).  Sometimes we go into the city and get lunch an shop, other times we hike up a nearby mountain and other days we just walk through the bazaar.  It is just great to have Andy around.

Gotta get to those dishes! xo

Maintenance

Now is as good a time as any to tell you that we do not have central heat...and it is getting cold...and we live in a poorly insulated concrete house.  (Any sliver of hope I was holding onto that my mother might visit has just vanished with the typing of that last sentence)  So we plan on using our fireplace in the living room and the bucari (think wood stove) in our bedroom along with two electric heaters we have purchased.  This is what people who were here last year did, so we followed their lead.  Yes, we are nervous (I am honestly quite terrified) but the average low here is 35 (every Midwesterner is thinking that sounds pretty great, aren't you?) and we are hearty Midwestern folks so I am hoping we can survive with all fingers and toes in place and a still-solid marriage.  I will keep you posted.

Then came the email from the head of maintenance saying we could not use our electric heaters, that they use up way to much electricity and that the grid/generator cannot handle them thus they are banned.  People were outraged.  They fired off angry responses, contacted the board, held meetings with the principal.  Not only has everyone spent a great deal of money on these heaters, but some people will truly NEED them as some apartments have no primary heat source.  One friend who is a dorm parent says she has no bucari, no fireplace, no means of heating her place up.  So what is she supposed to do?  People who were here last year said the same email went out and that they (very covertly) still used their electric heaters. So we all agreed to keep using our heaters, generator be damned.  We will see how that works out for us all.  I am going to have to use something during the day, I cannot see myself keeping a fire going for the few hours we are here in the morning, then putting it out to go to school, then restarting it when we come back.  I was up for roughing it and for an adventure, but by no means am I a pioneer.  I need to be WARM.  I will be plugging in my heater and layering.  We will have fires at night, try to save electricity, but during the day that is going to be a very daunting task for me to continuously tend to a fire while I also deal with Oliver.

Then today I very stupidly tried to put an earring in while standing over the bathroom sink.  It didn't go down the drain, but it bounced it's way down to the drain in our floor and sunk down deep.  I panicked.  These earrings were a present from my mom (the black pearls, Mom!) and beyond how much I like them, I am very sentimental about them.  I threw Oliver into his Johnny Jump Up (oh boy, that kid loves to jump!) and got out my head lamp, wooden spoon and duct tape.  I got the pipe that runs from the sink to the drain in the floor out of the drain so I could see down this larger whole.  There was my earring.  I tried to get it to stick to a roll of duct tape on the end of the spoon, but there was some standing water down there so it wouldn't stick.  I went and grabbed a fork and tried to scoop it out but my visibility was so low I couldn't tell where to put it and I was afraid to push it down the pipe further.  I sat on my bathroom floor and cried.  Oliver was happily bouncing away, not questioning at all why his mother was sitting on the bathroom floor, wearing a flashlight on her head, holding a fork and crying.

I decided I needed professional help.  I put Oliver in his carrier and walked to school to ask maintenance if they could recommend a tool for me.  The whole walk down I thought about all the work these men do.  Repair pipes, replace water heaters, build fences, repair wiring.  I was surely going to be laughed at and told my earring retrieval was a waste of their time, or be told they could get to it in three weeks.  When I walked into their offices, the man at the desk stood to great me and offered me a seat.  I explained how embarrassed and stupid I felt but that I also really needed their help because I really REALLY want my earring back.  The man took me to find his partners and very seriously explained the situation.  When it was determined that neither a magnet nor a wire was going to help me one of the men grabbed two tiny pick axes and jumped on another's scooter.  I was told to walk back home, they would meet me there.  The men pounded at the cement seal around the drain until it popped out.  The man with smaller hands then reached down and dug around.  He pulled out bits of cement, buts of shear yuckiness and lint.  I was heartbroken.  Surely he had pushed it further, he even said "no good, Ma'am".  Then he reached down one more time and pulled out my precious pearl.  I cried.  They got embarrassed and left in a hurry.  I was overwhelmed with relief and so grateful to them for their help.

I have since composed an email to the head of the maintenance department, the man who helped me and the principal.  I thanked them profusely and told them how much they are appreciated.  I hope it sunk in. I know they took A LOT of heat when their "no heaters" email went out.  I know they were just doing their job.  But we are still going to use our heaters. 

Diwali!

Our first Diwali!  Wikipedia can explain it better than I can.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali  All of our Hindu friends say this is their biggest holiday.  Our friends Surya and Uma threw a party to celebrate.  Their home had hundreds of candles along the floor and marigolds on every surface.  We had a buffet on their patio from which you could see all of the town of Mussoorie and into the valley of Dehra Dun.
Oliver had his first experience with fireworks!  He loved the sparklers and the Roman Candles, but anything that BOOMED elicited major tears and looks of concern.  We didn't stay too long after the fireworks started but it was so nice to be able to spend an evening with friends and share in their holiday.

As we walked home we saw several displays of fireworks in the valley from the road.  The whole sky was lit up, made all the more visible because it is a new moon.  Now we are home and I am hearing constant rumbles in the distance.  Henry would be going crazy here.  The fourth of July was never really his thing.

I will post pictures of the party soon.  I forgot to pack my camera cord but the school has some desktops that can read my card.  It's just a matter of timing and motivation.

But here are two things I think you will enjoy:

This is a shot of India during Diwali as taken from a NASA satellite.

And Steve Carell doing his best Adam Sandler impression and singing about Diwali (this I have had in my head all day!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B5i6DC2BtM&feature=related

Happy Diwali!
xo