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Wednesday
Aug062008
Casualties and Survivors
August 6, 2008
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that Kid A took the photo of YaYa and I on the steps. He's doing a pretty good job, isn't he?
I told him about all the compliments. He smiled, one of his big beaming smiles.
I have letters buzzing around my head, lately, so I may be posting more. It's that taking-stock thing that happens, I think. I'm thinking a lot about my kids and my life with them, waiting in these last days for a new child. Another one of these big-eyed things.
So, what's new with us?
Well, we are not so successfully beating the jungle back. There were hundreds of thousands of army ants in the kitchen the other morning. They bit us as we tried to get them out.
I have bites all over my legs. Bed bugs. Hmmmm.
My cowboy hat has gone on to glory. I tried and tried, but couldn't keep the fungus off of it.
And the biggest deal? Our everything lens, the 24 to 70 zoom, the very first lens we bought for our camera, has fungus inside of it. This is not good, to say the least. We take very good care of our camera gear. We just didn't know that we were moving onto the set of a National Geographic documentary.
But we are learning about how you deal with this, step by step, and none too soon. Because I can't be down about the cowboy hat or the bedbugs or the spider bite on my arm when our things arrived today!!!! Our shipping, but as Kid A said, "Can't we just call it our stuff now, since it's not on the ship anymore?" So, our stuff. It's here! It may seem silly to be so, so excited over some books and toys and instruments, but we are silly folks.
So now, trying to take care of our stuff in the jungle. Books need to be flipped through and aired out, a couple of times a week. The pages get soft and easy to tear, so you need to be very careful of them. I can't say that it doesn't make me feel sad, to think of my books getting smelly and soft and wilty, but things are things, right?
We will protect the guitar with our lives.
The mattress is like the very clouds of the heavens and is wrapped in plastic.
I'm really happy with the few toys I chose to ship. Legos, K'Nex, PlayMobil, Puzzles, and model dinosaurs and animals. Great stuff. And after three months of playing with about five beanie babies and a plastic monkey and polar bear, the kids are thrilled. THRILLED. Leafy can't believe his luck. He was very sad to stop playing and take a nap this afternoon.
Renee may come up for air eventually, but she has dug into the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time (the books, of course) and so I doubt it.
There is nothing sadder than Chinua for four months without a guitar, and I was amazed to hear him play and realize that it is what has been the itchy feeling at the small of my back, all these long musicless days.
Today I went to look through the drawer for that one steak knife, the one that we usually use to cut everything, before realizing that our knife set is here. OUR KNIFE SET IS HERE.
And the homeschool stuff. Ahhhhhh. I'm such a nerd, but I could just stroke the books and smell the paper forever.
In short, we are very, very blessed to have our things.
And we would like to have a moment of silence for some stolen goods. For the computer box, which came to us empty.
For the guitar strings and peg winder and wire cutter. We are very glad that they were they only things taken out of the guitar case, and not the guitar itself.
Thankfully the computer (a laptop) was empty (of documents or important files). It was broken and we brought it to fix, to use as a back up and as something for the kids to work on. Somehow it never made its way to us. Stuff is stuff, right?
(Perhaps I will write about this on the other site at some point, but take my advice and use a Relocation Company, if you need to move your stuff.)
Does anybody want to tell me any stories of life in your climate or culture or country? Difficulties keeping things safe or nice? Maybe your lips are always chapped? Or there is sand in your teeth?
Or you are backed up with laundry but you can't do any because it's monsoon and the lines that are strung across your children's room are already full of stuff that won't dry for 24 hours, even with a very strong fan?
Oh wait. That's me.
I told him about all the compliments. He smiled, one of his big beaming smiles.
I have letters buzzing around my head, lately, so I may be posting more. It's that taking-stock thing that happens, I think. I'm thinking a lot about my kids and my life with them, waiting in these last days for a new child. Another one of these big-eyed things.
So, what's new with us?
Well, we are not so successfully beating the jungle back. There were hundreds of thousands of army ants in the kitchen the other morning. They bit us as we tried to get them out.
I have bites all over my legs. Bed bugs. Hmmmm.
My cowboy hat has gone on to glory. I tried and tried, but couldn't keep the fungus off of it.
And the biggest deal? Our everything lens, the 24 to 70 zoom, the very first lens we bought for our camera, has fungus inside of it. This is not good, to say the least. We take very good care of our camera gear. We just didn't know that we were moving onto the set of a National Geographic documentary.
But we are learning about how you deal with this, step by step, and none too soon. Because I can't be down about the cowboy hat or the bedbugs or the spider bite on my arm when our things arrived today!!!! Our shipping, but as Kid A said, "Can't we just call it our stuff now, since it's not on the ship anymore?" So, our stuff. It's here! It may seem silly to be so, so excited over some books and toys and instruments, but we are silly folks.
So now, trying to take care of our stuff in the jungle. Books need to be flipped through and aired out, a couple of times a week. The pages get soft and easy to tear, so you need to be very careful of them. I can't say that it doesn't make me feel sad, to think of my books getting smelly and soft and wilty, but things are things, right?
We will protect the guitar with our lives.
The mattress is like the very clouds of the heavens and is wrapped in plastic.
I'm really happy with the few toys I chose to ship. Legos, K'Nex, PlayMobil, Puzzles, and model dinosaurs and animals. Great stuff. And after three months of playing with about five beanie babies and a plastic monkey and polar bear, the kids are thrilled. THRILLED. Leafy can't believe his luck. He was very sad to stop playing and take a nap this afternoon.
Renee may come up for air eventually, but she has dug into the Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the first time (the books, of course) and so I doubt it.
There is nothing sadder than Chinua for four months without a guitar, and I was amazed to hear him play and realize that it is what has been the itchy feeling at the small of my back, all these long musicless days.
Today I went to look through the drawer for that one steak knife, the one that we usually use to cut everything, before realizing that our knife set is here. OUR KNIFE SET IS HERE.
And the homeschool stuff. Ahhhhhh. I'm such a nerd, but I could just stroke the books and smell the paper forever.
In short, we are very, very blessed to have our things.
And we would like to have a moment of silence for some stolen goods. For the computer box, which came to us empty.
For the guitar strings and peg winder and wire cutter. We are very glad that they were they only things taken out of the guitar case, and not the guitar itself.
Thankfully the computer (a laptop) was empty (of documents or important files). It was broken and we brought it to fix, to use as a back up and as something for the kids to work on. Somehow it never made its way to us. Stuff is stuff, right?
(Perhaps I will write about this on the other site at some point, but take my advice and use a Relocation Company, if you need to move your stuff.)
Does anybody want to tell me any stories of life in your climate or culture or country? Difficulties keeping things safe or nice? Maybe your lips are always chapped? Or there is sand in your teeth?
Or you are backed up with laundry but you can't do any because it's monsoon and the lines that are strung across your children's room are already full of stuff that won't dry for 24 hours, even with a very strong fan?
Oh wait. That's me.
Reader Comments (20)
I know things are a bit crazy for you sometimes, with the pregnancy and the foreign country but may I say I could read your blog all day long? I love the way you narrate your life. I'm glad your things arrived safely(mostly). The guitar and the mattress sound delightful.
I'm so glad you got your stuff! Yeah, it's just stuff, but I'm sure it will make your life a bit easier, and it will be very good for the kids to have some new (old) diversions with a new wee one on the way. You are often in my prayers! With much love, Rebeca
Rae,
Isn't it amazing how the absence of a toy makes it just like new or the best toy ever. My mom always tells about being so poor she got the same doll for Christmas every year and she loved it.
I’ve lived in cold and very humid, hot and very humid (but with a dryer) and in the Texas panhandle were it’s always seasonal and dry. Understand the problems getting cloths dry, especially winter woolies (without a drier), we are talking days, week or more. My most dreaded memory though is of Mom pulling frozen cloths off the line outside. She used to tell stories about moving to the US/Texas, hanging cloths out on the line and the dust storms hitting. (shaking her head and laughing!) She never had a dryer until she moved in with us kids.
When I got my apartment in Germany the prior residents, military family from south Texas, never opened their windows and there was mold so bad you could still see it around the outside of the front door. Learned quickly to have open window time daily. Fortunately their heating system was such that I could have the windows in the propped open position and the heat on low and it was comfortable as well as cost permitting.
Knick Knacks didn’t fair so well in humidity. Lost lots of prized dried flowers from high school and college days; you are so right it’s just stuff. But, the thing I prize more than anything now is a tiny book my dad gave me. At the time he handed it to me so carefully, like it was one of the most important things. I just smiled and thanked him. The book is I.C.S. Plumbers and Fitters Handbook, copywrite 1905. Although I’m not a writer or a reader I’ve always loved old used books for their looks, feel and smell. This one smells like his old Leica that managed to vanish and has a few hand written notes by him. It has in it two pictures, my sister and my graduation pictures, which I would not have if it wasn’t for his copy. Dad’s been gone for four and a half years now and every day I treasure it more.
Send me your address and I’ll send you some lip balm I’ve fallen in love with this year and the old standby Carmex. I’ll also check in with a camera store in Ama and see if they have any recommendations on keeping a camera dry. Maybe they use those little packs of stuff found in new shoes or something similar.
So excited for you'll and the new baby on his/her way!
Congratulations!!! It must be sooooooooooo nice to finally have your things. Every time I check your blog lately, I'm thinking, "she won't have posted because the baby will have come" and then there's a new post. Hope the new peanut shows up soon...
Delurking to say, thank you for sharing your amazing journey! I keep checking back to hear news of your baby's safe arrival and the adventure of birthing in India, of all places.
By the way, I never did catch why you moved there. Is there a concrete reason, or purpose for choosing India?
I'm also wondering, if it would be possible for you to get a small dehumidifier to put in one room. We don't have your kind of crazy humidity, but I LOVE my dehumidifier here on the coast of Oregon.
The major challenge with keeping things safe and nice here... six kids under 12. =)
Hooray for the stuff! I would have chosen the exact toys that you did. The classics. (Heavy, wooden blocks.)
Um, yeah, challenges with keeping things safe and nice. I haven't had time or enough sanity to blog lately, but one of the last things I posted in July was a cathartic (read: not well-written) few posts about our own personal crime trends around here. I was very glad to read that there wasn't anything "good" on that computer,by the way, 'cause that's what they're usually after.
What an exciting time for you all! Baby coming any time, stuff here. Can't wait to hear the news!
And that incompleted sentence was to read, "heavy, plain wooden blocks being less desirable due to both weight and mold. " My scattered brain on exhibit!
Ah, the knife set, that was a lovely moment for me as well!
Here in Sydney, the houses get very damp during rainy spells. We weren't quite expecting that, but earlier this winter, mold was sprouting on every surface, our books were limp, the walls were sweating, and there were clothes hung on drying racks and broom sticks. We should have just worn them, even the clothes in the closet were a bit damp. Fortunately, a dehumidifier has solved the problem for us, but I don't think that will help you much.
Somehow it's easier to think stuff is just stuff when someone else isn't stealing it.
Nevertheless, I am charmed to read your accounts of life in such a foreign place.
I could tell you stories of a place that has temperatures of -30 degrees celsius or lower, where the winter snow is high, where the roads become ruts, where when you get into the car on a cold day, you sit a certain way (really stiff) so you don't touch the seats and let the cold in. Where I cannot even go outside in the winter, because I have cold induced asthma, and it's so cold there, that I was a prisoner 6 - 7 months of the year, running back and forth to the car, but that was all I could take outside. I could tell you of chapped lips, chapped hands, chillblains (sp?) that covered hands. Do you remember?
But I do agree that mildew and mould are disgusting, and not enough air to dry clothes, or even cool off with. I'm glad you have a fan though - definitely important.
Enjoy your goodies....it's so exciting to get them finally. Sorry that you lost some of them. That's crazy!
Oh my...the ants and bedbugs would bother me the worst. I'm sure it must be difficult to adjust to so much in such a short time. I will be doubly sure to count my blessings here in middle TN, USA. It gets very hot, but I have the luxury of central air conditioning and we are bug free indoors.
I do so love getting to see India through your eyes and your experience. And I think you quite brave to face the challenges moving there entails. Thank you for sharing it all.
we just moved in to an apartment and I've found bedbugs,yuck. Also cockroaches. eww. So I found that Black Walnut leaves help with the bed bugs and catnip helps with the cockroaches, and here is some on ants. I guess living in the Ghetto is kinda similar to the rainforest as far as bugs go :)
ants: Keep a small spray bottle handy, and spray the ants with a bit of soapy water.
Set out cucumber peels or slices in the kitchen or at the ants' point of entry. Many ants have a natural aversion to cucumber. Bitter cucumbers work best.
Leave a few tea bags of mint tea near areas where the ants seem most active. Dry, crushed mint leaves or cloves also work as ant deterrents.
Trace the ant column back to their point of entry. Set any of the following items at the entry area in a small line, which ants will not cross: cayenne pepper, citrus oil (can be soaked into a piece of string), lemon juice, cinnamon or coffee grounds
BTW, it is a furnished apartment(came with the bed and the bugs..
R - i am not sure how i came across your blog, maybe sara, but i am not sure. anyhow - we share many similar things, tho our little family lives in NW China, where its hot and dry, or freezing cold. different extremes, but similar stuff. i just wanted to thank you for sharing your life, for the way you write - the heart behind it, and for embarking on an adventure that will have eternal rewards....blessings! Alia
wow. your an amazing woman. i love you. i miss you. i can't wait to see you! (hopefully soon- just wrote you an email about it) i rarely have time to sit and read a blog but if i do, yours is the one.
I feel like in some sense we seem to be living partially parallel lives. my family and i live in Kauai and the humidity here astounds me some days. When we first arrived here our couches were sopping wet every morning just from the way the humidity of the evening drenched them. I have found mold and mildew in unmentionable places and have yet to figure out how to get it OUT of most things aside from the suggestion I'm continually given which is bleach-water. I guess meaning a diluted sort of bleach. That still to me seems to harsh for most things...
We have a dryer for our clothes but have been trying to save on electricity since it's the highest in the whole country here on our lil' island. Alas, when I hang our loads out to dry in the garage - it doesn't really do so well to say the least.
Ants, centipedes, cane spider, cockroaches... they all grow bigger here than ANYwhere else i've ever seen! Is that another trick the humidity thing has up its sleeve or what?! Just yesterday I saw this black thing on our floor and thought it was trash or something the kids dropped. As I bent down to pick it up I realized it was morphing and moving. It was a large pile of ants all fighting over a minime crumb of food.
Do you guys have chickens there? There's wild chickens/roosters everywhere here. They're like squirrels in other regions - just kinda goes unnoticed after living here a while. DIdn't know though if that too is a climate thing or just this strange place we live in.
Despite all this craziness we do indeed love living here. There's nothing like being able to sit outside at 10 at night and be warm still. And dancing in the rain in our swimsuits without any chilly goosebumps. I laughed to myself last night as I laid some clothes our for my kids for this morning b/c we were going to have to be up and out of here early. I thought to myself: 'if it's warm i'll set out this tank top for them and if it's cold, a t-shirt'... just funny to me that the 'cold' weather requires a t-shirt b/c where i grew up in Oregon, the cold weather required a heck of a lot more than that!
anyways, many blessings and prayers for you and a smooth labor/delivery from our humid land to yours....
kristy
I live in Italy. It's hardly India. No monsoons, but I do know people who had a run-in with bedbugs. They are a bitch to get rid of. Good luck with that.
wow,
i'm in victoria bc, finding a home, again ...about to take a yoga teacher course, have chapped lips from california sun, we had one day or two of slight rain and it hadn't rained for 6 weeks, it's been hot and sunny.... when i read about your monsoon i jump into wet clouds of love and devotion in mother india,
we're convinced the sadu way of keeping things simple and minimal is where its' at, that way when yo do loose things you can understand that they don't play a real role in why we are here, still feels pretty rotten when you get ripped off, i've lost over three bike traillors and two bikes in the past four years... vancouver victoria.....and they were for my kids :(
our farm near ashcroft is loaded with ants, and mosquitos. . . red ants are veracious, bit our kids on our swing that was made of dead wood (hint they like dead stumps a lot) but we have learned to love them, and the black carpenter aunts.. they are HUGE but pretty harmless so i just love them, and wish them well outside
have you ever tried putting borax or some kind of powder like cayenne around your home or creases in the house? it is a deterant and the will not climb...
best wishes with the new digs! it must feel like home a little bit ... music, kids, india, kinda makes the wet fungas not so bad,...
i'm curious if there are any temples near your national geographic family abode?
warm dry hugs
i had this wierd feelng today that you're having your baby
I'm so sorry to hear about the fungus in your camera lens, but it sure brought back memories for me. When I was three, my family lived in southern Mexico for a while. My dad was a photographer, and while we were down there, he got fungus in the viewfinder of his favorite camera. It was just the viewfinder, didn't affect the function of the camera, so he kept using it - for another 25 years or so. Every so often i would take a picture with his camera and see the olive-green blob, and it was a reminder. We really did live in the jungle. I turned four in a grass thatched hut, the circle of faces that made up my family lit by candlelight. It really happened like that.
Hope all is well within the circle of y'all's faces.