The Grapes of Guilt

Somehow I have over 10kg (22.2lbs) of black seedless grapes in my kitchen.  I'm not entirely sure how this came about but I certainly could have prevented it.  It started on Wednesday afternoon when I sent Prasad, our driver, out to buy some black seedless grapes.  I gave him 200 Rs or ~4 $USD to buy grapes: definitely seedless, preferably black.  January & February are grape season here in Hyderabad.  You will often see pushcarts on the side of the roads piled high with grapes for sale.  Prasad left on his motorcycle, to return less than an hour later with a bag full of grapes.  "80 Rs/kg Ma'am, so I bought 2.5kg" = 200Rs.   Great.  Super.  Yay, grapes!

Thursday, I was in the car doing some errands.  Prasad's phone kept ringing.  Unusual.  He answered the phone...even more unusual.   A discussion took place (not to mention on speakerphone-granted in Telugu)...very VERY unusual.   Finally Prasad started to tell me:
P: "Yesterday Ma'am, when you sent me to get grapes....I went to different shops before finding grapes.  So I talked to that guy (some person at some shop) and he said it is end of season.  In few weeks, no more grapes.  So he went to market today to get wholesale grapes.  60Rs/kg! Yesterday we paid 80Rs/kg"
Me: Ok, that's a good price (mild furrowing of brow....why is he talking about this and taking calls about this??)
P: He has them now.
Me: Oh...(what is going on...can he stop talking, so I can continue reading my book?)  (The car is the only place I read... and sometimes it is very difficult with the bumpy roads)
P:  Silence...

[Hours pass...Shopping occurs....]

A few more phone calls occured which sounded to me like discussion/back and forth, and always ending by Prasad's "Ok, Ok ok".

Finally, heading toward home, Prasad breached the subject again:

P: "Ma'am, I have talked to that guy and he has increased the price.  He is saying 70 Rs/kg.  for 10kg."
Me:  "Do we have to get all 10kg?"
P: "Yes......... If you want...If we have time we could go to Kondapur and see (the grapes)"
Me:  (thoughts churning "he's put SO much effort into these grapes...that is a good price...the girls do love them...I can give some to friends, and neighbors, 10kg isn't really that much...etc etc etc.)  "Ok, that's fine. Lets go."

Short drive.  Grapes inspected.  Verified to be seedless.  Money changed hands.  Car makes U-turn to head towards home.

And so, I now possess a ridiculous amount of black seedless grapes:  the newly acquired 10kg in addition to the 2.5kg Prasad brought me yesterday.

Got Grapes???  Need Grapes???

A great article which really sums things up here

If I could write this well, this is just about how I would describe living in India:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/mad-for-mumbai/story-e6frg8h6-1225934717682

I Heart HK

We spent last week in Hong Kong.  I loved it!  Maybe HK is simply a great city, maybe I was in desperate need of a vacation, maybe HK is the Anti-India, or maybe just something else.  It was a bit like New York without all of the things that I HATE about New York:  HK was clean, orderly, people were polite (I could just be warped from my Indian experiences), no Yankees fans (had to throw that one in there for my sister-in-law Christine!).   The food was great.  We gorged ourselves on dim sum, dim sum, more dim sum, and then some Thai food thrown in for variety.  :)  Cory got on pretty well using chop sticks, and only occasionally had to resort to the "stabbing" method.

When we first arrived the weather wasn't great.  Foggy and cool.  The main sight I wanted to see was going up to Victoria's Peak (aka "The Peak") for an amazing view of the HK skyline and harbor.  Since it didn't clear up while we were there, our eventual trek up to the Peak resulted in some foggy and not so spectacular shots:

After 3 nights in HK, we headed off for the highlight of our journey:  Hong Kong Disneyland.  It was definitely wise of us do Disney at the end of the trip.  It was great incentive for the girls (namely Sammy) to behave.  On several occasions we said "Well, only good girls get to go to Disneyland, I guess you don't want to go."  Or some variation of that.

Disneyland.  The word itself brings a smile to your face.  Just like casinos pump oxygen in to make everyone feel good, Disney must pump in happiness.  With the notable exception followin decent from the Teacup ride, thanks to my spin-happy husband, I had a silly grin plastered to my face the entire 2 days we spent at the park.  FYI:  HK Disney is AWESOME for little kids.  There are tons of rides for them, the shows were great (an impressive improvement from the "Tiki Room" I remember as a 5 year old), and the park was crawling with Characters.  I'm not sure there are any we missed!  

Sammy made drawings for the characters, (spelling their names all by herself) and she gave them out as we met each one.  

As a result, she got tons of hugs!

Now we're back India, and I have to go cook dinner...man I miss vacation!  :)

New Year, New Resolve...

A New Year always brings new resolutions or revisiting old resolutions.  One thing I'm going to work on is increasing my blogging frequency, or more specifically: I'm going to increase my blog publishing...I have several partially written blog entries awaiting 'creative inspiration' or some witty remarks before I publish them.  Perfectionism rearing its ugly head again...Boo Perfectionism.
  
Now it's January and I feel time speeding by.  Some of our very good friends will be leaving Hyderabad this year, while we plan on staying longer.  Having a looming deadline of time to spend with friends, has made me realize that I need to stop putting things off in all areas of life.  As a result, Cory has started golf lessons (a little college planning there).  I have signed up for lessons as well since there is no better time than now to improve.    The more I play, the more I play the same way...it's time for a change.  Bill has said that we can't leave India until my handicap is below a 25.  The clock starts now :)

Another thing I'd like to do this year is to take some Thai cooking classes...in Thailand.  :)  I will give credit where credit is due and say that it was Bill's idea.  Of course, he would benefit directly from that, but I agree that it sounds like a lot of fun and also really yummy.  I will ask around among my girlfriends to see if anyone would like to join me :)

So in light of my first resolution, I will be publishing this post immediately rather than have it sit unread in my 'Drafts' folder.  Click!

Life is Good

I've said for a long time that we really live a good life here.  Case in point:  the maid came this morning, and the house is nice, neat and clean.  Bill just called up saying that instead of all of us going over to friends' house for pizza tonight, they're all coming here.  My response "Ok, see you soon..." No panic, no stash and dash...Life is good.

A Little Helper in the Kitchen

This little guy surprised me yesterday when I was preparing dinner.  I looked onto the stove and there he was sitting next to a burner.  He later hid under the countertop oven, and later in the evening, I found him in the sink.  Since geckos eat bugs, I was happy to have his company, and wasn't about to do him any harm.  This morning, I was very surprised to find him still in the sink.  Was it a cool place to be and comfy for a little nap, or was he stuck?  Yup!  Stuck.  :)

In case you're wondering, that is Sammy's voice on the video.  She has started calling me by my first name...and she calls Bill...'Billy Goat'.  :)

Getting back at Mom

Sometimes I wonder if teachers ever try to get back at parents for the things their kids do at school.  On some level, I can certainly understand the desire to do so for the kids who are troublemakers, or constant misbehave-rs.  My guess is that Sammy isn't either of those, but in a category of her own: the unbridled enthusiastic student.  Sammy talks constantly about animals and will sometimes even address people as Mr. or Mrs. (favorite animal of the day).  I can see how this might wear on a teacher who deals with a classroom of children 4 and younger day in and day out.   Now, I have a sneaky suspicion her teacher is trying to get back at me for this.  We received notice that Thursday is going to be "Dress Up as your Favorite Animal Day" for Sammy's class at school.  Sammy's favorite animal: a porcupine.    Thanks Miss L, that should be a snap!