We arrived in Hyderabad on Aug 3. We moved into our new apartment on Aug 21. So it's been a while. Vivian, Evan - if your memory is anything like mine, you may want to know what life was like when you were here.
I'll start with the mundane - by describing a day.
Jo and I take turns waking up with Dear Evan. He's usually up some time between 530am and 630am. He coos a few times and then gives out a full blooded scream. On my mornings I drag myself out of bed and wander over to his room. By this time he's usually divested himself of his swaddle blanket, and sometimes his diaper too. Upon seeing me he gives a very friendly and congenial "Hi". I change his diaper. Then he runs to the kitchen looking for food and vigorously taps his bunched fingers of both hands together - sign language for "more". On days when I'm even slower than usual he punctuates this with screams of "cracka". I get him fruit or crackers. Then I ask him to find his shoes. He runs to the front door yelling "shzzzzz". At the door he slips on the first pair he can find - usually Jo or my sneakers. I put him in the stroller and and walk down to the park. I cut him loose and he walks with me to the playground at one end. He plays on the slide and makes a mess in the sand. We walk back home. Evan wakes Vivian and hugs and kisses her till she manages to push him away.
Jo wakes up. We eat breakfast (some combination of Cheerios, pancakes, eggs, bacon, toast, fruits). I beseech Vivian to eat while Evan gobbles what he wants and starts throwing food on the floor - which is our indication that he's done eating and wants down from his high chair. Vivian dresses herself, Jo does Vivian's hair, and we get out of the house by 830 to get Vivian to school. If it's a Monday morning, we squeeze in the last of homework somewhere in there.
School is about 10 minutes away. The street in front of the school is narrow. There's an empty plot of land opposite the school gates. A local politician (state labor minister) lives next to that plot. About 375 crazy Indians try to drive up to the school, drop off their kids, turn around, and drive back out of the lane while local security forces, police, and visitors park in front of the minister's home. This is the most chaotic traffic I will see all day - not because the streets aren't crazy, but this is a few orders of magnitude crazier than that.
Some times we stop in and say hello to my dad on the way back. Some times we go to Chote Mia's fruit stand on Road number 10. I buy papaya, apples (from Washington state), pears, cheekoos, sitafals, and pomegranates. Chote Mia is a good sales man and I return to the car with three times as much fruit I had intended to buy. Between hand selecting my fruits, Chote Mia watches female WWF wrestlers on TV.
We get back home and Savitri arrives. She lives in the servant quarters downstairs with her husband and two daughters. She quickly cleans Evan's room and Jo puts Evan down for his morning nap. We change and go downstairs where Chari is waiting for us in his car. Chari drives us to the club. Jo devises the day's punishment. We workout. The club gym closes as 11am, so it's mostly stragglers and "aunties" who are there at this hour. They are immensely curious about out crossfit workouts. We finish our workouts and shower and sometimes get a bite to eat at the colonnade or shop for groceries at the club shop. Chari drives us to Vivian's school where it's his job to navigate the crazy traffic while Jo and or I go pick Vivian up. About a third of the picker-uppers are parents. Almost all moms. The rest are drivers or ayyas. Vivian tells us about her day at school on the way back. Jo and I are curious about her snacks - so we usually ask her about that: Maggi noodles, dal and rice, vaddas, etc - brought in by other parents by turn. We wonder if the kids will like goldfish and carrot sticks when it's our turn.
Back at the ranch, Savitri has usually fed Evan some snack and cleaned the house by now. We eat lunch at home. Or at the Sailing Club. Or Sweet Nirvana. Then everyone naps.
Sometimes we meet friends for dinner. The other day (on a school night) we went out to a friend's house at 830pm and returned home after midnight. Often we cook at home. Sometimes we go out to a restaurant. Then we play, read, watch old Donald Duck cartoons on YouTube, dance, run around, skype. Then the kids get baths and go to bed. Jo and I chat. She goes to bed. It gets to be - yikes - 2:30am - and I hurriedly finish writing a blog post and crawl into bed. Evan will be up in three hours and it's my morning tomorrow. Another day in paradise.
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