More from the mutha-land...

So far I have no complaints here, other than it is VERY laid back. That's a mindset, I guess, and after the very hectic schedule of work/move/pack/work/eat/ etc back in Michigan, I've really had to tell myself to "chiiiiillllllllllllllll" in order to not be bored to tears.

It's nice to have Babi... she's been a godsend as far as getting me out of the house and out for shopping, internet, etc. We have a very nice computer at home, but the power here is nuts - voltage goes from here to there, lights dim, fans spin at different speeds, and nothing stays steady for enough time to actually get the computer booted up and ready to do anything. You should have heard it when I tried to use my blow dryer... "wwwrrrrrrahhhhhhhhhh" like... like... I dunno, some seriously underpowered mechanical device :-) It was about 1/10th the usual speed.

And as far as internet... DSL is available, but since the phone is down there's no scheme AND apparently Ponkunnam (that Golden Hill, remember?) only has 32 dsl lines available, wheras Kanjirappally has 106. All the Ponkunnam lines are taken and we're too far away to get the Kanjap exchange. Drama, drama...

Wait, I do have one complaint. Florescent lights. Kiss my ass, florescent lights... everyone has these bulbs, either the long ones like in offices, or lil' bulb ones, in their houses. Very few have shades or anything to block the mind-numbing glare that they emit, which part blinds you, part lulls you to sleep when you're trying to speak with someone who's standing in front of them. Or if you get the lucky seat below one at dinner, you can enjoy all the little buggies dropping into your plate from there...

(bastards)

But that's all. It's dull but beautiful, and even that; it's dull in such a vibrant, fantastic sort of way that I shouldn't even say it as such. Mummy and Daddy's house is up a small driveway, surrounded by a stone fence like you might see in an old spanish fort, made of cut stone. There are flowers, colorful plants, and trees everywhere... and of course, the whole thing is surrounded by just acres and acres of rubber trees. Each has a little half coconut attached, into which is dropping pure latex; the sap of a rubber tree. There will be a fellow going around all morning long, collecting the sap and recutting to gather more for the next day.

Along the Panthiruvelil road (which is a lane... or a large paved sidewalk perhaps that two cars will at times attempt to go down at the same time, ahhhh!!!) there are all (guess!) PANTHIRUVELILS. There's first Chackochen Uncle (Saby's Dayton cousin Sunil's dad), who lives next to a tiny little waterfall that crosses the road and continues down to the real river that makes the boundary of the original family land. He's got a very nice house, apparently new in the last few years. Then is Appapan's house. Appapan is what everyone calls the grandfather - 96 year old Patriarch of the family. He lives in the original house in which all 10 of his children (one being my "daddy" and another Leelama Aunty) were born. There with him is Jose Uncle and his wife Valsamma. They've got 4 kids... two of which are married and out of the house (girls Manju and Anju) and two boys, Appu and Jopu.

**as a side note, most everybody has schemey Biblical names like my dear Sebastian George, but all go by more Indiany nicknames... e.g. Saby is called Pradeep at home, Joy Uncle is Abraham Mathew, etc etc. These are good old school Catholics**

Then comes Daddy's house. There is room for all three of their kids, but sadly it's just me and Leelama Aunty now there... and even she's headed off to Eramaly to visit her eldest sister. After that there are bazillions of cousins of various demoninations (1st, 2nd, 3rd) down the road... all the way, probably for about a mile, until the road splits off and there's a lovely little river. That's the same river that you can see from our house, below a sloping hill covered with rubber trees.

The house was cut out of the hill - everywhere there is this lovely dark black rock. There are terraces probably made 100 years back all over onto which the rubber trees grow... and each level you can find a little step built in. It's very pretty, and gives a very ancient feel to the place. Stuff grows EVERWHERE. It's truly a jungle, like hawaii, and the Hawaii comparison makes me thing that those bastards on the show Lost would be a LOT sweatier if they were actually lost on some island with a climate and vegetation like this!!

Mummy said when the house was built, they cut 100 rubber trees down to get the land. Behind the house there's a natural little landscaping set up that turns into a sort of rock garden, waterfall during the rainy season... but now a days it's just slippery and apparently daddy's fallen down from there a few times :)

What else? Ceiling fans are beautiful but dry out my contacts... not so many bugs as I thought there might be. I've made peace with ants, and a strange lil thing that makes me think of how a flat worm might look if it were chilling in my intestine. Looks like a kite, about 2/10 of an inch long, and has a little arm coming out of the top with which it hangs on the wall. They don't do much, and as long as they stay the hell out of my intestine I will let them keep hanging.

I'm going to post this now. Have to check the fantasy football results, as my team and my league are still going on, even if I'm far far from football!

Love to all,
Lina