One week down...

I've been in India for one week!
Today I don't really know what to say... it's like that commercial where they say "oh, he didn't get his snack." I had "puttu" and banana for breakfast (pronounced "put" as in "foot") and then lots of toast and Goober Grape that I brought from home... but again I'm hungry already. My purse has a coveted granola bar, but that was left behind on this ad libbed trip to Kanjirapally for "browsing"...

Puttu, btw, and I'm not sure if I'm spelling that (or many things) correctly, is steamed rice and coconut. Very nice with coffee.

One exciting thing is that I've gotten a cell phone. Babi, our saintly and cheerful cousin, took me not only for "browsing" and shopping, but we stopped at a Reliance India dealer where I was able to purchase a SIM card for my phone for 200 rupees. That's less than $5. It allows me to take free incoming calls from anywhere - US or otherwise - plus make local calls rather cheaply, and international calls at a not-too-bad $.25/min. Considering the phone people have not come to fix the landline as they promised (2 days has turned into 4, and going on 5... meaning it will almost be a month that my inlaws have been without a telephone) this cell is a godsend.

While standing in this shop to make the transaction, I started to think I was losing my mind, because just outside my periphial (sp?) vision was a swarm of gnats. As Babi listened to the sales pitch, asked the necessary questions, and translated certain segments for me I was swatting... twitching... and looking around to see if it was only me under attack. That's what made me think I was mad - everyone else was as docile as cows... blank, tranquil stares from the fellows on the bench behind us... a sort of "what's wrong with you, whitey" look from the fellow in the doorway. I tried to ignore it... well, I thought "maybe swarms of gnats are everywhere and people are used to it..." and then that made me think of the little starving kids in Africa with flies crawling all over their faces. But kudos to those little kids, because finally I could not take it any longer and Babi sent me out to sit in the car and wait.

So that was my biblical swarm in Kerala.

Another thing I'm thankful for is Sudoku. Finally found and bought a book in LAX before heading off to our boarding gate. I was finding it hard at first, but then I removed my head from my bum and read the instructions properly... so that combined with my sister's tricks and tips are making me a supah sudoku mastahhhh. At least in the Easy level ;-)

I've taken up going to church in the mornings... as Daddy said, it's a combination exercise for the physical and spiritual as it's about a 3/4 mile walk up and down hills to get there. Today is my third appearance... I've been able to learn the tunes of the mass, maybe to about 45%... and in some places I may even know a word or two. But what that word means I am still clueless - I realized today I'm going to church, a Syrian Catholic church, and not even knowing what the words for God or Jesus are in Malayalam. One thing I've noticed is something that sounds like "Catawba" (Which is where I grew up, whooopie!) and that comes alot after Communion.

So the altar boys are almost always changing, minus one "husky" (as Old Navy would call him) boy who always seems to be there. There today, one new fellow was there. Big huge eyes, kind of a goofy fellow... and as he came over to our side of the altar after Communion to sit and look pious (usually you can see all the alter boys start to whisper and giggle with each other after about a minute of looking pious) he saw me. He turned around and was looking at me through the little fence thing that separates the altar area from the seating area. So he stares for about 5 seconds, and I stare back... and I give him one umma-zumma non-Church-suitable grin - CHEEESE!!! His eyes got all wide for a second, and he grinned back... then turned around to his alterboy cohorts and I saw him stage whisper "Ma-dam-ah" in a very lip-readable way. Very cute. It's hard to try and focus on the mysteries of Christ while you're flirting with the 10 year old altar boys :)

I am thinking of bringing chocolate Hershey kisses for them all.

More in a second...
Lina