Rickshaw

Rickshaw's here are the 3 wheeled little carts that they drive around like cabs. Yesterday I was out running errands when I saw 14 kids packed into one. They had all of their school bags hanging out of the side. The backseat in these sits 2 adults comfortable, and 3 could fit tightly.

A Fun Sunday Afternoon

Once a month we try and get together with the other expat family in our branch. The Welches have been here for 2 years this summer. They helped us out a lot when we first got here. This month we had dinner after church at our house. We also had Grant and Jennie Sleight over. Grant is one of the coaches here with EY. What are the chances that there would be 2 Mormon EY employees in Bangalore. I think the Welches were surprised.

We had a Band Hero competition. Left to right David and Katie, Erica, Shino, Rachel, Ellie, Maddie, Jennie and Grant.
Erica singing her heart out!
Grant
Katie and David trying to play the drums together
The girls love to belt it out.

Golfing

Maddie was the lucky one this past weekend. She got to go golfing with Alan.

I asked her if she got a "hole in one" and she said "I got a hole in all of them"
Alan and Maddie with their caddies

Birthday

For my birthday Baby and Vijay showed up with flowers. I was very surprised. I didn't realize they even knew it was my birthday. I haven't said anything to them about it because I knew they would get me something and I didn't want them to spend money on anything. We went to dinner that night to TGIFridays and then Alan had ordered me a cake.

Vijay and Alan lighting all the candles.

We were driving to dinner and out of the corner of my eye, this little Birtthday shoppe caught my attention. It immediately reminded me of my sister Amy.

Playing Dress-ups

So I've been tossing around the idea of getting a Saree for a little while. I didn't want to buy one because I knew that wherever I went to go and get it, I would get ripped off. They charge foreigners triple or quadruple the price. Granted it still isn't outrageous, but I hate the idea of knowing it really isn't the right price. Also, will I really wear it. I'm sure I will wear it here when we go places like weddings, or maybe to church, but when I get home...maybe I can wear it for Halloween.

One of our friends went and got a beautiful black Saree and wore it to church. I thought I might like one like hers because it was pretty, but not the STAND OUT BRIGHT COLOR that most are here. A lady at church said that she had paid way too much. 1000 rupees ($20) for a nice dress and 2500 ($50) for a Real Silk one. I came home and asked Baby and Vijay how much a Saree should cost. Immediately they got excited thinking I would look "very pretty" in a Saree. Vijay told me to get in the car. I'm pretty sure he wanted to show me his bargaining skills. He drove me to a little shop by his house.

When we went into the shop I asked if they had any black ones and the shop owner and Vijay both looked at me like I was crazy. "Black is not a color, Madame" I tried to explain the color black, but they both kept looking at me like I was the idiot. "NO, Black is not a good color. You need pink, or blue, or green." I agreed to look at them, but didn't want anything too bright because...well, I already stand out in a crowd here. Finally they pulled out a green one that I would call an olive green, after Alan saw it he called it "Frog Green" (apparently he doesn't like that color green). They also pulled out a maroon and dark green Pure Silk Saree. I liked both of these and asked "How much?" This is when the shouting began. The shop owner started at 500 rupees for the green one and 850 rupees for the silk one. After a lot of arguing, Vijay told me that he would go down to 350 for the green one and 700 for the Silk one. I agreed thinking "Wow, I got 2 sarees for just a little more that Jennie's 1." But, Vijay was not happy. He kept yelling and the shop owner kept yelling and finally he agreed with the price. 350, and 650. Yeah, he was arguing over 50 rupees ($1). After that, Baby took me to a tailor. This is where I got ripped off. Again, 620 rupees ($13) not too much, but Baby told me it should only cost 150 ($3). And because I needed the top to be long instead of cropped, I had to go and buy some more material. She also said a good tailor would have the material there, but this one didn't.

Anyway...today I got the sarees back from the tailor. I had not gotten dressed yet, or taken a shower when Baby came, but she insisted that I try them on right then. This is a whole experience in itself. I have no clue how I am going to put it on all by myself. She was wrapping and folding and pinning and telling me to turn and tucking and WALLAH!!!

So you have to ignore the fact that my hair is not combed yet.

Horseback Riding

Ellie has started a horseback riding class at school and is LOVING IT!! They offer it to grades 4 and above. The teacher keeps telling her how good she is and she eats up every word. This past week she started "alone trotting" (trotting around the arena by herself). She was very nervous because the week before she was doing "lead rope walking" (the teacher stands in the middle holding the rope and the horse walks in a circle around him) and the horse threw her off. She asked if I could come and watch her.