Wow! What a Saturday! If you think we keep busy during the week, trying having Ryan with us on a Saturday when he's feeling up to running around.

The day started off, as most days should, with a nice cold shower with bits of warm/hot water when I wanted to fill my little pouring bucket. Typically at some point in the day when I go into my bathroom, I can see a light on in the bathroom across from us. Periodically I hear the gal scrubbing, maybe the shower running, but today I had a treat! Music. Yep, she was rockin' out to whatever her favorite tune of the moment was, and before I jumped in the shower I made a comment to Ryan about waiting a bit because someone was obviously there. Weird. I'm sure she knows I'm there and I know she's there, but I didn't want to actually see anyone! Anyway, he convinced me to just get in. So. I. Did. About 30 seconds into the shower (just enough time to get my hair wet), I happen to glance towards the window, through the slits, and I see these big brown eyes...staring...at...me. Immediately I ducked down so I couldn't be seen anymore. Not sure at this point what to do, I showered in the squat position. (Let me tell you, my boot camp instructor I had before I left would have been pretty pleased). Have you ever tried taking a shower squatting? Yeah, didn't think so. Next time I will wait for the light to be turned off!!!

We left our apartment this morning about 9:30 and decided to head to a hotel for a buffet breakfast. Ohhh, we ate so much, and walked away soo full, we didn't need to eat lunch and we had toast for dinner. I've always known food tastes better when someone else fixes it. But, when someone else fixes comfort foods in another country for breakfast, it has to be at least 100x's better. So, here are a few of the things we had:

French toast with maple syrup...the bread was super soft and yummy.

toast and BACON!

poached eggs, Davis' favorite (photo compliments of Davis)

French waffles, not sure what made them french (photo compliments of Davis)

Conor ordered a bacon and cheese omelet...evidently they didn't hear the "omelet" part because they brought him about a pound of bacon and a few slices of cheese.  haha...we just laughed

After rolling us out of the hotel, we stopped for a moment to take a picture with the bellhop....he was so nice to take a picture with 4 rowdy boys!

Cool Indian bellhop. When we first pulled up, the kids thought he was the king of India...haha

When we finally left the hotel, we went on yet another wild goose chase to find a music store for Ryan to look at a couple of things. Funny thing about Ryan, for some reason he can be so obnoxious and then laugh about it and suddenly it's all fine because he's laughing about his obnoxiousness! I cannot quite tell if the driver hates him or loves him...but, really, who could possibly hate him?

After the wild goose chase, we ended up at the mall (again, I know) to hang out for a bit and then watch Spiderman. It was opening day here. Here's an interesting tid bit of information about movies here, they have an intermission. Yep, that's right. Movie stops, "Intermission" comes up on the screen, everybody gets up, goes the bathroom, gets popcorn refills, etc. We knew this time to wait for the intermission, but when we saw Madagascar 3, we had no idea. Since they don't have the mega size popcorn bucket that is continually refillable, we actually have to go and get more popcorn...well, we probably don't have to, but we do. So, the first movie we saw, Ryan got up during the intermission to come back and sit down right when intermission started.

After the movie we went grocery shopping and then were heading back to the apartment when we got a call from the elders. There was a ward activity going on and they were wondering if we wanted to go to the church. Of course we did and there was a great lesson on getting to know each other and learning about the per-existence. I will post a few pictures of the ward members tomorrow, just so you could see they look like everyone else around here. They are just like you and me.

Grocery Store: Part 1
I have had some questions regarding grocery shopping. There are a few grocery stores around the city. The biggest one I've been to is called "Spencer's" They carry a small variety of everything you'd find at the store, and when I say small variety, that is exactly what I mean. I think the grocery store concept isn't the same here as it is in the US. Here, locals have their "specialty" and for a consumer no to go straight to the source seems a little silly. At home, if I can't get it all in one place, I don't go there. For instance; when we go to market and get fruits and vegetables, that is the freshest place you'll pick those items up. You could buy it from a vendor on the streets, but they've purchased from the same market I would go to and then they charge me more. Eggs are probably the biggest thing for me. There is a vendor for eggs at market. Probably the freshest eggs, other than having your own chicken (which I could get if I wanted...no thanks!). I could also get eggs at the grocery store, but because they don't refrigerate the eggs here like we do in the US, I'm trusting the lady at market has the freshest so I'm going to purchase from her.  Of course, we go to the store because that's what we know, but we are purchasing less and less at the grocery store because we can find fresher items elsewhere. Also understand, this store is not within walking distance, so this has to be a planned visit.

Spencer's Grocery Store

Part of the produce section

Frozen foods section...the whole frozen foods section

Another exception is this little store called 'Karachiwala'. We've been there a few times because we've been told it's an import store. The first couple of times were ok, I found wheat bread, balsamic vinegar, a few other things we use in cooking, but today we went with a plan. The plan was to ask...ask for specific things. We wrote a list out of items like, baking soda, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, chocolate chips (I'm determined to make cookies somehow here) and tortillas. Well, guess what? We met the owner and he found EVERYTHING for us! Ryan and I were so excited to find everything we wanted. It's kinda hit and miss, but if you ask the right person, he'll pull magic out of his back pocket! Here is what 'Karachiwala' looks like:

Lots of things, not a lot of space

The owner told Ryan to ask, because everything is hidden

More of Karachiwala, not a place for my kids to go with me!

Karachiwala is also not within my walking distance. And since our driver knows what I'm saying when I want to go there, I'll stick with him.

Stay tuned for the grocery store within walking distance. We always have to muster up enough courage to go there...

The last two days have been relative uneventful with funny stories or crowd stopping, but I feel like I need to update the status of our family, if for no other reason, so our parents know we're doing fine!

Yesterday, we went to the school, and like every other day we've gone, the boys have decided they like to go to my class with me to help teach nursery rhymes. Yesterday it was Conor's day. Here is how his day went:

This little guy was attached to him the entire time. Of course, when we went on Tuesday he was attached to me and wanted to go home with me. He also was trying to wipe my "white" away as I was sitting on a chair. It was so funny to watch him wipe and then look at his hands like it was going to come off. He's a cute little guy.  Victoria, the teacher told me I couldn't take him home, but there were a couple of other little girls I could have. Haha...no, thanks!

After the school, we headed to the mall to a place that has arcade games, a little train, bounce house, etc.  They also have laser tag which the boys though was a riot because the room is probably 20 ft x 20 ft with nothing to hide behind and no one to monitor. Big mistake. They about all came out in tears (except my monster 13 yr old), but then went back in later on, so I imagine all was well.  Here was my favorite part about the place. With four boys I couldn't ask for more than this:

They each had their own TV with their own game console. This was 15 minutes of pure bliss and no arguing (except between the lady trying to help Dallan and show him what to do...he was having no part of that).

Today, Friday the 29th of June marks 2 full weeks in Vizag. I feel like we've gotten our feet underneath us, that we kinda know our way around the city (almost better than our driver). And the fact that I can go to the grocery store and not care about the massive ant crawling on the soda bottle(s) and around in the refrigerator practically makes me a local, right? Yeah, probably not.

My little, sweet Conor has been dying to go to the local aquarium. For at least two weeks now, he has asked and asked. Finally today we decided to go. Now we can say we went. Fish are fish are fish...other than this guy that Ryan says looks like Elvis, they were all fish to me! However, we did find Nemo, Dory and Gill hanging out together!

Flower Horn Fish

Conor and Dallan posing with the turtles

 

 After the aquarium we went back to the place we fell in love with a couple of weeks ago, 'The Chololate Bar', or whatever it's called, and decided the food isn't as good as the desserts. That's ok, because I discovered the "history of the pancake". See for yourself...

History of Pancakes

If you can't read the print this is what it says, (and I quote) " It all started way back in 2001 when our founders Vikas and Kumar set out on a driving trip from Melbourne to Sideny, they both kept pulling into pancake factory restaurant to eat pancakes. The idea struck them that these pancakes would be a great idea for India. If you have even been to Austrailia, you will know that Australians are biggest pancake eaters and will eat them with just about anything."
I love that the history of pancakes started all the way back in 2001...just one more thing to make me laugh.

Today, we decided to go to one of the nicer hotels in the area to see if we could pay a fee to swim in a nice, clean pool. They said, YES!, so here is the rest of our afternoon:

Davis

Conor enjoying the pool

My boring afternoon...haha...I could use more of these days. It was rupees well spent!

Brayden

Chess, anyone? (Davis and Brayden playing)

Brayden and Dallan

When Ryan got home tonight we went to the store to get popcorn for dinner (no judging, remember). When we happened across a store with DVD's for sale. Ok, story time. When we first got to Vizag and bought our toaster oven, we also bought a few DVD's at the store we were at. They cost about 599 rupees each (or about $10.50 a piece). We bought 4 movies. With as much as the kids are home, they watch a lot of movies, so four days later they were watching HBO and another movie channel with shows that weren't really up to what I would want them all to be watching. So, I did what I do best. Called Ryan and said, "Tell Sri (his co-worker) to tell Raju (the driver) we want to buy some movies". Without re-describing the bagel incident, we ended up at a hole in the wall shop (we were supposed to be heading to the book store) with English DVD's for 50 rupees! Sweet! (Probably black market, but whatever, we bought 16 DVD's for 800 ruppes). As we have gone through the movies we have found out why they only cost 50 rupees each. The one marked 'Robots' was actually the movie 'Jumper' and another one of the movies were Bolleywood videos. The boys insisted we take them back to return them or get our money back, but we will not be going back because I have no idea where we were and the driver probably couldn't find his way back there again anyway. Best part about the store we found was that here they are 40 rupees ($0.70) and it's walking distance. It's amazing what you find in the city when you go out at night.

Today...was cleaning day, but first I must post a picture of my bathroom so you can appreciate how cleaning bathrooms in India is totally the bomb!

The absolute best part of this is that there is no drying involved...put cleaner on, scrub, scrub, scrub, pour water to clean it off, done, done, done! Ok, here's the weird part about the bathroom...see all the knobs on the wall for water? Yeah, not so sure what they all do, or if they even all have a purpose, but I know that hot water comes out of the one with the pipe attached (as long as you turn the hot water heater on. Oops!)  All the buckets? Um, I have no idea. The "window" above the toilet, yep, I can tell if the neighbor is in their bathroom as well. But, my favorite thing is on the top right hand side, the dark hole...yep, you guessed it! It's a hole...in the wall. (I'm guessing it's the built in vent.)

Ok, enough housekeeping...let's get on to the good stories! Haha. Today was another trip to find kitchen utensils and cooking crap. I keep thinking if I buy a new spoon, or a new pot, food will appear in the kitchen that I will know how to cook! I would like to think that last statement isn't true, but even with all the new items I bought, we had cold cereal for dinner (it beats Ramen Noodles!).  Besides, I'm stocking the kitchen with useful items that the next family that comes will need...Karli Riley. (hehehe) Wait, let me back up a bit. The other day Ryan and I were at the store and we found a magazine that is called 'Yo! Vizag', so of course we had to buy it to see what it was about. In this magazine (which I'm sure most good size cities around the US would have as well) was a list of tourist attractions, places to go, etc. Basically, you pay for either ad space or as a listing for a business. Ok, so after I went to the kitchen store I asked my driver if he knew where a store was that was listed in my handy dandy magazine. Because certainly if it had an address, you'd at least know how to get there! With the address (which is a whole other weird thing around here) and street name, it even has what it was around, the area, whatever. So I ask him, "you know?". He looks and reads and shakes his head yes and we start driving. Typically when we drive I look out the window, up, down, everywhere because there is so much to look at, and even if I've been on the same road 18 times and the buildings haven't changed, the scenery around the buildings have. So we're driving and I'm looking and I see a huge green sign that says 'Bagles'. But, I didn't want to confuse Raju (the driver, and yes, we are on a first name basis...I even bought him a Coke and shared corn nuts with him!), so I said nothing knowing it wasn't the bagel shop I had directed him to. About 5 or 6 turns later, he pulls the car over and says, "No, no, no". What? You just said "yes" and we passed a bagel shop a few turns back and now it's a "no"? So instead of trying to explain to him that I saw a bagel shop (I stopped explaining things to him because he started explaining things to me and I don't understand anything he's saying, so I'm guessing he's not understanding me, either), I say, "Any bagel shop...you know?" "Yes, yes", he says. So away we go, and go, and go and drive around for 20 or so minutes. Now during this 20 minute scenic view around Vizag,  I'm trying to figure out at what point do you just say "never mind...I'm good".  Is it after almost running into a kid on a bike? Nope. After going the wrong way down what seems to be a one way street (or at least only wide enough for one car?) Nope. How about after honking at a cow 50ish times thinking it will move? Nope. It was only when we started going in circles and I could tell he had no idea where we were going that I said, "No, no, take me home." That was quite an experience. But, once again..I will not rest until I taste a bagel to see if it the same or not!

For lunch Ryan and I went out with a team of employees. Evidently they had a restaurant in mind, but Ryan, being the adventurous type, wanted to try an Italian restaurant we found out about in our handy dandy magazine...'Flying Spaghetti Monster'.  If you ever want to make someone in this country feel uncomfortable, take them to an Italian restaurant. Know they know how we felt when we went to the Indian Food Buffet the other day...haha. Both lunches were so enjoyable as it gives us a chance to really talk and get to know them.

Lastly, but certainly not least, when the boys went swimming today, Davis, Dallan and Brayden were able to try fresh coconut milk and fresh coconut.Davis gave it a thumbs up, Brayden tolerated it and Dallan spit it out!

For the last 4 days, Ryan and I have taken turns having upset stomachs and feeling a bit under the weather. I think today that we figured out the culprit was bad bottled water. I read multiple times to be careful of the bottled water, check it out, make sure it looks good and new, I guess we just got a little too comfortable. Lesson learned. We will check every single bottle of water we drink from now on! I'm not sure why it didn't effect the kids like it did us...maybe they're not drinking as much water, maybe their tummies aren't as sensitive, I'm not sure of the answer, but I am so grateful that they weren't feeling yucky as well.

Feeling yucky didn't stop me from taking the boys to the school today. For one thing, I don't have anyone to call to let them know we weren't going to make it, and for another thing, I know those kids look forward to having the boys there. I didn't want to disappoint them. When I got to class I told Victoria, the teacher, that I wasn't feeling well and I just wanted to take a break today and watch. She was fine with that for about 10 minutes, when she and the assistant teacher got pulled out for a meeting. So, left in the class of 30ish 2-4 year olds were me and the "caretaker" (or as I like to call her, the disciplinarian...who speaks no English)! They were only gone about 30 minutes and I was able to hold down the fort with only 1/2 the class in tears (remember, scary white lady? she's back!) But overall it worked out fine. When Victoria returned to class there was another women that came in with her. Victoria introduced me and explained to me that it was her birthday today and she wanted to share her treat. The treat were some sweet noodles in soy milk with sugar in a silver bowl. I declined the offer because I wasn't sure how it would taste and with my stomach feeling upset and all...OH, and the fact that I just watched both of them eat from the same spoon that I was going to eat from. No, thanks! But, once again, I was assured that it would not upset my stomach anymore, that it was very mild in flavor  and a "please, please, try". A million thoughts running through my head, but the main focus is the community spoon. So, I took a hard swallow, put a tiny taste on the spoon and ate it with a smile on my face. It was actually pretty tasty, I could have eaten an entire bowl myself...with my own spoon. This whole story brings me to another aspect of the Indian culture. They are very close. If you have a friend and you introduce them as such, they are truly, honestly and in every sense a GOOD friend. Women and men walk around with their arms around each other, holding hands, very touchy with the same sex, but it is very platonic. Just showing your love and affection outwardly for each other. On the other hand, we have not seen one married couple touch, kiss, hold hands, anything, other than brush shoulders.

I have come to the realization that Americans are the backwards ones in all of this. We drive on the wrong side of the road, don't use the metric system, have waaay to much public display of affection, but when friends show affection it is because they are attracted to each other in some sexual way (or so it might be thought).

After the school we went to a sporting goods store to buy a cricket bat...Davis is enthralled with cricket! If you know nothing about cricket you'll have to google it, because it would take me way to long to explain and I'd probably get things wrong anyway. Anyone want a cricket bat brought home? The cheapest one (like what we bought) with a ball is about $20.  If nothing else, it's definitely a conversation piece!

It was an early end to the day with my stomach telling me I had already done too much, but enjoy some crazy pictures the boys took while we were driving around the city!

notice, if there was a space, it is filled with a 2-wheeler

these kids in the richshaw out the front window kept pointing and laughing at the "white kids"...and our driver

Conors great grin!

random picture of traffic, can you tell how close everyone gets? Once again, any space is filled in. I also should add there are 3 people on the 2-wheeler in front of the car. The most we've seen is 5- 3 adults and 2 kids. That was in Delhi and I was sure we'd see another, but 4 is the most we've seen here.

boys wanted a picture with a rickshaw...in the background

how I felt today. :p

Davis taking a picture

Conor taking a picture

Today the boys decided they were pooped out and wanted a break, so I took advantage of the opportunity to spend a little time at the mall. When I say mall, I don't really mean "mall", like you would think, however there are multiple stores in an enclosed multilevel building with a food court...but it's still not a mall like I know malls. Other than the two "anchor" stores, 'Reliance' and 'CMR', the stores are very, very small. Although they vary in size, 20'x20' is a good estimate for their "showroom". Anyway, I got to the "shopping center" a few minutes after opening, about 10:10 am to find many, many employees, probably 30 or so hustling and bustling. Cleaning, straightening, standing around talking to people that are cleaning and straightening...you get the idea. I wasn't shopping for anything in particular, I mostly just wanted to see what was available. The ladies clothing was on the 2nd floor and I was quickly directed up the stairs because I was heading towards the mens' department that was on the lower level. Evidently I either looked lost or I am not supposed to go shopping for my husband (man, I feel like such a liberal woman in this country). As I am the only customer walking around all the beautiful sarees, shalwar kameez, scarves (to see the difference, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clothing_in_India), in all sorts of cottons and silks, I never had to look far for someone to help me. There was always someone right behind me, literally, behind me. If I stepped backward I would have stepped on their feet. It was great when I had a question, not so great when I was just looking. Regardless, I never had to wait or look for someone, not like I would have in most stores in the states.

After purchasing a few more "home goods", which is where most of my rupees seem to be going, I decided I wanted to find a new pair of shoes. For those of you that don't know me personally, I'm pretty tall. Right under 5'9" ( I have no idea what the metric translation for that is). Along with my height comes relatively large feet, size 10 to be exact. I'm not sure what that translates to in European sizes, but it must be somewhere along the line of a 43, because the largest shoe size they carry at the store I went to was a 42. That doesn't really fit my size 10 (sometimes 11) shoe size. But the sweet employees that were "helping" me were sure that they worked just fine.  My quest for black shoes quickly changed to shoes that would fit, but in the end I found nothing.  Alas, I will try again, and probably find defeat in my way. I will keep you posted.


After shopping at the shopping center, and getting more groceries, I met Ryan and a few other employees for lunch. We went to a buffet at the Sheraton Hotel in Vizag. The hotel was beautiful, so beautiful we decided we'd probably take a night and spend it there. Mostly because they had a really nice, clean pool, but definitely because they had waffles and bacon on the menu. Mmmm, bacon!


Today wasn't super adventurous, no crowds forming, no pictures taken of me, some time away from the kids, but regardless, here are my thoughts some 2 weeks into India...


Discoveries: 

• Showering in a bathroom that is shared with a toilet, makes for some pretty interesting toilet paper.
• I have a "trash genie". All I have to do is put my trash outside my apartment door and someone picks it up. I have no idea who, but that is what I was told to do. Along those lines, I have not seen any other apartment with trash outside the doors.
• Either we take our driver to random places that are not very well known or this city is bigger than I think it actually is.
• The older generation stares at us, the younger generation wants to ask questions about America if they speak English, if they don't speak English, they smile, but are so willing to help us out.

Things I've learned to let go of:

• dirt...if it's clean dirt, it's just dirt.
• blow drying my hair, putting on make-up and for the most part showering. Mostly because I have to plan so much time for my hair to dry and I am used to just getting ready and going in so much less time than it takes me here...but don't get me wrong, I do shower.
• The kids wearing clean clothes.  Once again, if it's clean dirt, it's just dirt. If it attracts flies or any other sort of flying thing, it goes in the washer!

Things I miss:

• Counter space in the kitchen.
• A good knife.
• A washing machine that actually spins the water out of clothes (but soooo grateful for a washing machine).
• carpet, all the floors here are made of tiles, everywhere we have gone. (A rug may be my next purchase...but then I'd need a vacuum).
• Outside space to make my children go "play outside".
• lettuce 
• The obvious, friends and family

What I love about India:

• The cost of surfing lessons.
• fresh vegetables/fruits at market, that are mostly organic, but don't cost 3x's the price because of it.
• The little personal sized pineapple (I'll take a picture next time we get one, they're so cute...and yummy).
• The billions and billions of fresh mango we've seen.
• The experiences we've had here together as a family.
• Definitely, most definitely, the people!

After a couple days without the internet, which is why we fell off the face of the earth, it is now back up thanks again, to those at Ryan's office. 

Saturday we went back to the beach for surf lessons, this was our third visit. And, as promised, here are a few pictures. But first, the answer to the posed question from Friday. What animals are you likely to find at the beach in India?

horses...and for only 40 rupees you can get a pictures taken! I wouldn't pay a single rupee. I've seen this  horse freak out  on 2 different occasions, once with someone on his back. I've done that in my life, thank you!

cows...be careful....they charge. I speak from experience!

...and of course, man's best friend...lots and lots of them! This one finds me each time I we show up. 

I counted about 11 cows yesterday, 2 horses and 6 dogs...on the beach. That doesn't include the other 6 dogs in the parking lot. The only problem I see is where there are animals, there is poo! Just watch where you're stepping, and don't go barefoot! (Someone mentioned sharks...evidently there was a shark attack about 5 years back and the government ordered the fishing boats to kill the sharks in the area, so there are no longer shark threats around. Sad.)

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed surfing. Their surf instructor, Andy mentioned that in 2-3 weeks the waves will get to be about 12 feet high. Right now they are only 3 feet high. I can't wait to get some pictures of those waves!  So far, the younger 3 boys have gotten up. Brayden is a little frustrated, but he just needs to keep trying. Here are Conor and Davis:

Conor comes in saying "Weeeeeeeee"

Davis comes in smiling for the camera

I thought you might like to see what Rushikonda beach looks like, since it is pretty hoppin. Evidently Sunday is the busiest day because there is no school and so it is considered "holiday". But here are pictures of what is available at the beach we go to.

souvenirs and ice cream

You can get your picture taken on the whale blow-up toy for only 40 rupees

swimsuits...but really they are just cotton shorts. There are no swimsuits around here.

Food Court! (Have no idea what kind of food is available)

And, as promised I had Brayden take a picture of the kinds of scenes we cause when we go out in public. Besides all the people taking pictures with the kids, I seem to have my own following.  I couldn't stop laughing in the last picture because it is just so foreign to me (no pun intended).  

My kids are in front of these boys.

...one with the daughter (that's a little girl with Dallan)

One with the family...

Yes, I am wearing clothes because I felt weird with just my suit on.

The problem is, they stayed this close even after the picture was taken. Finally after about 5 minutes, I jumped up and said, "My kids, take a picture with the whole family." Hmm, not sure if it was a good or bad idea. After the picture with the whole family was taken, then we all took individual pictures with them, then I took individual pictures with them, etc, etc.

Today is Sunday, and we once again attended church. Today was pretty special, though, because we were able to attend a baptism as well. Right after the 3-hour church block, there was a young man who was baptized. When he got up to speak, I was impressed with how well his English was, but we laughed at how his excitement and enthusiasm were so contagious! He talked about how he used to be a scientist and everything was a science...relationships, money, everything. He was also a "girl hater". His testimony was so sincere and sweet. What a great opportunity to feel of his spirit and all that he will offer the people here in Vizag, India. I can't help but feel humbled every time we meet another member of the church here. The "things" they sacrifice. Beliefs that go back so many generations, changed. As one local member put it to me, "We are pioneers here in India." Indeed they are.

Today a gentleman stood up in sacrament meeting (our main congregational meeting) and talked about the importance of marriage and family. He and his wife have been married for 10 years and finally next month they will be traveling to Hong Kong, China to be sealed in the temple. This is such a sacrifice for them.  It costs so much money for them to travel. Sometimes they must save a years worth of earnings to attend the Holy Temple of God to be sealed as a family for all eternity. I can't imagine the sacrifice that must be made, but for them it is all for the blessings they will be receiving. Ryan doesn't know yet, but I will be giving them money as well to help them on their journey. How can you not want to help? It's those little things I take for granted in the states. The fact that I have multiple pairs of shoes to choose from to go to church in, when the gentleman sitting next to me in Sunday School had shoes on, but the soles were noticeably falling off. He was in his Sunday best. Showing his love and devotion to the Lord by being there, sharing his testimony with  those other members in his branch. "I stand all amazed!"

It makes me wonder why so many times we cannot come to do the simplest things we are asked...be kind to others...say our prayers...read our scriptures to know who our Savior is, what He wants us to become. I might be getting a little preachy, but for some reason when I attend church here, in India, the Spirit is so much stronger for me to feel. Maybe because I am trying so hard to understand what they are saying, in their broken English, maybe because I need to know for myself that these are people of God. People, who like me are trying to each day to be a better person. I just hope that my experience here will be able to continue with me as we travel home in August.

With that I will close, know that if my blog is not updated with at least pictures everyday it is only because my internet is down. 

I wish I would just stay home one day and not have any great stories to share, then I wouldn't have to blog. But, alas, today we went to the zoo. First of all it's called a zoological park here, not just a zoo. That was made known to me. Secondly, you can drive a car through it, so I should have known that it was going to be more of a walk than Zoo Boise. Oh, my goodness, was it a walk! An hour into our zoo experience, we found a "you are here" map of the whole facility. The kids were freaking out because we missed the zebras and the jaguar and, and, and...but then we realized we hadn't even gotten to those areas yet. As a matter of fact, we weren't even half way around the zoological park!

Let me start at the beginning, though. Evidently we came in the back entrance, which made it look like there was nothing to be seen. We head for the crocodiles...yep, there were crocodiles, lizards, turtles, snakes. None of which are in aquariums, they are all in open areas, fenced off. Then we got to the king cobras. There was a zoo worker there telling me to get my camera out to take pictures. Ok, so I take my camera out and take pictures of these snakes that are actually enclosed in a caged off area...this is what I got:

Yeah, so I thought..."thanks for the cool picture of snakes".  But then the worker proceeds to climb through the gated area, pulls a long metal stick from a tree and goes and opens the cage to tick off the cobras so I can get a really cool picture of them. Then, this is what I got!

I think we counted a total of 14 cobras in the cage and they were not happy. After he shut the cage door the one you see above struck at the door...ok, boys, time to move on!

This zoo was pretty cool, there were lots of fun animals to see, such as:

Lions

White Tiger

Bears

 

 

 

Oh, my!

Ok, but really, we saw hippos, monkeys that actually moved (unlike the Zoo Boise monkeys that rarely move around) all kinds of cool birds, wild dogs. Speaking of wild dogs, I thought we saw those all over the streets, but evidently there is a difference between wild dogs and stray dogs. The wild dog resembles a fox.

hippo

Mommy monkey with her baby under her belly

There is no question that we saw some fun animals...but about half way around the zoo the kids were getting hot and tired. We left our water bottle in the car because the sign at the entrance said no plastic bottles, so I obeyed. We're walking and walking and we spot this little shack selling drinks. Of course we stop to get a drink, so I ask for a bottle of water. (Here the bottled waters are typically sold in 1 liter bottles for about 20-30 rupees.) I ask the guy how much and he tells me 70 rupees. My first thought is, that's how much it cost you to get into the zoo AND pay for parking. My second thought is, if I tell him no, he'll say something like, ok 50 rupees. So I said no and walked away. There was no bargaining. The kids were so irritated they didn't get a drink, I was irritated they were going to charge me 70 rupees, and besides, we were right by the exit and we had water in the car. Once again comes the "mother of the year award" as we keep walking and walking towards the entrance, Brayden says to me, "Mom, that's not the entrance we came in." Oh, so evidently there are 2 entrances and we're only half way around the zoo. But I was still ticked off they were going to charge me the same price as the entrance fee.  But then it dawned on me that 70 rupees is equal to about $1.25. By this time we were too far away to go back and so, once again I failed my children.

One of the highlights of the zoo animals was the elephant. Conor has wanted to ride an elephant so bad over here and I think that might be possible when we get to Bangalore on our way out of the country, but for now, the zoo will have to do. By now everyone is aware that we are quite the tourist attraction ourselves with our fair skin and light hair. But today marked a new high. So we're on our way to the elephant exhibit when this man pushes his daughter in front of the kids that were all standing together and tells ME to take a picture. Ok, I guess. So I did...

Kinda weird, he never took his own picture, but was pretty insistent that I took one. Maybe somewhere out there someone will happen across this blog and she'll become an overnight Indian sensation! Good luck with that!

We keep walking and walking and walking and see a sign that points to the exit, so we know we're close.  Remember at the beginning of  the blog I mentioned you could drive your car, well they also had rickshaws that you could pay to have them take you around or you could ride in something that would be equivalent to a golf cart, but with 4 rows of seats. Anyway, they zip along through these little zoo roads because there is nobody else on them. We're walking and walking and hear this cart come up behind us because it's coming pretty fast when all of a sudden it slows down, down, down to a crawl and is barely moving along. We look up and see the entire cart full, everyone with their cameras out snapping pictures left and right. Brayden and I looked at each other and laughed. I guess the white people are just as much as an attraction as the animals.

Here are a couple other noteworthy pictures...A special shout out to Scheri Marrow who asked me last night if there were any super big bugs here...didn't see any until today. Thanks, again!

Also, this chameleon was just wandering on the side of a pathway...Heather Rodin, I picked him up for you!

I can't get the rest of my photos from the beach uploaded, so I'll finish the rest tomorrow. But I will leave posing a question for you...what animals do you think you can find at the beach in India? (My kids are not the answer), I am curious what animals YOU think we have already seen...leave a comment or facebook me your answers! Good night (or morning!)