The penny drops...as Glen would put it

This doesn't sound like new news but some days it hits me....we actually live in India.  This is not a quick trip, no 3 month stint.  Oh no, we're here for quite some time.  And slowly this realization begins to sink in.  For 18 months there will be no easy transactions, no driving, no grocery stores like I'm used to.  For 18 months I will struggle with paying bills by going to the company in which I owe money, I will have my driver take me everywhere and feel guilty that he has to sit there and wait for hours while I eat at a fancy restaurant, and I will get my groceries at 3 different markets.  I'm adjusting to this new life.  What can I say other than it's different.  I'm used to convenience and this country is anything but convenient.  It's teaching me new levels of patience and tolerance.  I'm trying not to be ethnocentric.  Not everybody has to operate the way I want them to or the way I think they should.  I'm getting used to the pollution...the air pollution and the noise pollution.  I'm getting used to be stared at like I'm an alien.  I'm getting used to people barging in front of me while I'm in line.  I didn't know I could use my elbows as a weapon.  I'm getting used to seeing extreme poverty.  But I'm not getting used to the ache it causes in my heart.  I'm getting used to paying for overpriced imports if I want some of my creature comforts.  I'm used to getting them close to the expiration date.  I'm getting used to the frustration of not finding half of the things I need, want, or miss.  But I'm not getting used to not having my Velveeta Shells & Cheese (my comfort food) or normal absorbancy tampons.  Yup, you heard it here first folks.    

I'm NOT getting used to missing my friends and family.  That is something that never goes away.  Sometimes I feel a little forgotten...like everybody's life just goes on...without me.  And of course it should.  I just feel like I'm less and less a part of it all.  Which gives me more resolve to try harder to stay present in peoples lives.  It's even more difficult now that the holidays are coming up.  I guess it's all a part of this experience. 

It's slowly getting easier here.  I'm practicing yoga 2 or 3 times a week.  It's helping me find my center.  I finally found an orphanage that I love and will continue to volunteer at every Tuesday.  I will be 'teaching' English...which just means I'll be having conversation with the kids so they can practice their English.  I will also be teaching basic math.  Who ever thought I would be teaching math?  I suck at it.  Who knows how I got an 'A' in College Statistics!!  They also let me take 2 or 3 kids at a time to a nearby park.  We play on swings and slides.  Yesterday we got scared away by a monkey.  So we ran home in a fit.  Didn't know I'd be so frightened by a monkey.  I also joined a volleyball club.  I haven't played for 16 years and there's nothing like feeling like an ol' geezer on the court but boy...it is so much fun...and painful. 

It has finally cooled off here to more reasonable temperatures.  It's in the high 70's F, that's around 21 degrees C for you British folk.  I've finally been able to wear jeans and long sleeve t's.  It drizzles a bit every day now.  I have to wear house slippers because our marble floors get so cold at night.  I can't believe we exited one season and entered another.  We're finally starting to see the 'seasons' here. 

This experience has brought Glen and I closer together.  We rely on each other for empathy and support because it seems we're the only two that really knows what it's like to be here.  We recently celebrated a year of knowing each other.  One year may not seem too long but if you consider that we moved in together after a little more than 2 months and got engaged at 5 months....then one year feels like a long time.  And we're proud of our one year.  We talked about how much we've packed into it and how it feels like a lifetime of memories already.  We finally feel like we have a little bit of substantial history to our relationship.  And through all of the moments that I feel vulnerable here, it's nice to have my best friend beside me.

I'm not sure what's in store for us here or what we're supposed to learn.  But we're on this path of self-discovery together and through the good and the seemingly bad...it's been an experience I wouldn't change for the world.