The cynic in me

So needless to say...Tasty Tuesdays are a thing of the past.  It was a good idea but between traveling, being sick, and sending our cook to her village to be with her mom...well it's just not working out on a consistent basis.  I decided I need to stop making myself guilty for missing self imposed deadlines.  I've been so uninspired in the kitchen anyways.  I hate going to the grocery store here because it never has good quality anything.  I go across town to get fresh produce.  Because it's out of my way I tend to overbuy so then half the fruits and veggies to go crap.  On top of it all, I hate having to disinfect everything.  To clean the veggies I have to soak them in chlorinated water for 15 minutes at a time.  This goes on for several batches.  It's so time consuming.  I can either ingest bleach or eat shit (E. coli).  Great choices.  


In better news, the lift has finally been repaired.  The only way I was able to get it fixed was to use some leverage.  The landlord wanted something from me, which I withheld until the lift was fixed.  Yes, I resorted to playing games with this guy but it worked.  The landlord needed a very important phone number for tax purposes.  Normally I would just give it to him but it was the only thing I had that he needed so I kept it from him.  Anyways, no more huffing and puffing up the steps!  There's still no water pressure but you take what you can get.


In the last month or so we reached the milestone of living here for a year.  We marked that anniversary by going to visit Dubai.  I hate to say that I'm over this place.  I think I really wanted to fall in love with Delhi, with India.  We both thought long and hard about coming here, we went through a million emotions, we were supported by family and friends, and we tried to make the best of it.  I don't regret coming here but I won't be sad to leave.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have lived in such a different country than the one I grew up in.  I am forever changed.  Living here has really highlighted how much I miss my family and friends, how much I need to be near my dog, how much I miss going to work, and how much I love to be able to get in my car and go wherever I wanted to go.  Coming here was a big risk for me, someone who really craves routine and consistency with little shake ups here and there.  And I'm ready to have that back in my life again.  Here's to hoping.

   

Argh!

It's about that time where I need to vent or this shit that's bothering me is going to make me e-x-p-l-o-d-e.  We looked at almost 30 places before we decided on this flat.  It fit most of our criteria.  We are across from a park, we have a large terrace, we have privacy, we are on the top floor.  Here it means the 3rd floor but really it's the 4th floor since there are 3 floors below us.  Complaint ♯1.  For the past 2 months the elevator (lift) has been broken.  It is stuck between the 1st and 2nd floor.  So I called the phone number and filed a complaint to get it fixed.  Turns out the maintenance contract had expired so they wouldn't come fix it.  So then I call our landlord, then I call him again, and again, and again, and again, and now I don't know how many times I've called at this point.  Each time I was told it was being worked on and that they will know something in a few days time.  Well 2 weeks ago we got a contract in the mail from the elevator company for an annual renewal of 35,000 INR.  That's 750 bucks my friends!  Ugh.  So I called the landlord so that he could pick up the contract.  Well, it's been a lot of promises and nothing's happened.  I don't mind the exercise.  Stairs are healthier to take than lifts.  But it's been so stinkin' hot and humid here and there's not much air flow in the stairwell.  It's hard to breathe in there let alone carry a bunch of groceries up.  Thank goodness I have a spritely 18 year old guard that volunteers to carry my stuff upstairs.  


I've also been waiting for 2 weeks for the 'water pressure motor' (whatever that is) to get fixed.  See we have our water supply in tanks.  One on the ground floor and 2 on the roof.  To get the water from the ground floor to the top floor it has to be pumped up there.  To get pressurized water to come into our house we have to turn on the motor.  Complaint ♯2.  It stopped working and so we're back to taking showers in trickles.  Hey, at least we have water, right?  

Our power generator on the left, water tanks up above.

You may or may not remember that our car was involved in an accident last December.  We weren't in the car but our driver and his family were (everyone was okay).  Well there was pretty bad front end damage and our driver freaked out and got it 'kind of' fixed by a Maruti Suzuki place.  Our car is a Toyota Innova.  This all happened without our knowledge since we were on holiday in the UK.  So he got the car up to speed and it had been running okay until 2 months ago when we sent the car in for routine maintenance.  Complaint ♯3.  Of course a million things were found wrong and now the car needs at least 1 lakh rupees worth of repairs.  That's over 2100 USD.  And guess who gets to pay for it?  Guess who gets to pay for it right after we paid for our entire wedding ourselves?  Ugh, couldn't the timing be better?  It's just a hard pill to swallow sometimes.  I hate cars.  I hate car problems.  I hate having to pay for car problems.  Money sucking, gas guzzling, ozone depleting pieces of s**t that I can't live without.  


I guess I can't complain too much about anything.  After all, our power only went off once today instead of the normal 3 or 4.  And the monsoon mellowed out a little bit so it stopped raining in my bedroom.  It's the little things, ya know?  I have to end this on a grateful note for fear of sounding and feeling too negative.  We have a roof over our head, we have water, we have full bellies (even if it's not all organic or food selections I would normally make).  My life is abundant.    

I love a good jingle

Ever catch yourself in the middle of the supermarket (not so super in my case) and you start humming a random commercial jingle?  I remember simple ones from the U.S....like "Every kiss begins with Kay" for Kay Jewelers.  And "That's Jared" for Jared's Jewelers.  I don't know why the jewelry theme popped in my head.  Then there are the classic Oscar Meyer weiner/bologna songs.  With no job or other healthy distraction besides yoga and volunteering I shamefully spend more time in front of the television these days than I ever used to.  No matter what channel I have it on this commercial plays over and over and over again.  So it's fair to say I catch myself singing this jingle at random moments of my day.  To simulate the experience I suggest you watch something on TV and then when a commercial break comes you should hit  'play' here.  Then between each commercial you should play this one again.  It's only fair.  If I have to listen to it, so should you.