Parkes and Rec. We survived India.

Since I didn't know where to start, I'll start where I left off...

It's been quite the year with major changes. Glen and I found out we were pregnant while we were in India. Yup, we made a honeymoon baby. Lucky us! Getting pregnant wasn't all that easy so you can imagine our joy when we got the positive test result. My first thought was "I can't/won't have this baby in Delhi"! Though it could be done, I just didn't want to. I loved my OB/GYN in Delhi but I couldn't face my first pregnancy with worrying about getting sick from food and water, mosquitos, and then having to worry about getting to a hospital in Delhi traffic...no thanks. Nope, I wanted my first experience to be in the US or the UK. So Glen got on the job boards at work. I really thought we'd end up in the UK, either Aberdeen or Bristol. Glen casually asked "Where's Longmont, CO"? I replied "Apply for it, it's really close to Denver"! Lo and behold, he got the job and here we are. Fast forward a move back to Colorado, a relatively easy pregnancy, and BAM! here we are a family of 3. 4 counting Kona. Life is good to us. We seriously get everything that we project out into the universe. Sometimes I think it's too good to be true. Somebody pinch me.

I'm still thinking about which direction I want to project this blog. At first it was about travels but my life has changed. We're staying put these days. Save for a car trip to California with a 3 month old. Oh lordy....was that an experience! So it might turn into a blog about us, as a family. It sounds a little boring...but I think it will help us stay connected to our family and friends who are out there in other states and countries.

Thanks for the encouragement! To be continued...

What a great time to sit back and reflect on the last year. Part of me feels so lame for not updating this blog as things were happening but the other part of me feels so much better for actually living and doing, rather than blabbing all about it. If you don't know already, we have left India! We are currently in Erie, Colorado which is just north of Denver. For those of you that don't know that Glen is British, this has been a colorful experience trying to secure a visa for him. But we're so freaking happy it went through! We spent the last two months applying for jobs, sorting out visas, selling our stuff, packing, moving, sitting in Delhi traffic, settling temporarily at a friends house, buying cars, learning how to drive again, finding a house to live in, catching up with friends, eating tons of good food, celebrating the holidays etc. You name it, we have had to do it. And we're not done yet. After a month and a half at our friends Chris and Jenessa's we are finally moving into our new place! Lucky for us it is only 8 minutes away from them so the cord isn't completely cut. We love hanging out with them. This weekend begins part 3 out of 5 of our move. We brought some of my furniture from my Lakewood house (that I rent out to friends) while we wait for our furniture to arrive from India. It's on a boat...somewhere. Hopefully it gets here in the next few weeks so we can finalize this move once and for all. Another bit of exciting news is we FINALLY get Kona back this weekend! It's been a long time coming...we've had a piece of our hearts missing for a year and a half. It will also be her 3rd birthday so a little celebration and family bonding is on the agenda for Monday. Slowly, slowly, bit by bit, things are falling into place.

I must reiterate the fact that we wouldn't have been able to do any of this without the help of our dear friends Chris and Jenessa extending an open invitation to their home as we are in this transition phase of our lives. We are so lucky to have such great friends.

I feel compelled to write more about India. It was such a transformative experience and yet I don't have the words to express the change in me. For those of you that I've had conversations with, you know how much I bitch about India...Delhi specifically. I'll never be able to pinpoint it but Delhi drove me bonkers! It's dirty, it smells and it's noisy...all of the freaking time and though I dealt with it and became desensitized to it, I never fully embraced it. It's wild over there! And though I love wild, it just wasn't my style I guess.

My memory immediately draws up chaos... cows and cow pies on the street, swerving tuk tuks, motorcycle, scooters, trucks, cars, donkeys, camels, dogs, and elephants all jockeying for position where the lines painted on the street are optional and ultimately pointless. Where every meal I had to wonder if it would hurt my tummy or not. Where every mosquito bite I thought I would get dengue fever again or some other funky tropical disease. Where I had to learn to live with bugs in my bathroom no matter how often it was cleaned. Where we had to learn to live without water pressure and a limited weekly water supply. Where poverty is on every corner threatening to crush your heart after you've just mended it from the previous day. Where every transaction big or small was an enormous feat of patience and understanding of 'this is how things are done in India'. Where getting groceries was a pain in my arse and something I dreaded doing every week. Punctuality rarely exists in India. Indian Standard Time is a sarcastic joke of how you can expect nobody to arrive to anything on time. If somebody does arrive on time, it is a pleasant surprise. This is especially maddening when you are expecting something to be delivered to your house and you end up waiting hours or days. If you think you have a high multi-cultural tolerance I suggest moving to India or another 2nd/3rd world country where that tolerance will most definitely be challenged. I'm a pretty tough girl and that place managed to break me down. But the good part is that it gave me the opportunity to build myself back up again.

As I've said before, India is a place of contradictions. For everything that worried me or pissed me off there were equally beautiful and astounding things that still have me awestruck. If you spoke the language, the local people tended to warm up to you more quickly. Usually if you travel outside of Delhi you are bound to discover something wondrous. Can we begin with the Taj Mahal? One of the most beautiful buildings on the planet, hands down. What gets me is how long ago it was built and the discipline it must've taken to get it completed. A true testament of love. Then there are all kinds of wonderful things about the other places we visited...Kerala, Goa, Udaipur, Jaipur, Shimla, Amritsar, Calcutta, Varanasi, Aurangabad. Each one had something unique and I will forever cherish the memories. My favorite bit about being in India was the opportunity to help Dr. Josephine give typhoid vaccines to the slum families. It made living there a little more rewarding...knowing I was doing a little good.

Things I know about India for sure:

"Hot" take on a whole new meaning from food to the outside temperature
I'll never get used to cows on the street
Sari's are one of the most beautiful ways a woman can dress herself
Marriage ceremonies are out of control and way fun
Poverty sucks
Baths by bucket is an art form
Elephants will pass you in traffic
You'll never understand the term "traffic is a nightmare" until you sit in it yourself
You must like zeera (cumin) and coriander (cilantro) or you're screwed
The air tastes like dirt
There's always more to see
Shivani is the sweetest housekeeper and I miss her dearly
Amrita is my Hindi BFF
I suck at squatter toilets
The children warm my heart
There's always a way to help someone or some cause
Someone should spay and neuter every stray dog
Expat friends are awesome (you're all in the same boat!)
It's easy to become a vegetarian, especially after you've witnessed the local butcher cutting up your meat using a knife between his toes. Barf.
There's always a way to find beef though, all you have to do is make friends with a Muslim
Don't ever get in a situation where you need Emergency Services because it's practically non-existent. The ambulance is a van with an oxygen tank and nobody yields to lights and sirens...since they're so desensitized to it in normal traffic.
Women have it hard
Men are juvenile (sexually repressed)
No matter where you go, the locals will ask you to take their "snap" (picture)...or ask to take one with you
There is National Holiday every other day...always a reason to celebrate!
Cricket is a big deal
Yoga really is transformative
The Dalai Lama is cute
Corruption exists in the worst way
Women love black eyeliner

That's all I can really think of for now. Another reason why I really wish I would've wrote this earlier. But it's fun to look back and think of the memories. What I'd like to say is this: If you ever get the chance to do something outside of your comfort zone... DO IT! You'll find out you are really made of more than you think you are. For me, this was the risk I took going to India with a man I only knew for 9 months. And I'm so glad I did! India, you sneaky little bitch, you made me a better person!

Now let's ring in 2012! More adventures to come!