Just another day...

Everything here continues to be good but very strange and different. There are a ton of people in my house doing everything all the time - my phone rings all day and people come to the door a ton but I never answer my phone or door and that's ok because neither one are ever for me anyway... Well, I guess, in some way, they are technically for me since they are delivering food, picking up things, coming to work, delivering laundry etc.. ALL VERY STRANGE. I find myself getting use to the activity and just ignoring it all. The house maid is here every day from 9am to 7pm. She is trying to speak more English but it's barely anything and I mostly just say hello and goodbye. She is a young Indian woman whose husband is a security guard at our complex (not a coincidence) and basically hovers around the house cleaning, ironing, mopping, wiping, dusting etc. ALL the time. It's very archaic though. Only yesterday I finally got proper cleaning rags and supplies for her and still, the Indian culture dictates that she brushes the rugs and floors with a short broom made from long strands of straw stuff. No vacuum. Guess what - I'm buying a vacuum. Pria, the housemade, will have to get use to it. I have to be careful because there is a pride issue associated with using a short broom and doing hard work - it's VERY important to her that I think she is doing a good job. At the same time... how good of a job can you do with a short broom made of straw? The whole thing is strange. Not glamorous. It can sound so glamorous as I describe it. Two cooks (who I adore by the way and are the best part of this whole deal), one housemaid, a bunch of house boys working for one head house boy who runs my apartment and a nanny (I'll get to her next). It's strange to be "called" to lunch - have people wait on you in your own home, serve your boys like they are the bosses, get up from the table to have it cleared by others and then to be called back later for dinner (after people have shopped, cleaned and cooked for you all over again). It's not glamorous but I am incredibly touched by how much they want to make us happy. The cooks are doing an amazing job and trying to stock the house with foods for the boys and clearly feel rewarded when they succeed in feeding them. Matt spends significant time in the kitchen with the cooks - mutual adoration. They always come out of the kitchen after dinner to chat and teach us a bit of Hindi (Maffi Chahata Hum - Excuse me) and to make sure everyone is happy. Then they come back out to say goodnight and the house boys clean up the kitchen. Sorry for my rambling - I just want to give you a flavor for how it works.

The nanny is being paid 5000 rupees a month which is generous - sadly. That's about $110 month and her hours are 9-7 Mon - Sat. Sunday's off. Oh and that includes any additional evening work - she is on call 24 x7 6 days a week. She is 21, educated and speaks good English. She is VERY subservient. It makes it difficult for me and makes me a little weary frankly. I don't feel I know her because all she says is Yes mam. Yes mam. Yes mam. It's a bit disturbing. She and Owen are working things out and that's most important since I need her to be with him while the boys and I work in the mornings. It gets a bit better every day. I have some strange day dreams like she is really some mean horrible person and the minute I leave she is wicked but... the truth is she is never alone with the children. Deepok (head house boy) and Pria are always here and so are the cooks. That gives me comfort. I'm sure she's wonderful and we will all grow to love each other but I'm giving myself the leeway to be a bit paranoid right now. I have hardly left the boys since we have arrived and only during the day to go down to the gym or run to the store. It's nice just to have Ricky (nanny) here as an extra set of hands to keep everyone happy. The days are long without the boys going away to school. John leaves the apartment at 7:30am so he can leave the office at 6:15pm and that's almost 12 hours with the boys - long day but we are falling into a good routine. They had their first tennis lesson today - Jack and Matt took a 1 hour lesson by themselves out at the court at our apartment for 300 rupees ($7) plus 50 ($1) rupees for the ball boy (required - not sure how I feel about that one - kind of like the boys picking up their own balls). They will do that a couple days a week which will be great. They had a great time doing it together - more about the fun and exercise than about the tennis frankly.

I promise - I'll stop the rambling soon.

Glad to hear red wings are kicking butt.