It's Iffy

After much debated I decided to blog about a very real, and disturbing Indian event that occurs in the life of every expat (and I would guess many locals) while living here. It is not pretty but is definitely funny so if you are squeamish about normal (or in this case abnormal) bodily function do not read any further! OK? I mean it.

Several weeks ago we were enjoying a lovely Sunday brunch with some friends of ours at a local and wonderful restaurant that serves exquisite fresh dishes. The food included fresh seafood and as usual I had reservations about eating fish in India. Not because it doesn't look good but because of the normal gastrointestinal problems that seem to follow the indulgence and that also seemed to be attacking me as of late.

My friend was looking at me while I eyeballed the fish dishes and chimed in, "You are making a disgusted face Lisa. Do you not want any fish dear?"

I didn't want to offend my friend by explaining to her the trouble my body seemed to be having lately with digesting food but at the same time I was sort of worried my body had started hating me, or at least had started hating living in India. So I just nodded.

Now, these are close friends of ours so my husband, who always takes the charge, started laughing and began to explain to them that I was having trouble going potty. It either was coming out in a runny disgusting mess or I was severely constipated. One or the other. No exceptions. I was not in the least bit embarrassed for I knew that everyone at that table had encountered similar problems while living here and I was secretly hoping for a recommendation on how to get rid of this problem.

Another male friend of ours sitting at the same table overheard this side conversation said, "Oh yeah? I have that problem all the time. I call it IFI (or iffy). Which stands for Incredible Freaking India syndrome. Great food. Terrible poop."

Everyone at the table started laughing uncontrollably but our male friend just keep right on going. "When I meet new people I like to say 'Hi, my name is ____ and I haven't peed out of my butt in 3 days. Nice to meet you."

We were rolling. I mean rolling. It is so true it was hilarious. Everyone goes around the table and says "Hi, my name is _____ and I haven't peed out of my butt in ___ days."

Sorry that story is so gross. But if you lived here you would understand. All you can do is laugh about it because it happens to everyone. Now whenever I talk to my sister or friends back home and they ask how things are going I say "Well it's iffy." I always start laughing and then I have to share that story.

Incredible Freaking India Syndrome. Great food. Bad poop.

Monsoon Season 2012 Pictures

This Backseat Sure is Comfortable

My husband and I hadn't spent in anytime in Emporio or Promenade Mall in New Delhi so we ventured that way today to spend some time indoors. One reason for the visit is because during monsoon season the heavy rains sure can put a damper on your outdoor fun. The second, and possibly more important reason, is that my husband drives a Harley Road King in the US and had heard they had a Harley store in the mall. He wanted to see what accessories they had to outfit his bike or his person.

Now these 2 malls we visited happen to cater to some of the wealthier folks that live in the area so while we were window shopping and wondering around drinking coffee we happened to notice that they were advertising the new Audi A6 in the middle of the mall.

We stopped by the car to take a look at its sleek lines and beautiful interior. It was very attractive in a gleaming black and chrome kind of way. All sparkly and new. Then we noticed an odd thing...there was a line of "wealthier" people who were waiting to try out the backseat. Seriously! These folks were considering buying the car all they cared about was how comfortable the back seat was to them. In other words, they didn't care how the vehicle drove, how comfortable the driver's seat was, or what amenities the car had...all they cared about was the ride from the back of the car. You see in India most people buying an Audi have a driver to escort them everywhere thus the most important part of the car is the view from the back of it.

To an American this was very strange indeed, thus why Lance and I began laughing. In the states, all you care about is how the thing drives and how comfortable the driver's seat is since we don't have someone there to drive us around from point A to B. Funny, these tiny moments make me realize just how different the two cultures are from each other.

So it got me thinking. It is kind of an American iconic image right...getting into your car...rolling down the windows...and cruising around alone (or with friends) listening to "American Pie" (or in my husband's case DMB's "American Baby"). Think about the classic Route 66 and you've got the general gist of the thing. Thus, I must say that today I miss my car. I miss my independence. I miss the freedom to talk in my car with my husband about whatever I want and not have a driver listening in. I miss listening to my own music for once. I miss my lovely, beautiful silver 4 door car. But I truly don't really care about my backseat at all. I just want to put the peddle to the metal and DRIVE. Yeah baby. I miss that!

So if you happen to live in a place where you have the freedom, and privilege, of owning your own car that you personally drive....do me a favor, will you? Take a drive by yourself this week, roll down the windows, crank up your favorite music, and enjoy the ride.  : )

Humayun's Tomb

Today my husband and I went to the tomb of Humayun, a Mughal Emperor, which dates to 1562. I just wanted to share a few pictures from our visit with you of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Truly a spectacular structure that was the inspiration for the later building of the Taj Mahal.

Life is All About Choices

This week has been a rough one for me.

When my husband and I decided to move to India and accept a promotion for him to a new position we were excited about the prospective of living abroad. I researched extensively before agreeing to move here. Social, political, environment issues in the country did not escape my scrutiny. I read blog pages from locals and expats alike. I read the national and local news in the area for months ahead of the move. We even visited for a week last October to ensure we knew about the food options and grocery stores, shopping malls and outdoor markets, and best neighborhoods to live. Really we ran the gauntlet of issues and problems. We even met our local doctor (provided by the company), a good pharmacy, and a decent dentist.

We were very certain that we could make it in this country of extremes but we DID have one decision that remained a topic for discussion for some time to come. You see we have 2 elderly cats and one large (90 lb) dog that are part of our happy little family. My cat Obi is a 13 year old, long haired golden cat that looks like Garfield only cuter and is extremely wise like an owl. Silly, a female tortoise, short haired cat that is very demanding of attention and has been for the last 12 years. And Bella, the large loud mouthed but loving black and tan dog. We debated for months about taking them with us to India. After a long drawn out tug of war we decided to bring them with us.

By the time they arrived in Delhi they had traveled 8,000 miles each and had 3 stops each on a different continent. When they arrived in the cool morning hours of winter at our home in Gurgaon their crates were each covered with stickers that said, "Via Amsterdam," and "To Delhi," and "Kansas City." I remember telling Lance, "Heck our pet have traveled more places than most of our friends." World travelers indeed.

The adjustment to live in India was fairly easy for my dog and the eldest cat, Obi, who had been buddies for some time. Silly remained aloof but slowly adjusted to life here.

The problem came when we needed/wanted to travel. Our driver, Sushil, who lives with us willing agreed to care for our cats when we were away but the dog was another story. She could be a handful. So, we asked around and found a kennel, that is really just a large farm, with huge open air pens that had a good reputation among the people we knew who took their pets there. We used them over the last few months without any difficulties. That all changed as of this week.

The problem began with Bella upon our return from Thailand. We picked her up from the kennel and upon returning home we noticed that she had sever diarrhea and, as gross as it sounds, her farts were extremely smelly. We kept an eye on her and the problem seemed to go away on its own. So, we chalked it up to bad water she had drunk or a mix up with the food they given her during her stay. Both of which had been a problem for our own "people" stomachs here (diarrhea and smelly farts) from eating or drinking bad food or water.

This past weekend though, the problem came back only worse. By Monday she was sleeping a lot more. Tuesday she stopped eating her meals and by Wednesday morning she wouldn't eat her favorite snacks (a beefy stick treat called a Pup-peroni) and the upset stomach was back in smelly force. We called our local  vet but at this point her symptoms were not terrible so with Wednesday being a holiday she agreed to see our dog Thursday morning at 10 am. I painfully watched her deteriorate as the day wore on.

That night I couldn't sleep I was so worried about our dog so I kept listening to her breathing as it increased to a rapid pace. She couldn't seem to get comfortable and she hadn't eaten anything all day. She began to sneeze, so I switched on the light around midnight to discover that she was bleeding from her nose. I immediately woke up my husband. We rushed her to the local animal hospital to treat her.

They said her temperature was 105.7 F, well out of the normal range, and that her spleen was enlarged. They immediately began rushing around getting an IV into her to decrease her temperature. The pumped her full of antibiotics to stop the spread of the infection that was raking through her little body. They informed us that she was very sick with some kind of tick fever, in other words a blood parasite had infected her body and was rapidly spreading. This particular blood parasite was very common from tick bites in India. Her blood platelet count was very low and with the enlargement of her spleen she couldn't fight off the problem on her own.

2 overnight stays in the pet hospital and we were finally able to take her to our regular vet today for a second opinion on the diagnosis, who was very apologetic about the Wednesday (holiday) thing. She kept stating, "I didn't realize she was in such bad shape." Of course I explained that the situation had just seemed to get worse as the day wore on to the point that we had to take her to the emergency clinic. They are running more tests on her blood as I type this. As of right now she is still not great, but at least she is at home and seems to be doing better. No bleeding. No messy potty breaks. A normal temperature. Eating food. Sadly she will be on 5 different medications for the next month or two depending on how much she improves.

Life is all about choices. We made choices to move here as a family (husband, wife, 2 cats, and a dog). Those choices sometimes feel like mistakes in the moment when people or pets are ill. Despite all of our precautions for us and our pets, tons of shots to immunize our pets from diseases like Lyme's and Rabies, monthly treatment with Frontline (a liquid that was suppose to keep ticks from infecting them), monthly de-worming medicines, the best pet foods and treats, they still get sick. We can still get sick, stomach bugs whatever. No one person or pet for that matter is immune to everything...right.

My mom has a great saying and used to tell me all the time as a younger person growing up, "You can not dwell on the past. Remind yourself that you made the best decision in the moment." So, taking that to heart, I will not blame myself for bringing my pets with me so we could be a family in India. I WILL focus on the next decision and making a good one for myself and all of my pets. That decision most likely WILL involve us sending them home to the US sooner rather than later so that the diseases here don't kill them. That is a decision I can make for them today...a decision that is best given the situation....in the moment.

There is a fantastic quote from one of my favorite movies that I love say, "Hindsight. It's like foresight... without a future." True. True. True indeed. 

On the Subject of Happiness

I am reading a very good book on the subject of happiness called "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin. It is a very good read thus far so in honor of such a good book, I created my own personal list of 20 simple reasons that I enjoy living in India (in no particular order)...

1) My hour long uninterrupted yoga practice every day.
2) How blue the sky looks on a clear day during monsoon season.
3) The ability to travel...a lot.
4)The fact that I have never 'messed my pants' while living here despite the fact that every other expat I know has done this disgusting thing due to the plethora of stomach bugs we get.
5) The produce is so fresh and cheap. For example, a huge bag of potatoes is about 30 rupees or $.60.
6) My love of tea! For iced tea I love passion fruit or peach and hot...chai masala.
7) My awesome book club. Loud, funny ladies that drink wine together over a good book.
8) Our weekly Sunday tradition. My husband has his guitar lesson in the afternoon while I kill time shopping at my favorite clothing store, Anokhi, or drinking tea and reading at a local cafe.
9) How silent the world is when I float on my back in our pool in the backyard.
10) How easy it is to make friends with people from all over the world who have moved to India. I think that there are a lot of new people here that are a little lonely. No walls are up so the people are lovely!
11) Caftans. Really!!!  :) I live in them.
12) Poker night with friends and the silly black trophy the winner gets to keep that is just a free mug I got from some trip that has the letter 'U' on it. When someone wins we all say, "U, U, U," while we appreciatively point our finger at them.
13) The great jewelry store I love in New Delhi with the beautiful old wooden front doors. Nice things await inside those doors.
14) Painting just for me. No one else's work hangs on my walls in this house.
15) Freedom from worry in regards to theft. Nothing in my house in India is really mine, except the paintings and clothes and those are replaceable. Nice feeling to never worry about that stuff disappearing.
16) Being a local on the week days and a tourist on the weekends.
17) Paneer Tikka. Spicy and yummy!
18) The way my dog looks down on me while I am lying on the floor in corpse pose at the end of my yoga practice. Her ears flop down in her face as she searches my face trying to figure out why I am on the floor laying like that. It is so funny and cute.
19) Having enough free time to read more books that I ever have before in my life.
20) My extremely inexpensive phone bill each month...like 200 rupees or $4. Wow!!!

I challenge you to name the top 20 things you love about your life wherever it is that you live.

Thailand 2012

One of the main reasons I enjoy being an expat is the ability to travel more often than I would if I were still living in the US. The main reason for the increase in travel is the close proximity to places I have always wanted to see but otherwise traveling to would have been too expensive. My husband and I just returned from a lovely trip to Thailand with two of our friends, Mike and Emi. The entire trip was an absolute delight from start to finish. So, I wanted to share a few pictures with you from our travels. Enjoy!