The new bread machine had a recipe for soft pretzels, which we have been wanting to try at home, so I followed the directions.
Kris would have been very proud of me, as I even levelled off the flour before adding it. I didn’t want to call me on not following the recipe exactly (as I have a tendency to do, even with baked goods) I started it, watched it for a moment, thinking to myself, “Hmmm… it doesn’t seem to be turning into dough like it should. Maybe the beater needs more time.”
I proceeded to leave the house to go for some consumerism therapy. I ended up getting some much needed jeans (I detest when a store puts up signs for prices, doesn’t put them into their computer system and then doesn’t have enough management to answer the page promptly…), some less needed personal attire, and some very unnecessary–but much beloved–books.
When I returned home, the mess in the bread machine was flour with a couple of small bumps. I added some water, a bit more flour and thought, “Well, if they suck, it’s not my fault.”
And suck they did. For one, I made them too large (pretzels rise a lot once they are in the pretzel shape) and I need a lot of practice to make the pretzel twist stand up to as much handling as they need.
I think we’ll stick with the extra steps of boiling and then a baking soda bath, as I liked the crispness of the outside, but I’ll try to find a better starting recipe.
On the plus side, I LOVE my new breadmachine. I can’t wait to use it on a very regular basis. Now if only I can find some permanent counter space for it.
I cherish this book. The story of Edward Tulane, a china rabbit who is so full of himself that he can’t let anyone else in, doesn’t seem like a winner when you read the jacket, but Dicamillo is able to push past the clichee of the moral.
It is an amazing book to read aloud to the younger generation. Questions will be raised, but I am a firm believer that children should ask such questions in order to have a better understanding of what it means to be a good person.
I have to admit wanting to know the full stories of the other characters in The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, especially that of Bryce. I want to see him rewarded for his selfless act, which results in Edward’s repair.
The 3 hour driver from Mumbai to Pune was interesting. It’s almost like a dystopian future. The actual country side, now several weeks out of the rainy season, is green and lush and dotted by gorgeous mountains. There appear to be people just about anywhere, seemingly miles from civilization. It was very common to see improvised shacks of sheet metal or cardboard. Towering above all the poverty are billboards advertising mega multi-high rise living communities. The juxtaposition is very jarring.
The poverty in Pune seems to be more severe than in Mumbai, though I still feel completely safe in the environment. I think the inability to move between classes in India has removed any sense of entitlement in its people, which seems to make everyone here more civil than the U.S., for what it’s worth.
If driving in Mumbai is organized chaos, then driving in Pune is just chaos. In Mumbai there were at least lanes. They were suggestions instead of mandatory, but they were present. Yesterday our drive home hit a snag when the congestion on the road we were trying to turn onto was so bad that the 2 way road had become a 1 way road.
Twice we’ve had to pass flocks of sheep on the road.
The campus of the company where we’re working is gorgeous. It’s surrounded by mountains at the back and large enough that the company leaves hundreds of bikes unchained for employees to ride around on (the only way onto campus is via security gate, so there’s no way to steal the bikes. Though I’m not convinced anyone would.) We’re hoping to snag a few for a trip out to the security gate today. Don’t expect a picture of me on one as most of them are pink or purple.
I’ll try to get some pictures, but want to make sure I’m not tackled by a security guard.
The expansion on the campus is ridiculous. New buildings are going up everywherToday there is a small grove of bamboo trees that wasn’t there yesterday and overnight they cut holes in the median in the roads to allow for better pedestrian traffic.
The town is mostly industrial, so there’s not much to do. There’s not much shopping available other than a few very Western department stores. Not that we’ve had much time as we’re usually getting out of work at 6:30. Most of our evening have been spent trying new restaurants.
We’re hoping to get out and doing something either cultural or fun (hopefully both) over the weekend. One of my engineers invited us to his wedding, but it’s two weeks after we head home.
It’s been trying, I’ll not make any claim otherwise.
Some key moments so far:
1. Dinner at Donatos this weekend: Hayden spilled his orange drink, and we packed things up to go home. He didn’t want to get his new booster seat wet, so I stripped him down and he rode home half-naked. We forgot to take a picture for Daddy, so Hayden made me promise next time we’d be sure to.
2. Last night, I was late picking them up (made it in plenty of time for school closing, but not for any bit of a normal routine for us). Hayden wants to go for a walk. I grimace. What about dinner? Hayden demands he isn’t that hungry, even after I promise left-over pizza. Gabe certainly is, though… so I ponder… We get home, I heat up some ravioli, grab a rice cake and a sippy cup of milk for Gabe, a granola bar and an apple for Hayden, pack Gabe into the stroller with a tray, and we go for a walk to the park. Once at the park, we play for a bit, Hayden gives me a near heart attack or two with some of his jumps, and I forewarn him when it’s close to time to head home. Ask him to be ready after one more slide, he goes, jumps one more time, and heads to the hill. Mom who is there with two little ones as well is very impressed, and even tells me so. *grin*
3. He’s been singing songs that I know, but don’t know (If you get that, you know that I am NOT the music expert in the house. I’m lucky if I can tell him what artist is playing in the van’s CD player at any given time.) Tonight’s seranade was “I like to move it, move it.”
4. Tonight there was a melt down at school because I wouldn’t let him go across the building to go to the bathroom in his normal class by himself. I finally picked him up, carted him out, seatbelted him in the car and turned around to pick up Gabe. There was crying that he would pee himself, and I was so done that I was ready to just clean it up when we got home. I told him as much.
Guess what? He didn’t pee himself. In fact, he was able to hold it as we had to turn around to pick up his lunch bag that had been forgotten in the drama and then made it all the way to McDonald’s for dinner. Don’t worry, I made him get apples instead of french fries… okay, not really, it was his choice.
5. Hayden apologizes for his “tantartam temperature.” I correct him. “Will you help me say it, momma? Tem*per tan*trum. I’m sorry for my tem*per tan*trum.”
6. We get home to the answering machine blinking and I play it. No, McCain, you won’t be getting my vote. Old message comes on, from Kris. Gabe’s response? Points to the machine, “Dadadada!”
7. Bedtime: Gabe asleep, Spideman-Iron Man-Hulk comic book, Toy Story book and There’s a Monster at the End of this Book read. Hayden says he doesn’t feel well, “all over.” “Get some sleep, kiddo, you’ll feel better…” And then, my four-year old asks for… wait for it… his placebo medicine. So I get him is medicine cup, go to Mommy and Daddy’s bathroom for the stash of placebo medicine, bring it to him. He sits up, a very appreciative look on his face. He drinks it, and then asks me to get him some water. Never mentions how similar the two taste.
Mumbai is completely amazing. We had two goals for our one free day, do some shopping and see the Hindu carvings on Elephenta island. Cabs in Mumbai charge flat rates. Our driver, Ramesh, would’ve have charged us 800 Rps per destination (2,400 Rps total) or 2,000 Rps for the entire day. So, we rented a cab for the day.
According to Ramesh we saw the entire city, and considering we spent ~5 hours in the car I’m inclined to believe him. I’m not even sure how to explain the entirety of what we saw, so I’ll break it down by numbers.
Mumbai is a large city (21 million people).
On the average city block there are:
500 people along the street, generally families
15 people selling fruit
10 peoples pushing individual carts, laden with food or materials
5 stray dogs
3 goats
2 water buffalo
1 cow
1 completely awesome sight
1 completely heartbreaking sight
Driving:
Driving in Mumbai is organized chaos. There are lanes, but they’re really more guidelines than rules. If a road has three lanes in one direction there are usually five vehicles sharing that space (one or two of which are bicycles or motorcycles). Ramesh stated a good car in India needs two things: “A brake and a horn”. Drivers honk as they swerve around or merge between to let other drivers and pedestrians of their intentions. It is common for a driver to merge between two vehicles leaving only inches on either side, sometimes with one vehicle being oncoming traffic. Ramesh was a super hero. He seemed to know every inch of his car. Amazingly we never saw a single accident, though it seemed inevitable on many occasions.
People:
I should point out that the people of Mumbai are among the nicest in the world and we were hard pressed to find someone who didn’t speak English. Everyone, with the exception of shop keepers trying to sell you something, is ridiculously polite. Even the scam artists are nice. There is obviously a lot of poverty in the city, but nobody seems to act downtrodden. The city itself is dull and depressed, but the people are as bright and cheerful as their clothes.
Our journey through Mumbai:
We had Ramesh take us to a recommended shopping area. This turned out to be mostly generic clothing and goods, and not what we were looking for, so we asked to continue on to The Gateway of India, which is where we’d catch a boat to Elephanta Island. One the way we passed various iterations of the above averages, several different local markets.
Ramesh pointed out a market where you can buy any pet, either the normal kind or monkeys or elephants. He took us to the world’s largest manual washing machine, which is a large serious of stone basins filled with water where many people are hand washing clothes. He pointed out the slums and the new high rise buildings being built by the government to give new housing to those who need it. He even pointed out the red light district as we passed.
We eventually reached the Gateway of India and purchased a ticket for the ferry to Elephanta Island. Our dutiful driver waited behind for the 4 hours we’d be gone. On our way to the ferry we were stopped by someone claiming to be a holy man, who blessed us by tying a red and yellow ribbon around our wrists and anointing us with a third eye. We were grateful for the blessing until he asked for money. I’m not entirely sure if this was a scam or not, but considering how many people would later offer us free things and follow up with requests for money, I’m inclined to think it was.
We spent over an hour on a very slow ferry ride to the island. When we got there it was early afternoon and the temperature had passed 100 degrees. I’m not sure that we thought our cunning plan through. The island consists of a flat 1/4 mile of unprotected stone walkway, followed by a steep 1/4 climb surrounded by trinket booths. After that you’ve arrived at the main cave on the island, filled with gorgeous Hindu carvings. I was pleased to remember about 5% of my art history class from college.
After that you’ve got another 1/4 climb up much less even stairs to Cannon Hill, the top of the island and location of large cannons the Portuguese put in place to defend the waterways. I wasn’t particularly interested in the cannons, but figured it was worth the rest of the trek for the view. The view was impressive, but the experience was the more worthwhile.
The other reason I wanted to go to Elephanta Island is because I owe Hayden some pictures of monkeys, and the monkeys run wild on the island. They walk around people all day, eating whatever fruit or leftovers they can find; and what they can’t just find they will steal. Early on we witnessed a monkey run at someone carrying a bag and try to tear it open to steal the contents. He almost got it.
I think my favorite moment of the trip was when a monkey charged at Lori’s water bottle and she screamed at me to take it since I was tall enough to hold it out of the monkey’s reach. I must have stood holding the water bottle at maximum vertical arms length with the monkey hissing at me for a minute before walking away. That was certainly a unique experience.
We returned to the ferry around 5 p.m. and watched the sun set/burn through the smog over Mumbai during our slow ride back. We found our driver around 6:30 p.m. and struggled though heavy evening traffic until arriving back at our hotel around 8 p.m.
I’m sorry we only got to spend one day in Mumbai, even though we were able to pack in so much in that day. This is only a fraction of the stories we saw. I would love to visit again some day.
This is perhaps one of the best coming-of-age novels I have read, in that it feels more accessible to multiple generations. Perhaps I am a bit biased, in that it is one of the most well-known coming of age novels that comes close to my time frame (unlike Catcher or King Dork). But Charlie’s voice seems to be untouched by what year it is. It wasn’t until about a third of the way through the book that I looked at the dates of his letters, in 1991. There were multiple moments that I would find myself catching the date again, and I would realize how infinte the writing seemed.
Yes, he is an exceptional young man with a past that colors him, but the true story is about the development of relationships, successes and failures, both.
We arrived in India late Friday evening (Friday afternoon time back home). The process of getting to India was very easy. Our flights were on time, I was unmolested by security. Flying business class gave us access to a hundred movies and chairs that fully recline into beds which made the 16 hour flight pass surprisingly quickly.
We had to wait an unusually long time to get our luggage, but were picked to skip customs in India, so we considered that a wash. We stepped outside to find the hottest weather we have ever encountered. It was only around 90 degrees, but with 70% humidity. We quickly found the car sent from the hotel and basked in the air conditioning.
After a short drive we arrived at our hotel, called loved ones, ate a late dinner and crashed.
The next day we got to explore Mumbai by ourselves. That is an amazing story that’s going to need it’s own post.
But now we’re off to Pune to get settled in before our training.
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