Christmas in July

One good thing about packing out three weeks before arrival is that your things arrive faster!  Our UAB shipment (700 pounds of amazingness) were delivered on Thursday.  This was great for many reasons:

1) We had been wearing the same clothes for a month
2) We were almost out of toothpaste
3) The girls were bored with their toys and had reverted to playing with our blinds, our dirty laundry, silverware, and everything else NOT a toy...
and the major reason
4) ELIA's HIGHCHAIR - now we can strap that girl in and make her eat AND not worry about her falling off onto marble floors.

Oh, and another awesome reason was that I was slated to close the office all week which meant I arrived at 8am and got home around 6pm...and I walk.  So that was basically a ten hour day, everyday.  Thursday - I left at 4 and had someone else close up the section and I didn't feel guilty about that at all.

The week was so hectic and so long that these 6 boxes of awesomeness was just the bright shining star we needed this week.  The girls got TOYS!  Anya opens her Melissa and Doug cookies and cookie sheet and exclaimed - THESE ARE FROM AVA!  We opened a framed photo of her and her bestie Imaan and now that is displayed predominately in her room.  Elia was happy having more toys to throw and Raj even made a playhouse out of one of the shipping boxes that the girls now love and have decorated.

Moya made out too - she got more food, cat litter, and her BIG cat box.  Christmas for the cat!

We all got more clothes, some essential medicines (I don't know who needs five bottles of children's Claritin and Tylenol but we are prepared!) and FOOD.  Can I tell you how amazing it is for the girls to have their oatmeal (Omi-meal, as Anya refers to it) in the morning?  And COFFEE just before we ran out of our stockpile, and those 90 second bags of microwavable rice?!  Pretty exciting stuff.

Other awesome things we got that I am so glad I packed:  Anya's stool for the bathroom, TRASH BAGS, ziploc bags, a trash can, bath mats, rain boots! and HANGARS.  I almost don't care for our HHE to arrive.  This is entertaining me enough.

We also rearranged some furniture, had our bookcases and mirrors secured to the walls, and got some additional furniture and rugs.  Our place is feeling more like home and looking less sterile.  We have patio furniture now which we have not used because it has rained every day since it was delivered, we made a play corner for the girls, we put decals on the walls in the girls room, and we picked out fabric so we can have slipcovers made for our mustard yellow couches.  All in all it was a busy but successful week.

We miss you friends and family!

One week anniversary of arriving...

I keep telling myself that in two months time, six months time, one year time  - we are going to forget about the craziness of the first week and absolutely love New Delhi, our home, our lifestyle, etc.  But we don't love it just yet.

Our first day at the Embassy - getting badges.  Anya and Elia scored badge necklaces :)

For the most part we are settled:
1) the girls are sleeping pretty much on their old schedule, though we still have to wake them up at nap time which means we get an hour of cranky babies until they eat dinner and go back to bed.  Silver lining -- they nap!
2) we have A/C in our bedroom.  Yup, the crazy beeping was our alarm, and when they came to fix that they broke ALL of our A/Cs in the house.  They were able to get them all working except for the one in our bedroom.  Given this was a three day holiday weekend I complained pretty loudly and got it fixed before everyone enjoyed vacation.  Of course, to fix it they had to turn off another A/C.  Silver lining:  sleeping last night was GLORIOUS
3) we secured our first all-rounder (we hope).  We interviewed two and one was supposed to watch the girls on Thursday while Raj and I went to orientation at the Embassy but she canceled at the last minute.  Thank goodness Embassy teenagers want babysitting gigs!  But that made our decision pretty easy on who to not hire...so we offered the position to a woman named Benne and she accepted!  She is supposed to come next week to get her paperwork figured out and work a little and then officially starts July 15.  PHEW
4) We know where to buy food.  We have tons of amazing restaurants in our neighborhood which is great, and just behind that we have a vegetable man, a milk store, a bread store, an electronics store, a phone store, a pharmacy (which we are told not to use but they sell tampons!  I'm a woman, I care about where I can find such things...) and our flower guy is right outside our doorstep.  There is also a guy who sells wicker chairs and he rides around on his bike through our neighborhood.  Its just a matter of time that I overpay for about three or four of these chairs/stools.
5) we bought alcohol.  Not much...two bottles of wine and four bottles of beer.  Since we drank our way through packout and vacation we were ready for a little detox, but moving to a foreign country also has its stressors.  Please note in the photo that the wine is stamped:  For Diplomatic supply only.  We were not allowed to ship any alcohol with our belongings and were very nervous about the expense and availability of foreign beer here.  Good to know that it really is not that much more expensive than at home!
Silver Lining:  DC prices are equivalent to overseas overpriced prices :)

Pretty Impressed with the Commissary selection of beers - and the wine was only $4!

Everyday Raj has taken the girls to the pool and they are really loving their daily grilled cheese sandwiches.  We have visited Lodi Gardens, Nehru Park, and India Gate...tomorrow is the July 4 celebrations at the Embassy and we really want to visit Hauz Khas, Old Fort, Old Delhi, and Raj found a site already on hauntings in Delhi - there is a place walking distance from our house!

Tuk Tuk Ride back from India Gate our first Sunday here.  What rebels we are!

The girls enjoying a little playground time before the pool at the Embassy Compound.

Raj and Elia at India Gate - afterwards we all had to change our sweaty underwear.

We also met three of our Embassy neighbors and so far they seem pretty cool.  All in all, we are starting to find a groove.  Though, our half bath is still out of commission and we found a dead baby lizard on our windowsill one morning :P  Oh and MOYA - she is alive, but sneezing non-stop and did have about 5 days of watery eyes.  I think she is adjusting too.

**Disclaimer:  In all photos our girls look red and sunburned.  They are not.  They are simply hot and their faces get flushed.  We are excellent parents who never forget to sunscreen and so far there are no sunburns to report!**