it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

 

We bought our first ever Christmas tree this past weekend and put it up on Sunday.  How fun!  We had never bought one before because we knew we wouldn't be in Louisville for long.  Now that we have a homestead of sorts, we can feel free to make this apartment a home.  (hopefully this desire to make a house a home will find pictures on our walls soon...)

We keep reminding ourselves that this is the new normal.  We will be home for Christmas in our dreams and on Skype, but we also know that we are home for Christmas in our new home.  Home is a strange word - for me it means "where my family lives".  However, with our baby coming in only 10 weeks, I am keenly aware of the fact that our family is also here.  If "home is where the heart is", then our hearts dwell in many places because our family is all over the USA and in two distinct Asian vicinities.

I comfort myself in the thought that there will be times when my family will be gathered together and I look forward to taking pictures of those times and treasuring those moments.  I'm looking forward to visa runs with Matt's parents and visits from Amy.  I'm also looking forward to future Taylor/Ivey family excursions to places we can introduce our child(ren) to in Kentuckiana that I loved as a child.  

Time will be treasured when time comes for us to gather together with family.  For now, we will savor our talks on the Internet phone and on video chat screens... and enjoy the proximity that we have available to us that previous generations did not have accessible to them.  

Newborn from the previous Baby Shower

I got to visit my friend whose 7-month baby party I had gone to in either July or August.  She and her husband were there with their newborn.  He has such a creative name: ReezVahz (is how it is pronounced).  What a cutie he is!

The aunties of the home have decided that I'm carrying a son because my belly is protruding forward like a ball or cone and girl-babies are carried from side to side and swell your whole body and abdomen.  Funny - my first old wives tale told by two old wives themselves!  They were conversing between themselves and pointing at me as they chattered.  Then asked me if I wanted a boy or a girl and I told them, "as God wills".  They smiled and said, "not a girl. Stomach is holding only son."  Haha!  They have 50% odds that they are right.

Cultural notes:

• Baby was not wearing a diaper or pants, but only had on a long-sleeved t-shirt, tied bonnet, and he had a man's handkerchief underneath his bottom
• Even though it is 80F most days (or hotter) here, they keep the baby in a bunting bag of sorts that is really warm - even in the hottest part of the day, and have only a ceiling fan with no A/C
• This is the first new baby I've seen without eyeliner on his/her face to ward off the evil eye (usually parents will draw a large 'mole' on the baby's temple or center of the forehead)
• My friend said that she had a "normal delivery by cesarean" - later her husband clarified that two hours after their arrival, the doctor said they must surgically remove the baby since the baby was 3 kilos (6.6lbs) and delivering the baby vaginally would be too risky.  
• It is okay to feed the baby in front of guests, as long as you have a modest way of covering-up

Birthday!

This year, we decided to celebrate at the Hard Rock Cafe in our city (unbelievable that we have one, I know)!  We got the most AMAZING burgers, Caesar salad, and fries I've had in a LONG time.  There was great music for about the first 20 minutes, though, ironically it was rock music played on low volume.  This is strange because most restaurants that play music blast it here, and because rock music is meant for blasting!  Even more funny, the music was entirely shut off after 20 minutes and a cricket game replaced it.  Cricket looks like the most boring game (aside from tennis and golf) that ever existed... just sayin'.  Sadly, it is virtually the only sport played here, and everybody else here are big fans of it.  Matt and I have no clue how it is played, the rules, and what a "dot" is, either.

Later on, our friends made cookies and put a candle in one so that they could sing to me.  Fun times!

August happenings

Matt's birthday was on August 11th... the big decade-type of birthday!  It was great having all of the people we love most here to celebrate with him and sing to him.  I can't believe we are both the decade of age that we are and that we're having a baby in only 4.5 more months... it boggles the mind! 

We also went to one of the most historic sites in our city.  It is located in probably the craziest part of town.  If you have seen the scene in Aladdin where Princess Jasmine is walking through the markets of Agrabad and people are trying to sell her stuff, you might get the idea.  There are bunches of beggars there, too -- not like the kind we see in the States that hold signs and look sad.  The beggars here aggressively stalk you, tapping on your elbow/back of your arm.  Thankfully, we didn't see child-beggars here like the ones in Slumdog Millionaire, but we have seen children like that in our city elsewhere. 

As with most old cities, the growth outweighs the capacity to make sense of city-planning.  Buildings stack irregularly and additions are haphazard.  The traffic and crowds from up in the monument look much smaller than they are in actuality!

Merilee and a friend... we joke sometimes that people will think she is my daughter due to our difference in height.  Haha!  She is such an awesome gal and we've become good friends with she and her husband.

This shot and the next are a much better view of the crowds, the auto-rickshaws (those yellow vehicles), and the 'haze' of pollution and people blending together near the peak of the arch.  Below show the difference in culture of this part of town -- lots of ladies in burqas.

The next few pictures show how attention-getting it is to be 'different'.  When you are a different color, people just ask to get their picture taken with you.  I have no idea who these people are, but they were insistent on getting their picture taken with us.  They were very sweet and friendly!  The two ladies had their faces covered, but uncovered them to talk to us and get their picture taken.  The face part of the burqa just pulls over the top, apparently.

 Matt had two fans... one was really shy,

 ...and the other wanted a picture shaking his hand.  I wonder if they think we are famous, or will tell their families they met us.  It might have made their day?  I know it made us happy to be greeted - the photo-taking was unexpected, but it was nice to meet friendly people!

 This is the view from the top of the monument. 

 The monument we visited, taken from the conveniently placed coffee shop across the way.

 These are the ominous stairs that narrowly wind up into the top of the monument and that you again must go down to get out of it.  The experience is much like spelunking, minus the ropes and head-lantern.  I was really happy we didn't visit this monument later in pregnancy because the small stairwell with uneven stairs and electricity that goes out really was un-nerving.

Overall, this was an awesome experience getting to visit a new part of the city!

"antenatal" appointment

Apparently, determining the gender of your baby during an ultrasound is against the law here.  A friend here told me that this is due to the prevalence of “female feticide” (the aborting of baby girls due to families not wanting to pay a wedding dowry of a bride more so than merely preferring to have a son).  The hospital that we visited today is Catholic, so they do not ever perform abortions or terminate pregnancies since they are highly pro-life.  Thank God for that!  However, even though we are highly pro-life we cannot find out whether our Little M&M (baby's nickname) is a boy or a girl until we leave the country on a visa run.  

Here is a picture of our Little M&M's amazing smile... (s)he was yawning in this picture, but they shot the picture when his/her mouth was nearly shut.  (S)he should be yawning!  (S)he is quite the roly-poly wiggler!  It took forever for the ultrasound doctor to get a still shot of him/her!  It was quite a happy day!

our first "function"

A friend of mine was invited to what we would probably refer to as a baby shower and invited me to it, also.  It was interesting to go to a party where you have no idea what to bring, what is done, or what is expected of you once you arrive.


My friend and I decided that it was best to get a woman's advice for this since the original interpreter was male and had told us not to bring anything to the 'function' (read: party).  She called a lady here and asked her what is usually brought to this kind of party (a function for a woman who is 7 months pregnant).  The lady told her to bring a garland of jasmine, a box of sweets, and 12 bangles (bracelets).  We were not sure what to wear to the function, so we opted for kurtas (tunics), dupatas (scarves), and long pants.


Our husbands escorted us from shop to shop as we, in the dark, sought out the three items we were to bring as gifts.  You cannot find all three items in one place... they don't do that in our hometown.  We went to the sweet shop, first, and thankfully my husband was able to talk to the shop owner and get a kilo assortment of different sweets.  Then we found the guy with the cart who sells jasmine and marigolds and pink flowers and bargain the price from him (again, we had no idea how long of a garland, but just to get one and hope it was what you're supposed to bring).  There was a sweet auntie that was also getting jasmine who, thankfully, pointed us to the place where you buy bangles.  Bangles are glass here, so you want to buy bangles wide enough to slide to a lady's wrist, so we got the largest that they had since our intended wearer may have swollen hands due to being 7 months pregnant.


The husbands dropped us off at the street that led to the house hosting the function and we ventured deeper into the unknown.  Thankfully, my friend knew the woman who hosted us initially.  The woman also spoke a little bit of English so we were able to get a sense of how many baby functions are common.  Apparently, there is a 7 month pregnant function, a delivery function, a 9 days function, a 21 days function... and some others that I cannot quite remember now.  We were able to share with her that our pre-delivery function is called a baby shower and that the mom-to-be receives gifts for the baby and what kinds of gifts she receives.  The woman was fascinated by the fact that the baby gets presents before it has even arrived. 


The function's beginning is actually about 2 hours of dressing up in saris, putting on face-whiteners and make-up, and women talking to each other about anything and everything as they primp and prep for the function.  It is a women's party, so it is perfectly appropriate to have this primping time built in and all the friends and family who are women 'cute' themselves up together.  My friend and I tried to get information about the party during this time so we wouldn't feel awkward once the festivities began... to little avail.  


The function consists of the women there presenting their gifts... one by one... getting a photo of each presentation, literally.  There was a photo of us placing the garland (awkwardly with guidance from several aunties) around the mom-to-be's neck... they later fixed our blunder and pinned it in her braid.  There was a photo of us simultaneously feeding the mom-to-be one of the sweets, and another photo of us putting the bangles on her wrists.  By the time the party was over, the mom-to-be had bangles almost up to her elbows, flowers everywhere, sweet boxes stacked, and some had brought her fruit, as well.  This was followed by a handing out of fried/baked goods to each attendee, as a favor from the sister-in-law of the mom-to-be.  Then, there was a meal that we tried to miss because it began at around 10:30pm, but could not skip out on because the hostesses were so insistent and sad that we would leave.  Our husbands had showed up to try and take us with them, but they were accosted by the hostesses and ushered into the one-room home to be fed, as well.  


My friend and I have decided that I should do one of these functions with all my local friends when I am 7 months pregnant... it seems like a very loving time to gather friends and a great excuse to hang out and be happy for your soon-arriving baby!  Here are a few pictures of the "7-month-pregnant function".

We, our husbands, the mom-to-be in flowers, bangles, and sari, and her husband.

My cute, little language buddy for the night... she spoke some English, due to her school's curriculum, and was able to help me understand much of what went on during the function.

The mom-to-be receiving many gifts from family and friends.

The mom-to-be's attendants.

strange sights

WILDLIFE:

This is the largest bat (1.5' long) I've ever seen outside of a zoo.

We've decided that there should be a Bollywood version of Dracula.  Haha!  

Our bovine wildlife live their lives in the fast lane here in our city.  

These are water buffalo.

THE NARNIA BATHROOM:

I'm standing outside a wardrobe that covers a whole wall.

One of the doors of the wardrobe went all the way to the floor and so we opened it.

There is a closed white door just beyond the wardrobe door.

When you open the white door, there is a hidden bathroom inside... sneaky design, isn't it?

SAFETY FIRST:

One apartment complex made us wear hard hats when we asked to see the flats they had available for rent. The building was still under construction in some areas, apparently.  I wonder if the tenants have to wear hardhats until they're done with the construction?

Hidden Gifts

I've been reading Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts.  If you haven't read it, you should.  It is a good reminder that thanksgiving is the gate through which we enter into His presence, in which there is fullness of joy.

We are learning to live by finding the gifts that He gives to us in each day.  He is so good.  There is an old hymn that says, "count your blessings name them one by one."  This is what I've been trying to do this first week in South Asia, in the midst of culture stress and morning sickness.  It helps my perspective.

These are some of the gifts from last week:

9.   The golden wash of dawn from miles above the earth.
11. Two young children entering their mommy's country for the first time.
20. Nephew, cute and fat, born on the 4th of July.
39. Linen kurta (long tunic shirt) on a hot day... soft, thin, flowing.
44. Southern hospitality and REAL SWEET TEA! 
50. Bath&Body soap on the opposite side of the world.
55. Cuddly, fat baby smiling in my arms.
62. A pile of sand behind which I could hide from the millions and get sick.
69. My first full night of sleep.

It has been a good first week... difficult at points, but He has been good to us and when we're really in His presence, joy is right there.

henna, bhangra, and bubble tea

This week has been full of excitement since we discovered our little M&M (baby) is in the making!  It is all that we can do to stay focused on our daily tasks, much less all the cultural fun around us.   
However, today was full of Asian fusion: 

Henna art was applied while Skype-ing with my best friend before breakfast,
(the design summarizes my last month of readings in Revelation)

we enjoyed an Indian buffet for lunch followed by the Bhangra festival with a meet-up group,

and, finally, my handsome husband and I chased the whole experience down with bubble tea before heading back home.

What a fun day!