India, Day 4

We are still getting settled and getting our bearings. I can now name three roads in New Delhi and three markets. Ruby was a little jet-lagged at first, getting angry when we didn't feed her at the odd times of day when she was hungry, but she has gotten back on a schedule. She is loving the smells of India, which makes each walk we take annoyingly slow! So far, the stry dogs have not been a problem, but we are carrying a stick and keeping our distance when we have Ruby with us. Our school has been awesome at transitioning us into life where without overwhelming us. We have one cellphone (still working on getting the iphone a sim card), drinkable water and internet in our apartment, a cable hookup coming tomorrow, and upholstery samples on the coffee table waiting for our decision. Tomorrow after training, we are headed to buy some paint and curtains for the living room. We got access cards to the embassy facilities today, so we can take about a 5 minute walk to a stocked commissary, a bowling alley, gym facilities, and a pool! Probably the most challenging thing we are encountering is setting up the apartment. There's no one stop shopping. We have about thirty things on our shopping list and each comes from a different store in a different market. You have to hunt until you run into what you need. A drying rack at one place, nails at another, trash bin somewhere else. There are many things we haven't seen yet. Eating has been easy, as the school has been feeding us lunch and there are a bunch of decent take out places right in our neighborhood. Jake is working on taking a short video for us to post and we received a request for more pictures. I'll put both up as soon as possible. We miss everyone!

More India pictures

The park that our apartment overlooks: Our door name plate:

More pictures

In India!

Jake and I arrived in India around 12:50am after two pretty uneventful flights. Ruby handled the flying much better than expected and did not even poop in her crate on either of the 8 hour flights! It was only 87 degrees when we landed, but it feels much hotter than that. Our school picked us up and we headed straight back to our apartment. We were greeted by a welcome sign made out of colored rice and a Hannon/Nelms nameplate above our door. We LOVE our new apartment. It's on the second floor in a house on a park. Three bedrooms, two baths, great AC. Because our time is all messed up, we spent the night moving furniture around and unpacking. It's now 7:30am and we are still going. We took a short walk around the neighborhood and now we are resting back in the AC. Our plan for today is to see the school, buy some essentials, try to get on a regular sleep schedule, and get a feel for a neighborhood. Check out our pictures and send us lots of emails! We are missing everyone already but really excited to be here!

Rice Welcome Design

Our living room

Our dining room

More pictures coming soon!

Safari: Machatu Game Reserve, Botswana

Leopard Lions Elephant Cheetahs

South Africa Pictures

Driving on the left! Cool Plant Jake and David in the Drakensburg Mountains Kelly relaxing Our hike World Cup: Brazil v. Netherlands Jake and Fay at Cape Point

An Update from Philadelphia

We did not do a great job updating from South Africa, but we promise to do much better from India. We had a fantastic time at the World Cup and the safari after with Jake's parents. I'll post a few of the 1,500 pictures we took! Check back next week for an update about our arrival in India, our neighborhood, and our apartment.