I'm Armed and On Mosquito Patrol

So, according to Tom this is the best thing that has ever been invented. Apparently, it is just called a mosquito bat. It is plugged into an electrical outlet to be charged and then you carry it around
with you in the house looking for mosquitos. This
thing is death by electrocution for those little malaria-carrying monsters.
Fortunately, Chennai is not a city with a malaria epidemic, but for a foreigner like me you can't be too careful. I am taking a once-weekly dose of Chloroquine that I will continue to take for 5 weeks after I return to the U.S.



For the first couple of days we didn't see any of them in the apartment but then yesterday we noticed a couple and then a couple more today, resulting in Tom issuing me the weapon and putting me on mosquito duty while he is at work.



Tom says there is an art to electrocuting mosquitos with the mosquito bat. He was giving me specific instructions on how to "gracefully" swing the bat while pressing this red button and he even got to give me a live demonstration when he murdered a mosquito that was flying around our bedroom.



My natural instinct is to beat the air with the bat but that isn't how it works. I will try diligently to follow Tom's example and "gracefully" swing the bat towards the mosquito. The bat does make a satisfying electrical crackling sound when the mosquito fries so I guess that is something to look forward to. I sure don't want to play around with malaria since once you have it, you always have it.



I think I will begin counting the number of mosquitos that I murder, if I ever get one.

Cows, Indian TV, and Lost Luggage

So today I decided to look out of the bedroom window in the hopes I might see something better than the cows I saw the other day. I swear, these 3 were just walking down the road. I had to grab the camera and run to the other bedroom to get the pic. That little shack thing is actually a shop, I'm not sure what the guy sells, probably basics like drinks, cigarettes, and snacks.

I have been watching VH1 but it is so different than VH1 at home. For one thing, they are heavily promoting VH1 Movies That Rock, every Sunday at 9:00 pm and it's ALL Elvis movies. I don't know if Elvis is a big deal over here, I guess I should ask Tom. I know Tom has a friend named Elvis so maybe Elvis is still really popular.

VH1 is also currently playing all of the episodes of "The Osbournes" which is entertaining. I watched it when it was on at home so at least it's 1 more American show for me to watch.

The best thing that happened today was that my lost bag showed up this morning!!!! Priya from Emirates Airlines called this morning to tell us that my bag had arrived from Nairobi and would be delivered today. Within about an hour and 1/2 the bag was here, totally filthy but with all contents intact. I am soooo happy to have my DVD's, my other pair of shoes, my hair dryer, and more clothes!! I have to say, I was really not hopeful that I would ever see that bag again so I am just tickled pink (the same color as the bag - haha). Oh, the M&M's also made it and they weren't even squished or melted!!

The apartment in Chennai - Part 7

This is the master bedroom - if not for that window a/c unit I don't think I would survive. The apartment maintains a steady temperature inside of 96F but the bedroom stays cold if we run the a/c. We keep the bedroom door closed to keep the cold air in so I alternate between the bedroom and the dining room table. The dining room isn't bad starting in the late afternoon and especially when the sun goes down but the lowest the inside temperature has reached is 92F. When I've been in the bedroom for a while and I open the door to go back out in the dining/living it's like walking into a sauna. It's a heat that I can't really describe, kind of a wall of heat that smacks me when I open the door.

In India children sleep with their parents until they are about 5 or 6 years old. I guess the people who lived here previously decorated the room for the benefit of their children because the master bedroom walls are covered with Oswald the Octopus, Winnie the Pooh, Dora the Explorer, Pinocchio, and lots of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. These things are actually GLUED to the walls so there is no hope of peeling them off without peeling off the paint. So....I feel like I am living in a kiddie room and it's kind of weird and creepy to have all of these things staring at me.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 6

This is the main bathroom that is attached to the master bedroom. Note that there is no separate shower area. The floor is tiled and has a drain under the sink. When I take a shower the water just kind of runs all over the floor and then down to the drain.

The hose/sprayer thing on the wall next to the toilet is standard in India. They don't use toilet paper here so they use this sprayer to clean themselves after they use the toilet. Too graphic? That's the way it is so I thought I might as well post it.




It isn't necessary to do anything as far as drying the floor. The heat and humidity dry out the tile pretty fast after I take a shower so I don't have to worry about it.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 5

This apartment is a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom. This is the second bathroom. This is a squatter toilet that is a traditional toilet in India. Thankfully the other bathroom has a Western toilet so I do not have to learn to squat to use the toilet. We don't use this bathroom, we keep the door closed all the time and I only opened the door to take the pic.



I don't have much to say about these squatters other than it is so unnatural to me to do this that if I had to I don't know really what I would do. I guess if I were in a position where this was my only option I would figure it out, but I certainly won't be using it while I'm here.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 4

The washing machine is outside on a little balcony off the kitchen. The balcony is tiled and has 2 drain holes. The water from the washing machine comes out this hose and pours all over the floor, then goes down the 2 drain holes. Tom didn't mention this to me before he left for work today so when I was doing the laundry I at first thought there was something wrong with the machine then I realized that the water is supposed to pour out of that hose all over the floor.

Everything here takes longer and laundry is no exception. It takes exactly 59 minutes to do a load of laundry in the washing machine and the inside of the machine is fairly small so I can't do huge loads of laundry.

Once the cycle is finished I take the clothes to the 2nd bedroom and hang them up on the clotheslines that Tom has strung up. I think those clotheslines were sufficient for him but for 2 people I'm thinking we may need more line to hang stuff up.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 3

This is the kitchen. The little gas range is not bad but I have never cooked with gas before. There are no gas lines to the apartment, there is a little propane tank underneath that Tom has to take to some place where they refill it. I'm not sure how often that has to be done since I only just got here 2 days ago.

There is no dishwasher, everything has to be washed by hand. The part of that I don't like is that there isn't a hot water heater in the apartment so the water from the tap is lukewarm and that is the water used to wash dishes. It is not practical to boil water to wash dishes so I just scrub them repeatedly with soap in hopes that any germs just go away.

There is also a severe ant problem so we have to be very careful to make sure that there are no food particles left anywhere or the ants just go crazy. The other day I left my laptop on the dining table and when I came back to it, the ants were all over my laptop. Even a small crumb of anything will bring the ants in droves and apparently there isn't anything to be done about it.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 2

This is the dining area where the fridge and microwave are. This is actually a pretty snazzy little fridge, it even has a small freezer compartment where we can fit 2 ice trays (the ice trays here are about 1/2 the size of ice trays in the U.S.) and a couple of other small items, and I do mean SMALL items.

The inside part of the fridge is small and doesn't hold much. The reason for this is in India people cook fresh food each day so there is no reason to have tons of food stashed in the fridge. Also, there are no Wal-Mart sized grocery stores here. All of the shops are very small, probably about 1/2 the size or smaller of a normal 7-11. Not all food is available all the time so you buy small quantities every couple of days.

Food kept in the fridge spoils faster than it does at home due to the heat, for example a bag of milk that we bought on Saturday was spoiled by Monday morning. The produce drawer is very small and holds only a few small bags of fresh vegetables. The concept of frozen foods doesn't exist here as everyone actually cooks. The laws here regarding pesticides on fruit and vegetables are not the same as they are in the U.S. so everything has to be thoroughly washed before it is eaten.

The apartment in Chennai - Part 1

When Tom and I decided that I would be staying in India for 5 weeks he knew that he had to find a decent place to live. He found this place and fortunately it is considered a "furnished" apartment, meaning it has a cane "living room set", a washing machine (for clothes, not dishes - there is no dishwasher), a bed, a dining table and chairs, a refrigerator, an "entertainment center", a microwave, and a tv.

I think anyone can determine by the pic that this furniture is more for looks than actual use. Sitting on cane furniture for any extended period of time hurts your butt and the back of your thighs. I have been sitting in one of the cane chairs but I have padded it with some spare bedsheets so at least it is a bit more comfortable.

Note the big bottles of water by the "entertainment center". We have 2 water pitchers - 1 stays in the fridge and 1 stays out in the kitchen. I (or Tom) have to manhandle those bottles to fill these 2 small pitchers a couple of times a day. The pitcher in the fridge is so there is always cold drinking water and the pitcher in the kitchen is water used for cooking. It isn't safe for me to drink the water from the tap so I have a feeling we will be going through many big bottles of water. It is so hot here that I have to drink water constantly to stay hydrated.

Update on my lost bag

So after numerous phone calls to the Emirates office here in Chennai, this morning (Monday 4/26) we are finally told that my bag was misrouted in Dubai. My bag is....get ready for it....now being held in Nairobi, Kenya.

This bag was taken from me at the boarding gate in Houston and tagged with a label routing it through to MAA, which is the airport code for Chennai. The airport code for Nairobi is KAA, so I guess that explains a lot.

We have been going back and forth with these Emirates people in Chennai and they keep telling us that they will call us but they never call. I am not a subservient Indian female, I am a pissed off American female who wants HER BAG!

Priya, the supervisor at the Emirates office in Chennai, has promised that she will call Tom by the end of the day today and tell him which flight from Nairobi my bag will be on. I guess I should take comfort in the fact that they know where the bag is, but truly, I just want my stuff.

We bought a toaster oven!!

I know this doesn't seem like a big deal because in the U.S. one can stop off at Target or Wal-Mart and easily buy a toaster oven. In India, buying a toaster oven is not as easy as it sounds. First, Tom had to locate the one store that sells toaster ovens. Then he had to go to the store to look at it and haggle over the price which was Rs 3200 the first time he went to look at it. He didn't buy it the first time he looked at it, but I think maybe he should have. He called them the other day and the price went up to Rs 3250.



Yesterday (Sunday the 25th) when we went out to go for dinner he decided to go by the store in the hopes that they would be open. We had to drive approximately 30 minutes from the apartment into the city (Chennai) to get to this place. Let me explain driving in India as I believe it is the same no matter where you are. I have seen this in Mumbai and Delhi when I was in India 2 years ago.

First, the roads are marked with lane lines. Second, no one and I mean NO ONE, stays in their lane. The roads are full of motorcycles, motorcycles, and more motorcycles. An entire family will be on 1 motorcycle: a child in front of the father who is driving the motorcycle, and sitting sidesaddle behind the father is the mother who is holding in her lap at least 1 smaller child and sometimes an infant along with the smaller child. None of these motorcycle people are wearing helmets.

In addition to the motorcycles there are buses, auto rickshaws, trucks, carts, bicycles, cars, and pedestrians. Everyone is driving 90 to nothing, continuously honking their horns, weaving in and out of the lanes, and cutting other drivers off. The buses are worth further mention as they are overflowing with bodies, people hanging out of the windows and hanging from the doors. The buses are so full that they actually lean to one side or the other.

There are stop lights but no one really pays attention to them. Even if the light is red, say going north-south at an intersection where there is an east-west road, the people going north-south just keep going and the people going east-west just floor it and cut in when they see an opening. The motorcycles will come alongside a car, then jump in front of the car and most of the time the motorcycles will go in between 2 cars. Several times during the drive I had to cover my eyes because I was just convinced that we were going to be in a wreck.

It is also confusing because just like in the UK, in India the roads are opposite from the U.S., and the drivers side of the car in India is the passenger side of the car in the U.S. Each time we have gone to get in the car I have gone to the drivers side thinking that it was the passenger side. It's very confusing!

So after all of this weaving and honking we finally make it to the street where the appliance store is located. This store is in an area with lots of different kinds of little shops on a very crowded street. I was the ONLY white person in the area and believe me when I say that a while female with an Indian male is an extreme curiousity. The stares are obvious but no one says anything. We had to park the car in an alley and walk maybe half a block to the store. There are people all over the street and trash everywhere, you have to pay attention to where you are walking so that you don't step in something gross. Did I mention the dust?

We went in the store and I can guarantee that not one person in the store had ever seen a white person in that store. They didn't even try to be subtle about staring, they just stared. They had several different sizes of toaster ovens and we had to look at each one. We finally decided on the middle-sized toaster oven and now the price is Rs 3300 (approximately $75 USD). Highway robbery!! The little dude had to take the toaster oven out of the box and show us all of the parts, the recipe book, and the user manual. Then he had to plug the toaster oven in to show that it worked. It worked.

Once the toaster oven was proven operational and the haggling over the price was complete, we had to move to the payment counter. There was a woman in front of us who was paying for whatever she had bought but she was spending more time staring at me than she was paying for her purchase. Finally she was finished and it was our turn. The cashier guy ran Tom's bankcard through the machine and Tom immediately got an email on his phone that the purchase was authorized. The cashier guy couldn't seem to get proof that the purchase was authorized from his little machine so he had to call the Big Boss Man over and he had to complete the transaction.

After we got the receipt that we had paid, we had to take it back over to the guy who originally helped us and he walked us out to the front door of the shop where another man had to verify our receipt and stamp it before we were allowed to leave with the toaster oven. So back down the street, to the alley, to the car with our very valuable toaster oven.

I never in my life thought that I would be so excited over a toaster oven but you have to understand this: in India, you have a gas range that basically sits on the counter, it is not built-in, and NO OVEN OF ANY KIND. People just don't bake here which is one reason why a toaster oven is so hard to find.

So now I can heat up stuff in the toaster oven and not have to rely totally on the microwave. This was a very exciting thing for me so don't laugh, I think most people would feel the same way in my situation.

My trip was uneventful until I got to Houston....

Which isn’t saying much because I only began my journey to India in Dallas. So here we go….I packed very carefully for this trip because I was leaving the U.S. to spend 5 weeks in India. I’m a girlie girl, and I need lots of girlie girl things in order to be comfortable. Tom had also requested that I bring a number of things for him, so in addition to my pile of must-have girlie girl things, I had Tom’s wish list that included cotton socks from Old Navy, a sturdy spatula, potato peeler and potato masher, a measuring cup, and some other miscellaneous American things. Tom is also a Starbucks Mocha Frapp junkie so I managed to securely wrap a 4-pack of those glass bottle Mocha Frapps and stuck 2 in each of my checked bags.

I packed a smaller carry-on bag with my laptop, power cord and mouse, along with my hair dryer, curling iron, a change of clothes, a pair of shoes, all 24 of the dvd’s I wanted for my viewing pleasure, Tom’s new Netbook and the handbook that goes along with it, Tom’s new camera, and 3 small bags of M&M’s.

Shockingly enough, both of my checked bags weighed in at 48 lbs each, which isn’t too bad considering the number of “essential items” that I had in those puppies. I checked those 2 bags in Dallas for the flight to Houston, and then carried on my smaller bag and my backpack.

Arrive in Houston and head to Terminal D where Emirates departs. I’m sitting at the gate and this very nice Emirates lady approaches me and tells me that my carry-on is 1. too large and 2. too heavy since they are operating a full flight to Dubai. She tells me that the carry-on must be checked in order to have enough space inside the plane. I tell her that I’m lugging 2 laptops and a camera in that bag, along with some other important items (M&M’s – haha) and that I’m not comfortable checking the bag. She gives me 2 small cloth Emirates bags (great for shopping!) and tells me to pull out the 2 laptops and the camera, put them in those 2 bags to carry-on, and she’s taking my suitcase whether I like it or not.

So I obviously have to give up the smaller suitcase. She promises me that it will be checked all the way through to Chennai and hand-writes a tag for it. The bag is taken from me when I board the plane. I think you probably know where this story is going by now.

Move on to my arrival in Chennai. I don’t know how to explain what an airport in India is like, but suffice to say it is hot, smelly, crowded, and OLD. I get through Immigration and then move on down to where the baggage claim is. There are tons of people standing around the 3 baggage carousels. I find a good spot where I push my little luggage cart right up the conveyer belt and I wait…..and wait…..and wait. The bags keep coming, people pull their bags off and leave, and I’m still waiting. Finally my 2 big bags appear so I get them on my little luggage cart, and I wait….and wait….and wait.

Still waiting….some Indian dude asks me if I’m waiting on a bag and I tell him that I’m waiting for 1 more. He makes a motion with his hand and says “All over”. Well, hell….I knew it was too much to expect my bag to make it but I still had high hopes. So I am moved over to the “Airport Assistance” counter where they are ready to “take a report”. The girl pulls out her long-ass form and asks for all of my tickets and my passport. She begins filling out the form and when it gets the part about where she has to describe the bag she asks me what color the bag is. I point to my pink and black backpack and tell her “it looks just like this except it’s a small suitcase”. So under the “color” section on her form she writes “RED”. I tell her the bag is not “RED”, the bag is “PINK”. She tells me they don’t have the color pink. HUH??

This girl tells me that my bag must still be in Dubai. I told her that Emirates told me the bag would be checked all the way through to Chennai. She tells me that the bag isn’t there. Yes, I’m aware. She tells me to give them 1 day as they need to enter my “complaint” and then try to contact Emirates to get my bag to Chennai. The bag will be delivered to me when they receive it.

Okay, does that sound right to anyone? In the U.S. maybe, but in India? So I guess I have to accept that my bag is lost or on it’s way back to Dallas, along with the dvd’s, my hair dryer, my shoes (leaving me with 1 pair of shoes to wear for the next 5 weeks), my curling iron, and 3 bags of melted M&M’s. I’m trying to stay positive but I am a pessimist at heart. I really liked that pink and black suitcase….I’m sad that it’s gone.

Airline frustration

So, I booked my flight to India on Orbitz and I got a great deal on it. Received my confirmation right after booking and didn't give it a second thought. Now it is 2 days before I leave and I receive an email from Orbitz reminding me that my trip is in 2 days. I am glad I took the time to read the entire email because this one shows my return flight on May 29: Chennai to Dubai, check - Chennai to Houston Intercontinental arriving at 4:25 pm, check, Houston Intercontinental to Dallas departing at 4:15 pm, check, no wait, that's not the flight I booked and how in the hell am I supposed to get on a flight at 4:15 pm when I don't even arrive from Dubai until 4:25 pm??

So I call American Airlines and get a snippy guy who I guess must be totally frustrated with the whole volcanic ash in Iceland thing, who very rudely tells me that American Airlines reserves the right to cancel flights at any time and since my flight was underbooked and it's a holiday weekend (Memorial Day) they are sending the aircraft to an airport that "needs it more". He tells me I need to call Emirates Airlines since they are my international carrier. I then respond with "this is another reason why I hate American Airlines" and he very sweetly says, "Thank you for calling American Airlines" and hangs up on me!

So I call Emirates Airlines and they also must be totally flooded with calls from people who are stranded in various parts of the world due to the volcanic ash in Iceland because I was ON HOLD for over 1 hour, the entire hour spent being told by a recording that my call is on priority and will be attended to shortly. They finally attend to my call by telling me that because I booked my flight with Orbitz, I have to call Orbitz.

So....call #1 to Orbitz: I give them my name and reservation number, briefly explain why I am calling and right in the middle of a sentence the call is disconnected. Call #2 to Orbitz: I give them my name and reservation number, longer explanation as to why I am calling. She looks up the reservation and tells me that she needs to call American Airlines because Orbitz doesn't have any information about the flight being cancelled. She puts me on hold and 35 minutes later the call is disconnected. Call #3 to Orbitz: (and now I'm ticked!) I give them my name and reservation number and a lengthly explanation as to why I am calling and why I don't want to be placed on hold. Needless to say, I'm on hold anyway.

The "helpful" Orbitz rep has just come back on the line to tell me that American Airlines will be happy to book me on a flight from Houston HOBBY to Dallas on the evening of May 29. I explain to this helpful person that I WILL NOT travel over 20 hours from India to Dubai, Dubai to Houston Intercontinental, then try to find a taxi to take me to Houston Hobby to catch an American Airlines flight back to Dallas. I don't think I'm being difficult, I just want what I paid for. Now I'm on hold again while the Orbitz rep explains to the American rep that I'm not doing what they are suggesting.

I would like to point out that this series of phone calls began at 9:42 pm and it is now 12:08 am. I have other things I could be doing right now, like sleeping. 12:26 am...still on hold and losing every game of Spider Solitaire that I have played. 12:33 am...still on hold.

12:52 am...the Orbitz rep says that the Emirates rep needs confirmation from American that the flight has been cancelled. Their recommendation is for me to call Orbitz when I get to India to determine whether or not American has contacted Emirates with the flight cancellation confirmation. I've already been on hold with Orbitz for 1 hour and 17 minutes on a free 1-800 call. I refuse to fly to India and then hope that the internet phone works long enough for me to call Orbitz so they can book a different flight.

Now I'm on a conference call with Orbitz and Emirates. The Orbitz rep is trying to call an American rep to put them on the conference call so the American rep can tell the Emirates rep that my original flight has been cancelled. REALLY???? In this day of modern technology it has come down to this....an Orbitz rep who I would bet my paycheck is in India, an Emirates rep who is somewhere in the Middle East but who could possibly be in India, and an American rep with an American attitude...all on a conference call with a frustrated Texan/Okie who wants to go to bed. I really wish that I could record this call and post it somewhere because it would actually be kind of funny if I wasn't so frustrated. I think I am going to cry.

1:08 am...Emirates has put all of us on hold. 1:14 am...the Emirates agent is now trying to re-issue my ticket and book me on a United flight from Houston Intercontinental to Dallas. I hope this thing doesn't get FUBAR'D. Listening to the accent of the Orbitz rep and the accent of the Emirates rep I feel like I am already in India.

1:21 am...these 2 cannot figure out what they are doing. I hope they don't cancel my entire flight in error.

1:34 am...still waiting.

1:45 am...entire itinerary had to be rebooked but Orbitz just sent an email and it looks okay. Hopefully it is. Now I will go to bed so I can get up at the butt-crack of dawn to go load my car with my luggage, go to work for a few hours, drive to a small town in Oklahoma to look at an apartment complex my bosses are considering buying, and then drive to Dallas to spend the night with my BFF who will be driving me to DFW Airport on Thursday morning. That is when my REAL adventure begins....off to India for LOVE!