Tea Factories & Chai with Friends

While our friends were here, we took the time to do several things we hadn’t taken the time for in the year we have been here…one such thing was a tour of a tea factory.  We live right next to a tea plantation and often drive right though it to get to the other side of town.  We also regularly take bike rides and walks through the gardens, where we get to wave to and greet the women plucking the leaves. 

Ashamedly, I am not much of a tea drinker or tea connoisseur, and I can’t really tell you about the different picks (flushes) or the various grades in which tea comes (whole leaves, broken leaves, fannings and dust)…even though that information was part of the tour.  But when you live in India, it’s kind of hard not to fall in love with tea.  The word for tea in Hindi is chai.  What I have come to understand is that no two people make chai the same.  While most people in our area make chai with milk and sugar, there are tons of different ways to spice up your chai.  After much experimentation, I have settled on making my chai with milk, sugar, cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger.

Chai is such an integral part of life in India.  Most people drink chai multiple times a day.  And, a visit to a friend’s home or their shop is never complete without sharing a cup of chai together.  There is really no such thing as a quick visit with a friend here.  For our India friends, relationships are savored over a good cup of chai and biscuits (various cookies and sweets).

With most of our friends, being invited into their home means being invited into their bedroom.  Their homes are often made up of one or two rooms that function as all-purpose rooms.  Cooking as well as all other essential tasks involving water are done outside.  When we enter our friend’s bedroom, we sit on their bed with them (crossed-legged) and visit.  When the chai is ready, a table cloth is placed on the bed between us from which the chai and biscuits are served.  It is always a joy to share this significant part of Indian culture with our precious friends.

We hope you enjoy these pictures from the beautiful tea plantations in our area…

 

You Know You're Not in Ohio...

This month (May 13) marks our one-year anniversary of being in a country that we have truly come to love.  Yes, there are a lot of things that are different and even difficult about living here…the biggest of which is being away from precious family and friends. 

In honor of our one-year anniversary, we thought we would share a few things that make our life in India so very different from our life in Ohio…

You know you’re not in Ohio when you think nice weather is when it is cloudy so you get a reprieve from the the sun.

You know you’re not in Ohio when eating with your hands is not considered playing with your food and is actually more socially acceptable than using a fork.

You know you’re not in Ohio when there is no such thing as a fixed rate for anything, so bartering even for vegetables and fruits is a common every day practice.

You know you’re not in Ohio when dogs are considered by some as a good source of protein rather than “man’s best friend.”

You know you’re not in Ohio when there are just as many cows, dogs, goats, buffalo, and people on the street as there are vehicles.

You know you’re not in Ohio when you can get your hair cut and a massage for about $0.50 US and your eyebrows threaded for about $0.30 US.

You know you’re not in Ohio when you are the center of attention wherever you go and people feel very comfortable stopping you to take your picture or to cleverly pose for a picture with you as their background.

You know you’re not in Ohio when you can buy just about any prescription drug over the counter at a local chemist for next to nothing.

You know you’re not in Ohio when you go to a restaurant and you know that 90% of what is listed on the menu will not be available.

You know you’re not in Ohio when seeing an entire family riding on a motorcycle is the norm and as long as the driver is wearing a helmet, it’s okay.

You know you’re not in Ohio when it’s raining and people wear plastic bags on their heads for cover.

You know you’re not in Ohio when your daughter takes a drink of water, announces there are ants in her water, chugs the rest of it and proclaims “adds protein.”

You know you’re not in Ohio when you can feed your entire family at a respectable sit down restaurant for under $13 US.

You know you’re not in Ohio when you know that when you see a man standing on the side of the road with his back turned, you should never do a double-take.

You know you’re not in Ohio when there are just as many people riding on top of the vehicle and hanging onto the back as there are riding inside.

You know you’re not in Ohio when candy is also a form of currency and is often given as change at local shops.

You know you’re not in Ohio when you can never take your eyes off the path in front of you for fear of what you might step in…and when you do step in pooh someone will honestly suggest that it is “good luck.”

We love our India and we hope that as we share the joys and even the struggles of our life here that you may come to love it too. 

Friday Market

When we lived in Ohio, I used to do all my grocery shopping once a week, in one store...usually Kroger.  I tried to use coupons and get good deals but I was never one for going to multiple stores.  As I think about my life now, I laugh at myself for not wanting to trouble myself with going to two or three different stores to get my groceries. 

Now, I shop at multiple little grocers and roadside stands almost daily to make life work for our family.  We have our “favorite store” just up the road from us that I can walk or ride my bike to for cereal, flour, milk, and some frozen foods.  The owner is super nice and is willing to get anything in that we want.  For example, there is one particular brand of chips here that is like a tortilla chip.  We can hardly find them anywhere…so when we do, we rejoice and stock up!  The store owner went on a several week hunt for these chips for us and even went into a warehouse and searched through boxes of chips to find us 15 bags!  We bought them all. :)

We also have our “favorite vegetable stand” where I buy pretty much all my produce.  When the Bengali New Year came last month, the owner gave me sweets and a calendar to thank me for my business.  We have another place that we go to get our eggs and several other stands that we frequent for fruits.  We also have our “favorite meat stand” where we get our chicken...can’t get any fresher than killed, de-feathered, and skinned right before your eyes.  I still haven’t gotten used to this yet…so Tony usually takes this one for the team!  There are other things that we have to go across the city to the “big box store” in the “mall” for (like Nutella, canned corn, jam, etc.) but we try to buy local as much as possible. 

One of our family’s weekly rituals is attending “Friday market.”  This is where all the local vendors gather in one location with all their wares and the entire town comes out to shop.  Our favorite vendors are there, so we visit them first and then we browse the rest of the vendors for our remaining needs.  Friday market is always a bright and lively place to support and interact with our local community.  Below are some pictures from our adventures at Friday market…unfortunately we cannot capture the sounds or the smells to give you a better flavor of it all. :)

Next Year's Curriculum

I have been planning for our next school year for several months now…reviewing different curricula, praying, and talking to many different people. (Dylan will be in seventh grade; Delaney will be in third grade; Rae Rae will be in kindergarten.)  I finally settled on a curriculum called My Father’s World and ONE of the deciding factors was that they ship internationally!  Trying to figure out how to get curriculum for three children in three different grades was a little overwhelming for me…that’s a lot of books!  When we moved last year, at least two large tubes were packed with curriculum. 

At the end of March, I placed the order for our curriculum, asking what happens if it doesn’t make it to us.  The sales associate assured me that they ship international a lot and there would be no problem shipping to us, but if it didn’t make it to us they would re-ship it.  That was a huge relief!

Oh, me of little faith...the morning of the earthquake in Nepal, we got a phone call from our local post office that we had parcels to pick up.  I’m not sure how you get your curriculum, but this is how we got ours…

It’s so much fun living in another country.  There’s never a dull moment.