Packers due tomorrow.....

Ok ok so lil confession here, I'm still not ready to deal with the emotional side of leaving .... and given that every day another friend leaves Delhi, either for a new journey or to get out of the damn heat ..  I'm best left swimming in The Nile a bit longer (de nile, denial .. geddit?).

However the reality of our imminent departure is obvious.  Tonight as the frog's croak by the pool, the a/c in the kitchen struggles to chug out cool air, while sweat trickles down my face and down my back .... in this unrelenting heat....

and the giggles of Paul and Dean in the pool chugging the last of our beers resound in my ears ..... I'm pottering round the house putting up signs and marking stuff not to be packed, or designated for the airfreight pile, and generally getting ready for the onslaught tomorrow morning when the packers start to cause absolute chaos in my normally orderly and neat home.

To be honest, I can't stand the mess already.

I can't bear the thought of that damn noise .. the ripping of packers tape as they put together hundreds of boxes ready to jam our belongings in, ready for our next adventure.

The packers have left piles of boxes, general packing paraphernalia and even this lovely little sign in anticipation of  warning the neighbors that bloody big trucks are gonna block their paths in our shared driveway TOMORROW morning!  YIKES!

It's quite a feat getting your house ready to be shipped half way across the world .. and everything that it entails - usually I have lists upon lists, spreadsheets with 17 worksheets listing every stupid thing I can think of that I need to do.

This time however, I've decided I don't need lists.

Nup, I'm going commando!  Or solo, downright plain stupid, or however you'd describe the sheer lunacy of planning an international relocation without one solitary list!

So .. before you call out those guys in the white van with the snazzy little vests that do up at the back (I think I've used that before in a previous blog) .... remember that I'm no moving virgin .. so let's just see if I can pull it off!

Will there be a prize at the end if I do?

Will it involve a total and utter breakdown at the other end?

Doubtful.  I've done this before and besides, I've not yet met one expat who never got her stuff done, never missed the boat for her container, never not made it to the other side!

Anyway, Paul's here and he's keeping me chilled.  Dean's here and taking time off to "help".

We've got our visas, and our plane tickets, our kids are ready and rearing to go .... and ... I'll have you know I'm going to abSOLUTELY collapse when we hit our hotel in Phuket for 6 glorious days of doing abSOLUTELY nothing!

So Xanthe's teeth are done.  Just have to have her braces removed in our last week, then the day we fly out get her retainer fitted.

I've still got to sell our curtains, fire extinguishers, UPS's and stabilisers and two cupboards that didn't sell at our auction.  Plenty of time left ....

And we even managed to get our first home delivery pizza in three years tonight (while Paul cooked real cheffy style pan cooked pizzas with what's left in our poor depleted fridge!):

So I'm signing off now, nearly 2am and already wishing I'd got a good night's sleep ready for the onslaught........

Images from Old Delhi

Yesterday, in 39degree sweltering heat, Paul and I braved Old Delhi and Sadar Bazaar .. we saw some pretty cool n kooky stuff:

random dangly wire alert

my favorite chill street

this chai wala definitely doesn't use Palmolive dishwashing detergent!

           

I dunno who buys these
or what they fill them with
but I do know that you can't
buy the contents in the markets!

lovn the packaging

          

So this is grease, and I took the photo knowing it was grease,
cause ya know it's not the kind of thing you normally see, grease splurges on a tray!
A very kind man stopped and told me it was grease
cause he thought I thought it was sweets!  AS IF!

precision chai pouring .. kinda sorta, not really
cause it was splashing all over the place!

snoozer AND almost certainly a scrabble master!

this henna haired guy had his bicycle rigged up to a grinding wheel and so
 has his own mobile knife sharpening service

two bickering spice shop owners attracted our attention with their signs

so we went with the not mentally sick spice seller and spent at least half an hour with him, bought lots then as I continued to giggle at the sign, he offered his "boy" could hold up his original computerized sign for us!

this is hard hard labour, even more so in 39-47 degrees!

WHAT? You couldn't fit ONE more box on top? sheeeesh!

stepping over the crud n grime
to get to a cruddy n grimey alley way in Sadar Bazaar

Sula Indian wine facial kit or Chateau Neuf de Pap wine facial kit?

and we hit pay dirt, found bangle heaven in the back streets of Sadar Bazaar
so this is for Paul ... power ranger gear!

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Ok who doesn't know this song Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Bang Bang, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang we love you?

Well if this isn't a chitty bang bang car, I don't know what is!

First spotted on the roads of Rajasthan are these um …. tractor replacements.  My memory has failed me!!!! I can't remember what they are called!!!!!  According to our driver Ranjeet they cost 1lac rupees (that's US$1,805 or GBP1,150) and by comparison to the cost of a bog standard tractor at about 3lac, it's a much cheaper option.

They've got a diesel generator strapped precariously to the front, somehow the extra long chitty style steering wheel is affixed and of course it comes with the mandatory decorations, most of which are affixed with string of some description!

These are so cool (if not a wee bit dangerous)!…..

         

 

Last day of school

Today was the last day of school .... it was uber uber sad.


Will write more when I can actually articulate the depth and breadth of the emotions we experienced saying goodbye to SO many wonderful people that we have met, who have inspired us, laughed, cried, danced together and, friends without whom, we could never have made this incredible journey in India!


I'll also upload a video of the flash mob leaving parents orchestrated for the end of year assembly at school (once I figure out how).


Two days before the end of school, the Grade 5 kids had a "ceremony" called the Bridge Walk, basically walking from Elementary School, across the bridge to Middle School.  It's symbolic ok?  Unfortunately they started 5 minutes early and some parents missed it, heads WILL roll!


A few happy snaps.....

the "Bridge"

Xanthe & Paul waiting....

our Middle Schooler crossing the bridgeeeeeee

friends looking for their kids 

friends and proud parents of twins

with Uncle Paul


THEN a few days later, the final assembly.

I just don't have all the words yet... so I'm just gonna babble.....

Assembly was an 11am kick off, there's nothing much to do after drop off so all our close friends hung out in the school cafe, some avoided the emotions by whacking the crap out of a tennis ball and some just stayed away, too distraught by the emotions to deal with it ... amongst us were friends moving to Singapore, England, back home to the states, Bangalore, and a few were being left behind  .. one friend has lived here for 10 years and she's had to endure this every year, the loss of close friends, its agony ... I don't have the words for her either!

Oh yeah we have one friend she's been in Egypt for the last few weeks .. she's in De Nile, totally in denial that our gang was about to busted up so unceremoniously, and we just can't get her out of the goddamn river!

I looked at my clock at one point, it was only 9am!!!!!

God it was like waiting for the electric chair, excruciating.

We had coffee and laughs, someone ordered breakfast, people drifted in and last catch ups aplenty, there was hugging galore!  Dean was there on his laptop, someone would burst into tears, Lynden came armed with a whole box of tissues which seat on the coffee table, and was attacked on a regular basis!
Another time check, hell only 9 minutes had passed.

I had a secret mission going on too so as our flash mob members arrived, I'd surreptitiously slip them an orange scarf they had ordered. Someone would sob quietly hoping no-one would notice, and they'rd be more hugs and others would join in the crying.  

They parade all the leaving kid past the parents, last year the line was as long as the gym, this year it was 2.5 times to length of the gym!

Then as if the tears aren't flowing fast enough, they cue "we are the world" and flash up all the leaving kids photos, as the entire gym cheers for friends, favorites and of course theres  laughs at some goofy photos too!

                          

Then speeches, as more tissues are passed around between friends

Power Rangers.....

My little brother* calls new brides here Power Rangers!

He calls them this because they wear their armoury of wedding bangles for a full month after their nuptials and it makes them quite easy to spot (and it looks like the wrist bands that Power Rangers wear!)

So loads of young giggling girls sporting various stages of faded mehindi +tonnes of bangles, attached to fresh faced beaming young men = lots of honeymooners!

NOt sure why the hill stations of Munnar & Thekkady in Kerala were the honeymoon destination of choice in March this year, but there were SO many bangles that I decided it would make a rather good blog!  So the challenge was up see just how many bangles I could photograph, only problem was that the abundance of these blingy bangles only dawned on me half way through our trip, so I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't share a wider range of Power Rangers photos with you…………..

*Paul's not actually little anymore, but he'll always be my lil bro!