Mike in India

cooksinindia
Hi, this is Rebecca...
I just spoke with Mike on the phone. I try to talk to him every three or four days. Phone service can be a little sketchy. I bought an international calling card that charges me about 7 cents a minute to Delhi. I have to dial 40 numbers to get through to him and then sometimes I get an annoying buzzing noise or a pleasant British accented voice telling me that my call cannot be completed. If I am lucky the phone rings and I get Mike's voice. If I am even luckier we can talk without being disconnected. It usually only takes a few tries to get through. There is a slight delay but after a few minutes we fall into a rhythm and can have a good conversation. I call him between 7am and noon our time to catch him in the evening IST. His mother was having a little trouble comprehending the time change and called him very early a couple of times including at 4am on his birthday- I think she has figured it out now.

Mike said to send apologies for not updating the blog but said he will try on Sunday. The fact is he's very busy. In India, school is held 6 days a week. Sunday is reserved for running around catching up on errands, schoolwork, emails... The internet service in his flat is also pretty hit and miss and when it is working it is very slow. I will let him fill you in on the details of his daily routine when he updates.

At any rate, Mike is fine except for a swollen hand from a bee sting he got at school. He said the swelling is much better but was half way up his arm previously. He is looking forward to his day of rest and if the internet is working we should hear from him.

On the home front, things are going fairly well. Kids are struggling a little to catch up in school but are happy to be home. Charlie enjoyed more than his fair share of the Halloween candy- wrappers and all- it is all working through his system and hasn't seemed to slow him down any. He is the same old "spring loaded Charlie"- he got that name from one of our dog park friends.

Rashmi and I have enjoyed some American cultural experiences over the week. The first was the Haunted Bog Walk- a benefit for our local nature center- we screamed our heads off. After we had a good old Yooper Friday fish fry. She is pretty familiar with fish and chips because of the British influence in India- only difference is she eats it with mustard. I prefer malt vinegar, I think most Yoopers like tartar sauce.

On Saturday morning, Rashmi and I went to Mackinac Island with our friends, Claire and Alice. We left Marquette in a sleeting rain and drove to the bridge where we boarded a ferry for a very scary ride across. Rashmi was delighted by the rolling waves- you would have thought it was a roller coaster ride. Weeeeee.... Claire and I were not so delighted but we made it in one piece.

When we got to the island we checked into our B&B. It was raining a little but it soon stopped and remained cold and blustery for the rest of the day. I dragged the gals up the hills on bikes and we toured the East Bluff to the West Bluff and stopped by the Grand for tea. It was the Somewhere inTime weekend so there were many women and a few men in period dress. We are planning on having a showing of the movie soon on Claire's huge TV. After, we did some shopping downtown. It was the last weekend and most of the businesses are closing for the season so it was very quiet. We then headed back up the hill to my friend Laura's house- in the pitch black through the puddles- for dinner. We had a lovely dinner and after we went downtown to see the Halloween costumes at Horn's Bar. People on Mackinac Island take their Halloween celebration very seriously. Great costumes- Our friend Matt Myers won first place with a very creative alien mask made of foam spray. It was fun to catch up with some old friends.

The next morning I asked the women if they wanted to ride bikes around the island and Rashmi confessed she had not been on a bike in over 25 years so she was a little sore. She did all of that riding the day before without a single complaint and kept up with no problem. We ended up walking up the hill and touring Arch Rock, Sugarloaf, Fort Holmes, Anne's Tablet. After that it was time to buy some fudge and head to the mainland on another scary crossing. We finished our tour with a pasty and piece of pie at a great diner on US2. This was Rashmi's first pasty- she doesn't eat beef inIndia but figures the cow is only sacred there so she has tried everything here. I think she enjoyed it. It was a great trip.

This was also Rashmi's first experience with Halloween. We carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds (Rashmi seasoned them with Indian spices- cayenne and mango powder- very spicy and yummy.) On Halloween she wore my witch wig and hat to school and handed out treats to her students. In the evening she went trick or treating with Kris O'Connors boys, Sean- age 5 and Rory age- 7. It was very cold but those boys have endless energy and so does Rashmi. We finished the evening at Richard and Sarah Anderson's with some beer and pizza. I'll put some photos up on the blog soon.