Tap...Tap...Tap.... Is This Mic On??

Happy New Year!! Yeah, I know that we're already fifteen days into 2010... but it's my first blog post this year, so I figure that I can still squeeze in one last Happy New Year here, right?

Wow, it's been such a long time since I last wrote... I'm afraid I don't even know where to begin or how to recap these past few weeks in Shangri La.

As you all remember, my parents brought me 140+ pounds of food & wine (packed in 2 of their 4 bags... that they were able to bring due to flying business class - score!) when they came for their action packed visit here a few weeks ago. We had no real agenda for their trip, we just decided to go with the flow. My parents spent their time here entertaining the kids, playing tons of board games with the girls, sight seeing in Chennai, shopping, eating out, eating in, taking photos, taking blurry photos, taking videos, and watching Grady learn new tricks... like sitting up on his own, eating Cheerios, and clapping.

Then I sent them away for a few days ... to Kerala ... so we would have a little break from each other. They explored. They got a little religion in Jew Town. They went through a bottle of Purell when my mom dropped her sunglasses into the bottom of a squat toilet ... and retrieved them! After 3 full days they came back to Chennai refreshed, ready to power shop, to celebrate Sheridan's 5th birthday in her class, and to visit Mahabalipuram.

Part of getting the full Chennai experience is dealing with frustrating moments ... of which we encountered a few! Like when the vacuum stopped working and the maintenance department's answer was to use a new 110 voltage vacuum ... while schlepping a 10 pound transformer with it from room to room. Or when the dryer completely stopped working... with all my parent's clothes in it ... and so they had to hang everything up on the drying rack and wait for it to dry. Which it did, two days later! They were here when the car started making funny sounds again, when the internet went out 15+ times a day and then the service upgrade never went through, when my driver had a little problem picking up a case of regular Sprite (which is NOT 7up, nor diet Sprite - though that's an entirely ridiculous story for another day ).

We truly packed in as much as we possibly could during their 16-day trip, and I think they really enjoyed their visit. They got a first hand opportunity to see how we live, how we handle day-to-day life in this 3rd world country, how we've adjusted to the cultural differences.... or not. If I'm lucky, I may even be able to coax my parents into writing a blog post about their experiences here... what do you think? Would you do it? Pretty please!

There's so much more going on here... though I'll have to save it for the new few updates. Until then... here's a few photos of my folks trip to Chennai!

Here's my dad entertaining the kids...
Enjoying their time in Jew Town ...
A cute, yet blurry photo of me, my mom, and Gray

Mahabalipuram

Celebrating Sheridan's 5th birthday in her class...