India Trip, Oct 5 Singing in the Rain

There are a lot of experiences here that are so different than my life in Florida:

The most extreme experience I had this afternoon (Friday, Oct 5th). I was sitting with the sisters watching "Singing in the Rain" when a movement out the window caught my eye... some Rhesus monkeys playing in the trees. Because of the extreme incline of this place they were sitting in the top of the tree yet it was just outside the window for us. My mind had to take a few minutes to work through two extreme worlds merging right in front of my eyes.

Some other extremes:

--4-5 men waiting at the gas station to help fill up your car as opposed to self service

--Lanes used for multiple cars as opposed to just one car per lane

--Cows in the road having the right of way as opposed to cows in a fenced off pasture

--“Thunder” on the roof caused by monkeys running along it as opposed to a thunderstorm

--Groceries, flowers, meds everything delivered to the door as opposed to running errands to pick it up

--horn used as a vital part of driving with 'sound horn' painted on the bumpers of cars as opposed to a blowing horn being an unwelcomed sound in the US

--brushing my teeth with water from a bottle as opposed to sticking the brush under the faucet .. something you don't want to do here unless you want a belly ache


--Homes, shops, etc built on the side of a mountain as opposed to flat swamp land

I wish there was a way to show you the extreme steepness of this place. It's real hard for the camera to pick it up. To the right is the steps we must climb to get to the Criders place -- the top two floors of the building on the right.

When I went to Woodstock School the other day I ascended 500 feet. That's a 50 story building with no elevator! I had to stop often in my climb because of the steepness and also the higher elevation. The next evening I went up to Woodstock again with Judy and then the next day down to the Hanson Field -- the only flat place around here that they use for track & field etc. So my ascending & descending muscles are quite sore. This place is not for the faint of heart.