Welcome to the new Delhi Belli Baby blog! I decided to enter the modern era and so will now be sending you news from the other side of the globe in this format....
We have now been back in Delhi for over a month and have settled back into our routines. Topher and I head off for ball retrieving in the lake and park every morning. We are both pleased with the slight dip in temperatures over the last week. It is almost, nearly, sort of, a bit cooler these days (94 instead of 98!). Topher then spends the rest of the day on our bed with occasional forays into the kitchen to see what Sebastian is cooking. If bread baking is taking place then he sets himself down in front of the oven door to "watch tv" as Sebastian says. Nothing beats the warms bagels and cinnamon bread that he makes and Topher is always the first to taste test the latest batch.
Paolo is traveling extensively these days though he is able to make it home most weekends. Last weekend he was in Ladakh with his best friend Angelo who was visiting from Italy. I was unable to go as the high elevation would not have mixed well with my growing belly so I missed the chance to stay up all night playing chess and drinking yak butter. Oh well, maybe next time. They came back from their adventure in awe of the beauty of this region where they saw magnificent Buddhist monasteries and went rafting down the Hindus River. Their flights there and back were a bit frightening (Ladakh has the highest elevation airport in the world!) but the 32 hour bus ride option from Delhi was even less appealing. Following the weekend away Paolo immediately flew to Calcutta and after this weekend at home is leaving for Bangalore tomorrow morning for another week of work. The following week he is off to Sri Lanka and later to Italy and the US. The good part of all of this traveling (besides the miles)? Once our baby arrives Paolo will be able to stay put in Delhi for quite a while- a welcome change for all of us.
And how am I keeping busy while Paolo is flying here and there? When I am not napping with Topher or eating Sebastian's cinnamon bread (ah, pregnancy!), I am keeping out of trouble with continued consultancy work at the American Embassy School and with a very intense Italian class I am taking four nights/week. Since we want to raise our son to speak both of our native tongues I felt it might finally be time for me to get serious about learning Italian. As those of you who watched me struggle with French (yes, I was the one whose performance on the placement test at Dartmouth after 6 years of study at the Erie Day School and Groton put be right into French I!), you might be amazed that I am actually attempting this, but so far so good. I am in a class of 28: 27 Indians and me. The others are highly motivated as all are hoping for jobs in Italy so we are going at a furious pace. Perhaps the next blog will be written entirely in Italian. Get your dictionaries ready...
As for my pregnancy, all is going very well. I am nearing the end of month 7 and, as you can see above, have a soccer ball expanding in my belly. Our son is very active and seems to enjoy kicking, punching, poking and hiccupping. Other than painful right ribs I have no complaints and am feeling very well. Those endless discomforts/symptoms/aches listed in What to Expect When You're Expecting? I seem to be missing out on those parts of the experience, for which I am most grateful. I am also lucky that our upstairs neighbor, my best friend in Delhi, gave birth to her son this week and so I have a built in tutor/model for all of the millions of newborn questions I will soon have. Barbara, a German ex-pat, and I have the same obstetrician and she delivered at the same hospital I will be using, so it was reassuring to know that everything went well for her, though I know I will not be in labor for only 2 hours as she was (yes, this was her second baby). In preparation for our son's arrival I am taking prenatal yoga twice a week and will soon start childbirth and babycare classes. When in town Paolo will attend these with me. We need all the help we can get! And when I am not napping/eating/balancing on one foot/conjugating Italian verbs? I am busy preparing the nursery, which is quite a challenge to do in India. No Babys'R Us here...or internet shopping! I have been lucky to find some items through other ex-pats and my parents have been incredibly patient with the lists of items I keep sending them of things I simply cannot find here. Luckily for me this is their first grandchild so their enthusiasm is high! I promise to send pictures of my work so far in the next posting.
So where are the glimpses of exotic Delhi in this update? While Italian classes, elementary math issues, crib searching and an expanding belly are dominating my life at the moment, it is never possible to forget that we are living in this vibrant, chaotic, overwhelming city. We are heading now into the most pleasant season here, with cooler temperatures and plant life blooming. This is truly a green city with trees, parks and flowers everywhere you look. Yes, Delhi has more than its share of filth, squalor and heart-wrenching poverty yet there are also places and sights of stunning beauty. And then there are the bizarre sights that still startle me even after 8 months here: The enormous bulls lying in the middle of a busy roadway calmly chewing their cud as cars, busses, rickshaws and bicycles swarm around them, the families of 5 riding on one motorcycle and, well, who can miss the ear cleaners? The other day I had a taxi for a few hours taking me around town as our driver was busy taking two of our houseguests sightseeing. As I emerged from a market I had to wait by the taxi as the driver was in the midst of having his ears cleaned. This is something that needs to be seen to be believed, though preferably not directly after eating lunch which was unfortunately my situation. The roadside ear cleaner pushed
a wad of warm wax (yes, warmed in his mouth!) into the driver's ear with a pair of tweezers that were at least a foot long and then swirled the tweezers around inside. He then extracted the now filthy wax and smeared it onto his shirt sleeve to show the driver all that he had extracted. My stomach's reaction to this display prevented me from watching the cleaning of the second ear. Needless to say I declined the man's offer to do my ears next. This makes me feel less guilty about my Q-tip habit!
For now, ciao from Delhi! I promise another posting soon. Feel free to write to me with your own updates as I am always eager for news from all of you. And those of you who have not written in a long while?....maybe I can get this earcleaner to make a housecall or two...
Warmly, Clara
