“I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with jewels.” Isaiah 61:10
Week 2 in review ya’ll. WEEK TWO! We are alive and it is week two. Praise the Lord for every day, am I right? You never know. You have met our children right? Yea, with these three strong-willed knuckleheads… you never know.
I would like to call this week, Amrapali. Because that is where we spent most of our time. We also truly believed we would end up finding a home, right on the outside of Amrapali Park, where we frequented around 530pm each day. This is where we met our first local friends, this is where brought our badminton racquets and cricket bats and soccer balls, in hopes of keeping the kids entertained and making some new friends.
The Road in front of this park holds a host of shops where we purchased our sports equipment, purchased some toys for the kids, since we only brought a little, found a Burger King!! And also the infamous National Handloom, where Americans go to get lost and confused! Well, for certain if you arrive after 5pm. But I will share more about that place later.
Some highlights from this week were:
FabIndia, an incredible shop across from our hotel, where I got the kids their first Indian dress.
Brown Sugar, a restaurant walking distance from the hotel that served amazing indian and continental food that included quite the nutella waffle menu.
Jacobs Road, where a friend took me to some shops and a quaint dessert place where i discovered that Jaipur has hidden gems all over the city. One can never guess what is inside the buildings when driving. My friend wanted to help me acquire some Indian dress, so I was so excited when I found a Kurta that made me feel like a princess.
However, this kurta began an interesting dialogue at Amrapali Park. As our kids were playing, I was able to get to know a couple of other mothers in the park. One mom asked me, “Do you like wearing Indian dress?” My reply was an emphatic, “Yes!” “I love to wear Indian Kurtas because they are so beautiful, and they are so light and airy in this heat!” Which then she asked, “How do you do with all this attention?” (referring to the fact that as a foreigner with fair skin, everyone is watching.) I replied, “The Kurta makes me feel more comfortable, like I can blend in.”
A wonderful highlight from this week was seeing the movie Dumbo. We had family movie night at a movie theater where there is an actual slide inside for the kids to play on during previews as well as during the intermission. Indian movies have intermissions because they are known to be very long.
We saw a Ladhha, aka a camel pulling a trailer down the road and we visited the guy who sells water down the street wayyyyy too much. 4 2L bottles a day. We also frequented Easy Day, the local market to restock on crackers, Biscuits and noodles. Parle, Digestive, Marie Gold, Nice, Maggi became well known food items in our hotel and FYI, they are the opposite of gluten free, but great to dip in your chai tea.
Adam got to go to an IPL game! Future cricket strength coach??
And, the kids got cricket bats and had an incredible time playing at the park with the locals.
The house hunt began, and the we thought we found THE one.
Inside was enough space for 3 bedrooms and a school room, and a rooftop to enjoy as well! The location was perfect, near parks for the kids to play and in the town we had been getting to know so well during our stay in Hotel Gitanjili.
So we put in our interest, and then we wait. Will this house be where we set up home?
Motherhood & Mindfulness 