Thanksgiving

We shared two very lovely Thanksgiving potlucks this week.  Our first one was a "raw" Thanksgiving except for our contribution of chestnut, apple, carrot, parsley, onion, garlic stuffing.  The second one was with our Fulbright friends who leave soon for a year in Brazil to complete dissertation research.

Samantha on the way back from the market with the Thanksgiving fixins'.  Check out her new mode of transport!  One of our new friends gave us a stroller!

"Raw" Thanksgiving friends prepping chocolate dessert.

Our beautiful table setting at "raw" friends' house.

We were able to get this photo before Samantha tired of Thanksgiving and needed to be paced in the Baby Bjorn in the kitchen.  We turned on the blender to help get her to sleep!

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Thanksgiving at Fulbright friends' house.  We feasted on chicken biryani, sweet potato pie, two types of stuffing, roasted vegetables, lemon rice, coconut pumpkin soup, home-made rolls, vanilla ice cream, apple crisp, chocolate cake, and wine!

Samantha always makes new friends.

Despite the blurriness of the picture, I had to show you the handmade dress that Dave made for Samantha. He is the ultimate house husband, aside from Andy!  You will see Samantha in the dress soon.

More friends helping to hold Samantha while mama and daddy gobbled!  

Finally, and apropos to the holiday, I wanted to leave you with the now scientifically proven fact that cultivating gratitude is good for your health.  Check this out from the NYT.

Mela-s and Firsts

Everyday there's a mela of some sort in New Delhi.  Mela translates as gathering, meeting, or fair. As we transition into the holiday season, I found myself wanting to listen to Christmas music even earlier and decorating our apartment with ornaments!  I'm not sure if this is because I now have a child and I feel even more festive than usual, or if it's because I've never been outside the US at Christmas time, but I'm definitely feeling the holiday spirit!   This past week was all about gathering with new play groups for Samantha (and me), "firsts" for Samantha, and learning more about, and participating in, the many service opportunities in New Delhi.

This is a pic taken from the Children's Mela at the Lodi Garden restaurant this week.  Samantha was a little young to enjoy the magic show and face painting, so we ended up doing a little Christmas shopping at the booths and breast feeding in some exquisitely carved wooden chairs.

Lodi Garden restaurant carved wooden chairs.  I want these.

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On our neighborhood walk to another garage sale this week, Samantha and I saw the makings of an Indian wedding. Here were the musicians next to our infamous drain gathering for the procession.  Once we made it to the garage sale, we found ourselves out bid by Indians.  We were the only Westerners there trying to bargain and it just didn't work, even with the baby!

Saag and masala mela-mingling.  Samantha and I attended a neighborhood potluck in Jor Bagh last weekend.  Andy made us this beautiful dish to share.  Samantha didn't last long at the event, she was ready for home soon after we arrived.  I, on the other hand, was drooling over all of the baked goods at the potluck since the other attendees have Western ovens!  However, Samantha's preference determined the course of the evening.  Once we found the right-price rickshaw and the wind was in her hair on the way home, she was giggling and smiling.  She just didn't feel like mela-ing with anyone else aside from her parents that night!

Back home mela-ing in the kitchen in the bumbo chair a new friend gave us.
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One of the "firsts" this week was two play groups at the British High Commission (BHC).  Samantha had a great time playing with everyone else's great toys.  It made me realize that we need to invest in a few more for her!  It was great for me to meet a bunch of new moms and even one dad.  The BHC compound is beautiful and has lots of green space for kids.  One of the playgroups is just for moms with kids under a year, so Samantha wasn't the youngest!

Checking back in with mom at playgroup.

She seemed to really enjoy this pillow.  Other moms use it to assist their children in crawling.  Samantha has no problem using her arms to push up and attempt crawling, she just preferred to surf this pillow!

Another first for Samantha, seeing monkeys at her porchfront.  As we walked down our stairs to head out for the day, this family of monkeys was sitting on our landlords's car.

And Samantha's first Indian pediatrician.  She received her four month immunizations well.  They are always more traumatizing for me.  Some small, but important, points about hygiene were lacking, but she has her immunizations now, thank goodness.

And perhaps her biggest "first" this week was that she sat up on her own for many seconds!
I also want to note that this week marked Samantha's first experience at a library, first hearing the American Ambassador speak (another event we all attended but don't have any good pics from!), and her first lecture by a famous author.  We attend a public talk by author William Dalrymple at the India International Center.  She and I ended up roaming the halls for much of the talk, since she wanted to talk at the same time as Mr. Dalrymple, but we would pop our heads in to check on Andy and hear tidbits!

Samantha's famous vibrating chair no longer works, but she has learned to bounce herself.  She constantly tries to bounce in the chair and out.
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One thing I did this week sans Samantha was visit the Asharan Orphanage.  A woman I met in the Delhi Network has been fundraising for this orphanage for a while and was willing to take me there to learn more about their work.  The orphanage currently supports 28 children ages birth to nine years.  I knew it would be difficult for me, so I opted to not go into the infant room
at first.  Although the staff provide as much love and support as they can, the children still need more affection, so I found myself reciprocating all of the requests for hugs.  If you are looking for a great organization to donate to this holiday season, I would highly recommend this one.

Jolly Geevarghese, Senior Program Manager and Nurse at Asharan Orphanage.  She gave us the tour and also shared how she began this work in New Delhi in 1991 with lepers.

Cafeteria and classroom, Asharan Orphanage.
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Here's a picture from the American Embassy Holiday Mela, the inspiration for this blog post.  It's an annual event to raise funds for the charitable arm of the American Embassy (Samantha and I attended our first meeting this month on embassy grounds!).  Samantha hung out with us in the main information tent where I volunteered as a "nurse" in the first aid tent.  I've met a wonderful new mentor and fellow nurse.  When Samantha needed a break from the Baby Bjorn with Andy, she and I would sit and help direct people to one of the 120 exhibitor booths, food court or kids area.

Luckily there were no major injuries at the Mela, just sprained ankles and minor wounds.  Here I am bandaging up a little boy who fell.  It felt good to use my skills and be able to talk with parents about how to care for their injuries.  Andy reminded me that things that may seem benign here like a playground wound can quickly turn into something more serious in India.

Til next time!

Around Home

Hello friends and family!  Please forgive the delay in posting as we have had some internet travails.  To compensate, I've created a large post!  We are doing wonderfully and really beginning to settle in, getting to know our neighborhood, and meeting new friends. Samantha and I have been attending many new play groups and expat group events in addition to our Delhi adventures.     

To illustrate our internet challenges, I thought I'd share a picture of where Andy was going to get our internet recharged.

He was a nice enough paan walla, juice, cigarette, and assorted other things seller, but who knew his shop in a run down area of Lajpat Nagar was the closest place to recharge our internet! 

I had to include this photo that Andy took in Lagput Nagar of a little girl selling balloons.  

All together now.  One of the many things I love about India.

Temple in Sarojini Market that caught my eye.  It's the first pink tree encased in a temple that I have seen, how about you?

My new favorite artist, Dithi Chakrabortty

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Many of you have asked about what our neighborhood is like.  On one of Samantha's and my many walks exploring, I took a few photos!

This man irons in front of our building with an ancient coal-heated iron.  I am still bargaining for the non-tourist price for our ironing, but he is pretty firm.  He's also one of the many people fond of Samantha.  

The local garbage truck.

This is the dump and recycling center on our block.

There's an odd phenomenon in the nice neighborhood we live in.  A large, open sewage drain bisects the blocks.  Apparently, it has been an issue for years and it is slowly being covered.  It still can be nausea inducing when passing by on certain days. 

Here's the sketchy bridge I walk over to get to the other side of the neighborhood.  I spared you the picture looking down into the drain.

There are many different types of temples in the neighborhood, Sikh, Hindu.

Sonam is one of our landlord's servants.  She often visits in the evening to play with Samantha.

One of the many reasons we moved to the Defence Colony - our neighborhood park!  Samantha and I go here nearly every night and walk around the walking track.

Another view

Andy came with me one night!

Exterior walking track and interior running track. India, old and young.

Samantha's jaunt in the sandbox during her first "playdate."

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Andy shopping

Here's what Andy's kitchen looks like.

Popular ingredients - that big bag of greens is mustard greens.

Here sits Samantha while Andy cooks, soaking up all of the smells and sounds of cooking.  She's now no longer frightened by the whistle of the pressure cooker (maybe just a little).

Andy still hopes to master the art of rolling perfectly circular rotis.

Rotis awaiting the pan.

A perfectly puffing roti.

The finishing flames

Chana dal is one of our most common meals.

Typical dinner: green chilis, fried paneer, broccoli, rice and a beer.

Isn't this meal colorful?  A breakfast of mustard greens (seasoned with onions, garlic, ginger, tomatoes, and garam masala, all together known as sarson ka saag), dal, rice, and a fried egg.

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Fulbright dinner last week.  Samantha's first red carpet event!

Entrance to the Fulbright House.

How Samantha spent most of her time at the Fulbright dinner.  Everyone always wants to hold her.

Fulbright dinner 

Fulbright dinner

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Typical ride home from the market when my hands are full. 

Cycle rickshaws are my favorite.

We have one air conditioner in our house and it's in the bedroom, so we end up chilling in there a lot with Samantha.

Andy listening to Samantha talk about her day.

I loved this close up.  Those Pettit genes are strong!

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Samantha and I ventured to the very posh five star Leela Palace Hotel today to meet a friend of a friend from Boulder.  We had a wonderful time.

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Samantha turns five months tomorrow!  Here's a video from tonight as we hung out after dinner.