family blog is up and running

For the sake of ease, we've combined all our blogs into one family blog, and will be catching up with all our friends over there from now on. So change your Bloglines links, and make sure to comment!

fat squirrels and other observations

Old things are new again. After living in India for 3 years, random things shock us about the US:

• Luggage carts in the airport are $3! A piece!! They were free in India. But I guess if you count the man following you and asking for a tip, then they weren't really free in India, either.
• American squirrels are fat! Well...compared to Indian chipmunks, anyway. They're probably just normal sized, but to our eyes, it seems we went away for 3 years and came back to obese squirrels.
• Driving fast is still weird for me. Before last week, I hadn't driven at all in 3 years. Sometime around January, no kidding, I started having nightmares about driving again. I haven't driven on I-45 yet because I'm still scared, but I have gotten up to 50 mph, which is progress.
• It's fun to walk in the neighborhood and not be on alert for cars, bikes, carts, rickshaws, etc, that will not stop or even slow down for you.
• People make small talk! I never thought Indians were rude (except when the aunties wouldn't smile at me after I smiled at them...that would bother me) and I never noticed that they don't make small talk. Maybe I just never expected it because we don't share the same first language. But here, everyone makes small talk, which is something we noticed immediately upon arriving in the Newark airport.
• The sky is blue again! I never thought Delhi was a dirty city (and still don't) but the grass was definitely not as green, nor was the sky as blue. So even though people don't seem to wear as bright of colors or paint their homes in fun shades, at least we get to see a more vivid color in nature.
• It takes no time at all to run errands. On Friday, James and I dropped Hazel off with Nana, bought cell phones, signed up for service (at an AT&T shop that was 40 minutes away), went clothes shopping, and returned home. I was shocked to see that it was barely noon.

There are plenty other observations, but it's time for Hazel and me to go run all over town for errands and be done probably faster than it takes to mail a letter in Delhi.