Furniture, etc.

We had a very productive weekend. The kids finished out their first week at Lotus Valley International School and seem to be enjoying themselves. The each have a few friends and have taken easily to the concept of uniforms. Laxman and Maneesh (the Freescale Guesthouse staff) have been a big help each morning preparing the kids lunches for school and cooking us breakfast... We think we eat much earlier in the morning than the typical guest here... the normal business day in India seems to start at around 10am. Our schedule runs earlier since the kids' school day starts at 8am.

We spent much of our time on Saturday and Sunday looking for furniture (since we have none). We're moving into the ATS flat on the 4th or 5th of January so we are getting a little nervous about this. We went to some well-known furniture markets in and around Delhi and to one of several local malls. The driver, SK has also taken me to a few street markets for price comparisons. We have at least identified our core furniture for now. I'll return to this topic once we get the furniture delivered... Delivery costs - as with most things here are quite cheap. I had a TV delivered for $2 US. To have a couch, refrigerator or other larger furniture delivered will be between $4 and $10 US... depending on how local the delivery is. We still need to purchase some major appliances, including a refrigerator, washer-dryer unit and in January, at least 3 A/C units.

On Sunday, the kids got to spend the afternoon with another American family living here in Noida, the Smiths ( http://mrsmithgoestodelhi.blogspot.com/ ). They have seven children and have been living here for about 1.5 years... I think the kids had a blast playing with other native English-speakers. This family has been very supportive and has been a huge resource for us... especially in finding out where and how to do things! Contact with other Expats is one way to keep a little of your sanity and the best way to not "re-invent the wheel," when attempting new projects.

We are looking forward to the rest of the week. Lesa's birthday is tomorrow and our first Indian Christmas is rolling right at us. More about Christmas trees, diwali lights and creepy plastic Santa masks later...