Monday, December 29, 2008

Post-Christmas Blues


The kids have been having fun with Manish and Laxman. I am afraid they are going to miss them when we leave the Guesthouse in a few days. We have been gearing up for the big move into the flat. The kids and I have been at the apartment for the last 2 days cleaning and preparing. The place was pretty grimy. The last tenants obviously did not spend a lot of time cleaning or taking care of this flat. After a lot of elbow grease and disinfectant it is beginning to look more like home. We now have most of our furniture and it has all been assembled.
Our housekeeper, Indumati, started on Monday. She is hard working and very nice. She is working on a trial basis, but we are hoping she likes us and the apartment and decides to stay. She was a big help to me today at the local market in Sector 82. She can help me translate and communicate in Hindi and is a good bargainer. We had to purchase some dustbins (trashcans) and a washtub for the dishes so we went to a "plastic shop." I neglected to bring my camera today so sorry that I don't have photos.
We also now have curtains. We purchased some ready-made ones at the mall and then had a local tailor cut and sew them to size. He also made me 12 throw-pillow covers with the left over material. For this work he only charged me Rs 550. That is about $12. At the market today I arranged to have another tailor make 12 pillow-inserts. This will only cost another Rs600. These beautiful handmade pillows will wind up being a little over $2 each!
In India technology costs about the same as it does in the US. For example, cars, computers, phones all are comparably priced. But items or services that require mainly labor to complete are dramatically reduced in cost (like the pillows).

5 comments:

CarolinCali said...

Hi Sayers!!! Happy Belated birthday to Lesa. Your day to day accounts are great Jon. Love it! And I am just so proud of your kids for how well they are adjusting. Amazing. Can't wait to hear more. Miss you all. Nikki sitting here next to me says hello also. Lauren had a great 2nd Christmas. David and Chrissy are here visiting right now...they leave tomorrow. Big hugs to you all! Love, Carol

HouseBoy said...

Carol:

Glad you had a nice Christmas in Cali... Please wish everyone a wonderful New Year! It's chilly in Noida tonight. Lesa and I took a bicycle rickshaw to the market this evening to get some New Year's eve treats. Always wild on the rickshaw rides!

the Garretts said...

Hello Friends! Thinking of you on this New Year's Eve/Day! We also are enjoying the regular updates. Belated birthday wishes to Lesa -- and great apologies for dropping the email ball, Lesa. We started holiday travels and just now catching up on things at home. You have been in my thoughts nonetheless. Love and hugs to all as you ring in the New Year! much love,

David Hoster said...

Happy New Year from all of us at St. George's!!! David

HouseBoy said...

Happy New Year! We quietly passed the end of 2008. We are spending most of the day moving into our new place. It will be truly ringing out the old and bringing in the new! We wish all of our friends, family and followers a healthy and prosperous 2009!