Everybody's working for the weekend

You know how you have weekends that are nice and lazy and nothing much happens. Those are great and all, but you know how much better the ones are where you are out having fun the whole time? Yeah, the Jones clan had one of those this weekend. We got up early on Saturday morning and taught institute class. Now this might not sound great but it really is. We have a fabulous little class of regulars who come and participate whether they understand what is going on or not. Last week we also taught the English class where one of our students asked something that stumped me - why do we say "I am on the bus, on a plane, on a train" but "I am in the car"? Anyone who can give me an answer would be most appreciated! Anyways, this week Nathan taught about being financially responsible. Our answer of moving to a country with a significantly lower cost of living was not really the answer they were looking for so Nathan had to go another direction. It is interesting though as we were supposed to talk about insurance and when we asked if anyone there had any, the answer was that it is too expensive in India. So we are learning that we have to adjust just about everything in this class.

So we went home and about ten minutes later I got a text message from Michelle Jordan. She is in our branch and is quickly becoming a good friend. She said that her family was going to ACSA to go swimming and that we were invited to go along. Suddenly that nap that Nathan and I were planning on didn't seem so attractive and we grabbed our suits and headed over to the embassy. We had the most wonderful morning. The food was good, the pool was great, the company was the best. The Jordans have two little boys, Chase and Bryce, and Nathan and Michelle's husband, Michael, took turns seeing how high they could throw the boys into the air (Perhaps this is why we don't have children yet...). They were loving it! We were there for about three hours and then went home to get cleaned up for the party that evening.

While having lunch, the ACSA director came over and talked to us about the Independence Day party that they were hosting that evening. He had gone to California last year and saw how we do our Fourth of July parties and wanted to get as close as he could here. He promised "It will be 80% of California". We weren't sure if that was a specific place in California or the state as a whole but either way we were excited. So the Jordans sent their driver over to pick us up and take us to their house were we sat around and chatted for awhile before heading over to ACSA. They have a great place and their maid had just finished making chocolate chip cookies so we were very content. I don't even know if they were as good as I thought they were - it was just the fact that I could have one that made me so happy! When the boys were ready we headed over to ACSA where Cheri met us. It was really pretty sweet. There were booths with carnival games set up, vendors, and food. We got hamburgers (not lambburgers), beef brisket, potato salad, root beer, and Baskin Robbins. SO GOOOOOD! It was kind of interesting to look around the field (yep, it has a baseball field - what could be more American, right?) and realize that this was pretty much the entire American community in Delhi. There weren't many of us, that's for sure! We did meet this great new family that just moved into the other branch. He is in the Air Force but is on a two year program where he is studying language and culture at one of the local universities here. I think the best part was no uniform the entire time - he seemed pretty excited about that. Speaking of uniforms, the place really had the feel of a church carnival except for the massive tent in the middle where the Marine guards were selling shirts. Man, those were some mean looking dudes. Good thing they're on my side!

The fireworks were... less than 80%. For example, no patriotic music. In fact, they started off with Bryan Adams "Summer of '69". Now I am all about his first real six string, but to kick off the celebration of our nation's independence with a Canadian? C'mon guys! That and the fact the there was one firework every 20 seconds or so made it so you never quite knew if the show was over or not. We also had an INCREDIBLY annoying MC. Let's just say she started of by screaming, "FREEDOM IS AWESOME" like someone passing the beer bong around a Motley Crue concert. No one was going to say anything though since she is the embassy nurse and has seen about 75% of the US population in Delhi naked. After the fireworks the boys' fun meter was pegged so we went back to the Jordans' where we sat up talking until the wee small hours of the morning. As Nathan said the next morning, it was just like therapy.

The next day was Sunday so we headed off to church. We decided to take an auto rickshaw instead of our usual driver as it is cheaper. There are some definite benefits to taking the car. For example, I never have felt that I was going to have to get out and push like I did with the auto. We got there eventually, though, and church was great as always. After church we went back over to the Jordans' where we swapped DVDs watched a few episodes of Arrested Development and devoured a whole pan of rice crispy treats. Michael just got back from ten days in the States where he basically cleaned out the baking section of a Wal-Mart. He said going there was actually a bit overwhelming after shopping here for awhile. It will be interesting to see how we react when we go home. Anyway, long story short, we were up really late again chatting but having a great time. The Jordans are good people and we're glad we have them around.

You know, it doesn't sound like we did much, but that was the best weekend we have had since being here. Nathan was a whole new man and I think it made him realize that he does need to take time off on occasion if only to decompress a bit. Listening to him and Michael talk about some of the things they deal with at work, I realized that everything is a struggle there. There are language barriers, corporate culture issues, and personality conflicts that are so massive I think I would explode. But I'm not going to think about that today. In the words of Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about that tomorrow. I'm still enjoying my weekend.