twenty five percent

25 %.

That is the percentage of times Miriam has actually made it to the potty, (as opposed to going in her pants), since potty training started yesterday.

She is quite proud of her little girl underwear, and prefers no pants or dresses, so that she might better show them off. That is fine for inside, but outside.... We shall see.

Good thing we have stone floors. They clean easily.

Stay tuned for cutting edge reports, here where the action is REALLY happening.

Well, actually, I have to go to work.

5000 naked men

The naked Sadhus were in town. (Sorry, Mom and Dad, I guess you missed this site.) (And thanks to whoever ArtWolfe is, I found this on the internet, and is way better than any picture I have).

Anyways, they are this large group of Hindu guys who wander around naked. (Well, some of them have some adornments). Mostly they wander alone or in small groups, but every once in awhile they will get together for a large procession, as they did in our fair city recently.

So mostly, I chose different routes for getting to work. No offence, fellows.

We are all here

We have had a week of fevers, coughs and "Loose Motions" (to use that delightful Hindi phrase, the other way of saying this locally is to say, "My bowels are just not right.")

Nora Grace has no symptoms at all. The girl just does not get sick. Miriam is more clingy than usual, and is refusing to eat, and Sam hacks and chokes when we lay him down from all the congestion (so he has been sleeping in his little bouncy chair by our bed, seems to work). Amy and I with fevers and sleeping a lot.

Anyways, we seem to be on the mend, but apologies for not writing more recently.

Back to Work

We got back into the city on Saturday afternoon. Had a good conference in Thailand...I feel like a Doctor again. Top notch education was to be had by all, and good conversations with other Physicians doing what I am trying to do (practice Western Medicine outside of The West).

Monday was one of my busiest days yet. I guess that is a good thing.

With the folks out visiting friends.

Grammar and the girls on a Rickshaw.

The folks are back in the States now (ask them about their adventures with snowstorms) and doing well.
Here is just another photo of them down by the River, with the girls.

He spoke well English

I was down on the street arranging a taxi to the airport for My Folks. My Dad was along.

As I finished up the transaction and was walking away, my Dad said of the taxi driver, "He spoke well English."

The only response I could think of was, "Yes, you're right Dad."

My Folks leave at 6AM Sunday morning for the longest day of their lives. They leave here for Tokyo, and then across the Int'l Date Line, arriving some four hours before they leave Tokyo.

Snowstorm predicted for Minneapolis as they are landing. A just welcome.

A Good time was had by all

Well, we are safely in Thailand, and the folks will fly out at 6AM on Sunday. That will be one of the longest days of their lives... they will get up at 2AM, in order to get to the airport. Then, thanks to the wonders of non-Euclidian Geometry (time zones, Int'l Date line and so on), they will travel for about 26 hours, and arrive about ten hours after they left.

They took the girls to the Children's Museum today, and much running about took place (primarily by the children).

We will be off for CME soon.

Going well

Had a good week. Sorry I haven't written more.

The Parental Unit adjusted seemlessly to the constant movement of our lives. Girls roll out of bed around 7AM, and it is non-stop thrills till 8PM, when they calm down enough to be quiet in their room. What a deal.

We had some visitors from Minneapolis: Erik and crew. They brought loads of treats (THANKS MOLLY), and I believe a good time was had by all, though it was hard to tell as they came and went so quickly. We certainly enjoyed seeing/meeting them.

Mom and Dad are off to the Ganges in the morning. I will be off to work.

I might be on Urdu television tomorrow morning. Some guys from the Morning Show came and video-ed my professor along with his students. (He privately tutors six different students, in addition to myself). Though as the others are all young European females, and I am a 40 year old bald guy, I am assuming that the others are far more likely to actually make the final cut. And rest assured I am just fine with that.

Miriam really likes Grammar

Finally, Miriam has someone to pay attention to her for her every waking moment!!

Sam with Pop-Pop

Fun to have my parents visiting.

Mom and Dad arrive in Varanasi

A few minutes after midnight, early in the morning of Thursday, 8 February 2007, my Mom and Dad began plowing through the masses at Indira Gandhi International Airport.

I met them there, and we got a few hours of sleep, before getting on the last leg of their journey to Varanasi.

They are doing well.

Nora Grace is ecstatic. Miriam played things cool for a few hours but is gradually warming up to both of them, especially Grammar.

Though tired yesterday, they even managed to get a pretty good nights' sleep last night.

Oh the adventures that await us.

It is off to work for me.

The Folks are Coming

I will leave by train on Tuesday evening, to go to New Delhi to meet my Mom and Dad, coming in from the frigid north. (We hit 90 last week).

They arrive a few minutes before midnight on Wednesday evening, though I assume it will be well after 2AM till we get back to the hotel. And then up early to catch the flight back to Banaras.

The girls are quite excited. Nora Grace has quite a large stack of books for them to read to her, and quite a few elaborate plans regarding the crafts that her and Grammer will be doing.

Miriam will mostly appreciate having someone to hold her. Miriam would be content to just sit quietly in someones lap for several hours a day, but her looser parents don't seem to have the time. Seems like a job for a Grammer or a Pop-pop.

Trucks go, "BEEP, BEEP"

Miriam's little friend Simeon was over the other day. We have a few token trucks and matchbox cars amidst the sea of pink ribbons and doll clothes, and Simeon immediately gravitated toward those.

I think when I was growing up, when I was playing with trucks, they would say things like, "Brrroom, brrrooom," and "Vrrooom", and make gear changing sounds and such like.

Simeon immedately began to say, "BEEEP BEEEP" and "HOOONK, HOOONK".

I guess it is what you hear.

Haven't checked in for awhile. We are doing well. My parents are coming to visit, what a hoot. They will be here in two weeks, and stay for two weeks. There will be much weeping and wailing when it is time for them to leave.

Busy week in clinic. Whole bunch of Spanish students in this week, and the Swedes arrive next week.

Back in VNS and Clarification

Well, we are safely back in our fair city, and busy as usual.

Have several guests coming next month, so will be quite busy next month. My folks are coming. Hope they do well on the plane trip. It is a long time to sit still.

Clarification!: The Archies mentioned in the previous post is a chain of shops (similar to Hallmark in the US) that sells greeting cards and trinkets. The one close to us with the odd name is just that: an oddly named shop. Indian English often does things with the English language that mean totally different things in other places where English is spoken. This is one such example.

I guess I am a little late in posting this

...but it was sort of fun, so why not?
When I took the girls Christmas shopping, so they could buy a gift for their Mom, we went to ARCHIES (this post has been edited for clarity on 20 January 2007), a trinket and card shop down the street from us.
The girls picked out some candles and a vase for Mom, and the cashier gave them the two santa hats for free.
They got a charge out of them.

Good News

Nora Grace and Sam each got their six month visas today at the Indian Embassy in Bangkok!!! Hooray!!! So we can go back to our fair city.

And we got our computer fixed, so double blessings!!

What a deal. Thanks be to God.

Girlfriends

Here is Nora Grace with a couple of girlfriends. Nev, in the middle, is from South Africa and is almost a twin to Nora Grace. Amy, on the left, is from England.

That makes sense, right?

Sheep in a Trolley

The Festival of the Sacrifice has just fineshed up in our fair city, for the Muslims. So the streets were were full of sheep, goats, and water buffalo being taken to be slaughtered.

We got over ten pounds of meat on that day, as it is tradition to give some away to poor people and friends (we would qualify as "friends").