first post from delhi!

Okely dokely, here comes our firstest post while in Delhi. Hurrah. Huzzah.

It has been a smoking long time since fixed address has provided any actual recent info about anything. Herewith, we begin to rectify that situation.

First up: the holidays. Very sadly I have left my trusty old computer back in Toronto. Yes, Ol' Fally McAparty got stranded down in the aunts' basement with little more than a brief farewell pat and a promise from Uncle Pheuy that he'd set it up with some Chinese programs so that aunt can start surfing the net and Gramma Sayo can start gambling online. The time had come for us too say goodbye to each other. Poor Ol' McAparty, with his dented frame, chipped plastic, non-functional CD drive (but hey hey the disk drive still worked...yes, it had a disk drive y'all!), entirely not-working battery, somewhat disfunctional keyboard, and overall rundowness. He served me well. Until Phet buys the family a new computer I am using Ji's Tablet which, although far nicer looking than my old machine, is rather slow and can't support Photoshop. All of which is a very long way of saying that I won't have the holiday photos up for awhile cause I have to downloand something that I can edit them in. Phet suggested Picasa. Anyone else have recommendations?

Minus photographic evidence, however, I can assure you that the holidays were well worth the stay in Canada. If only for the sake of the pecan-crusted, raspberry-topped cheese cakes that Dad made. And I guesssss for crepes, and the chocolate mousse, and the sweet syrupy frozen vodka, and the sugared nuts, and the gluten-free pretzels, and the toblerone, and the turkey, and OF COURSE for the incredible pineapple and cheese casserole that I whipped up for christmas dinner. The family togetherness and gifts were alright I suppose, but really, I was in it for the grub.

Ji Hong had an awesome christmas. He is at, like, the perfect storm of confluences to enjoy such a holiday. He's old enough to write a christmas list (with "rooller shoos" topping the list and "red ridr bb gun" concluding it), he's a raving capitalist pig, he could shop 24/7, he adores things in wrapping paper, and he's perfected the art of cultivating specific people for the specific presents they have the potential to give him. Seung Yi, on the other hand, really didn't give two toots once way or another about Jolly Old Saint Nick but she did look super cute in her christmas dresses. And her Please Hammer Don't Hurt Christmas Pants. The big challenge post-christmas was then packing Ji Hong's eight gazillion toys into our three very large bags to take with us. In the end we had to cull all his pajamas and a large number of underpants to fit (almost) everything in. What didn't fit -- and which Ji has since itemized one by one in great, tragic detail -- is up in the countryside awaiting someone with big suitcases making a trip to Delhi. Just in case any of our readers are interested in being toy mules.

I was stupidly anxious about the trip from Toronto to Delhi and got all worried about it for about four days before we left. My big worry was how I'd deal with the two kids, three bags, stroller, and car seat when we got to Zurich and had to find the hotel shuttle bus. Very luckily things went smoothly. All the travel gods smiled upon us. Ji was a model citizen on the flight to Zurich and Seung Yi slept like a baby. When we arrived we were able to call for a porter and though he was EXPENSIVE like you wouldn't beeeeelieeeeve, he got us to the left luggage safe and sound. I hallucinated my way through a very long sleepless night at the Hilton Airport Hotel, coming in and out of consciousness to feed Seung Yi or be alarmed by the action taking place on TV as Ji watched a James Bond marathon. What is up with Live and Let Die, by the way??? We rustled ourselves out of the room after a long, luxurious 4 am to 5 am bath, and went to chow down at the buffet. Ji ate his weight in tasty Swiss milk products and I tore through a full side of smoked fish. Although our flight was delayed for 3 hours, we remained happy campers because Zurich has the best kids' play area known to man. It is totally unbelievable. It has a huge play area and climbing set in one room. In the next room there are banks of nappy changing areas, with free wipes and q-tips and soap in cute dispensers and sinks next to each change table! There are also tons more toys in that room, plus a small library. Then (oh yes, it DOES get better!) there's a sleeping room. After Ji had exhausted himself with the toys, we all went to the sleeping room and Seung Yi and Ji bedded down in cribs with nice blankies and I stretched out on a Lazy Boy recliner and we all napped! When we woke up we had free tea in the final room and Ji played with the train sets there. It was the best. Oh, and since the flight was delayed we were given 90 swiss francs to spend on food, which bought us a huge snack, drinks, and THIRTY chocolate bars. Which came in very handy as gifts for Phet's office when we got there!

I must run off to bed, but before I do, the end of the flight stories...We had a super crew from Zurich to Delhi, had bassinette seats, the kids slept perfectly nicely, and we were right behind Executive Class, so we got off first and raced through to customs and we were first in line and we went through like that, and as the customs official passed us back our stamped passports Ji turned to me and asked, "Mum, why is everything so easy in India?"

What a fine way to begin this adventure.

More tomorrow!

[Delhi-15-January-2007]