Home at Last

Greetings from Punjab! We have arrived in Chandigarh, the city where Jen will be teaching for the next few months as part of the Fulbright teaching exchange. Since our arrival yesterday, its been a whirlwind of new faces, information, and sights. The city itself is called "The City Beautiful," and for good reason. Its very green, and rewards with glimpses of the hills on clear days.

The people are even more lovely than the scenery, though. We've found everyone to be incredibly warm, kind, and generous. We're overwhelmed with dinner invitations and kindness. We plan to update you more on the city, the school, living and the people soon, but now we'd like to invite you to visit our temporary home. Its more than we imagined and expected, and we feel very blessed to be here.



Come and knock on our door . . .
Our front verandah. We share it with a bunch of pigeons that freak me out every time I open the front door. You can get sort of a feel for the layout of the place here as well. There are separate entrances for the bedroom and living room.



Here's Jen updating the blog in our new living room. The staff at the school all pitched in and furnished our flat completely, and even filled the fridge. We do have a phone and broadband installed, and it works very well when power is available. Feel free to call, but don't forget the 12.5 hour time difference from the west coast . . .

By the way, the couches are on permanent loan from the teacher's lounge at school!



I got flowers on my anniversary yesterday, but suprisingly they weren't from my husband. We were greeted with these bouquets at the train station, at our flat, and at school. I can't remember a time I've ever felt more welcomed. Indians are truly masters of the art of hospitality.



Here's our kitchen sink. The water system is a bit different here. The city turns on the water main from three to six in the morning, but otherwise we pull the water from a reserve tank on our back verandah.



I'm a little afraid of the stove . . . but it looks handy for incinerating an eggplant or two.



Yes, praise Jesus, that is an air conditioner in the window of our bedroom.



Its the all in one bathroom! Toilet, laundry, shower and sink in one complete package. For the first time in my life, peeing in the shower is okay . . .



In India a place to let your clothes dry in the sun is a must. Here's ours. Jimmy's pretty sure he's going to work on his tan back here as well . . .