We are so excited to have internet. The branch president of the Coimbatore First Branch (one of the church units in Coimbatore) helped us get a USB data card so we could have access to the internet. We will try this for a while, but we are finding that it is very slow. We opted for this type of internet because our apartment is not ready, yet, and won't be until the first week in May. We may get a hard-wired form of internet once we get into our apartment.
We were met with HOT, HOT weather in Coimbatore. Temperatures hovered around 40 degrees, without the humidex factored in. We have never sweat so much in our lives. Coimbatore is a city of about 2 million people, so it is significantly smaller than Bangalore, but 2 million people is still huge. This city has a small town feel, despite the number of people here. We have seen a few larger, modern buildings, but mostly, the buildings are small and old. Coimbatore is in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The current apartment is in a nice, quiet neighbourhood called Thasami Park Residency. It is a gated community with 2 security guards at the gate. We are the only foreigners in the community. The neighbours have been friendly and helpful. We have had to approach them a few times to help us call for taxis. The taxi drivers don't understand our English, and we do not understand theirs. So, we take our cell phone to the neighbour, so she can speak to the driver in Tamil, the language of the people in the Indian State of Tami Nadu.
These are our kitchen cupboards. The cupboards in our real apartment will have cabinet doors. Yes, our cupboards are looking bare. We will buy more when we "shift" our apartment. Below is the counter top. You can see that the stove is a counter top stove. I will have a 4- burner counter top stove and a microwave/convection oven in our new apartment. I am not sure whether or not I will be able to bake in it. I hope so. The kitchen does not have hot running water, so all water for washing dishes must be heated up on the stove. Our new apartment will be the same. The sinks have no drain plugs, so we use basins for washing and rinsing. We have a washing machine, and we hang the clothes to dry in a spare room on a drying rack.
We have many power outages in Coimbatore. Generally, the power is out everyday from 6:00 a.m. go 9:00 a.m., 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and during the middle of the night. We have to plan our laundry, etc. around these outages. We have auxiallry power, so we can still use the lights and fans, but not the washer or the air conditioner. Whenever the power goes out or comes back on, we have to go to the breaker box and flip a breaker. One night we had to do that about 4 times during the night - we had extra power outages. Of course, it was REALLY hot, so we had to keep the fans going. It was just like getting up to a fussy child during the night.
We have a queen size bed, but the mattress is very hard. We also have an air conditioner in the bedroom, as of Saturday, so the nights have been more comfortable.
We were met with HOT, HOT weather in Coimbatore. Temperatures hovered around 40 degrees, without the humidex factored in. We have never sweat so much in our lives. Coimbatore is a city of about 2 million people, so it is significantly smaller than Bangalore, but 2 million people is still huge. This city has a small town feel, despite the number of people here. We have seen a few larger, modern buildings, but mostly, the buildings are small and old. Coimbatore is in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The current apartment is in a nice, quiet neighbourhood called Thasami Park Residency. It is a gated community with 2 security guards at the gate. We are the only foreigners in the community. The neighbours have been friendly and helpful. We have had to approach them a few times to help us call for taxis. The taxi drivers don't understand our English, and we do not understand theirs. So, we take our cell phone to the neighbour, so she can speak to the driver in Tamil, the language of the people in the Indian State of Tami Nadu.
Welcome to our temporary home.
These are our kitchen cupboards. The cupboards in our real apartment will have cabinet doors. Yes, our cupboards are looking bare. We will buy more when we "shift" our apartment. Below is the counter top. You can see that the stove is a counter top stove. I will have a 4- burner counter top stove and a microwave/convection oven in our new apartment. I am not sure whether or not I will be able to bake in it. I hope so. The kitchen does not have hot running water, so all water for washing dishes must be heated up on the stove. Our new apartment will be the same. The sinks have no drain plugs, so we use basins for washing and rinsing. We have a washing machine, and we hang the clothes to dry in a spare room on a drying rack.
We have many power outages in Coimbatore. Generally, the power is out everyday from 6:00 a.m. go 9:00 a.m., 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., and during the middle of the night. We have to plan our laundry, etc. around these outages. We have auxiallry power, so we can still use the lights and fans, but not the washer or the air conditioner. Whenever the power goes out or comes back on, we have to go to the breaker box and flip a breaker. One night we had to do that about 4 times during the night - we had extra power outages. Of course, it was REALLY hot, so we had to keep the fans going. It was just like getting up to a fussy child during the night.
Last Monday, we visited an orphanage. It has between 300 and 350 children aged from infancy to adolescence. The orphanage has decided to "specialize" in special needs children, and is slowly changing its focus as the older children move into their own housing. We heard many sad stories about the lives of these children. We will likely volunteer at the orphanage by helping the older children with their reading. Right now is school vacation in India, so we are not sure when we will start that.
We have been asked by the District President of the Coimbatore District of the church to be involved in the Family History Center, in training the director of the center, and in helping her train other family history workers. We will be attending a planning meeting on Tuesday evening. We also hope to be involved with the young single adults (ages 18 - 31) in this area. There is a young single adult conference scheduled in Hyderbad on May 25 - 27 for all young single adults in India. This will be an amazing conference, and we have the opportunity to help with the conference. One of the main focuses of the conference will be to encourage the participants to gather their family history. We will have a major role with that. We are very excited about helping in this area. This conference will coincide with the formation of the first Stake of the church in India. A Stake refers to a specific geographic area of the church, just like a district, but Stakes have a more direct link to higher church authorities. This is a significant event for church members in India.
We are slowly getting used to life here in India. We have ventured out on our own to get groceries, etc. and have made it back home. This is good.
I laughed Sis Tiefenbach when you said you were hot. Temps very similar to what we had and same with the beds, so hard. Once you get settled into your apartment if I was going to be there for 2 years I would invest in a memory or some kind of mattress pad, it will be soo worth it. Do you see clothes hanging out windows to dry we saw a lot of that, thought it was neat as it was new? Yeah for air conditioning a luxury you didn't have at home.
ReplyDeleteSound like you have many exciting adventures ahead for you