Feliz Natal!

Well apparently it's December already and, true to form, we haven't posted anything for a few months. As we've mentioned before, life here is pretty easy and it's a drastic change from the craziness of India where we would see something new and bizarre every day. Life in POA is not that much different than being in the US which is nice although it doesn't lend itself to many interesting and unique stories or pictures. Even so, we are loving it here and life is good.

Elizabeth is in the final days of pregnancy and we are ready and waiting for the arrival of Sofia as well as Kent, Pam, and Marie who will be arriving in a few days with ALL of our baby supplies! Hope they get here before the baby does! She has had a very easy and successful pregnancy so far and we hope the delivery will follow suit. Hopefully the baby will be a new catalyst for some regular blogging! :-)

The last few months have been great albeit uneventful. We ended our first semester of school and so far things are going well. There are some frustrations here and there being that it is a growing school in a country with overwhelming bureaucracy but all in all we are both loving our jobs and the kids and colleagues at the school. We've made some good friends both in and out of school and have enjoyed hanging out with all sorts of people and even having a delicious little Thanksgiving feast for all us Americans from the school.

Otherwise, our only other big adventure is trying to buy a car in the coming weeks which so far has been pretty successful. It took some time and research but we finally found some websites to search used cars and even made it to some dealers to look at a few. So far so good.

As for daily life, we are finally settled into our apartment now that our shipment (FINALLY!) arrived with surprisingly no major mold or damage (only one broken frame on a painting that we have had repaired). Just some wiping down of furniture and lots of laundry and we are now settled with all our stuff and it feels like home.

We have finished our Portuguese classes for the time being until the baby comes but 5 months of regular classes has done us a lot of good and we are able to do most things by ourselves now without the help of a language buddy. We've bought furniture, paid bills, had doctor appointments, and even talked on the phone with a good level of success. Hopefully we can continue to practice after the baby comes since we have learned a lot in a short time and don't want to start losing it!

Other than that, life rolls on and all is good down here. We are on vacation until February which gives us lots of adjustment time with the baby before I have to go back to work.

We had a quiet Christmas with just the 2 of us watching movies, listening to Christmas music and playing some games, trying to make it feel as Christmas-y as possible given that it's summer time and there's nobody around. :-/ But it was nice and we are ready for the new year and baby Sofia!

We have received a few Christmas letters and cards from folks in the US which is fun (and reassuring that the local mail seems to work quite reliably here). Sounds like things are good on the home front. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and has a great new year! The next post will probably be when Sofia arrives! Lots of pictures and videos to come, promise!

Boas Festas!!

um abraço K&E

The Gaucho

So like Elizabeth said in the last post, Rio Grande do Sul is pretty much like the Texas of Brazil. We've got cowboy ranchers, boots n' leather, steak, and a group of people who consider themselves to be part of their state before they consider themselves part of their country. People from Rio Grande do Sul are Gaucho first and Brazilian second, citing that they have more in common with Argentina and Uruguay than they do with the rest of Brazil, which is very true.

Just like Texas, everything is bigger and better in Porto Alegre too. Their lake is the biggest, their food is the best, their women are the prettiest, and even their sunset is the most beautiful in the world. Just ask them.

The best part is that they even tried to secede from the country in a civil war known as the Farroupilha Revolution (or loosely translated: War of the Ragamuffins). AND...it happened at the same time as the Texas Revolution and the Alamo.

Rio Grande Texas....Rio Grande do Sul. Hmmm.....

Anyway, back to Gauchos. So these men and women are the more traditional pioneers of the area and hold some fun cowboy-western-boot-smacking-accordian-playing-tea-drinking-spur-wearing-meat-eating-bbq traditions that we have been seeing over the last month.

First, we were invited by our school "host family" (our adoptive parent from the school to show us around) to go to a big

international fair outside of town called ExpoInter. It's a big exposition of livestock, farm equipment and other "county fair" products from Brazil and the surrounding region. This is a lot like a big state fair in the states only less of the crappy food and clowns and more of the cowboy stuff and farm machinery.

It was a lot of fun to walk around the livestock pens, seeing the prize animals, watch a cattle auction, eat fantastic steak, and browsing the shops filled with more leather than you can imagine. I also got to have my first sip of chimarrao, the Gaucho's favorite tea that they carry with them everywhere in little thermoses. And it just so happens that our host mom owns a cattle ranch in PA and her family business is breeding and selling beef cattle so we got the inside scoop on the cattle industry in southern Brazil and the region.

Our second round of full-on Gaucho-ness was this last Tuesday as we had a day off for school for Farroupilha Day. For weeks up to the holiday, there is a section of town that hosts a mini fair of everything Gaucho called Acampamento Farroupilha in which a small town of log cabin huts is created to host a variety of events, food, shopping, and everything Gaucho the town has to offer.

It was kind of like one giant tailgate party with a giant open flame bbq pit every 10 feet with entire racks of animals roasting away. Only in log cabins....and no trucks. Or drunk football fans.

There was also all the same stalls that sell all the fair junk food and other events and games and performances and such. This meant that we got our share of some down-home-country cooking and also some chocolate covered strawberries on a stick and a "Suiss Crepe" or chocolate-filled waffle on a stick. Mmmm.

We spent most of the day hanging out in a restaurant with a group of people who all came together from school enjoying some tasty meat and rice cooked up in the kitchen and served in a giant communal cauldron for everyone to enjoy.

The highlight I believe is the sign below that was posted several places in the restaurant that translates "No dancing with a knife in your belt"

Love it.

um abraço

K&E

Meat, Meat and More MEAT!

For those of you who don't know, we are now living in the Brazilian equivalent to the U.S. state of Texas. From attitudes, to history, cowboys (or Gauchos) and food you could compare the two and come up with the same thing in every category. If you ask someone from around here if they are Brazilian, they will probably say, no I'm Gaucho. Ever asked a Texan where they are from??

One of the big things here is obviously cattle ranching and with that, lots and lots of meat! A very nice change from India for those of use who enjoy a good steak. (Don't get me wrong, we love and miss the spice and flavor of Indian food too!) This means they BBQ a lot, or Churrasco.

Like anything else that is loved, you will find a variety of different types from quick/possibly low quality, to "the real" Churrasco. We've already experienced three different kinds, but I'll just go into the first two, as the third requires a post of it's own.

The first few days we were here, exploring the streets, relearning to cook for ourselves :-), we found a little Chuurasqueria just a few blocks down the road. There we had two skewers with Filet Mignon, and a piece a garlic bread also heated over the BBQ. Simple and delicious.

Our second type of Churrasco was the larger "steakhouse" variety. A few coworkers were getting together at a popular resturant near by and invited us a long. It also happened to be our anniversary, so it was a great way to celebrate.

This style of Churrasco, is like an all you can eat buffett, including a sushi bar, salad bar, pasta station and other typical Brazilian foods like rice and beans.

Salad Buffet

Once you are sitting down with a plate, the servers walk around with giant skewers of all kinds of meat, including different types of beef, pork and chicken.

Delicious meat!

They slice pieces off for you and your grab them will a little pair of tongs to enjoy! It was a great evening out, a chance to get to know some of the other teachers a bit better and celebrate our anniversary, including enjoying the desert buffet at the end!

Mmmmm, chocolate fondue. :-)

We look forward to a slew of visitors in the next few years, as many of you have promised to come to Brazil, and we will be sure to enjoy lots of good steak!

Thanks to Jenn Longmuir for providing some much needed photos! (See buffet and meat above) We really do need to get better at taking photos of every day life!

um abraço,
K&E

Friendly Neighbors

One thing that has truly surprise me, is how open and friendly people are here. Not that I didn't expect people to be nice, but the fact that random strangers have welcomed us with open arms, even with our limited Portuguese, has been truly amazing!

One day as I was out walking Suri, I ran into a very nice women who also lives in our apartment complex. As many people do, she stopped to talk to me and admire Suri, because people here really love dogs, all dogs, not just our adorable pug! Anyway, we stumbled our way through a conversation with me not knowing any Portuguese and her not knowing any English. She told me which apartment she lived in and told me to come over any time.

A few days later, we got a knock on our door and her son, Fransisco, who is learning English, was at the door, Portuguese/English dictionary in hand, to chat. He asked how we were, admired our dog and told us how much he loves pugs (in fact he has a pug t-shirt) and told us if we needed anything, we could always come over. He then came by a few days later, and invited us to have lunch at his house the following weekend which we gladly agreed to.

So the following Saturday, we made our way to their apartment and were quickly introduced to a number of other people who would be having lunch too. It turns out that Vera and her family are Seventh Day Adventists and had invited several other people from their church for lunch that day. Luckily for us (and unluckily for our Portuguese) two people there spoke English.

We had a lovely lunch, got to know several different people from outside of school and even made plans to have a "real" Churrasco and go to an Inter football match in the near future with one of the other couples that was there.

It's been so nice to meet local people and make plans to hang out, which is something we were not very successful at in India. We are looking forward to meeting more people, especially when we start to pick up more Portuguese, and of course, have more things to blog about as we explore and get to know people.

um abraço,
K&E

Mercado Publico

One of the first weekends we were here, the school got the group of new teachers together to go to the Mercado Publico for some lunch and shopping. This landmark and functioning public market is one of the places we can get fresh local produce, meat and other specialty/import items you may or may not find at the local grocery stores, with some pretty decent prices.

We have actually been twice now, both time with large groups, which makes shopping a bit more difficult as we are always worried about others waiting for us. One of these days we will be sure to venture down on our own, especially since it is a good place for us to get supplies to make Suri's food, aka bulk oats/grains instead of the tiny boxes from the grocery store. With the fantastic public transit system it is also super easy as two of the buses that pass right by our house go down and back.

Here are a few pictures from the first few times to the mercado.

Super Gaucho/Inter Fan

Busy ground floor of the market

View of ground floor from above

Smiling despite freezing in the open air market!

um abraço
K&E

Back to Basics

One month in and it's time to finally get all our saved up blog ideas out there. First of all we are at that stage again where the only possessions we have are what we brought in our suitcases so the apartment is still completely empty and kind of a disaster. We have sort of organized things and put together a plan for where all our stuff from India will go. However we are living off of the minimal supplies the school has provided us, which is great, but we are anxious for our shipment (and thoroughly pissed off at our shipper as they are totally inept and our stuff is STILL sitting in Mumbai). But life is good, school is good, baby is good, pug is good.....just need our stuff and life will feel like normal (at least until January :-)

I continue to be in that "everything is so great and convenient compared to India" phase which I love and am hoping won't wear off over time. We have a public transit system that is super efficient and makes it incredibly easy to get around town (and to and from work in about 7 minutes). We have a drug store, pet shop, gym, 2 grocery markets, 2 bakeries, several restaurants, and a park all within walking distance of our apartment (really short walking distance too) which makes things so convenient. Especially when we actually have to shop and cook for ourselves since we don't have Maria anymore.

But the parks are lovely, everyone LOVES dogs and Suri is in pet heaven getting to run around loose at the park and have people and other dogs love on her. Things are clean, there's lots of malls and big shopping centers if we need our fix of movies, clothes, toys, and other mall-rat things. There are farmer's markets every Saturday morning at the park, a huge public market down town, and tons of public green space to relax, play football, go for a run, walk the dog, shop for local handicrafts, or just eat and hang out with some chimarrão on a sunny day.

And the best part, and what continues to be my favorite thing about Brazil so far, is how friendly everyone is. It is such a welcoming culture and people are so quick to invite you in and tag along in their lives. It seems we've pretty much had something to do every weekend since we've been here which has been great. We've already met several people from outside of our school community which is so nice to get your bearings and figure things out as a foreigner. We feel so welcomed and well taken care of by everyone which has a great impact on the culture shock you feel when you first show up somewhere new (especially since nobody speaks English).

So the only real negatives so far are the fact that everything is RIDICULOUSLY expensive (like 75%-300% more expensive than the US depending on the product) and the language barriers continue to make things challenging but we get by with our Portuganish. There is a lot of bureaucracy which can be frustrating in certain circumstances although I continue to be surprised at how modernized and efficient things are despite these layers of red tape and weird laws and loopholes.

For example, registering with the police took 3 different trips to complete what seemed like a 10 step process which in itself was ridiculous however each of the trips was to a different office that were all relatively organized, had efficient technology, and were not any more frustrating than trying to get something done at the DMV in the states. I compare this to a system in India where it took only 1 trip to register but it included hours of wasted inefficiency, manual carbon copy documents, and a guy behind a crappy copy machine who took an hour to make a photocopy and print a picture after you paid him 12 rupees. In the end, about the same amount of time wasted, but at least it was relatively painless and I know the data is stored in a computer and not on some lady's carbon paper that's shoved in a drawer in a room somewhere. Bureaucracy is bureaucracy I suppose, but at least it's 21st century bureaucracy.

So that's the general report from the Roberts camp here in Porto Alegre. I have a number of mini posts that I am determined to get up on some of our "firsts" in the city and those day to day things that remind us that we are in Brazil. Tchau for now.

um abraço

K&E

First Day of School at Porto Alegre

Although today was a pretty typical first day of school, we thought we would share a few pictures from the day. The most exciting part (for Elizabeth at least) was the cupcakes served at the all school snack time.

Cupcakes for 10am all school snack time.

Decorations in the cafateria

In addition, they had the cafeteria all decked-out with ballons and streamers. At lunch they had two actual clowns making ballon animals plus ice cream Sunday's. Unfortunetly, I didn't get a picture of them. I know the elementary kids loved it all, especially with all that sugar in their systems. Not sure how thrilled the high school students were, but everyone loves cupcakes and ice cream.



And here is Kevin, waiting outside his room for his students before the first class of the day.

He looks deceptively warm in his sweater and scarf. His classroom was actually warm the last two days and stayed that way. My library, however was cold (because of the people coming in and out all the time) and the hallways and cafeteria are even more cold...like outside temperature cold, which was about 50 today. 

Now 50 is not actually that cold, until you never ever get to warm up.  Even with two sweaters, a scarf and jacket on (and occasionally gloves!) I was cold all day. I think I may need someone to send me some long-underwear.  I'm sure it doesn't helped that we are acclimated to Mumbai weather of 85-95 all year, but still, it's COLD here in Brazil. 

And with all this cold damp weather it's also impossible to get your clothes dried. Some day soon, when we run out of clean clothes packed from the US, we may have to wear cold, damp clothes as well. OK, maybe that is a bit of an over exaggeration. After a few experiments, we did get our clothes to dry using a space heater...not sure it's the most efficient use of power though. We may eventually invest in a clothes drier when we have a lot more to wash and dry on a daily basis. 

So, we hope everyone is enjoying their warm summer vacations in the US and elsewhere (and not overheating in the heat wave) as we enjoy our first day of (freezing) school in Brazil. 

um abraço K&E

Olá e bom dia do Brasil!

Boa noite from Porto Alegre! It’s been an embarassingly long time since we’ve posted anything but hopefully now that we’re starting this whole process over again we will get back into that “everything is new and exciting and I want to write about it all the time” phase. It’s a shame that the end of the school year got so busy and crazy because we had many things we still wanted to share about India including our last thoughts and an exit post or two. To sum up 3 years of living in India - we love ASB and will miss the school and everyone there immensely; India is a crazy place that was a love/hate relationship with us although it we grew to appreciate it and (nay I say) enjoy it by the time we left (perhaps even enough to go back some day); It was a lifetime of experiences packed into 3 great years and no place in the world could give us the same effect and have the same lasting impact on our lives. We'll miss you India!

But....we are SOOOOO excited to be moving on to another job in Porto Alegre, Brazil! After a great summer between Seattle, Boise, and some time at the cabin we have sorted, discarded, bought, packed, unpacked, and repacked and made it all the way down here to the bottom half of the globe to start our new life in Brazil. The trip down south was actually not too painful all things considered and we only had one hang up when we forgot to pick up our bags in Sao Paulo and re-check them back in which led to a brief bit of panic followed by several trips up and down stairs to various counters and into the bowels of the airport to find the right people who had our stuff. It all came out in the end though and everything went as smooth as could be for the rest of the trip.

We were picked up at the airport by a whole crew of folks from the school in true Brazilian style with hugs and kisses and the great Gaucho hospitality of Rio Grande do Sul and Porto Alegre. We hopped on a bus with a few other of the new teachers and headed to our apartment where we had the night to settle in and get unpacked. Our apartment is very nice, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a side laundry room attached to the kitchen, and a nice little sun patio. None of the spaces are very big, but it's well put together and in a nice apartment complex complete with our own futsal court in the back for (I'm hoping) many a pick-up game to take place. We're in a nice neighborhood and our general impressions of the city so far have been great. Lots of trees, nice sidewalks, tons of parks, great convenience stores and shops all around, clean and efficient buses, and (most importantly after India), clean! It's a very comfortable lifestyle and we are excited to explore more and see all the great event centers, stadiums, museums, and arts that the city has to offer.

On our first full day after arriving, one of the newly hired Portuguese teacher (a local Gaucho) came by our apartment to take us out for lunch and to do some shopping and see the area. We went to the huge and super lively Parque da Redenção which is a huge park with street fairs, entertainers, concerts, and tons of space to sit, walk, or enjoy a Sunday in the park. We also hit up a grocery store where we were able to load up our fridge with the basics for a few days until we can venture out again. We haven't really been touristy yet and taken any pictures as we are really trying to fit in and blend with the locals, but we will get some up here soon.

We have already been immersed in Portuguese and will be picking it up very quickly I'm sure. We've figured out most of the key phrases to get us here and there and our Span-guese is working for now. So far so good though...we are loving being able to get around easily and have already found some great little local restaurants for churasso and the nearest shopping centers to get all our daily life needs taken care of which is a great first step in these beginning days.

We went to school for the first time today and got a tour and jumped into some meetings. The staff we have met so far have all been incredibly friendly and we are excited to work with everyone and see how the day to day goes when the kids and the rest of the staff arrive.

For now, it's off to bed as we have get up and try to take the bus to school on our own for the first time tomorrow (oh boy...) so wish us luck! More to come in the next few days including some pics of the apartment and our neighborhood. Good night and boa noite do Porto Alegre. Ate logo!

um abraço

K&E

Spring Break in Kerala

We are back from Kerala where we enjoyed a leisurely and beautiful vacation. We saw lots of things from tea plantations to backwater rice patties and the sunset over the Laccadive Sea.

We first flew in to Cochin and headed straight to Munnar. It was a beautiful drive up as it got more lush and green as we went. We arrived at our bungalow about 2 1/2 hours after leaving the airport. It was so nice to be out in fresh air and greenery.

The first full day in Munnar we went to the Tea Museum where we learned more about how they process tea. Green tea, white tea, black tea...we know it all now. Kevin is now convinced that we need to plant our our tea plant and process it ourself. Guess we will just have to see where we can plant that tea plant.

That same day we drove up to a national park to see a rare species of mountain goat and enjoy some misty fresh air. It was a fun little side trip and it's always interesting to see different Indian wildlife wherever we can.

We spent a relaxing 3 days in an old plantation bungalow with our own personal staff to cook and clean for us. The highlight of hanging out in Munnar was the Cricket World Cup Final in which India was playing Sri Lanka for a chance to win their first World Cup since 1982. This was the second cricket game we have ever watched (the first being the semi-final of the World Cup a few days before against Pakistan) and it was quite a blast. Yes, the game took 8 hours, but it was fun to watch and it was great to root for India and cheer for a great finale to the game. It was also quite fun to watch it with the staff at our bungalow even though it took a lot of convincing to get them to stop working and come watch. :-)

It was then back to Kochi where we spent a few days enjoying the old Portuguese mansions, the wooden Chinese fishing nets, Vasco de Gama's old grave site and supposed home, and some time relaxing in our haveli-turned-vintage-hotel. We also got to do some shopping and finally found an antique door to make into a table (something we have been looking to do for a while).We also decided to throw in an embossed painted Rajisthani-style cabinet just for kicks. (Last chance shopping!! Yay!)

We also went to our first Kathakali show which was just as cool as we had heard. It is a theatre performance of Hindu stories from the Ramayana that uses elaborate costumes and makeup and contains a very unique performance art of using micro-facial expressions to portray emotions, commands, etc. It's very similar to mime in a lot of ways but with a lot more flair.

It was a very cool experience especially because the entire prep work of putting on makeup and getting ready for the show was part of the show. We watched the whole elaborate painting of the faces and creation of the masks and accessories out of cut paper and glue all by professional Kathakali experts who had been doing this for decades. Very neat.

It was then off to head further south for a couple days on the beach in Varkala. On the way down we got to experience one of the trademarks of Kerala, a house boat in the winding backwaters. Southern Kerala has a large lake/inlet that has reshaped itself a few times over the course of history from various major floods to result in a few large bodies of water and an intricate series of water alleys which have been inhabited and are now lined with houses, palm trees, and rice fields.

We spent 2 nights on the house boat with our chef and 2 engine workers where the only thing on the agenda was to eat, sleep, read, and repeat. It was a great time just relaxing and watching the daily lives of villagers pass us by.

We ended on the beach just relaxing, enjoying the sun and letting Elizabeth recover from a stomach bug :-( Most of our vacations tend to be a lot of walking and touring around so it was nice to be a little more low key and relaxing. Lots of nice sites, great weather, fantastic food, and just enough culture and history to still remind us we are in India.

क्या कहाना

K&E

Non-Inflammable...huh?

We have not done a lot of blogging then when we first moved to India mostly because we have a typical life in the sense that we go to work every day and come home, we still do live in India which makes for some intersting observations. Again, I'm always impressed with other bloggers who seem to find the little things to blog about. So when I was looking over pictures from a recent trip I found this little interesting fact, something new I learned from India.

I took a picture of this because I thought it was funny that it said highly inflammable.  I first assumed that inflammable meant the opposite of flammable. It seems like an oxymoron. However, on further discussion with Kevin and reference to Wikipedia it is actually written correctly. Here is the entry from Wikipedia entry on Flammability:

Flammable and inflammable are synonyms and mean capable of burning. The word “inflammable” came from Latin “'inflammāre” = “to set fire to,” where the prefix “'in-”' means “in” as in “inside”, rather than “not” as in “invisible” and “ineligible”. Nonetheless, “inflammable” is often erroneously thought to mean “non-flammable”. In the United States, this safety hazard is typically avoided by use of flammable, despite its not being the proper Latin-derived term, on warning labels referring to physical combustibility. 

The antonym of flammable/inflammable is non-inflammable, incombustible or non-combustible.

So there you go, you learn something new everyday.

क्या कहाना K&E

Bollywood Stars and Indian Bueracracy

I know Kevin and I have not been great at continually posting blogs about our life here in India. We tend to blog about our big trips or big events in our life. The truth is, most of the time our days are all the same: going to work and going home.  And, although we see things new everyday, we don't have the time or the organizational skills like some people to actually put it up on a blog. Well, here is my attempt to tell you all a little more about life in India.

Bollywood Stars

Living in Mumbai and especially in Bandra, one would expect to see a few Bollywood stars. Everyone knows where they live and where they go. We hear lots of stories about people seeing them, at Golds Gym or at the restaurant around the corner. There are two things you normally need to be in a situation were you see a Bollywood star. 1. Know who they are and be able to recognize them. 2. Go to places they might be at. (See note above about Kevin and my daily routine.)  

Well, I happen to luck out big time, because I saw our first Bollywood star the other day. After finishing my Masters Degree, I felt like I needed to treat myself so that it felt a little more like I was actually done, so I made an appointment to get a pedicure before going on vacation. Luckily, the place I go to is one that some Bollywood stars often go to as well. Of course I still don't really know Bollywood stars (I can only name/recognize about 4 of them) but again, lucky me, someone else did the work for me. As I was sitting there, letting the polish dry oblivious to the woman sitting next to me, all the sudden a group of ladies walked up to the woman and began to gush. They said, "Oh we just had to come say hi and tell you how much we love you. We've seen all your films and are big fans" etc, etc etc. The woman was very kind and polite considering her mani-pedi was getting interrupted. 

Now the sad ending to this story is that I still have NO IDEA who she was. I tried to describe her to a friend who knows much more about Bollywood stars and we couldn't figure it out. Oh, well, at least I can say I've seen a Bollywood star in person. 

Indian Bureaucracy

Anyone who knows a little about India or has been here has probably heards something about the bureaucracy. Well, I recently experiences a typical situation that I wanted to share with you all. Kevin and I decided to bring Suri home with us at Christmas. (There are many good reasons our decision including weather, other flying concerns for Suri and health issues even though we already miss her a ton and have only been home for 2 weeks. It's going to be a long 5 months!!)

In order to take her out of the country, we needed to get a vet to fill out a healthy to fly certificate, and then we need to take that and 10 pictures of her to get approved by the government. Of course we have to use an agent to get this all done. So I took her to the vet, got the necessary paperwork including photos and then on the Wednesday before we were leaving the agent took all of this paperwork, me and the dog to the government agency for their stamp of approval. 

There is another couple who were bringing home their dog at this time and a HUGE thank you to them for letting us ride their coattails on all of this as they did all the legwork and we decided a week before we left that we wanted to take Suri home too. So David a got in a van with our and drove an hour and half to Navi Mumbai. When we got to the government office, the agent said to wait while he went in. 

So we waited, and waited...and waited. Four hours later, the agent and government representative came out, looked in the van and nodded. About ten minutes later we left for hour hour long ride home. This whole time, we just sat in the car, or walked our dogs around the concrete parking lot. I'm not sure why we had to go, why our dogs had to be there, but that is what we had to do. 

And now she is home, happily enjoying the weather.

क्या कहाना K&E