Monday, May 4 The beginning of Lockdown 3.0 came with some changes. Although there was still a 7 am-7 pm curfew and a total curfew on Sundays, due to the low number of cases in our city, things were loosening up a bit. Our complex decided that people could have their cooks and cleaners come in at their discretion (still no drivers or deliveries). So our neighbors across the hall immediately brought in more help (two more, based on the number of shoes sitting in the hallway) and the apartment kitty-corner from ours, which had been empty since the first lockdown began, now had people in it again. (For reference, there are only four apartments to a floor; the one next to ours is still under construction, although it has never actually been worked on since we've lived here.)
WM brought in more staff members so suddenly there was the sounds of lawnmowers going, people cleaning the stairwells, and trimming the bushes. It was an adjustment to suddenly have so many random people around all the time and to be able to hear people outside our apartment. It was like we were in post-school closing/pre-lockdown days all over again. People were being cautious, but still going about their business. Granted, many businesses are still closed, but just all the bustle within the complex took some getting used to.
Today was May the Fourth (Be With You), so the kids dressed up in Star Wars shirts.
Our friend and neighbor left to go back to Thailand; we can't wait to visit her someday soon in Bangkok. She gifted us some of her food and dishwasher soap--which is almost impossible to find nowadays--as well as all these fun Thai seasoning packets we can't wait to try.
Tuesday, May 5 Cinco de Mayo and Taco Tuesday?! You better believe that we had California Burrito delivered for dinner. I tried making some kind of Mexican no-bake cookies, but they weren't great.
E also painted my nails for me. Very fancy!
Thursday, May 7 Growing up, every summer my family took a trip to my grandparent's ranch. They didn't have many games, but the one they did have was called Mill. In fact, the only times I ever even saw the game was when we were visiting my grandparent's house. Well, here in India, I see the game everywhere (although it's known by a different name)! The kids' school even has Mill boards carved into their outdoor tables. Apparently it's a thing! So I bought our own and I have enjoyed teaching the kids how to play--and having the time to play it with them.
The Church announced a phased reopening of temples.
India reached 50,000 cases.
Friday, May 8
CJ's preschool class has been talking about the different kinds of play, so CJ made up her own board game! You roll the dice and move your game piece down the rainbow path to the end. You may also take one of the side paths and choose a card which has different instructions: find a spider, draw a cake, your opponent jumps until their next turn, have a snack, name a body part.
The first time Brandon and CJ played it together, she got the "name a body part" card; she pointed to her arm and said "Frank." It's not wrong!
Saturday, May 9 I went to the fruitwala and there weren't any carrots! What?! I kept checking the crates over and over again, thinking I must have missed them, but no. No carrots. Seriously, you think you can rely on something and then suddenly, after six weeks, they do something crazy like this. And if you think I'm overreacting, just remember that the fruit walla is a big part of my life. We're living in lockdown here! This is all I've got!
But! Someone at the complex knew someone who knew a mango farmer yada yada yada and 450 rupees (about $6) later, and we got a bag full of our favorite alphonsoes!
Sunday, May 10 Mother's Day! The kids made me breakfast in bed: pancakes and fresh mango. We had family church--Kiddo and I gave lessons-- and then I also had a zoom YW meeting. Brandon made dinner: roasted chicken and beets, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, mango juice, and gluten-free cookies for dessert. We ended the day with a video call from Chelon.
India reached 60,000 cases.
Monday, May 11 Brandon began seeing big lizards on his morning walks and it was awesome!
E watched a video about how to cut mangoes and apparently we have been making it harder on ourselves by trying to peel them beforehand. So much easier to do it like a avocado, slicing it around the pit, cutting the fruit into sections, and scooping it out. E quickly became our default mango cutter.
Last week for one of our 'interest list' items, we learned about how crayons were made, which led to watching a video about different craft projects you could do with crayons, which led to this activity: rocks decorated with melted crayons. It was a hit! The girls had a great time and now we have colorful rocks decorating our balcony garden bed.
Tuesday, May 12 For E's art assignment we had to make paints out of spices we had around the house. We used turmeric, paprika, and white coffee (a neighbor gave it us when they were moving out and we were happy to find a use for it). It was pretty stinky, but they had fun!
I had a zoom meeting with CJ's school about what we can expect next year's school to look like. Basically, they will do each class at half capacity, and the days the kids aren't in school they will do zoom classes at home. They explained all the precautions that will be put in place--temperature screening, hand sanitizer use, eating lunch in the classroom. Sigh. I guess this is how things are now.
India had 70,000 cases.
Wednesday, May 13 The fruitwala decided that they no longer need resident volunteers to help organize and supervise and we no longer have to stagger our times! We just show up whenever we want, willy-nilly. I went about a half hour after it started and it was pretty easy to see from the amount of people and bags in line that the majority of the residents went as soon as it opened. Which meant that I felt no guilt in taking as many gala apples as I wanted.
Thursday, May 14 In typical fashion, WM repairmen showed up without warning to install our breaker stabilizer that, if you remember, had been sitting in our entry way since March. When I hesitated to let them in, they assured me it would only take about an hour. This was at 10:30 am. At around 11, they cut the power, saying it would only be out for 15-20 minutes; it ended up being about an hour and a half. (Good thing we had a back up battery for our internet or Brandon and the kids would have been stuck!) At some point the two-man job became a four-man job, but they eventually got it installed and left about 2½ hours after they arrived.
Within an hour we realized that our air conditioning, although still blowing air, was no longer blowing cold air and we called maintenance to come fix whatever it was that they had broken. At 4:30 pm someone came and tinkered with it and said to leave the AC on for 20-30 minutes and it should start cooling down again. Nope. I walked to the front gate to get our bread delivery and happened to see this same repair person leaving for the day, so there was no use complaining again until tomorrow.
Friday, May 15 We had a warm night's sleep (temperatures are pretty consistently in the low 90s throughout the day right now) and messaged the help desk in the morning to send someone to look at the AC. Someone came and messed with it again, said to leave it running for 20-30 minutes again, and left. Nope. So I messaged the help desk--again--and they decided that they actually needed to call in a professional. Great! So about 24-hours and a 750 rupee (about $10) service charge later, we had the AC back again! Whew! Really, that was a pretty quick turnaround.
India had 80,000 cases of Covid-19.
Saturday, May 16 Fruitwalla always has some mainstays--potatoes, tomatoes, onions--but there were always other things that I didn't recognize. Here are a few of their offerings:
Sunday, May 17 Last day of Lockdown 3.0. Is it me, or did this one go by really quickly?
WM brought in more staff members so suddenly there was the sounds of lawnmowers going, people cleaning the stairwells, and trimming the bushes. It was an adjustment to suddenly have so many random people around all the time and to be able to hear people outside our apartment. It was like we were in post-school closing/pre-lockdown days all over again. People were being cautious, but still going about their business. Granted, many businesses are still closed, but just all the bustle within the complex took some getting used to.
Today was May the Fourth (Be With You), so the kids dressed up in Star Wars shirts.
Our friend and neighbor left to go back to Thailand; we can't wait to visit her someday soon in Bangkok. She gifted us some of her food and dishwasher soap--which is almost impossible to find nowadays--as well as all these fun Thai seasoning packets we can't wait to try.
Tuesday, May 5 Cinco de Mayo and Taco Tuesday?! You better believe that we had California Burrito delivered for dinner. I tried making some kind of Mexican no-bake cookies, but they weren't great.
E also painted my nails for me. Very fancy!
Thursday, May 7 Growing up, every summer my family took a trip to my grandparent's ranch. They didn't have many games, but the one they did have was called Mill. In fact, the only times I ever even saw the game was when we were visiting my grandparent's house. Well, here in India, I see the game everywhere (although it's known by a different name)! The kids' school even has Mill boards carved into their outdoor tables. Apparently it's a thing! So I bought our own and I have enjoyed teaching the kids how to play--and having the time to play it with them.
The Church announced a phased reopening of temples.
India reached 50,000 cases.
Friday, May 8
CJ's preschool class has been talking about the different kinds of play, so CJ made up her own board game! You roll the dice and move your game piece down the rainbow path to the end. You may also take one of the side paths and choose a card which has different instructions: find a spider, draw a cake, your opponent jumps until their next turn, have a snack, name a body part.
The first time Brandon and CJ played it together, she got the "name a body part" card; she pointed to her arm and said "Frank." It's not wrong!
Saturday, May 9 I went to the fruitwala and there weren't any carrots! What?! I kept checking the crates over and over again, thinking I must have missed them, but no. No carrots. Seriously, you think you can rely on something and then suddenly, after six weeks, they do something crazy like this. And if you think I'm overreacting, just remember that the fruit walla is a big part of my life. We're living in lockdown here! This is all I've got!
But! Someone at the complex knew someone who knew a mango farmer yada yada yada and 450 rupees (about $6) later, and we got a bag full of our favorite alphonsoes!
Sunday, May 10 Mother's Day! The kids made me breakfast in bed: pancakes and fresh mango. We had family church--Kiddo and I gave lessons-- and then I also had a zoom YW meeting. Brandon made dinner: roasted chicken and beets, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, mango juice, and gluten-free cookies for dessert. We ended the day with a video call from Chelon.
India reached 60,000 cases.
Monday, May 11 Brandon began seeing big lizards on his morning walks and it was awesome!
E watched a video about how to cut mangoes and apparently we have been making it harder on ourselves by trying to peel them beforehand. So much easier to do it like a avocado, slicing it around the pit, cutting the fruit into sections, and scooping it out. E quickly became our default mango cutter.
Last week for one of our 'interest list' items, we learned about how crayons were made, which led to watching a video about different craft projects you could do with crayons, which led to this activity: rocks decorated with melted crayons. It was a hit! The girls had a great time and now we have colorful rocks decorating our balcony garden bed.
Tuesday, May 12 For E's art assignment we had to make paints out of spices we had around the house. We used turmeric, paprika, and white coffee (a neighbor gave it us when they were moving out and we were happy to find a use for it). It was pretty stinky, but they had fun!
I had a zoom meeting with CJ's school about what we can expect next year's school to look like. Basically, they will do each class at half capacity, and the days the kids aren't in school they will do zoom classes at home. They explained all the precautions that will be put in place--temperature screening, hand sanitizer use, eating lunch in the classroom. Sigh. I guess this is how things are now.
Look at these cuties!
India had 70,000 cases.
Wednesday, May 13 The fruitwala decided that they no longer need resident volunteers to help organize and supervise and we no longer have to stagger our times! We just show up whenever we want, willy-nilly. I went about a half hour after it started and it was pretty easy to see from the amount of people and bags in line that the majority of the residents went as soon as it opened. Which meant that I felt no guilt in taking as many gala apples as I wanted.
Thursday, May 14 In typical fashion, WM repairmen showed up without warning to install our breaker stabilizer that, if you remember, had been sitting in our entry way since March. When I hesitated to let them in, they assured me it would only take about an hour. This was at 10:30 am. At around 11, they cut the power, saying it would only be out for 15-20 minutes; it ended up being about an hour and a half. (Good thing we had a back up battery for our internet or Brandon and the kids would have been stuck!) At some point the two-man job became a four-man job, but they eventually got it installed and left about 2½ hours after they arrived.
Ta da!
Within an hour we realized that our air conditioning, although still blowing air, was no longer blowing cold air and we called maintenance to come fix whatever it was that they had broken. At 4:30 pm someone came and tinkered with it and said to leave the AC on for 20-30 minutes and it should start cooling down again. Nope. I walked to the front gate to get our bread delivery and happened to see this same repair person leaving for the day, so there was no use complaining again until tomorrow.
Friday, May 15 We had a warm night's sleep (temperatures are pretty consistently in the low 90s throughout the day right now) and messaged the help desk in the morning to send someone to look at the AC. Someone came and messed with it again, said to leave it running for 20-30 minutes again, and left. Nope. So I messaged the help desk--again--and they decided that they actually needed to call in a professional. Great! So about 24-hours and a 750 rupee (about $10) service charge later, we had the AC back again! Whew! Really, that was a pretty quick turnaround.
India had 80,000 cases of Covid-19.
Saturday, May 16 Fruitwalla always has some mainstays--potatoes, tomatoes, onions--but there were always other things that I didn't recognize. Here are a few of their offerings:
Sunday, May 17 Last day of Lockdown 3.0. Is it me, or did this one go by really quickly?
