Random Sightings.

My big brother Ben (Benny as I and my sister in law like to call him) is one of my best reminders to blog. You can all really thank him for the constant updates, because just as I am forgetting to blog and thinking how long it takes to update, he reminds me how many people look at it and enjoy the pictures. Thanks for the accountability Benny!!! He has also asked me for pictures of everyday things that we see here, like the giant crows, the monkeys that sit on our balcony and the cows that make their residence on the bridge next to our house, blocking all the traffic. We are warned when we first arrive to take pictures of EVERYTHING that we think is unusual, because the longer you stay here the more "normal" things become. I have to admit this has definitely been the case. I think I have forgotten what it's like to live in America, without donkeys, cows, 100s of dogs, cats and monekys, freely roaming the city!!! I have fogotten what it's like to walk down the trash free street and not have to walk through swerage when the drains have overflown from monsoon season. I have forgotten what A.C. is, and how I used to have to carry a sweater with me, regardless of the weather outside, just to keep me warm in restaurants, stores etc. I have forgotten what a gorcery store looks like, and how you can buy EVERYTHING you need in one place. The list goes on... It is amazing to me how quickly we adapt to a place and it becomes "home". I was talking with my room mate the other day about our Thanksgiving/Christmas plans, and most people will be going to the capital to spend it with other "white" friends. I told my roomie, how disappointed I was that I might not be able to have Christmas in our "home" with our new family and friends. Maybe it's just because of my upbringing and the fact that we always had people from outside our family, join us for these holidays, but I will be really disappointed to not get to spend these holidays in our "home". This post has become a little more pensive/thought provoking that most of my others, but I am growing to love this place more and more, and right now it really does feel like home. So to let you become more familiar with our home, I have taken some pictures from around about town of the things we see everyday. The cows we see pretty much everywhere, the neat looking clouds, we've only seen during the monsoon season. Sometimes I'll wake up at 5am and there will be so much mist that I can hardly see 10feet in front of me. The dog, we call him blacky, is really mangy, but really sweet. He likes to sit right outside our gate, like a guard dog, although I don't think he actually guards us, he just uses it for shelter, during the rains! I have been trying to come up w/ ways to get rid of his mange so maybe he won't look so ill. Finally the monkeys. In the capital of our state, the monkeys are REALLY mean, they steal food from people, attack people, snarl etc etc. When we first moved here we were a little cautious of the monkeys in our area, however, I've found that if you just leave them be, they'll leave you alone also. However, if you're aggressive towards them, they will have no qualms about attacking you (as my mom found out when she tried to "shoo" one of them, and it turned around and charged her!). This particular monkey likes our neighborhood. He will often sit on our neighbors roof, or sit on our balcony, stealing our mangoes. At first I was angry at him because I wanted to eat the mangoes, but after tasting one, (they weren't the sweet kind) I figured he may as well have at it! I must say I have grown a little attached to him. This is also the same monkey that opened the door of our neighbors kitchen, then helped himself to the contents of her fridge, after having ransacked the rest of the room! Ok so I didn't say they weren't mischevious, just not as mean as other places perhaps!