A dose of India = a dose of honesty

I'll be honest tonight.

If I had a twitter update to give you it would say something like "I'm cursing like a PG sailor". Well, not really. I am only saying "freakin" as an adjective about every OTHER word.

Our new life here has SO many adjustments that waves, sometimes Tsunami's of "culture shock" come crashing in. Pretty sudden, sometimes feirce. This one's a mildly sized wave. I'm not quite sure how it snuck up on me. It's not like I am not happy. Josiah and I are doing very well. We joke and laugh throughout the day. We are more affectionate than we were in the states because any affection is forbidden outside of our home. It's nice.

But India still wears on me. At least when I get heavy doses of culture that clash with my own. I find myself thinking "This NEVER happens in America." I know, that sounds pretty ethnocentrically snotty. But it's true. And that is one thing about this culture that I will embrace, people will tell the truth even when it sounds horrifically rude or blunt. And they will ask ANYTHING.

How much did you pay for your new fridge?
Why doesn't your kid like me?
How much money do you make?
What kind of birth control do you use?
Why won't you pay me more?

and the list goes on.

But to give a "buffered edge" I will coat my complaints in the context of "You know your in India when..."

1. You know your in India when you order three pieces of furniture to be delivered today at 5pm and they come at 9:30 pm three days later.
2. You know your in India when the newly arrived furniture arrives all beat up from the rickshaw ride over.
3. You know your in India when only 2 out of the three pieces of furniture arrive and one of them is not the color you ordered.
4. You know your India when the managers says it will be promptly delivered tomorrow morning, only for tomorrow be a holiday and no one shows up, and you have to call back and ask about it 3 days later.
5. You know your in India when the delivery boy wants you pay a delivery fee AND a fee to carry it into your house (even though he brought it up an elevator most of the way).
These next one's may surprise you...
6. You know your in India when you are wearing 3 pears of pants, 2 pairs of socks, 3 shirts and a down jacket under your 3 blankets in bed because it's in the mid to upper 40's in your bedroom because there is no insulation or heating system.
7. You know your in India when your husband has to go buy three space heaters because the low tonight will be 38 degrees.
8. You know your in India when they get plugged in and start heating up the room, the circut box overloads and catches fire and all your power goes out and your newly bought heaters are useless.
9. You know you are in India when you are not surprised because everything else in your house seems to malfunction within the first week of moving in.
10. You know you are in India when you fall alseep every night to the sound of street dogs barking and howling for a few hours.

Those are most of the reasons why I am feeling "short fused" tonight(except that my fuse box in real life just melted). I just had one too many straws that broke this camels back.

Stay tuned for when I am over it and I have a list that shares with you the things I love about India. Because, if I'm being honest here, I do love things about India.