Dinner in the dark...

We had a round of social engagements and entertaining last week. Josh D'Souza, a friend from STL OM Books came over for dinner Weds night and Thursday we had some American friends Athena, Paul and their son Taylor also over for dinner. Midway though eating we had a power cut, which is a fairly normal occurrence here and when candles come in handy. However we're also lucky that our building has a generator, which kicks in when the power goes off and allows us to use one light and one fan!

Was fun seeing Taylor create a play area in our normally child free apartment, we had an area dedicated to puzzles and books etc and for the first time switched on to the cartoon channel for him to watch. He's a really clever child who has picked up some of the local language Telagu, and speaks English and Spanish also. As they head back to the States his parents are aware that he will now have to adjust to life in the US, as his home has become Hyderabad.

Friday night we drove to the other side of the city for dinner at the home of our friends Rajiv and Renee, where an indoor BBQ was set up and very yummy. Gareth particularly appreciated the homemade red meat burgers. Then Sunday was church. We've started going to a new church called Pearl City, which we're excited about as they focus on community, the poor and have great music and teaching. The church, which is only nine weeks old already sees over 100 people coming and new people arrive each week. Has also got a lot of young people though the church is a mix of ages - next week I (Andi!) am attending a women's breakfast and we also hope to go to one of the 'life groups' held in a coffee shop across the city during the week.

After church we went onto Taylor's birthday party as he turned two. Held at Pizza Hut the Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh characters there to entertain the children, had most clearly seen better days. The outfits needed a good wash and brush and one child was so bemused by them he held off having a drink, which meant he would need the bathroom, which meant he would have to pass by these guys on the way to get there! Despite this it was a lot of fun and Taylor enjoyed himself. Watching the expat and Indian children dancing together to a mix of Hindi/Bollywood music, with their faces painted with either Spiderman or butterfly masks was really cute.

The monsoon is now moving towards Hyderabad and we have seen a marked difference in the weather as it has turned a bit cooler, with more rain. This is lovely as the other day working in my home office I had three power cuts, one of which lasted over an hour. When it's in the 100's and you're trying to work with no fan on or any air flow at all - a cold shower is the most pleasurable thing in the world!

Work continues to be busy for us both, but manageable with some good things being achieved and we're enjoying an extended time at home before Gareth heads to Australia and the States at the end of June.