Welcome back to This is India! I always have funny/weird stories about India to share with friends or family when I talk to them. This is just meant to be an honest portrayal about my life in India through short anecdotes. I also share here what I’ve been up to online outside Hippie in Heels.

What I was up to other than here:

This week has been a final push to get things done before my friend Ann comes so that for 2 weeks I don’t have to do anything and can hang out with her.
I’ve just read [easyazon_link identifier=”1101983795″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]Wildflowers[/easyazon_link] a memoir by Drew Barrymore. It was mehhh.
Ben was away for work most of the week but now he’s back just in time for the car to break down and A/C to go out :D Always good to have him here with things stop working lol.
The money situation here (I wrote about last week) hasn’t changed. I stood in line for an hour for money, and Ben went before that and stood in line 30 minutes (twice). You can only take out $35 and the guards watch. You can’t do two transactions. Okay, I did though because I’m super sneaky. Cash is problem. We’ll see what happens. I know a lot of tourists are freaking out because they are emailing me, freaking out.

So here’s what I did this week…

Ben and I took Omni and Shanti to the beach. The love car rides. Omni literally is terrified of the ocean though and fully panics. We know he likes the journey and excitement and would be devastated to be left at home.

They are doing roadwork by our house. This is what road work looks like:

They have to take these rocks and bust them up with sledge hammers. Girls and guys do this work, not just men. They carry the rocks on their heads in buckets. Once it’s all chopped off they drive over it with a roller and then dump tar on it. Not sure what else!

They went through and dug those trenches for something.. and then that was it. Roadwork finished. But they didn’t make that driveway. They just left it so people’s driveways didn’t meet the road and had trenches between! You have to pay yourself to get it paved so you can actually use a driveway.

The nice Bolero is back at Ben’s job site so we only have the Omni. I love driving it!

But, a few days ago we were driving and heard a hissing noise. Then smoke. In normal cars, the smoke comes from the front hood (because the engine is there) but we sit on the engine- so the smoke comes up from under us. It was a LOT of smoke. We stopped and added water to the radiator because it was really hot and we hadn’t done it in a while. It didn’t work though.

For now, it’s just sitting. Getting it repaired is on my list. Just last week, I got new brake pads and charged the battery. It would seem like a money dump but it’s really inexpensive to do most repairs.

The gas ran out in the stove which means you have to take the old cylinder and trade it in for a new one. It’s 500 Rs. ($8) and it lasts for maybe 6 months. This is what the gas place looks like. You have to take a form with you for proof of identity.

I’ve been running to tailor a lot too getting stuff upholstered in the house.

And I’ve been finishing up the cabinets Ben was doing.

The drill is old school and you put in the drill bit with that twisty screw pictured below so it stays in. The first time I did it I didn’t screw it hard enough so the bit got stuck in the cabinet. I tried to pull it out but I didn’t know the bit would be hot and I burnt myself! But in the end, they are finally done!

Ben climbed up on this bike… which I guess it note-worthy lol

Above is what my take out looks like.. It’s chicken garlic gravy & malai chicken tikka with some salad and paratha.. what I always order for delivery!

Next week I’ll share some photos of the finished house!