Day 8~Bring on the Beggars

Well I figured it was too good to be true and that eventually we would get hounded and today was the day. We decided to take a trek around our area. It seems like we've been out, but really only to go to a destination and we haven't really explored what is around us, so today we went shopping in our area. Everyone has a store here. I can't fathom how every little shop owner can possibly make a profit. There is a drugstore or a jeweler or a tailor or pillow maker (the list is endless) on every single block, sometimes a few of the same stores, right in a row. Crazy!!

I found it to be funny how Mike and I are interested in different things, for example, the padlocks catch his eye every time we walk by a padlock shop, granted there are some unique gigantic padlocks, but I'm so not interested in looking at a padlock. I was just kinda like "what do you need that for?", Mike's response "I don't know, but they're cool". I suppose he could say the same about me and the jewelry, but at least I can wear jewelry.

On our way back from shopping, a trio of young girls (ages 5-9) approaches us begging for money. I'm sure their mom probably sent them to us, but I didn't see her around, so who knows. Not sure where these girls are from because all of the kids around here are in school and they all are dressed in uniforms. These little ones must be from some outside village. Anyway, Mike was gonna give them a quarter, which wouldn't have done them any good anyway, but being the hard ass that I am, I said "don't do it, you'll be asking for trouble". So, we just let them keep grabbing at us, literally grabbing at our arms with their dirty little hands, until we got back to the next block, then they turned back. Now before you all think that I am a total jerk, let me say this, I think it is more appropriate to give out extra tips to the people that are working and doing stuff for us, but with that said I do have a heart and feel bad for some of these kids, so maybe on the last day when they won't see us again or rather when we won't be a target again, maybe then we can give some money to the beggars. Anyway, we got back to our room and proceeded to scrub our hands and arms. Who knows, those kids might've been petting a sick cow or dog before they were touching us??

Later in the day we hooked up with Hitesch (pronounced hee-tesch, in case you've been pronouncing it wrong, like I had been at first) and went to the C9. The interesting thing at the C9 tonight is the construction that is going on next door. Now the buildings that they have here are massive concrete complexes, it's not just shacks in the city. It's all done old school here, all by manual labor and I do mean manual. We watched in awe from an upper window at the C9. One woman, shovels the rock/sand into a big bowl and then she hoists it up on her shoulder and goes and throws it in one of those huge mixers, then after it is mixed and comes out the shoot, a man shovels it into another big bowl (I'm talking huge bowls that are bigger than what you are probably thinking). After he puts it in the bowl, he hands it to another woman, who then hoists it onto her head and walks with it to the guys on the ladder. The ladder guys then pass it up to the top ladder dude, who then pours it into the support column structure. This process is repeated and the next thing ya know, ya got a building, wow!

Another day down, how may more to go?? We'll find out where we are for egg retrieval on Monday. We are ahead of schedule at this point, so it's looking like Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Day 7~Half Way Home, Well Almost

Surprisingly, I'm not really that homesick, probably because I've been sleeping more on this trip it seems than I have for my entire existence. OK, so I know that is an exaggeration, but I really have slept good through the nights and I never do that at home, so that's a plus.

Anywhoooo, today was a regular injection day, tomorrow will be a check up. It will be this way from here on out, an every other kind of day deal, unless we decide to venture out somewhere on an overnight trip, then Dr. Patel can delay the check up and I would do my own injections. Actually Mike would because I don't do needles. We are thinking about doing an overnighter to Udaipur, the city of lakes. We met a woman in the dress shop today who was passing through and stopped to visit Dr. Patel. She had twin girls 3 years ago with the help of Dr. Patel. She told us to get out of this ugly city (her words, not mine) for a night and go to Udaipur because it is beautiful and romantic. She said it is really worth treating yourself to see some of the areas in India that are beautiful. So we might just do that. We are going to talk to Hitesch some more about it. We have a day trip planned with Jen and her husband to Ahmedabad sometime next week, so we'll just have to see what comes of it.

I totally feel like Jen has taken us under her wing. She knew Mike had been sick and offered pretty much anything that they could do. Her husband is a surgeon (which he tries to downplay all the time, if I were a surgeon, you'd know it, c'mon all that studying, I'd make sure everyone knew I was a doctor) so obviously he has a medical background and she told us to call if we needed anything at all. So sweet.

In the afternoon when Mike was feeling a bit better, we decided to go to the ATM, ooooh, big trip out of the hotel room. Well the trip to the ATM was cut short by Mike's urgency to use the bathroom IMMEDIATELY. He ran back to the room, so we were stuck there for a bit. Finally, he thought he could make a trip out, so we headed to the ATM and then to the dress shop, Calison. I figured I should bring one dress back, so we went to Calison on Hitesch's recommendation. I picked out a really pretty white/silver/aqua dress and will go back for it in 2 days. No, I'm not gonna start wearing Indian garb, this is more of a dressy dress that I could actually wear for a special occasion or something.

After our big trip out, it was back to the room for lunch and then to the C9 gym with Hitesch. We've kind of just attached ourselves to him. He's cool with it and invites us, so we take him up on the offers or maybe he didn't realized that when he offered, we actually would take him up on it. Anyway, he really does seem ok with it.

Just a few random things that I may or may not have already written, but I don't want to forget.

The weather~Absolutely Awesome!! It is their winter and it is perfect. 80 and no humidity. We are here during the best time of the year, hence all those obnoxious weddings. Have I mentioned that I loathe weddings?? What started off as something really spectacular to see has come to be something that I truly don't give a rat's ass about! Oh and it is really funny to see these guys wearing earmuffs and big sweaters because it's cold out. Too funny.

Food~The cheapest I have seen anywhere. We eat lunch at the hotel for about $1.20 and it really could feed 3. Our expensive dinner at the Hungry Jungle was $13 and that was with 2 drinks, 2 entrees, an appetiser and plenty of sides.

People~Really nice. Almost all of the locals smile, even though they do stare out of curiosity. Other people we have met that are here for the same thing are great too. We have met people from the all over the US, the UK, Nigeria and who knows where else. Dr. Patel's clinic brings people from all walks of life. Everyday that we go to the clinic, we commune to this small room and share experiences, stories, and whatnot. It is something that I will never forget.

Day 6~Another Mundane Day

Had my check up today, all is well. Will have another one in 2 days. Both Mike and I were put on antibiotics. It's just a precautionary measure. They don't want you getting sick around transfer day. However, Mike was already sick today. He had a fever and chills, so we just hung out in the room. Really quite boring.

Since I don't want to bore you and write a bunch of crap, I'll just touch on one thing......
WEDDINGS!! Have I mentioned weddings, of course I have, because that's what goes on every night. Have I mentioned that I have come to HATE WEDDINGS!! I probably haven't stated that yet, but I have started to hate them. They are seriously obnoxious, loud, over-the-top celebrations over here. We had a wedding march that went on for oh about 3 hours outside of our hotel. Right in the alley where I watch the cows eat trash every morning. The wedding marching band is sooooo loud, but I could maybe almost handle that along with the chanting and dancing, but it's the mortar style fireworks that get to me every time. I hope that is the last wedding that takes place around our hotel. I don't know if I can take it for too many nights in a row. Plus I think most of the wedding party is staying at the Rama too, so they were super loud and obnoxious when they got back. How is there not any alcohol involved in these celebrations?? People are like this stone sober??? I say this because we are in a "dry" state, so people don't drink here and from what we've seen, they really don't. We haven't seen any smokers either. If I had to live here, I'd probably be a chain smoking alcoholic. FOR REALZ.

Day 5~We meet our Surrogate & Make some Friends

Started the day off with our usual breakfast at the hotel. An omelet and toast. I swear to God tomorrow that I will switch it up and get the hard boiled egg instead. Another couple invited us to sit with them. A very tall cute skinny blond girl that looks like she could be a model. Like a real model, I'm not just saying it. Almost makes me wanna not like her right then and there, but she is absolutely the sweetest person. Her name is Jen and I have yet to be able to pronounce her husbands name, so I won't try and spell it on here. Anyway, she is originally from North Dakota and he lived there as well, but he's from Mexico. They live in California now and have been dealing with the heart break of multiple miscarriages. She has had 5 herself and they've lost 3 through surrogacy here, the last one at 34 weeks. Dr. Patel said that was the first time that a pregnancy has gone on that long, only to give way to a stillbirth. I totally feel bad for this couple, but she is so upbeat and personable that you can hardly tell she has been dealing with this kind of stuff. After breakfast we head to the clinic.

Today was the big day to meet our surrogate. We met in Dr. Hitesch's office, a separate office from the clinic. As we sat and waited for our surrogate to arrive, Hitesch tells me that Tara is a popular name here and it means "stars". Pretty cool, if ya ask me. Anyway, our surrogate arrived. She is 5'2" and looks to be in good shape from what I can tell under all the garb. Her name is Joshpina, a name I can actually pronounce. She is a widow and is doing this to be able to put her kids through school. She has a 16 yr old son and a 11 yr old daughter. She lives with her mother in law and is a paediatric nurse. Everything about her seems great. She is on the upper end of the age for surrogates as she is 37, but she is a picture of health and really understands this process, especially since she is a nurse that works around it. We took a few pics with her, thanked her and said goodbye. We'll see her again on transfer day.

We arranged to go with Hitesch to the C9 gym at 5:30 pm, so we head back to the hotel to rest. Jen called and asked if we wanted to go to the Big Bazaar with them, so we took them up on their offer. There really isn't much to do than go to the Big Bazaar, at least not today, so off we go. It was way better today than on the weekend. Way more mellow. I guess it's the same all over the world with weekends and shopping.

After the Bazaar, it's back to the room to nap until we meet Hitesch. We meet up with him and head to the C9. It's like our Anytime Fitness. A very nice facility amongst run down buildings. That's the way it is all over here though. We got a small workout in. I can't do anything too strenuous, but walking on the treadmill and some light weights are fine. Hitesch said we can meet him everyday at 5:30 to hitch a ride with him to the gym. I can hardly believe that I am actually looking forward to going to the gym each day. Who am I?? Well boredom will drive you to crazy things, I guess.

We took a tuktuk back to the hotel after the gym. This was probably the funniest part of our day. First off, Mike (and I say it's Mike's job to do that, cuz he's the guy) didn't negotiate a price with the driver before hand, which you should really do, but we know what the price range from this distance usually is, 40-60 rupees. So when we get to the Rama, the driver says 220 rupees, we were both like "no way". The driver starts getting all revved up, Mike is saying "I give you 50", it's going back and forth. Mike doesn't have change at this point and doesn't want to hand him a 100 because he knows he will take off. Our hotel doorman comes over to help us out and next thing ya know, he's calling over more guys. It was like a gang of 6 guys on our side against the driver, who was still arguing and God only know what he was saying about us, but our guys still stuck up for us and our doorman took Mike's 100 and went and made change down the block. We gave the driver 50 and he swore at us and took off. You probably had to be there, but it was pretty funny and pretty awesome that all those guys that didn't know us were sticking up for us.

Off to bed for the night. I have an ultrasound tomorrow. Hopefully it will bring good news.

Day 4~Madhubhan Resort

Started the day off with meeting Dr. Hitesh, that would be Dr. Patel's husband. He's basically the go to guy for anything. For lack of better words, he is her bitch. Is that bad to say? I don't mean it in a bad way, but it is what it is. She's like the Goddess and he's doing all the grunt work for her. By the way, he is awesome!! Super cool and can get all your needs met. He is tour guide, money guy, shopping master and can get deals on whatever you need. He set us up with a map of places to go and places to eat (bring on the NON VEG joints this week) and set us up with a deal for Madhubhan Resort.

Madhubhan Resort is their creme de la creme of hotels. It is s a luxury resort that I suspect mostly out of towners stay at. Absolutley gorgeous place. Kind of strange going from broken down shanties, which are all along the road to get to Madhubhan, to this paradise. We had their buffet lunch, which did have some chicken dishes on it, and then spent the day by the pool. So relaxing and beautiful. Finally, this feels somewhat like a vacation, at least for the day. I'd write more about what we are eating, but I honestly don't know what we are eating. I took pics and will post on FB. Some stuff is good, some stuff not so much. I've found that avoiding anything that looks like tofu in green sauce is probably in ones best interest.

Our tuktuk driver came and got us at 7 and we headed back. It was actually a pretty enjoyable ride. Fireworks everywhere from the numerous weddings. I think weddings go on every night during this month (wedding season). Not everyone here is destitute. The ones with money have some pretty elaborate weddings. Lights, flowers, marching bands and lots of glitz. Pretty sweet.

Finally back to the hotel to watch Finding Nemo. We almost made it to our bedtime goal of staying up til 9, but fell short a little. Sleeping by 8:30.

We meet our surrogate tomorrow. Exciting & nerve racking.

Day 3~Slow Goes It

This will be short and sweet because it was a slow day. Sundays are a day of rest around here. Very quiet on the streets. We asked if it was their religious day, but were told no, it's just "relax day". After driving on the streets all week, I get why they need "relax day".

We wanted to check out the Chocolate Room, so we headed there for lunch, only to be told that the power was out and wouldn't be back on til 3 :( So we headed to the Big Bazaar, basically because we didn't know where else to go. I immediately did not want to go in. It's like Walmart on the weekend, except 100 times worse. Almost like Black Friday, but maybe just a little bit better and we all know what Black Friday can reduce me to(a common thief). After words with Mike outside this crazy place, I caved and went in. We got a few things and got the hell outta there. *Note* we have not made it to the upper floors of the Big Bazaar yet, I know Mike will want to go back. God, help me through it.

After hanging around the room for the afternoon, we decided to go back to The Chocolate Room for a snack in the evening. This is located on the cool kids side of town. There's definitely a difference from the area that we are staying. Many girls in jeans and cute shirts. Lots of American music blaring and just more of a "mall" type of feeling. I broke my cardinal rule of never drinking any milk product in a foreign country and had a ChocoLite shake. Leave it to the American girl to have to order the "lite" item and make them have to run out for ingredients. I would have changed my order if I knew that ahead of time. I don't know if the "lite" cocoa powder and milk will help when I broke down and bought a piece of the Chocolate Swiss Cake that I have yet to dig into.

That's it for Day 3. Pretty slow, but I've got a lot of reading in. I hope I brought enough books with. 2 down, 4 to go.

Day 2~We Venture Out

So let me start by saying that I am totally grateful for what I have and what I'm able to do, so if I ever sound whiney or like I'm b*$%ing about anything in here, it's just me venting. I figure I can make this a cathartic type of thing, since I don't have my usuals to talk to on a daily basis........

I was up all night, but got a few hours of sleep in the morning. I awoke to the sound of people chanting their mantra's outside somewhere in this big city. Went to take a look out our hotel room window, to see people dumping their trash in the vacant lot below. There is so much trash around, I had wondered earlier if they had land mines or anything for garbage, apparently it's in our backyard. Anyway, I left the window for a bit and then Mike looked out and there was a big fire back there. So I guess they do take care of their trash by burning it. Later, enter the cows, who are back there eating the burnt trash, grass etc.

Clinic in the morning, then off to the Big Bazaar. It's their version of Walmart. Just a small bit of info, India is currently fighting to keep Walmart out of their country. They don't want to see the big box store derail what economy they do have. I see their point, but I do wonder if it would create some jobs for these people. I can't imagine having nothing to do, but sit around on the streets day in and day out. Well they must have homes, at least around this block because we don't see people laying around at night. Our hotel manager tells us that Anand is a very safe place, even at night. We really have nothing to go on, but what he says, but everyone does seem pretty harmless and if we were to get jumped, I think I could take most of these people.

So the Big Bazaar is a 40rs tuktuk ride away. That's about 80 cents for the ride of your life across town. They take your bags before you enter the Big Bazaar and the guy taking ours asked where we were from because he figured we were Americans. He said he lived in New York for a few years and loved America and New York was the greatest city. I don't blame anyone for wanting to be in the US, we really do have it made for the most part. I know that's not the case for everyone, but this place is beyond compare to any place I've see in the US or Mexico.

We had our first beggar outside the Big Bazaar. A really old woman. Felt a little guilty about not handing her anything, but once you do that you are swarmed, so we just say, sorry no and move on.

For dinner, we went to the Hungry Jungle, one of the few places that serve meat. It's decorated in an all jungle theme, with tables painted in zebra, tiger and cheetah style. Really cool looking place. We were the only ones there, so we had servers hanging around by our table at all times, which would be awkward at home, but I think they are just so curious about us. We seriously get stared at everywhere we go. We have met some other couples from America that are here for the same thing with Dr. Patel, but even they haven't been white. I think the people here are just are taken aback by us.

Oh and it's wedding season here and so this Sat. night there was lots of action going on. We didn't venture out on the streets after dinner, just observed on our tuktuk ride back to the hotel. Fireworks all around town, a carnival, marching bands, packed hotels, and endless people.