So it seems Johnny's emergency toe amputation was not enough... he is off to hospital this week to have half his foot removed. Hopefully this time he will be given anesthetic! I am a bit nervous for him going to the village hospital, he is likely to lose more than half his foot. The funny thing is he seems so unperturbed by the whole thing. I don't think I would be so relaxed about a second amputation after his experience let alone a first one.

So let me think, what else have we been up to. Well I have a story to tell that I am not too proud of. It all started when a bad smell started in the kitchen and was getting worse and worse. We could not work out where it was coming from. The garbage had all been taken out and there was no rotting fruit in the fruit bowl and no food scraps hidden anywhere obvious. Then suddenly it hit me. I remembered that the pipe that drains the sink does not lead to anywhere... it just dangles into the cupboard below and the water spills onto the floor and runs into a floor waste with a grill on it. So you can imagine my fear as I opened the cupboard to see what horrendous festering mess I was going to find. Well, it was far worse than you could have imagined... it looked like sludgy vomit with mould growing in places... oh the smell. There was no way I was going to be able to clean that up without adding to it and I doubted I could pay the kids enough. So, when the floor cleaning lady arrived the next morning I asked in my very poor hindi if she or someone she new would come and clean it up for 100 rupees (perspective ... she is at my place for 20 minute or so 6 days a week and gets paid 450 rupees a month. So I offered 100 for an awful 5 minute job) she took one look at it and said 200 rupees and I did not hesitate to agree.

My only dilemma now is how do I stop it from happening again..

On Tuesday afternoon the ashram celebrated its 10th anniversary by having a fun afternoon of games followed by a special meal. It was an amazing time starting with a quiz and some team building exercises such as a group of people passing a person along over their heads.... I have some great photos which I will upload (one day).

For the kids there was egg and spoon races... or I should say egg and lime races as well as wheelchair races.

One of the highlights was an Indian game which was like a cross between rugby and dodgeball but without a ball. Great fun and a laugh to watch. Apparently it is a televised sport here in India.

For dinner that night we had a special meal that included hot chips and papadams along with a lamb curry and palak paneer...it was so good.

The Delaney's joined us for the afternoon which was nice for the boys so they could join in the fun. I spoke about the Delaney's in one of my blog postings from our last trip. They live in a slum in East Delhi. They all eat, sleep and live in one small room with no plumbing. Their room is on the third floor so they have to collect their water and carry it up to bathe, and go down stairs to the neighbors for the toilet. They do an amazing job working as advocates for the people of their colony making sure they get access to the services they are entitled to such as ration cards, widows pensions and hospital care. Many people would miss out on these rights simply because they are intimidated or are dismissed by those in charge.

It is amazing the medical cases that get looked over here. Just today Sarin one of the ashram staff was outside a public hospital and a man was lying in the street with all sorts of injuries and sickness. Sarin picked him up in the ashram ambulance to bring him to the ashram for initial review and care but he died in the ambulance on the way... can you imagine if people where left to die outside Australian hospitals.

On a lighter note Sam had baseball training tonight so on our way to training we stopped by Connaught Place to post the kids homeschool work back to Australia. This would have to be one of my least favorite jobs... the post office is chaos and each week they make up new rules. This week after waiting in the queue (read fighting for our place in the crush around the counter) they wanted a photocopy of our passport... there was no way we were going to head out of there to find somewhere to get a photo copy and fight our way back to the counter again. Thankfully Ray was there this time and he made them take the parcels without the photocopy. After the post office saga the kids and I were waiting around for Ray to get off the phone (as usual - nothing has changed) before we hoped in a rickshaw to the embassy for baseball training. While we were waiting Sam and I were getting a bit peckish so we thought we would try some street food. We started with some potato cooked over hot coals which were then peeled and diced and flavoured with spices and lemon juice.... sooo good and only cost 25c. Next we tried this other weird concoction which tasted like rice bubbles mixed with beans, lentils, spicy sauce of some sort and a bunch of other unrecognisable stuff... once again delicious... So we had a bargain afternoon tea/meal for 60 cents. Ask me if I still think it was delicious tomorrow!

Ok... its getting late now... will save some news for next time. oh, and don't forget Hunter has a blog as well... There is a link to the right

Cya