Are we all staying on track with our new years goals and resolutions or have we started to forget what they were?
Office Challenges
When we were called to serve a mission in India, we were told it was English speaking. Since then we have found language to be a challenge, especially when talking on the phone.
Vasanth in the Service Center is invaluable in his help with the mission tasks. Occasionally, I move over and have him sit in my chair. He helps talk to property owners that we lease from and many others.
Here's a video clip example...
According to the government of India there are over 1600 languages/dialects in India. In our mission there are 5 main languages spoken: English (with various difficult to understand accents), Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. Many that we have met say they can speak 3 or 4 of these languages... amazing.
We stock "The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ" books in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi and of course English but no Kannada yet.
My cousin Bob Priddis, a prior Mission Finance Secretary, is sometimes quoted here in India. Sister Briggs, one of the Senior Couples serving in India said, "Elder Priddis said that if India was his first mission, it would have been his last". Bob and Annette Priddis served prior missions in Japan, including helping as office couple.
We found this picture on our computer of the Priddis's opening a farewell gift in the mission office last May.
Power goes out often. Sometimes we go back to our apartment to get some work done. Our internet seems to go out sometimes in the office. It rarely goes out at our apartment.
Sister Martin's biggest challenge is helping the foreign missionaries register with the government when they arrive and when they move to a different location. It's an ongoing concern and endless paperwork. She even dreams about it sometimes, waking up worried about the missionaries when they don't receive the documents needed in a timely manner.
Baking Challenges
With different ingredients and appliances we often find it difficult to make meals that we are use to eating, especially when it comes to baking. I love to make Curry Chicken with Rice and vegetables which is great in India, but some things don't work too well.
We enjoy having Sister Kannagi come in twice a week to cook and clean for us which really helps a lot. She makes great local India dishes and other recipe varieties.
Baking with a toaster oven is a big challenge when you have always used a big oven. We even tried using the Microwave oven below, which has a convection oven setting. Sounds really good until you start to bake with it. Either oven often results in a disaster.
Banana bread, overdone on the outside, gooey on the inside.
Sometimes I wonder if using a child's Easy Bake oven with the light bulb heating element might be easier.
Making my Chocolate Chip cookies is another challenge.
Not only are the ingredients different, but the uneven cooking temperature constantly requires experimentation. No good Chocolate chips on the shelf in India so we just break up chocolate bars. The chocolate chips online were tiny ones and they just don't taste that good.
One fun cooking experience was my first time cooking with mustard seed the other day. Southern India cooking often includes Mustard Seeds. So, I put some yellow seeds in a frying pan with oil. After a couple of minutes the seeds all started jumping out of the pan like popcorn. I quickly added some rice and fried it up. Quite yummy. We mixed it in with other leftovers as well. Sister Martin added more salt as usual.
About once every week or two the sink clogs up and we have to use a plunger to make it drain again. No Liquid Plumber or Drano in India that we've found.
No garbage disposal or dishwasher.
Success...These rolls tasted good with butter and jam even though they didn't rise much.
The refrigerator is about half the size as ones we enjoy back home.
The washer works well. It's out on our balcony.
The dryer is an interesting set up. We open the sliding door and the vent hose goes against the screen door. Gotta keep those mosquitoes out.
Well, we can always turn to cereal in the morning. It's pretty good if you like non-refrigerated box milk, right off the shelf.
We rarely do, but sometimes you just give up and go out to dinner. They have a Chilli's restaurant nearby. Staring at that computer screen too long.
Office Challenges
When we were called to serve a mission in India, we were told it was English speaking. Since then we have found language to be a challenge, especially when talking on the phone.
Vasanth in the Service Center is invaluable in his help with the mission tasks. Occasionally, I move over and have him sit in my chair. He helps talk to property owners that we lease from and many others.
Here's a video clip example...
According to the government of India there are over 1600 languages/dialects in India. In our mission there are 5 main languages spoken: English (with various difficult to understand accents), Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. Many that we have met say they can speak 3 or 4 of these languages... amazing.
We stock "The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ" books in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi and of course English but no Kannada yet.
My cousin Bob Priddis, a prior Mission Finance Secretary, is sometimes quoted here in India. Sister Briggs, one of the Senior Couples serving in India said, "Elder Priddis said that if India was his first mission, it would have been his last". Bob and Annette Priddis served prior missions in Japan, including helping as office couple.
Power goes out often. Sometimes we go back to our apartment to get some work done. Our internet seems to go out sometimes in the office. It rarely goes out at our apartment.
Sister Martin's biggest challenge is helping the foreign missionaries register with the government when they arrive and when they move to a different location. It's an ongoing concern and endless paperwork. She even dreams about it sometimes, waking up worried about the missionaries when they don't receive the documents needed in a timely manner.
Baking Challenges
With different ingredients and appliances we often find it difficult to make meals that we are use to eating, especially when it comes to baking. I love to make Curry Chicken with Rice and vegetables which is great in India, but some things don't work too well.
We enjoy having Sister Kannagi come in twice a week to cook and clean for us which really helps a lot. She makes great local India dishes and other recipe varieties.
Baking with a toaster oven is a big challenge when you have always used a big oven. We even tried using the Microwave oven below, which has a convection oven setting. Sounds really good until you start to bake with it. Either oven often results in a disaster.
Banana bread, overdone on the outside, gooey on the inside.
Sometimes I wonder if using a child's Easy Bake oven with the light bulb heating element might be easier.
Making my Chocolate Chip cookies is another challenge.
 |
| Brown Sugar just isn't quite the same |
 |
| Flour seems to be pretty close to what we're used to |
Not only are the ingredients different, but the uneven cooking temperature constantly requires experimentation. No good Chocolate chips on the shelf in India so we just break up chocolate bars. The chocolate chips online were tiny ones and they just don't taste that good.
 |
| The cookies were pretty good but not great. |
One fun cooking experience was my first time cooking with mustard seed the other day. Southern India cooking often includes Mustard Seeds. So, I put some yellow seeds in a frying pan with oil. After a couple of minutes the seeds all started jumping out of the pan like popcorn. I quickly added some rice and fried it up. Quite yummy. We mixed it in with other leftovers as well. Sister Martin added more salt as usual.About once every week or two the sink clogs up and we have to use a plunger to make it drain again. No Liquid Plumber or Drano in India that we've found.
No garbage disposal or dishwasher.
The refrigerator is about half the size as ones we enjoy back home.
The washer works well. It's out on our balcony.
The dryer is an interesting set up. We open the sliding door and the vent hose goes against the screen door. Gotta keep those mosquitoes out.
Well, we can always turn to cereal in the morning. It's pretty good if you like non-refrigerated box milk, right off the shelf.
We rarely do, but sometimes you just give up and go out to dinner. They have a Chilli's restaurant nearby. Staring at that computer screen too long.
We had a great salad and buffalo burgers with fries. Pretty good.
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