Today

was lovely weather. We got our first winter rain last night (including thunder and lightning), so it was cold in the morning, beautifully clear and sunny, with nice air and no fog. M. tells me that now cold and flu season is over, once the rain comes, cleans everything out, and announces that the weather has fully shifted. I told him that sounded good. "I'm Pakistani," he said. "I know." Here's hoping!

The fog here is pea soup. Like London before somebody-or-other passed environmental regulations, the smoke and pollution combines with early winter moisture into truly monumental stuff. I have never seen fog like this, not anywhere I've been. Monday morning we were driving to school and literally got lost in the fog for about ten minutes. That's right in the middle of the road, folks--lost. School Driver Sahib had to get out and walk around for a couple of minutes to orient himself before we crawled onward. Our route has since been revised, but if my colleagues are correct there should be far less fog now--at least for awhile.

In other news, we are finishing up day 5 with no hot water, and today there was no gas either, making cooking on a gas stove, well, difficult. The apple for a Plan B breakfast was less than filling, but I had an excuse to get beef kebab at a local restaurant for dinner tonight. Yummy. The water thing happens often, but this has been quite a long stretch, so Roomie went down to nag the front office staff at our apartment complex the other day. It is damn cold to be showering in cold water (Dehli may be hovering in the low 80s farenheit, but The Lovely City is not), especially in a house made of concreate with two-inch gaps between the bathroom window and the exterior wall. (S. swears up and down he's coming with netting and plastic sheeting tomorrow morning. We'll see if he makes it this week, as he promised the same thing the last two weeks.)

Anyway, the apartment management has told us in the past that the reason the hot water disappears about every week or so is that the water heaters are on the roof and have no insulation or shelter from the dropping temperature, so even if the pilot light is going strong, the water can't stay hot. You might ask what is being done about that, now that December is upon us. You might. Today it was my turn to nag management, and they told me that the gas was out due to load-shedding. You may remember this term from the summer, when the electric company was load-shedding. Now it's the gas company's turn. And water heaters with no gas? That's right. I'm kind of wondering when it will be possible to cook again (or bathe). I don't really like cooking, but I do have that cabbage I wanted to steam.

The Littles were cute today, as usual. Pumpkin was doing some of her favorite tricks: making goofball faces and doing her yuk-it-up chuckle, in which she twists her mouth into a tooth-bearing grin and laughs silently while shrugging her upper body up and down like a vaudeville comedian. She actually does this to clown, it's not her natural laugh. She's four.

Sweetie was his usual charming self: full of ideas, discussion topics, and general ingenuity. We've been learning about community helpers and fire safety this week, so I busted out the fire hats for Free Play, and Little Sweetie had a great time dancing around in his helmet, pretending to squirt water on a "fire" at the language arts table. When I got back from a quick trip to the restroom Sweetie called out, "We saved Philosophical T.A.! There was a fire, and we put water on her!" Well, thank goodness. "Did she Stop, Drop, and Roll?" I asked. "Yes, she laid down and she turn and turn!" Way to go, Philosophical T.A.!

Meanwhile, Little Darlin' continued his latest trend of doing everything Little Sweetie does. He worships that boy. Even puts an S at the end of his name because it's the first letter in Sweetie. (Darlin' knows how to write his own name correctly. He'll write out D-a-r-l-i-n' and then say, "And 'S' also!") Fortunately, Sweetie reciprocates Darlin's friendship. On Wednesday he brought a card to class that said, "I love Miss Pidgeon, I love Philosophical T.A., I love Little Darlin'." He also made Darlin' his own card on black construction paper. (L.D. loves to color with black marker--mostly to annoy the Pak Studies teacher, who tries to get him to branch out.) Sweetie was so excited and kept saying how much he thought Little Darlin' would like the card because it is black and L.D. likes black.

I'm glad they had a good day today because yesterday I had to cancel our planned field trip to one of The Lovely City's monuments. It was all arranged, but Major Sahib had talked to the chief of police in the area, who thought there might be political rallies before the January elections. I don't think there were any, but I can't exactly ignore the Major Sahib's security recommendation with three small children in tow. I tried to make it up to the Littles yesterday by cancelling nap and letting them paint instead.

Tomorrow is Christmas shopping for the family. It will be the first time I won't be with them for the holiday, which is kind of weird, but I'll be sending some stuff over. I'm looking forward to choosing gifts. In that vein, Roomie wants a Christmas tree for our apartment. Lights shouldn't be a problem, but a tree? Where the heck are we going to get that? I wonder if the local Christian community celebrates by decorating trees. I know it's a global religion and all, but perhaps the German customs of which Americans are so fond have not made it quite all teh way around the world? Then again, I'm sure the British missionaries were happy enough to bring tree decorating with them through the Empire. So we'll see. I wouldn't, ordinarily, but Roomie's never had one and she says it will be fun, which it will. A Muslim and a Jew in Pakistan with a Christmas tree. Now there's a thought . . . . Of course most of the population will be observing Jinnah's birthday on that day, so it could get pretty ecclectic around here. Turns out Roomie's family and my family both take a driving tour of our respective cities to look at lights during the Christmas season, so we agreed to go out on the 24th and look at shadi lights together--they're the small white lights that decorate wedding tents, which are especially numerous this time of year. So, some things remain the same after all.

Speaking of upcoming holidays, Chanukah starts on the fourth, so I'll also be trying to improvise a menorah this weekend. I'm thinking a nice glass tray from the upscale homewares shop near us, and 44 tealights. If that doesn't work out, I'll head over to the departmental store (as they're called here) for a plastic ice cube tray and 44 birthday candles. I could've brought my menorah--it's not as though anyone searched my luggage--but I wasn't sure how that one would go over, especially if it did get picked up on the xray. Probably overly cautious of me. Oh well, I like a little non-traditional holiday-making now and again. As for the food, I don't know what the Quiet Jews of Pakistan eat this season, but the usual thing is to fry stuff (8 days of oil, etc.), which will not be a problem at all. No, sir. Still working on contacting said Quiet Jews, but I don't know who they are or if I can manage a trip to the nearest congregation. (I'm told there's one around somewhere but i don't know how to get there. Also, the Shabbat of Chanuakkah is the same night as Roomie's cousin's wedding.)

I miss praying with other people. Guess I'm going to have to learn salat. That would be cool, actually, but then again, Jumma is attended almost exclusively by men over here, so there goes that. Any of you readers who pray, maybe you could let me know if you're on a prayer chain or something? Or send me a scripture verse now and then? (Any sacred text you use will do nicely.)

My, it's rather late. Well I'm off to bed. Sweet dreams everybody, and hugs from me.