Karen's battles

While I am enjoying the cooler weather and the house help at my nice apartment in Gurgaon, Karen got left behind to take care of all my stuff. There has been a lot going on at home and she gets to do it all by herself. She says its probably a good thing that I am half way around the world so that I cannot be hurt. She says hormones are part of what is making her feel like doing physical harm to me! A regular move is stressful, you can imagine what a move to the other side of the world is like.
To further clarify the yard sale idea, the paper never did get the information right. First they had messed up the street and then they didn't correct the date, so it was messed up from start to finish. Because she had to rent the pavilion twice to do the sale, she worked a deal with the lady to do some weedeating around the pavilion after it was all over instead of paying another $100. This turned into a major operation with her being given a large, heavy weedeater and this 7 foot tall ornamental grass was tough and hard to get at. Three hours later, with a sore back, sore legs, sore arms and not being used to physical labor and completely exhausted, she was done. But that night she woke up in the middle of the night with her fingers so swollen she had to hurriedly take her rings off and her fingers are still misshapen!
On the positive side, we had a hearing a couple of weeks ago about my filing for unemployment after my employer cancelled my health insurance at the beginning of the last month that I worked there. I thought that was uncalled for so I filed unemployment and got paid for the last two weeks of June, during which I had told him I was around and available for trips but didn't get called. They sent our dispatcher to the hearing and Karen thought it was going to go completely against us because of the questions and attitudes of the hearing officers but then we got a letter saying that they had ruled in our favor - yahoo!! Now she is thinking about investigating their cancellation of my health insurance for my last month of employment. I know times are tough but this seemed like such a petty thing so if it was illegal, that might come into play.
She just heard from her son who has arrived in Pittsburgh and will be around for the weekend. The animals are feeling the impending changes mightily. They are all clingy and demanding more than the ordinary amount of attention. Their lives are about to change for awhile.
My friend Edgar got the welcome back to India treatment today. First, they made him get up at 3:30 a.m. to catch an early flight which is to a city where they have to fly a private plane in to pick him up for the last little flight to our private airport near the steel mill in Raigahr. I got up and saw him off this morning and he caught his flight and then waited all day for them to come pick him up. He was supposed to be doing test flying today. So, he was at Raipur all day just waiting for transportation when he could have been up here in Delhi catching up on his sleep at my apartment and relaxing instead of just killing time waiting for a ride. Sometimes, it just amazes you the ways that things can get messed up over here.
His driver has called me twice today because he thinks my phone is Edgar's phone. I had to check with dispatch because I thought I might have a flight when the driver called saying he was picking me up quite early this morning. Of course all of this is conducted in HindiEnglish with lots of repeats and misunderstandings. Then, after explaining it all this morning and giving the driver the correct phone number, he called me back this evening saying he would be picking me up in the morning again. Learning is not occuring here!!! Edgar was fit to be tied when I called to tell him that his driver kept calling me. The flying is fun - the rest of this stuff can keep you challenged at times!!
One of my best friends from Bible study group on Tuesday nights just quit his very good paying job and is returning to Australia because his boss told him he couldn't talk about Christianity at the workplace. Being a principled guy, he was quite emotional last Tuesday as he shared that he made the decision and was walking away in faith!! Pele, you are the man!