It is a gecko, right?!

This is a hard place.  I had a good day.  I took the kids to a shop and shopped on my own, two days in a row.  I got the kids to school and went to a coffee lecture and demonstration on saree.  I got invited to a children’s birthday party for a child George goes to school with, so we could meet some other families.  I cooked a dinner the kids ate.  I got the kids bathed and to bed while Chris went to a meeting, and felt mostly in control.  Of course, I almost went screaming like a little girl to Baru, our caretaker, to ask if the huge lizard in Grace and Alex’s room was indeed a gecko or something scary.  I chased it around for a while trying to get it out from behind or under their beds-those things are FAST-, then locked it in a cupboard when in ran in there.  Phew!  Of course, Alex’s clothes are in there, so we’ll have to face it again in the morning.  And the twins are in my bed because we’re all scared of a gecko.

So then I calmed myself down by searching Google and proving it was indeed just a wall gecko.  And the doorbell rang.  OK, not what I was expecting.  I’m already a little bit freaked out, and I have to answer the door at 8 pm in the pitch dark.   There are two Indian men standing on my porch.  They are from Reliance, the phone company and want to take my land line away.  They don’t speak enough English for me to understand why, and I’m not going to hand over the telephone I’m pretty sure Chris paid for without asking Chris.  Chris is in a meeting with VPs and I’m not going to call him.  The men don’t want to come back tomorrow because they came from very far away.  But really, they didn’t call to check if anyone was home, so I’m not feeling too bad about it.  But they don’t want to budge.  So I call Baru, who is not here but says he’ll come, 10 minutes.  He’s a saint.  I’m already completely flustered by the men and the language barrier (and the certain way some Indian men look at me that makes me feel either 2 feet tall or terrified), and I can’t understand what Baru is explaining to me (PACCAR people who said they won’t cover language lessons in an English speaking country have never lived in India!), and I don’t know where the other landline is because I’ve only seen one. I may be stubborn, but I made them leave to come back another time.  After dark, I'm not available.