Daughter has settled in quite nicely. She is happy in our apartment complex, with all the play areas, and the school, her new friends. What delights her is that even after rains, the play area dries up really quickly. Back in the UK, rains meant no playing in the park, as everything would stay wet for a while.
However, there are some things that get her goat. Mosquitos, for one. They seem to love her, which she finds rather unfair, because they don’t bite me half as much as they do her. She also gets huge bumps on her skin, which is just not pleasant. She has become obsessed with the mozzies, so much so that when asked, which is the most common animal she gets to see in India, pat came the answer, ‘Mosquitoes’.
The other thing(s) that she is absolutely petrified about are Ants. She is absolutely terrified of them, and cannot understand how they come all the way up, to our floor. ‘They must have a secret ant elevator’, apparently 
The other day there was a baby lizard in the house. It had both of us in a tizzy, scaring the life out of the poor lizard. Finally, I had to coax the poor thing into a bag, and leave it outside before madam agreed to get off her bed.
She can’t understand that running on a wet floor can be dangerous. So used to carpeted floors, she sails across on the tiles, and sometimes lands on her bum, scaring the life out of her mum.
She is, however, a consummate road crosser. She is totally adept at it, while I still get palpitations of the heart. We need to cross the road, everyday to get the school bus, and we end up taking 5-10 minutes because I am too scared to cross the road, until it is completely safe by my standards
School is just as much fun, if not more. She had much more work back in the UK. Here she’s having a ball. The only thing she misses is the library in school. Touchwood. May she continue enjoying it. I, being an Indian parent, is slightly worried that she might forget everything she already knows. I know, I know, I am being silly : )
The one thing she misses is the pastas we used to get. For her, even the mildest pasta is spicy:( Which makes it very difficult for us to eat out. But that also ensures that she eats home cooked food everyday. And her low spice tolerance also ensures that she doesnot try out any junk food here
All in all, I would say that she’s quite happy to be here. If only her dad could bring the tv we had back in the UK, because she finds nothing worth watching here. I am, of course, delighted that whatever little tv that she used to watch has also stopped.
