Life in India isn’t so bad!!

Yesterday Sunil and I returned from Gokarna Beach. It was an amazing time, and badly needed! Gokarna beach is 7 hours further of Arambol, and is located in the state of Karnatika, not Goa. This beach has a much more tropical climate, you can see camels walking up and down the beach daily, and the beach is extremely big! Too big actually, you must walk at least 30 min to get to the town where you can buy fruits and vegetables, and at least 20 min just to get to the main road to catch a taxi. But, you can imagine it was very quiet, relaxing, and just what the doctor ordered! We also returned, after being away for 4 days, to everything running smoothly at our little coffee house. Sunil’s Dai (an older very respected friend of Sunils) ran the shop for us, and took great care of everything. I couldn’t be more grateful to him for offering to watch the shop for us, and giving Sunil and I the opportunity to get away for a bit of a vacation. We really needed it!! Here is a couple pictures of our trip. One is of me passed out in a hammock, one of Sunil walking out to the beautiful sunset, and one of us waiting at the train station on our way back. I included this one so that everyone could see my baby bump. J




Speaking of baby bump, I went to the doctor today! It was very good! The doctor did an ultrasound, and wants me to go to the lab to get a couple tests done. He is having me redo some tests because I don’t have the test results from when I saw the doctor in California, so I will have to go get some lab work done. But otherwise, he says the baby looks great, she is right on target, and is looking about 28-29 weeks along! Indian doctors are funny though! They are very simple, direct, listen very well, but don’t talk much. The doctor told me to get my lab work done, and come back in a couple weeks. I will be delivering at the hospital opposite his clinic named Ramesoy Hospital. I felt very comfortable with this doctor, he does not see many foreigners, but is a highly recommended doctor by the local women I know who have babies. AND my doctor visit, ultrasound, and medicine only cost me about $10! I am told I need to budget around $300-$500 for cost of delivery (that includes you and the baby staying in the hospital for 2 days!). Anyway, it was really good to see the doctor today, and I am happy to know who is delivering my baby, and where she is going to be born.

As far as business goes, everything is going well. I am baking 2 loafs of Dad’s Wheat bread every 2 days, and testing out which baked goods are favored by people. I will be making chocolate chip cookies tomorrow, and testing out a brownie recipe as well. Anyhow things are kinda slow right now because there aren’t very many people here. This time of the season is expected to be very busy, but I think the word has gotten out about how high prices get around this time, and so people are waiting to come until after the New Year. At least that is what we are hoping. Either way, we are doing just fine as is, but would like to see more business come our way. We are continuing to make improvements to the coffee house everyday, and so I have added a couple pictures to show some of our new changes. A couple things we did was bring sand from the beach to put in our outside seating area. It makes it look much cleaner, but actually makes it much harder to keep things clean. I also painted the front bar area with our sign that reads “Junu’s Coffee House.” And, Sunil’s Dai built us a couple tables from slabs of a Mango Tree, AND we added cushions to the tire chairs! Let me know what you think.




I have to admit, I looked at the calendar today and realized Christmas is in one week!! I was shocked! Time is flying by, and I am missing the holiday season so much!! I missed Christmas last year, and thinking about family getting together, all the delicious food, and all the fun everyone is going to have is making me very very homesick! OHHH, I have been meaning to say thank you to my family for the wonderful package you sent me in June. I finally got it when I arrived here, and it was a wonderful surprise to have all the nice things they sent me 5 months before. J I also am anxiously awaiting the packages recently sent by Jeanine and Melody! I hope they get here before Christmas so I have something to open! I check with Silvia (our landlady) everyday to see if something came, but nothing yet. Maybe this next week!!

Junu’s Coffee House, Up and Running

Our little coffee house has been open for 7 days now. It has been a new and very interesting experience getting our doors open, and learning the ins and outs of starting a business in India. Everyday comes at us with a new challenge, and it was extremely hard just to get to the point where we are now. Oh, it was so much anxiety just to simply open our doors for selling tea and coffee. But we got here, and everyday is getting better and better!!

We already have a handful of regulars that keep our 2 tables full during the mornings. Our seating area right now consists of an inside chilllout area, and one table outside which is a piece of plywood resting on 2 tires, and 4 tire chairs surrounding the table. We also have a very comfortable hammock that Sunil and I seem to use the most when resting our feet and hanging out with the customers. We are working on more tables, and should have more chairs in the next couple of days. Hopefully more tables equals more customers!!

Two days ago was a huge milestone for us! We got our espresso machine up and running, and I think I made over 8 Cappuccinos in 20 mins! I quickly learned when I got here that all the appliances I brought with me would fry very quickly if I plug them directly into the 220V plugs here in India. So, we had to find and purchase a very costly converter that would convert 220V to 110V and have 2000Watts of power. We finally got this converter last night, and now our kitchen is up and running at full service. Well, almost. I still am waiting for my ice machine to arrive from Delhi, which I left in the airport in Delhi due to the stupid Indian domestic airport not allowing it to fly with me from Delhi to Bombay. So, I have spent the past month trying to find someone to pick up my machine from the airport in Delhi, and send it to me by land. I should get it in the next couple of days, and then we will be serving our delicious blended drinks, which should bring in more money!

The past month has been hectic and crazy! We started construction 2 days after I arrived, and have been working nonstop to get our doors open. Now that we are open for business, Sunil and I are in the shop all day from 7am- 7pm, 7 days a week. You can imagine that we haven’t had much time to ourselves, or time together. We use to go for walks on the beach during sunset, and it’s the thing I miss the most. Everyday we take turns going to the beach, but I miss swimming in the ocean together, and enjoying a bit of relaxation with Sunil. But, we are getting down a routine with working and taking breaks for lunch and having time for the beach and taking showers. We are busy to say the least!

So, now even though we are open for business, we have a TON of things to do to get more business. We are still working on advertising, getting proper seating for our customers, and getting our kitchen running in full service. So, any down time we have is spent baking, running to the market, going to the main city, or making furniture and signs.

Basically, things could not be any better!!! We are loving our little coffee shop, and excited that we have customers everyday. More and more tourists arrive everyday, and once we get my oven working (which requires a stronger converter), I will be baking all day everyday!! We got our menu today, and started serving lunch sandwiches as well. Yesterday we broke our daily goal of $25 in sales. If we can make $25 in sales everyday, then we can cover our investment this year, have enough money to live during the off season, and have money to invest for next season. So, things are off to a great start to say the least.

Here are some pictures for everyone! They are before and after pictures, and a couple of our customers hanging out drinking coffee after we finally opened. I also included a picture of our adorable little kitty we named Masala. Everyone loves her, and she totally brings customers into our shop because she is so dang cute!

















I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, and is enjoying the Holiday season. It does not even feel like Christmas time around here at all. Life on the beach, hanging out with a bunch of international hippies doesn’t really give me the feeling of the holidays at home. Oh, but I am for sure going to be baking some fun Christmas cookies for all the hippies to get everyone in the spirit. I miss everyone, as well as the smell of Christmas trees, pumpkin pie, and houses decorated in beautiful lights!! Send me lots of pictures of Holiday cheer, I need some reminders of Christmas time to keep me in the spirit.

Quick blog

OK, so I have not blogged in over a week which I know is a long time. But, I came to sit down on the internet for awhile, upload pictures and blog, but I forgot my camera, and power is expected to turn off in 20 mins. so... i am keeping this one short, and will write again very soon.

things are going well with the shop. we are not open yet. :( I think it is going ot be another 2 days before we open for service, and probably another week before we have all our furniture, and are serving our full menu. but, we decided we just need to open our doors, and start advertising ourself ASAP, so we are going to open even though we arent done. I am anxious to get done, but its been raining, and we have encountered many problems, so we are just trying to take one day at a time, and continue to make progress towards being completely finished by the end of the month.

I have some really fun pictures to post of the building, and I will post those next blog.

Also, the baby is good. No matter what time I wake up, I am totally exhausted by 8pm. I just curl up in a ball and sleep. OHH, I also adopted a little baby kitty a couple days ago. She is adorable! Her name is Bonnie. I found her abandoned and locked inside a temple. She is only a couple months old, and already follows me around. I also give her to our to our friends (tourist who sit around all day enjoying their free time) to babysit her while SUnil and I are working. She is super spoiled because we feed her fresh fish everyday as well. Its much cheaper to just buy her a fried fish then the processed cat food we get here. Anyway, she is adorable, we love her and so do all our friends. I will post pic next blog as well.

Life is amazing right now! Its exciting and full of new adventures and challenges everyday! And even with all the obstacles we face everyday, things still seem to be going well for us. We cant really complain!!

OK, its time to go, and I know this blog is kinda boring cuz I dont have any pictures. I promise I will be back to post soon with lots more exciting things to see!! Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season, its something I miss the most!!

Life in GOA

I arrived on Thursday morning, to find Arambol, Goa exactly how I left it. Sunil was waiting at the bus stop with a Jeep to receive my luggage and me. While driving through beautiful Goa all I could think of was the extremely long journey that I embarked on to come back to this beautiful place, and how blessed I am to be here.

We arrived in the early A.M., Sunil had some friends unload the truck, and we began to catch up on life over the past 4 months. I began to unpack my bags, not something I wanted to do at that moment, but something Sunil insisted I do so that he could see what was inside these extremely heavy bags of mine. We had fun going through every item. I showed him all the coffee equipment, the new baby gear, and the few presents I brought for him as well. Then, after unloading my bags we went out for a walk on the beach and met up with many of our friends from last season. Everyone seemed to know that I was coming, and told me that Sunil was anxiously awaiting my arrival. Everything seemed so unreal!

After lunch, we proceeded to meet up with our landlord, and discuss signing our lease. We then started drawing up plans of what we want our coffee shop to look like, and began making appointments with carpenters to get quotes for building our little hut.

Now, we are one day into construction, and things are moving along nicely. I am working with a friend of mine to design the menu, and Sunil and I are doing research about prices. If everything continues to go as planned, we will have the shop up and running by Nov. 15th, our Grand Opening!

These past couple of days have flown by. Sunil and I moved (of course after I unpacked all my bags), to a small hut behind where we are building the coffee shop. The landlord and his wife have been very helpful with instructing us how and where to find the best price for building materials, as well as getting the correct permits to run the business. Construction is scheduled to be finished on Monday, and then we have to start painting and decorating. That’s the part I’m excited about!

Also, Erez, my Israeli friend that I worked on the website business with last year is here already and working full power. He has done an enormous amount of work to make the website 150 times better, and we have already laid down our plan of action for work this season. He has already promised Sunil and I an ad for the coffee shop on the front page of the website, which should be very helpful in promoting our little place of business! We also have a lot of work in store for us to get people using the website and advertising, but honestly, the website has massive potential. If you all want to check it out, its www.lonely-goa.com. Its still under construction, and might load a little slow right now, but it gives you a sneak peak into what we are working on, and what Goa is like.

June is doing fine, except she isn’t making it very easy for me to sleep at night. The beds are much harder, everything is much louder (that’s what you get when you sleep in a hut), and I am still adjusting to the time change. I have woken up before 6 AM every morning since I arrived, however, I am going to sleep before 9pm, so it is going to take me some time to adjust. I am planning to make an appointment to see highly recommended doctor within the next couple of weeks, and I am looking for a Thai Chi instructor to start evening lessons as well.

Honestly, it feels amazing to be here. Of course I feel extremely overwhelmed by it all sometimes, but I think its because it all seems unreal. Sunil and I spend lots of time talking about June’s arrival, and making plans for the next year with her. Ohh, and we also decided on a name for our coffee shop. We are going to name it after June, Junu’s Coffee Bar & Bakery. Erez is working on a graphic for us, and I will post it when its done to get everyone’s opinion.

I miss everyone so dearly, and spend my wake less mornings thinking about my family and friends. I know you all would love it here so much! Life is so drastically different. I wish I did a better job at describing the beauty and serenity that you feel when you are here. But, you will all just have to experience it for yourselves someday. The door to my hut is always open for any and all visitors, so hurry and come!

June's Baby Shower!!

Its a beautiful full moon outside on my last night here in California. I am taking a break from packing, which is coming along, but is making me depressed. My bags are too heavy, I have too much stuff, and while I pack all of this junk, I feel like I am actually having to pack up my life, and leave so much behind. The symbolism of packing is what kills me; deciding what to take and what not to take, trying to cram so much stuff into 3 little bags, and constantly weighing them as you pack to see if the airline will charge you a ridiculous fee for your extra weight... it all equals the painful goodbyes I had to say these past couple of weeks. I just dont have enough room in these begs to take the people I love and everything I am attached to. So, I am taking a break from packing to come blog and think of happier things. :D

On Saturday we had a fun filled day! My beautiful sisters, Melody, Jeanine and Lee threw me a baby shower!! It was so fun! We decorated onesies, played this fun memory game that involved matching baby things to candy bars, and we had delicious yummy cupcakes!! Here are some pictures of the fun for everyone who came as well as those who could not be here on Saturday. We missed you, and thanks for sending your love and wonderful gifts!






We had sooo much fun decorating Onesies! A family tradition we now have thanks to cousin Kim!



Melody made this wonderful game!


And Lee brought these delicious Cup Cakes!



And here is me with some of my wonderful gifts!


Thats me with the gorgeous baby blanket Maggie made for me!


Here is the baby carrier Lee got me for Sunil and I to carry baby June around in.


And me with the tiny little shoes that Melody got me to dress my little princess in!


This is the beautiful purple baby blanket that my cousin Kate is making me!

Thank you to everyone that came and gave me gifts, but an extra thank you to everyone that contributed to the June fund! It will help me buy all the other necessary things I need for June once I finally arrive in India. Plus, it was SUPER easy to pack your gifts!! She is going to be a one spoiled little baby thanks to the family that already has so much love for her. And, thank you to my friends who took time to come say hello and give June a gift. It was so special to me to see everyone before I leave!

OK, now while I was uploading the pictures to this blog, I was able to finish my packing!! Im done! It only took me 4 hours! I wish I hadnt already packed my camera so I could take a picture of my luggage to show everyone. It is going to be a huge accomplishment just getting this stuff to the final destination! But, as of 11:50pm on Sunday night, with this beautiful Full Moon shinning in the window, I am officially done packing!! Yay!! Hope you enjoyed the baby shower pics! I had a great time and so did June!

First time

This is so exciting! My first time writing my own blog! My first time preparing to have a baby! And, my first time starting my own business! It so exciting to be checking things off of my "Things to do in my life" To Do List!

The most exciting part about all of this is that I am going to be doing all of these things in India and Nepal. I am leaving to embark on this grand adventure in 5 days!! In my last days preparing to leave, I am a huge ball of emotions (and I know this is mostly due to be being pregnant with crazy hormones). But everyday I am experiencing overwhelming sadness about leaving my family again; nervousness about what is lying in store for me; and excitement about this new little life growing inside my tummy. I find it incredibly hard to try and explain everything I am feeling inside, but I want all my friends and family to know how much I am going to dearly miss them! My family and friends mean the world to me!

Now on to more New things!! I had my first ultrasound on Friday, and it was the most amazing experience! My lovely sister Jeanine came with me, and made the whole experience fun instead of nerve racking! There were like 4 med students/residence in the room, watching and learning how to do an ultrasound. But, even with all those people in the room enjoying my ultrasound with me, it was the most calming experience ever! It was the first time I got to actually see the little precious baby I am expecting to arrive in 5 months. I have been talking to her, feeling her kick, and experience all the physical changes that she causes, but I finally got to see her!! She is growing right on target, has a healthy beating heart, and is doing great so far! My due date is March 7th 2010, so I am currently 21 weeks along. And the most exciting part is... she is going to be a Pisces!!

So as the days approach to pack and leave California, and fly away from home to the place where I am going to make my new home, I find it incredibly difficult to just start to PACK! Ohh how I dread packing!! I am taking tons of coffee/baking equipement with me for the coffee shop, and am having a baby shower on Saturday, all of which I have to fit into 3 bags weighing a total of 190lbs!! Seriously, how am I supposed to do this? Good thing for me this is NOT my first time packing. I must admit that over the last couple of years of back packing, and coming from a family of packers, I have ample experience in how to cram a lot of stuff into very small spaces. I am just dreading the time when I actually have to sit down and do it. Wish me luck!!

During this last week, time has been speeding by and dragging on. But, during my long commute to work in LA traffic, I find myself fondly thinking about how pleasant my time here in California has been. I have enjoyed every minute spent with my sisters, nephews, parents, cousins, grandma, uncle, SB & Hemet friends, and all the other people that I reached out to connect with during my time here. I have been working at making stronger relationships with those I love, and letting go of the relationship which were never meant to last. Life has brought me a new plate of goodies, and I want to share it with everyone I love.

So, I want to use this post to encourage everyone to write me often, and to get some type of chatting application on your computer so we can talk online! Skype is a great application! And I already have a webcam so everyone can see the baby when she arrives, but in order for her to see you, you have to get one too!!! Skype is free to chat, talk, and webcam each other even from the other side of the world! So get it, and let me know your username!