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.