Yoga mat-melting heat and frayed nerves

This is how hot it is: today the bottom of the yoga mat melted and stuck to the floor. Inside. And we're talking about an apartment with numerous fans in it. Speaking of fans, Maya has got in to the habit of repeatedly turning off all the fans that I have turned on. Nope, the equation of fans on = less hot = less stressful has not yet sunk in.

As you may have picked up on, nerves have been somewhat frayed today. We went to a nursery to register Maya this morning (more of that later) and the plan had been to continue on to the one good childrens' play park in the area. But after paying the registration, I realised I had only enough money to get us home in a rickshaw, despite having put plenty of cash in my purse. I then remembered having seen Maya play around with it earlier and had forgotten to double check before leaving home. So no park for Maya. I'd been promising her this, so she wasn't happy.

Back at home, after Lily had had a quick nap, I decided we'd go out for juice and then to the bookshop where we'd left her little backpack last week. But after organising the girls and on the point of finally leaving the house, I realised the key had vanished. Lily had to come out of the baby carrier, a full scale, sweaty search ensued (sans fans - thanks Mayita) but no sign of the keys. Eventually, I gave up on the idea, turned on some cartoons with jarring voices whilst I could continue looking. By the time it got to lunch, I had had it with keys and decided to leave the house nonetheless and go to a nearby cafe for the aforementioned juice and sandwiches. But the cafe was closed. So we trundled through the cloying heat to another little place.

"Hi, do you do sandwiches?"
"Yes Madam, we do."
Bingo.
"Great, what do you have?"
"The trouble is Madam that the man who is making the sandwiches isn't here."
"Ah. Could you make them?"
"Yes, Madam I could..."
Fantastic.
"...but the trouble is we are not having any ingredients right now."
"Nothing?"
Dinesh has a think (yes, I have learnt his name)..."Ah!" His eyes ignite, "We are having a burger!"
"We can have a burger?"
"Yes Madam, a burger in a sandwich."

This was not my day. Back at home, a botched pasta-job lunch later, Maya didn't want to have a lie down and when she eventually relented, Lily woke up. When the heat of the afternoon had slightly subsided, I decided to give the nearby juice bar another go (we went the other day and I'd thought it may be quite a regularly visited place for us). Closed again. I was informed by the next door gym that it was closed for a while.
"For how long?"
"Maybe two weeks..." Ok, not a disaster. "...Or maybe two months, " they add. Groan. Yup, most definitely one of those days.

Maya did not want to go to bed this evening. She kept wandering out of her room saying she needed the loo, she had a runny nose, she wanted to look for the keys (where have you hidden them, you little scoundrel?!), she wanted a cuddle....Now she's eventually gone down, I sincerely hope she gets some decent kip. If this heat is hard for me, then it's got to be even harder for a sensitive-skinned, sensitive-dispositioned little two year old. People keep helpfully informing us that we've come to Bangalore for the wrong 6 months. Yup, thanks for that. It's getting hotter and hotter and soon this heat will break and instead of intense sunshine we'll have...intense rain!

Anyway, I shall quit my moaning now and focus on a positive turn of events. Next week, Maya will start at a Montessori nursery school. I went round a few nurseries yesterday and after we had left each one, I was met with noisy sobbing by the little one. It didn't take long to figure out that she couldn't understand why we were going to these lovely places with toys and games and children and then leaving them so soon. In between the visits she said "Want to go to school! Want to go to school!" Bless her. I had planned to see several more in the coming days but forget it if it's going to have that effect on Maya. So we opted for my favourite one - one that, in fact, when we were shown around Maya walked straight up to the group of children and sat down with them! Amazing. She is clearly longing to be with other kids her own age again. Nearly all nurseries close down for the summer but many, this one included, puts on a summer camp for one of the two months of the summer holiday. So off Maya will go next monday with her satchell and her snacks and her sunhat! I really hope she'll be ok.

Tomorrow we are moving so if I don't write for a while it's not because I've lost the plot and no longer have the will to write (at least, I hope not!) - it'll be because we're getting internet sorted at the new place. Plenty more challenges ahead of us, such as no bath for the girls (I know we've improvised enough in the past with tubs and sinks and buckets but having a bath here was a serious bonus) and having to acquire bits and pieces for the flat, but plenty to look forward to aswell. I just hope the dial for the fans is out of Maya's sweaty little reach.