what's it like?- appliances

Just before coming to India, Jack very seriously approached me with some information regarding India.  He proceeded to tell me he KNEW "that we wouldn't have electricity in India, and it was like a desert."  I was humored by several parts of his misinformation.  First, we do have electricity, even though we've spent our fair share of days in power outages.  Secondly, we don't exactly live in a desert, but I can see where it can get confusing, as we've experienced temperatures of 115 and above the last week.  But the funniest part to me was that he actually thought I would move somewhere that didn't have electricity!  He must think pretty highly of me... but I assure you- this girl needs power.

Even though his information was a little off, many things that work off of that electricity are in fact very different from what we are used to.  The appliances are a little different and have taken some effort to get accustomed to them!  I thought you might enjoy seeing a few things in our house and learn how things work.  Let's start in the kitchen.

Probably the most important appliance in our kitchen is our water filter.

Here's the quick version of our water system.  Twice a day the water manager in our colony turns on the pump that fills a black tank on our roof with water.  (Disregard the family picnic that is going on in this picture.  It was my only shot of the water tank.)

Then the water from this tank flows down when we turn on faucets, showers, and washing machines.  It's definitely not drinkable though.  It would probably make us very sick, hence, making the water filter a MUST!  We get our drinking water from the filter.  We, also, use the filtered water for washing vegetables/fruits or when cooking with water that will not be boiled or cooked at a very high temperature.

My next favorite appliance would be my stove top.  I never cooked with gas before coming to India, but now that I've used it, I'm not sure I'll be able to go back.  I didn't know it was possible for water to boil so quickly!

Stovetops and ovens aren't typically a set here in India.  Instead, we have small, very small ovens that sit on our counter tops.

It is larger than a toaster oven from America, but not much larger.  I can fit a small baking pan in there, but a typical 9 x 13 baking dish wouldn't quite make the cut.  It makes cooking interesting and keeps me planning ahead when making dinner.  I can only cook one thing at a time in it usually, and the cooking times in my oven tend to be way longer.  As an added bonus, it is a great heater.  It releases enough heat to drastically raise the temperature in my kitchen.  Sometimes it can be hard to appreciate that quality though when your house temperature is 95 degrees.   It's safe to say that cooking in this heat is not for the faint!

Another appliance that sits high on the wall above the sink is a small water heater.

This might not be an important appliance to all families, but this family likes butter and has been known to fry a thing or two.  Cold water just doesn't do the trick when washing those dishes.  This little guy gives us about 10 seconds of "fry-your hand-off" water, but it's worth it to get the dishes squeaky clean.

Our refrigerator (no picture) is just like something you'd see in America.  It's the style with the freezer on top of the fridge.  The biggest difference and adjustment for me has been that it doesn't have an automatic ice maker.  You might not think very often about your dear ice maker, but let me assure you- those things are a jewel!  Ice trays have become a new friend in our house.  One of the added features is the alarm that sounds when you leave the door open too long. The alarm is the tune of "Jingle Bells."  How funny that they use a Christmas song in a country where Christmas isn't even celebrated!

Our hot water in the bathrooms works a lot like the kitchen.  The only difference is that the water heater is a little bigger.

The hot water is NOT endless, but thankfully we have pretty large heaters and can take lengthy showers!  Good thing, because Jack could spend the evening in there.

You've seen some pictures of Max after a hard day in India:

No doubt a washing machine is NECESSITY!  Our is a good old Whirlpool and gets those clothes sparkling white!

The difference lies in its location.  Our machine is outside- no laundry rooms here!  The cover on it helps keep off a little of the dirt that is so wildly popular in India.

My favorite appliance just might be the dryer.  It's simple to work.  It has two cycles- "day time" and "night time."

I recommend "day time."  In the hot season, clothes dry in about 1 hour.  If you leave them overnight, it's okay.  I find that your clothes may be a little "crustier" than before, but you learn to live with that.  A huge reminder is to use Downy in every wash cycle.  It makes your jeans bendable and your underwear soft.  The only downfall of the "dryer" is monsoon season.  I've rewashed my fair share of clothes that didn't make it out of the rain in time!

Last, but most definitely not least, are the air conditioners.  Central heat and air is not typically found in homes.  So we installed AC's in each bedroom and in the den.  The bedrooms have window units.  They do a fair job cooling, but my favorite thing about them is the noise!  India stays up LATE and these Americans appreciate the hum of our AC when we climb into bed at 10 PM each night.

The family room has a split unit AC.  It does a much better job of cooling, but they are more expensive than window units.  They are also quiet!

We typically run our AC's at night, but the "AC Nazi" (otherwise known as Jason) will occasionally allow us to run them during the day.  Even though we don't run them much, our bill is very comparable to America.  Cool air is definitely not cheap!

That's just a small look at a few things in our house.  We have lots of small appliances as well, but most of them are the same ones you use every day!  If we ever leave India, I think I'll actually miss a few of the things mentioned above!  But you can still think of me when you pull your soft, warm clothes out of the dryer!  Some things just aren't replaceable! :)