Post Office

I was enjoying a nice latte on the top level of the Oasis Center last week... Lauren was finishing up her ice cream cone... when my phone rang. It was the hotel concierge calling to tell me a "parcel" had been delivered to the hotel for me. The delivery could not be left for me, I must go and pick it up personally at the Whitefield Post Office before 3:30pm. I knew it must be the package I was expecting (a month ago!)... Lauren's swimming belts, shipped from the US on July 25th! I quickly finished my coffee and called Harish to pick us up. It was 2:00 already and there's no telling the fate of my package if I miss the 3:30 deadline.

It was my first trip to the "post office" , and quite possibly my last! When Harish drove us down some back alley, over crater sized potholes and parked the car, I really thought I might be on Candid Camera. Where was the pretty flag hanging out front... the grumpy postal workers in uniform... the Post Office sign!!!??? Oh, but who needs all those fancy extras... when you have cows??

Thankfully I did not need to venture in to retrieve my package... Harish said he would take care of it and scooted across the street with my passport. The postal worker soon emerged from the building with my package in tow. He informed me I would need to pay $500 rupees to claim the package. Harish and he had words in Hindi - not sure at all what it was all about... all I knew is that I was sooooooo close to getting this package, $10 USD seemed like little bribe to pay. More Hindi bickering as I pulled out a $500 bill from my purse... the worker at last pulled a few dollar coins from the pocket of his tattered pants and gave them to Harish. He took my bill and plopped the package on the seat next to me. That was that. As we drove off, I thought, "what just happened??", but I had my package!!

PYP Parents Day Out

Today was the Indus School PYP (Primary Years Program) Parents Day Out. Grades K-5 put together a field day of sorts. There were field races, crafts, games and food. It was so much fun for the kids and the parents. Taylor place first in the obstacle course race!! So many kids (and parents!!) wiped out going under the hurdles... and let me tell you, the track is like sandpaper!!

Pat was the star of the parent/kid tug of war. Even in his super skinny state, his performance was legendary! He and Andrew won the competition for Andrew's Phoenix House.

Taylor has been mentoring Johan, from Finland, who spoke not a word of English at the start of the year!! He said, " I have much thank you to Taylor!" Here is a shot of Taylor and Johan...

Lauren pretty much ate her way through the day!

India Time

So, we have been gone for nearly 2 months now. We are still living in the hotel, have just gotten our own car, our air shipment, which arrived here in Bangalore a month ago, is still sitting in storage!! Things here in India happen at their own pace... generally an excruciatingly slow pace!!
We are supposed to move into the villa on Monday, September 1st. Pat and I have an over/under for about a 15 day delay from that date.

The hotel is lovely, don't get me wrong, but SERIOUSLY????

TV in India

The closing ceremonies of the summer Olympics were barely mentioned here today. A short article in the Times of India and very little television coverage. They did cover Phelps' final race live here at least... I would say it is about the quality of a NY middle school's A.V. class project...
In general, television here in India is hysterical. Since all the US shows are on summer hiatus, we really are not sure what primetime TV will be shown here (although we did see a trailer for the new season of Grey's Anatomy, which is encouraging!). The kids have most of the staple shows, Hannah Montana, Dora the Expolrer, Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, Tom and Jerry, and yes, even Spongebob! Lauren has been watching Galli Galli Sim Sim, which is Sesame Street (all in Hindi!!).

Hindi Homework

Thought you would enjoy seeing Taylor and Andrew's Hindi homework from last night. I think Andrew's handwriting is better in Hindi than English!

Brunch at Oberoi

Sunday brunch is a big deal in Bangalore. Many local establishments put out a big spread for it, and families make a day out of it... lingering for hours! There are activities for the kids and unlimited champagne (you heard that right Mom!!) We went out with friends from Palm Meadows, Kiera and Les, whose son Brandon is in the second grade with Andrew at Indus.

We had a terrific time... the food was incredible and the kids had a blast. We spent 4 hours eating and drinking!! On the way back to Palm Meadows I snapped these photos on the streets of the city. Taylor and Andrew peered out their car windows, faces freshly painted, bellies full and exhausted from a day full of swimming and playing... a startling contrast...

Choose an instrument!!

Taylor needs to choose an instrument to learn at school this year and she needs your help to decide! We have ruled out the western instruments (guitar, piano, violin etc...)... she wants to take the opportunity to learn something she wouldn't have a chance to back home. She will actually get to bring whichever instrument she chooses back to the US with her!!
So her choices are:

1.) The Sitar is an instrument similar to a guitar. It is commonly used throughout India... It is about 4 feet tall!!!

2.) The Tabla is a set of bongo-like drums played primarily with the hands. Also prevalent across India...
3.) The harmonium is an accordian like instrument. It has bellows like an accordian and a keyboard similar to a piano.

Vote for your favorite.... maybe Taylor will be able to play Happy Birthday to you on it when she returns!!!

Independence Day!!

Yesterday (August 15th) was Independence Day here in India. The U.S. gained independence from England in 1776, more than 23o years ago. India gained independence from England in 1947 only 61 years ago!! It is a very big day for Indian citizens... flag selling of the streets began weeks ago...

Taylor and Andrew had a half day of school ,they had a flag raising ceremony and a school assembly at the outdoor ampitheater. Taylor was part of the school choir, singing in front of over a thousand spectators on just her 5th day of school! The kids were pooped out after their first week of long days. They looked relieved to be getting off the bus...

We spent the afternoon over at Vim and Dev's villa, with a bunch of friends. We drank Fosters and ordered Pizza Hut... the kids had Baskin Robbins Ice Cream with Hershey's syrup and Oreos... Andrew tried desperately to beat his friend Lauren at Mario Cart on the Wii. It was a nice start to the long weekend.

Krishiv Turns 2 !!!

They really do birthday parties up here in India! We just got home from little Krishiv's 2nd birthday party (son of a former collegue of Pat's). It was held at a hotel here in the city... the kids had a blast.

In India, the cake is eaten before dinner is served (I liked that!!) They had an artist who drew a characature of each party guest on a coffee mug (ohhhhh, did I just mention coffee???) to take home as a thank you. So nice.

Just a few pictures from the event...

Cricket Anyone?

Cricket in India is truly a national pastime. It is really the only "professional" sport in the entire country! There are a few soccer (football) clubs... and men's field hockey as well... but it is all cricket, all the time here. The headlines on the sports pages, the front of the Wheaties box, the celebrity endorsing the newest Ford model... all cricket. And on Saturday morning, if you drive the streets, you see people of all ages playing cricket. Down alleyways, in parking lots, in vacant fields... it's cricket, cricket, cricket!! I could take a dozen photos just like these every day on a drive to the city...

The game of cricket is actually fascinating. I hope by the end of our stay I actually understand all of the intricacies of it.

Michael Phelphs WHO ?????????

All the buzz here in India today was of the remarkable story of Abhinav Bindra's gold medal performance in 10m air rifle. It is almost impossible to believe that a country of over a billion (yes, that is billion, with a B... approximately 1/6 of the entire world population... think about that for a moment!) people has never before won an individual gold medal in any Olympic event!

Oh, how this country is celebrating!! Pages upon pages of the newspaper here reporting on every nuance of his childhood, his training, his home town, his family ... WOW... people celebrating in the streets.

How ridiculous must they think we Americans are, agonizing over whether our Michael Phelphs will indeed win 8 gold medals! The miraculous 4 x 100 free relay finish was merely a blurb in the news here.

In a country where only 3% of families earn more than $2,500 US dollars a year - how many do you think grow up believing they can be Olympic Gold Medalists????

Abhinav Bindra has quickly become the most eligible bachelor in India!

Andrew's thoughts on his first day...

Andrew reflects a bit on his first day... Taylor was too pooped out to talk today, but I'll get a bit of her tomorrow!

First day!!

Today was the big day! The parents were asked to bring their kids for the opening morning, to help them settle in. We left Palm Meadows at 7:45 am... the ride to school takes about 30 minutes.

It was a startling scene, really. About a quarter of the student body are "new" students... most of them having just relocated from other countries so as you can imagine, there were some frightened kids. Sorry to be graphic, but we saw more than a dozen kids actually tossing their cookies right in the courtyard! Watch over Pat's shoulder at the end of this clip and see if you can catch a glimpse of the poor boy by the shrubs!

Andrew held it together pretty well, just one lone tear as we approached his building. He was completely fine once he found his classmate, Max. Not surprisingly, he ate breakfast... TWICE!

Taylor grabbed a friend and marched up to her room...

So it is 2:10 pm with any luck they will come parading off the school bus here in about 3 hours! I hope to video a short clip from each of them reflecting on their first day. I will post that later tonight.

Last weekend of summer vacation...

The kids' abridged summer vacation came to a screeching halt this weekend as the first day of school crept up on us! The whole uniform thing makes things very easy... also, all they needed to bring was an empty backpack (all supplies are provided for them!!) So the normal scurrying around for last minute items was not necessary this year (yeah!).

On Saturday we were invited to little Bella's 2nd birthday party. A fun time was had by all. Sorry, I only have 1 photo from the party... (way too many Heinekens by the pool!!)...

On Sunday we took a ride to the Oasis Center and played in the arcade... as a last hurrah we let the kids get ice cream sundaes at Cold Stone for dinner !! Andrew had green apple, bubble gum and mint chocolate chip mixed together with gummy bears!!

The arcade is unbelievable. One hour of non stop action - bumper cars, skeeball.... etc... for all 5 of us cost just $12 US!! And unlike the "valuable" prizes in the states, our 300 prize tickets got us a Scrabble board game! No cameras allowed at the arcade...sorry!

We actually ran into one of Taylor's teachers at the arcade with her son. It was the first time I had met her since Pat attended the opening weekend festivities with them. She seems so great... her name is Shika and she went to college in the US. She has been working as an architect in Texas for the past 10 years. Each class of 20 students has 2 full time teachers!!

It was tough to get the kids in bed at a decent hour.. they were so excited (Taylor) and nervous (Andrew) for their first day. This is not Lake Avenue, you know! I must admit I was a bit nervous as well!!

School Uniforms??!!

We took a ride to the school today to pick up the kids' uniforms and supplies. The bus route to the school takes about 30 minutes and the road is almost all rural farmland and villages. All of the car travel we have done here in Bangalore has been in the opposite direction, mainly through markets and "more" developed areas... so this is a real look at how nearly all of the population of Bangalore live. It was hard to get good photos since the roads are not cluttered with traffic, we were actually moving quite fast. But I did get a few good pictures when we slowed down for speed bumps (call speed humps here!)... speed bumps are placed about every 100 - 500 yards on ALL roads, to prevent fast driving!!

I can't wait to get out here with my camera once school starts and get some photos of the amazing things I come across. The way of life for millions of people here in the city is so far removed from what most of you can ever imagine still exists in 2008.

Two women sifting dirt (check out the cow in the background).A small roadside village ...

Brick work on a roadside building...

No gas powered tractor here!!

Workers in the rice field...

We arrived at the school and met up with some familiar faces...

2 heaping bags of uniforms later, we were all set. I was surprised how proud Taylor and Andrew were of their new duds... poor Lauren said, " I must not have been a good girl, because I did not get a 'costume'!" Taylor is in Section 3C and is in the Hercules House, while Andrew is in Section 2B and is in the Phoenix House ... the school is divided into houses, just like Harry Potter!