Frazier.Family.Five

Surrender

2010-06-07T15:39:00.009+05:30

I read a quote a few months ago from a book about India that made tears well up in my eyes when I read it because it is so true for my time here.

"Sometimes you have to surrender before you win. Surrender is at the heart of the Indian experience. I gave in."

I don't believe this statement only applies to India, rather any person who lives in a foreign country. But since I've only traveled to other countries, and lived in India it counts as my Indian experience.

In the beginning, there are so many things I wanted to change and fix and know the reasons for why it's like it is and tell someone (sometimes shout at someone) why and how this could work better. There are scores of things I compared to the U.S. So many things that I thought "my way" was better. But eventually, after many wrinkles, nail biting, and angry flare ups you realize you just have to submit and surrender to have peace or that peace will never come.

Here are some of the things I surrendered to:

Traffic: I've finally stopped moaning, complaining, clawing the steering wheel and honking for long, annoying periods of time to make my point:) I do still have my moments and I do have thoughts of why does it have to be like this but I've learned to relax my face so as not to add to the wrinkles I've gained in the last 3 years from driving around Bangalore:)

Pollution and Trash

Poverty all around: Although I don't think it's good to ever "get used" to poverty and not try to do something to help, it does eventually just become part of your surrounding.

Indian working hours (i.e. Brian's long work hours/week:)

Strangers pinching my childrens' cheeks: I still don't like it but I'm not boiling inside anymore:)

Long, unashamed starring at our family wherever we go

How much I've aged since moving here:)

Lack of infrastructure and the slow process of finishing it (although I've been told the overpasses being built for over a year and the mall that has taken over 3 years near us are going at a fast rate for India:)

Sitting for 20 minutes @ The U-Turn that I've blogged about several times: And don't ya know, now that we are leaving they have cut an opening in the median to make the u-turn more efficient:D You still have to wait, but not as long, to turn around and head in the right direction:)

One thing (and there's certainly more) I haven't yet surrendered too but hoping I can in the next 2 weeks is People Cutting in Line! Oh, it still bugs so bad!! I need order, I need line rules, and 3 people cutting in front of me at the grocery store is like rubbing lemon juice into a sore for me:) I've got to surrender though...got to!!

I'm not trying to belittle or demean India by listing the above things. Like I said, I think this is true of every foreigner's experience no matter what country. There's a whole process that takes place in a new culture. That's why it's called culture shock:) And for all the pain of that process, it leaves so much good.

The Day Came

2010-05-31T21:16:00.002+05:30

Today I had to bring myself to tell our housekeeper that we are leaving. I told myself I had to tell her before June (the month we are leaving) so I of course waited til the last day of the month. It was as sad as I thought it would be. There was shock and then tears...from both of us. That set the reality of moving in motion. There's a little pit in my stomach when I think about having to tell her goodbye...along with all the others dear to us.

Mountain Trip

2010-05-19T19:55:00.006+05:30

We returned from a week in the Nilgiri mountains on Sunday. We went with our church for its yearly family camp. Then we stayed in the town of Ooty to meet my cousin Brittney who flew in from Texas with a group from her church for a week of missions. It was so fun to get to see her in India! Also on her team were our friends Kevin and Kerry...he was the pastor that married Brian and me and she was my matron of honor. So fun.

Ooty is a hill station city up in the Nilgiri mountains, and Kotagiri, where we stayed for camp, was not far away. The elevation was about 2000 ft and it felt so nice and cool...we needed jackets. It was refreshing to breath fresh air and bond with friends. Ooty is famous for homemade chocolate so we stocked up on it.

It was a fabulous week minus the whole family getting a stomach bug at camp--messy! Haddon also fell off the top bunk during the night:(:( Tramatic. And Kai got his fingers slammed in the car door. All things to be expected with a family of 3 boys:D

We were able to go with my cousin and two other of her teammates to visit a slum village in Ooty. She is a designer of children's clothing and she was able to give away dresses to the little girls of the village. It was overwhelming to see the conditions of the slum (running sewage on the pathways and tiny, dark huts for homes) but so sweet to be able to meet the whole village and cross language barriers with smiles and hugs.

Here are some pictures from camp, Ooty and a few other things we've done lately...visiting an organic farm with our playgroup and Kai playing with a birthday toy.

Time to Look Back

2010-05-05T14:33:00.008+05:30

It's hard to believe that our time here in India is coming to a close. I had to force myself to write this because I'm trying to avoid the thought of goodbye's and the finality of almost 3 years here. I'm pushing it aside and hiding it behind other in-the-moment tasks such as finishing school and going to family camp with our church.

I haven't even had the heart to tell my beloved housekeeper that we are moving!! I can't do it. I will eventually have to bring myself to that point, but I am going to wait a few more weeks because I know every day after that will be a sad one. I admit the biggest reverse-culture shock ahead for me is no longer having house help:D:( , but the real reason I don't want to tell her is because we love her and she just adores the kids. After 3 years, she has just started to call me the more affectionate term "Amma" which means Momma (I take it as a sweet term meaning I am a Mom rather than meaning her mom:) after calling me the more colonial/proper title of "Madame" for years.

The boys and I will be heading to the States next month to visit family and friends for a few weeks while Brian finishes his job in July.

I thought I would try to take a look back at some of the first blog posts to relive the culture shock, confusion, and the comedy (now, not then) of what we experienced when arriving. We have learned so much since then so I'm sure to get some good laughs that I will share with you in upcoming posts. And saying that, even though we've learned some ins-and-outs about living here, it is just the tip of the iceberg. If we lived her our whole lives we still would not know all there is to know about the culture, beliefs and traditions of this vast and amazing country.

Differently Abled

2010-04-30T16:42:00.007+05:30

Brian's company outsources data-entry to BPO's (Business Process Outsourcing) in India. One such BPO is Vindhya. It has about 200 employees, 95% of which are disabled or as Vindhya defines it...differently abled. (I like that term better.) Brian has visited this office several times and has brought other leaders to see the work being done there. He said everyone that visits can't help but be moved by the great opportunity being given and the professionalism displayed by the employees. To be disabled in India is much more difficult than it is in western countries. There are very few wheelchair or impaired friendly buildings, restrooms, transportation, etc. To find a job is even harder. The fact that this company is recruiting, training and giving young people secure income and skills is such a blessing.

From Vindhya's website:

"Differently Abled

95% of our 194 staff are differently abled.. but are highly professional & are dedicated to lead their own life. "

Housewarming Party

2010-04-24T12:02:00.008+05:30

Yesterday morning I was the spectator of something I hadn't seen before...A Brahmin housewarming party or a "pooja". Brahmins are the highest caste in India. Wikipedia defines Brahmins as "the class of educators, doctors, law makers, scholars, priests and preachers of Dharma in Hinduism".

The following are all assumptions from what I've gathered in our time here so I may be wrong...Our new neighbor is a Brahmin (in the 2nd video he is the guy in the walking circle with a long skirt (lungi) and no shirt. He would normally be wearing khakis and a button down shirt (work attire) but this is a special day. Brahmin boys and men also wear a string around their torso from the top of one shoulder down to the opposite waist which is not visible when wearing clothes but noticeable when swimming in the community pool:)

He and his family just bought this apartment and wanted to have it blessed by the priests and ward away the evil spirits. The priests are sitting in the middle of the living room (1st video) burning a fire for hours, chanting mantras, offering fruits, flowers, etc to the gods. Our neighbor invited friends and family to attend, hence the housewarming part. The ceremony was going on when I woke up and continued for several hours and candles burned throughout the night (with no one attending them. They are not moving in til next month.) In the video you can't make out what the priests look like but for those living outside of India they looked similar to this...It was an interesting morning of starring out my window ( I couldn't help it) and trying to do school:) And I'm pretty certain that some or most of the guests went home sick with smoke inhalation or asthma, because we had to close our windows, normally kept open for air, because the smoke was so strong:) Imagine the inside of that apartment!

The Bell in Bangalore!

2010-04-12T13:19:00.006+05:30

Who would have thunk that Bangalore would be bestowed the great honor of having the first Indian Taco Bell restaurant? Our dream has come true!:D Note: your dining standards are lowered when you don't have regular access to native foods:) Therefore Taco Bell has sadly risen to the status of "dream" food in our dining book:)

We drove 2 hours, (which in Bangalore traffic equals 11 miles (no joke)), to visit Taco Bell at Bangalore's newest mall. It was a fun outing and amazing to see the line of people waiting to order out the door of TB the whole time we were at the mall.

The menu was similar to the U.S. just simpler choices. The tastes were recognizable. TB has the first "free refill" self-serve drink machine in India...so that was fun:) I'm a bean burrito fan... and they had it... ironically costing more than in the U.S. and with less filling inside but I was still happy to be eating it. Brian tried one of everything on the menu:) The restaurant was very nice, much nicer than any TB I've seen in the U.S. The menu boards behind the cashier counter were on digital screens that changed pictures and appeared 3-D.

Was it worth the drive...yes. Was it worth the food poisoning...no. Sad to say I was laid out Sunday due to a stomach bug that I suspect was from my bean burrito:( No one else ate a bean burrito and no one else got it thank goodness.Oh well...I'm still happy that Taco Bell is here:)

Stat Glasses

2010-04-08T14:48:00.011+05:30

I read two disheartening statistics recently that made me count my blessings...

-40% of the 1 billion people in India (that's 400 million for those who need a calculator like me:) are still not connected to the electricity grid. Which means they have no electricity b/c neither do they have the money for windmill or solar energy.

-Over 58% of Indians have no access to toilets. Globally 1.1 billion people defecate in the open.

I wish I could "wear" these statistics like eye glasses each time I saw something I thought I "needed" or wished I had. They would sharply remind me that..."Wait, I have way more than I need, I am content" and "how can I give?"

Kai is 3

2010-03-26T13:57:00.008+05:30

Kai celebrated his 3rd birthday last week. Daddy took the day off for his birthday and we celebrated by going to an amusement/water park. To kick off the day we had yummy cake for breakfast and Kai opened his gifts. He choose Lightening McQueen for his cake. My fabulous cake extraordinaire friend, Sini, can have pictures put on cakes. She used the shot of McQueen mid-air with the "Michael Jordan" tongue sticking out:) And that was one of his gifts as well--a LMQ car with his tongue sticking out:)

We are so blessed to have Kai in our family. He's still the "baby" mostly due to his entertaining (and genuine) baby talk and funny antics. He keeps us laughing. I wish he could stay this age:)

Bollywood Wannabe's

2010-03-24T22:47:00.010+05:30

Some of Brian's coworkers have taken up the hobby of film making. First it started with a cell phone camera, then upgraded to a Sony Handycam. They asked Brian and our family to play a part in their latest movie. Brian tried his hand at speaking Kannada, a local language, in the film and did a great job! He doesn't know Kannada but has heard so many coworkers using it that he picked up the accent:) His coworkers and our housekeeper were impressed. So was I:)

Brian plays the American father of an adopted, 20-something, Indian son. My 30 second cameo was dialogue free--thank goodness-- as the American mother blessing our son's future wife. The boys made an appearance in their pj's (Brian's stab at making a horror film a comedy:) (Yes, it is a horror film but thankfully our few minutes had nothing to do with blood or guts:)

The scenes are at an office and then an engagement party. The story is about a middle class guy (our son) who falls in love with his cook's sister (a no-no in India) and becomes engaged to her. We gave him our blessing but the cook/brother, who happens to be the villain, puts on a happy face but then turns psycho and kills everyone (joy:) And then, as only can be done in India, karma comes into play when the son and cook are reincarnated and the son gets revenge on the cook in his second life. Interesting. But I do think it will be a comedy when they premier it at the office because most of the guys at Brian's work really love to have fun and laugh at themselves and each other so this movie will be bringing lots of laughs.

I wish I could have filmed our family's part in the movie as we blessed our future daughter-in-law and then did a typical Bollywood scene of dancing, hand-in-hand in a circle (more joy:) When we get a copy I'll have to post that one!

It was a lot of fun to turn our home into a studio and pretend to be Bollywood stars:) Part of the crew
Director, Cook and Son
Party Decor for the scene--the star is made of strung flowers

One scene:

TAKE 1

TAKE 2

TAKE 3

Haddon's Adoption Day

2010-03-06T09:56:00.011+05:30

We celebrated Haddon's 4th Adoption Day this week! This is the day he was officially adopted in front of a Texas judge, although he became our son the day he was born and went home with us from the hospital when he was 3 days old. It works out nicely because his Adoption Day and his birthday are about 6 months apart so he gets two celebrations a year! Here are some pictures from our outing to play arcade games at the mall. You will notice the boys are wearing their dinner on their faces:) Pizza:) And, as with all of our parties here in Bangalore, they are only made complete with a cake from our friend Sini. Haddon chose a Spiderman cake:)

Street Sweeper

2010-02-26T09:23:00.009+05:30

I don't think I've ever put a picture of a street sweeper on the blog. From what I understand street sweepers are of a certain caste that can only sweep streets (no other jobs) and unfortunately are seen as the lowest caste. I have only seen female sweepers. Street sweeping is done manually, with a stick broom, even on highways. It is a back-breaking task (although I'm sure their backs are very strong and used to the slumped position, after years on the job). As you can see in the picture, brooms in India are not ergonomically friendly:) Even brooms used in the home are made in this design (except out of dried grass) causing the person sweeping to stoop over. I've never seen a push broom. As anyone who has swept knows that the job of sweeping is never ending...these ladies have job security in any economy.

OFFICIALLY

2010-02-13T15:21:00.015+05:30

This week:
We are OFFICIALLY BUCKET BATHERS! Week 1 of conserving water at bath time. The great thing about a bucket bath is it also makes me thankful for hot water. Many people have to take COLD bucket baths. I don't know that I'm that conservative yet to not heat the water:)
Kai is OFFICIALLY diaper-free!!!!! Minus bed time, but that doesn't count to me:) He's had 3 days of outings and has come home dry every time! Praise the Lord!! Up until now I wasn't ruling out that he might be 5 before this happened:) Today we went to the "big" toy store in Bangalore to pick out a "big" toy to motivate him to do #2 on the toilet. 5 times = big toy. He went in his underwear after we got home:DI am OFFICIALLY closer to 40 than I am 30. I hit 36 on Thursday:) I had an amazing day with Brian and the boys. They made me feel like a queen. I'm feeling the weight of my blessings this year, knowing that many of the people around me do not get to celebrate their birthdays--they have to go to work and do the same hard labor they do every other day of the year. And many probably don't know the exact date they were born. Ironically, even with this sober appreciation, I had the most indulgent birthday to date:) My sweet husband took the day off. I had an amazing cake from my dear friend Sini and I ate as much as I wanted:) Had Subway for lunch (a rare occurrence for me here), a pedicure and head massage at a spa that I love and celebrated my third year at Hard Rock Cafe! To top it off my hubby and boys showered me with gifts, balloons, party hats and I didn't have to cook all day! Woohoo! I am so blessed and I am so thankful to be alive and healthy with a wonderful family to share life with. Who cares about getting old, right?!:D

Lessons

2010-02-06T16:23:00.014+05:30

Although living in India would be a lifelong of learning for a foreigner, it seems that it comes in waves for me. After the first year of culture shock is under the belt you feel pretty comfortable, know your way around, know where to find a light bulb, know how to somewhat fake an Indian (mixed with Southern U.S.) accent to try to speak to someone on the phone (I haven't had much success with that one) but still surrounding you everyday is a culture, full of traditions and history, that is layers and layers deep...like peeling a never ending onion. The past few weeks have felt like I'm new here all over again. Here are some of the the lessons...

I'm LEARNING about communication and a few ways that "business" works here as a volunteer coordinator to revamp our apartment complex's playground. I'm realizing how little I come out of my "cave" (our flat) because I have not nearly learned the "art" of communicating here even after 2.5 years. In the past week of speaking with management and committee officers I have stayed confused, I've had to ask the same questions atleast 3 times to find out the answer I'm looking for and I'm finding you don't just cut to the bottom line, there are alot of "mazes" and "back alleys" you must go down until you arrive on the same page as the person you are trying to communicate with. These are clear cultural differences that I had no idea existed until now. Good things to learn, but at the same time frustrating. Like Brian told me about his work environment, he has the reputation in the office for being blunt and speaking straightforward...I call it being American:D

I'm LEARNING about water. Simple right? Don't drink the water...that's what I've known in India up until now. Ofcourse I've seen my neighbors in the village behind us carrying the water jugs on their heads back to their homes from the community well (they don't have indoor plumbing, millions here don't). I've seen men and children bathing in the pond behind our complex. My favorite non-profit is Living Water, a Christian organization that sends teams around the world to drill wells for clean water in communities while spreading the gospel as they do it. But not until our apartment complex ran into the challenge of their 6th bore well drying up, and having to pay for 20 water trucks a day to supply water, and seeing the emails exchanged between neighbors on our yahoo group about water conservation, did I realize how wasteful I am, how ignorant I am about resources and how blessed I am. Like my American friend Lisa (who also lives in Bangalore) said about her recent trip back to the States, "I was awed to bathe in drinking water". Americans use gallons and gallons of clean, treated DRINKING WATER every day to bathe, wash their clothes, run over there fruit before eating it, water the lawn, let the whole family each have their own separate 15 minute showers, all without blinking, without thought. It's amazing to me--we have so many resources that we never even think about being thankful for. I didn't know what a "bucket bath" was til I moved here. Most people in my complex take bucket baths (filling up a bucket, turning off the water and using only that water to lather up and rinse off) and these are people who work for companies like IBM, GE, HP, Intel..they are not poor. They just know what it means to conserve. I have so much to learn people!!

I have more that I am LEARNING but this is growing long so I'll finish with this. I learned something I already knew. I pay way more than my Indian neighbors for our house help:) It's called "white tax" which means paying double for everything as a foreigner. I knew I was paying double b/c my neighbor and I share the same housekeeper and I asked her how much she paid her. But I found out that actually I'm paying 8 times more than my friend, also a neighbor. She has a "live-in" housekeeper which means 24 hours of available service. I pay the same amount for 2.5 hours:D But as an American I know that what I pay our housekeeper for a month (6 days a week) is what I would pay a maid for 2 hours of work for one day in the U.S.!! It's all relative right? And to me it's worth every rupee I pay to have the amazing help I do!

Mumbai Trip

2010-01-24T15:57:00.010+05:30

Last week we took a family trip to Mumbai. Brian was running in the Mumbai Marathon so we decided to see the sights. It reminded me a lot of New Orleans...charming, historical, lots of energy and... dirty:) With children it's hard to venture out and explore dining, museums, day tours, etc but we did get to see quite a bit and still get in our nap time (great for Mom and Dad too!).

Here are some highlights:

-We saw the CST, the Central train station for the local Mumbai commuter trains. These trains transport around 7 million passengers daily! This is where the closing dance scene from Slumdog Millionaire's "Jai Ho" was filmed.
I really REALLY wish I would have had my video camera on me at the time. We were there at rush hour and as the train pulled into the station to load new passengers men were jumping off the platform into the train doors while it's speeding in to grab a seat. When the train stopped women made a mad dash, running to find a chair. It was like witnessing a game of musical chairs when the music stops and all the children scramble to find a seat. I wasn't expecting this scene to unfold and really didn't know what was going on at first so it was rather humorous to me but to think of commuting 30 minutes to an hour or more each day standing up would make me join the mad dash as well.

-Saw the Gateway of India. It's a large arch that commemorated a king and queen arriving from England in 1911. We took our pictures in front of it and were mobbed by street sellers.

-Walked thru the beautiful Taj hotel that was attacked in November 2008 by terrorists.

-went to Chowpatty beach on Marine Drive, a main boulevard that runs along the bay. We enjoyed people watching while driving up and down this street many times. Lots of locals come to sit on the sea wall to hang out and watch the sunsets.

-We went to the former Prince of Whales museum and a public Aquarium that smelled like urine but the kids loved seeing the fish:D

-We visited Dharavi, a slum city that covers one square mile. Statistics say that over half of Mumbai's 14 million population lives in slums. The pictures that I took do nothing to really show what life is like for these people so if you want to view more realistic photos please go to this website that I stumbled upon with a collection of Mumbai slum photos http://artsytime.com/life-in-slums-of-mumbai/
While there, and seemingly the only foreigners around, we gained friends along the way, some of whom I took pictures of and included in the album below (yes, white lady WITH camera around her neck...can you say TOURIST!)

Brian did great in his marathon race! The best part was that he was finishing the same time as the elite runners were coming in (who started an hour later for more running space) so it looked like Brian came in 2nd place when we saw him near the finish line:D Some people came up to congratulate me that my husband came in 2nd:D Actually Kenyans came in first and second:) But the average onlooker didn't know this:D

So here's to Mumbai:

Random and Pictures

2010-01-10T19:16:00.004+05:30

Here are pictures from our trip and a few random notes:

-After 2.5 years I discovered a post office about a mile from our house! This beats driving and waiting in line for 45 minutes there and back to the other post office. The only problem is when I went for stamps they were out:) Not sure how a post office can not have stamps but the clerk said to come back in 2 days:)

-I spotted a car with 2 marvelous and rare statements in India on its rear windshield...one giant sticker stencil running the width of the window saying "Praise the Lord" and a bumper sticker of the Texas flag and "Don't Mess With Texas". Beautiful. And we saw the car again 3 hours later on our way back home...easy to spot:)-We have been blessed with a new cafe near Brian's work that has BEEF burgers. This will eliminate our frequent hamburger outings that take an hour one way in traffic to reach. And to top it off they have hummus and pita bread for an appetizer. We've been there 3 times since last Saturday:D

Back to Bangalore

2010-01-05T14:47:00.016+05:30

I can't believe it's been almost a 2 month hiatus from blogging! And really I don't know where to begin with describing our fantabulous trip to the U.S.!!! From the uneventful (good thing) flights there and back to the hugs and visits with family and friends to eating as much fajitas as I could squeeze in, it was just bliss.

Some highlights somewhat chronologically...
-only changed one diaper on the airplane there and one on the way back...MIRACLE!:)
-Thanksgiving feast with wonderful family
-First Black Friday shopping ever with my dear sister Elizabeth...not as crazy as I thought it would be and I had jet lag so I was up at 4:30 anyway:D
-Corban's first hunting trip with Paw Paw
-Roasting hotdogs and smores over a backyard fire
-Getting a hair cut after a year of no cuts:)
-Dinner with high school friends
-Ice skating
-Boat riding
-Driving around in my angel aunt's jeep Cherokee with the luggage packed to the ceiling...we couldn't see out the back window the whole 6 weeks:)
-Corban lost his first tooth
-A whirlwind trip to Pearland to visit dear friends
-The boys getting to take real baths in real bathtubs:)
-Eating wonderful food everyday whether it was baby carrots out of a bag already washed and peeled or bean burritos from Taco Bell or Christmas lunch with pies we savored it all
-Hanging out with Brian's college buddies--I don't think there's a more fun group of guys
-Making Christmas cookies and a gingerbread train
-Going to the family farm in west Texas...four-wheeler, throwing rocks in the pond, shooting fireworks, wide open spaces
-Celebrating Christmas with so many people we love
-Receiving way more Christmas gifts than we deserve
-Walmart:)
-Not a good highlight but poor Brian got swine flu and was in bed most of his 2 week trip. It was really, really sad

-AND most of all seeing all the wonderful people that we love so much. I just can't even imagine a better Thanksgiving and Christmas than what we had this year with our family and friends. Thank you to Ben and Alice, Brendan and Brad for flying to see us, to all those that drove in from out of town to meet us and to all who welcomed us into their homes (including the noise level we bring along:). We loved every minute of being with you. A huge thank you to my generous father-in-law who blesses others so amazingly because the Lord has blessed him. And to my aunt Carlisa who lent us her car for 6 weeks and her house for a few nights sleep...what an incredible sacrifice.

Bangalore is warm and welcoming. I knew we were back in India on our way home from the airport as the cab driver weaved in and out of transport trucks (India's form of 18 wheelers) as I was cringing:D The best drivers in the world live here! It was nice to wake up to the sight of women in bright sarees and flowers blooming out our windows. It was wonderful to see friends at church on Sunday.The unpacking is done and we are back to our normal routine, filled up with joy from getting to be in both of our "worlds"...home (U.S.) and home (Bangalore).

Pictures coming in next post...

Living in a Blur

2009-11-14T09:42:00.004+05:30

I haven't posted lately because I'm not really living in the moment to observe or notice things around me:) I'm so excited about our trip to the States next week that I've been living on Planet Packing the last 2 weeks. Also trying to get lots of schoolwork completed since we'll be playing hookey for over a month!! I have a one track mind right now. 6 Days!!!!

Here are a few recent pics of the boys...

Coorg

2009-11-05T17:36:00.002+05:30

We took a trip to Coorg (the country), about a 5 hour drive outside of Bangalore, when our friend Pam was visiting us last week. We had so much fun with her. We missed having Brian with us--he was away for work (where he ran the Delhi Half Marathon in 1 hour 22 minutes!!)

We stayed on a farm that had guest villas. It was so beautiful and our hosts took very good care of us. We visited an elephant camp where the elephants were bathing in the river and we even got to take a ride on one. We drove up into the mountains to view beautiful waterfalls, coffee plantations, wild poinsettia trees and lush green valleys. We visited a majestic lake/dam at sunset and returned the next day to give the boys a taste of country life...throwing rocks into the stream as cows leisurely walked by us:) Our host took us to a nearby buddhist monastery which is home to 4,000 Tibetan monks. And his wife cooked delicious south Indian meals 3 times a day for us!

The fresh air and beautiful scenery were worth the 7 hour drive it took to get there:) ( there were numerous unexpected forks in the road that weren't included in the directions given to us:) The boys could have just gone to hold the puppies and stop at McDonald's on the way there and back and been happy campers:)

Ya Never Know

2009-10-24T09:06:00.004+05:30

We heard drums coming down our street so I ran to get the video camera. I wish it had a longer zoom so you could see the unique dress of the men. They look like tribal warriors...shirtless, feathery armbands, black sarongs (official term: lungis), yellow turbans and bare feet. Percussion groups like these are often hired to perform at special occasions.

What was the special occasion? A new grocery store advertising it's Grand Opening:)

I really LOVE this!!! You just never know what you will see out your window here.

For the Grandparents

2009-10-15T21:27:00.004+05:30

I think baby talk is really cute and thought maybe Kai's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and anyone else who finds toddler pronunciation entertaining, would find this enjoyable:) When Haddon was going through his ABC flashcards for school Kai wanted to get in on the action. He's learning the pictures:D

Bringing Out the Worst

2009-10-11T17:51:00.005+05:30

Everyone has things that bring out the worst in them...I think. At least I do. I've recently realized the top 2 circumstances that bring out the worst in me. One is traffic. Ridiculous, chaotic, obstacle-course traffic which includes jaywalkers, cows, bicycles, rickshaws, buses, all at the same time. I sometimes feel the road rage bubbling within and when I'm behind the drivers seat I become very cynical. The sad part is my kids are in the backseat hearing all the moaning and groaning coming from mom. Such a bad example. So I'm becoming very aware of that after 2 years of driving here. Which also has caused most of the wrinkles on my face:) Thankfully it doesn't stress me out like it used to but I still need to work on the moaning:)

The second is orderly lines. This is the wrong country to live in with that pet peeve:) The word does not exist (well actually it does but it's called a queue:) People cut with no thought about it. At the grocery store if they have only one or two items they feel obliged to cut...maybe they don't think they should have to wait behind the lady with a full cart and since there are no Express Lanes this is the way to solve it:) The other day at the mall I was waiting in line for drinks. People were just going straight to the front totally ignoring the line that was formed. Usually when this happens I turn into the Line Police. I cannot help but inform people that there is a queue and they need to get in it:D One poor guy cut to the front and I pointed out the line to him in my Principal's Office voice. His head dropped with his eyes pointing to the floor like he was being sent to the corner (this is not the normal reaction--usually I'm just ignored:) and he walked to the back of the line. Little did I know he was just coming to pick up his order that he had already paid for! Oops. So I'm determined to not stress out about lines--which is so hard for me. But I'll have to remember "The first shall be last and the last shall be first":)

One thing that used to make me seethe was going to public places and strangers taking hold of Kai without asking, wanting their picture taken with him, and pinching his cheeks. I'm over it now but I did capture a little bit of it on film to show you. All 5 of these people had their picture taken with Kai (and all 5 pinched his cheeks:) but I only got my camera out right at the end. Notice the cheek pinching when he puts him down (which still drives this germ-freak momma a little nutty) and you can hear the cynicism in my voice:)

Camping Trip

2009-09-29T16:50:00.006+05:30

We are so blessed to be part of a playgroup here with a core group of kids. Some of the moms are adventurous AND organized and come up with fun outings. Last week was our first overnite trip as a group. The moms and kids went camping at our local zoo which is about 1.5 hours away with traffic. Brian laughed when I told him I was going camping...I'm not much of a nature girl..."been there, done that" pre-kids and not so keen on roughin' it with 3 children:) But this was not what I would call "real" camping. The tents were more like houses made out of tent material. There were 3 twin beds w/full linens, side tables, a rack to hang your towels, an oscillating fan, a rack to hold your suitcase, a plug to charge your cell phone and an attached bathroom with heated water:D Not bad.

The kids had a blast with plenty of space to roam, dig and yell. In Bangalore, like most big cities, you can start to feel caged...like a billboard on I-10 in Houston used to say..."Stop living like bees" (Referring to apartment living, they were marketing home sales). Sometimes I feel like a bee:) So fresh air, nature and space to run gave plenty us of R & R.

Next to laying in the hammock, the safari ride was my favorite. We've been to the zoo several times before but the line for the safari ride is always ridiculous. This time we got to skip the line. There was a bear section, lion section, white tiger and tiger sections. We also visited the butterfly park and the zoo.

Poor Haddon was sick most of the time. And we were blessed to have to visit the village doctor which I wish I could have video footage of so I will remember how amazingly fortunate we Americans are with our clean, spacious doctors offices and private hospital beds. This place was about the size of walk-in closet and I was praying that we wouldn't get sick from just being there. It also acted as a hospital with two sick cots (which were both occupied). The doctor visit cost $1. Man, I have it so good.

So as not to end on that "preachy" note...one more thing to show that this was a plush camping trip...buffet at every meal:) We loved the pet deer that came up to us at the campsite and the kids LOVED the ride in the back of the Lodge's truck (see pics below). They could have just done that the whole time and thought it was a great trip:)

Bald and Beautiful

2009-09-21T16:46:00.006+05:30

Something that fascinates me in Indian culture is that many little girls have boy short or shaven haircuts. Not all of them, and probably not even a majority of them in the city (many more in rural villages do) have hair this short but it is a prevalent practice. I have asked why and the info I have gathered is like usual: from observation and surveying friends so it's not cultural expertise:)

Religious reasons: Hindus do it as a sacrifice at the temple...they shave their heads as an offering. Like in this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAxo9gzOf1w which is disturbing to me but I have to remember it is cultural and not intentionally abusive.

Non-religious reasons (which means Hindus, Christians and Muslims all practice it ): My favorite and most common reason: if you cut/shave the girl's hair at one year and 3 years old, it will help it to grow into thick, beautiful hair and perhaps change the texture (if the hair is coarse it may grow back in as silky and smooth). Others do it for easier manageability, lice prevention or, if due to the texture, it wouldn't look good long.

I think what fascinates me about this is that long hair in India is a woman's prize and treasure. I would say over 99% of women have very long hair. It's interesting to me that little girls would have boy short hair when long hair is so desired. But it seems to be a means to an end....so that the girl WILL have beautiful, thick, long hair some day.

Week in Review

2009-09-13T15:01:00.006+05:30

After 2 "dry" weeks there were some "blog postable" moments this week:)...

Kai got his hand stuck in the elevator as the door opened! Every mom's nightmare...if they think of that one:) The door was half-open and stuck with his hand wedged inbetween the door and the wall of the elevator. He was crying, Haddon was crying, I was panicking and hoping my adrenaline rush would be able to pull the door shut to release his hand, but not so:) Some neighbors ran to get the security guards. When they arrived one was smart enough to bend the door back (it's thin) so that Kai could get his hand free. So easy. Why didn't I think of that? Well it was traumatic:) But he was fine. We put some ice on it and he could wiggle all his fingers so I knew there were no broken bones. He was playing w/toys 20 minutes later and had a story to tell Daddy when he got home from work..."Daddy...hand....stuck...hurt":)
******
I grocery shop once a week. I go to the same store around the corner. Most neighborhood grocery stores are the size of a convenient store. At this particular one there are usually about a dozen employees around 19 yrs old all for this small store and I go at a non-peak time. Because of these factors and b/c I look different, I'm usually inundated with greetings from every staff member, offers to help me, stares, laughing and talking in their native language about me, and the 4-5 different employees who randomly stop at my cart and stand there watching what I'm putting into it. They obviously don't have much to do. After 2 years of this it doesn't bother me, I'm used to it. But this week a nerve was struck.

Since I do the shopping for a whole week worth of food and most Indians shop for about 2 day's worth, I spend MUCH more than most customers. I also have 5 mouths to feed with American tastes which cost more than Indian foods. So, at the check-out, the cashier at the next counter who wasn't checking anyone out kept leaning over the computer monitor to see what my total bill was. She gawked, made big eyes and laughed... she'd done this another time before. Gotta blow it off. Well, there were 4 employees at my little checkout counter, all staring at the monitor, all speaking in their native language, using english numbers, guessing at how much I was going to spend and commenting on what the total was at the moment. I was boiling at this point. I told the guy who speaks the best english that I would not come back if people sat around and marveled at my bill. He told the guy bagging to stop but he still kept trying to guess the total! Ahhhh! I already feel so guilty that I get (am blessed) to buy so much food so I think my frustration was part guilt that what I spend on 1 week of food is what these employees make in a month (for my American friends, the grocery bill for 1 week here is comparable to shopping in the States...it's about the same), but also that I feel like a "freak show" and I just want to blend in like a chamelion so I'm not stalked and gawked at in the store:) Will I shop there next week...yes, I have other choices but this one has more food:) and it's convenient...so i'll learn to deal with this too...it's a part of adapting that never goes away, you just learn to ignore it.

2 Year Top 10

2009-08-29T15:43:00.005+05:30

This week marked my 2 year anniversary in India. Brian had his in July. To commemorate the occasion I thought I'd post the top 10 things I love about India...in no certain order except for #1:)

1. Friends, who are family

2. Bangalore weather--year round flip flops!

3. Being able to hire someone to do the dishes and toilets. And we love her which puts her in the #1 category on this list.

4. Getting clothes ironed for 5 cents a piece. Which translates...no ironing in our house...ever!

5. Seeing an amazingly complex culture and National Geographic-like sightings unfold around us each day.

6. The flat bread...roti, chapati, naan, paratha, the list goes on

7. Public transportation, rickshaws and sharing one car...it's so not American:) (Never thought sharing a car would make a top 10 list!! It helps to live close to work. Btw, Brian gets all the credit for taking public transportation/rickshaws not me:) but b/c of it I can keep the car a couple days a week)

8. Cheap mangoes, avocados, pineapples and text messaging:) $5 doctor visits and $10 pedicures (for my Indian friends: I know this is way more than I should pay but it's at an amazingly beautiful outdoor spa and my American friends can vouch that this is so much cheaper than the stinky nail salons in the U.S. :)

9. My friend Sini's cakes...she is also in the #1 category.

10. Everyday reminders of how 95% of the world lives...in poverty.

I could really keep going but I'll try hard to make it a "TOP 10"

Birthday and Farm

2009-08-23T20:15:00.003+05:30

Haddon turns 4 tomorrow! And to celebrate we had a big shindig at Pizza Hut (the India equivalent to McDonalds back when we were kids:) on Saturday. There were 19 kids plus parents! This was our first "big" birthday party. It was a lot of fun and the best part was we didn't have to clean up:) Haddon had a great time and he had his favorite superhero decor and cake...Ben 10.

Also there are pictures from the farm we visited...

Plague

2009-08-19T18:13:00.003+05:30

Swine Flu is going around India and has claimed 28 lives last week, 5 in Bangalore. I'm sure some other disease has killed more people in the last week, but Swine flu is the one making people panic. People are wearing masks, schools are closed, hospitals are packed with people in the waiting room hoping to get tested. At the same time the "regular" flu is going around which doesn't help the situation b/c everyone that has regular flu thinks they could possibly have swine flu.

Our family fell ill to some form of influenza last week starting with Kai, traveling to me then to Corban. Brian and Haddon were spared so far. Thankfully the boys got through about 2 days of fever and were back to playing. Momma on the other hand had the intense version that managed to keep me on the couch for 5 days. Today was my first day out of the house since last Tuesday (except to go to the doctor) so I felt like I broke out of a cage:)

So I've been out of blog commission for over a week and hope to post pics of today's outing to a farm very soon.

Mall

2009-08-07T16:27:00.002+05:30

This 5 story mall is being built down the street, within walking distance from us. They broke ground about the time we moved here 2 years ago and from the looks of the progress it's likely we won't get to enjoy it in our time of living here:( When I went to the builder's website to get the picture it said the estimated completion date was December 2008:) I'm thinking December 2010. It would be nice to have a food court, arcade and 5 floors of shopping without getting into the car, but it's probably better on our wallet to not:)

The Boys

2009-08-05T22:31:00.004+05:30

Corban doing a trick:)
Haddon's new "do" and his favorite shirt
The guy at the salon had fun "stylin" Kai's hair:)

Baby Naming

2009-07-30T11:39:00.010+05:30

This past Sunday, Corban and I went to a baby naming ceremony for our househelper's grandson. It is a Hindu tradition to wait to name the baby for weeks or months. This baby is 3 months old. At the ceremony in their home, family and friends said prayers and put paint on the baby and mother's foreheads (the Hindu signs for spiritual "eyes") The guests sprinkled things over their heads... and my favorite...passed the baby between two people on opposite sides of his bassinet under and over the bed in a circle 3 times. Not sure what it meant but it seemed like a common ritual, with everyone clapping when it was complete. There were snacks served and pictures taken. I'm still not sure what his name is because I have trouble understanding names sometimes. It sounded like Cheriyan Jeevan to me but it's highly likely that I got it wrong:) He was very cute and napped most of the ceremony. His aunt (who speaks english) told me that he sleeps all day and is up all night. His mom wakes up her mom (our househelper) to take care of him during the night while he's crying. Poor thing...she doesn't get too much sleep and her daughter and grandson get to sleep all day while she works.

Solar Eclipse in India

2009-07-22T09:54:00.008+05:30

This morning there was a solar eclipse over Asia. I learned about it yesterday when my neighbor came over to translate for our housekeeper. She told me that she would be coming late to work b/c of the eclipse. She told me that during an eclipse Hindus offer up prayers and from what I gathered they find it bad luck to go out during and a period after the eclipse. She said a lot of schools were starting late and Brian said he expected people to come in late to work. I read a news article about it this morning and below are some excerpts from it. It will give you a little glimpse of the Hindu religion. It is made up of mythology, superstition and fear. (I don't say this with disrespect, one of my Hindu friend describes it to me with these same words.) Sadly, this morning, a woman was killed and others injured as a stampede occurred on the banks of the Ganges River while people were trying to get into the sacred water to cleanse their sins during the 3+ minutes of the eclipse.

Did I view the eclipse? If you know me, you know I wasn't awake at 6:30 am to view it:D

AP News: "The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century pitched a swath of Asia from India to China into near darkness Wednesday as millions gathered to watch the phenomenon. But millions more, seeing the eclipse as a bad omen and gripped by fear, shuttered themselves in. India abounds in superstitions and fables based on Hindu mythology, one of which says an eclipse is caused when a dragon-demon swallows the sun. In some parts of Asia it lasted as long as 6 minutes and 39 seconds. One of the best views appeared to be in the Indian town of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges River, sacred to devout Hindus. Thousands of Hindus took a dip in keeping with the ancient belief that bathing in the river, especially on special occasions, cleanses one's sins. Millions across India were shunning the sight and planned to stay indoors. Even in regions where the eclipse was not visible, pregnant women were advised to stay indoors in curtained rooms over a belief that the sun's invisible rays would harm the fetus and the baby would be born with disfigurations, birthmarks or a congenital defect. Krati Jain, a software professional in New Delhi, said she planned to take a day off from work Wednesday to avoid what she called "any ill effects of the eclipse on my baby." "My mother and aunts have called and told me to stay in a darkened room with the curtains closed, lie in bed and chant prayers," said Jain, 24, who is expecting her first child. In the northern Indian state of Punjab, authorities ordered schools to begin an hour late to prevent children from venturing out and gazing at the sun. Others saw a business opportunity: one travel agency in India scheduled a charter flight to watch the eclipse by air, with seats facing the sun selling at a premium."

Power Outages

2009-07-09T13:45:00.013+05:30

I've posted before about the daily power outages in Bangalore. I stopped complaining about it somewhere along the way b/c i figured out it doesn't fix the problem to complain:) So as I write this I'm not grumbling:) I just like to paint a realistic picture of life in developing countries for my friends and family living in the U.S. Knowing what you have that many others don't makes your blessings (like continuous power) that much sweeter.

I'm not up on the details of energy consumption in India but from our daily experience, I gather there's not enough to go around for 1 billion people, which is understandable. So each day there are multiple outages and even scheduled outages to conserve energy.

For instance, last week we had a hair appt for the boys at 12pm at a salon down our street. When we arrived the power was out...which we're all used to...so we just took a seat. They informed us that without the power they couldn't use the electric clippers for the boys hair. Most businesses and buildings (like ours) have back-up generators that bring low-voltage power back on until the main power is restored. Amazingly this popular chain salon didn't have one. So they told us to go home and they'd call us when it came back on. In about 30 minutes they called to tell us it was on so we loaded up and drove back. We got through 2 haircuts and just as they were beginning Haddon's the power went out again:( His hair requires full clippers so I should have had him go first but wasn't thinking strategically:) So we sat there and waited, about 45 minutes, and it never came back on. Finally, we went back home for naps. What usually would be about a 20 minute process took almost 2 hours. Last night we went back to finish the hair cutting project but not before I called to make sure their power was on:)

The city schedules 1 hour outages for each part of Bangalore. At our complex last week, our outages were at 6am and 6pm everyday. This week is 7am/7pm. I have to say it's better than when they were being scheduled at 2 am and 2 pm for about 2 weeks! What this means is getting out of bed to turn off the refrigerator b/c the current can't handle high voltage appliances. And unless someone switches off the fridge, the power surges on and off (meaning our ceiling fans when we are sleeping). Thankfully it doesn't wake the boys up, but for me the silence/power/silence/power is a little too much to sleep thru:) Sometimes they even throw in an extra outage at noon. Although these are not peak appliance usage times for most Indians...it translates into meal prep times for Americans 12 pm:lunch, 6pm:dinner:) Also, when the generator is on, the high voltage appliances like microwaves, washer/dryer, and water heaters don't work. So many of our laundry loads get spoiled from sitting either wet in the washer or wet in the dryer for an hour at a time:) My friend who owns a home without a generator says her daughter does her homework by candlelight in the evenings b/c of their outage schedule:) She says her daughter thinks it's fun:)

But like I said, now it's like second nature...it doesn't usually bother me. But after the salon incident it did remind me of the beauty of continuous power:) And had to share. BTW as I'm typing this right now our power went out:) 7:15-8:15pm schedule. Everyone who owns a computer also owns a UPS back-up battery to make sure the computer doesn't shut down when the lights do:D Thank goodness for those!

Out and About

2009-07-09T13:22:00.015+05:30

Brian's Day Off
Last week we went for a family outing to Wonderla...an amusement park outside of Bangalore. We went last year for Corban's birthday but didn't ride the land rides. So this time we did the waterpark and the rides. It was great b/c school is in here so there were no lines.
4th of July
On Saturday night I was so happy to be able to get together with my friend Lisa and some of her neighbors for a Girl's Nite Out. It ended up being 5 Americans and one British girl who recently moved from Cincinnati:) I'm not often around Americans so to spend the 4th of July with so many was great. And not to mention getting to have whole conversations without any distractions or interruptions (which is normally how moms interact) was a bonus:)
Perfect Weather
I hate to rub it in to my Texas and Louisiana friends and family who are surviving sweltering heat and drought...but just incase you are curious:) Bangalore has a very mild climate. We are past the summer months, which do get hot, but only last about 2 months. Yesterday with the windows open it even felt chilly...i had to put on a jacket. So if you need a break from the heat there's always Bangalore:)

Brian's Work

2009-06-29T15:39:00.002+05:30

I can't remember if I've posted this previously.
This video describes what Ujjivan does. This might give you a better picture of what Brian is doing and what the word microfinance means. Brian's department is responsible for processing loans and making sure these funds get smoothly into the hands of their clients.

Insignificant Thoughts

2009-06-29T14:11:00.010+05:30

Here are some random bits that have no importance but thought I might share to further the glimpse of our life in India:)...Nugget Depletion
As I reported a month or so ago, McDonald's introduced chicken nuggets to India...apparently with much success. Although I don't care for them, the kids do and it brings along some great sentimentality of the U.S. But after a few short weeks here the supply has run out (represented by signs at each cash register in every McDonald's we've visited recently (3:). It says another batch is coming which I assume means they are being flown across the ocean. We are back to our Chicken McGrill (a spicy, orange chicken patty with green mint chutney sauce which we opt out of) happy meals. But despite any shortages I am thankful for McDonalds in India...a slice of home.Threading
After almost 2 years of living here I finally succumbed to the torturous act of having my eyebrows threaded. There is no eyebrow waxing here only the amazing art of threading. This requires the stylist to use a long loop of thread, catching your hairs in between and painfully twisting them out. Since mine were long over due I believe I got more pain than is normally required. Even though neither threading nor waxing is pain-free, I do think its better to pay $1 for threading than $15+tip for waxing in the U.S.! Here is a demo for those interested in seeing the process. Ignore the statement at the beginning that it is painless--not true:) And to get the full effect wait until she shows the close-up version:) (Couldn't embed it, sorry) http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=SK6Y12I pCpM Weaned
As I observed an Indian women buying toilet paper, paper towels and Ragu sphaghetti sauce (which costs over $5 a jar here!!), I assumed that she must have previously lived in the U.S. at some point in her life. These 3 items are not usually on an Indian's shopping list unless they have lived abroad or are hosting foreign guests:) At that moment I had an amazing revelation... I have been weaned off of paper towels for 1.5 years now!!!! Really this is an amazing feat...just ask my mom...i can go thru a roll of paper towels at their house in about 2 days! How did I detox? It wasn't on purpose...it's just that the paper towels sold here are not that absorbent so I didn't see the point in them. Now I use a hand towel to dry my hands and dish towels to wipe up spills, etc. Which, i agree, is more eco-friendly but this doesn't mean that I won't bask in the luxery of paper towels when visiting the states:) And btw, I usually buy a 4-pack when staying at my mom and dad's house to make up for my serious over-usage:)

Domino Packets are Good for Something
With every order of Dominos pizza you get little packets (and more little packets) of Oregano Seasoning and Chili Powder. Since Italian seasoning is not available in stores I use the packets of Oregano to make sphaghetti sauce (can't do the $5 Ragu jars...just can't do it) and season salads. I know a few other foreigners (and probably many more) who do the same thing:) We all eat alot of Dominos:)
Washing's not Enough
Recently learned from a doctor that sewer water is used by many farmers to irrigate their crops. Ah, yummy. I already detox our produce in special cleansing suds then rinse with purified water, but she said anything that grows in the ground (i.e. carrots, spinach, cabbage) should sit in a covered pot of boiled water for 20 minutes. The sewer water, carrying parasites and bacteria, contaminates the produce. That could explain our on-and-off-again family stomach issues the last 2 years, including ecoli. So now I'm sold, and scald our carrots, spinach, etc. I'm a raw veggie girl myself but gotta do watcha gotta do. Not all doctors agree with her. Our pediatrician laughed when I told her. Makes sense to me.

Graduation Day!

2009-06-23T22:27:00.012+05:30

I've always thought elementary/middle school graduations were silly. What are you really graduating from or to when you finish 1st grade or 5th grade? You're going to the next grade...big deal:) But after completing our first year of homeschool I am all about GRADUATION and celebration now! Why yes, there is cause to celebrate after completing kindergarten!! Not only for Corban but for me:) Btw, I found kindergarten much more informative the second go round:) I actually learned some things I don't ever remember learning:) Just think of all that I will learn in the next 15+ years of homeschooling!

Today was our last day of school so we made a construction paper graduation hat and a cookie cake to celebrate. And we went for a swim...one of Corban's favorite things to do. It was a great day.

Corban also learned to tie his shoe last week. We watched a few youtube demos, he sat down and tied his own shoe in about five minutes! It goes to show that if you wait until they are ready it goes ALOT faster. I had tried teaching him before but it didn't compute. Now he's tying every time. I'll have to remember this as I start Kai on hardcore potty training next week. When he's ready he'll do it...i'm just afraid from what I've seen so far he may not be ready for another year:) But atleast I can say I tried:)

Favorite Billboard

2009-06-15T13:58:00.011+05:30

This is a picture of our favorite billboard in Bangalore. It is for a famous retail chain that sells gold jewelry. (Gold is the jewelry of choice for both women and men) Although this "look" is nothing unusual for India, he appears to Brian and me to have that Used Car Salesman nuance:D So, all this to say, most people in Bangalore probably don't think twice about this billboard but we think it should say...
ARE YOU BEING DUPED....BY ME? :D :D :D

Celebrating Corban and Brian's B-days

2009-06-10T13:50:00.004+05:30

We had a great weekend celebrating Corban's b-day on Friday and Brian's on Monday. We spent Friday at an amusement park called Innovative Film City--a copy of Universal Studios. It included a Dinosaur park/museum complete with a life size T-Rex with a dead, bleeding man(nequin) in it's mouth! Is this place really for kids? Go-carts, skating rink, minature golf, Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, wax museum, arcade, 4-D movie, kids dress up area, etc. It was a great day and ended with yummy cake before bed:)
Saturday Brian and I got to go to Hard Rock Cafe to celebrate his birthday early...and alone. Burger, fajitas and nachos plus brownie sunday--nothing better in Bangalore. Monday we had more cake and ice cream from our dear friend Sini plus Brian's other fav--apple pie.
Corban is now 6 and Brian 31. Growing boys:)

Last Week In Review

2009-06-01T15:31:00.004+05:30

Our house-helper returned after being gone for a week and a half. I wanted to do kartwheels when I saw her at the door--i wasn't sure when she was coming back. Her daughter had a baby in their hometown so she went for the delivery. Her absence reminded me yet again of the hard work American women daily endure--cleaning their their big houses:D--without the thought of paying someone else to do the heavy load (ok, there are plenty of thoughts but not enough to convince themselves to pay someone else hundreds of dollars a month to do it). So washing the dishes and folding clothes for a few days made me appreciate my house-helper and the luxery of living somewhere where we can afford one. BTW, her daughter is arriving back in Bangalore today, riding the public (overcrowded, i'm sure) train with a 10 day old baby! A little different from doctors orders in the U.S. to keep a baby out of public for 4 weeks!

I have a theory that when husbands are away on business freaky things happen...which I've reported here before...bats flying in the house, E.R. visits, being locked out of the house. So once again, last week as Brian traveled, the "strange" occured. First, it happened not to me but to Brian. He was flying to Kolkata where a cyclone just so happened to be touching down as they tried to land. (I don't think Indian airline companies are into meterology...they obviously didn't check the latest weather reports...or maybe they just didn't care:) So after a sickening bout of violent turbulance they diverted to a nearby city where he spent hours in the airport waiting to see if they would be flown to Kolkata (in the cyclone) or sent back to Bangalore. There was a riot by the passengers and one man arrested. The decision was made, after 15 hours of travel, to fly to Kolkata. They landed safely and amazingly he was able to work. The other freaky things that happened were Haddon falling out of bed onto the hard marble tile on his forehead. (Corban fell out of bed onto his head last time Brian was gone! They never fall out of bed when he's here!) Kai, woke up at 3:30 am, came out of his room and tried to jiggle open my door (over and over), which was locked. This is a first for a child who always sleeps thru the nite. And yes, i freaked out b/c when Brian is gone I'm expecting someone to try to open the door:) (i'm a wuss) so my first thoughts were not that it would be Kai. And last but not least a rickshaw played bumper cars with me and hit the side of my car while driving. He said I hit him but we were both going straight. Who knows, but glad I didn't have to pay off a raging rickshaw driver to let me get by which happens so many times to foreigners.

Last but not least...as you may know an Indian-American won the U.S. National Spelling Bee. She was the 7th Indian-American in the last 11 years to win and the 2nd back to back wanting to be a neurosurgeon! Wow! She turned 13 the week before the spelling bee and didn't celebrate b/c she was too busy preparing. But with $40,000 in prizes I'm sure she is having a great party now:) The documentary "Spellbound" is a insightful movie about the lives of students training for the Nat'l Spelling Bee and features an Indian-American winner.

A Few Odds and Ends

2009-05-25T22:31:00.007+05:30

Just a few random notes today...

The Heavy...

Thankful for those who gave their lives to serve our country to keep us safe and free. I'm thankful for my brother Ryan and Brian's brother Ben who are giving/have given many years of their lives to the military and so glad they are both with us this Memorial Day.

Driving around today noticing many blue tarp tent houses, children with no bottoms on in the streets, and small children with no parents in sight, makes me thankful for all the many blessings I have that I don't deserve.

The Lite...

Still trying to figure out what really makes sense....when waiting in traffic at a signal...for long periods of time...do you turn off your car/motorcycle or let it run? I always thought that letting your car idle, even for hours, wouldn't consume that much gas but to keep starting it over and over uses more. So many motorcycles, rickshaws and cars here turn off their engines while waiting, then have to start them up when the light turns green which slows things down in itself. Are they trying to save gas, trying to turn out less pollution, just want their vehicle to have a rest? Hmmmm, if you know which is better tell me:) i probably wouldn't turn off my car even if it did benefit something (it has a stalling problem at startup:) but atleast i would know:)

McDonald's, as of last week, now serves chicken nuggets:) Oh the insignificant things that make a mom happy:) I tasted them and they were gross, but still...what is McD's without nuggets? Still waiting for cheeseburgers...but not going to happen. Even Chili's that just opened here doesn't serve beef burgers...how can it be?

Latest pics of the boys. Kai in his "new" hand-me-down train suit. Haddon with his amazing smile. Corban wearing his new "big boy" tennis shoes that he would sleep in if he could:)

Camp

2009-05-18T16:25:00.006+05:30

We returned on Saturday from a week of family camp with our church. We traveled by train (the boys and my first train experience in India) and bus to get there and back. We had a relaxing week getting to know our friends and new friends better. And actually learning people's names after a year and a half! I struggle so much with learning Indian names!!

We traveled to KodaiKanal, a peaceful hill station, in the very southern tip of India. We were at 6,000 feet elevation. There were no mosquitoes!! And it was cool.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:
-We were greeted by a 7 ft 2 inch porter (carries your luggage) at the train station in Bangalore. He has to be the tallest person in India! He and another porter carried our huge suitcases on their heads up and down staircases to get to our platform. Just the train station alone was quite an experience. Wouldn't want to be there alone:)

-Kodai is known for its homemade chocolates. We had chocolate stores within walking distance and ate plenty of it!

-Our team at camp won! We were split up into 3 teams to play for the prized trophy. Brian and Kevin, our team captain, dominated the basketball court and we won the skit night. I'm not competitive so I really didn't care who won but it's fun when your team does rock:)

-First time to experience bucket baths:) So many people here bath this way to save water. It shows me just how spoiled I really am that I never thought of doing this before. Can't say that I came home a changed woman though:) A hot shower after the 15 hour journey home sure felt good!

-Experiencing an overnight train in India with 3 children, too much luggage and only 2 bunks for the five of us. I won't fully complain about it like I have been doing in my mind but lets just say if I could have secretly flown to our destination without the other 80 people at camp knowing about it I would have done it in a second:) I just couldn't be that spoiled American that was "too good" to ride the train and the overloaded bus winding down the mountains:) But here again, I'm revealing the true brat that I am:) And now I can say we did it--once:)

-Having lots of leisure time with our family. It's amazing what a week of stress free, non-busy living can do for our spirits.

-Watching the movie FireProof. That was worth the whole trip.

Here are a few pics from the week...

Haddon and Madonna

2009-05-03T17:32:00.006+05:30

Last night we went to a local mall to dine at McDonald's. We probably go to this mall once a month and our ritual is that after McD's (if you eat all your chicken burger) you get a lollipop from the candy kiosk. When we were purchasing the 3 lollipops one of the guys behind the counter pulls out a folded newspaper and handed it to the watch salesman from the kiosk next to theirs. He pointed to a small picture (the same one above) and made a face saying, "is this you?"

I smiled and said, "Oh, no, that's Madonna and her son":) Then he pointed to the boy in the picture and said, "That's him" and pointed to Haddon!:) They said they remembered us from before and saved the article for when we came in again to show us:)

So a few things are obvious...there are very few Africans or African Americans in India...so hence if you see one he must be the same one in the newspaper:). Next, these men obviously didn't know who Madonna was to assume that I was her or that she would let me borrow her son to live with me in India:) And third, adoption is not on most people's radars in India so since Haddon looked different from us he must be the same child in the paper.

We explained to the man that Haddon was our son and that he was adopted just like Madonna's child is. As we left, I told Brian I thought that was so funny that they saved the article....he said he thought it was scary:)

Nigeria + India= Church

2009-04-27T17:15:00.006+05:30

For the past few weeks our church has been blessed to have some special visitors. A group of over 250 Nigerian students has moved to Bangalore to study IT (computer software).
50 of those students are staying in a guest house directly across the street from our church. Many of these male students, along with female students staying in another dormitory, are Christians. So now they are attending our church for the next year!! Our church went from fully Indian to 1/2 Indian 1/2 Nigerian in one week!! It is so cool.

This past Sunday, 4 of the students led a worship song in their native tongue for the church. Tears were streaming down my face as I listened to their beautiful language and felt how "alive" the song was! They were not timid at all and the students sitting in the pews sang along and one by one stood up, clapping and swaying. I wanted to jump up in my seat and say "YES! Can I dance and shout to the Lord with you?!!!" It was a glimpse of heaven--singing praises in all languages and I know there will be dancing and clapping there too!!

I really hope they get to come up front again to sing--i just hope i don't cry every time:)

The New Nano

2009-04-21T17:50:00.004+05:30

TATA, an Indian company, has started taking orders for it's new Nano--the smallest car on the road--and the cheapest. This means that now someone who could only afford a motorcycle can now afford a $2500 enclosed vehicle. There has been concern that the already overloaded roads will be devasted by the new accesibilty of owning a car. And not only will it afford lower income families to own a vehicle but also middle class families to add a second car to their garage (although there aren't too many garages in India:). I only know one family in India with 2 cars and one of them is used to transport employees to their factory. Most families if they have a second vehicle own a motorcycle or moped.

TATA has received over 500,000 pre-orders and at $6 per pre-order they have raked in over $3 million dollars! One article said they expect up to 1 million pre-orders which would bring their profit before sales to $6 million dollars--alot of money! After the pre-order deadline on April 25, TATA will hold a drawing to see who the first 100,000 owners will be in July. Loans for the car can be taken out for 7 years.

We are hoping to go to our nearest TATA dealer and get a picture taken with the new Nano. I don't think Brian could fit inside one so we'll opt for the family picture standing next to it:)

And we'll see how the traffic changes here in the next few months.

Busy Days

2009-04-12T20:25:00.011+05:30

The last few weeks have been very busy for us. Here's a break down in pictures...

Corban and Haddon have taken swim classes the last 3 weeks, finishing this past Saturday. They are now officially not afraid of the water, and as an added bonus, swimming! They both did great and at 3 1/2 years old I think Haddaon is on his way to an Olympic gold medal:) They loved their teacher, Mr. Nixon.

We spent 4 days at the Foreign Registration Office applying for a visa extension. Granted it wasn't full days but it surely wears you out driving an hour each way and sitting in line...waiting. The boys and I made use of our time by making funny faces. Here's some pics of those and smiles from the boys. BTW Brian went a fifth day and has to go back again tomorrow...that'll make 6 trips in all. They don't make it easy:)

On our way to the FRO we pass my favorite little neighborhood (I call it a village, but it's right in the city.) I think it's so colorful and visually stimulating. You really do feel like you've left the city and are visiting a rural community. There's also a pic of the Pappa John's I previously talked about and the typical pizza delivery vehichle in India.

We had a surprise visit by a beloved friend, David France, from Minnesota who now teaches violin classes in Bermuda. He travels the world and happened to be in India for 2 weeks. He had a layover in Bangalore so we got to spend a couple of hours with him. He is now in NY City performing in the YouTube symphony comprised of 100 talented musicians who auditioned on youtube, received the highest votes out of hundreds of contestants and will perform at Carnegie Hall. He took a few minutes to play for the boys who were thoroughly entertained.
David's YouTube Symphony Intro

Brian's work has been extremely busy wrapping up their "end of year" accounts and auditing. The month of March to the present has been intense with many long hours and stressful obstacles. Hopefully they'll be back to normal soon.

We celebrated Resurrection Sunday and the week leading it to it by making a playdough Calvery mountain and tomb. On Good Friday Jesus was on the cross for our sins and later placed in the tomb. On Saturday He was sealed up. This morning the stone was rolled away and Jesus was ALIVE! We also made "Resurrection Cookies" last night and found them ready to eat this morning in the oven. Our friends Sini, Sunoop, Nadia and Nayza came over for lunch. Just for fun we ordered this Alligator bread. The kids loved it and it was the size of a baby alligator!

Tomorrow the boys will go to VBS at our church! School is still in session until June at the Frazier house but since it is summer break for the children here (their school year runs June-March) we are getting to enjoy all the fun summer activities. So I guess we're on Spring Break this week:)

We hope you had a blessed Easter! He is Alive!!

The 3 R's

2009-04-05T22:07:00.007+05:30

Jack Johnson has a fun song from the Curious George cd that we listen to in the car...The 3 R's...Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. And even though I like to sing along I am one of those Americans who even when the city of Minneapolis provided me with a green recycle bin and the trash truck picked it up for free I still did not take the time to sort out my trash and felt no guilt about it. (slap on the wrist)

Being here in India has shown me alot about the 3 R's. I think I'm a changed woman and someday if I ever have a green bin to fill I will do it, but for now recycling is made soooooo easy for me. There is always someone who will take your leftovers, rotten bananas, stained clothes, broken toys... in a heartbeat. I really have no excuse to waste A THING because my housekeeper will take anything (except long grain rice--she eats short grain only so i'm thinking there's some religious rules involved in that one:) She even keeps all the boxes, cardboard, plastic and glass in a pile and once a month takes it home. I think she must turn it in for money. So no driving to Goodwill or whincing as I throw out a full leftover meal into the garbage disposal like I did in the states. I have seen people digging in the trash on the side of the road eating food out of baggies. It's very motivating when people right outside are in need. I do wash ziplocs here--yes--only because i get them twice a year on my U.S. trips and my stash is not very big:) I wish it was b/c i'm trying to save the world from non-degradable plastic waste but my reasons are selfish:) Toys and books go to our housekeeper and our church nursery. And I think I am almost on the verge of bringing my own re-usable bags to take home the groceries except that I reuse those plastic bags to line the trash can...hmmmm...plastic grocery bags or buy plastic trash bags? Tough call. No paper bag options here.

And what's amazing, for all the trash that is out on the streets here, I really do see an effort being made to sort out trash which I'm assuming is for recycling purposes. I even see the trashmen inside the bed of the truck going thru the trash to sort it out--or maybe they are looking for treasures? Now that is a DIRTY job! I'm told that the cleaning ladies at our complex go thru the garbage each morning (we put our trash outside the door in the AM) first to find things to keep for themselves then to seperate cardboard for the complex. I do hear them rustling thru the bags and wonder "how much in need do you have to be to dig through the trash?". We see children digging through the trash pile behind our complex. I really can't imagine it.

So I'm sold...I'm a 3R girl now. Dare I say, even if I have to drive to a recycling center someday to drop off my glass, plastic and paper I will use my memories of India to motivate me. Please hold me to it!!!

The 3 Rs

2009-04-05T22:07:00.001+05:30

Fine Dining Pizza

2009-04-01T18:31:00.005+05:30

Three American pizza delivery companies have locations in India...Dominoes, Pizza Hut and the latest, Papa John's. They all deliver but they also have restaurants--fancy restaurants. I know Pizza Hut has dine-in in the U.S. but i think it's really interesting how nice they are here. Pizza is a novelty food in India so it's much more of a dining experience. Whereas for Americans it's a part of their weekly diet... you throw one in the oven or call up Dominoes and order 3 for 5-5-5 if you don't feel like cooking:) Here it can be a nice dinner.

We ate at a new Papa John's this past weekend and it is really upscale. i wish i could have taken pictures of the white leather chairs! They have "real" garden salads, desserts and the awesome PJ crust is the same. The best part is that at all these places pizza is served with ketchup:) I don't find it appetizing but from what i've observed it seems to be popular to combine the two...i guess like pizza and ranch dressing in the states...who came up with that?:)

The best part is that we got a full course meal...appetizer, salad, pizza and drinks for the same price we'd pay for a large pizza at PJ's in the u.s. Gotta love that!

Pizza Hut

Kai's 2nd Bday

2009-03-29T21:11:00.004+05:30

We celebrated Kai's birthday last week although I don't think he realized it :) Brian did teach him how to say "two" and hold up the corresponding fingers when asked how old he is. His two older brothers are taking swim lessons with our playgroup friends so we invited them for cake after swim practice.

Kai is our family entertainment and since he's not quite speaking English yet he is still plausibly our "baby". I hope he stays chubby cheeked and speaking "Kai" language a little bit longer:) He is such a blessing and makes us all smile.

Uncle and Aunty

2009-03-24T16:57:00.003+05:30

In India children don't say Mr. or Mrs. before an adults name. Instead they say Uncle and Aunty--for everyone--even if they are strangers. I like this--it's much more endearing and makes me not feel so old..."Mrs. Frazier" is just more than I want to accept about my age:)

These pictures are of the boys with Uncle Don and some of our friends from church. They love playing with him. Uncle Don and Aunty Phylis are from the states so when we see them each week the topic of conversation usually turns to food-we-would-love-to-be-eating-at-the-moment from the U.S. :)

Super Heroes

2009-03-14T17:04:00.006+05:30

These are pictures that my father-in-law took while visiting. I think they are very telling of the "action" that takes place in our home. BTW, my father-in-law asked them to make their "tough" faces for the camera...they weren't really being disrespectful:D

Part I: Sweet boys playing among the lilies:)

Part II: Morphing into Tough Mode

Part III: Superheroes in Full Affect

Happy Adoption Day!

2009-03-07T18:29:00.002+05:30

Each year we celebrate Haddon's Adoption Day--the day he was "officially" adopted as recognized by the state of Texas on March 3, 2006. He was adopted into our hearts the day he was born (and months before that as we awaited his arrival). But it gives us another special day in the year to celebrate him in addition to his birthday. A way to celebrate the blessing of Haddon and the way the Lord has molded our family together. Not to mention a wonderful reminder of how, as Christians, we are all adopted as children of God!

On tuesday we looked at pictures of the day he was born and each adoption day we've celebrated so far...most of which involved playing arcade games:) (1st year at Chuck E Cheese and 3rd + 4th year at the mall arcade here in Bangalore)

Our friend Sini made an amazing cake with a cute picture of 3 brothers. And Haddon got to "cash" in the tickets we all won at the arcade for a Ben 10 toy camera. Unfortately he wasn't feeling so well--all the boys have been battling stomach bugs and fever the past week. But he managed to perk up when we announced after dinner that it was time to play games:)

As a side note...it seems every time we go to this certain mall to play games, Kai has a major blowout! And once again, he did not fail to produce:) The two pictures of him standing on the bench are of him realizing what has just occured in his diaper:) There are also some pictures of the boys at home.

Funny Signs

2009-03-02T15:25:00.006+05:30

We saw several signs like this one located around the Mysore Zoo. I thought the graphics were funny..and not to mention graphic:) I don't think you can read it but it's a warning not to pass the barriers or you might get attacked by the zebra (red=blood) and then the police will get you out, handcuff you and take you to be punished (if you are still alive:). You almost don't want the kids to see this---they might be psychologically scarred and not want to visit the zoo anymore :)

Amazing Visit

2009-03-02T14:30:00.009+05:30

We had a great time with Brian's dad and wife Joni! We feel so blessed that they took the time and effort to visit us! They made the half-way-around-the-world trek stopping in London midway to catch up on jet lag and returning through Rome to see some of the relics there. I thought that was a pretty smart plan and wish I could do it myself:) We spent a whirlwind week of sightseeing and taste-testing...albeit Indian McDonald's and pizza for many meals:)

In Bangalore we brought them to see our friends' school in a village outside of Bangalore, to visit a small orphanage that some of our other friends run, to take a tour of Brian's office, visit our church, plus some shopping and eating. Our first trip was to Mysore to visit a regional palace and zoo. Then we flew to Delhi and from there drove 5 hours to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. I was excited to see the Taj Mahal--we had been waiting to see it with them.

We were amazed and blessed that neither Greg nor Joni had stomach issues while here and that they managed to put up with us and our "active" family:D I can only imagine the patience it must take to go from 0 decimals of noise in your daily life to 100+ decimals of silly little boys for a week and trying to keep a smile on your face. I applaud them and can't thank them enough for making the effort to come experience "our world". It was so refreshing and made our year.

I'm posting some pics...and since I had my new camera to try out I took way too many so I think I'll break them up a little:) You can start each slide show over and watch just one at a time:)

Taj Mahal

Delhi/Agra

School/Office

Fingers Have Vanished

2009-02-17T15:34:00.009+05:30

Haddon is 3.5 years old and since he turned 1 we have been trying to guide him to stop sucking his fingers (not thumb:) Sometimes it was more than guidance, it was sheer pestering (especially from his older brother). Brian gave up some time ago, but Corban has been persistent on this mission b/c the sound of a squeaking mouse on fingers annoys his bionic ears:)

Haddon has been asking me for a Ben10 watch for his next birthday. Even though the boys don't watch the Ben10 cartoon somehow they have become mesmerized with the corresponding toys. Since Haddon's birthday is still 6 months away I came up with a motivation strategy to try to get the finger sucking habit to go away. I told him if he didn't suck his fingers for a week he could get one. I don't normally bribe my kids for things they should be doing anyway, but when it comes to potty training and now finger sucking I do what has to be done:D When I told Brian of the plan he didn't seem so impressed--he predicted, like any other addict, Haddon would be overcome by the thoughtless habit and forget about the prize.

And Corban also had part of the deal, one, because you can't buy one brother a watch without buying the other--or atleast without constant fighting over it--and two, because most of my incentive for offering this prize was to stop hearing Corban saying repeatedly "Noooooooo Feen-gurrrrssss!" to Haddon all day long:) So they both had to live up to the deal to get their prize.

Well whatya know...it worked!!!! Haddon has been finger-free for 11 days now and Corban hasn't had to say a word!! Amazing. Habit broken. I am so proud of Haddon. He resisted his security blanket for the reward of owning a Ben10 watch (that incidentally broke after about 30 minutes of opening the package, but still looks cool on his arm:). If we would have only tried this sooner:) I didn't have a camera to document the Ben10 watch ceremony but you can see the picture above to get the idea.

Go Haddon....Go Ben10!

Birthday Reviews, Camera blues...

2009-02-13T13:51:00.005+05:30

I had an amazing birthday on Wednesday! Brian took the day off and had ordered a beautiful cake from my friend Sini (this cake by the way is her best creation yet I think:) We pigged out on cake and chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast (can anyone ask for a better way to start the day?:) Then we went to eat more breakfast for lunch at a little cafe. We took the boys to play at a park--it was a beautiful day. We came home, took naps (ahhhh) and then went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. Can I say this was the best meal of the year for me? Or atleast since the last time we ate there:) The only place in Bangalore that you can get nachos, fajitas and throw in brownie a la mode! It was a perfect day full of my family and food:)

There was one sad thing that happened...our camera broke...i won't go into that story, but we did manage to get some pictures of the cake and a few self-portraits of Haddon, Kai and me before it crashed. Thankfully it is good timing because I had ordered a new camera which will be coming next week when my parent-in-laws come to visit (yay! we can't wait to see them!)

There are a few other pictures in the slideshow...Brian traveled to one of his company's branches in a city where many women make wooden toys for a living. He bought Kai a rocking horse and Corban and Haddon alligators...they are shown wrestling the gators:D I got the bracelet Kai is wearing:)

School Days

2009-02-09T15:33:00.007+05:30

Here a few pics of the boys during our usual weekday morning routine. Haddon plays PBS/Disney preschool games on the computer and never seems to tire of them:) If anyone knows of other game websites (minus Starfall which he's not really interested in) please send them my way.

Corban and I do Kindergarten lessons and Kai pretends he is doing school by scribbling all over Corban's completed workbook pages:) He is in the mix and wants to be at the table with us:) Normally we do our school lessons at the kitchen table but on this day Corban set up two "desks"...one for him and one for Kai.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-03T15:01:00.005+05:30

Brian and I watched the movie Slumdog Millionaire this past weekend. It was very eye opening. I thought the movie was great--mostly because I'm seeing people like Jamal everyday but to get "into" their lives and experience what it's really like is not something I get to do. There were themes of violence and abuse running throughout it, which I don't like to watch, but I know that it is reality for so many. Brian said that some of the people he's talked to about it thought that the grown up Jamal was too light skinned (he was dark as a child) and too polished (his english was too good:) True, but I thought his acting was so good that I didn't notice all those details until Brian mentioned them after the movie. I also realize that this is another predictable film where the good guy gets the money and the girl:) (Sorry to give it away:) But all that aside, I think what impacted me the most were the scenes of the young brothers in the begging ring. I've heard many people here say that the beggars on the streets (which come up to your car window) are part of begging rings--they get dropped off at certain spots, picked up later and they have to give all the money to the boss of the ring. That's why so many people don't give to beggars here. And it's true--many of the women are holding babies. I couldn't believe that they actually were causing children to go blind--something I hadn't thought about. I wish that the movie would impact change in the country for these women and children but I think there are just too many in poverty and many in leadership turning their heads. I like watching movies like this so that I can get out of my comfortable bubble for a few hours, have more compassion and thank the Lord for so many blessings.

The Boss

2009-01-28T21:26:00.012+05:30

Here's Kai's latest look--wearing his new sunglasses purchased on the side of the road for 50 rupees ($1) which he wears indoors and on top of his head:)

Does he remind you of this famous Indian movie star at all? Don't know his real name...he's just
THE BOSS

Acclimation

2009-01-26T12:19:00.015+05:30

I thought about it last month, that things seem so "normal" now living as foreigners in a different culture. Sights and sounds that used to seem strange, silly, unbelievable are now just part of the daily routine. For instance, when I walk through the grocery store, the Hindi music playing overhead doesn't sound funny like it used too. Driving next to an ox pulling a cart full of grass or waiting for a cow to cross the road are everyday events. Sitting for 15 minutes at an intersection just to make a u-turn and go the other way doesn't make my skin crawl anymore:) Seeing the top movie stars doing children's candybar commercials doesn't seem silly anymore--that's just what they do--they do every commercial:) Noticing all the beautiful fabric of the women's saris doesn't happen any longer,sadly, it just blends into the scenery. I've come to expect that my usual buys at the grocery store may not be there the next time so I stock up on all they have:) I've learned what words to use and not use so that people can understand me and I even attempt to add a botched accent to enhance the communication level:). I've stopped worrying about the pollution and it's potential effects.

On the other hand some things have changed in my mind...I respect the culture and people much more than I did the first year. I hate admitting that to myself and others but I think Americans, or at least this American, have a built in pride mechanism. It's an inbred reaction to think America does everything best or better and I've seen that thought process wane in the last few months. (THANK GOODNESS!!)I've come to accept many things that I thought should be done differently.

Some things that I still appreciate and have not just become part of the scenery are...the beautiful people of India who are very accepting and tolerant of foreigners, the ancient history and complex culture, the beauty of converging people groups and multiple languages (many, many languages--and no one is complaining that everyone should have to learn his language to live here--they just all learn each other's and amazingly fast), the gorgeous weather of Bangalore, good Indian food, the survival mentality and ability of so many millions who can't turn to the government or welfare for their needs, my dear friends that are even more special after feeling so unconnected the first few months:)

I think my acclimation explains why my blog posts have gone from every other day to maybe once a week...things are normal--what's there to report?:D But I am going to try my best not to take my time here for granted and continue to observe and celebrate the interesting and unusual-ness of India.

Pizza Mongers

2009-01-20T14:19:00.006+05:30

We love pizza! We eat it quite often...every Sunday night... and like this past weekend, also on Saturday night:) We order it enough that Kai has learned to "call" Dominos and request his own pizza (in the video clip) It's a little hard to hear him talking with the tv in the background but he was ordering a Saturday morning snack:) We had fun keeping our friends' girls as they went on a date night this past weekend. We had our own party with Dominos pizza, the CARS movie and Play-Doh:)

Shortages

2009-01-15T08:30:00.004+05:30

Last year we were highly-involved-viewers (avoiding the word "addicts":) of American Idol. It played here the night following the US show(s) at 8pm. We weren't really hooked on it when we lived in the states (ok, maybe I was, in season 6 while Brian was taking night classes:) but watching it here gives us a feeling of connection to the U.S. So last night as we sat down anticipating the start of the new season at 8pm we flipped through every channel with no avail. I looked on the internet to find out if it was going to show this season and discovered they have changed the time....to 11pm. I was a little dumbfounded by that one because I believe AI is a very popular show here. So the question was...are we going to stay up til 12 or 1 am twice a week watching the show:) Brian quickly said no:) I wouldn't be a very functioning human being on those 3 nights a week 1st round shows:)
So, we are probably better off not being glued to the tv 2-3 nights a week right? The other question is will we be able to resist not turning on the tv at 11pm as we are getting ready to go to bed? Let's hope! This is where DVR would be great:)

In other equally unimportant news...after 1.5 years I finally figured out how to get nails into our concrete walls to hang things. You call the on-sight plumber, he brings his drill and even the screws and makes holes in about 10 minutes. Now I can hang our Indian decor!

Last week for about 4 days there was an oil workers' strike. Most gas stations had empty tanks. I was soooo thankful we had a full tank--thank you Lord!--b/c the few stations that were open had horrendous lines. On Sunday they reopened.

Branch Visit

2009-01-07T13:56:00.006+05:30

Sunday Brian and I visited one of his company's branches. They now have over 100 branches in different areas of Bangalore, Delhi, Kolkata and Pune. One branch can serve up to 4,000 clients. At the moment 99% of their clients are women.

A journalist from the Houston Chronicle was in town conducting interviews with Brian and another co-worker from Houston. The reporter is doing research in India to cover several stories beginning Feb 8 in the Chronicle.

When we visited the branch she was able to interview a group of women who had taken out loans. The one woman that is shown in these pictures was a garment factory worker, as were most of the women present in the interview. As you can imagine factory workers have long hours, little flexibility and inadequate benefits. They were able to use a loan (of about $200) to purchase a sewing machine and work in their home tailoring and stitching for neighbors. Most of these women take out loans from several sources like microfinance institutions and neighborhood money lenders. This particular woman started her new business in March of 2008 and has around 50-60 clients. She has 4 older children living with her and is paying off her oldest daughter's wedding that occurred 2 years ago. Her husband is in and out of the home not providing stable financial support for the family. This is common for many poor women. The children said he has a drinking problem which is also typical in this economic level.

In the pictures you'll notice that the machine looks like an antique but it is actually only about 10 months old. It doesn't require electricity so these types of machines are still sold in abundance here.

It was wonderful to see her home (the living room where the machine was located is about 8ft x 8ft) There was a small kitchen and bed room both attached to the living room. Brian said that the women attend weekly meetings to repay loans and contribute to their savings account. Each meeting consists of 25 women which is considered a "group"(so at this branch there are 160 groups) They meet alternately in one woman's home...i really couldn't imagine having to fit 25 women sitting crossed-legged on the floor in this woman's small room but that's how it is done.

After this visit I wonder how I ever find room to complain? Somehow I do. Forgive me Lord.

New Year's Update

2009-01-03T15:51:00.007+05:30

Since I didn't get to send out Christmas cards I thought I'd post an update on the Frazier crew. Sadly, we don't have a current family picture to include--mainly b/c I'm always behind the camera, and I forget to have everyone pose together:) I was inspired by my friends who did take pictures for Christmas to have some official family photos taken in cultural Indian fashion sometime soon...gotta go shopping:)

Brian is enjoying his work in microfinance. His company surpassed 200,000 customers last month and is growing exponentially. He has recently been able to hire not one but two managers to aid in his departments which has been long awaited. His love for running has been temporarily stunted due to a knee injury that won't go away:( He had planned on running the Mumbai Marathon this month but b/c of his knee and the events that took place there a month ago we won't be going. We are looking forward to Brian's dad and his wife Joni coming soon to visit us!!

Corban is learning about being (the biggest) big brother and how to take care of his smaller siblings. It's a hard balance being 5 and having to be consider the best for his brothers. He is a wonderful student and is learning to read, add, tell time and write in cursive. (Kindergarten has come a long way since I was in it:) He loves dressing up as a superhero and changes costumes up to three times a day:)

Haddon is our sweet 3 yr old who loves singing, repeating and being silly:) He is light footed and full of energy. He's mastered the computer by playing PBS games on the internet while we do school:) He loves to wrestle with his daddy. His favorite movie is Cars which he watched continuously on the airplane to and from India/US. Hence he loves race cars and superheros. He and Corban are best friends even though much time is spent refereeing them. It must be so wonderful to have a brother by your side each and every day. Haddon has a brother on each side of him:)

Kai said his first two syllable word on the airplane back to India..."ku-kee". And you can tell he likes them:) He is a happy boy working his way into toddlerhood. He is going to be our detailed organizer someday...he meticulously folds his baby wash rags over and over, neatly turns the pages of a Bible one by one for long periods of time, builds color-coded lego towers and loves to pick up toys when it's clean-up time. He's our entertainer and ham.

I'm looking ahead at a year of homeschooling 2 boys and potty training 1. Sound like fun? I wouldn't want to be doing anything else and I thank the Lord for my wonderful life. I'm continuing to learn more and more about the traditions and culture in India. I'm thankful for the friends I have here and also the connections I can keep in the U.S. thanks to email, blogs and facebook! It makes the world feel much smaller. This New Year I'm having urges to create all sorts of goals. I'm not usually a goal-oriented person...I like to accomplish things and try my best but I'm usually a here-and-now girl, not a visionary. For some reason I'm ready to set goals for 2009 and also look back with gratitude at 2008 for all the ways the Lord blessed us.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior. And we pray for an amazing 2009 ahead.

Back In One Piece

2008-12-27T07:27:00.005+05:30

We had an amazing visit in the states! So amazing that I didn't blog for 3 weeks:) I was just having too much fun to think about what to write. And now, thinking about all we did, I know would take me paragraphs to convey so I will just summarize and add lots of pics. Once again, my camera neglection has left me sad that I didn't get pictures of everyone we visited. Again, having so much fun I forgot to get out the camera:( But I think there will be enough to look at:) Thank you to everyone who made our trip possible and blessed us sooooo much. It was so wonderful to see so many loved ones especially at this time of year.

Highlights (in no specific order:):

*Hugging and visiting so many family and friends
*Wonderful parents (mine and Brian's) who totally took care of us
*Extra doses of Mexican food!
*Getting to visit our church friends in Pearland
*Snow!!!! It only snows about once every 5 years in Louisiana and we were there to catch it!!! Awesome!
*Enjoying holiday fun...gingerbread houses, icing cookies, eggnog, light-seeing, and being showered with gifts--we are so blessed!
*Getting to eat my best meal ever at my Mom's office Christmas party--Mr. Lester's for those of you in La:)--my mom's boss is very sweet to invite me. And my parents' best friends babysat for me--ultra sweet!
*Doing lots of shopping to bring back "unfindables" to India--child-free shopping is bliss--thanks Dad!!
*Dinner with highschool friends--so much fun--we talked for 6 hours straight and could have kept going:)
*Sitting in front of the warm fireplace at different loved ones homes--i don't think it can get much better!
*Stress-free driving! I was a little confused at first--"Am I on the right side of the road?" "Do I get into the car on the left or the right?":) But I adjusted pretty quickly. Thanks to my Aunt Carlisa who sacrificely loaned us her car and my Father-in-law who rented us a car!
*Taco Bell, Mc D's, Chic-fil-a, Sonic...I never thought i would cherish fast food bites:)
*Shopping (child-free:) in Granbury square for 2 days (nap time get aways!) with my mother-in-law. Even sitting down for a cup of hot tea! Thanks Joni and Greg!
*Eating lots of amazing food! Thanks for all the homecooking and Mexican dining from our parents!
*Seeing Brian at the end of this wonderful trip! He's the best husband to let us go for 3 weeks.

We had a great Christmas with Brian and I'm happy to report that jet lag is not as dreadful this time as it has been in the past. The boys actually slept til almost 7 this morning! Unbelievable!! At this point they are usually waking up at 3 or 4 am for 2 weeks! Thank you Lord!!

Thanksgiving Pics

2008-11-30T21:26:00.003+05:30

Here are some photos of Thanksgiving Dinner at the Savage Family home. They are so hospitable and have welcomed us for Easter, Thanksgiving and a soon-to-be Christmas party. It was nice to meet some new Americans too. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thankful Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T07:37:00.002+05:30

This Thanksgiving we woke up thankful that we don't live in Mumbai (Bombay). I'm sure most of you have heard of the tragedy so I won't retell the events. Bangalore is south of Mumbai by many hours so we aren't "living" the reality of this, but it is terrible news to have to digest. Thank you to those of you who sent emails and word of your prayers. Bangalore has had bombings as well in the last 6 months but nothing compared to this.

The amazing thing is I'm not afraid (and those of you who know me well know I have some anxiety issues in this area of my life:). I think this must be how there are still NY'ers living in NY after Sept. 11 and how there are still people living in many middle eastern countries that face bombings everyday. You have to detach yourself. We tell ourselves..."well we don't frequent these targeted places and we feel safe where we live". Now if these things that happened in Mumbai or Bangalore would have taken place down my street or in my neighborhood I know for certain I wouldn't be feeling the same...Brian would either have to stop me from packing our bags or help me pack them depending on how he was feeling:) (He is more rational in his faith than I am in a time of crisis:)

On a lighter note...my sweet hubby made a spur of the moment decision to send me and the boys to the U.S. to visit for 3 weeks! We bought the tickets on Saturday, leave this coming Monday and will be back Christmas day to be with him. I am just so excited I didn't think I'd be able to wait a whole week before we go!:) And the boys are equally excited. We will be running b/w TX and La. during those weeks but hopefully we'll get to see as many people as possible. This is such a gift and I thank the Lord for making this happen and giving me such a sweet husband to let us go away for 3 weeks.

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Germ-Freak-Mom Still Freaking Out

2008-11-23T20:52:00.002+05:30

One thing I haven't grown accustom to even after a year is the fact that food servers and medical workers do not wear sanitary gloves. For instance, when I went to have blood drawn a few weeks ago, the lab nurse put the needle in my arm and covered it with a band-aid without gloves on! I don't know who I'm more afraid for...me or her! And I've never seen any medical workers with gloves on. Granted I've never been in surgery so I can't say I've covered all the bases.

And for those of you who live in Houston, Marv Zindler would have had a field day in restaurants here:) I don't think there are any health code inspections. You know, I've worked in restaurants in the U.S. and I can't remember if cooks and food servers are required to wear plastic gloves or not. I think what freaks me out is that most of the washrooms (sinks) in restaurants don't have soap or towel to dry off so I automatically connect that to the hands of the cooks/servers that also have no soap or towel:) At one party we went to they were serving these snacks that could be compared to building nachos...the food server sprinkles all types of different things on a base of chips. But the problem was that he was using his fingers, not spoons and no gloves. I couldn't do it! Brian ate it and lived but I just couldn't risk it:) The thing is people's immunities have grown up exposed to this from birth. For foreigners being introduced to this type of dining you are certain to get stomach bugs somewhere along the way...which by now our stomach's have had plenty of their share. Our childrens' immune systems will be like steel after a few years here:)

The great thing is I love the food here too much to not eat out:) I just try not to think about it or take more than a glancing look at the kitchen...ignorance is bliss:) And with that said I know that there are many American restaurants that would gross me out too if only I saw the "slime in the ice" as Marv would say:)

A First

2008-11-18T14:32:00.002+05:30

Yesterday we mailed our first letter from India! After 15 months!! There aren't many post offices near us so we had to drive about 30 minutes (really only about 5 miles, but with traffic). They had closed an hour earlier but the staff were still working and kind enough to sell me some stamps. They were not the self-adhesive kind but conviently the post office provided a large jar of glue and a paint brush to stick the stamps on. One of the staff did the gluing for me and stuck the letter in the letter box still wet. I hope it makes it:) This is test run #1. I've never seen another drop box around town but the woman assured me there were more. If anyone here knows what they look like can you let me know?

Another piece of non-important info (well except for Bangalorians)...
I recently saw signs around Bangalore advertising an all-in-one emergency response phone number...108. This would serve like 911. Before now, from what I could gather, there were multiple numbers in which you had to recall from memory in your time of emergency. For example...101 Police, 102 Fire, 103 Ambulance (there's also 1066), 104 for accidents, and I saw in Kolkata 105 for heart attacks. That's a lot of numbers to remember or program into your cell phone. I think 108 is much more efficient:)

Kai the Talker Part 1

2008-11-15T14:46:00.003+05:30

Kai loves pretending to talk on the cell phone. Here's the end of one conversation:)

Kai the Talker 2

2008-11-15T14:33:00.004+05:30

This video is from when we were visiting the Red Fort in Delhi. We stopped to take a break and Kai thought he would have a "conversation" with the camera. You can't hear his voice but his hands are doing the talking:)

Pics from the Trip

2008-11-13T16:55:00.000+05:30

Delhi

2008-11-10T15:46:00.003+05:30

We spent the weekend in Delhi and will be here til Wed. Brian had the weekend off so we visited some tourist sights like the India Gate (I'll have pictures to post when we get back home) and the Red Fort (a fortress built in 1638 out of red clay). Delhi seems alot like Washington DC to me. It's the capitol and has many monuments and federal buildings. The smog is very bad--taking pictures, even close up makes them very hazy.

We are staying in a popular shopping area of town for locals...Karol Bagh. There are row after row of jewelry, shoe, and clothing stores. We spent some time roaming the streets, riding the metro rail and visiting these sights. The boys even got to see a race car exhibition and a hot air balloon...perfect for them.

We didn't realize it at the time but our last room in Kolkata was a mansion compared to our room in Delhi:) I would love to give the details to show what hotel life in India is like but i'm afraid i would just be whining. We are getting to experience what millions of Indian families experience their whole lives...small living spaces with very little amenities. I'm not saying that the hotel doesn't have amenities...we do have hot water! yay!:) but we are in close quarters. We'll be happy to get back home on Wednesday.

Obama...the New Indian President

2008-11-10T15:31:00.003+05:30

By the TV news and front pages of newspapers here you would think Barak Obama just became India's next president. They are crazy about him and think (atleast the media) that he is going to save the world or something. The funny part is that most of the articles or news segments are slanted with Indian interest..."What Can Obama Do For India?", "Which Indian American might possibly be selected for Obama's team?", "Obama spoke to Bill Clinton about leading US/India/Kashmir relations", "Who will be India's Obama?", "India's Prime Minister spoke with Obama to congratulate him and invite him for a visit to India (the headline read: Obama may be visiting India in the near future)".
I'm not downplaying US/India relations and their great dependence on each other but for some reason I don't think Obama had India on his mind the day after winning the election...or any country for that matter. I think he was just celebrating the win.
He does have a lot to live up to though...India seems to think he is Superman!

Kolkata

2008-11-05T14:37:00.003+05:30

We are traveling right now...in Calcutta/Kolkata (English/Indian). I haven't seen much of the city. With 3 boys it's enough to get them dressed to go to breakfast, lunch and dinner @ the hotel restuarant much less explore the city:) We won't be sightseeing since we are here with Brian on business. From what I saw on our drive from the airport to the hotel, it appears more 3rd world than Bangalore. (I realize that my Indian friends may not appreciate the term "3rd World" but I just have to find a way to describe it to the Americans reading:) Granted we were driving at night but it felt like we were in a black and white movie...everything seemed gray and dingy. (Except for the line of 1950's yellow taxis at the airport:) just like the picture) I'm sure there are better parts of town. I spoke with an expat here and she said the gap b/w the rich and the poor is much wider in Calcutta than Bangalore. The IT business in Bangalore has created a large middle class.

It's funny because we are staying at a country club:) It's actually cheaper than staying at a mid-range hotel in America. I ate grilled fish and vegetables for $1 today! It's nice because I have things to do with the boys...playground, swimming, horseback riding. The club is pretty old but it is still where the elites hangout. Last night there was an elaborate outdoor party. I thought it was going to be a wedding but it turned out to be a birthday party...for a one year old girl! I think it was all her parents' friends attending:)

On Friday we head to Delhi where Brian will have the weekend off to explore. I'm thankful for this time to visit other Indian cities and to not be home without Brian for so long...i'm not a very good single mom:)

The Farm

2008-10-27T17:27:00.004+05:30

We spent the weekend with our friends in Nandi Hills outside of Bangalore. Teena had heard about a weekend farm/farmhouse--a city getaway. It was amazing! The house was beautiful, fun farm animals, beautiful landscape, wonderful food and lots of time to veg. The 5 little boys loved it. We got to take a ride on an ox cart and feed the animals. Here are some pics...

Techie Friends

2008-10-24T15:44:00.004+05:30

I know most people in our fast paced society converse by means other than the phone or personal visits...email, text messaging, social websites, blogs, etc. There is really no need to actually hear the other person speaking if you don't have to. I'm ok with that because I'm not a big phone person--i forget to pick it up and dial-a-friend-- and I love being able to edit my words:)

But one thing I've noticed living here, is that with the majority of my friends it actually makes our conversations a lot more enjoyable to not talk on the phone:) Whether they are Indian, British, German, Danish, you name it (except Americans) the conversation is always laced with "I'm sorry, say that again?", "What was that?" "I didn't get that", and saying "yes" yet only being half, maybe not at all, sure of what you just agreed with:) Without being able to read lips it is hard to get through very many sentences without having to ask for a rewind/repeat of that word or sentence. And add a southern U.S. drawl with rapid speed (is that an oxymoron? speed drawl?:) (either way that's my accent:) and the poor person on the other line is probably just bewildered:)
So I am very grateful for text messages (which i now live by), email, blogs, IM, etc. My friends of every tribe and tongue can understand me and I can understand them.

Ok, I do love to be face to face with people and believe true friendship can only deepen when you are conversing in the same room...screaming kids and all...but for those in between times--gotta have the tech props!

Bath Time

2008-10-18T20:15:00.004+05:30

Most people will probably think this video is uneventful (boring) but i thought i'd post it for my Mom who loves to give the boys baths (ok, maybe love is a strong word, but she serves me by doing it). And for those who haven't seen our "bath tub" before on the blog, i thought i'd post it again for you to get a glimpse of bath time in India and as a reminder to love your tub (those in the u.s.) :) Real tubs are very rare here. Ours comes complete with toys and bubbles:)

A Few Pics...

2008-10-18T20:12:00.000+05:30

A Tropical Autumn

2008-10-16T14:02:00.005+05:30

The past month I have been missing fall...crunchy yellow leaves, pumpkin patches, apple picking, sweater-wearing-football-watching weather. What's funny is that I never missed that in the U.S. After we moved from Minneapolis to Houston I was so excited not to have to endure another winter that I didn't desire any of signs of it coming:) Well now that we live where there are no seasons I've been a little nostalgic about it.

Yesterday morning when I went outside to jog I found a great surprise...
Our complex is beautifully landscaped. On one side of the building there are about 6 trees with little yellow flowers blooming. I'm not sure if it rained during the night or if it was windy, but most of the flowers had fallen to the ground. It looked like fall! Instead of crunchy yellow leaves it was bright yellow flowers...and no sign of winter...perfect! Isn't God so cool!? Not that the flowers fell off just for me:) but He woke me up, got me outside (a huge task in itself) and showed me a little gift of "fall". I had to get the camera.

As a side note...i do love the weather here. You really can't beat California-like weather year round. And right now, even though everything is still green, the temp. is feeling very autumn-like.

The Time Has Come...

2008-10-13T16:26:00.003+05:30

I knew it was highly likely that at some point while living here my vehicle would collide with a person(s)...not just the usual car, rickshaw or pole. And it indeed happened.

Saturday as I was driving to grocery store #2 (I usually cannot find everything on my list at one store) I had my blinker on signaling a right turn into the parking lot. 3 guys on a motorcycle passed me on the right side, ran into my car, kept going and tipped over, skidding onto the asphalt. My heart sank as I covered my mouth with my hands in shock. They all got up thankfully, and now began the crowd of onlookers gathering around to try to decide who was at fault. In Bangalore you don't call the police when there's an accident, (you just keep going if it's minor or let the crowd decide who's at fault if it's major) especially when you are riding illegally on a motorcycle (3 or more is illegal) or a white foreigner who doesn't know the laws of the land. So the self-appointed judge of the group (he spoke english) declared me not at fault but asked me to bring the guy who was scraped and bleeding to the hospital. I drove him to the nearest clinic as he began to cry and hold his arm. I started to get those same feelings that I had when Corban was lying on the ground crying with a broken arm. It hurts to see someone in pain. I put my hand on his shoulder as I drove to try to give some kind of comfort--we didn't speak the same language. I stayed at the clinic until he was treated and stitched. He had scraps on his forarm, ankle and little toe. I was then handed the bill.

I had already decided i was going to pay for him, which is why i stuck around, but i thought it was humorous that everyone else assumed i was paying for him too. Thankfully it was only $20. Meanwhile i had left the kids with the housekeeper to go shopping and had now been gone about 2 hours. I had bought them saturday morning breakfast (muffins) at the store so it was now noon and they still had not eaten breakfast!! Sounds like my last emergency experience. But my housekeeper was gracious and so was the Lord...no one died!! My biggest prayer while driving here..."Please Lord, help me not to kill any person or cow." Thank you Lord!!

Food...for Thought

2008-10-08T14:58:00.006+05:30

SALSALICIOUS!

After a year+ I have found salsa that doesn't taste like ketchup and doesn't cost $4 a jar!!! I am so pumped!! I bought every jar they had at the store (this happens when you find something you like here b/c you never know if they'll stock more! i often buy granola bars by the dozens when found:)
Mexican food tastes 500 times better with salsa! We are still minus cheese but to me salsa beats out cheddar any day. I couldn't stop saying how wonderful my cooking tasted the other night simply b/c it had salsa poured on top of it:) Brian says our taste expectations have been lowered since living here:) I won't take that personal...he did have two heaping plates of fajitas:) My mexican food can't touch Papasitos, or even the craving of Taco Bell at this point, but it just got alot more mexicany in my mouth:)

COMFORT FOOD

Our friends in Minnesota told us of the days when they lived in Japan...every night they indulged in a bowl of homemade brownies and vanilla ice cream. Sounds great right? But would you do that if you lived in America...every night? They don't:) Right Christa?:) (Ok, even if you are a dessert addict you might atleast mix up the nightly menu a little, right?)

I really think there is something about living abroad and being just fine with gluttonly eating the same food over and over that you would normally never let your self eat on a daily basis. It's called comfort food and it overtakes any sensible thoughts of health, maintaining weight or willingly feeding addictions.

Our comfort food has become vanilla ice cream with crushed up Oreos. Fantastically we can get oreos imported from Indonesia here!! And when you make it yourself (i mean crush the oreos yourself instead of buying "cookies n'cream") it comes very close to Blue Bell! Try it! Even when Brian decides to take a night off i still sneak in the kitchen and get a little mini bowl of it:) It's so satisfying and i really do enjoy every bite of it...it's American...it's a treat that has become habit.

Our other addiction, and has been before we moved here, is pizza. We order Dominos atleast once a week and lately have been eating way more than we should of that stuff. We recently found out that Papa John's is now in Bangalore! Oh No!

Musical Chairs (See Post Below)

2008-10-05T17:40:00.004+05:30

Concert (See Post below)

2008-10-05T17:27:00.005+05:30

Party Week

2008-10-04T15:57:00.011+05:30

Friday Brian's company had a huge celebration to mark the milestone of 150,000 customers in 1060 days (a little under 3 yrs). I've mentioned before that they are growing like crazy and Mr. Ghosh, the founder and president wanted to have a day of fun for the employees, customers and their children. We went in the morning and stayed til around 1:00 when I took the boys home for a nap. (The event was 9 hours) We came back to see the last of the party and pick up Brian. Most of the activity was dancing, singing, and skits performed by the employees and customers who had practiced for 2 months! We didn't understand most of it because we don't speak the local languages. But we could tell everyone around us was having fun:) When I came back with the boys they were ending with a concert and most of the crowd was jumping up and down like a mosh pit:) Brian said most of his employees had never been to a live concert and came to tell him that this was the best thing they had ever been to. I'm not sure that they were able to get much work done today after such a great party:) I'm including pics of some of the cultural dancers and a video of the concert (see video above). I missed getting the best part...a girl, dressed like a man (Elvis?), lipsinking in a silver sequined jacket!:D

Yesterday the boys and I went to a friend's birthday party at Pizza Hut (kinda like we used to have parties at McDonald's in the states--maybe they still do?:). We had a great time and I included a short video of musical chairs (see video above) to take everyone back to their childhood party days:)

Last night Brian and I got to go on our 2nd date in a year!!! Thanks to our dear friends who are trading kids with us:) They were in the last post's pictures (minus Isaac the dad).

Can You Read Me Now?

2008-10-01T19:06:00.004+05:30

We are finally back up and running on our computer/communication life line. It felt like a month, but in some ways a forced sabbatical from the internet is always beneficial. We've experienced internet disablement a number of times here...it makes you appreciate technology when you get it back.

We've had a busy two weeks...lots of hanging out with friends which is always great. Brian is off tomorrow for Gandhi's birthday!

I'm including some recent pics just to show the boys and I'm sure I'll make up for lost time with more posts soon. There are some pictures of our friends from Ohio who live here...they are leaving in November at which time we will shed tears. They may possibly return in February which we are selfishly hoping :)

Computer Crash:(

2008-09-26T22:13:00.003+05:30

Just wanted to leave notice--from my friends' house-- that our computer crashed on wednesday, was revived by an IT genius @ Brian's work--PTL! But since it is ancient, in computer years (8 yrs:), we are having to reinstall a driver to be able to connect to the internet. The IT genius is working on that too. It could be a few days or it could be tomorrow--who knows:) I'm thankful our computer is alive and just wanted to let anyone reading the blog know that we are alive too:)

Tea Time

2008-09-23T14:13:00.003+05:30

I am officially a tea drinker. A year ago I would never have seen myself adapting to the culture of afternoon tea time. Yes, I've always enjoyed a cup of tea but maybe had it once a month in the states. The ritual seemed a bit victorian and stuffy. But now that I've bought into the practice I can understand and look forward to the "event" of it. Every afternoon when the boys go down for their naps I heat up a cup of green tea (trying to go healthy:) put my 3 tea biscuits on a plate...you have to include this accessory...sit down with my Bible and enjoy immense amounts of pleasure from my 3 minutes of tea sipping...i drink fast:) I'm not sure if the tradition originated with Indians or Britons but I'm thankful to whoever invented tea time and cookies to go with it:)

The Cast is History!

2008-09-16T22:08:00.010+05:30

Corban got his cast off today!! Hooray! I'm not sure who is happier...him or me:)

I'm posting before and after pics. He doesn't look too happy in any of them but he is:) I'm really not sure that he knew what to make of the event. I think he was excited but there was the unknown factor...what will it be like without this attachment on my arm? There is also video of the cast being removed. He was very brave. I had Haddon and Kai there too so you can hear me trying to keep them in order in b/w cheering for Corban:) BTW...Kai wasn't crying b/c of the loud saw...he was crying b/c he wanted Haddon's toy:) I didn't realize when I stopped the second video that Haddon was feeling Corban's arm. I thought that was really cute when I watched it later and wish I would have known to keep filming:)

Corban says his arm feels like it's floating in space...i'm sure a cast can weigh you down after 6 weeks:)

The most amazing part about this...and I do mean amazing...is that after 4 doctor visits (to the chief doctor of the hospital), 8 x-rays, 2 casts put on and 2 casts taken off, the total cost was less than $100!!! Oh yes...compare that to the 1000's of dollars it cost for the uninsured E.R. bill and ambulance ride in the U.S. (We'll be getting travel insurance on our next visit:D) I'm not trying to invoke sympathy...the Lord is such a wonderful Provider and thankfully in America there is the "monthly payment plan"... but it goes to show the INFLATION of health care in the states. But you know I must say that in most of the he U.S. you are getting/paying for state of the art treatment and technology. I think the x-ray machine at the hospital here has to be as old as me (that's over 30 years old!:D). I prayed every time that Corban got one of the 8 x-rays that he wouldn't be "over-radiated".

I'm so thankful that his arm is healed and that in both locations, here and the states, we had great medical treatment. And,with 3 boys, I realize this is only the beginning of the injury list !

Part 1...the SAW!

Part 2...the finished product!

Date #2

2008-09-14T16:12:00.003+05:30

Brian and I had our second date night in a year+ last night! Yes, when you only go on a date every six or seven months it is quite a treasure and you wish it could last a few hours longer!:) Our sweet friends suggested doing a kiddie trade-off so we went first and next Saturday they will get a date night. We chose Hard Rock Cafe as our destination and enjoyed looking at each other in the eyes and speaking in complete sentences without having to feed little mouths or tend to interuptions:) Brian got a gigantic juicy burger and I chowed down on chicken fajitas, topped off by a brownie sundae. A date and American food...can't beat that:)

Pacifier Blues

2008-09-14T15:44:00.004+05:30

At 17 months of age Kai has had his pacifier retired....it went "ni, nite" forever. It was a sad couple of days of crying at bed/nap time but thankfully for his stuffed bunny (in the picture:) and friends that sleep with him he overcame:) It's one of those things in life that you know as a parent you should have done when he was 3 months old (or 6 months old, or a year old!) so it doesn't have to "hurt" so bad later. But you just keep giving it to him because it brings comfort. And we are learning that it also brought sleep! Since giving up the pacifier (he only used it for bed times) he sleeps 2 hours less in the mornings, which puts a damper on homeschool!:) and 1-2 hours less for his afternoon nap. Almost makes me want to give it back to him:) But the teeth are at stake here...really the only reason for the pacifier seperation...they are becoming "bucked":D

Strange Sights

2008-09-10T15:12:00.004+05:30

There's never a lack of interesting scenery here in Bangalore. The latest oddity was this past week which was the festival of Ganesha. Ganesha is an idol (and a lord to Hindu's). I believe he is thought to bring success and from what I gather the festival is celebrated in South India. Well hundreds of little hot pink ganesha idols were for sale on many street curbs the past couple of weeks. Not that we aren't used to seeing idols living here but this one looks like a pink elephant man . It just made my stomach turn to see these little ceramic idols lined up by the scores. And scattered around town are shrines set up with life size ganesha's where people come to worship before it. From what I understand the idol is immersed in a lake or body of water before it is put in it's shrine/tent. Then as we drove around during the week, at different times, I saw tractor trailers with a large idol and lots of young men sitting in the trailer. I guess it's like a one float parade? Festival season is upon Bangalore which means the next few months will be one after another of idol worship so it shouldn't really be a surprise to see all of this...it's just very disheartening. I'm posting a picture of what a ganesha idol looks like...not to glorify it or make more of it than any other idol...but to show you how creepy the thing looks!:) I'm sorry to offend any Hindu's that may be reading this, but when you don't grow up around idols and you don't believe in them it's just a bit eerie.

Life Update

2008-09-06T16:25:00.006+05:30

Corban: Just completed his first week of school minus one sick day (already--but it was legit:) He is eager to learn which is a great help. He is frequently counting to 100 for fun these days:) He's bending his arm and getting to bathe his elbow now:)

Haddon: Is getting the hang of the computer. He loves to play the "Smiley Ball" game, which is really just using my email to put different smiley face inserts that yahoo offers:) It's amazing how young kids can figure out how to use a mouse! It keeps him busy while we are doing school.

Kai: Is getting 2 more teeth. I call them the canine teeth--the pointed ones:) He is in "phase one" of potty training--which means when momma sees "the face" she runs him to the toilet, rips off his diaper and sits him down on it. It's working, when I catch it! And he loves the applause he gets for it. He is also beating up on his big brothers. He is not afraid to tackle, pinch and scratch their faces! He pays the penalty for being a bully but I don't know whether to laugh or cry inside. It's funny seeing a 17 month old taking down a big boy but I don't want my child to be a terror so we are working to put a stop to it!

Me: I just completed my first week of Kindergarten...again:) I loved it. One small little instance was when Corban was learning about cents in math. He learned about pennies and how many cents they are worth. Well I thought about that we won't have change lying around to show him what the coins look like. (He'll learn Indian rupees too) I went to get my "American" wallet that sits in a drawer and pulled out the few coins I had. Do you know that there was one of each type of coin in there! I was so excited:) A thoughtful gift from God. He sent us back to India with just the right amount of money in our wallet:) 58 cents:)

Not So Presto Pesto
Yesterday I made homemade pesto sauce for a pasta dish I was bringing to our church small group. I am all about shortcut cooking and you may know that I have joked about feeling like a pioneer woman here (in the states I would have bought pesto in a jar:). Well, the recipe called for toasted walnuts. So I did find some whole walnuts w/shells at the store. I don't have a nut cracker so I had to open them with a rolling pin all while the children are napping. It was quite loud and tedious. I was sweating by the end and only managed to get about half of the actual walnuts out of the shells. I was fantasizing the whole time of walking down the baking aisle at WalMart and buying a pack of chopped walnuts:) (There's that comparing again:) So I put them in the oven, started working on the pasta and then, oh yes, smelled the pungent burning coming from the oven. They were inedible. Ah, the joy of cooking. And though I know there are many American woman who prefer to make homemade pesto rather than use a store bought jar, I still feel like Laura Ingalls sometimes:D And really, don't let me fool you, I do have it easy here...I had a co-worker in MN whose wife had to wring their chicken's necks to get a meal when they lived in Africa. That's a pioneer woman!

Kai Helping Momma

2008-09-03T07:32:00.003+05:30

Just the right height:)

Corbans First Day of Kindergarten

2008-09-02T21:51:00.007+05:30

Monday was Corban's first day of school (homeschool) and he also had his cast taken off and replaced with a shorter one. He has two more weeks to go til arm freedom! Daddy went with him to the doctor for support and physical strength incase there was a need to hold him down:D Brian said he did remarkably well when the SAW was used to cut off the cast. His elbow hurt and brought him to tears since he hadn't straightened it out in almost 6 weeks. He is such a trooper. He never complains about being restrained. I can tell there are alot of things he is looking forward to doing once he gets it off.

Reflections of the First Year

2008-08-27T14:53:00.004+05:30

Today makes one year since we moved here(a year and one month for Brian).
As I was thinking about what life has been like I realized that if i could "blanket" the past year, it would have to be described as comparing (India to the U.S) and acclimating. The comparing has tapered off a bit since getting over culture shock around month 6, but it still happens unconsciously, everyday. It feels like most of what I blog about besides our kids is differences b/w India and the U.S. (usually with a bent towards the conveniences of the U.S:) so I thought today I would post what I love about India...
#1 The people. As a whole they are very friendly, caring and serving people. Hospitality is abundant here. They welcome foreigners and do not have anti-west sentiments (or atleast don't show them:)
#2 The culture...tradition, religion, 1000's of years of history, all culminate into a vast, complex and varying land. I've only scratched the surface of learning about Indian culture.
#3 The food. We love it! Cooking here is truly an art, one which I still have yet to attempt, after a year. Yes I am afraid to fail (and work so hard for one meal:) so I leave it to the experts and enjoy it when I get to eat out:)
#4 The Potential. Even though India is centuries old, it's democracy and economic development are still young. The cities are booming and improving. Life for many is much better than it was a few years ago. Hopefully this will continue to trickle down to the poorest people.
#5 A Simple Life. Even though we live very well by Indian standards it is still much simpler and scaled down than in the states. There is no pressure to have a "nice" home, stylish wardrobe or latest gadgets. Even though we weren't really "hip" in the u.s.:) the tempations are still always in your face. But here you can wear flip flops to every event, formal or non-formal, and the walls are made out of concrete so you can't hang anything on them even if you had the latest decor:) (well it is possible but i haven't figured out how to do it:) It's freeing.
#6 Being Sanctified. There's a lot to be "battled" with here. For me it's been being content where God has me vs. where I wish I could be at times. Or grumbling about little conveniences that I was used to having and now don't. Or trying to figure out how a stay-home-mom can help the masses of people living in poverty and then continue to do nothing about it. Or how to break thru in conversation with a Hindu about my faith.

Here are some interesting statistics about India...
It is a nation made up of more than one billion people speaking 1652 languages and living in 17,500 villages, towns and cities in 28 states and 7 Union Territories. On a global scale one out of every 6 persons is an Indian.

So, here's to India and to our next year of learning!

Singing to Haddon

2008-08-25T18:29:00.003+05:30

For the grandparents...:)

Haddon Turns 3!

2008-08-25T17:37:00.005+05:30

Haddon celebrated his 3rd birthday with 3 days of fun. Friday night we sang happy birthday and ate cake with our church small group. Our friend Sini is making homemade cakes so we could special order a Power Ranger cake. It was the best chocolate b-day cake I have ever eaten!!

Saturday Brian took the day off from work to celebrate. We went to the botanical gardens called Lalbaugh. The boys took their cars to roll down the big hill. We saw monkeys and climbed the roots of a very old tree. After naps at home, we headed to a nearby mall to play in the arcade and eat dinner.

Sunday was Haddon's actual birthday. He opened his present...Power Rangers...the superhero of the month:)...and went to church. All 3 boys got haircuts too. We had a great weekend eating pizza three nights in a row (there's a theme going on here:) and lots of chocolate cake! Most importantly Haddon has lived 3 years of blessing the lives of those around him. He is a precious boy and we thank the Lord so much for letting us enjoy him.

The Wedding Adventure

2008-08-23T09:27:00.006+05:30

I like to use positive terms for blog titles (aka "Adventure") even though I will probably be complaining for most of the post:) We definitely set out on an unknown adventure Wednesday morning when I loaded up the boys to journey to my housekeeper's daughter's wedding.

The reception was actually the night before but b/c of the rain (monsoon season) Brian felt like we shouldn't go. His co-worker warned him how long it would take to get there. So the next morning I started out at 8:30 for a wedding that was beginning at 10:15 in the outskirts of Bangalore. I started too late...It took us 3 hours!!!!! It wasn't that far geographically...only 31 miles. But traffic is horrendous! At the two hour mark we hit a line of cars stopped at an intersection. Nothing new there, but a man came up to the car and motioned us to go around the traffic so I did. Come to find a communist party was protesting in the street. They were sitting in the middle of the intersection not letting people pass. Ok, I must confess I went livid at this point. The wedding was starting, I had no idea where I was going, and I had already driven 2 hours with 3 kids....I was GOING to this wedding! I talked to the traffic police and asked him why they were allowing this--he couldn't understand my English:) So I waited a few minutes and when I saw the start of a clearing I inched my way thru, honking people out of the way:) I finally made it out. I was so upset, almost in tears:)--what a bad example for my children, but I was determined:)

So we finally made it to the wedding after stopping to ask a dozen people where the place was. Thank goodness for an invitation printed in the local language. We arrived at what the invitation said was to be the end of the wedding but it was far from being over, thank goodness.

Unfortunately we don't enjoy going to public events very much here. I know that sounds like Scrooge at Christmas but really we are made such a spectacle that it is overwhelming for us all--pretty stressful I should say. The two weddings we have been to have been so chaotic, people whisking away our children, pinching their faces, seating us in the front row (moving people that were already sitting there!), starring at us, videoing us, it's very loud--just crazy. Now I know why celebrities don't go out in public. I don't say that to suggest we are celebrities (ok, maybe Kai:) but just the way it feels makes one want to stay home:) Probably more realistically would be how a physically challenged person feels when people stare at them and their handicap everywhere they go.

So we stayed for an hour and then drove back 2 hours (traffic was a little better). I know our housekeeper appreciated us coming so it was worth it, but I'm glad it's over. Too much for this mom to handle:) I would love to view a wedding here as a fly on the wall:) I'm so curious about the cultural traditions but can't really take them in with so much going on around us. Maybe I'll just have to depend on the internet for that cultural learning.