The boys love email and have their opinions of India - send them an email if you can!

Jake's email - bruton@wt.net
Thomas's email - mcdonough@wt.net

Working women and new office puja

I left out the picture of the puja priest blessing the servers in the server room. He draped the server rack with flowers and said prayers and waved the incense. I couldn't keep a straight face - I had to leave that ceremony - but I have to say - if it works - GREAT!

Pictures - Le Meridien and the Bull Temple

Update on the boys - Day 6

Just wanted to give you an update on the boys and what we are doing these
days.  They love getting your email, so keep emailing them.  They check
their email at school and at home.  They both seem to have a few friends
that they write to, but I wish they would include more since they seem to
love that part

Anyway.  We get up around 6:30am and grab some breakfast from the buffet
at the hotel, they are very patient with us there.  The driver takes them
to school, which is pretty far out, north of town.  They go past some
pretty raw areas and I hope they are watching out the window - as usual
they are reading a lot.  The school has been pretty laid back this week
since they have break next week.  They seem to be getting along.  Jake
doesn't talk much, Thomas tells me ever little detail, none of which I
retain.  Except he is planning his alternate universe . . . . hmmm

The driver (John) picks them up in the afternoon.  This week there is not
ECA (extra curricular activities), so school is out at 2:45.  I've had
John come by and pick me up at the office and I come back to the room and
keep working.  But today I sent them back alone, and let them open up the
set of Simpson's DVDs I've been saving for this day and they were fine.

Then we go out for errands or apartment hunting.  Dinner has been in the
hotel restaurant again - it's okay, expensive, but convinient.  We did
room service and it was $50 for 3 hamburgers and the didn't really like
the burgers - oh well.

Then we come back up, I get on my evening calls and they read, shower and
stay up too late, as usual.  We are doing okay, considering we are in a
smallish hotel room

over the weekend we got out and about in Bangalore.  We met a family that
lives nearby and goes to our school.  They took us to rugby practice last
weekend.

That's about it for now.  Just wanted to let you know that they are doing
great and have been great company!

April 2nd - First Impressions

Things are better with a little food and sleep.  We have had some good
days, not too stressful, but making progress.  The boys start school
tomorrow, and I have to hit the ground here and keep up with some Marathon
work.  I have another real estate agent to meet with tomorrow.  Things are
actually kind of expensive here, I will probably be paying over $4000/mo
in rent for a furnished apartment!  I paid $5 for a jar of american peanut
butter, but I have to easy Thomas into non-familiar brands.

I have seen a wall being built, each stone carried to the wall 1 at a
time, on the head of a woman, with other women carrying a bowl with the
mortar.  We've seen ox carts, donkey carts, families of 5 on a
motorscooter and Jake got to drive an autorickshaw part of the way home.
People keep refering to Jake as a girl, but that doesn't bother him.
Everyone asks where we are from and how old the boys are, how long we are
staying, but are very friendly.  I think that is why I liked this place
the last time I came, people are mostly friendly and helpful (a little too
helpful if you like your personal space sometimes).  Jake can walk through
the crowds in the commercial street like he's always done it.

I hope we don't get too spoiled in the hotel.  It's nice, but a little
claustrophobic.  I met another expat family Saturday morning, the family
lives near by and came over for a breakfast out Saturday morning.  Not
being shy, I went to speak to them and they are going to our school!  They
took us to Rugby practice Saturday afternoon and introduced me to some
other expat families.  I hope the network starts to link up and find me a
good housekeeper.

I have to start taking pictures, without being too obvious that I am
trying to record the harsher side of life here.  It's truly amazing what
the people have to go through for ordinary life.  There is a big issue for
the government to set quotas for school admission to OBC people (OBC-
Other Backward Classes/Castes).  That is what has been in the news.  Now
there are calls for the government to be more specific about who is in the
OBCs - still trying to get my head around the discrimination that must go
on.

After the first month

Sunday night, beginning of week 5 in Bangalore. I have a hard time remembering Houston - except missing my friends. The time here has gone fast and has been very productive, which I've learned is a very rare experience. It will be hard to catch up on everything tonight, but I really want you all to know that I miss you, but have really liked the trip so far. I have tons of little details, that may be kind of boring, but help put things in context. Even if you get bored of reading this, I'll look back as a journal of the trivial and routine and hopefully stupendeous and amazing. If you are reading this and want to know more, ask me a question - ok?

For the basics here is what we've done . . . . .

week one was in a nice hotel. Not super fancy, but there was a doorman and chocolate on the pillow. It was were I stayed last November and the staff remembered me (hopefully for my personality and not the tip I left last time!), but felt welcoming and they were good to the boys.
We found the school and started househunting, but without a lot of focus. But Saturday morning, there was a guy and 2 kids eating breakfast in the hotel. These were the 1st kids I've seen in the hotel, turns out Mike Krupa lived around the corner and they went to the same school - Canadian International School. We went to rugby practice with them that afternoon and Beth gave me a great rundown on getting settled - they've been here 3 months and gave me her relo person - Roopa Salhendra.
Well, Roopa was great and after a week of looking, found us this apartment in the center of town - more on this later. So the boys are in school, which is way outside of Bangalore - yuck, down a bumpy dirt road, past a farm and a couple of temples, but the campus is brand new and open buildings and it's okay.
My office was also in the process of moving, so I kept a low profile and started working through all the stuff it takes to relocate to Bangalore - Foreign Resident Registration - 3 trips to the main police station (old colonial building, lots of bats hanging from the trees).
It was going to be a week until the apt (flat) was ready, so we moved to a service apt. This had a kitchen and people that would order pizza for us. I started grocery shopping - eeerrrkkk! I was told that western products were available, but not the price! $5 for a jar of Skippy. One day I spent $35 on poptarts, cereal, and those jars of instant bisquick pancakes! But they are good to have in the panty, just in case. Oreos - forget about it, I'll wait for 2 more months . . .
Our staples are Ragu spagetti sauce and penne pasta - at least once a week. But more on food later too - be patient, there is a lot to catch up on!
So last Saturday (Apr 21) we moved to the flat in Richmondtown (Richmond Villa, No. 6 Leonard Lane, Ground Floor, Richmondtown, Bangalore, 560025). It's a 3 bedroom, ~3000 sq. ft (I think it's in feet and not meters - I need to check that!), but it's big enough, furnished with a combo of family cast offs, but good ones and new apartment quality furniture. The fact that the UPS (backup power), internet, water and appliance all work it considered a miracle apparently, so I'm not too worried about the furniture.
The boxes I shipped from Houston arrived on Sunday, after a trip to customs on Saturday and attempted bribe. (they showed me a handwritten paper with a list of items and an estimated duty, which I would have to come back and pay. OR, I could just give them 1/2 that now, and it would all be taken care of (about $60). I asked if I got a receipt for that (ha ha) and said I'd come back on Monday. Guess what - on the official slip - no duty! I guess they have to try . . .)

So now we have a place to live, a steady driver, a wonderful cook and cleaner. Our stuff. All we need is company! Come and see us - one room is a guest room. The area is great and not too hot, for India. And the dirty, stinky, yucky, fascinating (oh my!) part of life here is around the corner, nearer to the camel lot I saw the other day. But the flat is quiet and there are places you can go and forget you're in India.

I'm going to post some earlier emails I sent to Beth and my mom, my brother and some other friends. They've also got lots of details. I hope this isn't boring to you!