Sunday, July 31, 2005
July Update
July 2, 2005
Had my belated Mother's Day present this weekend--went to the Leela Palace Hotel from Saturday 12:30 pm until 2 pm Sunday. It was a bit like the overnighter I had at the Windsor Sheraton for my birthday last November. Badri took Molly for a car ride when bringing me to the Leela. She loves car rides about as much as anything else in the world these days, and to go on one with both Mommy and Appa all to herself--what a treat! Plus she loves going to hotels. The three of us wandered around the Leela for about an hour. She loves the big open space of the bottom level of the Galleria (the shopping area)--holding hands with both Appa and me (imagine--she's almost three and it's only in the last month that she's held both our hands while walking along. It seems ridiculous, but because of going in the car and strollers all the time, she'd really refused to hold anyone's hand walking down the street until last month. I remember one evening we were walking home from Pizza Corner and Badri and I both looked at each other out of the corner of our eye in amazement because she'd taken both our hands for the first time.)
Other things she really loved at the Leela: going out onto the patio and looking out at the trees swaying back and forth in the breeze, eating the complimentary cookies and fruit that came with the room; and when we went down to the outside grounds, walking around the paths and the grass (which you don't find much in India--grass you can walk on, I mean) and staring rapt at the dozens of waterfalls.
After Badri and Molly left, I went for a swim then a jacuzzi. Had a massage at 5 pm, then went for dinner at 7 pm. Ate at Zen, the Japanese restaurant. I was seated inside, but asked to be moved outside. The hostess said it was too windy and wet, but relented. It was a beautiful night. After the day's rain the air seemed cleaner. Had delicious sushi. Went back to the room and borrowed a DVD from the hotel: Cold Creek Manor. Mildly entertaining with two actors I like: Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid.
Another funny Molly-ism she started saying this week: "I want to sleep on the trouble bed". About six months ago we bought a trundle bed for Maya to sleep on, reasoning that the bottom bed can be used for sleep overs or for Molly when she grows out of her crib. I told her that she'll be able to sleep on the trundle bed when she's in big girl undies and she has her third birthday.
On Sunday morning I had a nice soak in the bath (I last did that when Badri and I were in Delhi not so many months ago) then went for breakfast at Citrus, another of the hotel restaurants. Sat outside next to the waterfall and enjoyed lovely whole wheat bread with various cheeses and fruits, followed by eggs benedict. While eating I read in the local newspaper about a school that had been shut down just outside the city limits. Parents were protesting the fact that school administrators wouldn't add on more grades (beyond grade 7) to the local school. Local officials said the children could walk to the next closest upper grade school, which is 10 kilometers by highway. Also in the news, a train derailed in the heavy rains of Gujarat and was stuck overnight without any help. There were heartwarming stories about the passengers who banded together and switched off all but one cell (mobile) phone at a time in order to conserve batteries so that they could contact those who would eventually rescue them.
Later took another swim, then Badri came to the hotel with Maya and Molly. It was a breezy and cloudy day, so the pool was out. Instead, we borrowed "Mulan" from the hotel DVD collection, and the girls loved snuggling under the blankets and watching the movie. Later Melvin, the driver, brought Charlie to the hotel. We checked out and wandered around the grassy grounds again, finishing up strawberry shakes and coffee at the Barista cafe.
Monday, July 4, 2005
Went out on a fun date this evening with Badri. There was a 4th of July party at the Mynt restaurant at the Taj West End hotel. We had a table for two, which was nice, and also met up with people we knew there. Now that I come to think of it, the people we knew and saw there were all Sri Lankan, British, Belgian, Irish, Korean, French--just so happened, not an American among the bunch. Caught up with Ani and Kim and their two girls, who are heading off to Bali for a mini-vacation this week. They asked how our Spain trip was and sympathized with us, saying they understand how traveling with young'uns is, having done it with their two when the youngest was six months.
My Belgian friend, Muriel, was there and introduced us to her friend, Muriel and her husband (what are the odds of two Muriels at one social occasion?) from France and Israel. The latter two have four children: two toddlers and two teenagers. I thought that was a pretty interesting offspring combo.
Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Said goodbye to another close friend, Aarti, today. She and her family are leaving Friday to go back to England. I met with Aarti and our mutual friend, Laura, for coffee this a.m. Aarti talked about what a wonderful experience this year has been for her, and how she would gladly come back if her husband landed another job here.
Invited a prospective Bangalore couple over for dinner. Raj was in high school with Badri in Delhi, his wife, Gina, is American, and they have two sons, 7 and 8 years old. He works for Dell and they're trying to figure out what the cost of living would be here because he has to be prepared to accept a "local" package. There are two ways of getting paid here if you're an expat--either a local package, which comes with a lot fewer benefits, or an expat package, where many things are covered, such as: car, gasoline, driver, allowance for domestic staff, apartment or house rent, children's tuition, etc. Aarti's husband Dipak was told he could stay on at Capco in Bangalore if they were willing to take a local package, but they decided against it. More and more, people are coming to Bangalore to live and work and are happy to take the local package, especially NRIs (non-resident Indians).
Raj and Gina have been living in Austin, Texas, and think this would be a great opportunity for them and their two boys to live in India for a couple of years.
Thursday, July 7, 2005
Tonight we had Mark Nunes over for dinner. He's the brother of a friend from the U.S. He's traveling on a one month trip with a university group, looking at life in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. Enjoyed our evening with him, and the kids had a great time coming when we went to pick him up at his hotel, calling him "Uncle Mark" even though they'd never met him before.
Saturday, July 9, 2005
Early last week I was in quite a funk for various reasons, and I feel more fit for the challenge this week, as I write this at 6:10. Charlie woke at 5:30 this morning, which is consistent with his 5:08, 5:09 wake ups this week. Lately, I get up and get him the instant I hear him calling for mama and bring him into the bed. It's clear that he's not going to fall back to sleep in his crib. I snuggle him in close next to his Appa (Badri), and either lay there resting for a while, get Molly when she wakes, or come downstairs for early coffee and email.
Charlie is now officially a car fanatic--brings one wherever he goes, whether in the car or in the crib. What's his word for cow? "Cah!" What's his word for car? "Cah". He's a New Englander at heart, or at least linguistically.
I hear Molly stirring, so I'll try to touch on my cultural adjustment issues later. Actually, as I told Raj and Gina, who were here for dinner this week while on a reconnaisance trip to Bangalore, I would be feeling down and blue like this wherever I was: whether San Diego, Boston, or Bangalore. It's simply a function of the ups and downs of staying at home with three children under 5. I think about my mother, who raised four of us born within four years of each other (1960-1964), and my mother-in-law, who raised three boys born over the same timeline. And they did it without nannies, maids, housecleaners, etc. Imagine bundling up four kids to go out in the snow, then turning to the task at hand of hanging out clothes on the line, which you'd look out and see frozen stiff a short while later (the clothes, not the kids). And think about the labor intensive task of preparing three vegetarian meals a day with three rugrats under foot, with no dishwasher, no mixee (I'm assuming Amma didn't have a food processor in the 60s to make all her wonderful masalas [gravies]).
Monday, July 11, 2005
Rita, the new nanny, seems to be working out nicely. There's a nice chemistry building between her and Charlie. She's here from 8 am to 6:30 pm. I've asked her whether she can handle the commute (2 buses, around 2 hours each way), because I'm really afraid of Charlie getting attached to her and then her leaving because she finds something closer. Little by little Molly's warming up, too, and Maya has a fine time reading and practicing writing with her.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Had a terrific yoga class today. Four fun women there to make it more interesting (occasionally I go to the 10am class and I'm the only one there--just me and "sir" [Acharya, the teacher], not very exciting). Two of the women are co-sisters, meaning they are sisters-in-law, married to brothers. Unfortunately, one is returning to Chennai next week, and the other will go back later this year.
This morning I glanced at the sports page of the newspaper and saw the latest young badminton champ, a face that looked vaguely familiar. Turns out, it's one of my yoga friend's daughters, Taanya Ravi, who is so good, at 11 years old, that she's going to the nationals in Pune soon. She studies at one of the top local schools here, National Public School. It's so rigorous academically that they don't allow sports. So Taanya has gone all this way in badminton without any help from her school. I recognized her picture in the paper because she's often training in the children's park where we go with our kids.
I'm gobbling down an onion dosa (dal and rice pancake) with raita (yogurt with tomatoes, carrots, onions) before I have to run and get Molly at school. Meanwhile, the construction workers next door are hammering away like crazy. It's never ending. But at least it's quiet at night.
Had a new cook start working on Monday (Regina Mary) but she didn't show up yesterday or today. Vani's still here 'til the end of August to train anybody who starts new, so I'm not too worried. I guess the work was too hard for Regina, according to Vani, and she complained about her back paining.
Went out to dinner with Laura, Lorna (Indian, who I met in yoga class, and whose husband works for Laura's company), and Laura's sister-in-law Melanie. Ate at Shiok, a Thai/Chinese restaurant close to us. Melanie is Indian, from Bangalore, and Laura's brother, Dave, is American. It's like Laura's looking out for me--before we parted ways after dinner, she made sure we all had each other's email so we can stay in touch and get together if we want to. She reminds me a lot of my sister Patty, with her great sense of humor and sweet way of taking care of others.
Thursday, June 14, 2005
Went to Laura's for the last time with Maya, Molly and Charlie. They had a great time playing with Kaleb and Lucas. The rain came pouring down as we were going, so Molly and Charlie had a great time getting soaked splashing in the puddles as we walked into their apartment. And, three months shy of three years old, Molly went down the slide in their living room (without holding mama's hand) for the first time.
Friday, June 15, 2005
Tonight Badri and I went out to dinner with Laura and Kevin for the first time. We've always gotten together with just the moms, or just the dads, or the whole of both families, but never with just the four of us. Had a nice time at a place called Indi Joe's, where they serve lots of sizzler plates (vegetable, chicken, steak, or seafood) that come to your table steaming like crazy. I really will miss those two. When they return they'll be going back to Banff in Canada. Laura's baby is due in October, and sometime in the year after they'll probably go back to Florida where Digital Juice (their company) is located.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Went over to Ani and Kim's in Koramangala for lunch. They live at the Acropolis, a massive apartment complex right next to the Forum Mall. Maya had a great time playing with Isha and Gaya, and Molly mostly hung out with mama.
In the evening, went out to dinner with Nina and Sandeep, the American/Indian couple we met on the plane coming home from Spain last month. Went to Fiorano's, an Italian restaurant in Koramangala. Drove home in the pouring rain, with partially flooded streets along the way. Reminded me of coming home from Valentine's dinner in Mexico, oh, about eight years ago.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Amma and Appa (Badri's parents) came in on the train from Chennai last night. When the kids saw them downstairs this morning there were resounding screams bouncing off the walls.
Charlie's obsession with cars is now officially over the top. He walks around the streets pointing at cars and saying "Car! Car!" and won't go anywhere (including for a car ride, or to bed) without a car in his clutches.
This afternoon Janaki, Amma's cousin, and her husband, Babu came to visit. Richi, who is Janaki and Babu's son, also came with his wife, Cajoli. Janaki and Babu have recently moved from Chennai to be close to Richi here in Bangalore. Completing the group of relatives visiting were Srinath and Madhu, Janaki's nephew and niece, and Srinath's wife Mrinalini (Mini). You'll see a picture of Maya and Srinath below. Maya took to Srinath, Mini, and Madhu immediately, and was crushed when they left.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Met with Maya and Molly's teachers today. Thank goodness Molly has a patient and understanding teacher, because Molly doesn't like to be made to sit at circle time or basically any other time. Priti, her main teacher, has let the other teachers know that they shouldn't try to pick up Molly and move her where they want her to go--they'll only have a screaming child on their hands. She'll come when she's ready and she sees the others having a good time. She definitely most enjoys rhyming and singing time. Just jumps right up and joins in.
I enjoyed meeting with Maya's teacher, Malithi. She emphasized again how much Maya loves to draw. I think it's partly because of the phenomenal art teacher, Neelu, at the school. They do art every day and Maya comes home in the afternoon and tries to replicate the project they've worked on each day. Maya's learning to write letters in the sasoon style, with little curves so they'll transition to cursive easily later. It's exciting to see her learning to read, too. Amma and Appa brought some books for the children, and they're very contextual, with simple pictures and words. But lots of the words are the sight words she's been practicing at school, and she loves to be able to read them.
Laura came by this afternoon with Lucas and Kaleb for a last playdate before they head off to Canada. Maya is anxious to see them again, as well as her teacher, Ms. Mudhar, from the Canadian School. She knows they're both in Canada, so we've planned that once we return to the U.S. we'll fly to Canada, then take a train from Laura's house to Ms. Mudhar's house to visit everybody. But as I look at a map, I see that a train ride from Alberta (where Laura's family lives in Banff) to Ontario (where Ms. Mudhar is, in Toronto) would be way too long.
Today we had a new cook, Patricia, start. She lives a 20 minute walk away, in Indiranagar. That's very refreshing, because Vani and Rita have to come from so far away. Mala, the housecleaner, also lives in Indiranagar, about 10 minutes away. Mala started last month and she's very sweet. Twenty-six years old, lives with her mother and father. She agreed to come in the morning to clean, then return from 6 to 7 pm to wash dishes and clean the kitchen floor. We were lucky to find someone who can come and go like that, especially with Vani going on her 7th month of pregnancy.
My friend Laura loves to joke about the number of staff, and the rotating door here, with people coming and going. Badri thinks we'll need to continue having a nanny when we go back to the U.S. He also reminisces about how wonderful Karen was. Karen Sweeney was our nanny back in San Diego, and she could either cook or watch the children, depending on what I felt like doing at the time (she worked with us from Mon.-Fri. from 9-5 for 3 months, from when Charlie was born until after we were in India for a few weeks).
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Brought Amma and our nanny Rita to Maya and Molly's school and introduced them to the teachers, so they'll be familiar faces when they pick up or drop off them off.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Charlie's new words: auto (autorickshaws are all over the place, and we call them auto for short) and cockroach (there was a big one on the floor when we came downstairs this morning, and Maya had Charlie saying the word in no time).
Charlie's sleep schedule is ever changing. For the last month he'd been waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning. Amma and Appa got up with him for a couple days, thinking with some warm milk he'd nod off again, but once that boy is out of his crib, there's no getting him back in. He cried for a bit this a.m. and went back to sleep. When I woke I didn't hear him, so I went into his room before going downstairs and he was fast asleep, mosquito net off and car on the floor. Eventually woke at 7am!
He can only wear long pants these days, no matter what the weather, because he runs all the time then rips the skin off his knees on the rough asphalt of the street.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Went out to dinner at Vil'age, a north Indian restaurant in the neighborhood, with the whole family, Amma and Appa, and Sangeetha, Tutu and their two girls. All the kids were well behaved, but Charlie just didn't want to sit in the stroller to eat. At 18 months, it's a tough stage to be trying to get him to sit and eat in a restaurant, especially after his bedtime. We had the kids take late naps so we could go to dinner at 7 pm. Very few restaurants open before that time.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Knock on wood, one week later his sleep schedule is still good (for me)--it's 6:35 am and he's still sleeping! He's generally down to one nap a day, which can be as little as an hour, but sometimes two and a half hours. That doesn't sound like much, compared to the 3-4 hour naps that Maya and Molly used to take, but for Charlie, who's never slept for more than an hour, it's terrific.
Went to playgroup at Phil and Benedict's today with Charlie. Phil and his family are from England, and his wife, Marian, is director at Reuters here in town. Met a very interesting American woman, Karen, who is taking care of the little girl, Reagan, who her daughter is in the midst of adopting.
Our new cook, Patricia, is working out very nicely. She's worked for a few foreign families before (French amongthem) so has a nice repertoire of western dishes, as well as excellent Indian cooking. She made two heavenly soups yesterday, pea and tomato, and is catching right on about how much (or little) chili we like in dishes.
Saturday, July 30
The whole family went to the ISKCON Temple 45 minutes north of here. Amma and Patricia, our cook, dressed me in my new sari, and Molly and Maya were in their pavadi (Indian dresses). The priest did a puja for the family (I think Amma specified it be done for our anniversary). Charlie fell asleep in the car on the way there, so missed out on the temple because he slept in the car. ISKCON stand for International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Lord Krishna is one of the most commonly worshipped deities in the Hindu faith. He is known for destroying evil powers throughout his life.
Sunday, July 31
Went to an event coordinated for Badri's office out at one of the Taj properties, Taj Kuteeram (1 1/2 hours from here). It is very close to the dance village, Nrityagram, that we as a family went to visit at about this time last year. Two of the lead guys from Fair Isaac U.S. were in town, so an evening of entertainment was set up. There was a phenomenal dance troupe that performed dance from all over India, among the regions: Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Kerala. And the grand finale was a beautiful performance of bharatnatyam. This is the most ancient of all the classical dance forms in India. Badri and I realize that we've been here over a year now and haven't been to nearly enough dance and musical performances.
I'll end this month's update on that note. Hope you're all enjoying your summer.
Hugs. Namaste.
Kelly
Appa and his girls
Srinath and Maya
A boy and his phone
Charlie, Molly, and Maya at HAL Airport museum
Charlie and his most recent favorite car
Molly still working on the potty training
Grandfather and grandson enjoying the newspaper
Grandfather and granddaughter enjoying moments together
Patti and Maya
Appa in kurta, Charlie and Mama in sari, before going to temple
Maya and Molly in traditional Indian dress, before going to temple
July 2, 2005
Had my belated Mother's Day present this weekend--went to the Leela Palace Hotel from Saturday 12:30 pm until 2 pm Sunday. It was a bit like the overnighter I had at the Windsor Sheraton for my birthday last November. Badri took Molly for a car ride when bringing me to the Leela. She loves car rides about as much as anything else in the world these days, and to go on one with both Mommy and Appa all to herself--what a treat! Plus she loves going to hotels. The three of us wandered around the Leela for about an hour. She loves the big open space of the bottom level of the Galleria (the shopping area)--holding hands with both Appa and me (imagine--she's almost three and it's only in the last month that she's held both our hands while walking along. It seems ridiculous, but because of going in the car and strollers all the time, she'd really refused to hold anyone's hand walking down the street until last month. I remember one evening we were walking home from Pizza Corner and Badri and I both looked at each other out of the corner of our eye in amazement because she'd taken both our hands for the first time.)
Other things she really loved at the Leela: going out onto the patio and looking out at the trees swaying back and forth in the breeze, eating the complimentary cookies and fruit that came with the room; and when we went down to the outside grounds, walking around the paths and the grass (which you don't find much in India--grass you can walk on, I mean) and staring rapt at the dozens of waterfalls.
After Badri and Molly left, I went for a swim then a jacuzzi. Had a massage at 5 pm, then went for dinner at 7 pm. Ate at Zen, the Japanese restaurant. I was seated inside, but asked to be moved outside. The hostess said it was too windy and wet, but relented. It was a beautiful night. After the day's rain the air seemed cleaner. Had delicious sushi. Went back to the room and borrowed a DVD from the hotel: Cold Creek Manor. Mildly entertaining with two actors I like: Sharon Stone and Dennis Quaid.
Another funny Molly-ism she started saying this week: "I want to sleep on the trouble bed". About six months ago we bought a trundle bed for Maya to sleep on, reasoning that the bottom bed can be used for sleep overs or for Molly when she grows out of her crib. I told her that she'll be able to sleep on the trundle bed when she's in big girl undies and she has her third birthday.
On Sunday morning I had a nice soak in the bath (I last did that when Badri and I were in Delhi not so many months ago) then went for breakfast at Citrus, another of the hotel restaurants. Sat outside next to the waterfall and enjoyed lovely whole wheat bread with various cheeses and fruits, followed by eggs benedict. While eating I read in the local newspaper about a school that had been shut down just outside the city limits. Parents were protesting the fact that school administrators wouldn't add on more grades (beyond grade 7) to the local school. Local officials said the children could walk to the next closest upper grade school, which is 10 kilometers by highway. Also in the news, a train derailed in the heavy rains of Gujarat and was stuck overnight without any help. There were heartwarming stories about the passengers who banded together and switched off all but one cell (mobile) phone at a time in order to conserve batteries so that they could contact those who would eventually rescue them.
Later took another swim, then Badri came to the hotel with Maya and Molly. It was a breezy and cloudy day, so the pool was out. Instead, we borrowed "Mulan" from the hotel DVD collection, and the girls loved snuggling under the blankets and watching the movie. Later Melvin, the driver, brought Charlie to the hotel. We checked out and wandered around the grassy grounds again, finishing up strawberry shakes and coffee at the Barista cafe.
Monday, July 4, 2005
Went out on a fun date this evening with Badri. There was a 4th of July party at the Mynt restaurant at the Taj West End hotel. We had a table for two, which was nice, and also met up with people we knew there. Now that I come to think of it, the people we knew and saw there were all Sri Lankan, British, Belgian, Irish, Korean, French--just so happened, not an American among the bunch. Caught up with Ani and Kim and their two girls, who are heading off to Bali for a mini-vacation this week. They asked how our Spain trip was and sympathized with us, saying they understand how traveling with young'uns is, having done it with their two when the youngest was six months.
My Belgian friend, Muriel, was there and introduced us to her friend, Muriel and her husband (what are the odds of two Muriels at one social occasion?) from France and Israel. The latter two have four children: two toddlers and two teenagers. I thought that was a pretty interesting offspring combo.
Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Said goodbye to another close friend, Aarti, today. She and her family are leaving Friday to go back to England. I met with Aarti and our mutual friend, Laura, for coffee this a.m. Aarti talked about what a wonderful experience this year has been for her, and how she would gladly come back if her husband landed another job here.
Invited a prospective Bangalore couple over for dinner. Raj was in high school with Badri in Delhi, his wife, Gina, is American, and they have two sons, 7 and 8 years old. He works for Dell and they're trying to figure out what the cost of living would be here because he has to be prepared to accept a "local" package. There are two ways of getting paid here if you're an expat--either a local package, which comes with a lot fewer benefits, or an expat package, where many things are covered, such as: car, gasoline, driver, allowance for domestic staff, apartment or house rent, children's tuition, etc. Aarti's husband Dipak was told he could stay on at Capco in Bangalore if they were willing to take a local package, but they decided against it. More and more, people are coming to Bangalore to live and work and are happy to take the local package, especially NRIs (non-resident Indians).
Raj and Gina have been living in Austin, Texas, and think this would be a great opportunity for them and their two boys to live in India for a couple of years.
Thursday, July 7, 2005
Tonight we had Mark Nunes over for dinner. He's the brother of a friend from the U.S. He's traveling on a one month trip with a university group, looking at life in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore. Enjoyed our evening with him, and the kids had a great time coming when we went to pick him up at his hotel, calling him "Uncle Mark" even though they'd never met him before.
Saturday, July 9, 2005
Early last week I was in quite a funk for various reasons, and I feel more fit for the challenge this week, as I write this at 6:10. Charlie woke at 5:30 this morning, which is consistent with his 5:08, 5:09 wake ups this week. Lately, I get up and get him the instant I hear him calling for mama and bring him into the bed. It's clear that he's not going to fall back to sleep in his crib. I snuggle him in close next to his Appa (Badri), and either lay there resting for a while, get Molly when she wakes, or come downstairs for early coffee and email.
Charlie is now officially a car fanatic--brings one wherever he goes, whether in the car or in the crib. What's his word for cow? "Cah!" What's his word for car? "Cah". He's a New Englander at heart, or at least linguistically.
I hear Molly stirring, so I'll try to touch on my cultural adjustment issues later. Actually, as I told Raj and Gina, who were here for dinner this week while on a reconnaisance trip to Bangalore, I would be feeling down and blue like this wherever I was: whether San Diego, Boston, or Bangalore. It's simply a function of the ups and downs of staying at home with three children under 5. I think about my mother, who raised four of us born within four years of each other (1960-1964), and my mother-in-law, who raised three boys born over the same timeline. And they did it without nannies, maids, housecleaners, etc. Imagine bundling up four kids to go out in the snow, then turning to the task at hand of hanging out clothes on the line, which you'd look out and see frozen stiff a short while later (the clothes, not the kids). And think about the labor intensive task of preparing three vegetarian meals a day with three rugrats under foot, with no dishwasher, no mixee (I'm assuming Amma didn't have a food processor in the 60s to make all her wonderful masalas [gravies]).
Monday, July 11, 2005
Rita, the new nanny, seems to be working out nicely. There's a nice chemistry building between her and Charlie. She's here from 8 am to 6:30 pm. I've asked her whether she can handle the commute (2 buses, around 2 hours each way), because I'm really afraid of Charlie getting attached to her and then her leaving because she finds something closer. Little by little Molly's warming up, too, and Maya has a fine time reading and practicing writing with her.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Had a terrific yoga class today. Four fun women there to make it more interesting (occasionally I go to the 10am class and I'm the only one there--just me and "sir" [Acharya, the teacher], not very exciting). Two of the women are co-sisters, meaning they are sisters-in-law, married to brothers. Unfortunately, one is returning to Chennai next week, and the other will go back later this year.
This morning I glanced at the sports page of the newspaper and saw the latest young badminton champ, a face that looked vaguely familiar. Turns out, it's one of my yoga friend's daughters, Taanya Ravi, who is so good, at 11 years old, that she's going to the nationals in Pune soon. She studies at one of the top local schools here, National Public School. It's so rigorous academically that they don't allow sports. So Taanya has gone all this way in badminton without any help from her school. I recognized her picture in the paper because she's often training in the children's park where we go with our kids.
I'm gobbling down an onion dosa (dal and rice pancake) with raita (yogurt with tomatoes, carrots, onions) before I have to run and get Molly at school. Meanwhile, the construction workers next door are hammering away like crazy. It's never ending. But at least it's quiet at night.
Had a new cook start working on Monday (Regina Mary) but she didn't show up yesterday or today. Vani's still here 'til the end of August to train anybody who starts new, so I'm not too worried. I guess the work was too hard for Regina, according to Vani, and she complained about her back paining.
Went out to dinner with Laura, Lorna (Indian, who I met in yoga class, and whose husband works for Laura's company), and Laura's sister-in-law Melanie. Ate at Shiok, a Thai/Chinese restaurant close to us. Melanie is Indian, from Bangalore, and Laura's brother, Dave, is American. It's like Laura's looking out for me--before we parted ways after dinner, she made sure we all had each other's email so we can stay in touch and get together if we want to. She reminds me a lot of my sister Patty, with her great sense of humor and sweet way of taking care of others.
Thursday, June 14, 2005
Went to Laura's for the last time with Maya, Molly and Charlie. They had a great time playing with Kaleb and Lucas. The rain came pouring down as we were going, so Molly and Charlie had a great time getting soaked splashing in the puddles as we walked into their apartment. And, three months shy of three years old, Molly went down the slide in their living room (without holding mama's hand) for the first time.
Friday, June 15, 2005
Tonight Badri and I went out to dinner with Laura and Kevin for the first time. We've always gotten together with just the moms, or just the dads, or the whole of both families, but never with just the four of us. Had a nice time at a place called Indi Joe's, where they serve lots of sizzler plates (vegetable, chicken, steak, or seafood) that come to your table steaming like crazy. I really will miss those two. When they return they'll be going back to Banff in Canada. Laura's baby is due in October, and sometime in the year after they'll probably go back to Florida where Digital Juice (their company) is located.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Went over to Ani and Kim's in Koramangala for lunch. They live at the Acropolis, a massive apartment complex right next to the Forum Mall. Maya had a great time playing with Isha and Gaya, and Molly mostly hung out with mama.
In the evening, went out to dinner with Nina and Sandeep, the American/Indian couple we met on the plane coming home from Spain last month. Went to Fiorano's, an Italian restaurant in Koramangala. Drove home in the pouring rain, with partially flooded streets along the way. Reminded me of coming home from Valentine's dinner in Mexico, oh, about eight years ago.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Amma and Appa (Badri's parents) came in on the train from Chennai last night. When the kids saw them downstairs this morning there were resounding screams bouncing off the walls.
Charlie's obsession with cars is now officially over the top. He walks around the streets pointing at cars and saying "Car! Car!" and won't go anywhere (including for a car ride, or to bed) without a car in his clutches.
This afternoon Janaki, Amma's cousin, and her husband, Babu came to visit. Richi, who is Janaki and Babu's son, also came with his wife, Cajoli. Janaki and Babu have recently moved from Chennai to be close to Richi here in Bangalore. Completing the group of relatives visiting were Srinath and Madhu, Janaki's nephew and niece, and Srinath's wife Mrinalini (Mini). You'll see a picture of Maya and Srinath below. Maya took to Srinath, Mini, and Madhu immediately, and was crushed when they left.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Met with Maya and Molly's teachers today. Thank goodness Molly has a patient and understanding teacher, because Molly doesn't like to be made to sit at circle time or basically any other time. Priti, her main teacher, has let the other teachers know that they shouldn't try to pick up Molly and move her where they want her to go--they'll only have a screaming child on their hands. She'll come when she's ready and she sees the others having a good time. She definitely most enjoys rhyming and singing time. Just jumps right up and joins in.
I enjoyed meeting with Maya's teacher, Malithi. She emphasized again how much Maya loves to draw. I think it's partly because of the phenomenal art teacher, Neelu, at the school. They do art every day and Maya comes home in the afternoon and tries to replicate the project they've worked on each day. Maya's learning to write letters in the sasoon style, with little curves so they'll transition to cursive easily later. It's exciting to see her learning to read, too. Amma and Appa brought some books for the children, and they're very contextual, with simple pictures and words. But lots of the words are the sight words she's been practicing at school, and she loves to be able to read them.
Laura came by this afternoon with Lucas and Kaleb for a last playdate before they head off to Canada. Maya is anxious to see them again, as well as her teacher, Ms. Mudhar, from the Canadian School. She knows they're both in Canada, so we've planned that once we return to the U.S. we'll fly to Canada, then take a train from Laura's house to Ms. Mudhar's house to visit everybody. But as I look at a map, I see that a train ride from Alberta (where Laura's family lives in Banff) to Ontario (where Ms. Mudhar is, in Toronto) would be way too long.
Today we had a new cook, Patricia, start. She lives a 20 minute walk away, in Indiranagar. That's very refreshing, because Vani and Rita have to come from so far away. Mala, the housecleaner, also lives in Indiranagar, about 10 minutes away. Mala started last month and she's very sweet. Twenty-six years old, lives with her mother and father. She agreed to come in the morning to clean, then return from 6 to 7 pm to wash dishes and clean the kitchen floor. We were lucky to find someone who can come and go like that, especially with Vani going on her 7th month of pregnancy.
My friend Laura loves to joke about the number of staff, and the rotating door here, with people coming and going. Badri thinks we'll need to continue having a nanny when we go back to the U.S. He also reminisces about how wonderful Karen was. Karen Sweeney was our nanny back in San Diego, and she could either cook or watch the children, depending on what I felt like doing at the time (she worked with us from Mon.-Fri. from 9-5 for 3 months, from when Charlie was born until after we were in India for a few weeks).
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Brought Amma and our nanny Rita to Maya and Molly's school and introduced them to the teachers, so they'll be familiar faces when they pick up or drop off them off.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Charlie's new words: auto (autorickshaws are all over the place, and we call them auto for short) and cockroach (there was a big one on the floor when we came downstairs this morning, and Maya had Charlie saying the word in no time).
Charlie's sleep schedule is ever changing. For the last month he'd been waking up at 4 or 5 in the morning. Amma and Appa got up with him for a couple days, thinking with some warm milk he'd nod off again, but once that boy is out of his crib, there's no getting him back in. He cried for a bit this a.m. and went back to sleep. When I woke I didn't hear him, so I went into his room before going downstairs and he was fast asleep, mosquito net off and car on the floor. Eventually woke at 7am!
He can only wear long pants these days, no matter what the weather, because he runs all the time then rips the skin off his knees on the rough asphalt of the street.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Went out to dinner at Vil'age, a north Indian restaurant in the neighborhood, with the whole family, Amma and Appa, and Sangeetha, Tutu and their two girls. All the kids were well behaved, but Charlie just didn't want to sit in the stroller to eat. At 18 months, it's a tough stage to be trying to get him to sit and eat in a restaurant, especially after his bedtime. We had the kids take late naps so we could go to dinner at 7 pm. Very few restaurants open before that time.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Knock on wood, one week later his sleep schedule is still good (for me)--it's 6:35 am and he's still sleeping! He's generally down to one nap a day, which can be as little as an hour, but sometimes two and a half hours. That doesn't sound like much, compared to the 3-4 hour naps that Maya and Molly used to take, but for Charlie, who's never slept for more than an hour, it's terrific.
Went to playgroup at Phil and Benedict's today with Charlie. Phil and his family are from England, and his wife, Marian, is director at Reuters here in town. Met a very interesting American woman, Karen, who is taking care of the little girl, Reagan, who her daughter is in the midst of adopting.
Our new cook, Patricia, is working out very nicely. She's worked for a few foreign families before (French amongthem) so has a nice repertoire of western dishes, as well as excellent Indian cooking. She made two heavenly soups yesterday, pea and tomato, and is catching right on about how much (or little) chili we like in dishes.
Saturday, July 30
The whole family went to the ISKCON Temple 45 minutes north of here. Amma and Patricia, our cook, dressed me in my new sari, and Molly and Maya were in their pavadi (Indian dresses). The priest did a puja for the family (I think Amma specified it be done for our anniversary). Charlie fell asleep in the car on the way there, so missed out on the temple because he slept in the car. ISKCON stand for International Society for Krishna Consciousness. Lord Krishna is one of the most commonly worshipped deities in the Hindu faith. He is known for destroying evil powers throughout his life.
Sunday, July 31
Went to an event coordinated for Badri's office out at one of the Taj properties, Taj Kuteeram (1 1/2 hours from here). It is very close to the dance village, Nrityagram, that we as a family went to visit at about this time last year. Two of the lead guys from Fair Isaac U.S. were in town, so an evening of entertainment was set up. There was a phenomenal dance troupe that performed dance from all over India, among the regions: Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Kerala. And the grand finale was a beautiful performance of bharatnatyam. This is the most ancient of all the classical dance forms in India. Badri and I realize that we've been here over a year now and haven't been to nearly enough dance and musical performances.
I'll end this month's update on that note. Hope you're all enjoying your summer.
Hugs. Namaste.
Kelly
Appa and his girls
Srinath and Maya
A boy and his phone
Charlie, Molly, and Maya at HAL Airport museum
Charlie and his most recent favorite car
Molly still working on the potty training
Grandfather and grandson enjoying the newspaper
Grandfather and granddaughter enjoying moments together
Patti and Maya
Appa in kurta, Charlie and Mama in sari, before going to temple
Maya and Molly in traditional Indian dress, before going to temple
Saturday, July 02, 2005
May/June 2005
Too busy and frazzled to get out an update in May, so am combining May and June.
May 1, 2005
Had Ani, Kim, and their two daughters, Isha (6) and Gaya (3), over for playing and early dinner today. We met Ani and Kim at a mutual friend's child's birthday party a couple months ago, and turns out they're also friends of our friend, Sriram, who recently visited us from the U.S. (in fact, theirs was one of the emails Sriram had given us before we moved here, because he lived in Bangalore for many years).
Maya and Isha get along great and hold their arms next to one another and talk about how much they look like twins. Lately Maya often talks about color and how I'm not brown like her and Appa. This is a great experience for both her and Badri, living in their birth country and being surrounded by others who look like them.
May 2, 2005
Badri took the day off and we went to Bannerghatta National Park to visit the zoo there. We took a safari bus and saw lots of lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! I'll attach some of the pictures below. We got a seat right in front of the bus, just as we did a year ago when the kids and I went to the zoo with Badri's brother, Ravi, and sister-in-law Malini and their son Appu. Badri sat up front with Charlie, and Maya, Molly, and I in the seat right behind them.
Friday, May 6, 2005
Badri's mom, Amma (known to the children as Patti), aunt (Usha Chitti, known to the children as Ushamu), and Badri's cousin's daughter, Uttara, came to visit us from Chennai and Delhi. Maya adores Uttara, and Charlie came to adore her during this visit as well. Uttara is nine years old and was having a terrific time traveling with her great aunt and grandmother. She is so sweet with the children, playing with Maya, reading to Molly and Charlie, and really good at distracting Charlie when he gets cranky.
Went to the library bar at Leela Palace to meet with Kenneth Price of World Learning for Business for a chat about his company. Ken is giving workshops at Badri's company on cross cultural communications. They're looking out for consultants to give classes on ESL (English as a Second Language), cross cultural training, international orientation, etc., and he said my experience sounds like a good fit for the company. In India, they're based in Gurgaon, outside Delhi, so training would have to be done up there. An interesting opportunity to look into further. Badri actually told me about him and the company when we were up on our getaway in Delhi a couple months ago. I was very excited about it then, and when Ken was in town this time Badri very thoughtfully set up the meeting for me.
Saturday, May 7, 2005
Saturday Badri went to the bookstore with Maya and Uttara. They'd tried to go to Jaamba Jungle (a bit like Chuckie Cheese in the U.S., or a small scale Amoeba like here in India) but Maya was crushed to find that it no longer existed! They had a lot of fun at Crosswords bookstore though. Badri picked up a great collection of books, including the Mahabharata (an ancient religious epic of India) and stories from the Bible. He wants the children to get equal time in introduction to world religions.
I went sari shopping with Amma and Usha Chitti at Soma and Deepam Silks. We had a grand old time picking out Mother's Day saris and choosing gifts for our visit to Spain (my favorite shops here in Bangalore: Soma, Anokhi, Fabindia).
Monday, May 9, 2005
Molly had started getting feverish a few days ago, and now has high fever and a bad cough. Today it looked like her face was getting swollen, so I called the doctor, thinking she might have the mumps. His earliest appointment was 12:30 tomorrow, so I asked him if we could see him sooner. It so happens that he was coming to our neck of the woods in the afternoon, so he came by for a house visit. What a memory poor little Charlie has--as soon as Dr. Chinnappa walked in the house, he started screaming at the top of his lungs. Savithri had to take him outside. Molly was sleeping upstairs, so we went up there so he could examine her. She was none too happy to see him either. But it turns out to be a cold virus, not the mumps, thankfully. And the doctor wouldn't take any money for his visit! Now to see whether Molly is better in nine days, when we go to Spain.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Funny phrase for the day: "Charlie's watering me!" Molly was sitting in her booster seat at dinner and Charlie took her water cup off her tray and poured it on her shirt.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
A very sad day--found out that two of my closest friends are leaving India. Aarti will be living in July and Laura in August. The Gang of Four, as Badri calls us, will never be the same. Nicola, the 4th, may be moving to Delhi or somewhere else in Asia, depending on her future job opportunities.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Here we go again! Molly gave her cold to Charlie. Yesterday afternoon he started running a fever. He slept through the night, but today is very cranky.
Brought Maya to school and spoke with her teacher about taking Maya out of school early for our Spain trip. Of course, we may need to postpone--again (you may not remember, but we postponed and then eventually canceled our last trip planned to Malaysia). Her current Canadian school year ends June 17, and Neev, the new school, begins June 1. So the trip to Spain would be a good buffer and break between the school years. She's getting more used to the idea of switching schools, whereas in the beginning she was quite resistant, naturally, saying how much she'd miss her friends.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Charlie was inconsolable today, so I brought him to see Dr. Chinnappa. Yup, another ear infection (5th or 6th in his 16 months, poor thing). Another round of antibiotics. Poor kid--none of the pain relievers make it one bit better, either.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Badri and I brought Maya and Molly to their new school, Neev, for a playdate (10:30-12). They had a wonderful time playing there, making crowns with the art teacher, and seeing some of their friends (a few kids from Maya's school are also switching). The sweetest thing was when they sat down in one of the classrooms at their mini tables for snack time, Maya saved a seat for Molly between her and her good friend, Grace, and called Molly over to sit with them.
By afternoon Charlie was so miserable that I decided I was going to call another pediatrician for a second opinion. Tried two who were recommended, and they were unable to see him today. Called our ENT, Dr. Raman, on his mobile. He wasn't in the office but said to go in to Manipal Hospital (less than 10 minutes drive from our house, and next door to Badri's office) and have his colleague see Charlie. If there's fluid build up, he wanted me to have the doctor call him to come in to the hospital. We went in at about 5 pm. Sure enough, there was fluid, so Dr. Sanjay called Dr. Raman, and we admitted Charlie in to the hospital while we waited for Raman to come in from his day off. Less than two hours later, at 6:45, the anaesthesiologist took Charlie out of my arms and into the OR. Raman had had him anaesthetized, drained the fluid from his eardrums (myringotomy) and inserted grommets (also known as tubes).
Charlie was still miserable after the surgery, because he had such a bad cold combined with the ear infection, on top of the anaesthesia (I was actually surprised he did the procedure because Charlie had a temperature of 100--but the pain was so great he had to remove the fluid to relieve the pain, and since he was already in there it was a logical step to put the tubes).
We had to stay overnight so Charlie could be observed post-anaesthesia, and Badri booked the super deluxe room. Well, unfortunately, the a/c was on the fritz and the room was stuffy and hot. Badri went home to pick up a few things for the night. Meanwhile, Savithri and Vani took good care of Maya and Molly, giving them dinner, bath, reading, and bedtime.
Poor Charlie and I had a rough night. Badri brought in the pack 'n play (portable crib), but Charlie didn't want to sleep on that, so he and I both slept on the narrow single hospital bed, with me holding him all night because I was afraid he'd fall off. Badri was back home by 9:30 to be with the girls, and Savithri and Vani went home.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
After a fitful night sleep, Charlie didn't seem much better for the tubes. It was only around 5 or 6 pm that he smiled for the first time in about five days. I personally think it was mostly because he had his first BM in a few days.
We were to have gone to Ani and Kim's for a swim/playdate with their family today (they and their two daughters had come May 1 for the afternoon). I called Ani from the hospital in the a.m. to tell her what we were up to, and she kindly offered to have Maya go over to her place to play with Isha and Gaya. That worked out perfectly--Badri's getting sick, so he slept; Charlie and I hadn't slept much last night, so we slept; and Molly took her usual 2 1/2-3 hour nap. And Maya had a grand old time with her friends doing art projects.
So what remains to be seen is whether we keep the Spain departure date of the 19th--4 days away). As always, I'll keep you posted.
June 3, 2005
Exhausted beyond words. Advice to parents everywhere--don't travel internationally (or at all!) with three children 4 and under. Just returned this morning from our trip to Spain. Left on 19th of May, traveling first to Barcelona, then Huelva (near Seville), then Madrid. In a nutshell, had a fun time, but it was tough for the kids to always be in new places, in a new bed, and all on the Spanish schedule, where children go to bed at 10 or 11 pm, as opposed to 7 or 8 pm.
May 19, 2005, Thursday
Our vacation started today. Flew from Bangalore to Delhi earlier than we needed to so we could check into a hotel, have a nap, swim, dinner, and a few hours sleep before catching a 2 am flight to Frankfurt, Germany. As always, the kids had a great time in the pool and in the hotel room. We were upgraded to a mini suite since no rooms were available when we arrived. The last time we were here (Maurya Sheraton) we were upgraded to the Presidential Suite (that's when Usha Chitti, Neelam and Kaddam came with our cousins).
We were sadly mistaken when we thought we might be able to pick up the children and transition them from the hotel to the flight without disturbance. Left the hotel at midnight and of course with all the bright lobby lights and the excitement of a cab ride without car seats all three were awake in no time and proceeded to stay awake 'til about 4 in the morning. The major meltdown of the day was Molly, at about 1 am in immigration line.
We were lucky to fly business class, though, and although the kids are certainly too young too appreciate it, Badri and I sure did. When the people around us saw three young children settling in they quickly looked for alternative seating, which resulted in us having five seats all in a row (we'd only paid for 4). I must say, the food on Lufthansa isn't too exciting. We've flown to India coach class on Singapore Air and the food was better than Lufthansa's business class.
Total flight time was about 13 hours, with a couple more hours of layovers (Bangalore-Delhi-Frankfurt-Madrid). Our friend Marisol picked us up at the Madrid airport in her Subaru station wagon, equipped with two car seats. Maya sat on my lap in between Molly and Charlie in car seats. Drove out to their house in La Navata, less than an hour from the city close to the mountains.
Maya was very happy to meet Marisol's daughter, Lucia, who is a couple years older than she. With Maya's limited Spanish and Lucia's beginning English, they managed to have a great time together. Little John, Charlie's age, had a great time with Molly (closer to each other in size, if not age, than Charlie and John). Marisol's husband John works from home and we enjoyed time together from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
The air in La Navata is very fresh and clear, up in the mountains. It really feels like a mountain retreat, with views of mountains and evergreen out the third story living room windows. They had a lovely room set up for us in the playroom downstairs: a portable crib for Charlie, double mattress for Maya and Molly, and futon for Badri and me. As much as we try for suites or two rooms at hotels when we're on vacation, it was nice to have all of us sharing a room, and when one of the kids needed to nap, Badri or I laid down with them, sometimes just for a while, sometimes for the whole nap.
Badri and I were talking about how nice it is to see a country like this, staying with a local family outside of the city or other touristic route (as we usually do it).
Saturday, May 21
John drove the wagon with their family plus Maya (she and Lucia really wanted to ride together) and I drove Marisol's car--stick shift (standard transmission)--with Badri, Charlie and Molly. It felt great to drive stick--I hadn't driven stick since 2001, and hadn't driven much at all in India for the last year.
Drove past beautiful old Spanish towns, like Escorial, on the way to Segovia. Segovia is a beautiful old city with Roman aqueducts, a 15th century cathedral, and the Alcazar--all joined by quaint narrow streets and beautiful old buildings. While searching for parking we followed John through some streets so narrow I was afraid we'd scrape the sides of Marisol's car on the stone walls of the buildings.
Had lunch at an open air restaurant bar in the Cathedral Square. The place was crowded with what seemed to be the aftermath of a wedding with people all dressed up. I went in to use the "aseo" (bathroom) and walked through the insde bar where drinks and tapas (mini dishes) were being served. It brought me back to the previous time I'd been in Spain (1986) and Europe in general (1981-82). Ordered croquettes, potato cheese omelet, salad, bread, beer, cheese sandwiches and ice cream. There was a stage/gazebo in the middle of the square that the kids were having a great time playing on, and dancing around on.
The alarming episode of the day was when I couldn't spot Molly. I ran over to the gazebo where a Spanish woman asked me if I was looking for a little girl in blue. She pointed across the square and I thanked her, running in that direction. Molly was running down a quaint little shop-lined alley after some birds. When I ran up to her and caught her she was laughing, as though she knew she'd gotten away with something.
It's only in the last few months that Molly has started running, and I think she's making up for lost time.
Sunday, May 22
We went to the local park in La Navata where there are humongous rocks to climb on. Maya was in heaven--she's a real climber--running around with Lucia. Had a nice barbecue at Marisol's with three different kinds of sausage, chicken, steak, salad and gazpacho. We had so much fun hanging out in the backyard--eating, drinking wine, watching the kids play.
The extended joke of our four day stay was--"Just watch us, John, when you're wishing so much for a third child." John really wants a third, but Marisol isn't keen on it. There were plenty of times when things got pretty crazy, with both Molly and Charlie needing extra attention at the same time, and occasionally Badri and I were pretty frazzled. They weren't too interested in bathing in a strange place, and getting them to nap in a different bed was sometimes a chore. Falling asleep at night was no problem--they were always completely exhausted from the full day.
On Friday night we had a heavenly dinner on the patio, just the four adults, after the kids had gone to bed. Basically had wine, cheese, salad, pancetta and bread, and talked a lot about John and Marisol's three month experience in India (mostly Bangalore) about seven years ago. They thoroughly enjoyed it, all except their time in Varanasi. I guess they felt it was pretty chaotic. Don't know--I haven't been there yet.
Monday, May 23
Woke by 6:30 and out the door by 8:15 am, all packed up and ready to go. Marisol drove us to the train station, taking the HOV lane (2 or more people drive in the left lane and fly past those sitting in traffic) a lot of the way.
Marisol works for the Ministry of Agriculture on GIS (Geographical Information Systems), right across the street from the train station.
Took the train from Madrid to Huelva in about four hours. (Huelva is 80 km or apx. 50 mi. from Seville.) During two of those hours Charlie slept soundly on Badri's lap. All the kids have been sleeping less than in Bangalore, because they don't go to bed until about 10 pm and then sleep only 8 or 9 hours (as opposed to 11 or 12).
Molly, Maya and I had a great time on the train. We went back to the dining car and sat on the stools having sandwiches, chips and juice. They struck up conversations with nice elderly women from Spain and Guatemala.
We arrived in Huelva and Mario, Badri's grad school buddy from Boston, and our informal wedding photographer, met us. Arrived at his apartment to find his wife, Susanna, had prepared lunch for us. Their daughter, Irene, is Maya's age (4). They quickly found they had drawing in common and settled down on the floor with their art.
Later, went out for dinner in Moguer, a beautiful town 20 km (12 miles) from Huelva. Columbus, the explorer, frequently visited Moguer, and found most of his crew in the nearby town, Palos de la Frontera. Great little restaurant where we sat outside and the kids grazed on food, played with the house cat, and the adults tried a couple bottles of local wine.
Tuesday, May 24
Took a ride to a mountain village, following Mario and Susanna. Had late lunch at another old, beautiful restaurant where we took a couple hours over all the courses and wines. We had our own dining room with french doors that opened out to a courtyard with no exit. Great place for the children to play. Maya and Irene were fine the whole time, but part way through Molly needed to sleep in the stroller and Charlie in the backpack on Badri's back. I wish I'd counted the number of times Badri ate while standing so he could carry Charlie.
Wed., May 25
Went to a very nearly empty beach called Parador de Mazagon. Kids had a great time playing in the tide pools and dipping their toes in the ocean. Mario and Susanna met us there later after Irena got out of school.
In the evening we went to an outdoor bar in their old neighborhood where children dress up in traditional flamenco dress and dance on the stage. Irene had an extra red polka dotted skirt and white heeled dance shoes that fit Maya almost perfectly. Had a great time, out until later than we intended to be, as was often the case on this trip.
Thursday, May 26
Drove to Seville around 10:30 am and flew to Barcelona. I don't remember the details, but do recall that it wasn't a particularly wonderful flight.
Friends Cristina and Pedro met us at the airport. We rented a van and Cristina drove with us up to Begues, their little town up in the mountains, population roughly 5000, I believe. Went directly to Ana and Ramon's 1820s house--beautiful! Earlier Cristina found out that they were willing to rent out the place to us for the week we'd be there.
Cristina, Pedro, and their two children Naima and Manuel came over later and we ordered out pizza for dinner. Nice quiet place.
Friday, May 27
Relaxed at the house and the kids played a lot in the big backyard. There's a swingset, lots of trees, a play kitchen, table to eat on.
Saturday, May 28
Went a place called "La Hipica", where horses are kept and children can ride. Maya went riding along with Naima and Manuel, and we had lunch there. I rode Cristina's mountain bike there, along with Pedro, Naima and Manuel, and really enjoyed being on a bike for the first time in quite a while (certainly since I've been in India!).
Badri and I took turns working out--he in the exercise room and I in the pool. Felt great to swim, too, for the first time in months.
Sunday, May 29
Joined Cristina and family for lunch at Club Casino (the local club). Molly melted down until she fell asleep in the stroller. Maya went out to the playground with Naima and Manuel while the rest of us finished lunch. We all went swimming, kiddie pool next to the lap pool. While there, met some of Cristina's neighbors, an art professor and musician, who live right next to Ana and Ramon's (house where we stayed).
Monday, May 30
Drove into Barcelona, less than an hour away. Went to the aquarium and the kids loved it, especially the shark tank. But what they loved most of all was riding on the carousel right outside the aquarium. Molly and Charlie's first time on a carousel.
Tuesday, May 31
Went to Gava, town next to Begues, to a bona fide mall where we picked up a couple things.
Had dinner at Cristina and Pedro's. Kids had a great time playing with their pet rabbit.
Wednesday, June 1
Last day in Begues.
Thursday, June 2
Woke up before the crack of dawn to bundle up the kids and drive to the Barcelona airport. Flew Barcelona-Frankfurt-Bangalore.
June 1, 2005
On the flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Bangalore, we met a couple (Indian husband who's been in the U.S. for 21 years, and American wife) with their 11 month old twin girls. Pretty much throughout the flight one of our five children were crying (usually ours). At one point she was walking little Alexandra up and down the aisle looking particularly wiped out and said to me, "Can you believe we paid for this?" She knew we'd gone through the IVF (in-vitro fertilization) experience, as they had. In fact, we both tried Cornell in NY City at one point, so that was one of several things we had in common.
June 6, 2005, Monday
Today's Molly's 1st day ever school. She and Maya went at 8:30: Maya in kindergarten and Molly in pre-K. Molly was really on the younger side for pre-K, but the head of the school thought that, with all the crying going on in the younger (toddler) class, maybe we'd try her in pre-K (the cut-off age for pre-K is to turn age 3 by July/Aug, and Molly's 3 in Oct.).
I fully expected it to be a complete disaster, because the last four nights since coming home from Spain have been sheer h-e-l-l. Basically, Charlie wakes up every hour screeeaaaming and wakes Molly up. We've been playing bed roulette, with everybody starting in their own bed, then by the end of the night, Badri was sleeping with Charlie in Maya's bed, Maya was on the bottom trundle bed in our room, and I was sleeping with Molly in our bed. We were up and down (every time Charlie awoke screaming) until 3 this morning, after having been without power the whole day Sunday--from 10 am to about 8:30 pm. I thought sure Molly wouldn't be able to get up for school, but when I opened the curtains at 7:30 and told her and Maya, "First day of school!" they climbed out of bed and came downstairs. I made their favorite, dosa, for breakfast. And by 8:20 we were out of the house on the way to school. It's a 10 minute stroller walk, but we took the car so we'd be there with a few minutes to spare.
Maya looked very happy in her class (I peeked in every once in awhile). And Molly did great for her first day. Only screamed once (after she'd visited Maya's classroom to say hello, she didn't want the teachers to close the door between their classrooms), and asked for Mommy a couple times. Met a couple other moms who have also adopted children from India: one Swedish woman and another South African. They're both in Molly's class.
June 8, 2005, Wednesday
Molly's teacher says she's doing much better. Her teacher, Miss Amba, is a great match for Molly. One thing I really like about this school is I got to meet with both Maya and Molly's teacher before they started going to class, and they basically interviewed me, asking questions about the girls. I told Miss Amba that Molly really needs boundaries set and that she can be strong willed (euphemism!!). And when I spoke with her briefly today, it sounds like she has some code phrases that get Molly moving when she digs in her heels. I've been waiting in a side room with some of the other pre-K parents during school hours (8:30-12) in case of "emergencies". Tomorrow, I should be able to gracefully exit until pick up time.
I took Maya out of school at noon today (she usually goes until 3 pm) and we drove up to the Canadian School where she said goodbye to her friends there. We're not moving from Bangalore at the moment, but we might as well be in that as she'll rarely have the opportunity to see those friends--most of them live north 45 minutes, except the few who live closer to us and are switching to the new school, also. Her teacher, Ms. Amrit, wonderfully cleared half an hour for us at the end of the day. Her classmates had made drawings and cards for her, and all her show and tells and art projects from the year were neatly put in portfolios. She and three of her closest buddies--Lucie and Emeric (both French) and Paco (Peruvian)--were really happy to see each other, and sat together joking around while we served up cake and juice. I'm really glad we took the time to go up there, but boy, I have no question that we've done the right thing in moving over to Neev (the new school). The ride north today was horrible--a truck (lorry) nearly ran us off the road.
I felt bad for Charlie this morning, when I was taking Maya and Molly to school. He was left home all alone. Something new for him.
June 13, 2005
The start of the second week of school, and both Maya and Molly were excited to go to school.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Went to a fun playgroup at Tricia's this morning with Charlie. First playdate I've gone to with him alone. He's becoming more independent, so wandered around playing with different toys on his own. People remarked on how tall he's become (I always tell them my brother's 6'4").
Tricia's a very interesting woman from the U.S. married to a Swedish man. She's traveled a lot and was born in Central America (Panama, I think). Unfortunately, they're moving back to the U.S. in a few weeks. Yet another cool expat moving away. Tina, a woman we'd met on the plane coming back from Frankfurt with her twins, was also there; as were Laura and her two boys, who we had playdate and dinner with on Sunday. Laura's son Kaleb and Charlie are very close in age and actually play nicely together.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Had Laura, Nicola, and Aarti's families over for the afternoon--probably one of the last times we'll all be together before Nicola leaves June 29 and Aarti beginning of July. Everybody loves Vani's (our cook) dosas, so that's what we had. The kids all got along great for the most part. Maya and Karishma were very tolerant of the smaller ones invading their space when they were painting. Charlie didn't scream about little Kaleb riding his bicycle or playing with his cars (as he had a couple months ago when they visited here for the first time). And Molly held together pretty well.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Had a nice relaxed Father's Day. Went to Barista (a cafe) for coffee, milkshakes and treats, then went to Cubbon Park to run around. The kids had a great time climbing on fallen trees, then we discovered a gigantic bamboo grove and played around there for a while. It was eery how the wind blew through the giant stocks (2 or 3 stories high, I would guess), making them sway back and forth.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Our new nanny, Rita, started today. Savithri, our last nanny, went to Dubai to work for another family. We're interviewing for cooks also, because Vani is due in October. Badri put an ad in the Deccan Herald (pretty expensive--3500R [$83] for 5 days) and the phone has been ringing off the hook all week. It's been crazy taking all the calls. Everyone wants to come and meet in person, but I'd have 200 people at the door and never see my kids or eat or sleep! So I've been doing brief interviews on the phone and having people over who seem to have some experience and are able to communicate in English.
Friday, June 25, 2005
Molly has pneumonia. It dawned on me that along with her cough, she was also wheezing. Brought her in to a different doctor--one recommended by a boyhood buddy of Badri's (Shankur, mentioned in an earlier blog)--Karthik Nagesh. It was close to Molly's naptime when we had the appointment, and she fell asleep in my arms while we were waiting to see him. She was sound asleep during the consult, so he was able to listen to her heart and lungs, front and back. Amazingly, she didn't wake up at all during the visit.
His initial thought was asthma, but because of the rattling (crepts, he called it) in her chest, sent her for a chest x-ray. Luckily, I called Badri (his office is right next to the Manipal [aka Money-Pal] Hospital) and he came in handy, because it took the two of us to hold her down.
The next day we brought the x-ray to the doctor and he diagnosed pneumonia then prescribed antibiotics.
Monday, June 27, 2005
The doctor said Molly is not contagious and could go to school. This week we moved her into the toddler class, which is a half hour less a day with more playing and less school work. I'm glad we made the switch. At less than three years old, I think she's too young for the amount of structure and sitting time required in the pre-K classroom.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Today Badri and I went to Maya's class where we did two mini-presentations: Badri discussed what he does for work, and we both talked about our parents, Maya's grandparents, and brought pictures. The class is looking forward to the grandparents visiting class (okay Patti and Thatha, and Nannie?) when they're in town.
Tiger in Bannerghatta Park
About as formal a family photo as we're able to pull off with all 5 members
Bobo!
Patti, Badri, Molly and Ushamu
Maya and cousin Uttara
Charlie in pyjama
Badri and Mario in Moguer
Badri and Marisol in Segovia
Pedro, Cristina and I at the beach near Barcelona
Maya and Irena ready to go dancing in Huelva
Kitchen in 1820s house in Begues
Backyard dining in Begues
Kelly, Charlie, Laura, Nicola and Aarti (all deserting me, except Charlie, of course)
First day of school at Neev
Maya with Ms Mudhar (her teacher at Canadian International School)
Charlie ready for school with his [Maya's old] backpack
Too busy and frazzled to get out an update in May, so am combining May and June.
May 1, 2005
Had Ani, Kim, and their two daughters, Isha (6) and Gaya (3), over for playing and early dinner today. We met Ani and Kim at a mutual friend's child's birthday party a couple months ago, and turns out they're also friends of our friend, Sriram, who recently visited us from the U.S. (in fact, theirs was one of the emails Sriram had given us before we moved here, because he lived in Bangalore for many years).
Maya and Isha get along great and hold their arms next to one another and talk about how much they look like twins. Lately Maya often talks about color and how I'm not brown like her and Appa. This is a great experience for both her and Badri, living in their birth country and being surrounded by others who look like them.
May 2, 2005
Badri took the day off and we went to Bannerghatta National Park to visit the zoo there. We took a safari bus and saw lots of lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! I'll attach some of the pictures below. We got a seat right in front of the bus, just as we did a year ago when the kids and I went to the zoo with Badri's brother, Ravi, and sister-in-law Malini and their son Appu. Badri sat up front with Charlie, and Maya, Molly, and I in the seat right behind them.
Friday, May 6, 2005
Badri's mom, Amma (known to the children as Patti), aunt (Usha Chitti, known to the children as Ushamu), and Badri's cousin's daughter, Uttara, came to visit us from Chennai and Delhi. Maya adores Uttara, and Charlie came to adore her during this visit as well. Uttara is nine years old and was having a terrific time traveling with her great aunt and grandmother. She is so sweet with the children, playing with Maya, reading to Molly and Charlie, and really good at distracting Charlie when he gets cranky.
Went to the library bar at Leela Palace to meet with Kenneth Price of World Learning for Business for a chat about his company. Ken is giving workshops at Badri's company on cross cultural communications. They're looking out for consultants to give classes on ESL (English as a Second Language), cross cultural training, international orientation, etc., and he said my experience sounds like a good fit for the company. In India, they're based in Gurgaon, outside Delhi, so training would have to be done up there. An interesting opportunity to look into further. Badri actually told me about him and the company when we were up on our getaway in Delhi a couple months ago. I was very excited about it then, and when Ken was in town this time Badri very thoughtfully set up the meeting for me.
Saturday, May 7, 2005
Saturday Badri went to the bookstore with Maya and Uttara. They'd tried to go to Jaamba Jungle (a bit like Chuckie Cheese in the U.S., or a small scale Amoeba like here in India) but Maya was crushed to find that it no longer existed! They had a lot of fun at Crosswords bookstore though. Badri picked up a great collection of books, including the Mahabharata (an ancient religious epic of India) and stories from the Bible. He wants the children to get equal time in introduction to world religions.
I went sari shopping with Amma and Usha Chitti at Soma and Deepam Silks. We had a grand old time picking out Mother's Day saris and choosing gifts for our visit to Spain (my favorite shops here in Bangalore: Soma, Anokhi, Fabindia).
Monday, May 9, 2005
Molly had started getting feverish a few days ago, and now has high fever and a bad cough. Today it looked like her face was getting swollen, so I called the doctor, thinking she might have the mumps. His earliest appointment was 12:30 tomorrow, so I asked him if we could see him sooner. It so happens that he was coming to our neck of the woods in the afternoon, so he came by for a house visit. What a memory poor little Charlie has--as soon as Dr. Chinnappa walked in the house, he started screaming at the top of his lungs. Savithri had to take him outside. Molly was sleeping upstairs, so we went up there so he could examine her. She was none too happy to see him either. But it turns out to be a cold virus, not the mumps, thankfully. And the doctor wouldn't take any money for his visit! Now to see whether Molly is better in nine days, when we go to Spain.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Funny phrase for the day: "Charlie's watering me!" Molly was sitting in her booster seat at dinner and Charlie took her water cup off her tray and poured it on her shirt.
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
A very sad day--found out that two of my closest friends are leaving India. Aarti will be living in July and Laura in August. The Gang of Four, as Badri calls us, will never be the same. Nicola, the 4th, may be moving to Delhi or somewhere else in Asia, depending on her future job opportunities.
Thursday, May 12, 2005
Here we go again! Molly gave her cold to Charlie. Yesterday afternoon he started running a fever. He slept through the night, but today is very cranky.
Brought Maya to school and spoke with her teacher about taking Maya out of school early for our Spain trip. Of course, we may need to postpone--again (you may not remember, but we postponed and then eventually canceled our last trip planned to Malaysia). Her current Canadian school year ends June 17, and Neev, the new school, begins June 1. So the trip to Spain would be a good buffer and break between the school years. She's getting more used to the idea of switching schools, whereas in the beginning she was quite resistant, naturally, saying how much she'd miss her friends.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Charlie was inconsolable today, so I brought him to see Dr. Chinnappa. Yup, another ear infection (5th or 6th in his 16 months, poor thing). Another round of antibiotics. Poor kid--none of the pain relievers make it one bit better, either.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
Badri and I brought Maya and Molly to their new school, Neev, for a playdate (10:30-12). They had a wonderful time playing there, making crowns with the art teacher, and seeing some of their friends (a few kids from Maya's school are also switching). The sweetest thing was when they sat down in one of the classrooms at their mini tables for snack time, Maya saved a seat for Molly between her and her good friend, Grace, and called Molly over to sit with them.
By afternoon Charlie was so miserable that I decided I was going to call another pediatrician for a second opinion. Tried two who were recommended, and they were unable to see him today. Called our ENT, Dr. Raman, on his mobile. He wasn't in the office but said to go in to Manipal Hospital (less than 10 minutes drive from our house, and next door to Badri's office) and have his colleague see Charlie. If there's fluid build up, he wanted me to have the doctor call him to come in to the hospital. We went in at about 5 pm. Sure enough, there was fluid, so Dr. Sanjay called Dr. Raman, and we admitted Charlie in to the hospital while we waited for Raman to come in from his day off. Less than two hours later, at 6:45, the anaesthesiologist took Charlie out of my arms and into the OR. Raman had had him anaesthetized, drained the fluid from his eardrums (myringotomy) and inserted grommets (also known as tubes).
Charlie was still miserable after the surgery, because he had such a bad cold combined with the ear infection, on top of the anaesthesia (I was actually surprised he did the procedure because Charlie had a temperature of 100--but the pain was so great he had to remove the fluid to relieve the pain, and since he was already in there it was a logical step to put the tubes).
We had to stay overnight so Charlie could be observed post-anaesthesia, and Badri booked the super deluxe room. Well, unfortunately, the a/c was on the fritz and the room was stuffy and hot. Badri went home to pick up a few things for the night. Meanwhile, Savithri and Vani took good care of Maya and Molly, giving them dinner, bath, reading, and bedtime.
Poor Charlie and I had a rough night. Badri brought in the pack 'n play (portable crib), but Charlie didn't want to sleep on that, so he and I both slept on the narrow single hospital bed, with me holding him all night because I was afraid he'd fall off. Badri was back home by 9:30 to be with the girls, and Savithri and Vani went home.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
After a fitful night sleep, Charlie didn't seem much better for the tubes. It was only around 5 or 6 pm that he smiled for the first time in about five days. I personally think it was mostly because he had his first BM in a few days.
We were to have gone to Ani and Kim's for a swim/playdate with their family today (they and their two daughters had come May 1 for the afternoon). I called Ani from the hospital in the a.m. to tell her what we were up to, and she kindly offered to have Maya go over to her place to play with Isha and Gaya. That worked out perfectly--Badri's getting sick, so he slept; Charlie and I hadn't slept much last night, so we slept; and Molly took her usual 2 1/2-3 hour nap. And Maya had a grand old time with her friends doing art projects.
So what remains to be seen is whether we keep the Spain departure date of the 19th--4 days away). As always, I'll keep you posted.
June 3, 2005
Exhausted beyond words. Advice to parents everywhere--don't travel internationally (or at all!) with three children 4 and under. Just returned this morning from our trip to Spain. Left on 19th of May, traveling first to Barcelona, then Huelva (near Seville), then Madrid. In a nutshell, had a fun time, but it was tough for the kids to always be in new places, in a new bed, and all on the Spanish schedule, where children go to bed at 10 or 11 pm, as opposed to 7 or 8 pm.
May 19, 2005, Thursday
Our vacation started today. Flew from Bangalore to Delhi earlier than we needed to so we could check into a hotel, have a nap, swim, dinner, and a few hours sleep before catching a 2 am flight to Frankfurt, Germany. As always, the kids had a great time in the pool and in the hotel room. We were upgraded to a mini suite since no rooms were available when we arrived. The last time we were here (Maurya Sheraton) we were upgraded to the Presidential Suite (that's when Usha Chitti, Neelam and Kaddam came with our cousins).
We were sadly mistaken when we thought we might be able to pick up the children and transition them from the hotel to the flight without disturbance. Left the hotel at midnight and of course with all the bright lobby lights and the excitement of a cab ride without car seats all three were awake in no time and proceeded to stay awake 'til about 4 in the morning. The major meltdown of the day was Molly, at about 1 am in immigration line.
We were lucky to fly business class, though, and although the kids are certainly too young too appreciate it, Badri and I sure did. When the people around us saw three young children settling in they quickly looked for alternative seating, which resulted in us having five seats all in a row (we'd only paid for 4). I must say, the food on Lufthansa isn't too exciting. We've flown to India coach class on Singapore Air and the food was better than Lufthansa's business class.
Total flight time was about 13 hours, with a couple more hours of layovers (Bangalore-Delhi-Frankfurt-Madrid). Our friend Marisol picked us up at the Madrid airport in her Subaru station wagon, equipped with two car seats. Maya sat on my lap in between Molly and Charlie in car seats. Drove out to their house in La Navata, less than an hour from the city close to the mountains.
Maya was very happy to meet Marisol's daughter, Lucia, who is a couple years older than she. With Maya's limited Spanish and Lucia's beginning English, they managed to have a great time together. Little John, Charlie's age, had a great time with Molly (closer to each other in size, if not age, than Charlie and John). Marisol's husband John works from home and we enjoyed time together from Friday afternoon to Monday morning.
The air in La Navata is very fresh and clear, up in the mountains. It really feels like a mountain retreat, with views of mountains and evergreen out the third story living room windows. They had a lovely room set up for us in the playroom downstairs: a portable crib for Charlie, double mattress for Maya and Molly, and futon for Badri and me. As much as we try for suites or two rooms at hotels when we're on vacation, it was nice to have all of us sharing a room, and when one of the kids needed to nap, Badri or I laid down with them, sometimes just for a while, sometimes for the whole nap.
Badri and I were talking about how nice it is to see a country like this, staying with a local family outside of the city or other touristic route (as we usually do it).
Saturday, May 21
John drove the wagon with their family plus Maya (she and Lucia really wanted to ride together) and I drove Marisol's car--stick shift (standard transmission)--with Badri, Charlie and Molly. It felt great to drive stick--I hadn't driven stick since 2001, and hadn't driven much at all in India for the last year.
Drove past beautiful old Spanish towns, like Escorial, on the way to Segovia. Segovia is a beautiful old city with Roman aqueducts, a 15th century cathedral, and the Alcazar--all joined by quaint narrow streets and beautiful old buildings. While searching for parking we followed John through some streets so narrow I was afraid we'd scrape the sides of Marisol's car on the stone walls of the buildings.
Had lunch at an open air restaurant bar in the Cathedral Square. The place was crowded with what seemed to be the aftermath of a wedding with people all dressed up. I went in to use the "aseo" (bathroom) and walked through the insde bar where drinks and tapas (mini dishes) were being served. It brought me back to the previous time I'd been in Spain (1986) and Europe in general (1981-82). Ordered croquettes, potato cheese omelet, salad, bread, beer, cheese sandwiches and ice cream. There was a stage/gazebo in the middle of the square that the kids were having a great time playing on, and dancing around on.
The alarming episode of the day was when I couldn't spot Molly. I ran over to the gazebo where a Spanish woman asked me if I was looking for a little girl in blue. She pointed across the square and I thanked her, running in that direction. Molly was running down a quaint little shop-lined alley after some birds. When I ran up to her and caught her she was laughing, as though she knew she'd gotten away with something.
It's only in the last few months that Molly has started running, and I think she's making up for lost time.
Sunday, May 22
We went to the local park in La Navata where there are humongous rocks to climb on. Maya was in heaven--she's a real climber--running around with Lucia. Had a nice barbecue at Marisol's with three different kinds of sausage, chicken, steak, salad and gazpacho. We had so much fun hanging out in the backyard--eating, drinking wine, watching the kids play.
The extended joke of our four day stay was--"Just watch us, John, when you're wishing so much for a third child." John really wants a third, but Marisol isn't keen on it. There were plenty of times when things got pretty crazy, with both Molly and Charlie needing extra attention at the same time, and occasionally Badri and I were pretty frazzled. They weren't too interested in bathing in a strange place, and getting them to nap in a different bed was sometimes a chore. Falling asleep at night was no problem--they were always completely exhausted from the full day.
On Friday night we had a heavenly dinner on the patio, just the four adults, after the kids had gone to bed. Basically had wine, cheese, salad, pancetta and bread, and talked a lot about John and Marisol's three month experience in India (mostly Bangalore) about seven years ago. They thoroughly enjoyed it, all except their time in Varanasi. I guess they felt it was pretty chaotic. Don't know--I haven't been there yet.
Monday, May 23
Woke by 6:30 and out the door by 8:15 am, all packed up and ready to go. Marisol drove us to the train station, taking the HOV lane (2 or more people drive in the left lane and fly past those sitting in traffic) a lot of the way.
Marisol works for the Ministry of Agriculture on GIS (Geographical Information Systems), right across the street from the train station.
Took the train from Madrid to Huelva in about four hours. (Huelva is 80 km or apx. 50 mi. from Seville.) During two of those hours Charlie slept soundly on Badri's lap. All the kids have been sleeping less than in Bangalore, because they don't go to bed until about 10 pm and then sleep only 8 or 9 hours (as opposed to 11 or 12).
Molly, Maya and I had a great time on the train. We went back to the dining car and sat on the stools having sandwiches, chips and juice. They struck up conversations with nice elderly women from Spain and Guatemala.
We arrived in Huelva and Mario, Badri's grad school buddy from Boston, and our informal wedding photographer, met us. Arrived at his apartment to find his wife, Susanna, had prepared lunch for us. Their daughter, Irene, is Maya's age (4). They quickly found they had drawing in common and settled down on the floor with their art.
Later, went out for dinner in Moguer, a beautiful town 20 km (12 miles) from Huelva. Columbus, the explorer, frequently visited Moguer, and found most of his crew in the nearby town, Palos de la Frontera. Great little restaurant where we sat outside and the kids grazed on food, played with the house cat, and the adults tried a couple bottles of local wine.
Tuesday, May 24
Took a ride to a mountain village, following Mario and Susanna. Had late lunch at another old, beautiful restaurant where we took a couple hours over all the courses and wines. We had our own dining room with french doors that opened out to a courtyard with no exit. Great place for the children to play. Maya and Irene were fine the whole time, but part way through Molly needed to sleep in the stroller and Charlie in the backpack on Badri's back. I wish I'd counted the number of times Badri ate while standing so he could carry Charlie.
Wed., May 25
Went to a very nearly empty beach called Parador de Mazagon. Kids had a great time playing in the tide pools and dipping their toes in the ocean. Mario and Susanna met us there later after Irena got out of school.
In the evening we went to an outdoor bar in their old neighborhood where children dress up in traditional flamenco dress and dance on the stage. Irene had an extra red polka dotted skirt and white heeled dance shoes that fit Maya almost perfectly. Had a great time, out until later than we intended to be, as was often the case on this trip.
Thursday, May 26
Drove to Seville around 10:30 am and flew to Barcelona. I don't remember the details, but do recall that it wasn't a particularly wonderful flight.
Friends Cristina and Pedro met us at the airport. We rented a van and Cristina drove with us up to Begues, their little town up in the mountains, population roughly 5000, I believe. Went directly to Ana and Ramon's 1820s house--beautiful! Earlier Cristina found out that they were willing to rent out the place to us for the week we'd be there.
Cristina, Pedro, and their two children Naima and Manuel came over later and we ordered out pizza for dinner. Nice quiet place.
Friday, May 27
Relaxed at the house and the kids played a lot in the big backyard. There's a swingset, lots of trees, a play kitchen, table to eat on.
Saturday, May 28
Went a place called "La Hipica", where horses are kept and children can ride. Maya went riding along with Naima and Manuel, and we had lunch there. I rode Cristina's mountain bike there, along with Pedro, Naima and Manuel, and really enjoyed being on a bike for the first time in quite a while (certainly since I've been in India!).
Badri and I took turns working out--he in the exercise room and I in the pool. Felt great to swim, too, for the first time in months.
Sunday, May 29
Joined Cristina and family for lunch at Club Casino (the local club). Molly melted down until she fell asleep in the stroller. Maya went out to the playground with Naima and Manuel while the rest of us finished lunch. We all went swimming, kiddie pool next to the lap pool. While there, met some of Cristina's neighbors, an art professor and musician, who live right next to Ana and Ramon's (house where we stayed).
Monday, May 30
Drove into Barcelona, less than an hour away. Went to the aquarium and the kids loved it, especially the shark tank. But what they loved most of all was riding on the carousel right outside the aquarium. Molly and Charlie's first time on a carousel.
Tuesday, May 31
Went to Gava, town next to Begues, to a bona fide mall where we picked up a couple things.
Had dinner at Cristina and Pedro's. Kids had a great time playing with their pet rabbit.
Wednesday, June 1
Last day in Begues.
Thursday, June 2
Woke up before the crack of dawn to bundle up the kids and drive to the Barcelona airport. Flew Barcelona-Frankfurt-Bangalore.
June 1, 2005
On the flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Bangalore, we met a couple (Indian husband who's been in the U.S. for 21 years, and American wife) with their 11 month old twin girls. Pretty much throughout the flight one of our five children were crying (usually ours). At one point she was walking little Alexandra up and down the aisle looking particularly wiped out and said to me, "Can you believe we paid for this?" She knew we'd gone through the IVF (in-vitro fertilization) experience, as they had. In fact, we both tried Cornell in NY City at one point, so that was one of several things we had in common.
June 6, 2005, Monday
Today's Molly's 1st day ever school. She and Maya went at 8:30: Maya in kindergarten and Molly in pre-K. Molly was really on the younger side for pre-K, but the head of the school thought that, with all the crying going on in the younger (toddler) class, maybe we'd try her in pre-K (the cut-off age for pre-K is to turn age 3 by July/Aug, and Molly's 3 in Oct.).
I fully expected it to be a complete disaster, because the last four nights since coming home from Spain have been sheer h-e-l-l. Basically, Charlie wakes up every hour screeeaaaming and wakes Molly up. We've been playing bed roulette, with everybody starting in their own bed, then by the end of the night, Badri was sleeping with Charlie in Maya's bed, Maya was on the bottom trundle bed in our room, and I was sleeping with Molly in our bed. We were up and down (every time Charlie awoke screaming) until 3 this morning, after having been without power the whole day Sunday--from 10 am to about 8:30 pm. I thought sure Molly wouldn't be able to get up for school, but when I opened the curtains at 7:30 and told her and Maya, "First day of school!" they climbed out of bed and came downstairs. I made their favorite, dosa, for breakfast. And by 8:20 we were out of the house on the way to school. It's a 10 minute stroller walk, but we took the car so we'd be there with a few minutes to spare.
Maya looked very happy in her class (I peeked in every once in awhile). And Molly did great for her first day. Only screamed once (after she'd visited Maya's classroom to say hello, she didn't want the teachers to close the door between their classrooms), and asked for Mommy a couple times. Met a couple other moms who have also adopted children from India: one Swedish woman and another South African. They're both in Molly's class.
June 8, 2005, Wednesday
Molly's teacher says she's doing much better. Her teacher, Miss Amba, is a great match for Molly. One thing I really like about this school is I got to meet with both Maya and Molly's teacher before they started going to class, and they basically interviewed me, asking questions about the girls. I told Miss Amba that Molly really needs boundaries set and that she can be strong willed (euphemism!!). And when I spoke with her briefly today, it sounds like she has some code phrases that get Molly moving when she digs in her heels. I've been waiting in a side room with some of the other pre-K parents during school hours (8:30-12) in case of "emergencies". Tomorrow, I should be able to gracefully exit until pick up time.
I took Maya out of school at noon today (she usually goes until 3 pm) and we drove up to the Canadian School where she said goodbye to her friends there. We're not moving from Bangalore at the moment, but we might as well be in that as she'll rarely have the opportunity to see those friends--most of them live north 45 minutes, except the few who live closer to us and are switching to the new school, also. Her teacher, Ms. Amrit, wonderfully cleared half an hour for us at the end of the day. Her classmates had made drawings and cards for her, and all her show and tells and art projects from the year were neatly put in portfolios. She and three of her closest buddies--Lucie and Emeric (both French) and Paco (Peruvian)--were really happy to see each other, and sat together joking around while we served up cake and juice. I'm really glad we took the time to go up there, but boy, I have no question that we've done the right thing in moving over to Neev (the new school). The ride north today was horrible--a truck (lorry) nearly ran us off the road.
I felt bad for Charlie this morning, when I was taking Maya and Molly to school. He was left home all alone. Something new for him.
June 13, 2005
The start of the second week of school, and both Maya and Molly were excited to go to school.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Went to a fun playgroup at Tricia's this morning with Charlie. First playdate I've gone to with him alone. He's becoming more independent, so wandered around playing with different toys on his own. People remarked on how tall he's become (I always tell them my brother's 6'4").
Tricia's a very interesting woman from the U.S. married to a Swedish man. She's traveled a lot and was born in Central America (Panama, I think). Unfortunately, they're moving back to the U.S. in a few weeks. Yet another cool expat moving away. Tina, a woman we'd met on the plane coming back from Frankfurt with her twins, was also there; as were Laura and her two boys, who we had playdate and dinner with on Sunday. Laura's son Kaleb and Charlie are very close in age and actually play nicely together.
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Had Laura, Nicola, and Aarti's families over for the afternoon--probably one of the last times we'll all be together before Nicola leaves June 29 and Aarti beginning of July. Everybody loves Vani's (our cook) dosas, so that's what we had. The kids all got along great for the most part. Maya and Karishma were very tolerant of the smaller ones invading their space when they were painting. Charlie didn't scream about little Kaleb riding his bicycle or playing with his cars (as he had a couple months ago when they visited here for the first time). And Molly held together pretty well.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Had a nice relaxed Father's Day. Went to Barista (a cafe) for coffee, milkshakes and treats, then went to Cubbon Park to run around. The kids had a great time climbing on fallen trees, then we discovered a gigantic bamboo grove and played around there for a while. It was eery how the wind blew through the giant stocks (2 or 3 stories high, I would guess), making them sway back and forth.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Our new nanny, Rita, started today. Savithri, our last nanny, went to Dubai to work for another family. We're interviewing for cooks also, because Vani is due in October. Badri put an ad in the Deccan Herald (pretty expensive--3500R [$83] for 5 days) and the phone has been ringing off the hook all week. It's been crazy taking all the calls. Everyone wants to come and meet in person, but I'd have 200 people at the door and never see my kids or eat or sleep! So I've been doing brief interviews on the phone and having people over who seem to have some experience and are able to communicate in English.
Friday, June 25, 2005
Molly has pneumonia. It dawned on me that along with her cough, she was also wheezing. Brought her in to a different doctor--one recommended by a boyhood buddy of Badri's (Shankur, mentioned in an earlier blog)--Karthik Nagesh. It was close to Molly's naptime when we had the appointment, and she fell asleep in my arms while we were waiting to see him. She was sound asleep during the consult, so he was able to listen to her heart and lungs, front and back. Amazingly, she didn't wake up at all during the visit.
His initial thought was asthma, but because of the rattling (crepts, he called it) in her chest, sent her for a chest x-ray. Luckily, I called Badri (his office is right next to the Manipal [aka Money-Pal] Hospital) and he came in handy, because it took the two of us to hold her down.
The next day we brought the x-ray to the doctor and he diagnosed pneumonia then prescribed antibiotics.
Monday, June 27, 2005
The doctor said Molly is not contagious and could go to school. This week we moved her into the toddler class, which is a half hour less a day with more playing and less school work. I'm glad we made the switch. At less than three years old, I think she's too young for the amount of structure and sitting time required in the pre-K classroom.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Today Badri and I went to Maya's class where we did two mini-presentations: Badri discussed what he does for work, and we both talked about our parents, Maya's grandparents, and brought pictures. The class is looking forward to the grandparents visiting class (okay Patti and Thatha, and Nannie?) when they're in town.
Tiger in Bannerghatta Park
About as formal a family photo as we're able to pull off with all 5 members
Bobo!
Patti, Badri, Molly and Ushamu
Maya and cousin Uttara
Charlie in pyjama
Badri and Mario in Moguer
Badri and Marisol in Segovia
Pedro, Cristina and I at the beach near Barcelona
Maya and Irena ready to go dancing in Huelva
Kitchen in 1820s house in Begues
Backyard dining in Begues
Kelly, Charlie, Laura, Nicola and Aarti (all deserting me, except Charlie, of course)
First day of school at Neev
Maya with Ms Mudhar (her teacher at Canadian International School)
Charlie ready for school with his [Maya's old] backpack
