Belated Halloween

Halloween was quite the affair here in Palm Meadows. We had a parade with around 150 "haunters" which what we call "trick or treaters" are referred to here. We had an awards ceremony for the best costume which I think was rigged I mean look at these three they are poster kids for great costumes. They interesting part was that the kids were clad in the Halloween costumes from Minnesota, polar fleece, matching hats and gloves, and it was around 80 degrees...Hey there the costumes we brought.
The rules here in Palm Meadows for those participating in handing out the candy were very few
1.Place an orange streamer or haunted sign in your yard.
2. Leave your front light on.
3. When the haunters ring your bell hand over the candy.
I swear those were the posted rules.
Hope you all had a great Halloween.

Random thoughts and kids updates

Ok... I had to get a quick blog in on the family before Tom posts his "fishing weekend" blog and you all get sick to death of this turning into a travel site....

Song of the Day: Everybody wants to rule the world - Tears for Fears. I had this overwhelming urge to tuck my socks into my jeans and curl my bangs...

Jimmy: Mr Big Shot has his 1st sleep over ever last weekend. He was so excited! He packed his own bag and was ready to go 10 hours before he was expected. He included his red footy pj's because "they are comfy". He slept over at his friends house, Gathum and Sridhar. They go to school together, live in Palm Meadows and also happen to by my bosses kids. So, needless to say, we had a long talk about being polite, listening to grown ups and what to do about the nighttime diaper. (Needless to say, I was probably more worried about this aspect than he was. Not a good impression to have your 5 yr old wet the bed at your bosses house....). In any case, he had a great time, was very very good and wore his nighttime diaper, saving us all from "constructive" feedback:)

Kay: She is getting braver and braver by the day. She now lets the "aunties" walk her into school instead of screaming bloody murder every morning. She did have quite a hard time with Jimmy being gone overnight. She kept asking where he was, did he miss us, she missed him, who was going to sleep with her if Jimmy wasnt there (what's Billy chopped liver?!), when was he going to be back, etc. I think she was mostly concerned because she had one less person to terrorize at bed time. But, she managed to survive. You would have thought his homecoming was that of a rock star. Both Kay and Billy went running down the street to welcome him home after his long and audruous journey yelling "Immy's home...Immy's home...Immy's home".

Billy: He has charmed the pants off of everyone on the block and currently has all the drivers catering to his every need. In fact, just this morning, he convinced the carpenter to push him up and down the street in his Little Tikes car for 30 mins. Keep in mind, we just met the guy this morning and he's suppose to be building us a book shelf. He (Billy) repeats everything everyone says and if he feels that he need attention, he'll just announce that he has a poopy diaper. A sure fire way to get us to come running.

Work: Really good but really busy. We continue to have "guests" in town and its fun to get the latest gossip magazines (are Jen and Vince really together or apart? How skinny is Nicole? What does Katies dress look like .. you know all the most current affairs). Here's the sad state of my life.... I had been working so hard and reading so many trashy magazines that I dreamed we recruited Brittany Spears to be a TSI team member. Nice. I think I need a life.

Tom: Doing really well. He was really homesick for deer opener (1st time in 18 yrs he's missed it as he told me over his 3rd beer). BUT, he had a great time fishing (see next blog) and is getting really involved with the Charity Committee of the Overseas Womens Club. He's even going to be "Santa" for them in 2 weeks at their Cmas Bazaar. I wonder if the kids will catch on... Dont tell them... If we are lucky, they'll all scream like banshees when they see "Santa" just as they did last year....

Cochin Photos

Jimmy at the fish market , paddling the backwaters and making a roof from coconut tree branches

More Cochin Photos

The harbor cruise, the Jew Town Boutique and of course the Monkey

Cochin/Kochi

So after we had breakfast we got back into the car and left the mountains of Munnar and began the 4-hour decent down to the town of Kochi.
Kochi or Cochin is the central part of Kerala. With its wealth of historical associations and its setting on a cluster of islands and narrow peninsulas, Kochi perfectly reflects the eclecticism of Kerala.
The oldest church in India is there, winding streets with mosques blending with some 500 years of Portuguese, Chinese fishing nets, a Jewish community with a Synagogue that dates back to the 16th century and a grand Palace built by the Portuguese and then given to the raja of Cochin, the place reeks of diversity.
The older parts of Fort Cochin and Mattancherrry are a combinatio0n of medieval Potruguese, Holland and an English village all situated the scenic and tropical Malabar Coast. (Guidebook pages 910-911).
The drive down the mountain was beautiful we saw many different plants, trees and flowers. The kids were wiped out and unfortunately slept most of the way. Jimmy was too tired to wake up and see Monkeys! Kay was not feeling well and Billy was sleeping.
We made a stop for snacks and then we were there!
We went straight to the hotel checked in and had a late lunch which was wasy good but very overpriced. Then we went on the “ harbor” cruise.
It was should we say interesting, swimming back at the pool would have gone over better. But we were here to see the area and see it we did. There were oil tankers Naval vessels all surrounded by flotsam and jetsam not to mention that particular smell.
We did have several great photo opps and the cruise boat had only us on it and what we hoped were not Gilligan and the Skipper too!
That night we had pasta in the room for the kids, hired a sitter and Mom and Dad went out for a nice quite dinner.
The following day was very busy. We set out to see Fort Cochin, Manttancherry, the Jewish Village, and St.Francis Church a fish market and a spice market, WOW.

The kids had a great time at the fish market playing with fresh caught fish and prawns. The Jewish Village was very old and well kept. We being tourists were wearing shorts so Tracy and I had to rent “ pants” from a local vendor who it appears makes a living renting pants to the Foreigners.
We purchased a wall hanging/blanket from one of the Vendors it was gorgeous however upon returning home it was covered in mold and fell apart when we cleaned it. We are still in the negotiation period and we will see what happens. They have promised to send us a new one? Kay loved all the colors and art stating “ I can do that”
That night we went to a Kalaripayattu show, which is a very disciplined type of Martial arts. You can only imagine what happened when Jimmy being big into the Power Rangers saw what was happening stood up and right on the spot morphed into the red Power Ranger and shouted out “Power Rangers Emergency” into his concealed power rangers communication device! The martial artists were awesome and we all had a great time. Really.
That night there were no baby sitters available so Mom and Dad had a candle light dinner complete with white linen tablecloth red wine, steak and shrimp, in the bathroom. Romance is not dead!!
The following morning we checked out and headed to the fishing village of Kumblaghy… It is a working tourist village and in no way similar to City Slickers.
We took a canoe type boat throught the backwaters propelled by one man and a stick. We drank fresh cut coconut and ate the meat. Kay and Dad were the only ones who like it. Billy kept trying to get out of the canoe and swim after the “pish”. We hunted crabs, made rope out of coconut hair and watch as the “village” people made thatched roofs out of the coconut leaves. Then we had an authentic Kerala lunch complete with prawns, butterfish, special Kerala rice and Kingfisher beer. What a feast. The Kerala rice is different than other areas because it is thicker and is double cooked. It has a slight brown hew to it and if you drink the water is cooked in it will give you strength, just like Guinness!
Then we had something called natural toddy. It is fermented coconut juice. The juice is made the night before, you cannot put it and a sealed container (I think because it is explosive). I t has a smell that will gag you but if you can get past that it’s not bad. As the dearly departed Darin MacGaveen said in Christmas Story,” This stuff’s not bad but it’s not good either” may he rest in peace.
The whole village was awesome and is a definite stop if you are in Kerala.
We left and experienced something that in all our travels is unique to India. We went to a Hotel the caters to people with long layovers. That’s right you rent your room by the 4,8,12 or 24-hour period. It was great we got to work out take showers and then get ready for our flight. The whole idea was to have the kid’s nap but that never happened.
The trip was great and when we arrived back in Bangalore Jimmy stated,” its nice to be home”.

More Munnar Photos

The Munnar countryside, a bunch of carrots and the Loudamericans travel through India in style.

Munnar Photos

The purple flower called Neelkurinji flower which blooms once every twelve years. the Tea Plantations and the sun setting at 6000 feet in Munnar.

Munnar

Munnar is a very lovely spot high in the Mountains of the State of Kerala in southern India. The town itself is the highest point in Kerala and it is at 6000 ft above sea level. Once known as the High Range of Travancore, it is now the commercial center of some of the world’s highest tea growing estates. It is very green and does remind one a bit of Ireland with its rugged terrain, many shades of green and goats aplenty.
We landed around noon the first day meet our driver Mr. Saji loaded up the van and drove four hours up into the mountains. The tea plantations, waterfalls and scenery were unbelievable. The pictures do not do the place justice.
We stayed at a very remote retreat called Tree Top resort. It was very quiet but not the most ideal place for kids. The “cottage” we stayed at had one bedroom, which was down stairs. There was a spiral staircase leading up to the sitting room. We had to put a dresser in front of the stairs at night to keep the kids from attempting to come and visit us during the night.

The meals were served buffet style and 7:30 am and 7:30 pm and the food was surprisingly good. We were told it was all Indian food and the kids would not like, that was not the case.

The next day we set out for Eravikulam National Park. This park fulfills two important functions it protects the endangered Nilgiri Tahar, which is a very social sheep. The second function of the park is to also protect the Neelkuriniji, which is a purple flower that blooms once every 12 years, and it is sight we are glad we saw!! We took it as a sign that the flower is blooming the year we are here (but then again, maybe it blooms every year and the 12 yr thing is just a marketing ploy. We'll never know....)

We arrived at the entrance to the park and the lines were incredible. It was a holiday and we expected to have to wait however we were whisked right into the office and charged the foreigner rate which was 100 rupees per adult and 50 rupees for the kids and then put on the first bus! The rate for locals is 10 rupees but then you have to wait in line.:(

We went to the top of the mountain and walked up about a mile and ran into the sheep. All the people wanted to take pictures of the kids, which happens all the time here. The flowers were awesome the views were beautiful.

All the way to the park we kept seeing these vendors selling carrots and these carrots were the most incredible orange we have ever seen. We bought some and they were great, Kay ate them down to the nub!!

We then drove on to tour some tea plantations, which we found very cool. We had no idea what they would look like and they are a lot like a winery and very well maintained.

We then traveled off to this man made dam which is called Kundata Dam. It is quite large there is no swimming as it provides all the water needed to power the area. There is a spot called Echo point which if you shoot you can hear a multitude of echoes and all the people we having fun with this. The kids were sleeping when we announced it was time for the elephant ride, as you know from previous blog only Billy liked it.

It was back to the hotel to get packed up so we could be ready to leave the next morning, and to have dinner. It was the feast of Diwali, which is the celebration of light and a very big Indian holiday. The hotel had a celebration but failed to tell any of the guests about it. Everyone should up at 7:30 for dinner and people got a little put out that we had to wait for the “program” to be over which would be about and hour. It started off with a local group doing an interpretive dance and went down hill from there. Our kids needed to eat and so did some other kids and by 8:20 everyone was in the restaurant eating dinner. We felt sorry for the performers and don’t know if they finished the program or not.The next morning we had breakfast let the kids play on the giant swing and then got into the van for our four hour drive to Kochi ( Cochin) .

We would HIGHLY reccommend Munnar. There was a Reki "spa/training center" right next to our resort and it is an incredible relaxing and beautiful get away!

Our next blog is Cochin, stay tuned!











everyone




was in the restaurant eating dinner. We felt sorry for the performers and don’t know if they finished the program or not.The next morning we had breakfast let the kids p[lay on the giant swing and then got into the van for our four hour drive to Kochi ( Cochin) .

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3. . 3 3.333. . ....

The 10 things I learned on vacation

Hi all
Tom will be doing a separate historical perspective of our trip to Kerala, but I wanted to share with you my top 10 list of "What I learned on vacation" ...

1) If you go on an elephant ride up (and down) a mountian, the ONLY person guaranteed to enjoy themselves is your 22 month old. Everyone else will be scared to death and crying, begging to have it end (Mom and Dad included).

2) Jimmy Loves Kay - During a rather hectic part of the trip, Kay vomited 7up and chips all over Tom and the seat. Jimmy became really really concerned and began hopping from foot to foot. "What can I do? Kay are you ok? Oh no Oh no... KK, I love you. Do you need anything? Do you need a hug, a kiss, a backrub? Oh no Oh no". This continued until we were safely back in the car. At which point Jimmy decided that he loves Kay SO MUCH that the next time she vomits on a car trip, he'll clean the whole thing up so that Mommy, Daddy and Saravanan (our driver) dont have to worry. I am holding him to this.

3) Kay can not say one of the letters of the alphabet. Can you guess which one from our car conversations?
"Do you yove me Jimmy?" (see above)
"Baa Baa Yack Sheep"
"Here Daddy, here's the yist" When Tom was looking for the room service brochure
"Can I sit on your yap?"
"My yip hurts"

4) Contrary to popular belief, eating room service on a white linen table cloth with candles is NOT romantic when you are eating in the hotel bathroom in an effort to not wake the kids.

5) It is possible for both boys and girls to pee & poop on the side of the road when there isnt a bathroom for miles and miles. Visualization: Step on 5 yr olds feet while holding his arms/hands way above his head and have him lean back. Try to control his squirming and giggling. Hold your 3yr old in a "swing" position. You squat and your daughter sits with her hamstrings in your hand. Then she's in a sitting position and if your feet are wide enough apart, you'll miss getting "hit". Note: This only works if your 3 yr old weighs 25lbs.

6) Someone will get sick on vacation and it will happen on the worst possible day. Case in point, Billy had a 101-102 tempature on the one day that it was 95 outside. He insisted on crawling into my skin and being held tight all day. I think I lost 5 lbs in sweat.

7) As many of you know, getting a massage in Asia is a mildly violating experience. Needless to say, its no different in India. 2 gallons of oil, a wooden table, one piece of cloth and one string. I'll let you imagine the rest.

8) The kids favorite part of the trip wont be the mountains, or elephant or fishing village or 200+ yr old temple or mountain goats or Diwali dancers ... No... their favorite part (which they keep reminding you of) is the swimming pool at the hotel that is not even as nice as Lifetime. We traveled 20+ hours over 4 days for this?!

9) Dont let your 3 yr old eat her airplane meal unsupervised. 10 minutes into the flight she popped a raw jalepeno into her mouth. The woman sitting behind us tried to warn us but we were busy trying to get Billy to stop crying (100 temp) and Jimmy to put his seat belt on and stop kicking the seat in front of him. I am sure the rest of the airplane was nominating us for the parents of the year award when she proceeded to scream the rest of the hour flight.

10) Bangalore is "home". We landed after our 5 day adventure and pulled into our house at 9:45pm Tuesday night. Jimmy exclaimed "Its good to be home".

I think that says it all!

(Final Tip of Day- When you get home, double check if school is open the next day. This will prevent you from hauling 3 kids out of bed at the crack of dawn, fighting with them to eat and brush their teeth and then standing at the bus stop for 30 minutes while you wonder why the bus is late....Not to mention your 5yr crying the whole way back home because he is sure he is going to miss assembly....)

Veg or Non-Veg

It is a well known and undoubtedly fact that here in India the are,ROUS.
Without highlighting this fact we found out a little know fact about ROUS.
It appears that our driver has one for a pet. That's right and he keeps it in a cage age IN his house, the good news is that it is a white one. What is the difference you might ask.
Well...
Now we also have been informed by a fairly reliable source that the black ROUS is afraid of the white ROUS, who knew!
There are several other aspects of the white ROUS that are well .... QUITE HARD TO BELIEVE.
First and foremost the white ROUS brings good luck to the person that has it. So we figure that since our driver is in the process of getting married his friends gave him this white ROUS to bring him luck.
Secondly the white ROUS are used in certain situations when you may perhaps have too many black ROUS, that may not necessarily live in cages, scurrying about your home. You would then bring in the white ROUS to scare off the black one and we are told they are quite effective.
However non of that compares to the most recent news about white ROUS.
The before mentioned white "pet" has escaped it's cage.
Now to some of us that may be nerve racking however to those in the know this is no real problem because the white ROUS, is a vegetarian.
Isn't that great.

Song of the day - 2

REM - Losing my Religion

Song of the day

Tears for Fears - Everybody wants to rule the world.

A look into the life of Tom Murphy

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE RENTAL:

Two small children ages 3 and 1 3/4.

Hard of hearing, mischievous and not good eaters.

Skilled in throwing food,pitching fits,pinching,screaming,coloring on walls, jumping from one bed to another ,not napping, cutting their lip and eating chocolate.

Available most days between 5:30-8:00 PM.

Will drive you to drink.

No caretaking experience needed they know everything.

Older brother who now enjoys Indian food and for some reason has acquired the ability to listen available for consultation fee basis only.

Parents will pay up to 500 rupees send inquiries to ; Tracy.Murphy@Target.com

Father is unavailable as he's at the Oak Grill drowning his sorrows
Villa 83 Phase II

Music

We've been sending so many updates on the lack of music scene here that we thought we'd blog it. Thanks to all of you back home that are going to all our favorite artists and seeing really great music. We hate you:)

The closest we get to good music (besides our CD's) is the new radio station - Radio Indigo, the color of music. So far, I have heard ....
Madonna, Like a Prayer
Price, Little Red Corvette
Dire Straigths - Walk of Life
Simon and Garfunkel - Cecilia
The Bangles - Walk like an Eygptian
EVERYTHING by Bryan Adams (he's a big hit over here)
Bruce Springsteen - Dancing in the Dark
Sting - AND the question of the day one day was "name the band that Sting was in prior to going solo ..." God Help ME?!
So... are you seeing a trend here? I am thinking of posting a song of the day on the blog so that you can get the full effect of our lack of good music.

Also, the only concert we have seen advertised here was INXS. They were here last Friday night. Needless to say we had other plans...

The station we were listening to before this one was all Bollywood Hindi music. Even all the advertisements were in Hindi. We knew we were in trouble when Jimmy started singing the jingle "Hit Milla Hit Milla Hit Milla Hit" (Basically Popular Hits Popular Hits Popular Hits) and then when Tom woke up whistling a commercial for a new apartment complex we new we had to switch. What is Bollywood music you ask? Imagine lots of drumming, knocking, falsetto singing and a lingering sense that the song never really ends, that it just melds into the next one. In actually, it can be kind of hypnotic....

Jimmy is taking piano and knows how to play "Twinkle Twinkle", "Mary had a little Lamb" and "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Not bad for only 2 lessons. He LOVES George his piano teacher. He even tells the other kids he cant play with them because George is coming over.

Kay keeps singing "I release and I let go" - Go Spirit in Action!

Billy's new favorite song is "Happy Birthday" - If you have a birthday coming up, let us know and we'll send you a singing telegram, its quite cute. "Happy Birdday to ewe" Happy Birdday to ewe"....

Hang with me on this next story, it does include music....

We went to some friends house on Sunday and ate their steak, ate their giant prawns and drank all their good red wine. The kids had every toy out, watched Shrek 2 all the way through and Tom was hung over the next day. All in all a VERY successful party. In fact, the other family that was there, that we met for the 1st time, is from Vermont. They have 3 kids (8,6,3) and their 3 yr old is from Korea. Kay started singing "I see the moon" (Greg Brown kid song) and they all started singing with her. Turns out they have both of Greg's kids albums but didnt know he did adult music. How is that for strange?? So, we are in India, meet a family with a boy that's been adopted from Korea and they actually know who Greg Brown is although they havent enjoyed his finer music. We told them we'd lend them CD's. The bummer of the story is that they are leaving for Vermont in 2 weeks. So much for making new friends.

Us Ex-Pat Kay Marie Jeon Murphy Poops Dateline 9 October 2006

It has been reported today that Kay Marie Jeon Murphy has for the first time since living in Bangalore, India gone poop, on the toilet.
Murphy pictured here hurrying back from the playground with her younger brother Bill, known in Bangalore as “ Baloo” stated to her father” Dad hurry up I have to go poopie”
Murphy, than rushed in to house and proceeded, by herself, to take her shorts off,then climbed onto the toilet and went poop.
Her father was unavailable for comment.

The things kids say....

So... the kids have been full of funny expressions lately. It sort of scares me when I think about how smart they are and how much they pick up. Here are some samples...

Kay has been talking non stop lately and Billy repeats everything she says. Its a little scary. He is talking way earlier and better than Jimmy and Kay were at that age. We are going to have one loud(er) household once they all get going. They already have fights on who gets to "talk".

Kay's latest phrases are ... "Run for your Lives!" "That's not a good idea" (when Tom and I are leaving) and "Hey, I have a good idea, why don't we...." "Why" "What" "How come" "When", etc.... 1,001 questions....

Billy says "come come" and "tell me" (VERY Indian phrases). He also call us Mommy or Daddy not by who we are but by what he wants from us ... "Daddy Uppie" anytime he wants either Tom or I to pick him up. "Cup Mommy" anytime he wants a drink etc... Strange kid.

Jimmy is funny as always but is still too smart for his own good. One example ...

They were with our housekeeper last night and we called home to see how they were doing ... here's the exchange at 10:00pm...

Ring Ring - Jimmy "Hello"?
Mommy & Daddy - "Jimmy ? What are you doing?"
Jimmy - "Talking on the phone" Duh, parents so stupid
M & D - "But why are you up? Where's Raj?" (the housekeeper)
Jimmy - "He's sleeping, I'm watching TV".
M & D - "What are Kay and Billy doing?" said with slight worry in our tone ...
Jimmy - "I think they are all sleeping"
M & D - "Can you go get Raj?"
Jimmy - "No, he'll be crabby at me if I wake him up"
M &D - "Go get Raj Jimmy please" relatively politely
Jimmy - "No, I am hanging up now..." Line goes dead

Ring Ring - Jimmy "Hello"?
Mommy & Daddy - "Jimmy ? Go get Raj"
Jimmy - "No, I told you, he'll be crabby at me if I wake him up"
M &D - "Go get Raj Jimmy" less polite now
Jimmy - "No, I am hanging up now..." Line goes dead

Ring Ring - Jimmy "What?"
Mommy & Daddy - "Jimmy? Please, we need to talk to Raj" worry increasing as we realize our 5 yr old has run of the house at 10:15pm ..... Also all politeness is gone
Jimmy - "No, I already told you that" Line goes dead

Ring Ring - Jimmy "What?"
Mommy & Daddy - "This isn't funny, you need to go get Raj, you are going to be in big trouble" how much can we threaten when we aren't there....
Jimmy - Line goes dead

Ring Ring - Jimmy "Stop calling this number, every time it rings I have to get up and answer it" Line goes dead

Ring Ring - Before Jimmy can answer or hang up ...
M &D - "We'll give you 1 rupee if you go get Raj" Basically bribing our kid with something that's 45 rupees to the dollar.
Jimmy - "Just 1 rupee?"
M & D - "Yes"
Jimmy - "Can I spend it on anything I want?"
M & D - "YES!"
Jimmy .... from a distance... "Raj, wake up!" .....

I can only image what will happen when he's in jr high. We are buying deadbolts that lock from the outside....

Mysore

Mysore is a town about 2.5 hours south west of Bangalore. Mysore was named after the mythical Mahisuru, where the goddess Chanundi slew the demon Mahishasura. It was for many centuries the richest most lavishly built and most powerful state in the region and the former capital of the illustrious Wodeyar Kings! (Or so the guidebook says)
We got early on Saturday morning to make the trip. We stopped along the way for some take out dosa (hot potato, egg and sauce) wrapped up in a tortilla type wrap. The food was wrapped in plastic cellophane and the rolled up in newspaper and then tied with string, no Styrofoam containers here!!
The way there was beautiful, rolling green meadows, high slopping hills along with several amazing rock formations.
Our destinations were the Mysore Zoo, water show/dam and Palace.
The Mysore Zoo is a rather large zoo with all the usual attractions, Elephant, tigers and Pheasants; this zoo had an incredible display of snakes. We saw the cobra, king cobra and a humongous python. There is also a huge display of plants and flowers from around the world. We had a great time and the kids of course loved the peanuts.
The water show, calling this event a water show does not do it justus. There is a dam in Mysore, which is the beginning of the water reservoir for the drinking water for Bangalore. The whole area is a series of pools that are joined and run into fountains which change colors and erupt to musical scores while people chant and sing and clap along, quite amazing. This is all of course happens at night and the colors of the fountains at the songs and the people clapping and singing along adds to the beauty of the place.
We then retired for the night at the Hotel Metropole. It is an old mansion with only 30 guest rooms, which are somewhat small. The staff is very friendly and helpful we were worn out from the travel and order Pizza Hut for dinner.
The breakfast buffet as usual was quite an elaborate affair with pancakes, omelets as well as many Indian dishes. After fortifying ourselves we headed off the Maharaja’s Palace. This is a fantastic Indo-Saracen Palace. The original Palace burnt down in 1897 and this new one was built in 1912 for 4.2 million rupees.
You are not allowed to bring in cameras however the place is beautiful. It has many areas of stained glass, viewing area for parades, flowers and wall after wall of portraits. We decided that after viewing many of these portraits in became clear that the royalty are not very photogenic. There is a part of the palace called a gopuraam, which is in the temple area and is where you would go to pray meditate, ect. I was taken for $1.00 by a very elaborate scam carried out by the palace police. It seems these folks will volunteer to give you the 30-second spiel on the palace and in return they ask you where you are from and if you happen to have any money from your country and could you give to them for the “collection” of non-Indian money. Very smart.!!
Before we left the palace we road on an elephant, a camel and in a horse drawn buggy. It was all great fun and we had a great time.

Me.my nuk and my EYE

Now that the summer has finally wound down my siblings are off to school I can finally get out amongst my peeps! I am having the time of my life here in jolly old India.! I have been touring with Eddie and Tina the fabulous musical duo from Romania,practicing sitting on a throne, for one day I will be king! I went to a wedding in my new outfit that my Dad thought was so cool he put it on the blog twice!! The neighbor lady has the exclusive rights to distribute chocolate donuts here in Palm Meadows and she needed some one to try them out, they got the thumbs up from me. So far I have not encountered another person on this continent who has a nuk. I am currently going through a phase where I need a certain color nuk at a certain time and if my Mom and Dad do not respond fast enough I have a fit!! ( I can I am practicing to be a King)
I have started talking more and can say Moma, Dada, Jimmy,Kay, kneel before me and other cool words. I still have to nap during the day and take full advantage of the attention I get when everyone else is at school.
I no longer eat from a bowl but use a plate exclusively and I also use a fork, spoon, or knife, which ever makes the most mess. I love to eat rice and then laugh and spit it back out, it makes the grown ups move real fast. I am reading books, and learning my ABC's,how to count and my driver Saravanna thinks I am the smartest in the world. I really love puppy's and stop everyday on the way to the bus stop to play with gus and birdie, two dogs in the neighborhood. Saravanna told my Mom that for my birthday he would buy me a puppy!! Please MOM:)
I am off to a nap and then dinner I hope you are all well and I miss and Love you all. wink,wink!!

A message from the middle child

It has been an incredibly hard Month with all this going on about my older brother, no need to mention his name, what with all the publicity that he has been getting and to top it off my Dad says that the reason I have been unable to get online and send this message is because the computer cables had to be replaced, come on where in India stuff like, that doesn't happen,any way I have a few things to say and update you on....
First of all I am still cute as hell, smart,incredibly funny, gifted athletically, and used to getting my own way.
I too have a bike and unlike the above mentioned brother, mine has hand brakes and gears, whatever those are. I can move my petals forward and backwards they tell me, but at this point I have chosen to only move them backwards which means I basically have a stationary bike which is fine, less falling off potential.
I also am going to school but unlike my brother who chooses public transportation I am taken by the driver and the rest of my staff, everyday . I am coloring, painting and playing with the rest of the kids, very enthusitically, according to my Mame, Glaydis.
I have also been taking care of Billy and keeping him out of trouble. He is my baby brother only from the standpoint that he is younger than me otherwise we are about the same size. I can talk more than him and sometimes you can even understand what I am saying, aren't you proud of me!!
Sometimes I have to jump out of my bed and into Billy's crib during nap time, which I am told tries mt Dads patience, however if Billy is crying or needs me that is what big sisters do!

All this monitoring of the house makes me very hungry so I had my people take me to the Taj West. That is the hotel we stayed at when we first arrived here for yunch,(lunch).

They have so many things on the menu it was hard to choose. So after careful consideration, I asked if it wasn't to much trouble could they please make mine a CHEESEBURGHER!!

Sometimes trying to get these pictures in the right order is hard, so just deal with it.

I will write again soon.

I miss you all and love you!!

Kay Kay

Religon and Spirituality

Ok... this one is for all our spiritual guides. Any one else that thinks we are flaky or heathens, log off now...

So, I've been thinking a lot about spirituality lately . Maybe it comes from not have a church "home" here in Bangalore. While we have been listening to the CD's from Spirit in Action (boy do we miss you guys!) its not quite the same community feeling:) What is cool though is how much spirituality is here. They joke that there are 1 billion people and 1 billion gods in Hindu. They believe everyone has a personal god. Of course I have to put my twist on this. If God is in each of us and we are each god agents ("we are how God gets around") then this concept of 1 billion gods in India is pretty right on!

Sprituality is ingrained in everyday life in a way that you dont see in the U.S.
Examples:

~ My new favorite super hero/cartoon show is "Avetar" He's an Indian "boy" that has come back after 100 years to spread peace and fellowship amongst all people. Each week he finds people that arent getting along or are fighting, by the end of the show, they understand each others point of view and have stopped warring. He does it without weapons, violence or even harsh words. The best part is, he doubts his ability to do it every time, but then it does all work out when he goes with the flow.

~ On any given day, you see Muslims, Hindus and Christians, all intermingling and getting along. On the way to work, I pass 2 Catholic churches, 15 Hindu temples (ranging in size from a small concrete statue to a HUGE multi colored building) and hundreds of people in marks on their head or with the traditional Muslim coverings.

~ Hindu is an intensely personal religon. You dont "have" to go to church everyday or even at all. Most have a small alter in their home and they pray before it as they wish. However, with how personal it is, it is also very public. You can tell which god they are worshipping by the marks they wear on their foreheads (the kids new favorite "game" is to color each others foreheads red). They have a blessing ceremony (or pooja) for EVERYTHING. A new car, blessing ceremony. A new house, blessing ceremony. A new water filtration system, blessing ceremony. A co workers 3 year old even wanted to have a blessing ceremony for his new trike. Then, after the ceremony you drape garlands of flowers all over the vehicle/house/etc and drive around.

~ On a final note, there are more holidays here than you shake a stick at and they are ALL spiritual. The latest, Ganesha, celebrates the God that has an elphant head. He rides on a rat. This signifies his ability to use his ego as a tool vs being driven by his ego. This way he can act in the highest spiritual sense at all time.

Think about it.

Friends, Food, Books and Other Random Thoughts.

This is my random thought blog. Sorry if any of it repeats.

Friends - Jimmy told me today he has 6 friends and I confirmed it as I watched them all wave to each other from the bus. They are very very cute. I think he even has a crush on one girl. Kay has made great friends with our next door neighbor Louis although she could just be using him since he has playdoh, paints, crayons and markers-all of which are at her disposal. Billy has woe'ed our driver. Saravanan calls him Bill-lou and sneaks him treats, candy and cookies when the other kids arent looking. Tom and I are missing our friends. Our only social outlet is with the kids or with work. That part is a little harder than I thought. I hope we make some "other" friends soon. We have some prospects. Our neighbors are from China(her)/France(him) and I love their insights and sense of humor. I did get a "girls night out" with a 3 women (Canada, Ireland and Germany) I managed to steer them away from "kid" talk, so I hope that develops into something as well. Our other next door neighbors are from NJ and he stays home with the kids, so Tom and he are getting tight. Our neighbors across the street are from Seoul and they have hooked us up with 2 Korean restaurants in town. I love watching their kids (boy 9 girl 6). I keep projecting Jimmy, Hayden, Kay, Lesia, ShinBee, Jet, Charlie, and Billy onto them.... Tom attended the Overseas Women's Club meeting the last 2 weeks (think PTA in India). There are 800 members, 10 of which are men. The men can be members but cant hold office or vote. And you thought equal opportunity was a dead subject. He did manage to make some acquaintances and I think I'm going to have to keep my eyes on these expat women! I am sure he'd be a "popular" coffee guest. The nice thing is that the OWC has a monthly night out and 1-2 other adult events throughout the month. This month is a meet the chef at the hippest trendiest restaurant in town (where I happened to be for my girls night out). So, this suits us just fine...

Food ... our cook rocks! Its hard to believe you can eat Indian fro lunch and dinner and not get sick of it, but its true!! (or maybe the fact that you dont have to cook lunch or dinner is what's nice....) Our cook makes fresh juice, everything is from scratch (he wont even use the bottles of spices we brought, he brings in fresh!) We actually did a steak and baked potatoe on the grill last Sunday and all the other Sunday's we've made ourselves fajitas (go figure). When you think grill, think xylophone, that's about the size of it. What we really miss is good red wine. You pay $20 here for a $8 bottle at home. UGHHH!!!

Books - While this is an English speaking country its seems that the only reading material is bad murder mysteries or harlequin romances. We are so desparate that we have taken to fighting over each others books no matter how bad they are. There is a library at our clubhouse and I was SO excited to sign up until Tom informed me he has "already read" all those books. SO, all you potential visitors, buy good books for your long flight and then donate them to us! I would kill for an Oprah bookclub book about now (even People magazine would be a step up).

So... I just noticed that the last string of emails have been Jimmy based. I promise the next set(s) will focus on Billy and Kay. They deserve some limelight too:)

We miss you all !! Please send updates on yourselves and families, I cant tell you how much we love to here about what's going on at home!!!

More Photos

Jimmys Big Day Photos

Jimmys Big Day

Today was Jimmys big neighborhood birthday party. Being that we live in Bangalore which is a city of 6.54 million people that the neighborhood party was hugh. We had 11 kids and their parents over for a superhero birthday party. There were kids for Canada, new Jersey, Korea( other than ours), France/China, Minnesota and from Bangalore.
The day started off with Dad going to the store to get supplies. The store is called Metro which is like a Costco/Sams club.They have just about everything you need only in large quantites. The difference is they do not tell you what those quantities are until you get to the cash registar, and it is really a cash registar because cash is all the take. So you may want 1 kilo of rice but the price is based on 20 kilos. You can buy a loaf of bread for 40 ruppees but you have to buy four differrent types of bread.It can be what we call " a real shopping experience".
While dad was doing that Mom had the carpenters from our maintenance shop over to hang our pictures. The reason the carpenters were over is not because Dad was outhopping, or doing whatever Dada do when they are"out", but because the walls here are cement and you need a special tool to drill a hole in the wall. The holes cost 20 rupees each( 50 cents) so the house is now looking a little more homey.
Back to the party we also had a spiderman cake, spiderman placemats,Superman plates and a candle when light started the house on fire, while the knife we had played Happy birthday each time you cut the cake or moved. This was all going on while each kid was armed with a squirt gun that would only work when aimed at an adult, you get the picture. Did I mention we had beer and wine!
Jimmy was in heaven as were all his friends and Kay and Billy.
We are truly blessed to have this mnany new people in our lives to help with this transition, especially for the kids. Everyone brought Jimmy a present sang Happy birthday to him and although our loved ones were not here, love was.

Jimmy Birthday Photos

Jimmy Birthday Update

Yes it is hard to believe that our little boy is now 5 and not so little. Jimmy got up on the morning of his birthday and the first thing he said " Am I a school ager now?" and when we told him that indeed he was five and a school ager he responded with a loud "YES"
The school that he goes to has a uniform that each child must wear however on their birthday they can basically wear what ever they want. So of course Jimmy had to go as a superhero, but which one. He decided on s superman shirt and cape, batman shoes and of course spiderman underwear. The children here also bring treats to school to give the teachers! The teacher union here must rock!
Last Saturday night the 19th we took the kids to a Korean restaurant for dinner as is our tradition and yes according to the "guide book" and our neighbor who is Korean this restaurant we chose was good. Well we were all excited for BeBimBop, Bulgogi, KimBop, Tofu di Guy, and most importantly MONDU!!!
They had none of that so we had to settle for chicken,rice some Korean pancakes a type of seafood dish and a great big mess that we left. OH for Mrs. Choy and Taste of Korea!!
the food was actually pretty good it just was not Korean. We sang Happy birthday to Jimmy and he started to blush,it was so cute. In hindsight I am not sure if he was blushing on embarrassed by his fathers inability to carry a tune, no matter which he was very proud and very cute and I can't believe he is 5. Where does the time go?
Then on Jimmy's actual birthday we had our neighbors Katherine and Quint over for cake and ice cream. Mom and Dad had to go to a big celebration of the new target office ,so we are going to have a big celebration on Saturday for Jimmy.
We have been here for basically 30 days and had to trim down our gueat list. I mean these kids are like magnents with the people the meet. We will have 12-14 kids , twice that many parents as well as this singing duo/couple from Romania that Jimmy meet at the hotel. More details on the party later.
Jimmy thanks you all for the thoughts and prayers. His Mom and Dad would like you to pray for us as that Jimmy has decided today that since he is no longer 4 but is now 5 he does not need his night time diaper anymore.!

Inside Photos

The House

Since many of you have asked what our house looks like we have attached some photos. Palm Meadows is a bedroom community of Bangalore located east of the city in a suburb called Whitefield. It is reminiscent of 1965 in the US. Many children wonder around , ride their bikes, without helmets!.
Their is a community center which boast a pool, children's pool with giant water slide, workout area and of course a restaurant and Bar.
The roads are all paved and there are even sidewalks. For those of you who many not know what a sidewalk is, it is a cement pathway that runs parrall to a road and allows you to walk , push a stroller and more importantly leads you by your neighbors house allowing you the opportunity to meet!
Quite a concept. In many of the communities in the States these "sidewalks" disappeared when cookie cutter neighbor hoods were born.
I digress, this is a truly greta place to have the kids because it is safe, has everything we need so we do not have to worry about groceries, woking out, play areas, ect.
The people are extremly friendly and very helpfull.

Picture Test

school days School days good old fastion RULE days

Finally the kids are back in school. I mean school started again today. They have been out of school for the past three long, hot and ardent days. The school seems to enjoy working on Saturdays because being that Tuesday the 17th was Independence Day they decided to take Monday and Wednesday off and to work on Saturday. I have not yet been invited to a parent teacher conference but to me it seems these things need to be discussed not just implemented. What say do we have as parents, don’t these teachers know we rely on them for our sanity and what are we really paying them for but to shape and mold our next generation. Leaving them at home where all the seem to do is the opposite of what is asked hardly seems fair too the child, what with all the completion in the workforce these days the longer in school the brighter our future will be. Are these the ramblings of a stressed out father or the actual viewpoints of this bolg, hard to say?You can see by the attached photos that these three are of whom I speak but I speak for all those who rely on our institutions, I mean Schools to stay open as many hours of the week that they Human rights Act will allow!!

ROUS, Geckos and Big News

The big news 1st! Jimmy learned to ride a two wheeler yesterday and boy is he excited! He needs help starting but can stop all on his own. He gets a little freaked out by cars, but I am ok with that for now. I suppose learning to turn will help him conquer that fear:) We havent been able to get him off his bike and I am sure that the training wheels are ancient history. It is a major kid milestone. Very fun.

On our not so fun note, we have house guests and not the welcome kind. We have mice (I am choosing to think of them as mice and not as r_ts or for those of you fellow Princess Bride fans, Rodents of Unusual Size). Tom actually saw one in the middle of the night and I had one run over my foot while I was brushing my teeth. That episode led to a tramatic night sleep. I woke up screaming about 2:00am because I dreamed that the "mice" were crawling up our bed (think the movie Ben). I think I just about gave Tom a heart attack. Needless to say, we now have 3 steel traps set in our house. We had a choice between rat poison or steel traps. Neither are a great choice when you think of having 3 small curious kids, but I ventured toward the painful but not lethal option (for the kids not the rats). I am sure the India people are wondering why these silly Americans didnt just buy the poison. I am sure they are thining "damn tree huggers". We havent caught anything yet... Wish us happy hunting!

We also have a visiting Gecko. Considering the alternative, he is almost welcome. (almost) To be honest, I would like it to go back to being just Tom and myself and the kids...

That's all for now, just the latest update in our adventure...

Work...

Ok Ok Ok... I have been hearing from all your Targeteers that you want to hear about work/the office...Here goes... (The rest of you can just skip down and read Tom's latest blog:) )

Breakfast, Coffee/Tea and Lunch are free, but you cannot take it outside the cafeteria. That's ok, because the cups are the size of dixie cups, so you finish them before you get to the door anyway. Plus, both coffee and tea come with boiled milk and sugar unless you specify not to. So, its a little caffine/sugar jolt in a cup. The breakfast and lunch are traditional vegetartian Indian food. I happen to love it! They have been playing around with a new caterer each week. Its causing quite the hallway gossip as you can imagine. As anywhere, you cant please everyone and water cooler talk abounds.

We lose people if we dont give them a raise or promotion after about 6 months. The pay hike is about 10-30% each year industry wide. Yikes!

Phones do not have a voicemail. You just keep calling and if its important you leave a text message. Most offices dont even have phones, so we all call each others cell phones. Since we all sit on one floor and its about a quarter of the size of a TPN floor, its rather comical to call your counterpart on their cell.

International calls need to go through the security/front desk. Rather frustrating.

Office hours - 9:30AM to 6:30PM, officially. Unofficially, dont schedule any meetings before 10:30. Lunch is around 2:00 and most folks are here until well after 7:30. The 1st few hours of the day are really really quiet, everyone working at their desk. Then after lunch, people get more social and by 5:30 (when MPLS starts to get moving) things are positively buzzing around here (or maybe its just the 3-4 dixie cup shots of coffee/tea we've all had by then...)

Parking is provided. Provided you have a car or motorbike...which no one does.

Conference rooms are named not numbered (FFF, Speed is Life, Innovation). They are reserved by putting a sitcky note on the outside of the door.

Speaking of, its seems that Outlook calendaring is optional. They use it when dealing with us Targeteers from the U.S., but dont use it otherwise. This is very strange. Given how technologically advanced the city is, they dont use a basic tenent of business. Think back to TMail or Message Exchange for those of you who hard been around as long as I....

The 2 pyramids are Technology Services and Business Services. Within Tech Services, the division used to be based on technology like Java, ETL etc. Now the division is changing to align to TTS pyramids. Similar on Business Services (my side). I have Merchandising, Distribution, HR, Marketing, Target.com and TSS/AMC. I currently have 26 people on the team reporting to me with 17 openings... Send references if you have them!!

It is a slightly different corporate culture and a very different overall (ethnic) culture. The team is super high energy, smart and engaged. But, they dont want to say "no" to you (culturally its very rude to say no). So... you hear "yes" a lot and then nothing happens. Also, they are used to getting permission to do everything. So, even small emails are sent to us for "approval" to send out. It seems to pay to be very positive and encouraging. That's when people will work the hardest (as in anywhere I suppose:) )

They are WAY FFF. Once a week we have a whole team event. Everyone participates and has fun. (No really, its not required fun here, they are really having fun!)

We are sitting 1-2 people in cubes and 3-4 in offices/conference rooms. Nothing is private and its not unusual to have 2 separate status's going on in the same office.

Speaking of no privacy. Everyone compares salaries and everyone knows your age, martial status, where you were born, where your family is from and how many kids you have. Again, they feel that things are very telling things about a person.

Office supplies are non existent. Finding copy paper or staples is impossible.

Having a big team report to you is also a status symbol so its highly coveted.

Great Team cards and notes of appreciation are worshipped. People post them on their cubes, they are posted in hallways, team members stop by to congratulate you, etc. And, if you happen to get a Great Team card from MPLS, its a big big deal...........

That's all I can think of for now.

More after my next shot of coffee...

A day in Bangalore

It is hard to say what a day in Bangalore is because each day changes due to a variety of circumstances, however I will attempt to describe what we hope our typical day will be.
Tracy and I wake everyday at 6:15. It is rather interesting in that we do not as of yet own an alarm clock. The reason we are awoken is because Kay has taken it upon her self to get up at 6:15 and wake us up, isn’t she just a doll.
Tray than goes up to the health club to work out and Kay and I have coffee.
Kay than has her first of her three breakfasts of the day. Billy wakes up around 7:00 and joins Kay and I. Tracy returns home around and starts to get ready for work. I than have more coffee and fire up the mechanical winch we installed at the end of Jimmy’s bed to help me get him out.
At this point we are all downstairs having breakfast Kay on her second, which consist of what ever is the most inconvenient thing to make.
Tracy and I than have to determine if this is a black shoe or a white shoe day for Jimmy. The school that Jimmy goes to has a uniform, which consist of khaki shorts, white polo type shirt and black or white shoes. The white shoes are canvas and the black ones are, well, black patent leather. Booth are of the lace up variety however the school playground is mostly red clay and sand making me wonder how many pairs of shoes we are going to go through, I digress back to home.
Our driver Saravnan shows up around 8:00 and Tracy is off to work and Jimmy is off to school.
Kay than begins her third breakfasts of the day, which is what ever I have decided to have. Kay, Billy and I than get dressed and watch a video and wait for Saravnan to return and our cook and maid to arrive. In the meantime Chinnapa our gardener arrives. Now we never actually hired a gardener and for the first week did not know whom this old guy who rode is bike to our house wearing is flip-flops was. After consulting with Saravan we found out he was indeed our gardener. It appears that the people who lived here before us told him to just keep showing up and who ever moves ion will pay you!!!
Saravana returns around 10:00 and Kay, Bill and I leave to take Kay to school.
Raj and Florence our cook and maid are usually here just when we are leaving and I have to talk with Raj as to the meals schedule. That conversation is usually one sided with him telling me what we are going to have and me just nodding yes. I give him however much money Saravanna tells me to for fresh groceries and it is off to school. I never know what is for lunch but you have to love surprises her in Bangalore
Kay basically enjoys school however she cries as soon as we pull up to the school and I have to pry her off my shoulder and hand her to Gladis, her teacher and leave feeling awful.
We then head back home and Billy and Saravnan watch Shriek2, while I head up to the club and workout.
At 12:00 we are off again to pick up the e kids from school. Jimmy is usually waiting at the gate for me while Kay is always the last kid out off the school. Gladis basically pries her off her shoulder and hands her to me and leaves wishing it were Friday>!
Kay tells me that today she did not even cry!!
We head home for lunch and then around 2:00 Kay and Bill go down for naps. Raj and Florence head next store to clean our neighbor’s house. Jimmy gets on line and plays games, surfs the web and g-mails Tracy at work to check in.!
The kids get up from their naps around 4-4:30 we have snack and head up to the playground, game room, park or where we can get them some exercise.
Raj has dinner done around 5:00 and he and Florence leave. We return around 6:00 and have dinner.
Tracy usually is home by 7:30 and plays with the kids, ect. We get them to bed around 8:30-9:00.
Then we get to have whatever surprise Raj has cooked up. Being that he has worked as a chief before we are eating like Kings, that being said I did have to talk with him in regards to portion control.
Than it is off to bed because we know that we have a very reliable alarm and the whole process will start over again at 6:30.

We have a spare room so please come and remember, expect surprise in Bangalore!!
Love,
The Loud Americans

Drivers, Help, House and Contrasts

Ok... random thoughts on our driver, our household and the constand contrasts you see everyday here.....

Our driver rocks! He set us up with everything... shopping, school, a cook & housekeeper... he fixed our DVD and makes sure the maintenance people are showing up to do what they are suppose to do. He brings the kids treats and buys us wine. He is our superhero and we love him! He is even getting married this fall, so we'll get to experience a traditional 3 day Indian wedding. I cant wait. Its an arranged marriage, so that has been interesting to learn about. He worked in Saudi Arabia for 5 years too, so he's great company on the way home from work. Good stories.

Our housekeeper and cook started this week and its been interesting. Florence and Raj are married. He used to work in a restaurant, so he's the cook. He only makes India, so he and Tom have an agreement. He'll teach Tom India if Tom teaches him American. We came home yesterday and he was reading our "Joy of Cooking". It was really cute. The food he has made has been fabulous so far. I cant believe it! We are so lucky. We do need to do a little coaching with our housekeeper. She does things like ... change the sheets each day, but then doesnt clean the bathroom.... I think we just need to tell her what we'd like her to do. She has always worked for Indian families so I think its just a cultural adjustment. Our driver said she was a little "scared" of us. I dont blame her .... I am scared of us too!

Our house is a single family home in a gated community. Its about 1700 sq ft, but that's deceptive since each bedroom has a bathroom. (Its a 3 bedroom 4 bathroom house). Each bedroom has a TV too. There is very little storage space, but the windows and garden are amazingly beautiful. The whole house is tile floors and stucco walls. So, with 3 kids it is really really noisy all the time. The complex has tennis courts, a huge pool with water slide, a pub, 2 restaurants, a grocery store, a squash and badmitton court, a full spa and health club and sidewalks! We really do feel lucky. Come Visit!!

I'll try to take some photos of Bangalore. Its interesting. Shacks selling everything (cigarrettes and pants) next to the best high end retailers (Nike and Swarkoski). People on bikes in rags next to SUV's. Red dirt,clay and dust everywhere and the most bright/beautiful silk sari's on each woman. The contrasts here are amazing. I was contemplating the poverty last night too. We live in such a rich neighborhood and literally next door there are tar paper shacks. Maybe I am in denial, but.... its not affecting me the way I thought it would. As I was wondering why its not pulling at my heart more, I think I realize that ... there is not a sense of desperation here that you feel when you drive through poor areas in the states. Everyone is out on the streets each night and its more like a celebration. The atmosphere is fast, festive and energetic. I dont get the feeling that people are concerned about their situation or feel that they are lacking. There just seems to be an easy acceptance. I imagine that it is similar to the feeling in port cities 1000 years ago or market days in South America or Africa. Everyone is just glad to be together, socializing, sharing what they have, coming together and watching out for each other.

Holy Sh_T !!!

We have had an incredibly busy 3 days.

Saturday - We moved into our house on Saturday which meant we had to move OUT of the Taj West. Believe me, packing to move out of a hotel that you have been in for 2 weeks is no easy task. We had stuff(sh_t) everywhere. The staff literally stood at the exit of the hotel and waved us off. I dont know if they'll miss us or if they were just happy to see us go. (They are probably enjoying the peace and quiet) .BUT... They were wonderfully nice. They gave us an extra car (complimentary) to get to our new house (we dont fit in 1 car with 5 people and all our luggage). They also sent a FREE dinner out to our house that night! We had shrimp rissotto, caeser salad and chicken supreme the 1st night in our house. That was a godsend since we didnt even own a pot (see previous blog...). Then came the task of actually unpacking all our boxes that were airshipped. Needless to say the movers just put things in boxes, no rhyme or reason. I was quite overwhelmed to unpack all our boxes with the 3 kids under foot. It was chaos. I am shocked that we got it all unpacked and put away on Saturday. Obviously we didnt bring much!
The kids didnt sleep well at all and we had one of them in our bed at any given time. Not much sleep for us.

Sunday - We declared it a vacation day. Amanda (cousin Matt's wife) is here doing an 8 week residency at St John's Hospital. After much determination (and false starts) on her part, she made it to our house! We spent the day at the pool and eating lunch. It was pretty relaxing. (ok as relaxing as you can get with 2 kids that cant swim and open water everywhere you look). But... the pool is beautiful and the kids loved it. We bought a pot, some groceries and made our 1st home cooked dinner! Spagetti and crusty bread. It was as fancy as we could get. Plastic utensils and plates and all.

Monday - The 1st day of school!! Jimmy went to Kindergarten today and Kay went to pre-school. He was hysterical (see next blog for photos). They all wear uniforms and its amazing to see so many dark haired kids in clean white shirts and khaki shorts. He stands a full head taller than anyone else in his class. At least you can spot him from a distance. We were a little late (of course) and the class had already left for assembly. Jimmy was wisked away by another teacher. We peered in the school and watched as 300 kids all stood in straight lines, sang and said a prayer. Then they stood at attention and at ease. Finally they all filed out. Jimmy spotted us and said, "what are you doing here?". So much for missing us, I suspect he'll be fine even though I was little misty eyed. Kay on the other hand, wasnt so sure about having us leave. She told us tonight that she cried "just a little" but then was ok because "we came back". After school, Tom played host to 3 kids, the furniture (kitchen table) delivery guy, the internet guy, the cable guy and the gas cylinder guy. I went to Metro with our driver - Saravanon. Metro is like a Costco with really bad taste. You have to be a business owner to get in and everything is about 2/3 the cost. BUT... you also have to buy more than 1 of everything. It was quite overwhelming and confusing. After 3 hours and $ XXXX later, I am the proud owner of ugly corningware, cheap pots/pans, brown and pink towels and sheets that look like shower curtains. The bright side? They have a whole wine section (Indian, Australian and "Overseas") and Dt Coke/Beer by the case. Nirvana for Tom. Now, after 3 house of washing dishes/etc. We are ready to sit down for dinner and go to bed.

I cant wait for us to get into a routine. It is starting to feel like our house though... A bad post college furniture, dorm style (aka all concrete) house, but our house none the same.....

India, the land of constant surprise

OK .... We are experiencing typical India and I have to admit, its a little tiring. Every time you turn around there is another "surprise" ... 2 examples...

We are renting a fully furnished townhouse. What do you think that means? MOve in ready, right?! Well, we we were surprised to find out that it means literally, just furniture. Nothing else. No pillows, blankets, dishes, pots, pans, utensils, towels, etc....So, now we have to figure out how to get a hold of all of that stuff. AND < there isn't even a Target here to shop at:) It'll all work out, but I'll be glad when we are moved in and settled. I suspect that it'll be weeks before we have figured out everything we need to buy. Most likely we'll get pretty adapt at "making do". I guess it'll be a little like camping.

School. It turns out that we had a meeting yesterday with the school. We didnt know about it (no one told us we had a meeting) so we didnt show. They were surprised we werent there. So, we had to drop everything and go there today. We had turned in the application and it required copies of the kids immunizations/doctors notes. They then asked for copies of the kids birth certificates, passports and blood type. We didnt have them with us since the application didnt list that we need to provide copies. So now we have to run those back to the school (at our convenience... the school is 1 hour from the hotel).

In other (good) news..
Jimmy and Kay start school on Monday. Jimmy is in kindergarten (nursery) 8:30-12:00 and Kay is in preschool (PG1) 10:30-12:00. Jimmy has to wear a uniform, but Kay doesn't. That should be interesting fight every morning! He got fitted for his uniform today and they said he's a big kid .. no kidding:) They are very excited about school. It should be good to get them into a routine. Jimmy has to take a second language so he'll be starting Hindi. That should be a treat. Now he can start gabbing at us nonstop in a language we dont understand. I wonder if Hindi will be the "new" Spanish....

The Weekend - Questions from Friends

Its been a couple of days since I've posted and I feel so far behind. I'll try to get you caught up on our weekend and some of the more common questions we are getting asked....

The Weekend... (pictures soon to follow) ...

We went on a tour of Bangalore on Saturday and it was really cool to see all the history, traditional neighborhoods and modern conveniences all in a 3 mile radius. We saw a Hindu temple, a market, a traditional laundry, all the British colonial buildings, Winston Churchill's church, a mall, a Chucky Cheeses, ate at McDonalds, saw cows, donkeys, chickens, eagles, dogs and sheep ....All in the city.... All within 3 miles ....Amazing. Talk about stimulation overload!!

Then on Sunday we invited 3 other families for brunch. There were 18 of us total, with 10 of them being kids. They had a blast playing together and swimming. It is nice that we are meeting other families, its really making a difference for the kids (and Tom). You'll be happy to hear that we are taking our role of hosts to this country as well:)

The Questions....
So... does it feel like Target?
It feels like Target in a different time warp. Lots of Target stuff all over, but the communication is different. Less direct. Also it takes 3x's as long to do anything. Even refilling the copy machine is a pain. They don't have office supply stores here, so when you run out of paper, you have really run out of paper. Weird.

Do you feel like a rock star being driven around all the time?
The driver thing is nice actually. The traffic here is so scary I cant imagine trying it myself. But, it is hard to have to call someone every time you want to go somewhere. I feel like I have to be polite all the time too. Sometimes it would be nice to just get in a car and go. Also, because we are driven everywhere, I have no concept of space or distance. Things could be 1 mile or 10 away. They could be east or west. .. no idea. I cant say I dont like it, but it is a surreal feeling...

How are the kids?
Good, they are finally over jet lag and are back to their happy selves, making friends, playing, swimming. In fact, their new chant is ... swim, eat, nap ... swim, eat, nap... swim, eat, nap .... you can tell what they have been doing everyday. The people here really indulge kids (and we thought Korea was bad!). Any time any of them makes a peep, they put chocolate in their mouth or pick them up and carry them around. Its not unusual for one of the kids to "disapear" during dinner for 5-10 minutes and come back happy and full of chocolate. It is making discipline a bit of a problem ...

What else.... We get to move into our house on Saturday, yeah!! We got the kids school applications in today, hopefully they'll be able to start Monday and we can get into a routine. Our stuff has arrived and is in customs (double yeah!) So... by this time next week, I hope to be moved in. It will be so nice to be able to eat breakfast in my pajama's and to not all be living in one room . I cant wait!!

New digs

Well... The kids are having a hard time with the time zone adjustment. Billy was up from 2:00am-5:00 yesterday and Jimmy was wide awake at 5:30 today. . Needless to say Tom and I aren't getting much sleep. (Although the health club is dead at 5:30am and Nick Jr is on cable here! So, I got caught up on Blues Clues with Steve.)

But... We saw our house yesterday. It wasn't cleaned and it'll be painted when we move into it but.... The grounds are beautiful, even though the inside is a bit small. That's probably ok since the common area is amazing... There is a full size kid pool, adult pool (including swim up bar), tennis courts, full workout facility, restaurant, etc. I guess when you live in a tropical area, the inside of your house doesn't need to be as big as it needs to be in Minnesota.... :) We even have a banana tree and papaya tree! You will love it when you come visit!!

A small world experience happened yesterday too. There is a family from New Jersey that has 2 kids (Katherine - 5 and Quint - 4). They are moving into Palm Meadows as well and have been "complaining" that they didnt get the house they wanted, they got house # 85 instead. They wanted # 83. Well, guess who got #83?! We did. So, they are literally going to live right next door to us.... Weird.

We also went to see schools yesterday. Neev is a very spendy prep school (aka ages 2-7) and Jimmy could go to kindergarten while Kay was in a preschool. (This is where Katherine and Quint are going). However, I suspect its expensive. They wont give rates over the phone. They want you to come in to "see it". I guess its so nice that they figure that price will be no object once you are there.

The other school (Gopalan) is a traditional Indian school. Kay could attend Nursery and Jimmy would be in prep (aka kindergarten). However, they have a written exam that he needs to take, including Hindi. We were a bit taken aback. What 4 year old could take a written test ?! But, I guess that is common here they learn to read and write at 4.... We'll see, everyone keeps telling me that the written test isnt what I am thinking, more naming colors, shapes, counting, etc.... It'll be interesting... I didnt know SAT's were required for kindergarten!

I'll try to keep the posts coming...

Take care, we miss you all!

We've arrived!!

We are here!! After almost 30 hours of travel, we arrived Bangalore at 2:oo am Sunday. We "lost" our car seats, but the airline promised they'd find them. Sounds like car seats are a hot commodity here. They kids did pretty well. They didnt want to eat when the food came out and then were hungry when everyone else was sleeping. They also didnt understand that we couldnt pause and reply the movie on the plane. But, they did sleep and had some cute moments of playing with each other.

Our first day at the hotel was perfect. On Sunday's the hotel brings in playground equipment and has a big brunch. We met 4 families that were in the same position as we are ... expats with kids ages 3-8. The kids played with their friends for 4 hours. It was wonderful! We exchanged names and numbers with the families and got some good tips on where to go and what to do....

Today is a little more hairy. Billy and Kay slept through the night but Jimmy has been up since 3:00am (its now Noon). Billy is a little sick, no fever but an upset stomach (aka throwing up). I am sure its just the time zone change, but we are all laying low in the hotel today. We found the Disney channel so all is well for the moment. Jimmy drew a picture this morning (at 4:00am) of all 5 of us holding hands. He said we were sad that we left. Then he drew a picture of the 5 of us with smiles on our faces. I hope these are both a good sign of his initial adjustment.

LOVE!!
T.

Vacation in Michigan with the Cousins

Left to Right we have...
Georgia (3)
Kay (3)
Billy (18 months)
Joey (2)
Cedric (4)
Jimmy (4)
Missing ... Solomon (2) - he's not allowed to eat suckers.

This is our cousins vacation in Michigan. We had a great time playing with our cousins/grandparents, swimming, hiking the dunes and swinging on the playground. Not to mention the ice cream for lunch and popcorn for snacks!! We spent 10 days with our family. I think we managed to fit in a couple years worth of memories for the kids (and us).

Jimmy's new glasses

Hi there
I'm Jimmy and I have new glasses. My dad says I look like the kid that breaks the curve in class. He would know I guess:) I really like them, but its hard not to touch and twist them all the time. Its amazing what you can see with your glasses on!

Love to you all!
Jimmy