More Bangalore

Thursday we all went to the Mastery International School, to drop Anna off for a day of 'checking it out'. We left at 7:40 from downtown and arrived just before 8:30. There was general chaos outside as children were unloading from the buses which have brought them to the school from various points about the city. Cindy and I then returned back to the hotel (where I then had several phone meetings during the morning) and Cindy went off to the OWC. She met lots of new and longer term expats and came back full of stories.
In the afternoon we picked up Anna from school. When we arrived, it was just about 10 mins before school was to let out, we signed in and found a comfortable spot to sit in the lobby. Shortly we spotted Anna across the lobby speaking with a young girl, who we found out later is the one she shadowed for the day. Then she came over to talk to us (and gave us the thumbs up). She went back to chat with her new friend and was intercepted by a young man who spent a good 10 mins chatting her up. Later (today at lunch) she admitted to having flirted with many of the young men at the school. I think she's going to be rather popular there. Anyways she seemed very comfortable there and we noticed that all of the children were very friendly and there was a general good will in the air as they were leaving for their various buses and cars.
After that we went to the Krishna temple on the hill. It is large. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, so you'll have to google it or something. We spent about an hour there and then came back to the hotel to rest up a bit before dinner.

On the way back, while we were sitting in interminable traffic, just to go a few Kilometers, I saw this pharmacy. Here in Bangalore the ambulances have red crosses, but if you need a pharmacy, you need to look for the green cross.

For dinner we met Gerd and his wife Helga at the Oberoi which has 3 nice restaurants (although I think the restaurant at the Chancery Pavilion is better). We had Indian Buffet dinner with them while they filled us in on their various trials and tribulations here in India with servants, drivers, landlords and the like. Anna was a trooper through the dinner as it wasn't too interesting conversation for her, but she looked very elegant in her Indian outfit(from the shopping at the mall). Again too bad I don't have a photo, but somehow the photography has been difficult this trip.

Today I had to go into the office, so Cindy and Anna went shopping on MG road. After my meetings I met them.

We had to wait out a good rainshower, and then finally decided to go eat even though it was still raining. This is the first time I've felt cold here (except for the AC in some places which can be too much). I got a bit wet, but not thoroughly soaked. We had a nice lunch in a definitely 'new Bangalore' restaurant called Soul, where they played everything from Eminem to Country, rather loudly. Then we came back to the hotel as it was still raining and we're now planning to go to Sunny's for dinner. Tomorrow will be our last day, let's see what that brings, I hope the weather will cooperate and we can see a bit more of the outdoors.

Of homes and schools

Let's see, I am getting lost in time now. The jet lag seems to be wearing off, I finally slept in till the alarm went off for the first time this week. I guess that means we must be close to leaving--well not quite, but we are half way through the trip to Bangalore.

So there are several days to catch up on. Starting with Monday, we met with Murali who described the Expat system to us here in India, and then we went for a tour of some houses in the Whitefield area. Very "posh" area, but very sterile looking. We saw two "Projects", no not projects like those done in the US for low income people, these are developments. They both had a lot of amenities, like pool, gym, shopping, etc. But they were very cookie cutter and looked like a street in suburban San Jose. The other problem with Whitefield is that it is on the opposite side of Bangalore from where we expect Anna will go to school. We saw a 3rd project which was a little better, but still not very much to our liking. Apparently these locations are very much in demand for Expats because they do have so many amenities, they are gated communities and there is an additional sense of safety and more other Expats. Oh well, maybe not for us though.


Off to check on schools

Tuesday morning we went to see the Canadian International School. It seemed like a nice school, and I think we were all prepared for Anna to decide that this was it. She gave it the thumbs up. The admissions director is a very bubbly person. She was very nice and gave us some advise about living locations in Bangalore and offered to even ask questions if we found something and wanted to know if it was a good location or "near to the fish market" or ... She also commented that it is good to live close to school because if you have hired help driving, or being the guard for the house, they may just not show up one day without notice "father died" (for the third time this year), and if you are far away from school and have to make quick other travel arrangements, it can be a problem.

They are located out in the countryside, here you can see the road in, it is about a 1/4 mile from the main road, and about 45 minutes from downtown in the morning traffic. Everything is measured in time, not distance here. More Photos

After visiting the school, we were supposed to meet the real estate agent, Shankar, again. There was some confusion, we waited around 45 mins, then the driver took the wrong turn in getting to the meeting point, and finally we met him. From there we went to another house in in a nice neighborhood, and saw it.

3 BR, family room, dining and living rooms, plus a patio "for parties" on the roof. We didn't really get many good pictures of the house, but it does have a lovely tree out front as seen from the rooftop.

Then we saw two apartments, one of them was like a cave, the other was nicer, but had an orange color scheme and a brand new cement structure being built in front of the main window--not a very nice view. The real estate agent didn't like either building and suggested that when we return we could look at something better. We told him we liked the house and he is looking into whether it can be "reserved" for us.

Today I stayed in the hotel for various meetings and Anna and Cindy went to see 2 more schools. You'll have to check Cindy's blog about that as I don't have much to say. That's all for now...

Comparison Shopping

Today our we went out for a walk in the morning. We walked from the hotel up Residency Road to Brigade road where we had coffee in the local version of Starbucks--Cafe Coffee Day. On the way we saw lots of leftovers from the recent celebrations. Many cars and rickshaws have flowers and or Banana Leaves attached to them.

Many stores do as well. There are also random piles of trash which looks like the leftovers of celebrations.

In the afternoon we had our driver take us to a local mall where Anna and Cindy did some comparison shopping to figure out how prices compare with the states. Anna commented that the mall was nice, but not as many "teen stores" as Valley Fair. We had lunch in a pizza place where Anna had her standard, and Cindy and I shared a Paneer Tandoor Chicken Pizza. Then we did a bit of looking at household furnishings and came back to the hotel pretty exhausted.

Arrival in Bangalore

We arrived late last night after about 24 hours traveling. Got out of the airport at about 1am in a slight drizzle, to the hotel and checked in by 2. Slept pretty well until some bozo started yelling at the TV about some sports event at 6:30 in the morning. Today we plan to go look around the shopping areas and maybe tour the city a bit. I'll post more after we've actually done something and maybe have some pictures.

Well today I am leaving Finland after 5 days of intermittently horrible weather. I got totally soaked on the way to work on Monday because I misjudged the clouds and got caught in a real downpour. Tuesday was beautiful most of the day. Wednesday had rain off and on, it froze that night while I was at Majvik. It is really pretty around Majvik, unfortunately I don't have pictures because we were so busy inside with our workshop. The food there was really bland and disappointing. The workshop was good. Thursday it was pretty nice, and today it is just awful weather. Almost snowing. It was -7C last night as we returned from dinner.

Dinner was at a nice little restaurant called Maya. They serve Mexican/central American food. Food was really good, service a bit slow. It is located close to the train station in downtown Helsinki.


Before I left today I took a picture out of the hotel window. View isn't much but it gives a good picture of the weather.

It's just about time to go get on the plane, so I'll finish here now.

Saturday after going to the Krup Estate, and seeing the sailboat races on the river below the estate.


After finishing up at the estate, we took the train to downtown Dusseldorf and wandered around the old town. Giselle and I talked a lot about her family (she is happy where she is), her travels and difficulties getting a new situation, and what she plans to do. She has to take classes, per the contract, but hasn't started yet. She is given a monthly transportation pass which is good for about a 50 mile radius. She can get to Essen, Dusseldorf, Duisberg, Krefeld, and many other places around the area. Sylvia encouraged her to get out and meet other German young people. Also to see some of the local sites. She also encouraged Giselle to get of the computer more often and be more present "locally".

We ended up at the river again.

OOPS, I need to figure out how to rotate pictures, or I need to rotate them before uploading.... Oh well, I am tired and will deal with it later.

Children's play house

Children's play house
Originally uploaded by BryanBajema

This is the children's house, it seems to be just a little smaller than many bungalows I've seen.

Little House Krup Estate

Little House Krup Estate
Originally uploaded by BryanBajema

The big house and the Little house are separated by a big long room which looks like it could have been a big sitting room, or changed into a ball room.

Giselelle @ Krup Estate

Giselelle @ Krup Estate
Originally uploaded by BryanBajema

No, this is not the house where Giselle is staying, though I thought it might be fun to tell you that. It is near Kupferdreh (where she is staying) and part of an estate of a Steel magnate family, now open to the public. Big house on the left, little house on the right

Bryan and Giselle at the train just before leaving

Bryan and Giselle at the train just before leaving
Originally uploaded by BryanBajema

First post. I should have started this a long time ago. Now I've finally done it.
I saw Giselle first last night after a long trip up from Ulm to Muenchen, doing some work there, and then taking the ICE to Essen. After getting to the hotel, I took a taxi to meet Giselle and her family in Kupferdreh.
She and I went out to dinner at a beerhall, where we had pretty typical German fare. Then we came back to the Hotel and talked a while before I put her in a Taxi home (roughly 20Eur). She seemed to be in very good spirits. Her new family seems very nice, though I didn't get to meet the children. Sylvia works at home half time for IBM. Markus is an Engineer.

That was yesterday. Today I went to meet her in Kupferdreh (a suburb of, formerly a town near, Essen). The train was 15 mins late, and then only went one more stop, from there I had to take a bus. Sylvia and Giselle met me at the station and we drove to the Krup estate. The Krup family moved to Essen from the Netherlands centuries ago (16th if I remember correctly) and then became wealthy through trade and later Iron/Steel processing. Here are a couple of pictures of the house and grounds: