California Freezin

It's been an interesting trip so far back to California. First off we arrived about the same time as an arctic storm, which brought the temperatures down to almost freezing. There has been pretty continual rain for the first week back. The two combined have made us all pretty cold for the whole time so far. Definitely missing the temperate climate of Bangalore. Not missing the traffic though and we are enjoying just being able to get in the car and drive ourselves somewhere.

Other than that, it has been somewhat odd being back. Of course everyone drives in their lanes. People line up at the coffee shop, and in the grocery store. Probably the strangest was to visit our house. It is inhabited by several young men, but they don't have a lot of furniture, artwork, nick-nacks... so the house felt pretty empty. Fortunately they have kept the house in pretty good condition, minor repairs needed here or there. But just seeing our house, but not staying there is odd.

It is really nice seeing people, but trying to fit all the visits in, and accomplish final christmas shopping etc, is hectic. We saw Slumdog Millionaire today. Different people had different reactions. Cindy and I missed India--the hustle/bustle, the colors, the people. It made Marion wonder why she was going to go back, and very upset about the beggars. If you've seen the movie you'll know why. If not, you should see it. All in all a very good movie.

We promised our Australian friends we would take them winetasting, so we're likely off to the Santa Cruz mountains today to find some good wineries--wish us luck. Let's hope the wine isn't all frozen. That would be bad.

More later.

Santa Came to town

Yesterday was an amazing day. I know that Cindy has written before about Shristi Special Academy. It is one of the charities that the OWC supports with funding for projects. The school is about 1/2 hour drive outside of Bangalore, which means about a 1 hour drive for us. This place is amazing. They have over 140 children with Special Needs (Autistic, Downs, ...) who come daily to school there. They also work with some local children, to provide a good school for the local kids, plus have some non-disabled children for the special needs children to interact with. They are located on the outskirts of a village. They have a nice grounds with vegetable gardens where they try to grow their own vegetables for the students and staff. They have classroom environments, physical (and other) therapy rooms, and they have workshops to teach skills to the older children. We ate lunch in the workshop at the end of our visit and I saw they make paper bags out of recycled newspapers, candles, and other things there.

Anyways we were lucky enough to go along with some representatives of the OWC (Cindy being one of them) to a "Christmas Party" they were throwing. I think it was partly a celebration for the children, and partly a thank you to the OWC, and HP who support them. The opening part was some readings and thank yous, then the OWC sang Christmas carols, which the children really enjoyed. Then there were some Bollywood tunes played, and the children got to sing and dance. They loved that part. Then came the best part for me. The OWC had supplied pencil cases with a pencil and a couple of sweets for each child.

While the children were outside playing games, I went to the office and changed into a Santa suit. Maya and I were waiting there with the gifts for the children to go to their classrooms. One boy, must be a young teenager, came into the office. He stared at me for a bit, then his eyes went wide when he figured out who I was. He immediately went outside mumbling about Santa. It was priceless. One lady from the OWC had brought an accordion. So I was proceeded by a group of carolers, and got to go to each classroom and hand out the Gifts. The smiles, handshakes and general awe on the faces was priceless. I think I got the biggest gift of all.

This is a great memory to take away with me as we plan our trip back to CA for the holidays. It is a bit bittersweet. It is hard to see the children with such severe problems, but it is astonishing to see the care and love they get, and the happiness on their faces at Shristi. Such a wonderful place, built with such humble means.

Quick Note-Island Hopping

Well, now we have visited almost 4% of the islands in the Langkawi area. There are 99 islands, and we visited 3 of them today by 'charter boat'. This means that we didn't pay the per person rate, but rented the whole little boat, which is an open boat about 20' long, with a tarpaulin covering the seating area for shade. We spent time at two beaches where we could swim in the ocean which was delicious, ate an oversized picnic lunch for 2 from the hotel, and then hiked to a freshwater lake for a swim on a third island, along with Langkawi itself, that makes 4/99.

Yesterday we took a tour around the island of Langkawi, saw a mangrove swamp, bat cave, and got to see the eagles feeding in the river/estuary. Then we took a cable car to the top of the island for a fantastic 360 degree view. We could see Thailand, many of the islands, as well as the mainland of Malaysia.

Having a great time. Sad to leave already tomorrow, I hear there are blizzard conditions in middle Europe... Pictures and more details later.

If it's Tuesday, it must be Delhi

Travel seems to be the word of the day. Last week Sunday I flew to Frankfurt, took a few hours to look around the city, and then flew on to Helsinki, arriving Sunday evening. I spent 5 glorious days in the office, thankfully. It was raining most of the time. Cold, but not cold enough to freeze, roughly 8C in the mornings and evenings. I missed my scarf, but was happy to be wearing my 'husband sweater'-- see snidknits' blog to learn what that is. I came back on Saturday (spent basically the whole day in an airplane, not too much fun considering I had the back row which doesn't even lean back. So my butt was sore by the time I got home.

Sunday was a nice day off. We went to a Thanksgiving/Obama won! party. Had a lot of fun. Several Americans there, and many Indians who had lived in the US somewhere. I met and spent a lot of time talking to a retired gentleman who still goes to the lab he set up where the do arithmetic simulations of the oceans, this involves fluid mechanics, chemistry, biology, and of course the math/computer programming. We had a great conversation about everything from Obama winning, to how Silicon Valley and Bangalore are similar but different, and how Indians and westerners think differently. I found out he went to UCB also... We also met a couple, he works for Reuters, who had raised their sons mostly in Hong Kong, then been in Japan, and now India. Cindy had been to their house for a singalong/choir session. All in all a good time.

Monday--normal day at work, with long meetings, aside from the fact that Manju was taking Cindy home from the Gym at 3:45 (a trip which should have taken 10-15 mins) and they arrived at 7:45. He then had to still come get me. It is now 9:24 and he is still only half way here. There were political demonstrations at a rally for JDS near our house, and the traffic jam is absolutely horrendous. I hope to get home before 11. I leave for Delhi tomorrow morning at 5 to renew visas. I plan to be back in Bangalore late tomorrow evening. Then Wednesday evening we leave for Langkawi, Malaysia. A few days R&R in between our hectic schedules before returning home to the US (oh but wait). On Sunday we arrive somewhere after 11pm from Malaysia, and I should be getting on a plane for the great wet dark (Finland, and a day in Germany) Sunday night, well really Monday morning at 3:30--what fun.

After that it should be two weeks in Bangalore before going back to the US for the holidays. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Bang Bada Boom

It's Divali here. I had a 3 day weekend, which was nice. We didn't do too much, a little shopping on Monday, as Manju wanted Tuesday off instead of Monday. He needed to go to Tumkur (his hometown) to register his daughter's birth certificate. We got a nice painting for the living room. I don't know what we're going to do with all the artwork we are collecting when we need to go home. We don't have as much wall space in our house back in CA.

Oh yeah, on Saturday evening we went to a 1 year birthday party for one of my co-worker's children. There was a huge cake, and a magician. I got to be the guinea pig for one of the tricks. It was pretty fun, and I think our girls had fun even though most of the kids there were under 8.

There have been non-stop fireworks going all weekend. They start somewhere around 4:30 in the morning, and go till late at night, after midnight at least.
Boom,
bang,
pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,
BANG,
...

Some people have the kind that shoot off sparks, and some even have rockets which shoot fairly high into the air. All together a lot of noise and sparks.

On Monday evening we went to the Deville's and they had bought some 'crackers' as they are called here. We helped them set some off in the back yard, till the neighbors complained. I have to say, they were impressive. Our sparklers back in CA are about 1 foot long, and very thin. Some of these sparklers were close to 3 feet long, and about a 3/4 inch thick. They would go for a long time too.

After the neighbor got upset, we went out the front gate and set more off in the street, and empty lot/dirt road next to it. We got a whole collection of kids from the neighborhood. Marian started handing out sparklers to them and they had a ball. We shot off several firecrackers (again huge by my standards), and a bunch of sparkling fountains. All the while the neighbor kids were running around with sparklers. Then it was all suddenly over when we ran out of sparklers, and we had to go home. Cindy accused me of being like a big kid with the sparklers and fountains. I guess you could say I had fun...

Varkala

Last weekend was a long one for both Maya and me (though I had to work this Saturday to make up for last Friday). So, we decided a weekend away from the noise and hubbub and pollution of Bangalore would be just the ticket. We left early (very early) Thursday morning, and we were at the hotel by 9. We stayed at the Taj Garden Retreat in Varkala, which is nice enough, but not one of their top hotels. It was about a kilometer up the hill from the beach, but there was a nice little trail which went down there from the hotel.

Varkala is a small town about 1 hour north of Trivandrum and Varkala Beach is a community which is above the beach, and runs along the cliffs to the north of the beach. There are many lovely spots where one can stop for a drink, snack, or dinner with a great view. We went to Sunshine Cafe 2 nights and sat and watched the sun set, while drinking Mojitos and Cosmopolitans. Cindy and I enjoyed the former, Ari the latter, Anna was stuck with 7-up. Both nights the sunsets were absolutely the best. Two of the nights we ate at the Funky Art Cafe. The second night we went there because they were having local talent perform. First there was a band, and then that was followed by a local boy of 16 performing traditional dances. He was really good, but unfortunately his cd gave out fairly quickly and he didn't get to finish so I missed out on a Photo Op.

On Saturday Massages and Facials were the order of the day. Here the ladies are going over the menu. This lady's beauty spot was just above Varkala Beach.

Ari wasn't feeling too well, but Cindy, Maya and I went for a backwater tour on Sunday before coming home. The backwaters (at least in this area) are mostly salt water which has come in through the beaches which separate the ocean from the backwaters, but they are not open to the Arabian Sea. They get fairly large in some places, and narrow in others. We saw a few people out tending to their land along the shores, and two boatloads of people returning from Mosque. It was really nice, and I'd like to go and spend a day or two on a houseboat on the backwaters there somewhere in Kerala.

Rainy Lazy Day

I still have trouble adjusting to the fact that even though it is pouring outside, it can be warm. It is particularly hard when traveling in the car, or sitting at work in the air-conditioned cold air and watching it rain. But it's so, today it has decided to rain here in Bangalore (after several weeks of dry). The doors and windows are open, and it's a nice balmy warm day.

Yesterday evening we went to the OWC "Indian Night", where everyone is encouraged to dress in traditional Indian wear, and there is of course Indian food, drink, and entertainment. We went with Brad, Marion, Steve, Melissa, Rob and Jackie. We men had it fairly easy, but the women were all wearing Saris. In order to get dressed, they all met up about 2 hours ahead of time, and Jackie's maid (and her daughter) helped them all get dressed. They looked lovely. We had a good time, despite sitting too close to the stage and not being able to talk too much due to the loud Indian traditional music. I think I enjoyed it more than some, who were wanting it to stop...

So we slept in today, and did some puttering around the house while the clouds grew darker and darker. Ari wished at lunch time that it would rain, and about 1/2 hour later the large drops started falling. They were few and far between, but sounded like a very slow staccato on the roof. Then it started to pour just about the time I had my shopping list ready for getting my medications for the month. It got so loud, we could hardly hear each other talk. Fortunately it stopped pouring and turned to a drizzle. I didn't think it ever drizzled in India, but now I've seen it. All in all it has just become a lazy day, but minus the thought of curling up by a nice warm fireplace and listening to the rain and reading a good book. Sometimes I do miss the changes in weather.

Still it is nice to find a spot to curl up and listen to the pitter patter of the rain coming down and read a good book. I guess I better get mine and claim the easy chair upstairs.