Santa and Christmas wishes

Hi Everyone.

On Saturday, we went to the Oversea Women's Club (OWC) Christmas bazaar. Heather got lots of Indian 'stuff' and the kids got to see Santa! Sacia must have wished she could ride her bike without training wheels, because on Sunday, we took off her training wheels and with Ella's help, she was riding up and down the street within 10 minutes! What a helpful big sister and a PROUD Sacia!

Shoppers beware - and will we have water

Two things here.

First thing:
Heather went to a fairly high-end shop that sells furniture, bedding, curtains, etc. and bought a couple lamps. They didn't come with bulbs, so Murthy went out and got some. Our nanny Manika put them in the lamps and plugged them in.

I came home and was looking at one of the lamps and saw some plastic connectors on the cord. Closer inspection showed a switch had been removed! And the bare wire just twisted together! It seems you *always* have to inspect your purchases before you leave.

Now Heather will be going back to get them to make an 'exception' to their no returns policy.



As it came from the store



The other lamp didn't seem to have any problems.



Second item: As far as we can tell from the paper, Bangalore will be without water for the next 3 days. There is a major public works event in progress to connect the city feed at a different location. As the paper says 'Most areas in the city will be deprived of drinking water in the next three days'.

The neighborhood we are in has 'bore well water' so we should have water. 'Make sure to boil and use it.'

There are a couple concerning things about this event though;
1) The paper says the upgrade is the 28th-30th, the sheet we got says 26-28th. They are still watering the lawns here in Palm Meadows...what water shortage?
2) Parallel connections? You might expect construction to be complete, then just flip a switch/lever?
3) The bridge on my way to work was supposed to be complete in August, then October, now January... I hope the 3 days is a conservative estimate.

Plants!

Time to get some more plants for the garden. Heather went to the nursery and picked out a trailer load of plants. They were delivered on a tractor-pulled wagon. Travelling Palm, Hibiscus, everything grows year-round!

A few missing pictures

Hi.

Just two more pictures that needed to be added. :)




Replicating the famous Hawaii shot





Brian

Mauritius

Hello everyone!

The kids are now back in school, and Zach is catching a late-morning
nap, so I finally have some quiet time to write to you. I'm still in
shock that it's mid-November!

We have made it back 'home' safe and sound after a wonderful,
beautiful, fun, LONG trip to Mauritius! It was our family's first
time in the southern hemisphere, but can you believe it -- I forgot to
watch the water go down the drain to see if it does go the opposite
way! ha! We had a fabulous time, except the sitting in the airport
layover part! The Indian Ocean is beautiful, and we spent much time
on the beaches and in the water. If you haven't already, take a look
at the 500 pictures on www.ellaanne.com that were the best of the 2000
we took overall. We even spaced them out for you over 4 albums, so as
not to overwhelm you :).




Some highlights of the trip were swimming in the ocean with dolphins,
snorkeling 3 different times and places (with ELLA!), riding on and
interacting with REAL, LIVE giant tortoises in an amazing park,
collecting coral and shells on the beach, discovering ocean life by
the shore at low tide (including an amazing lionfish, starfish, and
part of an octopus--the rest was hiding!), seeing the sleeping
volcanic crater, eating wonderful fresh seafood AND tasty
french-influenced food, visiting the Ile aux Cerfs island for the day,
and so much more! The pictures are all labeled, so check them out to
get a better idea of what Mauritius is like.



We were the ONLY Americans there (that most people had even heard of
coming!). Many Europeans, mostly French, were vacationing there, as
well as Indians. The locals spoke French, the food had that great
French influence as well, and occasionally you could get a glimpse of
French-style beaches...! We enjoyed our breakfasts each day by the
beach with great croissants, hot chocolate, omelettes, fresh fruit,
great coffee (for Brian, anyway). Every evening we had fun dressing
up a bit for dinner, which started only after 7. Sacia only made it
through dinner awake a few times, usually falling asleep in Brian's
lap 3/4 of the way through. The food was included in our package,
and was delicious!




Lunches we ate between touring, at several unique restaurants. One
was in the touristy spot, the Caudan Waterfront, similar to the New
Orleans waterfront shops. Another restaurant was tucked in the
tropical hillsides nearby a waterfall and the 'Coloured Earths', a
famous place where the volcanic flow has now decomposed into several
different colors. Zach enjoyed calamari (squid) at a small place on
the south side of the island, where the ant in my drink and the one
hair in my food didn't phase me too badly. ugh. The last lunch was
right above the beach in Grand Baie, and we enjoyed the restaurant all
to ourselves, though the main menu wasn't yet available. My mushroom
melt steak was fabulous!

I hope to tell you more another time, and about Halloween here in India as well.

Love,

the Banglore Blondes - turned - "Golden-haired family" in Mauritus (as
our boat tour guide called us)

Happy Halloween

Hello!
Let me be the first to wish you a Happy Halloween on October 31st!Well, it is already here, so that has to count :)
The girls are off to school, Brian is off to work, I've made mymorning round of the neighborhood with Zach in the stroller, and it isgoing to be one BUSY day! I have Zach's brief attention held by sometoys in this room, and the door is closed, or he'd be an escapeartist...
Today, I have a bunch of errands to run, which I can't startunfortunately until the stores open at 10. Also at that time, ourmaid and cook are coming early today, in preparation for us being gonefor a week. So I need to come up with a complete list of things theyneed to do today. I won't be around hardly at all, with errands, andhelping with Ella's party at school. The nanny is coming early todayto watch Zach while I go paint some scary faces (or some kind anyway)on the kids in Ella's class as they get ready for their Halloweenparty.
Today is also payday, so I need to scare up many thousands of rupeesfor everyone, including a bonus for the big holiday coming up. Afterschool, the kids will get cleaned up, fed snacks, and ready fortrick-or-treating here in Palm Meadows. That reminds me, I need toget these colored Halloween pumpkins, cats, bats, etc, hung outside sothat people know we are a house to get candy at. Not everyoneparticipates, so it needs to be clear that we are participating.
Then, perhaps after Tinkerbelle and Cinderellla and our Jr.Firefighter are all tired out from their adventures and are in bedsleeping, I have to get going on the packing for our beach trip! Say,noone has made any guesses as to where we are going! :) Sacia andElla now know where we're going and can even find it on the map.Here's a clue- it starts with M, and no, it's not Maldives, orMadagascar, but that's a close one! :)
Yesterday, we had conferences with Ella and Sacia's teachers, and itwent so very well. It was great to get super feedback about bothgirls and to see what kind of work theyr'e doing at school. The girlsand Zach were along, but in the hallway most of the time as we talkedwith the teachers, but the girls were feeling very proud.
It's been cooler and rainy here lately, reminds me of home, buteverything is still lush green, and not THAT cool!
We may be out of touch while on our trip, I'm not entirely sure.
Happy Halloween-eve there!


Lots of love,
Heather, Brian, Cinderella, Tinkerbelle, and Jr. Firefighter

Nandi Hills

Hello!

We visited a beautiful area to the north of Bangalore, about an hour
drive from here, called Nandi Hills. It was nice to get out and see
the countryside and the view from the top of the very high hills.



Sacia was the most excited as we were climbing the roads up the hills.
"WOW, we're really high up!!" There were something like 40 or 50
hairpin curves to the top. Ella was less enthused, but with a little
help, eventually explored the area with us. I kept Zachary safe in
the sling until we were far, far, far from the huge cliffs with
absolutely no safety fence of any sort. We later learned that those
cliffs were the execution places for prisoners long ago. How nice...!

We walked around the rocky hill top, taking in all the views, and
frequently passing groups of monkeys. At one point when we were 10
feet or so away from the edge, Zach's hat blew off in the wind. Whew!
Luckily a nice man picked it up for us, or it would have soon blown
over the edge. There I was with Zach in the sling, and Sacia's hand
in mine, me holding her ever so carefully!

We stopped only for a Sprite to drink, as we had been warned about
eating food there. Monkeys will steal anything you have, any food
that is. But they are so cute! As we were walking down a path, we
turned around to see a couple who just had their bag of chips snatched
by a hungry monkey.

One interesting plant that was growing in the wild there was the
poinsettia. Very different than seeing it in all the stores before
Christmas in the U.S. So many plants that we have to buy at home, are
growing in the wild here.

Somehow the drive back seemed extra long. I think it was due to an
unhappy little boy...






Oh, once again, it is GREAT having a driver! As we were driving up
and down the hill, both Brian and I could enjoy the views, not even
one of us having to worry about the road in front of us... And having
2 people to appease the hungry, tired children while driving can't
hurt either.

More to come soon! Check again!

Heather

Our Palace visit and Indian Jungle Safari and other updates

Hello once again! It's been a busy week, and I've slowly been working on this adventure for you to read...

And now... what you've all been waiting for...! The weekend adventure update! By now, you've probably seen all 239 pictures on www.ellaanne.com - at least the small version anyway! That was only about 1/4 of all the pictures taken on our trip (900-something). We got a better feel for India, not just what is here in and out of Bangalore (Hey! That's that great OWC book's title -- In and Out of Bangalore!) We experienced other villages and cities, and everything in between, the Indian jungle (not quite what I had envisioned in my head), nice roads, not so nice roads, roads up to the top of foothills in the jungle, and much more.

It really does take traveling around for some distance to get a good understanding where we really are in this big world! What a beautiful place it is, and I feel so blessed that we are able to see what is here on this side of it! We're anxious to see much more!

Friday morning, I convinced Brian not to go into work, as he'd just have 2 wasted hours in the car (1 there, 1 back). Instead he worked from home. He also learned the proper procedure for taking time off here. It seems you must apply for the forms first, then fill them out to ask for permission to take vacation days.

We left here around 12 noon, stopped to get some cash (lots of rupees!), and then made a grocery stop for some bottled water and snacks for the car (Nature Valley granola bars! and others). Then it was off to school to pick up some excited girls, who had no idea where we were going (except the name of the first city, Mysore, which had no meaning for them). It then took over 2 hours to just get out of Bangalore, not that traffic was terrible, just that it is an absolutely huge city (especially with no Interstate highways to fly past...).

At some point on the road, there is a well-known coffee shop that is the last good place to stop for restrooms (and coffee, etc.), Coffee Day. We enjoyed some chocolate covered doughnuts (medium mistake!--chocolate, especially warm runny chocolate, is hardly ever a great idea with kids!) and some frappes and drinks. Of course, the kids were adored by everyone, especially Zachary. Everyone here just LOVES him! He enjoys all the attention as well.

Eventually we made good use of the built-in DVD player in our Toyota Innova, and the kids enjoyed some movies from home, "Fantasia" and "Toddler Tunes." They were great, being just music and songs, so Zach could enjoy and be entertained as well.

AFter the CoffeeDay stop, it was back on the road again, for another 1 1/2 hours or so. We arrived at the Lalitha Mahal Palace, where some friends had recommended staying. The very large parking lot was totally EMPTY! It was a bit strange, but then again, nice to have the place so quiet and relaxing. The kids enjoyed exploring all the different areas, especially the large terrace outside our room on the first level. We had bought Ella a pink outfit to match Sacia's blue one from International Day, and the girls paraded around the palace like royalty!



We didn't eat at the restaurant there, as dinner didn't start until 8pm, as is very common all around here. Instead, we drove into town (that is, Murthi took us!) to another hotel restaurant to eat. After that, it was bedtime for the kids. The only downside to the hotel was that we thought there would be 2 beds, being a "double suite." Well, the one beautiful 4 poster bed worked just fine, especially once Ella was moved over to the chaise.

In Mysore, we visited the stunning Maharaja's Palace, but were sad to have to leave the camera with our driver. No cameras allowed inside. Zach tried a few times to go under the guide rope to more interesting places... It was very much like a museum in many ways, lots of artwork on the walls, carved walls and pillars, painted murals on ceilings, and beauty all around.

We decided to start off to Bandipur, so we could arrive in time for the 4 pm safari. We saw lots of beautiful countryside scenery, workers in the fields, herds of sheep/goats/cattle in the road, coconut vendors, and so many gorgeously painted bullock carts. As we headed up into the foothills, we were greeted by 3 elephants, who were chained to something near the road, so as to welcome all the visitors to the National Forest.

We finally found Tusker Trails, and moved into our cottage, then changed into our safari gear -- green tops with jeans. We had been read that we shouldn't wear white or red, as it would attract unwanted attention from the animals, and elephants didn't like one of the colors... Our evening safari was pretty uneventful, (that is, after a monkey climbed up the side of our vehicle to the canopy, then eventually into the tree) -- only seeing a few animals every 20 minutes or more. We saw gaurs (Indian bison), some black-faced langur monkeys, a few other small animals, and FINALLY, as the safari drew to an end, our first real wild ELEPHANT!! We were glad to be up in a large vehicle, as we were only 20 feet away from this magnificent creature in its habitat! It was a great end to the first jungle safari.

We had read that the best time to see elephants and other wildlife here is in the dry season, springtime, when the greenery is not so abundant. As we were driving through the jungle, there were these massive bushes of flowers everywhere, very much looking like lantana at home, and it really did make it difficult to see any further.

In the morning was another safari, so we awoke nice and early (6 am) to go again, this time on a smaller vehicle, a "Gypsy." Our family and a couple from France were the only passengers this time, compared to maybe 15 people the night before. We saw wild boars, eagles, and several elephants this time, but from a farther distance. We drove up the steep, winding road to the top of a nice hill, where the view was absolutely spectacular. And, we were even allowed to get out and walk around, so we spent a good 20 - 30 minutes there. From the top on one side, we saw a small group of elephants, perhaps 200 meters away. The nice man from France took several great shots of our family for us, very nice!



We ate breakfast, then decided we better enjoy the pool and go for a quick swim before we get back into the car to head back to Mysore, then "home". I do have to say it is very strange calling this home now. Well, our bed is here! It's always nice to sleep in one's own bed after traveling! Anyhow, the pool was lots of fun, a little cool, but great! And it ranked WAY up there on the kids' best parts of the weekend -- even perhaps higher than the elephant-sightings and palace stay. It's like when we took the girls to Hawaii years ago -- and they didn't want anything to do with the beach or ocean, only the POOL!

The kids luckily slept most of the drive back to Mysore, where we visited a nice zoo, though with crabby kids... who wanted to be carried. Murthi came along with us inside the zoo, and helped to carry a tired child when needed. And he was our photographer, and our 'manager', as people would want to take pictures of us and with us, and he fielded the questions... they would go on in Kannada...!

Having Murthi along was great. He could speak everyone's language, and tell us what people were saying about us as we walked by... ! He'd tell us that those people were just saying that our children looked like dolls, or that everyone was talking about that baby! Or how tall we were... It was fun to have a translator!




As we drove back to Bangalore, especially when we were driving through Bangalore, I had many interesting insights/realizations. Here we were, comfortably reclined in our seats in the air-conditioned Innova, with the kids watching a movie. All around us were people crowded into buses, or stuffed in tractor-pulled carts. How incredibly spoiled (though thankful!) I felt. All over the world, things are done so differently, it's really inspiring to see!

Here ends the Bandipur - Mysore adventure! More to come again soon!

Heather

International Day at INDUS

Today was International Day at Indus, and what a culturally diverse day it was! (This time around there will be less typing and more posting of pictures to tell about it!) There were 6 countries represented by the different grade levels: India, Papua New Guinea, Jamaica, Brazil, Japan, and China.

Sacia's class represented India, so she wore Indian-style clothing (that I bought for her yesterday), a very pretty blue tie-top with a long skirt. She was so excited for her song and performance, and did a fabulous job! All the children in her class looked so cute in their Indian dress.

Ella's class represented Jamaica, and 6 from her class (including Ella) put on a play involving animals, a mossy rock, and falling over! Ella was the giraffe, and performed wonderfully! They also had a song and dance, most of which I was able to video, while managing to keep Zach from running off, and taking pictures, and feeding Zach snacks, and and and!

Other highlights were the costumes by the 1st graders, adorable hula girl and boy outfits. The class representing China had a beautiful dragon with colorful students dancing underneath. All the students did such a nice job!

It was just a wonderful program by the prep-1 through 5th graders, so colorful, interesting, and fun! Parents were to dress in costume for one's country, but what is an American 'costume'? Jeans and t-shirts?! I wore capris and a sweater tank top. There were many beautifully dressed people, including Indians in saris, a gorgeous Japanese mother in costume, a European woman in some type of bunad or costume (perhaps German?), and others. There was no mistaking that we're definitely not in small-town Minnesota!

I hope you enjoy the pictures! I had such fun taking them all!

Heather

Wednesday random pictures

Various pictures to go with the Wednesday posting.

Random Thoughts Wednesday

Everyone is now asleep here, and Brian is again on a call-in with work. We had a new cook come to interview tonight, but it seems her husband is the one who can work our needed hours, so we may give him a try. Our current one is fine, but wants full-time work, and also only can cook Indian food. The husband of the other one supposedly can cook European dishes and others... We'll maybe give him a try over the weekend to see how he is.

I went to a playgroup this morning, and about 10 other moms and toddler-aged kids were there also. I had met maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of them already. One I hadn't met is from CA, and her husband from Eden Prairie, close to our age. They have a 4-5 month old who is nice and chubby just like Ella was at that age! I reassured her that she'll grow out of it, and she is perfect!

I hope tomorrow to go into town to do some shopping, I may have to tell my maid and cook to come later, because it takes so long to get home. We could ride in with Brian, depending on when he leaves. Perhaps I could call a friend in town, and hang out there until stores open.. maybe.

The girls and I are especially enjoying our cook's chapates, which we make up like lefse with brown sugar and butter :)

There was a parade here today, to celebrate the end of the festival for Ganesh's birthday. I got a good video and some nice pictures too, mostly of the group of Indians watching the dancers ahead of the tractor pulling the Ganesh statue. Many families of the people who work here, came to watch and celebrate. It was a great photo-op!

I also hope to get out and shop for some nice potted plants for our steps outside. Hibiscus, and many other tropical plants would be perfect there, and I'm pretty sure they're quite inexpensive. I don't know if the owner here would allow for any new shrubs to be planted or not.

We bought some beautiful carved walnut furniture from a family who is moving and doesn't have a place for the pieces in their new house. I'll send pictures. They just had it waxed so it looks perfectly new. If we have enough weight left in our shipment, it'd be fun to bring some of it home. One of the pieces in particular is just gorgeous. I'm looking into some websites like Pottery Barn to find pieces I like, to have someone here make for us for 1/3 the price.

If there's something you want to know about here, send me an email or comment on this. For now, I just let all the thoughts out...and type!

Heather

Saturday Notes

More notes about the Minnesota State Fair party, our 'staff', and other fun interesting things:

The State Fair party was a lot of fun, meeting lots of other families and people, mostly from MN, but some from other places as well. I felt especially at home when someone walked in with a Concordia t-shirt on, but it was Moorhead, not St. Paul. Still fun! There were lots of little kids there too, and great food. We brought our S'mores ingredients, and people roasted the marshmallows over the coals on the grill, then made the S'mores. They were a big hit, since marshmallows and hershey's bars, and graham crackers are hard to come by in India. Everyone wanted to know where we got them, and we just said Target! :) The marshmallows had worked wonderfully to pack between jars of PB and other things that we brought in one rubbermaid tote from home, with our luggage. But overall, it was a fun party, complete with "MN State Fair arm bands", MN music, a 'tent' set up, and great people (missing you of course!!). Thanks to Tom and Tracy!

We haven't gotten to do much shopping for the house yet, just necessities like silverware, some dishes, other kitchen stuff, and some more transformers. I'm anxious to do some more furniture looking, and picking out drapes and such, but it will be challenging, going into town with Zach (long drive) and shopping with him, as you know how he loves to run and climb! But getting to spend our furniture allowance $$$ will be fun!

This last week I really had to be at home almost all the time, because we had our maid and cook just starting, and I wasn't comfortable at all yet leaving them unattended in my house. This week, I'm having them start later, and perhaps I'll give them a day off so I can just go to town, and not worry about anything/having to get back in time...

I did hire a nanny, just from 4 until 7;30 or 8, so that I can get the kids all home from the bus, fed, homework done, watched while playing outside, and bathed and to bed before Brian comes home... It's just crazy, I feel so strange paying someone so little. It's right now less than 1$ an hour, but she doesn't have any experience, and it's slightly more than my maid makes per hour . The kids do already enjoy her, she's young (20) and very kind and helpful. Her name is Menika (May-Nick-a, like Monica). We'll see how it works out having her help, but I think it will be wonderful!

(Just for comparison, a good full-time salary here is 10-15,000 rupees a month, which is $250-375/month).

Our cook is Mamtha, and she's also very nice. We've worked on having her dropping out all the strong spices for now, especially the chilis, but will gradually add some later once the kids eat it! The favorite now has been the chipates (spelling?), which we've treated like lefse at home, adding butter and brown sugar. Mmmm!! She's also made masala chicken, masala rice, some yogurt type dish, and more. She only knows how to make Indian food, but if we show her, she can learn some others. We'll see how it works for us as well. It is nice having everything made, the table set, and the food ready to eat! And maybe the best part is that after all that, the kitchen is cleaned!

The maid's name is Komala, and she has been very helpful as well. There are many things that I need to show her, such as the way I want my toilets cleaned. She was basically just doing a lot of spraying with the sprayer by the toilets, and everything (including the $1/roll t.p.) was getting just wet, and left that way (yuck, a wet seat!). I've showed her how to run the washer and the dishwasher also now, but she still needs direction. Hopefully that will change too, as we get into a routine. She uses a straw-type style broom, which Zach loves to borrow and help with!

I can't leave out our driver, Murthi! From the day we met him, he was very friendly and confident. The kids are warming up to him, but mostly he's driven Brian to and from work. His English is pretty good, but sometimes it's the phrasing that is tough to understand what he means. He's taken care of such things as picking up items for the cook, helping with some household shopping, translating for the other 'staff', and watching Zach or the others outside for just a bit. I hope things continue to go well with all of our help.

The toughest part of having all the help is communicating with them, as their English really isn't great. A lot of repeating, restating, and having our driver translate is needed! His English is better. It is funny when everyone else starts chattering in Kannada (local language). The cook and maid actually knew each other before they started working here, so they are very chatty!

I've been a bit disappointed in our shopping, that the selection here isn't what I would have hoped for. It's interesting, that so many things sold in the U.S. are made here, but the variety I've found here just doesn't match up. They do have most things here, but the quality and selection just isn't up there. And the strangest things are very expensive, like (I've heard) an ironing board costs $100. Just a simple, basic one. Other things, like a loaf of bread (which the variety is lacking...) costs 16 rupees, or less than 50 cents.

Our house is so empty still, empty walls that ECHO echo echo echo! I'm anxious to get some color schemes going for coordinating everything! Of course, I'll need some room to be green! Then curtains, cushions, couches, and decor. I looked at some beautiful ornately carved wooden furniture today that is for sale by someone moving out... I think we'll go for it. It's very special, I think from Kashmir, and will be fun to have while we're here. More exciting than something plain, and we might as well enjoy some interesting Indian handiwork-- for the same price as something new but same-same-same-boring!

Oh, we finally have music! Much nicer than just quiet (when kids are sleeping only of course!) or tv noise. Right now it's streaming internet 80's music, but Brian also copied over 100 CDs from home onto some DVDs, so I have lots of music from home, which really is comforting! Anything familiar like that is so neat! Even just seeing a little girl today wearing a tank top from Target, and a helmet like Sacia's from Target was neat. In the city, like at the mall, there is so little that's familiar, and we really are a center of attention there. Here, there are many families like ours, and it's a great feeling to feel like we fit in!

So, Ella and Sacia, (and we as well), now are making friends with children from Minnesota, Germany, Australia, Finland, England, California, Boston, and many more that I don't even know. It's really just amazing! They've been having fun being so close by to other kids here. Sacia has played a few times now with a 4-year-old neighbor girl, Sanchee, from Boston. We have had some trouble with them just going out... gotta use the deadbolts on the door tops more often! But we're always here, and notice it quickly! When people, such as our driver, come in, they often leave the door open, and Zach just zooms on over to escape! He's enjoying riding his bike, and pushing the stroller also, down the sidewalk and back. We are very lucky, too, that it is very safe here! No stray dogs, holes in the sidewalks, busy traffic, etc!

The kids are sleeping, the Nestle eclair wrappers are piled up next to the laptop.... They're almost gone now, so that must be my clue that it's time to wrap this up! Keep sending me your updates, I LOVE to hear back from all of you! We miss everyone very much!

Heather

We are in our house!

Hello again!

Sorry to keep you waiting so long for the next Indian update! It has taken several days to get all the important things needed in the house! But we are here, living in Palm Meadows! Our rental furniture (that we chose for a month until we can do some other looking) arrived shortly after we did, so now we have a place to sit, eat, and sleep! For all of $80 for the month, it's not bad! Not much for comfort, but the dining set is quite decent. When we got here, however, there was no cooking gas, and that took a few days and many phone calls to get. Our red Toyota Innova that we picked out last month arrived, complete with a ribbon down the center, and a box of chocolates! The 'villa' had a television already, but cable took a few days to hook up as well. There really wasn't much we could do, without more of the kids' toys, a working tv, a club membership, a cook (especially since there wasn't gas to cook with!), and the all-important INTERNET!

Our shipment did arrive, and Brian was home to help unpack AND make sure DSL was installed that day. It took many many days of calling, calling, calling to get it all hooked up. It was great to have the kids' toys, and our KING-size American pillow-top mattress to sleep on! The mattresses here are not much of anything. But, ahhh, what comfort to sleep on our own bed, and our own sheets and down comforter! Also very strange to make that bed here, and to put all our clothes in the closets here, and the kids toys... It's quite a realization that we aren't here for just a short time. It's slowly sinking in. I've been having dreams of home, thinking of places and people that are surely missed. I think we really miss knowing how things work and what is going on, and of course, people speaking GOOD English!!! How great it would be to see any of you tomorrow!!!

The second day in our house, I got a great box delivered by a small UPS truck. I had ordered some shorts from Eddie Bauer, clearance of course, after figuring out that they COULD ship to India, and they arrived MUCH faster than I had imagined! (hmm, now I seem to have learned that Gymboree will do the same!--- and Ella DOES need shorts! they don't have much here for that). The last time I had checked, the estimated delivery date said Dec 13!! So I was pleasantly surprised, and very glad that we had indeed moved into the house, or I wouldn't have gotten it!

The girls are beginning to really enjoy school, and not dread it tearfully. The first 2 days riding the bus were very difficult, (for Ella especially) but things are looking brighter. Ella learned on Friday, after coming home to Palm Meadows, that an Australian girl in her class lives just across the street from us! So Jana (Yana) and Ella have played together quite a bit, and often walk to the bus together. Zach enjoys waving good-bye, but more so delightfully waving "HELLO" to his sisters when the bus drives up to the clubhouse to drop off the kids after a long day. He misses them so! At bedtime when we say prayers, Zach enthusiastically names "ELLA" and "Daddy" and "ELLA" and "Mommy" and "ELLA" and sometimes other people get added to, when we say, "God Bless..."

We've met so many wonderful people and families here. It really comes alive after 4:30 when all the kids start arriving home from school. The streets are busy with kids riding bike and playing, until the mosquitoes force everyone in an hour later, and everyone shuts up all the windows before they do the fogging for mosquitos. Walking the girls to and from the bus has been a very nice time to meet the other parents in the neighborhood, and to learn everything that's going on. We have neighbors from India, from Australia, from Germany, from Boston, from all over! It's really amazing.

Tomorrow there is a 'morning coffee' for IBM expats at someone's home maybe 1 hour away. Several people from here are going, including 2 neighbors. There definitely are a lot of IBMer's here, along with Target!

**there goes the electricity again!! crazy**********

We're anxiously waiting to get to use the clubhouse. All the pools have been very tempting lately, as it's been humid and very warm. We can go as guests with others here, (but would like to go when we please.) Our membership is 'in-progress' in HR. We've used the pool once (Ella twice!) with a friend, and enjoyed it very much.

More another time! I'll tell you about our maid, cook, and driver, and by then I may have my much-needed nanny (just for the time between school and bedtime so I can help Ella with homework and feed and put all 3 kids to bed before Brian comes home nice and late)....

I need some sleep! Missing you all! Send updates from there PLEASE! It's amazing how just reading about directions to somewhere in Rochester, or seeing pictures from home can make my day!

Love to you all,

Heather