Wet.

One of my favorite Winnie the Pooh movies is The Blustery Day.

"The rain, rain, rain
came down, down, down
in rushing rising rivlets."

Well, as we were going to sleep last night it was raining and thundering, and lightning was striking all around. We went to sleep to the sound of pouring rain and woke up to the same sound.... almost.

Bryan got up and discovered water on the floor in the living room. It was coming from upstairs, cascading down the three stories like a nice little water fall. When we went up we discovered this

Water was pouring down from the ceiling, along the wall

and was about 1 inch deep throughout the entire room. My craft room.

If you look closely, you can see the puddling

I grabbed a push broom and started pushing the water towards the floor drain in the bathroom (one typical Indian housing feature I am very grateful for!) and Bryan went to figure out where the water was coming from -as it was no longer raining outside! He turned off all of the pumps for the water tanks and the water stopped coming!!! I'll have to explain how the water systems work here in another post, but I was most grateful for a stop to the cascading falls.

I started pulling things out to dry and when Lalitha arrived she helped as well. It could have been far worse. Some of my knitting got damp, but not wet.


My spinning wheel was, fortunately, against the dry wall so it only needed to be wiped off.


My Scrapbooking materials did not fare as well. They were right underneath the main leak and some items absorbed quite a bit of water.


And the thing I am quite thankful for is that sweet Lalitha had put most of my yarn and fiber away here last week

I have to say that while the day started out quite bad, I am feeling much better now. Just when I was feeling incredibly frustrated by everything that had happened, Lalitha came in with a plate of Idlis and chutney for me. She was sharing her lunch with me. I have to admit that I really needed someone to do something nice for me right at that moment. As she turned away to go eat her lunch out back, I couldn't help it, I started to cry. I was just incredibly touched that she would do that.

And how did this all start? Well it is a bit of a long story that isn't really that interesting, but basically the owner flipped a switch she shouldn't have when she was showing Bryan something yesterday. I don't blame her, it was a simple accident. It just happened. But I should add that this came after a faucet broke in the servant's toilet and the water ran and ran and ran, until it ran the water tank it was connected to completely dry (leaving our kitchen and guest bathroom without water as well.)

Now- I need to go attend to a drip in the bathroom.
Anyone know who the Hindu god of water and/or plumbing is?

UPDATE: It happened again! So, there is definitely something broken- but we think we have a better idea of what it is - so now we can pass that information to someone who can (hopefully!) fix it. Keep your fingers crossed!

It's All About the Love

Warning...knitting related content ahead ;)

I realized something on Friday. I realized that knitters almost always get along well because they share a love.

A love for COLOR

A love for TEXTURE

A love for PATTERNS and NATURAL GEOMETRY

I realized this when I met Rima. Rima is a lovely young woman who found me through Ravlery- and asked if I wanted to get together some time. She is from Bangalore and is currently living in New York City, but is here until March visiting her family. Well- being the far too home bound person that I am at present I jumped at the opportunity to get out of the house and do something with a like minded individual. So a plan was hatched for her to show me some of the craft related stores in and around Commercial Street.

Now, Commercial Street deserves its own post some day as it is really something, but- not today. Today is all about the crafty stuff. So, we met and headed for the first shop, Ravi's Craft Shop. I didn't really know what to expect as I had only visited one other yarn related shop in Bangalore before (Bombay Embroidery Store in Raja Market on Avenue Road). Ravi's is different. For one thing it was larger - take a look:

Yes, this is larger! And they have a LOT in this store. Fabric, sequins, ribbon, embroidery floss/thread, pattern books, Sari "falls", and of course- yarn. This really is a full fledged craft store. Word from Rima is that they are very reasonably priced and won't try to "fleece" you (always love that term in relation to knitting!). We throughly checked out the store and Rima bought a few things.

Now the next store, Surya Emporium, looked to have a better selection of yarn and larger quantities as well. Yes- it is all acrylic- but it did at least look to be decent acrylic and not the really cheap scratchy stuff. They even had some nice looking lace weight here! And of course, crochet thread...
They also had some sequins.. and beads! I like beads. It's all my mom's fault...

We then walked around and looked at some of the fabric stores. Wow. Indian textiles are absolutely gorgeous! Rima showed me some of the nicer stores and all I can say is that I am now contemplating getting a sewing machine. It would be heavenly to work with some of these fabrics. And I did bring some sewing books with me (somehow I had a feeling...)

On the other hand, I can also buy some textile items made by others! And Rima was able to help there as well. Turns out a good friend of hers, Nasir, runs a shop called Zara on Commerical Street that deals in fabrics for curtains, upholstery and the like. They also have a floor of ready made items. They have some of the most drool worthy textiles I have seen here. I was really bummed that I have already had most of the curtains done for the house as the fabrics here are far nicer!!! (I do have one room that still needs drapery though... I think I am going to have to go back there!) Look at some of the silk quilts they have.


The ones draped over the banister/handrail are made out of recycled saris. I LOVE the blue one!

Rima has also blogged about our visit here and and even has some pictures from our delicious lunch. Yes- she was even smart enough to have pictures of us. Somehow I spaced on getting a nice picture of her. Bad blogger. I will though... we are hoping to get together again soon.

Now on to other yarn related things. First, while you may have caught a glimpse of this in my list post I want to chose you a closer look of what I have been knitting:

This is the test knitting project for Cookie I have been working on and all I can say is that it looks to be a really fun pattern! She is currently looking for other test knitters so you can check out her (and Kristi's!) blog for more details if you are interested.

More knitter news... it's almost time for (insert drumroll)

Do you remember this from last year? I do. The late nights, the cramped fingers and sore wrists, the sometimes confusing patterns, the tension and stress as we raced against other knitters sometimes half a world, and perhaps an advantageous time zone away. And you know what? I wouldn't miss it for the world. Sign ups are under way for all who participated last year and will open for new participants on February 15 th. So, what do you think? Have you got the balls? ;)

So I will leave you now with a sunset. My own Saturday Sky. A happy day to you all!

Taken from my rooftop...

Ladder Day Saints

Quick post here but check it out! The workers finally arrived to install the lighting fixture in the dining room. So, in the "some things never cease to amaze me" category...

They needed a ladder to reach the equivalent of a two story ceiling:


Yes, that is two ladders, one made out of some type of local wood, the other of bamboo and they have put them together and are holding them in place. So the electrician is getting ready in the above photo and below he heads up the ladder with the fixture in hand while the guys hold the ladder for him.

Here is the brave soul installing the fixture.

Now here I think I need to say something important. When I see things like this I am amused, yes. But I am also amused by our reliance, well obsession really, in the West with safety and technology. This would never be done in the US. But in a way I think that we have robbed ourselves of a lot of creativity. This was an excellent, low cost and quite safe solution to the problem of how to hang this fixture. Yes, I am amused, but I am also impressed.

Next time? Knitting content!

A Day in the Life...

Whenever anyone heard that we were going to be moving to India, the inevitable question was, "So what are you going to do?" Well the current answer to that question is:

...sitting at home, going a little stir crazy, spending too many days of my life waiting for electricians, painters, carpenters and the like who have arranged to come to make finishing touches on the house...but they never show.

I have to remember, "tomorrow" just means not today.

Very frustrating.

But, our shipment arrived and ..... (drumroll)... I have my yarn! My fiber! My spinning wheel! Also all of the other necessary things like a blocking board, yarn swift, etc... My swift was damaged in the shipment and now I am a little afraid to check my spinning wheel.

It is starting to feel like a normal house though. We have our stuff. We have TV and I even watched the last quarter of the Super Bowl! That was a pretty awesome quarter to catch. And now, I am able to keep up with all of the Super Tuesday goings on.

The neighborhood here is a fairly nice one by Indian standards. By nice I mean that there are nice houses here. There isn't a lot of greenery like I am used to, but the houses are all fairly large and full of household help and such. I have had a stream of women coming by looking for work and had one woman who wanted to work full time for 3500 rupees/ month (less than $100 USD). I think she was even looking for a "live in" position. But I had already heard about another woman who was looking for a full time position, had experience with another expat family and spoke excellent English (much, much more helpful to me!!!!). So, Lalitha started working on Monday and is a real dear. She can clean far better and much faster than I am able to and I feel like all of the dust and grunge that we have been walking on for the last week is finally starting to get cleared away. Well worth the more than 3500 Rs. we have agreed to pay her.

So, while I am India, charming, exotic locale that it is; the hanging around the house part feels pretty mundane and uninteresting.


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

But still, some things are different. For example, some of what I have become aware of by being around the house are the day to day goings on of the neighborhood. We have the lady who comes by in the morning selling little garlands of flowers, the garbage truck comes by at around 10. Wait. I have to tell you about that. Garbage.

So, at home garbage is very organized. You get two large containers. One is black and is for garbage, one is green and is for garden and lawn waste. In addition to that you have containers to put your recycling into. Paper, plastic, cans, styrofoam.... you know. Recycling. Pick up is every Thursday.

So - back to India. I knew that garbage collection was a little different and that for some areas one of the perks of having household help is that they are the ones who have to deposit the garbage somewhere. Now, this being the nice area that it is that doesn't happen around here. Well...yeah. But I finally asked the owner, "So, what about garbage?" She told me to just put it out in a bag - well actually she said a covered bin which after some back and forth I realized that she meant a bin with a plastic bag, but you don't leave the bin out, just the bag. "So, when?" I asked. In the morning was her response. Well, after a few days I realized that she was right. In the morning. Every morning. A little truck (kind of like a Vespa with a large box on back) comes by and collects the trash. On Sunday they came by to collect the fees as well. 50 rupees. (about $1.50 USD) A month. And you know what? I think we are being overharged.

Another person who comes by is the milk delivery man. Now, he comes by early. 6:30 am early. I am not usually real awake then... but he did come by later in the day and ask if we wanted milk delivery. It is done on a token system. So, we bought a little book of tokens and every night I put out a token, in a plastic bag, under a rock (so it doesn't blow away) and in the morning there is a half liter of milk! Pasteurized but not homogenized and some of the best milk I have had. Check out the packaging though...
When I first saw these in the grocery store I was confused as to what they were. Finally we realized- but we stuck to the milk in the boxes. We just couldn't get our heads around how you would deal with milk in a... well, a bag. I have to admit that I am still working on mastering the finer points of how to pour without dribbling. But the real lovely thing about the milk is this...

South Indian Filter Coffee
yum.

And the Winner Is....

Well I apparently need to thank Cindy of Cindy Knits and Janice of Knit Flix for also giving me the Make My Day award! I guess it is time for me to name names huh? And I think I am grateful that I have received the award more than once because that means that I can give it to even more people!

The rules are as follows: “Give the award to 10 people whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blogland. Let them know by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times.”

Can I tell you all how hard this is?! I am going to go over 10 since I have received the award more than once, and I am sticking to people who blog on a fairly regular basis... family members excluded from winning :)

So, without further ado and in no real particular order I would like to award:

The Knitist: Have to. It was she who first introduced me to blogs, social knitting and Bobaknit. I cannot imagine my life without those connections. Thank you Jeni!!!!!!! Muah! (I miss you!)

Knitters Anonymous: Cookie and Kristi always have something beautiful and inspiring to share. They are also very good at inspiring much sheep related fun and goodness! Port affectionatos.

Fiber Fiend: Margit is an up and coming designer, fiber and yarn supplier, an inspiring spinner and just an all around fun person!

The Wonderful World of Teenuh: TeeNUH is an awesome friend, a great Bobaknit retreat roommate and an amazing creative person (she makes some really cool paper products as well!!!)

Twisted Stitches: Lisa has taken to writing blog posts to her Grandma who taught her how to knit. I love her style and am glad that she is no longer calling herself a beginning knitter. She is doing some awesome projects and is really inspiring!

Knit-topia: Jill knits on the train and makes some absolutely beautiful things as well. She has been known to inspire a deep appreciation for Port. Not as innocent as she looks ;)

Knit@nite: Ah, Linda. Linda is best shared and enjoyed in person but I think you are able to catch a glimpse of her witty self through her blog as well.

Needles and Niels: Abigail is surrounded by boys and men and keeps her humor by knitting (in non animal fibers!) many cute and creative things. She is never afraid to rip things out, change a pattern or otherwise spit in the face of the knitting gods!

No-Blog Rachel: yeah right. She caved. Not only does she blog, she knits, spins and also enjoys a good port!

Spinnity: Mary is not contrary, she is a wonderful hostess, birder, knitter, spinner and has an incredible wealth of knowledge that she is always willing to share!

Purls Beyond Price: What can I say, she is beautiful inside and out, has a new baby girl (who is enjoying many beautiful hand knit things!) and is also very good at encouraging stash enhancement!!!

Seltsame: Sheetal can whip out knitted items faster than I can keep track. I still can't figure out how she gets all of her patterns onto her computer, but somehow in doing seems able to alter a pattern at the click of a button.

Phew... can I keep going? There is more, but now I'm going international!

Pikku Kettu: From Finland, she makes some beautiful things and is one of several knitters who I discovered through Sock Madness (Madness 2 is coming!!!!)

Dances With Wool: Also from Finland, Lene is a beautiful writer, an incredible artist in many forms, and always inspires me with her thoughtful creations.

Yarnissima: From the Netherlands. Proof that a picture is worth a thousand words. Her designs speak for themselves. Beautiful.

Celtic Memory Yarns: Jo is from Ireland, is another Sock Madder and is a talented writer and sells some beautiful hand dyed yarns on eBay as well! What a witty woman (and definitely has the Irish gift for the gab!)

Linnkat: Okay, she is another Sock Madness participant as well as an American currently living in Kenya amongst all of the upheaval that is going on there at the moment. Interesting to hear what she sees and observes.

How about a few more? Ready....Okay!

Now we are heading to India. Yes, people blog in India! First we have...

Metroblog Bangalore: My daughter actually discovered this site for me and I am very grateful that she did. It features a group of authors who post about happenings in and around Bangalore. It really helped me to get a sense for the city before we came. And then there's...

Bangalore Daily Photo: Rajesh posts a photo a day along with some comments about the subject. Again, this blog has helped me to get to know Bangalore a little better and is much enjoyed.

Bangalooru Banter: Bikerdude is a talented writer and also seems to have a bit of comedic genius. Now I just need some one to translate the Kannada jokes for me!

Chitra Aiyer: Not only does Chitra share her experiences about returning to India from the US, in proof that the world is indeed quite small, apparently our husbands used to be co-workers and know each other!

Where is She Now: Thanks to Ravelry I discovered one of the few KNITbloggers in India, Swampna has helped me to feel like I am not the only knitter in India!! (okay, okay, she also crochets!)

Road Blog Ahead: Joy was another Ravelry discovery and leads a life that is fascinating, a bit crazy and definitely inspiring.

And finally...

I Love This World: This site always makes me smile and appreciate something about this crazy world that we live in. Good to read after a bad news day.

Thanks for reading this far. Please check out some of these blogs, I promise you you won't regret it!

Next time I will tell you about our house and our neighborhood!

Go ahead...

Before I go any further there is something that I must do.

First I need to thank all of you who have left comments. Usually I try to respond individually to each comment and I simply have not been able to keep up with that lately. Your presence here is appreciated and helps very much to keep loneliness at bay! Thank you, Thank you, thank you!

Secondly I need to thank Sarah at Bella Knitting. She gave me an award!


Sarah, you're a sweetheart and I am enjoying sharing my adventure with all of you!!!!
I am going to have to wait a bit to pass on the award to others...but I promise I won't forget!

So- where were we? I had had a lovely day last week and ever since then life has showed its mundane-everyday life-get on with it side. Well... Indian style.

We have our residential permits.
I have a sim card with an Indian number.
I got a NEW cell phone :)
We have been looking at furniture.
I bought plates and bowls.
I bought cups.
I bought silverware
I ordered curtains for our house.
Anna said she was actually craving Indian food.
We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe.


Yes. It has been quite a week filled with a lot of driving, waiting in traffic and me trying not to get stressed but check it out...

We have keys!

I have never in my life had so many keys. Each and every door has a lock. Not sure if it paranoia or necessity. But it is certainly rather ironic for someone who never carries house keys and tends to leave things unlocked.

Yes folks, the days of "shifting" (Indian English for "moving") will be upon us soon. I was at the house today and I made a list of all of things that still need to be finished but then later realized that while there a lot of things, they are all little things. Tomorrow, hopefully, we will get some furniture in the house and then the plan is to actually sleep there Friday night. We might not have gas (for cooking), we won't have an internet connection (shall have to find a Wifi spot!), but we will have a house to call ours for the next two years!


So, I shall make this a brief post as I am dog tired and got little sleep last night but I do want to share with you some of the many everyday sights I get to experience as I am driving all over this traffic filled "rash" driver city...

Bangalore wild life:
Driving along. Minding our own business and what do we see?

Yup. Camels.

Then on another excursion we were stuck in traffic (it's true- shocking- but true) and I looked over and saw a small herd of goats! They were sort of grazing in an empty area next to these shops. What is with the goats?! Traffic moves on a little and then I see...

If you look closely you will see and understand. Goats = mutton. Did I tell you it is really easy to be a vegetarian in India?

But one of my favorite sites has got to be this. Could not believe it...

That says KenTACKY Fried Chicken. We laughed and laughed so hard! Then we had to try to explain it to our driver. Made my day!

An Artful Eventful Day

Mornings here in Bangalore have a real beauty to them. The sounds of the neighborhood and city start to creep into your consciousness as you lie in bed. The local dogs barking to defend their territory, the auto rickshaws starting to buzz down the street, it all adds up to a gentle push to awaken and join the fun and adventure that wait for you today.

And what a day it was! First, I need to tell you that I have been successfully crossing "that street" all week in order to take Anna to the school bus. I am not nearly as brave as the locals, but I manage and can even do it in the afternoon with the heavier traffic - the rickshaws, buses, scooters and cars all passing inches away from me. It is quite exciting! ;)

Now, Wednesday was a really special day. I met up with Debbie Ann and Charles (both of whom I met through blogging before I even came to Bangalore!) and had a traditional South Indian breakfast. Masala Dosa and filter coffee- yum! This is quickly becoming one of my favorite meals! Then we dropped Charles at work and headed off to a "road trip" organized by the OWC. When I saw this trip I knew I had to go since one of my personal tasks while I am here in Bangalore is to discover if I still have a passion and interest in art. (I attended- though never graduated from art school when I was younger.) We went to the studio/home of Balan Nambiar. Wow. I am so glad that I went! He is a painter, sculptor, enamel artist, photographer and researcher. He is very influenced by his upbringing in rural Kerala and was a fascinating, interesting, and kind man. I sincerely hope that I might be able to have some future interactions with him. Debbie has written a little write up of our experience there, you can go read it if you would like to know more about him.

Well, after we were done Debbie suggested that we head over to Chitrakala Parishath. It is a local art school and has a museum that exhibits traditional and modern Indian art. They wouldn't let me take my camera inside, but I can tell you that I was very impressed with much that I saw and also enjoyed the student exhibit and the exhibit from Kolkata by the Spectrum Artists' Circle.

Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

After we were done in the museum we wandered around the campus a bit and saw some fun sites:

A pillar with decoration

A student(?) sculpture

Dog resting outside and open air classroom

And then we saw......

A MONKEY!!!

This one is for you Margit!

Monkeys and Malleswaram

Hello again! So, there are lots of cool little things about India and Bangalore. Like these. These are little bananas. I know that they have a variety name but I can't remember it and I didn't write it down. They are very tasty and just really cute!

So, as you know we are not allowed to drive here. Company policy. Fine by me. Driving here is best left to professionals. Or so we thought. Last week our new car arrived on Friday morning. It had a new stereo and had newly tinted windows (mostly to offer Anna a non fishbowl experience while driving around). With our new car came our new driver, Manju. Friday was fine and our new car was decked out with garlands and a new little statue of Gansha or Vinayaka. (sorry the pic didn't come out better) But, more on Manju later...

After we dropped off Bryan and took Anna to school I decided that I wanted to explore the Malleswaram area. We are not going to be living there, but it isn't too far from our area. As we were driving into the area we passed by a temple that looked as if it was dedicated to Hanuman, more widely known as the monkey god. This is a very cool looking temple and as I was checking it out I noticed that there were monkeys crawling over the face of the temple! Unfortunately I did not get any pictures since we were just driving by and I had no idea it was there. I will try to go back another time though. It is a very interesting temple and the monkeys make it a must see!

Once we reached the market area I got out at 8th cross and Sampige Road and just started walking around and exploring. It was still early and many of the stores and carts were just starting to open up- but it was really nice to just wander around and look at everyday life here. I did see this temple and later heard the priest chanting over the neighborhood loudspeakers...

If you look at the above picture you can see Hanuman (the monkey god) and Vishnu (the blue one with four arms). Sorry that I can't tell you more about the Hindu gods at this time! But I can share this detail of the temple. I just really love all of the designs and decorations!

You also see the modern world coming into this area. As I walked down Sampige Road I came across this. This is where the metro is going to be coming into the area. If I remember correctly this is the line that will go down to MG Road, where Bryan works. (By the way, I think every city in India has an "MG", Mahatma Gandhi, Road.) Watching these types of construction sites, that are everywhere in this city!, is really fascinating.
In the west these types of sites would be filled with many large, loud heavy machines as well as a good amount of large, loud heavy men! Here it is so, so different! Much of the work, for good or bad, is done by hand. There are many more people than machines and there are also many women. At this site there were women who were wearing "hard hats" although the hats had a flat top with a little rim. This is because they were there to carry dirt and such that was being excavated from one place to another. They would line up, receive their bit to carry- loaded onto a cloth or flat surface on their head, and then they would carry it off and come back and wait their turn again. There was one woman in particular who kept looking at me as I was looking at their whole system of working. She was incredibly striking. She was small, but stood tall. She had a very strong and proud face and I would have loved to have sit down and talk with her. If she would have been willing. She in no way flinched from my gaze. She was beautiful.

I later wandered back up Sampige to the market area. Here there are many fruit and vegetable vendors, as well as the flowers you see here. A little ways up the street there was an elderly woman who was making up the little white flowered garlands (Jasmine?) like the one that was in a car in the earlier picture. I stood there and watched her work, her fingers moving so quickly and nimbly as she grabbed two flowers, wrapped the thread around one and then made a loop and slipped it over the second flower. You see these women, and occasionally men, on streets everywhere making these and selling them. It seems that vehicles are very commonly garlanded in some way. Small ones for smaller cars and really large ones for trucks and buses!

I also had a real "not in Kansas anymore" experience while sitting down and drinking a bottle of water. I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see

a donkey

walking down the sidewalk.

No owner. No harness or rope of any kind. Just a donkey walking down the sidewalk.
Wild.

So I'll finish with the bad news about our driver. On Saturday Manju arrived and our new car was a bit worse for wear. He had apparently gotten into an accident on the way to get us. Okay. Great. Well, these things happen. Then we went about our errands and were headed back to the apartment and he got into another accident! It was totally his fault too. sigh. So, now he is no longer our driver. I feel a little bad as yesterday he was telling me about his wife and how they have been married for one year and such. But we just felt like we couldn't trust his driving. I think he just wasn't used to driving a car like ours. I do wish him well and hope that he can find good work with someone else. I also hope that we can find a good driver without too much trouble.

Well, I will leave you with another shot from the Malleswaram area for now I am off to meet Anna at her school bus stop! Till next time!

Some of the many "two-wheelers" of Bangalore

Q and A (क्यू ऎंड अ)

Yes, that's right I now have a "type in Hindi" tab at the top of my posting box. Someone needs to let me know if it is correct though!

So, I received so many interesting replies to my last post and a lot of them asked questions, so I thought that a Q and A post would be in order. So, here goes:

Mrs. Fife asks: "what sort of protection will your cats have if they venture out?"
We are actually planning on having the cats stay indoors here. We passed up one house that we looked at solely on this decision. There just would have been no way to keep the cats indoors in that particular house. For one of the cats, Ashley, this is not a problem- she prefers to stay indoors. For Benny it will likely be a bit more of a challenge, but we figure the house we are getting is just like one giant kitty condo anyway!

She also asks: "how's the weather? Do you find it cool at all?"
Compared to California it is not cool, but it is not unbearably hot either. We have noticed that it is getting warmer though and have heard that it quickly starts to warm up this time of year! I was talking with a store owner the other day about how Bangalore used to be referred to as the A/C city because it was naturally cool and people would (gasp!) actually need sweaters in December and January. But apparently, due to all of the building, cutting down of trees, and increased traffic, they have seen a real change in the climate here in the last ten years. Very interesting. And now Tata wants all of those on motorbikes to get a car?! Not so sure this is a good idea...

Linnakat asks: "are your switches the opposite way from in the States?"
Yes! The light and electrical switches are the opposite and there seem to be twice as many! This is because many of the electrical outlets have switches that turn them on and off. If you ask me, this is absolutely brilliant! Although when recharging a cell phone or laptop it helps to remember this and turn ON the switch before going to bed and needing the phone in the morning... :)

Spinalcat asks: OMG, Lush! But how do you use it with crummy showers and no tub?
Actually, I am quite surprised as to how quickly I have adapted and figured this all out! You just get your washcloth and sink it into the water, get your face (or other body part) good and wet, Lushly lather up, and then rinse using the same procedure! I have learned that it is wise to fill up the smaller bucket with water for this purpose- otherwise when you are rinsing out your wash cloth you get the rest of the water a bit yucky. Coolio!

Cookie asks: I'm sure you'll start missing "good old American something" sooner or later. Perhaps yarn? :-)
Just have to say "yes!" to that one. I am very much looking forward to our shipment arriving so that I have my yarn again!!!! I need soft squishy things to fondle!

Well, I guess that is about it for the Q and A. Next time I will tell you about exploring Malleswaram, the wildlife I encountered there, and our new (little too wild) driver.

Oh! And thank you SO much for all of the comments!!! It helps me to feel connected to all of you and to feel less lonely here. Very important ;)

Hello! Or should I say Namaskaar?

Greetings from beautiful Bangalore! Now that everyone at home is heading off to sleep and they are no longer calling me via Skype I have a chance to sit down and tell you all how we have been!

Flame tree (?) outside our flat

It has been a very busy first few days and we are adjusting to everything fairly well. There is so much that I want to share with you that I hardly know where to start! I think I should start with a shower though. Yes, you heard right, a shower. See, at home this is a fairly simple process. Strip, turn on the water and get in and do your business. Well, our first morning here I headed to the bathroom with the intention of doing just that. I stripped, turned on the water and got in. Holy mofo-bejeezus. COLD! Turn right, turn left, still freakin' cold!!!! So I took a very refreshing and quick shower and got out. Well, turns out that there is a water heater that you have to turn on for the shower. That was one of the many, many light switch looking things on the wall. Well, this make sense, India does all that it can- out of necessity- to conserve energy and power in all forms. So usually in each area where hot water would be had will be an individual water heater. Smart.

So, day 2 I turned on the important light switch looking thing, waited about 5-10 minutes and then proceeded with the shower sequence. Ahhh, nice warm water.....wait, it's getting colder... cold again!!! Yikes- that warm water does NOT last very long! Turns out the tank for said water heater is not so large.

Day 3: necessity being the mother of adaptation, we have all switched to taking showers Indian style. This means we turn on the water heater, wait the needed amount of time, and then we fill up a large bucket with the now highly valued warm water. We then use a small bucket/scoop to shower ourselves by hand. Quite effective actually! It sure uses a LOT less water too. I can usually get by with one large bucket full, but need a bit more when I need to wash my hair. Wow. The daily adventures of India!

So, we are currently staying in a flat in the Southern part of Bangalore, Koramangala. It is a very busy area and getting anywhere is quite a challenge. For example, we are very close to one of the larger, nicer malls in Bangalore- it would be a short walk from here. Except that we would have to cross this very busy street. Now doing this in a safe way takes a bit of practice I think, and I don't feel like I am quite up to it yet! So we haven't been there, even though there is supposed to be a good coffee place there (and a Lush, and a movie theater...). I am going to have to brave it one of these day though. In the meantime I am enjoying the view from our balcony as Bryan has the car/driver today...

Here is one of the neighborhood strays...


And here is our flat!
This is actually the second flat we have been in. When we first arrived we were in another, far less pleasant- alright, downright dingy - apartment that smelled rather bad. Then on Sunday they came in and announced that we had to move to another flat. "Why!?" we asked, as we had just unpacked things, and the cats were finally starting to relax a little... Well, we never did find out why, but we suspect that they may have made a mistake and put us in the wrong flat in the first place. Anyway, we are much happier here and the cats are as well (no unpleasant cleaner smells for one thing). Although Benny would sort of like to go outside...

The funny part about being in a "Serviced Apartment" is that I chose this option so that we could feel more independent, make our own meals, etc... Well, it turns out that a serviced apartment comes with service. Who knew? So, every morning there is a "boy" (their term, not mine) who comes to make us breakfast and then clean up the flat. He will even do laundry and iron. The ironing is necessary because there are no power clothes dryers here. Again- lower energy usage- we from the states could learn a lot from the Indians!!!!! So we are getting used to the idea of having someone work for us in this way. Weird.

So, we are here for two more weeks. We got the house we wanted and it is in a good location for Anna's school (she starts tomorrow)- also not too bad for Bryan's work. If you go to Bryan's blog you can see some pictures of the house. It is quite large and is a very modern and newly built house. For you Bay Area natives out there, I think I would describe it as a modern, 3-level Eichler. Very nice design. It is big enough to have guests, but now we have to get some furniture... (hey didn't we just get rid of all our stuff?! yikes.)

My daughter would also like you all to know that she has started a blog as well. She is telling about her experiences here in India. Her blog is called "Curry Pizza".

A glimpse of sunset through the buildings...

I am looking forward to getting all of our tasks and errands straightened out so that we can get out and see the city a bit more. Most that I have seen thus far has been through the car window. But frankly that is pretty typical Bangalore!

Till next time!

Here in Bangalore

Well, we made it. We arrived in Bangalore... well don't ask me when. It is still a bit fuzzy. Those 20+ hour flights can really mess with your thinking! But I can tell you that we have had almost two days here and we have spent a lot of our time looking at housing possibilities. We have looked at eight different houses/units and think we have chose one. Monday will be the day to start working on getting our residency permits as everything depends on that. Lease a house? Need your permit. Open a bank account? Need your permit. So the permit needs to be gotten.

Today is our day to sort of take it easy a little. We are feeling the effects of jetlag a bit more and right now I would really like to just crawl into bed and sleep. So with that- I will offer you a more complete post at a later time.

Oh yeah- my husband is watching Cricket. My husband the sports hater. What's up with that?!