Thanksgiving in the Spirit...and in the Moment

Let's start with Thanksgiving "in the Spirit"... we awoke (again) to the warming Bangalore morning, palm trees swaying gently, yoga at 6:30 with my bud Tracy, call home to family and friends so close they're family too, good day at work - where I'm immensely grateful for the opportunity to be here working with the best team and (hopefully) making a difference, followed by Thanksgiving dinner with my wonderful "boys" Wade and Caden, great friends and other expats at a local restaurant before being driven home. I tried to explain to a few inquisitive friends what Thanksgiving was about...uh, "giving thanks" and...er..."eating WAY too much with your family"...and stuff. But taking a few minutes to reflect left me pretty sappy, and truly, we have so much to be thankful for - the most amazing and supportive family, good health, great times, and an amazing experience.
Thanksgiving "in the moment" varies a little by expat, but in my opinion, we got a few things right and a few things missing. First of all, we definitely got the choas right - about 40 people in a spot reserved for 25 (15 of the them children between 2 and 8 years old). So we were surrounded by laughter, giggles, talking, food and the occasional "put that rock down!". I think a few of the single expats and the owner of the restaurant also swore off children...ever. So about right for level of volume. :)
We went to a place called "the Only Place" and I have to say they did a pretty good attempt - turkey, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, garlic bread, pumpkin pie. Depending on your personal taste / expectation, this may have been a-ok.
We fed the kids first (also in Thanksgiving tradition) and things seemed to be going quite well!
Of course, my picky, picky eater was not as impressed...electing to eat the granola bar Wade had packed. Oh, and yes, I am eating bread. I have to say, the lingering fear ("where did they get turkey...I wonder if it will kill me...well, it has been a while since I've been sick anyway...") coupled with the fact that the turkey was really cold cuts (thin and refrigerated cold), did keep the portion size substantially down! But the mashed potatoes and gravy were a welcome sight, and pretty darn good actually. It was a little odd to be swatting away the mosquitos at Thanksgiving, but...no bundling up required! It was bring your own beverage...and if us expats know anything, it's how to bring enough beverages!! So for about $15 a plate, we had a not-bad, not-good pass at Thanksgiving.

But...next year, I will be WAY more thankful for grandma and grandpa's Thanksgiving spread...mmmmm I can almost taste it! Not to mention being home with family and leisurely chatting all day (NOT on Skype), thumbing through the ads in the paper, drinking coffee...and eating leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

It's about darn time - congratulations!

Congratulations to my brother Jeff and welcome to the family Melissa!!
We got word last week that my brother Jeff had finally proposed to his girlfriend Melissa... and she accepted! We wish we could have been there to help celebrate the engagement, but we will definitely see you for the wedding in Miami! Many hugs to both of you and we can't wait to see you both soon. Caden sends his hugs to "Auntie Lissa".

Happy Diwali

Diwali, is a major Indian and Nepalese festive holiday, and a significant festival in Hinduism and some of the other faiths. It originated as a harvest festival, marking the last harvest of the year before winter. In an agrarian society this results in businessmen closing accounts, and beginning a new accounting year. The deity of wealth in Hinduism, Goddess Lakshmi is therefore thanked on this day and everyone prays for a good year ahead. This is the common factor in Diwali celebrations all over the Indian subcontinent. With time, many legends became associated with Diwali, and today it is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe as the "Festival of Light," where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being. Diwali celebrates this through festive fireworks, lights, flowers, sharing of sweets, and worship. (so says Wikipedia)
Our experience with Diwali was a lot of fun and excitement as well. Thursday night was a party at Radha's - a ton of fun and fireworks. Wikipedia mentioned fireworks, but not with a lot of editorial - it's more like explosives/dynamite/mortar fire / blowing up the place. I had a call for work that night, and it sounded like I'd been deputed to a war zone. No more fear of that - so that's good. The fireworks actually started earlier in the week and were pretty constant. I didn't detect any organized fireworks displays in an open field with the fire dept nearby. Here in this democracy, every home should light there own, sometimes professional quality explosives in their street or garden (right in the middle of the city or neighborhood lane). Some believe in lighting the fireworks starting at 6am and going all day long. On the way to the party people were lighting serious fireworks in the middle of the city - picture on Hennepin at rush hour. Safety first here in India. Not. Not sure if I'd be amused if it were all the time, but it was certainly an interesting spectacle for a week. The air quality was amazingly poor by the end of the week though - the pollution was so thick it looked like fog - I should have taken a photo but sadly didn't.
Anyhow, it was a fun festival, and a good party at Radha's. On Friday for the actual holiday, Ashish and his wife Shailaja had a group from Target over to celebrate with their family. It was their first time not going home to Delhi for the holiday - and I think the number of guests made up for the commotion. It was great to see the more personal side of the holiday, oh and to light fireworks with a good friend.
Saturday was a sort of "day after" with the street entirely piled with the spent shells and debris of the fireworks - serious addition to the piles of garbage already there. But a totally peaceful weekend with good weather and relaxing by the pool - reminiscent of the day after the 4th of July up at the lake. It is seriously hard to believe it's November. And it was Diwali. And I live in India...who would have thought?

"Mexican Tacos"

Confession: I was born and raised in MN, and have only been to tourist-y parts of Mexico a handful of times. What do I know about Mexican food? And I've been told tacos aren't really Mexican food anyhow.
But still, I like tacos, and you can't find them, or anything like Mexican - authentic or otherwise. Or so I thought...until recently the local grocery shop that caters to a variety of expat tastes showed up with a shipment of "Mexican" foods. Mostly overpriced and with an eau de Dock in Chennai chewiness, but an approximation. The trouble is usually when I have a craving, it isn't for an approximation of what I want - I actually want a Chipotle chicken fajita burrito or my mom's tacos. I call it attention to detail. Wade has a different phrase, but let's not digress...
I've noticed previously that even when you find claims of availability of something, it's not always quite right...like the bar that had "nachos" - served as cool ranch Doritos with a side of shredded cheese. Huh. Or the nachos another expat got at TGIF that came with pickles on them (we later determined that was an execution error not the recipe).
Today, I noticed how very closely the box approximated another brand and I thought, hey, if they can knock off the box...maybe......and I glanced at the recipe for tacos on the side of the shells' box. And this is what I saw...advice to make "traditional" tacos with kidney beans, ghee, and ketchup. And to top with vegetables, including spring onions, lettuce leaves, and cabbage.
I really have no words to add... bon appetit.

Farewell my Friend Michele

Yesterday was Michele's last day in Bangalore. We met about a month before departure, and arrived a week apart.
My finance brain struggles to describe what happened in the nine months after that, but today my heart is sad for me. I will miss you - the jewelry shopping and show-and-tell, the smoke breaks, the good lunches, the long talks, the spa appointments, and your partnership at work too... with training, Toastmasters, leadership, my team's development, and my own. You have been a great friend, and an inspiring mentor. You've tackled the both personal and professional challenges with poise and grace and embraced the joys with enthusiasm and a spirit of adventure. You've never judged my limitations while at the same time pushing us both to be/do better. Thank you for being a part of my life here and sharing a part of yourself. I am happy for you that you are headed home - to your husband and with (I hope) a proud sense on all you have accomplished and conquered. I am proud of you. I wish you all the best in everything that is yet to come, and will see you soon. I will remember you.Sometimes the friendship and bond with other expats rocks - it's indescribable. But this part sucks.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween events in Bangalore India were as expected somewhat unique. Again those favorite visitors had brought a whole bunch of Halloween candy so that was awesome - some for my team and some for us. Another visitor (thanks Laurie) brought a special bag for Caden (which he got, less one package of nerds and one twizzlers - oops). And Tracy brought back a fun stash for what she termed her "fourth kid". So we had some of the right candy.
Wade and Caden went in search of pumpkins, a sort of green/orange gourd, and carved one up for us and sent one over to the Murphy's (the big one incidentally, as Caden wanted to keep the one he could carry all by himself).
The swaying palm trees and monsoon rain belied the change of scenery a bit as we didn't need to search for the polar fleece costume or navigate the pumpkin patch before the frost. Caden had settled on being a fighter pilot (unclear on the costume here as he firmly believes he IS a fighter pilot). But he had his new flight suit from his birthday.
Of course, come time for the party, he decided he wanted to wear his older suit, a now-too-small astronaut suit, but with his flight helmet, and naturally his Power Rangers mask as well. Oh and the astronauts these days apparently roll up their pants. Really. If I had any say here, it doesn't show. "What the heck" is what I went with - it's Halloween in India! Very scary I should think. Or whatever.
At work, it took a lot less explaining for Halloween to catch on... my team was awesome (perhaps in 20 years and a few degrees, Caden will catch up), and they came up with the idea of a costume contest, but with Target dogs. They also got scary masks and spooked around the building. It was a super, super fun day at work and really a highlight of the Holiday.
That's Nandini's and my entry at the left - BatDog. I thought it was pretty good...my part was just stealing Caden's pillow while he slept. Nandini sewed the costume herself - super cool and attention to detail that included the belt!
I have to say my favorite dog was "FP&A dog" with each of our teams represented, our projects/reports repository handbag, and each of our initiatives shown as feathers in the cap...this team really challenges the old stereotype about Finance vs. creativity.
On the homefront, Halloween day again brought out Caden's creativity and independence (where does this kid come from??). He flatly refused to dress up for school as required, telling me "the party is at night mom". Even as I dropped him off amidst a sea of little spidermans, Power Rangers, and princesses, he confidently assured me "I'll wear my costume tonight mom". Okie dokie then.
Trick or treating in Palm Meadows was a little stressful honestly. By 3pm, we were running late, Tracy was trying to leave for Pondicherry, Caden ran off to go to Grayce's house (but went ahead one lane too far) and we lost him, then I lost my guest new to Bangalore, then I missed a conference call with my Vice President as my Treo slipped into the wrong time zone and failed to alarm, then with Wade and Tracy's driver Sarvanan out searching, I finally found Caden bawling with a strange woman looking alarmed up and down the street (presumably wondering where is this poor kid's unfit mother), then I found my guest, then I had a different call to make, then everyone had moved across the neighborhood, then the doorbell rang with trick-or-treaters, then we went to Gerald and Petra's for a Halloween drink (ok two), our guests ran away before dinner, I started checking my emails again ('nuf said) and then we declared they day over.
Thank goodness, in Bangalore, November 1st is a holiday - day off.

Expat Fashion Show: the day I wore a toga at work

Not often that I get into work things since this is a personal blog and all, but I think the day I wore a toga to work...and on stage at that...is worth a mention. And a picture. Ok, it wasn't a toga, it was a Kerala-style sari, but still...I think it counts as "Demonstrate Courage"!All of the expats, including the two newly arrived that week, staged a fashion show done to Bollywood music to kick off an FFF event, one that later featured truly talented and creative team members with dance acts or skits. But the expats had a really fun time doing our version of Indian dress, red and khaki of course!It was a fun event and certainly a memorable day!

Oktoberfest Bangalore

At the end of the busy week, Saturday was time for Oktoberfest. Really, right here in Bangalore. But we didn't start there. One of the visitors (thanks again Shannon) had brought with her one of the most coveted gifts - "REAL wine" from duty-free, as in hasn't sat on the dock in Chennai for a month, doesn't have the eau de stinky cow finish, may actually have been aged in oak not dusty palm barrels...REAL wine. (You just may understand why my repatriation plan involves rehab toward the end of this blog...oh well, I suppose that's a hazard with baring your soul on the internet.) But back to the wine... it lasted all week until we also came upon another rare find - real cheddar. Yep, typically the cheese pairs nicely with the local wine and has the taste of cave-aged velveeta and a nearly plasticized texture. But every now and then a real block shows up that, while not Wisconsin cheddar, is not all bad. Oh, and we still had some stock of that Hickory Farms sausage Paul kindly, naively lugged with him, aloud wondering...you want what? So we had all the fixings for a FEAST. We got all dressed up, Caden did my makeup insisting he wanted to be a makeup artist when he grows up (a different story). We got the kids hooked up with the babysitters and Tom and Tracy arrived for the pre-party snack and drink - YUM!!!! YUM!!! YUM!!! Some of you might not understand the depravity (physical and spiritual) that would lead four arguably privileged and worldly adults to savor every last crumb of the last package of water crackers to be found, a block of adequate immature cheddar, a half length of Hickory Farms sausage, and a young bottle of French wine. And I don't think I can explain it either; I just know we really enjoyed it.
Before setting off for Oktoberfest, Wade prepared the road kit, martinis stored in coffee mugs for the car ride. After such a sophisticated snack, we protested...a little. But an hour and a half and about six miles later, we were happy enough with our care package. Or possibly drunk, but in any event happy.
And then we arrived at Oktoberfest Bangalore, and it was incredible. Before even getting to out table with our identified friends, we all had large mugs of Kingfisher beer and a robust German toast was playing from the full band. All around were traditional Bavarian costumes mixed in with the normal expat array. There was an eerie familiarity as if we had somehow stepped into the beer garden at the State Fair. It was an awesome time with great food (even sausage), free-flowing Kingfisher beer in Oktoberfest Bangalore mugs, and great friends.
When it was finally time to go, I decided the mug had to come along with me - really, "Oktoberfest Bangalore" is something that needed a souvenir! At first the guard protested, then tossed out a sale proposal of 500 Rupees, then a negotiation ensued and we settled on something much, much less - priceless.
We forgot the camera as it were, but here is a recreation for posterity (Wade happily obliged). At a BBQ at our Bavarian friends, Gerald and Petra's the next day, a few of us looked well, tired. And despite our protests (genuine this time) that we would never drink again, Petra cheerily filled our glasses. What were we to do?
Oktoberfest Bangalore was mighty unique, and yet was in some ways a day like all others. Prost!

You have visitors

I'm sure there's a movie scene somewhere that would parody this... a team is having tea, or working away or whatever, when the knock comes at the door. The butler arrives and ominously says in a deep voice, "Ma'am, you have visitors." And the scene unfolds from there.
At the office, this is an at least monthly occurrence, and is also code for "whatever you thought you were going to do this week, you are wrong." Still, visitors are great, because often they come bearing gifts of M&M's (refer back to my diet plan), usually you get at least one free dinner, and there's also the benefit of productive face-to-face meetings. This set from my group was especially great because I've worked with most of them before so it was also nice to see everyone. Oh, and they brought tons of candy, coffee, popcorn, granola and all sorts of goodies (they must not have thought we had food here). I got LOTS of free dinners with good company. And we had a lot of good work get done too. I also remembered what an awesome and supportive husband I have.
We started the day on Sunday with a fantastic brunch at the hotel, followed by the usual driver issues. You see, it was a special day for Puja, where you bless your implements - like cars, weapons, machinery and such. In fact the day before we had the fun of working around puja issues when we learned that apparently, you are not supposed to use the implement for 24 hours after it's been blessed. Ok. But we had puja on our car and Caden's bike too (remember my fear of injury), and then had to bum a ride to dinner. But anyhow, we worked around the driver fun (it sounds so much cooler in theory than it is in execution). And we were off to see the town. We started at Bull Temple, one of Bangalore's oldest and built in the 16th century. It was in fact quite busy with the line-up of vehicles for puja. Then we headed to Lalbagh Botanical Gardens, a 96 hectare park in the city center laid out in the 18th century. I enjoyed the stop there and the variety of greenery. It was a nice change from the usual hustle of the city. And then we headed to Tipu Sultan's palace, a small stone structure completed in 1791, with a little photo gallery inside now as well. I hadn't been to any of these places yet (although I was meant to be the guide!), and so had a lot of fun with both the sights and the guests. Unfortunately, I did a terrible job of taking any photos...but a couple at Lalbagh.We had lunch at Sunny's - yum and the increasingly jet-lagged visitors began to look tired. So after lunch our next stop was Coffee Day. We shopped at Bombay Store and waited out a small shower before headed to do some more shopping. It was a lot of fun and somewhat successful (I even bought an elephant).After a full day, about half the guests headed back to the hotel while some were up for the Dandiya night at Palm Meadows. Heather and I waited in the bar and had a really nice visit (another plus with visitors - you get to meet cool new people). Then we headed out, with a brief stop at Shopper Stop to get some more "sparkly" clothes for the festival. The store was a complete zoo, with everyone out to take advantage of the festival offer. Caden and Wade decided to sit it out as it was getting late when we got home. (Caden's owie on his chin was a mishap from the pool the week before - resulting in his first stitch (just one).)Dandiya at Palm Meadows was a fun dance with music and neat to see. But the all vegetarian festival food left a little to be desired, so we ended a fun day with a good meal at the club house.
All in all, the week was also fun, a whirlwind of meetings and presentations, followed by dinners and drinks. And a mountain of goodies "leftover" from the visitors at the end - thank you again guys. I am thoroughly enjoying every snack you left behind (and sharing a little). I hope everyone enjoyed the visit as much as I did.
And at the end of the week, Tracy came home - hooray!

India Night

It was a long week getting caught up at work (we've added five new people to the team and are now 20 strong), and it was time for midyear reviews and developmental statuses among other things in addition to the usual post-vacation catch-up and so on and so on. And my very best friend and mentor was nowhere to be found, having decided to take a "work" trip to Minneapolis to eat tacos and drink good wine...or something like that. Did I mention it was a long week?
So it was most welcome when India Night came along on Saturday. It is just the sort of unique experience surrounded by good friends to pick up the spirits. Oh, and starting the day with a good haircut at the Leela, lunch with a great friend at Fiorano's, and jewelry shopping on Commercial Street didn't hurt either. We went with Michele's driver, which was funny (sort of) because he follows us around the whole time...perhaps he's a little protective of her. :)
But anyhow, we had a good time and got ready at Michele's with a little help from her maid...and then made our way to the Grand Ashok in the torrential rain...but it didn't dampen our spirits.And the food, from all over India was also pretty good. Wade and I don't always get out much either, and we enjoyed it very much.It really is the people that make living abroad even possible. And here are two more of the best...Gerald and Petra. The event also featured a couple Bollywood dance numbers. And during the raffle ticket drawing, one of our new friends Chandra won some lessons. I can't wait to hear how that turns out!
Naturally, we retired to the Hookah lounge for some R&R after all that fun... We left the event and headed home. Only there was the call, followed by the text message, to come out for "one more" and I have to tell you...partying until 2am is hard...and fun.
The Target visitors arrived that night, and I was to be up at 7am to head out to meet them...this glamorous life is exhausting...and fun.