At least I haven't seen any leeches

The next series of blogs I heavily disclaim. I have made an attempt to start taking more pictures and observing the "normal" things of the day. And blogging them. HOWEVER, I am no expert in any of them...particularly this one. SO:

• I am not a doctor.
• Or anything like it. I hardly even know any doctors.
• My personal preference is to go to the doctor...never. Unless death is imminent (can't recall ever) or I am in labor (once). In fact, I generally just don't go.

But still, I will share some pictures and observations of medical care here.
Sunday Caden had to go to the doctor again. He split his chin open on the bottom of the pool for the second time. Despite my best instincts to put a band-aid on it and move on, it was pretty clear that it was wide and deep enough to require stitches. Dr. Mom thought as much (even though as noted above, she's heavily biased toward avoiding it). Nurse Chandra confirmed however, and that pretty much settled it. We tried to help Caden understand the merits of getting stitches to which he replied adamantly: "I want a big scar!" Well, he's my kid after all.
It being Sunday, we had no transportation and had to drum up a ride from a nice neighbor. Thanks Dave, and thanks IBM for letting expats drive! We arrived at the local clinic, supposedly the newest, best place to go (and where Caden went in October). But today, there was a cricket match on, and the doctor was busy. Oh, and it seemed Caden didn't want stitches. Right, so the 4-year-old doesn't want it...well, then. The doctor suggested a nice injection of tetanus instead (seriously, his immunizations are current, and what is the fascination with injections here???). Oh, and we of course got him some "tablets" (as if we don't keep children's Tylenol at home). An hour and 210 rupees (<$7) later we were on our way.....to Chandra's to at least get a proper dressing of sterile strips on it. Story aside, the American "do-it-yourself" attitude doesn't seem to have caught on here...the doctor suggested we'd want to return in a day to get the band-aid changed - really, I don't look like I can change a band-aid?? And I didn't mention before, I actually find the state of health care here broadly alarming (not that the US has this figured out I fully realize, but I'd take it over cheap pricing any day). And while I'm sure there are many fantastic, qualified doctors available, alarming stories are a dime a dozen, and the environment just doesn't cry out quality control...which I find odd in a place with so much stifling regulation (not that I'm complaining about that aspect by any means). So anyhow, as you drive along the commute in, many of these medical facilities are available, and truly my heart goes out to anyone who has to use them, or decides to for whatever reason...The quantity of establishments alludes to the fact that there really does seem to be a bias to see the doc for just about anything from dull skin to indigestion to a canker sore to stress to diabetes or cancer to fever to a cut on the finger to I need a new bandaid please. An injection or some tablets ALWAYS seems to be prescribed!
These are all from my commute, with a number of chemists and druggists to stop at...next time I'm out further down the road, I'll try to replace this with Michelle's favorite "Pill and Powder" (she really went there for meds, with a grimace every time).
With the (over?)use of medical care, there also seems to be a great deal of specialization possible...So I am I suppose glad that it's just a cut on the chin, and we have managed largely to stay healthy here. There have recently been a few cases of tuberculosis in the neighborhood, and corresponding truly frightening stories. At times like that, I can only imagine how very vulnerable one would feel - and not being able to travel on an airplane for three months as part of the diagnosis - yikes! (and in which case I'm sure you find this blog not funny or interesting at all!).
So, I hope for everyone to just stay well!

And no offense, don't go for the surgery offered here:

I like the multi-purpose possibilities of filling my prescription, stopping by the wine shop next door, and upstairs to use the computer to research if that was a good idea...And what do you suppose happens at the homoeo clinic? Does it look like a garage to anyone else?

On bets you might have taken

The scene is your high school prom, and you think you are amazing and invincible (you are 17 after all). A crazy 30-year old lady comes up and says: "I bet you...

• "This guy won't last" (seemed like a long shot anyhow you think)
• "But the dress will...you'll wear it again 13 years from now" (this you believe, but you shouldn't.. because 13 years is a long time, and childbirth and a desk job are not kind)
• "You'll fit into it because you've been living in India for a year, and have lost 15 pounds through a unique combination of not liking the food, digestive issues, and stress" (now you think she is just rude)
  
• "You'll be out for an Annual Charity Ball sponsored by the Overseas Womens Club" (ok, I knew I was good-hearted, but did I join the PTA? So not cool.)
• "It will be your second one." (Hmmm...the consistency is also alarming)
• "And your husband is the member, not you." (Women's club? What is this nonsense? I have a husband?)
• "Oh, and your cook is watching your son." (I have a son? How did that happen? Cook? I thought you said I didn't like the food...)
• "You had to hitch a ride to the Ball though" (well, that happens)
• "Because your driver is on strike." (ok, not usually that way)
• "So you didn't get your haircut since you didn't have transportation" (did it look ok anyways?) remember, you're 17 and vain
• "And you're wearing bad shoes, since your shopping trip got canceled, since your driver is on strike, and you live 7 miles outside of Bangalore." (ew, that is SO annoying)
• "And when you were getting ready you didn't really care. You just wanted the power to last long enough to blow dry your hair"
• "After your cold shower, since the main power was out and you didn't get a chance to warm up the water" (cold shower? main power? why "warm up" a shower? this is getting strange.)
  
• "Since you were running late from your facial, where you bobbled your head Indian style to the "don't wear makeup or wash for 3-4 hours ma'am"" (in a place without hot water?)
  
• ..and you thought to yourself that the bobble was at times the most perfect expression of "yeah, yeah, I fully intend to do the opposite of what you just told me."" heck, I wouldn't have taken that bet 6 months ago
• "You had fun at the party" (of course I did, I'm fun)
• "Dancing to YMCA, soundtrack from Greece and Om Shanti Om among others" (in Bangalore in 2008?)
• "With your German neighbor and his friend" (cool)
• "Before you went back to your table for a cigarette" (I smoke? That is so not cool.)
• "And then you'll decide to leave, and you want to go put your sweatpants on" (fine, this is getting tiring you nut)
• "But first you have to collect your purchases from the silent auction...a painting and a flight simulator game" (man, am I eclectic...that's cool)
  
• "You'll ride, since you don't drive remember, back through Bangalore" (maybe best, I'm sure I've been drinking)
• "While the driver talks on his cell and watches Rocky 3 on the portable DVD player which is going the whole ride home as we veer around motorcycles" (no wonder I drink. did you say I smoke too?)
• "Your son wakes you at 7am, and you'll think (after cursing the hour), I have to blog this...for the whole public world to see. No one will believe." (blog - what's that?)

How much do you want to bet??

• 

Neev Jatre

On a much lighter note, Caden's school, Neev, had annual day today and a performance done by all the kids. It was fantastic.Caden was very excited to get on stage, peering through the curtain and waving...
And quite literally, skipped across the stage to take his spot...But was nearly too excited to stand it...too cute.
I am amazed at the talent and diversity of the kids and their teachers...it was a great performance.I hope this finds everyone well...healthy and happy. Bless you all!

A large dollop of perspective please

Unfortunately for my driver, he does not get the inside scoop on great stock tips most days...he gets me, and usually Tracy, recapping the ins and outs of the day, our kids, our husbands, plans for our next haircut/color, the latest Britney story...etc. And he also gets to know when I'm in a bad mood, which I was on Wednesday night...a few meetings that didn't go exactly as I wanted, less than I wanted for a raise, etc. To keep it short, I called Wade on the way home and shared my grumpy thoughts...
And Thursday morning, Lokesh showed up late to take Caden to school and as I growled, he began a well-prepared puja - a blessing / prayer that he had come to do for...me. Our driver, who makes about $184/month, had come complete with coconut to pray for my well-being and good fortune.
I went to work on Thursday truly humbled..
This morning also brought truly tragic news, a pilot in Jeff's squadron was killed in a mid-air collision. Our hearts go out to this pilot and everyone affected by this horrible accident. It's another great reminder of what matters in life...and how truly lucky we are to have a wonderful family, health and prosperity.
One of my team members forwarded this around some time ago, and I love the thought...

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.
From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?
To this Arthur Ashe replied:
"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis,
500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam,
50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals,
when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.
And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

"Happiness keeps you Sweet,
Trials keep you Strong,
Sorrow keeps you Human,
Failure keeps you humble and Success keeps you glowing, but only Faith & Attitude Keeps you going...

I hate having a maid... most days

I'll keep this short and un-philosophical. I hate having a maid most days...someone in my house constantly, doing a bad job at what should be easy for a very long time. Teaching my son to be spoiled. And the drama that comes with it is nearly overwhelming. So anyhow...we lost another one. Ironic sort of because last Sunday night a group of us were up on the roof and I commented: "I don't know how Ignatius comes to work on Mondays. You'd think that for the money, it would just be depressing to come and clean up after someone else's fun weekend." Not sure if he heard me cosmically...
But he never came again. Just quit showing up, which is apparently normal. His uncle works on the next lane, and sorrowfully told Wade that "lazy boy" just decided he didn't want to work as a maid anymore. Ok. The drama affects me less every day (remember the "normal" water buffalo in the road). We had another one lined up in short order and hope to hold on to her for the 60-odd days until we go.
And today, after a rather large party at our place last night...I sat sipping coffee and watching a movie with Caden while she hauled out bottles and did dishes and scrubbed up the floors (there were 11 kids in attendance). And I thought "hey, this ain't so bad."
I wonder what tomorrow will bring...

A little more on traffic

It's on my goals to take more pictures of the "ordinary" things that I remember more clearly now aren't ordinary in MN. Tracy and I have often commented on our commute in the morning - do you think we'll even notice if there's a water buffalo walking down 35W? Or do you just come to permanently accept that? And on Sunday Chandra and I were discussing the coffee table book you could make "things you don't normally see on a motorcycle"...
So here is in fact a baby cow, getting a ride on a motorcycle. It was actually quite well behaved.This, approaching our newly reconstructed bridge, which has been rebuilt to be the size of our car plus 6 inches. And a guy doing construction in the lunghi (diaper looking bottom traditional in south India).There is a larger, serious bridge in construction on our journey...I missed the photo of its construction crew, a motley crew of guys with no hard hats, flip flops and cement. Hey, they must know what they are doing, right? It's a rather large endeavor.
And to end on, a picture of an actually well-fed cow hanging outside the sushi stand, where they sell Iron, steel and cement. Naturally.

Last weekend, Disney Show, and Race Day

In addition to falling behind on blogging, it seems I've also taken very few pictures lately. But last weekend was another busy, but good one. Exhausted on Friday I did what you do in Bangalore...go out and party. Wade was already there, and why not? As Mom pointed out, my social life is perhaps more, uh, "tiring" than you would expect living in the middle of South India.
Saturday we took the kids to the Disney Magic Show...tour hours of traffic to get into town, arrive late, horrible place with bad acoustics, but cute show. Really clever magic actually and Caden enjoyed it a lot so oh well. We sent the kids home with the driver, and headed off to race day, an OWC fundraiser. I suspect at some point in its history, the track was nice and it could have been a tony place to be seen. As it were, it was a fun and unique afternoon with friends, bad food, and a lot of laughs picking horses with cool names. We didn't win many rupees either. Sunday was spent at the Taj West, having brunch. Man do I love that place. In the now famous words of my mom: "I could live here."

Back on vacation

It didn't take long after reaching Bangalore to decide we needed to make some plans to get out. I spent the next weekend, and our dating anniversary of 12 years (an occasion Wade really finds special; don't get me started) with Target visitors in town touring. I enjoy it, but the six-day work week followed by what feels like four jobs (cruise boat hostess, manager of the team represented by visitors, manager of the teams not, and admin assistant) gets long.
And so the following weekend was time to head out of town, but this being Bangalore, not too far out. Wade has frequented a place called Our Native Village several times now and I hadn't been, it's only 20 km outside of town, and has the quiet serenity of a farm. Perfect.
After the two hour drive (yep, about 10 miles all told) we had reached the countryside. The kids embraced the occasion with befitting enthusiasm while the adults strolled behind comforted by the fence around the perimeter.Kay, Caden and Jim take a spin on the bullock cart. As it pulled away out the gates, Tracy and I briefly questioned the wisdom of the trip...briefly. And they had fun.
The swimming pool is a natural one, with reeds and frogs to support the eco-system. The kids had a blast while the adults enjoyed the weather. (Suddenly, MN in Feb doesn't seem to grand.)
I do have to repeat though a thought that I've noted before. The Indian massage is...uh...really something. Violating. To say you have to experience it to experience India is sort of like saying you have to spend quality time in the red light district to understand Amsterdam. So I'll just tell you to trust me and opt for the head and shoulder massage. I'm sure the ayurvedic principles are solid, but I wouldn't describe it as relaxing unless you can "go to a happy place" during the process. Which takes place on a solid wood table that looks like something out of Princess Bride and involves enough oil to make Dubai nervous. And ends with a green goo soup to get the oil off "but not too much" in the words of my masseuse. Anyhow, I've decided not to do that again. I digress...
We also made pottery. Caden had a blast and it was a beautiful setting for a getaway. We also rode bikes, sat in the sunshine and put the kids to bed to enjoy the evening hooka. Not a bad day at all.It was a great getaway - and a great place...20 kms can be so far away. The drive home brought that thought back just a little bit... :)

Yes we still live here

And I understand it's probably true that I haven't been keeping current at this given that I could hardly remember how to log on. Sorry.
Wade has been doing more than his fair share, and every one of the posts in Dec and Jan (yes, both of them). Since we are now in the "home" stretch, I'll try to keep up...
But where to start?
Ok, how 'bout with being back in MN? It was awesome, and wretched. We got off the plane amidst a snowy wonderland (luckily they felt sorry for us and let our plane land). Mom met us at the airport with a baggy of fresh-baked cookies (in case we couldn't wait the 15 minutes to get home in inclement weather). And that pretty much set the tone for the diet while I was there. Christmas was post-card perfect with gently falling crystals of snow, warm fireplace and laughter of family reunited. And at least a few sticks of butter melted over the seafood feast. And then another Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's - so, so good to be home amidst the clatter of family.
At work, an eery silence crept in...most years that between-holidays week is quiet, but having gotten used to the constant commotion of working in Bangalore the silence nearly drove me mad. So things I had blocked 3 hours to do were done in an hour, my email box emptied and I was left to do the next reasonable thing - more Caribou coffee, and then a stop at the cafe for a special-K bar the size of a shoe box (that I inhaled like I had never, ever seen one before and would clearly never again). And so on went those first few days while people slowly returned from the holidays. It was great to be in Minneapolis and the energy of the office, and impressive how quickly the world turns. I realized quickly how much I felt like a visitor/newcomer amidst this strange home.
Oh, and the one question most people ask: "How is/was India?" I have new appreciation for people that write encyclopedia's... over and over again, where to start...aardvark? Alps? Amazon? Avalanche? ....Bangalore?
How was the last year of your life? How is a huge, diverse, crazy, mundane sub-continent? Some options for answers I came up with:

• Funny, one of the things I like and hate about it is how diverse it is...
• It's like camping. Some days it's raining and there's water under your tent and a raccoon in your garbage. Some days it's a sunrise over the lake and coffee off the campfire. Either way, you'd do it again, and you're glad when you get home.
• It's like having kids. I can tell you about the s*#t and you'd only sort of get it. It's harder to explain the amazing experience and how it changes you. And even if I tried, you wouldn't really understand.
• Uh, I keep a superficial blog, would you like the address?
  
• Fine, thanks. How are you?

I think I'll have to work on these. For next time. It was a strange experience being "back." It was fantastic and filling and easy, with days started with long, hot showers (no warm up or power required) and ended with fabulous food, great wine and close friends and family. And strangely unsettling I suppose at how quickly I got used to things in India, and how ODD I found it that thing change in MN.
Driving back from friends one day, Caden asked me if our friends in India were back there (from their vacation) yet? When I told him they had reached...he asked/demanded: "good, then can we go home now too?" As in India.
Of course, 24 hours and a long plane ride back to India, greeted by the swarm of India, the dirt, the cows, the "food" and so on...it's a question hard to answer...is this Home? Or is that?
Our India friends were "home," and had made arrangements for our place to be cleaned/aired, and appointments at the spa before we went there for dinner...and sat up on the patio pondering the world and laughing at stories of tasty restaurants and clean streets and abundant retail and reunion hugs...
"How is it?"
Tough question

We are here only.

A funny you have to be here to find funny...

I will ponder some more...