We are all fine.

We didn't even know anything about the turmoil in Mumbai until my mother-in-law told us when we woke up this morning. India is about to have elections and there are some groups stirred up hoping to impact the outcome of those elections. Pune is a small (by Indian standards) and likelihood of us being in danger is minimal.

We are taking precautions and are being safe.

We are looking forward to our first Thanksgiving in Pune.

I'll post more as we know it.

Dawn

Random Thoughts

I'm up at 5:30 again this morning. I think my body just doesn't like the rock hard mattress, but I have an egg carton mattress pad coming in our shipment later today. I'm also learning to enjoy the quiet of early morning. The kids are getting up later and later as they adjust to the new time zone. Maddie came to me yesterday and said she got up early to watch the sun rise. We have a gorgeous view of it every morning from our kitchen window.

I found a book about how to adjust to moving among my Mom's things. It is very good and helpful - I just can't read it without crying. I can almost hear her telling me the exact same thing. I'm starting to miss her very much.

One of the hardest things to adjust to is feeling incompetent at everything. I haven't figured out where to go grocery shopping yet. I'm having to re-learn basic household chores: dishes, laundry, cooking & grocery shopping.

The girls have been having a dietary rebellion. Joanna is the leader. She is insisting that she doesn't like something - without tasting it. We've been gracious up until this point - and I'm not overly fond of Indian food either - but she is learning to at least try something before declaring "I don't like this so much".

Our first Sunday at church went very well. I think Madeline was nervous because she pretty much just sat there for the first 30 minutes taking everything in. Sam was somewhat fussy but eventually fell asleep for all of 20 minutes or so. The service was similar to back home - just in a small room and nothing for the kids. Joanna and I got into a funny situation. She was reading a book and asked me what a word was. It was "whisper". When I told her she thought I was telling her to whisper and we went back and forth. I don't think she ever caught on.

Today will be another adventure in unpacking. This time a whole lot more than 11 suitcases.

Continue to pray. It's easy to get discouraged and exhausted and overwhelmed.

Dawn

Did you think we fell off the face of the earth?

well . . . we just fell off the grid - the power grid. Welcome to India.

Wednesday morning we lost power for a few hours and that knocked off my internet. Then @ 4 PM that afternoon we lost power again. Unusual for the second time in a day I thought but since it was my third day - I could go with the flow. And I kept waiting . . . and waiting . . . and waiting. Power eventually came back on Thursday night. I was over 24 hours without it! Now the explanation is typical - even for the US. They were putting in sewer lines for a new apartment building next door and they don't have a call before you dig program.

I do have a battery backup that will run a fan in every bedroom and the living room, the lights, certain outlets including the TV.

The high on Thursday was 91.


I went grocery shopping Thursday morning and was at least trying to buy the essentials so I can cook. I couldn't buy many perishables with the power outage, so I still can't cook - but at least I have staples such as flour (which isn't called flour) and sugar and spaghetti (Joanna's favorite) I even found Parmesan cheese! I went to the "western" store - so I will post again when I go to a real indian store.

Wednesday also brought a new indian thing in my life. A maid. I quickly learned that the floors (tile & laminate hardwood) get dusty and gritty very quickly. The kids' feet were black from just walking in our own apartment. There was no way with unpacking and trying to adjust that I was going to be able to do it. The maid for another ex-pat (ex-patriot, i.e. foreigner) couple was looking for more hours - so we hired her on a temporary basis. She gets paid 4000 rupees a month for working 4 hours 5 days a week. Translation: @ 40 rupees to the $ it's $100 a month. Right now the rupee is 50 to the $.

I still have yet to cook a meal (unless ramen noodles count). When they came to show us the stove - we have to turn the gas on from the container on every time we cook. They told us to open the window next to the stove and DON'T turn on the light. Needless to say I'm still working on the courage to use the stove. We had Papa John's delivery the first 2 nights and an oriental place the third. Thursday night we ventured out with the kids. There was a home store next to McDonalds - what more could you ask for (Joanna could). We were buying a dryer. Well . . . drying rack really. It even fit in our car. Then our first experience at an Indian McDonalds. No chicken nuggets, no hamburgers (of course). I was smart enough to get a McChicken with no sauce. Scott didn't have the foresight to do the same with the kids happy meals. Joanna and Maddie both just balked and refused to touch it. Joanna did pick at the top of the bun and Maddie took one bite. At this point jet lag was starting to catch up with me and I didn't care because personally it wouldn't have been hugely appealing either. Scott did his best to get them to eat and Joanna eventually at about 1/3 of her chicken after he scraped off all of the sauce. The french fries were good.

That's pretty much the latest. I have power. I have internet. I had 3 kids that slept til 6 AM. Life is good in India - right now. Today is adventures in laundry now that I have a drying rack. I do have a relatively new Neptune washing machine - even more high tech than my one at home.

I'll keep you posted.

Love and prayers - I miss you all.

Dawn

We have moved in and have internet!

Now the blow by blow.

Everything started out very well with a nice breakfast at my in-laws and then we headed to the new Indianapolis Airport where the "fun" began and hasn't really ended. We checked in only to find that our 11 pieces of luggage could not be checked to Mumbai due to our extended layover in Amsterdam. We took what we could get and headed through check-in with our 5 carry on's, 5 personal bags (containing 3 laptops), diaper bag, camera bag, 2 car seats, stroller and 5 jackets. We made it just in time to start boarding and the flight to Detroit was uneventful - except for the fact that we had 20 minutes to make it to our connecting flight to Amsterdam. We were rushing and the plane was full and tried to get the kids and us settled ASAP. The kids were very good through the flight and the personalized entertainment center saved us many a headache. We also experienced our first medical emergency on a flight. I'm not sure what the problem was - but was interesting.

We arrived on-time in the Amsterdam airport and Scott went to check on our luggage to see if there was any way we could re-check it in. The kids were exhausted and I was trying to get them to rest while we waited when . . . Maddie threw up all over. We then began the arduous process of trying to leave the airport. We had a stroller, a train of carry-ons and 4 carts of luggage and a sick child. Thankfully Sam fell asleep right before Maddie threw up and slept the entire time. We would push a couple of carts, then go back for the rest throughout immigration and customs - then Scott saw a sign for baggage storage and we ended up getting lockers for the luggage. The kids and I waited for about 45 minutes and I found that the diaper baggies to hold dirty diapers also double well for a puking child. The kids and I proceeded on the shuttle to the hotel while Scott took the final load to store. We immediately went to bed as soon as the sun was coming up. We slept for about 8 hours and then had a very short Saturday - about 6 hours before going back to bed. We really didn't sleep well that night and Maddie was still throwing up. We even talked about delaying the trip and staying an extra day in Amsterdam - but decided not to. We left for the airport @ 6:15 local time right after Maddie threw up for the final time.

We arrived in plenty of time to get the luggage and get checked in. We were just headed to immigration when we were stopped by a KLM customer (NO)service. The lady was incredulous that Scott was pulling 5 carry-ons and told us we were taking too much baggage and we would have to check it. We had just spent $300 paying for an extra bag and I was not pleased. I tried to tell her that I had read the allowance on the internet and that it was within the limit and she just said she would call ahead to the gate to make sure they were informed. I was soo upset I couldn't decide if I wanted to throw up - or just cry. When we got to the gate we were of course told we had too much. I was arguing that we had 5 paying passengers and got it whittled down to 1 bag - when we asked how much - she said - no charge. What a relief! If we would have just asked in the beginning - there wouldn't have been a fuss. We ended up gate checking 4 of our 5 carry-ons and proceeded to Mumbai. The flight was uneventful except for our 2nd back-to-back medical emergency - they couldn't wake one of the passengers. We were close enough to this one to see that he was ok. Then we got to chaos. We had at least 3 porters eager to please (i.e. get paid) and our luggage was taken through customs and re-checked for the flight for Pune. The biggest obstacles were the customs guy not having a clue what caulk was and they were upset that we were leaving a "secured" area without our bags - but the porters helped us out of that one too. Even with just under 1/2 of our carry-ons still took 2 cars to the hotel that night. We had a decent nights sleep followed by a 24 minute flight to Pune. We were greeted by more porters - but this set didn't have quite the $$ signs in their eyes. We left the airport in 3 cars and found out through phone calls that someone could meet us with keys at our new apartment. We eagerly agreed and the drivers hauled everything up (using elevators of course) 8 floors.

Hindsight is - we should have stayed @ the hotel that night. Nesting instinct kicked into overdrive and I started unpacking immediately. By about 4 all the kids were asleep and Scott was too. We had NO food in the house (except a can of chicken soup that my friend Wendy convinced me to take - thanks Wendy). In addition to no food we had to local currency - which all the delivery places required. So Scott in a hazy sleep deprived state ventured out to get money and at least some basics. We couldn't figure out the gas stove - so our options were limited. Ramen anyone?

The night was rough - I just took Sam to bed with us and he was content as long as he was nursing. Then about 2 the girls started getting up saying they weren't tired. We tried to tell them to go back to bed. I think Joanna got dressed about 3ish and finally Scott went to lay down with them. As long as someone was with them - they would stay in bed. We ended up sleeping til 7 (interrupted of course) and then Scott headed off to work - a waiting cell phone was too much to pass up on.

Day 2 was in some ways rougher. I had most of the toys unpacked - so the girls were in hog heaven. I decided (soo unwisely) that Sam's problem was lack of a schedule. I decided I wasn't going to feed him except every 3 hours. I got him to sleep and about every 15-20 minutes he would start crying. Walking him in the stroller helped until about 10ish - I dutifully fed him, he played for awhile and then was tired and the battle that lasted the next 3 hours began. He screamed for what seemed like an eternity. Every time I put him down, every time I tried to get him to sleep. Finally 2:30 into this I gave in and fed him again. He fell asleep 1/2 way through but only for an hour. Finally after a round of baby food he finally conked out.

I'm turning into a pumpkin. Day 2 down - many more to come. We are working on getting a driver and our shipment so many more adventures ahead.

Dawn

We are now in Mumbai (Bombay to all you Americans...)

We just got through the ordeal at the airport. Bag porters are nice for when you got lots of luggage, except for the over paying....

In any event we are set up to go to Pune in the morning. Maddie is doing better. Everyone is trying to rest while Daddy is typing on the blog and confirming our ground transport in Pune......cheers

We just flew in to Amsterdam

Daddy's arms are tired
Maddie had an upset tummy (very upset..... :-(

We are getting there.....Just got confirmation that our apartment will be available. Also our air shipment has arrived in Mumbai....lots to do when we get there. We leave Schiphol Airport at 10 am tomorrow morning. (it is now almost 11 pm here, so long and good night....or is that afternoon?)