Paris in the Spring

Glorious Paris! The photos say more than we ever could. Our time there was short and very sweet. The kids loved everything, and we did just enough to have a wonderful first taste. Bangalore was boiling by the time we left so the clean, cool air of Paris was a welcome relief. We were giddy to be together as a family and thrilled to be at the beginning of a long break. A day and a half layover in Paris allowed us to tour Notre Dame, take a boat ride on the Sienne, climb to the top of the Eifel Tower, ride the Eifel carousel, see a small fraction of the Louvre and, of course, eat, and eat and eat! Crepes, coffees, and Les Deux Magots were just a fraction of our culinery, curry-free fun...

Bangalore: The Transition

We flew into Bangalore, visas renewed, on February 6th, 2007. We were feeling a bit overwhelmed and jet-lagged when we pulled into the Richmond Hotel, our Bangalore home for the next month. It is probably fair to say that we were entering into the most difficult portion of our first year in India. Philip was directing a brand new, under-staffed office as the kids and I worked to accomplish all our schooling goals and we all spent every extra minute house hunting and working to get to know a brand new city, in which we knew practically no one. Our entry into life in Chennai had been blessed by a community of people that we knew and that had already discovered the do's and don'ts of the city. We missed this sorely as we transitioned to Bangalore.

In Bangalore, the housing market soon proved to be very expensive for the type of house we were looking for. Most everything we looked at in our price range just did not seem right for us. The kids did their very best to "hang in there," though I was not a very formidable leader as the pregnancy was bringing on daily fatigue and nausea that was difficult to battle. We weren't sure where to eat, where to play, or where to worship and, in contrast to our time in Chennai, which was overflowing with community and friends to guide the way, we found ourselves isolated in Bangalore.

Our first thirty days were spent in two adjoining hotel rooms at the Richmond Hotel in the middle of the city. One benefit to our time here was that it gave us a chance to learn our way around the city's center and to discover some of the better restaurants and shopping that Bangalore is known for. Then, no longer able to afford the hotel, we moved to a service flat that was slightly closer to Philip's office, and less expensive than the hotel had been. This service flat (Orchard Suites) was okay, and during our time there, we discovered the pool and tennis court that we now take the kids to frequently. We chose this service flat assuming that we would not need much additional time to find a place to live, but after two weeks we just couldn't get our housing straightened out, and we needed a still cheaper option. Our next move was to the Diamond District service flats. Lest the name deceive you, these flats were, in a word, nasty and I would say the weeks that follwed here were the lowest of all of our low points.

Days turned into several weeks at the Diamond District. We were so ready to be in a house and out of our current living situation. In mid-March, we were still out of options for our large family as everything we had attempted had fallen through. At the same time, we had made plans to return to the US in mid-April, and were becoming concerned that we might not find a place before we were supposed to leave. Finally, the landlord of our present home, called Philip back to accept the offer he had rejected earlier. He still had some work to do on the house to have it ready for us, and he and his wife were not planning on moving out until early April.

The landlord promised a move-in date of April 1, but we were skeptical. Sure enough, April 1 passed and we received a new date: April 7. Unfortunately, our movers couldn't begin the unloading until the 10th, Easter Sunday. This was a mere six days before we were scheduled to leave for the US. We squealed through Easter baskets on the Saturday before Easter Sunday and then went to a sunrise service Easter morning before driving to our new house for the move. It was certainly not a typical Easter Sunday. The movers finished unloading and unpacking what they could on the 11th, and then we were off to the races trying to get as much of our house set up as possible before our April 16th departure date.

Our flight to the US was scheduled for 2:00 am on April 16th. I began packing for our two and half month visit at 9:00 pm the evening of our flight, only two and a half hours before we were to leave for the airport. It was a panicked and winded sort of packing job to say the least. But we made it to the airport with most of what we needed in a bag somewhere.

We had been entirely too busy to think much about the fact that we were about to spend a day and a half soaking up Paris and then reunite with our family and friends back home. We boarded the plane in a stupor, but all six of us heaved a huge sigh of relief as our flight took off that night and reality began to set in. After our very long first year in India, we were going home!

The Visa Trip: Thailand Take 2, January 2007

In late 2006, we began planning for our move to Bangalore. We gave our Chennai landlord notice of termination of our rental agreement and fixed the end of January 2007 as the end of the lease. At the same time, questions were rising about the ability of expatriates working with my organization to obtain business visas from the Indian embassy in Washington DC. These questions were of moderate concern to us in late 2006, as we realized that our visas expired on 4th February 2007. Still, time was on our side, and we didn't give the issue much thought. But as 2006 rolled into 2007, and as there was still no resolution to the visa problem back in DC, we were quickly forced to give the issue some real thought. Applying for new visas at the Embassy in DC or directly in Delhi did not seem like options likely to succeed. We knew that our organization had had some success in September obtaining six month renewals in Bangkok at the Indian Embassy there. On balance, this seemed like the best option.

During the last week of January 2007 (yes, it takes a full week), movers came to our house to pack us up and put our things in storage pending additional directions from us as to where to send our things. At this point, we hoped we would be giving directions to a home in Bangalore, but realized it was entirely possible that we would not be allowed back in the country for an indefinite period of time. We prayed, our organization prayed, and we wondered what God was doing. It was both unsettling and exciting, depending on the day you talked to us.

Of course, it was also unsettling to see our things boxed up again, after having unloaded these same things in Chennai only five months earlier. Moving is a drag no matter where you live. But I will say that it is exponentially better when you have movers and packers.

On 29th January 2007, the packing and loading and all other things transitional were completed in Chennai, and we boarded the midnight flight to Bangkok via Thai Airways. We arrived in Bangkok at 5:00 am that morning, 29th January, a Monday. After checking into and promptly back out of a gross service flat, we finally settled into the Siam City Hotel -- where we had stayed back in November. This is a nice hotel for the price with a pleasant pool, good restaurants on site and fantastic access to the Sky Train.

After settling in, we all took a cab to the Indian Embassy. We made it to the Embassy just under the deadline for getting our visa applications processed by the end of the week. Had we arrived about thirty minutes later, we would have been delayed until the following week. Lacy and I hurriedly completed all six applications by hand while sitting on the ground outside the Embassy. The kids meanwhile watched a movie on my laptop. After helping me finish the applications, Lacy took the kids back to the hotel to sleep. I waited in line at the Embassy with the rest of the minions seeking Indian visas. Once the applications were submitted, there was nothing left for us to do on the visa front for the next five days, except to pray, wonder and wait.

Lacy was committed to having the children finish school by the time of our planned return to the US in April. As a result, a few hours of each day were spent on school work before heading out to explore Bangkok. I was in the middle of office budget planning for 2007, so I spent most of this time crunching numbers and making long distance international calls.

Bangkok is far from perfect, but it was a great family getaway for us, after weeks of transition chaos. We ate great food, went to the IMAX, watched a traditional Thai puppet show, marched all over grungy Bangkok markets, shopped endlessly in the delightfully shiny Bangkok malls, rode the Sky Train all over the city, swam in the pool and took in lots of sights.

On Friday, 2 February, we received our visas in a very unremarkable trip to the Indian Embassy. For a brief moment, the Embassy could not locate Houston's approved visa and I wondered whether this would keep us out of India. But the visa was soon found and we were "homeward" bound (aka Bangalore) on the following day. Apparently, this relative lack of theatre required an infusion of additional drama into our lives. . .we had discovered only days earlier that October 2007 would bring our fifth child.