Good morning from Coconut Island

In our current Hawaii (Rick' definition of a hotel) we have a little Villa with 2 bedrooms and a pool on the veranda. This morning Rick showed up and pulled open the curtains to show us the day had started. He and Kaat stood happily next to our bed and started chatting - Good Morning! The Island by the way is called in Thai 'Ko Maphrao' and is just off the East Coast of Phuket. This is the only hotel on this Island so a little private paradise.

Kids care in the midst of the chaos

With the School closed this week but us still needing to arrange lots and really needing to get started at work too we where in a bind. Fortunately on day 1 at school the administrator asked around and within 5 min one of the class assistants happily agreed to babysit this week for us. Of course that is easier then it sounds if you live in a hotel, have been in India for just < 10 days and the lady speaks not too much English and you have no idea yet how the system at school works or what these ladies are used to.

- The kids hotel room converted to day care - 

Fortunately the people at school helped us out and told us to make a schedule, tell exactly what we wanted the kids to do and eat and talked to the lady for us (Ms Preethi). On Monday morning we have briefed the Hotel reception 3 times and asked the driver to come early to help us explain all to her. The hardest thing was to come up with a schedule - as we have none ourselves! With both a big in- and outdoor playground at the Hotel there is plenty nearby. Also the lady only works 9am - 3pm. Hours could be a little bit extended but not too much. We also got some extra games & books in the weekend which helped.

- Vitamins & quiet time -

Day 1 was already very successful which made me feel a LOT better for the rest of the week. No idea what really happens all day but kids are quite happy and nice to her. Rick explains all and Kaat tells her in no uncertain terms as well what she wants. 

- Mini Eelco sleeping like a mini Maartje - Bum up! -

Still having a sitter at the hotel is awkward, the security at the gate of the compound decided to make her life difficult all of the sudden on Wednesday so she could not get in, and we are also not 100% sure how she is treated by the hotel staff when we are not around. They let her come and go and into the room but.... For instance this morning through the regular delay tactics by Rick we arrived at breakfast too late and so by the time she showed we only had had 20% of our cereal. So I asked her to sit down with us, but judging by all the faces and her uncomfortable pose that was probably not appropriate.

- Playing shop in the Hotel room -

Ms Preethi though is clearly very happy to spend time with the kids and appears extra enamored with the fact that we have blondish - blue eyed kids (like many Indians).  She takes a 1 hr bus trip to get here (which is the same if she goes to work at the school) and we only get to pay her, her normal wage of 300 rupees / day (6 USD), or a little over due to the special occasion and extra time + her bus fare....Yes the culture shock is starting to hit us on occasion. The nice thing I found out today is that Ms Preethi is friends with Kaat's class assistant - Ms Uma. Kaat had gotten quite attached to Ms Uma and actually mentioned her a few times this week already. Ms Preethi told us today that she and Ms Uma are friends and that Ms Uma calls her every day to ask how her day with Kaatje was. It may be in a different form then what we are used to but it is clear there are already people caring a lot for our kids. Our driver, on his own initiative, also calls Ms Preethi a few times a day, especially earlier in the week, to make sure Rick & Kaat where ok.

- Rick happily watches Hindi Cartoons - or most other things that move on TV. Kaat by now has the iPad down too and prefers that. Rick today though told me he wanted to watch the Lion King with Auke - 

At the same time we are taking turns going to the office later and coming home early. We have the added challenge that the kids get super dirty here and the laundry service in the hotel is somewhat ridiculous for kids clothes. So the first weekend we brought our laundry when we went to visit people but we had managed to gather a whole new pile. Yesterday Eelco's job was to drop off teh laundry at a play date in the compound we where at - where the same lady would be who helped us with our first load of laundry. Of course the Dutch & French lady asked him to stay, he got coffee, the load down on everything, managed to get me added to some relevant mommy distribution lists, leave our dirty laundry and the kids got a play date. So not a bad afternoon - Mr Expat Spouse -;). This morning Eelco went to the office first and arrived at the same time as the colleague with the kids laundry, and so our driver took it back to the hotel when he returned to pick me up, and the baby sitter brought it inside - as the driver is not allowed in without our permission....Sounds complex? All part of our hotel life here I guess.

- The French lady at Eelco's play date yesterday has her kids at the same school and told Eelco that the people at school feed the kids the whole day - judging by the growth in Kaat's cheeks and chin that may be true, although Rick is actually getting a little skinnier. As you can tell Kaat's curls are still very impressive in the weather here -

Hobbit House @ Bangalore Vinex Location

We found a house here in Bangalore. Within 1 week of arriving we had found the place but we had to wait a couple more days for the lease price & contract to be agreed etc to be certain. The house is not at all what we thought we would end up with or expected to find here in Bangalore and still it is perfect for us. Effectively the House is on what the Dutch would call a Vinex location (see link for wiki at bottom) - a compound called 'Windmills of your Mind' with 72 Villa's and a large apartment building right in the middle of a large business area of the city (also close to our office), build with a total environmental concept in mind (whatever that means -;). The place oozes architectural philosophy and to us the house looks like a modern Hobbit house, with grass & a garden on the roof and apart from the pretty & cute entrance the real surprise of the house is not really visible from the street. With Eelco's middle name being a hobbit name and with his cute Hobbit feet he felt right at home in seconds! The house is 18 months old or so (so all teething problems have been or are being fixed) and was only vacated last week. Here a house is not done up or cleaned until after a new lease contract is signed - so compared of the pictures of our Houstonian show home - this is a bit of a contrast. Work on the house though is in progress and we should move in on January 5th.

The developers describe the Villa's as follows:

The 72 earth covered villas have been designed to create an intimate scale, with the idea that the streetscape should not be dominated with the monotony of built volumes sticking out on both sides of the street. Therefore, with the help of the existing contours of the land, and by creating split levels inside the villas, taking part of the structure half a floor lower than the road, and keeping the front portion of the home designed at a single level – we have been able to ensure that, for a person walking or driving down the street, all the homes appear as single storey homes despite the fact that they are actually all two-storied. The low car portico (only around 8’ from the cobbled driveway) and the gently curved landscaped roofs further help achieve the intimate scale. Each villa also has a vegetable garden on the roof of the living room. 
The floor plan of each individual home is L-shaped and the L is placed along one edge of the plot – thus ensuring a large green space inside the L and also ensuring that every room has a view of the garden. This also eliminates small passages between homes. With four units mirrored and placed back-to-back, the total number of visible structures reduces to one quarter – so, though there are 67 villas, there are only 17 visible structures thereby removing the clutter. This also creates a central space between 4 villas where only tall plants have been used for separation – no walls.

The street view with Dutch 'Kinderkopjes' (cobbled streets) and the roof gardens in view. Many expats have concerns about their kids learning to cycle on the cobbles but we just hope there is enough Dutch genes in them to make it work, and the play ground and play area on the complex are named by many expats as one of the nicest in the city.

Without a wide angle lens it is impossible to take pictures of the house that do it justice but we have tried to show it to you as well as possible. Once you enter you come into 1 hug he and high ceilinged living room with another front room somewhat off to the side.

The main room opens up to the Kitchen (which is between the street & the main living room) and nice and modern.

The house is L shaped and the empty space in the L is a garden - which is lower then the main house, downstairs of a substantial deck that is at living room level.

Half the garden is consumed by a long rectangular pool (1m - 1.20m deep?) and all the 4 bedrooms face with giant sliding windows onto that Garden. Effectively all Bedrooms have 1 glass wall which can be opened up to 50%.

One of the bedrooms (about 2x as big as you see) has a build in double bed - for you visitors. All Bedrooms also have their own bathroom - 2 quite big & fancy and 2 a little simpler.

The build in cabinets are quite nice an reasonably neutral as well as are the marble floors this is another piece of the same bedroom with the bed in it.

Looking into the garden from one of the upstairs bedrooms.

The staircase is quite central to the house and is lighter then the picture suggests. Looking down into the living area and the kitchen and up onto the stairs leading up to the roof garden. They go down one more level then you can see on the picture to the lower 2 bedrooms and Laundry room.

 Some of the Villa's have just been finished but we are happy the one we have has been tried and tested as there have been some issues with the Roof gardens. The concrete slab in there has been replaced on many of the houses. That work is now done but the roof garden is to be put back in in the the next few weeks. They where working on it today and you can see some intact ones across the street. The roof garden is quite fairytale like and we think Rick will be able to dream up quite some adventures there. The big apartment complex you see is part of the same development and obviously not finished. The half you cannot see is actually in use.

Looking through the Window on the roof into the main living area, onto the deck and into the Garden.

 The place is about 10 - 15 min from work and the kids school. About 25% of the houses or so are occupied by our colleagues and the best new Restaurant in town (& microbrewery) is at the ground floor of that apartment complex. The club facilities (pool, gym, restaurant etc) are not finished and should have been finished > 1 yr ago. Suggestion is that now some progress is made but we are not holding our breath. In reality the house & play ground and little pool in the back yard will do the trick for now and for more elaborate weekend entertainment we can just meet up with friends at the club/hotel we are currently staying at. That also is only 15 min away.

 What is Vinex?

Windmills of your Mind

For Sale - Sold

Our house in Houston went on the market last Tuesday. This morning early Monday India time and still Sunday Night in Houston we accepted an offer. So all going well with inspections etc the house is sold already.

Thanks to some great work by all the resources we enlisted the house was good to go very quickly after we left and the pictures make it even prettier -;)

HAR Property Listing

Buying the Car

As I by now have mentioned often enough there are lots of things to arrange for us here. One of those is the need to buy a car. The company set us up for ~ 3 weeks with a driver with car. That is really a necessity as there is no way any newcomer could know their way around town and driving in Indian traffic takes some practice. You need your horn and use it a lot - and also you need to assume that any road that looks to you like 1 - 2 lanes max is really 3-4 lanes - although the use of driving lanes is kind of 'loose'. The driver you get assigned this way also is a decent English speaker and has worked with expats for a while so tends to know the places you need or want to go to and can help with lots of things. These guys can also be quite opinionated and will especially to us ladies just simply tell you that you really do not want to go someplace (whilst you think you do) or want to pick a certain house or neighborhood. All well intended but if you wanted to get a little of the beaten expat path - tough luck!

The driver is a thing that stays. At some point we will get our own drivers license and we could drive ourselves but you probably don't really want to - not all the time and in day to day traffic. So at some point we need to hire our own driver. If you have a driver then that means you also need a decent size car. Soon there will be 5 of us, incl. 3 of us who need car seats and so with the driver that makes 6 seats already. So car selection comes down to the available models with 2 rows of back seats. That limits the choice quite quickly. If you then want to make sure you buy a trustworthy brand and one that is pretty common and hence can be fixed everywhere, that the drivers are familiar with and that are not too big & flashy for here.....well then you are really down to only 3-4 choices with 80% of the expats clearly choosing the Toyota Innova. This is a picture of our current ugly duckling with the driver to the left.

Well I had promised myself I would not in this lifetime have to drive a soccer-mom-mini-van if I could help it......google it....really it is hideous! So no - no Innova. We decided quickly that whilst we liked the Ford in the US we did not think it a sensible choice here and that more or less left us with a Toyota Fortuner.

The resale value of these cars remains pretty high (up to 60 - 70% of original value after 3-4 years)- which can be positive, but the purchase value ain't cheap either and prices are still escalating drastically on on annual basis. Unless you know other expats leaving and can buy their car you don't really want to buy a 2nd hand car - no idea where that has been or what happened to it. So you just need to bite the bullet in most cases and buy a brand new, over-prized car, having limited choice, limited options in extra's and maybe if you are lucky 6 color choices. Or maybe there are many more choices to be made but your driver just does not tell you -;)

So most of the work is done before you have seen a car dealer or a showroom. Cars cost the catalogue price and that is not negotiable. There is some room in delivery dates etc. We had some time early in the week so I said to Eelco maybe the driver can take you to a car dealer. But the driver said no.....too far a drive and not enough time. Oh. Then he said 30 min later that he would call the dealer to come over to our hotel later that day with a car for a test drive.....oh. Ok? Really? Sure enough that evening a car dealer, with a brand new car and his own driver showed up and we got a test drive....on the compound with severe speed restrictions and more speed bumps then road but oh well. 

Then we ended up in this whole debate about really needing to wait for the 2013 model. Because prices change so much still each year that would be somewhat more expensive but would be a better deal at resale. Lots of discussion back and forth. We needed to figure out anyway what extending the car hire would cost us and if we had a tax id yet and money in India to pay so left it all at that.

A couple days later we now know what extending the car hire costs and that indeed all dealers have similar prices and delivery stories - so off to the dealer Eelco went yesterday with the driver to put down a 'reservation' fee on a car. Delivery for the 2013 models is promised in January...cynical me is thinking March, positive Eelco bought into the delivery promise before Jan 20th (happy to take bets!)...in the end the choice was made 100% based on car color....I mean this is all a somewhat ridicules process anyway. The only 2012 models in stock where a very ugly puke tan color or the same standard sliver that covers 90% of the expat cars - we decided we wanted to at least be a little bit different....so we will be waiting for our car till January...or March -:)

Privacy is over rated for Indians, so Eelco received a complete copy of all the paperwork from the last expat that bought a car with the same dealer - such that he has an example...mr X, don't worry, your info is safe with us and I had yoru wife's e-mail address already!.... Makes live easy for us right? The wait also gives us also some time to hire a driver, although we are working on that, and figure out through what avenue in the Indian banking system we are going to actually pay the dealer, in 1 go for that whole brand new overprized car (that reservation fee is next to nothing). That may be a challenge based on today - Eelco called the bank to activate his debit card - the account is 'live' and money been deposited. The bank employee on the other side just said no....and then he said, "it's ok sir, nobody will be able to use their debit card today, none of our customers"...?!?...ok?

So this is in theory what we should be driving around in at some point early next year:

Kaat's xmas loot

We expected that we would be busiest the first week in Bangalore looking for a house, doing paperwork, buying a car, getting started at work......we have been busy with all of that, but it almost feels like we have been busiest keeping up with the school events this week. Tuesday sports day, Wednesday Kaat needed to bring a pair of old socks for a xmas stocking, Thursday Rick had to be dressed in a certain color scheme due to the xmas play that he got to take part in and on Friday we had to bring some snacks & juice for the end of the year party. Of course everywhere the last school week before the holidays is often busy, but we really think that considering how many hours she has been at the school yet so far - Kaat got the best - disproportionate large loot.

Kaat came home Friday, after a very good, happy & chatty day at school, with a painted large xmas bag made out of papers, a stocking full of sweets, a candle, a xmas tree from play dough, a xmas tree and cookies. That was after she already had come home Thursday with a little present / goodie bag from Santa: a book, some juice and a lollipop.

On top of that Kaat has been allowed to wear everyone's necklaces and hair pins and hair bands this week and has elected to mainly spend het time in the arms of the class assistant Uma, who admittedly has the prettiest sari's.

Rick's score was also not bad but not as impressive. In 1 week at his Indian school he learned more songs about xmas (including some about baby Jezus) then he learned in 3.5 years in Houston.

'After' & 'me-too'

We have another almost identical breakfast shot of Rick with his shorter hair do so you can see the before and after and the effect without 'jellies' as Rick calls hair gel.

Little miss 'me-too' now also needs her own bowl of cereal in the morning and wants to eat it all by herself! Fortunately she accepts a smaller spoon.

"Getting Out"

As you maybe can imagine the whole process of leaving work in one country, already not your home country, and then moving to another does not happen overnight.

To give you some idea on what is all involved I will try to tell you the story in 2 parts – getting to the part where we left the US: ‘Getting Out’ and then in a 2nd later episode I will tell you about what it all takes and took to get settled into India.

The whole story started in January 2012. We had a wedding in NL and I decided to use the opportunity to meet a few of the faces in my discipline at the corporate headquarters. Succession planning is done from certain levels on a global level, depending also on the discipline, and as we would start the job hunt towards the end of 2012 it was a good time to make people aware that I would become ‘available’. We only really had 4 days in NL but timing is everything and everyone I needed to see was around. Via – via I was introduced to a guy who had just agreed to move to Bangalore India to really make work of the discipline I am in, in the Asia Pacific region also taking with him all the recent changes in processes and tools to get the changes propagated. So we had some coffee and a chat and without any intention beforehand there was all of the sudden a real opportunity on the table for me.

Asia was on our cards already, we were looking for Asia as one of the places which would be quite different from the US again, a place we had not worked yet and a good location, with all the available help, to still manage 2 full time careers and a family with young kids. Which is getting harder and harder as we move both up the career ladder.

Around May/June time our internal application rounds are done (3x per year) and ‘my job’ in India was posted. Unfortunately I was officially not allowed to apply yet as my window was only open at the end of the year. My boss in Houston was willing to work with us and put the condition out that if Eelco would get a job in India that round he would let me go too. Nothing suitable was posted for Eelco though and so the round closed without our applications.

Then some Monday evening late in the summer Eelco got a call from a sr regional VP in Asia who so happened to be a metallurgist too. He had heard that we were seriously interested and willing to relocate to India, and he certainly saw the use for someone like Eelco in the region. After a quick chat with him and a couple of weeks in which that guy must have pulled some strings, a job offer for Eelco was on the table. By then the pulling game between my organization in Houston and the new one in India had burst loose in full force. So much so that India was not willing to wait for the next application round and wanted to do what is called ‘a placement’ - moving us out with the normal cycles.

Sometimes Dutch culture is really well visible in our organization and the final nod to release me involved at least 10 different people in Houston who all had to say yes and agree to the release date. I am not sure who all talked to whom and what strings all got pulled by whom but after a couple of weeks back and forth the green light came unexpectedly (timing wise) towards the end of August.

Then the real paperwork begins:
1. Job offers are send and need to be accepted by us
2. Based on the job offer acceptance we got a handshake
3. A transfer coordinator in some HR service center in the Philippines is assigned and starts sending us stuff
4. We received a letter with which we could get our medicals done
5. The Health svs could not accommodate us for > 3 wks later so Eelco turned on the charm and all of the sudden we could come the next day
6. Frantic search at the house for our ‘gele boekjes’ or vaccination records
7. Health check is fine our 20th HIV test in the past 8 years or so plus in typical American style a thorough listing of everything we may ever become exposed to in India and us signing our lives away.
8. A 2nd transfer advisor from the Philippines contacts us – this time for Eelco and claims she is the one and only for us.
9. A battle within HR over e-mail as to ‘whom we belong to’ – despite the fact that from a work perspective I am the lead career (prioritized from business need perspective) HR claims Eelco should be the one as he makes a whopping couple of hundred more a year. So the cat fight starts with arguments how the pay difference is really important for our allowances....mmm the only thing we do not get twice is housing & utilities.....that is defined by job grade not salary......whatever. We know the only affect is the paperwork. Our freight is now traveling the world under Eelco's name and we all have to come under him for the medical insurance instead of me. Whatever...the conventional way i.e. under the dad is easier to explain anyway and he now has to do all the extra paperwork & signatures -;) As they told us in Cuba - being the 'jeffe' - or the more important one is no real benefit, just more hassle!
10. Eelco’s transfer advisor wins and promptly start sending us the same welcome e-mails we already have had for 3 weeks and tells us we need to start with our medical….duh! I can't resist sending her a message that if she wants to 'tae over our case' so badly she better tale the whole file as in progress...no use of course as in the course of the next few weeks we regularly get the same request 2-3 times.
11. Medical clearance comes through
12. We receive instructions from an Agent in India on what needs to happen for the Visa application process. We need loads of papers ourselves but also quite a few which need to come from HR India who is waiting for our medical clearance letter which should come to them from the Dr in Houston though the svs centre in the Philippines. So we pick up a copy of the clearance ourselves and send it directly to India

13. We gather all the paperwork we need to have for the Visa application which includes copies of our Delft certificates, marriage & birth certificates, proof of address, CVs and a long list of not so simple forms to fill out etc etc

14. The couriered package arrives with all our employment / employer related visa application letters from India 2nd week of October and we submit our full application the day after. Major milestone!

15. The other correspondence starts up - the moving company in the US, the tax consultant in the US, the relocation agent in the US (who will arrange hotel & car etc after you move out of your house before you leave), the tax consultant in India, the relocation agent in India etc etc.

16. Through some contacts we found a school in Bangalore we think will work and register the kids and manage to pay for the first 6 months too

17. I find an OB/Gyn in India and make an appointment

18. The guy from the moving company comes to assess everything in our house to see if it will fit in a sea container

19. We get more letters & more forms to fill out for our social security in NL

20. Eelco's replacement has arrived at work and handover has started there. With me it is just more manic deadlines approaching.

21. We arrange last appointments with the pediatrician and my midwives as well as to pick up our full medical files

22. We meet with the realtor and set up Power of Attorneys such that other people can sell our house after we leave

23. We start canceling things like the kids school etc and start planning farewell parties

24. Eelco has a thriving business selling all our obsolete stuff on Craigs List (like Marktplaats)

25. We plan and have our last outings in Texas and frantically work our way through everything we have - what to sell, dispose or replace. Our shopping lists grow at the same pace as we manage to order and receive stuff.

26. We check on the status of our Visa's & we try to convince the relevant people to start booking travel for us.

27. We arrange for cleaning of the house after we move out by the maid service, power washing of teh house exterior, a last 'terminator' session (bug spraying) and some garden work to make it all look nice & ready for sale.

28. We start advertising our cars for sale, Eelco has a leaving do at work

29. On the 11th hour, really the last possible day to maintain our travel and move plans as is, our Visa's come through just minutes before my farewell at work - Pfew! - Late Wednesday the 14th

30. We confirm the packers, the hotel in Houston, the car rentals and the transport to the airport. We apply for the kids' visa's which could only be done now we have ours. Tickets to NL are booked. It is my last 'normal' day in the office and Eelco and I are spending our time on handovers, our last deliverables and backing up our systems etc - Thursday the 15th.

31. My major work deadline is passed/done - Friday 9pm - our last weekend in Houston starts

32. We inventorize everything we have left in the freezer & pantry and then buy a few matching items to serve everyone at our farewell party - Saturday

33. We spend the Sunday frantically going through everything. Packing our luggage and separating what will need to go in the air freight. We label everything that needs to stay with/in the house as well as the few items that need to go to NL.

34. We eat our last meal at the house

35. The packers arrive and the madness starts. We move our luggage onto the balcony to avoid it being packed. Eelco takes his car to the dealer and wraps some stuff up at work whilst we also finalize paperwork for the house and have a little farewell party at school for Kaat (in conjunction with some Thanksgiving parties). We sleep in a hotel.

36. Day 2 of packing, work keeps pestering me with some last minute things and they are also not willing & ready to let Eelco really go yet. Farewell in Rick's class, last minute decisions on what moves where and o yeah - we need a rental car in NL. Tickets from NL to India are in progress, India is asking for more scanned copies of everything and want Eelco to start reviewing some welding procedures. A decision is made on the sale of my truck and we deal alarm services & utilities etc to make sure we can get to it all and keep it up during the sale of the house. The kids watch TV in an otherwise empty house (and test the Echo) whilst we sort the last bits & pieces. Too late we make it to the hotel. No big steak for our last night in Houston - just some room service!

37. Our last few hours - a last minute ride to the charity shop and the recycling. A walk through the house with Jason to inventorize what all needs to be done before it goes on the market. No kids visa's....thank god they each have 2 passports. But we do need to still go to the Visa Agent to go pick up a letter confirming they have our kids American passports. Frantically I try to squeeze all the last pieces of remnants in bags. We need to get to the airport on time as the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving is the WORST day of travel in the US.

38. As we have checked in our 10 pieces of luggage and are ready to pass security we get a call - kids passports are ready....well too late!

39. 3 days later and I am back in Houston. I drop my truck & all papers at the agreed location.

40. Cleaning needs to be inspected, another walk through with Jason, empty the fridge & freezer, polish the copper bowl in the toilet.

41. Cash checks for the cars, and write checks for everything that is still to come on the house.

42. Distribute last presents and goodbye cards, see a few more friends, shop a few more last things

43. Oh and somewhere in those 3.5 days also have a double project review with long days & dinners + frantic handovers as there is still no replacement so a lot off "maybe you could also still do this before you go" and the more conventional stuff of packing up my office, doing last time writing & expenses, hand in my PC etc.

44. Finally the kids visa's arrive through courier service at the office.

44. Get keys to everyone, arrange for cable box to be returned.

45. Return rental car, take all the last stuff out of the house, attend review close out & meet one of my great colleagues in Houston at the airport lounge and then it is time for me too to leave Houston for good.

We are out - in no mans land as we call it. Part I of the move is done. Have had no time to worry if all the right stuff is in the right place and whether we have done all we needed to do. Guess we will find out one way or another.

Rick living in Hawaii

We are living in a Hotel or a Resort or the Club of one of the more famous and established compounds in the area. Our days get souped up with house hunting, paperwork, getting started at work etc etc about which later more. From the kids no complaints though at eating 2x a day at the same Restaurant, being constrained to two hotel rooms and not having too much stuff with us here. Especially Rick is quite busy in Hawaii still synonymous with any hotel) and fortunately when he tells us during the day that he does want to go home he means the Hotel room and nothing else.

Who needs toys if you have daddy's shoes, mom's jewelry etc etc

 On Tuesday the club had organized a kids xmas party. As it was in the evening and unclear if I could stay I only took Rick. WHo just that day learned about Santa and hence knew what the sleigh was for, and also started talking to me about baby Jesus (?!?!?) a he had learned some songs about that....

Afer checking out the balloon artist, the face painting, the games and free popcorn a somewhat bad magician entered the stage.

 But as the music was a volume max (which apparently is the norm here at parties) and as all the balloons kept popping (which Rick really hates!) he was not too impressed. After watching it all for a bit he begged me to go back to the room - let's go mommy! - so we missed Santa but Rick could not care less - the whole world has seen the snake on his arm by now and we are wondering how to deal with the inevitable wash off now some 48 hrs later. 

In the morning Rick goes with one of us to the breakfast buffet to get his cereal prepared, by him, with a sleepy head, after which he consumes the whole bowl with the huge spoon. ALl by himself and nobody is allowed to help so after 3 days we now know to allow enough time for breakfast -;)

The humid morning winter dew & fog lead to amazing hair on Kaatje's side. Who still is happy to share cereal with papa - just like before.

Rick hair was also getting just too long so we went to the barber in the Hotel. A very hip but friendly guy. Rick was ok with this new hairdresser although he specifically told him a few times to 'not cut in his ears!'

I told him I wanted not too short ad that a little funky would be ok so Rick got a very hip hairdo with a somewhat itchy neck and spiky hair. He was pretty pleased and so was I when 30 min after the picture below his hair was 'gelled out' and back down and still looked ok.

Rick makes it look as if he has been living in hotels all his life and as if he is not really going to be fed up any time soon. Kaat could even care less. All is fine with her as long as we feed her in time, she gets to sleep close to Rick and we are around. She loves all the stairs in the hotel, most of the food, the pool, the playground all the personnel.

Don't touch!

There is a big dish outside the Hotel entrance with water and a lovely floating flower display - I am sure  that in a couple of months I can tell you why or what it is for or what it is called, but it is maintained daily and very pretty..........And very very attractive!

Don't touch, don't touch, don't........

Oh well - at least compared to the average Russian or America security here everyone just smiles at our cute kids and shrugs their shoulders. 

Sports Day

Not even 2 days at school and the kids already had sports day. All parents where invited for an event involving an obstacle course, some sprint relay race and a team water event. Rick claimed he was not ready and scared but at the same time was very happy to have me at school with him and completed all tasks with great, happy enthusiasm.

 Rick awaiting his turn seated at the temple in the school garden.

 At the obstacle course Rick corrected himself and hence went bad to do it better / right -;)

 Showing off his running skills

The kids had been practicing for weeks and had all selected partners long beforehand. The school manager was at first afraid Rick would maybe not be able to participate due to lack of practice but I was not concerned at all, which was confirmed when after a single practise yesterday Rick started to explain me the sprint start procedure. Fortunately there was a buddy left for him for the team challenge and the whole event was far removed from anything professional or too serious so no problem! Some kids did not like the big audience though and opted out because of that.

Showing off the medal with in red and blue two of Rick's teachers.

Rick checking out the flower garden with > 15 different sorts of flowers all with name signs for kids.

Having lunch with his new class mates (Reception A) as well as those of the neighboring class (Reception B)

Unfortunately due to Indian time management, traffic and endless reams of paperwork we missed most of Kaat's sports day. She was not as much into participating anyway - not feeling all too well physically .

Sinterklaas - sort off

Rick and Kaat don't know too much about Sinterklaas. With Rick of course if you explain some it he will get it but it is and was not really all that alive to hime despite being 12 days in NL around Sinterklaas time. All the nephews of course know very very well who Sinterklaas is and what is supposed to happen. Fortunately nephew Auke is also still small enough that he is not too bothered at all about Rick & Kaat messing up or about fairness in present distribution etc etc. So Sinterklaas offered us a somewhat improvised celebration at Oma Marijke's house. Even brand new Tjade came to join us!

Sinterklaas had been very generous for the kids and at first they all wanted to tear all the paper apart but after 1 or 2 presents they wanted to just play. Our present as adults was to watch it all unfold. Some presents even came with Sinterklaas rhymes and Rick's one was in English-Dutch. Would love to say that all the rhymes after that got as much attention from the kids but that would not be true.

Despite the lack of stereotyping we believe in the education of our kids they all favored ultimate boy or girl toys and had 1 favorite which would have been enough by itself. Kaatje got her Baby and just played with her solid for an hour or so - not having eyes for anything else. Putting her to bed on a pillow with a little banker, and then getting her up again and seated on her chair etc.

Auke got a Bob the builder hat which appeared favorite till the tool set with real drill arrived. Rick was clearly a little envious.

But once Rick got his Trio block from Sinterklaas he was done in too and totally happy as a true Texan building 'Fires' (= guns) and shooting around.

Overwhelmed, underwhelmed or just tired? Fab new stickers though!

Looking like 'real' men watching TV already - no eyes for nothing but very content and a good way to wind down from all the excitement.

All in all a very succesfull Sinterklaas, especially considering its somewhat impromptu nature. 2.5 week old Tjade also got quite some presents but appeared not so interested yet to play with them.