October 2009 vs June 2013 - Lots has happened and some thing feel very familiar -:)
First bites
Duuk barely passed the 4 month mark and he is already eating solids (well - fruit smoothies are barely 'solid'). With Duuk we did not even try the porridge & grains. The other 2 spat that out with so much enthusiasm we thought it would not be worth a try. So a good Bangalore staple then: Banana & Mango. The spoon was a little alien to him - as well as the first tastes on his lips. But, as soon as it passed his taste buds we where graced with a huge happy smile. Sarala was as proud of him as any parent would be and immediately fed him another 2 times today. Guess I better let her know if I want some of the fun too!
No no - he did not quite manage to feed himself.......yet! Judging by his enthusiasm that might not be too far off either.
Happy & Content and only a little yellow.
Elephants on the loose
Meanwhile in some other suburbs of Bangalore:
Rampaging Elephants - scary! It was a significant herd as well.
Bangalore street views
Light traffic
A cow needs its rest too...
Highway fly-overs that don't go anywhere and endless trucks with construction materials
The limited squatter housing we do get to see, with some of the buildings of the brand new metro in the background.
A typical gate marking the entrance into some 'hood' or another.
Plenty of Tuck-tucks but most are not as elaborately decorated as I remember from up north. They tend to be equally overloaded though.....
Temples, ladies in sarees, street stalls and men not appearing to be in a hurry to go anywhere.
A 'strip mall' with lots of advertising, with billboards with one of the 5-6 main Bollywood stars who appear to do ALL the commercials. In this case SRK, the Tom Cruise of India, who did not loose his popularity.
And more billboards with un-indian looking pictures advertising yet another gated community to be build, with unpaved sidewalks and lost of power lined & communication towers.
The more anticipated type of sights in India.
Anything fits on a 2-wheeler. Bangalore has the highest number of 2-wheelers per capita in India (as well as bars...)
The trash collector & sorter's business.
Another office building or hotel with helipad being build - it may soon or never be finished.
One of the fancier malls in Bangalore (no not the fanciest) with Zara, Californian Pizza Kitchen, Trader Vics, Hamleys, Bennetton etc as well as all the equivalent Indian popular brands.
And more billboards, and more construction
with the more traditional businesses on the sidewalk and the new traditional business for Bangalore (IT support or call centers) behind shiny paneled windows and a fence.
The view from a friends appartment (in one of the fancier complexes in town) - shanty town - by far far far not as bad as what you would find in Delhi or Mumbai or...
and the temple next door
Bangalore is 'the garden city' - there is lots of green! Although in some parts of town that is all covered in lots of brown dust. The green in the background here is the airfield for the air force. Some impressive helicopters on display on a regular basis.
Me & My Kids
After a few hectic weeks I had a lot of time with the kids this weekend - lovely!
I was very tired but sooo happy to have so much cuddle time
Big Brothers sky ping
Playing pirates & sharks
of course Rick and Kaat where not satisfied till Duuk was in the boat too.
Baby Pirate
Fashionista-Girl-Pirate (yes the outfit was an own composition)
Camping out on the couch of papa & mama's friends who don't have kids and a very 'adult house'
Being entertained by the magician at father's day brunch
Duuk making sure I am cooking something nice for his brother & sister
Testing out the new umbrella's in the drizzle
Do we look alike? - At least I am not drawling...(yet)
Group cuddles
Getting sooo many cute smiles!
isn't she lovely?
and isn't he handsome (not supposed to call him cute or gorgeous or ...), entertaining me with his fantastic stories.
Me & My Kids; My Preciousssss!
Bizniz trips
Within a week of starting back of work I got asked to travel to Dubai for work. So at only 11 weeks old I left Duuk behind with papa and the nannies and made my way there. From Bangalore a flight to Dubai is only about 4 hours so not that long and there are several flights per day to choose from.
I was supposed to go for just 2 days, which turned into a 1 1/2 day and then expanded again to 3 days...... I showed up the first afternoon with a big shopping list and a few hours to spare. I thought I had decent super mall training from the US but being tired, hormonal and all I was far from ready for the Dubai mega malls. Fortunately some friends had steered me away from the biggest ones but still it was utterly overwhelming and after 3 items from my list I gave up. Went to the supermarket for some dishwasher tablets / powder (sold out in Bangalore for a while now) to fill up the suitcase and that was it. I had brought a big suitcase to bring home all my treasures and had packed it with an inflatable pool toy as it was almost empty on the way out so needed to buy enough to fill it up somehow -;)
The meeting days where long and actually pretty good and so busy I had no time to think about how badly I was missing Duuk. In the evenings I managed to have a few dinners with friends from previous locations which was really nice but also kind of weird not being able to show them my family - they all only knew me from before being a mom - and being their 'single', nothing much was really different from before!
I had not even made it back to Bangalore before received another request to travel to Qatar the weekend after (Sunday is a working day there). So off I went again - this time for not even 24 hrs (~ 20 on the ground in Doha only). I had been to all these places last in 2005/2006 and LOTS had changed. Especially Doha must have grown 400%. No time for shopping or seeing friends in Doha unfortunately, but a lovely few hours in a very very fancy hotel and another good meeting actually - making me happy to be back at work despite missing my kids.
When I came home that night Eelco had already flown out a few hours earlier on a few days trip of his own. The nanny slept over and stayed with the kids whilst we traded places as the single parent at home in the middle of the night.
The kids clearly where impacted by it all and there is now even more focus then before on 'the completeness of our family' - who is here and who are we missing? (including the 2 nannies and the driver)
Once I get the hang of it again though I think those trips will be quite nice. Some me time in places with friends, nice shops, good spa's and fancy hotels with great beds.
Mom & Rick's Adventure - Singapore
Baby Duuk by now has a passport but he still cannot travel as he cannot get back in the country of we take him out now. I really really started to miss my friends - Sietske & Marlouke both had left Houston in the first half of 2012. Making new ones here is in progress but does not work that fast and it has been a bit of a ride 'alone' - the jobs, making the choices, moving and especially having a baby! So I decided to go for a brief visit to Marlouke in Singapore. Taking Rick along making the weekend a real adventure.
Rick was elated to go just with me, finally on a plane again and see Maartje again. Although seeing Maartje again appeared normal within 3 minutes!
Singapore offers all the things Rick also loved in Houston - but then better it appears. The zoo was amazing with the monkeys hanging over the paths.
and lost of jungle and wilderness to run around in.
There also was a fabulous elephant show.
Day-2 we visited the pirate ship splash pad. Impressive and right up Rick's alley.
We could do with one of those in Bangalore!
Later that day Rick & Maartje got to help Joost bottle his own beer. Feast for them and for us mommies as we managed to get some shopping done and have some time together.
At dinner we really missed Eelco, Kaat & Duuk. Next time we'll all come!
Sunday morning we wrapped up the weekend with breakfast at the beach - or sand and water play for the kids.
Bangalore Sunday Brunch is great but the beach would be a real bonus!
I had a great weekend catching up with Marlouke over wine-time and shopping (we managed my whole list!) and watching Rick and Maartje play endlessly.
They had such fun together and they kept going for hours on end without any fighting or disagreements, complimenting each others imaginary stories and play.
Late Sunday night our time in Singapore was up and we boarded the flight back to Bangalore. Rick is an amazing traveller and no hassle at all - even when sleepy - to get through the airport and during the flight. So 72 hours after we left we where back Home. Sleepy but energized, happy to be home too and see Eelco, Duuk & Kaat again.
We will most certainly have more of those adventures!
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