sick.

Our Violet is sick.  As happy as ever, but with a river running through her.  She calls out "poop gas!" and then moments later we usually have to change not only her diaper, but her entire outfit.  Luckily, we brought some powdered antibiotics with us from home, so we started her on those and are waiting for them to kick in.  She seemed a bit better today, and dined on rice and bananas and yogurt.  

But can I just take a moment and say how scary it is having my child be sick here?  I knew it would happen (and, really, it isn't that bad.  I mean, it could be much worse...in fact I think I've seen it worse at home).  But being here is hard because I keep convincing myself that she has typhoid, or some other awful thing.  Then, moments later, I think that maybe she's just getting more teeth.  

A mother worries.  

I called the school today and said we wouldn't be in for at least a few days.  We had a very low key day at home, playing in the back yard (I think we might need to find one of those when we get home...), and making up all kinds of funny little games.  She is having to get very creative here (which is great!) because we didn't really bring much from home for her to play with.  So, what does she do?  She makes a "book parade" of course!  She came up with this all on her own this morning.  After working very intently for about forty-five minutes, she came up to me and said "book parade, mama!" and I looked down and saw that she had arranged every single one of her books (4 Dr. Seuss books, 2 Curious George books, Goodnight Moon, and a free bath-book from Finn-Air) end to end across the living room in a straight row, making a parade.  Something about this really touched my mommy-heart.  This sick little thing, not realizing that she should be having a lousy day, just sitting quietly, being creating and clever.   

I'll keep you posted.  Any tips on how to handle this would be great.... 

The man with the marble driveway

There is a very fancy barrel-chested man who lives just two houses down from us.  It's a big white house with an enormous intricate cast-iron balcony that wraps all around the upper half.  Also, it has a huge marble driveway, like nothing I've ever seen, and he stands outside watching it being polished every day.
He often talks to us as we pass by.  He says he also has a house in Vancouver (Canada), and another one in London--  and a son or daughter in each city to watch over these various places while he's away.  With a thick British accent he always calls out to Tyler "Yes, hello there, sir!  And how are you doing today?" and he waves to Violet who gives him, appropriately, the queen's wave.  The three of us keep hoping to be asked over for tea (which is what they do here).  We are curious to see the inside of this house that is surrounded on the outside by a moat of silver and black marble.  

On Food

I keep getting questions from everyone about our food encounters here.  So, I guess I'll give kind of an update--  

Milk

Before we came, I talked with several of our Indian friends about the dairy situation here.  I had heard from some that you get it from the nearby farms, or that guys with big metal milk bottles come around to your house every morning.  This info, however, was coupled with the warnings that we shouldn't consume milk, yogurt, or water if we couldn't see it's original source...  What we have discovered is that Milk is also available at least two other ways:  In "Verka Packs"-- which are these little sealed plastic sacks of milk that are sold in stands around the town, and then also in Nestle shelf-stable boxes, super pasteurized (as you find in Europe).  We haven't been very adventurous with trying the house-to-house milkman milk, although I do very much like the idea of it...  But, with Violet, some things we just play safe.  

Spicy

Food here is spicy.  Almost everything we have had, actually, has some heat-- at least compared to what we are used to.  Even the non-spicy items seem to have a little kick.  One Indian dish that I have found to be completely non-spicy, however, (for Violet) is a Dosa.  It's kind of like a big semi-crispy Swedish pancake.  You can order them stuffed with all kinds of delicious [spicy] foods, but if you just order a plain Dosa then it comes completely plain (with sides of hot chutneys and stewy spicy vegetables that you can eat with it, if you like).  Actually, it seems like most of the plain breads are pretty mild (naan, roti, etc...)  Also, Saag (kind of a creamed spinach) can sometimes be fairly mild (although I have had it with heat too), and often the Dal (stewy lentils that are served with almost everything) can be somewhat mild, although again, sometimes that has surprised us too.  

Meat 

Most of what we eat here is vegetarian.  Lots of cauliflower, beans, peas, carrots, lentils, rice, and cabbage.  We have, however, found a few markets to buy raw chicken (and the quality always seems much better than what we get back home).  There doesn't seem to be any problem ordering chicken in the restaurants here, and also there is lamb (in case you like it.... which Tyler does... but I don't).  Chicken is actually a pretty big deal in Punjab (although, again, usually pretty spicy, so we cook our own meat for Violet at home).  

Fruit 

Before we came, we were told to not eat any fruit without a big solid peal.  And, basically, we have been following that rule.  The bananas and oranges here have been great and we buy them from a guy who pushes a cart around our neighborhood on Saturdays.  The only other fruit that we have discovered (and that Violet has fallen completely in love with ) are guavas.  I wasn't too thrilled about the idea of her eating them (the peal is not very thick)-- but they serve them at her school every day for snack and she practically inhales them.  We do peel them (although I still feel nervous about them)-- so far she hasn't gotten sick from them (knock on wood).  They aren't the pink guavas that we normally see;  they are green and white and a bit sour.  

Coffee 

Coffee has been a bit hard to come by.  Mostly there is just this delicious tea everywhere (although, the tea is very strong with tons of sugar so if you have a cup in the morning, and one in the afternoon, I don't think you would notice too much of a break from the caffeine).  There are, however, a few coffee shops around town-- one called Cafe Coffee Day that was described to us before we came as "India's version of Starbucks".  It is a chain shop, and is quite pleasant.  The coffee is not strong, but if you go in and order a cappuccino it is brought to you on a little saucer while you sit on a couch, and can be quite satisfying.  

More to come on this topic soon... Violet awakes.  Let us know if you have any other specific questions-- food is so much fun to explore here!    

Rock Garden

One of the first things I ever learned about Chandigarh was that it had a rock garden.  Really, I wasn't expecting much.  A rock garden?  A park that has rocks instead of flowers?  A few little paths that are laid with pebbles in a variety of fun colors?
Well, my friends, the Nek Chand Rock Garden is absolutely nothing what I expected.  In fact, surprisingly, it is one of the most intriguing, astounding, gorgeous places I have ever been.  Ever.
What is it exactly?  Well, once it was a dumping ground for the city's old building scraps-- such as old tiles, toilets, scrap metal, piping, etc....  One of the men watching over the dump began secretly creating a kind of artistic wonderland out of all this recycled stuff, and eventually after years and years of work, created a place of beauty with winding mosaic pathways, gigantic sculpted structures covered in beautiful mosaic work, and hundreds of these very curious little sculptures of animals and people made of anything he could find-- including gorgeous old bangles and colorful tile scraps.
The city eventually discovered what he had done, and opened the doors of the park to the public.  It really is a bit like a wonderland walking through the garden.  It is broken into many sections, each section has a little door you go through (of course completely covered in beautiful mosaic), and the doors get smaller and smaller....  You leave one area having absolutely no idea what the next corner might surprise you with--  sometimes it is 200 monkey sculptures, all standing in a row, or sometimes it is a huge ravine with a stream bed and and bridges and archways 300 feet above.
Here are a few pictures from our trip..... (click on the pictures to enlarge :)

Extended 3-week update

We were just flipping through some pictures from when we were in Paris, and of course it feels like it was about 3 years ago that we were there, instead of just 3 weeks.  I cannot tell you what I would give now to have an enormous gyro full of all kinds of [safe] raw lettuce and tomatoes, slowed cooked meat, and french fries.  I would say that we finally have learned how to eat here---  it's more complicated than I ever could have imagined.  There is the constant having to remind yourself that foods we normally eat might not be completely safe here (mostly raw fruits and vegetables).  Then, well, we have a man in the house who cooks dinner every night--- which is lovely--- (we didn't have that the first week and a half we were here)-- but even just adjusting to his food has been a bit hard on the system.  Every night it is some combination of lentils, carrots, peas, cauliflower, and rice-- all very wonderful, but the lack of fat and meat protein has been quite a big adjustment.  Also, the complete change of diet had started to give us a few tummy troubles... Anyway, by the end of week two, we were happy to have food, but realizing that we needed to allow ourselves to cheat just a little, and buy a very few of the expensive imported foods (a jar of peanut butter, some Kraft-style cheese, pasta, frozen chicken sausages, even potato chips)-- just to supplement our diet with a few more calories and fat to keep us going through the day.  It has helped, a lot, just switching to a mind frame of it's ok to allow ourselves a few splurges from home.  We are not trying to prove anything to anyone, and we are learning that it is a bit too hard and unrealistic for us to try to completely throw off everything American with a toddler;  there is a good middle ground, somewhere, that we fall on and off of.

In other news, Tyler is not going to Bangalore on Friday with his class for a week, as was originally planned.  I am not sure how much of the details I can relay to you-- so I may leave that up to him-- but it has to do with a student having emergency surgery three days ago, and the program needing someone here to watch over her as she recovers.  The three of us (well, four) will remain in Chandigarh, and keep everything very low key, which we are always up for.

Also, over the weekend, my friend Jeanie (a fellow artist), and her friend, Angel, who just happened to be in India traveling about, paid us a visit.  It was so incredibly lovely to see some friends (old and new) from home.  We had a lovely lunch at Sindhi Sweets and were able to laugh and cry a little over some of the joys and hardships of being in this fabulously wonderful and crazy country.  I was definitely surprised by my own sudden small pride in the city (is pride the right word?)  There were things I wanted to show off, such as Sindhi Sweets, and the neighborhood surrounding her school, and the samosas from the chaat place near our house, and the rock garden (even though we haven't been there yet), and the lake with the geese and ducks....  
It was sad to see them go.

As for Violet, she has completely and utterly entered (possibly prematurely) her 2-year phase of life....  She is tons of fun, when she decides to be-- but she has also become very opinionated about everything.  She wants mama to give her a sip of water (not dad), she won't go down for her nap in the middle of the day until we have done every little bedtime ritual we have at least 3 times and every inch of the blanket is in the exact right position, and G-raff has to be on the left side of her not the right (or sometimes, for no reason, it's the opposite).  She loves bananas but absolutely will not take a bite unless she is actually holding it, she doesn't want her diaper changed (or asks to have it done every time she feels a little bit of "poop-gas"....)  the list goes on and on..... And these wants or not-wants are each accompanied by extreme demands or fits of crying.  And her 2-year old birthday is still 2 months away....  yikes.
I think a toddler is a toddler anywhere you go.  We would be going through all of this with her even if we were in Seattle.  Although being in India does make everything a bit more complicated.  If she is angry about something, she tries to do things that she knows she is not supposed to do.  At home, this would just be standing on the couch.  Here, however, the list is miles long and includes exponentially more dangerous things such as actually pulling the outlets off of the walls, refusing to hold hands or be carried on the busy streets that have zero sidewalks, getting too close to our one rickety old heater, eating the biting ants off the floor of the sunroom, etc.......  the list goes on and on and on.

As for Tyler's class-- I will have to leave all of that to his telling.  But our little school continues to open its doors to Violet every day, although I think she is distracting some of the students more than the teachers would like.  Today we were sent to the park across the street with all of the 8-year old boys [who really find Violet annoying more than anything] while the girls stayed behind to do their studies.  They want me to leave Violet with the other teachers on Monday for two hours while I teach a little watercolor class to the older students--- which I am happy to do--- except I am, of course, very nervous  and concerned about Violet.  I know that the teachers (and kids) will watch after her, but she requires so very very much attention-- constant attention-- just to insure that she doesn't fall or pull every book off of every shelf, or simply wander off (let's remember, she still is only one and some-monts old).  I'm not sure I'm totally ready to be completely away from her... although, again, this would probably be the same (almost) if we were still in Seattle.  Also, she hasn't wanted to be more than 10 feet from me at any moment of any day lately, so we'll see how the whole thing goes.  It will be nice if it actually works, to get a break and do a little painting with the kids (although I have been told that technique is not something that they like to teach.... which kind of irks me, and leaves me wondering what they want me to do... but maybe that is an entirely different blog post....  )

Anyway, life rolls on here 13.5 hours ahead of anyone who is reading this.  We love you all and miss you and hope you aren't forgetting about us (haha!)
It is Violet's bedtime, and so now I am off to put her into her snuggle bed.

xoxo rachel

Observations of birds and various things

Shopping Bags

There don’t seem to be a whole lot of plastic shopping bags around here.—which is kind of amazing and refreshing compared to how many there are everywhere you look in the US.  When you go into a store and buy something, it is packaged away for you in a little cloth sack.  They are usually very thin and very pink. 

Carrots

Carrots here are a striking red color; the color of persimmons; the color of sockeye salmon; a color that is somewhere between a tomato and the inside of a watermelon.  They are gorgeous and as sweet as can be.  I truly have never seen anything like them.  Our chef makes this dish of carrots and freshly shelled peas that is absolutely delicious. 

Laundry

All of our laundry line dries--  and it is quite impressive how little time it takes.  Maybe it is especially dry here; maybe the sun is extra bright; maybe the wind blows just in the right direction.  All I know is that the laundry I wash in the morning is usually dry by the afternoon.  I wish this could work in Seattle.

Color

I feel extraordinarily drab here.  Grey pants; brown sweater; black coat.  The women here wear such gorgeous clothes in the most beautiful vibrant colors.  Possibly a shopping trip is in my future. 

Outlets

We have at least three different kinds of outlets in our house.  There is the large three round-pronged ones (we only have two of these, and this is what our heater needs, so we haven’t had much of a choice as to where we can have the heater going).  Then there is the small three round-pronged ones—most things go into these.  Then there are these very modern ones that function either as the small three round-pronged ones or also can work as American style outlets with more rectangular shaped holes.  It is very clever.  Also, all of the outlets have on and off switches, so if you aren’t using an appliance you can turn the switch off and it saves a great amount of energy. 

Birds

I hope, eventually, to find a little time to really dedicate myself to this topic.  But just in the last few weeks I have noticed a wonderful variety of birds here.  First, there is the common crow, that is very much different than the crows we have back home.  These crows are almost blue, but then have beautiful silver necks, and these little hooked bills.  They are lean and quite handsome.  Then, there are these fat, stout, very round brown birds that seem to be everywhere.  They remind me of the robins we have back home—a bit girthy with a huge amount of attitude.  The first time I saw one I was struck by how funny its expression was--  it almost looks as though is has these downturned eyebrowns—as if he’s not quite pleased with any situation at any given time. 

Then, there are these speckled smallish black birds that have bright yellow beaks and markings around their eyes.  When they fly you can see these beautiful white under-feathers..  They are about the same size as the brown birds, but not quite as round. 

Of course, there are also these gorgeous green parrots that I keep mentioning.  I don’t think I have ever really seen a parrot fly, and let me tell you, it is brilliant.  They have these long narrow tail feathers that follow them, and they seem to be able to fly straight up and then nose dive.  They chirp a lot, and hang out in large groups.  If I don’t see any more wildlife in India--  no tigers, elephants, crocodiles--- seeing these wild parrots alone will have made my trip. 

A few others to note—there are these small brown birds with black pointy heads.  They very much look like cardinals, but aren’t red.  Also, there are these teeny tiny itsy bitsy birds that live in all the shrubs.  And these gorgeous little yellow birds that look a bit like warblers that hang out in the trees by Violet’s school. 

Also, there are pigeons, which seem to look identical no matter where in the world you go.  And mourning doves with slightly pink heads, one of which somehow got briefly stuck in our sun room the other day…  

small 3-week update

Well, friends.  Here we are.  Into our third week of India Home.  And, I dare say, we are slightly adjusted.  It has warmed up just slightly, which has made miles of difference into our every day life.  The sun shines, and suddenly green parrots appear on the power-lines, and all of the orange flowers on our balcony open up.
Violet and I have gone to our Coveda school a few more times (it is open, now that it is not so cold), and she has a tremendous time running around after the big kids.  The kids all love her-- especially the girls-- who tote her around, and are patient with her as she collects sticks, old peanut shells, stones, slips of paper, and grass for their pockets...

More to come soon~  Tyler is home, so we are all going to go for a walk.

love to all,
xoxo rachel

More Pictures!

Just a few pictures from our daily life here in Chandigarh. More pictures (with more Rachel!) to come soon.

A motor rickshaw ride - our main mode of transport

Violet and Dada, in a rickshaw

Indian crows, at the Sukhna Lake

Beautiful flowers at the Lake

Celebration food (nuts, sesame candy, peanut brittle, popcorn) for Lauri

Violet in our backyard, with her monkey backpack/ friend

A human-powered rickshaw - slower, but it gets you there. Better views during the ride.

A celebration that set up in a park near our house - the flower smell was amazing.

The Open Hand Monument - symbol of Chandigarh.

"The hand is open to give, open to receive." A tribute to human dependence on nature.

Bathtime at our house! In boiled (then cooled) bathwater....lucky girl!

The Academic Side...

yes, hello again. A unique spare moment has allowed me (me!) to post again. Violet is sleeping calmly and Rachel is out to dinner with some people from the UW class. After all the long days, with me tied up with the architecture program, she was ready for a dinner out - hopefully with some adult conversation!

So I have a quiet moment here in our "India Home" to recite exactly what I've been up to. It really feels like we hit the ground running here, and it is hard to believe that our first class was only last Wednesday. Our main project seems simple enough - we are here is to look at the city of Chandigarh, as architects, urban planners, historians, artists - and see what we find. Chandigarh has a unique history (as most family members know by now) - tied to both Indian independence, major movements in architecture, and more recently the rapid forces of globalization. By globalization, we mean things like the speeding up of communication, the dominance of english as a global language, the presence of Facebook in almost every country - cell phones, KFC (which is here), etc. The point being these things change how we interact with the physical city. As a city planned from scratch in the 1950s, Chandigarh provides an interesting case study - as both an Indian city and an emerging global city (whatever that means).

Here we are in front of the Chandigarh College of Architecture

So this past week we've had orientation sessions, had to acquire a printer and scanner, figure out internet connectivity (ironically this was very important to how we do our work), secure space at the Chandigarh College of Architecture. In addition to this, I've have to organize eight different speakers (often two a day) who came to talk to the class, divide the class in to working groups and help them get on their way. Each group is investigating a different topic - like the effectiveness of the Master Plan of the city, how certain buildings (like theaters) should be preserved, how the architectural frame control (which restricts the design of many buildings to fit certain parameters) should be changed, and others. It has all been good work, but just taken a lot of time. Typical day is leaving the house at 8:30am, bargaining with a motor rickshaw driver (anywhere from 50 to 80 rupees)to get to the architecture building, consulting with students until noon, speakers at noon and 2pm, then trying to get home by 4:30pm, usually closer to 5pm. Usually no lunch (occasionally samosas and tea are brought in during the talks though), long days, especially as we are still finding our comfortable home routine.

On top of it all we (the instructors) are trying to get published articles and even a book out of this time here - so there is much planning, organization as well as thinking and writing that has to go into that. Not much down time.

Yesterday we had a tour of the Capitol Complex - which is world renown for its architecture. It was the great work of Le Corbusier, and is currently being considered for World Heritage status (this being India, that process may take a while). The building as design was quite impressive, yet I was overwhelmed with how poorly they are maintained and cared for. Even though they are operating buildings (still housing offices, the congressional assembly hall and the high court for the states of Punjab and Haryana) the garbage and broken windows were hard to get past. Great architecture, bad disrepair. India is full of contradictions.

In front of the Assembly Building

On the roof of the High Court, with the Assembly and Secretariat in the background

But we've just finished with our first round of speakers. Tomorrow is an open day, and while I'll still go in, I anticipate a shorter day. Perhaps the three of us will venture to the Lake or the Rose Garden, which would be nice. The weather was really pleasant today - and for the first night since we arrived, I am sitting in our place at 8:00pm with out heater blaring or wrapped up in a blanket. We hope for more good weather - it seems to make everything easier.

Thinking of you all.

--Tyler

Fire.

I was walking home yesterday, and suddenly it felt as though there was an enormous bonfire in my gut.  Things have cooled today-- but I think I now know what being sick in India feels like.   

Coveda

Today we visited Coveda.  Coveda is a little alternative school that was started by Jaspreet, the woman who owns the house we are staying in.  It is just a few blocks away (in one of the very nice areas of our sector), and is just about the most beautiful school I have ever seen.  It is a bit hard to describe-- a very open little structure; about 5 "class rooms" all circling around a courtyard with trees and pottery wheels and cushions here and there.  The outdoor space and indoor space kind of are one in the same, with some rooms  quite intentionally and beautifully designed to only have 2 or 3 walls (this will be nice when the warm weather arrives...).
In any case, it a lovely little school that is obviously run by people who are passionate about it and care deeply for the children who attend.  It wasn't actually in session today, however, (all schools in the area have been closed due to the cold since there is no indoor heating), but we met with some of the teachers and sat and talked for a long time with Jaspreet.  It is not exactly a preschool;  there are no children under 4, and the kids go up to age 14.....  so we are trying to figure out how little Violet, who is not yet 2 would fit in.  Jaspreet seemed enthusiastic for us to come though and just use the school as a place to be.  Violet and I can drop by when we feel up to it, and she can run around and watch the other kids as they go about their activities.  They do weaving, artwork, spend time in the "library room", put on puppet shows, have some sort of math routine every day as well as language studies....
We'll see.

In the meantime, Violet has caught a cold, so we are taking it easy.  Today was sunny, and it really was lovely here.  We spent a lot of time in our sun room while Tyler was at class.  Violet has these little plastic animals that she loves to line up in a "parade" on the tile floor, but gets frustrated when the giraffe falls over (he's a bit wobbly).  More luck tomorrow, maybe.  We are all quite tired tonight.   

India Pictures

We've taken a few photos....

Our India Home

Our kitchen

Our kitchen continued

Our street view

Our living room, messy from the day 

Violet in our "sun room"

the balcony off our sun room where we hang our clothes

Violet and daddy reading "Go Dog Go" before bedtime

Our bedroom

Our bathroom 

Violet in a park with a penguin garbage can :)

the main street near our house

local market near our house

this is a fabulous bazar we discovered today near our house

Violet and mommy :) 

India Home

Well, here we are-  Chandigarh, India.  Or, as Violet calls it,  India Home.  It is really hard to know where to begin in describing this new little life we have here...
The house we have is nice.  But not nice in the way that houses in Berkeley or Chico or Seattle or any other town in the U.S. are nice.  As Tyler mentioned, there is no heat, except for an ancient little plug in heater that sometimes doesn't go on at all, and sometimes blows the circuits in the rest of the house.  But, back to the house--
It is brick on the outside, with a little yard out front with a plot of grass and many lovely large-leafed plants, and hanging vines with purple and orange flowers.  The house is two stories, and we three occupy the entire top floor (can't remember if Tyler mentioned this before...).  Our living area consists of a large room that is sectioned into a dining area and a living/sitting room, then there is a quite large bedroom with lots of dark wood, and a beautifully tiled bathroom.  Off of the living room there is a very pleasant "sun room" that is enclosed with windows and doors that lead onto a balcony where our laundry hangs to dry among plants and roots and vines.
This is all lovely.
But then there is the kitchen.
The kitchen has been a huge challenge for us.  We have a single-burner electric hot plate, a microwave, a rice cooker, and a fridge.  The rice cooker, the hot plate and the microwave all have to share one [very dicey] outlet, which makes cooking more than one thing at once kind of impossible.  Also, the power goes out sometimes, which makes cooking anything out of the question.  The first day we were here the power was off all afternoon.  So, not only had we just arrived and were in a bit of state of shock, but we couldn't cook, couldn't turn on the heater, and couldn't even drink water (has to be boiled or filtered).

BUT, my friends, it has been about 5 days now, and truly things are getting better every day.  Two days ago I spent most of the day in tears.  Tyler was gone at school, our power had gone off again (so no heat and a 40-degree house), I didn't know where to go to buy reliable safe food around our house (so Violet and I had crackers for lunch), Violet was a cranky teething mess, and then when I did finally venture out to get a rickshaw to Tyler's school, the driver wouldn't come down in price for me, and then pretended to not have change when I got out.
But then yesterday came, and suddenly things got a little better.  First of all, I am becoming good friends with our "Help" lady, Yoshoda.  She lives in a little place attached to ours with her husband, and two children-- one of which is an 8-month old baby.  She is from Nepal and speaks hardly any English, but we seem to figure out our conversations well enough.  The first thing that happened yesterday was that she showed up with a little packet of ramen noodles for me.  From Nepal.  Just as a nice gesture.  It almost made me cry (again)-- it was so incredibly sweet.  We talked for a while about her baby's non-sleep habits, and our baby's non-sleep habits.  She helped me figure out the washing machine, and this morning helped me buy bananas and oranges from the street-cart man (oh yeah, by the way, fruits, vegetables, and an assortment of other things, are all brought door to door by vendors on carts.  You have to bargain for them though, which I am useless at, but Yoshoda helped me get a good price)!
The other nice thing that happened yesterday was that the sun came out for the first time since we arrived.  While Violet was napping, I went out onto our sun porch and just soaked in the warmth.  I think it was one of the first times I haven't been cold since we left Seattle.
Then, after a nice lunch of hot ramen noodles and lentils and other this-and-that foods, Violet and I ventured out into the city determined to cross out of our sector and find a childrens' store that had been recommended to us.
So out we went!  With Violet in the front pack, we appear to be quite the scene walking down the streets of India.  Everyone stares at us.  But Violet is fabulous---  she always always starts to smile and wave.  And instantly the spell is broken, and everyone who is staring starts smiling and waving back.  Having her with me every day in this new place has made a world of difference.  She is a link between cultures.  Everyone in India seems to love children.  The women especially are very warm, and come running down from their balconies to come see her.  They pinch her cheeks and she loves it.  She is such a little ham!
Anyway, out we went.  And, ok, this is HUGE:   We crossed the street.

Streets in India are CRAZY.  There are cars, rickshaws (both motorized and human-powered), donkey carts, horses, bikes, scooters--- you name it--  going as fast as they can, and nobody ever stops for you.  So I stood there a while and watched, and then when there were no motorized vehicles coming, ran across hugging Violet as tightly as I could.

I can't tell you how awesome this felt.  It was though I had entered into some sort of Freedom land!  Suddenly we were in a different neighborhood, and actually on our way somewhere.  And because the sun was out, suddenly there was life all around us--  beautiful green birds flocked all around, and Violet was very excited to see a little striped cat sleeping in the sun.  We walked a bit further and found a good sized park with benches and grass and eucalyptus trees.  Then, we crossed another big street and there we were:  sector 8.  Chandigarh is broken into "sectors"-- they are basically little neighborhoods divided by huge streets.  It is difficult to get from one sector to the other, but each sector seems worth visiting for different stores, banks, parks, etc...
Anyway, we went in the market and what did we see?  Monkeys!  In the trees!  Again, Violet's day was made.  (as for me, I am a little scared of monkeys....  but I'm glad she was happy).  Then, we found a quite famous bakery "Sindhi Sweets" that was gorgeous~  HUGE glass display counters filled with every kind of possibly Indian and Western cakes/sweets/baked/fried/goods.  Violet and I got a little piece of extraordinary pineapple cake for 35 Rs (which is less than a dollar) and had a downright pleasant time.
Then, we found our children's store (it took some time--  the woman who recommended it said it was right next to the sweet shop, but I searched and searched and [feeling like an idiot] absolutely could not find it).  Finally I asked someone and he said it was in sector 17.  Then I asked the guy behind the counter in Sindhi Sweets and he practically lead me by the hand outside, and then into a refrigerator store, and pointed to a large stare case going down from inside.  
So down we went, and honestly this kids' store could have been anywhere in the U.S.  It was beautiful (in that very brightly colored, clean, friendly way that we are used to kids' stores being).  There were tons of toys, clothes, shoes, creams, etc....  I had to ask a man behind the counter to unlock a prized [and pricey] bottle of "nappy cream" (Violet has a bit of a diaper rash), and then also had to find baby wipes.  Also, I found a little case of colored pencils and bought them for Violet which then occupied her the entire afternoon.  We brought almost nothing for her to play with on this trip; we just couldn't find the space for anything more than a little back of plastic toy animals and a few Dr. Seuss books, so anything else we give her just absolutely makes her day.

Let's see, what else?  Well, we discovered a fantastic little Chaat place near our house where we can run to for fried goodies in the evening in case our dinner of lentils and cauliflower and rice doesn't stretch far enough.  Slowly slowly slowly we are discovering the beauties of this place-- the food, the people, the wild life.  It is all just taking its sweet time to reveal itself, and we are trying the best we can to crack the code of daily life.      

Our Arrival in India

It wasn’t easy but we are here, all in one piece – healthy and safe. International travel is always challenging, but in this trip especially it seemed like every step took three tries to get through. See if you can spot the trend too…

Our journey started from Paris, leaving the quaint Rue Navarre at 8am – rolling through the quite Paris streets (it was New Year’s Day) to the RER Train station. Having looked at a schedule we were anticipating a direct train to Charles de Gaulle, but ended up having to take three, found mainly by following other passengers with suitcases.

Finally we arrived at the airport, now 2 hours before take off. We found the gate for Finnish Air, got in line, but when we reached the front the English-speaking Finnish/French attendant told us that we were too early to check in.…??? We had to get out of line and check-in again in half an hour, and the line was 45 minutes long. So, to the back of the line, with Violet between the front pack, running around, bribed with crackers. Eventually to the front, checked in and on the plane.

First leg was to Helsinki, only a 2.5 hour flight, supplemented by an empty seat between us (for Violet to jump around on), some sort of meat sandwich (looked like a meat-wad between two buns) and the nicest stewardess I have ever met. She gave Violet stickers, an extra bib, a little plastic, bathtub book – and constantly looked after us. Very blond, very blue eyed, and a great help. Violet slept none.

Helsinki airport was very nice. We were astounded how dark, cold and snowy the outside was though. At 3:30pm, it was pitch black with piles of snow everywhere but the landing strip. Violet went to sleep in the Ergo for about an hour, before we all got meatballs and mashed potatoes at the airport café. Very nice…but pricey. Moomin (some cartoon character) was plastered on everything – apparently a hippo/human hybrid…maybe? Finally we loaded on the plane for our 6 hour flight to Delhi.

The Delhi flight was a bit rough – Violet wasn’t crying the whole time, but cranky for a lot of it. She slept only some. Food was mediocre, and she had a huge poop that I changed in the bathroom, luckily with no major messes.

With that we arrived in Delhi- at the brand new Indira Gandhi Airport, a very nice facility. We got both our bags and set to wait. Our flight to Chandigarh was not until 4pm (we arrived at 7am) so we started killing time. Violet and I slept for a bit, we got some food (carefully) at an airport stall, then around 1pm we started to check the boards for our flight. It was not listed, even though later flights were showing up. We checked at the counter, only to find that our flight had been moved up to 1:45pm, and the flight number had changed. They did not notify us because we didn’t leave an Indian cell phone number…. So we were told that we were too late to check in and had missed our flight. Adrenaline kicked in and I told them we needed to make the flight and we would run to the gate if they would just issue boarding passes. So they did, checked our bags and we sprinted through security and were the last ones to board the 45-minute flight. Ugh, but we made it. Chandigarh here we come.

The Chandigarh airport, unlike Delhi, is a very old airport. The ladder pushed dup to the plane, and we walked across the tarmac, under a cargo plane, into the “terminal”- basically a room with a baggage carousel. Naturally, only my bag arrived. So pushing in to the airline office (read closet) one other man and I angrily waved our baggage tickets. Rachel’s bag was left in Delhi, but they would send it tonight to our address. Ok, fine.

I’d say, though all this was trying and tiring, we were only about to start our India experience. I borrowed a phone to call our contact, and gave the cab drive the pre-paid amount to go to our house. The cab ride really began to show us what we were about to engage. No amount of pictures prepared me for the number of people and the condition they were living in. Driving through the informal settlements in to town, seeing people huddled around fires, children running in the road, families of four on one scooter – the experience was intense. Driving at 40 miles per hour, four cars abreast on a two-lane road, with inches between collisions made it clear - we were in India now, a sentiment only magnified by a lack of sleep and uncertainty about what awaited us on the other end. Also it is freezing cold.

We turned into town, and although the slums were gone, replaced by nice houses there was still the reality that there are just people everywhere. On every corner, in every roadside turnout, in every park there is someone there – sleeping, working, talking, ??? Arriving at 1230 Sector 18-C, we met the family whos upstairs unit we would be occupying. It is a very nice spacious unit, with a tiny kitchenette. Everything is electrical, and there are only two outlets in the kitchen - with the refrigerator taking one. The other we now swap between a hotplate, the microwave and the rice cooker. And when we arrived, the power was off. We have one space heater for our place, one that works just ok.

That evening we were given dinner by the family (lentils, rice and a vegetable dish, all not spicy at all) set up Violet’s bed (luckily it was in my bag and not Rachel’s) and went to bed with the heater blasting. We all (even Violet) slept ten straight hours. It was a very hard day –one where we questioned what we had gotten ourselves into a few times. The cold (and lack of heating) made everything harder. An incredible sense of being overwhelmed coupled with vast uncertainty.

(Rachel's bag would arrive the next day)

But we have settled in now (there is more I will write later). Our place is working out well, we have a woman who cleans for us everyday and a man who cooks dinner every night (believe me, neither came easy… more to come on that). The campus where we have classes is too far to walk, so we have to take auto-rickshaws (many stories there). The family downstairs has moved out and four UW grad student girls have moved in, along with the other PH.D. student TA (Cheryl). We are all figuring out this city, which is taking some time. It is not like any city in the US, Europe or even Mexico. There is a very different street dynamic and way of relating to people, that we are all adjusting to. We have started the UW classes started, and those have it’s own challenges as well.

Violet is doing remarkably well – reciting letters and numbers in her sleep, continuing to surprise us everyday. I dare say she is ahead of the rest of us in adapting to life here.

But the weekend is coming soon, and after travel and a week of set up classes ( complete with internet struggles) we are ready to have a few days to just settle in. We love and miss you all – we’ll write so much more later.

Love Tyler