going home...

Friday we are travelling home. I am astonished at how fast the time has gone. We’ve been in India now for just over four weeks, we had our one month family anniversary on Monday. I often have to pinch myself that it finally happened, that I am a mom to this amazing little boy. The visa process went very fast and they were extremely helpful at the Embassy.

We have a long journey home, two flights and a train ride but Saturday we will be home. J is asking every day if we are going on the airplane today because he wants to give Lily (the dog) and Koshka (the cat) a biiiiiiiiig hug, we’ll see what happens when we are home. Lily is bigger than he is so I have a feeling he’s gonna be a little bit intimidated.

I am nervous about going home, I am worried as well. I am sure that to this day he’s still not fully aware of his future. We are still surrounded by people that look just like him, the weather is great, our days are filled with fun, shopping, playing, swimming and hot chocolates. Once we are home, things will be different, first of all it will be cold! Anyone planning on coming to India and going home with a little one to a cold climate... bring a jacket from home! A warm jacket is near impossible to find here as are warm jumpers! We will spend a few months in one home to settle down before going to our other home.  We have two homes  so we’re still figuring out what is best for him and we’ll go with that. Our first home is close to my family and I have been carefully planning some visits in the first weeks of the close family.  We have a big party in Belgium on the 13^th of May where he will meet the rests of the family and friends and we will also celebrate his birthday in our first home so we can have a proper party.

Yesterday he had some difficult moments but we have had two perfect swimming lessons in a row now! The secret to this is that mommy should not get involved. The teacher had asked me not to look at our boy when he’s having a difficult moment, just to ignore it. Though this was hard I gave it a go and it works. He’s made huge progress and loves going to the lessons now.

I am not sure if anyone is coming to Bangalore but here are some tips on Bangalore:

Shopping: Mantri square is a nice mall, for souvenirs go to commercial street and haggle you can buy nice scarves, sarees, bangles etc..

Food: there are many nice restaurants both Indian and European, our best meal was in Shiva Sagar on commercial street a vegetarian restaurant filled to the brink during lunch with Indian people (not tourists), if you want something non Indian head to UB city to the French cafe for a nice burger or pasta or Sunny’s on Vittal Malya road.

Coffee: our regular coffee place was Caffe Coffee day on Coffee day square (close to UB city), the service is excellent and they now always keep a table for us after swimming lessons.  I have seen them send people away because they were full but for us there is always room.

If you need accommodation, we were happy with our last choice Melange apartments, they are serviced apartments close to UB city and Cubban park. It does get a little noisy in the evening but they are very good value for money.

Getting around: for short distances just use a riksha and don’t negotiate before you get in. Yes I know this sounds strange but in our experience when you ask for a price they will ask for a high price. If you get in and just give your destination they won’t ask for more than 50 rupees (for distances up to 4km) or they will go on the meter (20 rupees for the first 2km and 10 rupees for each additional km) We also used Riksha’s for long journeys including waiting etc... they get around faster and I have really grown to like them.  If they start telling you 20 rupees for the journey but they will stop at a shop just say no, these shops are very expensive.

Things to do with kids: J loves the park, we go every night at 18:30 to Cubban park to watch the bat exodus. It’s extraordinary but every day at exactly the same time there are hundreds of giant bats flying over the park. We got J a remote controlled car and we sit on a bench whilst he plays with his car.  Cubban park also has a play area on one side of the park with rides.

Lalbagh botanical gardens are also very nice as is the Zoo and safari park.

Most malls also have a soft toy playground for toddlers. And we loved of course the swimming lessons which cost about 100 rupees per one hour lesson (this is the equivalent to almost 2 dollars)

If you have a free evening visit the musical fountains.

So that’s it for today. Later today I am picking up my sarees from the tailor, for those wanting a saree before you go home have the tops stitched here. Sarees come only in one length and always have some extra material to sow the top. I can’t sow! So I had the tops made here, they can also sow the saree so you don’t have to tie it yourself but a friend will teach me today how to put on a saree cause if you have it stitched you are stuck with the size.

Next update will be after we get home ...