Ah! Outside! and a Christmas Bazaar

Today we went in a strange up and down metal box that was scary, but we ended up on terra firma- Wunderbar! (yes we know some latin, Italian, and some German! We're ejucated!) There was grass and trees and sand to roll in too! What a blast! Ziggy got really interested in some strange scents at the corner of the building- monkey? dog? snake? sniff... sniff... sniff... he could have stayed all day there! We then realized we are not in New York anymore. Where did it go? This place is different. After that we went back in that scary metal box and were back in our familiar place where we had some good food and took a long nap. They can write some now.
It was Saturday and the doings in Mumbai were still not quite resolved, but we decided to go about normal activities. We interviewed a cleaning person in the morning. As we said once before and as most people here say, there is a lot of dirt and dust around that settles on everything all day long, so regular cleaning is required- daily seems to be the norm for those who have time or have help. We then went to a Christmas Bazaar at one of the larger churches in the city. It was a fairly large event, but the grounds were a bit muddy from the recent rains due to a storm off the east coast of India. Some of the proceeds go to charity and it was an opportunity for local shops to show some of their wares and for smaller individual craftspeople to show and sell some of their items. Lots of cloth and paper items and some wood carvings and marble carvings too. The quality varied, but was generally very good. Lots of children around and they had a show where various kids could sing or play musical instruments. There were also many baked items. Janet met several people she has met over the past couple weeks. They had a camel that kids could ride around a small loop on the grounds. The camel seemed well behaved and the kids all seemed to enjoy it. It was the third camel Jim has seem in and around Bangalore. We have yet to see one elephant.
We went to look at drapes and lamps next. The apartment has some large windows, which is great, but they can use some drapes. The night lighting could be a little brighter too- especially for reading. We also bought a transformer for our 110V printer. India is 220V. They have small inexpensive converters, but they seem not to work on some devices that have motors and they may not work on electronics either.... and may do harm. After a tiring search, we came back home feeling tired. Jim napped a bit and Janet took Ziggy outside to look around. Jim took Zoe out to join them after a little while. They seem very apprehensive about the place- curious but nervous. They do not like the elevator- nor the lift either!
We both felt exhausted after coming back inside- Janet thinks she got a mosquito bite and is a little nervous- malaria does exist here, though they supposedly have good drugs for it if its recognized early. Our driver told us that one of his older sisters died 2 years ago from Dengue fever, so that is around too. We went to a fairly well know restaurant for dinner "Sunny's". The owner is an animal lover and has a picture of a large dog inside (we wondered if it was "Sunny"- it appeared to be a golden retriever). Our review of the food is mixed. Jim found the appetizer to be very good, the salad good and the main course excellent. Janet found the appetizer and soup to be good and the main course only fair.

Thanksgiving Day and things

Of course, Thanksgiving Day is not a holiday here in India, but we tried to spend it relaxing as much as possible. Its not so easy to do that on this strange furniture and with so many interesting birds and other creatures around outside. But, we manage! Ziggy got very sleepy while reading about Bengaluru (Bangalore is the English name while the other is Kannada- the local language). He tries to learn all he can so he will know where to go when he finally breaks out of this place! He tries to go out whenever the door opens and he is near it. They don't have some many obstacles togetting out here- like they do in our other home- wherever that is!
See how pretty I look on this new floor cover they got for me to sit on and crawl under and shed white fur on to? Our humans can say something now.
We got up Thursday morning to read about terrorist attacks in Mumbai. The papers suggest that they chose the evening because the US news channels would pick it up and broadcast around the US while people are up. They also mention the proximity to Thanksgiving Day in the US, though that seems a bit of a stretch since it was Wednesday morning in the US when it started. In any case it is bad.
We chose to go out for dinner with friends on Thanksgiving evening here inspite of the nervousness of many people. We went to a very fine hotel that served turkey among many other choices. the security at the hotel was greater than in the past, so they were responding to the fears. Most of the better hotels have a number of security people and they often check cars coming in and sometimes people. The dinner was excellent, but since its not a holiday here we could not stay out too late. Jim took Friday as a vacation day (Called "privilege leave") to rest up some from the strenuous past several months. We still don't feel adjusted to the time or the climate. Janet had another good visit to the doctor about her arm injury and will start physical therapy in a few days. Ziggy and Zoe seem to be adjusting still, but they have shown generally normal behavior for them with some romping around and lots of sleeping. Everyone who meets them seems to like them

Ah! A nice cardboard box!

Today was a pretty good day! We got this great box to crawl into! We also got to go outside on the balcony for a little while and we also saw those strange creatures again- what fun!
Those strange little creatures have even smaller ones too- we don't count too well but we think there were 4 big ones and 2 little ones. The little ones were clmbing all over the trees outside and jumping from branch to branch. We could do that too- if our human companions would only let us out there! We could chase those guys all over the trees! We can let the people write some now.
Today was the first day we had in the nearly 3 weeks since we arrived that we did not have anything scheduled that we had to do. It has been a more relaxing day, though we still had lots of things to do around the apartment. We ran the dishwashing machine for the first time where it did not flood water all over the kitchen! We also verified that the air conditioner that flooded one bedroom also seems to be fixed- though we are concerned because two guys showed up at our door yesterday wanting to fix it! We tried to explain that it was supposedly already fixed, but we had not tested it. Later we realized that the repair might have been a temporary one and they meant to make it permanent... but we don't know. We'll hope for the best! Such situations are quite common. Communications are not all that clear. It seems that the service people are used to coming back another day to finish what was started or starting something later when you are not home. Labor is so cheap that the workers can simply come back another time without thinking too much about it. $1 an hour seems to be a pretty good wage.
We did a number of chores and then went out to walk around the area some. We walked to a nearby main road and had brunch about 3:30 PM. It was a mexican/indian/thai sort of meal with a band that played american music. The food was good though the place was a bit messy and dirty. They cater to families and there were a lot of kids running around. As we were about to leave a little after 4PM we got a heavy rain that lasted a little while so we went to a shoe store. Jim finds the marble floors a bit hard on the feet and knees, so he got some house shoes. People normally remove shoes when entering a home- which we normally do back home too. The house shoes will only be worn inside. Bangalore is noted for the rapidity at which dirt accumulates, and it seems to be true. Surfaces need to be cleaned every other day if not every day... maybe even more than one time a day! Anyway, the shoe should ease the strain on the feet and knees. After the rain let up we walked toward "UB City"- a big complex of stores with very high prices. We found a nice clothes store, a patisserie and a very nice furniture store. As it got dark we stopped in a fabric and art shop with bad art. As we walked toward home we found a gourmet food shop that had some interesting and unusual items including Ben and Jerry's ice cream! It is expensive though. As we paid for our few purchases- mainly ginger ale soft drink, which is also uncommon here, the rain began to pour! So we got some ice creme and ate it! The rain did not let up for awhile so we left and got wet. We walked past the Bangalore Club, which seems to be the private club in town with the highest prestige. We continued to walk back to the apartment in the rain and were quite wet upon arrival. We changed clothes and then relaxed. As we rested Ziggy climbed into the elephant chair that we just had to have when we saw it (it is carved from a single piece of wood- except for the tusks. He rolled partly onto his back and went to sleep showing what a relaxed cat he is! He awoke when his picture was being taken.
Overall, it was a pleasant day- despite being drenched- we finally got out to look around the area on foot. Of course, walking here is not an easy sport! On Sunday the traffic is generally lighter, so one is a little less likely to be taking a great risk in crossing one of the major roads.
Zoe and Ziggy back now... how come this is our story and they get to write so much?

Settling in

We've been here a really long time now and are starting to feel more like we did back at our real home, but we still have qualms about being in this place and we don't really understand where we are and why we are here. The creatures outside, where our human companions do not seem to want us to go, look very interesting. You could see some pictures from the other day. There are green birds and black birds that try to talk to us, but we don't know what they are saying!
The humans can write some now.
It has been 2.5 weeks since we arrived in Bangalore.The first week was spent in a nice hotel, and the past 9 days in our apartment. So far, we are glad we sent our beds over, as they are very comfortable. There has been a string of problems and fixes all along the way, but we are making progress. We have some furniture now and some more on order, so the apartment is seeming more like home. Furniture from Europe seems to be quite popular, but expensive. Indians tell us that Indian wood furniture is generally not very good because of the lack of good wood. There are a few very nice new pieces in older styles with inlaid mother of pearl and marquetry. We found a very nice shop that specializes in furniture made in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philipines. The prices seem reasonable to us, but high to the Indians.
We have cooking gas connected and made a few simple meals, the washing machine works after a spill. The washing machine sits outside on a balcony, so it is quiet. It has a cover to protect it somewhat from the weather. The dish washing machine spilled water all over the kitchen floor just after the guy demonstrating how to use it had left. After they "fixed" it and left two days later it did the same thing. They supposedly fixed it today, but we are presently afraid to try it for fear we'll have yet another flood to clean up! We bought a clothes dryer. That and the dishwasher are considered rare here. The Kitchen also has a real, but small oven. Most have just a toaster oven. The fact that these things are unusual shows in the fact that there are not enough high current circuits in the place to run them all. We will unplug the dryer to use the dishwasher. We also had problems with the electric in the apartment. It is normal for the power to go off a few times a day, so there is a large industry supplying backup generators. We found that one of the 2 main circuit breakers for the apartment kept going off for no apparent reason. It happened to be one for the kitchen and bedrooms, so the refridgerator went off each time. The building has 24 hour electrician support and the guy came to look at it and didn't see anything odd. Just then, the backup generator came on and the circuit breaker tripped so he saw it first hand and then started about a week of investigation and experiment. It is a new building just being occupied, so this and the A/C unit that didn't work and the other A/C unit that spilled water all over the floor of one bedroom are not such rare things.
Today we got our DSL connected! So this is being written from our apartment for the first time! Of course, it took a week to get it connected and numerous calls and its not presently encrypted WIFI, but at least it seems to be working!
Today is Jim's birthday, so we went out for dinner at one of the hotels in the city. There are several good hotels with very good restaurants. Tonight was an Indian buffet that was excellent.
We also think we have found a driver. Our car was delivered last Friday and we tried out a few drivers and have settled on one who is a good driver and he also speaks reads and writes English quite well. We had one or two who might have been slightly better drivers, but it was difficult to communicate with them. It is common for foreigners to have drivers because the roads are complex and the driving customs are somewhat chaotic. Undoubtedly, we'll say more about traffic and driving later. It is a topic of discussion almost every day.
So, we are getting settled. Back to Ziggy and Zoe.

Yeah, this place isn't so bad- especially with those interesting guys outside- but how do we get out there? We have had some luck sneaking out when the door is left open too long because of all those repair and delivery people, but they always seem to catch us. We don't really mind getting caught, but we pretend to be mad, so they will take us out sometime to explore this new place.

Interesting place...

Well there are some very interesting creatures in this new place! This may not be SOOOO bad after all!

What is this place?

We arrived at a new place in the belly of one of those big birds and this one, too, coughed us up and into the hands of some humans who make even different sounds than the previous ones. We feel very strange too. Some other humans took us a way along a bumpy ride and to a place where we heard a sound we know. They took us to a brightly lit room and finally let us out of our boxes. Here we found Jim and Janet- our human companions! We don't understand how we got here and we don't understand how they got here, but at least they are familiar! Let them explain.
Early in the morning of Nov. 13, Ziggy and Zoe's long journey ended with delivery to our apartment in Bangalore! Our furniture arrived just hours before- between 8:30 and 10PM and we set up as much as we could- including the Z's favorite climbing tree that we shipped over. It was a very long day with more delays, but both arrived. The day was complicated by the fact that our mobile phone outgoing service was turned off because the major service provider had not yet verified Jim's work location. (This took 3 more days to fix and was quite frustrating- but, we gather, rather typical.) The movers wanted to delay the furniture another day, but we said no, because we had no place to stay except the apartment. So, the movers arrived at 8:30 and finished about 10PM. We did not ship too much, so it was manageable. Ziggy and Zoe seemed to be delayed at Bangalore airport for some reason we don't understand and arrived about 12:45AM on the 13th. Newspaper strips had been put into their carriers in London instead of some sort of small litter box and the paper got quite wet and then the ink got all over both Zoe and Ziggy. It showed most obviously on Zoe, who is mostly white- she looked gray like Ziggy! It was very disconcerting. We spent about 45min. trying to clean some off of her so she would not eat all the ink cleaning herself and then we went to sleep about 2AM. We write this several days later because we didn't have internet access very much and were very busy. The Z's are much more like normal now.
Zoe and Ziggy back now.... They didn't explain much about where we are or why we are here now!

What is going on here? Part II

Somehow this huge bird came back to the earth and coughed us up into the hands of some humans who make sounds a little different from what we are used to from our human animal companions Jim and Janet. We don't know where they are or who these strangers are, but the strangers have been good to us at least. Then, they grabbed our big boxes and helped another of those big birds swallow us up! Again! We spent a long time inside this one before, it, too, coughed us up into the hands of humans who sound stranger than those other ones! REALLY! What IS Going on here! We Hope Jim and Janet can clarify this!
The Z's apparently arrived safely in London and after a layover which was to include food and some exercise they were put on another flight to Mumbai. Pets can't come directly to Bangalore at present so they should be going through customs and inspections now in Mumbai. They should be on the plane again later to come to Bangalore. Meanwhile, our furniture shipment has been delayed in customs in Bangalore, but should be delivered tonight about 7PM. We have a mobile phone problem too, which we hope will be resolved soon. We await the Z's as top priority!

Hey! What is going on here!

This morning some stranger came an took us away in those big boxes we were enjoying so much! Now we don't like them very much- they are much too small! What is happening here? Now they put us inside of one of those birds that we would like to chase- only this one is huge! Have we been eaten by one of them? What is going on here? Our human companions can write some now.

We have been adjusting to the time difference and jet lag slowly. Janet's arm is starting to feel less painful too. This is progress. We have received our RP- Residency Permit and have been waiting a few days for our furniture to clear through customs so we can move to our apartment before the Z's arrive, which should be tomorrow. They have left home and are on their way to London as this is written. then they come to Mumbai and then Bangalore. Unfortunately, pets can no longer fly directly to Bangalore from anywhere outside of India. (Exception may be if they are accompanied by owners, but that is far from clear). Because our furniture is delayed in customs we have to stay another night in a Hotel and we have to change hotels because our present one is fully booked. A bit of a nuisance. We have good help here, though. More later.

Arrival Nov. 5, 2008

We don't know what happened to our human companions! They haven't come home and they haven't told us much but we are not happy about all of this turmoil! They can tell you what has been going on.
The flight to Frankfurt on Lufthansa was quite satisfactory and Janet's arm was not bothering her too much. There was a short layover in Germany before the flight to Bangalore. The second flight was less comfortable for both of us- with Janet's arm bothering her more. She put ice on it as much as possible. We arrived safely in Bangalore about 1:30AM and cleared through immigration and customs with no problems. We were met by a representative of the the Taj Hotels and we told him of Janet's problem, so he called the hotel and they said they would have a doctor meet us at the hotel. The ride to the hotel was tame at this hour of the night and we could see they had made some progress in the repairs of the airport road in the past 6 weeks. We arrived at the hotel and were greeted by lots of staff who took Janet to our room while Jim signed in. The Doctor did not think the injury would require surgery and mainly needed rest. We went to sleep around 4AM after trying to get a feeling for how the US elections were going, but it was really too early as the polls were just closing in some places. Later, we awoke to a phone call asking when we would be ready to do our Police Registration We said Thursday morning.
We got up slowly and had lunch and then went to HOSMAT- a hospital in Bangalore that has a large Orthopedic group, so it was recommended and close by. The hotel driver took us there along with a staff member who helped guide us through the system. We went to the emergency room and while Janet was there, Jim went to register. There was a fee to register. They then did x-rays and put a sling on Janet's arm. The doctor told us that they see no breaks in the bones and she should just rest the arm and shoulder. The sling itself was a help. The hospital bill came to about $30. We commented that the sling by itself would cost $30 at home.
We went back to the hotel and went out for a walk to look for furniture stores. We didn't find one, but found some nice crafts. On our way back to the hotel we passed the Oberoi Hotel and decided to go in and have a look around. It looks very nice and we will try their Thai Restaurant sometime. The Taj Residency staff have been extremely helpful.
We looked at Janet's xrays and could see cracks in ribs near the shoulder and wondered if the other people saw that. They might have been old injuries from here horseback riding days. We mentioned this to the hotel staff and one of the people knew a good orthopedist at Manipal Hospital, so we made an appointment to go out there for late afternoon because we had to deal with "FRRO" first. The Experience of going through this process is too painful to suggest that it be left to amateurs! We used a professional service who lead us through a procedure that we could not begin to understand. We saw some young chinese going through it and it was clear that they were baffled. We went outside and admired the birds in the trees when a man came over and explained that one of the birds was a "cuckoo". He pointed out HUGE bats and eagles too. Eventually, our professional guide told use to move to another place and then to sign in this place and then that place and in the end he handed in a stack of papers about 1cm thick. Then he said he would come back in about 36 hours to pick up our registration papers. We said ok, but we needed our passport to get our furniture from customs. This turned out to be a bit of an error because we also needed the FRRO completed!
At the end of the day we made the trip to Manipal Hospital and saw the Orthopedist there. The registration plus consultation cost about $8. The guy was very comforting and he explained the injury and treatment reasonably well. We went back to the hotel feeling that the injury will work itself out over the coming weeks. So, we then went to look at furniture.... what will look good with white cat fur on it?
Back to Ziggy and Zoe.
Something is NOT right here. We are not sure what it is, but something is brewing. They sound like they may not be coming back soon afterall!

Departure - Nov. 3

CRASH! BANG! BOOM! ...YEOOOOOOW!.....D@#$%!......That's what we heard! It was an awful day for us, but maybe it was worse for our human companions. They can write now and we'll put more later.
It was a stressful day of trying to wrap up dozens of details before departing for India. We did a huge number of things over the preceding days, weeks and months, but there are always more things to do! On this day we canceled a phone line, did laundry, washed dishes, cleaned house, sorted through countless items to pack up, received more items to take in the afternoon mail, arranged some details with a neighbor who will forward our mail, had a plumber fix a small leak in a pipe, took Ziggy and Zoe to the Vet again for their international health certificates, mailed a last minute return to a store, took showers and finished packing and turned off electronics in the house. The driver to the airport arrived 20 minutes early to apply more pressure - he was annoyed at having to wait. Just minutes before leaving Janet climbed up on a step stool to retrieve something from a high shelf and Crash! Bang! Boom! Yeooow!... she fell down on her right arm. After a few minutes she thought the arm was broken and "D@#$%!" is what was said. After awhile longer the driver came in and we all pondered what to do. Janet 's pain was subsiding, so she decided we should proceed to JFK airport- About 2 hours away. We took an ice pack and this helped the arm. Janet felt there were no other serious injuries except the arm, so we took our Flight on Lufthansa and left the USA about 10PM.
Ziggy and Zoe back again. They made us go into little boxes and took us away in the morning to the Veterinarian (they said the name enough times over the past weeks that we know its not "Vegetarian" now.) They didn't do anything too mean to us this time. They just got some papers. When we got back home there were all these suitcases around full of stuff- without us! And without our consent! There are also 2 big boxes in the living room that they keep trying to get us to go into. The boxes are a lot like the little ones used for the vet, but much bigger- they seem very nice! We wonder why they are here -they are nice to go in, but who needs them? Those loud noises late in the day were scary! We don't like loud noises! They left us and said something about seeing us soon, so we assume they will be back soon- even with all that luggage.