When life is too much, roll with it baby....

28 Jul 2013

Those of you who know me best know I have a tendency to adapt to my environment – to go native. When we lived in West Texas, I adopted a drawl and started wearing boots and a cowboy hat. When I was on my mission in Japan, I couldn’t see any difference between me and the million people around me, although I was a foot taller than them, had whiter skin, lighter hair and a much bigger nose. When I worked with the Gila River Indian Community, again came out the boots and I considered growing my hair into a pony tail (I was much younger with more hair!). Anyway, now that we are in India, I know some of you are probably concerned the same thing will happen again. Based on this picture that was taken of me last week, I guess those concerns are justified.

Actually I took this picture at an assembly hall just before one of the most interesting experiences I have had in India. Our university is offering English classes in conjunction with Modicare, the MLM company owned by the Modi Group (our parent company). I was invited to one of their meetings to present the program to their representatives. It was an interesting amalgam of a Mary Kay rally and Indian culture: four hours of overly loud, driving music; awards; people being carried on to the stage; hundreds of orange chrysanthemum “leis” being placed around peoples necks and arms (an increasing number as the level of recognition increased; flower pedals being thrown over and at honorees; and overly enthusiastic speeches. I did pick up a great earworm: the song played on a loop while the representatives filed into the auditorium. Here is the link:  

 May it haunt your dreams as it has mine. You are welcome.

On a little more serious note, the arrangement with Modicare is only one of several arrangements for education and training. We are looking at arrangements in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. I am using these activities as a beachhead strategy to expand the number of campuses we have. We start with training (English, critical thinking, strategic planning, etc.); move to onsite MBA programs with key corporations; finally, with that base of students in various cities we can launch campuses. The process of developing these arrangements with key corporations is starting to pick up speed and we have discussions going with several. Two related key challenges we are facing are shortage of resources and the expectation corporations have regarding timing. We are at that ragged point where we have too much work for the curriculum development people we have but not enough yet to justify hiring staff. This is related to the second problem since it is difficult with our current staff to modify even existing curriculum quickly enough to meet the timelines the corporations have. Developing new classes is even more difficult. Still, these are nice challenges to have.

Now, here’s Rae. 

Well, let’s see what I want to share about this last week. First I guess I should tell you that the Monsoons have arrived.  That means cooler temperatures, but also much higher humidity.  It is not unusual to have the windows totally fogged over.  That also happens to your glasses when you walk outside, or get out of the car, instant blindness.  I have to remind myself to put in my contacts if I’m going out.  Yesterday we went to a very large mall in Gurgaon, a city about 40 minutes away.  On the way home it was very hard for our driver to keep the windows in the car from fogging up.  Given how crazy traffic is here, having clear windows seems to me to be pretty important.  I however didn’t necessarily mind having my window fogged, because sometimes it’s better to not see just what chaos is going on around you. Cars pass so closely that it would be very easy to reach out and touch the car next to you.  Another thing that seems to be a part of Monsoons is power outages.  There have been a couple of days where the power has gone out 5 or 6 times.  There is a generator for our flat, but the guard has to turn it on.  I don’t think there is any electricity to his small, (about 3x3) guard stall, so I don’t think he is always aware of the stoppage.  So, sometimes you have to open the door and call out to him to please turn on the generator.

I think I’m getting closer to finally getting my phone set up.  Friday a young man from Airtel came by. He didn’t speak English, but did keep saying “sim card”, but when I brought him my phone he looked confused and finally said “never mind” and “come back in morning”.  He didn’t say what morning however and so far hasn’t come back.  I assumed that he was going to come back with someone who could speak a bit of English.  Well, you know what happens when you assume, in my case, it means I’m wrong and who knows when they will come back, and if we will ever really get things sorted out.

We also heard from the moving company about our shipment.  We are supposed to have to go to the customs office sometime in the next few days and then who knows how much longer it will be until the shipment is actually delivered.  Hopefully it won’t be too long.  It will be nice to have some of our things.  I’m thinking it will be nice to have more than the four plates, and minimum kitchen tools that I sent with Phil when he first came.  I’m sure that there will be some things I sent that I will wonder what I was thinking in sending it.  Anyway, looking forward to having our things.         

If the day should come that we get our shipment, I finally get a phone, and our oven gets repaired or replaced then I think we will finally feel a bit more settled and a part of things, and maybe not so much like we’re temporarily here and just camping.  One thing I’m learning is that things here take time and patience, something that I guess I still need to learn. One thing about India is it will give me plenty of opportunity to hone that skill.

Namaste

I like to dream yes, yes right between my sound machine. On a cloud of sound I drift into the night….

21 Jul 2013

Rae and I were talking about the topic for this week’s blog entry. I go through the week with the blog in the back of mind. Usually something presents itself (in fact there IS a topic that presented itself, which you will see later). However, as I was cogitating, reflecting back on the past week, one image pressed itself onto my mind with great clarity: Rae sleeping.

Now, please understand. I in no way begrudge Rae her sleep. She has been burning the candle at both ends and the middle. She undoubtedly has a sleep deficit she needs to make up. You add to that the change in time zone, which is about as significant a shift as you can ask a body to make, and it is not surprising that she has fallen asleep so often and so quickly. Added to both of those things (and probably related to both factors as well) Rae has gotten sick: a little Delhi belly and a cold. In any case, when we go to bed at night, she is asleep before her head hits the pillow. When I call during the day, Rae frequently has been asleep. When she sits down, her head starts to nod. I am sure she will get caught up at some point. I have to say, when I see how depleted she is, I feel terrible that I left so much on her plate. She really is a tremendous person. And with that, I will turn the blog over to her so she can tell you about her adventures with repairmen.

Rae here, (I’ll try not to nod off while typing this, but no guaranties).  This week has been filled with repair men and that does sound like progress is being made, but don’t jump to conclusions.  Phil was having trouble with the toilet in our bathroom before I got here.  They sent repairmen 3 times to try to get the toilet to flush properly and still the problem persisted after my arrival.  A couple of days into my arrival I had a repairman from Phil’s work show up to deal with some electrical issues, look at the toilet, and a few other random things.  Turns out that while I thought most people here spoke at least some English, that is not the case with most service people. When the man from Phil’s work arrived he spoke a few words of English and we muddled thru and got a couple of outlets fixed.  The next day he arrived back here with the plumber, who spoke no English, and watched him work on the toilet for quite a long time only to decide that the toilet needed a new part. 

Here’s the problem, labor is really cheap here and people would rather have a dozen repairmen come out to try to fix a problem rather than spent a couple of dollars for the new part.  After the repairman left I could hear some heated discussion going on outside and it turns out that they were refusing to pay the repairman because they felt his rates were too high and so wanted another repairman to come.  So, a non functioning toilet and a couple of days later my bell rang and it was another plumber who spoke no English, but when I gave him his choice of plumber or air conditioner he said plumber.  I took him to the toilet and was surprised to see that he had no tools or new parts.  I sat on the bed and watched him flush the toilet multiple times, scratch his head multiple times and then flush the toilet multiple times again. 

By then, I’m feeling pretty frustrated because I thought they were finally going to actually put in a new part and finally fix the problem.  After some time of him trying to communicate with me and me not understanding much I figured out that he was asking for a bucket.  I don’t have a bucket here.  I got him a large bowl from the kitchen and he shook his head.  Finally he pointed to the waste basket so I pulled the bag out of it and handed it to him. He then went to the shower and filled the bucket and poured the water into the toilet bowl.  By then I’m thinking, what the heck.  I’m feeling quite frustrated and thinking I just want to send him away and yell at someone to stop wasting my time and to not send someone out again until they are serious about really fixing something.

Just about then Christina, our helper arrived, and I was so glad to see her.  She has been wonderful to communicate with all these people when I’m not able to. She took over the battle and told the guy that they were supposed to replace the part and we went thru things again.  She is very patient and clearly more accustom to the Indian way of doing things.  The plumber finally said the water level in the tank needed to be raised and then it would be good.  “Fine; whatever; just leave!”is what I was thinking.  That’s not the end though.  He wanted us to pay him and Christina explained that we weren’t the ones to pay but whoever sent him would pay him.  He said he didn’t know who sent him and his office didn’t know who placed the order.  All I can say is it’s a good thing Christina was here or I think I would have been yelling at him to GET OUT, GET OUT!  I think I tend to be a pretty calm and rational person, but in my mind this was getting beyond ridiculous.  Please don’t send me anymore repairmen when Christina isn’t here.

We have been trying to get them to replace our oven since before Phil arrived.  They had said they would do that when we first looked at the place. It is a similar story, they have sent repairmen who say it can’t be fixed, and needs to be replaced, but they still keep talking about trying to fix it, before they replace it. JUST REPLACE IT ALREADY!

 We have 2 AC units in our downstairs that aren’t functioning, and they asked me if I was going to use the downstairs and really needed the AC.  I told them yes, it was going to be my work area for art and such, plus there is an exercise room down there which I promise I will never use if there is no AC.  I don’t promise to use it after it’s fixed, but that’s beside the point.

After all this ranting, I assume you are seeing a pattern here, LABOR IS CHEAP and so try that as many times as you possibly can before you actually fix something.  In my mind at some point the cost of labor will actually equal the cost of just fixing it in the first place. 

Okay, I must say that just writing this and rethinking it has made me exhausted, I may need to go to bed.        

Namaste

ch-ch-ch-ch-changes....

14 Jul 2013

I am sure you have heard the saying that anything you do for thirty days is a habit, that with little effort you’ll be able to continue that activity. Well, I have disproved this saying more than once. For instance, after years of running 3-5 miles a day five days a week we moved to West Texas. The first morning there I got up to run, as was my habit. I opened the door and faced brutal wind from the North driving sleet like needles. I said, “Well, I’ll run tomorrow.” Tomorrow never came. It may have taken thirty days to make a habit but I broke one in a single stroke. Likewise, I have been writing an entry for our blog every weekend for nearly three months. Last week I had just gotten to Oregon and we had a lot of family activities. I said, “Well, I’ll write next week when we are back in India.” I didn’t write yesterday and if I am not careful, our blog could go the way of my running. So, back to writing!

 When last we left our hero, he was battling kidney stones and wondering if he would be cleared to fly back to Oregon. Based on the paragraph above, the answer to that is clear. I passed the stone that was of immediate concern the night before my doctor’s appointment, got medical clearance, and only had kidney stone attacks four or five more times during the rest of the trip, as a few of the “several” stones in my left kidney decided to make the glorious trek to freedom in the outside world. Fortunately, aforementioned stone attacks only happened once while trapped on a plane.

Enough medical stuff. As you know, I went back to Portland to see family, to help get the house ready to rent, and to bring Rae back to India. In all three aspects, the trip was a success.

Over the last three months, with SIGNIFICANT help from our kids and friends, Rae had gotten nearly everything sorted with the house. Nearly everything we own was 1) given away; 2) sold; 3) put in storage; or shipped on a slow boat to, err, India. Even with all of her hard work we were doing some sorting and storage right up to the last day. There will still be some loose ends for the kids to take care of after Sarah and Jeremy move but that part of the trip has to be considered a success.

Spending time with family was wonderful, although it was too brief and limited to seeing those living in Portland, or who had come there to see us. It was great to see Emily and Kai. I hadn’t seen them in over a year. Unfortunately, Emily and Kai had to return to Phoenix on Tuesday. I was amazed at how much Kai had grown in a year. For that matter, I was amazed at how much Lauren, Julien, Maude, Quincy, Colvin, Lincoln, Merrick, and Carrigan had grown in three months. Holding Carrigan for the first time was great, although it appeared to mean more to me than to her, and Lincoln who had been my good friend three months ago didn’t want much to do with me for the first few days.

While home we participated in blessing Carrigan and celebrated an early sixth birthday for Colvin.

The last night we were there, we had a true spiritual feast. Ben, Brendon, and Jeremy (with Brendon as voice) gave me a blessing. Then I joined them, serving as voice in giving Rae a blessing. I then proceeded to give each member of our family a blessing. All in all, I served as voice for 15 consecutive blessings. I felt a bit like an Old Testament patriarch. What I felt most was the deep love that I feel for each of our family members as well as the even greater love our Father in Heaven has for each of them. I only wish Emily, Michael and Kai could have been there or that we had at least thought to give Emily and Kai blessings before they left.

The third and final aspect of the trip was to bring Rae back to India. I have to admit I have felt more than a little guilty as this even has approached. I really have wanted Rae to join me but I know how hard it will be for her to leave family and friends. She keeps assuring me she knows this is right and despite being sad at leaving loved ones, she is excited to be together with me and for the adventures that await us in India. In any case, with a full three hours sleep under our belts we undertook the 30+ hour trip to New Delhi by way of Newark, New Jersey. In some ways the hardest part of the trip was the six hours we spent in the layover in Newark – not my favourite airport. In any case we finally dragged ourselves into our home about 10:00 PM Friday night. The next morning Rae was up ready to clean and rearrange furniture! I have to say her energy and enthusiasm did not last straight through the weekend. There was a fair amount of dozing mixed in with organizing, but she has begun to make her presence known and I couldn’t be more excited. I am now going to turn the blog over to her. Rae, you have the helm.

Rae at the helm here.  Well, I have to say that my first few days haven’t been terribly glamorous.  To say that I was a bit tired to start this adventure, is a totally accurate statement. Traveling for 30 hours doesn’t help the fatigue factor.  I did spend the first two days unpacking our four large and loaded suitcases, arranging some furniture, and sleeping.  I think I did brush my teeth a couple of times.  After spending the weekend in the flat it became clear that some serious cleaning was in order, so as Phil left for work I started the cleaning process.  There is still so much to do but from what I’ve learned so far, there will always be so much to do.  Lots of people, lots of cars, and lots of dry dust equals lots of black sooty dust everywhere. We may need to have Christina more hours a day than we have her coming currently. 

India is going to be an adventure in so many ways.  We have been trying to buy a washer, and even that has been an adventure.  The area for the washer is a very narrow slab just outside our kitchen door and there is just one (cold) faucet so we have to be very careful that the one we pick will work in the space and only has one hook up valve.  It turns out that whatever washer meets all the criteria will be the one we get, never mind what the brand or other features.  Who knew it would take so many trips to the store to resolve one washer purchase.  There have been some other shopping experiences that I will share on another blog.  I’ve learned how to do a quick general calculation of rupees to dollars so baby steps for me.

One last bit of info. I did see an elephant and some cattle on the street the other day.  I’d seen cattle, but not in the busy New Delhi area before.  These were right there in the middle of everything, and didn’t seem fazed at all by all the traffic (not even the cattle are fazed by the traffic).

Namaste