How we got here

So we are in India!!!
We arrived on the 30th around 4:30 in the morning. The airport is old and smells like mildew. The ceiling is about to fall down. Young girls with undernourished babies outside ask for money.
I am glad Charles prepared me so it was not as shocking as I though it would be.

We arrived at the beautiful hotel. They were waiting for us. The warm welcome brings most needed relief. Everyone says hello with both hands together as if it was a praying sign. I think it means you and I meet. The hotel is beautiful. We have two rooms connecting. Emilie sleeps in the adjoining one.
We try to go to the pool every morning. Emilie has a new friend from Italy: Mathias. His dad, Max is the Italian chef here. His mom, Sonia arrived just 3 months ago. She can give me tips on shopping and what to do and not to do...

For those that don't know, we moved from Korea to Bahrain last year, at the end of August. Then 8 months later to Montreal, Canada where Angeline Monique was born on August 21st. October 3rd we moved back to Bahrain where we spend a nice "vacation", packed our belongings and moved to India on October 30th.
It has been a stressful year but it seems (if everything goes well) that we will be in India for at least 3 years.

Bombay (or Mumbai as it's called now) is wild. We had the chance to go to the city when we went to immigration last Friday. It was a 1.5 hours trip from the hotel. We packed plenty of books, DVD player, picnic basket and there we went. We saw misery like we have never seen. But people seem happy. The city is shared by poorness and richness, one next to the other, coexisting as if it was meant to be.
Mothers working on the field, carrying bricks while their babies play on the floor or simply lay there because they still can not sit on their own.

The traffic is crazy. Taxis everywhere. Motorcycles with three wheels, carrying sometimes 4 people on the back, suitcases and dogs. We called them the bees, because the go right to left, left to right , using the horn non-stop. The horn... The horn...Trucks and buses have the sign: "please use horn". They want you to warn them when you come. You are supposed to use it, As I read in a book (Culture Shock),to let people know you are there...Motorcycles carrying 4 people, husband, child on the back or front, mother and other child on her lap are a common sight. And of course, the cows, the wild dogs, the chickens are part of the landscape . It just like in the movies. On the side of the highway, sometimes under a bridge sometimes without cover, are people cooking, sleeping, simple living. I saw a mother counting the lettuce leaves and her skinny children waiting for her to cook the meal. The sight of babies and children playing around garbage is very common and devastating.

The city itself is beautiful in its own way. Old buildings that used to be rich and clean during the British colonization are now the home of the poor. You can still imagine how great they used to be.

Charles filled up pages and pages of forms and we finally got our resident "passports" that we need to carry at all times. We need to let them know if we move away from our resident house and of course if we leave the country.

We saw the gate of India and the Taj Mahal Hotel from the car while eating our grilled ham and cheese sandwich. The port is beautiful.
Then one more hour and twenty minutes to go back. Emilie and Angeline were great. Angeline slept both ways and ate in immigration, Emilie slept a little bit both ways and did not stop in the office but she was nice.

It is an amazing city that I would love to discover but it is not easy with the kids, mostly with Angeline still breastfeeding. There is no place really for walking with a stroller and I don't think it is healthy for them anyway.

People are so nice. They want to know you and ask you many questions. They love children.
There is an arcade on the bottom floor with many shops. Every afternoon, I take the kids so Emilie can walk around. She is invited to enter all the shops. She goes, acting as a little shy child, looking down as if she does not want to go but she does anyway and then she is picked up by all the men that work there. I freaked out a little at the beginning, if you think about all the pedophiles in the world but that's the way it is here, they love kids and treat them as prince/sses until they are six years old or so.