Luis's LAST Mumbai Picture (except for the one at the airport)

Stairs

I had almost forgotten how much Luis loves the stairs. If I turn my attention away from Luis, 9 times out of 10 he heads for the stairs. Here are a few pics of him from today.

Finally - Pictures

Our air freight arrived today, and in it I found a USB cable. So finally, I have some pictures (and, I was able to charge my phone).

Ashley & Luis nap on the air mattress at Sarah's

Luis enjoys breakfast (and the lush greenery in the background)

Anthony & Matthew have a morning snuggle

Matthew & Luis play together - that 11 week difference is already getting smaller

Aunt Jeanette came for a visit

Luis plays with the Fisher Price castle that Mom's had for about 35 years!

Luis's new favorite toy: Mom's cane

Checking In

I haven't found my USB cord yet, so I still don't have pictures... But thought I'd do a little update.

Since my last post, we all seem to be doing much better with jet lag. Luis is waking up at midnight and at 3a, but is going back to sleep on his own. I'm still going to bed at 9a, but I think that is just life exhaustion - not jet lag.

We've had a busy week since we landed. Jeanette came to visit us over the long weekend. Sarah & Anthony get "Greatest Friends EVER" award for not only letting Ashley, Luis and I descend on their house (for a week!), but for letting me invite Jeanette to stay with us as well. It was a mostly quiet weekend around the house. I get a Bad Hostess award because I was asleep by 9p the first night and by 7:30p the second night that Jeanette was there. I was tired. For the few hours I managed to keep my eyes open, it was GREAT to visit with J.

Monday afternoon, we met up with RC and Juan Fe. The four of us went to a park where Luis tried out his climbing and swinging skills. He also discovered the sandbox - much to my chagrin. I am not a big sandbox fan. That will be Daddy's venue. Afterwards, we went to Sushi Hut where I feasted on California Rolls and Tempura Shrimp rolls. Mmmmmmm - they were great. The woman who runs the place was thrilled to see us and pointed out the two pictures of Luis on their "wall of fame". It was super sweet.

Tuesday, Luis and I walked up to the shopping center near Sarah's house and tried to get haircuts - but the lady I liked wasn't in yet. So we walked a bit further to the Baja Fresh and had lunch. I was very pleased at how much Luis seemed to like the rice & beans & chicken. And when I dipped the chicken in sour cream first, Luis made the "I love you" sign to me. Later, Luis and I went back (by car) and got hair cuts. His is a bit shorter than I imagined it would be, but still looks cute.

Now we are out at Mom's house in Annapolis. For how long - I'm not sure. At least until middle of next week....

(I hope to have more pictures in the next couple of days)

Jet Lag

Check out the time/date stamp. Jet lag isn't going so well after all...

Home?

Our trip from Mumbai to DC was long - an 8 hour flight, a 2 hour layover and an 8.5 hour flight - but it was uneventful. Both Luis and I slept, though not always at the same time. Overall, he was a great travel companion. Mark & JF picked us up from the airport (see previous post that shows all of our luggage) and safely escorted us to Sarah's house. Last night, Luis was up once for a diaper change at 3a and then I brought him back in to bed with me (and Ashley). We all slept until almost 7a. Yeah!!

It is weird being here. My friend Mary Beth is back in the States for a visit for the first time since moving to Mumbai last fall. She did a funny post about some of the differences she encountered her first morning in Jersey. My strange things would include being cold, drinking tap water and wearing socks.

I'm finding it difficult to put into words how I feel. Sarah's house is one of the warmest and most love-filled places I've ever been. And she and her family have been amazingly welcoming and accommodating. But I can't help but feel lonely. A strange word, it seems. This morning, Ashley, Luis and I went for a walk - like we did in Mumbai. On a couple of occasions, I counted the number of people I saw walking the ~ 1 mile stretch along the promenade. Both times, the number of people we saw walking in the other direction (not the people sitting, or walking my same direction) was about 175. This morning, I saw ONE person. One. It was odd. And it's so quiet here. Even the birds here are quieter. And there are no people. No cars. No horns. No one has come to Sarah's house (no Parvati, no Pauline, no Shabina, no Babu, no Biscuit Walla, no Anwar). There is no guard standing outside the door to pass and say good morning (or good evening) to on my way to take Ashley and Luis out. There are no dogs on the street.
At breakfast, Luis didn't eat much of his toast. I looked around the kitchen to figure out which would be the best window sill on which to leave the extra pieces for the crows and wrens. Oh yeah, there aren't any here.
I drove to the grocery store to pick up milk. I had no problem sticking to the proper side of the road or following the traffic signals/signs. But when I needed to make a left turn into the aisle of the parking lot, I had to remember that I did not have the right of way just because I could sense that the woman who HAD the right of way was timid. Remembering the right-of-way rules is going to be a bit tough.
The thing that was odd about the grocery store was the aisles of refrigerated items. In Mumbai, my grocery store had a small (like, really small) fridge where they kept butter, yogurt and one kind of cheese.
I am sure there will be dozens - if not more - things like this; things that remind me that I'm not in Kansas, er Mumbai anymore. And though we were in Mumbai for only 9 months and before that in the US for 32 years and 5 months, the truth is Mumbai was our home. It was were we lived with our family. It is where our life was. It was not perfect. And leaving was the right thing to do. But it's going to be hard to adjust. There are things I will miss (things I already miss). And it will be a while before we establish a new home.

Bye Bye Bombay

I just returned from the airport, it's 3:26 am and Mary,Luis and Ashley are on a flight to Washington via Frankfurt. It was an interesting experience for a number of reasons. They flew on Lufthansa which is the first airline operating out of the renovated terminal at Chhatrapati Shivaji international Airport. The facility looks very nice considering that the space we remodeled had been abandoned for about13 years by the previous airport administration. Akthough there is still tons of work ahead to bring the airport to our aspirations, I'm happy to have been a part of the CPR team that this airport needed to inject some hope into this city that often seems like it just wants to be left alone to die. I look forward to the next 10 days to wrap up my projects with the airport and head on to some rejuvenating vacations and gear up for the next project .

The Penultimate Day

Our apartment at 1:30 yesterday

(the lift eventually started working)

218kilos of Air Freight


When all of the toys are gone, you find new things to play with


*Most* of my luggage (crate, stroller and carry on bag not shown)
(alternately - a good ad for LL Bean)


The Sunnnnn ... has gonnnnne ... to bed and so must I-iiiiii...

Moving Day - Part 3

Since I last posted (what 3 hours ago??), I discovered that I neglected to pack all of Luis's 12 mo clothes, all of my nursing supplies (pump, bottles, etc.), our big, favorite cutting board and Diego's fly-fishing flies. Oops. Guess it'll be a few more boxes. The good news (sort of) is that b/c of the elevator being broken and the guys carrying the boxes down the stairs, they are still here and so these things can still get packed. Lucky me!

This is how the apartment looked this morning:

Moving Day - Part 2

In general, things went really well yesterday. The movers got all of the sea freight - and then all of the air freight - packed up. Luis held up generally well throughout the day, but had a hard time going to sleep in his empty room. Ashley also had a hard time, and is sticking extra close to me now (except for when she's sequestered to our bedroom).
The head mover told me yesterday that we had "two pallets" of air freight, while our quote was only for one. So when I asked the pricing lady if two pallets was 2x as expensive as one pallet, she said, "Close enough." Well, one pallet of air freight is pretty damn expensive, so I started paring down. The goal was 220 kg of stuff (there is a volume limit too, but apparently we are sending all heavy stuff so we were clearly going to hit the weight limit before the volume limit). After sending my golf clubs and Diego's SCUBA gear to the sea freight pile and shift one ginormous suit case to the "luggage" pile, we were about 8kg under. But we still had to add the printer and the baby jogger to the air freight pile. So I pulled out a bin of toys and 24 mo clothes for Luis and put it in sea freight (I don't know how fast he's going to grow, or when we'll see the sea freight stuff...). Now, I was close. But looking at the pile of boxes, there was for which I couldn't remember the contents. Turns out it was a second box of SCUBA gear. A second heavy box. So that moved to sea freight. Then, the box of toys was back in. So was the printer and the baby jogger. At this point, I was at 218kg of my 220kg allowance. I am pretty pleased with myself!!
But the joy was short-lived. The move coordinator here asked if it was OK to start sending boxes down to the truck. Of course! The sooner they start (theoretically), the sooner they finish. Except. The lift is broken. Urgh! I was so angry. And it will be "two hours" until someone can come to fix it. My landlord sweetly suggested that they could start carrying the big stuff down the stairs. Down SEVEN flights of stairs. In 95+ heat. I don't envy those guys. Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of the day goes smoothly...

Moving Day - Part 1

Sorry, but no pictures this time. Today (it's Monday morning here) is moving day. The packers arrive at 9:30 to pack up our sea freight, which is mostly stacked up in neat piles around our living room. The air freight will get packed tomorrow. I am very nervous that they'll be a mix-up in which items are going air freight (and will arrive at Mom's house in about a week), which items Diego and I are carrying with us, and which items are going sea freight (which arrive in DC in about 10 weeks). My root of my concern is that even though our sea freight is going to DC, there is a chance that it will simply be lifted off one ship and put on another - IF we end up in another over-seas assignment. Not knowing when or where I'll open my sea freight boxes is a bit intimidating.

Ashley, who gets nervous when we pack an overnight bag won't leave my side. Luis, who hasn't seen us pack anything that he remembers, even knows that something is up. I'm not sure how he will take it this morning when we dismantle his crib... As for me, I am hanging in there. This is a stressful time for me; I don't do (the idea of) change very well. And, I don't particularly like to part with my belongings. If I had it my way EVERYTHING I own would go with me on my flight Wednesday night. Of course, I realize logistically, that doesn't work out so well.

The big question now is: Where are we going. The short-term answer is: To the US. Luis, Ashley and I will arrive in DC this Thursday. Diego will leave Mumbai on 1 June, stop in Dubai for a couple of days for a conference and arrive in the US on 4 June. We'll regroup in Annapolis for a couple of days before heading down to Melbourne, FL - where we plan to spend June & July on holiday. Diego will fly down and find us a rental house. Luis, Ashley and I will drive down, and (hopefully) visit with friends and family along the way. (For those of you not familiar with McDow road trips, "along the way" could technically mean anything east of the Rocky Mountains. In this case, it includes Richmond, Durham/Carrboro, Rock Hill and Atlanta). That's the plan at least...

Some Pictures From this Week

Bath Time

Grandson who Raises Himself

Hernan, Luis's grandfather, left this poem in the Comments Section of Luis at the Big Table

Grandson who Raises Himself

Hardly two lengths of my extended hand
--an enormous height of forty centimeters—
go from the carpet to the table with coffee and magazines
in the house of Mumbai, on the Arabic sea.
And their parents tell me that Luis Tomas, my grandson
--who changed the planet eight months ago--
sleds on his stomach to get close to the table
and then surpasses that enormous height
by grabbing the table border with his smooth little hands
to help straighten up his body like it must be
and resting on his inexperienced feet.
Then he inspects with eyes and hands and mouth
the flat and quiet world crowded with strange objects
that watches him from the top of the table
with flash memories of others,
with coffee and magazines.

Luis Hernán Rincón-Rincón, Medellín, August of 2007.

Brusha Brusha Brusha

Luis at the Big Table

Ashley's Last Bombay Haircut

Ashley got her first-ever haircut right before we came to Bombay. It had just never really occurred to me before. But now, I've gotten used to her short-haired look. Ashley went yesterday for her last clip. They always put something in her hair at her ears. Yesterdays was the worst - pink roses surrounded by pink tulle. I'll miss the cost ($25 for a wash and haircut), but not the bad adornments.

Liz's Bombay Photos

Liz downloaded her pictures onto my computer (thanks Liz!). I haven't taken my camera out with us this last week, but wanted to be able to post some about what we've been up to. Here's a sampling of what we've seen out & about in Bombay:

We went to McDonalds one day for lunch. This was my idea, not theirs. I love it because it's the only place in town I've found with fountain soda! Also, the four times I've been, my group has been the only white people there. Not so much a tourist spot.

Goats are EVERYWHERE

Where to buy spices (masalas)

Clothes drying on the rocks along the Promenade

Sights from the car

Prawn Drying Fields

Imported Diet Coke

The Gateway to India from the top of the Taj Hotel across the street

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