More of India

We realized we needed to get a few clothes cleaned for the last of our trip. We sent it down to the laundry and they came back looking like they were brand new shirts.
We decided to go out shopping a little bit one night...this is of one of the many many many silk tie sellers on the street. The next picture is of one of the fruit stands. They have so many of them.

We ate lunch at McDonalds the day we visited the office. It is in the food court that is in the basement.  As you can tell from the menu...they aren't your normal McDonalds.

We had Basking Robbins for dessert. We ate our whole meal, dessert included for around $5.00 or 2,500 rupees

We went and visited another school this one is of Canadian International School. We really liked it the most, but probably will end up at Indus because this one the kids would have to be on a bus around 3 hours a day.
This is a picture of what Ethan's class would look like
This is their soccer field
This is a picture of what Ellie's class would look like
This is a picture of what Maddie's class would look like
The class schedule

While we were driving out there, you have to drive down a dirt winding road...we saw banana trees, cashew trees, and...
MONKEYS!!!

Housing

This is the 1st House we saw in Adarsh Vista Housing Complex. I think it is way too much, but it was very nice. 

This is the 2nd house we say in Adarsh Vista. It was more our price, and we liked it. I think of all the houses it will come down to this one, or the 2nd one we saw in Prestige Ozone. I didn't video it though.  Both of these complexes have very nice clubhouses with swimming pool, workout room, squash (racquetball), and outdoor jungle gym. Either one would be great for our kids.

We miss you!

I forgot I was going to tell Ellie, Maddie, Ethan and Annie that we miss them. I can't wait to come home and see you. Thank you for being such great kids while we're gone. Grandma says you've been excellent!

Pictures at the store

We ventured out the first night we were here. We wanted to show the kids a few things we found here.

We found the Spaghetti sauce that Ellie loves

We also found some drinks.  Alan looks exhausted in this picture. I think he needed to drink that Mountain Dew.

We also found a KFC. Sorry Meiers we ate there. They got Alan's meal and they said it would be 10 more minutes for my chicken strips so we sat down and Alan ate his meal. I told him we could walk back to the hotel and I would eat mine there, but they forgot about me and never brought it. Finally we asked them if it was done and they apoligized and gave me free fries to go with it. Anyway, we started walking back to the hotel and it was late at night. This is the first time we were approached by beggers. We had a mother holding a baby probably Annie's age asking for food. we gave her the free fries that KFC had given us. Then we walked about 20 more yards and a girl I would guess Maddie's age asking for food. I felt so bad for them they were skin and bones. We gave them a few snickers bars that we had boughten at the store. I have heard that a lot of people will carry crackers and things like that with them so that when the children are begging, you have something other than money to give to them.

Schools

Right now it's 3:00 a.m. and Alan and I can't sleep. We did a lot of running around yesterday and were exhausted from not sleeping well the night before so when we got back to our hotel at 7:oo last night we crashed. We slept until about 2:oo this morning and now...
I thought maybe since I've got a few hours, I'd try and update.  Yesterday we visited 2 schools, and an apartment. The 2 schools are called Indus, and TISB. I took pictures at Indus, but TISB didn't allow me to.

 This is a picture of one of the apartments that they showed us. It wasn't very clean. It was a 4 bedroom penthouse. It was on the 10th floor. They say that is good because you get above the mosquitoes if you above floor 6.

This is the playground at the apartment complex. They also had tennis courts and a pool.

This is the School bus for Indus School
Swimming pool at the school. The kids have to take swimming, and a musical instrument. They also have to pick one other sport.  They will also get to learn Spanish.
The cafeteria at Indus School. Our kids will all eat at the same time. When they come into the cafeteria, they will sit according to their classes, the tables are all set, and they bring the food to the tables in big bowls where they get to dish up their plates. This was also the same at TISB, they wouldn't let me take a picture though.
This was a fun little playground/science park. I had Ethan in mind when I saw it. All of the equipment is designed to teach some science principle
This picture and the next 2 are pictures of what Ethan's classroom would look like. All of the kids were outside playing. I forgot I had a camera when we went into the classroom that would be Maddie's. The kids were all sitting at laptop computers learning their math. They said that all of the kids work on computers a lot. By 6th grade they carry their own around to all of their classes.  They said that there are around 20-25 kids per class, and they have 2 teachers in the class. This was the same at TISB also.

I was trying to take a picture of this bus that was next to us while we were driving. It was so jam packed full. People were almost hanging out of it. Then, I turned and the car next to us was probable the size of Mindy's convertible car that had a family of 7 in it.  I guess they aren't required to buckle up.

This is a video of driving down the street. I hope you don't get sick watching it. You still don't get a sense of how crazy the drivers are here by watching it, but I tried.

I don't know what I've done, half of the writing on this page is a link to something, but i'm not sure what.

More Pictures

These are more pictures of us getting to India.

This is our Singapore Airlines plane. When we took off, Alan and I didn't think it would ever make it off the ground. I can only imagine one of the double decker ones trying to take off.

Before we got on the plane in LA Alan and I got dinner. I got a cheese burger, and Alan had a French Dip Sandwich. We stuffed ourselves, and we were ready to get on the plane and fall asleep. The flight didn't leave until 9:00 at night LA time, 10:00 SL time.

As soon as we got on the plane, the first thing the stewardesses did was take our order for dinner. Alan and I were both so full that we told them we were OK and didn't need dinner. They told us that they would save it for us and as soon as we were hungry just to tell them, and they would get us our food. I ordered the Orange Chicken, and Alan had a pepper steak. It came with an appitizer, which Alan got and was the Tuna from the previous post. I didn't get one, but we both did get the dessert. I had Macadamia Ice Cream (picture below), and Alan had Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream. 

They were constantly asking if we needed anything else. I finally leaned over to Alan and asked if it was like Rodizio Grill that you have to push your Do Not Disturb Button on the seat so they quit bringing you food. The flight wasn't very full, and I think they were staffed for a full plane, so we had double the 1st class treatment.

When we landed in Singapore, there was a lightning storm. It was kind of neat to see. It was pitch black outside, and then the whole sky would be lit up.

Alan said I'm not putting enough silly pictures of me on here, and why does he have to be in all of the pictures so...this is a picture of me trying to update our blog in the Singapore Airport.

When we got off the plane in India we got on a bus that took us in the airport. We got into the airport, and because we were from a country that has "Swine Flu" we had to fill out paperwork saying that we weren't sick, and no one in our immediate family was sick. And then they gave us a phone number that they told us we needed to call if we did start feeling sick while we are here.

We were met by a driver at the airport and taken to our hotel. That ride was very interesting. I think I kind of felt like I was in a movie. I still feel that way. It is amazing to see that people really live this way. The way to describe the ride is to say that I felt like I was on one of those simulator rides where the movie is playing in front of you. I also am amazed that more people don't die here due to car accidents. I'm pretty sure for a moment we were traveling the wrong way down a one way road.  Also any stop we made at a light or anything I noticed people staring at us. It made me a little uncomfortable, but I guess I'll get used to it. Maybe once we get out into the housing areas, there will be a little more diversity.

We made it to our hotel "The Gateway" It is very nice. Everyone here knows our names already. We walked into the front door and the lady at the desk asked if we were the Ericksons and she got our room situated and then walked us up to our room. We decided that we needed something to eat so we went to the restaurant in the lobby. As we got off of the elevator we were greeted by the restaurant host. He asked if we wanted something to eat and he sat us down. The waiter suggested a chicken with marsala gravy to go with the Naan bread that I wanted. Alan got a pizza. Both were really good.

This is a picture of our hotel room

This is a picture of the bathroom. Complete with a flushing toilet.

Our driver just came to take us to the schools this morning so I will post pictures of those later, and also some pictures of our adventure last night.

Flying to India

Here are pictures of our Singapore Airline flight. We flew from SL to LA then onto Singapore. The flight was 16 hours and 50 minutes.  Maddie wondered what food they had on the airplane and Ellie really wanted to see the chairs convert into beds.  It was a really nice flight. I've never flown 1st class before.

Alan eating a pickle in the LA airport

Our flight from SL to LA

Our Singapore flight below:

This is video for Ellie

When we first got on our flight, they gave us some slippers and eye covers so we could sleep. I told Alan to put them on for a picture, and since he does whatever I say...

The seats were huge!

This is an appetizer of Alan's it was Tuna.

We flew into Singapore in a Lightning storm. I took video of it. It was really neat to see the sky light up.  I'll have to post the video later.

This is our plane from Singapore to India.

We are just getting ready to board, and I have many more pictures of our flight, and the food for Maddie. I will have to post them when we arrive in India. We love you kids!!