Sunday 24 April 2011
Sunday 17 April 2011
Moved Into Our Apartment!
Finally, 5 weeks and 3 days after moving to India we moved into our apartment! I am so over living in a hotel. By India standards, I think it went pretty smoothly.
We arrived at our apartment at the allotted time and were met by 7 people. The landlord was represented by a few, our relocation people had a couple there, a cleaning boy, our security guard. It took us one hour to finish the key handover. The landlords people were very eager to show us that all the lights worked, we were more concerned that the AC worked. Once we signed off, Ryan took off to work and I got my first taste of being a true housewife. The cleaning boy spoke no English but through a point and nod system, he got the place pretty clean. After every area, he came and got me and had me inspect before he moved onto the next. It was a bit weird but I am very happy not to have to clean other peoples dirt.
Our air shipment arrived! And basically when they said they would be here...only 20 minutes late which is early on India time. My one new friend Nicole refers to this as IST = Indian Stretchable Time. Today does not mean today or even tomorrow but everything is 'I will be there in 5-10 minutes ma'am.'
Back to the shipment, 9 boxes were shipped and 4 guys showed up to deliver them, all barefoot except the boss. Needless to say, it did not take them long to unpack all the boxes and they were out of here in a half hour.
The internet installation was not as easy. After 2 guys met with Ryan two days ago at his office so that he could fill out the application form and paid the deposit (heaven forbid they let me put anything in my name), 3 different guys finally show up here at 6:30 pm Friday night. I had to call them several times throughout the afternoon and of course, their answer was always 'yes ma'am, we will be there in 5-10 minutes'. So they arrived and almost immediately asked me for 1500 Rupees. I was not impressed since there was no mention of an additional cost to Ryan two days earlier. There was a serious language barrier between us and after a few minutes of him trying to explain to me what it was for and it seeming like they were just trying to rip me off. I finally agreed to pay the 1500 INR if they would give me a receipt but I wasn't paying until they installed the internet.
The next one and a half hours were painful. It seriously took them forever. Keep in mind that the connection was here from the previous tenants, they just had to install the wireless router. Along with the internet is our phone connection, and they made phone calls and were on the computer doing something....I am interested to see our first bill. I had no idea, as they were speaking their own language the whole time. At last, they are done and ask me for the money. After a few more minutes of fruitless debating with them, the word shady being used by me and not translating at all, I could see that they were not leaving without me paying, so I gave them the money. In return, I got a handwritten note that I paid it as my receipt - SHADY! So I had my connections and as Ryan tried to convince me...it was only $30 Canadian at the end of the day! But it still aggravates me!!
Our first weekend in the apartment was great. We just vegged out, ordered takeout and watched movies.
Here are a couple pics of the new place:
We arrived at our apartment at the allotted time and were met by 7 people. The landlord was represented by a few, our relocation people had a couple there, a cleaning boy, our security guard. It took us one hour to finish the key handover. The landlords people were very eager to show us that all the lights worked, we were more concerned that the AC worked. Once we signed off, Ryan took off to work and I got my first taste of being a true housewife. The cleaning boy spoke no English but through a point and nod system, he got the place pretty clean. After every area, he came and got me and had me inspect before he moved onto the next. It was a bit weird but I am very happy not to have to clean other peoples dirt.
Our air shipment arrived! And basically when they said they would be here...only 20 minutes late which is early on India time. My one new friend Nicole refers to this as IST = Indian Stretchable Time. Today does not mean today or even tomorrow but everything is 'I will be there in 5-10 minutes ma'am.'
Back to the shipment, 9 boxes were shipped and 4 guys showed up to deliver them, all barefoot except the boss. Needless to say, it did not take them long to unpack all the boxes and they were out of here in a half hour.
The internet installation was not as easy. After 2 guys met with Ryan two days ago at his office so that he could fill out the application form and paid the deposit (heaven forbid they let me put anything in my name), 3 different guys finally show up here at 6:30 pm Friday night. I had to call them several times throughout the afternoon and of course, their answer was always 'yes ma'am, we will be there in 5-10 minutes'. So they arrived and almost immediately asked me for 1500 Rupees. I was not impressed since there was no mention of an additional cost to Ryan two days earlier. There was a serious language barrier between us and after a few minutes of him trying to explain to me what it was for and it seeming like they were just trying to rip me off. I finally agreed to pay the 1500 INR if they would give me a receipt but I wasn't paying until they installed the internet.
The next one and a half hours were painful. It seriously took them forever. Keep in mind that the connection was here from the previous tenants, they just had to install the wireless router. Along with the internet is our phone connection, and they made phone calls and were on the computer doing something....I am interested to see our first bill. I had no idea, as they were speaking their own language the whole time. At last, they are done and ask me for the money. After a few more minutes of fruitless debating with them, the word shady being used by me and not translating at all, I could see that they were not leaving without me paying, so I gave them the money. In return, I got a handwritten note that I paid it as my receipt - SHADY! So I had my connections and as Ryan tried to convince me...it was only $30 Canadian at the end of the day! But it still aggravates me!!
Our first weekend in the apartment was great. We just vegged out, ordered takeout and watched movies.
Here are a couple pics of the new place:
Monday 11 April 2011
Random Photos Taken from the Car Window
Camels walking down the road:
Cow in the gutter:
Corn roasting on the side of the road:
Cow blocking our way:
A store with tires all wrapped up:
Wanna ride?
A mini truck full of coconuts:
Bottles for sale:
Picture is kinda bad but it is showing how full rickshaws can get:
Mutton anyone?
A guy pushing pots to sell:
More to come as I always have my camera ready to snap away as I see something different.
Monday 4 April 2011
Bannerghatta National Park
We ventured out to Bannerghatta National Park on Saturday. It is about 22 kms south of Bangalore but took one hour to drive to. I still have a hard time allotting our time properly when it comes to going anywhere as by Canadian standards, it should only take max. 15 minutes or so to drive this distance.
Onto the safari we go. It was interesting to say the least. The guides saw us and another couple we went with and saved the front seats of the bus for us. The ride itself was very fun. The bus was moving at around 50 km an hour over a very narrow, curvy road. It was kinda like being on a roller coaster. When we got off at the end, the comment 'tip tip' from the guides was explanation enough why we got the prime seats.
Here are some pics from the animals that were in the park:
The animals were not scared of the bus at all. They were just hanging out. It was really hot out so maybe that was why? We have heard that there are some really good National Parks a little bit farther away so I think to get a true wildlife experience, we will check these out instead.
Onto the safari we go. It was interesting to say the least. The guides saw us and another couple we went with and saved the front seats of the bus for us. The ride itself was very fun. The bus was moving at around 50 km an hour over a very narrow, curvy road. It was kinda like being on a roller coaster. When we got off at the end, the comment 'tip tip' from the guides was explanation enough why we got the prime seats.
Here are some pics from the animals that were in the park:
The animals were not scared of the bus at all. They were just hanging out. It was really hot out so maybe that was why? We have heard that there are some really good National Parks a little bit farther away so I think to get a true wildlife experience, we will check these out instead.
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