Saturday at the Bangalore Club

Mats at the Bangalore Club, the most formal club
in town established by the British. Note his formal
outfit, no admittance without that - it's actually his
Stonehill school uniform which he will wear Monday
thru Friday. To his left, you see into the bar which
is gents only and sure enough, I was immediately
asked to leave when peeking in.

We had a great day doing nothing and eating well
thanks to Preeti and Pankaj who hosted us.

1st week in Bangalore

Our 1st week in Bangalore - lots of parties to attend, exploring the city driven around comfortably by Chandru, finding the best places to buy food, books and art supplies. We are living in a furnished apartment on the 15th floor, have a great cook/ house servant and the non-working members of our family pretend we are on vacation.

Mats got tested for school and passed for 8th grade, he got to meet his fellow classmates briefly and surprisingly, chose to continue with French for this year. Another week of Easter vacation and then we will have to be ready for the school bus at 7am... until then, swimming and playing and pestering your favorite sibling is all the kids do.

Life here means counting cows on the streets - 20 so far; daily power outages and hence no internet; waiting for the pool at the apartment to get filled but until then swimming at the posh Lalit Ashok hotel; teaching our cook Jeeth to serve non spicy food, he serves us great meals several times a day;

Today we went to the police station to get our residency papers processed, housed in a British style building there was an eclectic mix of papers and electronics, such as digitial cameras we got scanned with. In and out in one hour, thanks to arrangements by Wido's amazing assistant Nithya who not only manages 2 CEOs but also their families!

And what would be a blog without discussing the weather - yesterday we had heavy rains and thunder storms and for the rest of the day it was as cool as a spring day in California. Camilla got her wish to "wear a sweater again" and some people even turned on the heater in their car.

Mats is having fun - last few days before moving

Lounging in the Hotel Los Gatos.
Malibu Racecars with the guys.

Camilla's last days in California

Watching seals at Ano Nuevo and being cold! Camilla's last day at Van Meter school.

Saying goodbye to California

Our last week was fun and crazy, trying to get ready and see our friends. We moved into the swanky Hotel Los Gatos, which was fun for everyone. Mats could walk home from school and wander into town with his friends, Camilla swam in the pool and hottub with her friends, Sami the dog got to pee on the lush lawns of Los Gatos High, and I became a regular at the bar at Dio Deka.

The movers swiftly cleaned out the house and while they were careful and curteous, some things went in the wrong pile. I discovered the suitcase with Camilla's summer clothes gone with the sea shipment so an emergency shopping trip was in order.

While it was all fun and in good spirit, I would not have survived the week without my friend Keleigh. She was my personal assistant trailing me everywhere with her clip board, walking my horse every morning, re-designing the garden and getting bids from contractors. All she needs now is to learn Spanish!