Relaxing in Goa

Goa is only a 50 minutes flight from Bangalore, so obviously we had to go there as soon as possible after Karina and the kids came to India.


We chose to go to Palolem beach which is the southernmost beach in Goa. It is known for its very laidback ambience and the lack of large 5 star hotels. On our way to our bungalows we met a couple of the local pigs;-)


Palolem is about 1 1/4 hours drive from the airport which means pretty remote. Naja and Laura probably are thinking what they are doing there?!?

Below a shot of the bungalows where we stayed.



Our bungalow had a nice hammock on the rooftop. Nice place to chill with a beer and the view of the Arabian Sea.



Naja chilling on the beach while her henna tattoo is drying up.



Laura just chilling;-)



It gets pretty hot in Goa during April. 35-40 degrees Celcius with a very high humidity. Next time we will probably try to avoid the 'hot season'. Karina had to work the tan though.



Burning sun and very deserted beach. The atmosphere is just so very different from the day-to-day India we meet everyday in Bangalore.



Small stall just next to our Bungalow. The boats were part of the package, where you could get a small piece of shade, if you had enough of the VERY hot and strong sun.



The view from the restaurant where we stayed. Guess you could learn to live with it?

Royal Enfield - A Must have

The Royal Enfield motorbike is the wanted toy for all big boys. So obviously, while waiting for Karina and the kids to join me in Bangalore, I spent a few weekends looking for an old Eighties model of the Royal Enfield 350 Bullet.

I found one, and it ended up looking like this in our garage.



However, before having the bike delivered, had to get it all fixed up. Complete restauration including engine master overhaul as well as painting etc. I went for an all black model. It is from 1983.

Even Naja and Laura think it is quite funny to sit and play on it.



Starting to ride it is a totally different story than looking at, restoring or even paying for. First of all, even though its a fairly medium sized bike, weight reductions for sure was not in focus back in the days when designing the thing. Also, we happen to be in a country, where they insist on driving left hand side of the road...which is fine. But did they have to also put the gear and brake livers on opposite side than in Europe??? Appearently so...So after a few very hard tries to brake with the gear liver, the feeling of the bike starting to sit in the body, and I took it for a VERY short ride.



Even though it for sure takes some getting used to...and for sure some compromises as towards driving comfort and maybe even security, nobody can take away the sound from the 350CC one cylinder engine...Its great;-)

Lemon or Lime???

It's a mystery!!
At the side of the road, whereever you go in India, you see fresh fruit stalls. In particular you see a lot of stalls where they sell lemon juice or lemonade. So where do you go, if you need some fresh Lime fruits?

After having browsed many local fruit markets, super markets and groceries for the lime without beeing successful, we had to take it to the next level. We packed the car, and headed for one of the biggest fruit markets in Bangalore...If not there, then where?

After a bit of searching, we found something close to what we were looking for. At the picture, Naja and I are discussing with the guy at the fruit stall whether he is indeed pitching Limes or Lemons. He claims Lemons...bit we are not convinced!



Of course we had to take a closer look. Up closer, it becomes evident that color is what makes the difference as compared to the Limes you can buy in a Danish supermarket. Some are yellow like the Danish ("Citron") Lemon and some are green...all share the size of the Lime we know from Denmark.



We had to make a more in deepth analysis of the matter, so bought a few dozens of the Lime/Lemons, and brought them back for a kitchen table inspection.



As can be seen. Once sliced, the fruits revealed a greenish pulp very much looking like the Limes we know from back home. After a small tasting session - not including any alcohol - the verdict was clear. We are indeed facing what we in Denmark would call a Lime fruit.

Now the important part is closed...We have our supply of fresh Lime fruits for the Mojitos or the fresh Lime juice in place...But still...there is this feeling, why do the Indian population look all confused, when you ask for a Lime?

Decided to dig deeper into the matter, and with the help of Tine - a fellow Lime hunting practioner based in Bangalore - got hands on the following explanation




Guess it is clear now? It's a Citrus fruit;-)

Our house and the neighbourhood in Whitefield

The house
This is our new home for the next two years. Nice fairly big house compared to the house in Denmark.

It has 4 bedrooms and almost as many bathrooms (3), so there is ample opportunity to drop by for a visit.

There are different patios and terrasses that we can use, whenever we want to sit outside and relax.

There is a small "garden" surrounding the house. This is the view from our terrasse on the first floor.

The garden can just fit a small "pool" for Naja and Laura. This is of course very nice when the temperature is reaching 35-40 degrees Celcius.

On the street just outside our house Naja and Laura can play without much supervision. The road is blind and only traffic allowed are the residents of the 20 so houses in the compound.
As can be seen, both Naja and Laura enjoys the possibility to freely play and bike in the street.


The club area
In the weekends and sometimes after school/work it is very nice to be able to go visit the Club inside our compound. It has a lot of very nice facilities like swimming pools, restaurant, tennis, badminton, squash and a gym. Especially the kids enjoys the atmosphere while swimming and playing in the many pools.

First day at school

Back in December 2009 Karina and I went on a pre-visit to look for suitable schools and to find a good place to live, during our two year assigment in Bangelore. We went to see 3 different schools. One, The International School of Bangalore (TISB), was in our opinion a bit strict and seemed quite far away from the Danish way of going to school. A second one, Inventure, was following the Indian shool year and hence was not an ideal match for our yearly wheel. Also, it promoted a bit more Indian style, which could have been a very interesting learning for Naja and Laura, if they had been a bit older. But as they are both just starting school, we were practically adviced that they were too young to really get to much of of that. Ultimately, we ended up choosing a school called Indus International School. The most compelling factor to this school was their approach to the parent and student involvement in learning/teaching. That made us comfortable that we could participate in the integration to a very new and challenging world for Naja and Laura.

Another reason for choosing Indus was the magnificent campus.

Campus
As can be seen in the picture, the school architects have for sure had some inspiration from other famous buildings on the globe. The students are placed in blocks, like Primary, Secondary and Boarding each having their own separate building. There are many ourdoor activities like horse back riding, swimmming and all sports imagenable. For breakfast and lunch, all students gather at the large central dining hall. There is even an amphibie theater on campus.



Naja and Laura packed up for their first day!
It is the primary block to the right, where both Naja and Laura will be going for the next couple of years.



Grade 1 - Naja
Naja is starting in Grade 1 (1C). Compared to the Danish school system that is probably between "0. klasse" or "1. klasse". She has been very lucky to get into a class where there is another Danish girl Cathrine, whith whom she can play and ask for help. Obviously it is a MAJOR challenge for her that she doesn't speak the English language yet. She had some lessons back home in Denmark and now attends extended English classes to accellerate her skills. There are 26 pupils in her class. There is one main teacher, Ms Diviya and one secondary teacher as well as a class aid, that takes care of all practical needs. Besides the English and Math, there are a number of activities during the week. Indian traditional dance, athletics, swimming are some of the examples that Naja seem to fancy the most.



Prep 1 - Laura
Laura is starting in Prep 1 (Prep 1A). Her class is having pupils with the age of 3-5 years and Prep 2 will have pupils the age of 4-6. Laura is quite young for her class and hence she needs some adjusting to settle in. Some of her fellow students already knows the alphabet as an example, something Laura would probably only start learning in a years time, had she still been in "boernehaven" at home in Denmark. Besides the more academic related activities the class very much resembles the danish "boernehave". There is a lot of playing activities, drawing, dancing, singing. Also, there is monkeynastics, swimming and other outdoor activities. In the afternoon there is even room for a small nap;-)

Visiting Russell Market

The journey to Russell market - a medium sized market in Downtown Bangalore - was initiated by the hunt for Lime fruits. But since we were taking the time to drive there, we obviously decided to get a bit more flavour on the local market atmosphere. There was a larger number of flower stalls, all fabricating flower chains to make the daily life more colorful for the Indians - and us;-) Naja and Laura were very popular with the crowd...as can be seen, they were immediately offered flowers
There was even time to make a small chain they could wear, as Laura is proudly showing

The market contained a variety of flowers, fruits, spices, vegetables and meat. But as we were there during Easter, many of the stalls were closed.

One of the things that become evident in the market is that time is not of major importance to the Indians. See this Tomato stall...It must have taking the owner a loooong time to orderly place all these nicely ripped tomatoes.

Outside we were having the classic discussion about Lemons and Limes. Please refer to a different post on that topic.

After having spent some time shopping fruits, we went on to get some dried coriander seeds. Normally in Denmark you get these in bags of say 20 grams. Prices are a bit different in India. We ended up buy ½ a Kg (that is 500 grams!!) for the incredible amount of 40 Rupees, equally to that of a little more than 4 DKK.

On the way we met one of the many classic cows, and of course had to take a photo

India, and market areas in particular are not among the cleanest places on Earth. If you are lucky, some guy will pile all the crap up outside, and then someone will set it on fire...That is if a cat, dog or cow haven't been eating all of it before that.

Forget to mention the goats...there is of course also goats in the streets. By the way notice I also got a flower chain around my wrist...more on that topic later.

Last place we went to was a combined butchers and groceries street. We were looking for sunflower seeds, but didn't succeed. The scary thing about this butchers street was coming from above. If you take a close look up in the air on the photo, you will notice a bunch of large birds...They were eagles and very interested in "attacking" the meat stall at street level hence we had Laura and Naja running screaming around. Must admit it was indeed a bit scary...especially for us who remember Hitchcocks "Birds"

Back to my flower wrist chain...We talked to some Muslims on the way back and they kept laughing about me wearing this. After a bit of the usual not wanting to say things straight, they told me that if a guy is wearing a flower chain like that it means he is interested in finding a stripper;-)!! Valuable information.