The Monsoon

When it rains it pours they say. I really thought it was enough getting food poisoning and a cold in the same week. But no. I then got a toddler that somehow lost the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. Then... I managed to pull a muscle in my back...

Thank God I am feeling much better now and the young one is sleeping so much better. Not yet fool proof and she's definitely not a " sleep through the whole night" type of person, but maybe we might get there one day.

Here's a sample of what we have been up to - in pictures.

Karelian pasties - bringing Finland to Saudi

Running - the young one first and me after her!

Picasso she might not be, here's the first drawing. Surely there are many, many, many more to come!

Har varit frånvarande en tid. Har nu klarat av matförgiftning, förkylning, en värkande rygg och en ettåriga evigt växlande sömnsvårigheter... Ja, sömnen e de väl ännu si och så med, men det är i alla fall bättre än för en vecka sen. Ännu vet den lilla int vad sova hela natten betyder. Men kanske hon gör det en vacker dag... Jag menar natt!

Här kommer nu ett litet bildkollage av vad vi har hållit på med.

Still here

Still around, but I have put the blog (and everything else) on the back burner for a while. After coming back from India the whole family got sick, so we are now trying to recover from a very nasty cough and cold.

The past few days have been a bit of a blur, but we will survive :) thanks to everyone for the get well wishes and for all offers of food, meds etc. 

Here's a funny pic for your Saturday night. Have a great weekend everyone!

Our Indian Adventure - Day14

Another day spent at home. The trip ended on a slightly negative note because me and the young one fell sick. Rather than going anywhere, we concentrated on spending our time with our family. Our daughter has a bunch of lovely and doting cousins. It was just amazing to see how well the older cousins took care of her and how the younger cousins adapted their play to suit her. These are the things you miss when you leave away from family.

I just thought I'd share a photo that I took one day while driving through the neighboring township. I just thought that the name was hilarious!

Our Indian Adventure - Day 13

Are we on day 13? I really have lost track over the last few days.

I'm making a slow recovery, yesterday's achievement was a walk around the residential area where my in-laws live. It is a gated community in what can only be called the countryside, about one hours drive south of Bangalore CBD.

Before we arrived I asked my niece what to expect of the area they live in, as I had no clue. I did ask her if we would be woken to the sound of roosters every morning, to which she said no. While there may not be any roosters around we do see cows and sheep grazing the empty plots of land right opposite their house :)

Having said that, there are more and more houses popping up and the area is filled with new development of similar communities. The road sides are filled with the developers signs and one intersection has about 20-30 signs to show the direction to different communities that are being developed!

It will be very interesting to see how this area transforms over the coming years.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 11 &12

Woman down. Food poisoning. Not really sure what it was that I ate/drank to bring this on. Today has been spent mostly in a horizontal position. Thank God for my in-laws and my hubby for taking care of the little one.

Tonight we got to enjoy an evening snack by candle light as the power went out just often sunset.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 10

Indian Independence Day. All kids were off from school so it was time to take them all out for a little excursion.

So we take a Maruti Suzuki Wagon R (pictured above), a car that is comfortable for four people at best. And what do we do? We squeeze 6 adults, four kids and one infant in there!

A normal feat for anyone in India. I have also see. 2 adults + 2 kids on a moped, four adults at the back of a rickshaw and 6 adults and three kids in a Maruti Suzuki Zen. Combine that with pothole filled roads, a crazy amount of honking and you're ready for another adventure in Incredible India.

Our Indian Adventure - Day 9

A fairwell to Bombay. From everything that people told me about it before my visit, I was sure I would not like it. Not really sure why though, it is dirty, smelly, busy and chaotic.

Most of my photos aren't of very good quality as they were taken while riding in the car through the monsoon rain.

Marine Drive and Chowpatty Beach, the high end area of town. Hence very clean.

Blue tarp everywhere. A good way to cope with the monsoon rain, it seems.

Even these guys living at the top of a fancier apartment building  decided to decorate their balcony with a blue sheet of plastic. 

 

But nowhere will you see more blue than in the slums of Bombay. This one is right next to the runway of the domestic airport.

And then there's the billion dollar "mansion" which they say the owner is not even living in as an astrologer forecasted great room for the family if the stayed there. Not sure if that story is true though...

That's Bombay in a nutshell; a stark contrast between high and low.