Third-World Problems

I know it sounds weird to say this, but it's true: most of the time it doesn't feel like we live in a third-world country. We live in a nice housing complex which, among other things, has two pools, a cafe, a movie theater, and a library.  As well as the largest apartment we've ever had.  We have continual running water that won't turn off without reason and drinking water that is cleaned and filtered before we drink it.  We have working toilets and toilet paper.  We have showers instead of a bucket and pitcher.  We have electricity that, yes, cuts out at times, but is generally available.  We have regular and frequent trash collection; if our garbage ends up among the trash we see piled up in empty lots, we would never know.  We have enough food to eat and some to spare.  We are generally healthy and have access to prompt and reliable medical care in case we need it.  We have a driver who takes us from one nice shopping center to another.  We can get a lot of convenience items from America that we never even saw in the two years we lived in Russia (at exorbitant prices, but still).  Or we can get anything we want delivered to our door.  The kids go to competitive schools and are getting a good education.  In short, we are living as if we are in a first-world country even though we are not.  Yes, there are inconveniences, things that are frustrating, inefficient and annoying.  (I opted not to write a post about the almost year-long struggle to get our breakers fixed, the three month ordeal to get our washing machine fixed, the months of trying to get our AC consistently working, etc.) Yes, we pass by corrugated tin houses on our drive to the grocery store and have people begging at our car windows.  But generally it is all in passing; we rarely see the deprivation for a prolonged period of time.  And, as awful as this sounds, you get used to the things you see.

Pictures from a recent drive to the grocery store:

And then sometimes, it shows up in our lives no matter what we do.  Last week we had three incidents happen in one day that reminded us of how quickly things could change:

• There was a confirmed case of swine flu in Bangalore that resulted in an entire office building being closed. (Not Brandon's building, but still)
• Brandon's coworker had been having severe headaches and went to the hospital.  The doctor gave him an MRI and thought it was either worms at the base of his skull . . . or tuberculosis.  We were hoping it's worms. (After further testing, it was determined that he had tuberculosis of the brain, which, thankfully, is not contagious.)
• Apparently after dropping us off at the airport to go to Goa last week, our driver went to the doctor because he had not been feeling well.  He was diagnosed with typhoid and was put on antibiotics. But he didn't tell any of this to us until we had been home for three days.  We were all vaccinated for typhoid before we moved here, but still.  (After a few minutes research, it would be pretty unusual for us to get typhoid just by being in the car with someone who had it. But still.)

All of this explains why the following day Brandon and I took a walk to a nearby pharmacy.  We are supposed to take de-worming medicine every six months, but had just never gotten around to it.  No more!  We got some for the entire family and promptly took it, with the conviction that we would do better.  When you are living in a third-world country, you need to be a little more proactive.

Btw--Brandon took de-worming pills during his mission and there were all sorts of rumors about possible side effects.  Either the rumors were false or the pills have improved, because we didn't notice anything.

Goa!

The older kids had a day off school so we decided to take a long weekend and visit Goa--India's beach destination!  For whatever reason, we rarely have a beach vacation and even more rare to go the beach in nice weather (according to our blog, the last time was in 2017 when we visited Chelon in Brighton.  And that beach was pebbles.)  So to plan a vacation where we were going to stay somewhere for the express purpose of playing in the ocean was a little out of the ordinary.  Needless to say, the kids were thrilled.  Add to that the fact that Goa is a Russian playground?  We couldn't wait.

To be honest, it started out a little rough.  We flew in pretty late and there was no air conditioning during the drive to the hotel; that plus the mass amounts of KFC a certain child ate for dinner resulted in said child getting car sick (luckily after we arrived at the hotel).  Poor roads, sudden stops and turns, and frequent speed bumps make car sickness a regular occurrence; however, in the year we've lived in India, we have managed not to have anyone actually throw up due to motion sickness.  Until this trip to Goa.  Ah well.  It was bound to happen eventually.

The following morning we walked the short path to the beach near our hotel.  We got there early enough that there were plenty of loungers and umbrellas for us to pick from: for 200 rupees (about $2.75) we reserved one for the entire day.  We played, we had lunch at a nearby cafe, and we played some more.

The next day we went to church (another child got car sick and puked in the back seat just as we arrived. Don't worry--the driver got a very big tip.) and it was great to be in such a little branch for a day.  Afterwards we went to explore the old Portuguese churches.  Goa was ruled by the Portuguese for centuries (they didn't get their independence until several years after Britain let go of the rest of the country), so we thought visiting the churches would be a good Sunday activity.

We passed a marriage party! 

To put it lightly, this was not the highlight of the trip.  It was hot, it was crowded, and some people were sunburned from the beach the day before and got cranky.  First stop: Church of Our Lady on the Mount to get a view of the city.

Next we went to Basilica of Bom Jesus, Goa's oldest church (and the most crowded).

Across the street was a complex of more churches; we checked them out and then called it a day.

When we got back to the hotel, we opted for a walk on the beach before dinner.  It definitely cheered everyone up.

The next day we had a few hours before we needed to go to the airport so we decided to check out some nearby forts.  First was Aguada Fort; it was fine, but didn't quite meet expectations.

So instead of going to one more fort, we decided to take a boat ride.  Our driver said he knew a place and we ended up on a boat with a group of very hospitable church ladies.

Dolphins!

It was a great trip and somewhere we would definitely go again (although next time with even more beach time)!

One Year in India!

It's been a crazy and frustrating and incredible year!  We wanted to celebrate the occasion, but we postponed the party by a few days because H was on a week-long sixth grade trip around Karnataka (hello perks of international school!).  When he got back, we snapped a family pic, gave him the red cup to welcome him home, and had some non-Indian comfort food for dinner: shepherd's pie and pao de queijo.

As a family, we talked about our favorite and least favorite things about living here, places we still want to visit (both within India and outside of it), and plans for the coming year.  We don't know how long we'll be here so we are eager to take advantage of the time we have left.  Here's to another year!