India Evacuation

We woke up July 21 and took a last morning walk around WM as a family.  

Breakfast was pretty weak: leftover roasted veggies, granola bars, and protein drinks.  Basically, just trying to finish up the food we had left.  We got ready for the day, stripped the beds (Santa Fe recommended that beds be left bare), and finished last minute packing.  By lunchtime, we were about ready to go, but still had a couple hours to kill.  We ate our leftover biryani, gave away the last of our food stuffs to a neighbor, took another short walk around the towers to see if the buses to take us to the airport were there yet (they were!), and watched an episode of Star Wars Rebels (the show we are currently watching as a family).  And then it was finally 2 o'clock and time to meet the bus.  

Four suitcases and five backpacks would have to suffice

for an indefinite amount of time in America.

Since quite a few employees live in our same housing complex, Brandon's company hired buses to take us all to the airport together.  We gave our apartment key to an employee that was staying behind, waited for everyone to gather, got on our bus, and were driving away by 2:45 pm, right on time.  The kids were thrilled that we were assigned to the same shuttle as the DeHarts!  Even though we didn't let them sit next each other, it was the most they've interacted in weeks.  And aside from that little bike ride the older kids had on the street outside our complex, this was the first time our children had left WM in four months.

Trying to take a picture of the kids with their friends while staying socially distant.

On our way!

Driving to the airport was uneventful: any worries about the buses being stopped by the police due to the shutdown were unfounded.  But it was crazy to drive to the airport--past our church building, the mall, the kids' school, the general India craziness--and not know whether this was the last time we'd see these things or not.

We arrived at the airport quickly--we were there by 4 pm--and met up with an airport liaison who put us into the line to actually get inside the airport.  They took our temperatures once we got in line, and again right before going inside the airport--and those were the only times our temperatures were checked during the entire trip to America.  We had assumed that we would be checked every step along the way, but no.

We had heard some horror stories about it taking up to two hours to just get through the initial line that gets you inside the airport, but luckily everything went fairly quickly and we were through ticketing and security and were heading to our gate by 5:45 pm.  We had been warned that there may not be any food options available in the airport, but there was one place open and--hooray!--it had dosas.  And it all seemed very fitting to have masala dosas with sambar and coconut chutney for our last dinner in India.

Since we had one of the youngest children on the flight, we were all bumped up to business class (thank you CJ!), but before getting on the plane, we had to put face visors on over our masks and, turns out, we all hate the visors.  We had to wear them the entire flight to Doha, but at least it was only four hours.  Our chartered flight took off at about 8 pm.

We all slept a little before landing in Doha and then got settled in for our 11-hour layover.  Gratefully, Brandon's company booked us a hotel room inside the airport so we could sleep in a real bed for a few hours.  By this time, it was 1 am India Standard Time and all of us from the plane were standing in line together, while trying to maintain social distance, to get hotel room keys: masked, visored, and exhausted.

They had to sleep on the bed sideways so there would be enough room.

But we really only slept a little while because the kids woke up after only four hours.  So we wasted some time in the room, found a food court to have breakfast (shawarma for the boys; muffins, fruit, and a sandwich for the girls), packed up the rest of our stuff, checked out of our room, and went to our gate for the second leg of our journey.

We were in business class again (alleluia!) and, folks, the flight went great.  We kept our masks on, but the staff said we didn't need to wear our visors.  We ate, we watched nonsense movies, we ate again, I read an entire book, we slept, and we ate some more.  

The only hiccup was that what should have been a 15-hour flight was extended by a couple hours due to bad weather in DC.  We circled the airport for a while before we were finally diverted to NYC to refuel and waited until the DC weather cleared up.  Thankfully, the kids were all asleep for this part of the trip.  We eventually landed in DC at 7 pm, got our luggage and rental car (we were upgraded from a sedan!  our luggage fit!  hooray!), and arrived at our AirBnb around 9 pm.  

So how long did it take to travel from Bangalore to DC?  

Forty hours.

But we did it.  We made it.  And, for the time being, we're in America.

Covid-19 in Bangalore: Unlock 2.0

Sunday, June 28  Even though this is technically the first day of Unlock 2.0, WM is tightening up rules again, at least a little bit.  Basically nothing has changed except all non-essential deliveries are to be picked up at the gate (anything that's not groceries or pharmacy).  Although I still seem to get my Amazon packages at our door, but I'm not complaining!

I'm not sure if food delivery comes to our doors or not since we've stopped ordering food altogether.  The writing is on the wall that we'll be leaving sooner than later as cases in Bangalore keep rising.  Everything is still conjecture at this point, but needless to say, we wish we hadn't stocked up on rice and milk a week ago.

Plus, a new WM rule: masks must be worn anytime you leave your apartment, unless you are jogging or otherwise exercising.  Up to this point, we wore masks whenever we were picking up deliveries or otherwise interacting with people, but if we were just going on a walk then we didn't have to wear one.  Now, it's mandatory.  This has been an adjustment, but the kids are taking it in stride.

Monday, June 29  WM said the AC vendor (remember how our bedroom AC still wasn't working?) wouldn't be able to come do repairs until Wednesday and Brandon was not. cool. with. that.  He called WM and expressed his frustration and they called the vendor again: they will come tomorrow.

Evacuation talks are underway.  The frustrating thing is the only option we are given is to go back to our home country, but the US is in even worse shape than India!  Sure, it's got better medical care, but it also has a lot more cases!  And apparently there are people there that refuse to wear masks, so we're not excited about having to deal with all that.  Plus, Brandon is still going to have to work for India regardless of where we are living so he is trying to figure out a way that we can go somewhere closer, like the UK, to make his workday a little more reasonable.

The DeHarts took pity on me and brought me enough allergy medicine to tide me over for a few weeks.  Bless them!

Tuesday, June 30  We got our bedroom AC fixed!  Woo woo!  I feel like I should be besties with these repair guys at this point.  And one of them gave me his personal cell phone number so we don't have to use WM as a go-between the next time in case the AC goes out again.

Wednesday, July 1  We got our coffee table!!  ("huh? what coffee table?")  Our apartment in Russia was 90% furnished, so we brought very few things with us.  But our place here was only about 50% furnished, so we knew we'd have to buy a few things to fill it out (basically an entire living room's worth).  But I'm not much of a shopper and pretty indecisive, so I kept dragging my feet about making a decision.  When the kids and I returned to India after being in the US for a few weeks last summer, Brandon took us couch shopping the next day.  I'm convinced that the jet lag was a factor in how easy it was to choose a couch and arm chair in the very first store we looked.  Since then I've been slowing buying one piece of furniture at a time to fill out the room.

The DeHarts told us that there was a woman in our complex who owned a furniture store and would make things that were later sold for marked up prices by places in the US, like Anthropologie.  But if we could find a picture of a piece we wanted made, she could do it at a much cheaper price then we would find elsewhere.  I scoured the internet for months trying to figure out what I liked and eventually decided on something: a bleached wood table with a waterfall edge.  I finally bit the bullet and ordered it at the end of January.  I knew that it would take a couple months to be built and shipped to me.  But then Covid-19 happened, everything was shut down, and our table was stuck in the warehouse, waiting to be finished.  When things loosened up again (at end of May), they were able to finish the work and move it to the store.  But then the store's neighborhood became a containment zone due to someone in the area testing positive and only essential persons were allowed in or out of the area; the table was stuck again.  And then when the store was ok, things tightened up again at WM and they wouldn't give the ok to let in a delivery truck.  Finally, I wrote her to say there was a good chance we were leaving in the next couple weeks and if we didn't get the table soon I would want a refund.  She decided to stop asking WM whether she could or not and just brought the truck in anyway.  Ta da!  The table was here two days later!  The coloring of the table is not exactly like I was envisioning--it's a little more yellow than white--but I still love it.  It is the first coffee table we have ever owned.

And it immediately became the newest toy.

Someone from Santa Fe came to check out the hole in our shower...and left.

Thursday, July 2  India passed 600,000 Covid-19 cases, but Bangalore's rates are increasing at a higher rate than the rest of the country.

Friday, July 3  We've been dejunking!  We went through all of our paper and junk drawers and tried to throw away as much as possible.  I hadn't gone through the kids' school stuff with them yet and, in case we leave and don't come back, I really don't want to eventually open boxes of papers we could have otherwise thrown away.  Since it was trash day today, we placed our bags of garbage out in the hallway for pickup.  We got a knock on the door when the trash collectors came; they wanted us to write a note for WM security saying they could keep a few things: a broken table fan and 10+ half-used school notebooks.  Gladly!  I'm happy for them to take whatever they can use.

The girls' bedroom art gallery has grown a lot in the past few months.
It took several days to photograph, sort, and discard the various art projects.

We heard officially: we can go to the UK instead of the US, but we would be on our own for housing, etc.  That's a deal-breaker since we would be there indefinitely, so it looks like we're going to the US afterall.

There is talk on the WM community page about using the clubhouse as a temporary infirmary, if needed.  Apparently it's being done in other societies.

Saturday, July 4  Happy Independence Day!  We all dressed up in our red, white, and blues and looked like our own little parade every time we went on walks in the complex.  Plus, the girls took pictures of each other on my phone.

I made a big American dinner and bought pork hot dogs and brats especially for the occasion;  we also had watermelon, corn on the cob, French fries, sour cream and onion chips, root beer and cream soda, and for dessert we had peanut butter oatmeal bars with peanut butter frosting.  Whew!

We talked about why we celebrate Independence Day, that not everyone was given freedom at the founding of our country, and how amazing it is to be from a place that allows so many freedoms to so many of its citizens.

Sunday, July 5  Fast and testimony meeting, which I think is the kids' favorite church service: everyone speaks, and it's short!  We sang the Star-Spangled Banner as the opening hymn and Lift Every Voice and Sing for the close, which seemed like a good parallel for how I hope our country continues to change and grow as a nation.  It was also our first church service with a coffee table and, I gotta say, the sacrament is more meaningful when it is being broken and blessed directly in front of you.

We are trying to use up our food supplies so, in that spirit, E made brownies, Brandon made marshmallow fluff to put on top, and I made vanilla pudding to use up the egg yolks leftover from making the fluff.  Plus, we still had leftover peanut butter bars.  I'm sure we made dinner at some point, too, but there was a lot of sugar going on.

Brandon learned that our bishop had just been released from the hospital after a two-week stay.  He had tested positive for Covid-19, but didn't want anyone to know because of the stigma placed on some Covid patients in India.  We have read news stories about people who test positive and then are rejected by their family or village.

Wednesday, July 6  Covid cases in India reach 700,000.  It becomes the country with the third-most number of cases in the world, behind the US and Brazil.

Tuesday, July 7  WM sent a painter to patch up the shower.  We told him there was a still a leak and a hole in the shower, so until those were fixed we wouldn't need him.  And then there was a back-and-forth between us and WM and Santa Fe about whether the leak was actually fixed or not.  It wasn't, but apparently WM was under the impression that it was.  🙄

Wednesday, July 8  It's official: we're being evacuated.  I mean, we've known about it for weeks, but today was a zoom meeting with all the expats to discuss the details.  It. Is. Happening.

Thursday, July 9  There was a zoom meeting for the older kids' school to talk about the upcoming school year.  They are going to try and make it work by recording zoom classes and sending them to us, having a lot of school work that is not dependent on class discussion, etc.  Honestly, it sounded like they were still trying to figure it out, which is a little crazy since they've had to have known that this was going to be the case since school ended a month ago.  As of now, we're going to give the international schools a chance, but if the kids aren't succeeding, then we will look into homeschool.

Friday, July 10  Woke up sneezing and congested at 3 am because I apparently forgot to take any allergy medicine the day before. Took an allergy pill and went back to bed at 4:30 am, but it made for a long day.  Just glad Brandon was able to go back to sleep!

Brandon's company is going to charter a flight to Doha for all US-bound expats, and then arrange individual flights from there to whatever city they're going to.  Although Houston is where the offices are, they are not requiring people to go there.  And since Covid cases are rising in Texas and Houston, and Brandon will still be working India hours, we're going to stick to the east coast, at least for the first little while.  They told us to find a place to rent month-to-month, so once they have on a date settled, we can book an AirBnb.  They're talking about flying out July 21 or 22; we told them our final destination would be Dulles International in Washington, DC.

A repair person came to fix the leak!  He put some sealant on whatever it was that he'd already fixed and called it good; we put a bucket under the hole to double check, but it seems like this time it's really fixed!

Saturday, July 11  Brandon's company charted a flight for July 21; however, today Bangalore announced a lockdown starting Tuesday that will last for a week--the last day being July 21.  So that might complicate things.  And we don't want to book a place in the US until we know for sure when we'll actually arrive, so we're waiting a few days until they've got it figured out.  But today one of our top three choices was booked, so we're starting to feel the pressure.

Covid-19 cases reach 800,000 in India.

Sunday, July 12  Brandon was asked to give a talk, so we joined the ward zoom church for the first time since we gave it up in April.  It was fine, but it also reminded us why we stopped--we get very little out of it.

WM is doing a lot of Covid prep, due to the increasing number of cases.  They have been emailing out informational videos about Covid (what it is, symptoms, how it's treated, etc.) that I never watched, and have started taking other steps, as well, that include:

• hiring an ambulance to stay at WM at all times in case someone needs to go to the hospital
• making PPE kits available for all residents
• creating an open dialogue with all nearby hospitals; in case a need arises, they can communicate with the hospital directly
• organizing a WM resident volunteer group to coordinate all Covid-related issues

They are calling their daily emails and updates the "Ready Reckoner."  Since we know we are leaving, I haven't really give all this preparation much thought, but it does show the privileges of living in a community of people with money and influence.  Conversely, there is talk from residents about tightening access with the village at the back gate due to positive cases in their neighborhood.  You know, the people that can't just order PPE kits at will.

Monday, July 13  We emptied out 75% of what remained in our freezer (mostly frozen vegetables and some chicken) and gave it--and six boxes of milk--to our driver, Hementh, as well as two months pay.  We wanted to do this before the lockdown started in case he couldn't come during that time.  It sounds like buses will take all employees and dependents to the airport together, so we won't need him to drive us then, either.  So this may be the last time we see him, although he seemed pretty confident that we would be back soon.  In reality, we don't know what the company that hired him will do, but he could potentially be out of a job once we leave.  

Repairs on our shower ceiling hole started today!  They were supposed to come at 2:30 but, after some nagging, they finally got here at about 4.  Very quickly, they patched the hole, put on a coat of paint, and were gone.  It took a month, but it's fixed!

Another of our top AirBnb picks got booked today, so we decided to just go for it and book a place instead of waiting for confirmation about our flights.  Our favorite pick was still available so we tried to book it, but the owners wrote back saying they didn't want children as young as ours.  So now all three of our top choices are out of the running and we are supposed to leave next week.

Trimmed my hair again.  I do this now, apparently.

Tuesday, July 14  We have had a different set of gardeners two weeks in a row, which means that our regular gardeners were either switched, they got sick, or they no longer work for WM.  One of our gardeners was always asking if she could keep take our empty peanut butter jars, which I was happy to give her.  Could she have gotten in trouble for that?  I hope not.  I've had the same two people show up every week (except for that couple months when they weren't coming because of lockdown) for the last year and a half, so, even though we couldn't really talk to each other, it makes me a little sad that they're gone.

I emailed the kids schools to tell them that we would be doing remote learning via America, and how is that going to work again?  I'm hoping to hear back with some concrete answers.

Sent a picture of the patched hole to WM because it obviously needs another coat of paint.  They said they couldn't come today and wouldn't be able to come until after lockdown.  So . . . apparently that's never going to happen.

I went on a walk with the girls and there was a pigeon roosting in the exit.  Was it sick or dead?  Why else would it be in there?  I wanted to use the other exit instead, but CJ refused, hugging the wall as she went past, hoping it wouldn't fly at her.  It did lift its head as she neared, but otherwise left us along.  It was gone when we came back inside.

We found another AirBnb, but when we tried to book it they said their current tenants were considering staying until September; he would talk to them and get back to us.  For the love!

Lockdown started at 8 pm.  India Covid cases surpass 900,000.

Wednesday, July 15  First day of lockdown, but you wouldn't know it.  WM closed the libraries and cafe (good thing we already returned our books), and household staff--except for live-in--are not allowed, but there is still construction going on.  There is still full security, landscape, and housekeeping staff, and they're not living at the clubhouse.  So I'm not sure what exactly is being locked down during this week.

Woke up to a note from the AirBnb we wanted that said it would not be available afterall.  Fine!  I spent most of my free time looking at places and trying to figure out different days that would work at different places.  Finally, we booked a place in DC for a little over two weeks so we could quarantine there and see Chelon and then also booked a place in middle-of-nowhere VA for a month. Neither of them would have been our first choices, but at least we've got it settled.  And it's just for a little while, anyway.  We can live anywhere for a month, right?

On our walk, we found that someone has been putting signs in the bushes.  It definitely makes our walks more enjoyable trying to find the next 'crossing.'

Thursday, July 16  It's our anniversary!  The kids all wished us a happy anniversary and the girls made us cards, which was definitely a first.  I don't know if it is because they're older and more aware, or if they're just devoid of things to do (probably both), but the kids were very sweet about it all day.  To celebrate, we drank the last of our root beer and ordered food for dinner--curry and kebabs--for the first time in weeks.  The curry gave us all a gift the following day: diarrhea. 

CJ's school said they had some workbooks for her to use during the school year and would we be able to pick them up before we leave?  Because of the lockdown, I didn't think we could, but CJ's new teacher offered to get them and--surprise!--she lives in WM!  The girls and I went to her apartment to pick them up today.  It was a little thing, but it made CJ so excited!  I know school may be even more challenging this year than last year, but having her workbooks somehow made it seem a little more normal.

2000 new cases in Bangalore just today.

Friday, July 17  We got the tickets for our flights, so, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we're going July 21.

India hit a new milestone: 1 million cases.  

Saturday, July 18  Our last fruitwalla.  This was a lifeline for me, both physically and mentally.  We were able to get all the fruits and vegetables we needed twice a week without having to leave our compound.  We could see our neighbors--outside, safely--and chat while we waited in line.  It gave me a sense of time in the weeks of monotony.  It got me out of the house during the times when I was afraid.  It was an outlet.  It was a highlight of my week.  The past couple weeks I have bought very little at the fruitwalla as we have tried to use up our canned and frozen foods.  One day, I think I only bought a few potatoes, a total of 8 rupees (about 11 cents), which was embarrassing when I had to pay via Paytm because I hadn't thought to bring money with me.  For this last fruitwalla visit, I bought some potatoes and carrots for Sunday's dinner of roasted chicken and vegetables.

Mangoes and greens

Brandon wanted to get all packed up today, so we aren't scrambling last-minute.  We spent much of the afternoon figuring out how to get five people's worth of stuff in four suitcases and five backpacks.  Why so few suitcases?  Although Brandon's company will pay for the rental car, they could only guarantee a mid-size; we need to be able to fit all our stuff in whatever vehicle we end up in.

The microwave stopped working today.  We found this out after putting a package of microwave popcorn in the microwave and ... it didn't turn on.  After a quick google search we learned you can make microwave popcorn on the stove just like regular popcorn, so it was fine.  But do we bother trying to get it fixed before we leave?  Nope.  We'll just warm up our leftovers the old fashioned way.

I messaged Lakshmi today to tell her we were leaving and that we weren't going to keep paying her while we were gone, but would hopefully be able to hire her again when we come back.  I gave her two months pay and wished her well.  I really hope she is able to find work soon!

Monday, July 20  Loads and loads of laundry, giving away the last of our food to neighbors that are staying behind, getting rid of spent batteries, more laundry, cleaning, all the things you do when you are moving for an indefinite period of time (or maybe forever).  The DeHarts gave us some red dot stickers and we put one on anything that shouldn't be packed up in case we don't end up comeing back: drawers of stuff that belong to the owner, furniture and appliances, etc.  Hopefully this way there will be no question about whether something stays or not if the time comes that we are being moved out.  We assume we're coming back, but who knows what will happen at this point.

We ordered biryani for dinner, which seemed fitting for a last meal, and something we knew would not make us ill.

E somehow didn't make the picture

Tomorrow, we go to the airport and say goodbye to India.