Why we get 25% differential

Generally our life here is pretty comfortable. From the outside, so much so that many people question why we get "hardship" pay - and especially why the pay is as high as 25%. I can't claim to know how all the calculations work, but this afternoon was one reminder as to why we do get the pay bump.

(1) We got our TB test done - finally. Our consulate doesn't have a med unit, so every three months or so, a doctor or NP visits us from Delhi bringing FDA-approved vaccines, flu shots, etc etc. To keep our medical clearance current, we're supposed to take a TB test before Manila. Easier said than done! A minimum of 48 hours is required to read the test. Though we've been asking for the test since April, it's only just now that the visiting nurse is staying in HYD long enough to read the results. (Don't ask me why MED didn't want us to go to a local doctor for a test. I offered, but they really wanted one of the Delhi personnel to do it). Now keep your fingers crossed we don't test positive...

(2) We stopped on the way home for diesel. Shouldn't be that big a deal, right? We're not exactly sure why, but today it involved lots and lots of hassle from the diesel pump people. In the end, Greg had to get out of the car (unheard of here) and almost pull the additional Rs 40 change from the attendant. This is pretty unusual, but it still was annoying.

(3) Lunch. We thought about trying a new restaurant, but couldn't figure out how to get our car into the correct shopping area. We drove around for some time, but kept on coming up against closed gates or walls. So then we moved on to restaurant #2, which was randomly closed for lunch today. Tired and frustrated, we decided to give up trying new places and went to a tried and true place (and thankfully were not disappointed!).

(4) Grocery shopping. Since lunch places #1 and #2 were a failure, and I didn't feel like driving back to my preferred grocery store (SPAR, a German brand), I decided we'd just pay the slightly inflated prices at the close by fancy grocery store (Ruci). After all, I could stop at the cafe for a coffee at the end and Greg could get some gelatto, making up for all the frustration earlier in the day :) At least, that was our idea. Except even though I had a really basic "must by" list (tea, sugar, ketchup, cooking oil, and floor cleaner) - none of the brands I wanted were in stock. And these are all normal brands - not fancy import brands which (with reason) are only in stock when a shipment comes. I left the store in frustration without buying anything.

In short - though we did succeed in getting the TB test done and eventually filling our car's gas tank and our own bellies, I arrived back home less than satisfied with the excursion. Only to see the kid at a house at the end of our block squatting to go poo poo outside his house next to the road. Geesh! Good thing HYD has so many other wonderful things to compensate ...

PS

William informed me last night that he does not want to go to Manila or to America. He said, "I'm Indian and I need to stay in Hyderabad."

Unfortunately, he has no say in the matter. But, I do feel fortunate that he adjusted so well to being here ... and hope that he can enjoy our next post as much as he did here.

Where did September go?

This is about the third time I've asked myself this question. How is it already September 26? How is it possible that Patch will be 11 months old in only three days? And why have I been neglecting my faithful readers back home with only a single blog post this entire month?

I had a great trip to Tashkent. I heard some people say there that they don't work at the end of the world, but they can see it from Tashkent. I owe a travelogue post on that trip. Then, when I came back, it hit in full force that we were going to be moving at the end of the year and I really needed to make preliminary preparations. Instead of tackling that problem, however, I basically decided to ignore the computer and the moving work ... and finished up Steig Larsson's Millennium Trilogy.

Now, with the books done, I spent the morning updating my hair color (good bye grey hairs) and am ready to face the fact that we do only have three months left in HYD, sadly. A mere 12 weekends remaining :( The challenge as I see it is how to complete all the necessary chores relating to moving while still remaining engaged and "living in the present." Oh - and not let my blog fall totally by the way-side, either!

A running list

I'm sure many parents in our line of work have a running list with the title, "You know your kid is a foreign service kid when ..." William has picked up a lot about Indian culture (including the accent and head bobble) - but to me that's more along the lines of just being in tune with the culture he's in. I can see from friend's facebook posts that other three year olds say equally amusing things and articulate similar observant facts about where ever they are.

But tonight, it was a little different than just cultural observance. For those who don't know, someone is "on call" from the consulate 24 hours a day for American citizen emergencies. Good to know your tax payer dollars are at work, right? Yes, if you get arrested - or die in your hotel room - or get stranded at the airport - hopefully you can get a call through to the "duty officer." Thus, the "on call" officer has to carry around the "duty phone" for a week. We rotate amongst the staff and, in a consulate of our size, this means being on duty about once every three months. Meaning, once ever six weeks or so, either Greg or I are the duty officer.

We've explained to William about the "Emergency Phone." It's not a toy and he has to be very quiet if a call comes.

Tonight, I was walking upstairs with the duty phone. William brought up a small toy cell phone, too, and looked at me and said, "Mama, this is my emergency phone in case anyone at school has a problem. They can call me and I will help fix it. I need to take it to bed with me."

Entry #1 on "you know you're an FS kid when ... you pretend to have a duty phone"

There's no hope

Mostly, we're pretty comfortably settled in our life here. We have a good system worked out with our household help, we really like William's school, we're all generally healthy, we've developed a great network of friends both in and out of the office, know our way around the city to our usual haunts and still have fun exploring areas we don't know as well.

But, every now and then, something happens which reminds us that (a) we are still living in a foreign country and (b) somethings about India will probably be beyond our comprehension no matter how many books we read, how many questions we ask and how hard we try to observe and make sense of things on our own.

Last week, we were driving home and came to a busy T-intersection. The intersection itself I find interesting because one corner houses an upscale movie theater and TGI Fridays (representing "new" Hyderabad), another corner has the headquarters for the TDP (a major State-level political party, representing the "established" Hyderabad), and the top of the T intersection has the entrance to Hyderabad's version of Central Park (emphasizing natural landscaping inside the party ... a rapidly disappearing "natural" Hyderabad).

As we were waiting at a red light (that in itself of note), a man - who appeared to be perfectly capable of walking - was crawling on all fours across this intersection with a mob of about 15 young men around him and behind him all chanting ("raising slogans," as the phrase is here). We couldn't understand the slogans and they had no written signboards, so we have absolutely no idea why this man was crawling on all fours in the middle of the city.

Was he protesting for or against a separate Telengana state? Was he going toward the TDP headquarters for some reason? Had he taken a vow to complete a walk of a certain length on all fours if he passed his university exams? Who knows? Greg and I just stared at the guy and turned to each other and shrugged. This kind of site is not that common, but yet happens often enough that it's not uncommon, either. And, I don't think I'll ever quite be able to understand why this guy was crawling.

What's going on?

Just a quick status update. I've been out of commission because of the broken arm, but the splint came off yesterday, so I'm back to typing!

Patch is moving in full swing. He likes to take a few steps, and then will fall down and zoom off crawling to where he needs to go. He has figured out how to use one of those party horns (the kind where you blow and the paper unrolls) and will start laughing at himself when he plays with it. His other new "trick" is being able to make cars "go." Basically, anything William shows him, he learns pretty quickly. It's either that or risk being left behind!

William mostly loves having Patch around. First thing in the morning, William comes into our room to give Patch a hug. Then we usually have a small melt down as we remind William for the millionth time that he cannot carry his "small brother" down the steps. Favorite games to "play to each other" (not sure why William always says "play to" instead of "play with") are: tackle, cars, peek-a-boo, and tump over.

Patrick will, on occasion, get a strong enough push from William that he tumps over and bonks his head, so we're really trying to stop this since we have hard marble floors! Thankfully, William is doing this less and less often ... but it still does happen :( And probably will as long as Patrick continues to want to do everything William does. Of course, with Patrick (at 9.5 months) weighing in at close to 20 lbs and William (at 3 yrs, 2 months) at 27 lbs, I'm expecting the small brother will outweigh the big brother in the foreseeable future.

I'm going to Tashkent, Uzbekistan for work in a few weeks. Hopefully an interesting blog post or two will come out of that!

Our household staff is starting to get nervous about us leaving in four months. I keep on trying to calm them down, pointing out that with all the summer transitions which happened at work (and we had a lot!), all staff members found new jobs with incoming families, but I think they don't believe me just yet. It's hard for them, since their livelihood depends on us. Working for foreigners brings bigger pay, it's true, but also more instability with postings only two or three years.

As for us, we're starting to think about Manila, but mostly trying to enjoy being in the present and being here. It's a difficult balance to strike since we have to answer emails about housing preference there and start making travel arrangements ... but at the same time, still have full time jobs here! And friends here!

Sorry, Power is Out!

Greg and I had to hand it to our neighbor today. Usually she's asking us about American parenting techniques - we're a lot stricter with expecting good behavior of even a three year old. But, today, we took a trick from her book.

Our neighbor's daughter is about 6 months younger than William. Now that she's 2.5 and William 3 years old, they are great playmates. They play most evenings from about 5 to 6:30 or so. Today, we came home and the two of them were in the process of heading over to our neighbor's house.

Willliam and the little girl (and her nanny) were back in about 5 minutes. William was saying something about wanting to watch cartoons. He was talking so fast (in his maximum Indian lilt) we were having a difficult time understanding him. Finally Sarwari asked our neighbor's nanny what was going on. She replied that "madam said the power was out in our house."

Apparently, William promptly told our neighbor that the AC was on in our house, so he came back because we had power and he could try and watch cartoons at our house (TV is not allowed at our house until 20 minutes before bed time).

Greg and I took the hint, though, and turned off the power for the TV at the wall switch. William knows about wall switches for electricity, but somehow missed this sneaky attempt. So, when Greg announced, "sorry, power is also out here!" William just took our neighbor's daughter over to the play kitchen area and they started baking a birthday cake.

For once, we could use the spotty power supply to our advantage.