Living the Expat Life

One of the benefits to living in an expat community like Palm Meadows is getting to meet people from all over the globe.  No matter what country or culture we come from, Sweden, Norway, Canada, France, Germany, or U.S., we seem to all have one big thing in common that brings us together, we have moved far from home and we are now foreigners.  We have bonded over the similar foreigner experiences we have, we share directions, frustrations, laughs, then a beer, and soon all borders begin to fade.  We are now just friends. 

Getting to know the other cultures has been great fun, and a great experience for the kids.  Our immediate neighbors to our left are Swiss, and across the street they are German. The Swedish family have a young boy, Hannes, who couldn't speak much English when we got here, but our boys found ways around the language barrier and shared toy cars, making crashings sounds together.  Soon Hannes was speaking confidently in English. 

The twins became fast friends with the little German girls, Lucia (3) and Sophie (6).  Soon my girls began to talk like them with a German-English accent.  They soon started telling me what German words are for day to day things.  The kids went to summer camp together, rode scooters together through the streets, and took daily trips to the pool and playground.   It's definately been a great summer for them. 

As fun as it's been, I now understand one of the downsides to expat living, your neighbors come and go.  Two weeks ago we had to say good-bye to our neighbors from Sweden.  And in two days our friends from Germany head back home.  They've been living in Bangalore for three years and for their youngest daughter, Lucia, India is home.  My girls will miss them so much but especially their oldest, Sophie.  We've already made plans to Skype with them and we'll definately stop by for a visit if we fly back through Frankfurt.  ( Christina, if you read this, I want you to know that I've enjoyed getting to know you and have enjoyed having you as a neighbor. )

Two things living like expats has taught me, first, all kids are the same no matter what country or culture you are from. Second, no matter the differences, we all love a good laugh.

1st Visit to the Indian Hospital

I was really hoping to avoid this situation, but we had our first visit to an Indian hospital. Keely is so accident prone and all three previous ER visits in the U.S. were because of her.  This time she was racing friends along the street on her scooter and flipped over the handlebars, landing hard on her shoulder and head.  I was more concerned about her head and didn't think much of the small scrape on her shoulder. But a few days later a big bruise began to show up on her shoulder and then I noticed unusual swelling along her collar bone. Keely didn't complain about much pain and had good movement of her arm but I've never had a broken bone before and I got suspicious.  I asked around for a good hospital and a few of our local Indian friends recommended TeleRad RxDx which was not far from here.

Our friend, Roopa, loaned us her car and came with us to show her support. Steve got behind the wheel and drove us that night.  I was a nervous wreck in the backseat, closing my eyes half the time.  I'm a terrible backseat driver.  I must say, he actually did a great job considering everything is reverse, the steering wheel is on the right side, the stick is on the left, the cars drive on the left side of the road, also it was dark, and pedestrians, bicycles, and the occasional dog will dart out in front of a car at any moment.  There are unmarked speed bumps all over Bangalore which is supposed to keep traffic at a reasonable speed, but they become a road hazard to unsuspecting drivers.  BUT, Steve got us there in one piece.

Poor Keely, she was so afraid to go to an Indian hospital. However, I think her twin, Addien, was even more afraid for her sister.  She was very quiet, holding my hand in the backseat and whispered that her heart was "beeping" ("beating") so hard for Keely.  Roopa reassured us we'd be well taken care of. 

My first impression put me at ease right away.  When we arrived at 9 p.m. the place seemed relatively quite and quite modern.  I found my way to reception easily and was given a form to complete asking for the patient's name and age.  That's it for paperwork, no legal disclaimers, no HIPPA forms, nothing.

The cost was unbelievable.  We paid less than $10 to see a dr.  After talking with us he ordered the x-ray, and get this, we paid an additional $2 for the x-ray.  TWO DOLLARS! I was almost giddy.  We took the x-ray film back to the dr. who then confirmed my suspicion, Keely broke her collar bone.  Next stop was two doors down with the orthopedic specialist.  That was an additional $10.  He also looked at the film and confirmed it was broken, wrote a prescription for the swelling and an arm sling.  He said it should remold itself perfectly without a problem since she's so young.  We went to the hospital pharmacy and paid maybe $.25 for the medicine and less than $2 for the sling.  So all in all, we paid the same as about one co-pay for Keely's broken arm. 

It wasn't a bad experience at all and Keely so innocently announced to everyone, "I'm not afraid of Indian Doctors anymore".   Which is a relief since I'm nearly sure it won't be our last visit.

America: Oh How I Miss Thee!

I got a little homesick this Fourth of July weekend when I knew family and friends were getting together to bar-b-que, enjoy a little apple pie, and watch a parade and fireworks show.  Since I've been in India, I've never missed America so much as I did that day.

We had our own little party to celebrate America's independence.  My American friend, Lynn, and Indian friend, Roopa, came down for the weekend from Mumbai, and we celebrated the weekend together.  Steve got us a VGA cable so we could hook up the computer to the t.v.,and he got us some decent speakers, then we got on Youtube and cranked up "Star Spangled Banner" sung only the way Whitney Houston could.  Then we searched Grooveshark for some John Mellencamp and Bruce Springsteen to help us miss home more.  Sweet Roopa was a trooper and tolerated our patriotic revelry.  India's day of Independence is celebrated in August so she can pay us back then.

After singing at the top of our lungs and sharing our tunes with the neighborhood, we headed to a 4th of July party near UB City.  It was a nice condo (worth about 2.5 million USD) in a hip part of town.  We met a lot of Americans from all over the country and had good ol'fashioned American food, potato salad, cole slaw, hamburgers, and hotdogs.  I brought instant pancakes and American style syrup which was a hit.

This party had an agenda, a Democratic one.  Apparently, the party was hosted by the "Bangalore Democrats", at the condo of the country head for the "Indian Democrats".  After polling us to make sure we were registered and knew how to vote overseas, he put in a plug for the "Obama 2012" posters, 100 rupees each (around $2).  However, no pressure to buy because no one really cares what party you're affiliated with, in India we're all just Americans who are proud of our land of the free and home of the brave.