Last day of 2010!

We went to the Aquarium on Wednesday and it was really fun. A bit crowded, but not too bad. We saw them throw some food into the big tank for the sharks, piranhas, etc..so that was fun for the kiddos.

Yesterday Evan had a 1 hour violin lesson (usually they are 1/2 hour) and had a blast. He said he could have stayed another 1/2 hour. The teacher is amazing! We also went to have lunch with Eric and get some groceries at the commissary. The kids begged Eric to stay a few hours to see how he works. We thought they would get bored and cautioned against it, but they were determined. (we hadn't packed books, crayons, DS's, etc..!) Anyway - turned out fun for all as I got a few errands and a run in! whoopee!

We are just cleaning up our apartment today so we can head into the new year with an organized place. We just hung some more little shelves in the kitchen to try and deal with our storage issues :)

We hear downtown has a ton of stages etc... set up with dancing and stuff for kids during the afternoon today so after Eric works 1/2 day we are going to head to the inner city and check that out. It is REALLY cold today, so we will see how long we last. I am putting a pot of chili on and we invited some friends back but not sure if they can join us. Fireworks are HUGE here for New Years...apparently HUGE shows go on downtown. (alhtough it is also a free for all so not a safe place to be with kids we hear) I think we are high enough up that we may be able to see things from here....or we may venture to a colleuge's apt with a rooftop view downtown. We'll see. We also bought some at the store to set off ourselves - these HUGE bottle rocket things that would be very illegal downtown. **Horners if you read this - Evan wishes Garrett was here!!!*** Kind of like our 4th of July in December!

Thanks Cabes for Skyping with us last night - it made our day!!

Well, I could get all thoughtful on you considering this is my final post of this year, but that would be uncharacteristic for this blog I think. Hee hee

I will say I am looking forward to the New Year and praying for health and happiness for all we know. I have never made a real New Years Resolution... do you do this??? Maybe I should try it this year. Hmmmmmmmm

Guten Rutsch!!! (which translates to Good Slide.... the Austrians don't say Happy New Year before the New Year as they think that seems silly (kinda is I guess) so they say "I wish you a good slide into the New Year" prior to the first.

So.... Guten Rutsch zu Alles!

Mit Liebe,

The Smith Fam

Dienstag

So.. if you looked at the pictures below - please look at Julia's missing front tooth - SO CUTE. Also note, she does NOT have her ears pierced - these are stickers. Hee hee! I figured a few of you would be wondering....

We had a nice day today and went to one of the Children's Museums. They have an exhibit for 'older' kids where they learn how to make an animated film and then make a part of a film that will debut here in Vienna in April. The kids had a blast and it was really neat!

We had a quick bite to eat before the museum and Julia was asking how someone breaks up with someone when they don't like them anymore. (What?!) Anyway, I said "you might say -- it has been nice to know you but I don't think we should be boyfriend and girlfried anymore" Then Evan says "or you can say I'm dumping you babe and then turn on the boom box to Alejandro" If you don't know this song the beginning goes like this (Lady Gaga) "I know that we are young and I know that you may love me, but I just can't be with you like this anymore" I about fell off my chair laughing. Evan has an amazing sense of humor and when he isn't causing me to cry with his smarty pants mouth - I am laughing my head off.

We are headed to check out the Vienna Aquarium tomorrow. I guess it is housed in one of the old WWII armory buildings (or something like that) and there is a shark and piranah feeding that we will see. There are many things to explore in this city, so that is nice for the kids and I these few weeks off of school.

Have I told you, forgive me for spelling mistakes - when I hit spell check it thinks I should be speaking German so all my words are "wrong" and I am too lazy to do too much checking myself :)

A few random pictures

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I can't believe we are closing in on 5 months here... wow. We had a nice Christmas Eve and Christmas - not without some homesickness, but it was nice. Christmas Eve we joined 3 other families at a great Italian Restaurant for a yummy and festive early dinner/late lunch. We walked around downtown a bit as the lights are as magical as they were when first lit 5 weeks ago!! We made some cookies for Santa and hung out the rest of the evening.

Julia lost one of her front teeth so she was coming off a night from Tooth Fairy and headed into night with Santa - fun times!

We had a nice morning opening gifts and eating breakfast. One of the families that we were at lunch/dinner with and we will also be with during our ski vacation in Feb invited us over to their home for Christmas dinner. This caused a bit of an argument with Eric and I (unfortunately) because I felt funny having been invited 'late' and not wanting to intrude. But the 'men' thought it was just fine, so off we went about 2:30 on Christmas day. These folks are some of the nicest we have met here (or anywhere) and welcomed us and another family into their flat for an incredible dinner. She is Scottish and a fine cook and he is Italian. They are SO fun and we had a wonderful time. It was fun to eat some of the dishes that they would have growing up in Scotland and Northern Italy. Another great thing about Europe is the way people eat slowing, many courses etc... So different and fun. We had beautiful starters and then a soup followed by a main course. Funny thing is, it isn't that it gets more 'fancy' neccessarily. We plan to adopt this tradition when we come back, so get ready for some longer meals at the Smith house :) hee hee

Oh, I guess that means I will have to learn how to cook. :)

Today we headed iceskating to try out Julia's new ice skates and then to see Narnia. There are 2 english speaking movie theatres here and we alll really enjoyed seeing a movie.

Eric is off one more day and then he heads back on Tuesday - it has been very fun to have him home all week.

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!

Time flies....

I was going to be so good at blogging this busy few weeks and I am falling behind again :) Sorry Mom :)!

Evan's birthday was nice - he picked cheese fondue for dinner and chocolate fondue for dessert. We had a nice evening at home eating fondue.

His favorite b-day gift was a snow day (did I tell you about this already?!) ... they haven't had one at AIS in 4 years and he had one on Wednesday! We went sledding and to the VIC to have lunch with Dad.

The kids were out of school this past Friday and they are happy to be on a well deserved 3 week holiday break! Eric ended up being able to string together a few days off so he has been off all week too! Very fun....

We had a nice weekend and then took off Monday morning for an overnight ski vacation West of us. It was about 2.5 hour drive and we had a 2 GREAT days of skiing with perfect weather. I think I am a fair weather skier! The kids can out ski me hands down and it is sure fun to watch. I take lots of pretend potty breaks (hee hee!) We stayed in a little Gasthof...like a small bed and breakfast type place. On the way up Julia informed me that I probably wouldn't be ready for my poles the first day. (she is so funny!) On the way back when asked what her favorite run was she said "The one that Mommy started crying on" Okay, I have WAY whimped out in my older age -- I go SOOOO slowly and the steep runs are NOT for me. I am more than proud to say my kids were doing black diamonds with Eric while I stayed on the lesser hills! So my ideal skiing: lots of hot chocolate, good weather, not so steep hills, slow speeds. I'm pathetic.

Today we drove about 30 minutes to a town called Baden to check out their Roman Baths... apparently oldest and biggest Thermal pools in Europe. Sounds better than it was. :) It was actually fun, but we will probably not return as there are other ones that have more kids features (and less old people giving me dirty looks cuz my children were splashing). Great day though!

The kids are really excited about the Christmas season, but get sad when thinking of not being with family and friends. We have made some nice friends here that we will see on Christmas Eve (tomorrow) as we all gather at a really great Italian restaurant for a Christmas Eve meal together. This group has done this before and included us this year, which we are thankful for.

We hope you have much joy, anticipation and blessings in your home these next few days!

I'll ring in again, but MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!





I have to tell you that I am sorely missing receiving Christmas cards this year. I didn't realize how much I loved them! I understand you don't want to send them to Austria (I think it is over $1 to mail!), but I have a request if you have an extra... mail them to our old address and they are still forwarding our mail :) 4008 Cascade Drive, West Richland, WA 99353. We are working on our email Christmas card as it would be impossible to mail so many cards out - I would actually have to get a paying job!

Anyway

Second party down... one birthday to go

Hello! Snowing here again -so pretty! Julia's party went really well on Sunday. We had 10 girls (including Julia) and I think they all had a wonderful time. Julia seems fairly quiet and reserved, but I think that seems normal as she is still 'making friends' and learning to feel comfortable. She definitly isn't her normal silly self like around her friends from home - but that will come I am sure. We decorated gingerbread houses, played games, ate cake and did crafts. I kept them super busy and Eric is a huge birthday party gamer! Luckily we had an extra set of hands too! Our friend Anthony brought his daughter Olivia and he stayed. I think the poor sap thought he would just have a glass of wine with Eric and "hang out" - nope - we had him working like a party planner! hee hee

The wine was good though - I recommend this approach to other Mothers. A nice glass of red wine while throwing a party, very nice.

So glad that the kids had a nice weekend with friends. They still yearn for their friends back home (both cried at least once over the last few days missing their buddies) -- but I keep hoping they start to connect here too. Slowly but surely.

Busy week as we get ready for a 3 week break. I am falling a bit behind in German and hope to use the break to catch up a bit before my final weeks of class in january. I have to pass the test to go on to German 2 - yikes!

Evan's birthday is tomorrow and he would like to bring in brownies - so those are all made and ready to go. They are having lots of hot chocolate this week as there is a stove in his room where they can make it... that is fun!

Eric ended up taking next week off, so that is great. We will go skiing a couple of days and get ready for the nice Christmas weekend. We need to make some specific Christmas Eve and Christmas Day plans so we can keep busy and make some new memories, instead of being sad to not have family and friends around. I need to figure that out in the next few days. Each year I do this: get through the birthdays and then on Dec 16th I begin thinking about Christmas. Not such a good thing!

One down, one to go....

One party down, one to go! Just finished Evan's birthday festivity. We took him and 3 friends to a SK Rapid soccer game. I think they all had a great time! We started off here with a few minutes of WII (they LOVE Mario Bros) and then chili dinner and cake before heading off on the schnellbahn (fast train) to the stadium.

It was pretty cold, but we were all bundled up big time. Game ended in a 3-3 tie - so lots of scoring which is always fun. Their fan sections are crazy here in Europe - and it was fun to see (glad we weren't sitting in those sections). They have these flares/fireworks that they do in the stands... another thing that just would NOT fly in the States! :) After the game there was quite the excitement as some Rapid fans went over to the other teams fan section and just started a brawl which immediatly brought out the riot gear cops with dogs etc... Crazy to see. I think that is pretty much the norm. Serious futbal fans over here for sure!

Julia and I prepared the graham cracker gingerbread houses earlier today and she has 10 friends from school coming over at 3:00 tomorrow for house decorating, games and crafts. I asked Eric to bring home a bottle of wine for us for the party - hee hee!

The kids had their holiday concert yesterday and it was so fantastic! So cute and so fun!! The ES music teacher at our school is just phenominal.

Another side note, I met a new friend that just moved here from PA and we are becoming running buddies - which is great for us both physically and mentally!!! Yeah - I love workout friends!!!

Wish us luck for tomorrows party!! :)

Julia's Birthday Festivities

Hi All!

I think I left off last Saturday. Evan had a great time at his sleepover party on Saturday night... I think they finally went to sleep at 2am. He was tired, but had a blast -so great for him. We went sledding for a little while after picking him up and then headed home to decorate our tree. Eric then scooted off with Eric downtown to meet up with his collegue from PNNL, in town on business. I took Julia to a birthday party at a "Chuck E Cheese on Steroids" place. All I can say is: YUCK and TOO CROWDED!!!!! She had fun though - so that is all that counts! :)

Monday, December 6th is a big day here in Austria as they celebrate St. Nicholi day. The tradition is that the kids put their shoes out on the night of the 5th and depending on if you are good or bad, you get chocolates in your shoe or a whip and rotten potatoes. Well, Evan had a whole sack of rotten potatoes and 2 whips in his shoes. Just kidding!! They both received a nice chocolate St. Nicholi (sp?) in their shoes and a candy bar.

The other part of this tradition is "Krampus" This is like our version of 'coal' if you are naughty. Krampus is a 'devil looking' thing. They have Krampus chocolates and apparently Krampus 'sightings' around town to show the kids to be 'brave' (well behaved) not 'schlecht' (bad). Julia thought this tradition was really cool and put out all of our shoes really nicely by the front door. Then... when it was bedtime here little brain starting going 100 mph and she was very upset that Krampus may come INTO our apartment. I calmed her down and after getting her to sleep, went looking for the shoes. Well, she couldn't be too careful, so all the shoes were lined up on the step OUTSIDE of our front door. She is so cute!

Monday also brought a new sport for Evan. He went to try an Austrian Basketball league out and really loved it. We were so happy to see him so happy and playing basketball again. We went again tonight and I think he will join the team. It is interesting because like soccer, he has to play U11 since he turns 10 in 2000 (even though it is the very END of 2000)... well, this league doesn't have a U11 so he has to play with U12 (U11 and U12 kids) Needless to say, some of the kids are HUGE, but he holds his own and moves well on the court. I think Eric is SOOOO happy watching him play!

Tuesday we met downtown to do Julia's carriage ride for her Birthday. Her big day was Wednesday but we had no school that day, so we decided Tuesday night was a good night for it. We had so much fun!! The funny family picture is the horse eating Julia's flowers while we were trying to take a picture - we all laughed so hard. Daddy brought Julia flowers, she wore the pink veil thing that she had dreamt about for months. The night even started with her choice of dinner which was... McDonalds!! (so American :)!) A beautiful 40 minute carriage ride around downtown -- couldn't have done it at a better time with all of the breathtaking holiday lights up.

Wednesday was no school so it was Julia's Choice Day. She chose veg out at home in am and watch a movie (I was all over that choice) then meet Dad at the UN for lunch. We then went to famous Demel's (bakery, cafe...) for hot chocolate. She opened a few presents and just like that -- Julia is another year old! She will have her little friend party here on Sunday. I think we have 10-12 coming - yikes. (Have I mentioned how small our apartment is?! :))

Today was a fun day as Mom got to go on a field trip. There was a trip planned which some friends and I went on to a castle about an hour from here. It is a beautiful place and happens to have a really nice Christmas Market at it. It was a great day hanging out with friends and enjoying beautiful surroundings.

To come: Saturday night is Evan's B-day celebration ...we are taking him and 3 friends to the Rapid soccer game.

Busy but fun times!!

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

We had a great day today! We started out the day with a 'make up' violin lesson for Evan. I sat in on it and continue to be amazed by his teacher. She honestly must have been made to teach kids violin... she is so great at it. She is also a professional violinist and very accomplished (she used to travel the world to perform). I think she convinced him to enter himself in the school's talent show in a few weeks - we'll see what happens with that.

We then drove about 45 min from here to a beautiful area and found a Christmas tree farm we had heard about. I thought (based on loose translataion of their German website) that their tree selling etc... began today. Cut down your tree, get some hot cocoa and schnapps after etc... but it begins next week. No problem though because after Evan rescueing us to speak German with the workers - we got a saw and headed out to cut our tree down. Who needs hot drinks after?! We found an incredible tree and had so much fun.

Let me back track... Eric said he found a 2nd hand store on Friday from a Austrian collegue of his to look for a used Tux. Back track again... there is a "Ball" Season here... like real balls - formal huge dance things. Anyway... it is cheaper to buy a tux then rent a few times so off Eric went to the 2nd hand shop. Believe it or not, he found one -- he says it isn't light blue, but I haven't actually seen it yet. He also scored on a tree stand - don't ask why we didn't bring ours??!!

So... tree stand is too small as Eric thought we would be okay with a small tree. Well, we weren't. So 11 feet later (we have 12 foot ceilings in this room), we have the tree in the too small stand and then roped to the wall. Hee hee

We THEN went downtown to the Museum Quartier area for Curling with our friends The Stott family (from California - moved here in August too) We had so much fun! Our only disappointments were: they didn't have the brushing part! So, actually it is ice sliding! 2nd: we lost to the Stotts :)

Headed home to drop Evan off at a sleepover (SO fun for him, which makes Eric and I very happy too!) and we watched a movie with Julia.

Sweeping the apartment for 4 months was for the BIRDS (did I tell you that already) -- so bought a vaccuum, wanted to include a picture - that is how excited I am! :)

Eric's Trip and Jenn's Update

Hallo!! It is snowing like crazy here (schnee is snow in Deutsch...there is your word of the day!) and we are loving it. We have been sledding a bunch and it is absolutely gorgeous in this city. Their snow removal is quite good ... plows for sidewalks too! They have to do all the bus stops really well too, so that is nice. We probably have a foot and 1/2 on the ground since a week ago and it is still snowing today. The kids are required to keep snow gear at school so I just bought 2 extra pair to make it easier. They are having so much fun at recess!

BIG news here... I bought a vaccuum! :) I never knew how fun vaccuuming could be - I just did it for an hour and I am not done! I have been trying to just keep up with a broom and dustpan, but sweeping is for the BIRDS! They are so expensive so I thought I would happen upon one but haven't.

I also tried an "Austrian" thing last night... they have indoor pools/saunas all over the city and a co-worker of Eric/friend of mine goes about once a week in the winter to the sauna not too far from our house. So, I went with Karen so she could show me the ropes. She chooses to go on TH nights or Sun am's as they aren't 'co-ed'... yes, I think I like those times too! I just can't see showering naked and sitting in the sauna naked (only birthday suits are allowed) next to some strange man. Just can't get 'that' far outside my box. Well, first I was himnming and hawing about going and Eric said "you should go and try it - step out of your comfort zone" My response "I have BEEN out of my comfort zone for 4 months now!!!" hee hee

Anyway, it was very relaxing and fun and I will for sure do it again. Even better was the 20 minute walk to and fro my myself in the snow... so peaceful.

The kids are good...we are gearing up for birthday week (Julia's is 8th and Evan's 15th) and a lot of fun activities planned for the next few weeks. We will tell you more about them as they unfold. One now - this Saturday we rented a 'curling' rink for 1/2 hour! We are going with the Stotts and we are all so excited to try curling!!! They put these rinks up in the Museum Quartier here in the winter. There is also tons of iceskating in the city. Who is thining of booking tickets to come visit us next Christmas?! :)

Eric arrived back safely and had a great trip -- work and personally. Thankfully he took some notes so the kids and I could learn more about what he did there. We thought maybe you would want to read it too. It is long so don't feel like you have to - but you are used to long blogs, right? :)

We are hoping December is bringing you peace, happiness and hope!

And here is Eric....

*****************
November 15, 2010 (Monday)
The flight to Mumbai was pleasant, particularly since | didn't end up getting pushed back to coach. We landed in Mumbai around 2300, nearly on time, but waited about an hour for a gate to open up--the first of many traffic jams in India. The airport was clean and quite nice, but the world changed dramatically when we stepped out to find the driver from the hotel. We were greeted by throngs of people, chaotic streams of traffic, weird city smells, endless horn honking and a din of voices. Holy people density! Renga (my colleague Mr. Rengarajan) found our driver very quickly--holding up a sign with our names on it, just like in the movies. On the way to the car, we were approached by several people wanting to help us with our bags, just the appetizer for huge doses of aggressive Indian salesmanship to come.
As we pulled away from the terminal, the real Mumbai (and India) started to unfold. On the fun side, there are zillions of auto rickshaws buzzing about and even more scooters. They always seem to have at least twice the recommended number of people in/on them. There are no lane markers--everyone just "dances" into a free space at high speed, using honks and headlight blinkers (no blinkers) as the warnings to others. It was absolute chaos--like a video game filled with oncoming cars, scooters and then cows, dogs and people popping into the street every now and again. At one point, drivers were swerving (at about 80 km/h) to avoid a cow that was sauntering up the street, in the opposite direction. I thought the talk about sacred cows in India was exaggerated. It is not. They move wherever they want, whenever they want and everyone watches out for them, and feeds/waters them. Dogs and goats are also running everywhere, and seem to know exactly where they can stand (e.g. in the median between lanes of traffic) to be safe. All of this chaos is all the more unusual to me since driving is done of the left side of the road and from the right side of the car. Wow. I felt like I was on a Disneyland ride--overstimulation and no seat belt in the car! Renga says "In India, you can drive without a brake, but you can't drive without a horn." The other thing that slams you in the face immediately is the absolute poverty all around. Nearly all buildings are shanty-like or at least far below Western standards. People are sitting, sleeping and squatting everywhere (even at 1 AM)--there is garbage everywhere, the electrical lines look like a bad children's experiment and many of the cars/trucks are rolling wrecks.
We pulled up to the gated hotel (Sun and Sand), an island of Western wealth on the beach of the Arabian Sea. Multiple bellhops jumped out to meet us--it seems there are always 2-3 eager, friendly people to do a job for one person. In a country of 1.2 billion and very few good jobs, I guess it makes sense. We checked in and went to the patio for a drink and a snack. We looked out over the beach--dogs were lying in the sand sleeping and a huge rat ran right in front of us. The mosquitoes didn't appear to be out (after a hard monsoon rain earlier) but I was hoping my malaria treatments were up to full potency as we sat on the patio drinking Renga's favorite beer (Kingfisher, from his home area in the south of India). We had a bread snack filled with a spicy potato, cauliflower mixture. Renga allowed me to eat it, as it is fully cooked. He cautioned that for at least a day or two, I should eat only fully cooked things or fruit that I peeled myself. If my stomach survives the early rounds with the new bacteria in this place, then I can move on to the more interesting Indian cuisine (e.g. the dairy products), though slowly. Over beers, I quiz Renga about the history and politics of India, the caste system and his own experiences and family in India. It is absolutely fascinating. He "married up" by finding a wife from the highest caste (Brahmans) though his family was from a mid-range caste. This decision has caused angst for several decades, from both sides of the family. Plus, it wasn't an arranged marriage, as most in India still are. We talked of Obama's recent visit to India, and whether/how India will soon become the major world player it longs to be. We head for bed about 4am, a 9am departure ahead of us.

November 16, 2010 (Tuesday)
Today we have a quick breakfast at the hotel with an IAEA inspector named Eno (from Cameroon, he'll be meeting us at the RAPS facility tomorrow) and a couple of Renga's family friends (father and daughter) that now live in Mumbai. Running a bit late, the driver drives extra fast to make it to the airport for our short flight to Udaipur, to the northwest of Mumbai. The terrain dries out nicely up there--looks much like the American Southwest from the air. We land at a nice airport in a relatively rural area. The red carpet is literally laid out before us as we leave the airport, but it is not for us. There is a wedding party of a very wealthy family arriving soon--a band, dancing ladies and many friends and family are standing around the red carpet waiting for them. Meanwhile, poor people are sleeping on the sidewalk there. The distance between the top and bottom strata of this economy is staggering.
Our driver is a young man but he is instructed by an older man (Mr. Mettel) that retired from the RAPS nuclear facility and now makes travel arrangements for IAEA staff. Not needing to report for work yet, we head into the city of Udaipur for the afternoon. It takes an hour of winding through torturously narrow, winding and steep road, "dancing" with scooters, rickshaws, cows and pedestrians before we find the City Palace. We actually see a few white tourists in this area, but in general this is not a heavy tourist area. The Palace goes back a few hundred years, but looks older. It has fascinating features including parking places for elephants (slanted stone "cradles" that allow them to lay down and get up) and a wall over which elephant fights (think tug of war with entangled trunks) were staged near the main entrance. The palace is not particularly well preserved, but the decadence of the ruling Indian kings for the last several hundred years is clear: marble baths, silk, "miniature paintings" (super-fine detail, often done on camel bone) are everywhere. It is a very different look and feel (not a big or impressive in the first place, and much less well cared for) than the European cathedrals we've been seeing the last few months, but very interesting just the same. On the way out, we do some shopping in the streets, but I'm not telling you what we shopped for--you'll have to wait until I get home! I did find a very nice silk tie, complete with elephants, for a measly 10 Euro (600 Indian Rupee).
We then visit the nearby Hindu temple. The stone carvings that completely cover the exterior depict dancing women, Karma Sutra "topics", elephants and horses. Renga goes to pray in front of Vishnu while I hang back, get busted for snapping a picture with my phone, and sniff burning incense. From the temple, we can see the Lake Palace (beautiful white palace that appears to float on the water) and the new "palace" that is the modern hotel that Bill Clinton apparently stayed at a few years ago (our tour guide for 2 hours was quite proud of that fact). Our tour ended and we made our guide hugely happy with the pay--just 5 Euros for 2 hours work. About 6pm, we started the drive out of the city to the nuclear facility--supposedly about a four-hour trip (but actually ends up being closer to 7 hours) with much of it at very slow speeds navigating the city congestion, then careening along a tiny rural road with animal obstacles. We stop for fresh fruit at roadside stand (papayas, bananas and pomegranates), getting several kilos of it for a couple of Euros. We are now about halfway through the drive--Renga is sleeping, our Indian driver and guides are silent, and I'm typing away on my laptop in the backseat in the dark. About every fifth keystroke, I make a mistake, mostly because the roads are filled with potholes bumps.
This paragraph should probably be viewed as incoherent rambling, but I am jetlagged and philosophizing with myself in the dark, so maybe you can cut me some slack...India seems to be a land of such ironies: it has nuclear weapons but has asked for IAEA safeguards (which is why we are here) on its civilian side to buy international goodwill and ensure a steady supply of nuclear fuel from the West (it has had to run some of its reactors at low power or shut them down in recent years, due to a fuel shortage, which exacerbates the energy shortage). It has some of the wealthiest and brightest people on the planet (and a huge number of those people), but also has fully one-third of all of the people on this planet that live below the poverty level. It has animals wandering around the streets, protected by the Hindu beliefs in nonviolence and sacred creatures, but yet we saw a city block swarming with Muslims that were buying and selling goats to sacrifice on the holy holiday that is tomorrow. Perhaps most striking to me: despite all of this chaos, squalor and poverty, most people are either smiling or have a neutral expression. Smiles seem to come quickly and the people are very helpful when stopping to ask for directions (which the driver does frequently since there are no road markings). While waiting for our driver in Udaipur, I went over to a playground where about 10 kids were playing. There were only a few run-down toys, there were dog and cow feces everywhere, yet the kids were all smiles and laughs. When they saw me, they came running over, immediately switched from Hindi to English to ask my name, where I was from, etc. I was a rock star for 30 seconds before heading for the car--high fives with Hindus and Muslims when I walked away, being careful not to run into a huge bull laying in the middle of the street.
Back to the chronology…The drive from Udaipur to the RAPS nuclear facility (6 pressurized heavy water reactors, 2 more units under construction) ended up taking nearly 7 hours, including the break. For nearly 3 hours, we were on 4-lane highway, then we turned off onto a one-lane, beat-up old road for the remainder (all in the dark). In some stretches, there was no pavement--just rutted gravel. We passed through numerous little villages--all with some level of electricity, lots of cows and dogs, a few run-down homes and that is about it. People were often sitting on the side of the road around cooking fires having tea and dinner. We stopped at one of these stands so that our driver could "drink a tea." While there, we bought a few warm bread balls, right off of the fire (stoked with wood). It being bread and fully cooked, I tried them (just eating the insides). It was quite tasty (I was starving, though) and appeared to be a simple mixture of wheat flour, water and salt. The seller was clearly proud of his little stand (where several locals were eating big meals, using only their hands as utensils, but only the right hand as the left hand is considered unclean since it is used for toilet activities) and tried to sell us lentil soup and other good-smelling stuff. We passed, ready to get on the way. At one point, the road is blocked by 5 cows sleeping in the middle of it. They do not move for the horn, so the driver gets out and in a very friendly sort of way, taps a cow to move. It does not, so the driver gently grabs the tail, twists it a bit and the cow moves away. We proceed.
Finally, after several hours of bone-jarring travel on the one-lane road, we arrived at the Rajasthan nuclear facility area. It is a closed community built specifically for the 4,000+ employees of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India that work here at RAPS. The site was chosen, though it is several hundred kilometers from the metro areas that draw its power (Mumbai and New Delhi) because of its remoteness and access to water (a huge reservoir is adjacent to the site). The nuclear community is clean and wealthy by Indian standards--there is even a swimming pool (not open this time of year) and a tennis court (kind of) for the town. We are welcomed at the guest house by more than 5 young staff that have been waiting for several hours to get us settled and cook us dinner. It is now 11pm, but they don't show an iota of frustration at our late arrival--all smiles and eager help. Renga, Mettel and I have a fine Indian meal (lentil soup, spicy chicken, rice, tortilla-like bread called chipote, spicy okra, etc.) and talk about the history of RAPS, the recent Obama visit, and India's nuclear power plans. We head to our rooms about midnight. The rooms are like military barracks--functional but little more. The bed is hard and built for a short Indian person, but it is first-rate after a long travel day. A cockroach scuttles away when I turn on the light in the bathroom. The toilet and shower are right next to each other--no dividing walls and no shower basin. The water just flows slowly to a floor drain over by the sink. The electrical outlet for the water heater (which I can't figure out how to turn on for a couple of days) is splashed with water during a shower.
November 17, 2010 (Wednesday)
This is a "rest day" (only one of the 2-week trip) and an Indian (Mulsim) holiday. I go for a jog in the morning, seeing the nuclear community for the first time in the light. It is not every day that your morning jog takes you past 15+ monkeys, but this day it does. I don't know what kind they are but they are not bothered by me. The go about their grooming and eating--on the ground and high in the trees. Crazy. Around the corner are 8-10 cows sleeping in the middle of the road. I jog down the road, high above the reservoir, within view of the 4 cooling towers and the steam plumes (very cool). The shower is cold and water is sparse, but it works fine as a counterbalance to the heat (80+ F already today) and humidity here.
At breakfast, Renga and I talk some shop about the RAPS facility and radiation detection technologies. He also tells me more about his previous work in astronomy and the instrumentation he built for RF and microwave detection in that field. Renga and I work the rest of the day in preparation for meetings the next two days. We have many questions about the Core Discharge Monitor signals coming from these Indian reactors and we need to make a clear list of these questions to discuss with the plant operators and physicists--all three sets of them at RAPS 1/2, RAPS 3/4 and RAPs 5/6. After a late lunch, we continue working until about 2000 then go for a walk while waiting for the inspector that will be joining us, Eno Agborow. He is on the same torturous car ride that we did yesterday. Renga and I continue the conversation about life, religion and careers. His perspective--from a Hindu man who grew up in a mud shack but now lives in the Utopia of Vienna, is fascinating to me. Finally, Eno arrives and we have a huge (and slow) meal until midnight.

November 18, 2010 (Thursday)
Another jog this morning, but this time I turn toward the little town outside the nuclear colony. The world changes to misfortune and squalor in about 100 meters. The images are heart-wrenching but when I come up on a young boy defecating (by squatting) just outside the door to his stick hut (with sleeping mats on the dirt floor), I can't take it anymore. I turn around to run where I don't have to think about this kind of misfortune. This depressed feeling continues through breakfast and on the road out to the nuclear plants.
The nearest town, Rawbatta,has over 80,000 people but is tiny in terms of area. There are several other-worldly oases in the town--the gated communities built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCI). These little colonies would be relatively modest communities in the USA, but they are heaven in India. My mood improves immediately as we get to the first gates of the nuclear installation, for at least two reasons. First, the chance to visit an operating nuclear power plant is always interesting to me, but to have this kind of access to a plant in a foreign country is a nuclear engineer's dream. Second, the plant gives me hope for the people here. Without electricity, they won't have the basic prerequisites for decent living conditions or the possibility of industry that will provide jobs. With jobs for the parents, the kids will have the opportunity to attend school (which is not the case in many places now), etc. Maybe this burst of optimism tied to a nuclear plant is actually self-serving escapism...
Entry into the plant takes about 1.5 hours--the military forces at the gate must clear everything and make our passes, then inspect our tools and bags, then we proceed through the security forces for the nuclear plant itself. At the outer gate, lots of people (mostly men) are milling around. When I ask why, I'm told that they are looking for work and that construction going on within the site will come out periodically (mostly in the morning, though) and hire more hands for the day. And I thought a 2-year IAEA contract was short-term...Big teams of ladies are also hired to mow the lawn--with little knives cutting each blade of grass individually. All of the grounds work is done this way--many hands make light work and there are MANY hands looking for work here.
Our meetings begin with the plant operators at RAPS 3/4, starting with about 30 minutes with the plant director, then several hours with the technical staff, most of it in the control room of the reactor where we observed spent fuel transfers and took notes on the process and timing of the events for our analysis. It seems highly unlikely, outside of working for the IAEA, that an American scientist would be allowed to be in the control room of an Indian heavy water reactor, and have access to the data and information we were given. The staff, particularly at the working level, was hugely accommodating and forthcoming. The plant, while not shiny and new, was clean and well-run.
Over lunch and tea breaks ("Chaiwalla" or "tea boy" is the favorite request from Eno), we learn more about the educational backgrounds and training of the RAPS staff--quite impressive--and get a list of Indian movies (a huge enterprise leisure time activity of the people) that we must see (mostly Hindi with English subtitles: Lagaan, Vizeera and Three Idiots). Renga and I are very happy with the outcomes of the day--we resolved many of the data mysteries we had and we did a data retrieval and maintenance check on the CDM instrument that has been operating there for the last few months. Eno, the inspector, had a couple of cat naps and caught up on reading the English papers. The inspector role here (escorting of Renga and me, the technical staff) is essential as the official IAEA power broker here, but for this particular mission, must be quite boring.
We leave the facility about 1900 after a long day, back to the guest house for a long dinner followed by a couple more hours of data review and preparation for tomorrow. To bed around midnight, exhausted. I find a few ants in my bed, and push them to the floor, just as our hosts have done with the many ants that crawl over the table during our meals. Jenn--I wonder if you'd want to eat anything here, given that crawling appetite suppressants are everywhere. It even makes me squirm...

November 19, 2010 (Friday)
Another jog this morning, this time avoiding the depressing town outside the colony gate altogether and thereby staying in my la-la land. The work day is very similar to yesterday but this time with the operators and physicists of another (newer) unit, RAPS 5/6. Again, we have very good technical interactions and at the end of the day, propose new and additional content for India's declarations to the IAEA about spent fuel transfers. The additional data that we want pokes deeper into their operations and will require more work on their part. Understandably, they are noncommittal on these points and negotations will be done at higher (Operational parts of IAEA) levels from here.
On the way back to the guest house, we stop at a Hindu temple, built around 1200 AD (Baroli Temple). It was severely damaged by Muslims that invaded prior to English colonization but even still is very impressive. The sophistication of the architecture and carvings supports Renga's explanation that Indian civilization was among the most advanced for many centuries, and led the way in areas like philosophy and mathematics (whet my appetite for some reading on this topic). Renga and our NPCI host (he's been leading us around for all these days) say prayers in the temple. This particular one is devoted to the penis and the reproductive power of that part of the body. There are many stone carvings celebrating (in a very abstract kind of way), the god of the penis. I'm pretty sure this will generate some dinner-time conversation when I get home! Renga says, "We worship everything" and includes Jesus in that list.
We stop at a tiny little shop selling electronics and pirated movies, hoping to find some of the movies that were recommended. We did, but only in Hindi without English subtitles so we pass. Eno does buy a cell phone, however, and borrows the SIM card from our Indian host for the evening so that his family can call him. Wow, wireless communications makes the world a small place. I ask our driver (probably 20 years old--been driving us these several days--for help with buying some special cloth for Julia to make a sari. We negotiate and buy--hopefully Julia likes it! Back at the guest house, another fine Indian dinner in which I overindulge (again--can't seem to push myself away from the table with such diverse, tasty and nearly free food)--the guest house food is fantastic and there is so much of it...Two of the plant staff join us for dinner, and one brings his 14-year-old son. It is fun to hear about his life as a young man in an Indian nuclear community (English-speaking school, school 6 days a week, 45-day summer vacation, limit to one hour of Facebook per week by his parents, favorite sports are soccer and basketball). I exchange Facebook identities with him (Evan's and his)--maybe Evan will want to get in touch with this boy?
I email a bit on the Guest House computer (and pick up a virus on my thumb drive, which I then transfer to my work laptop--have to deal with that mess when I get back to Vienna), then pack up my clothes and our tools, then hit the sack around midnight. I really wanted to get a full night of sleep for the first time in a few days, but apparently this isn't going to be the night. I sleep poorly--the bed is starting to feel uncomfortable to this spoiled American.

November 20, 2010 (Saturday)
No run this morning--too tired and not enough time to finish packing and have breakfast. We spend the morning at RAPS 1/2 with more technical interaction, then go for our closeout whole body radiation count (to make sure we didn't pick up any internal contamination at the facilities). The radiation detection guys that run the lab wanted to talk shop about detectors and methods (particularly after they connected me to Knoll and U. Michigan), which is good fun. We then rush back to the guest house to collect our bags. We now have 2 beater cars for the trip back to Udaipur. One hauls our luggage and tool boxes, the other hauls the three of us. We choose to stay in the car that we have been riding in, though it is really uncomfortable, has no seatbelts and has no suspension. The other car had bald tires with the steel belting showing in places. Apparently these are unusually poor cars--the NPCI usually provides better for IAEA transport. We begin the long ride back, with the first 2.5 hours on the rough one-lane road. This time, we have to detour around a tree that has fallen over the road (heavy rains a couple of days ago) and a place where they are "resurfacing the road." Not with asphalt, but with gravel.
I try to pass the time by typing this journal, which works well but the trade off is a bit of car-sickness! Now we are back on a 4-lane highway with a couple more hours to Udaipur. Fields tended by many people, by hand, are blurring past--this is a rich agricultural area but then, it sounds like this is true for most of India. After 7.5 hours of driving, with a stop at a more modern Hindu temple, we finally arrive in Udaipur. It takes an hour to find and negotiate a hotel--it isn't much but we'll only sleep for a few hours there anyway--1600 rupees (about $30) is fine. The location, though we won't use it, is quite good--very near the palace. A boy tries to convince Eno and I to come to a restaurant nearby. We aren't biting until the proprietor, an English lady riding a motorcycle happens by and gives us the spiel. She has a new restaurant overlooking the water and lake palace, and she is clearly catering to tourists tired (or unable to tolerate) of the spicy Rajasthan fare. We don’t fit in that category, but we have a beer and a snack to be friendly before the driver takes us to a typical Rajasthani restaurant for a late (2230) dinner. We spend several minutes convincing our driver for the week (23 years old--incredibly patient and accommodating, and an excellent driver) to join us for dinner--on us. He finally does. We are back at the hotel around midnight and have to request top sheets--only a blanket of suspect history is provided on the beds. Pack up, charge electronics and dread the wakeup in about 5 hours.

November 21, 2010 (Sunday)
The driver is there at 0600 for departure, but we see his tire is flat. He quickly works on changing it and we are promised "just 5 minutes--don't call a taxi" by his handler (Mr. Mettel). After 30 minutes, it is done and thankfully, the traffic in Udaipur on a Sunday morning before sunrise is minimal. At the airport, we are told that our extra luggage (we now have 5 huge bags, 3 of which are tools for our work) will cost another 300 Euros for this short flight to Mumbai. That is more than the price of another seat. Renga tries to get pesky and negotiate, which works everywhere else, but they were having none of it here. Short on time, we eat it and race for the plane. No business class on this small plane, and I'm fortunate to sit next to the only overweight Indian that we've seen, and he needs to work on his laptop the whole ride. My left arm is bruised by the end of the flight. I read Newsweek on my Kindle and listen to country music to extract myself from the circus of newness I've been immersed in this week. In Mumbai, we find our driver and begin the 6-hour drive to the next facility, the Krakapur Atomic Power Station (KAPS). The road is 4 lanes, but the traffic is horrendous the entire way. Our driver gets a full workout bobbing and weaving along. We stop for our first food of the day about noon, and the rest of the IAEA team going to KAPS joins us--two surveillance guys that are installing cameras and the host inspector.
I call home on the way, needing to hear the family's voices. That part is good, but the mood at home is not. Evan had a rough week at school last week (stabs a friend with his shark-tooth necklace and kicked a girl) which netted him a letter in his school file. That, coupled to his episode at soccer a couple of weeks ago (kicking Nicky out of frustration) has the parents further frustrated. I talk with him for a while, but the phone isn't a great medium for this kind of thing. He had a great time at the Wien Rapid game last night--his first European soccer game, attended with a schoolmate (Ali) and his dad (Franco). Julia is happy as can be and is studying up on her German from school. She writes down "Mumbai" so she can look it up on the internet. Jenn is upset and clearly at the end of her rope running the house alone. And we are only halfway through this business trip...
After 8 long hours bouncing around in the car, we arrive in Krakapur. Two straight days of 8-hour car rides, plus plane flight, has me really fidgety (my back and ITB are feeling it, too), so as soon as we arrive at the KAPS guest house, I change clothes and start out on a jog around the colony--just 20 minutes since we have a dinner meeting with the KAPS staff. This area is much more humid and tropical in terms of vegetation than in Rajasthan. It is green and fragrant and the colony feels more like a self-contained military base--a lively one at that. There is sporting area with a dirt volleyball court and a full-court basketball court. A grass track is also there, near a few shops with life essentials (a few groceries, ATM, toiletries). I rush back for a quick shower and then to dinner with the KAPS staff.
We are all surprised to see the director of the site at the table but we quickly appreciate why he is there. They shut down their Unit 2, which is about 0.1% of their country's total electrical output and a large fraction of the regional output, just for us to do our work. Originally, we had scheduled 2.5 days to install our Core Discharge Monitor (CDM) in each reactor. He is changing the schedule and giving us just 1.5 days. He is clear that they intend to close up the vault and start the pressure tests for restart on Tuesday at 2000. Renga and I exchange anxious glances, but keep our mouths shut—hoping that we aren’t still working in the reactor vault when it starts! I guess it is Game On! After some small talk and a good meal, off to bunkie.

November 22, 2010 (Monday)
Jog around colony and few exercises this morning, but no monkeys (there are very few in this area, apparently) or cows (not allowed in this colony). The entire morning is spent just processing into the site: whole body counting, 3 layers of gates and inspections of our credentials and equipment (5 huge suitcases for this team of 5). The 4 hours is painful, but it is hard to blame KAPS. This is their first time hosting the IAEA for equipment install and we are bringing an American, two Austrians, a Phillipino, several laptops and a bunch of funky looking electronic equipment. No wonder their security forces are a bit flustered and slow about it. We have a late lunch then unpack all of our equipment and tools, ready to get to work. Unfortunately, KAPS has not done all of the preparation that was required, particularly in Unit 2, which is the one they want to restart so quickly. So, we give them additional instructions and prodding, then move over to Unit 1, which has been 2 years in refurbishment (for lack of fuel and to replace aging pressure tubes).
For a nuclear engineer, it is quite the experience to walk right into the inner vault of a foreign country's pressurized water reactor. My little "geek special moment" doesn't last long because we are in a rush to start making the connectors on the coaxial cable, the first step in installing our CDM. As soon as we sit down with our tools, there are at 5-10 KAPS technicians and laborers huddled around us, watching every move. As we've seen, they have 3-4 people for every one-man job, and this is another example. It is nerve-wracking to have them watching us like hawks, particularly since we have a rough start trying to sort out the specific connector we are using, and make a few mistakes in the early going. I am sweating profusely--the reactor area is hot, we are in an over-layer of coveralls+hat+gloves (for contamination control), I'm watching my dosimeter carefully to see what level of dose I'm getting, and after making a few time-costing mistakes on my cables, I'm wondering if the technicians in our IAEA unit were right--you should never take a PhD to do the hands-on work of an install. Fortunately, Renga is patient with me and pretty soon we get things sorted out. By about 2000, we have the first 10 connectors done, and this test run for the more demanding instrumentation install (Unit 2, where dose rates are somewhat higher) is complete. We do some additional testing on the cables with time-domain reflectometry and cable identifiers, then crawl out of our soaked contamination suits to leave the facility. In the exit survey, I find a bit of contamination on my right hand, likely from working with the cables that were dragged through dirty areas of the plant. After additional hand-washing and some additional surveys, we are clean and depart for the day--about 2300. By the time dinner is through, it is nearly 0100 on Tuesday and I am absolutely spent.

November 23, 2010 (Tuesday)
Short jog today--had plenty of time since I slept poorly (dehydrated?) and was up about 0430. While jumping rope on the basketball court, two of the boys that are playing volleyball on the nearby court come running over and say "Excuse me Sir, would you play volleyball with us?" I can't resist. The 15+ high school boys and 10+ girls are wide-eyed when this tall, goofy American starts playing with them. It is lots of fun--they play barefoot, very well and carefully to avoid the puddles scattered around the dirt court. It really is a very cool moment in the trip--they laugh or "ooh" every time I touch the ball or hit. I'm like a rock star for a few minutes! They ask if I'll play again--I'd sure like to.
We are hoping the entrance into the plant is faster this day. It is better, but still takes 2 hours. We go immediately to Unit 2 to make connectors--despite the facility's slow preparations, they are still expecting us to be done by 2000 this night. This set of connectors goes much more smoothly (bringing a lighter was the key to softening the insulation that was giving us fits yesterday). Eric settles in to do another 20 connectors on his own, while Renga starts up the data acquisition system. We do a very cursory system check, find a suspect connector, replace it and all of a sudden it is 1930. Ideally, we would have at least another few hours to do additional system health checks, but the reactor is closing up in 20 minutes. We'll keep our fingers crossed. No contamination problems today, and the dose levels are lower than I had feared inside the Unit 2 vault. All in all, a very productive day but I sweat completely through two sets of overalls and my work boots are a puddle. We down huge bottles of water after we get out of the inner reactor areas (no eating or drinking there) and call it a day at 2200. I collapse into bed about midnight, after dinner with the crew: Renga, myself, Alfred Stengl, Roman Simmerling and Alfred Sigarer. The mood is better tonight because we were able to make the first of the facility's deadlines, though we have some suspicions about one of the detector signals.

November 24, 2010 (Wednesday)
No jog today--the sleep is precious and I am pretty worn out. Today, we focus on getting the Unit 1 CDM connectors completed (I've now made 65 of the 80 connectors, and might actually be doing a good job of it), and thoroughly testing the cables and data acquisition system, a luxury we didn't have in the rush to restart Unit 2. I am getting used to having my Indian shadows every step of the way, with the two most frequent being recent Electrical Engineering graduates. One is a Muslim from Kashmir, the other a Hindu from Gujarati. They both are very bright, have a good sense of humor, curious about what we are doing, and eager to talk with us (only when spoken to) to break up the monotony of their chaperone job. Facebook and movies are their favorite activities outside of the 10-hour per day, 6-day per week work schedule.
By the end of the day, we have Unit 1 functioning and some early systems tests done. Renga and I spend much of the day staring at data signals and troubleshooting one of the neutron channels in Unit 2--it is noisy and we have to make big changes to the threshold to reduce the impact of that noise. But, the system is working despite the rush. We retire at a more decent hour--about 2000--and are in bed by 2200. After 3 days of heavy physical work, profuse sweating and long days, I'm a little frayed. I'm also really anxious to get home. I have been able to talk with Jenn and the kids for short periods this week, but the long days and time difference make it tough...It doesn't even occur to me on this evening that tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the States.

November 25, 2010 (Thursday)
Jog and exercises after a good night of sleep and I was hoping to play volleyball again, but I am too late. Apparently they close it up around 0730. Maybe tomorrow...A more reasonably paced day today as we work through additional testing of Unit 1 and calibration of Unit 2. We are home by about 2000 again.

November 26, 2010 (Friday)
After a jog and some exercises, I get a huge treat with the Indian kids at the colony. There are some junior high boys (14 years old) playing basketball, so I ask if I can join. There is giggling all around as we start playing--it is a riot. A few of the kids have pretty decent skills but I don't think they've ever played with a tall person before, and they are a little awestruck. Again, I enjoy rock-star status for about 20 minutes. The boys want to know my name, where I'm from, etc. and they want to tell me about their upcoming tournament in the south of India. I wish them luck and get a sweet picture of us before heading over to the volleyball court. More fun there as the kids are a little more loose with me today. There is some joking, some very light-hearted trash talking and each one of the 20+ kids insists on shaking my hand before I leave, though the girls were pretty hesitant at first. A male/female pecking order seems to crop up, even here on the play field.
I'm starving at breakfast, but would really like to have some simple cereal and toast. The spicy Indian food is delicious, but getting to be a little much at breakfast. No papayas here in Krakapur, though they were part of every meal in Rajasthan--bummer. At the facility, we are happy to see the CDM acquiring data as expected when we arrive. We instruct the KAPS stuff on close-out activities, including wiping down every single hand tool and surveying it for contamination. Everything looks clean. We are then called to the Director's office--we'd seen him several times during the week as he checked up on our progress in meeting his timelines. The meeting goes well and he concludes by showing us a letter from the head of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India thanking us for the hard work we and the KAPS staff had done to get the instrumentation installed on time, which allowed the reactor to restart on time. Pretty cool. Renga needs to get this letter in his staff file, but I have to prod him to ask for it--he is very reluctant to self-promote in any way, which he says is a product of the Hindu way of life (where, he explains, submission and team-first are paramount).
We do the urine sample for bioassay, do the whole body count, then roll out of the facility around 1700. Renga and I work on the computer for a bit to outline the trip report we need to write, then pack up before dinner with the KAPS team. This time, the director is not invited--just the 4 staff that we worked most closely with during the week: Prushan Joshi, Prushan Kumbli and the two younger EE guys (can't remember their names). Only one of them even sips beer. This state forbids alcohol sale and consumption since it is heavily Hindu, but makes an exception at the guest house to accommodate foreigners. The Austrians are particularly pleased by this exception! Gifts of sweets (Mozart balls and chocolates from Vienna, strange almond concoctions from India) are exchanged after a relaxed, friendly dinner conversation. Without the higher level managers in the room, the staff is much more extroverted. Dinner drags on longer than I'd like--we finish around 0030 and we have a 0630 departure tomorrow!

November 27, 2010 (Saturday)
Drive back to Mumbai is a different route and early in the morning, the roads are quite good. Renga and I alternate talking about religion--we are having much fun comparing Christian and Hindu beliefs--and taking naps. I finally get some time to read the India guidebook that I brought--would have been helpful to read some of the stuff about customs and expectations earlier in the trip! We have very few cow or dog delays and arrive in Mumbai about 1300. We drop Renga at his friend's house in Mumbai, who will then take him to the airport for a domestic flight to southern India (for a week-long family visit). I'm on my own with the driver now, and we have about 8 hours to kill before I need to be at the airport. The original plan was to spend this time at the Sun and Sand hotel again, but they charge 100 Euro just to use a room for these few hours. I decide to go for some site-seeing instead and the driver (Satayan, though I didn't get his name right until today) is the perfect guide. He has lived in Mumbai all of his life and drives the place for a living. He drops me at Victoria Station (first train station in India) for a 15-minute cruise of this beautiful, but outdated and a bit run-down piece of British architecture. The majority of the old city area is British in flavor, as expected, but it doesn't look much like London. The upkeep on the buildings is not good and because Hindus appear loathe to cut down trees (they pour curbing and re-route fences around existing trees) and bushes, many of the buildings look a bit overgrown. We also make a quick stop at the Gateway Arch, a nice place right on the water of the Arabian Sea where many boats were bustling about for both fishing and sightseeing.
My sightseeing energy just isn't there--I'm tired and ready to leave the chaos of the city, and to be home with my family. Plus, it is much less fun without Renga to share insights and lead the way. Satayan's English is functional, but not good enough for conversation (to be fair, my Hindi, of course, is completely nonexistent). Satayan takes me to a shopping area where I had hoped to find some more things for the family (e.g. an Indian soccer jersey for Evan) but after more than an hour of wandering around the dirty streets and noise, my always-minimal threshold for shopping is exceeded. I give up and ask to be taken to the airport. Fortunately, Satayan knows of one more Indian shop on the way and it is just right--I'm able to find a few fun hand-made things for the family: camel-bone box and wooden Ganesha (Hindu Elephant God) with intricate carving, a marble pen holder and a cashmere scarf. I barter with the guy for a while and leave with a 30% discount and what I think are reasonable prices, but who knows?

I'm at the airport, more than 7 hours ahead of my flight, but looking forward to using the comforts of the Austrian Air VIP lounge since I'm business class. I tip Satayan 1000 Rupees (about $20), which isn't much to me but is about 20% of his monthly salary. As he drives off, I'm told by security that I can't even enter the terminal until 3 hours before my flight. I'll have to pay to sit in the waiting area for the next 4 hours. Super. The 100 Euro for the hotel time is looking pretty good right now, but too late--my ride is long gone. So I pay the fee and sit down in a rock-hard chair with my two huge suitcases tucked around me. And that is where I am now typing, hoping that the time passes quickly and that I don't get too thirsty or have a spice-induced bowel issue since there are options for neither in this waiting pen.
I have a quick call with the family--they are just entering the Belian's flat for a second Thanksgiving dinner (the first was with the Stotts on the actual day). Hearing their voices makes the waiting even more tedious--I'm more than ready to be home. Once I am allowed to pass into the terminal area, I find much more waiting waits for me. My excess luggage charges (Pelican case with tools in it) are 45,000 Rupee (nearly $1000) but I barter down to about $600--apparently that method works even at the airport. Security is painfully slow but the Business Class lounge is fantastic--very nice to have a good cup of coffee and taste some Western food. The flight home is also pleasant. I sleep well for about 6 hours which is by far the longest I've ever slept on a flight. A guy could get really spoiled by this Business Class travel. Ich arbeit am mein Deutsch Hausubung. Ich vergesse etwa im zwei woche in India.

***************************************
A few more notes and observations about this fascinating 2 weeks in "Incredible India"...

We had an Indian friend from Ann Arbor (Amitava Majumdar--great guy) who had (what I thought) was a rather unusual way of acknowledging conversation--a nod that is half yes (up/down) and half no (side to side). I now realize that this isn't unusual in India--everyone does it. It makes me chuckle at times because the motion reminds me of a bobblehead (Evan: 3.14159...!) doll in the US. Are they agreeing with me, or disagreeing? Renga said it is commonly misunderstood, but is mostly just an acknowledgement that they are listening, but are not committing one way or the other.
The typical Indian bathroom (mens' anyway) is quite different: Urinals appear like western urinals but the pipe out the bottom doesn't go straight to the sewer line, it just drops the pee into a trough in the floor that then goes to the sewer line. Toilets are holes in the ground--not elevated. Squatting and washing with water is the way. They find toilet paper unclean...I think the opposite. For these reasons, the bathrooms have a pretty bad odor.
Weather has been beautiful--sunshine and 80-degree highs almost every day. This is the best time of year to visit, I am told--the heat is long past and the monsoons are recently so.
It turns out that India is 4.5 hours ahead of Vienna. Apparently they thought that multiple time zones would be too confusing for a largely illiterate population, so they split the difference between GMT+5 and GMT+6.
I am told that working men here really like to have a hot, homemade meal at lunch. So, every day in Mumbai, millions of lunchboxes are set out where guys in bicycles and rickshaws pick them up. Each lunch bottle has a special marking on it for identification. The bicyclers bring them to a car, which brings more to a truck, which brings more to the train, then they are dispersed on the other end to get to the workplaces. After lunch, the men leave a little food in the bottom of the bottle. On the distribution path back to the homes, the remaining food is given to the really poor. Incredible. Every day this informal distribution network moves millions of lunchboxes around Mumbai, then back again--just in time for lunch. Apparently the failure rate is very, very low.
Driving in India, which we have done for over 40 hours on this trip, is mind-boggling. The views out the window are simultaneously comical and disturbing. For example, little trucks will have people hanging all over them, inside and out, doing 100 km/h down the highway. The men may be hanging on by just one foot and one hand to the only space available. Honking is continuous as a means of communication--many of the trucks say "Please Honk" to encourage this warning system. Imagine using that invitation in the USA? There are rickety carts being pulled by one or two cows, piled high with sugar cane or other products and they are in the same lane as the huge buses that are doing 50 km/h or more. I saw very little mechanized farming (the tiller was a single wood blade pulled by one or two cows) but the small fields are neat and tidy. Women carrying huge loads on their head can be seen everywhere, especially at the construction sites where a line of women with small flat baskets will be tasked with moving a pile of dirt or mortar mix from one place to another, one small head load at a time--no front-end loaders here.
When things aren't going well on your side of the road, you can just switch to the other side and go against traffic--usually on the edge of the road but not always. One day, we drove for several km on the shoulder of the opposing "lanes" to avoid a traffic jam coming into Udaipur.
The land here must be incredibly fertile and the climate just right for growing all sorts of wonderful foods. The fruits are especially great to me--we eat fresh papaya, bananas, chikku and custard apples each day during the first week and we stop frequently to pick up fresh (Eno eats up to a dozen bananas a day to "balance his potassium and sodium intake") fruit. It is unbelievably inexpensive. A dozen bananas can be had for less than 50 cents.

Seeing this incredible country on a business trip, at least for me, is a good approach. It affords a little different view of the Indian way of life and living conditions, in areas that are far from tourist stops. Maybe just as importantly, it gives me something else to think about other than the sadness I feel in seeing some of the living and working conditions here. Plus, I have the great tour guides--a native Indian who knows the country from inside and out (the West) and other IAEA inspectors and technical staff that have spent a lot of time here, and in many other countries. Compiling their stories would certainly make a good read for anyone curious about international travel.

I hope that someday we can come to this place as a family, but not anytime soon. The conditions and travel styles are such that the parents would spend every minute worrying about the safety and health of the kids. Maybe when Jules and Evan are a bit older and everyone is up for a serious and eye-opening adventure.