26.8.2008 | 05:59

3 vikur

So things have been hectic!  Who knew everything would take so much time…it is amazing. 

So we had to go register me and Mira into the country. According to Indian immigration laws anyone with a visa valid for longer than 180 days has to register within 2 weeks of entering the country. So Bala went to stand in line at 9 am. I picked up Mira from School at 11 am and got to that place around 12:30pm (notice the travel time…haha). By that time Bala had taken a number, given them our application (which by the way was 2 full written pages for each, they needed 4 copies, and they could not be a photocopy – yeahhhh imagine the fun of writing all this!!!), filled out the information online and gone and seen around 15 people that all wrote the information from the applications in different books (don´t understand why everything is written in books here….why isn´t it enough to write it in the database??). It was just amazing. The process is so inefficient – why do you need to write it down so often, why do you have to see so many people? I think Deloitte needs to do a business process review on this J.  They had said that Mira and I had to be in person – we show up and this lady comes and sees us in the waiting room (just peeks through her door). Bala goes into the office and comes out once in a while to run and get photocopies etc (which in the end they gave back to us along with all the applications – so why ask for all this) and then an hour later he comes out and says – it’s done and we can go. Ok…I was happy about that but didn´t they need to verify who I was or Mira or at least talk to me? Obviously not – they never checked if I was the right person! Oh well…what do I care…at least I got registeredJ.

The apt is not yet ready. Things move at a snail pace here. We went yesterday to look at it and the paint is done but they need to fix the finish (they are not very detail oriented). Also the furniture is coming along – but it is being build in our house (nothing store bought!!).  

Sunday we went for a walk in a park next to the hotel. Of course Mira fell right away and got some scratches on her knee which were bleeding a little bit (all very minor). I decided to take her back to the hotel to wash it as her legs became very dirty when she fell. When we were going through security at the hotel (yes we have to go through a metal detector and have our bags scanned for bombs) Mira showed the security guard the scratch! OMG – he walked with us inside, pulled out his walkie talkie, and before I know it there are 2 guards with us, one lady from the hotel and a full blown First Aid Kit! I could not believe it. The made Mira sit and then she was cleaned and band aid applied in all the different places. She was very happy with this attention…haha.


Gefa einkunina 1Gefa einkunina 2Gefa einkunina 3Gefa einkunina 4Gefa einkunina 5 Vinir og fjölskylda | Breytt s.d. kl. 08:41 | Slóð | | Athugasemdir (0)

16.8.2008 | 17:29

Apartment, running track, almost a panic attack et al

Well, the apartment is coming along well or at least that is what it seems, most of the carpentry work has been done and they are ready to start painting. We still do not have a maid or a driver, although Agusta has been emailing all the expatriate women associations. We are hoping that we can move into the apartment by the end of next week.  There is absolutely no facility for me to train for the Mumbai marathon unless I run through the garbage, a million cars or people. I got a ray of hope when I heard about the “Joggers Park”, Agusta, Mira and I entered (there was an entrance fee of Rs.5 approximately 10 krona for the 3 of us) to find the track was 420 meters long! I would have to run 25 rounds to complete 10 km!!! I have to say it has been really disheartening that I might have to train on the treadmill. I am planning to reach out to some of the runners in Mumbai to see if there are any trails that I am not aware of.  

Agusta and I almost had a panic attack on Thursday while we were stuck in traffic on the way to pick up Mira. We left from a place called Anderi which is typically about 30 minutes from the School; we left the place 45 minutes before Mira´s school finishes… lo and behold, we were hit by the perfect traffic jam it took us almost 1 hour and 45 minutes before I ran to Mira´s class. Thank God for Cell phones, we were able to call the school and inform her teacher that we are stuck in traffic. You could imagine the feeling that Agusta and I was experiencing, it was Mira´s second day in school and already we were facing one of the major problems in Mumbai… the horrible traffic! We did not know what to do other than tell each other that we can do nothing other than hope that we get there on time and we already did everything we possibly could, other than jump out of the car, find a helicopter and fly to Mira´s School. Mira was very happy playing in the class with all the fun toys they have and did not notice anything. I think Agusta and I were cursing ourselves that we should have left much before than 45 minutes the end of Mira´s class. It was scary and made me realize that there are things that you could possibly do nothing about and then you just close your eyes, breath and pray!

 Mira has been obsessed with Krishna – one of the mythical Gods of India. I have read the Krishna stories to her in Iceland but since she has been to Mumbai she has been obsessed! She has been demanding that we should go to the Krishna temple, which we plan to do tomorrow. She has been mesmerized looking at all the Krishna statues and paintings, temples and notices about events related to Krishna. It is ironic that Mira is the name of a woman saint who was devoted to Krishna. Also Mother real name Mirra, a saint that I believe in and Mira was named after was born in France but ended up as a saint in India. The story goes that she had dreams about Krishna and finally she moved to India and started an ashram in Pondicherry with followers from all over the world… it is all very weird to us the obsession of Mira to Krishna. In addition, she has been asking all kinds of questions about Gods and Religion, Agusta and I are having a lot of “Fun” explaining everything to her.


Gefa einkunina 1Gefa einkunina 2Gefa einkunina 3Gefa einkunina 4Gefa einkunina 5 Vinir og fjölskylda | Breytt s.d. kl. 17:32 | Slóð | | Athugasemdir (1)

13.8.2008 | 12:29

One week down!

Yesterday we had orientation day at Mira’s new school for new students and parents which we all attended. The school looks great (www.asbindia.org), the program appears very good and we feel very lucky to have gotten in! We met some parents that have been waiting almost 2 years to get into the school....so after hearing that, the 6 months we had to wait are nothing J even though we were getting frustrated with the wait..... I think it is the Icelandic impatience coming out in us (Bala has obviously Mira - first day of schoolcaught it to!!). So today was the first day of school, which for Mira is from 8 am – 12pm. According to her she loved it, which is a huge relief for us as she keeps talking about Skógarborg (the Icelandic school she was in) and all the kids there. We took some picture of Mira going to class with her new schoolbag!

Even though she has been taught both Icelandic and English at home her English level is not 100% but she will get there in no time. The first day brought some challenges for her but the class went out to play and of course everything is wet from the rain (it is all covered but the rain appears at times to go sideways here in Mumbai as the wind that comes with it is very strong, hence making everything wet). As a result her pant got wet on her behind. She supposedly tried to tell the teacher but she didn’t understand her or Mira didn’t speak up enough. So she ended up wearing the wet pants until we came to pick her up. As soon as she walked out of the classroom there was huge drama and crying about the pants J. When I explained to the teacher what was going on the teacher got so upset that she hadn’t understood Mira that I almost felt bad for her!  

Some things are moving along her…..today we finally got SIM cards………it will however take 2 days to activate them!!! Don’t understand….and don’t even want to try to understand the reason why it takes so long. So hopefully in 2 days we will have a local number (right now I have to make an international call to get the driver to bring the car – that is about at least 6 calls a day – just for that).We also went by the apartment. Things are moving along there. We met the internet guy who is going to setup the router and access point for the internet within the apt. In Iceland you can hardly find anyone to help fix something around the house but in India that appears not to be the case. I swear there were like 20 guys working on the apt. Then at one time the doorbell rang and 5 more walked in. Don’t let this fool you though as it doesn’t mean that things get done any faster! They don’t have all the tools/technology that we are accustomed to and to me at least appear to be doing things rather primitively. The quality of work is also not always that good as the handymen/workers don’t think about details. If you want a power plug they will make one for you but not in the corner or down by the floor rather where it is most The den upstairsconvenient – in the middle of the wall! I’m trying to look at the humor in this but at times it is just amazing how people will not think at all but just do!  We have included some pictures of the apt. in the stage that it is in now.

 The living room

They are saying 2 weeks….and I´m hoping they will stick to it….but then you never know….hehe J Today I also learned a new acronym….IST…..that is Indian Stretch Time. This is so true. Bala had a meeting today at 1pm at the hotel but they guy finally showed up at 2pm – which in Europe at least is consider pretty late and rude.


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11.8.2008 | 15:59

Arrived in Mumbai

We arrived in Mumbai a week ago and it has been non stop rain since then! The reason being of course that we have arrived in the middle of the monsoon season or maybe the city is protesting, both hopefully will end by September (see picture taken out of our hotel window). Mumbai Rain 001

Since we came we have been busy trying to get our apartment in order (still 15 days to go though), going between stores to see where we can buy necessities such as groceries, pots, pans, towels, etc. Believe it or not this takes a lot of time as no one store carries all items rather you have to go to many stores as they all specialize and usually only carry one brand or so. This is similar to the mom and pop shops that used to be lined up down Laugavegur, except here they are scattered all over. Given the incredible traffic in the city and the rain it takes hours to go between couple of shops. Yesterday (Sunday) we went to a mall, which is only 10,3 km away, and it took us 2 hours and 15min to drive back and forth! So you can just imagine how much is getting done every day J. As a result we choose the image of the traffic to represent our blog. No one who has not experienced this will believe the sheer number of cars, buses, trucks, autos, taxis, bicycles, people and animals on the road! It’s never ending!  Since there is still 15 days until we get the apt. we haven’t bought anything as it would be hard to fit us 3 and all the stuff into the hotel room. We will therefore try to contain ourselves until we move. This might be hard though as the monsoon sales are going on and some of the stores are offering great deals. We have also run into some of the bureaucracy of the country. We went to get a cell phone only to find out that in order to obtain a SIM-card you have to give 2 pictures, proof of residence (which we don’t have yet), passport copy, and authentication declaration form (???).  What a hassle!!! Not only that, it turns out that the address in the passport also has to match with the proof of residence in India! Come on…..of course we don’t have that as the passports have an Icelandic address in them. So the result is that we still don’t have a local number L Bala was cursing (silently) the whole way home J 

Well – it’s getting late so more later and hopefully also some pictures!


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