Weekend in Kabini

Aaron and I enjoyed a weekend escape the past few days and it was so great to get away together and relax!  We traveled to Kabini, India which was about a 5 hour drive from Bangalore.  We stayed at a beautiful small resort called KAAV Safari Lodge.  Everything there was so great.  The food was delicious and our room was unbelievable!  Here are a few shots of our luxury "tent" and the hotel pool.  

On Friday afternoon we went for a bike ride through the town and saw some amazing people and views!

Saturday we did a nature walk and a coracle boat ride in the lake.  A coracle is a small light weight boat made mostly of bamboo that sits on the water rather than really in the water!  It can be a bit unstable but our guide was great and had clearly been using these boats for a long time! The boats used to be for transportation but are mostly now a tourist attraction! At the end he spun us in a circle really fast and I was sure I would throw up or fall out but he did not speak any english so we just hung on tight! Kind of like being on a ride at the Minnesota State Fair!  It was still fun to ride out in the water a bit and we didn't fall in!

We also went on a safari but most of those pictures are on the other camera so I will post pictures of that another day!  But here are two of the jeep we took around Nagarhole National Park.

And one last scenic shot!  Such a beautiful place to see!

Working Hard!

I have been pretty busy the past few days with trying to establish some work for the next two years.  Dr Belani from the University of Minnesota was in town for a few days and we presented at a conference together.  Then he was able to introduce me to a few doctors at a local medical college where I will hopefully be able to help.  It has been good to feel helpful and able to contribute to projects again!  I have also been volunteering at Rainbow Children's Hospital in town and am hoping I will do some pediatric and neonatal simulation training with their physicians and help develop some nursing orientation/education materials.

This is a picture of the lobby at Rainbow Children's Hospital which just opened a few months ago.  It is still very clean and sparkly!

 

This is the outside of St. John's Hospital.  St. John's provides excellent care to all people in Bangalore including the extremely poor.  They are a massive hospital and while resources are always a bit tight they really do some great work and produce excellent care providers.

This is the office of Pediatric Surgery, a bit different than the shiny new hospital above!

These are pictures from the Medical College campus.

I liked this sign!

Aaron flew to Kochi this week for work.  It is a city further south from us and has another KPMG office there.  It is very hot down there and I think he is glad to be back!  But they had big celebration for a holiday that is celebrated mostly in Kochi and it's state of Kerala.  Lots of the workers at the office performed traditional dances and songs for the rest of the office, I was sad I wasn't able to be there to see it!
 

They also create these beautiful floral arrangements on the ground.  I'm not sure what they are called but they are amazing and I am too tired to google it! :)

Dinner at the Bangalore Club

Last night we went to dinner at the Bangalore Club, which is the oldest private club in Bangalore.  It was established in 1868 as a club for the British Officers.  They have had many prestigious members in the past including Sir Winston Churchill in 1896.

We were taken as guests of a physician that is visiting from Minnesota and it was so nice of him to treat us to a wonderful traditional south Indian dinner.  It was pouring outside last night so we weren't able to really take any photos of the outside gardens and grounds but here are a few of the restaurant building.  They have a main dining room, a men's bar, a mixed lounge (men and women!) and then a formal sitting room.

Last night and today are dry days in Bangalore because elections are held today so we couldn't enter any of the bars for photos!  Here is a door to the mixed lounge!

Even the paper napkins were fancy!

Home Sweet Home

It has been a fairly busy past week.  I have started volunteering at a local children's hospital which has been great to have projects to start working on.  One of the doctors at this hospital runs a pediatric healthcare simulation training program and I will hopefully get involved in assisting with his program and also creating some training and orientation programs for the nurses at the hospital too.

In other news, we are in to our new place!  It has been great to get all of our belongings from home and have family pictures around the apartment.  The place is starting to feel less like a hotel and a bit more like home!  Here are a few pictures of the new place.  It is actually quite spacious and it is really nice to have room service when we get desperate!

Ready for some visitors!  :)
  

Bikes and Brews!

We had a great weekend exploring Bangalore.  Saturday we had lunch with some friends and then watched a soccer game at a local brewery for the evening.  This was the rooftop at the brewery.

On Sunday we went for a bike ride through the countryside of Bangalore and it was just beautiful!

We rode about 20kms and stopped at a Dance Village.  The women at this village live there for 10 years and they only select 6 women to live there and learn one of the oldest forms of dance from South India.  We were able to watch a dance practice but weren't allowed to take any photos or videos of the dancers but trust me it was great!    Here are some pictures of the campus where they live.

There were a bunch of old cars at the dance village too.  Not sure why they were all there but found a cool old VW bug!

The end of the ride was at a local lake.  There were lots of families sitting by the edge and a few people fishing.  Seemed like the local Sunday hang out spot.

We had a great weekend and slept like babies last night!  We are moving to our new room today so I will spend a few days organizing and making it home and then post some pictures!  Looking forward to the week! 

Weekly update

Not much new to report here today.  Aaron and I are settling in to a bit of a routine.  I was able to grocery shop and actually cook a meal! I joined the Overseas Women's Club of Bangalore.  It was really nice to have coffee for 2 hours with other wives that have all already gone through the same things I am going through now!  The group supports 22 different charities around Bangalore so I am hoping I can get involved in helping with one or two of those.

We have decided that we will stay at this hotel for 2 years but will move in to a two bedroom apartment here instead of the 1 bedroom where we currently live.  Once we get settled in that space (hopefully next week) I will post some pictures of where we are living.  Here is a picture of the pool though, which is very nice to have!

Aaron sent me this photo of a traffic jam on his way home the other day.  A whole herd just trying to get home for dinner!

This is a picture of our favorite dinner place.  They have little personal pizzas and it is delicious!  It seems to be a favorite ex-pat hangout in the neighborhood.

That's all for now!  We sure are missing everyone at home!

Sunrise Hikes and Fancy Robes

Yesterday morning Aaron and I, along with two of his colleagues, woke up at 430am and drove about an hour and a half outside the city to a place called Nandi Hills.  Nandi Hills is an ancient hill fortress that is about 4,800 feet above sea level.  Everyone told us that if you go you have to be there for sunrise.  They said there is no better place to watch the sunrise since you are up above the clouds and can watch the fog burn off and reveal the beautiful 360 degree views.

This is what everyone said we would see at sunrise.

This is how our sunrise views ended up....

We hiked around for about an hour hoping that the fog would burn off and we would suddenly see the great views but we think it actually just got worse!

It really was a beautiful place and the old buildings that served as fortresses and summer retreats were very cool to see.  

All in all it was a good day and luckily we do have two more years to get back up the hill and check out the views on what will hopefully be a better day!  While we were getting ready for a BBQ last night these lovely personalized towels and robes arrived as a guest from the hotel! Don't mind if I do!

That's all for now! Today we are going to try some grocery shopping and then maybe even try to cook dinner instead of eating out for once!  Wish us luck!