Parentless

     First the Good news. I got a job. Ok maybe not that good. Work is a funny thing. While you do it you can't wait to stop. After you stop for a while and the bank account gets a little low you can't wait to start. Earlier I mentioned that things where a lot more expensive then we remember and a 10% slide in the dollar had really left us flat footed. We did manage to get by but it didn't take long before our funds started to dwindle. Originally we were thinking I'd be off for at least 3 to 6 months while we got everything straightened out but the new budget wouldn't allow for that. So Hi HO Hi HO ...

     Ok time for shameless plug. The company I work for is Osprosys. We are located in the heart of Bangalore. We provide a large variety of services. I'm personnaly envolved with the application / website development side of things. If you need any development work done feel free to contact me via Osprosys.com.

     Ok the bad news. Our shipment arrived earlier then we expected. Ok at first that didn't...

     Well seems that like any story you get third person it's not as bad as the reality. First couple things more about Manny she is 22 she entered the home of the women I refered to at 17 4 years after her abortion. Birth control does exist in India but the poor seldom pay for it.      We met with Manny and her husband. We found that they were starving a couple months ago but since then things are improving and Manny is actually putting on weight(not that you could tell). Her Husband did seem as lazy and uncaring as was first reported. We asked them how we could help. The husband replied that he needed somewhere Manny could stay until he could get enough money saved up to pay the deposit on a rental. About 10,000 ($250).

     It was a long discussion but we came to the following resolution. Manny was allowed to stay with us provided her husband put on deposit with us 400rs per week($10). At the end of 4 months if he had faithfully deposited 400rs per week we would then kick in the remainder and give him the $250 he needed. This puts us through to the first week of Jan. This will give us time to see the baby is born and off on the right foot. It will give the husband a chance to learn some responsibility and give Manny time to rest and grow strong before the delivery.

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            We met Manny at church. She was very tall and thin. Her face looked familiar but it wasn’t until after church I realized why. Manny was an orphan. She got pregnant at 13 and lost the child. After that a lady from a local church took her in and helped her as best she could. Unfortunately much of the mental damage had already been done. 4 years ago I met Manny briefly during my first visit she seemed like any other happy teenager. However shortly after that Manny eloped with a young man. The young man can’t seem to keep a job and Manny has been pregnant several times with each ending in a miscarriage because of malnutrition. Manny is on the verge of starvation and has been in the hospital several times for dehydration and malnutrition.

            On Sunday when I saw her I smiled and greeted her trying to make sure I did everything properly. In fact I was so worried to make sure I was following all the social etiquettes that if I hadn’t noticed Mercy slipping her some money I may not have even...

            I can remember growing up there was a cartoon about a parrot. The plumber knocks on the door the parrot says “who is it”. The plumber says “It’s the plumber I’ve come to fix the sink”. When the door doesn’t open he knocks again the parrot say “Who is it?” and so on. The process repeats about 5 times at which point the plumber gets so frustrated he has a heart attack and dies at which point the owners come home. As they walk up on the fallen man the Women says to the man “Who Is It?” at which point the parrot replies “It’s the plumber I’ve come to fix the sink.”

            After this weekend if anyone has a parrot I’m in the market. Saturday Night as I was working on my computer I heard a snap and crash followed by a gush of water. The tap had broken off the sink and water was running everywhere. The Plumbing is all cemented inside the wall and there was no off valve. We had to shut off water to the whole building. We called our landlord and got the number for a plumber. We called the plumber...

      Never seem to pass an uneventful day here. I actually am beginning to look forward to being bored some time in the future. This week we are still trying to get all the pieces put together. We applied for internet access at the house. We were told it would take over a month. We hoped I might be able to get that expedited so we went to talk to the manager. It was 11:00 p.m. when we got up to his office. Of course he wasn’t there and no one seemed to know when he would be back. We waited for an hour at which point the lights on the floor we were on where turned off for lunch. Ok subtle hint here so we left and went to get something to eat we came back and he still wasn’t in his office and surprise, surprise no one knew when / if he would be back. Ok I want that job.

                However instead looks like I’ll be working in the IT industry. Posted my resume last night and I’m already getting calls. So it looks like it shouldn’t take long. Of course I have no Idea what the expectations are here in...

Well we got a bed a Motorcycle and a caretaker.

     Things are progressing. We finally found a 5 Bedroom house for $550. It's one bedroom less then we had hoped for more then we expected but in the end we still concider finding it a blessing.

     We've placed an order for our bed but until it arrives tomorrow we are sleeping on mats on the floor. We have to hire transportation for any furniture we need to purchase so furnishing the house is a slow process. We have a frig and a washing machine. As well as a foldable cot for our son. Not much time today. Hopefully we get internet at the house soon so I can give everyone a complete update. Atthe moment I have to travel about 30 minutes to use the internet and pay by the minute.

 

      Well we made it. It's been a couple days since I've been able to get online to update everyone. We got here Wends morning. I guess to follow up on my last post Malaysia Airlines turned out OK. I'd have to give them a 10 on in flight service. Their stewards beat everyone else I've flown with. They are courteous and friendly. Though their ground personnel and service are terrible their in flight is exceptional so in the end they came out with an average score in my book. I might consider using them again.

     After our arrival our ride met us at the airport and took us to the accommodations we had arranged at United Theological College here in Bangalore. After we checked in we were so tired we couldn't think about much but sleep. However as we pulled back the covers to crawl into bed we noticed that in the center of the bed was a rather large bed bug. Before I came to India I never knew what a bed bug was. Now I understand the statement "Good Night, Sleep Tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." Bed bugs...

     I never actually saw the movie "Escape from L.A." but I did see escape from New York many years ago. I figure they probably are about the same story line. In escape Snake (the star) is forced into trying to get a politician out of New York. If I remember right it seemed the movie started out exciting and then went dull in the center only to get exciting again at the end.

     After our wonderful experience at the airport in L.A. and a night’s sleep. Things did look better. We realized that if we could rent a car we could get up to San Francisco Thurs. Night, be at the Indian consulate first thing in the morning and make it back in time for the flight on Friday. I sent an email to the consulate and not getting a response for a couple hours so I called (I later did receive a response I just got in a hurry). I explained the situation and they said to come on up to the consulate and they would see if they could help. We rented a car checked out of the hotel and drove 6 hours north.

     The drive...

     As we went to drive to the airport from Baton Rouge the first thing that happened was I spilled my soda all over my lap. Not 10 sec. into the trip and things were already going south. Our first plane was 45 minutes late. We had 300 lbs. of luggage we had to check twice. All in all things were going down hill fast. But little did we suspect what was ahead.

     As we arrived into LAX and went to check onto the plain the ticket agent noticed that my passport had expired. International dates are written the opposite of American dates so 11-1-2007 is Jan 11th not Nov 1st. The agent refused to let us board the plane. We haggled for a while but it was useless. Finally they decided we would have to go to the consulate to get it straightened out. Of course the consulate is a 4 hour drive away and it was already 11 pm. however before we could leave we had to get our checked bags back. Time ticked by. It was 1 am before we finally recieved our bags. it took 2 more hours to get our 300 lbs of luggage myself, my wife and my son to a hotel.

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