Thoughts on culture

(Amy) Our laptop is not allowing us to log in to Blogspot--it says cookies aren't enabled, but it seems to me they are-anyway, so still no pictures.

I thought I'd mention the complete contrast as we drove here from the airport this morning in class/wealth. We drove by many plastic tarp "homes" with poorly clad children digging in dirt in front of them. We passed corners full of men waiting for jobs, and many very underprivilidged people walking on the streets with the dogs, cows and goats. However, at bus stops we saw well-dressed people waiting to go to work and school kids wearing uniforms and shiny shoes. The girls had their hair carefully plaited with bright red ribbons holdng their braids in.

When you read the magazines or watch the tv here--the people look nothing like what I just saw on the street. They seem to have 2 cultures- the one they are trying to portray as "India"- Bollywood, Westernization, technology-- and the actual India.

In the Indian newspaper on the way to Bangalore from Mumbai I read an article about a couple who wants the government to allow them to donate the organs of their mentally-challenged 5-year old because he is such a burden on them and his organs would be better used elsewhere. This is how disabled people are viewed.

There was also an article about how 2 girls were attacked on Diwali by an entire village with axes and knives, and then their bodies were creamated on the spot--the whole village had tried to hide this.

I had read some comments on one of my adoption groups that we should not say we are "saving" these children when we adopt them. But today, driving by the people that I saw--I know that I will be giving Sweeti a much better life than she would have had here. And, I'm sure that her birth mom/family knew this too. We can't wait to meet her and all the other kids-- including your girls, Brooke and Jennifer--tomorrow.

We are here!!

We are at our hotel in Bangalore. We are using the hotel computer, so are unable to upload any pictures at this time. We don't have many anyway, since photos can't be taken at the airport--and we've mostly seen airports!!

Here's a quick overview of this early portion of our trip, spent either up in the air or in airport gates and security checkpoints. If you notice a change in writing style from previous posts, it is because Shawn is including thoughts that he jotted down during layovers.

Monday, November 10 (Martin Luther's Birthday, 1483)
"Pray that your flight may not be in winter." (Mt 24- Gospel lesson for Trinity 25)

Without stepping out of my door,
I can know all things on earth.
Without looking out of my window,
I can see the ways of heaven.
The further one travels,
the less one knows.
-George Harrison, "The Inner Light" (1968 Beatles B-side)

Up at 4. Slept only about 2 hours last night. 6 hour layover at MSP.

Our Bemidji flight was pretty early in the morning--but a quick flight--we got to Minneapolis within an hour. Then we waited out our long layover before our flight to Amsterdam left.

T-shirt at an airport vender: "Beatings will continue until morale improves."

McDonald's Big 'N Tasty wrapper: 'The original.' Wasn't the orginal Big N' Tasty called the Burger King Whopper?

Tuesday, November 11

"Ahasuesus reigned from India to Ethiopia." (Esther 1:1)
On flight 42 to Amsterdam, the mother and daughter behind us were going to Ethiopia.

I (Shawn) watched "Mama Mia" on the plane and listened to a variety of music-- from 80's to current hits to Johnny Cash classics. In flight entertainment has vastly improved since our last transatlantic flight, to London in 1994.

We lost 7 hours with the time change from MN to Amsterdam. When we landed it was 11:30 p.m. Monday night MN time and is therefore 6:30 a.m. Amsterdam time.
We were fed a light breakfast on the plane before landing. We were able to catch a few z's while crossing the Atlantic.

This is the first time Amy and I had been to mainland Europe. It is fitting that it would be today, the day of St. Martin of Tours, who is called the apostle of Europe. It is additionally fitting since tomorrow is Veteran's Day when we honor those who have defended our freedom, many of them on the batttlefields of Europe.

The Amsterdam airport wins the prize so far for most inefficient security. Five or so workers were posted randomly in the gate area, all doing the same thing, checking our passports and boarding passes. Then other workers at podiums would look at them again and question us. Then another behind the desk scanned them again and printed a card stock boarding pass (to replace the thin glossy, fax quality wons we received in Bemidji). The security workers for the most part looked to be wondering around from station to staion an each passenger was getting everything verified three times at least.

(Amy) After all the concern about using the bathrooms in India, so far the plane bathrooms have been fine, and so have the India airport bathrooms. The Amsterdam toilet smelled strongly of urine and was no pleasure to use.

On our flight from Amsterdam to Mumbai,(which all the Indians on our flight called Bombay--take that political correctness!) we got quite a bit of sleep. We watched a couple more movies. Shawn watched a film which may be considered an Indian rewrite of the Godfather except with a more political flavor- just as many hits and gangsters though.

Shortly before midnight we arrived in Mumbai. Because of the congestion in the air around the airport we were locked in a holding pattern for a half an hour before touching down. The congestion above was soon matched by the congestion in the airport.

Which brings us to...
Wednesday, November 12

To call the scene at the Mumbai airport chaotic would be an understatement. Since there were no open hangers next to the airport building, we all had to file out on a steep metal stairway into a bus. When the bus arrived at the doors of the airport, we all went through security. Next, we went to baggage claim. A sleep deprived, impatient mass of humanity swarmed around the belt. After changing our post a few times, we found our bags. Thank God none were lost! This is one benefit that came from our long layovers, more time for our luggage to be sorted.

From there, we went through customs. We, of course, had nothing to declare. We followed the crowd to the where those flying Airjet were to check their luggage. No one had told us before to fill in the back of our little customs stub, so we sat and filled that out. We set our bags on a conveyor and had our passports checked again.

Note: A herd mentality prevailed. No directions were clearly announced. No signs told us where we were to go or what we were to be doing. Everyone just followed the person ahead of them. So we went into a room where we waited to board another bus to the Airjet gate. We thought we were in the right place but then we saw a white haired Indian gentleman who was also heading to Bangalore leave the room we were in for an ajacent one. We had forgotten to check our checked bags. Fortunately a rare helpful security worker had me give him my checked bags and handed me new boarding passes. Then we went back to the crowd waiting for the bus. The bus arrived. Ironically, all the white folks sat in the back. In fact, the back row of the bus consisted of Shawn and 2 other male midwesterners, from Chicago and Detroit respectively. Proving again how small the world is, one of the men will be coming up to Thief River Falls for a hockey game next weekend after he gets home from Hyderabad.

When we got to the building for Airjet, we had some time to spare, so we exchanged our English dollars for rupees. This was a safe environment, hardly any people, let alone muggers. We were the first customers of the day and actually woke up the man at the exchange booth. We went through security again. Then we were in a room with several closed ticked booths and venders. Seeing nothing to do there, we followed (pronounced stalked) the white haired man to where the Airjet gate was. We went through security again, this time getting wanded. Our boarding passes were stamped and we still had some time. We purchased a Coke and a bottled water. They tasted normal. Going through the gate our boarding passes were again stamped. A security person(female) took Amy behind a curtain and patted her down. Then we loaded the bus to the plane. During this bus ride we had an opportunity to actually get to meet the white haired man and his wife. They live in Charlotte, NC and have resided in the U.S. for nearly 30 years.

Our short trip, about 2 hours, from Mumbai to Bangalore was uneventful. Ironically, the flight attendants on this in country flight between two Indian cities appeared to be from Malaysia and Singapore. We were given a light breakfast of an omelet, bun, fresh fruit, and coffee at about 4:30 a.m.

We arrived in Bangalore around our schedule time of 6:20 a.m. It was still dark. We had nothing scheduled for the rest of the day. I called the hotel to see if we could check in early without getting billed for an extra day and we could. So I went to the prepaid taxi booth and hired a driver to take us to the hotel.

Everything you've heard about traffic in India is true! There appear to be no rules, no speed limits and whoever honks the loudest gets the right of way. On the taxi on the way here, we saw kids getting ready to get on the school bus, dogs and goats and cows roaming free, auto rickshaws, a man with a monkey on his shoulder-- all the stuff shown on the last two weeks of Amazing Race!

About an hour later, we reached the hotel, a modest place with a friendly staff. It does not look like its website. The pictures must all be of its other location.

From the time we touched down in India, it is hard for us to believe that were finally going to meet our new daughter! Tomorrow we get to spend the day with Sweeti!

Solveig and Jonah, be on your best behavior for grandma Carolyn. She now has a way of letting us know what you've been up to!

Flight #'s

Here are our flight numbers if you want to check our progress online:

November 10:
NW 3051- Bemidji to MSP- 700A 808A
NW 42- MSP to Amsterdam- 320P 630A
November 11:
NW 34-Amsterdam to Mumbai- 1015A 1150P
November 12:
Jet Airways 2411- Mumbai to Bangalore- 315A 530A
November 16:
Jet Airways 804- Bangalore to Delhi- 725A 1010A
November 20:
NW 8366- Delhi to Amsterdam- 140A 555A
NW 41- Amsterdam-MSP-1020A 1240P
NW 3048- MSP to Bemidji- 225P 340P

Times given are local times, so it takes us 2 full days to get to India and only a half day to get home!!

Adding up our actual time including flights and layovers on the way to Bangalore, the trip will be 34.5 hours for us (21 hours in the air).

Almost Ready

We both spent the day getting ready. Picking out clothes, weighing suitcases (the big one weighs 50 pounds--ok in US, but in India can only weigh 44 pounds, so we've got some rearranging to do), calling the credit card company so they don't think there's fraud when we charge our hotel room in India, filling out immigration forms, making photocopies of passports/forms/etc, panicking--just kidding!, all the usual preparation.

The kids are getting anxious about the trip. The little one will especially miss us, but both are so excited to see their new sister. Our son has planned a "hot chocolate" party when she gets here. He thinks Sweeti would enjoy some hot chocolate in a sippy cup. We'll see. :-)

We've got some last minute shopping to do tomorrow--inflatable neck pillow, vitamins, groceries for the kids, etc. And, Grandma is arriving to get all the instructions on how to run the Stafford house in the absense of the Staffords! Please keep her in your prayers--10 days of parenting is a lot for a grandma!

Now we can concentrate on figuring out our new camera and how to use wi fi before we go!

Cats and Preparation

Thanks Brooke, for the info that there is a cat around Ashraya!! Even if HER daughter is afraid of it, hopefully if Sweeti has seen it she is not. Whew!

Anyway, we got home last night from Mankato, and today after church , SS, and a well-deserved nap I'll have to convert into serious packing mode. And planning for what my mom will need to know/have to have to take care of big sis and big bro while their parents are gone. Uff da!

Insight

We were very lucky in the past week to have two conversations with people who had traveled to India. The first was my second-cousin from WI who called me. She had traveled to India a few years ago to attend the wedding of a college friend. Thanks Corinne!

Second, last night a mom from Bagley and her 20-year old daughter whom she adopted from India at the age of 3 came over to show us pictures from their recent trip to India. We appreciated seeing all the pictures, and an adoptee's point of view. Growing up as a person "of color" in a very nordic, scandinavian, albino environment can be difficult. "B" was adopted at a time when children were primarily escorted to the US, so this was her mother's first visit to her daughter's birth homeland.

One interesting fact I didn't know--turns out Indians are suspicious of cats. You won't see one in India. They don't trust them. They actually had pictures from a zoo they visited--zebras, tigers, rhinos, peacocks, siamese cat. Yes, they had an enclosure at the zoo with a siamese cat in it. A domestic cat. Now I find this out after I sent Sweeti a picture of her new brother and sister with one of our cats. Ooops!

When "B" came over to the US as a 3-year old, she weighed 12 pounds. She had not been expected to survive in India. Her mother and her both believe that God has a purpose for her life, and we agree. Certainly the Lord has made provisions for the consequences of sin in his no-longer-perfect creation. We are never alone or forgotten. Even as these parentless children have been provided for through adoption, God Himself adopts us into His family so that we can be called His children. I John 3:1 It can't get better than that!

Ready for night-night!

The crib came in today, and with the cooperation of all, is up and ready. The kids used Murphy's Oil Soap to wash the "garage germs" off of it, and the adults pooled their limited mechanical skills to assemble it ---hopefully close to how it should be done. For awhile, it appeared as though the crib won--but in the end the Stafford family was victorious!!!