We stayed near the hospital in what would have been a nice apartment if it was maintained. The apartment was unfortunately not maintained, so we had no hot water, it was filthy and filled with bugs, moldy nasty stuff in the fridge, intermittent internet access- we spent a lot of time cleaning it. We did our laundry in the shower and hung it to dry- it was so humid the clothes didn't dry well and smelled terrible by the end. By the end of the week, Alex and Rory were expert bug smashers- Rory would make the hissing sound of a can of bug spray when she saw a bug, Alex thought it was "fun" to do laundry and when standing at a door to a room he was never in before (like when we went to Mother Theresa's house) he would ask me if the room was too dirty to go into when he got to the doorway. We would have considered the accommodations nasty even if we hadn't been spoiled by our stay in Delhi- when I spoke with the people at the hospital about the accommodation problems, they would tell us to wait for maintenance or housekeeping and we would be trapped waiting, nobody would show up and we would have wasted a day waiting. I probably should have put my foot down and moved us into a hotel but they kept telling me they were coming to clean and fix things and by the time I had given up on them fixing the problems, we didn't want to pack up and move for just a couple of days- especially since we spent so much time and energy cleaning the place up ourselves. Plus seeing all those people living permanently in such dire conditions made these issues seem petty.
The hospital car never showed up (they said be ready at 830 am- I would call them when the car didn't show, they kept telling me to sit and wait, I said let me take a cab, they say no- finally after waiting 1.5 hrs the first time I got in a cab for the 12 minute drive...) so I took taxis everywhere (ridiculous prices for taxis) until the hospital arranged for me to hire a car and driver (unbelievably expensive- much more than in Delhi- still can't believe I had to hire and pay for a car because their car and driver would never come- the side benefit was that we had this car and driver for the day and could use it to go to dinner etc). Unfortunately the drivers for the most part spoke no English, so they came up with a system whereby I called an admin person who did speak English, and he would talk to the driver- so even when driving around lost in the city, I would have to call this guy who would then translate to the driver. At one point, the poor guy was in Darjeeling and still telling me to call him. I think this sort of exemplifies how disorganized and chaotic the program is too... there is too much to handle for the people in charge, the don't have a dedicated admin person to deal with issues such as filing paperwork to open the apartment and get it cleaned etc.
Now, some of the issues may have been related to the recent Cyclone that struck W Bengal- many areas surrounding Kolkata were badly hit. Darjeeling had terrible landslides, the Sunderbaans had terrible flooding, lots of people without shelter, water etc- luckily for them, brackish water didn't breed mosquitoes or malaria- but tons of diarrhea, respiratory illness and yes, cholera. Cholera is endemic in many areas of India, actually while we were in the Aleppay- backwater houseboat area there was an outbreak of Cholera- meaning more than normal numbers of people had it. what's amazing is that the city itself recovered quickly and what we were seeing was considered to be the norm...
Anyway, work-wise I actually enjoyed it- living wise- I think would have been ok if it weren't so hot and the housing such an issue.
The first full day (June 8, my birthday) I worked, Peter, Makiko and the kids took a cab into the center of the city and wandered around the New Market- a huge crowded place selling everything and anything you can possibly think of. In the evening we cleaned the apartment and Peter and I went out to a kebab place nearby- good food, friendly owner.
June 9 we went out in the evening- tried to go to Victoria Monument- but it was closed by the time we arrived, the kids played in the fountain and then we had dinner at Mocambo restaurant- the taxi driver had no clue how to get there, drove around, dropped us off and sent us down an alley that was behind all the restaurants with dishwasher guys hanging out, stray dogs circling hungrilly around our children... we made it onto the main street after a kid showed us how to get there, went in and had an ok dinner.
June 10, i forget, we tried to go somewhere... can't recall what we did- oh, i remember- Rory was throwing up! We were going to go out but then she started puking like crazy so after driving around the city FOREVER we picked up some wipes and some KFC and then went home. or something like that- i can't really remember all the details, the cleaning etc was all interspersed and stands out most in my mind... that and it was the only time that Rory got sick!
June 11, I think we all went to dinner at Peter Cat's restaurant with dessert at Flurry's. the streets are always intersting- here are some pics....
getting water
traffic stops for cows... and goats and chickens
Buses and trucks are mostly very brightly painted and decorated
June 12 i think this is the day Peter and Alex went to Science City and Makiko, Rory and I went shopping and wandering... then we met up for dinner
Alex's favorite thing in Kolkata- Science City- there were rides, animatronic dinosaurs, cool things for him to do... loved it, wants to go back there. wants to bring his friends there too!
I started to look for the biggest loads carried by rickshaws and on carts. Also carried by people strapped to their heads- I think the guys carrying couches with a strap on their forehead was the biggest/heaviest items i saw....
Street family playing together
June 13th- Makiko and I went with Alex to Moher Theresa's house, Rory was napping at home while Peter worked, it was hot, Alex fell asleep in the car. Makiko wandered around Chitpur Street (I printed an article from the NYT about some good walks to do in Kolkata) and then we and then we picked up Peter and Rory and went to have dinner in a mall on our last night in Kolkata.Mother Theresa's house
Going to Mother Theresa's house and being in Kolkata, Alex has learned about shanties/slums, homelessness and poverty. We talked about the work Mother Theresa did and the people we saw in the streets. Not sure how much he actually "got" but he certainly understood about how lucky we are.
Alex watched the Leapfrog video "Letter Factory" obsessively at the beginning of the trip- and then moved onto "word Factory" now he is completely obsessed with letters, sounds, making words- he wrote out the word "hat" the other day ENTIRELY on his own!
Rory put the hat on herself... she likes to run around with the camera saying "cheese" and pretending to take pics of people. She also stops and poses for pics all the time now!
Our flight to Nepal was early in the morning, and we were picked up at 330am to get to the airport. Now a word of warning to all- if you are flying within India and connecting in Delhi to an international flight, you have to go to the Domestic terminal, you are flown into the domestic terminal in Delhi and then you take a shuttle to the International terminal (free provided by the airport). we tried to check in internationally since we were on our way to Nepal- luckily we were able to flag our driver before he left... in the giant ambulance that brought us to the airport. Yes, we were transported via ambulance b/c our luggage and selves didn't fit in a car... transport to the airport
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