Merry Christmas from Bali!

We have a lot of photos to post and stories to tell but now is not the time...

Just wanted to say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Club Med is doing a WONDERFUL job making today feel special.
All the GOs ("camp counselors" since this is really a summer camp for adults and kids alike) are wearing Santa hats, they're obligated to say Merry Christmas every time they see you, and steel pan Xmas music has been piped in all day. Dinner tonight is supposed to be amazing. Dinner last night for Xmas Eve was UNBELIEVABLE and the "Chief of Village" aka head Counselor said tonight will blow last night away.

We just found out today there is a place called "Pajama Club" where your kids can go from 9:00pm - 1:00am. We're going to try it tonight. We have a sitter booked for New Year's Eve but if Pajama Club pans out we're good as gold.

Weather is BEAUTIFUL! The island is BEAUTIFUL! The people are BEAUTIFUL! And we're meeting people from all over the world. I do believe we are the only ones from the US, but if we didn't live in India, we wouldn't have made it to Bali.

OK, we hope to do some posting in the near future so you can SEE what we're up to!
LOTS OF LOVE AND HUGS TO OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!
Ho Ho Ho!!!

Goin' ta Bali!

Merry Christmas everyone...
We're off to Bali, Indonesia!

We'll be at Club Med in Nusa Dua for 10 days...


Happy New Year!!! We'll be back late on the 1st!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENATA and CONNIE!!!
I'll be thinking about you... yeah, who am I kidding? I'll be in BALI!!! :-)

Xmas Morning

It's 21st December and we celebrated Christmas this morning.



Kids were excited, like kids should be...






Like the wrapping paper??

Fun with stickers

Kids were playing with puffy stickers. Jennifer is ALWAYS a good sport and seems to enjoy playing with A&A.


Our cook Angel is on the left, laughing at what Jennifer is going through.


Auggie fighting dragons with his sword and shield.

Anniversary at the Taj

Monday, for the Anniversary of our first date, Erik made a dinner reservation at the nearby Taj hotel that is just opening in Whitefield. December 15th was supposed to be their soft opening so Erik called and they took his reservation.

We pulled up to the hotel on our 2-wheeler (kids were at home with Jennifer) and we were immediately surrounded by security. (The Taj hotel in Mumbai was one of the targets of the recent terrorist attacks). We tried to explain that we had a reservation but we were told the hotel was not open yet. Finally Erik mentioned the name of the Manager who he made the reservation with. That made a world of difference. Someone went into the hotel to fetch the manager and we were VIPs from that moment on.

We couldn't believe it. The hotel manager escorted us into the hotel. It was beautiful and fully staffed - yet we were their only customers. We got the VIP tour. Everyone came up to us to shake our hands and wish us Happy Anniversary because WE WERE THEIR FIRST CUSTOMERS! So we were as big of a deal to them as they were to us.



We toured the hotel then went to the cocktail lounge for a pre-dinner drink. The DJ was spinning tunes, the ambiance was fabulous, and there were waiters and bar staff at our beck and call. We were given flutes of champagne while we selected our cocktails.

After our drinks and a nice walk around their rooftop garden we headed toward the restaurant. Again, fully staffed, just for us. We chose an outside table. They presented us with the full menu but Erik asked the chef to decide what he wants to cook. We had an assortment of starters similar to tapas but Indian. Our main meal was an amazing broccoli dish and lamb briyani with NO BONES! The meal ended with fresh strawberry shortcake and strong coffee.

The pastry chef came out to meet us. He wanted to know if the dessert was up to expectation because he had not planned on making anything that day and whipped this up quickly (wow, would never have known).



As we got up to go, we had our picture taken with the chefs and some hotel staff because we were their honored first customers.



Truly unforgettable.

Auggie w/ the camera

Ozone Christmas Party

Ozone had a very nice Christmas party for the residents. There was a parade for all the young and young-at-heart led by an Indian marching band. The parade stopped at the large park at the center of the complex. The park was decorated with lights, ribbons and Christmas trees. There was music, food vendors, and a performance by the neighborhood children singing Christmas caroles. It was very nice. The party went until 11:00p.

Several houses decorated trees in their gardens.


On the scooter, yes, no helmets, but they were inching along.


the parade


the marching band


the Swedish neighbors, Claus and Oliver w/ friend Anders in the background (photographed by Auggie)

Christmas in India

Getting in the Christmas spirit!

Jennifer and Sheila

Jennifer and her sister Sheila (tan sweater). Sheila works a house in Ozone too so she stops by to see her sister when she gets off work. They're both very nice.

Sheila has an arranged marriage coming up in February. Unfortunately, she actually loves a man and he loves her too but they can't be together. The man she will marry is older and not very nice, according to Shiela.


They cracked up after seeing this photo... the three different skin tones.

It's surreal

Watching the US (+ world) economy...

Current headlines:
Yahoo Layoffs Today May Not Be Last
Hospital official confirms more layoffs planned
Merrill, BofA Begin Research Layoffs
Layoffs dominate business landscape
Electrolux cuts 3000 jobs worldwide
Chicago workers sit in at plant over layoffs
More layoffs likely in '09
Honda to slash production but stops short of layoffs
Massive layoffs at KB Toys
Tech Layoffs Surge Past 100,000
Sony layoffs could portend wave of Asia tech job cuts

In India the talk at the school bus isn't all rosy. People are really concerned that they'll be sent home or cut completely. It's worldwide and it's really scary.

Happy Anniversary - 1st date

Today is the 19th Anniversary of our first date... :-)
19 years of great memories and events.
If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

Erik's Holiday Party

Erik's company's holiday party was last weekend. A great occasion for everyone to pull out their sarees. And man, this group of people can really dance! So much energy! And so much fun!

Glad Lucia Dag!

First Lucia in years I haven't baked cardamom or saffron bread. :-(
What's ironic is that cardamom and saffron are plentiful here.
I just think I'd be heardbroken to do a yeast bread in my crappy convection oven.
I will make the breads before Xmas, I just couldn't do it for today.
Plus, I can't find marzipan.

But I have managed to make a little glögg. :-)


UPDATE: Went to a birthday party this morning and carpooled with our Swedish neighbors. They're making lussekatter this weekend and asked us to come over and share them. :-)

I'm much better now

Thank you. :-)
- Helen

Bye Bye Friend Erik

One of Erik's co-coworkers is leaving India on Friday. He has been here since August and we will miss him.
We call him "Friend Erik" because Annika likes to differentiate between "Daddy Erik" and "Friend Erik".

He managed to cross every item off his "to do while in India" list
"Here are the things I feel I should make every effort to do while I'm here: 1) visit the Taj Mahal, 2) gaze upon the Himalayas, 3) swim in the Indian Ocean, and 4) stand on the southern-most tip of the Indian subcontinent."
Check out his adventures...
Erik's blog

Not feeling well after KFC

Dude...
at 6:30p it kicked in. I don't know if "it" is Delhi Belly or just a bad reaction to something I ate but dang... my stomach is not OK.

We went to a farewell event tonight for our friend Erik M. It was an evening of good food and open bar. What did I have?? 3 glasses of water and 2 diet cokes. Still need to drink more water 'cause I'm feeling very dehydrated.
And thank goodness the ladies room was close to where the kids were playing and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to The Art of Living Ashram and it's a 2 hour drive away... hope I'm better by morning!
Send me good thoughts!