We have Dianne's Course

As many of you know Dianne has completed a certificate in horticulture by correspondence over the last few years. Dianne is feeling a calling to combine this learning with her interest in people. In the summer we found the American Horticultural Therapy Association. Kansas State University has an accredited program and offers some initial courses by distance education. The department head and I exchanged some emails and we signed up for HORT256.

In the scramble to leave, we arrived in India without Dianne's course. The university offered to send us another one and asked for a fedex number. In Canada I got a fedex number instantly by applying at the fedex web site. In India the process is a bit more involved, and seems to involve an officer of the company signing a contract. Thankfully Audra at the University took the initiative to send the course by regular mail. After 2 weeks of trying to get a fedex number, and just as complete despair was setting in they came up to me as I was leaving and handed me an envelope.

Dianne and I were yelling and jumping up and down and hugging when I got home all at the same time. The boys thought we had lost our minds. She sparked up the laptop that we bought specifically for the purpose of the course and was doing the course right then. But that's not all. Our driver Lokesh let me park the car. Vince phoned me up to say he reproduced a problem that a customer was having and had a fix. I got an email saying to look for our per diem in our new Indian bank account tommorow, and I got another email saying that our relocation allowance was in the bank back in Canada. I am on call this week with Jamie. The infrastructure that we set up is working flawlessly. Bhakta offered to bring us some things when he returns to India. Jamie has graciously picked them up. Dianne and I walked to the butcher shop and bought lots of meat. It was a beautiful day! We all feel richly blessed by so many people following through to help things work out. You guys are great!

We Have a Bank Account

3.5 weeks. Dianne got us a bank account Friday by telling them she wouldn't leave without one. Friday was a week after they told us 4 days and they wanted to phone her that afternoon. The support is working quite a bit better (touch wood). We are using international call forwarding from http://www.telcan.net to provide Canadian aliases for my business and our home phone. Thank-you very much to those that have called us, signed our guest book or emailed us. Christine sent us this email, that I am sharing, as she already sent it to most of you:

hey guys ,
just a quick message about what I've been up to in the last couple of weeks . yesterday i went for a hike up mount mackay which was a lot of fun . i went with some people from my house and other houses and nicki, steve , stacy and i hiked up the wrong side of the mountain ,which was the side without a path and lots of loose rocks to slip under our feet but we made it to the top and i really want to go again.i had outdoor rec frosh last week which was a lot of fun and i've gone to a lot of parties off campus ,which is always fun. i got lost walking from steve's house to the convenice store and back again , i guess i need to work on my sense of direction . i've also joined the r ugby team, timbersports and tonight i'm going to the kayak club. while it may seem that i'll have no time for actual school ,in the past i've done better when i'm involved because then i care about school more.
love you and talk to you later
christine

We have been to Delhi Church 3 times now, as well as listened to Waterloo Church twice. Grant sent us an email that kind of went with the back to school sentiments that we heard from Waterloo church. We ran into some Canadians Jeremy and Anna at the American Diner and on their advice registered at the Canadian consulate. They gave us a "Warden." She seems like a lovely lady, from rural Saskatchewan. Dianne and she have been exchanging emails. The boys are really looking forward to school trips this weekend. Joel is going to a river Rishikesh-Shivpuri, in the hills. Apparently the river is too full for rafting this year, but they will have a trek, see a temple in the Himalayas and the Doon valley. Ben is going to New Tehri. There is the largest dam in Asia being constructed there. It sounds like he gets to go further into the Himalayas. Dianne and I will be going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal on Sunday. Saturday, she and Lianne Franklin and Deepak and his wife went to the Delhi Haat craft market. Jamie and Bhakta are sending me a solution to get pictures off my camera as well as some dental floss, and hopefully the cd for Dianne's course.

We are Residents!

It hasn't been a fantastic 2.5 weeks in India. I allowed a week to get settled, and after 2.5 we still don't have an Indian Bank Account. I have done 2 days of support, in which the phones crashed completely for 10 minutes and one time Level 3 couldn't reach us at all by phone. We bought Ben a new razor and the clerk had to fill out a form, so that we could pay for the razor and have it brought to us. Every single thing is soooo difficult. We joined a health club, but we couldn't take books out of their library, because we didn't have our permanent membership cards yet. The library probably only had 300 books, and no Internet access. My ncr email doesn't work.

On the bright side Sunday we left the apartment without our keys, and the security guard took the initiative to climb in from the neighbour's balcony. People from the church went out of their way to make sure we had a plan B to get in to our apartment. We have been to the health club 3 times to work out, and last night we all finished up with a swim in their outdoor pool. And finally after 3 extremely frustrating tries we have met our visa requirements and registered as resident aliens. I took a picture from the hallway of our apartment building, which I'll post as soon as I find a USB cable to replace the one that I left at home with Dianne's distance learning course. I am writing this using our home internet access! Sunday night we even enjoyed Linda's sermon on stress from almost the other side of the world. We are still full of stress though. I wonder if, in this case it is a healthy reaction to this overstimulating place. Christine, and Mom and Dad have phoned us, and we have been blessed to talk to many people that we called. Saturday night we went to Lianne Franklin's hotel, had a beautiful supper and listened to a pianist and bassist play "blue moon" for us.

Ben and Joel's school (pictured) seems fantastic. Raghu arrived back from Canada Monday. Today he solved a problem for a customer, that I wouldn't have been able to solve. I think that it is possible that we will be succesful here. There are however some formidable obstacles to overcome. Our American customers won't care that the security gaurds wouldn't let the new driver in to the compound because they didn't recognize him, or even that he got lost trying to find HCL. Did I mention that everything seems more difficult here?

Centenary Methodist Church New Delhi

Yesterday we went to church in India. Actually the minister Pastor John Vinod and his family came over Saturday afternoon first. Everyone was very friendly. There are some Americans from Florida who go. Many people have a relative that lives in Canada, and many of the older people have the experience of Canadian missionaries. They have a large youth group, which the 4 of us joined for introductions on Sunday. Hopefully full participation next week for Ben and Joel. There is apparently an American Diner at Habitat India, just down the road from the church, where the boys are looking forward to American Bacon. Today is my first day at work. I am already over stimulated from just getting here. It's a sea of people Monday morning. So many that they spin in the front window of the car. Hopefully, it will be quieter when I start heading in for 7:30 tommorow.

hello from Gurgaon India

We made it to Gurgaon (South West of Delhi)! Actually we have been here since Saturday night. Ben and Joel enjoyed their first day of school in India yesterday. Dianne and I phoned home this morning. We don't have internet yet, so this is a quick post from the desk of Anil. More to come when I find another USB cable for the camera and we get Internet.