I'm Back!

I apologize for the hiatus from the blogosphere, but the end of 2010 was rife with travel, sickness and work.  I could not actually muster the will to sit down and write. Someone once said, "If you don't have anything nice to say, it makes for a good blog." I couldn't put three words together.

So, where have we been? Well, the first week of December, I had to go for business in Hong Kong and China, so Olga decided this would be a good time to escape India. We hopped on a plane and spent a few days tooling around Hong Kong, before I had to get to work. Olga stayed through the week, shopping, hiking and eating her way through the island city. I, on the other hand, toiled away thinking big thoughts for the coming year in a stuffy office. All in all, though, it was great to get out of India.

Our trip to Hong Kong also reminded us that it was Christmas. On the streets of Delhi, there are no signs of Santa's arrival or the birth of Christ. No cable news debates over the legitimacy of celebrating Christmas, no commercials for Christmas blowouts sales and, most painful to my wife, no cheesy Christmas movies on Oxygen, AMC or Lifetime staring 80s washed up actors. Because every holiday in India is commercialized, there has not been an overwhelming push by India retailers to create a Christmas unlike our Asian neighbors in China, Vietnam and Thailand (or every other emerging economy).  The malls in India, though, have embraced the Christmas spirit and are decorated, but overall, there is a big cup of Christmas nothing. Since I am not a huge fan of the obligatory consumerism of Christmas in America, we simply forgot. Sorry to all of you who expected heartfelt Christmas greetings from India (I suspect you are far and few between, though).

We did go to the US Embassy club for Christmas day dinner and enjoy a steak, though. This has become the mainstay of all our holidays and we are very popular with our Brit and New Zealander friends because of it. It is a little slice of the US right in the middle of Delhi and the only place within 1000 miles to get a decent Philly Cheese Steak sandwich! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Both Olga and I have also been a little under the weather since we returned from Hong Kong. I had a terrible dry cold that sounded like I was a 5 pack-a-day smoker and Olga had a combo flu / stomach thing. This kept us down for a few days and took another week or two to finally shake completely, but as of today, we are both recovering nicely.

The weather in Delhi has turned awful. The temperature has dropped into the low 40s which by Minneapolis standards is not cold, but the houses are built for hot weather and there is no heat. I can actually see my breath in the mornings en route to the shower. We have purchased a few oil heaters, but they make little impact to this damp cold. To make matters worse, there is a constant haze that engulfs the city like a foreign invader. It grounds all the planes and even stops Delhi traffic as the visibility can be reduced to zero. Cold, damp, hazy and miserable - I almost long for the extreme heat, since I have not been truly warm since November.  The weather is never quite right here - too cold or too hot; too dry or too wet.  

In the mean time, we plan to make the best of the weather by piling on blankets and jackets and seeing what their is to see in Delhi before the oppressive heat returns and we are camped inside like fugitives from the foul Delhi air.