Jono at school ceremony/English high tea



Sarah sitting with her class at school




Sarah in line with her class




Cable guys arriving to install our satelite dishes with all equipment in tow on motorcycle




Jono with his lizard catching equipment. He catch them and let them go outside.




Making pancakes...first meal in our new house!




MK at the neighborhood pool



Lizards and Snails

Moving into Our House

We have finally moved into our house! It was hard to leave the hotel because we were treated so nice there. I think we are glad to be in our house, but it is another adjustment. We have had little lizards everywhere. They do not bite and they eat the bugs. But still, the girls and I are not liking the lizards.

We have to turn on the hot water heaters 15 minutes before showering and we are learning to take very fast showers. The hot water does not last long.

We were quite excited when our air shipment came. More things to make it feel like home and all the good American food that I shipped. It is worth it's weight in gold. I have had to navigate the grocery shopping in Bangalore. I am able to find Prego and Ragu speghetti sauce for about $5-$6 per jar. It is the same with most other American or European imported food, if you can find it, it is very expensive. We do like some Indian food, but not everyday and not every meal.

So, on Saturday night, the first night in our house, we all 5 slept in one bedroom. The kids (and I) didn't want to sleep alone with lizards loose in the house. I haven't seen one in over a day, but I hear from the neighbors they really don't go away and you just get used to them.

We have been welcomed warmly by many neighbors from Germany, Holland, England, Peru, and the US to name a few. Our neighborhood is completely full of expats like us.

We (especially me) are really missing so many of the comforts of home. I don't think we realize how fortunate we are living in the US. I take it one day at a time and I do try to enjoy living here. The Indian people are very friendly and we are treated well. So many interesting things happen daily, very colorful culture.

Our driver, Stephen, is amazingly helpful. He goes shopping with me and translates. He gets the lizards out of the house, he treats the kids very well, and the list goes on.  He not only drives us but he helps us understand the world around us and we appreciate that.

We also have a maid that started on Monday. Her name is Rosey. Her English isn't as good as Stephen's so we are having an interesting time. She is very pleasant and works very hard. She came highly recommended and had worked for a German family for three years prior.

So, we are living on air matresses and have wicker outdoor furniture in our family room. We are using the plastic cups and plates that I shipped. Our boat shipment with the rest of our stuff should arrive in late October. We can't wait!

The kids have been playing outside every night with all the neighborhood kids from all over the world. In some ways, it reminds me of when I was a kid and you could go all over the neighborhood from house to house and play until dark. We are in a compound and there are security guards everywhere. We feel very safe in our neighborhood.

We are missing everyone! Can't wait until Christmas time. Our flights are booked. We will are leaving December 16 and will be home on the 17th!

First two days of school

Pictures of inside Palm Meadows and directly outside of Palm Meadows

Our hotel is in Palm Meadows (a compound very similar to the one our house is in). Just wanted to show the difference between inside and outside of Palm Meadows.

Pictures from our hotel pool and play area, first auto rickshaw ride, and fountain at nice mall in downtown Bangalore

We made it through the first week of school. The kids have done better then expected. All three have made a few new friends. They were exhausted, though. We are up at 5:45 AM and out the door by 6:30 to catch the bus. Their bus ride is almost an hour to school. It was even longer on the way home, but now our driver, Stephen, is going to be picking the kids up from school on most days. This will cut their ride home to about 45 minutes.


There are only ten Americans at their school and three of them are Struncks!

The kids have come home with all kinds of questions about the British words they are learning in school. (Rubbish, rubbers(erasers), trainers(tennis shoes), etc.)


Brian had his first trip for work this week and was in Mumbai and Delhi. He was in Delhi on Wednesday when the bomb incident happened there. Turns out he wasn't anywhere near the bomb, his flight was landing in Delhi at about the same time the bomb went. I did not know this though, and was pretty freaked out until I heard from. I couldn't sleep that night and while watching TV heard that there had just been a mild earthquake in Delhi. Brian felt the quake but was fine but just one more thing I was worried about!

I started working from home this week when the kids went to school. It was actually quite nice and felt good to be getting back into the swing of some normalcy.

This week, I also met two families from the US (Minnesota and Idaho) that live in our neighborhood both with kids around the same ages as Sarah, Jono, and MK.

Our air shipment has arrived in Bangalore!! It will take several days for it to clear customs. We are hoping to be in our house in a week. The key word is hoping. We have been told that it may take awhile to get through customs.  Our boat shipment is scheduled to arrive around October 18. We can't wait.

Today, Saturday, we found a store that sells trampolines. We have one on order and are hoping to have around the same time we move in to our house. Sarah is so excited about this. We haven't been able to find a tumbling coach yet, but we keep looking.

Ganesh Parade Pics

First Day of School and other stuff

Today is the first day of school!! I am both excited and very nervous. It is hard to send the kids to an unfamilar school in an unfamilar country. From our visits to the school, we do feel comfortable there and the kids seemed to like the school.

Sarah's teacher is a man from Australia and she will have only 11 kids in her class. MK's teacher is Canadian, and MK will have I think 14 kids in her class. The headmaster told me that in MK's class each kid is from a different country.  Jono has an older Indian lady who seems very wise as his teacher. Jono will have 13 kids in his class. Jono is going to sit right next to the teacher. Perfect for him.  

So, we had an eventful last few days. On Friday, the entire family had to register with the FRO (Foreign Registration Office). Every foreigner wanting to live in India in this region registers at the same office. It took all day. The process was crazy. We came with large packets of required documents. We each have our own packet. We wait in a line have the docs reviewed, answer questions,  and then docs get stamped. Then, hopefully find the next line, wait and have the docs reviewed and stamped again. This went on for about 4 lines. We also had to call Timken in a panic to get additional documents brought to us at this office. Anyway, crazy.

We took a lunch break on Friday at a little pizza shop in Bangalore. Pizza is different here, like everything else! Anyway, we are sitting in the pizza shop and a camel walks by. The camel's owner was quite nice and stopped so the kids could take a look. MK was the only who wanted to sit on the camel. Jono and Sarah wanted to check the camel out but were a bit more cautious. I will try to post a pic.

On Saturday, a small parade walked by the hotel for the Ganesh festival. Ganesh is an elephant Hindu god. It was his birthday on Thursday. There were lots of celebrations/parades in Bangalore where Indian men are walking with a large statue of Ganesh and they stop and play music, dance around, throw flowers, break coconuts, etc.  The women don't participate in the dancing, but they walk off to the side of the Ganesh. Ganesh is usually getting pulled on a trailer by a tractor. Anyway, we thought we would walk along and watch the parade. Jono wanted to get closer and join in, which is very out of character for him. Next thing we know, Jono is on a small Indian man's shoulders in the center of the dancing. Everyone is dancing around Jono and the man. I think Jono kind of enjoyed. A very interesting experience for him.