We have finally picked our house. Some may know that we arrived in Bangalore needing to pick out a home and school for the girls. We had the assistance of Santa Fe (http://www.santaferelo.com) in the process of looking for a home/school and they will assist us on the details of it.
Examples:
Water
propane
landlords
cable
movers
and anything else you require in a home
Also they:
Gave us tours of Bangalore
Showed us all neighborhoods that 'cater' to expats
Proved that there are sooo many Starbucks around!
Showed us other schools that were closer to our location
We were shown at the beginning of our home search rich Indian neighborhoods. Don't get me wrong. They were nice, but it was true Indian living. Beautiful mansion like home with gates, guards and all. . . .next to a home that is not so pretty with cows and goats in the yard. hmmm... :/ In addition to that the traffic in the areas was not condusive to my kids. They would have gotten ran over.
After all the running around of looking at potential places - key in rays of light and the angels singing from heaven - we found Palm Meadow. (http://www.palmmeadowsclub.com) and (http://www.commonfloor.com/adarsh-palm-meadows-bangalore/povp-pljakb) Palm Meadow - how would I describe it? The calm to my crazy. The reason that my blood pressure will be ok. It is an expat bubble. It is a bubble that my kids need. To those that are close to me: Picture PineCreek with about 500 houses. Gated with guards. Palm Trees. Most importantly . .KIDS!! Kids riding safely in the streets like they do back home. This place is a haven for all that are there. It is filled with people like us. People whose spouses are here to work for a 2-5 yr rotation who have uprooted family and are trying to find 'normal'. This is Palm Meadow. Also picture a club house with a pool/bar/restaurant and various forms of outdoor entertainment. (All I can think of is my own 'club house' back in the STATES. . . called the Armstrongs, Nelsons and Winchips. Each family providing their own part of my 'clubhouse' atmosphere. You are missed.) Let me be clear that since this is 'expat heaven' there is a price tag that goes with it. The landlords know this. . .but hell. . I'm willing to use all my houseing allowance - it's for my sanities sake.
We looked at three schools in the past several days - already knowing which one I would pick. The schools we looked at were The International School of Bangalore (http://tisb.org), Indus (http://www.indusschool.com) and Stonehill (http://stonehill.in).
There is no doubt that the campus of TISB is beautiful. It is superb. . . .but too big for my taste. On a side note, my kids quickly added in "no air conditioning."
I was not inpressed with Indus. The lady giving the tour was very personable but the campus left little impression on us except with the continued side note from the girls. . . ."no air conditioning."
Stonehill is the school we chose. (I knew this was the choice a very long time ago) There are so many reasons why we chose this. The school is small. We came from a very small and good school in Indiana - Washington Township (http://epcsc.schoolwires.net/domain/40), so the thought of something so large as TISB and Indus was heart attack worthy. While we took a tour, EVERY PERSON we passed spoke to us. We met the admissions officer, principal, both girls teachers and the directors to the elementary curriculum. WOW!! We stopped by one of the 4th grade classes. We met one of the teachers - who happends to be from Califoria - she stopped to chat with Olivia. Meanwhile I was counting the kids in the classroom. . . . .10. What?!? Love it. This is my Indian version of Washington Township. Have I mentioned that the school is air conditioned? Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!!
Examples:
Water
propane
landlords
cable
movers
and anything else you require in a home
Also they:
Gave us tours of Bangalore
Showed us all neighborhoods that 'cater' to expats
Proved that there are sooo many Starbucks around!
Showed us other schools that were closer to our location
We were shown at the beginning of our home search rich Indian neighborhoods. Don't get me wrong. They were nice, but it was true Indian living. Beautiful mansion like home with gates, guards and all. . . .next to a home that is not so pretty with cows and goats in the yard. hmmm... :/ In addition to that the traffic in the areas was not condusive to my kids. They would have gotten ran over.
After all the running around of looking at potential places - key in rays of light and the angels singing from heaven - we found Palm Meadow. (http://www.palmmeadowsclub.com) and (http://www.commonfloor.com/adarsh-palm-meadows-bangalore/povp-pljakb) Palm Meadow - how would I describe it? The calm to my crazy. The reason that my blood pressure will be ok. It is an expat bubble. It is a bubble that my kids need. To those that are close to me: Picture PineCreek with about 500 houses. Gated with guards. Palm Trees. Most importantly . .KIDS!! Kids riding safely in the streets like they do back home. This place is a haven for all that are there. It is filled with people like us. People whose spouses are here to work for a 2-5 yr rotation who have uprooted family and are trying to find 'normal'. This is Palm Meadow. Also picture a club house with a pool/bar/restaurant and various forms of outdoor entertainment. (All I can think of is my own 'club house' back in the STATES. . . called the Armstrongs, Nelsons and Winchips. Each family providing their own part of my 'clubhouse' atmosphere. You are missed.) Let me be clear that since this is 'expat heaven' there is a price tag that goes with it. The landlords know this. . .but hell. . I'm willing to use all my houseing allowance - it's for my sanities sake.
We looked at three schools in the past several days - already knowing which one I would pick. The schools we looked at were The International School of Bangalore (http://tisb.org), Indus (http://www.indusschool.com) and Stonehill (http://stonehill.in).
There is no doubt that the campus of TISB is beautiful. It is superb. . . .but too big for my taste. On a side note, my kids quickly added in "no air conditioning."
I was not inpressed with Indus. The lady giving the tour was very personable but the campus left little impression on us except with the continued side note from the girls. . . ."no air conditioning."
Stonehill is the school we chose. (I knew this was the choice a very long time ago) There are so many reasons why we chose this. The school is small. We came from a very small and good school in Indiana - Washington Township (http://epcsc.schoolwires.net/domain/40), so the thought of something so large as TISB and Indus was heart attack worthy. While we took a tour, EVERY PERSON we passed spoke to us. We met the admissions officer, principal, both girls teachers and the directors to the elementary curriculum. WOW!! We stopped by one of the 4th grade classes. We met one of the teachers - who happends to be from Califoria - she stopped to chat with Olivia. Meanwhile I was counting the kids in the classroom. . . . .10. What?!? Love it. This is my Indian version of Washington Township. Have I mentioned that the school is air conditioned? Winner winner chicken dinner!!!!!
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