We have had a rough week, and I finally feel like I have the capacity to put things down in writing. As soon as we arrived at our beautiful hotel in Jaipur yesterday afternoon, I could feel that I was able to relax and breathe again after 12 days in Delhi. I’ll start at the beginning of the week. 

the walkway up to Luisa’s school and our mall school

On Monday, we did school as usual. We all dropped Luisa off at the Waldorf school and then the five of us headed to our mall Starbucks for school/work. Luisa had requested that she get picked up a bit earlier since, while she enjoys her time in school it is exhausting for her, so I left the mall around noon, picked her up at 12:30pm and then headed back to the mall. We all had lunch together and then headed back to the apartment.  Sometime in the late afternoon, Olivia and Charlotte started feeling sick—fevers, sore throat, achy bodies, so we stayed in the rest of the day. 

At this time I also started to look into how/if we could get out of the rest of our stay at this “luxury homestay” we had booked and paid for until Saturday, September 13 (the day we will fly from India to Sri Lanka). I contacted Agoda directly because I was pretty sure that if I contacted our host directly, he would say no to a refund. We already had plans to go to Jaipur on Thursday through Sunday, so we were hoping to leave the apartment on Thursday and not come back. After some back and forth over the next 24 hours, the host said he could give us about €450 back even though we had paid over €1500 for those 16 nights we wouldn’t be using. Steffen and I agreed to think about it for a day or two.

On Tuesday, it was clear that Olivia and Charlotte could not go anywhere. So Steffen and Luisa headed off to school/work while I stayed home with the three older girls. Hannah did a few hours of schoolwork on the computer while I tried my best to help the other girls. It is so hard to be sick in a place where you don’t have any of your normal comforts plus the fact that the place we are staying at is not a place where you can rest and recuperate. We did contact a doctor recommended by Steffen’s classmate, and the doctor gave us the name of a couple of medicines to buy and told us it was likely just the flu. The both of them spent the whole day in bed. 

That evening, Steffen and I discussed our options regarding accommodations and came to a compromise. He was concerned about our budget (rightfully so), and I was concerned about everyone’s mental and physical health (rightfully so). We would not take the refund but rather be gone from Thursday, August 28 until Saturday, September 6 at some combination of other cities, and then return to the apartment in Delhi for the final 7 nights. That way we wouldn’t spend as much additional money and Luisa could do one more week at the Waldorf school, but we would still get to see other parts on India and (hopefully) enjoy some more comfort. 

On Wednesday morning, Steffen took Luisa to school in the morning and as he arrived back at the apartment, it became clear that Steffen was also sick. Ugh. The other girls still needed a lot of rest so stayed in bed most of the day. Hannah was feeling fine, so she did some schoolwork while the others rested. I was starting to feel very claustrophobic and depressed having been in that apartment for two days straight, and I really needed to organize some gifts for Charlotte’s upcoming birthday, so I picked Luisa up at school and we headed to the mall. It was such a nice afternoon! Definitely what we both needed. We ate cinnamon rolls and drank fruity drinks and shopped and shopped and shopped. We found three new bathing suits for her (much needed as her others were too small and well-worn hand-me-downs) and some small gifts for Charlotte. It was really nice to spend a few hours together doing “normal” things. And she is becoming so comfortable riding in tuk tuks, she can even read her book as we whizz through the streets!

When we got home, Olivia, Charlotte and Steffen were still not doing well. Olivia had quite a high fever, Charlotte had a terrible cough and Steffen had some stomach issues. Not sure if it was all the same virus or different ones, but they were all pretty miserable. But we all agreed that we definitely needed to proceed with our plan to leave the next morning. So I did my best to help them while also trying to get things ready. Hannah and I had dropped our laundry off (after spending an hour on Monday afternoon wandering around, asking numerous people, looking for the laundromat), and I really wanted/needed to pick it up before leaving in the morning. They said it would be ready at 1:00pm on Wednesday so I headed over around 4:30pm, fingers crossed. I got there and the man said, 10, 15, maybe 20 more minutes. LOL. So I headed to the market area and grabbed a treat while waiting. I went back and it was all washed, folded and packaged up! Almost 6kg of laundry for under €6! Which was way cheaper than the €35 our apartment had charged last week for not much more clothing. (Another reason I’m annoyed with the host.) I was so relieved that it was all there and clean. 

My next task was to pick up my computer which was getting a new battery. We had dropped it off at our favorite mall the week before, and when Luisa and I were there in the early afternoon, the employee had said they were still waiting for the battery to arrive. While I was picking up the laundry, the store called to say that the computer was ready. Which was great because we really wanted to get it back before leaving Delhi for 10 days. So I took the laundry back to the apartment, picked up Hannah and headed back to the mall. We got the computer, had some dinner and then headed back to the apartment. It was a long day but I got everything done that I needed to get done which felt really good! It felt like everything was *just* barely working out. 

I have to say that those days in Delhi were very hard for me. I have taken the kids and Steffen away from everything they know and love to go on this trip, and in the first country we have visited that is very different from Europe and the United States, things have not gone well. I am in the one in charge of making all the plans (accommodations, activities, food, budget) so when things don’t go well, I feel very guilty. Also, since Steffen is still working pretty much full-time, we are having to continue to divide and conquer instead of working together. While that works for us most of the time, when some place is so foreign to me, I need his help/input more and it is hard to change the dynamic that we are so used to. That was a big struggle for us the first few years living in Germany and has resurfaced here in India. This dynamic is something that we have to continuously adjust and communicate about.

I hate to see the girls suffering or unhappy, which is something that I need to accept because, of course, there will be many moments (during the trip and in life) where we all need to deal with discomfort. It is just especially hard for me to have these difficult times so early in the trip, and after I asked them to give so much up to be here. At the same time, I know that this year will go by quickly and we won’t be able to do this again, so I wonder–does it make sense to suffer or should we change course and go somewhere we will really enjoy ourselves? Many times in the past week I asked myself, why did we leave Europe?? We could be in the south of France right now. Or still in gorgeous, calm Greece. But deep down, I do know that we are all learning so much here, not despite of but because of the difficulties. And that said, I am so proud of the girls. They are understanding and sympathetic and patient. They have done very little complaining considering how often they are hungry and overwhelmed and dirty. I am very glad that we are doing the trip now with our tween and teenagers rather than when they were younger. They are growing into such compassionate young adults, and I am grateful for their flexibility and how accepting they are.

On Thursday morning, we got up, packed up and a car picked us up at 11:00am for the 4+ hour drive to Jaipur. The driver was wonderful—we felt safe the whole time. Leaving Delhi was hectic and chaotic (at one point I think there were 8 lanes of highway in one direction!) but once we got out of the city, the roads were pretty empty. We enjoyed views of the changing countryside and the occasional goat and farmhouse. We didn’t see any towns or villages and the farms were quite basic and run down. Everyone was pretty quiet during there drive, resting, listening to music and enjoying the fact that no decisions needed to be made. Well, maybe that last one was just me. 🙂 Towards the end of the drive, a huge rainstorm with some thunder and lightening came through and it was crazy how quickly the streets flooded. But our driver did a great job! We were so grateful.

We were a bit nervous driving through Jaipur, hoping and praying that the hotel would be as beautiful as the photos online suggested, and we were so pleasantly surprised as we drove through the gates. Everyone was ready for a meal and then a rest (for the sickies) and a swim (for the healthies). We will be here at least until Sunday and right now, have no sightseeing plans, though there are several beautiful spots to visit in the area. First, we need to have everyone healthy again!