Skiing in Tblisi, Georgia (former USSR)

Hello from the base of Mt. Sadzele (3340 meters above sea level) in the Kazbegi region of the EEU state of Georgia at a ski resort called Gudauri (goo-dowery).

I have to say that this might be an undiscovered paradise. The drive up from Tblisi, Georgia was an absolutely gorgeous 90 minute drive that reminded me of driving from Denver to Vail, only the road isn't an interstate all the way like Vail. The terrain is constantly rising and follows a beautiful river with a nice lake and takes you into some historic and locked in time areas of our world. We were so lucky. I talked to the very helpful concierge lady at our hotel about a ski trip. She put me in touch with a ski shop in Tblisi and I went there the night before to get all my gear and to arrange for transportation to the mountain. The ski shop introduced us to a wonderful young man named Andro (Andrew) and he became our guide for two whole days of fun around here. He picked us up in his Audi station wagon and we headed up the mountain. I wasn't prepared for the completely amazing sights that my eyes would take in for the next few hours. After Delhi's limited 3-4 mile visibility all the time it was such a luxury to see clear skies and blue and mountain tops many miles away while we were driving on relatively smooth roads at highway speeds. I had forgotten what this is like.

It turns out that Andro is a year round nature and outdoor guide. Since we found out that our company is going to be flying here about every other month now that they have a regular business here I have already planned a white-water rafting tour this summer and possibly a mountain climb (rapelling) with Andro. He, in turn, wants to fly to Delhi with us and promote his business in Delhi with some travel agents, of which we know several. He can then fly home commercially. I believe I had previously reported that our business here was coal mines. It turns out that I had received bad information and we are actually developing oil wells here and have got one already producing many barrels per day, while we are attending meetings to get more leases and get seriously involved in that aspect. So, we will be coming here a lot and it will be a regular destination.

I have gotten very fascinated with this part of the world for it's beauty and history and for it's amazingly good food. Now, with all this outdoor recreation available, it's going to be a seriously fun destination and Karen is going to have to come with us sometime and do some antique shopping. These people have some valuable stuff just sitting by the edge of the curb while they sell off grandma's estate. Today I bought a bag full of Russian Army medals that are seriously heavy and authentic. It was retired military guys out selling their old stuff to get something for it. You can pick it up and feel that these are authentic, they have serial numbers on them and the ribbons are very WW2. Since you only see stuff like this in collector's shops I was amazed to see it streetside and went a little crazy. I should make many times my investment on ebay.

My copilot got a Russian WW2 army helmet and gas mask for less than $30 US. They had a large, old camera that was a complete piece of art alone, to say nothing of a collector's item, I just had no place to put it. There are old china sets and authentic antique silver ware that must be worth a fortune. I wish I was an expert, I think this must be a gold mine.

Anyway, the skiing was fantastic powder just like you would find in Colorado or Utah this time of year. The day was not cold or windy although the mountain was foggy. I would ski again tomorrow and it was offered but it is snowing heavily and I don't like to ski when it's snowing like that. It rained here all day so it makes sense.

Any of you that know me know how much I love to go to new places and see new things so you can probably tell it doesn't get much better than this for me.

Let's see, we flew from Delhi to Masshad, Iran, refueled with like the nicest guys ever and their jet fuel was less than $2 a gallon, about half of US prices, so that's a nice stop. I had just flown over Pakistan and Afghanistan, haven't done any of this before and what a buzz I was getting just from seeing Kandahar on my navigation map going right under the nose of the plane. I have only heard about it in the news that usually involves bad things happening in this part of the world. The air traffic controller spoke perfect American English so I spoke to him and asked where he was from. He replied St. Louis and said he was retired from American ATC and had been in Afghanistan for 6 years. He said, I control the whole country and have not one single radar scope available." That's got to be an interesting job. Made me feel good to have that good American accent and expertise when I was in such a foreign part of my world.

Since I am heading for America in less than a week, my personal excitement about my new granddaughter and seeing both of my children is really starting to build now. And, the grand finale will be when Karen and I board the airplane together in Los Angeles on Feb 5 to come back to Delhi where my company has offered me another year, and now we just found out that the DGCA has approved extending the expat pilots until at least July of 2011. Another year or two and I could retire so we'll see how it goes.

The Christmas lights are on all over this town until the end of January. I love it because it helps ease that let down feeling of the after Christmas blues.

Thanks for all your notes of encouragement and concern. I love you all,

Dan

Big Changes at work

Hi from cool Delhi,

The weather here lately has been hanging around 50-55 degrees F in the daytime (10-15C) and a little cooler at night, not a lot. With no heat in the buildings it gets cool unless you wear lots of layers or head for the blankets and covers when you are home. I tend to just keep my jacket on and then have a blanket handy for watching TV or laying around the apartment. Everyone says it will warm right back up again by the time I get back from Los Angeles in three weeks. I cannot wait to see my new granddaughter and have been so buzzed by this great event. I went back to the Sadie pictures post and put up a couple of pics of my son Brad when he was a newborn so you can all see how much he looked like his daughter when he was born. There is definitely a huge family resemblance. One of Brad's friends from Academy days says that all of her guys are married and having baby girls that look just like them so she is freaking out. But, I just can't wait to meet the little lady and try to keep Brad from making her into a Tennessee Vols fan before she has a chance to make her own choices - ha!!

I have been alluding to our work scenario all along and this week our American CEO, who came after I did last summer, was just let go. He tried to make too many changes too quickly and ended up creating a lot of bad will. He also was trying to completely revamp the way we did business and ended up making the DGCA angry at him (and us) so we were effectively grounded for a couple of months with our two Citations and several of the helicopters. In the end, after poor cash flow in the charter department for a couple of months, that ended up costing him his job. There will be an adjustment period and we all move on. There were certain things he did get accomplished for me but overall I am going to be a more relaxed camper now.

I think I mentioned in my weekly letter that the company called me last week and asked me to renew my contract for a year so that really made me feel good and it confirms that we like each other enough to keep it going. The Indian people are really starting to grow on me and they treat me so well that it's hard not to like this place, plus you have someone to do almost everything for you. Karen thinks it will take years to get my head screwed back on straight after this stint.

Today I was walking back to the mall again and came across my cute puppy family. They are getting bigger and I know now that it would not be a good thing to have one of these dogs couped up in my apartment no matter how irresistible they are at the moment. They were huddled up with each other in the security guard's shack so I snapped the photo of the day. I walked to the mall to buy cat food so my cat doesn't disown me but much to my disappointment both malls that are withing walking distance were out of cat food. Cats don't get nearly as much attention here as dogs and there are piles of dog food in every store. My store usually has just a bag or two of cat food but didn't this time. So, I bought puppy chow and when the cat gets hungry enough, she will eat puppy chow until I can get to the store and get her food. I believe she has already gone to the kitchen and eaten so I haven't heard too much complaining. Maybe she likes the variety and will do okay. I got the chicken and milk flavored puppy chow so she should be good with that. If not, she can go hunt small rodents and birds like her ancestors.

Since some of you may have discarded the link to the baby Sadie photo album already I will send a separate email to you with that link just so you can see baby Brad and Baby Sadie come from the same gene pool. If I had a digital picture of myself at that age, it would be a threesome of familiar baby faces.

Thanks to all of you who write and send just a note now and then letting me know these are getting to you. I will take my camera out again and take it on my next trip so that I have a fresh set of pics for you guys. I haven't really done anything new lately so there hasn't been anything new to photograph. I do want to go outside my apartment complex when it warms up just a little and get some photos from these construction villages that just spring up in the middle of a field next to the highrise that is being built. I am sure there are some interesting stories to be found there. I was walking by a professional ironing place today and watching as they filled this HUGE iron with charcoal from the fire and then ironed many clothes with this thing. It must weigh a ton and I don't even know how they do it. I've got to get pics of that for you ladies who think your iron is heavy. And, you don't have to stop every hour and refresh the charcoal either. Non-stick surface? What's that??

As I was walking back from the mall tonight I was in the little village that is outside my gate and my housekeeper/cook named Meva saw me and came running over to say hi, although since she doesn't talk English it was more like this: Her - Dinner? Me - no, breakfast. Good-bye. That's about the extent of our verbal communication. Most of what I show her is by example. Yesterday at the mall in Delhi after Sunday church I finally found some Macaroni and Cheese Dinners from Kraft. Whopee! My kids and I could probably survive for a few months on these and just some bread or something. So, today I got one out and showed her how to cook it. She was arguing with me at critical points. She thought I put too much water in the pan when I was boiling the macaroni. She didn't realize I was going to dump it out later. She screamed when I put the milk into the cheese and macaroni mix in the pan. After I had a pretty good mix going, I put some on her plate (you feed your help here, it's one of their perks) and made her taste it. At first she wrinkled her nose and acted like she didn't like it but I kept after her to eat a few more bites and soon she was scarfing it down. By the end, she had eaten well and indicated that she liked it - so I feel good that I have a new convert to mac and cheese, one of the staples of life. I told her she could take the chili powder that I keep in the kitchen and pour some on hers to make it more like Indian mac and cheese but she shook her head no, much to my surprise. I like Indian food pretty well, if they will just leave the chili powder out or cut down on it, I could really get into it. But, at the guesthouse last summer they were cooling it off for me and the customers started complaining that the food wasn't spicy enough. Rats!! Oh yeah, I forgot to remind you all that my bachelor kitchen is filled with convenience foods like pancake mix and cold cereal and lots of bread for toast and french toast and sandwiches and now mac and cheese. Of course there is frozen pizza and you can call out for pizza if you wish. I have lots of fresh fruit in the form of oranges, grapes, apples, bananas, and now Karen's favorite - pomegranites. I had never opened one up but now I have and they are really good when they are fresh. The mangos and papayas are tremendous here, I just haven't brought one home yet, but I get them at the restaurants and at people's houses. Yum. Some of the curries are made with lentils and I love those. Dal can be good if it isn't too spicy and what they call salad here is really just sliced cucmber and carrots and onions. I spoil myself with several bags of fresh nuts to munch on as a snack. I have pistachios and almonds and peanuts at the moment. They aren't too expensive and I learned to use them as snacks from my marriage counselor, who snacked on nuts so he could counsel all day long without more than a few minutes break.

Feeling good, getting ready for my trip to America. Karen has now received her passport back from the Indian consulate and she has her visa. They are done by handlers and the outsourcing company keeps the change if your visa isn't approved as you requested. We wanted her to have a 5 year visa . They approved only a 6 month visa to match the expiration date on my employment visa and kept the couple of hundred dollars difference. Oh well, now all she has to do is get on the plane and she will be with me in LA and after also seeing the new granddaughter, she will be traveling with me back to Delhi on Feb 4 and 5. Fun!

Kitty is under the covers keeping warm on me and keeping me warm so we help each other. It's time to tuck myself in. Have a great week. My inspirational saying for this week is: Remember, happiness is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the ride. It will be over before you know it.

Visitors from America

As you can see from the picture, I recently had company come to visit. When you are 10,000 miles away from home this is great fun. Paul and Hillary Madden from Spokane and Kati from Northern Idaho had all come to the New Delhi SDA church a couple of weeks ago. I always try to meet expats who come by the church so we chatted briefly and I had invited them to come stay with me if they ever needed. Paul is Hillary's father and he had left his organic apple growing business long enough to come visit his daughter who, with her friend Kati Winkle, had taken a student missionary year to come to Southern India and help teach at an SDA school there. Since I had taken a student missionary year to Botswana when I was exactly their age (37 years ago) I was really excited to see some kids still going for that big adventure and trying to expand their own personal horizons a little bit. Both ladies had attended Walla Walla University in Walla Walla, Washington last year and that is how they got hooked up with the SM program. Kati is going to be attending Pacific University in Portland, OR next year and that is where my very own daughter, Shayna Bowman, is in her second year of Optometry right now. So, we all had something to talk about. Dad (Paul) is just here to explore India with daughter and friend and to keep them safe as they toured to Nepal and on to Thailand for a New Year's celebration. When they flew back into Delhi they needed a place to stay for a couple of nights and so I managed to get my company driver to come pick me up and then go the the airport and pick them up. We have eaten good American food, gone to the Avatar movie, made pancakes, called out for pizza, etc. and they are telling me that they really have enjoyed getting back into civilization, of sorts. I also had my personal computer available for them to Skype with their families and I just am amazed at how technology has improved communication since I was alone in Africa all those years ago. I would write a letter that took 10-14 days to get to the states. Friends or family would answer and send it back and a month later I would have my answers to questions I had long ago forgotten. Now these kids can talk with mom and dad and siblings and in an hour you almost feel like you still know your family again. I still think about my folks going to South America in the mid-1940's and not only riding a freight ship to get there with nothing to eat but having the threat of being sunk by u-boats the whole time. Then, they were on a 6 year promise before they would get to come back to the states. Now that was true sacrifice. I am still in awe of those kinds of sacrifices.

Anyway, it was fun having the company and it seems that just as they came the Delhi winter set in for some serious cold. It has always been heating up in the daytime with bright sunshine but today (Saturday) the sun never came out. It was foggy and cool all day and without any central heat in the buildings it is up to your clothes, whatever heat you have brought into your place and whatever solace you can find under blankets and quilts. We were all kind of shivering all day long. The cat even buried herself under the heavy comforter on my bed and didn't come out all day. I never thought I would be cool in Delhi after arriving last summer in late June, but today it was actually a little cool. Temps were probably near 50 for a high today and low in the mid 40's last night but with no heat in the buildings and the sun not coming out it just feels chilly. January they promised it would be cool and then by February it's warming right back up again so I guess I need to soak up this cool weather and store it somewhere.

I was just really lifted in my personal spirits by having social contact with Americans for parts of 3 days. It was so hilarious watching the girls tell stories to their families back home and of course making it as funny as possible. The topper was dad trapped on his elephant ride while the elephant guide left them unattended to look for a camera case for a moment and dad's elephant deciding to go get some tree leaves to eat. Dad is hollering that his head is in a tree and the girls cannot contain their laughter as dad is truly an unwilling passenger on this tree eating elephant. You just cannot get good stories like this back home. And watching the girls make the story better with each telling was half the fun.

No flying this weekend so I am headed out for the Sunday church tomorrow since my company has a taxi picking them up at 4 a.m. to catch an early flight. The American pastor is still visiting his kids in the states so this will be the first time I have heard a guest speaker. They took the same flight from Delhi to Chicago that I will be on in about 3 weeks. It's one of those 16 hour killers. I wonder if you can run laps in the aisles of a Boeing 777? Everyone I have talked to tries different ways to beat jet lag and I haven't met anybody that says that it really doesn't affect them. Since I am only in America for about a week this time I plan to stay jet lagged the whole time. No way around it.

My upcoming trip in the Citation to Tblisi, Georgia is now coming up on the 8th so I am really looking forward to this adventure. I was working with dispatch on the flight planning the other day and I will be making a fuel stop in Iran. Fuel is cheap (imagine that). But, this is all so far off my radar map it just seems like its a dream. If we stay in Tblisi long enough I am told that it is surrounded by mountains and that there would be snow skiing near by. Now skiing in the former USSR would be a cool logbook entry. I also have skiing in a beautiful resort in Northern India on my list of things to do, along with Scuba diving in India, Australia's Barrier Reef and golfing where ever I get a chance. Got to do these things while I am on this side of the world. And, just for grins I will go home to meet my first grandchild, Sadie, who will be born any day now. I thought life would slow down and get boring about this point but I am just holding on for dear life and watching God's blessings pile up. Then, Karen will be coming back with me in early February and that's going to be so much fun!!

Have a great new year! I got a Holiday text from someone in our Indian company. They got Santa Claus and God all mixed up and I just really got a kick out the text. It was to the effect of may Santa Claus bring you all the blessings and happiness and good things in the next year. I appreciated the sentiment.

It only took us three attempts at the box office to get tickets and timings right to go see the Avatar movie. It was just such a classic Hindi-English mis-communication situation. They go on a daily basis over here. The good part was in this very nice, new theater a premium seat was only $3 US and the meal deal was a (vege) burger, large drink and huge popcorn for another $3. It would have been closer to $10 for the movie at home and $15-20 for the food. And there were no trailers to sit through. They seat you and boom, the next thing you know the movie is running. There is a forced intermission but it isn't ever long enough to go pick out another snack, make the purchase and get back so I guess it's just for a very quick potty break. Most of the theater staff and box office people couldn't understand our requests or communication issues but Indians who came to the English movie understood enough to help us get our times and tickets changed and to figure out which actual theater our movie was showing in (is it behind door number 1, 2 or 3)? Staff had a blank stare and were of that we don't know but we will not admit that we don't understand variety of answer that you so often get over here. Have you ever called for technical help on your computer or something and ended up talking to someone in India for 30 minutes and you aren't sure what has been said or what the actual answers that they are trying to give are?? There you go.

My life is easy compared to many here. No complaints. And, after a week I got my hot water heater back in the main bathroom so life is good.....a hot shower just cures so many ills....Dan

Back in the Air

Happy New Year!!

I know I am early but since everything happens late in India by the time you get this it will probably be New Years.

I went back and looked at my log book to see what this year has been like. I always do this and my family used to think I was too wrapped up in my logbook but it's like a diary for me and I can go back and sort of relive my flying year while comparing it to the years before. The interesting thing about this year has been, of course, my tour to New Delhi, India. When I left Pittsburgh and came over here since Pittsburgh was kind of slow at the time I left I didn't fly for the last 3 weeks or so that I was there and adding that to my taking lots of time to actually get approved for flying over here, I was 50 days between flights back in June and July. But, that wasn't my longest period inactivity, as I just went back to flying after a 52 day hiatus. Most of this was because the DGCA got kind of mad at us and decided to enforce a rule that had been on the books but was generally ignored regarding use of contract pilots. When my regular copilot went for gallbladder surgery that effectively grounded the airplane for 6 weeks. Now, I have another young copilot who just got approved to fly with me in the XLS and we completed our first flight on Sunday evening. We still have some work to do with the DGCA because they approved a weight and balance sheet that cannot be completed due to no moment table for the fuel. I use the one from the AFM (aircraft flight manual) but some of our people don't think that it's legal since it hasn't been officially approved. I think they are reasonable people and would see that what we are doing is correct.

Anyway, to celebrate the new year and to celebrate that I am back flying again after almost two months, I decided one last photo of the winter uniform (monkey suit) in the plane was my little celebration. My favorite flying uniform that I have seen anywhere is the guys flying the little charter planes to the outer islands in the Caribbean and they are usually wearing shorts and a T-shirt along with their flip-flops. Of course, they are usually without any functioning air-conditioning and that is sort of survival gear down there.

I am loving the weather this time of year. It gets a little cool by morning but the days are lovely and just warm enough to make you realize it's going to be a long, hot summer in just a few weeks.

Today I am dressing in my church suit for the first time since I came to Delhi. The occasion is the wedding of one of our young people from the Delhi SDA church. I cannot really pronounce their names correctly but we talk and smile and wave in the church every week and they handed me a personal invitation so I told them if I was in town that I would try to go. So today Miss Somiwon Hungyo and Dr. Deepak Ditiya are taking the plunge into Holy Matrimony. It's at the church so I have seen the venue, I am just glad that I can go and be supportive, plus I get to see what this wedding party will be like. Fun! (And I know some of you guys probably think I am crazy). When you are alone on the other side of the planet it doesn't take much to provide the day's entertainment, let me tell you. But, this should be a good party and so here we go.

Today marks the actual day of being exactly one month until I fly home to America to visit the kids, see my new granddaughter when she comes into the world, and best of all, to get Karen and bring her back to India with me. Adventure never stops when you live like this.

Thanks again for all your comments, support and care for me during this last 6 months of being alone in India. I do have too much time to be on the computer since that is my social contact with the world. When Karen comes that will be replaced with person to person social contact and that will be a big improvement. But, it has been nice to be able to keep in touch with so many of you. I hope to still be able to blog or write once in awhile and to keep the pictures coming so that you can visualize that India is a real place with real people and lots going on.

Now go out and make it a great year in 2010. My close of the year admonition is a song I used to lead as a Youth Pastor in California that takes it's words directly from the Old Testament Prophet Micah (6:8): He has showed you, O Man, what is good, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Simply profound!!

Merry Christmas

It's funny, just when you think you have experienced all the weirdness that is a foreign country, something else crops up. We have had our new copilot back from school at FlightSafety in England for almost two weeks now. As soon as he got back he would have been working (flying) in America. Here he had to get DGCA approval to fly and then he has to have his familiarization training done by an experienced captain (me). The last piece to the puzzle is that since we are charter I needed a route check done since I have now been here for 6 months. This is a routine checkride if you have ever flown charter in the states and one that I flew many times up in Pittsburgh with the owner of our business up there. Here getting approvals and someone to actually ride along with us who is qualified has been a nightmare. The company has been calling me almost every day with a request for information. Today I found out that Murphy lives in India, too, as I had just completed my Flight Instructor renewal class online and sent all my paperwork to America, where I received confirmation of said paperwork and a temporary flight instructor's license until my permanent one comes back. They actually just send you a diploma which serves as a temporary license. When I sent my paperwork in, one of the things they wanted was my actual old flight instructor's license. I hadn't needed it for the 6 months that I had been here but I was nervous about sending any pilot license away. Sure enough, I was requested to send the license last week and this week our company requested me to bring in my flight instructor's license so they could make a copy. I had to tell them I had just sent it to America and it would be a few weeks before I got my new one back. This is about the third day of a complete staff of people going down to the DGCA and doing paperwork so that I can just be a check airman and check out my new copilot. Undoubtedly, I am the most experienced Citation XLS pilot in the country and that has come up with our people but that doesn't mean anything with these guys. So, another day goes by and it looks like two more will go by. I am actually thinking that I may not be flying until after Christmas now. The way things are going, I will be lucky to be flying before I go home to the USA on January 28th. What a place!!

On the other hand, I am sure that I am going to be here for the carol sing at the Hyatt Hotel on Christmas Eve. I thought I was going for a checkride yesterday but then it cancelled after I had gone to the airport, taken the sobriety test, checked in with airport staff and was waiting to go to the plane. Then the text message came through that the flight had cancelled. So, it did allow me to go to choir practice last night, which was now getting quite a bit more organized and well attended. While at the practice everyone was talking about some new Indian Visa regulations that are applying particularly to the tourist visas, which is what Karen will have over here. I guess people

who have been here for more than 90 days have left the country temporarily to go to a funeral or something like that and have not been allowed back into the country unless you stay out for two months. Since Karen and I were planning a little vacation next summer that would last only one month, this would apply. How crazy does it get?? Now there is some different visa called an x-visa for India that some are getting and it allows what they call multiple re-entry. So, I guess we are going to have to try and get one of those for Karen. Lots of things to think and worry about.

Last night was our really first cool night this winter season. The kitty was quite fond of the room heater, which is a radiator type. She set up shop right beside it on a little carpet that I gave her.

I was glad that I had my new comforter and slept very well.

As I was riding through a particularly crowded neighborhood in the back of the car last night I was thinking that you can kind of control how much you immerse yourself in Indian society over here. If you choose, you can go right out there and dive into it, noise, pollution, crowds and all. Or, you can also be in India but live a pretty good lifestyle with fancy shopping malls, good restaurants and big houses. You can also choose to not immerse yourself in the less desireable parts of Indian society. When a severely handicapped or very poor person appears at your car window at the stop light or somewhere else, it really makes a difference in your day and how your feel about yourself depending on how you react to these people. It has given a completely new meaning to the word "witness" for me. It's not something I "do" or how I act, it is actually who I am to these people every single minute of every single day.

The picture is from our choir practice the other night at Pastor Karl's house. You all have a wonderful Christmas and safe travel throughout the holidays.

Dressing up

Hello again from India,
So many of you have responded so kindly and been so encouraging I want to thank you very much. When you are far from home you have no idea how much it means to hear from folks back home just to say hi and that things are okay.
Since I have not been flying for a few weeks it has allowed me to get some other things done that have been on my list. One is to get over to the tailor's and get measured for my winter uniform. Since they measure everything the fit is really great and so, since this is my first complete uniform with a jacket and all, I took a self portrait in the mirror when I got home and tried it on.
We really don't get to wear the jacket much here since it isn't really cold for long at all. This time of year we will only wear the jacket as far as the plane and then hang it up and fly without it. So, this is the one chance you will get to see me in the full monkey suit. Thank goodness they don't want hats! I have never looked good in a hat. And maybe some of you will notice that all the time in the gym has been having a good effect.
Today was another typical India day. We had lots of errands to run and things to do all over Delhi. I took another pilot with me because we were having to get attested copies of our passport signed by someone way downtown. This was required for us to renew our airport passes for next year. They expire on December 31 and it took me almost 5 months to get it the first time. In fact I was laughing to myself because the pass didn't come in time to get me to the airplane one time for a flight. I have always been a passenger on my own plane with a boarding pass, etc. But, the airport pass has allowed me to go to the airplane to update my flight charts and do a couple of engine runs to exercise everything so the airplane will fly next time we actually get to go fly. My copilot is coming back from London this weekend but now I am told that it may take as long as 2 weeks to get his paperwork through the DGCA and get him approved as a copilot on our XLS. To give the pilots in my audience an idea of the opportunity that India provides for young people interested in flying, my new copilot is a great young man who is 28 years old and has exactly 600 hours. When I was that age and had that sort of flying time I was flying single engine Cessnas and Pipers and just glad to be doing it. He will be riding right seat for a long time, but what a fantastic opportunity for someone here in this country. He has so much invested in his flying though, he will be flying for many years before he gets it all paid off and gets on the positive side of the ledger since he went to America and paid for his own training. Our owner is helping him but he will be working for years to make this right. Ashish is a great guy and is dating one of our air hostesses so maybe love is in the air, who knows?
I found out that they are going to approve me as a check airman for the XLS, at least for this one situation and then maybe for others as it becomes necessary so that will be something new and exciting to do - help others become better and safer pilots, real professionals that are making true contributions to their companies for years to come.
I am very excited about this upcoming weekend. I have a tiger exploration and sighting tour coming up. We take a nice 4 hour train ride to somewhere North of Delhi to a state park known for tiger sightings. We will spend the night in a nice lodge and then get up very early the next morning to go see some real tigers in their live habitats. The last time I did this with a truly wild animal was when I was in Africa 37 years ago and we did some game sighting tours in the Kalahari. With a little luck maybe I will get some nice photos.
Well, here in India I am having to look hard for Christmas. I have my computer loaded up with lots of Christmas music and played through my amplifier speakers and with my carpetless apartment I can get pretty awesome sounds going. It's a little hard to follow up outside since it's around 70 degrees out there tonight at 9 p.m. But, I volunteered to sing in the Christmas Chorale at church and we have been invited to perform at the Hyatt Regency Hotel right next to my corporate office here in Delhi on Christmas Eve. They set up a little stage and we will sing a few carols and then lead the audience in quite a few more. There will be a flute solo and a vocal or two. There is one ladies trio that is really great and that will be most of my Christmas here this year. Of course the best part for me is knowing that I am now sitting on two airline tickets for early Feb for Karen and me to fly from Los Angeles to Delhi. I am flying to LAX late January and spending a few days both with my daughter and son-in-law in the Portland, Oregon area and then coming down to be with my son and daughter-in-law in Southern California. They will have provided me with my first grandchild by that time even though that little lady hasn't been born yet, she is engraved on my heart and mind. The kids seem to be getting excited about a dad visit all the way from India and I am very excited about it. Of course, it's going to be equally exciting to bring Karen back to India with me. I am so going to relish the looks on her face as she experiences all the wonders of this beautiful and interesting place.
When I went to Qatar for Thanksgiving and then came back to Delhi to my own place, it was the weirdest feeling in the world. It is like my world has gone through a complete shift and my life is so different from what it was before. I do feel much more at home here, I have lots of friends, both expats and Indians, who are wonderful people, and I find a lot of truth in the statement that I want to be my little piece of advice or saying for this blog -"Wherever you are, it is your friends who make your world."

Mosquito Alley

Hello from India. The weather here has been so nice, just perfect temperatures both day and night. Days have been running around 27-30 C, high 70's to mid 80's for the farenheight crowd. It cools down to around 10-15 C (50 to 59 F) at night. I haven't run air for over a month and I have no heat so a light blanket has been just great. I guess I might break down and buy at least one space heater for the apartment in case it gets really cold one night in December or January. So far, no need at all. A little hazy but just perfect temps. If you want to visit Delhi during the good times of year, I would suggest late October through mid December in the fall and they tell me that Feb and March are also just wonderful. Then, by late April it is getting very hot again. January can be cold.

The reason I called this blog mosquito alley is that during the late summer we were under attack but then the cool weather kind of ran them off. Now, with the very mild temps, they have sort of been making a comeback and since these are the dengue fever bad guys, I don't entertain them lightly. Karen thinks I am getting too crazy about this but you know when one of those little critters has been buzzing your ear at night for a few minutes, sometimes longer, it brings an amazing amount of satisfaction to swing the raquet a little bit and hit something. The other night I had three buzzers and I immediately turned on the raquet and got two. The third one was elusive and prowled most of the night over my body, which was under the covers. Finally, about 4 in the morning he went right past my ear and I took the raquet and just held it up above my head in the dark, with my eyes open. All of a sudden there was this loud pop and a sudden little firework display for just a microsecond as the mosquito became a temporary light source. I slept so well after that. No more threat of bad stuff making me go to the hospital. Oh, and the fighter pilots used to call parts of Vietnam "Mig Alley" and the aces had shot down 5 of the enemy planes. I am now officially an ace, having shot down at least 8 of these guys now over a period of a week. For awhile I thought I had wasted my money on this raquet but now I am feeling like it was one of the best buys I have made here - ha!

Today is Karen's and my One Year Anniversary. We got married in Las Vegas last year on a day that one of our Presidents said was a day that would live in infamy, December 7th. Karen wittingly said that we should reset our anniversary date since I have been out of the country for the last 5 months. Thank goodness for Skype and international phones so that we can maintain our relationship across continents and miles. Love you Karen!!

Went to church in Delhi on Saturday and ended up playing the piano for service since the youth were gone camping and one of them is the regular pianist. They were very nice about the help, although since I have no keyboard of any kind to practice on, it challenged me, plus knowing all the songs they use to keep the service flowing, etc, was keeping me hopping.

I signed up to sing in the Sunday church's Christmas Chorale so will be going to my first practice on Tuesday night. I need a few things like this to keep me focused during the Holidays since Karen and I won't be together until late January. She found her old passport so that is going to make getting her new one a lot easier and is one of the first things that has gone our way for her to come over here so we are happy about that. And, for those of you who are wondering, it was in the bottom of an old purse, in the bottom of an old suitcase, out in our storage area and she hadn't laid hands on it for years, so it was a very lucky find.

Pittsburgh had it's first snow of the season over the weekend and I understand from friends in Tennessee that it was snowing down there, too. Hard for me to imagine with the mild temps that we have going on here.

I found out that our company is officially promising the Citation that I fly will be back airborne by the 20th of Dec. Since I haven't flown since the 3rd of November, that will be over 6 weeks of paid time with nothing I can do except keep the charts and Flight Management System database updated and current. My friend Dhaka says I am the luckiest guy he has ever met because he is out with his surgery and I am out because he is out. Since this is a Hindu country, I imagine that my flying will get quite busy once we get flying again and the Christmas Holiday will mean nothing to them. There are lots of Christians here and the churches do put on a display. I have seen Christmas stores and decorations in spots but their holiday (Diwalli) was in mid October and it will be interesting to see if there is any recognition of Christmas here, officially.

Next weekend is when I am going to ride a train North of Delhi for a few hours and visit a National park here in India that is famous for Tiger sightings. I don't think we are guaranteed a tiger sighting but they say to bring your camera as good things happen. I am really excited about this opportunity to see these beautiful cats in their natural habitat. With a little luck I may have some really nice pictures and I am going to make sure I have my telephoto lense with me, too.

My group of Delhi Dan letter readers continues to grow. When I first came over, there were about 75 people that I was writing to and for. Now, through family and friends who have requested to be put on the list, I am over 90, pushing towards 100.

Thanks to everyone who reads and encourages and responds occasionally, it means a lot to have your support.

Advice for this blog - The last house you are going to live in might be the one you are building now, so build it carefully and to last.

Take care,

Dan