“I can’t wait to see our new house. I bet it’s going to be a mini-temple.” – Masan, age 7

Before we left the US the girls had begun to talk and ask questions about where we are going to live in Bengaluru. From what we have seen of expat communities thus far, it looks as though we are going to have a MUCH larger space than the one we currently live in. 4000 square feet versus the 1000, 1 bathroom we have now. Huh. Moving to India to get more space. Who would have thought?

At this point we have probably seen about 25-30 houses and apartments in Whitefield and downtown Bengaluru. All in 2 days without a break for tea. (What happened to breaking for afternoon tea? I thought this was a given in India, and so far I have yet to have afternoon tea here). Most of the homes had pros and cons. Some communities had amazing pools and clubhouses, while others had amazing homes, but a smaller neighborhood (which means fewer potential friends), and others were too far from Dan’s office (traffic in this town is no joke-it makes rush hour on the BQE seem easy). However, today we saw a lovely, simple (not “fussy” as our sweet relocation specialist describes a certain style of home) house with clean lines, a small yard for the kids to play in, a large functional kitchen, enough bedrooms to have friends visit (yes, I mean you!), a pretty pond across the street and a quiet street to ride bikes on. The A/C units aren’t in the living spaces, but apparently you can just request that the landlord install them. 

We definitely saw houses that were much bigger than the one we hope to rent. Most places had 4 bedrooms and 5 baths! No wonder most expats have housekeepers! We would like a place with enough room so that the girls will not be stacked on top of each other, but too much room would mean too much stuff, and I already feel like we spend too much of our time managing our things. That’s not how we want to spend our time here. Home will be a place to relax, sleep, and escape the city chaos, but I’m hoping we will spend most of our time exploring.  

These are some pics of our favorite homes: