Finishing up the semester

After Thanksgiving the end of the semester came in a flash. Here are some of our experiences chronicled through just a few photos.

First, these two photos are of the INA market in Delhi. Here are a bunch of chickens waiting to be dinner. It was fascinating to see the assembly line, rather, the disassembly line as they were butchered. There mountainous piles of feet, heads, etc. and closest to the consumer--the meat.

This man is butchering goats. His technique is what impressed us; he has his ultra sharp knife in his foot and uses both of his hands to handle the meat and then slices parts of it using his dextrous toes. This is emblematic of a typical solution to a problem in India creative solutions to interesting needs--in this case, the butcher needed a third hand so he trained his foot for the purpose!

This is a particularly good pollution day lately when I took a run to the India Gate. This is Rajpath, one of the main roads of the area.

The week after Thanksgiving was the culmination of the middle school soccer season which I helped out with. The big finale was a trip to Chennai and a big soccer tournament. It was a great tournament and a great experience overall.  Also fun to see a new city.

 On the first morning before the tourney I took a jog with an obsession to see the Bay of Bengal.

What I encountered was an angry ocean and a potentially beautiful beach that was littered with trash and the morning motions of many Indians.

The run through the city was really cool. Chennai was a city on the move and in some areas it was quite different from Delhi with brightly painted walls, palm trees everywhere and a lot of humidity.

Thanksgiving on the Beach

 We've begun what may be a new India tradition for Thanksgiving. Goa. The beach vacation was everything that we hoped for minus the turkey. We had such a relaxing time on the beach (as relaxing as it can get with two 2 year olds and an 8 month old, that is), playing in the waves and eating delicious Indian/Goan food beside the sea.

 We made the trip with Zachis and the Rugs and it turned out to be a wonderful adventure. We even had some surpises--constant visits from buffaloes roaming the beach, we saw a snake eating a lizard, we swam with the dolphins and saw wild pigs and dogs (of course!).

Here are the two little bits playing together on the beach. They must be searching for crabs.












What a stud! Zach is holding down the fort at our favorite lunch/dinner/all afternoon and evening spot!

Above left: the red snapper that we commissioned to be caught. Our chef went out at 4 am and either caught of bought the fish and spent the day marinating it and then cooking it for us.

Above right: a very happy Bernie after dominating the Red Snapper.

Maya wasn't loving the big waves of the ocean so Laura suggested that we move down the beach to a little stream/tide pool. Of course her suggestion worked to perfection adn opened Naila and Maya to the pleasures of the beach!

Mommy knows best!

At left: Maya is playing with her 'bucket'. Delinquent parents as we are, we forgot the beach toys. No matter, a coconut husk works as a shovel, bucket, building block and much more!

Above right, this is one of my favorite pics of little Maya.

This is the other major activity of the vacation. Here Zach, Adam and I all caught the same wave and Julie caught us in action!

We'll have to do it again next year.

Naila turns 7! (months) and some other happenings

 It has been a while and we/I feel a little bad about it. The truth is we have had a semi long lasting technical issue to deal with. The computer where we keep most of our pics suddenly decided that it didn't want to have a functioning button on the trackpad.  Thanks to an awesome tech department we have a temporary fix--just enough to update the blog and back up the computer.

Anway, these first two pics are of our newest little one in the clan. Maya loved being included in these photos of Naila's big 7 month photo shoot. It was the first time that

Maya's favorite spot! I think she spends more time in our bed than we do.

 I can say that I saw Maya smile on cue. Normally she is shy for pictures or at least aloof to the whole process. This time when we asked her to 'say cheese' she was more than happy to oblige.

 This has to be one of our very favorite highlights so far this year. The Karmapa Lama came to our school for various activities and during a question and answer session Laura got up close and personal with a book signing. I didn't know before this visit, but teh Karmapa Lama is seen as the 3rd most important figure in Tebetan Buddhism (the first being the Dalai Lama and the second being another Lama who hasn't been seen since he was captured by the Chinese some 20 years ago when he was a teenager).

I had the chance later in the evening to go and play basketball with him--but somehow I let that pass me by. Next time!

 The week before our encounter with His Holiness, we were at Oktoberfest at the American Community Support Association. They put on a fun party and we were happily surprised not to have to wait in those horrible beer lines that seem so frequent at beer festivals. An army of waiters

 walked around and topped us off any chance we gave them!

To the right is a typical Sunday afternoon with the Al Morenos. We get together for lunch as often as possible, usually 3-4 times per week, but also have made it a habit to share some great company and tortilla española on Sundays!

 Here are some other pictures to help illustrate our lives here: At left is our dining room and the table set for a Sunday tortilla feast.

 Maya is still "all in" for anything having to do with water. She loves baths and depending on the day demands that we take her swimming at the pool. No more baby pool for this toddler--she has taken to jumping into the water, holding her breath and kick, kick, kicking to find daddy or mommy.

 Here is a picture of the girls' room. Laura has done amazing things with decorating--from sleeping arrangements to painting the walls, to a hand painted tree (jk), laying carpet, and finding a rocking chair. This is almost as good as it could possibly be and the girls seem to like it...unless that means that it's bedtime.

 You may think this is a funny picture to begin my trip to England, but you'd be wrong. This is how the bathrooms are identified in the airport in Delhi. Which do you fancy?

 I didn't take many photos of my trip but the highlights were: I got cold for the first time in 3 months, I learned a bit about the IB, I loved seeing the English countryside, Julie (the French teacher I was with) and I got to go and hang out with some of her English friends, I saw the bombed out Coventry Cathedral, I went running in the cold morning mist while breathing clean air,

and then we got to go to London for 2 hours before our departure.

 In London we took full advantage of our time going to the oldest pub in the city, Salisbury Pub, and then having our final meal of England at an Oyster bar. It was a bit of a mad dash to the airport but I found it to be worth it.

 While I was gone, Laura took on the Herculean task of being a single parent. To the left you see a mock up of what the community thought of her as a parent--a real GIANT.

Actually, this was, I think, an effigy of Ram who fought off a big time Sri Lankan god and helped his people in some major way...or maybe I have that reversed, how should I know, I wasn't even there.

 There were the obligatory fireworks and then as in any good celebration, they burned it down!

This is a fairly typical reaction from Maya--distressed ear covering. No, it wasn't that loud.

These two photos are some great ones that our friend Julie took. This is our ayah, Anita.






Maya has taken to transporting Rosie around liker her little baby.


That's it for today. Overall, life is great and we're very happy on our adventure in India except for two things that seem to be conspiring against us. There has been a sudden onslaught of pollution that has the city quite socked in making us think twice and secondly, the more we talk with friends and family back home and miss out on all of those wonderful community building events, the more we miss home.

Dinner with the ambassadors.

First, an apology: we really were terrible about taking photos this week. We'll redouble our efforts and improve for next time.

After meeting a Paraguayan parent at Parent Teacher Conferences (Married to a Sri Lankan) we were invited to a "Paraguayan Night" at their house to honor the outgoing ambassador. We were the first ones to arrive about 20 minutes late and reminded about la hora latina. We were a little uncertain about what the protocols and expectations would be for a Paraguayan night hosted by a Sri Lankan in India so decided to play it safe. Soon after we arrived we were surprised to realize that the Paraguayan ambassador and his family weren't the only high ranking guests invited--we dined with the Uruguayan Ambassador and his southern cone neighbor the Argentine Ambassador/Consul also. Quite a fun evening in New Delhi and yet another chance to be reminded that our lives have changed a little bit. 

A break from the hustle and bustle of Delhi

The entourage heading to the playground

We ordered food a little while ago and the man on the phone (who I understood with perfect clarity for the first time in India!) asked me for my phone number to confirm the order. Little did I know he really just wanted my number to survey his clientele later. The food was awesome.

Here are a couple of precious ones of the girls. This was Maya wrapped like a burrito at the pool and then hugging her sister during one of our morning stretching/workout sessions. Nothing too strenuous for the girls--usually just jumping on daddy's back while he struggles to do pushups.

Nighttime fun!

 We went to Neemrana this weekend for a little getaway with many other teachers and families from school. It was a great break from the routine of the campus but exhausting at the same time. It was also the first time that we've felt like we've seen real India in some respects. We got out into the hills and enjoyed the palace. We swam, enjoyed delicious foods and soaked in the ambiance of a 15th century fort/palace.

 This is the figure of a deity that was in our room. It was gorgeous. In the evening there was a Rajasthani dance party where some truly marvelous dancing happened. I will be practicing the moves shortly for my next dance off opportunity with Burke. Pictured right is one of my favorite partner moves--spinning as fast as possible while holding on to your beloved--it was intense; I think Laura's game though.

 I'll leave the spinning bike wheels for someone else.

This was our principal dancer/actor. He struck similar poses with everyone in the audience who wanted (and many who didn't seem to want it). He just stood there behind a group of people until someone took a picture. All of it was motivated by his intense love for his profession as he did not ask for any payment or tips!

 Here is beautiful Neemrana from outside. We went on a little hike/adventure walk in search of a long lost step well that was rumored to be in the area. It was very Indiana Jonesy.

And then we found it. Here is a member of our expedition striking a pose.

It was extremely impressive to be there and in the presence of such history. It was sad also in realizing that this treasure wasn't much more to a novelty and a trash dump for many of the locals.

This is a shot looking down the staircase to the water below. At the bottom there really isn't much water--more rubble from the walls and walkways deteriorating.

Here's the entrance to our room. It was off a beautiful little crtyard that made us feel very special. The whole palace was a bit of a maze that of course Laura mastered before she even left the room. The rest of the group was still getting lost as we left today.

Detailed ornamental work was everywhere

Left, this is a view from our window. I think you can see the Zip line that I did also. It was nice but as our neighbor said--you never go as fast as you hope.

Here is the view from our balcony (left) and from outside our balcony (right). Every room at the palace was very unique. There seemed to be secret passages everywhere and hidden tranquility gardens or rooftop party spots. It was a great reprieve.

Maya spent much of the time at the pool but we also wandered around quite a lot. There was a walking tour with an audio guide that I would have loved to take but alas, no time, and oh yeah, we have two little babies that make it impossible to do anything of the sort! Maybe next time.

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