Out of Internet Touch

Sorry I haven't had time to post, and now we are in Goa just checking in on the resort computer. I've created a nice Smilebox with some recent photos (John's band concert and new haircut, holiday parties) and hopefully will have a connection at our next destination in Orissa on Saturday. Stay tuned! Merry, Merry!

Thanksgiving Weekend at the Dune

While John and I were swimming--notice us in the background--Widi snapped this shot. When I looked up and saw the passing camel, it was another one of those we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore moments.

Four other families from our teaching group that arrived in July decided to spend the long weekend at the Dune as well. We stayed in a "nature-cooled" cabin this time, no AC and quite comfortable in the cooler evenings/mornings of "winter." Never fear, it still reaches 90 during the day. The first day we spent two hours at the beach and two hours at the pool between 10 and 2. Despite my constant slathering of sunscreen #50, I scorched my face like I haven't done for years. Too much time in the water, I guess, with the suncreen washed off. So, I'm suffering a bit now and slathering John's aloe vera gel on it now in hopes it won't peel.

 

Of course, we spent our time at the spa and learned that there was a new yoga master. We really like the first guy, Falkuna, but the new guy had his moments too, and I learned some new poses and lots of philosophy from him. I tried a new Aryuvedic head/neck massage with a long period of relaxing hot fragrant oil being poured over my forehead. There were the yoga and meditation classes everyday, Widi's volleyball, and we toured the organic farms and dairy.

 

There was plenty of time with Dylan and Athena at the pool and around the grounds, and a nice dinner on Saturday night. Well, there were nice breakfasts, lunches, and dinners throughout. There's a culinary school and all the food is grown locally plus all the fresh seafood. The place is a dream, I tell you, a dream.

Today on our way home, our driver took us to the Auroville Visitor's Centre, which provides an introduction to the spiritual global community that is an autonomous region right here in Southern India, near Pondicherry. It's an amazing place. Next time we visit, we'll arrange to be able to enter the big Epcot Center structure where the largest crystal in the world is housed. The community, which numbers around 2,000, meditates in this building. I'd like to find out more about the place. The quotes around the Visitors Centre reminded us of Lennon's "Imagine." Very cool.

Thanksgiving Part I and Winter Travel

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with friends in our neighborhood this afternoon, Sun. 11/22. There were stuffed chickens, mashed potatoes with gravy, salads, and a wonderful sweet, smooth grated carrot dish that covered the pumpkin/yams/sweet potatoe taste on the plate. The dessert highlight was a an apple cake with hot caramel sauce direct from Minnesota. There was wine, general conviviality all around, and so very much to thankful for.

Morgen our hostess, a favorite of John's, is standing.

We have a short week of school coming up, a professional development day on Thursday, and a three-day weekend. We're going down to our favorite spot, the Dune, hoping to possibly get some turkey on Thanksgiving and to visit a famous ashram and village known as Auroville. Then we have two more weeks of school, and we're off to visit a few new places in India during our three-week Christmas break.

We're living in Chennai, of course, which is located in Tamilnadu in the very southeastern province of India. For the first week of our the vacation, we'll fly to Goa, a tiny province on the west coast. It's a famous beach spot settled by the Portuguese. The following week, we'll fly to Orissa to Puri, a sacred pilgrimage spot, also on a beach, located further north on the Bay of Bengal. Both of those weeks are timeshare exchanges, so we'll find out what the standard is for RCI resorts in India.

Finally, we fly to Uttar Pradesh through Delhi to perhaps the holiest place in all India, Varanasi, also known as Banaras, which is located on the Ganges River. We're staying there for four nights and then heading back to Chennai to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary on New Year's Eve.

Also, take note on the map, John will be travelling with the 8th grade class to Kerala the southernmost province on the west coast. He leaves the day after his 14th birthday for that adventure.

Parties and Art

We had a laughing party Friday night at our principal Kim's house. All the elementary teachers and aides showed up. The most fun was the White Elephant Yankee Swap, which was a new concept for many of the Indians. That's Kim in the bottom left. It was such great fun from the rooftop to livingroom, all 60 of us ate, drank, and were merry.

Widi's "friend" Emmy arrived on Thursday evening and is spending the weekend with us. She is on her way from Indonesia to go to meditation and Ayurvedic herbal medicine workshops and treatments for the next two weeks in Delhi.

Come to find out, she's someone he met online through his Galang Camp Facebook group; they were never actually in Galang at the same time. My first tip off was when he made a sign with her name on it when he went to pick her up at the airport. As it turns out, she is a lovely woman and came bearing gifts for us from Java and Bali.

The most wonderful gift was Saturday morning when I let on that I was suffering from cramps and a strange and intense pain in my left shin. She immediately started massaging some accupressure points on my hands, feet and legs, all related to hormones, she said. She said she felt the energy blocks like grains of sand that she was able to disperse. It was amazing! My cramps felt better and the shin pain was completely gone. Emmy is, of course, a great believer in all things spiritual including the law of attraction. She said that's what brought her and Widi together and landed her in Chennai; she was so pleased that Widi was able to show her the St. Thomas Church and the Pondicherry ashrams. I was glad she showed up to ease my pain. She also gave us some pointers on some "Art of Living" workshops offered in our area, so it's been really nice having her.

There was potluck party on Saturday evening (party weekend) for all of the 26 new teachers that arrived and were wined and dined together back in July before the beginning of school. The couple who hosted have a goregous house tastefully furnished and and decorated, and some of the teachers were a little disgruntled to see the disparity in accomodations among us. We have nothing to complain about, however, and completely enjoyed seeing everyone.

Also, this week I braved the Chennai traffic to attend one of the teachers' art show opening reception. I found a painting that reminds me of Benin, and I think I might buy it if Widi likes it too. It's the one in the background here of the African woman bending over to prepare grain. It's titled, "Preparing the Wedding Feast." Melissa Enderle, our tech integrator, was all decked out in her sari for the show. She had paintings from her teaching stints in Mali, Serbia, Tunisia, and India.

And here the rains continue. It's a sloppy, dark day outside, a good day for a nap.

And Then The Rains Came

We're getting a real taste of the monsoon season here in Chennai this week. Roads flooded, electricity and internet inconsistent, and John's drama class and Widi's orphanage classes have even been canceled today, Saturday. Our school calendar allows three extra days not for snow cancellation, but flood cancellations. The rain is hard and incessant this morning, it's cool and dark inside, and when the electricity goes, we need our emergency lights to see inside. The cook won't be coming, and there's a lazy day feeling here. The power is back on now, so everyone is happily connected to their favorite game, social network, blog or travel site.

This week we learned that the elementary principal, Kim, with whom I work closely and is very supportive and just fantastic in many ways, has decided to leave at the end of the year. She and our headmaster, Barry, have given me so much support, funding, and positive feedback about every little thing I do or recommend for the ESL Department, that I'm a little sad that she's leaving. But, it's a good decision for her and her family, so it's a new opportunity to experience a new leader in the school. In fact, they're hiring both a principal and vice-principal to replace her, the VP being something she'd been asking for. While the middle and high school's enrollment is down, the elementary numbers--almost all are ESL beginners--keep increasing; I guess the companies are sending more young families to do their time in Chennai.

There are a few other key people leaving the school, and although it seems like we've just arrived, it will this time next year when we'll be asked to decide whether or not we'll be renewing our contracts or not. John was a little homesick this week, asking to go home. We'll have to consider coming back for Christmas next year. Widi and I are so excited about the travel possibilities here, but we miss everyone too!

Yesterday was parent conference day, and John had to present a reflection of his work in math and sit in on all the three-way conferences. While he still has room to put forth more effort, he really is doing great. The only area where he's really not motivated is band, and while he carries that French horn back and forth regularly, he's not very good about practicing, and we're not very good at reminding him to do it. He's excelling with a little room for improvement in all other areas. Three people who I work with that don't see John very often saw us together yesterday going to conferences, and all of them mentioned that he seems to have gotten taller since we arrived. He is now officially taller than Widi.

Now that our March trip to Singapore, Batam/Galang, Yogyakarta, and Candidasa, Bali is all set, we're looking at a stop in Europe for a week on our way home. In March we'll fly to Singapore and take a ferry to Batam, a resort island in Indonesia where a bridge has been built to Galang, the place Widi lived in the refugee camp for six years and me for two, 1988-90. We'll be visiting our old haunts before flying to visit Widi's family and college reunion in Yogya, and then on to East Bali for a timeshare week and side trips to Ubud and Amed, wonderful places we visited back when John was two, but not on our recent trips.

As for the Europe stop, our flight home will probably be through Brussels again, so maybe we can take a cheap roundtrip flight to Barcelona, possibly connect with Jasmine's sister there, and take a short 4-day cruise to Marseille, France and Ibiza. John's taking a semester each of Spanish and French this year before deciding which to continue with in high school, so he'll have his chance to try them both out. We're just in the fantasizing stage of all this, but hopefully it will all come together...

In January, it looks like the 8th grade "Week Without Walls" will take a field trip to Kerala, a beautiful tropical part of South India on the West Coast known for its backwater houseboat trips. The 8th grade teachers will be taking around 40 kids for the week, M-F, to see the sites, do some learning projects, take a houseboat trip, and have a lot of fun! John is excited about it. I hope he'll post some comments and photos on his newly-created Facebook page.

UN Day & Halloween

It was a busy week at school with special events for UN Day and Halloween. UN Day is a big deal at International Schools, as you can imagine. I don't believe I knew there was a day for it before this. We'd been preparing the 4-5th grade ESL students for weeks to sing (and dance) to a fun upbeat song, "Every Moment...a Brand New Chance" about how we can choose peace, friendship and goodwill in every new moment. They did a great job singing and wearing their student-designed tee shirts. There were other student groups that sang peace and human rights-themed songs, and the all-school choir did a moving rendition of "We Are the World," always a crowd pleaser.


There was grand entrance of flag-bearing country representatives, a la Olympics, for all 28 countries represented by the student body. We'll try to get Indonesia represented next year, so Widi and John and be part of it, and we'll get some nice costumes when we go to Indonesia in March.

There was also a special guest whose speech was largely inaudible because this older Harvard-educated Indian retiree, who was the Indian representative to the UN years ago, wasn't really speaking into the microphone. It was so amazing watching all the preschoolers and kindergarten kids, all decked out in national dress, yawning patiently till he finished. There was also an incredible international luncheon prepared by the mothers, service for a thousand. It was amazing. Can you imagine all that sushi, kimchi, and pad thai all piled up? Like a dream come true.

The very next day we had a Halloween parade and classroom parties. Here are a few of the fourth graders.


Tonight John is at the Middle School Halloween Dance. He dressed as Sandara, a Korean rocker, female, of course, with a trademark hairstyle. This is John's Herbert Hoover evening of the year. Wasn't it Brittany Spears last year? Widi is crashing the dance as an Brahman angel. I'm enjoying Suresh's chicken curry and a cold Kingfisher with Dixie Chicks playing rather loudly for apartment living.


Widi got a few photos of the Middle School Dance, and John won "the most unusual" costume prize!

And just when we thought things could get no better for us over here, we ran into a couple families who have convinced us that we really must get a house out close the beach, a little further away from the school. We love this place, and we're just getting it really comfortable with more orchids, plants, some new art and a beautiful carpet. Still, the big drawback is that there is no outdoor living area, no patio or deck whatsoever. And here we are in perpetual summer. The evenings are very pleasant outside. So, we're going to take a look a what is available out there and could be moving as soon as April.

Dune, Eco-Village & Spa

Well, if this place is not the answer to all my dreams, I don't know what is. We are already booking for Thanksgiving. Widi and I got massages, and John and I got facials at the spa. Very relaxing, not too expensive. The food was fantastic, the rooms were beautiful. The pool, gardens, beach, options for relaxing in the shade excellent. It was very quiet; we rode our bicycles around and the only vehicles were electric. There were friendly dogs and camels walking by. I took yoga and meditation classes each day, morning and evening. Widi sometimes joined, and John told the yoga master he'd try it with me next trip. We saw the sun rise and set. Widi played volleyball in the evenings with the culinary interns. Dinners lasted the whole evening; you know the French and all their courses. Well, enough said. It was a great time; wish you were here.

Pondicherry, Seaside French Colonial Capital of India

It was a good move to come down to Pondicherry, about a two-hour dirve down the coast, for this the biggest Indian holiday. It's a much smaller city, and we're staying on the third floor of a western hotel with a rooftop pool/garden. Last night shortly after dark there was a couple hours of fireworks going on off all over the city. Not just round after round of ear-splitting firecrackers like in our neighborhood in Chennai, but an amazing display of fireworks going off in all directions in the night sky, soaring among the strings of lights that decorate buildings. It really was a festival of lights.

After a while we went down to the Renaissance Room, which is the non-vegetarian restuarant in the hotel. John was eager to try it because he recently did an elaborate project on the Renaissance. There were paintings from the period, and the food was quite good. My goal is to try one of the French restaurants here, the old French colonial capital, and we've all agreed that tonight we'll try Le Club, one othat gets raves for prawns, steaks, wine and fondant chocolate in our travel guide.
Walking down in the central park and at the beach, an area lined with French architecture, there were lots of families out enjoying the holiday. Widi waited his turn to get a photo at the statue of Gandhi, and we strolled along the promenade. Most of the Indians we encounter in Chennai and again here are middle-class Indians, struggling along to educate their children and make ends meet like middle-class people everywhere, I imagine, but well-dressed, friendly, and basically unaffected by my presence as a foreigner and the wealth that might symbolize. There is the occasional beggar, of course, but I would have expected more here. You can tell India is rising up in the world; there's a chubbiness to the people that you never would have seen in days gone by.

We also visited the Aurobindo Ashram, which was founded in the 1950s by Sri Aurobindo and a French artist, "The Mother," both very much revered by Indians today. There was a steady stream of visitors at the ashram, we meditated a little, and bought a book about Aurobindo's spiritual teachings. Overall, Pondicherry definitely gets the thumbs up for great French coffee in the cafes, French cooking in the restaurants, and le ambiance francais par toute, and really who can argue with a downtown situated by the beach?

(Written Oct. 18, posted Oct. 24)

Kingfisher, Cremation, & "Cutting Parrots"

Well, it's clear that the daily post thing is not happening for the moment. The weeks fly and all that free time not spent cooking and cleaning gets filled up with various activities, socializing and work. There's a new yoga class, swimming laps at the wonderful, always-an-open lane outdoor pool, preparing budgets, and I even joined Widi in the TGIF gathering on Friday night. This week a group of colleagues met at the 9 Feet High Club, which was a nice discovery. It's not too far from us and located right on the beach, well not *on* the beach, nine feet above and overlooking the beach. It's an open air deck, waves crashing, great appetizers and all kinds of drinks.

I discovered Kingfisher beer in Springfield, MA, at an Indian restaurant as part of our send off from Widi's friends, and we've been drinking it here since it's locally brewed and rather light and refreshing. A couple of expatriates have mentioned, "Well, I hear they mix it with glycerin." We have just ignored these comments since we have a whole case at home and we're enjoying it. So Widi and I were happily splitting large bottles of Kingfisher, that comment came up again the other night, and then when some people were paying their checks, one Corona drinker was questioning the waiter and learned there was a 58% luxury tax on imported beer. She was distressed to learn that she was paying $13/bottle. "That glycerin is tasting better all the time," I quipped to new friends, who are just learning about our living large yet frugally mentality.


We are starting to get reports of visitors coming to India. Two of Widi's friends from Indonesia are coming in the next couple months, Susan Tyler is planning a January trip, and my mother and her cousin are planning to come but dates have not been set. Make your guestroom reservations soon! We have discovered, however, that the downstairs guestroom bathroom does not have a hot water heater. We're going to check into having one installed. The bathrooms are screened, non-air conditioned, so they stay steamy and the tepid shower water, is perfectly fine in this climate. Still, there's something about hot showers that Americans, more than others I think, are attached to. The shower upstairs in John's bathroom, and the master bath both have heaters, but the downstairs guestroom is much more secluded for our guests, so we'll work on that.

As we sat on the beach watching John search and capture unsuspecting crabs last evening just before sunset, a funeral march came by. We thought it was a Diwali celebration because just ahead of the march, young men were setting off firecrackers. There was a drum and bugle playing as the all male procession passed by carrying a brightly flowered casket of sorts. Later we noticed a fire burning across a field, and a neighbor told us they were cremating the person right there.

Also on the walk back home Widi pointed out these large grasshopper-looking bugs eating leaves like hungry caterpillars. They were very well camouflaged as they devoured the bushes. When we asked, a woman said the translation was "cutting parrots" because these bugs, which are large, colorful and fly like parrots, have sharp legs, so if they hit you, you get cut. We took a bunch of pictures because they looked so cool, and none of them flew away, but Widi thought they looked like locust and with so many of them, we wondered what kind of damage they might do.



If you've ever experienced the Chinese New Year, you'll appreciate the sounds of Indian Diwali. It's a time of random and frequent fire crackers. The actual date of Diwali is October 17 this year, but already there are loud and startling sounds like gunshots in our neighborhood. We'll be heading down to the Annamalai Hotel in the former French town of Pondicherry on Saturday, the holiday itself, so we'll see how much louder and more startling it gets. After two nights there, we'll have four days of retreat at The Dune, Eco-Village and Spa, which hopefully will be far from the celebrations. I'm looking forward to the daily yoga and meditation sessions and, of course, the loungers on the beach and at the pool...

Diwali Mela & Feng Shui

We had a busy week and a fun three-day weekend. We bought Indian clothes, went to the beach, dressed up for the Diwali Mela party, and bought orchids to enhance our entrance, which is also our career bagua. I've been reading Karen Kingston's Creating Sacred Space again and noticing energy flows and making some changes to improve the feng shui of our new home.

On Friday I learned that the Indian sari is just a six-meter piece of cloth. I bought a maroon silk sari with gold embroidery for the party. Our driver advised me on what to ask for, and I got a very nice one for about $27--they can go much, much higher. I got a ready-made blouse, which is a mid-drift cotton shirt and an in-skirt, which is a cotton slip that goes under the whole thing. Then, of course, I got help wrapping and tying the whole thing into place properly. Overall, the sari was really hot and rather confining. I'm wondering how these millions of women manage it on a daily basis. It's actually quite similar to the burkha in some ways though much more colorful and stylish looking. John and Widi had a much easier task of finding some Indian clothes to wear to the party.

We went to the Ideal Beach Resort on Saturday with two other families and had a great day. Widi and I both had an Aryuvedic massage, which was heavy on the oils and light on the deep tissue work. It was interesting, and it wasn't until much later that we realized how relaxed we felt. The place is very nice and even though the kids are much younger than John, he has a good time with them.
We also found some beautiful orchid plants at the resort. We bought three of them for our entranceway, and they look great. We bought some special plant food and spray bottles to keep them happy. Widi should be able to keep them thriving.


That night the school was transformed with lots of decorations and lights for the Diwali celebration, the festival of lights. There was a dance performance, a participatory stick dance, which we all tried, dinner buffet and then ice cream and fireworks to top off the evening. It was such fun seeing everyone in their Indian clothes, but I realize now that I didn't take too many pictures of them.

I met up with my Swedish student and a contingent of Swedes all wearing their national color, and Johanna, the tallest one, took what could be our Christmas photo this year!