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!