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.