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.