Breck and I went to the Bandra Fair last weekend (the yearly event that we visited as a family last year) for a little guy time together. I decided deliberately not to bring a camera, as I find that can become the focus (ha ha) of what I’m doing, and I wanted just to hang out with him.
We did bring a Flip video camera, though, a device a little larger than a mobile phone, and shot a bit of video. Not too much, but enough to give a taste of the event. Enjoy a quick look at the Bandra Fair!!
Well, it is official. Everyone in my family is certifiably photogenic except me. Our school has a rotating image front page to the website, and Alea graced the cover a few months ago. This weekend, while doing homework, we saw that the image set had been redone, and now both Susan and Breck get their shot at ASB stardom:
Way to go, my famous family!!
Or at least be 13th best!
We pass this local college every day coming home from school, and I just had to get a shot of this sign (BTW – billboards are called “hoardings” here, in case anyone ever asks you). They’d had the same ad last year, and I never took a picture, but it is back for another round, and I got my shot this time.
I suppose there is a very specific demographic to which this university is appealing – MBA students who want to attend a college in not just any part of Asia (it has to be South Asia) and have a school that is good but not too good.
I do wonder how they decided to advertise as the “13th best” as opposed to “One of the Best” or even “in the Top 15.” Of course, 13 doesn’t have the bad luck connotations as it does in the West, but that designator is still somewhat funny.
Oh well. Seeing this reminded me that I have a ton of pictures from this past year that have not yet been posted (yes, including the Egypt trip, but that is moving really slowly right now). These last few weeks are killer, what with end of the year hoopla, goodbye parties, report cards, packing, buying a house (surprise!!), etc, etc,etc. I’m not sure how much of anything I’ll get to, but I did put together another “Life in India” photo montage for the webpage, so enjoy the photos!
On our way home yesterday from Alea’s band concert (see tomorrow’s post for a poem and picture combination!), our family of four took separate rickshaws. We figured we had too much stuff and we’d just be too crowded in one, so the girls took off and the boys followed behind them.
Now rickshaws are often full of things other than people: just the other day one was stuffed with dvd players. On other occasions we’ve seen goats, vegetables, even a toilet being transported in these things. At a light near the school, though, we saw a great example how a rickshaw is meant to be packed!
There were at least 8 people in it (counting the driver), and they thought it was quite amusing that we wanted to take a picture (luckily I had the camera from the band concert). One lady – the closest one, dressed in black – did duck her head out of the photo, but I still like the way you can see just about everyone looking at us.
Just to keep things fair, I also took a picture of Breck’s face reflected in the side mirror as well!
And, when the traffic started moving, we waved goodbye and sped off to our apartment, about a half hour (and $1.40, including tip) away, where we celebrated the successful concert with an order of traditional Indian KFC.
Friday was the elementary school’s aquatics craziness day (that wasn’t the official name, but that sure sums up the goings on). The huge pool play stuff that Alea had used has been set up at the school, and our PE department was determined to get the most use possible out of it!
Breck’s class was part of the festivities, and so he was splashing around with the best of them. Susan made it down and apparently took hundreds of pictures – she printed out several great action series – but we left all the photo stuff at the school (and I forgot to pick it up after volleyball practice yesterday morning).
So here are a couple of pictures that were emailed to us by a proud mom, shots that she took of her son (one of Breck’s good buddies) that caught Breck in action. We’ll definitely add more to his webpage once we get our act together (and there’s even a rumor that he’s going to write an entry about it on his blog!)
The kids are busy growing up
Its hard to realize that
Where once they played with dolls and balls
Now its games and skype-based chat.Double digit ages loom
They once were far off goals:
“You can use an ow-ey knife then,
watch unedited Disney shows.”But time moves on, and kids grow up
The thought that leaves me cold:
Because they are no longer young
It means we are getting old!Sigh
Our weekend turned out to be a crazy filled couple of days, with a play date after school Friday, the huge Family Fun Day at school on Saturday, and a modeling shoot for Breck on Sunday. In between all that stuff, we managed to barbecue, buy some shoes, go out to dinner, hang some new pictures, finish all our homework, and even play with our Kiara friends a bit.
Sunday morning, Breck and I went to get him ‘shot’ again. I know Breck enjoys the prospect of some pocket money and the chance to eat a bunch of Dominos pizza! We asked what happened with all the photos that are taken, and the photographers took us to a nearby store that had pictures of Breck hanging all over the place!
The employees were smiling when Breck walked in, pointed, and shouted, “That’s me!” The shoppers were giving him double takes as well as we walked around the place. No one asked for an autograph – this time!
His favorite shot was a huge poster with six different poses of him on it. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera along, so we asked one of the guys with us to take a picture on his mobile camera and send it to us – we’ll see if it makes it.
They did give us three of the extra pictures, however, so we can show off how Spiderman Stutz is taking the Indian scene by storm!
OK, not really free verse, but more like “Poetry Friday.” Since that’s not really too alliterative, however, I’m taking creative license to change it. Thinking that we need a little shake up around here, we’ll be posting poems on Fridays to help ease us into the weekend.
The inaugural contribution comes from Breck, in the form of a limerick he wrote for class:
There once as a pig in a sty
Too happy to ever cry
‘Cause the oinking noise
He made with his voice
Was bright as the sun in the sky.
Huge weekend plans for Breck – his birthday is on Monday, which is also Chinese New Year this year as well as India’s Republic Day. Since that is one of only two national secular holidays, it is celebrated with parades and fireworks and a day off from school; he is pretty darn excited about having no school on his birthday.
Since this is a great opportunity to have a lot of fun with him, we had a ton of stuff planned. On Friday he took treats to school and then went to a friend’s house to play (while mom and dad both had separate TGIF parties to attend). On, Saturday we had a birthday party for him at home with some friends, after which Dave took them all to a nearby mall (nearby meaning a little less than an hour in traffic each way) for video games and Pizza Hut. Today he is enjoying all his friends’ gifts – righ now he is trying to figure out how to play a new Star Wars computer game. And on Monday, we’ll do a family thing with him. What a lucky guy!
Susan was really annoying me, however, all day on Saturday. Because of the vagaries of trying to ‘time’ how long it will take to get anywhere, we had told kids’ parents that we’d be done around 6 in the evening. For some reason, Susan kept calling the whole time we were at the mall and coming home: “What are you doing now?” “Are you eating yet?” “How come you haven’t left yet?” “What’s taking you so long to get home?” etc… I was tempted to just shut off the phone, and was getting tired of being nagged so much.
We finally rolled in at 6:20, which I thought was pretty darn good. As I walked in the door, Susan grabbed me and said, “I need you to help Alea on the roof. She’s gotten into a huge fight with one of her friends up there and I don’t know what to do about them.” So here I am, after a full day of babysitting a bunch of 4th graders at the mall, being dragged into some kind of middle school catfight. Sigh.
When we made it up to the roof, I turned the corner and a whole bunch of people started singing, “Happy Birthday.” My first thought was that I needed to get Breck up right away, since he was missing his song. Then I noticed that they were all looking at me and laughing (which, granted, isn’t that unusual an occurence), so I figured that something else was going on. When the voices stopped, Susan explained that it was my half birthday, and since I have never had a full on birthday party (because we and our peers are always dispersed across the globe by the time June rolls around), she had set up a surprise “Half Birthday” party. Seeings how my next age change brings up the big 4-0, that fit even more splendidly into her plans.
Having a huge group of people waiting around explains her ‘nagginess’ during the day, as she wanted to make sure that I would be home at a reasonable hour, so I guess I can forgive her! It was a perfect evening for a party, and there was a ton of barbecued meat, catered snacks, and cold drinks. People kept saying “Halfy Birthday” which I thought was cute, and brought all sorts of fun gifts for an old man. One of the most original was “Four Teas for Forty” – a selection of herbal teas, each of which is supposed to help shore up different bodily functions for the elderly: mental agility, iron absorption, bowel regularity, and, ahem, “physical fitness for matrimonial relationship building.”
As things turned out however, that last tea wasn’t needed after the party. Nope, not needed at all:
It turned out that Breck’s teacher brought cigars, and Breck was so distraught at seeing his teacher smoking (having seen very graphic pictures of the effects of smoking during our trip to Thailand) that, after the party, he had to cuddle with mom all night.
So I ended up just kind of cleaning up on the roof after my own party. And then crashing, alone. Thanks alot, Mr. Jordan.
Breck makes me so proud sometimes. We were riding on the bus to school, when he started pointing out the window at a poster and said, “Look dad – Tiger beer!” We admired the picture of the tiger for a while, and then he said, “You know, there sure are a lot of beers named after animals here in India. There’s Tiger, and Cobra, and Kingfisher, and even Foster’s.” I told him I understood all the others (Kingfisher is a type of bird), but was not sure why he thought Foster’s was an animal beer. “Because of the little kangaroo on it,” was his response. Ah yes, my son, the zoologist.
He did get me to thinking, however, about the beers that I’ve had which are named after animals (or birds, as the case may be). Here’s what I could come up with, keeping in mind that A) they had to beers I’ve actually had; B) they are beers I remembered that I had; C) they have an animal in the name (with one exception as noted above); and D) I didn’t really have to think too hard to come up with this list:
I might add to this list as I remember more (but probably not).
With the “Big Eid” celebrations taking place tomorrow, Muslims all over the country (and throughout the Islamic world) are getting ready for the day.
Remember the story of Abraham, and how he was told by God to sacrifice his son? He was all set to obey the Word of the Lord, only to have an angel appear just as he was ready to strike. Regardless of one’s personal opinion of the wisdom of obeying such an command from a supposedly loving deity, this holiday commemorates that event. Traditionally, then, animals are ritually slaughtered and shared out with the less fortunate.
Our guards, drivers (that is Iqbal sitting behind Breck, the driver who worked for us last year), and the Muslim family that lives in our building are keeping up with the spirit of the holiday, and procured 6 goats to serve as the sacrifices. The animals have been living in the basement for the last week or so, and Breck and dad went down tonight to wish them farewell on their last earthly night.
We won’t be able to join in the festivities, as they take place in the morning after we’ve already left for school, and I’m guessing that things will be all cleaned up by the time we get back. Oh well – maybe next year!
So I might have made a mistake in my conversations with Breck the other day. We were talking about Christmas movies, and I happened to have a brain flash about one of my favorite Christmas movies – Die Hard.
[Don't believe me, that Die Hard is a real Christmas movie? Read the rest of the story below, after the tale of today.]
Now, you might think, “Even if Die Hard is a Christmas movie, why tell your kid about it?” Good question, one to which I have no answer.
In any case, Breck was asking what made it a Christmas movie and I was explaining it to him – you know, the lights, the music, the Christmas trees, all that good stuff – when I happened to mention that there was a guy in a Santa suit. Certainly you remember: Bruce Willis sends one of the bad guys down in an elevator with a Santa cap on and wearing a sign that says ‘Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho.’
Admittedly another pretty questionable call according to the “What you should tell your kids as a father” handbook.
Well, I got my comeuppance. With all of the beefed up security at our school, guess what the guards are now carrying around? That’s right.
And guess what Breck shouted out in front of all the teachers and parents as we were coming into school today: “Hey dad, it is just like your favorite Christmas movie – Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho!”
Yes, I got some looks from people. Ah, the joys of parenthood.
(that’s the end of the main post; if you’re not interested in Die Hard (an action movie) then you can quit here)
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Now for what makes Die Hard a Christmas classic. I’ve had the thought before, but this blog put it much more eloquently than I could ever hope to to do. Enjoy:
Here it is, the single greatest Christmas movie of all time — no joke, no doubt, no question, it’s Die Hard. And before any quibbling begins, can we agree, in general, that it’s a good movie? Seriously. Step back from the Christmas assertion for just a moment and consider the film as a whole. Die Hard is a classic.
Die Hard ranks 39th on AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Thrills list. Die Hard turned Bruce Willis from a television star into an A-list movie star. Die Hard spawned three sequels. Die Hard spawned countless imitators and wannabes. And, Die Hard takes place during Christmas.
Sure, it’s not a “traditional” Christmas movie. But it takes place during Christmas, has Christmas carols, and has a number of standard defining characteristics of Christmas films.
First, let’s look at John McClane (Bruce Willis’s character) and who he is. To start with, there’s his name, John McClane. In Irish the prefix “Mc” means “son of,” making him John son of Clane, or J son of C, or, to shorten it further, JC. McClane is therefore a stand-in for Jesus Christ, something the “son of” portion only aids in, as he, Jesus, is the son of God.
And, certainly, McClane is a Christ-like figure. Where do we find him at the beginning of the movie? In an airplane, returning to Earth. It’s as though he were descending from the Heavens, being sent, as it were, by God back to Earth. And, in Die Hard, it’s on Christmas that John McClane is reborn.
Additionally, this night also represents McClane’s walk in the wilderness, which was a crucially important time in the life of Jesus. Nakatomi Plaza (the building in which the movie takes place) is a perfect stand-in for the wilderness, and it is only after McClane leaves Nakatomi, exiting the wilderness, that he is a changed man. McClane has faced his nightmarish opposite in the form of Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). Gruber is everything that McClane is not; he is the anti-McClane, much as the Devil is often referred to as the anti-Christ. McClane, like Jesus, has been tempted, and has passed his trials.
One could say that JC has been ‘baptized in blood,’ and then comes back to life. In fact, when the ‘resurrection’ scene begins, John is shown bloody and backlit with radiant light. As he confronts Hans, who is holding his wife hostage, her response on seeing him appear is “Jesus.” Of course, as he gives himself up to Hans, McClane has an ace up his sleeve, but then so too did the son of God.
Putting aside this blatant analogy, the plot of the film as a whole is unquestionably Christmas movie-themed. Outside of their ornamentation, Christmas movies are all notable for having several common principles. Often there is a love story element to these movies (It’s A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol serve as two perfect examples); these love stories always have the couple overcome their difficulties to be stronger in the end. Check. McClane and his wife are estranged when the film starts, but by the end are together again.
Another similarity that the truly great Christmas movies all share is that they create phrases that enter our popular culture. Examples include “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings;” “God bless us, every one;” and “You’ll shoot your eye out.” Die Hard actually contains one of the most well-known entries into this category: “Yippee-ki-yay, motherf***er.”
It is also essential to note that the film itself is quite clearly trying to be a Christmas movie. It understands that it is not a typical Christmas movie, but it still wishes to be counted in the genre. Remember McClane’s discussion with his limo driver, Argyle, once he gets in the car? Upon hearing the up-beat rap music Argyle has on the radio, McClane asks Argyle about Christmas music, and if there are no carols on. Argyle laughs at McClane and says they are listening to Christmas music and turns up the volume. Sure enough, once the lyrics to the song start, they’re all about Christmas. True, it’s not your traditional Christmas carol, it’s updated, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing
So, to recap, Die Hard is a great movie and Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Is there anything then that separates a great movie that happens to take place during Christmas from being a great Christmas movie? Any number of criteria would push a movie from the former to the latter; chief among these criteria is that the movie should promote the spirit of Christmas and the holidays.
Die Hard, as a film, does just this. It is a movie about the triumph of good over evil; more importantly however, it is a movie the throws into stark relief the importance of family, particularly during the holidays. McClane makes his family, during the holidays, the most important thing in the world. He goes through hell in order to rebuild his family and strengthen those bonds. And McClane certainly makes Christmas morning one of the happiest days ever for those he saves.
It’s not easy to believe, but it’s undeniable. Die Hard just may be one of the greatest Christmas movies ever made.
Breck’s teacher gave him a special assignment tonight: he had to do a half hour of something that made him happy and then half an hour of something that makes other people happy.
After that, he was supposed to go on the roof and spot Venus and Jupiter as they made a triangle with the moon. It was pretty fantastic – and apparently something that won’t occur for another 44 years!
Breck’s observation – which was absolutely accurate – was that “there is a smiley face looking down at us!”
A remarkable confluence of planets and the moon – check it out if you get a chance (for us, a welcome respite after a weekend of turmoil, anxiety, and sadness).
Check ‘em out – Alea and Breck ready to take on the world:
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(you can also see the pictures from last year, as well as those from even earlier grades…)
As mentioned earlier, the mood around the school as the election returns came in was ecstatic, to say the least. Apparently this was not a localized feeling; because Breck is home sick this morning and I am staying with him (and he is still sleeping and I’m reading the paper) and I have a few quiet moments to do this, I present to you some quotes from the front page of the Times of India:
Headline: Dark Knight in White House
Subheadline: Rosa Parks had to sit for Martin Luther King to march. King had to march for Barack Obama to run. Obama had to run for our children to fly.
First paragraph: Millions of Americans woke up on Wednesday in joyous disbelief. Barack Obama won, but the real victor was America. The planet’s loved but often reviled nation upheld the noble ideals of its founding fathers on Tuesday by electing a mixed-race African-American as its 44th President, redeeming itself in the eyes of the world and its own people.
Last paragraphs (of another piece): Barack Obama’s victory is our victory, the triumph of the human race. This, we can tell ourselves rightly, is what we are capable of: a moment of unprejudiced perfection. All of us can share it, all of us can exult in it.
But only Americans own it; only Americans can actually understand it. They have lifted the son of slaves to the most powerful position on Earth.
Do you think this is possible in India?
Really? When were you last nice to your servant?
Well there you go. We woke up this morning all ready to watch the election results come in. Unfortunately they were just the earliest returns from the east coast, so the electoral vote total was only in the low 40s by the time we left for school. Throughout the hallways before classes, however, the electricity was tangible. The kids and teachers were all very excited about the day and all the historic events taking place. (It is only fair to pass along that on Tuesday – which was the day before the election here – the high school had an ‘election’ that Obama won 190 to 13; apparently bipartisanship does not run strong through the student body!)
As the day went on and the news became official by 10am, emotions ran high. Kids were chanting, adults crying, and I heard (several times) refrains along the lines of “Thank God the last 8 years are over.” There was even a cautionary email that went out, reminding people that students who supported or were from families that supported McCain might be feeling a bit uncomfortable in the present climate and to keep a lid on things. Nonetheless, it was definitely one of those goosebumpy-feeling days: to witness history being made as well as to be surrounded by such a positive feeling of spirit/jubilation/community/relief.
Maybe one of the things that made the day so ‘happy’ was the fact that our home life is tempered with a little ‘sad’ and ‘worried’ right now. Breck has been sick since Sunday, first with stomach cramps, then with general malaise, and now with a very high temperature. We have been in and out of the doctor’s office and had a battery of tests run, but with no real conclusive diagnosis yet. We’ve had indicators of giardia, amoebas, appendicitis, and malaria, but none of these seem to be what’s going on. All we know is our boy is miserable, hurting, and not his usual self. Susan stayed home with him today, and tomorrow it is my turn. Hopefully some of this medicine we’re pumping into him will help him turn the corner. We sure hope so – that’s the sort of change we can believe in right now!
Breck’s favorite weekend breakfast is French toast; he asks for (and usually gets it) on both Saturday and Sunday. This morning, Susan whipped him up a batch, and then quickly decided that she would have to make a brand new meal for him (and open a new bottle of syrup).
I just hope that this “issue” happened overnight and was not simply overlooked on his meal yesterday!
Click the picture to see what I’m talking about…
Breck has created a movie using movie maker and some of the computer skills that he is awesome at. Read his introduction below and then watch the movie:
The time of darkness in this war – the droid army has launched an invasion against a small planet. In this automatic movie you can watch the battle as the clones fight the droids.
Also, the jedi find the fate of this mysterious invasion.
Yeah!
(We’re not too proud of this technological terror we’ve created. We realize its power is insignificant when compared to the force. If the player above doesn’t work, then download and watch the move here.)
Alea is getting ready for her first Week Without Walls trip, as the 6th graders gear up to visit Matheran. I went with them last year, but am accompanying the 7th grade to Durshet this time around, so she’ll be on her own (to mom’s chagrin).
When we were planning our school trip last year, a group of teachers went for a ‘recce’ (I guess that is short for ‘reconnoiter’) and we went as a family. We stayed at the hotel that the school uses, and got to spend the weekend exploring.
As I was cleaning out some papers today, I came across a ‘notebook entry’ that Breck had made on the way home from the trip (he wants everyone to know that he was in the car when he was writing it!). I figured that, in honor of Alea’s upcoming trip and in light of the fun times he described, I’d post his description of Nature in Matheran. You can certainly compare that with pictures from our trip and see how wonderfully accurate his writing is!
(what follows is the ‘translation’ of his note)
Nature in Matheran
Waterfalls, crabs, snakes, and iguana. In cliff clouds. Hike forest, monkeys on building. Lots of trees. Horses. Monkeys saw in woods.
No, not the Scooby Doo character, but rather the character of the post-monsoon growth. As the rains wind down, the city is pulling itself into the greenest hues of the entire year. Everywhere we look, grass is growing on fields that were dusty and rock-strewn last spring, the trees are full and hearty, and the plants look as strong as any we’d expect to see in a tropical zone.
But the moisture does have another side to it, as it encourages the growth of some not-so-desireable flora. We were warned to keep our closets open while we were gone, to prevent fungii from taking over our clothes. We did encounter a bit of mold on several items – we lost a pair of shoes, a bookbag, and a wallet – but overall did ok. The most noticeable sign of the water’s effect around our home is actually on the outside of buildings all around us. There is an unavoidable black and green growth on many walls, giving the paint a mottled look – and causing much of it to bubble and warp off as well.
And that is where the title of this post originates. As we were coming home the other day, I was reminded of Breck’s description of Mumbai to his cousins over the summer: “Shaggy.” And with the long, hanging plant growth all over the ground and buildings, I can see his point. Shaggy – a great way to put it!
Alea and Breck get ready for classes at ASB this morning
Today is the big day!
After all the pre-in-service and the getting-over-jet-lag and the reacquainting-ourselves-with-friends sessions have drawn to a close, school starts again today.
We all slept rather badly two nights ago, and so got to bed early and slept soundly, all prepared for our classes. We rushed a bit for the bus (there was even family member who did not get his or her pair of shoes put on as we hurried out!), but made it in and were off to a great day.
Wish us all luck as we get things going with a first grade teacher, a fourth grade student, a sixth grade student, and a seventh/eighth grade teacher. What a mix!
The theme of the summer with all the in-laws and cousins has been fun in the sun; Alea and Breck have certainly done their part to keep up with all the activities.
Susan’s brothers and father have taken them out numerous times on various Minnesota lakes in their boats, and the highlights of the rides have been hopping on the tubes. These inflated giants get dragged behind at great speeds, and the uncles take great pride in trying to knock the kids off.
The kids, for their part, hang on for dear life as they fly over the boat’s wake, around tight corners, and across choppy waters. Good times!
Well, we made it to DC, and are having a great visit with Uncle Rob, Aunt Blanche, Boyd, and Sam. They have been so gracious in letting us use their apartment, which is conveniently located right near a Metro stop, so we’ve been able to zip downtown on a couple of occasions to see a few of the sights. They are in the process of moving to the new-to-them house they just bought, so everything worked out perfectly.
Yesterday we spent the whole day with YiaYia at the Air and Space Museum (and the only one asking “Are we done yet?” was Susan!! We eventually let her go to the National Gallery of Art across the way to get her daily dose of culture!). This morning, we are heading to start at the Lincoln Memorial and walk the Mall to the Museum of Natural History.
Even though we are in the midst of a DC heatwave, we are feeling right at home. The jetlag has been negligible, and we are so excited to be getting our summer off to such a great start. More info as we travel around, but suffice to say at this point – we’re back in the USA, we’re healthy, and we’re happy!!
Here are the kids – all ready for their final classes before summer break! They have a half day today, and tomorrow Alea gets a birthday present: no school!
She got the first part of her ‘presents’ yesterday, as we welcomed the first big rainstorm of the season. The kids had just gone to bed when the lightning flashed and the thunder roared; we all ran to the windows to watch the sheets of rain pour down. How exciting!!
In any case, you can also visit the School Pictures page to see all the first and last day pictures we’ve taken over the years. Have a great summer!!
Things you never consider before living in a place that has monsoons: after 8 months or so with no precipitation, the rains have a curious – though utterly predictable – effect on the roads here. That first little bit of moisture ‘brings up’ all the accumulated engine oil, axle grease, tire bits, and other assorted petroleum-based product debris that has accumulated on the asphalt. This creates a super slick skating rink on the surface over which all vehicles must pass.
There was the tiniest trace of a mist in the air this morning, and it made coming in to school a mess. Luckily our van driver is great and knew what was coming (and paid attention to the people on the side of the road waving at him to slow down), but coming over a hill we saw a dump truck that had slid completely around, a bus that skidded and shuddered from side to side as it was breaking, and several people walking motorcycles with freshly-broken side mirrors on them. Another teacher actually saw a motorcycle take a digger while going around a corner, but we just witnessed the aftermath.
There had hardly been enough precipitation to even qualify as ‘moisture,’ but the effects were certainly noticeable. I wonder what else will be in store as the weather patterns start to change. The news headlines this weekend were that the monsoon has hit Kerala (news story here), and Goa is starting to shut down as the rains approach. It won’t be too long now; the big question is whether it will start to pour here before we leave or not…
Regardless of the rain’s plans, Breck intends on using every ounce of sunlight before we take off. He spent the afternoon soaking in the rays (while soaking in a tub) on the Kiara rooftop. What a fun way to enjoy the weather!
