October 22, 2010 – 8:34 am
Last night we carved Halloween pumpkins, and today we are celebrating the festival of lights (no, not the same one Adam Sandler sang about. I already wrote about that a few years ago…).
We have a big Diwali assembly, and so everyone dresses up. Susan loved this particular shade of pink on an outfit she saw, and so asked our maid to have a sari sewn from fabric of that color. Costing literally five dollars, this is her first official sari, and boy does she look good in it!
Of course, wrapping something like that is an acquired skill, so we had to wait until we were at school and some of the ladies here could help her, but now she is all good to go!
Anyways, this is what we wear today, until we get changed for the Halloween party, and then tomorrow it is lederhosen for Oktoberfest, and on Monday we put on our hiking duds for Week Without Walls. Like I said, a busy few days!
October 26, 2009 – 9:48 pm
After 2 weeks off – 1 for the school’s Week Without Walls trip and 1 for our Diwali holiday – we are back in Mumbai and raring to go. Of course, since it is now report card writing and parent teacher conferencing season, there are no guarantees as to the number of immediate updates, but at least we have access to the internet again!
(and might I throw in that I was pleased to note my fantasy football team eeked out another win, even without my managerial help, to pull their record to 4-2. Go Stutz Slumdawgs!)
For a quick rundown of our family vacation, I’ll just cut and paste an email Susan sent, along with a picture of us in the mighty Himalayas. I’m sure there’ll be more – but you’ve gotta be patient, like a Tibetan monk (of whom we saw plenty)!
We are back safe and sound and busy doing laundry and unpacking. We had a wonderful time in the mountains. We had two hard good days of hiking – one up a waterfall and one up to the tree line on the Dhauladhar Range. We also spent a day with a guide who took us to all the Save Tibet museums and preservation/education centers. So interesting…
We spent another two days with easier walks around the area and local sight-seeing. The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile is in McLeod Ganj, so we learned a lot about the Chinese occupation of Tibet. I’m sure you remember the fuss about all that during the Olympics. I guess the Dalai Lama just met with Obama??
We had an earthquake in the mountains!!! It was at night and our bed shifted a full four inches and settled back – my first one! We’ll get some pictures and video up soon. Off and running – Hugs to all.
October 16, 2008 – 1:28 pm
Our school held its observation/celebration of Diwali yesterday, and the entire campus was decorated in colors, flowers, and streamers. Our family was no exception, as we put on our finest Indian gear and posed around the rangoli that graced the cafeteria floor.
The holiday itself is not for another few weeks, but with the middle and high school basically emptying out next week for the week without walls trips and everyone leaving the next week for the Diwali break, we all got an early start on the holiday.
Shops around town are just starting to gear up – stringing lights, putting candles on sale, getting lanterns out for people to see – so for once I feel ‘ahead of the curve.’ We are headed to Udaipur for the the real holiday, so we’ll let everyone know how they celebrate it in Rajasthan!
But for now, zip on over to our regular webpage to see more images from the kids, the activities, and the sights of the day.
November 10, 2007 – 9:23 pm
After a full week of sun, sand, and sweet relaxation, we are back in Bombay. As mom unpacks to the snap-crackle-pop of post-Diwali firecrackers going off all around the apartment, the rest of us sigh in contentment.
There will certainly be more info posted on the goings on of this previous week, but I suppose a one-sentence synopsis is in order. To begin, however, a disclaimer – I have ever been a big fan of the sit-on-the-beach-and-do-nothing vacation.
Even with that caveat, I have no hesitation in stating for the record that this was probably the most smooth running, relaxing, fun, and mental-health-restoring holiday that we have ever taken.
The location was superb, the hotel was great (not ritzy, but exactly what we wanted), the pace relaxed, and the prices right. What a great time we had doing absolutely nothing (of course that’s not true, but unlike other trips to areas where there was a lot to see and do, this one was dedicated to the hedonistic pleasures of just relaxing, swimming, eating, drinking, and spending time as a family).
Susan wrote up a letter outlining our week; it is posted here at what will (eventually) become the webpage about the trip.
November 1, 2007 – 7:51 am
So here it is, one day after our Diwali shindig, and we had the big Halloween get together. (You can bet the kids are just going nuts at school with all the parties, candy, days off, and break coming up.) We had a trick or treating night at our apartment building, and all staff kids were invited to go up and down the stairs, knocking on all the doors and getting tons of candy. There were even ‘adult treats’ being cracked open in one of the apartments.
A few more pictures of the evening are posted here.
Breck and Alea did pretty well, and held their own in the trading sessions that followed. I was pretty excited to see that someone had even gotten ahold of Reese’s somehow, and so I made sure to ‘encourage’ them to trade for those!!
Susan the pirate picked up the same cold that Breck and Alea had, and so she stayed for a bit as the pirate greeting the kids, but then she did make her way around to give holiday greetings to all. She was not feeling any better this morning, but still decided to come in to school, but was not sure if she would make it all day. (I find it amusing that our driver has the day off on Thursdays, and that is the day of the week that everyone in our family has been the sickest!) Hopefully she’ll be feeling better by this weekend!
October 30, 2007 – 8:51 am
Diwali is the biggest holiday celebrated all over India. We were ‘encouraged’ to wear Indian clothes for our celebration at school and so here we all are!
Diwali is known throughout the country as the “Festival of Lights,” so you can forgive me for confusing it with the Adam Sandler Hannukah song. Put on your sari, it’s time for Diwali. Go eat some chutney, and celebrate Diwali – that sort of thing.
The school held a big celebration and assembly, and you can see some pictures from it here. The city itself has been rocking and rolling to the booms of fireworks for the last week or so, and will get even louder as the next week wears on. However, we will (sigh) be relaxing on the beaches of Goa, and so will probably miss out on most of the big noise.
However, in case there is ever any question about it, a few ‘responsible adults’ (as dictated by the package inserts) including me climbed onto our roof the other night and tested some Indian fireworks: DO NOT HOLD RAMBO BRAND FIRECRACKERS IN YOUR HAND WHEN YOU LIGHT THEM!!
In case you were wondering…
Last night we carved Halloween pumpkins, and today we are celebrating the festival of lights (no, not the same one Adam Sandler sang about. I already wrote about that a few years ago…).
