September 25, 2008 – 3:47 pm
Cruising through our school’s web site, we’d noticed that the webmasters have replaced some of the “Welcome to ASB” pictures that grace the front page. As the images cycled in and out, we suddenly got a glimpse of a familiar face - there was Alea!!!
If you want to check out the real school page and [...]
September 21, 2008 – 9:28 pm
What a swirling afternoon of sensory overload! Our neighborhood, called Bandra, was a historically Christian district, and there are a number of churches scattered around (to go with the Muslim mosques, Hindu temples, and various Sikh and Jain places in the suburb).
The traditional birthdate of Mary - Jesus’ mother - is September 8, and so [...]
September 14, 2008 – 12:44 pm
I write this on a soaking Sunday afternoon, as we hunker down under the onslaught of the monsoon. The rains should be finishing soon (in fact, they were done last year at this time), but today they are out in force. This evening is the final night in the Ganesh holiday, and I am curious [...]
September 10, 2008 – 1:15 pm
Since this is the time of year when the drums, firecrackers, pyrotechnics, and music all combine to give us a sleep-depriving evening cacophony, it is only fair to acknowledge that the visual feast rivals that of the aural treat.
For many of the 11 days between last Wednesday and next Sunday, worshippers of the Hindu god [...]
September 4, 2008 – 6:03 pm
The idols are all over Mumbai again, as Lord Ganesha makes his yearly visit to homes everywhere. Our school librarian put together a great little summary of the Ganesh story and the symbolism of the holiday. It is the most popular holiday around town, so it is handy to know what all the excitement is [...]
September 1, 2008 – 7:09 pm
This week marks the beginning of the big party season in Mumbai. Ramadan begins tomorrow, so all the Muslims are gearing up for a month of daytime fasting and nighttime feasting. There is a large Islamic enclave clustered around a huge mosque somewhat near our house (on our route to school), so it will be [...]
Before all the bad knee stuff happened, we had a very pleasant start to the summer. We flew back from Mumbai directly to DC to visit Uncle Rob and Aunt Blanche and kids. We got to meet John, who picked us up from the airport with his hot yellow Mustang, and congratulated him and Yiayia [...]
Want to get up close and personal with the inside of my knee? We got some pictures from the doctor when he did the surgery, and I’ve posted a little play by play description of what is going on. Nothing too graphically gross, actually pretty cool if you’ve ever wondered what the viewpoint to an [...]
Finally got the Kerala trip webpages all finished up and posted. The last big trip of the year always seems to get rushed in at the end of everything. With all the stuff going on lately - the end of school and getting ready for summer - they kept getting put off…
But now they’re on [...]
…must all have name tags on them. We’ve found this out as we’ve traveled around the country, and it is kind of a fun little routine for us. When you check in, you have to fill out a name tag and put it on your bag. Then when you go through security (which involves a [...]
Obviously a bit different than in years past!
While some things are pretty consistent from year to year (like my NCAA brackets falling apart before the end of the second round), our holiday patterns are wonderfully varied. This year we got to experience a true mashup of cultures, as a big Hindu celebration coincided with the [...]
What a rookie mistake. You’d think that after 38 years of life and more than 6 months in Mumbai I would have learned my lesson.
I made the number one error that expats living in India simply cannot afford to make: I left the house without a camera. Inexcusable, especially given that I knew it was [...]
March 16, 2008 – 11:43 am
Of course we celebrated Pi Day this year at school and at home. Breck and Alea have been singing all the Pi Songs they can remember. For those of you who might have forgotten, March 14th - 3.14 - is Pi Day (get it?). And of course, as a middle school math teacher, I do [...]
The pictures and travelogue from our most recent weekend trip are now posted. Visit the city of Aurangabad, climb to the top of the Daulatabad Fort, marvel at the mini Taj Mahal at the Bibi ka Maqbara, hike the Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain caves at Ellora (and scramble around gigantic elephant statues at the Kailasa temple there), [...]
February 7, 2008 – 9:35 pm
I’ve added a few pages to the website, but never got around to listing them here, so if you are among our readership (which I think is now somewhere between 3 and 5 people per week), here are some of the random new pictures and all you can visit this weekend:
The Winter Break trip is [...]
January 29, 2008 – 10:55 am
Since Breck’s had his turn, let’s take a look at some of Alea’s contributions to the www. Her class has done a number of electronic activities this year that have been posted on the school’s website.
The first was an investigation into potential “Wonders of the World.” They typed up their research in Word, and then [...]
January 28, 2008 – 10:44 am
First of all, here is Breck, asking a question of Minnesota’s First Lady. The governor made a trip to India a while back, and while he didn’t make it to our school, his wife did, and Breck got to ask her a question! According to our director, “he was very articulate.” Way to go, Breck!!
Now [...]
December 21, 2007 – 11:36 pm
Tonight is the “big” Eid – the end of the pilgimage to Mecca. That means huge parties where animals are slaughtered - great fun for the whole family. We’ve seen people leading their goats all around town getting them ready for the feasting that will be going on. As I write this, a band is [...]
December 17, 2007 – 1:28 pm
Here they are - the bestest looking bunch of Stutz kids this side of the International Date Line and south of the Himalayas! We got Alea and Breck’s school pictures back, and so just have to share them with everyone:
December 12, 2007 – 9:52 am
A couple of new pages going up today - some shots of the kids during this past month and pictures taken during our typical days’ bus rides. Just another look at Life in India…
November 24, 2007 – 10:55 pm
Pumpkin muffins, apples, corn, peas, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, peppers, corn on the cob, jello, apple crisp, stuffing, casserole, and … tandoori chicken. Welcome to India.
We celebrated on Saturday, since we had a full school day on Thursday and went to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park on Friday for our day off. Mom and [...]
November 17, 2007 – 10:25 pm
…and look at the Goa pages. They should now be pretty complete with our travelogue of the visit. After another silly week at school, those hours on the beach just keep looking better and better. Oh well, when the going gets tough, I just throw on one of the Goa shirts I bought and pretend [...]
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 [...]
November 2, 2007 – 3:51 pm
As promised earlier, and just in time for our weekend off, the WWW pages are now posted. Enjoy!
November 2, 2007 – 8:22 am
And here she is, our second pet. Given almost the same name as the original gecko we caught outside, Be-Be ended up in our lives as kind of an afterthought. The kids had been pestering Susan about getting an animal, but she wasn’t budging (although I hope to persuade her about a cat some day).
Stella, [...]
