From our daily newspaper

We read and see things everyday that we CANNOT believe. This country is so wildly different than the world we inhabited before...

Sadly, most are tragic.

Exhibit A: 18-month old mauled by stray dogs... but the kicker:
"After the incident, the baby girl was rushed to a local clinic, and she was later referred to KIMS because of the severe injuries. Doctors, however, said Rehana was out of danger, and was treated as an outpatient. They said that the infant was given horse blood as her parents could not afford to purchase human blood."

Article here

Some are just so impossible in life in the US:



A train gets overcrowded, following the 48-hour bandh in Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, called by CPI- Maoists, in Patna.

6+ month update

We’ve been here for over 6 months. It is really starting to feel like home. Our life here is full and good in many ways. We have a growing network of friends; they are made quickly here, kind of like freshman year in college. Happily, we’re now “sophomores.” We’re the ones who can help newbies find the grocery stores, a good pediatrician, where to buy meat, flowers, etc. It’s a good feeling. We have more play dates and people we’d like to see on the weekend than our calendar can fit.

We’ve settled into an international church in the city. It is truly international with many Africans, Asians and Europeans in addition to the locals. It’s been great to worship with that diverse community each week.

We’ve been hosting a series of dinners to get to know more of the folks on the teams that Shae’s responsible for. I’ve really enjoyed this.

The kids are pretty settled into preschool. Shae takes them on his way to work; they love the Daddy time. They are enjoying playing with one another quite a bit, though they have the typical squabbles. Hannah has episodes of homesickness and is really looking forward to our trip back next month.

Shae and I have been talking about how we feel this last month has held a transition from being observers to discerning our participation in life here. Culture and religion are so fused here. We’ve been talking and thinking about how to engage and participate while maintaining (and instilling in our children) our unique identity as followers of Jesus.

We haven’t felt significant conflict in these things until recently. For example, we received the following e-mail from the private, secular school that Hannah and Matthew have been attending:

“August 14 Friday is Sri Krishna Janmashtami which marks the celebration of the birth of Lord Krishna. Janmashtami is celebrated with pomp and grandeur all over India. Krishna is Lord Vishnu`s eighth avatar on Earth and is considered to be the Lord`s most glorious incarnation. At WeCare, we are celebrating Sri Krishna Janmashtami with zest and enthusiasm on Thursday 13th August with fun-filled events, such as cooking projects, dandiya, puppet show followed by Krishna songs and special menu for the day. We request parents to send their children dressed as “Kanhas” & “Radhas”.

More thoughts to come…

Celebrating Matthew as he turns 3!

We had a little party with 3 friends for Matthew's upcoming (8/26) 3rd birthday. We did/ate the things he loves: wore mustaches (inspired by our driver Raju's), dressed up, listened to "Wee Sing & Pretend", painted, and ate chocolate cake.

We celebrate three years with our Matthew: "gift of God"

Pre-bath sillies

 

 

 

Having trouble seeing photos in slideshow?

Hello dear readers,

Just checking to see if others are having trouble seeing the photos in the slideshow (e.g. Thanu's Birthday post). Is Leah the only one?

Overheard

Walking to school dressed up (see post below):

Matthew: I'm beautiful.
Hannah: No, I'm beautiful, you're handsome.
Matthew: Thank you, Hannah!

Hannah later reported, "Everyone loved my sari. They thought I was so beautiful." Lots of conversations about beauty these days at our house.

Mystery vegetables

Start guessing!

 

Transformation

One of the many great things about India is the abundance of skilled labor, esp. in tailoring/upholstery, etc. and wonderful array of fantastically priced fabric.

We brought our favorite chair in our sea shipment; if you've been to our house you've probably sat on it. It was a parting gift from the Baldwins years ago--they had also received it as a hand-me-down, thus the early '90s fabric. It's the most comfortable chair ever and we've had their neutral slipcover over it for a long time. Happily, it has taken on a new look for $30 labor plus fabric (I splurged on higher end fabric: $70). I tried to do this in the US and was quoted $250-300.

Before

 

After

 

 

Early Independence Day Celebration

Hannah & Matthew's preschool celebrated Indian Independence Day (Aug 15) a little early because of a Hindu holiday to be celebrated tomorrow and then school closure on Friday for said holiday. They declared a "fancy dress day" and asked all the kids to come dressed as an Indian leader.

When telling Hannah about this, she said, "So the other kids are my line?" (Meaning "I'm the leader, and they're in line behind me?") Love it!

She's Indira Ghandi (best w/her new haircut) and we couldn't think of any leader as cute as Matthew, so we just dressed him in his Indian outfit.

 

 

 

 

English?

I share the following not in mockery, but as a glimpse into our lives here: English is a second (or third, or fourth) language for most. It makes for some interesting (mis-)communication.

_______________
This is a true essay written by a candidate in the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) Examinations. The candidate has written an essay on the Indian Cow.

"He is the cow" The cow is a successful animal. Also he is 4 footed,and
because he is female, he give milks,(but will do when he is got child)
He is same like God, sacred to Hindus and useful to man. But he has got
four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards. His whole
body can be utilised for use. More so the milk. Milk comes from 4 taps
attached to his basement. (horses don't have any such attachment) what
can it do? Various ghee, butter,cream, curd, why and the condensed milk
and so forth. Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind
generally. His motion is slow only because he is of lazy species, also
his other motion....Gober is much useful to trees, plants as well as
for making flat cakes(like pizza) in hand and drying in the sun.

Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then
afterwards he chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of
the mouth. He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass. His only
attacking and20defending organ is the horns, specially so when he is got
child. This is done by knowing his head where \by he causes the
weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly
proceed with great velocity forwards. He has got tails also, situated
in the backyard, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the
other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies
which alight on his cohesive body herepon he gives hit with it..The
palms of his feet are soft unto the touch. So the grasses head is not
crushed. At night time have poses by looking down on the ground and he
shouts. His eyes and nose are like his other
relatives. This is the cow.....

We are informed that the candidate somehow passed the exam.

Thanu's Birthday

Raju (our driver) celebrated his daughter's first birthday with a big party at his home. First birthdays are a big deal in India. The party was preceded by a pilgrimage to a local temple where the men and Thanu (birthday girl) shaved their heads and gave their hair as an offering. The wait at the temple was 6 hours.

Below, I'm including some pictures from the party. I even captioned them. Sorry some are a bit dark; the power was out for most of the evening. We ate by candle light.

It was wonderful to share in the celebration, though we felt a bit awkward as the *obvious* guests of honor... served special food, at the table (while all the other guests ate in the other room on the floor).

Raju was delighted when we celebrated his birthday in June with a cake and candles. He'd never had an "American" celebration, he said. He went crazy with decorations, hats and a FLAMING, musical birthday candle for Thanu's bday. Fun.

And man, looking at these pictures, I am reminded just how white we are... how much we stick out. Oh well.

Shae at work

A few of you have asked how things are going for Shae at work recently. He continues to enjoy his work very much. It is challenging and engaging, though working with such a large (and growing team!) can be very demanding. Among the 19 leadership positions he's managing, he has 2 open spots, 1 on maternity leave, and 10 new in position. It's keeping him busy... which is why I'm writing this post for him. :)

p.s. Happy to say that I've been working busily, too. Tutoring Spanish 10 hours a week. It has been fantastic to be teaching again and I enjoy the students (high schoolers) I am working with.

Out of the mouths of babes

In our pre-India life, this was the title of my blog... a place where I recorded the funny things Hannah and Matthew said. I haven't touched it since we left. Since the blog you're reading encompasses "our life in India", I'm going to post it all here.

+ Recently our neighbors (from SPAIN!) arrived in India and were walking outside our house. They have twin 2-year-old girls, one of whom wears an eye patch sometimes to correct a lazy eye. When Matthew saw her, he shouted, "Look, Daddy, she's a pirate!" Shae quietly assured him that she just had an owie on her eye. "I know, Daddy. But she's a pirate!"

+ As we passed a dog on the street yesterday, Matthew exclaimed, "Look, he's eating his butt!" (Sorry, Mom, he learned 'butt' from a movie (and my friend Leah). We really try to use 'bottom' at our house."

+ And speaking of butts, Hannah suggested today that we could call our bottoms "cushions" because "they are kind of comfy."

+ Hannah to Daddy, "You really like TV." Pater familias took note.

+ Hannah is response to "What do you like about India?": "Everything but the bad smells and the bad food."

More to come... there's lots I've missed.