Good Bye and Good Riddance!

As we prepare to leave India after two years, I wanted to note the impressions I have formed while being here. Since I always like to end on a positive note, I'll start with the good riddances: things I hope I NEVER encounter again:

GOOD RIDDANCE TO:
"Public" bathrooms (as in on the side of the road!)
Blowing snot onto the sidewalk
Mangy dogs and worse
Chilies in ANY form
Rotting garbage
Reading frequent newspaper articles about caste discrimination
"Self-immolation"
Beggars---esp. "fake" ones
Honking horns
Songs blasting on the PA system in the street
Locking cabinets when staff comes in.
Reading or seeing the morning paper and wanting to hurl breakfast. (some things are better left unsaid)
Seeing men whose legs are skinnier than my arms and not knowing what to do about it.

And now to the goodbyes: things or people I have come to truly appreciate in the this crazy yet amazing country:

GOOD BYE TO:
Indian smiles
Beautiful saris
Asian travel
Priya, Elu and Raj - our housekeeper and drivers
AISC school
Best and cheapest massages in the world
Farid's amazing office and staff
And mostly--- wonderful friends from around the world---you know who you are. Please stay in touch and you're welcome in Kentucky anytime!

All that being said, I have to say India is a wonderful, amazing and often mystifying place and I'm grateful that my family was able to have this experience. I'm "looking forward to looking back" on this time in my family's life!

Jane Goodall

Several weeks ago we were invited to attend a fundraiser with the featured speaker being the world-famous Jane Goodall. I remember as a child seeing her documentaries and being fascinated that a woman could actually go live in the jungle among chimpanzees for months at a time! Most of what we now know about chimpanzees comes from her studies. We had the opportunity to have our picture made and get her autograph before she spoke and introduced one of her early documentaries. It was really eye-opening for Emma especially. Afterward she took questions from the audience. It was an unforgettable evening!
for more info check out her website:

http://www.janegoodall.org/default.asp

Strike up the bandh!

No the title is not a typo. Here in India a "bandh" IS a strike! Those of us who have lived here very long are pretty unfazed by these fairly frequent events. We just know to stay home or at least not go into the city since either stores and offices will be closed or traffic will be total chaos! Either way, I don't need much incentive to stay put in my house. Last Thursday there was a strike in support of the Tamil refugees so all transportation was out. No trains, buses, autorickshaws (unless the form of transportation was run by the opposing political party which did not shut down some trains, etc!!!) As I said, better to just stay home!
This week there was an article about a possible airline personnel strike which would effect the Chennai airport which is scheduled to start May 1. I'm sure this is all a bluff because I KNOW they would not shut down the airport the month before I am heading home!!! Otherwise, you will hear me roar :)
For another interesting take on the newspapers in Chennai check out a friend's comments :
http://my.opera.com/myfamilyinIndia/blog/2009/04/27/my-mistake-today

Zach's 17th Birthday

HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY ZACH!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Zach celebrated his 17th birthday with family and friends. We had brunch, went to the sculpture garden, to the beach and back home for cake and ice cream! A really nice day!

Susan and Nathan's Visit

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Susan and Nathan came for a visit and we hope they had as much fun as we did. We are so glad they had the opportunity to experience the "real" India! I'm sure they now have a much greater appreciation for home! Thanks for making the 34 hour flight---you are troopers!

New Zealand Memories

We made it back from New Zealand after two weeks of paradise and it was hard to come back to Chennai. We did a road trip and we loved driving ourselves around! We spent three days on the North Island (not enough) and 11 days on the South Island. We saw as much as I think you could see but Farid felt the pace was too quick. However, this just gives me more ideas for our next trip there! The word that I have used most to describe New Zealand is MOST: most blue water, most clean air, most clean bathrooms, most friendly people, most beautiful scenery , etc. This place tops my list for its beauty and I would love to return some day. I highly recommend it to anyone trying to decide where in the world to go! Here are highlights. I won't bore you with all the 1000+ photos we took! Many were taken by Zach. Enjoy:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Zach in Kathmandu

Zach attended the SAISA International Art Conference in Kathmandu the first weekend in March. I tagged along with some friends but we went our separate ways once in Nepal. Zach's graphic arts teacher shared these photos from the weekend. Zach said it was a great experience and like me, he would love to go back again! The people were so warm and friendly and you can't beat the landscape and culture. So different from ours and so interesting!