I just paid my web host bill, which made me think about what a horrible slacker I’ve been on the blog. Hardly worth the pittance I pay to maintain the site. There are reasons, but let’s not get into them… Instead, I want to make a commitment to posting something weekly. Interesting stuff actually does happen enough to justify regular posts. So without further ado … I need to catch up. I posted Spring Break Part One without a Part Two. You can’t HAVE a part one without a part two. (I learned that in Reporting 101.) So let’s do something about that. Stay tuned.
Category Archives: Daily Life
Surajkund Mela 2015
Still catching up…
The Surajkund Mela, a sprawling arts and crafts bazaar on the outskirts of Delhi, takes place the first two weeks of February and spotlights a different state in India every year. The heavily forested state of Chhattisgarh in central India took the spotlight this year. Nancy and I visited the mela on its last day – Valentine’s Day (which was heavily promoted at the local markets). The venue always features over-the-top displays, and this year was no different. The Santa section was a bit confusing, and we didn’t really understand why a group of male dancers wore hats of gold tinsel. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned in India it’s that we’ll never understand it all. We chuckled about how we never would have dreamed of eating food at this mela our first year in India, and then we plopped down on a fly-covered bench to gnosh on a plate of yumminess.
There’s nothing subtle about Valentine’s Day in India.
Surajkund Mela
Lunch. Not sure what it was, but we liked it!
I bought this embroidered umbrella to add a little Indian spice to the deck of our lake house in Michigan.
Falling in love again … India Week at AES New Delhi
Yikes, with only three weeks left in the school year, I’m looking forward to summer and family-filled stories that will overflow these pages. I’m also looking back at a busy spring that I failed to document. So, let’s catch up, shall we?
India Week at the American Embassy School always makes me fall in love again with my host country. The day-to-day grind of Delhi living can wear a girl down and make her long for clean air and tank tops. Then India Week rolls around in early February, and our campus morphs into a living laboratory of Indian culture. My little second graders – even the boys – sit quietly with cloth and wooden hoops in their laps as they learn the traditional craft of Gujarati embroidery. Outside, they cluster around the mehendi artist who decorates their hands with henna designs – peacocks, lotus flowers and the AES tiger. They watch a potter turn the wheel to form a terracotta pot, and then they take a turn. They press the sandy clay into moulds and pop out a diya lamp and a tiny Ganesh. Other artisans demonstrate their crafts, including batik painting, papier-mâché, wood block printing, leather sandals, paper toys, miniature painting, wood carving, silk weaving, embroidery, bead work and more. Student blogs transform into reflections about practicing yoga, screen printing T-shirts, sampling Indian snacks and walking the runway to model costumes of India. The week culminates with Indian Clothes Dress-Up Day, when our corridors explode in color and bling as students and teachers swish around in saris, lehengas, salwar kameeze and other finery.
Here’s a teaser for a fascinating (albeit too long and complicated for second graders) film.
Potter Mr. Ram Prashad.
Our second-grade team.
Allyn Goowin’s Balloowins may have been only tangentially related to India, but he did engage students to goofily re-enact a part of the Hindu epic Ramayana, and children were literally rolling in the aisles laughing.
Do the needful
I had a funny little chat encounter today. Foodpanda is a local food delivery service. You log in, choose a local restaurant, place your order, and they bring the food. It’s great… except that they send about 5 text messages to my phone every day. I finally snapped and clicked on their website, where I found a live chat option.
“How can I unsubscribe from your SMS messages?” I wrote.
The reply made me laugh: “In Foodpanda we respect your privacy. We regularly tax great limited time offers form the best restaurants. If you want to opt out, please give a missed call at- 011-66765505 and we will do the needful for you.”
Yes, they will “do the needful.” I love that phrase.
CNN shared a few other “Indianisms” in an article a few years back. I hear most of these regularly! Check it out: 10 classic Indianisms: ‘Doing the needful’ and more.
Why travel?
“This is what it’s all about,” I thought to myself as I stared out the window of our 787-8 Dreamliner. I had never seen anything like it. At first, I thought it was sky. Hazy, pewter sky. Then I spotted a boat and realized we were buzzing the Persian Gulf. Soon, swirly barren islands created a paisley pattern in the water, and clustered buildings rose like a sandcastle city from the sea. Beyond the city, the pale desert stretched to the horizon.
My crankiness over the impending layover in Qatar immediately subsided as we approached the airport. I kept smacking Tony’s arm and pulling him away from his movie to witness the weirdness. “That is surreal,” he said, leaning over me to peer out the window at Doha. It reminded me of our trip to the Grand Canyon on our honeymoon, hushed visits to the underground cistern in Istanbul, hikes on the Great Wall of China, our first time attending a baci ceremony in Laos, or participating in the lavish wedding of our Indian landlord’s daughter in Delhi.
And, again, I thought, “This is what it’s all about.” The uncomfortable hours crammed in tiny airline seats, the jetlag, the expense, the inevitable tummy issues, the mind-boggling layers of planning, the currency conversion confusion, the sleep deprivation, the omnipresent risk of cultural faux pas, the exhaustion. However, the minute we see something for the first time, learn something fascinating, eat something we hadn’t tasted before, or meet someone with a unique story, it’s all worth it.
We chose this lifestyle for many reasons, but living abroad can be tedious. Errands that would be simple back home take longer and involve several steps -and often many missteps. The fascination of your host country can pale in the blinding frustration of daily life. (Yes, there’s an elephant blocking my parking space. That’s wacky and totally worth at least a tweet, but the fact is, I need to park my car, so now what do I do?) Sometimes I worry I’m getting lazy as a traveler. When Bangkok is your go-to city for an easy laid-back long weekend, where do you go from there?
The sight of Doha from the sky probably doesn’t impress people who have traveled in the Middle East, but for Tony and me, it was that moment as a traveler when your heart speeds up and you can’t think of words to describe what you’re feeling so you keep muttering, “Crazy.” Once we landed and discovered our connecting flight to Jordan had been delayed, my euphoria faded.
But it’s nice to get a reminder now and then of what it’s all about.
Hiking in Heels
Knowing our semester break will involve some trekking, I tried to find new hiking boots here in Delhi. A visit to shoe stores at the mall proved fruitless, so I searched on amazon.in.
I was going to launch into a tirade about gender stereotyping of women in India or the subjugation of women in general, but instead, I’ll just let this screenshot speak for itself.
AES Rickshaw Rally 2014
With the “Amazing Race” music pounding as our subconscious background track, about 40 American Embassy School teachers careened around New Delhi Nov. 15 for the second annual AES Rickshaw Rally.
Tony and I dubbed ourselves “Sarojini Style” and dressed from head to toe in gear from Sarojini Nagar, a local market and land of low-quality goods and butchered English. My T-shirt featured a drawing of a panda and read, “Cute banda. Sometimes you have to realize that you’re the one bringing the gloom around. Learn to let go.” Tony’s said, “Cances are never given theyre taken.” I even sported the split-toe socks that make flip-flops easier to wear in cool weather.
The other teams were equally ridiculous. We all met at the American Embassy School’s Community Garden to collect the first clues of the morning. Our day would involve answering questions and snapping photos with my iPad to document our progress. We turned in our evidence at the lunch break and again at the end of the day for judges to calculate points.
After our major fail with the AES trivia questions, we received the next set of clues and dashed off campus in our assigned auto rickshaw. Our driver, Sunil Kumar, knew shortcuts to some of the destinations and eagerly kept on the lookout for anything that could earn us extra points, including five people on a motorcycle, specific animals (elephants, camels, monkeys, wedding horses), and an animal in a tuk-tuk. He even cheated at one point by asking some motorcyclists at the side of the road to pose on their bike without helmets. We thought that would be an easy shot to get, but Delhi’s new helmet law has met with a surprising level of compliance.
At lunch, I didn’t hear my phone ring, but I had two missed calls from Sunil Kumar, who told me later, “Madam I call you because there is elephant!” Rats, we missed it.
After a short ride in the Delhi metro, where I had to record the stops (two) and cost of a ticket (8 rupees or about 13 cents), I reconnected with Tony and Sunil Kumar to tackle our list of tasks at the following places. I’ve included the info we were given about each stop (in italics).
Buddha Jayanti Park – This park was created on the occasion of the 2500th anniversary of Buddha’s enlightenment. It was dedicated by the Dalai Lama in October 1993.
This shot was our attempt to “channel your inner zen” with the Buddha statue.
Laxmi Narayan Temple – Mahatma Gandhi inaugurated this temple in 1939. At that time, Gandhi said the temple would not be restricted to only Hindus, and people from every caste would be allowed inside. The temple is spread over 7.5 acres and is one of the major attractions of Delhi and attracts thousands of devotees every year.
Here, we had to find a priest and ask a few questions about the temple. Photography wasn’t allowed inside, but it was a beautiful peaceful place. We’ll visit again on a less frenetic day!
Gurudwara Bangla Sahib Sikh Temple – It is the most prominent Sikh house of worship in Delhi. Langar is a traditional concept, which includes cooking, serving, and eating together in a communal dining hall. Every Gurdwara has a Langar facility. Volunteers prepare everything. Seva, selfless service, and the practice of sitting side by side without regard to caste, color, creed, or rank, in a common dining area both serve to nourish the soul cleansing it from the effects of ego.
This was one of our favorite stops. We popped in to the foreign visitors office, where a lady asked, “How many of you are coming? It would be easier if you all came at once.” True, but that would defeat the purpose. She tied a scarf on Tony’s head and led us to the huge kitchen. We donated a bag of rice, and Tony took a turn stirring the massive pot of vegetables. Volunteers sat at a low table, rolling out chappatis. Pretty fantastic!
We had to skip several stops on the itinerary, including India Gate and Safdarjung Tomb, as we knew the next destination was mandatory and clear across town: Very Special Arts India. The organization works with underprivileged local children and kids with special needs. Their motto is, “No mental or physical challenge need ever limit the human potential to create and excel.” The kids and volunteers at VSAI taught us a Bollywood dance (which was very challenging, especially in flip flops!) and showed us how to use block-printing techniques to make Christmas cards. We had a lot of fun interacting with the kids, and we donated about $300 to support the organization’s work.
Teaching us the dance steps. Yikes!
Afterwards, we all gathered at the nearby mall for lunch at Underdoggs, a sports bar. Rickshaw Rally judges worked quickly to tally our points while we rested, ate and laughed about our morning.
The judges handed out the afternoon clues and released us in order of points earned. Sarojini Style came in darn close to last. We ran out the door and met up with Sunil Kumar, who sped to our next destination, dodging traffic and even driving off the road at times. We arrived at Qutab Minar at the same time as the point leaders! Woo hoo! Here was our afternoon line-up:
Qutab Minar – Qutab Minar, the tallest brick minaret in the world, is an incredible example of early Indo–Islamic architecture. It was built in 1206, but the reason remains a mystery. Some believe that it was made to signify victory and the beginning of Muslim rule in India, while others say it was used to call the faithful to prayer. The tower has five distinct stories, and is covered with intricate carvings and verses from the holy Quran.
Here we had to find a tourist and pose like we were holding the top of the minaret. I grabbed the first person I saw inside the gate, and he willingly complied. Stupid sun!
Atre Yoga Studio – We met up with several other teams in this neighborhood. In exchange for help finding the yoga studio, I showed Bernie how to do the designated poses. We were rushing and trying not to identify bits on the dirty concrete sidewalk, so it’s not my best form.
Ardhachandrasana
Natarajasana – well, we didn’t quite nail this one.
Dhanurasana
Extra points for sirsasana!
Chittaranjan Park – It was established in the early 1960s under the name EPDP Colony or East Pakistan Displaced Persons Colony. It remains home to a large Bengali community, and is home to Kolkata-style street-food stalls, Bengali cuisine, fish markets, temples and cultural centers.
Our task here? Take photos of four different kinds of food and write the name of the park in Bengali. Done and dusted.
Sarolini Nagar – Finally, our last destination, the market where Tony and I had shopped for our costumes.
Nagar means market in Hindi. Sarojini Naidu, who the market was named after, was a famous Indian freedom fighter and poet. Sarojini was the first woman to become the governor of an Indian state. She was the second woman to become the president of the Congress in 1925.
We had a few tasks here: I got mehendi. Tony pretended to be one of the roaming belt sellers. He also posed with the jalebi maker and ate some with a couple other teams. We snapped a creepy mannequin. And we collected a blanket from a specific stall to donate to a local charity.
With Sunil Kumar’s help, we got extra points for the two guys on the motorcycle, as well as this creepy monkey and the wedding horses. Tony spotted the dog in a rickshaw! We never did find five people on a bike.
Tony’s glasses didn’t survive intact. Bummer, they were so stylish.
We wrapped up the day in our own neighborhood at the Pint Room (after pausing for chai with Sunil Kumar and a few other teams).
Sarojini Style ultimately never came close to winning, but we had a great day (after some initial bickering…).
The winners? Craig and Holli – or Team Dengue Duo. Congratulations!
For more photos of the AES Rickshaw Rally, check out my flickr album – AES Rickshaw Rally. Thanks to Kate, Kathleen and Clint for organizing!
Math and English collide in cuteness
When I was in second grade, we sat at our desks and raced through pages of addition and subtraction problems. As a teacher of English learners, I’m sure my students often wish life could be so easy. However, today’s second graders learn math in an entirely different – and much better – way. They learn the concepts behind the place value work they do. It’s not enough to “carry the ten.” Kids need to understand they are conceptually regrouping ten ones for a single ten. I am not lying when I say I only just realized that’s what I’ve been doing for the last 40 years when I “carried the ten”!
Earlier this week, I was working with a second-grade math group, which included three English beginners: one Israeli, one Korean and one from Bahrain. We were practicing the strategy of “Read-Draw-Write” to solve a word problem. With help, they read the problem and I explained some of the tricky words. Next it was time to draw the problem before writing the equation and answer sentence. They had learned to draw a place value chart with symbols for the tens and ones. I turned to help the Bahraini boy, who had been absent the previous day and needed to catch up. By the time I got back to the Korean boy, he had finished his drawing to illustrate giving away 10 seashells. It looked like this:
So cute! And so wrong. I had to remind him that by “draw,” we mean draw a place value chart.
He did it, reluctantly, but then he insisted on drawing an arrow back to his original sketch. Fair enough.
Reminds me of another confused little Korean kid I knew in Laos. Check it out: Korean Math Warriors.
Halloween 2014 – Orange is the New Black
I didn’t realize how cliché our Halloween idea was until I checked Pinterest. Apparently gaggles of girlfriends around the globe dressed in orange scrubs and transformed into the Litchfield inmates of the Netflix show Orange is the New Black. No matter; we rocked it. Like Red on the show, I used a plant to smuggle in some contraband (gum).
We won the prize for Best Group Costume!
Fun with an old friend – and her kid?
International friends often comment about how we just pick up where we left off whenever we get back together. We vacation in each other’s countries, crash at each other’s houses, and use each other as tour guides after years apart. The elephant in the room is this: How will our friends’ KIDS change over the years? And will we WANT them to visit?
One of my close friends in Shanghai was a New Jersey gal named Colleen (aka Col, Shiny, Shiny Pop Pow, Sheila Pot Pie and who knows what else?). Her daughter Brenna was in early elementary school at the time and had some mighty fine dance moves, not to mention prehensile toes like mine that she could spread apart or use to pick up objects. Our favorite story about Brenna continues to make its way around the world and epitomizes what it means to be a Third Culture Kid. Her grade 2 spelling test featured weather words, but instead of “typhoon,” she wrote, “Thai food.”
Of course this story surfaced last week when Shiny brought Brenna to India for their fall break last week. “I even asked two times,” she recalled. “‘Really? Thai food?’ and Ms. Nutting said, ‘Yes! Typhoon.’ But I heard, ‘Thai food.'”
I hadn’t seen Brenna since both our families left Shanghai in 2009.
Here she was in 2006.
And here we are comparing toes back then.
Here she is now with her mom.
I forgot to ask about her toes or her latest dance moves, but I can say that she blew me away with her curiosity and enthusiasm, maturity and confidence, sense of humor and knowledge of India. More than once, someone would ask a question about Indian history, food or religion, and Brenna would have the answer. Amazing! I must admit my heart swelled when she badgered our tour guide with questions at the Udaipur Palace. I do believe I’ve found my Guide Hog Jr.
Oh, I was also thrilled to see Shiny! But I knew I would be.
I wasn’t so sure how I’d feel about spending my weekend with a teenager. I adored LITTLE Brenna, but … you know, now she’s a TEENAGER. What a glorious relief to say I loved every minute of my time with her, and I can’t wait to see both of those goofy, gorgeous girls again soon.