If I don't write now, while my 8 girls are sleeping and 6 of the 12 upstairs girls are mesmerized by Om Shanti Om (the other six fell asleep in extremely awkward positions during it), I'll never write about what's been going on. So, here are my scatterbrained thoughts:
Lately, I have children not going to school because of local strikes & Christmas program preparations, a room nearly stuffed full of Christmas gifts (and laundry, if I'm being honest) and a thousand things running through my head.
Sarah Rose, the music teacher and English/Telugu translator that lives upstairs with me, went to Chennai with me Tuesday to meet some really cool guys who brought Christmas from America to India. We were absolutely blown away by both their generosity and hospitality. AND it was fantastic to be around men who are actually taller than me ;) --Okay, and now the four year old fell from her awkward position off the couch, woke up, and is sleeping on my lap. Let's see if I can type while not knocking her in the face with my elbow.... I digress-- So, as soon as we arrived to the Chennai train station, I got a huge smile and remembered how much I loved being in Indian cities. It's weird, I know, but something about the crowds and noise and having everything everywhere is just fantastic, and makes me feel at home. The pungent fishy smell on the platform, not so much--but the rest just made me so dang happy. We had a South Indian lunch, talked a bunch (Dr. Seuss-alert), and watched a Bollywood movie. Ahhh, Hindi. I forgot how I missed that, too. There was a crazy, gaudy 2-3 story Christmas tree and scenery, which led to the first time in a decade that I felt really glad to see. (Kendra & Hicham, I think we only pretended to be excited about that Charlie-Brown-esque tree in the Meknes mall!)
Sarah Rose and I got the gifts from our Santa Clauses, and boarded the non a/c train back to Ongole, where we would reach around midnight. I am planning a train ride to/from Delhi at some point, so wanted to check out the non a/c cars, just in case I decide to go against my friends' recommendations and travel cheaper. Well, when it was time for us to de-board, there was either a VERY large lizard or a small rat running across the aisles, I decided I will officially stick to A/C after all. You see, rats are the one thing that can terrify me. Even if someone (Barkha!) just says "OH! Rat!" to petrify me.
I'm so getting off topic here... Uh, so I spent 18 hours separating and dividing and organizing gifts (and assembling the LEGO cars for the little boys) yesterday. It shouldn't take so long, but remember I'm dealing with 80ish kids, and I'm trying my best not to show favorites by giving all the cutest things to certain kids.
The kids are all practicing their dances for the "semi-Christmas" function. Which means the public one, I guess the "real" Christmas function happens at home on the 25th... As time goes on with so much busy-ness and less interaction with Americans, I am increasingly more Indian. I said "ground floor" today in an email. My thoughts sound like "Office going," and "lunch finished" in Indian broken English. And while waiting with the kids for their ride to school, I totally walked down the street in my bare feet to get dosa. It's frightening.
I am going to try to keep you all updated on the Christmas happenings, but as a lot of people have asked for videos of the kids getting gift, I am putting them on Youtube. I'm just gonna give you the first 2 links, but other videos I post will be in the same playlist, so if you wanna see, just keep checking it out: http://youtu.be/kcixqsHvkUc http://youtu.be/ua4FEhNTccI Keep in mind life is crazy here, and that I have no videography skills.
Lately, I have children not going to school because of local strikes & Christmas program preparations, a room nearly stuffed full of Christmas gifts (and laundry, if I'm being honest) and a thousand things running through my head.
Sarah Rose, the music teacher and English/Telugu translator that lives upstairs with me, went to Chennai with me Tuesday to meet some really cool guys who brought Christmas from America to India. We were absolutely blown away by both their generosity and hospitality. AND it was fantastic to be around men who are actually taller than me ;) --Okay, and now the four year old fell from her awkward position off the couch, woke up, and is sleeping on my lap. Let's see if I can type while not knocking her in the face with my elbow.... I digress-- So, as soon as we arrived to the Chennai train station, I got a huge smile and remembered how much I loved being in Indian cities. It's weird, I know, but something about the crowds and noise and having everything everywhere is just fantastic, and makes me feel at home. The pungent fishy smell on the platform, not so much--but the rest just made me so dang happy. We had a South Indian lunch, talked a bunch (Dr. Seuss-alert), and watched a Bollywood movie. Ahhh, Hindi. I forgot how I missed that, too. There was a crazy, gaudy 2-3 story Christmas tree and scenery, which led to the first time in a decade that I felt really glad to see. (Kendra & Hicham, I think we only pretended to be excited about that Charlie-Brown-esque tree in the Meknes mall!)
Sarah Rose and I got the gifts from our Santa Clauses, and boarded the non a/c train back to Ongole, where we would reach around midnight. I am planning a train ride to/from Delhi at some point, so wanted to check out the non a/c cars, just in case I decide to go against my friends' recommendations and travel cheaper. Well, when it was time for us to de-board, there was either a VERY large lizard or a small rat running across the aisles, I decided I will officially stick to A/C after all. You see, rats are the one thing that can terrify me. Even if someone (Barkha!) just says "OH! Rat!" to petrify me.
I'm so getting off topic here... Uh, so I spent 18 hours separating and dividing and organizing gifts (and assembling the LEGO cars for the little boys) yesterday. It shouldn't take so long, but remember I'm dealing with 80ish kids, and I'm trying my best not to show favorites by giving all the cutest things to certain kids.
The kids are all practicing their dances for the "semi-Christmas" function. Which means the public one, I guess the "real" Christmas function happens at home on the 25th... As time goes on with so much busy-ness and less interaction with Americans, I am increasingly more Indian. I said "ground floor" today in an email. My thoughts sound like "Office going," and "lunch finished" in Indian broken English. And while waiting with the kids for their ride to school, I totally walked down the street in my bare feet to get dosa. It's frightening.
I am going to try to keep you all updated on the Christmas happenings, but as a lot of people have asked for videos of the kids getting gift, I am putting them on Youtube. I'm just gonna give you the first 2 links, but other videos I post will be in the same playlist, so if you wanna see, just keep checking it out: http://youtu.be/kcixqsHvkUc http://youtu.be/ua4FEhNTccI Keep in mind life is crazy here, and that I have no videography skills.
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