Yesterday in our Mommy and Me class we learned about apples. I didn't tell anyone that one of the toy apples was actually a peach.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Look at who's 2!
Since we've been doing far too much partying lately, we opted for a small family affair to celebrate Samuel's second birthday. Family plus Gopal and Joseph, of course.
Samuel's obsessed with motorcycles (he sees several hundred a day on Chennai's streets), so we got him one for his birthday. He hasn't put it down since he opened the package. In fact, he's sleeping with it as I type this.
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| Sorry about the red-eye. It won't go away. |
He also really liked this puzzle book from Grandma and Grandpa Cragun. And so did Evie. In fact, Samuel might someday get a turn with it all by himself.
And here's a crazy loud spinning top with lights that he got from a friend at school. He shares a birthday with a girl named Sahana, so we let her celebrate her birthday at school this morning and we'll do our celebration on Friday. Here, when it's your birthday you're supposed to give cake and presents to everyone else (instead of receiving). So Sam got this contraption from Sahana for her birthday, even though it's his birthday, too. Get it? We're giving away board books for Samuel's birthday.
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| This will break soon ... and I will be happy. |
Halloween 2011
Halloween just isn't the same without the pumpkin patches, cool weather and trick-or-treating of home ... and I especially felt the loss of the annual Circleville Pumpkin Show. Sigh. We did manage to have some Halloween fun, though, with more activities available than we could manage to attend. I think there might be some overcompensating going on in the American community.
On Saturday we went trick-or-treating in the pouring rain to several Consulate houses and ended at a great party at our friends the Golsens' house. FYI: Everything happens in the pouring rain from mid-October to mid-November. At least I hope it ends in mid-November. Then on Halloween there were parties at the kids' schools and then another round of trick-or-treating and partying at the Consulate. We ended up skipping the Sparky's Diner party, because Mom was wiped out! Maybe next year.
I was surprised that the kids' preschool did Halloween, but the Indian moms in our Mommy and Me class told me it's becoming a little more common to celebrate the holiday in schools. It's still uncommon enough that we got all kinds of weird looks/pointing and staring/laughter when we went trick-or-treating, though.
Here's Samuel/Yoda at school.
He kept the outfit on for the full hour. Impressed, I was.
Evie wanted to be a scary witch, but I found her this pretty witch costume instead thinking that once she saw it she'd fall in love. I was correct.
Here's Johnny leading his class during his school's costume parade. He changed his costume plans multiple times, so I was relieved when he settled on something we actually had in the house.
And here's a shot post-Consulate party, with Samuel covered in chocolate and Evie in a sugar-induced stupor. Happy Halloween!
On Saturday we went trick-or-treating in the pouring rain to several Consulate houses and ended at a great party at our friends the Golsens' house. FYI: Everything happens in the pouring rain from mid-October to mid-November. At least I hope it ends in mid-November. Then on Halloween there were parties at the kids' schools and then another round of trick-or-treating and partying at the Consulate. We ended up skipping the Sparky's Diner party, because Mom was wiped out! Maybe next year.
I was surprised that the kids' preschool did Halloween, but the Indian moms in our Mommy and Me class told me it's becoming a little more common to celebrate the holiday in schools. It's still uncommon enough that we got all kinds of weird looks/pointing and staring/laughter when we went trick-or-treating, though.
Here's Samuel/Yoda at school.
He kept the outfit on for the full hour. Impressed, I was.
Evie wanted to be a scary witch, but I found her this pretty witch costume instead thinking that once she saw it she'd fall in love. I was correct.
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| "Join me, and together we will rule the school as teacher and student." |
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Diwali, part 2
The Diwali festival lasts for several days, but the main day for celebration here in South India was October 26, the night of the new moon. We'd been hearing fireworks every evening for several days leading up to the 26th, but on Diwali we were awakened at 5:45 a.m. (A.M.!) and the noise didn't let up until well after midnight. Now I understand why so many of our expat friends skip town over Diwali.
We spent most of the day relaxing at home and watching safely from our kitchen window as our neighbors set the street on fire. That evening, though, we went to our friend Suyash's house for a Diwali dinner and "cracker bursting," as the firework mania is called.
Making our way to Suyash's house was quite the experience. He came to pick us up, and we walked out the door and into a war zone. The smoke was so thick it was as if the entire city were in a fog. We had to weave in and out of groups of people setting off fireworks in the middle of the street, and we're talking professional grade stuff. The explosions ranged from small "flower pots" (like roman candles) to huge rockets you'd only see in a professional show in the United States. It was insane!
We made it to Suyash's house in one piece, though, and had a really nice time. We watched them do their Lakshmi puja (Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth), and then the family marked each other and us (except for Evie, who was feeling shy) with a tikka on the forehead.
Here are the boys sporting their tikkas.
Then the kids ate entirely too many sweets, and we all ate a fantastic dinner. Suyash's family is from the North, so the food was slightly different from what we usually get here. It made a nice change, though I find that I love just about any Indian food I try (except for the sweets and some of the chutneys). Standouts from this meal were the biriyani, a delicious chola (chickpea dish), and a fantastic plum chutney.
After dinner we all went up to the roof to set off fireworks. The kids had fun with the sparklers and the flower pots and with some that spin around on the ground when they're lit. Evie asked to go inside once the bottle rockets got going. Here she is enjoying yet more candy.
Samuel lasted for quite awhile, but at one point he turned to John and said "This is too scary. I want to go inside." So Samuel joined Evie and me in the apartment.
While John and Johnny continued playing with fire on the roof, I listened to a fascinating political discussion among older members of the family. They were talking about relations between India and its neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh. You probably know that they once were all one nation. A favorite topic for discussion here is why India is so much better off -- politically and economically -- than its neighbors. As one woman said that night, "We're all the same people." But India is the largest democracy in the world, in terms of population, and has one of the fastest growing economies. This isn't to say there aren't any problems, poverty being foremost among them. Pakistan, however, is bordering on collapse and Bangladesh is extremely poor and hampered by "worse than average" political corruption.
The general agreement at the Diwali party was that India is better off because of two things: freedom of religion and freedom of thought (meaning that the education system is not so politically skewed as it is elsewhere). Speaking as a non-expert outsider, I think I agree.
Johnny enjoyed the fireworks fun until the really heavy stuff came out, but when someone lit a bundle of three "tiger bombs" (shaking the entire building) he decided he was done. We later had to drag John off the roof and into the car to get the kids home. He would have been happy to join in the fun all night.
We had an uneventful trip home through the smoke and lights and got to bed extremely late. It was a whole lot of fun, though.
We spent most of the day relaxing at home and watching safely from our kitchen window as our neighbors set the street on fire. That evening, though, we went to our friend Suyash's house for a Diwali dinner and "cracker bursting," as the firework mania is called.
Making our way to Suyash's house was quite the experience. He came to pick us up, and we walked out the door and into a war zone. The smoke was so thick it was as if the entire city were in a fog. We had to weave in and out of groups of people setting off fireworks in the middle of the street, and we're talking professional grade stuff. The explosions ranged from small "flower pots" (like roman candles) to huge rockets you'd only see in a professional show in the United States. It was insane!
We made it to Suyash's house in one piece, though, and had a really nice time. We watched them do their Lakshmi puja (Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth), and then the family marked each other and us (except for Evie, who was feeling shy) with a tikka on the forehead.
Here are the boys sporting their tikkas.
Then the kids ate entirely too many sweets, and we all ate a fantastic dinner. Suyash's family is from the North, so the food was slightly different from what we usually get here. It made a nice change, though I find that I love just about any Indian food I try (except for the sweets and some of the chutneys). Standouts from this meal were the biriyani, a delicious chola (chickpea dish), and a fantastic plum chutney.
After dinner we all went up to the roof to set off fireworks. The kids had fun with the sparklers and the flower pots and with some that spin around on the ground when they're lit. Evie asked to go inside once the bottle rockets got going. Here she is enjoying yet more candy.
Samuel lasted for quite awhile, but at one point he turned to John and said "This is too scary. I want to go inside." So Samuel joined Evie and me in the apartment.
While John and Johnny continued playing with fire on the roof, I listened to a fascinating political discussion among older members of the family. They were talking about relations between India and its neighbors Pakistan and Bangladesh. You probably know that they once were all one nation. A favorite topic for discussion here is why India is so much better off -- politically and economically -- than its neighbors. As one woman said that night, "We're all the same people." But India is the largest democracy in the world, in terms of population, and has one of the fastest growing economies. This isn't to say there aren't any problems, poverty being foremost among them. Pakistan, however, is bordering on collapse and Bangladesh is extremely poor and hampered by "worse than average" political corruption.
The general agreement at the Diwali party was that India is better off because of two things: freedom of religion and freedom of thought (meaning that the education system is not so politically skewed as it is elsewhere). Speaking as a non-expert outsider, I think I agree.
Johnny enjoyed the fireworks fun until the really heavy stuff came out, but when someone lit a bundle of three "tiger bombs" (shaking the entire building) he decided he was done. We later had to drag John off the roof and into the car to get the kids home. He would have been happy to join in the fun all night.
We had an uneventful trip home through the smoke and lights and got to bed extremely late. It was a whole lot of fun, though.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Diwali, part 1
Diwali will take several posts to cover, I'm sure, so we'll start with Sam and Evie's school party. Diwali (actually called Deepavali by most people in this part of India) is the festival of lights, the most important festival for most Hindus. It's similar to Christmas as far as hype, commercialism, and general excitement are concerned, but like most Hindu festivals there are several stories surrounding its origin.
The main story, as far as I can tell, is that Diwali celebrates Krishna's defeat of the demon Narakasura. Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu the preserver, one of the most important Hindu gods. (Another of his avatars is Rama.) Whatever denomination of Hinduism followed, though, the main idea behind Diwali is the triumph of good over evil. Families light lamps inside and decorate with lights outside their homes to symbolize the victories of light over dark, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.
On Diwali (which is actually on the 26th this year), families wake up before dawn and take ritual baths. Then they dress in new clothes and spend the day exchanging gifts and sweets, visiting temples, eating traditional foods, and setting off fireworks. The fireworks have been going for several evenings already, and let me tell you it sounds like I'm living in a war zone.
Here are Evie and Samuel dressed in Diwali clothes for the school celebrations.
I didn't see Evie's class party, but Samuel and I had all kinds of fun in Mommy and Me. All the kids, moms and teachers were dressed to the nines.
We made several attempts at getting a group photo of the kids ... ha! Here's one of the better attempts.
The main story, as far as I can tell, is that Diwali celebrates Krishna's defeat of the demon Narakasura. Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu the preserver, one of the most important Hindu gods. (Another of his avatars is Rama.) Whatever denomination of Hinduism followed, though, the main idea behind Diwali is the triumph of good over evil. Families light lamps inside and decorate with lights outside their homes to symbolize the victories of light over dark, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.
On Diwali (which is actually on the 26th this year), families wake up before dawn and take ritual baths. Then they dress in new clothes and spend the day exchanging gifts and sweets, visiting temples, eating traditional foods, and setting off fireworks. The fireworks have been going for several evenings already, and let me tell you it sounds like I'm living in a war zone.
Here are Evie and Samuel dressed in Diwali clothes for the school celebrations.
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| Ashok chastised me for giving Evie only enough bangles for one arm. Clearly we aren't showering her with enough bling. |
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| Samuel's sash lasted mere minutes. |
I didn't see Evie's class party, but Samuel and I had all kinds of fun in Mommy and Me. All the kids, moms and teachers were dressed to the nines.
We made several attempts at getting a group photo of the kids ... ha! Here's one of the better attempts.
The kids did their usual morning prayer, exercise, and playtime, but then they learned about lamps and firecrackers for Diwali and decorated their own diya, which is the traditional oil lamp used in the celebrations. For their snack the kids ate Diwali sweets, made with butter, honey and sugar. Samuel liked it, but I felt like I'd just swallowed a spoonful of nasty.
And then the real fun began. The school hired someone to spend all morning lighting fireworks in the front yard, and each class took a turn watching from behind the glass at the front of the school. I thought Samuel might be scared, but he was all over it.
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| The yard and steps were decorated with kolams (the white drawings), rangoli (the colored accents), and lots of little diyas. |
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| Going for a better view |
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| The woman holding the sparklers is Kavita, the owner of Alphabet Playschool. Her office is right next to our classroom, and she's always bouncing in to sing with us or blow bubbles or whatever. She's definitely a kid person. |
There will be much more Diwali to come. John and Johnny are out with our friend Suyash as I speak, buying crackers and fireworks for the Diwali party at Suyash's house on Wednesday night. I am afraid, very afraid. Indians do everything with such gusto. An officer who left this summer told us that the only time he'd ever feared for his life in Chennai was on a walk down the street at Diwali. It's the Fourth of July with no regulations whatsoever! Woot!
Here's a parting shot of Samuel and his wonderful Mommy and Me teachers, Bhavani and Leela.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Down to the Brass Tacks
India is famous for its textiles, and hand weaving is particularly important here because of its connection to Gandhi and one of his modes of civil disobedience. He and his followers encouraged people to make their own cloth and clothing, rather than buying from British-supported industries, as a form of economic rebellion and to elevate a traditional Indian industry.
On Saturday a friend of mine hosted a discussion with the owner of Brass Tacks Madras, a company that uses traditional Indian textiles to create clothing that's more contemporary and Western than what you'd usually see on the streets of Chennai. The company's name comes from an expression that's common here, "down to the brass tacks," which means something like "getting back to basics." This photo links to the company's web site.
Anaka Narayanan, the owner and designer, walked us through the design of this cocktail dress, which is made in a silk that's dyed using wood block clamps.
She used a draping method to design the dress, since it's not closely fitted, and then took a pattern from her work. She showed us every step, including her first set of paper patterns, a muslin mockup, and a mockup done in a synthetic fabric that better captured the flowy look of the top. Then she showed us the final piece.
All that was interesting, but what I really liked was her discussion of traditional weaving and dyeing techniques. I'd like to learn more about one technique in particular, ikat, in which individual threads are dyed multiple colors so that a pattern emerges as they are woven together.
This photo links to the "Learning Centre" page of the Brass Tacks web site, which gives a quick overview of ikat, as well as khadi, mashru, jamdaani, cutwork, leheria, mothada, shibori, and mud resist dyeing.
Brass Tacks designs aren't really my style, but I found our discussion fascinating anyway. I'd like to explore the traditional textile industry more, and now at least I can go to one of the textile exhibitions and know a bit about what I'm seeing.
On Saturday a friend of mine hosted a discussion with the owner of Brass Tacks Madras, a company that uses traditional Indian textiles to create clothing that's more contemporary and Western than what you'd usually see on the streets of Chennai. The company's name comes from an expression that's common here, "down to the brass tacks," which means something like "getting back to basics." This photo links to the company's web site.
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| shamelessly stolen from brasstacksmadras.com |
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| Also shamelessly stolen from brasstacksmadras.com |
All that was interesting, but what I really liked was her discussion of traditional weaving and dyeing techniques. I'd like to learn more about one technique in particular, ikat, in which individual threads are dyed multiple colors so that a pattern emerges as they are woven together.
This photo links to the "Learning Centre" page of the Brass Tacks web site, which gives a quick overview of ikat, as well as khadi, mashru, jamdaani, cutwork, leheria, mothada, shibori, and mud resist dyeing.
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| you guessed it ... |
UN Day
One of the amazing things about international schools is that they're so international! Johnny's school has about 900 students from pre-K through grade 12. Of those students, about 30 percent are from Korea (I know ... weird), about 25 percent are from the United States, and everyone else is from everywhere else ... and I do mean everywhere.
Every year AISC celebrates United Nations Day (October 24, the anniversary of the UN Charter) by hosting a regional Model United Nations (CHEMUN) and with an assembly and mini international fair. The Model UN conference is regional in name only, since this year there were participants from around India, the Middle East and Europe. I don't know how that's limited to one region. The school also sends a team to another international conference later in the year. This year they're going to Genoa, Italy. All this is close to my heart because when I was in high school I was on an MUN team that went to Nairobi, and I can't tell you how much that trip influenced my world view.
Since my kids aren't old enough for the MUN fun, I helped out at the United States booth during the fair. It was a really fun day. The kids were each given a passport, which volunteers stamped as the kids visited the booths. There were also stickers to collect, crafts to do, and lots of food to taste. Here's a photo of two of our lovely volunteers working the USA booth.
We all wore patriotic clothes, and we gave out oh-so-American popcorn and chocolate chip cookies. In the above picture you can see two of the activities. The younger kids especially liked the craft, which was gluing a penny to a paper star that they then decorated with red and blue crayons. To get a sticker, the younger kids had to play a matching game using pictures of famous American places, the older elementary kids had to guess the state in which you'd find landmarks like the Grand Canyon or the Gateway Arch, and the high school kids had to identify presidents by their pictures.
Here's a girl who's gathered a few stickers.
I ended up running the matching games for a while, and I was fascinated by a couple of things. First, the kids (younger and older) were really into the games and had a lot of fun with them. I was working at a time when a lot of high school kids were coming through, and most of them just lit up when I told them they had to answer a question before they got a sticker. It was fun to see them having so much fun with it.
The second thing I found really interesting was this: For the high school kids, I first held up a picture of Thomas Jefferson and asked them to identify him. Only three students got it. They all knew the name and significance of Thomas Jefferson, but they couldn't pull him out of a lineup. The second picture I held up was George Washington. About two-thirds identified him correctly. (Remember that most of these students aren't from the U.S.) The third picture I held up was Abraham Lincoln. Not one student missed it! So from my extremely unscientific survey, I found that Abraham Lincoln is more internationally known (at least by his picture) than even George Washington.
On to the food. Here's Johnny enjoying a pancake with maple syrup, courtesy of the Canada booth. All that chocolate around his face is Belgium's fault.
And here (drum roll, please) is the Brazil booth with brigadeiros!!! Oh I was in heaven for just a few minutes there. I also got up the nerve and found that I can still speak Portuguese, though my vocabulary needs some work. The good news is that the women at the Brazil booth were so impressed with my effort (or maybe with my salivating) that they opened up a new box of brigadeiros just for me.
Some of the booths were really creative and fun. Mexico had a photo board with images from Day of the Dead.
The French volunteers went haute couture and wore the Eiffel Tower on their heads. Don't they just look French?
Here are a few of the other booths for your viewing pleasure ... Happy UN Day!
Every year AISC celebrates United Nations Day (October 24, the anniversary of the UN Charter) by hosting a regional Model United Nations (CHEMUN) and with an assembly and mini international fair. The Model UN conference is regional in name only, since this year there were participants from around India, the Middle East and Europe. I don't know how that's limited to one region. The school also sends a team to another international conference later in the year. This year they're going to Genoa, Italy. All this is close to my heart because when I was in high school I was on an MUN team that went to Nairobi, and I can't tell you how much that trip influenced my world view.
Since my kids aren't old enough for the MUN fun, I helped out at the United States booth during the fair. It was a really fun day. The kids were each given a passport, which volunteers stamped as the kids visited the booths. There were also stickers to collect, crafts to do, and lots of food to taste. Here's a photo of two of our lovely volunteers working the USA booth.
We all wore patriotic clothes, and we gave out oh-so-American popcorn and chocolate chip cookies. In the above picture you can see two of the activities. The younger kids especially liked the craft, which was gluing a penny to a paper star that they then decorated with red and blue crayons. To get a sticker, the younger kids had to play a matching game using pictures of famous American places, the older elementary kids had to guess the state in which you'd find landmarks like the Grand Canyon or the Gateway Arch, and the high school kids had to identify presidents by their pictures.
Here's a girl who's gathered a few stickers.
I ended up running the matching games for a while, and I was fascinated by a couple of things. First, the kids (younger and older) were really into the games and had a lot of fun with them. I was working at a time when a lot of high school kids were coming through, and most of them just lit up when I told them they had to answer a question before they got a sticker. It was fun to see them having so much fun with it.
The second thing I found really interesting was this: For the high school kids, I first held up a picture of Thomas Jefferson and asked them to identify him. Only three students got it. They all knew the name and significance of Thomas Jefferson, but they couldn't pull him out of a lineup. The second picture I held up was George Washington. About two-thirds identified him correctly. (Remember that most of these students aren't from the U.S.) The third picture I held up was Abraham Lincoln. Not one student missed it! So from my extremely unscientific survey, I found that Abraham Lincoln is more internationally known (at least by his picture) than even George Washington.
On to the food. Here's Johnny enjoying a pancake with maple syrup, courtesy of the Canada booth. All that chocolate around his face is Belgium's fault.
And here (drum roll, please) is the Brazil booth with brigadeiros!!! Oh I was in heaven for just a few minutes there. I also got up the nerve and found that I can still speak Portuguese, though my vocabulary needs some work. The good news is that the women at the Brazil booth were so impressed with my effort (or maybe with my salivating) that they opened up a new box of brigadeiros just for me.
Some of the booths were really creative and fun. Mexico had a photo board with images from Day of the Dead.
The French volunteers went haute couture and wore the Eiffel Tower on their heads. Don't they just look French?
Here are a few of the other booths for your viewing pleasure ... Happy UN Day!
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| Denmark, home of Lego ... |
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| Germany |
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| South Africa |
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| Australia had Vegemite and Marmite to taste |
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| Koreans in their gorgeous traditional dress |
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| The volunteers from the Netherlands all wore wooden shoes (sorry ... no photo of the shoes). |
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