Super view of the Super Kings

Johnny's becoming a real cricket fan. He's even started collecting trading cards, memorizing statistics, and looking up player bios online. So he was super excited when John came home with super seats to see the Chennai Super Kings in action.

They've been to a cricket match once before, but this time they were in prime seats, sitting at the equivalent to American football's 50 yard line.

They were right above what baseball calls the dugout (I'm not sure of the term in cricket), so they got close-up views of all the stars. John said one of the most enjoyable things of the night was watching a group of local teenagers swoon every time one of the Super Kings waved in their direction.

On this night, the Super Kings beat the Delhi Daredevils! Unfortunately, they went on to lose the Indian Premier League to the Kolkata Knight Riders. Oh, well. There's always next year.

How to force Mom to take you for a haircut

This happened a while ago, but who says a blog has to be an accurate measure of history? Not I.

Evie had been begging for a haircut. It's really too hot for long hair here unless you're going to take the time to braid it every day, and Evie isn't into wasting time on her hair (despite her girlie-girlie ways). I didn't get around to it and didn't get around to it, until Evie forced the issue by cutting her own hair!

I showed up at preschool one day and was met by Evie's teacher, who was apologizing profusely. Apparently, Evie and her friend Owen had taken the art scissors and given each other a more contemporary look. The funny thing is, Evie's cut didn't look too horrible. The bangs were super short, but aside from that it wasn't bad. (Don't tell her that, though.)

I took Evie to get her hair cut the very next day. (Score: Evie 1, Mom 0) As usual, I didn't think to bring our decent camera, so these are taken with my phone. Lousy quality.

Evie before the cut.

Oh, the pampering! Evie enjoyed the wash and short head massage.

She was fighting a smile through the whole thing. The only part she didn't like was when the hairdresser cut along the back of her neck. Evie kept flinching.

And the final result! There wasn't much that could be done about the bangs, of course, but the overall effect turned out much cuter than this photo makes it appear. Evie loves her short hair!

Opa!

Too hot to do anything fun, you say? I laugh!

105 in the shade is the perfect weather for a grade 3 Greek festival! I got to escort one of the groups -- the citizens of Athens -- around their stations. Teachers out there, take note. The Greek festival was a roaring success!

Here's a rear view of the citizens, all toga-ed up and marching to the festival grounds.

Johnny and his friend Aditya are ready for some fun.

First, Greek dance lessons from resident Greek Mr. Costas (one of the gym teachers). Can I get an "opa!" ?

Next up, the Olympic games! Including, Olympic torch relay

Discus throw (using soft frisbees for everyone's safety)

Adoring fans (because there's no helicopter parent like the international school parent ... I mean this as a compliment)

And, of course, a chariot race!

After the Olympic games, which the Athenians dubbed "awesome!!!!", the citizens made their own laurel wreaths.

Next was pot painting. The kids had made their own clay plates in art class a few days previous to the festival.

The morning was capped off with a dance featuring the citizens of all city-states in attendance (Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Megara, Argos).

And what kind of festival would this be without Greek food, courtesy Kryptos restaurant (to die for)!

And here are our Greek enthusiasts, Ms. Robertson's 3rd grade class (minus Alexander, who I accidentally cut off on the left). Opa!

Amour

Johnny made me this card in French class. I melted, of course.

Johnny had a foreign language class this year that was an introduction to Spanish for half the year and an introduction to French for half the year. Next year he has to choose which language he wants to focus on all year. We encouraged him to choose Spanish, thinking that we'd probably be heading to a Spanish-speaking post next. Well, the bid list is out, and there's NOT A SINGLE Spanish-speaking post on it that works for our time schedule. NOT ONE! It's so bizarre. The good news is that Johnny's teacher says he has a real talent for languages, so he'll do great wherever we go.

Mango season

Mmmmm ... mangoes ....

Four months in photos

Now that every electronic device we own has a built-in camera, I occasionally have to sit down and do a little organizing. Here are some random photos from the last four months. They're of varying quality, as they come from our digital camera, friends' digital cameras, our two cell phones, and my iPod. You'll also notice by Evie's changing hair length that they're sometimes out of chronological order. Oh, well. Enjoy!

Samuel and our neighbor Alex like to help with the gardening. We're lucky that our downstairs neighbors have boys that line up in age with Samuel and Johnny. I just found out that the two new families coming into our compound have 2-year-olds, as well. Fun times ahead!

Tamil lettering on the sign outside our church. It reads "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Visitors welcome." Well ... the Tamil equivalent of that.

Our church building is brand new. This is what greeted visitors to the open house in January.

Missionaries working the church open house in January. Most missionaries here are from India, but there are a few Americans here and there. You'll recognize "greenies" by their shell-shocked look.

Artisans working at a crafts exhibition at Valluvar Kottam.

Tapestry at a textile exhibition at the Kalakshetra Foundation.

Papier mache puppets ready for a performance at Kalakshetra.

The white board outside Alphabet Playschool, where Evie and Samuel have been attending preschool. There's a new quote every day.

A "salon" is a "saloon" here. I don't know why I find this so hilarious.

This is hard to see, but it's a Spiderman coloring book packaged with Barbie crayons. Who is the target consumer? Not sure.



Indians love to decorate their vehicles, and baby Krishna (and here) is a favorite image.

The kids have been building elaborate forts in the living room.

Evie as a fairy bunny rock star.

Samuel and one of his preschool teachers talking to the fish in Alphabet's little koi pond. I like Alphabet's indoor/outdoor setup.

Samuel playing hard at Ideal Beach.

Johnny (on the right) and his friend Anand Beh at Ideal Beach. Those are fishing boats in the background.

This year's Easter Bread turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Johnny's started piano lessons, but Samuel's the one you're most likely to find practicing.

Evie loves to turn on the Disney playlist and dance.

Evie's the green blur on the left. This was at a birthday party last month, where the parents all sat around sweating to death while the kids went nuts (with frequent water breaks).

This enormous vegetable is called a snake gourd. Those potatoes underneath are fist-sized, to give you some idea as to how long it is. I have no idea how to cook with it. 

Samuel is still as fascinated with auto-rickshaws as ever. This one has Spidey decor.

We hardly ever see sandwich meat here, and when we do the price is unbelievable. This package costs 700 rupees. At 50 rupees to the dollar, that's ham worth $14! The salami next to it is 1400 rupees, or $28.

Nothing like an after-playground ice cream pop.

 

Samuel on the playground at the American school.

Waiting for the bunny buns to bake

Evie putting the final touches (sprinkles) on the bunny buns.