Carrying on as normal

So much has happened in the New Year that I need to post another entry to catch up! Almost all of the last blog was dedicated to Kerala and I could have written more.....

Today was Elementary School Sports Day and in stark contrast to last year, Conor's team came first in the Grade 4B relay! Hurrah. The event ran from 8.30am to noon and was superbly organised with students rotating through c.17 different challenges. One of Conor's best friends, Tristan from the US, was on the opposing team (Reds) and the Dodgeball challenge was extremely competitive with Tristan picking up the rules rather more quickly than Conor. After thinking that sports day was heading the same way as last year, Conor showed that he's a year older, got over the stress and took a more sporting approach to the events.

Yesterday, I went to a stereotypical expat ladies event which was great fun.....an expat ladies' lunch! A friend is moving to Kuala Lumpur after a very short posting of 7 months. We had a great lunch with about 20 of us eating a delicious buffet at the JW Marriott. On the whole I have found expat women to be good fun. To move to a new location and get your family settled quickly, I've found that the women need to be quite outgoing and persistent. Things won't get accomplished unless you keep on top of them and stay organised. This means that expat women do a lot! If something needs to be done they are resourceful and find a way to sort things out. When it comes to a social life, there are always people ready to meet up, swap tips and help out. It's a very open and supportive. This is my first posting so I only have Mumbai to base this on but I would guess it's the same in other locations too.

Once a month I meet up with some other women and we identify organisations that could use our services, financial or other. At our last get together we met some representatives from One International. This is a Canadian-based charity that runs a couple of schools in Mumbai for slum children. One of the schools is very close to where we live. (Visitors may remember the sea front near our home where fish is dried - pretty smelly!) It was very interesting to hear about the school. Many children in slums have no birth certificate/legal documents and without this a child cannot enrol in the government school system. With 50 plus children per class in the government schools most quality education is provided through private tuition which, of course, is not an option for slum children whose families do not even have the basics; food,warmth, shelter. It was an eye-opener and I've added a link for any readers interested in doing or learning more.

In stark contrast (which sums up life in Mumbai) we have the school Gala Ball tomorrow night. A chance for us all to dress up in our finery and dine and dance at one of the 5 star hotels.

Since Mum and Dad left I have been catching up with emails and getting ready to hand over my responsibilities on the American Women's Club. Apart from that Conor and I have been mainly watching series 2 of My Name is Earl (v. funny) and Princess Mononoke (see Studio Ghibli in the links section on this page.) Conor started swimming lessons yesterday and loved them. After half an hour he was swimming faster with fewer strokes....the right way to go. Con has signed up for an Aquathon with his English classmate Owen. Conor is doing the swimming part then Owen the running. Ian and I are thinking about participating......I haven't told Ian yet that it starts at 7.30am on a Sunday morning. Next post will probably be after the Aquathon so I'll let you know how it went and who entered!

Hotting Up

We returned from the UK in January after a great few weeks eating loads and seeing lovely friends. The end of January in Mumbai was COLD. Mumbaikers experienced the coldest weather for something like 45 years! We had to put a duvet on the bed and my teeth chattered when I took Conor to school in the mornings. Everyone was wearing shawls and the "lightweight summer sweaters" I have in my wardrobe were totally inadequate. I wore socks!!!! Half way through February and the weather started to hot up and my jeans have been hung up until the next visit home to England.

My parents came to visit in February and we had a great trip to Kerala. The state is totally different to other parts of India....flying into Kochi we circled over coconut palms as far as the eye could see. Our trip was organised at the last minute by a local travel agent who got the balance exactly right between independence and cosseting when we needed it. http://www.dharanstours.com/ We'd highly recommend him to anyone looking to tour India.

Kerala involved quite a bit of driving and we had a Tempo Traveller (a minibus!) to ourselves. Driver Vinod was a bit of a speed merchant but we arrived safely and quicker than the anticipated travel times. We started in Kochi (Cochin) then up to Periyar Nature Reserve driving through tea and spice plantations. We finished the tour at the Backwaters near Kumarakom.
The Kathakhari dancers were fascinating and the "lady" looked like Les Dawson. In Periyar we saw Kalari fighting (Kalaripayattu - the oldest of martial arts). This took place in a pit with weapons and fire! On a boat ride through the nature reserve we saw elephants, water buffalo and wild pigs and boars so felt very smug.

The Backwaters were stunning. We rented a boat (with captain!) to take us right into the narrow waterways. There are houses all along the canals as you get further inland and there was constant activity: children swimming, adults bathing/washing, people fishing, women washing clothes and beating them against the steps down to the water.

Conor had his 10th birthday with some friends from school and it turned into a bit of a 5 hour marathon session at Waterstones with food, films and swimming. He's also been Valentine's baking (cookery course) and trying out for Track and Field and swimming teams again. We have Sports Day on Friday and his big fear is another dramatic fall in the relay like last year. Keep your fingers crossed for a swift but safe race this time.
Con is having a fantastic year at school and now has quite a little gang he plays/hangs out with at break time. They are a great bunch of children, all very different personalities and interests but get on very well together.

Mum, Dad and I went to visit our driver Ravi's house and met his wife. The local children thought it was very interesting that we'd come to visit and kept peeping in at us. The house has 2 rooms. The front room used as a sitting area and which is also their bedroom at night. Behind this there is a kitchen. Ravi moved to this house in December and has taken a step up as he has piped water into the house. Previously, the family had to collect water every day from a central barrel. To reach the house we went down an alley with houses packed in down each side. The lane was too small for cars although I'm sure motorbikes sneak down it. I was actually quite relieved that he had a fan in the lounge area and the place was, of course, spotlessly clean. I had worried about the conditions I might find and how I would live with the guilt generated by the contrast in our lifestyles. The overriding feeling I had was how proud Ravi was of his family and house. It was good to see the dignity he has on his turf.

Happydent White Commercial

Nike Cricket TV Commercial

Into the New Year

The run up to Christmas was obviously very busy as I've just noticed my last post was Dec 9th. just to keep things moving I'll do a very short post with links to a couple of my favourite Indian adverts. The chewing gum one has won several international awards I think. The Nike one sums up the Mumbai traffic - it could be the journey home from school on the Linking Road

The Run up to Christmas

It's busy, busy here with loads of events during the run up to Christmas.

Last week I went on a Christmas Cookie Baking course! I'm sure we ate more than we should have especially the fudge pictured here with Debbie (who it turns out grew up 10 miles from me in the UK!)

This Monday Con sang with the Elementary School choir at the Tree Lighting ceremony at the Grand Hyatt. The choir sounded great and the tree looked amazing. We were very excited to see Santa come to Mumbai! He arrived in a rickshaw (cabriolet) as I think it is too hot here for reindeer.

Tuesday and Wednesday saw me at charity coffee mornings (how stereotypical) then Thursday was a trip to the supermarket and Friday a day at home trying to catch up paperwork before we go back to the UK for Christmas.

On Saturday we had Family Fun Day at the school. Like a school fayre, the children had various stalls set up and all proceeds from the day went to local charities. I spent a stressful half hour manning the indoor bouncy castle - all the time trying to restrict the number of children on the inflatable to a vaguely safe situation; shouting at children to stop climbing over the edge and trying to get children off after they'd had their allotted time. In the back of my mind I had the voice of Sarah, a statistician I used to work with who had trawled through figures for the NHS and knew that bouncy castles are the major cause of spinal injuries in children in the UK .....great.

Unfortunately on Friday night, our building experienced its first burglary. Someone scaled over the wall (easy, Ian has done it when he was locked out of the compound once) and then climbed onto the first floor balcony and broke in. Although very little was taken, the family there obviously feel vulnerable and shaken. We had a residents meeting today about ways to tighten up security. Lots of time was spent debating how to keep the security guards awake in the early hours of the morning, which I would say is an impossible task.

On Saturday evening we spent a lovely time with a group of friends celebrating Pat's 40th birthday. His birthday was a week ago and we spent it relaxing at our club playing croquet on the lawn! This Saturday we ate at the Italian restaurant in the Leela and I had imported Aberdeen Angus steak which was truly delicious. Apparently back bacon is in at Sante, a delicatessen in Bandra so I may well make a trip there this coming week. The Christmas decorations at the Leela were very opulent and the ones in out apartment don't look too bad either but on a rather pathetic scale. All in all I'm getting very excited about Christmas.

Gone to Goa

Towards the middle of November we went to Goa with some friends Jane and Cyrus and their daughter Alia. Con and I flew down on the Thursday and then Ian joined us on Saturday. There are early flights from Mumbai so Ian was with us "in resort" by 9am.

We stayed in a very quiet, unspoilt part of Goa called Aswem, near Morjim. The first night we stayed at Ku a beautiful, tranquil place with an Asian feel and just 2 rooms. (see right).

When Ian came we moved to Tellytubbyland! It's actually a group of bamboo huts called Yabyum. They also have a couple of cottages. http://www.yabyumresort.com/

The beach was beautiful with amazing waves that we could jump and body surf on. Every morning a herd of cows would meander down and along the beach and there were a few shacks where we could get drinks and food. The local beer is called Kings and cost 20 or 25 rupees (30p!) a bottle. Although there were just a few shacks there, Maria who runs Ku told us that a coupl eof years ago there was just one and, like the rest of Goa, Aswem is starting to attract investors looking to bring more tourists in. It will be a shame as it was so peaceful and unspolit.

The beach was also a last bastion for the crusty hippy. Many crusties were limbering up of a morning on the beach doing their sun salutations and I got some great pictures!