Church Picnic

Saturday brian had the day off for a national holiday--Republic Day. We were a little fuzzy on the history and meaning of this day but we were glad he got it off! Our church had its annual picnic on Saturday so we were excited to get to attend. There was a big tent set up that most of the woman and babies hung out under...also where the food was served. The men and boys played soccer, kickball, cricket, volleyball and flew kites in the big open field. It was great to get to know people better while there. We ate rice, chicken curry, yogurt with diced vegetables, potato curry and yummy cake. I'm including some pics but my friend Rachel, a much better photographer with a much better camera, got some great shots of individuals. If you are interested in seeing more please visit her web photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/rachelwaldock/BethelBaptistChurchPicnic

Another Dr. Visit and other thoughts...

Corban saw a pediatric orthopedic this week to correct flat arches on his feet. I know that I've blogged about this many times before, and you may be tired of hearing it, but i am still in disbelief at the cost of health care here...his visit with the doctor cost $5! When Corban saw the same type of doctor in TX the visit was $130!! Today we went back and didn't have to pay for the2nd visit and he will be getting inserts for really cheap. Even after 4 doctor visits since arriving i just can't believe how little doctors charge. They don't take insurance either--maybe that's the catch.
Two more observations...
most restaurants here do not have smoking or non-smoking sections. you sit wherever you'd like (usually b/c we're the first ones there:) and if someone smokes next to you that's life.
Also, forming lines (also called que's--i didn't know that before here:) is not really an ingrained part of the culture. I was reading a friend's blog that talked about an Indian wedding. When the couple came out to greet all those attending there was no line, just a mob:) Thankfully in the grocery store and at the airport we are forced to have lines but i have had people cut in front of me:) I don't really blame them--i'm usually the one with the full basket--and they only have 2 things:D

Pancake Supper

Last night we had 13 men over for dinner from Brian's work. He has been wanting to have co-workers over for awhile--- but since there are so many that work with him in his department we had to split it up into 3 nights. So the next 2 tuesdays we will be having people over as well.
I've been lazy in my attempt to learn Indian cooking and with the limited resources for fixing mass quantities of food (i.e. ingredients and refrigerator space) we decided to make it easy and have a Pancake dinner. Now I can't exactly say that I would be ok feeding dinner guests in the states pancakes unless it was a group of children:) but we figured since they haven't ever eaten them and most of them are vegetarians they might think it a novelty. Well we aren't sure if they liked them or were just polite to eat them (most of them eating them by hand:). But nonetheless we dished out dozens of banana slapjacks with butter and imported syrup plus fruit salad. The boys had a blast playing with the big boys (all in their 20's) and like usual they posed for lots of pictures with them.
Next week will be all girls and we decided to order takeout so that we can visit more...i was flippin' pancakes most of the time and Brian was busy passing them out.
Afterwards Brian drove them (all piled into our car--true Indian style) to the bus stop where they rode their usual LONG bus ride home.

First Family Pet

We officially have our first family pet!! Maya (pronounced My-ya) the turtle. As the boys took their afternoon naps yesterday, Brian went to the pet shop and brought back a surprise--a baby tortuga. The boys, with the help of daddy and momma's think tank, named her.The top 6 name finalists, from a list of about 20, were Maya, Tiga, Sadie, Cienna, Tula and Lolly. Corban was pulling hard for Cienna but since he couldn't remember how to say it and the majority were pulling for Maya, he conceded:) He got to decide it was a girl--we don't really know what it is:D

She lives in a large glass bowl with sand, rocks, a plant and David, a Bible toy figure:D She's about 2 inches long from head to tail--pretty cute:)

Homeschool Freak

I never thought I'd see a country that was more serious about early education than the U.S. (ok, maybe Japan:). In the states, many people put their children in preschool for fun and socializing but here people put their children in school starting around 2 or 3 to actually prepare them to be able to get into kindergarten. Children start kindergarten ("lower kindergarten") at age 4 and upper kindergarten at 5. Some elite international schools have quite rigourous acceptance standards for these little minds.

Ofcourse, everyone asks if Corban is in school. A little background info...we had decided a few years ago that when the kids were old enough to start school we would homeschool them. We had lots of friends homeschooling and had a "community" to learn from. It's well accepted in the states...

So when I tell people here we are homeschooling Corban they just give me this blank look. It's unheard of here....not on the radar at all. I'm really not even sure if it's legal but as one person told me "everything is legal in India" and I figure if Ghandi homeschooled his kids we're ok:) Not long into the conversation the other person is insisting that i start researching and looking into schools. (It's really hard to get into some of the elite private schools here and hard to know what schools actually provide a good education. You usually have to put your child on a waiting list and pay fees for admission ahead of time). When I explain to them that homeschooling is "normal" in the states and that everyone I talk to here tells me I need to be looking for a school (another words, you are telling me what everyone tells me and it's not working:), they still continue to insist that he needs to go to a school:)

Some of you may be saying, "well Colette that's what we think about you here in the states too:)" but for all my Hommies (short for Homeschool Mommies as my friend Desiree has termed it) out there know, it's worth it even if you do get some strange looks in the states, but imagine everyone giving you a blank stare, you-are-crazy-don't-you-care-about-your-child's-future-and-life look:D Really it just makes me want to do it even more:D We have actually thought about sending him to a school for the cultural experience while here,but I'm a rebel at heart and the flame is being fueled:D We'll let you know what happens....school starts in June here.

Education really is a huge deal here. We're learning some of the thinking behind it...that it's the only way for a child to be successful (i think this stems from centuries of the caste system). There are rigourous exams and homework starting in 1st grade. And we are learning that this country, although it seems like a "we" country (family/community), for those who can afford education it is very much an "I/me" country. Your child needs to be the best, they have to succeed, have to achieve the end goal-wealth. I guess it doesn't sound much different from the u.s.

Updates...

Brian has been officially added to the Leadership Team with his company. You can see his pic on this website...http://www.ujjivan.com/about_leadteam.html...you have to scroll down til you get to the first (and lone) white boy:)
The company also eclipsed 50,000 customers this month! In July, when Brian started, they had just passed 30,000...they've only been open 2 years...the latest goal is 100,000 by June. They are growing superfast! And supporting many Indian woman working to better their lives and their family's lives.
Kai has been busy the past two weeks...he started sitting up from the lying down position (working out those abs:), clapping (fanatically) and our latest surprise was finding him standing up in his crib--laughing:) This morning when I went in to get him he was in a "cage" with the mosquito net on top of his head. Maybe that's how we'll keep him from climbing out:)

Aerospace Musuem

Brian had Saturday off--hurray! We went to the Aerospace Musuem (which had more aero than space)...the boys loved it...they are big airplane fans these days. It was a beautiful day...although it is "winter" here the day starts out around 55 degrees with a high of around 80 degrees. The musuem had beautiful landscaping. We looked at the planes and helicopters outside, more inside, visited the "control tower" that actually looks out onto the Bangalore Intn'l Airport runway, and the boys each got to pick out an airplane from the souvenir shop that had quite the assortment of planes for a steal $$. Afterwards we went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants with open air, roof top dining to enjoy the beautiful day. We went to church on Sunday and included some pics from there too. Hope you had a great weekend!