Coming Home!

Ready or not, we're due to be on the airplane in three days.  It's very difficult to imagine--after five months, this has truly become our home.  We miss our family and friends and home so much, but this is our life right now.  Christmas and home feel like another world.

Today while working on leaving things in a tidy way, and trying to decide what to put into the suitcase, I found a little friend who had decided she would like to try being an American puppy instead of an Indian puppy.  She has decided I am the only one--Indian or American --that has a soft spot for an Indian dog.

This week we were invited by our new Hostel Warden to attend a Seemandhan for her daughter-in-law.  This is a blessing that is for a mother-to-be, who is somewhere in her third trimester of pregnancy, but only for the first born child.  The flowers and some of the ritual reminded me of a wedding, but the purpose is to bless the baby and the mother with health and happiness.  Part of the ceremony was adding a bracelet onto each of the mother's arms.  The "elder" women present were invited to come place a bracelet on each arm.  The first bracelet is made from the neem plant.  It is followed by gold bangles, silver bangles and then glass bangles. The sound of the bracelets is for the baby to hear the lovely sound the bangles make as the mother moves her arm.  Sweet sounds for the baby.  After delivery, they are all removed. There was also a food blessing with each parent being fed pieces of a cutup banana, and then the whole thing was followed by a feast up on the roof.  Very interesting and we felt honored to be included.  I likened it to the baby showers we give to honor the first born baby.

This morning our three 8th standard children set off in the dark for a long drive to Chennai for the official testing. There are several benchmarks for the students, including 8th standard, 10th standard, and 12th standard.  As they pass each of these tests, they can then move on to the next standard--or not.  They left at 6:00 a.m. to be in their seats and ready to go by 9:30 a.m.  They are probably not going to do too well, as this group of kids came to us late, and are not our best learners, but the teachers wanted them to have this experience and also use the test as a benchmark.  The testing lasts all week--five days.  They went up last Monday, but the tests were cancelled, due to the rains.  Chennai was pretty well under water for a few days.  It is going to be a long week for these three.

As we will be beginning our major building projects when we come back in January, I'm taking pictures of some of the wonderful figures that are hung outside new building projects to ward off problems.  I thought the fellow pictured above was particularly attractive!

Next blog from the USofA!!  Happy Holidays to all.