India: Day 13-18

Finally, my last post about India!

The second week of the workshop went well. The consultant came on Sunday. She was a very nice Indian woman. She and her husband had done a translation project and were now consultants and trainers. Then another consultant, a guy from SIL in the US came on Monday. We had no idea he was coming, but it was sort of nice to have another westerner around. Ironically, when we first got there we were wishing there was someone we could ask questions to. You know, about cultural things we should/shouldn’t do, about the generator, brushing our teeth with the water, paying the ladies that helped around the house, etc… We had figured all of that stuff out by the time he came so at least we were able to tell him about it. The participants spent the week listening to lectures and writing their papers and we were there to answer any questions with regards to FieldWorks. I gave one of the wives a one-on-one tutoring session. The kids did much better with the food during this week. Either they just grew to like it, or they finally gave in and ate it because they were hungry. Hopefully it was a growing experience for them. The two ladies who took care of the kids were sweet. They didn’t speak English well. The also did our laundry and cleaned some. Often times we’d come home on a break and they’d be off doing something with Sora and the boys were home alone. They were basically on their own all day. I’d give them a schedule for the day. When we’d go to class they could play, then watch a movie, then from 11 to 12 they would read and do worksheets. We’d have lunch then we’d go back to class and they would rest for an hour and have free time to play the Leapster or something. Luckily Orin is good at keeping track of time. I was proud of them that they didn’t really fight (apart from one time where they scratched each other on purpose) and could obey my rules and schedule and take care of themselves. I loved coming back home and seeing their completed worksheets – Orin often with a 100% and a smiley face written at the top of his sheets (that he wrote himself).

Saturday was spent mostly just waiting until 6pm when we’d take the 2 ½ hour taxi to the airport to catch our 1:30am flight. Yes, the middle of the night. Renee actually gave an hour long demo of a section of FW that the translators and consultant were interested in. Otherwise we just relaxed and sat around. The kids played with some of the other kids and staff. 

One the way to the airport we stopped at a Indian Restaurant. Yes, we had eaten Indian food for almost 3 weeks, but this restaurant had Northern Indian food. In the US we usually ate Northern Indian food, but since we were in the South, the food we had at the center was all Southern. Southern Indian food is yummy, but not the same. The food at the restaurant was SO good. I wish we could have eaten there again. Maybe one day!

The flight back home was great. We flew out at 1:30am so the kids slept most of the almost 4 hour flight. We landed in Bangkok, had McDonald's breakfast and then another good flight back to Chaing Mai. Friends picked us up and we got home around 11am. Unfortunately, I realized I lost my keys somewhere on the trip (why I even brought them I don't know). It was so nice to be home. The kids and Damien all napped for a a few hours (I unpacked and got the car cleaned). All in all it was a great trip and I hope we get to go back one day!

The sweet ladies who took care of Sora. 

Trying to get a picture of the boys but they just had to be silly.

Eating lunch for the last time in the dining hall.

There were a few little playground-type things that the kids enjoyed.

The grammar consultants were there for the last week. We were there to answer questions as the participants used their data in FieldWorks to write their papers.

Our house-mate for the last week. He is an SIL linguistics consultant that came from the US to help teach the Grammar aspect of the course.

Sora was a little nutty by the end. She was ready to go HOME. The last day she woke up from her nap and ran screaming from the house to the classroom. She really wanted Damien or I to be with her. Other than the last two days she did really well.

The lady on the left was the other grammar consultant. She and her husband have finished a translation of the Bible for a group in India and now they are consultants helping other translators.

People bribed the boys with candy to take pictures. :)

These men had probably never seen a "white" child before, nevertheless interacted with one. They had a lot of fun playing with them for the time we were there.

Not a lot of Koreans in India either so Sora also got TONS of attention.

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Another Milestone

Orin lost his first tooth last night. I don't know who was more excited, him or me! He's almost 7 and is one of the last kids in his class to lose a tooth. He's been asking for months when it is going to happen - the poor kid felt left out. When he first realized his tooth was loose I couldn't believe how excited I was. I think it's because when I was young I thought losing my teeth was the best thing ever. I would notice it a tad bit loose and by the end of the day it would be out. I'd work on it all day. Last week I made the mistake of mentioning to Orin that we could tie a string around it and a door knob and slam the door. He wanted to do that right then. But I could tell it wasn't quite ready. But all week he kept asking, "Is it loose enough? Is it ready?" Micaiah was so into it too and kept asking if it was ready. Finally, last night it was really loose. I'd try to fool with it but he didn't like that and asked again to do the string. Damien thought we were crazy - especially since it was his first tooth to come out. But Orin was so set on it we figured we'd try. I used dental floss and tied it to our bathroom door. My only worry was that our wood floors are really old with big gaps and I was afraid that we might lose it if it fell in. It was tough getting that string around the tooth. We tried twice and both times the string slipped off when I shut the door. But Orin was determined. Damien and Micaiah laid on the bed not looking. Finally, I got the string good and tight. Orin hugged me tightly and I shut the door as hard as I could. Orin didn't make a sound so I thought it still hadn't worked. But I looked down and the tooth was still attached to the string. It was sort of amazing actually. He didn't even know it had come out. He was surprisingly speechless and bit in shock with the hole in his mouth - he didn't' say much for a few minutes except that he wanted the bleeding to stop. We put the tiny tooth in a Ziploc bag and put it under his pillow. He asked how much money we were going to give him. He said 500B? LOL. That's about US $15! I told him no way. I kept joking about the tooth fairy but he doesn't like us joking about that stuff since he knows it's not real. He just wanted the money. Being the bad mom that I am I went to bed and forgot (whoops) but luckily Damien remembered! I won't write about every tooth lost, but since it was the first one I don't want to forget it.

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India: Day 10-12 - part 2

 Saturday morning we spent walking around the area. It was so much fun to soak in what we saw around us. Cows in the middle of the sidewalk, trash everywhere, people playing cricket, auto rickshaws everywhere, avoiding large holes in the sidewalk. We stopped at a grocery store for snacks. We realized pretty quickly that you have to be offensive when it comes to waiting in line – if you don’t stay close enough to the person in front of you someone will cut. We stopped by a small park (don’t think any US park) to have some soda and after about 15 minutes the sprinklers came on and were actually strong enough to get all of the benches wet. It was funny but we saw that as our cue to leave. We the decided to head for the mall. There are a few in Bangalore and we were curious what it would be like. It was nice, 5 stores, but not huge. There was a McDonald’s and it was fun to look at the menu – no beef items and basically nothing the same as in the US or Thailand. But you can get a Masala Chicken burger if you want! We spent most of our time at a bookstore. The kids each got a CD of a movie soundtrack (Orin got Star Wars and Micaiah got The Lion King). We got a lot of chocolate because you can get Cadbury here and it is really cheap and really yummy! We tried some Indian food at the food court. It wasn’t bad but tasted like Food Court food. We stopped at a candy store on our way out. Damien wasn't feeling well so we ate dinner in our room. I ordered two club sandwiches off of the hotel menu ($4 each) and they were so good and big enough for all of us. The next morning Damien spent most of the time watching the Saints/Lions game. We had Chinese food for lunch. It’s funny because the few Chinese restaurants we've found in Thailand taste too much like Thai food – and the Chinese food in India tastes a lot like Indian food. After lunch we found this great Ice Cream shop and I had the best mango ice cream I've ever had. The hotel got us a taxi to go back to the center, but it ended up that the guy had no idea where he was going – we were so far out in the middle of nowhere. He must have stopped about 10 times to ask for directions. And remember that bridge that was out? Instead of dropping us off on the side where we picked up the bus initially, he drove the LONG way which was about 45 minutes longer and brought us to the other side. Then, he tried to charge us $20 more than he was supposed to. Our Indian friend spent about 20 minutes talking to his boss and thankfully got them to remove some of the ridiculous charges. But then he just left and we were sort of stuck. Our Indian friend found us another taxi (I use the term “Taxi” liberally since it’s always just a man in a car or jeep of some type) and we finally made it back. It was an adventure for sure. We’re so thankful for our friend B who helped us so much – we never could have done it without him.

The boys had their favorite ice cream - blueberry!

Waiting patiently at the taxi as we try to get the payment figured out.

Since the taxi just sort of left us, we got the kids some snacks to keep them buys while we looked for someone else to drive us back to the center.

The street that our hotel was on was really pretty - at least compared to everything else we had seen so far!

We have these in Thailand but I was sort of surprised to see it in India. I thought it was just a Thai store. Plus it's Sora's middle name which is fun.

A man wearing a skirt while he worked. A lot of people were dressed like this.

We sat for a while and watched some men play Cricket. The boys thought it was cool.

Just some cows laying in the middle of the sidewalk. Nope, not strange at all.

A temple that we walked past. I wish we had had more time to go in.

Drinking our sodas in the park.

We found a used book store - HEAVEN! (at least for my 3 boys)

The outside of the bookstore. :)

Indian Barbie!

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India: Day 10-12 - part 1

Friday from 10am to 1pm was the graduation/commissioning of the missionary trainees. We got an invitation as special guests (not sure why) but we were happy to go. There were a lot of “important” people there with the organization. And since we had the “nice” house on the campus they were using it for them. We just tried to stay away for the morning to give them peace and quiet. The graduation started with all of the graduates walking into the building singing a hymn – “Stand Up, Stand Up, for Jesus.” It was a LONG service. We brought some books for the boys to look at. I was really proud of them for sitting still without complaining (mostly) for the entire 3 hours. Sora wasn’t so good, but I ended up sitting in the back with her and she finally gave in and just sat and sucked her thumb. It was such an exciting time to be there and I so enjoyed being a part of the commissioning. 


We decided to go to Bangalore for the weekend. Since this was our first time in India, we didn't want to spend our entire trip out in the middle of nowhere, and not see a little bit more of the country. It was so great to see two different aspects of the India – remote villages and a HUGE city. Bangalore has almost 6 million people. Since one of the men from the workshop was going there as well, we decided to brave the bus. It was definitely interesting. First, we had to get to the bus. We were dropped off about 15 minutes away from the center. The thing is, you get get dropped off at the bus pick up because you have to cross a small river; but the bridge was so old they had to destroy it and rebuild a new one which is still in progress. So we have to walk across a narrow small walking bridge (with motorbikes trying to zoom by) while everyone stares at these crazy white Americans with their 3 kids. We had decided to take this bus to a bigger bus station(by station I mean dirt parking lot where a bunch of buses line up) to get on a nicer air conditioned bus. So we get off, get on the other bus, but find out about 5 minutes later that it’s broken and not going anywhere. So we find another bus (one of the cheaper regular buses; the same type we were on initially). I found the entire drive humorous. It was crazy bumpy driving on the dirt and pit-filled roads. We were the entertainment for the entire bus - they stared at us the whole time we were on it. They touched and kissed the kids more than usual and one guy even tried to hold Orin although Orin wasn't really up for that. Thankfully our Indian friend told him to stop. It was entertaining at each stop as we saw people jump off and on. Basically the bus just sort of came to a rolling stop and you had about 10 seconds at the most (some stops were only a few seconds) to get on or off. So when it was our time we were prepared. With 6 of us having to get off we weren't sure if we would make it. Sure enough, I was the last one and it was starting to go. We took an Auto Rickshaw to the hotel – and got a nice tour of the area on the way since he couldn’t find it. It was so nice to have a hot shower, bed that didn't feel like a piece of plywood, and INTERNET! 

Some sweet ladies who were being commissioned.

The graduates singing as they walked into the chapel.

A little boy who was running beside our bus for a while. It was cute.

I just love the bakery with all of the motorbikes.

The boys being silly on the bus.

This is what happens with they do serious smiles. Who are these kids?

Crazy bus drivers trying to pass our bus.

 "Follow Lane Discipline." I thought it was funny because I had never seen a sign like that before. And it was also funny because I don't think I saw one person stay in their lane the entire 19 days we were there!

Finally relaxing at the hotel!

Our hotel. It was so cute on the outside.

Even cuter with this crazy child in the picture.

I love looking at the newspapers whenever we're in a new country.

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