Merry (belated) Christmas!

I am recovering from my acute case of blah-itis now that school has been out for a week and I've gotten some respite.

Merry Christmas from the land where palm trees sway! Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright/ the sun to shine by day and all the stars at night!

Guess who's relishing in an ever-wished-for non-wintry winter?

Grizzly Adams comes to town

A few weeks ago, Rising Starsters were graced by a visit from Grizzly Adams himself, aka my brother Adam. Because I hadn't sat down since arriving in June and was both enervated and narcoleptic, and because I was surrounded at any given time by twenty-three demanding children, I quite forgot to take any pictures.

Never mind, the image below is exactly what Adam looked like, well practically speaking. Just imagine that the beard is five inches longer.

Adam had blown in directly from the Himalayas in Nepal. On his first night here, he kept us all in stitches for hours with his captivating tales of freezing moonscape hikes, Yak pizza, and being stranded in dismal Kathmandu.

Unfortunately, he only stayed a week. But he used his time deftly and was able to fit in two visits to leprosy colonies, help us assemble moral science lessons, assist at school, and cook for me (hurray!).

Kindergarten smiles

Wait. Am I the principal here? Of children? In India? It still often occurs to me as a bizarre twist of events!

Elephant rodeo

Oxymoron (noun): single subject photography at Rising Star; the art of taking a picture of only one child at Rising Star, without a myriad of others vying for camera attention

Actually, I did succeed in single shots here, but the others were literally waiting in line for their turn.

Here's Moorthy...


...and Ragu...

...and Vignesh.

Dear Amelia

My eleven-year-old niece, Amelia, is studying a unit on India in school. And she's wondering what tidbits of information I might have for her class. Well, dear Amelia, let me begin with a list of some of the ways life here is different than in Denver.

Our kids...

have never seen snow or been sledding or skiing.
have never been to the mall.
have never been to the grocery store (food is sold on the sidewalk, in little booths, and in kiosks).
have never seen a strawberry.
have never slept in a bed.
have never seen toilet paper.
have never worn a jacket.
have never used a seat belt.
have never owned a swimming suit or been swimming.
have never eaten pizza.
have never blown out birthday candles.
have never used a knife, fork, or spoon.
have never been to the dentist's office.
have never seen broccoli or lettuce.
have never been in a car.


On the other hand, kids in rural southern India get to...

 hang out with monkeys

wash and lay out their clothes

drink water buffalo milk

buy fruit and flowers from vendors like this

use "squatty" toilets

eat with their hands

and sleep on the floor