bombs; rain; kids

This weekend there was a series of six bombs that went off in Delhi and about 25 people were killed and 90 or more were injured. The bombs were set to go off just after 6:00 in the evening and were placed at areas where there would be families out walking around and enjoying their Sunday evening. It was really scary to hear about them. On Sunday I took a group of kids from my robotics class to go see Wall-E and we went to see it at a theatre that was in a shopping area very similar to the ones targeted by the bombers. One place that was hit was Connaught Place, the main square in downtown Delhi, and another was the shopping area where Mum and I bought Emma's wedding emeralds. Not good. People around the city remained calm but worried of course. We're feeling almost back to normal, but I think we'll stay pretty close to home for awhile.

In less frightening news, we had an epic rainstorm today. After school it got dark and heavy clouds clustered all around the campus. There was a big swim meet going on that got cancelled mid-swim as the rain started pelting the timers, cheering kids and swimmers. I had to pick up Ji from his after school knitting class and we got drenched to our bums. It was fun, though; we jumped in all the puddles and sprayed water at each other on our way to the car. Driving home, John went through street after street where the water was sidewalk-high. Near Seung Yi's school, it was up past the gutters and was coursing along like a river. Luckily, the rain tapered off after just an hour and we didn't get flooded at home.

Seung Yi and Ji are doing great. They've both turned major life-corners recently: Ji has suddenly gotten more coordinated and Seung Yi has suddenly started playing on her own quite happily rather than hanging on our apron strings all the time. Ji is playing Little League - no more t-ball - and is having a great time. He can hit decently and is enjoying the thwap of the ball as it hits his glove. So satisfying! What a pleasure to have a child with whom I can enjoy hanging out on sports fields. I am also pleased because I have finally managed to get Ji registered for soccer in the spring time. There's a huge league here for kids, but they have utterly crazy registrations where there are, like, 800 parents in line. Last year I failed at getting it sorted out in time and all spring we had no sporting events to enjoy. Ji is also starting to try and play chords on the guitar and is a jump rope maniac. Emma can attest to his ability to jump one-footed with a big tall hat on his head, singing a song, and WITH HIS EYES SHUT. Wow.

Seung Yi is also talking up a storm these days. She also makes funny minor comments, like yesterday when Phet said, "Seung Yi, give me the book," and she said, "Wait!" She's very into girly stuff like brushing her doll's hair, carrying around her baby and patting it, and so on, but she also is obviously exceedingly influenced by Ji and can now sing almost all the words to Tom Petty's "Free Falling".

We are all getting excited about Emma coming to visit us in just about a week's time...so much fun! Also excited about Phet going first to Mongolia (I've put in a fur hat and cashmere order), the Rome (a parmesan and booze order), and Australia (um, vietnamese sub order?) all back to back. In other fun future activities, this weekend is shaping up to be a good one with our friend Patricia hosting happy hour on Friday and our other friend having a party at her place on Saturday.

Hope all of y'all are well as well.

[Delhi-17-September-2008]