well...this certainly is...different

Usually during the summer months Delhi doesn't get any rain. This isn't really very amazing; we don't get rain for most of the rest of the year either. During the winter (which I learned in Hindi class is called 'shishir' and refers to shivery-ness, cool huh?) there's no rain, in the fall there's no rain, really, not so surprising since we're pretty close to a desert. If we drive outside of the watered lawns of central Delhi, the surrounding landscape tends to be pretty dusty and brown. After a little bit of greenery and flowers in the very short spring ('vasant') that we loved so much it became fryingly hot. Last week it hit that hot point at which we just don't really go outside until dark and even then we try to stay inside. I had still kept the AC off at home, though, until just a few nights ago. Finally, after a weekend-long stupor (and the ongoing stomach ache that lasted 3 weeks but is now - perhaps - finally over) I turned it on one night. That very night there was a massive rain storm and when we woke up it was no damn kidding twenty degrees celsius cooler. Like, 46' down to 26'. Ba. Na. Nas. Very weirdly the rainy weather has continued. It's the kind of thing that makes newspapers write headlines like "Weather Heretofore Never Before Seen!" and makes people say stuff like, "Ha ha, my friends who paid to fly up to Shimla for the weekend are suckers!" and apparently it's also the kind of cirumstance that makes it snow up in Mulmur in May. Yeah, sorry about the chill during your shoot, Jakemeister, but did we ever enjoy getting to breathe here in Delhi. Today it was actually cool all day long. You have no idea how strange that is for this time of year ('greshm' in Hindi, which I think translates as please Gods and Goddesses let me move to the highest peaks of the Himalayas). We are all walking around and high fiving each other cause our jeans aren't sweaty. Sweet.

In other exciting news, Phet's back. More to come about his trip to Bangkok (squid!), Vientiane (breakdancing!), Pakse (rehab by the Mekong!), and Bangkok again (visa for his Dad, yay!) shortly.

For us, his return has meant that Seung Yi and Ji are now receiving their fair share of parental attention once again. For me, it has meant that I've gotten to nap almost every day and I read another cheesy Lee Child paperback. Phet rocks, folks.

At school, things are winding down. My students are all in full-day group project work time and I'm just trying to get my marking on the computer. I have to do lots of cleaning up in my classroom and get things sorted for next year. Got to see the advance copy of the yearbook I worked on for eight quadrillion hours this year and it looks just great. Although I almost can't stand looking at it anymore because I've looked over every page so very many times. Ji has only a few days left in his years-long kindergarden career, and boy is he happy about moving up to grade one finally. He's looking like a total hobo lately, mind you. He's decided he wants to grow his hair out so that he can dress up at Halloween as Zuko, an evil character from Avatar who has a bald head and a ponytail in a kind of quasi-ancient Chinese style. I'm going along with the idea for the time being. In addition, goes around singing "Road House Blues" and looks like he's gotten into a few brawls late at night:

That tooth up there at the top that is making its way into Ji's small mouth is GONNA BE A DOOZY! Daaaaang.

Seung Yi is doing great. She is now saying lots of two syllable words or two word mini sentences. She says stuff like "Pa Boof!" ('Pa is a goof!') and "Dath Dub" ('bath tub') and "duss deet" ('brush teeth') and "toilet" and "night, Ji!" and "Ya Ya Boo" ('Seung Yi's book'). We are very excited that Seung Yi does stuff that Ji can't. She brings us towels to the bathroom if we ask her to, she'll pick up trash and put it in the garbage, and she'll give us foot massages. Today I got home from school and came in to visit with her and Laree and then we went to hang out on the patio and enjoy the cool, fresh air. I picked a big fat lime off the lime tree and peeled it and then Seung Yi had a great time sucking it. This is out of focus because I was laughing so hard when I took it, but you get the idea:

Sour? Really? You don't say...

[Delhi-21-May-2008]