happy new year

Welcome to 2008, the year that fixed address gets updated on an hourly basis! Starting, um, right now. Let's get to it.

We're back in Delhi now after a wild and crazy and kind of downright nutty end-of-year and begining-of-the-new-year. The weather here is gorgeous. The smog has blown away. The skies are crisp and blue, the sun is shining, and the temperature is about 25' during the day and down to about 5' at night. Perfect in every way. I've decided that my ideal temperature is a sweater-optional day. Like, you still have to wear a shirt, of course, but if you feel a little cool you'll be comfortable in a sweater. And if you're out in the sun you won't really need a sweater but if you want to wear one you won't be sweaty. And it's not so cold (ie not like Toronto in September) that the wind might whistle through your sweater and chill your skin. Sweater weather, that's for me. Ji is back and school and enjoying himself. He was kind of bored this weekend at times because Phet's been away in Sri Lanka, but he's ok. He's also been really missing his Gramma (which I think is his code word for 'I really miss everyone in Canada and being there and my house and all my stuff and the food and the snow', but which is alot easier to say) (oh, and of course he does miss Gramma alot too!).

Seung Yi is super awesome. She is just a marvellous kid. She has a generally lovely personality; full of vim and vigor and curiousity, very cheery, and with a super sense of humour. She's making plenty of jokes these days even though her spoken vocabulary is limited to, oh, "Mum", "Ji", and "Up". She thinks it is fiendishly funny to pretend to eat various things in her books, like, say, the farmer's hat! Or the horse's tail! She also likes to scamper around, hoot and holler, and dance. She's a big fan of writing. I can't give her crayons cause she eats them, and I can't give her markers because they inevitably end up marking her or the couch, so she likes to sit around with a notebook and a pen. She likes to lie down while she's writing, with her pad above her head, so it's pretty cute, she's like some kind of crazy teen magazine columnist pondering the latest Britney story while she lounges on the couch. Seung Yi is also starting to hit the potty on occasion. I've kept her pantless for a few days and she managed to sink two poohs and three pees, which is pretty awesome for her.

Ji had a couple of funny lines this week, my favourite of which was, "Hey, Mum, wouldn't it be awesome to be on the Maple Fields hockey team when you win a game and get pop thrown over you? That would be soooo refreshing! And then you could shower!"

Things with me, meanwhile, are good. School's great, my students are really good, and the admin continues to be really helpful and thoughtful. And no, I'm not lying! I am enjoying myself very well.

Back to the last few weeks of December, though. Our last post saw us in Goa. After that we zipped back home for Ji's birthday.

Here's the handsome six year old, with his ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Cathie and Emma thought, hey, gluten free cake! But was it gluten free? NO! It was layers of ice cream sandwiched between not even cake but WHITE BREAD! Ai ai ai!

On the weekend following Ji's birthday we had a biiiiig party at our house, complete with a tent! And caterers! And chairs with fabric and sashes on them! It was a hoot. Mum, Em, Cathie and Ji headed off on the Palace On Wheels Tour of Jaipur and surroundings after that (check out Mum's albums for those pics). All was well until Mum returned somewhat ill. A few days later her sickness had gotten so bad we had to call an ambulance to come to our house and pick her up. After a horrendous ride in the ambulance - during which the attendant FELL on her as they rounded a corner - and a torturesome visit to emerg, and a scary trip to the ultrasound and CT scanner - during which a nurse assured Mum that any pain she was in could be managed by not allowing the devil to enter her mind and that really she could conquer her difficulties herself - it turned out that Mum had not a single but a double kidney infection.

She was very, very, very sick. She spent 15 days in the hospital with Em and I taking turns sleeping with her and taking care of her, and then after we broke down and said Dad had to come to India, he joined in the rotation as well. I think that until the final couple of days she spent about 20 minutes a day max without one of us in the room with her, helping out and making sure that everything went ok. The doctors we dealt with were great, but we had quite a challenge with the nurses. It seemed (from the conversations I evesdropped in on in the hallway) to be a problem for Indian families as well; the nurses were competent but didn't really go out of their way to, say, "help out". Like, they wouldn't do stuff they said they would, they wouldn't bring things unless we harassed them a million times, and they wouldn't be proactive in helping dress, change, bathe, or take patients to the bathroom. Of course, once we got back to Toronto and Mum had to spend a night in emerg in Toronto, perhaps she reconsidered things a little...sure the nurses might've been a little more responsive, but she had to lie in a hallway. With no food. And she sure as heck didn't get to have the nephrologist's cell number so she could give her a ring when she needed help or advice!

Thankfully, though, things have worked out ok. Mum is still tired and recovering, but is doing very well. We were able to get her home for the holidays and she was even able to get up to the countryside with her grandkids. Here's wishing her continued good health and a very big congratulatory hug for never breaking down and saying, "I am NEVER coming to India again."

Speaking of grandparents, Seung Yi had a super time with her Grampa, starting with the week that he arrived in Delhi and was put on day shift at the hospital and night shift with Seung Yi. Lord only knows what she thought when she woke up and some bearded dude handed her her bottle, but they seemed to come through the whole experience just fine. She still likes hearing the story of how mad Grampa got when she kept kicking his chair on the way to the airport and she definitely remembers the claw hold.

Christmas was nice. We were just damn happy to be able to sleep (oh, did I mention that since I stayed with Mum in Delhi, Phet travelled alone with the kids back to Canada? Sucker. What a great guy!), relax, and stuff ourselves with cheesy and buttery food. Ji and Seung Yi got spectacular gifts and clothes for presents - a ton of books (including Jurassic Poop from Auntie Anne), suave duds (a first pair of Levis and a perfect princess Christams dress from Auntie Theresa), and toys out the whazoo. Pictured below you can see Ji and Anne playing with the Seung Yi-sized robot that the aunts bought for Ji. Note to aunts: NEVER take Ji along when you're going christmas shopping! Never!

The new year ended and began in the best possible way. We spent Boxmas day celebrating our new family tradition of going up to Adam's folks' (Frances and Don) place in Mulmur and they were kind of enough to let us all sleepover so that Ji could notch in some extra sledding time. It was the best. Snow blanketing the hills outside, Don pouring red wine inside by the fire, Frances and Phet out pelting Ji with snowballs, Adam reading his book, Em snacking on smoked salmon, Mum not hospitalized anymore, Dad happily puttering, Seung Yi playing with Frances' epic toy collection, and me reading gossip mags from my sister. Doesn't get much better than that, I tell ya. We made it up to the countryside the next day and enjoyed the snow up there. Even got the little punker kitted out in snowpants and boots and made her stand in the snow. She couldn't move, but eventually leaned over and learned to eat snow before finally doing a face plant and scraping the crap out of her face. While up on the Bruce we got to hang out with Hannah and Sarah (who Ji LOVES to bits...as do we all, of course, but his love knows no bounds) and Uncle Phil and Auntie Theresa, who stuffed us with spaghetti and let us sit by the gorgeous new wood stove in their lower level.

When we got back to Toronto it was New Year's Eve. We spent the first of hopefully many New Year's Eves to come knocking back drinks at Adam and Emma's. A fine, fine start to the New Year indeed!

Here are the hosts, on New Year's Day, looking a tad sleepier than usually, but happy:

You guys rock.

As for me, my new year's resolutions include the following: read with Ji every day, get Seung Yi immunized on time for once, and to always do the 'v' for victory sign in photos, and to never be without a pina colada.

Happy 2008!

[Delhi-13-January-2008]