spring break

Wah hoo! We're on holiday, holi-holi-holi-holi-holiday!

Ji and I have a week and a day off for spring break. We're now already at Wednesday, boo! I am really enjoying being in Delhi and not having to work. It's been an endless round of good food and plenty of sleep. Originally we'd planned to go to Thailand for the break, but when we decided that Phet would go back to Canada to see Tai Ma we figured we'd enjoy the rest in April and that it would also be a good idea to hoard our cash. Happily, Phet's off to Thailand at the end of the month and he has already promised to bring us back a suitcase full of tasty dried squid, so we'll be satisfied without having to go ourselves. And given the amazingly (like really: you'd be AMAZED) horrible state of the airport right now, it is just as well that we are spending as little time there as possible.

There's a great sign at the airport that I have been meaning and meaning to take a photo of, but since I haven't done that yet, I'll just tell you what it says: "World Class Airport Coming Soon! Till then inconvenience is regretted!" At least they're honest. You know, I can't even really properly describe how rotten the airport has gotten. If you have been there already you know that it is already pretty wild at the entrance and is not really "equipped" to deal with many "vehicles". Everyone just madly jams in and then everyone madly rushes out with their eight thousand bags and then because security is tight, they only let actual passengers go in, so therefore they have to check your ticket and passport before you go in, but there are no real "lines" per se, there is just a squashing mush that squeezes itself like playdough through a tight funnel. Of course it is also hot and dusty. Then, once you do manage to rough-house your way in the door and you go through your baggage check-in procedures (which, while not really efficient, are at least usually pleasant) you have to enter the third circle of hell to get your passport checked. In the past the passport check was relatively reasonable. I mean, everywhere you go there are line-ups to get your passport checked. We waited in one in Canada when we were on our way to New Orleans during spring break and that took, oh about 45 minutes to get through, which sucked. But at the airport in Delhi now they are doing construction and renovations and so they wisely decided not to create extra passport checking counters in another spot, but to simply close up a bunch of the ones that were there so that the passengers have to filter again, this time more like a hunk of frozen cow lungs going though the grinder on Grampa's farm. Only with more squashing. And waiting.

So, suffice to say I am not particularly envious of my colleagues who've gone off to far-flung environs.

Additionally, the weather in Delhi remains spectacular. It won't last much more than a couple of weeks, but it is unbelievably lovely. I thought up the following: Ok, meterologist Dr. Sharma wants to know what the weather in Toronto is like in the summer, but he has absolutely no way to travel to Canada. Instead, he must use his weather simulator in Delhi, using only weather available in Delhi, to recreate a Toronto summer day. Here's what he must do (and what was done last week as far as I can tell)...First, allow six months of coolish to cold weather with absolutely no rain. Then, have two weeks of increasingly hot temperatures up to around 38' celsius with lots of sun. Finally, bring in a storm of epic proportions that will last on and off for three days and that will bring about a temperature drop of over 15'. The cherry on the top of all that is a few days of hot sun. Then? Ta-dah! A full week of clear skies, fresh air, green trees, blooming flowers, sunny days, comfortable nights, and an overwhelming urge to drink beer and barbeque something.

It has also been fun this week because I've been able to go to school with Seung Yi everyday that she goes. Which is Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:15 to 10:45. She and Laree are going to a little school just two blocks away called Ardee School. I have a very hard time remembering the name; I always want to refer to it as Hardee's. But that would be a fast food restaurant.

I've checked the monthly menu and no, monster bacon thickburgers (1400 calories each!) will not be served to the preschoolers. The school picture is crummy because I stole it from the school's website. I'll try and take my own pics on Friday, but it is possible that I will not be allowed to take any. They're pretty hard core there.

The school is nicely set up; it's pretty tidy and airy and all the classrooms have air con and fans - which, lemme tell you, after seeing Ji Hong's old preschool (the infamous Your Kids 'R Our Kids) on a summer day when there was no air con and the kids rassled each other senseless and then collapsed in a heap and then the parents were all called to come and pick them up because they were near catatonic with the heat, well lemme tell you the air con is a good thing. There's a dangerous play area (Laree slid right off the slide, which is on a steep, hard-dirt hill and flumpled in a heap at the bottom), some play swimming pools, and open spaces for the kids to play.

Here's what we do when we go to school: We walk over to school. Today Laree went running and because her body goes faster than her legs can keep up she went flying onto the road and skinned her knees. When we get to school we have to avoid all the cars bringing kids in. Then we walk up and down some stairs to get to the building. At 9:15 the teacher opens the doors and we go in. The girls take off their shoes, hats, and knapsacks (very cute, those) and then they go get the flower with their picture on it and stick it in the garden thingy to show that they are present today. Then, it is reading time. The kids aren't allowed to touch the exciting toys lining the walls of the classroom during reading time. They must sit on their mother's laps and "read". They may get new books, and that's it. Then, after 10 minutes of reading gulag, we take attendance. We have to sit for that too. Then we say a prayer. We sit for that. Then! We get to do our montessori work. We get to take out single toys and play with them at our teeny desks which are called "chalkies". We have to play with only our toy and we have to sit down while we are playing. Mothers must help their kids to play gently and are not allowed to gossip. After work time, we go and wash our hands outside. When we come back in it is snack time! We have to sit at our chalkies and - oops, first we go get our placemats, plates, cups, and spoons - then we sit nicely while the teacher makes sure everyone is ready. Then we get snack! After snack there is a different kind of play time. One day we stuck bits of paper on another bigger paper. Today we played with orange playdough. After play time we put our shoes on and go outside. On Monday we all sat near the sand box and looked anxiously at the dirty sand. Today we got to go in the splash pool! Then, it's time to sing songs and then we go home. During singing time we have to carefully make all the actions the teacher makes.

I like the school but so far the kids have interacted with each other precisely zero times with teacher approval! Seung Yi loves the singing and dancing and is very content doing everything else quite nicely. She and Laree are, I'd say, pretty good at following what they're supposed to do and (warning: motherly bragging coming up) they are the only kids who are toilet trained in the whole class.

Tomorrow there's no school for Princess so I think Ji and I will go on an adventure, and then on Friday I'll be back at Ardee.

Oooh, the other thing I've been doing is taking Hindi lessons again. I finally found another school to go to and I signed up for 2 hours for every day during break. No matter where I am, if I am taking language lessons I feel about sixty times better about myself and my being in a different country. The new teacher is really quite good. He's started things out in an extremely sensible way and he really has a good idea of how to go about teaching properly. The old teacher just threw a bunch of grammar at us and never ever got us to talk. This new fellow gives great info about why you do things a certain way and then makes me practice plenty and so far I haven't felt like dozing off once.

Must run. Seung Yi is shouting "No no no no no!" in the kitchen and I should probably go assist Phet.

[Delhi-9-April-2008]