the home stretch

Just a month left in school for Ji Hong and I, hurrah! It's been busy at school (as always) but there's also a vacation-is-just-around-the-corner spirit in the air. Very exciting news: the final draft of the yearbook went in to the printers on Wednesday. It feels very strange to not have a heaping mass of work waiting for me on my computer in my classroom. Wait, if I am not working on the yearbook, do I still exist? That kind of sensation. Everyone always asks, so what does the yearbook class do in the last month of school, then? The answer is that we finally work on the damn video yearbook, and of course now we have to sell the yearbook. But we also party. Plenty! This past week we watched Kung Fu Hustle (yes, for all its handy tips on design and layout, and yes it was actually chosen by the kids and not me, although I did force them to listen to the original Cantonese soundtrack, ha ha, but I did let them put on English subtitles) and we also watched a rough cut of some photo montages set to music that the video team had put together. Much as I love, love, love it I am afraid that the slideshow of student photos set to the song "Teenagers" won't be making it in to the final DVD (sample lyric from the chorus: "Teenagers scare the living shit out of me"). Full points awarded for hilarity, though.

It is now officially HOT here in Delhi. It's been up above 40' for the past week and it has finally hit that temperature at which our house actually gets kind of warm. We've had the fans on for a week and a half now, but it is now starting to be hot in the mornings too, so perhaps the air con era is coming. Me, I'm not a big fan (har) of air con at home. I love it at work because if it is hot and I'm trying to work, I just get dozy and stupid. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd make a damn lousy rice farmer. There'd be me and the buffalo, slumped over in the mud, and there'd be my family, a-starving. But yes, it is really truly hot now. Incredibly, the school hosted a massive track meet this weekend. Yup, 40'+ and kids running around the track like Olympians. Most of the parents and teachers sat around, sweating, and said things to each other like, "I dunno, I can barely walk in this heat," as the kids went careening at full speed, neck muscles sproinging out and eyes popping, round and round. The first aid team certainly had its work cut out for it and boy oh boy did our snack kiosk ever sell a lot of blue Gatorade.

While the athletes were out in the blazes I spent most of the week in the cool and slightly musty (as it should be!) theatre, working on the middle school play. Everything went very nicely and the actors had a lovely, cheery burst of team work and energy for the performances. Of course the costumes were splendiferous (thanks, me) as were the props (hey, me too!). Ji, Phet and Seung Yi came to see the matinee yesterday and thought the show was cute. They were pretty cute too; Seung Yi noted every time the lights changed ("Ite! Off! Ite! On!) and Ji came rushing over when the 'time machine' was wheeled out and inquired very loudly, "You WILL bring all my electrical equipment back home, won't you Mum?"

Otherwise we're taking it pretty quiet this weekend. Today we've relaxed at home all day and we're going out shortly to drop by a birthday party for our friend Jeni's one year old son, Adi. May possibly drop by the school pool. And I suppose eventually we'll have to fix dinner. Tomorrow Phet leaves for a long jaunt out of town. First he's off to Bangkok, then Vientiane, and then running down to Pakse to see if he can help his Dad sort out a visa so he can come to see Tai Ma in Toronto. He gets back on the 12th, and school ends the 28th or 29th, and then we're all going to fly en famille to London for a week of fun there with Phet while he's at meetings. Whee!

Oh, there was a cool thing last weekend that I meant to post a photo of. Mr. Singh (our upstairs-residing landlord) arranged for a famous Sikh prayer-leader (not sure of the correct nomenclature) decended from one of the primary Sikh gurus from the 17th century to come to the house and lead prayers. It was pretty cool. They carpeted our front lawn, put down silk bolsters and pillows, and set up a low stage right in front of our patio doors. Then, there were garlands of marigolds hanging down all across the doors, and metre upon metre of fairy lights bedecking all the shrubbery. There were so many beautifully-clad ladies in attendance that the scent of perfume pervaded our entire house. The prayer ceremony was accompanied by super awesome drumming and so we hung out and listened and watched from our very own living room to the 'performance' that seemed to be made just for our benefit. When the buffet opened up, Phet took the kids outside to enjoy the pillows and feasting and I stayed inside like a curmudgeon and read my book because I was too wrung out and tired to put on a clean shirt and fix my hair. Here's one photo taken from our living room followed by one taken by Ji Hong outside:

[Delhi-27-April-2008]