Pictures!

Our niece, Hayley, came to visit us in August. She is completely fabulous, and we had a great time with her! And what's more, she took family pictures for us, something we had neglected to do for, oh, 7 years. Last night we sorted through them and came up with our top contenders for prints. But there are too many, especially of me and Robert. It was much easier to narrow down the choices for the kids and whole family ones, because Zion tends to have sleepy eyes in pictures, and Liel hasn't learned to smile naturally on command (instead she does what Robert calls her "pirate grimace"). So honestly for those categories we pretty much went with the ones where most of the subjects looked halfway decent.

But, as I said, too many of me and Robert! Help us narrow it down :) What are you top 2 from among these?

(Don't my tattoos look amazing in black and white??)

Actually I have a few too many choices for pics of Zion and Liel, too. Thoughts?

Edit: for my mom...here are the other pics (so far) that are our favorites.

Growing

The other day I measured Zion's head. Which is, you know, a perfectly ordinary, motherly thing to do. I'm sure my mom measured my head annually. Sure of it.

Ahem.

Anyway, I measured his head. It was 22", but that was a pretty meaningless number to me. I knew Zion had always had a pretty big head, but I wasn't even sure how big my own head was! So I continued on to logical move B and measured Robert's head.

And it was 22".

So in disbelief I measure Zion's head again. In case I'd fucked it up the first time.

It was 22".

"Oh my G-d", I blurted out. "Robert, Zion's head is as big as yours is!"

We marveled at that for about 2 seconds, and then had the kids put on their shoes so we could go to lunch.

Zion was hanging out with me while we waited for our food to be ready. We chatted about this and that (which is to say: he talked at me about his current book and/or game obsession), and then he hugged me. I patted his head and said something like, "You sure are getting big!"

"Yes", he said, looking pleased. "And it must be pretty embarrassing for Daddy that my head is already as big as his!"

Mangoes

Mango season has begun here in India, and I'm so happy to be here for at least part of it! I love mangoes, and had been told that mangoes in the US simply didn't compare to those available in India. And now I can taste and decide for myself!

I bought two different types of mangoes this week- the small sindhura mango, and the larger badami mango. The sindhuras I bought still aren't ripe, but today one of the badamis was, so Zion and I ate it (Robert wasn't home, and in any case he and Liel both find magoes, "just OK"). It was delicious! It was so delicious, in fact, that within 10 minutes of finishing it Zion was lying on my bed staring at the ceiling and wondering if any of the others were ripe, and if they weren't, when they might be. After a few minutes of this he got up and went to the kitchen. He came back, mango in hand, to inform me that he thought this one was ripe.

"I'm obviously not as experienced as you, mommy", he said, "but I think this one is ripe. It's skin is mostly yellow, it is squishable, and it smells delicious."

I thought it could use another day, but this new did not deter Zion, who wanted to try it right now. So I peeled it, and we ate it (and I think I was right. The bits I got, closest to the pit, were on the sour side. But the bits Zion got were sweet as sugar!). Zion declared "the king of mangoes".

After that he checked all remaining mangoes, sindhura and badami alike, in case I'd missed any other ripe ones. He sadly reported that I had not, but made note of the ones he thought would be ripe soonest.  Then he told me about his mango-checking strategy.

"When a mango is ripe it will have a good color-- yellow, or orange, or red--, smell delicious, and squish", he told me.

So there you have it :)

At home

I forgot to put this in my last post about Mysore, so I'm giving it its very own spot :)

After 3 hours on the road the other day, we drove back into Bangalore. When we got into our neighborhood, Zion looked up, looked around, and said, "Oh! We're almost home!"

And complete delight flooded me.

Our first few weeks here were pretty rough around the edges, as you may recall. But now, on a near daily basis, I see things that remind me that Bangalore has become our home. And the kids experience that too! And that is what I most wanted in bringing them to live in a brand new country: for them to experience cultural, linguistic, religious, and culinary differences (and many more besides) and to learn to adapt to those, to open up to them, to love them, and to feel at home.

Sometimes it seemed like that was never going to happen. Not that either Zion or Liel complained much, even when things were tough! They've been every bit as patient and flexible as I could have hoped. But everything was just so foreign. It was loud, it was chaotic, it was spicy, there were cows in the streets, and strangers reaching out to pat their heads and faces. Some of this they loved, some they didn't, but for ages it was a thing apart from them selves. They stood apart.

With time, of course, they adapted beautifully. And when Alex came to visit they got to show off their home, which I think really sealed the deal. They loved showing him campus, introducing him to their favorite foods, taking him to temples. They even instinctively look for a shoe minder or a pile of shoes when approaching a temple now, and quickly kick their shoes off and head in! The first time we went to a temple here they were somewhat dismayed at having to take their shoes off on the street and leave them behind.

Now after lunch at Prakruthi, Liel rushes off to wash her face and hands in the communal sink. Liel, who held my hand everywhere, literally everywhere, for the first month we were here. She doesn't even sit with me at the table after we order anymore, but hangs out with Robert and Zion while they wait at the counter for food.

And Zion! Last night after dinner he said he was still hungry, so we told him we'd give him money and he could go up and order himself some more food. And he did! All by himself. And then he gave the token to the guy behind the counter, waited by himself for his dosa to come up, and came back with. He was so proud of himself, and I was glowing!

I love these kids, and I love all of the new vistas that India has opened up for them.

Mysore part 2- Rickshaws and Temples

We didn't just see palaces and perfumes in Mysore. Oh no! We saw temples, too!

First we drove up Chamundi Hill, which is about 12km outside of Mysore. The terrain and vegetation reminded me a bit of Ojai, so naturally I loved it.

At the top of the hill is a pretty big temple dedicated to the patron goddess of the royal family of Mysore, who is also an incarnation of Durga.  The area around the temple is crowded with worshippers, vendors, stray dogs and cows. Moula warned us that people would try to "give" us icons and flowers, and then demand money when we were on our way out, and firmly instructed us not to accept such offers. So we didn't.

After that we stopped a shrine dedicated to Nandi located further down the hill. There was a huge Nandi icon! Much bigger than I'd expected.

We stopped at a scenic overlook to view all of Mysore down below us. I don't seem to have a picture of that...either I failed to get it off the camera or we didn't take one because it was pretty smoggy. I'm not sure which!

But then the real excitement started. Moula asked Zion if he'd like to try driving the rickshaw. Why, yes! Yes he would. Moula is clearly the best ever.

Sensing the waves of envy radiating from the backseat, Moula asked Alex and Robert if they'd like to have a go.

Alex was the best driver of the three of them. Actually, Zion did just as well, but he had more help from Moula because he couldn't reach things as well, and of course had never driven a vehicle before. I think it's pretty rad that the first thing he drove was an auto rickshaw in Mysore!

The next day we went to the village of Srirangapathna to visit a 9th century temple. It had some scaffolding on it for repairs, but was really impressive nonetheless. And also really uncrowded!

The carvings around the top were amazing. And there were elephants!

The inside was pleasingly ancient feeling. Kind of dark, and solemn, and pious.

There were also some really gorgeous icons inside, and beautifully carved columns. But they were all in places where pictures aren't allowed. We did get one of this guy though, before the picture-less world began!

There were some nice laws on the side, and a pool of some sort.

And finally, here's Alex on the way out, with a bindi and a prasad ladoo.

I really loved this temple. The priests were really nice-- all of them (around the different icons) made an effort to make sure that we understood what was going on, and what we should do, and to bless us. Highly recommend a visit here!

Little things

Sometimes it's the little things that make you happy. Like the other day when we came out of our apartment building and saw a monkey with a pink sheet on the wall across the street. I have no idea where the monkey found the sheet, but  it was sure having a good time with it.

First it examined its prize a bit.

Then it tried it on.

And finally, it tasted it to see if the sheet was good to eat.

The monkey was still chewing on the sheet when we left, but has since abandoned it, so I'm guessing that it did not find the sheet to be particularly delicious.

Another thing that makes us all happy is seeing our favorite stray campus dog. We've named him Prakruthi, because, as I've mentioned, he hangs out at our favorite restaurant of the same name. Zion is particularly fond of him, and asked us to take some pictures of him and Prakruthi when we saw him relaxing in the shade a few days ago.

Robert was taking pictures of them too, which is why Zion is looking in the other direction with particularly wide eyes. Trying not to blink and all. And as you can see, the dog is looking in that direction too-- clearly boy and dog have bonded ;)

Actually, last night Zion suggested that it would be really nice if we could take Prakruthi home with us when we go back to New York. Sigh!

And finally, no post about the happiness of little things would be complete without a picture of our local Happiness Station!

Oh Coke, bringing happiness wherever you go!

(The white sign with a Coke bottle on it is advertising a 200ml bottle of Coke for Rs 8-- about 15 cents.  The green sign above it says that Prakruthi will accept all outdoor catering jobs at reasonable rates. I can barely express how much I wish we could bring them back with us!)