Friday, October 31, 2008

Halloween

Love it or hate???  The kids love it.  Any excuse for a dress up and some treats.  Halloween was celebrated with a party organised by the school and the local expat association.

1. Bethan
2. Bethan and two ghouls
3. Boo!



Thursday, October 30, 2008

Picture of Bethan, Chantelle & Hannah after doing the Rangoli work outside of Jo's house.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pete's Progress Report


God, beagles are a stubborn breed, or maybe it's just our Pete!

He can be the cutest thing but also the most infuriating.  But, he is only 16 weeks old so I suppose I can't expect too much too soon.  I am wondering how long this puppy stage lasts.

When he came to us he was 1.8kg, and now weighs 6 kg, amazing to see how much he has grown in such a short time.  John continues to put in much time and effort with him.  I am wondering whether Pete will miss John when he goes away for 2 weeks on Saturday, maybe all the past 8 weeks training will go out the window whilst he is away.  I will keep you posted.

Diwali




The previous post was bit of the background of Diwali celebrations.  At our estate all residents were in full celebratory mode, and the four day weekend only added to that mood. On Friday night John's company put on a party at a local hotel.  Lovely food and company.  Too many scary fireworks, where children are allowed to get unbelievably close them.  Growing up in the UK gives you a very different approach to fireworks, on a dark cold winters night it was always difficult to even see the men who were setting off the displays, partly because it was so dark and because you had to be so far away from the actual fireworks.

Sunday night there was a Diwali celebration evening at the Cameron's house.  Bill Cameron wound the kids into a frenzy with bangers and sparklers (again, you could tell that no safety certificate was required here).  Monday night saw another party organised for the residents kindly sponsored by a resident.  Having been very social for the previous three evenings, The Webbs decided to lie low and stay at home.

But the big Diwali celebrations were on Tuesday 28th.  Fireworks galore!  Pete seemed unperturbed by the whole event thankfully.  The main event of the evening was seeing a 200 metre trail of fire crackers go off.  The trail is laid, people gather.  Whilst waiting for the trail to be lit, sweet indian delicacies are passed around and then WOW! it starts.  It gives you an idea of what being in a war zone must be like.  It is so loud and dangerous.  After being hit a few times by flying shrapnel and uttering a few "ow's" I was advised that it was best to follow behind at a slight distance which did prove to be good advice but still got caught a few more times.   This lasted for about half an hour.  How anyone can sleep through this is unbelievable.

It was nice to be at home and see how our neighbours celebrate this, the biggest festival in their calendar.  

A couple of photos to show how the houses are decorated.  In the evening, lots of houses are lit up, which I just love as I am a sucker for some twinkly fairy lights.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Diwali - Festival of Light

Deepavali or Diwali is a major Indian festival.  It is celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs around the world and is known as the "Festival of Lights", where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being.

Diwali is celebrated on a grand scale in almost all the regions of India and is looked upon mainly as the beginning of New Year.  Houses and business premises are renovated and decorated.  Entrances are made colourful with lovely traditional motifs of Rangoli designs to welcome the Goddess of wealth and prosperity.  To indicate her long-awaited arrival, small footprints are drawn with rice flour and vermillion powder all over the houses.  Lamps are kept burning all through the night.  Believing this day to be auspicious, women purchase some gold or silver, or at least two new utensils.  "Lakshmi-Puja" is performed in the evenings when tiny diyas of clay are lighted to drive away the shadows of evil spirits.  "Bhajans" - devotional songs - in praise of Goddess Lakshmi are sung and "Naivedya" of traditional sweets is offered to the Goddess.  In villages, cattle are adorned and worshipped by farmers as they form the main source of their income.  In the South, cows are offered special veneration as they are supposed to be the incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and therefore they are adorned and worshipped on this day.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

4 day holiday (yay)! notice these words rhyme...

Welcome back to the blogger's boy, with fresh news for you all!  This week, we are having a 4 day break from the 6 and half imprisonment of the school.  In India it is the festival/celebration of  Diwali.  Today is the second day of the holiday. The world is nice and comfortable.  The dog is running around. Th..... OK, thats enough delight's.  If any of you want to know, I made this blog because you may want to ask a few questions yourself.  I do not tolerate any rude or private questions.  You can ask  "Hi, what is the name of your teacher?" or, "what does your house look like?"   Some answers will have videos and some may have pictures. Well, anytime you want, send in a question and I may answer. Well, see you later, Blogga-gator!

Beep, Beep!! Bring out the dead!

Please excuse the lack of updates of late, after a very relaxing holiday in Phuket, and saying to people it is the kind of holiday that you don't need a holiday after, Beth and I made a trip to the UK for 9 days.  John and the boys stayed in India.

It is rare for us to visit the UK in the winter months, but a trip last October and again this week, where the weather is dry, crisp and sunny is just beautiful.  I love the freshness and the visible change of seasons, plus I like wrapping up in winter clothes, something that is a rarity.  Anyway, a busy but productive week.  Love being in Swansea but so nice to be back with my three boys who all survived extremely well minus the women of the house.

There is a constant source of noise in India even throughout the night.  Last night a pack of wild dogs were in situ in the empty plot behind the house.  Their constant howling and barking is a pain, I thought that Pete would be joining in but thankfully it all seemed to bypass him.   Another disturbing way of being woken up is the next door neighbour beeping his horn in order to get one of his staff to open the gate.  The gardens and outdoor space in Whisper Valley are not spacious, there is just enough room to park 1 car in the drive, so to open the gate is not a big deal and does not take too much time and effort, but our neighbour who is very polite and friendly to us is above opening his gate, instead he sits in the car and beeps, beeps, beeps, beeps, until the gate is opened.  Our bedroom window faces onto his drive and this is too much for me first thing in the morning.  Next time this happens I plan (if I have the energy) to jump out of bed (remembering to put some clothes on first! lol) and run downstairs, and open the gate for him.

I think one gets used to seeing what goes on in India and it all begins to seem 'normal', which it is in this society, but sometimes I remind myself that we are witness to a culture that most of our friends and family will only read about.  After picking the children up from school on Friday afternoon we begin our drive home to pass a funeral procession.  The body is being carried on a stretcher, covered by a white cloth and flowers.  This is the real India, which however much you read can only truly be experienced in the flesh.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Phuket Holiday

We have returned from our holiday in Phuket refreshed after a lovely week. As I have said previously, the accommodation was excellent and the facilities superb. The kids pool was complete with slide, water jets etc and this took a couple of days for them to get even slightly bored with what was on offer. As with most kids clubs these days, they are separated into a 'teens' room and a play area, where game stations are available, or even plain old paper and pencils. As could be predicted, the boys lurk around the games consoles while the girls get to know one another over the drawing table. lol

The hotel provided a circus school activity which involved trapeze training, and a few other not quite so exciting activities. Beth loved it (as you can imagine). Below is a photo of her on the trapeze.


Thailand is well known for its massage culture. On the beach you could get a proper thai massage, John made the most of this, I only tried it the once and I have to say that whilst it was nice it was also painful at times. We also partook in a family massage session when in Patong. We all had a foot massage, the kids' first! Lawrence then proceeded to ask for one on a daily basis. Spoilt or what?


On a couple of the days we hired a car and drove around the island. Very small island, and easy to get around. I have heard that the beauty of Phuket has been spoiled by the number of tourists, I am sure this is true, but it was a very enjoyable break and we will definitely visit Thailand again.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Phuket

Well, we have been in Phuket for the past four days and I have to say it is absolutely beautiful here. We are staying in the Marriott Resort and Spa which is half hour from Phuket town but is practically faultless in its surroundings. Really, truly, beautiful. But I have to say as with all other hotels they take the p#$%# with their internet charges, so I write this post quickly from an internet cafe in Phuket town. Unable to post any photos just now but will do that when we return home. Speak soon.

Friday, October 3, 2008

Nia & John

Last week our friend Tara celebrated her 40th Birthday. Here is. a photo of John and I from that party.

hooray! hooray! holi-holiday!

Tonight we are going to Thailand, The land of Thai. With suitcases ready, tickets in hand, we head off for a 10-day holiday (Hoorah!). At the moment it is a bit harder to talk about my holiday as I don't know what is going to happen. My mom says we connect from Hyderabad to someplace else, and then someplace else to Thailand. As I am typing this blog now, I am thinking, " What should I write?" Let's say that we go to a few sandy beaches, hotels, and then, after 10 days, we come back to Hyderabad. Um... In a way, I think that's all for now, and I'll see you later blog readers!