To Jillian, on the occasion of the Visit of her Husband and Eldest

Hello to dear Mrs. Freeman, with Laura and Ben, far out in the uncharted backwaters of the remote archipalego of New Zealand

(What am I saying? You are an hour from Aukland in one of the most beautiful spots on earth).

We had the priviledge of having Ross and Jonathan here for supper on Friday evening. We had rice and chapati and then bought some Milai Tikka Chicken from a Tandoor on the street in front of Lal Girja.

We are happy to report that a good time was had by all. Loved the photos, and THANKS FOR THE GIFTS.

Neepa also hosted a tea for Ross on Thursday evening. Again a good time was had by all, although 2 or 3 centimeters of rain fell out of the sky all at once just as the Tea was winding down. Our autorickshaw stalled out in 20 cm of water as we were heading toward Sigra Crossing, and the Autowallah and I ended up pushing the Auto -- well nigh heavy laden it was too -- for about 400 meters till we got to (relatively) higher ground. But the current was with us, and the water was never above my knees.

We have been trying to follow the Rugby World Cup, but are somewhat hindered by the lack of info locally. Be assured that Nora Grace and Miriam are now chanting:

GO ALL BLACKS!!

(We shall also try to get Jonathan to teach them the Hukka (or however you spell that thing you do)) :)

(For the uninitiated, the most civilized sport in the world is Rugby, and one of the best teams is the New Zealand team, whose uniform is entirely black, hence the knickname, "The All Blacks". The All Blacks are fameous for an ancient Maori War Dance and Chant that they perform before each game, which involves much shouting, slapping of the thighs etc and sticking out ones tongue. The current scuttlebutt about the current Rugby World Cup, being played in France, is that it might end up being an Southern Hemisphere Semifinals, with Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and possibly Argentina in an upset going into the final four.)

More Nora Grace photos...

OK, two more photos of Nora Grace on her birthday. One is at breakfast with all her loot (harmonica, kazoo, and TWO CRAFTS!!) and various cards.

The other is at supper with her cupcakes and candles. We had pizza for supper, per her request. Unfortunately, her request for candles in the pizza had to be cancelled, since it turns out that pizza hot from the oven will melt candles.

I think she look like my sister Janalee in the picture with the cupcakes. Especially the eyes. Those danceing, sparkling eyes are what I remember from my sister in her youth.

Nora Grace's sixth birthday

Nora Grace had her sixth birthday last Thursday. We once again managed to not have a formal birthday party, and she once again managed to milk it for all it was worth.

We had various friends visit throughout the week, and she made sure that all knew it was her birthday.

We got her a Kazoo and an Harmonica. What exactly were we thinking when we purchased those?

Below is the girl herself, along with her friend Reuben. Reubens Dad took the two of them out for ice cream.

Milestones

Sam took his first steps yesterday, Thursday September 20.

I guess I need to change the heading at the top of the blog, don't I? Almost a year old now.

...and the eventual descent into Chaos when the cookies appear.

I was invited (again) to a "Fancy Dress Party" at a friends' daughters school.

These are annual affairs for most grade schools, where the dress the children up as various historical, religious, societal etc figures, and then the kids have to get up and tell everyone who they are and why they are important.

At this particular event, Gandhi, tigers, doctors (complete with a "dead" body for him disect), milkmen, gypseys, a Freedom fighter, a couple of queens etc were all represented. A good time was had by all.

Many of the results are somewhat predictable: extremes of shyness and gregariousness, frazzeled teachers, forgotten lines and the eventual descent into chaos when the cookies appear.

On Strike

A local Physician was gunned down outside his house early Thursday morning. While speculation is rife, it sounds most likely that it was a political murder, and not in any way related to his being a Doctor.

But, to protest...(protest what? One is not sure, but why miss a good protest?) local Physicians have gone on strike.

Being a card carrying Plain Menno, we don't do strikes. (Smells of giving ones ultimate allegiance to anyone other than God, and thus idolatrous, or some line of thinking vaguely like that). Besides the fact that it just didn't seem warrented.

So I opted to go to work on Friday morning. On Friday morning, my usual hours are 11 AM to 1PM at a Muslim Charity Hospital. I arrived a bit early and found several hopeful patients, holding on that perhaps someone would show up. I was the only doc in clinic for that time, and stayed quite busy up until 12.30.

At 12.30, no more patients appeared, and I assumed that perhaps they had all gone to Friday Prayers, this being the first Friday of Ramadan, and thus they can earn extra points by Praying at this time.

So I putzed around doing paperwork and answering phone calls until 1PM, when I attempted to leave, and found the reason why the patient flow had dried up at 12.30.

They had chained the front doors of the Hospital closed.

Managed to get myself out, and threw the throngs of worshippers all in white flowing to and from the local mosques, and on to my next stop.

Anyways, just to let you know, I am not currently on strike. :)

I do not know what a Mosh Pit is Sir, but these Agitators are causing a fine stir

Yesterday there was a political agitation. The exact details escape me, and indeed, when you ask people why the agitation happened, they sometimes get sortof glassy eyed, as if they do not fully understand it themselves. I think one particular high Caste Hindu political party is upset about something that is happening somewhere, and wants the government to do something about it.

Or they just want to make a scene, which they succeeded in doing.

Around 9AM, just as rush hour was starting, a whole bunch of Sadhus (Hindu holy guys) moved into the middle of the GT road (one of the busiest in this part of the world), and sat down. Horns blared, people shouted, and traffic came to a standstill.

They said they would sit there until the District Magistrate came and listened to them.

And the traffic jam started. I got into it about a half hour after it started. By the time I realized what was going on, it was too late: I couldn't move. For a few minutes foot traffic was able to get through, and then pedestrians came to a halt also. Every square inch of space within a quarter mile was full of someone or something. What space the cars didn't take up, Auto Rickshaws filled. What they didn't take, the cycle Rickshaws filled. What they didn't take, the Scooters and Motorcycles filled. What they didn't take, the bicycles filled up. What space they didn't take, pedestrians filled up. Until there was no space left. You couldn't even walk.

Nobody could move. Throw a few random cows into the mix and it was a fine situation.

I am constantly amazed that there are not more fights in a situation like that. But everyone remained calm and talkative as the two hours passed before the Agitators finally packed up and left.

At one point, several schoolboys were walking/being passed overhead, walking on roofs and stepping on the backs of other schoolboys, to try and get through. A couple of them wanted to practice their English, and stopped and chatted for a couple of minutes. I said their mode of transportation was like a Mosh Pit, and they replied with the delightful quote on the header.

Eventually the Agitators left, the traffic began to move, and life got back to "normal", as we know it in Varanasi.

The Fridge is back

A trolley pulled slowly into the courtyard yesterday evening, and with the help of a couple of bystanders, was moved up the 57 stairs to our apartment.

And this morning, we had cold juice to drink, and cold milk for our cereal.

What a deal.

No Fridge

Our fridge was slowly fading in its ability to keep things cold. Ice cubes would take a day or two to form, that sort of thing.

So we called the ubiquitious LG guys, who came out and proclaimed that the fridge would have to be taken in to the shop. And on Friday evening they did just that. Estimates of when it will be returned have since lengthened from 24 hours to a week. Promises of a replacement fridge have failed to materialize.

Oh well, life is not so bad. We have UHT milk, which does not need to be refridgerated (until you open it), so we open a box each morning for our cereal, and then the girls have chocolate milk for mid-morning snack with what is left of the liter box.

Sounds like a good excuse to go out to eat! :)

The Place I grew up in is very beautiful.

Ok, this is the last of the photos from this summer that I wanted to post.

I may be stating the obvious, but Big Valley is very beautiful.

photos from this summer that I wanted to post part IV

Miriam with one of the Field twins. Again, I just liked the picture.

photos I wanted to post from this summer part III

I just liked this photo of Nora Grace and Daniel Larson eating hot dogs this summer. They were born a day apart.

The Bear Trap: Leftover photos from this summer that I wanted to post, part II

While up at a blueberry patch on the flats of one of the mountains that flanks Big Valley, the Amishman running the place showed us the Bear Trap placed to safely rid themselves of the nuisance bear that had been raiding the patch.

The girls were very impressed.

And the bait was?????

Powdered donuts, thank you very much.

(It would work for me).

leftover photos from the US travels part one

Here is Sam with one of his namesakes, Uncle Sam Zook and Aunt Helen. They are some of our all time favorite Uncles and Aunts. Appears Sam likes them too.

Miriam and Braedan

The girls are enjoying seeing their friends again. Sam is enjoying being Sam. He can get into lots of trouble with his newfound mobility.

Random Statistic

The local paper reported this week, that our area of India had the highest percentage of people with post-graduate degrees involved in Criminal Activity.

I think the way the checked, was to look at all Police and Court records, and determine if the people involved had Masters Degrees or PhD's.

And we had the highest percentage.

What a deal.