We are leaving for OZ (Australia) in the morning. I will try and post on our trip, but no promises.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
The OWC (Oversees Women's Club) put on a santa brunch for the kids. They arrange for different crafts for the kids, sing Christmas carols and best of all they get a special appearance by Santa.
After the kids get their presents from Santa then it was time to eat. The event was held at my favorite hotel, Asiana, so you know (from past posts) that the food was amazing.
It was a nice touch to get into the holiday spirit.
After the kids get their presents from Santa then it was time to eat. The event was held at my favorite hotel, Asiana, so you know (from past posts) that the food was amazing.
It was a nice touch to get into the holiday spirit.
We were invited to Sathya (Ben's secretary) and Jay's wedding this past week. That is the first funny part....it was during the week. The reception was on Tuesday evening at 7pm and the actual wedding ceremony was Wednesday morning at 6am.
The reception was to greet the couple take photos (snaps as they are called here) and be part of a video. 
The food was great. I was looking forward to wedding cake, but no such luck. We had
to settle for ice cream.
This experience was worth getting up at 4:30 am!
I am not sure how many of you reading this blog have heard about the attacks in Mumbai.
I am not going to lie it was shocking to watch what was going on live on TV. I felt like it was Sept.11th all over again. I know this is not my "home" country, but this country has been my home for the past couple of years and it is still hard to believe that this happenend. I am not sure what the reports are saying where ever you live, but the attacks took place in a major area of Mumbai. The terrorists targeted two 5 star hotels and were singling out US and UK nationals.
A total of 8 places were attacked and over 100 people killed and over 300 wounded.
The terrorists are still in the hotel Oberoi holding hostages. There has been continuous gunbattle between the terrorits and military.
Hopefully, this will all be over soon, until then please pray for the victims.
By the way....We are Safe!
Thanks to everyone expressing their concern. I will be back with a happier blog soon.
Every year Global Adjustments, the relocating company that helped us move, holds a photo competition for expatriates. I decided to enter some of the photos we had taken throughout the year. They had four main categories, Faces, Places, Into India and Festivals. They also had a Humor category. 
"The Taj"
"Watch Out"
"Royalty"
"OOOPS.....I forgot my bowl"
"OM"
"Nice Accessories"
"Hold On"
"Good Morning Lord Shiva"
"Happy Birthday Lord Krishna"
This last one won 2nd place in the Humor category
"Does this pattern make my butt look big"
The requirements were that the photos had to be taken in India, given a caption and taken by an expatriate.
These are the photos along with their captions that I entered.......
"The Taj""Watch Out"
"Royalty"
"OOOPS.....I forgot my bowl"
"OM"
"Nice Accessories"
"Hold On"
"Good Morning Lord Shiva"
"Happy Birthday Lord Krishna"This last one won 2nd place in the Humor category
"Does this pattern make my butt look big"There were over 500 photos that were entered. Some of them were just amazing.
What is Cake Mixing? That is a good question...we had never heard of it until moving here.
It involves mixing a lot of dry fruits and nuts and then adding wine and rum. The big hotels make a Grand hurrah about this. They usually invite celebritites and VIP guests to do the honors. Luckily, our friends at the Asiana (http://www.asianahotels.com/) put together an event for a different kind of VIP's, the kids. The hotel went all out, as they usually do, by providing hats, gloves and cute aprons, which we got to keep.
It involves mixing a lot of dry fruits and nuts and then adding wine and rum. The big hotels make a Grand hurrah about this. They usually invite celebritites and VIP guests to do the honors. Luckily, our friends at the Asiana (http://www.asianahotels.com/) put together an event for a different kind of VIP's, the kids. The hotel went all out, as they usually do, by providing hats, gloves and cute aprons, which we got to keep.
The hotel had the atrium all decorated for Christmas. It was nice to see a huge tree and hear Christmas music.
This is how pretty the dry fruits and nuts are assembled....
Lets get ready to mix.........
As you can see, the kids had a blast. It was all fun until the adults started pouring in the wine and rum. At that point the kids started to slowly leave. Carissa said the smell was too strong. If the smell was strong I can't wait to see what it's going to taste like.
I thought these were the cutest things....the pastery chef made them. He is the same guy who won the award and made those cool sculptures I blogged (India's Got Talent) about some time ago.
IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!
Since Diwali is such a big holiday around here. Carissa's school had a big celebration.We all had to dress up in traditional Indian clothes. We had fun "mingling" with all our friends.
Divya and Carissa
Ms. Lauri (Carissa's teacher)
Carissa, Ryan, Amy, Christian and Michael
Yun Seo,Carissa,Ginny,Mahra and Ellen
Grace,Darlene,Emi,Sun Oak,Angie and Kim
Believe it or not, I have friends too.
We headed to the Gym for some dancing. Carissa and I learned "Dandiya" dancing, which is from the Northern state of Gujurat. This dance was fun once we learned how to use the sticks. It could be dangerous if you didn't get it right.
Even Ryan got into it....
Diwali is the time of year here in India that is like Christamas/New Year rolled into one.
Next we had to light the lamp to symbolise " A new light to get rid of the darkness". We each had to light a wick for good luck in the new year.
Of course, how could we celebrate a new year, good luck, and rid evil without our good friend GANESH
The tradition is to get new clothes, gives sweets and light a heck of a lot of firecrakers. Since we we out of town, we decided to have a party for our staff and their families before we left.
I let Easwari take control of the party, I just provided the house and funds. She was so excited, even her husband, Ramesh was into the party planning.
First thing...First...Nievta and Kalpana had to make the kolom out in front of the house. Since it is Diwali we are supposed to add lights "diyas". These diyas are little clay saucers that are painted. Oil and a wick were added to the saucers and then were lit. It is hard to believe what lights can do to a kolom.
Next we had to light the lamp to symbolise " A new light to get rid of the darkness". We each had to light a wick for good luck in the new year.
It was time to eat. I said we were going traditional so it was eating on the floor, on banana leafs and with our hands.
Niveta, Sujata, Swami, Ramesh and Easwari.
Ryan, Prakash,Sathia,Kalpana,Niveta and Sujata.
After, dinner it was time to go outside and enjoy some fireworks.
The party ended after the last firework burnt out. We had a great time celebrating Diwali with our "Indian Family".
As I mentioned before, we went to Bali to rest and relax and that is just what Ben did. He deserves it!
We all just lounged by the pools and hopped between them and the beach. The kids had fun at the beach. The water was clear after the tide went out. You could see the bottom of the ocean. Carissa found a starfish, but she forgot her underwater camera so we couldn't take a picture.
Ryan had fun collected the coral that washed up. He was not a big fan of the salt water. I don't blame the poor kid.
