Happy Halloween....... this year Halloween has turned into a 3 day event for us.
It all started on Friday with Halloween parties at school. Luckily this day I only had to worry about Carissa since Ryan is still in Pre-school. The school parade started at 2:15 followed by snacks in the classroom. It was small but nice. I am almost sure that every kids actually contributed to the party, which is quite odd. We had about 10 mom helping out...another rarity. It is good to see that parents are actually participating in their child's classroom.
Saturday was a party at Sparky's , India's version of an American diner. It was nice. The place what decorated, the staff was all dressed up, their were games for kids to play, food to eat, but the highlight was the "American" candy that was given. Carissa and Ryan were in heaven with tootsie rolls. Ben and I were excited about the jolly rancher candies. We had diner with our "new" but already good friends, The Pearce Family, Les, Karen, Joey, James, Alina and Anna. I think we all get along well because they are fellow Texans. There were many other American school families attending this dinner so it was Great fun for both the kids and adults.
The last of our Halloween hurrah was on Sunday. We went to the Halloween Brunch at the Taj hotel. This event was organized by some moms who wanted to do something fun for the kids.
There were many crafts to be made...Halloween mobiles, mosiacs, skeletons, bag decorating and wooden spoon witches. There was one game...guess how many pieces of candy corn in the jar. We all examined the jar and submitted our guess. During lunch the winner was announced......Drumroll....... Ryan! Our little guy was the closest to the actual number and the best thing was the prize... The whole jar of candy corn!!!!! I can honestly say I have never been a big fan of candy corn, but like the saying goes... You don't know what you have until it is gone. When the jar was placed on our table our other American friends had sad faces working so we shared.
The kids has great fun with the crafts and playing with friends. We had fun chatting with friends and making new ones.
The week was hectic and the weekend was crazy, but a GOOD time was had by all.
On Thursday the school celebrated United Nations Day. This is a day where all different countries come together as one and put on ' one heck of a party'.
It started with the parade of flags. There are about 28 different countries that attend our school. Each country's flag is carried in by children from that country. It is a very touching ceremony. As my friend stated..." It is like we are watching the Olympics".
Once all the flags were in, a song was sung by the ESL kids, "It's a Small World" was sung by the 2nd graders, but the best was the choir, made up of kids from all countries and grades, singing "We Are The World". I don't think there was a dry eye in the gym.
After the assembly, the real entertainment was next.....LUNCH! The mom's from each country got together and prepared food, for 1000 people, from their country. Some mothers were up at 4am making food. Us Americans decided on preparing "The Great American Cookie Bar", we had chocolate chip, sugar with m&m's, sugar with sprinkles, oatmeal and snickerdoodles.
I don't think I want to see another cookie for a loooong time.
The day was Amazing and I think everyone had a good time. It was very hard work, but well worth it.
When Ben brought up the option of going to Vietnam for fall break, I was not too thrilled.
I thought all we would see was a war torn country and the people would not like us, but I was totally wrong. Vietnam is a BEAUTIFUL country and Americans are very welcome.
We started off in the Northern part of the country, Hanoi. We stayed in the Old Quarter at a little 3 star hotel. It was very nice, clean and quiet, but open the doors to the street and the city
is hustling and bustling.....
After enjoying the everyday city life, it was time for us to head to Ha long Bay for our cruise.
After our cruise we enjoyed more sights of Hanoi and went to a water puppet show. It was like watching Pinnochio. We also visited the Hai Lo Prision. It was also called the "Hanoi Hilton" by the prisions of war. It was VERY disturbing to see how they protrayed the prision. It was totally one sided and they showed that they treated the POW's in a kind manner. There were pictures of them playing basketball in new shoes, having a christmas party and watching movies. I was so upset when we left, but I got over it.
It was then time to head down to the southern part of the country.... Saigon. The name was changed to Ho Chi Minh City after the war. All the people from the city still prefer to call it Saigon.
We visited the War Remnants Museum, the Cu Chi Tunnels, Cao Dai Temple, Reunifaction Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and the shopping markets.
It was a Fantastic trip and I highly recommend it. I can't wait to go back and see more of the country.
Diwali is the biggest festival here in India. It it like Christmas and New Year all rolled into one.
The PTA of the school plans a celebration every year for the families. It is so much fun to see everyone in their Indian attire.
Everyone had a good time dancing. Yes, those are sticks you see in everyone's hands. It is a type of dance called Dandiya. You hit the sticks together to the beat of the music.
Ryan and Ben
Carissa and her best friend Clara dancing up a storm
Ben and I trying not to hurt each other
I have to say this years celbration was the best by far... the food was good, entertainment was fun and the firework show was OUTSTANDING.
