January 26 th.

Happy Australia Day/ Indian Republic Day

How amazing that these two country's celebrate their national days on the same day. Although I'd say these celebrations would be vastly different. There were certainly no snag's or shrimp being thrown on the barbie over here. Nor was there a VB or Fosters to be seen.

The day dawned and yes yet another day off school for these kids. Will they ever learn anything over here apart from how many days of there can be in one school year? With Andrew being away we had planned a quiet day at home and I thought that the staff would also enjoy a day off. But at 9 am the door bell rang and there was my Margaret. We hadn't discussed the fact that it was a holiday and i just assumed she would have the day off. But she thought "Madame would have been very busy over the weekend and with Master away Madame would need some help" Oh, how I love thee. How will I ever leave my little gem behind in India when we return to Australia? She is a Godsend.....

So as she was hanging our washing out on the front balcony 2 little girls from the school over the road called out to her.

"Aunty, Aunty, where is Madame? Tell her please to come out and take our photo."

They were all dressed up in there new clothes for a ceremony for Republic Day. And they were so proud of their new frocks and they looked lovely. So of course out came the camera and it made their day.

I have just been and had the photo's developed and Margaret and I will head down stairs to try to find them amongst the 100's of children, to give them some copies. I cant wait to see their smiling little faces.

Happy Anniversary To Us

6 months in Chennai that is.

And we can happily say we have survived.

Can't quite believe where the last 6 months have gone and to think that we may now be 1/4 of our way through our time here blows me away.

We have certainly learnt so much about ourselves and how hard this country is to live in but realised how lucky we are to be experiencing this opportunity. There have been moments of sadness and frustration which we encounter often, but overcome. Joy and excitement in meeting new friends and travelling to other amazing places. So many things we never thought we would ever get to see or do. I have even been blessed by a elephant and have been pooped on by the worlds biggest owl.

Thank goodness for the wonderful world of computers. Regular communication with our family and friends has made the transition much easier.

So lets see what the next 6 months brings.

Stay tuned.

Trying To Make A Difference

Last weekend the kids and I joined the Recycling Club from school at the beach for a "Beach Clean UP". The day before was a festival called Pongal, which saw thousands of people make a pilgrimage to the beach and hence the need for a clean up. So with gloves on and garbage bags in hand we started the never ending challenge. We cleaned up what you would call a speck in the ocean but as we know it all helps... I still cant get my head around the way these people litter their beautiful beaches and don't seen to care about the environment. I asked a few kids if they would like to fill a bag but they told me they only come to the beach to enjoy it, not clean up!
On the other hand we had a family that filled bag after bag, they are keen to come on a regular basis to help. Only time will tell to see if these people can be educated to make a difference to our planet and stop polluting it.

"What The" part two

Just had to share these shots of some dear little kids we saw at the beach on the weekend.

For some unknown reason we are seeing people all over Chennai with these knitted tea cosies tied around their heads. Do you think that maybe they are cold? If they are cold then why do they have sleeveless tops on? Maybe paining ears? Paining being the Indian way of saying something is sore.

This is just another one of those "What The's"

Whoops, it's been a while.....

What can I say?
I've been a very slack blogger. There are always things going through my mind that I think would make a great post but sometimes I just can't get my butt into gear.
The other thing that has been taking up my time has been the never ending photo's that I need to scrap. Definitely one of the pluses of being away from home and not having to work was having the time to get up to date with my scrapping...
Hummmm
How many years do I have over here???? Looking at this pile of photo's I need about 10 years. My other problem is not having my favorite scrapbook shop just around the corner anymore, a girl can never have enough of just the right shade of pink card stock or for that fact red, blue, green, white or even black.
My other time waster at the moment is Face Book. Oh dear, who ever introduced me to it? (thanks Mon) it's a great way to keep in touch, and to find old friends. We have been thrilled to be able to hunt down some of our friends from our Canadian days, what a hoot. 13 years later we can pick up where we left. Thanks Face Book........
The latest news in the house is that I am once again a single Mum. 2 1/2 weeks this time, gee when we signed up for this assignment I wasn't aware that I would be "Home Alone" with 3 kids for days on end.. But I will survive, I don't know about Sam who is testing the patients of his mother night after night. Mac's great and enjoying his couple of hours at school each day (thank you god) and Eliza is behaving and as usual is a great help (when it suits her).
We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of my Mum and Dad (and the supply of Vegemite, toilet paper and Milton disinfectant to clean the fruit and veggies) they are coming over for 10 days and then in March we have my friend and sisterchick Cheryl, blessing our doorstep of one week. I can't wait to see them all and have some catch up time.
NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS
No I am not expecting.......
The kids and I are making a trip home.
Yes, I know I said I wouldn't do it, but with the kids finishing up school here on the 24 April the end of the Indian school year and hopefully starting at the American International School in August, the start of the American school year, it means a 15 week break in between. SCREAM..
And there is NO WAY I am staying at home with 3 kids in the middle of an Indian summer, 40 + everyday with nothing to do. Even too hot to go to the pool for too long, so we have decided to come home. The kids are so happy. How we will cope with winter will be interesting, but it will be great to be home and be NORMAL for a few weeks. Andrew will join us for about 10 days in the middle and we will be home for the school holidays so the kids can catch up with their friends. I hope w e have made the right decision. I said after the stress of leaving home to come over here and the tears we had on the flight I would never out my kids through that again, but after a long chat they convinced me they would be OK when it was time to come back. We will all be keen to get back to see our Margaret and start the challenge of a new school.
So that in a nut shell (a very long winded one) is the Purdy family update, for this week..........
Wish me luck with the next 14 days ahead. Or maybe a few prayers in Sam's direction may help..
Hope you are all surviving the Aussie summer with the lack of rain, we haven't had much here either lately. Can't wait to catch up with everyone in May. Lets do coffee.......................

"What The ?"

Quite often here in India I am asked for my "Good Name"

Would that be different from my "Bad Name" or my "Other Name" or maybe even my "Surname".

I often want to reply with a smart comment and offer my "Bad Name" but I am sure there would be no way they would understand my sick sense of humour and I would spend the next 10 mins trying to explain myself.

We do have many laughs at the names we get called, "Mr Andrew", "Purdy", "Megan Gaye" or there was one time I even got "Mrs Gaye Megan". And that's only a few.

Just another of India's "What The's ?"

Feed The Man Meat

As you may well know by now after reading our blog it doesn't take much to make us happy.

And what else would be better than a Lamb Roast. (Tom Cruise to share it with?)

On our recent trip to Dubai we managed to smuggle back 8.5 kilo's of meat. Now I'm not usually one to break the law but desperation makes one do crazy things.

Once we saw all the meat available for purchase in Dubai there was no way I was leaving that country without any. We managed to bring 2 NZ Lamb Roasts, 2 kilos of Australian mince steak, 3 kilos of Australian Sirloin Steak and some Brazilian Steak that is pretty good. 3 tubs of Philadelphia Cream Cheese also found its way back and another 20 kilos of general groceries. Lots of lollies. Like I said desperate measures.......LOL

So tonight we sat down to the BEST Lamb Roast in history, none of us spoke, we just sat, ate and were in heaven. We had put the boys to bed early as they had a late night last night and couldn't sit up any later. So they had baked beans and we got to eat their share too. (we did save them some for tomorrow)

I even managed to achieve the impossible in my tiny oven and cook roast baby potatoes and cauliflower and cheese sauce. Andrew was drooling.

I had planned a Pav for dessert but I ran out of time. Next time perhaps?

Another week in India

With life back to normal this week, Mac and I have had lots of time to play outside. This has also been helped by the almost delightful weather we are having. It is the perfect temperature for playing outside and if you can ignore the smell, life's great.

The kids started back to school on Monday with not too much complaining, although by Friday Eliza was looking for a day off, Fat chance.

Sam is happy to have a new PT Sir (sports teacher) at his school. He came home telling me he has a new friend (PT Sir) and he is really good at soccer. It's very important to Sam to have a good sports teacher who is just as enthusiastic about sport as he is.

Andrew is back into work and the long days. A few hold up's with parts not available which is stopping things moving ahead as fast as they should. This also means yet another trip up to Northern India for 2 1/2 weeks. So I am to be a single Mum again. Anyone want to visit?????

In Memory of Suresh

It is with a very heavy heart that I have some very sad news.

Noelene and Graeme went home last week to celebrate a family wedding, so their driver Suresh and his family were to go and spend some time at his village.

They were travelling to the village on his motorbike. Yes the family of 4 all on the bike. On the way to the village they had a very bad accident and Suresh was killed. Titra his wife suffered a badly broken arm and the children have some cuts and abrasions. But they are alive and we thank God for that. But nothing will ever replace the loss of their Husband and Father.

Suresh was one of a kind and Noelene and Graeme had grown to love him and his family like their own. He was always so willing to please us all and told us often that we too were also part of his family. He was often heard to say "Andrew Purdy Sir you and Megan Madame are my family and I look after you"

Our hearts are filled with sadness for Noelene and Graeme. Their time here has been made very special with Suresh in their lives. It is hard to understand what an impact these people make in our lives. But they are our lifeline in so many ways.

We have so many happy and funny memories of our friend and we often will laugh about our experiences with him. His openness often stopped me in my tracks and I occasionally had to say "Suresh, the children!" But he certainly never meant any harm. We would laugh at the story he would share with us.

We now are concerned about how Titra and the children will survive in this hard country. Suresh also supported his ageing parents who lived with him. In India widows do not ever re-marry, so this poor woman has a battle on her hands. We will try to do as much as we can to help but our time here is so short and their lifetime so long.

Below is an account of a memorable night spent with good friends. One we will never forget.

New Years Eve

We spent a very entertaining evening at Noelene and Graeme's. Suresh their driver had convinced them to have a party as his daughter was celebrating her 7th birthday on New Years Eve.

So we set off to see what the night would bring and as usual it did not disappoint.

Suresh's wife and her friends spent the night in the kitchen cooking up the most delicious Indian meal which we finally ate at about 10 pm. These 3 women worked like troopers in Noelene's kitchen. At one stage there was much tension as Noelene didn't own a pressure cooker and the beef wouldn't cook in the electric fry pan that kept tripping the power off. But even with babies on their laps and inadequate cooking facilities their food was lovely.

These woman do not drink alcohol or dance as it is against the Indian custom. I wonder what they thought of us all having a great time dancing while they worked.

But we had a scream. Listened to plenty of Graeme's old favorites and danced up a storm. Although Suresh insists that he dances better to Indian music, he still did very well.


So as the evening went on the door bell continued to ring and Graeme was heard to say a few times, "Not more" but the door was opened and the people entering were welcomed into their home. Suresh was a very good host and made sure we all had plenty to eat and drink. He certainly has made himself part of their family.

He even insisted on accompanying us home to our "residence". So at midnight, an auto miraculously appears and the 5 of us and Suresh and his friend Ramu from the village who had travelled 8 hrs on the bus with his wife and 2 children just for the party, drove us home. With fire works going off around us it was yet another experience we will never forget.

Happy New Year

Who can believe 2009 is here?

What a year we had last year. Huge changes in our lives, selling our beloved home, saying goodbye to our family's and friends, moving to a very foreign country and traveling to other country's that we had only ever dreamed of.

So here we are in India and who knows what the new year will bring. We can only imagine...

What amazing place's will we be traveling to and what daily challenges lay ahead? Life is sure to be interesting. We look forward to meeting new friends and continuing to keep in touch with our old ones.

So from our family to yours, we wish you all the happiness life can bring. May good luck and good fortune be yours and may god's love bless you each and every day.

Here's some photo's of the year that was, 2008, a big year in the lives of the Purdy's.

And remember to keep us in your hearts for a while, as you are in ours.