The Seasons Of Friendships

Eliza and Holli saying their last goodbyes

Friday was the last day of 3rd term and it was a sad day for Eliza.

It was because her good friend Holli was leaving Chennai with her family on their next big world adventure. They had become really great friends and were both so sad to have to say farewell. We are all now realizing this is how life is when you live in a nomadic community. People coming and going all the time. It's just another season in our lives of friendships. Seasons come and go and so do people we meet along the way. It's not that we forget these friends that have been placed in our lives when we needed them the most, but we will treasure what they have brought into our lives.

At the start of the year there where 7 kids in Eliza's advisory class, now with Holli leaving on Friday, it's down to 3. Eliza and 2 boys, James and Luca. Fortunately they get along well and have loads of fun together. They have decided to change the name of their advisory class from "The Kingfishers" to, "A series of unfortunate events".

James, Eliza, Holli and Miss Kathy, their Advisory teacher.
I guess this is the first of our goodbyes, with many more to come in the next few months. The friendships we have made while living here have been such a blessing and we will hold them close in our hearts as we all move on.

My 'To Do List'

This is one of my favorite photo's from my trip to Parry's Corner shopping district last month. What a cruiser.

Also, this mode of transport is still on my 'To Do List', although I do pity the poor rickshaw driver who gets to pedal me around town. It's truly one of those real Indian experiences, getting up close and personal to ride around in a rickshaw.

REMEMBER TO,

India Calling...

I have just read an article in the 'Geelong Addy' my local news paper at home in Oz, that reports that an Indian Telecommunications company are about to launch a Mobile phone that runs on Triple A batteries. This enabling people living in rural areas with out regular power supply to have the use of mobile communication. The phone will sell for a mere Rs1600, that's about $38 Aus.

Also in the article it stated that now 45 out of every 100 people here in India now have a mobile phone with an average of 15 million new customers every month. And I can certainly believe that. In a land of contradictions we often see the most humble people sitting talking on their mobiles.

Highlights And Lowlights

Recently while Gramps and Grandma were visiting Gramps introduced us to his Highlights and Lowlights of the day. Every night at dinner he would ask us all individually about our day and what were the highs and lows.....

Now 2 weeks later, every night at dinner Mac asks us to tell him what our highs and lows were for the day.

It is a really fun thing to do and it is interesting to hear about everybody day. Sometimes we are so busy going through to motions of the after school craziness that we forgot to communicate with our families.

So tonight at dinner this was our highs and lows.

Eliza- High, Pep rally at school. Low, homework.

Sam- High, Swimming at school for sport, Low, didn't have one.

Me- High, the end of my 2 hour visit to the dentist, Low, yelling at the Airtel guy about our never ending Internet issues...

Mac- High, Going to Parent Choice and doing a 50 piece puzzle, Low, coming home to watch TV and play the DS at the same time

Andrew-High, Building 41 SPECIAL Prototype engines today, Low, finding out a work colleague has been diagnosed with Lung Cancer.

What was your Highlight and Lowlight for the day?

It's Time To Go.......The Purdy's

Yep, say it ain't so, but we have finally been told we are on the move.

Homeward bound.

Andrew is needed back at Ford Australia.

Don't know where, when or why yet, of course we are waiting for all that to come out in the wash. It would be great to know all the details one day soon . PLEASE.

Bittersweet thought have been raging through my head since the BIG phone call.

Not ready to go home yet, still so much to see and do here

It's back to work for me and I have no idea what I want to do. I think I may have hung up my scissors.

We are finally feeling settled here

Big kids are at an AWESOME school

Andrew loves his job, but not the travelling

Getting used to the rubbish, beggars and men peeing on the side of the road. (well sort of)

Mac has 2 great little mates and loves going to school

Just got used to plastic bag milk

It's amazing what you can do with Chicken.

etc etc etc.

And on the other hand,

Looking forward to living in our new home

driving myself around

Grocery stores filled with fab fresh food

Beef

Kids being reunited with their Grandparents

Seeing their Cousins, Aunts and Uncles

Reconnecting with old friends.

Chatting face to face, rather than on skype

Kids having some Independence

Walking anywhere we want on clean footpaths.

etc etc etc.

So now the journey begins again, but in reverse. Packing the house and shipping all our worldly possessions home and saying goodbye to our new friends. I will be so sad to leave my Margaret here, goodness my life is in for a VERY rude awakening. She has been such a wonderful help to me and our family but she has also been a friend to me, one who I admire immensely. Her love of life and the way she loves my family as her own. I know she will miss her "Sweet Boy" Mac.

It would be amiss of me to say life in India has always been easy. Sure to those of you at home reading my blog might think I have a perfect life, I do in lots of ways, but life has been tough at times too. Especially the first 8 months, there were plenty of times I could have packed up and come home, but what would that have accomplished? Nothing. We needed to prove to ourselves that we could get through those bad days and move on with a positive attitude and embrace our dreams. It has shown us that as a family we can endure a lot on our own and we need to be supportive of one another.

Living as an expat you meet plenty of people, some happy to be living their dream and some that do nothing but complain. We have so much to be thankful for. Wow, our life is so great here in many ways in comparison to home. All you have to do is look out the window here to realize how lucky we are to be living in this country with the advantages we have as Expats. Sure we all miss the comforts of home and family, but for most it's a short time in our lives and it's a CHOICE. So why do some people embrace the opportunity's given to them and some can't wait to get out?

For me, I think it's called GRATITUDE. And I am so grateful to all our family and friends, old and new, for their continuing love and support while on our journey.

Holi- The Festival Of Colour

Holi, named after the goddess Holika, is a very popular spring festival that marks the end of Winter and the coming of Spring. The festival is usually celebrated in North India and can last for a few days. During Holi people burn an image of Holike as a symbol that the good has defeated evil. After the bonfires comes the throwing of colour. People throw colored powder and water over friends and passerby's.

It's a very happy festival and we were thrilled to be caught up in the celebrations on a trip to Parry's Corner on Monday. While trying to keep our distance and take some photo's we were spotted by a group of boys who happily posed for us and then started to wipe powder on our faces. Not to be afraid of some excitement we enjoyed feeling a part of their festivities. Wiping the color off was the problem. Thank heavens for sanitizing hand wipes in my bag. They remove anything.