Boredom Fillers

Another day's activity to fill in the BOREDOM.

Making a cake.

But the BEST thing about making a cake is licking the beaters, or as Mac calls them, Cotton buds.

Imagination + Kitchen Utensils = Fun

Sam has been filling in his time today by making a Scooter ramp.

Some shoes, towels, my chopping board, a mat and he was all set.

A few spills, but lots of fun.

Wordless Wednesday

Eliza's First Day At High School

Officially today was Eliza's first day of High School. When she went to school in Chennai, Grade 7 was classed as Middle School. So it must be nice for her to finally get to High School in Grade 8. Grandma did the honors today and drove her to school and took the obligatory first day photo. They picked up Lucy on the way too. Nothing like a bit of moral support from your BFF.

Don't they look lovely all rugged up in their winter uniform. Eliza has really been feeling the cold since she got home and has been wearing layers of clothing to try to keep warm. So today it was tights and socks under her kilt.

I spoke to her after school (3 times actually, which was wearing thin for her) and she sounded happy. 2 periods of Maths today and she still enjoyed her day.

Hopefully tomorrow she will catch the bus home from school, then on Thursday the bus to and from school. I think Grandma is spoiling her girl.

I wish I could have been there to send her off but I am sure there would have been proud Mum tears and that would have been SO EMBARRASSING for her.

Lights, Camera, Action.

Yesterday our street was converted into a movie set. We got home to find the street filled with men and movie equipment. The movies industry in India is huge with Tamil Nadu's film industry called Kollywood. It's not uncommon to drive around and see a movie being shot on the side of the road somewhere. And of course it always draws a crowd. We suddenly became the center of attention, that's not unusual. We had a chat to the Director and he said the movie would be released in a couple of months. He told us they would be back to shoot some more on Monday.

Our little quiet street turned into a movie set.

The green car chasing the auto down the street was the scene they were shooting.

The producer (in the sunglasses) sitting down checking our the shoot on the monitor.

Then as quick as it starts it's over.

They pack up and off they wander down the street.

Fun City

We are into the 4th week of the school holidays and boredom has really set in. But alas, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of a new indoor game center 'Fun City" at the very nice new Express Mall in Chennai. It is amazing and very clean and the kids LOVED it. Same concept as Time Zone at home, but with a few rides and dodgem cars. Even a clown welcoming you at the front door, which freaked Mac out completely. And yes, the kids earn those tokens to spend at the shop when they have finished, total crap for a huge amount of tokens. It certainly filled in an hour or two and I am sure we will be frequent visitors. When the kids are happy, Mum is happy. To add to my happiness there is even a Gloria Jeans in the Shopping center.

Can life get any better????

(yes, I could be on a tropical island somewhere)

Snakes and Magic

While my friends Anne-Maree and Renee were here in March we had the opportunity to see a snake charmer/magician down at Mahabalipuram. His magic show was intriguing and when he started regurgitating stones I was nearly gagging right along with him. But the highlight of the show was when he produced his little cane basket and out shot his cobra. I think I jumper back a mile and was happy to watch the snake from a safe distance. The snake was constantly hissing at him and he would tell it to Shut-up.

The kids all got to help out with his magic tricks which they all enjoyed. Sam was a bit worried when he started to put his hand up Sam's pants to find his missing egg.

We were not the only audience he had. Along with us came the goats and beggars.

You can see Victor off to the side keeping his eye on things.