Book Talk- "Saraswati's Way"

View Grant's participation in the 6th Grade Language Arts class in Winfield.  Thanks Mrs. Kersten!


Hello everybody,
Since most of you had the same questions, I'm going to answer them all at once.

Akash is just like any other boy who belongs in a poor family today. He thought he was being betrayed by the gods, Saraswati and Ganesha, because life for him isn't going too well. A family member dies, his family doesn't have enough money to pay for their farming land, and he almost gets arrested twice! Like I said, he's on a journey to get money for a good education and to keep his family's land. No one tried to stop him from doing this because Akash didn't tell anybody. I think my favorite character in this book is Ramesh.  Ramesh is a man that gives Akash a job at his magazine stall and teaches him english.  The reason I like him is because he is really nice to Akash. 

Hope this answers all of your questions,
Grant

P.S.  I didn't get this book at a book store. I got it on Amazon.com. How awesome, right?

Nash Hash and Hampi

Kim and the boys took off to visit Hampi via train with the Hyderabad Hash group.  The Hash House Harriers is the world's most eccentric running group.  In Hyderabad, they are known as a "drinking group with a running problem".  Fortunately, in order to make it a family event, the group also participates in walks and the drinking part is all in good fun.

We had a wonderful and memorable trip to Hampi.  The train ride was a full experience.  We shared our bogie with 60 Hash members and numerable cockroaches. We did great but were anxious to arrive in Hospet to begin our Hampi sightseeing.  Each day started with a sightseeing tour followed by lunch and then an afternoon hike.

Grant being blessed by an elephant outside the temple in Hampi

Holy men at the bazaar 

Street vendor selling Indian ingredients for sweets. 

Brave initiation to Hash.  Grant took a tumble on the hike and saw the doctor after completing a 5k.  

New members get to sit on the ice during circle.  

Grant and Garrett sitting among the sights.

Finding their niche.  

Going home after a long day.

Magnificent Brides

Were were honored to be invited to two Indian weddings this past week.  The experience was unforgettable.  To recap, briefly, the weddings were Muslim and the brides were arranged a few months ago.  The two brothers, Ather and Rahman, celebrated their marriages in style with beautiful brides, delicious food, a loud and enthusiastic band (drums) and dancing.  Tradition dictates that the men and women stay separate.  The brides' side of the event included sparkles and bangles beyond belief!  Beautiful sarees, gold, and all kinds of jewelry on the wrists, ankles, hair and neckline.

Truly dazzling.  

Enjoy the pictures below.  They only begin to capture the variety of color and infinite amount of sparkle experienced on these evenings.

Dressing up for the wedding was fun!  Looking forward to the next time.

We tried to fit in as much as possible with our attire.  Our attire was perfect but we still stood out as foreigners.  

Bride marrying Ather on Monday, 16th of January 2012

The bride was asked to come sit in front of the elders.  Here the sister in law and friends are fixing her veil.

This is Tuesday's bride marrying Rahman.

Both brides wore similar sarees to be sure that one was not "out-doing" the other.   

Hello to the 6th Grade in Winfield

Our first attempt at publishing video.  If this goes well, there will be more!  

Animals in Borneo!

We visited an orang utan reserve called the Sepilok Orang utan Reserve. This picture is a mama orang utan, with her baby, swinging to a mid-day meal.

During our six kilometer hike, we came across a green rainforest snake with a grey tail. We tried to make it go off somewhere else (so nobody else bothers it), and it used its great muscles to reach a high branch.

We noticed a lot of strange animals in Borneo, but nothing was as weird as this one. This is called a proboscis monkey. This is the only primate that has its nose sticking out from its head.

We usually think of crocodiles as green, brown, or grey. This crocodile, though, was tan with black spots. This was a great experience because this was a saltwater crocodile. The biggest kind of crocodile in the world.

This was yet another strange animal we saw on our trip. This is called the rhinoceros hornbill. We were lucky to see these because they are very rare.

Can you see it? This frog was almost impossible to find, but thanks to Garrett, we never would have left Borneo without a frog photo.