Thursday, February 26, 2009

Long Time No Write.

First of all, it has been entirely too long since we’ve blogged! But like the old saying goes, better late than never. So let’s jump right into it. Here’s our life in a nutshell the last 2 months.

Coffee-Tasting
Learning to appreciate the earth and the wonderful gifts that God gives us everyday has been one of my goals over that past couple of years. That’s
 why I decided to host a coffee-tasting for our Indian and non-Indian friends alike. Here in India, a tragedy has taken place called “instant coffee.” It has become so popular that people don’t even realize that a coffee imposter has taken the place of good, fresh, strong and mo
st of all real coffee. So, I managed to round up 4 French presses and 4 different types of coffee beans. I grinded the beans, brewed them all at the same time and poured them in 4 separate cups for all of us to taste with our coffee-tasting spoons. Mmmmm…What a wonderful experience. You can really taste the different flavors when they are put right beside each other. Lynea even tasted them!!

Republic Day
Republic Day is comparable in celebration to the 4th of July. Everyone stays up for fireworks, there are parades, and group celebrations. Our school has an assembly inviting people in the community to come and celebrate. Some of our friends talked us into participating in an all staff Indian dance. Surprisingly we were the talk of the day!! It
 was a fun morning to have all our hours of practice come together and pay off!!!! We will try to get the video up soon.
Class
In my 9th grade class, we were discussing what it means to have faith and to trust someone. We did an activity called the Blind Walk, where 3 members of a team are blindfolded and a leader has to direct them through difficult obstacles to make it to the goal. It was lots of fun and way 
better than sitting in a classroom listening to me talk.
In Lynea’s 3rd and 4th grade class, they’ve studied food (cooking all sorts of delectable dishes), the 5 senses, magnets, electricity, reflections, and bounce. February is ‘I Love To Read’ month, so in honor they have studied Dr. Seuss and are in the process of learning a Dr. Seuss musical. They are wonderful singers and dancers.
Field Day
Elementary field day is a
 chance for our elementary students to show off some of their athletic skills as well as learn about teamwork and encouragement. There are traditional track and field events such as high jump and the 400 yard dash. But there are also fun events such as the 3-legged race and the shoe fly (see who can fling their shoe off their foot the farthest). Some of Lynea’s
students thought it would be fun to play tackle Mr. Mitchell.

Senior Trip
We had the chance to go to Kerala with the seniors on their senior trip. We stayed at the 
beach, which was really nice and relaxing (although the overnight bus rides there and back were not). Lynea met some locals from the nearby fishing village. What a different lifestyle these kids have, compared to our childhood. 
Traveling and seeing new things still does weird things to us and makes us ask questions. Wouldn’t have it any other way, though.

School has been pretty good so far. It has been a really busy this semester! But overall, married life is going great!!! We love you all and promise to write before the end of March!!!!

P.S. I planted carrots!