Rajama, Christmas, and the Orphanage

This is a little recap of our vacation after Thailand.  We also added lots of photos to our Flicker ( go to picture main page).  

RAJAMA

Do you remember my story of Rajama and the peanut grinder?  If not, go back a few

blogs and read about Rajama, her granddaughters,  and her need for a peanut grinder.  Well because of your generosity and love, we were able to not only buy her a peanut grinder, but also pay for Anapriscilla's college bill this semester!!! While we were in Thailand, Heather was able to buy the grinder and have it delivered to her house.  She was so surprised and she's been crying ever since. This is huge that she won't have to rent a grinder anymore.  Thank you for being faithful with your finances even though the economy is crazy.  Thank you for loving an Indian Grandma and her family.  She definitely feels it and thanks God every day!!!  (Pictures: Rajama, her son, two granddaughters Beena and Anapriscilla, and the grinder that looks like a time machine.)

CHRISTMAS

We arrived back in Kodai December 23rd and spent Christmas eve and Christmas day with the Nelsens and the Stewarts.  Kyle says it was a real white Christmas because of all the white folk. It was a wonderful first Christmas as a married couple. If we can't spend it with family, we want to at least be with friends that we consider family.  Great food, Great friends, Great time. (David and Lisa Stewart are sitting next to me.  Heather is in the middle and David's parents behind her. Brian is taking the picture. Oh, and of course all the kids: Andrea, Tiffany, and Elijah Stewart and Cyrus, Isaiah, and Lydianna Nelsen!!)

THE ORPHANAGE

Kyle and I made a trip down the mountain Saturday and Sunday with a few others from the school to visit a friend in the hospital and then to spend the night at Bethania.  Bethania is an orphanage with about 35 kids ranging from age 6 - 16.  Our school has close relations with Bethania and our students often do service projects there. We had a blast playing with the children and learning about them.  Their stories are often tragic and heart breaking. However, their smiles light up the world and their laughter clears the sky.  It's often hard to find words for experiences like this. Your heart breaks but you are so thankful for people like Priscilla, Charlie and other workers who have dedicated their lives to serving and loving these children so they can have an education, a dream, and a future.  Orphanages have had a profound impact on our lives throughout the years.  We have held children in many different countries and we seem to have a huge sense of belonging in places like this.  It'ard to come and go so quickly.  It makes us wonder if we'll ever be able to stay at a place like that for more than just a visit.  

In India, women decorate their bodies with a brown paste called henna. In the states, you'd call it a fake tatoo.  A friend of mine did it to me the other day and it was started to ware off. One of the little girls was admiring it so I used marker to do a simple one on her hand. She loved it. Next time I visit, I'll have to bring a few tubes of henna and do all the girls. 

PHUKET, THAILAND

We were supposed to fly to Bangkok for 5 nights but because of all the craziness, we flew straight to Phuket. That's ok because Phuket is like heaven. Sun, beach, ocean, sun, bathtubs, Starbucks, fruit smoothies, sun, pools, McDonald's (sorry Dad and Doc, we had to eat there once), great stir fry, sun, sun, and more sun. Phuket is a big island with lots of small beaches and small islands off of it.


First we stayed at Karon Beach for 5 nights, ate breakfast buffets, fresh fruit smoothies, banana pancakes (a crepe with bananas and chocolate), snorkeled, and were really really lazy. We took a boat tour of the Phi Phi islands. We snorkeled with beautiful fish and coral, fed monkeys (yuk), ate great food, swam where the movie The Beach was filmed and unfortunately got a little too much sun.

Then, we rented motorbikes and drove a half hour north to Surin Beach for 3 nights. This was also a lot like heaven. Sun, great dinners on the beach, gorgeous pool, sun, fried bananas for 1 baht (like 3 pennies), elephant trekking, sun, and more sun.





There was this cool buoy/floating/dock/walkway thing. (See picture and video) We discovered that when a wave comes, if you run up the walkway and jump off the top of the wave you get tons of air. So fun. So tiring.




The elephant trek was exciting. We bonded with our elephants by sitting on their heads. That was fun and scary and really hard to balance. Elephants are massive animals with huge feet and really big jaws. They could definitely crush me in one second.














Best part of Surin....The Lotus. This is a grocery store. They had Ritz crackers, 3 different kinds of Campbell's Chunky soup, Smuckers strawberry jelly, dried shitaki mushrooms, and best of all.......Philadelphia cream cheese.



We are now back in Karon for 6 more nights before mom and dad leave. More adventures to come.

Mom and Dad Mitchell come to visit!!!

Friday, November 21 was a beautiful sunny day. My students spent the afternoon making gingerbread cookies and reviewing what we learned about the USA. Although I was fully there with my kids, my brain was waiting in expectation for Kyle and his parents to arrive from Madurai. When they came, I ran and gave them the biggest hug!!! The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, I was eating amazing cookies made by my 3rd and 4th graders, and now we could share our new Kodai life with our parents.

Friday, November 21 at 9pm was a mess. It started to rain.....and it didn't stop until we left Friday, November 28th. YUK. It is odd for it to rain at the end of November with that much intensity, however, when there is a cyclone over southern India...run for cover. It poured nonstop the last week of school. Our laundry never dried, the mold came back, the fire wood got wet, and that damp annoying feeling was definitely present. But praise the Lord for rain boots, rain coats, and umbrellas. Owen and Lauren experienced the bad side of Kodai. At least now they will really be able to sympathize with us when monsoon season comes back in July.

Thankfully, rain doesn't hinder relationships. We were able to share our parents with our friends allowing them to get to know all the people we've come to love here in Kodai. Oh, and they got to experience Cheese Dosai. Soooo good. Unfortunately, our last day in Kodai (the day to finish up last minute responsibilities and to pack) I woke up vomiting and found out I had E-coli and a bacterial infection. YEA!!!!

Just in case you do not know what these are....it is vital that you have a bathroom handy at all times. Lucky for me the next day we had a 3 hour drive down the mountain, a 9 hour train ride, and a 4 hour flight. Sweet! The odds were definitely against us, but the Lord healed me quickly and I was fine by the time we got off the train!!!!

As you may have heard, people have been going a little crazy in this part of the world the last few weeks. There were bombings in Mumbai, more bomb threats in Chennai, protests in Bangkok which is where we were headed, and all airports closed in Thailand. We arrived in Chennai not knowing if we would even be able to get to Thailand, but they had a flight to Singapore and then to Phuket (our final destination). Do you know where Singapore is? I do now!!! It's amazing. They have Starbucks and Subway!!!! Dad was a little stressed because our plans were totally changed and we weren't sure what was going to happen. Kyle and I were in heaven...Starbucks and Subway in one place!!!!! And they had toilet paper in the bathrooms!!!!

That is our travel story. Next up....Phuket!!!

Lynea's Grade 3/4

My class did a read-a-thon to raise money for a village school called Kombai. First Assembly sponsored the kids at $.10 per page that they read for a month.  F/A donated above and beyond what my kids ever dreamed of raising. Here's a little thanks from us to you. 

a normal update + a message from us

Our Adventure to Pillar Rock
We needed to get away for a day but during monsoons you don’t have many options. So during the 2-hour break of rain one Sunday, we took Brian’s bike and drove about 20 minutes out to the edge of part of the mountain. Pillar Rock is mostly a tourist trap, but it is very beautiful with the clouds rolling in. Kyle is so good looking we can’t go anywhere with out someone asking for his picture. I think because he’s white, so good looking, and way taller than most Indian people. It was a beautiful ride and our first bike ride together. Kyle did great. It’s hard driving on the opposite side of the road. When you get into a pickle, you automatically want to go right which can be detrimental here. However, my husband is amazing and got us home safely.
Harvest Fest.
It seems no matter where you are in the world there is still Halloween or a Halloween substitute. The elementary school had a harvest fest last Friday night for all the ES students and a local Cresh school (preschool). The ES secretary is in charge of this preschool for Dalit children. Dalit means they are not allowed to go to English schools because of their social class. Every year the 5th graders run the harvest fest booths for the Cresh school in the morning and then the teachers run it at night for our students. I dressed up as a cat and Kyle a scarecrow…a very convincing one too!! We were in charge of the apple-dunking booth. It was gross. The kids were just dunking their whole head under water. Some kids came 5 or 6 times. By the end of the night the water was just full of spit. Luckily kids don’t care about that stuff, but I couldn’t take it. The students all looked so adorable.

My First Stuffed Chicken
As some of you may know, before moving to India I could cook pancakes and eggs. Oh and I could make a mean salad. Sadly, that was as far as my talent went. However, I am proud to say that I have broadened my horizons since being in India. I cooked my first chicken…(Mom I was actually able to find the hole this time!!! But all the guts were still in there and I had to pull them out. Gross!). I spiced it and filled it with apple-onion stuffing. It was so good!!! Sorry I’m bragging but I was so proud.

Mapping and the Earth
During the month of October my class was studying maps and the Earth (rocks and the layers of the Earth). To bring the unit to a close, we had a treasure hunt. I had the students in 6 groups running all over the ES campus. There were 10 stops. At each stop they had to complete a task with their group and then figure out the clue to get to the next stop. One of the tasks was using the library search to find out how many books we had by Eric Carl. The hardest part was figuring out how to spell Carl. Carol. Carul. Karel. Carel. They were so pooped by the end of the Hunt. They had been running up and down and around! But they all finished. I was very proud of them and they had a blast. Luckily I have an athletic husband who was willing to chase them all around the campus taking videos and pictures for you to see.

Monsoons = Mold. Lots of it!! If I say anything else I’ll get bitter so I’ll leave it at that. Just know that we had a rough 2 weeks in the middle of the season.