Mundane

My life is back to the mundane. Husband at work, boys at school, me at home/at the slum/out for coffee with a friend/having my nails done.

Nothing much to tell, unless you want to hear about my 2 hour root canal and the fun dental treatments that are awaiting me? Or would you like to hear about the boil that has taken residence on my chin? If I was Iceland there would be a diversion of flight paths in fear of the outburst... I am on antibiotics now... the crater could easily house a small family... There is no way to hide or camouflage the disaster area...

I could also start a rant about the ants that occupy my kitchen in the millions.... or the fact that my husband will be away on business trips for 3 weeks... or our neighbour who can't take a shower without singing loudly and VERY off key.

On a less mundane note: I have booked us a week at a 5 star resort on the Maldives during the Diwali break in October. We will be enjoying the ocean, the reefs, diving, snorkeling, sailing, lounging on the beach, the luxury and the food, while escaping the madness of 4 days continues fireworks (it is like bombs are going off) in our neighbourhood.

All is well, all is mundane. How are you?

Back to school

We have been back in Bangalore for a week now and are trying hard to get back into a routine. After a 2 months holiday it is not easy.

This year will be intense. We have two boys doing exams, Ruben for his IGCSE and Joshua for his IB diploma. Joshua will go to the Netherlands next summer to go to University, so he will leave the nest. It also looks like this might be our last year in Bangalore, so Adriaan will be looking for a new job and we will be moving again. Lots of changes to deal with.

On top of it all we are in the middle of adjusting our ways to accommodate to the fact that our youngest has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. We have been struggling with his behaviour for a while now and the diagnosis has explained a lot.
During the holidays we have had therapy, both Simon and Adriaan and I, to learn how to deal with it and how to cope with day to day difficulties. It was so enlightening to  learn what the world is like for our son and why he struggles with thing that come natural to us. Just realising what triggers certain behaviour helps to understand him better and to cope with it in an appropriate and adequate way.
We still have a long way to go and I am sure we will make many mistakes, but I am convinced we will get there.

So, it's back to school, back to work and back into a routine for us now, with the memories of a lovely holiday in the back of our minds.

Holiday at home

We have been in the Netherlands for a month now and we are having a great time. The best thing about home leave is catching up with family and friends. We have seen quite a bit of my family, because we celebrated my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. They threw a party and treated us all to a week away in a holiday cottage.

The weather has been ok, it has been a typical Dutch summer so far: spring one day and fall the next with some warm days in between. We love it, especially after the summer heat in India.

Some people ask us if we are going on holidays this summer...we are on holidays! In our own country, in our own house. My idea of luxury!

photo by Marten Hettinga

photo by Marten Hettinga

Cousins



Playing games together

Family resemblance

Father and son

Counting down

And then it's June. The end of the school year is in sight. Exams are made, as are plans for the holidays. Many farewell lunches and parties. Lists of what to pack and what to bring back. It is always a hectic time and we are all more than ready for the holidays to start.

                                                              One more week to go!

Summer School 2014

From the 29th of April till the 22nd of May we ran the summer school again in the Janakiram layout, the slum where Anu is located.
Every Tuesday en Thursday we had games and arts and crafts for two groups of 50 children for 4 times each, so for a total of 200 children. It was warm, it was noisy and it was chaotic, but the children had great fun.

The children were ready and waiting at least 45 minutes early

Games

Arts and crafts

Nail polish, yoga, marble runs and catch pots

Fruit and lemonade at snack time

And there are always little ones that would love to join, but are too young

 

Photos of today

Today was the last day of summer school! I will post some photos of that soon. These are some other photos I took today.

There is a train track, cum garbage dump, right in front of Anu. Today a train stopped and after a while started to move slowly, with a lot of noise and smoke. It turned out that it was dumping gravel on the tracks. Behind the train was a group of men and women that had to level the gravel manually.

Then there was this boy and his puppy. Both very cute.

Sunday morning

Joshua at his favourite place