Farewell India

Today's the day to say farewell to you India. I am so glad I got to meet you. I will really miss you, but you will always hold a piece of my heart! (And we're bringing home some lovely souvenirs!)

We're off to Hawaii for our little family vacation, then we'll be off to Idaho to spend most of the summer with our Pittl family.  Leonard and I will meet in Ottawa to get our van and then drive it back to Idaho.  We'll pick up the kiddos and head to California to see our Reil family.  We'll finish up in Nevada where we'll spend the next school year with our Lee family.

Transition is always hard, especially goodbyes.  We try to be grateful we got to say hello, instead of sad from saying goodbye.  I like this better, "Until we meet again!"

Once an Eagle, Always an Eagle

When I was in high school my principal told us, "Once a Wildcat, Always a Wildcat" and that has stuck with all of my friends and I who went there.  Our kids were only Eagles for one year, but I think they will remember this year for the rest of their lives.

American School of Bombay we thank you for a great year!

Kaleb and Noé were at the high school campus,

while Gavin, Teague, and Hiram were at the Elementary campus.

Ali's not a school-girl yet, but she can't wait to be!

Silly face!

We gave our traditional year-end gifts...

new swimsuits for everybody.

We also had our traditional ice cream sundaes for dinner.

Kaleb's classes were: English, French, Math, Science, Social Studies, PE, Art, and 9/10 Band.  His extra-curricular activities were: Acorn, Jazz Band, 11/12 Band, French, Swimming, King Lear, and the Three Penny Opera.

Noé's classes were: English, French, Math, Science, Social Studies, PE, Art, and Drama.  Her extra-curricular activities were:  Acorn, French, Dance, and the Three Penny Opera.

Gavin's extra-curricular activities were: Writer's World, Lego Robotics, Engineering, and Taekwondo.

Teague's extra-curricular activities were: Junior Chefs, Gymnastics, and Art.

Hiram was too little for extra activities, but he enjoyed going to school.

Ali enjoyed using our apartment playground and swimming pool.

Surprise Going-Away Party

Kaleb and Noé's sweet friends threw them a surprise farewell party.

We were only here one year, but I'm glad they formed some good friendships that have endured our move already.

Kaleb won 3 awards at the final school assembly...

Enhancing Lives of Others, Continuous Inquiry, and for his Math class.

Kaleb and Noé also received these gorgeous elephants as a gift from the school.

Their final paintings for art class- Mumbai bus at Sunset...

and Holding Plumeria.

Holi and Holy

I had planned to do a big blog posts of the major holidays in India.  However, there are holidays almost everyday as our population is very religious!  We have 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, 2% Christian, 2% Sikh, less than 1% Buddhist, less than 1% Jain, less than 1% Parsi, and less than 1% Jew.

I love this photo I found on google.  The bigger picture says, "First we are INDIAN. HinduIsm, JaiNism, BudDhism, SikhIsm, IslAm, ChristiaNity."

Some of the major holidays we celebrated were Independence Day in August, Ganesh Chaturthi in September, Diwali in October, Republic Day in January, and Holi in March.  Here are some pictures from the kids celebrating Holi at school.  Hiram is in the front row on the left.

Hiram is on the far right.

Teague's filling up his water gun.

Watch out!  He's gonna get you!

Gavin waiting to get his water gun.  All 3 boys brought these awesome squirters home to keep.  They have become favorite pool toys.

That evening Len went down to our street to check out the many Holika bonfires.

The kids had water fights and threw the colored powder, here there was fire and the tossing of the colored powder.

Some of our neighbors enjoying the celebration.

No celebration is complete here without lots of music and dancing too!

These pics are of our awesome branch.

We love the Mumbai Branch!

This picture was from the branch outing on Republic Day.

Our Branch President's wife, Wendy Keeler is an amazing photographer.  She has captured many images that have been used in many of our church magazines.  This is from when Elder Rasband and his wife visited (center).  On the left is Elder and Sister Gong, and on the right is President and Sister Hodges.  President Hodges is the Mission President for the New Delhi Mission.  Our branch falls under his jurisdiction.  Here the leaders are with 4 missionaries, but now our branch hosts 6 missionaries.  That's a lot of work for them in a city of 23 million people!!

With the amazing Bale family.  Leonard served as Brother Bale's first counselor in the Elders Quorum until recently.  Now Brother Bale is in the Branch presidency and Len has become the Elders Quorum president. Sister Bale is the Primary president, and I had taught their 2 girls Anna and Alffie in primary when we first moved here.

President Keeler (our branch president) is on the right.  Some more of my favorite primary girls- Anna, Charlotte, and Maggie.

The lovely Swarna family.  Brother Swarna has served in the branch presidency until recently.  Now he will serve as one of Len's counselors in the Elders Quorum.  Sister Swarna is the Relief Society President and I was her first counselor.  I love their sweet children, and Amelia was one of my favorites that I taught in Primary!

The beautiful Sangeetha teaching the gospel to her boys.

She is also Noé's Young Women president.

Brother Abhijit and his nephew.

This is the most awesome!  These 3 young men- Sagar, Austin, and Amresh are in our branch.  

I have come to love these holy saints here in Mumbai.  The future of our church here is in good hands!

42

Leonard's 42nd birthday fell on a Sunday, fast Sunday to be exact.  We all went to church and Leonard gave the closing prayer in Sacrament meeting, taught the youth Sunday School class without notice, and taught the Elder's Quorum class.  His knowledge and testimony of the gospel blesses the lives of many!

After church, we ate a lovely meal, had Family Home Evening, then had a little birthday party for Len.

He got the Indian edition of Ticket to Ride to add to our collection.

He chose this delicious chocolate fudge cake and it did not disappoint!

Make a wish...

I'm so glad this crazy crew is mine.  I love you Leonard.  Happy Birthday!

Leonard's colleagues got him these birthday cakes too.  They know how much he likes to eat Indian samosas, so the second cake is complete with samosas, green chili peppers, and chutney- all made out of fondant, love it!

Mumbai at Night

The third part of Leonard's birthday date in the evening, was an open-air double-decker bus tour.

(Notice how the fountain in the background on the left is off.)

Right before we drove off the street lights came on and the fountain turned on.

This building (the Maharashtra police headquarters) is still one of my favorites from the Victorian era.

The sun began to set, but we still caught a few nice shots.

The Regal Cinema is the first movie theater in Mumbai and opened back in 1933.

Another movie theater, the Eros.

Art Deco may have started in Paris, France, but the first city to embrace the new architectural style was Miami, Florida.  The second city to embrace it was Mumbai, India.  This seems so avant-garde to me.  The beachfront of Marine Drive is filled with beautiful art deco apartment buildings.  I would have loved to have seen this city before 1950.

Churchgate Railway Station.

The clock tower at Mumbai University.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus.

The terminus is lit up every weekend.  For International Day of the Girl Child, Leonard asked them to light it up pink, and they did!  Now his office will be asking them to light it up in Red and White on July 1st for Canada's 150th birthday celebration.

As soon as we hopped off, the next group started hopping on.  Our tour guide came down though and gave us his business card telling us about all the private tours he conducts.  I wish we had more time!  (Well, vacation time that is ;).