Chennai Week In Review...

Wow am I a laggard!! We have had events almost every single day this week, though from reading my blog you'd never know about them. Here's what's been happening in our neck of the woods since our yard flooded last Wednesday ...


* Thursday night we attended parent / teacher conferences. Now let's be honest - does the kindergarten class REALLY need conferences? What is there to honestly talk about? Riley is my mini police officer. I hear about what she does from the moment she gets to school to the moment she gets home, and every discussion with her classmates in between. We braved monster mosquitoes, a late dinner, and a pee pee accident to hear all about our sweet girl. After our 15 minutes of allotted time sitting in a chair that was WAY too small for our tushies, we heard a brief synopsis of how Riley's an ideal student, her minor weaknesses of rushing through her work in order to be "first", and how she freaks out at the sight of blood. Clearly nothing has changed since our conferences in her pre-K class.

* Friday night we took the girls to the Consulate to see the movie Wall-E (again) on the big screen. A majority of the younger kids in the community all showed up and seemed to have a great time. The theater is a perfect place to watch movies as it's all Consulate families and shown on a giant movie projector. If the kids get restless or want to roam the aisles, it's no big deal, we all know each other and can help wrangle a toddler or two! Next time I just need to remember to bring drinks and extra snacks.

* Saturday our driver Paddy came by our house to say his fond farewells to us and the girls. He left us to take a permanent position at the new Consulate in Hyderabad, where he has doubled his salary and now also gets benefits. It's a fantastic opportunity for him, though we were incredibly sad to see him go. He took a few photos with the girls and promised to come see us whenever he was back in town. Before he left he helped find us a driver. We hired his best friend, who has worked for a few Consulate families in years past. So far, so good.

* Sunday we took the girls to lunch at the Marriott, where they have an entire area complete with bouncy castle, a balloon guy, face painting, and kids buffet, all geared towards children. It's fantastic, and one of the only places around to take the youngsters. We spent almost 4 hours there schmoozing with friends, and then it was off for a little swimming.

* Monday was FINALLY Diwali, the festival of lights, and everything was closed. The entire city sounds like it's being bombed as every single household / apartment dweller lights off fire crackers day and night. This has now been going on for 3 straight days, and I'm amazed at how loud these things are! We ended the day with a dinner at a friend's house, and Riley made a new friend in a 7th grade girl on her bus.

* Today we took the kids on a trip to the Planetarium. There's a small, somewhat dingy, Planetarium in town that has a few interesting things to look at, and a 45 minute movie about the stars, moons, and planets. I thought it would be a great place to take the girls, however, I was quite wrong. Both girls whined throughout the entire movie, continually asking when it was going to be over. Then they wanted to play on one of the very few playgrounds I've seen in town, which was so disgusting, it looked like one big tetanus shot waiting to happen. Not gonna happen. The highlight of their day was going to Subway and getting sandwiches and ice cream.

Riley has the entire week off of school, though Sheridan goes back tomorrow. It's going to thankfully be quiet around here for the next few days until our big Halloween party on Friday night. Enjoy the peace... we sure will!

Enjoying some pizza before the movie at the Consulate

Paddy and the girls

Our trip to the Planetarium...

I don't think that either of the girls want to be astronauts after today.