Amy's Update

When I first came to India, I thought the time would pass so slowly. But now that we are settled and adjusted, time is ticking away. I am not sure I will be ready to leave by mid-May. I have really taken to the culture here. I feel comfortable venturing out into our village and downtown Bangalore. From buses overflowing with people (sometimes even crowded on top of the roof) to women in beautiful colored saris, there is always something to see that just makes me smile or shake my head in disbelief.


I had a great birthday! The kids at Sukrupa surprised me by singing happy birthday and presenting me with flowers and a cake. One of the children, a wonderfully smart boy named Bharath, led a prayer for me while the other children bowed their heads. He thanked God for me and my family and asked for our safe travel to Hampi. He asked God to bless us and to help us grow closer to Him. What a fantastic birthday gift!




As you know from Thomas' blog, we had a wonderful trip to Hampi. We are learning so much about the history of conquest and rule in India. Tim and I have also been reading some great books in this regard. I just finished Indian Summer - The Secret History of the End of an Empire by Alex Von Tunzelmann. The book's focus is on the end of the British rule in India and the events surrounding partition and independence. I highly recommend it!

Mark and Grace had there school play this week. Because of this, they had no regular classes. They didn't leave for school until 3 p.m. and had to be picked up at 9:30 p.m. Thomas had to go to school as usual. Needless to say, this put a slight wrench in our driving routine. Luckily we were able to communicate these changes to our rickshaw driver. The 270 students (grades pre-7) had 3 performances of The Panchatantra. We went to the show Tuesday night since Tim had to leave for Chennai on Wednesday. The show was fantastic! The costumes were amazing! Hopefully either Mark or Grace will blog about it and post more of the pictures.

Friday, Mark and Grace had the day off from school (poor Thomas did not). They came to Sukrupa with me and then my mom and Grace went to have manicures and pedicures ($15 pp). Tim returned from Chennai very late Friday night.

Saturday, went to Wonderla - a huge amusement and water park about 50 km from here. We also went to dinner at the home of one of India's most famous scientists and the founder of JNCASR. More on that later . . .