Earth Day and other celebrations...

In North India, school starts in March and goes through the beginning of May. Some get out earlier depending on if their school has a/c or not. No one is allowed to return until July 1, that's when the monsoon is suppose to start. I collected some pics from the past two months from the school I am working with at the moment.


Welcome to Senior Assembly (Class 4-12)


On Fridays they wear their house polo shirts. I love the vibrant colours. They have several different uniforms which they wear on assigned days.

Earth Day

This was a play of Mother Earth (Christmas Carol Style) coming to someone not caring for her and showing him his past, present & future connection to Mother Earth. They did a great job!



Welcome to Junior Assembly (Class 1-3)

Children's Choir

Mother's Day Celebration

"Say No to..."

If you said drugs, you're wrong. In my school, we say no to child labour. Our children do not attend DARE classes and learn to "Say No to Drugs!" We spend a month learning about the injustice of child labour and make posters to help raise awareness. Here are some of the posters they made.

What do you see?

Some of you may have seen this already, but if you haven't...

Do you see a young woman? old woman?

The truth is they are both there.

I showed this pictures to my class to start a discussion about how we can see things differently because of our experiences & backgrounds. It is ok to have a different opinion than your friend. My students come from very diverse backgrounds and I want them to engage in authentic conversation (as much as they can). The real life example I gave was concerning what a bride should wear. I asked them to raise their hand if they thought a bride should wear red? white? green?

Some of the students were hesitant to answer differently than their peers, but the reality here is all three are acceptable colors for a bride to wear depending on your religious and family background. For the older children I took it a step further...

What do you see?


For those in the West & for Jews, this is the Star of David. Put a circle around it and it quickly becomes a satanic symbol. Where I live it means unity (various interpretations of what is being brought together, i.e. man & God or man & woman, etc). That is how all my students answered the question...it was the symbol for unity. This symbol is also used by Freemasons and the Mormon Church. In my research, I even found a form of it in Islam. Symbols get their meaning from the people who see it & use it. The symbol in itself does not have meaning.


The Red Fort in Agra in the home of Akbar's Hindu wife.

A perfect example of this...


What do you see?






I see a Hindu symbol for well-being & prosperity. This symbol can be found throughout Eurasia. It is even in some Southwestern Native American Artwork. This symbol is even found in Christian artwork & in cathedrals. Many people have used this to symbolize many things. One man & his followers ruined it for the rest of the world.

Picture of the Week

This was at the intersection where I catch the school bus to go to work. Looks like someone is about to lose their load. I wouldn't want to be that man standing on the corner.

The Harry Potter Influence

Disclaimer: The following post is basically an absolute demonstration of my ignorance.


Having grown up in Tomball, Texas, I have never heard or been exposed to this idea of a school being divided into houses. Yes, there might have been a reference here and there in some literature I've read, but nothing I can honestly say I remember. My association with houses is Harry Potter. When I joined the school I currently work at, I couldn't help but draw parallels between it and Harry Potter. After all, the school motto is "Overcome evil with good."

To make it more interesting, the houses are named mostly after the fruits of the spirit...that's right....love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness & self-control... just substitute truth for self-control and meekness for goodness. Prem, Anand, Shanti, Dhiraj, Kripa, Namrata, Nishtha, Satya.

I dare say that I sometimes wonder if I will ever see that "great cloud of witnesses" float by in the hallways or teachers pull wands out from under their saris.

Open Windows Education Services, LLC

As of January 2011, I am a business owner. Never thought I would say that. My business is an education consultancy which provide services in the areas of language acquisition, special education, the underprivileged, and gifted & talented. I am still working on my website (www.openwindowseducation.com), but I will announce when it is up and ready for you to check it out.

I have currently taken on a contract with a school to create a language lab on their two campuses. I also work with the special educators to serve students with special needs. In the afternoons, I work with the underprivileged students to help prepare them to transition to the mainstream school. This includes teaching them English and helping them prepare for exams. At the end of the school year, I will have worked with about 1,600 students! Crazy! You can check out the school I work with at the following website: http://mountcarmeldelhi.org/

Everything in its place...

This is what my place looks like after things are unpacked and the new furniture arrived....

My new bed!

Three extra beds for anyone who would like to come and use them=)


The fully functional office....


The welcoming living room ready to host at least 10 people...if you add in the dinning room table chairs, then I can host 14.



The fully functional kitchen to cook for any guests who arrive (planned or unplanned).

Being Community & Changing Expectations

My friend, Elizabeth, asked me to be a guest blogger for her Wednesday post about community.

You can see my post at the link below...

http://schmexas.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/guest-post-wednesday-being-community-changing-expectations/#comments

Texas Jan-March 2011

I won't relive every moment here, but I did want to share some of the highlights...

First stop...Waco, TX

I had an oh, so, delightful time catching up with friends at a Bollywood night. We made some decent Indian cuisine and watched Rang de Basanti. Then I was honored by some friends who gave me a tea so that I could share about life in India. I really appreciated the great questions they asked. Of course, I wouldn't have expected less from them. After some more meals and coffees, I was back to Houston for a few days before going to Kentucky!

"I'm going to Kentucky, I'm going to the fair.
I'm going to see Anita with diamonds in her hair!"

That's a little tune I sang as a child. I didn't go to the fair or see "Anita with diamonds in her hair" but I did see snow, lots of horses, and even a camel. I enjoyed meeting my friends' son for the first time and having lots of good conversations over tea. Here's some pics from my time there...


Snow Cream, yum!

Cuppa Cafe...
the cup I chose=)

My friends...



the horse... and the camel...




Then for good food with a great name...



After this road trip I took some time to enjoy Houston. Here are some highlights...

Lunch with friends...



Hanging with old friends...

(So sorry I missed the baby shower! Enjoy your krack jack! Can't wait for the little pea to pop out!)

Family....


My dad and his mom on her birthday!
Me and my grandma...
My grandma and her sisters (T-R-O-U-B-L-E)

I got to meet good 'ole Stephen F. Austin on my way home from a walk on the beach catching up with a good friend...




I also got to hang out with my little sis on her birthday.

My family and I went camping for Spring Break...

Of course, Emma caught the first fish....

Myself and Lila only caught turtles....
Dad & Tab also caught fish but only Dad got to keep his.

It was all fun until the fish had to be cleaned...

The girls' reactions...





I think they would rather be hiking....

As with any camping trip there were smores, card & domino playing, and even Jiffy Pop Popcorn!

Thanks to my big sis, I was able to go to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. It was the girls' first rodeo and concert. They had only been to the Livestock Show & carnival before. We enjoyed Selnea Gomez and all the tough cowboys and cowgirls.

Before I started to pack, I had two more trips to make...out West. I went to all the way to El Paso for a week and then drove down to Kingsville. Had a mighty fine time catching up with friends who I had not seen in five years or so and meeting their kids.








Had to get John Deere in there somehow=)

These were just the highlights. There were many more things I got to do and people that I got to see. I must say I am thankful for the moments when I just got to kick back and just be with some of the people I love the most. I am also thankful I got to spend a day each with my nieces and time with my five godchildren. I even got to be there to see the twins start walking!


A Day with Lila
A Day with Emma

Of course, these rascals would not walk for the camera...

Happy First Birthday K&A!