Kids!

Dear Daughter,

Papa had to pretend that he was a preacher this week for the film that we are making and had to deliver a sermon in Tamil in a church!

There were many children at the church to be in the film and they were all very sweet. Here are some pictures of them. I showed them my pictures of you too and they were all very happy to see them.

I Love You!
Papa

Action!

Dear Daughter,

I was so happy to talk to you last night and hear about your school projects with the Dinosaurs!

We will have so much to talk about when I am back.

Papa has to go tomorrow again to be in the film about Bishop Sargent that I sent you pictures about. I won't be riding a horse, but you never know what can happen with the movies, especially in India.

I will be sending you more pictures about the filming, but may be away for a day, so I just wanted to let you know that Papa loves you.

Papa

PS I saw the tiniest little frog who must have come out today after our big Thunderstorm. And, I remembered what you told me that I shouldn't be scared during thunderstorms because the rain is necessary and you are right. 

The Silly Little Goat

Dear Daughter,

Papa went to Chennai this weekend, which is a very, very big city in Tamil Nadu and is the capital of the region.

Papa saw a Cricket match between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings. Cricket is a game similar to baseball and is very popular in India. Several of the best players in the world are Indians and I got to see them play. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed in the stadium so I will have to tell you about it in person.

Also, I went to a place called Mahabalipuram, which is famous for huge stone carvings. It was really neat to see. There were life-size elephants and temples carved out of a single stone! And, there was a huge boulder called "Krishna's Butterball," because Krishna was rumored to always be stealing his mother's butter. He was a bit naughty at times. How do you think it got there?

Do you remember walking around Bandelier in New Mexico with Papa and we climbed into all of those caves on the ladders? This was similar to that at times, so you would have liked this.

When I was walking around, I saw this little goat who was a bit confused. He wanted to join the other animals, but they were all stone sculptures! Silly little goat.

I love you,
Papa

Papa Rides Again

Dear Daughter,

For the past two days, Papa was working on a film here in India. We will be working on this for a couple of weeks in addition to Papa still teaching English, so I will be quite busy!

I have to act like I am Edward Sargent who was a respected man in Tamil Nadu for promoting education and was involved with the church here. In India there are many religions, including Christianity, which is what he believed in. It is important for us to learn about the many different religions in the world to help us understand each other better.

Mr. Sargent used to ride a horse wherever he went because there were no cars, nor Tak-Taks when he lived in India over 100 years ago. So, Papa had to be filmed riding a horse through a banana grove. Here are some pictures of me on the horse! The Tamil word for horse is “kuthirai.”

I love you,

Papa

Indian Movie Star

Dear Daughter,

Guess what?

Papa is going to be in a movie here! I will be playing the lead part in a documentary of Edward Sargent, who was a bishop here in southern India over 100 years ago. He was very instrumental in promoting education and set up one of the first boarding schools for girls here and is greatly respected by the people of Tamil Nadu, they even wrote a song about him. So, Papa may be a mini movie star in Tamil Nadu. I will be going to the coast of India again tomorrow to shoot some scenes and, some of them will be in Tamil too.

It was wonderful to talk to you last night. Do you remember the Tamil words I taught you on the phone? 

I love you,

Papa

Indian Sopaipillas

Dear Daughter,

Tonight, Papa had Indian sopaipillas for dinner! Here, they are called pani, but they are just as delicious. We had a green chili and onion stew to put on top of them, which you then mix together and eat with your fingers like a taco. It was very good and reminded me of New Mexico and the sopaipillas that you and Papa ate there. But, here, they don't eat them for dessert with honey like we did in New Mexico, but we did have fresh pineapple for dessert. So, maybe I will teach them how to eat them with honey here and when you and Papa go back to New Mexico, we can try to eat them like they do in India!

I love you,

Papa

Blessed by an Elephant

Dear Daughter,

Last evening, Papa went to the Meenakshi Temple here in Madurai. It is a very large complex of hallways and buildings, filled with amazing statues, paintings, and even an elephant! There were many families there and lots of candles and incense burning as well as chanting and music. The elephant lives in the temple complex and was giving "blessings" to many of the people there. They would bow down and she would touch them on the forehead with her trunk to bless them. It was a wonderful experience.

I love you,

What I Learned in School Today

Dear Daughter,

Today at the school assembly, Papa had to speak in front of the entire school and there are about 2,000 students here, so it was a really big auditorium!

I talked about four important words in the school song, and they are Sanskrit: satya, karuna, dharma, chintana. I talked about how if you can learn lessons from these four words, then your education has been worth the while.

Satya means Truth, both looking for the truth and to be honest.
Karuna means Compassion, which means to care for all living beings as much as we are able to do so. It was something that was very important for the Buddha.
Dharma means our Duty, or those things that we need to do to be part of a community that helps each other.
Chintana means being Mindful of what you do and to not be careless.

Papa thought that these were very important words and was happy to see that they were in the School Song. If we can learn those four things, and adults can learn them to, then our world will be a better place.

I Love You,
Papa

Coming Home from School in Madurai

Dear Daughter,

One of Papa's favorite things to do in the day is to take you to school on the bike in Antwerp as many of the parents do there. Here in Madurai, however, many of the children go by bus, Tak-Tak or on the motorcycles or scooters with their parents. Here are three little girls who were waiting for their brothers to come out of school and they all left in the Tak-Tak together. I bet you would love to ride in one of these to school!
I Love You,
Papa

Ganesha's Rat

Dear Daughter,
Yesterday on the phone, you were telling me about how you saw a program on television that showed Ganesha and his rats in a temple! Yes, Ganesha has a traveling companion, Mooshika, who is a rat and is often seen with him in statues as well. In Tamil, Ganesha is sometimes called Pillaiyar, which means a special young child, because Ganesha is often shown when he is young. Here is a Ganesha statue in Madurai that Papa goes by every day in the Tak-Tak when he goes to teach English to the children at the school. I have shown a close-up where you can see Mooshika near Ganesha's foot, and look at what his belt is: a giant King Cobra!
I Love you,
Papa

PS Papa and a few other teachers played the big students in volleyball today. Guess what? The teachers won! Here is a picture of some of my students wishing me good luck before the game. It was a very exciting day.

Learning about Others

Dear Daughter,

Today at school, the students put on a performance for a Teacher Appreciation Day in the auditorium. They had various dances and songs and a couple of speeches. Papa did not have his camera today unfortunately, so I can just tell you about it. One of the classes had been learning about Poland, so they had on Polish costumes and danced to Polish music. This may sound strange to see in India, but it was like when your class was learning about the Indianen from America, and you had a dance too. Do you remember? They were called Indians because the people from Europe who first saw them thought that they had landed in India, and did not know it was a whole other world! Now, when we go to New Mexico, and see them there, they are called Native Americans because they were the first people to live in America.

Papa will be sure to have his camera with him every day from now on. There are always surprises here.

I love you,
Papa

Helping Others

Dear Daughter,
Today, when Papa was coming home from teaching, Rama, the Tak-Tak driver saw another Tak-Tak driver who needed help. It was on a very busy bridge with lots of traffic, but Rama stopped and helped the man get out of danger from being hit. Although we cannot always help others, we we can, it is a great gift to give aid to someone who needs it.
I Love You,
Papa

Footprints in the Sand

Dear Daughter,

Yesterday, Papa went on a road trip to coast of India. There is a peninsula (something that is like an island, but not quite) that juts out into the water and has the Bay of Bengal on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. The water was beautiful and Papa wished that he had had his swimsuit to go into waves. This is the closet point in India to Sri Lanka, which is an island where they also speak Tamil, and Telugu. Aunt Rebecca went there several years ago and she has a picture of her sitting on an elephant’s trunk! Do you remember that picture? Papa did see one elephant yesterday, but it was inside the temple!

I Love You,

Papa

Respect

Respect

Dear Daughter,

Yesterday evening, guess what? Papa saw his first Indian snake! I was at my Tamil teacher’s house and there was a big thunderstorm coming, and all of the birds in the garden were twittering and calling to each other. Maybe they were telling each other about the snake, what do you think? The snake was black and a bit over a meter long, so it was not quite as tall as you are, but was still a pretty big snake, slithering along the top of the garden wall.

Snakes are also very important creatures in India and are called Nagas in Sanskrit. There are many stories about them and sculptures all over India.

Once, a huge King Cobra, one of the Nagini, spread its hood and sheltered the Buddha from a thunderstorm while he was in deep meditation under a tree. Also, one of Papa’s favorite stories as a child was Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, which is about a mongoose who protects his human family from two big, mean cobras, Nag and Nagaina. So, like many other things in life, sometimes snakes can be good for people and other times dangerous. We must always respect their power and be careful with them.

I Love You,

Papa

Kids Will Be Kids

Dear Daughter,

Here is a picture of one of Papa's classes from today. The children are very excited about learning English as you can see. This is class 7C and they are a lot of fun. Today they all wanted me to sign my autograph in their lessons' plan book. Papa felt like a rock star!
I Love You,

Papa

Even The Dogs Speak Tamil

Dear Daughter,

Here is a picture of Rosie, she is the family dog here at the home that I living in. And, guess what? She speaks Tamil too! Just like Tigger understands Flemish in Hasselt, Grey Pet, Squeaky, and Tigger in Amarillo understand English, Rosie can understand Tamil. Also, she eats rice and Indian food, isn’t that funny? In Italy, the kitties eat pasta there too. So, just like us, animals can be foreigners too. When Papa was teaching about “Nouns” being a “Person, Place, or Thing” (Remember Schoolhouse Rock?) in my school, the children were very concerned that there was not a separate division for animals because they don’t think that they are just things. So, here in Madurai, a “Noun” is now a “Person, Place, or Thing, or Animal.”

I love you,

Papa

Yoga at School

Dear Daughter,
This weekend was "Sports Day" for the school that I teach at. However, it was quite different than Sports Days in America and Belgium. The school was divided up into the four ancient royal families of Tamil Nadu: the Cholas, Pandyas, Chera, and Pallava, each with their own colors. Each of the groups had a presentation on Nature and Mother Earth in between special demonstrations of Yoga, Gymnastics, and Karate in addition to some foot races that many of the students also ran barefoot. Here are some pictures of the Yoga Club's demonstrations. Do you recognize the children doing Vrkasana, the Tree Pose?

Happy Teachers' Day

Dear Daughter,

Papa got a nice surprise at school today. Today in India it was national "Teachers' Day" in honor of one of India's former prime minister's father. The son wanted to create a holiday in honor of his father, but the father replied, "I am a teacher, so honor all teachers instead of just me." So today, several of the kids had treats for the teachers and they all wished me a "Happy Teacher's Day," and when Papa went to his Tamil class, I got to thank my teacher too! So, remember to thank your teachers too in Belgium.
I love you,
Papa

We Do What We Can

Dear Daughter,

I just talked to you on the phone and it was great to hear your voice. I told you about the little boys on my street who are going to teach me how to play “Cricket,” because they often play it on our street. You asked me why they played in the streets, and I told you it was because sometimes we just have to do what we can with what we have. There are not many playgrounds here in Madurai, so many of the children play games in the less busy streets like ours. So, remember, sometimes we do just have to do what we can in our lives with what we have.

I Love You, Papa

PS Here is a picture of them playing this morning. The little mud ball with the three sticks stuck in it is called the “wicket.” 

Thanksgiving with the Indians

Dear Daughter,

Today at Pradeep’s house, we celebrated Onam, which is the Indian Thanksgiving Day for the Harvest. It is celebrated the whole week here, and specifically in Kerala, which is where Pradeep’s wife is from. Several people from their families came over today and there were about seven people cooking today. The house smelled incredible! Because Onam is the celebration of the Harvest, all of the dishes were made with special autumn vegetables and we ate on Banana Leaves! It was one of the best dinners Papa has ever eaten. My favorite was roasted green chiles, mixed with eggplant, onions, and spices. It was phenomenal. Maybe Papa will make it when we celebrate our Thanksgiving in November.

I Love you, Papa

Here is what my "plate" looked like. 

Indian Bevo

Dear Daughter,
Remember Bevo from Austin? Indian has a very special bull named Nandi. He is the bull who carries Shiva, the dancing God that Papa told you about. At the temple where people go to pay their devotion to Shiva, there is also a statue of Nandi because they feel that it is necessary to see Nandi before they see the sculptures of Shiva inside the temple.

Here is Nandi from Madurai. He has been painted very beautifully, hasn't he?

Love, Papa