William Francis Kim Murphy aka Billy

Billy is now becoming a really big boy. He is talking non-stop and playing games and even wearing big boy underwear!!

He, as you all know is a big car/truck fan. So in the interest of speeding up the diaper-less goal Billy was given cars underwear with his hero Lighting McQueen on the back. Billy is bound and determined not to get Lighting wet lest he would have to use rustezze on him and we all know what type of product rustezze is!

He was all smiles as he was wearing his new underwear ands even came to get Daddy when it was time to use the potty! Now this all sounds great and fine and all that, however the situation is ,that when Billy is out of diapers we can get a puppy. (A negotiation with the other 2 kids to delay the inevidable) So ,what is Billy’s second favorite thing besides Lightening McQueen, yup DOGS!

Some of Billy’s new quotes are:

Are you my priend? (Friend)
Are you crabby at me?
I don’t like that!
Can I have more chocolate milk?
Can I bus my dishes?
Is this mine?
Read this to me, now!

I woub you (I love you)

I woub you too (see above)

While we are working on his manners, he is looking forward to his Birthday so much so that every party we have gone to lately he thinks is his Birthday. !

He is becoming very adventurous and even thought it would be a good idea to jump on the bed. Well, we all know there is no more jumping on the bed, because you can fall off and bump your head, or in Billy’s case get a fat lip! He is fine and ready for more action.

He is also very fond of getting up in the middle of the night coming into mom and dads room. With his pillow and slamming the door to ensure the other two kids get the picture that he has staked his claim. Mom and Dad however are not real happy about this new territorial move on Bill’s part.

Billy is in Nursery at Gopalan and he is the teachers favorite mainly because he loves to give kisses to the teachers each day before he goes home, quite cute.

He is a typical 2 almost 3 year old. Happy one minute, pissed off the next. BUT... he is the most affectionate of the kids and if you lie real still in bed in the morning, you are likely to get 20-30 gentle wake up kisses on your cheek.

It doesnt get much better than that!!

SrI Lanka

We have been dragging the kids all around Asia for the past year and decided that the next trip we go on will be their choice, well with some overwhelming influence from Mom and Dad. Left to their own our the kids would just stay at home and eat spicy Kurkure's. So we suggested a beach holiday in Bentota, Sri Lanka, and they agreed!!!

Sri Lanka is a relatively small Island that was recently of course hit by the Tsunami and faced unbelievable devastation. The people of Sri Lanka are very friendly and courteous and like all people over here they are fascinated by the two white foreigners with the three Korean kids.

We landed late in the evening and our driver and van took us directly to our hotel. The Taj Cinnamon is and old style English influenced Hotel. The rooms actually have carpeted floors which is rare here and the woodwork is all dark oak and very "stoic". There was a wedding reception going on when we arrived and Kay was enamored with the bride. We were given a mango welcome drink which was odd being that mangos are not now in season? The kids had been in a car, on a plane, in a car for a total of about 5 hours so it was a welcome surprise that the wedding reception was there because it provide a decoy to the usually arrive of the Loudamericans and what is becoming a tradition of running up and down the hallways while trying to wake up everyone in the hotel! Quite embarrassing for the elder two of the five some.

The next morning at breakfast Jimmy announced that he was hungry. Now for a parent this is usually welcome to hear as most parents, at least these two, trying to convince the kids that they need to eat is much like negotiating the Tready of Versi!

So Jimmy began a five day eating frenzy starting each day with 2 donuts, one cinnamon roll, 3-4 pigs in a blanket( those yummy sausage pancake things) two minutes steaks some fruit and to finish, a cup of hot chocolate this was everyday!!

After that we got into the van for a 3-4 hour ride to the beach. We cancelled the city tour of Columbo and headed directly to beach,waves,pool and God help us naps:)! The drive south out of Columbo to Bentota was somewhat uneventful. The roads are similar the traffic no more educated than their Indian brothers or sisters however one important note of distinction was the absence of domestic farm animals wondering aimlessly the roads!

There are many Buddhist temples as will as Hindu shrines however we did not stop as this trip was about the beach. We arrived at the Taj Exoctica and were greeted by a small band of porters and such and caused quite a moment as we arrived several hours earlier than expected as we cancelled the city tour. The front desk manager was all shook up as to what to do so he gave a welcome coconut drink which was so terrible that we could not even choke down a sip!! we solved his dilemma by having lunch while they got our room ready.

The room was worth the wait as it was a deluxe suite with two separate rooms !! We put the kids in one and us in the other and it was great. We changed clothes and headed down to the pool and to "look" around. The place was somewhat deserted with only about 50 or so guests. The pool was great and it even had a swim up bar that only Jimmy actually used. We were watching Billy and Kay in the little pool and looked over and was Jimmy at the bar drinking an orange soda, only here would they serve a 6 year old at the bar and when asked for money he said I have none, so the next question was "what is your room number", of course.

We spent Sunday afternoon exploring the beach and local area found a turtle hatchery not far away and then settled in for the late afternoon and evening at the hotel. The kids were nap free on Sunday and after swimming all afternoon and dinner at the hotel they crashed. which was our plan. Mom and Dad then had some fine in room dining complete with a linen table cloth!!

Monday

We got up and had another big breakfast and then headed down the beach for the turtle hatchery and swimming. The turtle hatchery is well generous to call it that. It is basically several concrete tanks that hold one each of a sea turtle. These turtles have been injured in some sort and are being taken care of by whom, I am not sure with the hopes of returning them to the ocean. There is also a fenced in area that is rumored to have turtle eggs. We were told to come back to the restaurant that night for dinner and we would be able to see the turtles hatching as now is the perfect time.?

We then spent the late morning and early afternoon chasing Jimmy in and out of the ocean. Kay and Billy were content to play in the sand and make sand angels and like that. Finally tired out we headed back for lunch and hopefully naps. Tracy headed out to get some provisions whilst Tom tried to get the kids to nap. Jimmy said" actually I am quite tired form all that swimming I think I am going to lay down for a bit" 2 hours later he was up and ready to while Billy and Kay were losing energy. We took the fine gentleman up on his offer to see the turtles hatch and try the restaurant. There as you would assume no activity in the hatchery and upon inquiry I was told perhaps tomorrow you never know!. The food was quite good, Jimmy eat and Adult size portion of Mac and Cheeses while Kay devoured a plate of pasta and Billy as usual said" I don't like it, I want chocolate milk" but managed to eat a plate of pasta. Fish and prawns for Mom and Dad and we all retired for a good night sleep.

Tuesday

More breakfast and then the beach. Today we acquired a boogie board for jimmy at around 10:00 in the morning and Tracy and him were never seen again. They had a blast for a couple of hours while Tom, Billy and Kay played with the bowls and cups and pictures Tracy had found on her shopping trip. Naming them sand toys made perfect sense to the kids. Pool in the afternoon followed by an auto rickshaw ride to this awesome restaurant. We made the mistake of going out when the kids were again nap free. Food takes along time in Sri Lanka as they usually have a menu but no inventory. So the food is fresh it just takes awhile and poor Billy fell asleep in his chair followed by Jimmy.

Wednesday

More of the same followed by a learning curve for Mom and Dad. Acting on a tip from our friends the Webb's we went to this restaurant called Sun and Surf. They also have massage. This is where the learning curve comes into play.Tracy went to the place in the early afternoon as the kids actually succumbed to a nap. Then she placed our dinner order and got a head,neck and shoulder rub as well as one for Tom.!!

we showed up at 7:00 cold beer was there for Tom and a whole fried chicken and fries for the kids which they devoured. Then the main course of puffin fish,prawns and a cold bottle of Chardonnay!!! It was a great treat. The restuarant is right by the railroad tracks and when the train came the kids all thought that was the coolest thing ever!

Thursday

We were sad to leave the beach but all good things have to temporarily rest. We were told it would take 4 hours to get to the airport and being that we had an international flight we had to be there two hours early. So to catch our 6:55 flight we left at noon. We had promised the kids a trip to MacDonald's and the driver miss-lead us by telling us there was one at the airport which there is not. He also pulled into the airport at 3:30, it was a long wait!

Sri Lanka is a lovely place, friendly people and a spot that the Loudamericans highly recommend.

IndiaFest

The prep kids at Gopalan have been rehearing and practicing for the past couple of months to take the stage and bring alive the many festivals of India.

There are many however with the prep class going only from A-E the choices were limited. There was a slight miss-understanding with Jimmy's teacher as we were originally going to be on vacation during the performance Jimmy was not given a part. Several times we instructed her that we indeed were here only and not leaving until after still no part. Finally we had an in person meeting and Jimmy was at the last minute given a part.

There is a special day in September that is called Sister day. All the women give bracelets and sweets as a memento of friendship and love to their male and female friends. Jimmy was the main lead in the skit and received a sweet and a bracelet along with a standing ovation from Mom and Dad.

It was fun to see all the kids in costumes and acting parts, extremely well.

As they say : break a leg " Jimmy!

Random Thoughts and Religious goings on

During the months of September through November here in India one needs a flow chart and a list of players to keep track of all the,Political and Religious leaders birthday's, Gods real or Deity.

Starting on the 4th of September Janmashtami is the joyful celebration of Lord Krishna's birth. Major celebrations of Krishna Janmashtami takes place at midnight as Krishna is said to have made his divine appearance in that hour. Fasting, bhajans, pujas and many other rituals mark Janmashtami celebrations in India.

Janmashtami Pooja Process
The festival of Janmashtami is considered a very pious day by Hindus. Lot of bhajan singing, hymn chanting and poojas are performed this day. Devotees queue all the major Krishna temples to seek his blessings. People perform elaborate poojas during the festival. They keep day long fast. Functions and prayer meetings are organised to share the glory of their favourite God.The general pooja process begins early in the morning with devotees giving a bath or abhishek to Bal Gopal's idol with gangajal, ghee, water, honey and curd. The idol is then adorned with new clothes (preferably in yellow colour), stone or other precious jewellery.Next, the idol of lord is offered bhog, the contents of bhog may vary. Fruits, kheer, pedha, milk, and milk products are made. There are devotees who offer chappan bhog(56 dishes) to Bal Gopal. Thereafter, special Krishna pooja is performed. The cradle containing the divine infant's idol is rocked, conch is blown. Devotees sing Krishna arti, some people read out 108 names of lord. They get totally immersed in the name and praise of Gopal. After the entire pooja is over, devotees break their fast by having panchamrit. The time of breaking the fast may vary, this is so, because the time of performing pooja also differs from place to place. While some devotees choose to perform pooja at midnight and break fast, others perform pooja in the evening and have food.
There are several items needed for pooja which are but not limited to the following:
There are certain special items required for Krishnashtami pooja. Important pooja items are listed below:
Lord Krishna's idol with cradle and conch
New clothes, flute and ornaments for Lord Krishna
Pooja thali containing a bell, diya, rice, elaichi(cardamom), supari, paan leaves, roli, small container filled with water, sindoor, incense sticks, flowers and ghee.
For Panchamrit -milk, curd, gangajal, honey and ghee.
A book containing shri Krishna's arti.
Devotees welcome and celebrate the birth of their favourite god with lot of fervor.

If that is not enough this is followed with the celebration of the birth of Ganesha:
Ganesha — the elephant-deity riding a mouse — has become one of the commonest mnemonics for anything associated with Hinduism. This not only suggests the importance of Ganesha, but also shows how popular and pervasive this deity is in the minds of the masses. The proper way to worship this diety is:
A life-like clay model of Lord Ganesha is made 2-3 months prior to the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. The size of this idol may vary from 3/4th of an inch to over 25 feet.
On the day of the festival, it is placed on raised platforms in homes or in elaborately decorated outdoor tents for people to view and pay their homage. The priest, usually clad in red silk dhoti and shawl, then invokes life into the idol amidst the chanting of mantras. This ritual is the pranapratishhtha. After this the shhodashopachara (16 ways of paying tribute) follows. Coconut, jaggery, 21 modakas (rice flour preparation), 21 durva (trefoil) blades and red flowers are offered. The idol is anointed with red unguent (rakta chandan). Throughout the ceremony, Vedic hymns from the Rig Veda and Ganapati Atharva Shirsha Upanishad, and Ganesha stotra from the Narada Purana are chanted.
For 10 days, from Bhadrapad Shudh Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi, Ganesha is worshipped.
On the 11th day, the image is taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of all man. All join in this final procession shouting "Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukariya" (O father Ganesha, come again early next year). After the final offering of coconuts, flowers and camphor is made, people carry the idol to the river to immerse it.
The whole community comes to worship Ganesha in beautifully done tents. These also serve as the venue for free medical checkup, blood donation camps, charity for the poor, dramatic performances, films, devotional songs, etc. during the days of the festival.

Then, Whew, after that Pooja Hoilday starts which takes the children out of the classroom and into the living room for 14 daysURGH!! This is presumably to prepare for the upcomng Festival of Lights better know as Divali, which is and inspiring time and brings families, friends and communities together. What is Davali:
The festival of Divali has existed from time immemorial, ever since man became aware of truth and untruth, darkness and light, death and immortality. Divali (or alternatively Deepawali, Deepavali or Diwali) is the Festival Of Light. Hindus celebrate it all over the world. In Trinidad and Tobago, particularly for our Hindu nationals, it has not lost any of its significance nor is it celebrated with any less fervor.
The true meaning of Divali can be expressed as being to bring light where darkness prevails, truth where untruth prevails, to bring life where death prevails, to brighten our surroundings, to illumine our minds.
Deepavali in Sanskrit means "row of lighted lamps", is one of the most important Hindu festivals. It falls on the Amavasya of the month of Kartik every year in the Hindu calendar. By the English or Western Calendar this festival generally occurs over a period that covers the last week of October to the first half of the month of November.
The Festival signifies the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, justice over injustice and intelligence over ignorance. The goddess worshipped at Divali is Mother Lakshmi or Lakshmi Mata. Lakshmi Mata is the goddess of light, wealth and beauty and is also associated with prosperity, luck, riches, abundance, financial well being, and generosity.
In statues and artwork, Lakshmi Mata is portrayed wearing gold and lotus flowers either sitting on a lotus, standing on one, wearing lotus blossoms in her hair and on her gown, or holding a lotus blossom which to many Hindus symbolises fertility, spiritual power, and purity.
At Divali it is not surprising to see elaborate preparations being made to welcome the goddess into the homes of devotees. Though it is titled as being a festival, it is one with a difference since at the heart of the festival is a very significant religious observance as Lakshmi Mata is honoured and worshipped in the form of pujas, singing bhajans and with the chanting of mantras.
It is a very busy time however being here and seeing these things for the second time one learns to apprecciate their deep rooted meanings and one is also quite impressed with the commitment of the Indian people.
Being a non-Hindu I appoligize for any of these facts that may be not quite right.

Many Happy Returns of the Day

This is a statement of Birthday Wishes used here in India. It also appears that you start calling to wish the recipient "Many Happy Returns of the Day" at the beginning of the day in question.

What does that mean?? Be the first to call at 12:00:01 in the morning!!! nice.



Tracy surprised me this year with an overnight stay at a very nice local hotel called The Ista.

Our housekeeper and cook actually stayed overnight with the kids and low and behold no one was injured and everyone got along!! I think we may have to try this again and again they say three times is a trend!!



Tracy and wandered around the northern edge of Bangalore did a little shopping but mostly we finally got to have some alone time with just us (which is rare here), and it was the best birthday present ever!!



We went to a great Thai restaurant called Rim Namm and had a great dinner and returned to our room for a great night sleep and it was not interrupted by a small child in the middle of the night!! On Sunday we met some friends for the traditional Indian Sunday brunch, food, drink, drink,food, drink, dessert...it was great.



Then on the actual Birthday we had a joint party with our neighbors the Millers. It turns out Wade shares the same B-Day as me and we had a BBQ, Indian Buffet and a great time. Angela's Mom and Dad and her sister are here visiting for a couple of weeks and they came and we had fun catching up on the goings on back home. Of course what would a B-Day celebration be with some German influence of Petra and her Hookah!!



I received some fabulous presents, new sun glasses from Saravana, new running shoes which I am actually using to run from Tracy and her Mom and Dad, Kay bought me coffee and M&M's, Billy a new book and Jimmy a case of Bud, what great kids!!!



The cake was cut, the champagne toast made and another successful B-Day.



Thank you Tracy for the great B-Day weekend.

I love you!!!

Tom's birthday! 9/24:)

Hi there
Tomorrow is Tom's birthday. Send him all our love, well wishes and good thoughts as he heads into another year as a fabulous partner, father, son, brother and friend.
Be sure to tell him how much you miss him and how much you love him!!
We LOVE YOU TOM!!!
T. J.K.B.

Coorg/Kodagu

Kodagu or more commonly known, Coorg is a place quite different from the rest of southern India. It was a small kingdom which then became a state after independence and now is a district in the southern part of Karnataka. It is rich in vegetation and produces wonderful coffee, cardamon, pepper, ginger and paddy. If that is not enough to entice you to visit , Coorg has won international acclaim for its flora and more importantly fauna causing it to be one of the most important hot spots of biodiversity in Asia, I am not making that up.

(On a side note this is perhaps the first time in my life that I am able to use both Flora and Fauna in the same sentence and have a proper context as well.)

We set off on a very busy Friday afternoon with the newest member of the Loudamericans travelling fun show our friend Ajay. Ajay is related to us through my sister Brigid's friend whom Ajay was a college roommate. Having a great deal in common with him we have been planning a get away for month's and finally the journey began. We were sorry to not have Ajay's Mom and Dad join us however rain and airport delays caused Ajay's Dad to have to cancel.

Ajay behind the wheel, the vehicle loaded down with all conceivable types of junk plus banana's a dvd player and cold beer for our arrival off we went. Traffic out of Bangalore was intense, as was the rain, however we persevered. 6.5 hours later at the bottom of a extremely muddy road in the middle of the jungle Ajay announced "we have reached". Reached what I thought as we slowly climbed the muddy road opened a gate and proceeded to the car park which upon reaching was actually someones driveway. Several minutes later the rumbling of an old jeep could be heard over the joyful screams of the three youngest loudamericans whom were in search of a way out of the car.

Ganesh the driver loaded our gear and again we were off. The 3 kilometers from bottom to top were to quote Billy Murphy " weally weally bumpy". The trip was worth the drive for when we reached the top there was Honey Valley. The guest house/Hotel is situated in the bottom of a bowl surrounded by trees, mountains, forest.

Honey Valley is home to a wonderful family, the Chengappas. Suresh and Susheela are wonderful hosts and provide a comfortable and very clean place to stay. The food is wonderful and the Coorg pork is not to be missed! Their main form on income up until the early 90's was bee farming. Suresh had as many as one million bee's producing honey until 1994 when the Thai sac brood attack killed all of his bee's overnight.( The Thai sac brood attack is far too brutal in nature for me to go into any details).

We had a wonderful dinner a couple of well deserved cold beers and retired for the night.

The following day was beautiful and we headed out to see a waterfall and to play in the river and get as wet as we possibly could even though three of us tried our best to keep the other three dry, it was a losing battle. Trekking is a favorite past time of may Indian's and Honey Valley provides access to may treks through the Kodagu Hills.

So after lunch and naps for no one we took a trek up into the hills. We needed to be mindful of the kids being there was a panther in the area and it had already took three of Sureshes dogs. ( I neglected to tell Tracy this little tidbit of information).

We meet three clothes designer who were also from B"lore and had a nice dinner with them. Kay spent most of the time discussing fashion and face painting while Jimmy and Billy showed off their power ranger moves. The day was long and the kids crashed except Billy who some times has a hard time going to sleep. We have found that he likes to read before he goes to sleep ( see photo) and after a few chapters of Power Rangers, he to crashed. Tracy, Ajay and myself had an after dinner glass of wine and retired as well. There was quite a bit of commotion around 3:00 in the morning, jackals howling, dogs barking, a panther perhaps?

Early the next day we were off to see Elephants, a Tibetan Monastery and maybe a bird sanctuary.The trip back down was according to Billy " weally weally bumpy". We set out to reach the Elephant camp by 9:30 to see them wash and feed the Elephants and arrived as the last one was heading back into the jungle, drat. We had breakfast and got back on the road to the Monastery.

The Gold Monastery is beautiful. There are several students living there and the place is immaculate. The colors and artistry is amazing and the three Statues inside are breath taking. We spent some time wondering around amidst the peace and quite until that was disrupted by you know who.

Back in the car everyone finally fell asleep so we continued straight back to Bangalore.

The trip with Ajay ranks in the top two we have taken while here and fortunately he feels the same so we are busy contemplating the next excursion....

The Great Minnesota Get Together

Earlier this week, Tracy informed me that since there are several family's living in Bangalore from Minnesota (6 people total to be exact) and since we were missing so many important events at home ... I needed to organize a party using the State fair as the excuse...like we need one.

So upon consulting with my co-hort in crime Wade we set off to plan a "party on a stick".

With the State fair ranking 101 (or much lower) on the list of the 100 things we like to do, the task seemed a bit large. After all, Tracy's usual response to "do you want to go to the State Fair?" is usually met with "over my dead body...".

However after a couple of Kingfishers I got to thinking what would go good with beer,State Fair, beer, CORN DOGS. I called Wade and told him what I had in mind and his first response was, " That's what I was thinking" I said are you drinking beer too? Which he replied "of course"... great minds...after that it was somewhat easy.

I mean, come on, the State Fair needs a Beer Garden, All the Milk you can drink, CORN DOGS,

cookies on a stick, french fries in a cup , apple pie, and of course a Beer Garden. And the Band Stand ( IPOD Stand). How hard could these be to find in India?!

We had about 25 kids and 10 or so family's with Minnesota roots along with our German friends Gerald and Petra who for the day were from New Ulm...they even brought German sausage on a stick!!

There was also a Cotton Candy maker (machine and person), a professional face painter (with Kay doing her apprenticeship for face painting), Minnesota State Flags as well as wrist bands, lots of Gopher and Vikings tshirts and the usual sort of junk associated with the Midway.

The State Fair this year has risen substantially into the list of things I would do!

The newest exhibit this year and the winner of the most inappropriate State Fair Booth was the Arabian/Turkesh tobacco pipe called a Hookah!

No State fair could be complete without the Open Mic/Talent show which was won this year by a group on kids doing an awesome rendition of High school Musical!!! They even found the website to learn the dance moves.

Applications for booth space at the 2008 State Fair can be sent to:http://www.loudamericans.blogspot.com/

Beer Garden and Corn Dog booth on a best bribe basis ...

For more info and another perspective, catch up with our favorite neighbors at http://www.wacmiller.blogspot.com/

Cheers to the great MN get together!!

Yippee!!! Wa Hoo!!! Incredible!!!

Today we got the BEST news in the whole world! Our friends Duane, Leanne and Cooper (see Australia Cmas blog) just found out their new son Joon Kee is WAITING for them in Seoul. He is 5 1/2 months old and from the looks of the picture a genius, cute, happy cuddly baby!!

Duane, Leanne and Cooper have been waiting a LONG LONG 3 1/2 years for this little guy. Living proof to NEVER give up on your dreams. When the time is right and perfect, they do come true:)

When we booked our tickets to Seoul for New Years, we were joking that we our trip would only be complete if met them there while they were picking up their new baby. Now... That's not too far from reality!

BUT... Hold all the best thoughts that Joon Kee comes home quickly healthy and with safe travels. We hold that the'll be home for Cmas to meet all of his long awaiting family and friends.

What a terrific day!!

God Bless EVERYONE!

Family,Summer and the occasional Birthday

In the course of things being gone from home for a period of one to two years in your youth is a greatly anticipated and highly sought after event, however as one grows older the anticipation wanes and the going away is not the anticipated event , returning home takes the front seat.



When we began publishing our blog we thought wow what a great way for our family and friends to be able to keep up with our adventure and know what we are doing. This has worked out for the most part great. However one thing we did not realise was that our family would not be able to tell us as easily what they were up to and therefore we have missed them and their adventure details.



The general everyday details of what is going on, who is mad at who and all the things that go into the family routines we miss. There have been a great deal of milestones as well ,Birthdays, first days of schools kindergarten to college, lost and found teeth , not to mention my sister whom shall remain nameless celebrated the big 40 and the upcoming nuptials of my cousin.



There have been the sad parts of life as well such as funerals,medical issues and the other events that bring family's closer and make you realize how lucky we are to have family.



So as we say goodbye to summer and welcome Fall, greatest time of the year, in Minnesota,

let us celebrate the harvest with the knowledge that we all have the greatest Family. We miss you all and think of you often and are looking forward to the first Murphy- Hickey family reunion in Soeul!!!

Y2K Alive in Bangalore

Remember back to New Years Eve 1999. What will happen at mid-night? Will my computer crash, will we run out of water,food,gas? Will the power go and leave us in the dark?
We best buy a generator, gallons of water all the can food at the store and fill up the cars,clean the shot gun and get ready for an all out battle with the neighbors for food, water and heat, after all Minnesota in January it is balmy!

well we all know how that one turned out.

Now that training is coming into good use here in Bangalore or I should say in India in general.
Hording as defined by Webster's:
horde /hɔrd, hoʊrd/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hawrd, hohrd] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, hord·ed, hord·ing.
–noun
1.
a large group, multitude, number, etc.; a mass or crowd: a horde of tourists.
2.
a tribe or troop of Asian nomads.
3.
any nomadic group.
4.
a moving pack or swarm of animals: A horde of mosquitoes invaded the camp. –verb (used without object)
5.
to gather in a horde: The prisoners horded together in the compound.
[Origin: 1545–55; earlier also hord, horda ≪ Czech, Pol horda < Ukrainian dial. gordá, Ukrainian ordá, ORuss (orig. in Zolotaya orda the Golden Horde), via Mongolian or directly < Turkic ordu

The following is the definition added by yours truly,
6. Walk into any grocery type store see an item of food, mostly canned but not limited to cans, made in the US , mostly used to make Mexican food, but not limited to that, and buy all of the ,except one, and tell you neighbors about the "find" you made at the store and watch them all stampede to get in on the deal only to find out there is only one left:)!!

The have them over so they can see all the cool stuff you found and you can gloat over you success.

It is important to only invite people over who do not have a spare key to your house.

Goa...The Beach

Goa is small section of India that is full or palm tree lined beaches and is known as the "party" place. The character of this place is full of Portuguese influences and is still very Roman Catholic to this day. St. Francis Xavier arrived here in 1542 and is entombed in one of the oldest churches, Basilica of Bom Jesus.

Goa itself is separated in to three distinctive districts, north, south and central. In the north there is Panjim which is the newly formed Capital, 1843 it is located at the mouth of the Mandovi River and has the largest influence of Portuguese. In the south it is more layed back with more family oriented beaches and dinning establishments. Central Goa is made up of lush vegetation and is the home to wildlife sanctuary's and the beautiful Dudhsanger Falls...enough of the history.

The Loudamericans arrived on Friday evening and without to much fanfare made it to our Villa on the Ocean in North Goa. The place was very similar to our Villa in Palm Meadows however the amenities were a lot nicer and newer..we had a dishwasher, and not one we had to feed! It was awesome to put all our sippy cups and plates in there and turn on the machine go to bed and they were clean...miracle.

There were 3 bedrooms, bathrooms, 2 TV's and a DVD. The perfect family get a way. The pool was shaped like a guitar and we had our our guard and dog named Jack. The kids were in heaven.

The only downside to this place was that we had to drive to get to the beach. The sacrifices we put up with:) Actually, this turned out to be a blessing as we saw MUCH more of Goa than we would have if we had been at a 5 star hotel with private beach.

We spent time at 3 different beaches and Goa beaches are a cross between Jamaica, Costa Rica and Mexico. You have the beach vendors from Mexico, the lush rain forest of Costa Rica and the unfortunate poverty and litter of Jamaica. The kids were minor celebrities. The minute they hit the beach, they were swarmed with people watching them, pointing, huddling around, taking pictures and basically being bothersome paparazzi. I can totally understand why celebrities attack photographers. We were asked no less than 15 times if people could take photos of our kids. AND that was the minority of people that were polite about it. Seeing a Caucasian couple on the beach with 3 Korean kids must be a better attraction than the zoo or the beach itself. I have no idea what these people are going to do with these pictures when they get home... Show their friends, "look at what I saw at the beach!" Rather irritating.

The highlight of the weekend was the awesome food, cheap wine and BUDWEISER!! The food is an awesome mix of Portuguese and seafood, the wine imported from Portugal and the bartender had Tom lined up with his 2nd Bud before he had even finished his 1st. NICE!

We spent the better part of three days at the beach and on our final day we took tour a of the Goa area.

We ventured around Old Goa and saw the splendid churches and even spent time in The Basilica of Bom Jesus. This Church was built over a 10 year period between 1594 -1605 and the focus of the Church is the three -tiered marble tomb of st. Francis Xavier and you can still see parts of his body in the windows of the tomb. A perfect kid outing. They couldnt stop talking about death "why did he die" "how old was he" "how old is he now" etc...

Our next stop was Fort Aguada which sits on the mouth of the Mandovi River and was built by the Portuguese in 1612. There is a jail that to this day still holds many inmates even quite a few westerners who succumbed to the use of illegal substances such as cocaine and charas, hashish, and did not heed the warnings that carry even a small amount was/is fraught with danger. Needless to say the jail is not much of a tourist attraction so it was back into the car and off to Panjim.

Panjim is a city somewhat like Bangalore in that there is nothing but traffic. These small roads sometimes big enough for one car were actually quite interesting as we drove through the markets and saw quite an eclectic collection of vendors, buyers and tourists. we played at a park and even purchased a bottle of the local brew called Feni. Feni is some kind of cashew/apple concoction that they say is very potent and must be mixed with soda or limeca...we will see?

Finally we were back at the airport and off back home. We were all tired after four days of sun surf and sand. Saravanna had to try the Feni and was grateful we thought of him enough to bring him a gift. He promptly gave it to someone else stating.."to toxic Tom to toxic".

We new we were back in Bangalore for on our way home this motorcyclist next to us was honking furiously at the truck next to us. The problem was the truck was stopped and had it'd flashers going obliviously to us indicating a problem. The motorcyclist however must have been under a different belief because he was still honking at the truck when he ran directly into it.

Home sweet home.

Jimmy Turns 6

There are only a few days in the year Parents know that a kid will without being prompted will pop out of bed and claim the day.Chief among those days is the child's Birthday.

The evening before the big day we Parents will sometimes use the power of the following day as a tool to get the child to go to bed early and more importantly, properly. In Jimmy's case the tactic was used and he responded by stating " I am too excited to sleep". 5 minutes later he was sound asleep as his siblings, Kay and Billy proceeded to become banned from their "favorite things" for the rest of eternity, but that is a different story.

Jimmy sprang out of bed promptly at 7:00 am came down stairs and announced "I am 6 today look how big I am" and proceeded to launch into the following monologue...

Why does God make people mad, I wish that I could have special powers and when a bad guy came at me I could use my special powers to defeat them, how come God made my birthday August 22, when is the 1st month of the year, why didn't God make my birthday in January, how come I am older than Billy/Kay, am I bigger than Cody now, how old will I be on my next birthday, why is the sky blue, why do we live in India, do you miss Minnesota, when will I see my friends in Minnesota, who's birthday is tomorrow (SUES's!!!) who's birthday is the day after that, and then who's next .... on and on and on for 4 min's straight.

Not to be outdone, Kay and Billy decided to join in the "fun" only their monologues were more like ... its not fair that its Jimmy's birthday and not my birthday, can I come to his party, will there be presents for me, Jimmy's going to give me chocolate -he's my friend, I don't want to eat, I want cereal, I don't want cereal, I want rice/dahl, I don't want rice/dahl....

Finally they were securely in the car and on the way to school!

Jimmy had a great day at school and as tradition here goes past outed candy to all his friends at school and being Mr. Popular of course he did not have enough!

Then the party began. Mom and Dad had secured the local game room/ shooting range for the afternoon and Jimmy along with his friends and our drivers all spent about 2 hours playing video games, shooting bad guys and having a great time. Then off to the local Pizza kitchen for dinner. The kids basically devoured the pizza, garlic bread and fanta.

We all headed back to the house for the grand finally of cake, ice cream and PRESENTS!

Jimmy had a fabulous birthday enjoyed all his presents and was very thankful that the Hickey and Murphy Grandparents gave him a tent because " when it stops raining we will have a sleep over" YIKES!

Way Way Way too sad....

Below is the obituary of our friend Cynthia (see 2 blogs down). Please send all your love, thoughts, prayers and peace to Matt and Cynthia's family & friends in this time. She was an incredible person: independent, thoughtful, kind, and spunky. This is truly a loss.


"Cynthia Gamboa Burns
Burns, Cynthia Gamboa Beloved wife and devoted loving mother, daughter, friend and sister, age 30 of Orono, MN, born September 6, 1976 and passed away on August 8, 2007. She was a delightful, compassionate and spontaneous individual who inspired all who knew her with her graciousness, charm, and sense of humor. She will truly be missed and will leave a lasting impression on all of us who were fortunate enough to have known her. Survived by her husband, Matthew McCoy Burns; children, Matteito and Andreita; parents, Maria de Lourdes Ayaquica and Carlos Gamboa of Merida, Mexico; ......."

Hug your family and friends, tell them you love them and give them all a big kiss from us!

Korea or BUST

"We're too EXCITED to sleep" - from the famous Disney commercial

Seoul Korea may not sound like the ideal holiday get a way, but for the LoudAmericans, we couldn't be more excited to "take our show on the road"!

As an expat, we get an allowance to visit our home to see family and friends. This last year, we decided to use this "free" money to bring our folks to India and to see our great friends Duane, Leanne and Cooper in Australia. When we renewed our India contract and it started a BIG debate and how to use the money ... Where to go???!!

Tom: home
Tracy: Spain?
Tom: home
Tracy: Africa?
Tom: home
Tracy: Germany?

Lest you think that I am not excited to come home, rather, traveling 20+ hours with 3 kids under 6 for a short 10 day visit sounded more stressful than enjoyable. The above places were suggested with the thought that our families might be willing to meet us 1/2 way and spend some quality time together where we are ALL jet lagged:)

A few weeks later....
Tracy: We need to decide, what do you want to do?
Tom: Korea
Tracy: YES!!!!

So, for the last 3 weeks we have been planning, scheming and basically looking up every flight from the U.S./Costa Rica/India to Korea. Then, we crafted a VERY heartfelt email to our families and invited them to meet us in Seoul during the New Year holiday. We are going to subsidize their trip with our money so that we can all be together.

The details:
We'll be staying at the adoption agency guest house, where we stayed when the kids were brought home. We'll get to show our families around Seoul, take them to palaces, shopping, Lotte World (aka Korean Disney World), the mountains, and out for fantastic food everyday. The great thing about Seoul is that they have a subway system that is equal to the Underground in London and its clean and inexpensive. We'll also be able to meet the kids foster families and maybe even Jimmy's birth mommy. A once in a lifetime opportunity:)

We are so blessed! So far 20 of our family members will be meeting us in Seoul from 12/27-1/4 for this incredible experience. If you are in the neighborhood, let us know, the more the merrier!!

Now you can see why we are too excited to sleep!!

Prayers are Needed

Our friend Matt and his family have gone through a tragedy that needs all our prayers and God's help to get them through.
Matt and his wife Cynthia were riding home on their new Vespa when a young driver came upon them and hit them. Matt was thrown form the Vespa and Cynthia was run over by the car.
I can not imagine what the last moments and the horror that they have gone through. My heart is sad and I ask for your help praying from them.
Matt and Cynthia have two children 4 and 2.
Tracy and I will hold them in the light and in our hearts, please take a moment and reflect on those you love and hold dear, life is short.
Our love to you all.

Nandi Hills

There is this outcropping of rocks about 65 kilometers from Bangalore called Nandi Hills. It is a nice day trip out of Bangalore and it has some rather cool views.

We set off with the Millers and two other coworkers of Tracy and Angela, Michelle and Stacy. We left Palm Meadows around 8:30 on Saturday morning with a picnic lunch,back packs, coolers and adventure all packed up and ready to go.

For the most part the drive there was somewhat uneventful, the occasional Temple, traffic jam and several wrong turns before we reached.

Nandi Hills has a couple of Chola Temples which we visited and Saravana and Lokesh made Pooja. Making Pooja involves removing of shoes, entering the 'Temple area" and saying a prayer and handing over the cash offering. Then you would tie a ribbon around the closest tree and your prayer has been delivered and some believe answered, at some point.

Well since we did not come equipped with ribbon we found a discarded plastic bag, which are not hard to find, ripped a piece off and tied it around the closet tree which more resembled a bush that had so many pieces of plastic bag tied around it , it is a wonder it is still alive!

Further down the trail, which if you go here with kids you MUST have adult an kid coverage. There are no hand rails or safety barriers and it is a long way down, we climbed rocks and hike up stone faced inclines to get to the historical point of Nandi Hills, Tumkur Drop.

Tumkur was a King a few centuries back who for all practical purposes was nuts. If you so much as looked at him he would have you hauled up to this place and sent down a shoot to free fall about 1000 feet to your death, like I said nuts. It was very windy up there and looking down the shoot or slide if you will gave us the heebie geebies, you know hair on the back of your neck stands up.

We then headed back to our vans to find a place for lunch. We were detained for awhile as the monkeys were using our vans for well a bathroom. These animals will not be missed for one moment by yours truly , then one of theses creatures grabs a cucumber right out of Kay's hand. We had to physically retrain her from going after the monkey, Kay is very fond of cucumbers.

We left and found a nice spot for lunch complete with several thousand flies and a dog who ate anything that we dropped. Even the warm beer and fruit wine we had to purchase to use the "tables" could not take away from the ambiance of the place.

We returned to Palm Meadows to an awesome spaghetti and meatball dinner complete with garlic bread and martini's!!

Then we gorged our selves on fruit and hot melted chocolate sitting by the roaring fire thinking fondly of the first meal we were all going to share back in the states.

Great Fun!

Kay's food fetish

We havent done a kid specific blog lately and Kay seems "ripe" for material.

As many of you will remember.... To Kay, life is a buffet. She brings new meaning to the term "several small meals a day". She is still REALLY tiny (4yr old and not quite 30 lbs) but she's as strong as a horse. Pound for pound, she could take us all.

Meals to Kay are entertainment, conversation pieces. Rarely does she ever eat. Then... 1 hr later proclaims she's hungry at which point she takes one more bite. This goes on all day.

At least, it did. It seems she's decided to eat. Now, if you also remember, Kay is the kid who invented pickle "juice" (pickle brine in a sippy cup). Her favorite foods include:
raw garlic
raw onions
raw peppers
carrots
tomatoes
pomegrantes
pineapple
apples
limes
lemons
lettuce

So, we were surprised when, she sat down one morning, asked for a cheese omelet and proceeded to EAT the WHOLE thing! Zoinks! We were in shock. This has been continuing for 3weeks now. Not only is she eating breakfast, but 2 lunches (1 at school and 1 when she comes home) and 2 dinners (1 with the other kids and 1 with us). To date, there has been no noticable growth spurt or weight gain, but we continue to be optimistic.

Her latest habit is a night time snack. For most kids this would mean, cookies, ice cream, etc... Not our Kay. Her night time request? Lettuce in a bowl that she can take to bed. Last night, she specifically asked for some of the shrimp we had for dinner to go with her bed time bowl of lettuce. Strange Strange child.

In other news, yes, she still wants to be a face painter when she grows up. She is showing interest in learning to swim, in fact, she asked the life guard to teach her. She also got a hairstyling kit for her birthday so we are all getting our hair "done" about once a day. When you call her name ( Kay... Kay...) her typical response? "Huh? Huh?" When she's mad or doesnt get her way? "G_d Damn it! oh, I mean sh_t!" (We are trying to break this one....)

She can be so sweet and so terrible all in the same day.

You gotta love her.

Do not try this in India

The dentist I mean.
I have made it a goal of mine while I am here to experience as much of India as I can. That means the good and the bad, the happy and the sad and leading by example The dentist.

I made an appointment which was changed several times by the dentist herself to find a time more convenient, to whom?

I should have taken this as a sign but kept at it until finally on Monday I went.
Having cleaned and flossed my teeth using the same thought process as ,cleaning the house before the cleaning lady comes, I arrived ready for a "routine cleaning" my appointment was scheduled for 10:00 and when I reached they informed me it was changed to 11:00 which is more convenient again for whom?

I busied myself with thoughts of dental decay and what was I going to do if the actually wanted to drill and fill? I was taken back to the days of the late sixties when my great Uncle was the family dentist. His office was a small two room affair above the grocery store and hardware store, they did not call them strip malls back then. Anyway I remember going into the barely light office with this huge chair and a light coming from the ceiling shinning in my eyes whilst I stared into the eyes of a madman behind a mask saying open wide this will not hurt, Kay hold em down for me will you? Where was Saravana I had to get out of there!

Mr. Murphy its your turn said the diminutive dentist helper as I followed her into the office. It was clean and tidy and in typical dentist fashion she tried to sell me on teeth whitening, silver cavity removal along with white silicon replacement, no thanks just the " routine cleaning please"

I sat down in a fairly space age chair all electronically operated. The "dental hygienist" pressed a couple of buttons and filled a small glass with water and meekly asked, have you had your teeth cleaned by a professional before, why of course, shall we get started? OK.

Open wide this will not hurt, where have I heard that before I was thinking when all of a sudden my mouth had this bitter taste and my tongue went instantly numb. Yut yas yat for I mumbled? To block the pain from the procedure. YELP!

The next thing I knew she fired up the electronic monster and attached to it was the demonic tiny sander and she proceeded to attempt and perhaps succeed in removing all the plaque along with all the enamel from my teeth. I gathered the courage to open my eyes and to my horror I saw pieces of solid matter rising through the watery mist and felt certain my teeth were now nubs.
I finally had to raise my hand and say Yop! Yut yare you yoing?Why cleaning your teeth, sir.
Yenough please I begged just brush them . So she took this paste that tasted exactly like the small red pills we used in my youth to let dissolve in your mouth to see how effective your brushing had been, and tasted just as awful!
She then started the demonic machine again and proceeded to polish my teeth which I will have to admit was the least painless part of the process. Then out of now where she stated your done.

WHAT no floss ? What kind of a dental office is this. No lecture on dental hygiene threats of no teeth without flossing, no tooth fairy what is this place?

I was shown a movie on "proper brushing procedure" which after about 10 minutes of fiddling with the laptop the dentist finally got to run, and let me tell it is physically impossible for me at least to bend my arm the way the video showed.
It is now three days later, I still have a head ache and my teeth still hurt, but only when I floss!
I can not recommend the "routine cleaning" proceedure.

Homesick - A study ....

Here's my theory on homesickness....

Is not like a cold - a slightly irritating stuffy nose that you can work around but is always there in the background.

Its the stomach flu - a sudden, overwhelming feeling that brings you to your knees and leaves you reeling for a few days. Not chronic or terminal. Just all encompassing for a short time.

What are the causes?

~An email from a dear friend telling you about a fabulous dinner they had with 2 of your other favorite couples.

~ A co worker stopping you in the hall to tell you "Leona and Shinbee say 'hi'. Shinbee cant wait to be 7 since that's when she'll get to see Jimmy again".

~ Finding out a friend is waiting for test results on cancer and you cant be there to help

~ Realizing that by the time you DO get home, your youngest child will have lived in India longer than any other place in the world.

~ Hearing about the reaction of your favorite restaurant owner (Mrs Choi) when she got the pictures of the kids you hand delivered through a friend.

That's it. The emtional equivalent to the stomach flu. Man... it sucks today.