Our villa in Anjuna

Our villa in Anjuna was an hour from the train station. We were so excited to see it! It was meant for a large group and we had it all to ourselves! There were three bedrooms, a dining room, a kitchen and 3 bathrooms! The upstairs bedroom had a balcony overlooking the ocean. We weren't right on the water, but we could see it from the balcony, and it was only a three minute walk. It was nice to have our own space because Sadie got sick the first night and threw up all night. We took turns with her and then all ended up in a downstairs bedroom because she threw up in bed. After that John got sick and then it was my turn. Sadie was so excited to get to the beach she managed to get up the next day and go back to the beach though.
Anjuna beach is kind of a hippie hang out left over from the 60's. There are some groups of long term transplants there and it's kind of a party scene. The Goan government got sick of the noise and made a noise ordinance, so the bumping music has to be turned off at 10pm, which made it easier to sleep. The second day we discovered that the south end of the beach was quieter and had less waves so we began spending our days down there. Our days became a routine of lazy mornings and beachy afternoons. I went to a couple yoga classes in town, which was a 20 minute walk from our villa. There was also a nice grocery store where we stocked up on spices and tea.

 Cows have total freedom to wander the beaches in India. I loved to see them snoozing in the sun on the beach with their faces turned towards the sun. We got charged at a couple times though!

 This was the view from our balcony. The road on the right leads to the beach. We spent most nights after Sadie was sleeping out on our porch.

There is a famous market in Anjuna on Wednesdays. John and I took turns wandering through and then I went back in the afternoon to get some gifts and souvenirs. We got one of those hanging hammock chairs I've always wanted!

Train to Goa, India

 The trucks in India are all colorfully painted with Hindu Gods and flowers and shapes.

Sadie hated it when John got off the train at stops. The stops were all pretty short and she was afraid the train would leave without him. She personally, refused to get off at all.

 If you look closely you can see that this is piles of compressed and shaped cow dung circles. The villagers use them for fuel.

We had a last minute scare that our train tickets weren't confirmed, but it all worked out. A woman we worked with in Astana is from India and her husband helped us book tickets. He even sent someone to meet us at the station to make sure we got on the right train. We had our own compartment with bunk bed style seats. They fed us all our meals and brought tea. The food was really delicious and our first real Indian food in India! It was a fun way to travel because we saw so much more along the road. India has so much poverty. There were slums surrounding the outskirts of Delhi for quite a while and most of the villages on the route seemed to be struggling. The southern villages seemed cleaner and more prosperous. I tried taking some pictures out the window, but they are pretty fuzzy.
When we stopped at stations or passed other trains, we saw the 2nd and 3rd class cabins stuffed full of people. Some lucky ones had window seats, but the windows were just iron bars. Many of the other passengers were sitting or standing, many in the doorways, probably for fresh air. I felt that uneasy sense of undeserved privilege sitting in my first class cabin, watching them pass by.
Sadie did well on the train both there and back. She started to get ansty about an hour from the station both times though. 27 hours on a train is a long time for a kid.

Cute Cat Pictures and a Bluegrass Concert

This bluegrass band came to Almaty. It was Sadie's first concert. They were really good! They tried to liven up the audience by asking them to hoot and holler if we heard something good. Some people tried it out. Towards the end the two traditionally dressed Kazakhs on the right joined them for a little jamming session.

Christmas 2012 in Almaty

 We celebrated early this year since we'll be in India on the 25th. We didn't bother explaining that it was early to Sadie and it didn't really matter. We talked about Santa Claus and left out cookies and after she went to bed we wrapped all the gifts. I was more excited that I've been for years, just to see her excitement. She woke up at 3 and then again at 5, wondering if it was time to get up yet. Then she let us sleep all the way to 8:30! She had half her presents unwrapped before I had coffee in my hand! It was great though. We sat amid the wrapping paper and ate chocolate and played with her toys and watched cartoons and ate our Christmas brunch.

 We don't have that many pictures of the day, but it was a snugly, wonderful Christmas.

Sadie's winter concert

I was never able to upload the videos. But I can say first hand that Sadie was a STAR! She knew all the words and had all the moves down and just had fun up there! She was awesome. Santa Claus came at the end of the show. Here is is called DeadMorose, but probably not spelled like that. He went back to their classrooms with them to pass out presents that the parents had pre-provided for the day. Sadie got a tea set. This is her friend Fuka who she loves fiercely. She is very protective of Fuka in a slightly controlling way. She tells us that if the class bully takes Fuka's things, she gets them back for her.

At night, the last thing she said as she was falling asleep "Who was that guy! It wasn't Santa!" And of course she was right. It was the PE teacher. Was it the cowboy boots that tipped her off?

Skiing in Kyrgyzstan and the exploding chick

 It snowed a lot the week before we were supposed to leave on our trip. The drive to Karakol was already long, about 8 hours, and with the snow it was going to be 10-12 hours. John kindly suggested that I go and offered to stay home with Sadie since we had decided the drive was just TOO long for her.

 I don't have any pictures of the drive, but it was really beautiful. We passed through many small villages. The huts and houses in Kyrgyzstan are typically painted white and have light green or sky blue shutters, often with carvings or designs. I wish I had more pictures of them. We drove along the north side of the lake. Lake Issyk Kol is surrounded by mountains on either side and is the second largest alpine lake in the world after lake Titicaca.

 My camera isn't the best and it's hard to tell from the photos, but the lake is visible from the lift and from the higher runs. It is really a beautiful resort.

This is a random picture. I meant to just show John and I ended up inserting it in the selected photos. My AP students were playing with some egg yolks and decided to paint with them. They ended up collaborating on this really creative exploding chick. There are even some feathers glued into the explosion. It's hard to tell, but the yellow stuff stuck in the red paint is the egg yolk.