Enjoying Wellington

View from my neighborhood

So it's been about three weeks since the last post and much has happened.  Most importantly, my mom came out to visit me and we had a really great time together.  We got to visit Hebron, my high school, and meet the Principal and my former English teachers, which really triggered a lot of good memories.  Mom figured out what was going on in my yard and put my driver/gardener to shame with her hard work pulling up weeds.  We had some great Indian food, went boating on a lake, enjoyed getting to know the other international officers, and Mom (hopefully) got a much needed break from her busy routine back in California. Oh, and we got to wear saris....

My top two choices...how to decide?

Mom and me with Shanti, who did an amazing job putting the saris on us

The monkeys are still intriguing, but they're slowly transitioning over to pest status as the enjoy jumping on my backyard awning and tearing apart the neighborhood trash before the trash man comes around.  My upstairs neighbors had an unexpected simian visitor last week when someone forgot to lock the door and a monkey waltzed into the house, popped a squat on the dining room table and proceeded to eat a banana he found. I'm not sure what I would do in that situation, but the little girl (3) who found him was amused while her mother promptly screamed and ran into the other room and shut the door.

This past week we started college up full swing. There were a lot of introductory administrative lectures, but in the past few days we started getting into the good stuff.  The Indian officers have all been incredibly welcoming and kind.  On Friday I got to meet a few of the wives and kids, and they were also really friendly and fun.  I'm so glad to have such a great group of friends now - both international and Indian - with whom I will navigate this course.

In other news, monsoon season has started up in full swing, and we are guaranteed a few hours of rain every afternoon. I love it so far - it rains hard, but it doesn't get too cold, and it's lovely to see how green everything gets afterwards.  Plus it sort of mandates a little down time in the afternoon.  It's really hard to capture the intensity of rain in a photo, but I gave it my best.

Happy Father's Day! Dad - you continue to inspire, encourage, and demonstrate abiding in Christ with your life. Thank you. I love you and I wish we could be together today!

Dad in one of his favorite states - holding babies!