Construction in India

New ASB Elementary Building - from our flat window

Hard at work

note the water after the rain

Standing by the window, I look across the street as the construction of the new school continues night and day.  There was a short break a little while ago when the rain came down hard and all the men sought shelter under tarps or the overhangs of the building. 



It is fascinating to watch them work. So many of them. Doing almost everything by hand, including many tasks that in more "developed" countries would be done using heavy machinery.  This morning, I watched as five men began loading a large pile of rock and dirt into a truck.  They worked steadily, using their angled shovels to ladle the dirt into the round bowls, lifting the bowls onto their heads and stepping up a metal stair, almost a step stool, to empty the load into the bed of the truck. Each bowl full of dirt must weigh 30 or 40 pounds and I can see the strain as occasionally two men work together to hoist a load with a large rock. In about an hour, the mound is gone and the truck departs.  They must have moved four or five tons of debris!  I fear I would be sore and exhausted after one truck full, but these small wiry men continue steadily working, mostly wearing sandals, pants and a t-shirt.  They seem to not mind walking through the dirty mud and water in their sandals.  The only ones wearing boots are those who mix the cement into the concrete - the harsh cement would burn their skin.
Meanwhile the traffic on the street continues to go by: women dressed in very colorful saris, children so cute in their school uniforms it makes me smile every time I see them, me on bicycles and motorcycles off to work, more affluent folks from our apartment buildings in their cars, and of course the auto-rickshaws.

Embrace India

We arrived in India late at night on Wednesday, 25 July.  Waiting at the airport to welcome us was a delegation including the superintendent and our principals.  They really believe in paying attention to details.  They deposited us in our apartment, which we ready for us, complete with groceries in the fridge and flowers and a bottle of red wine on the dining room table.  We met for breakfast the next morning at 7:15 even though we got to sleep about 1:30 and some arrived later yet.  Actually it was a good idea to jump and get used to the time change and over the jet lag as soon as possible.
We got started with some "business" meetings right after breakfast - including an overview of the school's philosophy and some great advice to "Embrace India"  Here's a cool video that was shared...

http://www.youtube.com/embed/GPeeZ6viNgY?rel=0

Staal Family Reunion

Staal brothers tennis : Left to Right by age (youngest first) Dude, Steve, Tim, Tom - photo by Nora Staal

 
Every summer my brothers Tom and Steve, who both have lived internationally for many years, come to the States to visit family and have a little vacation. When things work out well, the rest of the family likes to try and all get together from our various locales and have a Staal Family Reunion.  Over the years, we've had several reunions around weddings and other family events as well.  We had a very memorable reunion several years ago at a Sierra Club Lodge near Lake Tahoe where most of the next generation was able to join us as well.

This year it worked out well for much of the family to meet here in Michigan, where Steve and his family rented a cottage at Castle Park and many of the others stayed at a local Residence Inn.  All six of the original Staal siblings were able to be there (Sisters Eileen and Judith lead the gang, followed by the four boys listed above). Lots of fun was had by all - pleanty of eating (Steve is justifiably famous for his Indian food!) and drinking (note the "beer bellies"), talking, story-telling, joking around, and just plain enjoying each other's company.

We usually also try to have at least one tennis game with the four boys.  We grew up learning to play tennis on the red clay courts of Kodaikanal, India, and we all still enjoy tennis a great deal.  Dude (real name David - but we call him Dude from the Arabic for David which is Daaood) is now probably the best player because he plays the most these days and is thus the most consistent, but we all really enjoy playing.  We also had a great time playing with all the family of course - everybody taking turns partnering with others between generations and genders.

I think my daughter Alisabeth put it well when she noted that our family just really has fun hanging out together.  She thinks we're all pretty cool.  I do too.

For years we've been the ones staying in the states and awaiting word from the international types as to when they'll be here.  Now we'll be some of those international types!  Fun thought.

Steve relaxing

Daniel, Lisette and Dude waiting for food

Mom Staal (aka Grandma, Hilda) and Alisabeth

Nice flight

Travel should be this way . The trip from the convention center to the airport via the trolley and bus was made more pleasant by a conversation with Dr. Loerscher about the state of school libraries and librarians.  Transfer from trolley to bus was made smoothly,  I was deposited at the front of the airport, check in went smoothly and security was managed with a minimum of hassle. When the plane took off we were treated to a nice curving climb out of San Diego that took us first out over the Pacific and then back over the town with a great view.  It was neat to see the metropolis laid out before me such that I could trace where I had been the last few days. As we skirted the south end of the Grand Canyon, it started to cloud up, offering quick glimpses of the view .A couple of hours later, we began to see glimpses of the geometry of midwest Farm country.  Square sections defined man made boundaries while curved lines within the fields showed where the water goes. We descend towards the Minneapolis and circle around the twin cites before we land giving me a good view of the route of the marathon that I ran last fall.  Nice trip ;-)