Bryan Adams and me!

Hi everyone,
Here are a few key highlights from my life in the past few weeks:
- two of our elementary teachers are in hospital! The Grade 3 teacher fell out of bed on a leg that was asleep and broke her leg in two places and had to have surgery...they think she has osteoporosis, because a break this bad shouldn't have happened just falling out of bed. So, she is off for at least 6 weeks....then- our Grade 4 teacher is in the hospital after she lost feeling in her right hand. After a series of tests, they concluded that she has blood clots between her clavicle and shoulder....so they went in to remove those and found she had more small clots lower in her arm too- and she is only 40! So, they don't yet know why her blood is clotting....or why she hasn't yet got feeling back in her fingertips. Her pinky even started to grow gangrenous (is that the word?), so she had to have another operation to cut off the dead part of her finger! Poor lady. I went with another teacher to visit her last night in the hospital (luckily she's in the brand spankin new hospital right near us). So, she'll be on blood thinners all her life now, but they are still searching for more answers...they think she could be diabetic too. Makes me thankful for my health.
- As the title of this post says, I am going to see Bryan Adams (yes, the Canadian singer) on Feb 5th here in B'lore! I soon found out upon arriving in India that he is HUGE here! For example, go to any Coffee day or Barista coffee bar (like the equiv of Starbucks) and guaranteed, he will be played sometime while you are there :) So funny- his tickets supposedly went faster than when the Rolling Stones came to Bangalore!!
- I have found a new restaurant I really like- if anyone comes to visit me I am taking you! It is called Infinitea and sells a lot of cool flavoured fresh brewed iced teas...but also good food! I had an awesome fish dish and Kathy had a great stuffed chicken. Mmmm. Yum.
- Kay, well I have Thursday off...so I might not be in contact for a few days....I think we're going to this place called Golden Palms for the day that has a pool and a spa and a restaurant/bar etc. After all, it is 30 degrees and gorgeous here...just to make you all jealous who are withstanding the snrain (our family word for snowy rain!) in Canada!!
Jess

Me and kiddies again :)

Here I am one day when we had an end of term special lunch in the classroom.

Last day of school

Here I am on the last day of school before the holidays. We are making a shirt with handprints on it for one student who was leaving us.

Sideways...not the movie...

Darn it. I forgot this one was sideways too. Kay, well, turn your head again for this Zurich pic!

Closeup!

Here is a closeup of me along the river in Zurich. It was early morning, can you tell? Nobody else is out and about!!

Me again!

Here I am again- on another of Zurich's slopey streets!

Me in Zurich

Here I am in my lovely makeshift winter boots (!) in Zurich

Kids at Christmas concert!

Here are all the kids at the school after the Christmas concert. They all got together to sing a song- very decorative, eh?!

Zurich photo

Okay, someone will have to teach me how to make these go straight up and down!! Just turn your head to see this picture from downtown Zurich!

me and Niv

Here is a photo of me and the art teacher Niv from the Christmas party

my kiddies!

Here I am with my kids at the Christmas performance! Look at our hand-painted backdrops!

Here I am with Cheryl and a rickshaw driver Muniraju. So, this is what an autorickshaw looks like! This pic was taken in front of my house.

new photos

Here I am with my 'Rajasthani look' as Ashi called it!
I was wearing this at the 'Thanksgiving Dinner' in November.

Merry Christmukkah!

Hi everyone,
I am a bad blog updater. I know, I know. But I am pretty darn good at emailing, so that makes up for it, right?! Anyway, guess where I am right now? Back in good old Kingston, Ontario, that's where!! Oh- it is good to be home. I love K-town so much. So many good memories. Anyway, I have been travelling constantly for the past 5 days. I left Bangalore Saturday evening and flew to Delhi. I left Delhi at 9:30pm Sat night and arrived in Zurich, Switzerland 8 hours later. Then, the kicker....I would now be delayed in Zurich for 14 hours.....not the original 3 hours to re-fuel the palne, but 14 frickin' hours!! So, after slightly panicking cause I just wanted to get home, I spent a few hours in downtown Zurich with some new fellow stranded-ees! When am I ever going to get to hang out in downtown Zurich again anyway?! So, then we finally left at 8pm the next day and I arrived at Pearson at10:30pm Sunday night (I was gaining time flying this way) John picked me up and I spent Sunday night and Monday with him, then trained it to Toronto to see Ginny (wow- her school is nice!- BSS is a downtown TO private all-girls school) Then, I trained it to K-town and saw Flemo for a few hours and I am currently preparing to go see Milligan and Shawn in their new house in the bustling metropolis of Napanee! Yay for visiting people, however, I also can't wait to get home and stay put!! I don't get home till the 24th (driving with Bub and Doug) but at least I get to see all my people!! Canada looks so good to me right now. Timmy's tastes just heavenly- so does everything else for that matter. We just have so much choice and variety in our lives here in North America. For example, the only cereals I can get in India are Corn Flakes and muesli, so I ate four bowls of Cheerios this morning in glee! Anyway, the last week of school was fun- I taught my kids all about the different holidays that take place around Christmas time- Chanukkah and Kwanzaa and all that. I will post some pics soon from the Christmas concert and from my brief visit to Zurich. It reminded me of Quebec City in a lot of ways. So- hope this update keeps you all satisfied till my next one in, like, a month and a half!! No- hopefully I'll get more posted than that!!
Happy Holidays all!
Love Jessie

Merry Christmukkah!

Hi everyone,
I am a bad blog updater. I know, I know. But I am pretty darn good at emailing, so that makes up for it, right?! Anyway, guess where I am right now? Back in good old Kingston, Ontario, that's where!! Oh- it is good to be home. I love K-town so much. So many good memories. Anyway, I have been travelling constantly for the past 5 days. I left Bangalore Saturday evening and flew to Delhi. I left Delhi at 9:30pm Sat night and arrived in Zurich, Switzerland 8 hours later. Then, the kicker....I would now be delayed in Zurich for 14 hours.....not the original 3 hours to re-fuel the palne, but 14 frickin' hours!! So, after slightly panicking cause I just wanted to get home, I spent a few hours in downtown Zurich with some new fellow stranded-ees! When am I ever going to get to hang out in downtown Zurich again anyway?! So, then we finally left at 8pm the next day and I arrived at Pearson at10:30pm Sunday night (I was gaining time flying this way) John picked me up and I spent Sunday night and Monday with him, then trained it to Toronto to see Ginny (wow- her school is nice!- BSS is a downtown TO private all-girls school) Then, I trained it to K-town and saw Flemo for a few hours and I am currently preparing to go see Milligan and Shawn in their new house in the bustling metropolis of Napanee! Yay for visiting people, however, I also can't wait to get home and stay put!! I don't get home till the 24th (driving with Bub and Doug) but at least I get to see all my people!! Canada looks so good to me right now. Timmy's tastes just heavenly- so does everything else for that matter. We just have so much choice and variety in our lives here in North America. For example, the only cereals I can get in India are Corn Flakes and muesli, so I ate four bowls of Cheerios this morning in glee! Anyway, the last week of school was fun- I taught my kids all about the different holidays that take place around Christmas time- Chanukkah and Kwanzaa and all that. I will post some pics soon from the Christmas concert and from my brief visit to Zurich. It reminded me of Quebec City in a lot of ways. So- hope this update keeps you all satisfied till my next one in, like, a month and a half!! No- hopefully I'll get more posted than that!!
Happy Holidays all!
Love Jessie

John in Hyde Park

Here is John at the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park. It's a really neat fountain that flows two ways!

Cool architecture shot of the London Eye

Here is a (once again, sideways!) shot from The London Eye, from my trip to the UK. Cool, eh!? What a good photographer I am!!
Heehee :)

The Girls!

Here we are at Michelle's house with one of the feasts we made for Desperate Housewives! We are all posing as if we were in Better Homes and Gardens or something!! L to R is Ashi, Bina, Michelle, Cheryl and Me!

The Eurotour!

Hi all, here's the email I sent out after my trip to the U.K.--just for those of you who didn't/couldn't receive my mass email:

Hello hello,
So, everyone- you can rest and relax- I am officially back in Bangalore! Eurotrip 2005 is over (sob!) But was it ever great :) I will try my best to keep it brief (using point form) and highlight, well- the highlights!
Monday- arrived in Heathrow- Johnny is there waiting :) To the hotel (Thistle Lancaster Gate- near Notting Hill), which is very nice....dinner at a lovely Italian restuarant. It was soooo nice to have 'normal' food and to be 'anonymous' again. The anonymity alone almost brought tears to my eyes- for real! The air also smelled so fresh after the Bangalore pollution. The trees were changing, the air was crisp- ahhhh- it was a much needed break! Weather was good- 2 sunny/clear days, 1 rainy umbrella day and the rest were gray/spotty (typical London!) Tuesday- went on the London Eye as the weather was clear. Very cool- in a little 'pod' and you get great views. I loved the blue and white bridge- Westminster Bridge- is that it?! Shoot- I forget- Johnny? Walked along the embankment after and saw the Queen and Prince Philip drive by- no joke! It was an anniversary of the bombings, so they were attending that I guess. They drove by in the Royal car, reslpete with cops clearing the road ahead of them! I didn't see the Queen's face, just her hat, but I saw Philip's face...he was kinda scowling :) Pretty cool. That night I think we ate at a pub- fish and chips- yummy! All the food just tasted to gooooood- I craved a real banana and got one wherever I could. Who knew I liked bananas so much until I can't get 'em the way I like 'em!!?? Wednesday we did the Tate Britain and then took the connecting riverboat to Tate Modern, which unfortunately had a whole floor closed, but hey, it's free, so you can't really go wrong. After that I think we did some shopping and had dinner at this great Moroccan/Lebanese place in Soho- and it just happened to be the night that George Clooney got in a brawl just a few places away- we almost has a second celeb sighting, and I must say, George would beat the Queen :) Yup- had amazing red wine that I will remember, as I kept the label. Thursday I think we went shopping...and one of these nights here we went to a presentation of King Richard II at The Old Vic- I think that was Tuesday actually (I am getting my nights muddled!) Anyhoo, Friday we met up with John's Uncle Ant, who showed us around- and took us to our very first opera! It was an English opera called Salome, which is some gory Biblical story. It was quite neat though, albeit comical in parts where the person would sing in falsetto 'what is that on the floor that I just stepped on....?' So funny. Mmmm- had lots of great tea and coffee- and roast chicken and pepperoni pizza and a hamburger- and smoothies and salad that I could eat without worrying about getting sick!! Can ya tell I liked that part!? The girl at the chicken place on the last night was so amused, she said she's never seen anyone so excited at their food before. Saturday was so fun- we went to a football match (read: soccer game) in John's Dad's old neighbourhood- Queen's Park. We cheered on the Queen's Park Rangers as they faced Ridley..no- R something- darn it, what was it Johnny?? Johnny got all the 'schwag' as he calls it (football jerseys etc.) I got a Team England jersey for fun. I didn't go mad shopping either. I got one necklace at TopShop....although, believe me, that was my shopping paradise- it's just everything's so damn expensive :) I got a pair of fun pink and gray puma 'trainers' (reminds me of About A Boy) for 10 quid (about $25 Cdn). Hmmm- I bought some groceries too- stuff I can;t get here, although supermarkets in England are not as extensive as ours in Canada. I'd have had to go to many specialty shops to get all the stuff I could get in one aisle of Loblaws. Bless you Loblaws, I miss you! Anyway, I got my rye bread and my mustard and my salsa- too bad everything was in glass jars, my baggage was too heavy to check at first- Johnny was kind enough to take some stuff back with him for me :) Yup, as of right now I've been up for 20 hours and have just taught a full day of Grade One! I am soon going home to CRASH! I am skipping Bollywood dancing tonight. The flight home was okay- I was sad, and only in regular class because- tada! On the way there it was the inaugural BA flight direct from Bangalore to Heathrow and I was their first passenger EVER!! So, I got bumped to first class which was swishy- and got my photo taken with the manager and all that. He also told me I'd be on BBC, but who knows if I actually was. Anyone see BBC on the 31st? We all got a commemorative coin and a certificate and stuff like that for being on the first flight ever. Very cool. Oh, and in the airport going back I saw Simon Cowell of American Idol fame!! That's almost 4 celebs in less than 6 days! Woowee! So, I arrived back in Bangalore on time (5 am local time) and proceeded to find myself in the busiest airport I'd ever seen. I guess an Indian Airways flight had been waiting over 2 hours for their luggage- so there were many angry Indians! So, I just sat back and waited....and waited....and waited. Whenm I has waited until 7 am I started to get worried/ticked off. Most of the BA passengers had their bags- then they said they were all off. And mine was nowhere to be found....so- I had to file a missing bag report and stuff and they promise to deliver it to the school as soon as it arrives. The BA flight direct to Heathrow flies 5 times a week now, so it may be here tomorrow. It must have never been put on the plane in London for some reason. Anyhoo, I'm not as pissed as I thought I'd be- I just hope everything gets to me eventually. I am luckier than most I guess, as there were a few ticked off white businessmen whose luggage also didn't arrive, who dodn't have the luxury of giving a permanent address where the found luggage could be taken to :) Gotta look at the bright side, eh?! So, I am here and I am safe and my house is safe and sound. Oh, and they also gave me INR 2500 for my troubles at the airport (about $75 bucks Cdn) which is cool as I wasn't expecting anything! They do that for 'mishandled' luggage as they called it. I am going home now- no Bollywood dancing for this girl- I need to resort myself and shower and sleeeeeep! I am aiming for 7pm.....fading fast!!! I have all your emails eagerly awaiting me in my inbox, but I won't get to them until tomorrow I am afraid. I do miss you all dearly though- a taste of home just reminds me of what I have back in the great white North!! xoxoxoxox,
Jess
ps- Some things I forgot....Richard the Second was starring Kevin Spacey! Pretty cool- lots of celeb sightings on this trip! Also, the night after the footie game was Guy Fawkes night, celebrating the fact that a man named Guy Fawkes was UNSUCCESSFUL in burning down the parliament buildings 400 years ago! We saw a huge fireworks show and saw the largest bonfire I've EVER seen at a park that night....the fireworks show was just massive, although they didn't have those neat heart shaped ones we saw at Ipperwash this past summer! I think that's all I forgot....

Me and Miss Ashi!

Here is a pic of me and Ashi (the other Grade 1 teacher) having dinner at Sunny's (a really nice eatery in town) Aren't we cute!!?