Happy Holidays from Kerala


Claire is old enough to understand the concept of Santa Claus, a jolly guy who travels around by reindeer-pulled sleigh and delivers gifts to children who have been good. So she tried extra hard to be good the last couple days. She had been asking for a pink tricycle, so yesterday I went out during her nap time with Rahul and Luc and we got her a pink tricycle. Luc got a red one. By this morning he had forgotten about it, so it was a nice surprise for both of them to wake up and see their new tricycles.

These tricycles are no Kettlers. When we put Luc on his this morning, we realized the frame was already sort of tweaked so the whole thing pulls left. The wheels don't roll very well either. In Luc's case, it's not big deal. Since he doesn't pedal, someone is pushing him and steering for him. Claire's seems to work pretty well, except that one of the pedals keeps coming off. Most importantly, she is really happy with it. And I'm not going to complain since she was happy with a 375 Rupee tricycle. Luc's was about the same. that means their gifts cost about $15.



Marion and I got lungis, the sarong-like wrap that men in Kerala wear. We need Rahul to show us how to tie them before we can really put them to use. Marion's will be nice for covering up at the beach. I can use mine as a cooler alternative to pants around the house. I'd feel a little weird wearing it around town.

With so many Christians around, small fake trees were widely available, but it seemed to contrived. We used a fake mango tree in the house as our Christmas tree. I think that was one part of the morning that Claire did not understand. She didn't know why the tree had been moved to the middle of the room.

After gifts and presents, we did what any Keralite would do on a Sunday, we went to the beach. We were surprised by how many locals, mostly kids, were playing in the water. With so many people out, Claire and Luc drew quite a crowd. At one point a whole cricket team of boys, wearing black uniforms, surrounded Claire while she was half buried in the sand. I thought she'd freak out but she was just a little nervous. They were nice boys, though, and wished us a "happy Christmas."



As usual, Claire and Luc really enjoyed themselves. It's especially nice that Claire is so comfortable around the water. Since we've started going in the mornings, swimming has been much more pleasant as the waves are calmer. It's still a very steep beach with waves breaking right on the sand, but Claire is becoming pretty good at knowing where she is safe. Luc just loves pouring anything, so with abundant sand and water, he stays pretty well occupied.

As we were leaving there were some men gathering for what Rahul explained was going to be a boat race later on. It would have been really fun to see, but we had to get back for lunch and naps. More on the beaches later...


Posted: Sat - December 24, 2005 at 10:43 PM          

©