No News is Good News

Hello World! Time marches on and we blog less and less. Life feels more and more normal and pedestrian here in Delhi. Most of the time anyway. This morning while bathing Graham a friend called and while I was chatting with her for a bit I started hearing this sizzling, then popping, then a big pop, then some smoke out of the outlet the water heater was plugged into. I paused in my conversation for a bit and said casually, "We're having some electrical problems here," and then the conversation went on. Weird.
I've been busily setting things up to do some Musikgarten classes again. It's been lots of work to set things up, but people are really excited about it around here because there's not really anything like it around in this city of a gazillion people. I have now taught four demo classes and after I teach I am exhausted but almost giddy with excitement. I love to teach, I love to teach music this way, and I'm so energized by the kids. It's fun also to be doing it with Russell and Isaac and see the concepts sink in so quickly and to bring more music into our home. I even set up a website so people can get information easily. The egghead in me was so happy doing that little bit of web programming. Check it out at www.merindacutler.com.

We finally got a Young Women's president, so our Young Women program at church is finally starting to thrive. On the left is our president Tamanna Bhati, in the middle a new beehive Dolphin Verma who just took communion at a Catholic church so isn't really interested in ours, and on the right the 1st counselor in the YW, Dolly.

We have a (semi-)prepared lesson most weeks and last week we had five girls come! We have been meeting as a presidency on Saturdays for 3 hours or so to visit girls and we normally visit one per hour because it's so hard to find places and brave the traffic. It takes forever, but it's completely worth it to meet these girls in their homes and begin to understand what they're all about.

This picture is Ekta Rajoria who had such a peaceful, happy face and was so excited to meet us. She didn't speak any English, but through some translation I learned that she doesn't come because her parents don't like her to and it's difficult for her to get there without someone to take her. I told her to call me and I could give her a ride. But she has no phone, and when she calls, what would she say? Still working on that one.

We visited another girl who isn't coming because she can't pass her exams to move up a grade and so she feels like all day Sunday she needs to study.

The third picture is Sara Jordan and her mom. Sara is just barely twelve and is an accomplished ballerina, swimmer, and gymnast. Her mom thinks we might see her in the Olympics someday. They don't come to church because Sis. Jordan has back problems and just has trouble getting out of bed in the morning. She says in the winter they will start coming again when it's not so hot. Endless opportunities for service here.


Isaac talks non-stop these days about getting a television. The reasons we don't have one are complex--mostly having to do with technical issues, but some ideological. But periodically Isaac asks me with a grave face if we can sit down and talk about getting a TV. He very convincingly presents the pros and cons from cost to ease of use (over using the computer for movies) to how many adapters and transformers we'll need to buy. He's got it all figured out. I'm not sure if he wants it more so he can watch it, or so he can set it up! At first I thought we'd get him one for his birthday, but then we realized that if it is HIS TV we might get some flack when we tell him not to watch it. So then I decided we could get it for Rich's birthday as a (pseudo) surprise! So Isaac and Russell have been working like mad to earn the money to buy Daddy a TV. We have a chart taped to a plastic juice pitcher and we have nearly 200 rupees of the 6000 we'll need to buy a small TV! Now when I ask Isaac what he wants for his birthday he tells me money!
Russell is now officially 100% potty trained. Hooray! He goes to the potty by himself and narrates the whole thing for anyone in the house to hear ("I'm going to go potty now!" and "Did you hear that plop?") and wipes, washes hands, and gets all dressed again by himself. Miraculous. It warms my heart every time he does it. I think the trash boy is feeling pretty happy too that he now only has to deal with 1/2 the diapers he did before (yes, he's taking them now that we separate them, and we give him a little bribe every once in a while!).
Russell goes to the Busy Bees preschool now at the British High Commission and loves it. They have loads of great toys they bring out in waves and they just play and play all morning. The Brits are a bit stiff and stand-offish (Russell calls his teachers his "guard teachers" for some reason), so that's a fun cultural experience. He says his new best friend is Ellie--Tom's sister who also attends preschool at Busy Bees. He is thrilled to have his own friends now and a school to chat about at the dinner table. And chat he does. He is so full of joy and kindness. He and Graham are starting to really play together and it's fun to see.