the calm and cold.

We were looking forward to a quiet January and February in Mussoorie before the chaos of our 2011 schedule launches.  Neither of us mentally prepared for the abnormally cold winter it has been.  Not abnormally cold for Nebraska...on the contrary, a winter up here to a Nebraskan would be considered warm with temps in the upper 30’s to 40’s.  With no central heat, days without sun and power and water issues, it doesn’t feel warm.  We wear lots of layers at all times, drink lots of hot drinks and burn lots of wood.  I have felt like we are somewhat hibernating, but we are trying to stay active and take advantage of the calmness of the season.  

Some significant conversation topics around the fire these evenings have included...

Our approaching move to Delhi this fall and exit from Mussoorie, a place that has become our home and eMi's office for 13 years!

Our two trips to the states planned, one rapidly approaching in March.

Visitors coming.

Our new interns arrival and a new season of project work for Graham.    

"weinter" visitors

At the beginning of the month our aunt Mauri and cousins Connor and Hayden came to visit.  We enjoyed living life in India with them for the week.  It is the coldest time of year up here and they were extremely adaptable with a lost bag that never came, a bad storm knocking our power out for a couple of days and sitting at a train station waiting for their train to come after seeing the Taj Mahal for over 10 hours.   

They also came prepared to put on a two day winter program in a nearby village about 5K from here for children who are on holiday from school.  We planned the program with our friend Samuel who is serving this village and surrounding villages as a full-time health worker.  I think about 60+ kids attended and we spent 2 days singing, teaching, doing crafts, eating and playing games.  

It is hard to fathom that our neighboring towns are actually mountain villages.  We have so many close friends making a difference in these unreached areas.  The needs are hard to measure.

Year in review.

We sat down last night to try to narrow the photos down to 12.  That proved almost impossible so we decided to pick 24 which was still so hard.  We can't take credit for all of them. We have some good friends who inspire us with their photography skills.  Hoping that the pictures in themselves tell the stories of 2010 for us.

I think that the theme for 2010 would be letting go, learning to live and finding beauty in the breakdown.

How we finished our year.

The interns who filled the office this past semester have all left, the other eMi staff took some vacation and my language tutor Rani and I are taking recess from Hindi.

The kids had an end of the year Christmas program at school.  Hudson surprised us by having a drum duet during one of the songs.  Priya was on and off the stage and we captured them embracing each other in the middle of a song. 

A moment of culture shock.

We are required to get out of the country every 180 days for our visas, so took a quick trip into Nepal.  Everything went smoothly with our visas and we spent a short time in Kathmandu(capital city of Nepal) and Pokhara(mountain town).  Our favorite things included the warm and laid-back Nepali people, the espresso and of course the peaks touching the skyline waiting to be climbed!

We got back from Nepal just in time for a quiet Christmas in front of the bucari(our wood burning stove) and computer(too see our loved ones from a far).  It was meaningful explaining the history and story of Christmas to a 5, 3 and 1 year old and helped us to realize the depth and implications of it all.

Priya projectile vomited shortly after this photo.  Does she look a little grey?

We have been ringing in the New Year with Graham's aunt Maureen and cousins Connor and Hayden and coming up on our soon one-year-in-India mark on the 13th.