Happy 4th of July!

It’s Independence Day in the US today and everyone is celebrating. People across the country are getting together with friends and family, grilling and watching fireworks. We heard about the storms in Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. We know a lot of people have been without power. If you are among them, we’re thinking of you and hoping you get it back soon, so you can enjoy the holiday.

Even though we are all the way in India, we also celebrated. The US Embassy held a 4th of July party last Saturday at the baseball field of the Embassy Enclave. There was live music and dancing, inflatable bounce houses for the kids, lots American food and drinks. There were also a rope pulling, pie- and watermelon-eating contests. I am a huge watermelon fan, so I had to participate in the latter. I had been eating industrial amounts of watermelon every summer in preparation, so naturally, I won.  The first prize was a large bottle of white wine, which Paul and I enjoyed last night. 

Paul was off today for the holiday and wanted to do something special. Nia had wanted to go to the movies for a while and we had promised her we’d take her. She wanted to see Brave, the new Pixar movie. Our housekeeper’s daughter, Julianna came to play with Nia today, so we decided to take them both to see Brave. We went to a large mall not too far from where live. This was our first time going to the movies in India and we weren’t sure what to expect but we had a good time. The theater was very nice - very much like US theaters, except they don’t allow cameras or laptops in the theater (kinda strange), so I had to check my camera’s battery before going in the theater and retrieve it later. We all enjoyed the movie. It was a little scary and sad at times but very good nonetheless.

A couple of interesting India tidbits: 

• In India they have intermissions during movies – they stop the film in the middle and have a 10-15 min break. That’s mostly because Indian movies tend to be long (usually 3+ hours) but they do that even for shorter movies. It’s probably good for food/drink sales.
• The Indian school year was supposed to start yesterday but the government pushed it back by a week because the monsoon season is late this year. The schools apparently are not air conditioned and it’s too hot (100+ F/40+ C). The rains make the weather a little cooler and that’s when the new school year starts but because the rains are not here yet, Julianna got an extra week of vacation. The American Embassy School, where Nia goes, doesn’t start until August 7 (and has air conditioning), so her vacation is not affected by the rains, or lack thereof.

But I digress… Anyway, I leave you with a couple pictures from our 4th. Hope yours was great too!