Hong Kong!

My family and I went to Hong Kong just about five days ago. We went there for about 10 days. We went there to get Mum, Sam and my visa renewed, but it also made a good holiday.

Visa's

So the whole reason we went to Hong Kong was because Mum, Sam and my visa had run out. The place we had to go to was the Indian Consulate General. In the end we had to go there three times and each time it had a massive long line. According to the website we could get our visa's changed so we wouldn't have to leave the country every 6 months, but in the end we just got another 6 month tourist visa. So I think we have learned not to listen to the website and if we want to get our visa's changed we have to go back to Australia.

Disneyland

All up we spent 2 days at Disneyland. We didn't do the 2 days in a row because we wanted to go on Space Mountain which wasn't open until a certain date. The first day we went I got photos with everybody. We ended up going on the Pooh Bear ride twice! We went to the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters Ride a couple of times too...It was probably my favourite ride until I met Space Mountain. We met Jack Sparrow who was really weird. The first day we went we stayed until the fireworks which looked amazing. We saw 4 shows which were Festival of the Lion King, The Golden Mickeys, High School Musical Live and Philar Magic. High School Musical was interesting. They were a bit tone deaf with there singing if you ask me! But Philar Magic was my favourite. We also went on the Jungle River Cruise. The second day was when we went on Space Mountain. The first time I wasn't so sure and I didn't like it but after a while I was in love, and it became my favourite ride! In one of the pictures Sam blocked me out with his hair. One time I thought I forgot about the photo but I had actually put my hands in the air and blocked out Sam's face, which made great pay back!

Ocean Park

Ocean Park was another good theme park in Hong Kong. The only problem is, is that it is on a mountain which makes it very tiring to walk around all the time. They have a really good cable car which went over the mountains and was quite steep. Ocean Park has 2 roller coasters. The big one with cork screws and loop-the-loops was not open, to my relief so we had to go on the Mine Train one which was scary to me. I only ended up going on it twice unlike everyone else. I can tell you that I am afraid of roller coasters. My favourite ride overall at Ocean Park was 'The Raging River!' The have these little log boats that go in the little river and they hold 4 passengers so our family all went in the same one. It is all pretty normal until you get to the end where there is a steep drop. We went on it 3 times but the last time was my favourite. We put Dad in the front then Sam, Me and lastly Mum. When we were going down the drop Dad and Sam leaned forward and we (mostly me) got soaked and water kept coming in. We then got to the end where it said, "You may get wet!"

Shopping

We spent a couple of days shopping at the markets and some shopping malls. If you ask anyone in my family the will say that I got the most and that I shopped out Hong Kong. Every time Sam would just complain and say to Me and Mum,

"Why do we always have to follow you around shopping?"

Hotels

For the first three night we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, which even had custom made carpet and sheets and every morning at breakfast they had some of the Disney characters. There was also a pool and a really cool water slide.

After that we stayed at the Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel which also had a pool and a not as cool slide. One day me and Sam found heaps of balloons and went to the jets an filled them up with water and pushed them down the slide. We also did really funny stuff on the slide!

But overall I liked the Disneyland Hotel better.

I hope you can see that we had a really cool time in Hong Kong.

Talk soon,

Hunter

Driving in Delhi

Mum and dad have started to drive in Delhi. Dads the one that usually drives. When Mum does drive we tend to make sure we are wearing our seatbelts. It almost is like she aims for the potholes. One time we got a flat tire when Mum was driving...me and Mum just sat in the car while Dad and Sam sorted it all out. Mum says she is a better driver though because Dad has bumped a number of cars let alone people!

We are kind of used to seeing people hanging out of the doors of buses but the other day we saw people hanging on to the bars across the windows at the back of the bus. So if you were one of the people on the bus and you looked out the back window you would see some people hanging there...for dear life.

We have seen some cycle rickshaws packed with some weird stuff. My two favorite would be the time when we saw a guy on a cycle rickshaw with his broken down motorbike and all we could say was, "How the heck did they get it on there?"

We have also seen a number of goats on cycle rickshaws!

All the trucks here seem to have a little bit of a tilt as they really like to pack stuff on them. I once saw one that looked like it was about to fall over. We have also seen a truck that had driven straight into the concrete diversion after making his "which way do I go?" choice too late.

We have seen a number of dead dogs on the road with their guts coming out. We have also seen a buffalo sitting on the road with is guts coming out...it was about to die. But my favorite is when we see a dead cow. Yes cows cross the road and people stop for them but this is a time where that probably didn't happen. One ordinary day when we were driving home from Splash...what did we see? A dead cow lying on the medium strip. It had its legs in the air its tummy was bloated and it looked like a balloon, and its eyes were crossed and all goofy, but no guts. We actually once saw a car with a trailer on the back of it which was filled with dead cows!

Hope you can see why I like driving in Delhi and what unusual things happen!

Talk soon,

Hunter

Diwali

On Saturday the ashram celebrated Diwali. We didn't really celebrate until the afternoon.

The Family House and the Dream House all came over to the main ashram. We planned on putting lights everywhere and doing some fireworks and then topping it off with a special chicken dinner.

We (Dad, Mum, Sam and I) got to the ashram just in time for lunch. After lunch we just kinda lazed around until it was time to start preparing all the lights, they had already laid little clay holders all over a charpoy.

The time finally came when we got to start putting the oil and wicks into the little clay holders....I helped with this. Dad then prayed and after that they started to put the little candles everywhere.

When it became dark some people including me and Mum went around lighting them all. When they were all lit up the ashram looked beautiful or in hindi "sundar."

We all stood around and did a couple of sparklers and things that spray all these sparks....I call them sprayers or fountains, but we were all just waiting for them to let off the big ones. When everyone was ready we all went to the badminton caught for the big ones. They did a rocket one and it made the coolest sound. They then let off some actual fireworks. There was one that went up into the sky and then kept on exploding. You should have seen the expression on some of the patients faces...they were so excited. We did two fountains/sprayers next to each other at the same time and it looked amazing. Next they did the biggest one of all but no one wanted to light it so Dad was left to do it...luckily he ran away quick enough. The fireworks kept going off and Mum, Jenni and I had started going "oooh ahhhh" every time one went off. Rasheed got the honors of doing the last one and he was full of excitement. He lit it and then Sarin immediately pulled him back and then it went off into the sky, it was beautiful.

After we all started to settle down they brought dinner over. It was a special meal. They had prepared rice and chicken, it was very special for us, they had just the right amount of chicken.

On the way home we stopped by a firework shop and Me and Sam both got to choose something. I got a pack of pen torches which spray sparks and Sam got a pack of three fireworks. We got home and let them off, which was really fun because I never expected I'd be the one letting a firework off.

And soon I fell asleep to the continuous sound of fireworks.

Thursday 15th of October

Yesterday we went to the Spinal Hospital. Dad had to meet up with Prakash, Savita and Jake because they needed the ashram stamp which Dad had.

The hosplial was nicer than I had expected. It was much nicer then all the other hospitals I have been to in Delhi...thats for sure. Prakash, Savita and Jake had brought about eight patients. When we got there Ruksanna one of the girls in a wheelchair was zooming around on the smooth floors as she was used to rocky surfaces at the ashram.

One of the doctors gave us a tour of the department where they make the prosthetic limbs. His english was a bit hard to understand but it was still interesting. Mum called the visit an excursion because I had hardly done any school work that morning. I told her she was a weirdo and that we had only been there for an hour.

They gave us some tea and they came with mini stirrers but Sam, Dad and me just used them as straws!

After that we went to India Gate to kill sometime before Sam's baseball training...BTW my team is still undefeated and if your reading this Josh Rogers I am letting you know that I now have two home runs too....and its not over yet!

At India Gate me and Mum played the new Monopoly Card game that the Rogers sent us.....thanx!!!! We soon were surrounded by what seemed like a crowd, we were just trying to play a game of cards!

We soon went to the American Embassy for Sam's baseball training and had dinner while watching and then got stuck in horrendous traffic on the way home. In the traffic me and Sam were sticking our body out the window and strangely spotted one of our cars! It was the patients on their way home from the Spinal Hospital! We soon caught up with them and they all got excited.....it had been a long day for them especially with all the traffic.

P.S It is Diwali tomorrow and we are hearing some big (read massive) explosions near our house!

Hunter

Last Tuesday the ashram celebrated its 10th birthday.

Dad left early that morning and was going to come and pick us and the Delaney's from our apartment later. The Delaney's are an Australian family living and working in a Delhi slum who every now and then come and visit the ashram. They have 2 boys, Tom who is 13 and Oscar who is 7.

The Delaniey's caught the metro to our house and Dad then took us to the ashram. When we got there they were filling up water balloons and making lines with what smelt like flour.

First everyone went to the mandir (temple) and we played a question game. It was the kids vs all the men. At the beginning Pia asked the questions in english, all the older kids new english and quickly answered the questions giving the men no time to hear it translated. They then started just asking the questions in hindi but the kids still ended up winning.

We then went to the badminton court and stood in a circle. We threw water balloons to each other and tried to catch them. I caught one and then threw it to one of the older girls and as she caught it it popped in her hands and she got saturated. I felt bad after that. Soon we ran out of water balloons so it was time to play the next game.

The next game they got some older boys to play. They had tied a piece of string from one post to another and then connected little lollies. The boys had to jump up and try to get them while Praseeda moved the post up and down. I'm not sure if anyone actually got it.

Next we had nimbu and chammach races...hindi for lemon and spoon races. I came first in the kids race and later on got a prize.

Next we had a game where you needed 2 teams. The chose some people. They all had to link one to each other and the end person got a tail. When they said go both teams ran and tried to pull each others tail off.

Than they had another game for the men which was like rugby with no ball. Dad was not so good....after one tackle he was ready to pass out (he was not fit.)

We then had a special dinner....lamb, hot chips and papadams.

Later on they handed out the prizes. I won first prize so I got a pack of chocolate biscuits.

Soon we dropped the Delaniey's off to a metro station and went home....it had been a fun day.

Sam's 14th B'day

On Saturday the 12th of September it was Sam's 14th birthday.

The night before Saturday was Youth Alive so we got home pretty late. The NZ family were staying at our apartment too.

Early in the mornig George and Oscar came into the lounge room (where we were sleeping) and woke us up. There was no point in going back to bed so we went to Mum and Dads room and watched 17 again with dad. Dad had to use the earphones because Mum was still sleeping. Sam and Dad had one earphone each so I watched without hearing anything but I had seen it before.

After evryone had woken up George, Oscar, Sam and I watched Animal Planet on TV. Soon we had scrambled eggs for breakfast and George and Oscar gave Sam a birthday present. It was a mini, wooden, travel game of Backgammon. We already had the mini chess one an Sam liked backgammon. He once taught me how to play but I have forgotten, so has Sam but hopefully Dad knows.

I brought out Sams present from our family. Sam already knew what it was....he had chosen it. He said all he wanted was the whole Asterix comic set so we got him jut that. He didn't open it yet cause he didn't want them to get ruined.

After everyone got dressed we dropped the NZ family off at Sarojini Market. We went there for a little while too. Sarojini Market is one of my favourite markets. It has mainly clothes, it is a pretty busy market.

I got some black shorts/pants which ae really comfortable. I also got a top that I can also wear as a dress. Oh and I got a scarf.

Sam also wanted a Ed Hardy t-shirt for his birthday. The real ones are really expensive and this market had cheap fake ones. We had a look around and Sam got one. There was one shop that we were looking at and instead of the t-shirt saying Ed Hardy by Christian Audiger it said Ed Hardy by Smet...I know really random and now you can be sure it was a fake. Sam got his Ed Hardy t-shirt for 150Rs, we then went to another shop and sam saw another Ed Hardy t-shirt he liked. We asked how much it was and the guy said 250Rs. We told him that we had already gotten one for 150 but he stil kept it a 250Rs. We asked why and he said "No sir this one is a different colour, 250Rs." He moved to 200Rs but we just left.

We then bumped into the NZ family again and they showed us these cool shoes laces they got. We foun the shop and I got some pink ones with white stars. Sam got one with a pattern of blue than black. We were both wearing our connies so we put them in when we got back to the car and they looked awesome.

We then went to Ambience Mall to meet the Gibbons (the Australian family.) We decided to go bowling at blu. This bowling place was awesome. You could sit there and have propper meals!

We just had two rounds of bowling though. I was terrible and in the first one came second last ad then last. Dad won the first game by far but failed terribly in the second. Sam nearly one in the 2nd game but lost to Mum. The Gibbons were good as well though.

After that we went to Pizza Hut for dinner and got a icecream down at the food court.

We then left. Mum called the NZ family and they were at Dili Haat market. We met them there and had a quick look around. We went home to the apartment with them and they slept the night at our apartment again.

It had been a busy/fun day.

My First Baseball Game

Last Saturday we had our first baseball game.

We had to get to mine at 8:30 am to get my jersey and do some practice. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to practice the day before because of a birthday party. My team is called the Los Angeles Dodgers. We got a blue baseball hat that said LA, a Dodgers jersey (I'm number 7!) and a NDLL (New Delhi Little League) Dodgers bag! We didn't get any pants because they didn't want to encourage us to slide onto the bases yet.

We had some fielding and batting practice and then the game started...

LA DODGER VS NEW YORK METS....and the game begins

There is three innings and we batted first. I was batter number 10 so I didn't get to bat in the first innings. That made it pretty boring. I can't remember what the score was after that.

We then moved on to fielding and I was on the outfield. I didn't get any balls but I encouraged the rest of the team and was enjoying the game.

The next innings I got to bat. When it was my turn I held my bat and was saying to myself "I'm going to beat the crap out of this ball" Lucky enough I did as it went flying. It was probably the biggest hit of the day. Coach Sam wouldn't stop talking about it. It felt awesome. I dropped the bat and ran to first base and then Coach Atts told me to stop, I was disappointed. I think I made it to third base but then we had to switch to fielding.

This time I played catcher. I kneeled behind the batter. The coaches pitch it to us under arm or over arm but very slowly so whenever the other team missed the ball it just came rolling to me...how fun! At least it wasn't like Sam's game when they players pitch really fast so it comes like flying to he catcher....how scary.

I got to bat the last innings to and again sent the ball flying. I ran to first base and then second and just made it to third. They said I was out even though I technically wasn't cause they didn't actually tag me with the ball. They made me out because there was only four minutes left so they wanted to give the other team a chance to bat again cause we were thrashing them!!! Although I wasn't really out I was disappointed I probably would of got my first home run.

Anyway I fielded in the outfield again but nothing really happened but by the end of the game we had won by a whopping 14 to 5!

We then had the snacks that one of the parents had brought which was the best. We went to training on Tuesday and at the end they had muffins, biscuits, popcorn and doughnuts not to mention coach Sam saying I was a natural at baseball! Woo hoo!

Talk soon and don't forget....

!GO THE LA DODGERS!

We have had another boring week so far. While Mum was way the only thing different was what we ate. The breakfast was the usual peanut butter on toast except we had to make it for ourselves. For lunch Dad would make bread rolls with sausages or something. The first dinner we ordered in Macas and the next day was Youth Alive so my group went to Subway for dinner. The next day we went to a restaurant and had dinner with the Gibbons and then Mum came back the following day.

This week we have been doing our usual school work and I am back in the habit of doing my piano practice. Mum has made me a timetable for school so every morning I do devotions which is followed by piano.

Even though Mum is back we got another Macas delivery. We ordered a burger each and then a box of nuggets to share. Mum said she wouldn't have any but she ended up taking 2 and not telling anyone about it, but it was soon discovered when Sam reached to get a nugget but there as only 2 left so instead of having 3 each we only got 2. Dad, sam and I also got chocolate sundaes and Mum said she didn't want one. When it was time to eat our chocolate sundaes Mum was wanting some. I offered her some and then she said "Can I have some chocolate sauce with that?"

We went to the ashram yesterday with just Mum because there was some women coming from the American Women's Association to show the patients how to crochet. Everything is the same at the ashram but there is a new lady in the emergency beds that loves talking to Dad. She wanted his watch and was disappointed when she found out he had a wife.

Baseball starts this Saturday! My game is in the morning and Sam's is in the afternoon. My team is called the Dodgers and Sam's team is called the Brewers. When I was talking to Josh Rogers on Skype I told him my team was better because its name is closer to Rogers.

Tonight we are having some friends from the ashram over for dinner. We plan on making a big batch of pasta, which I am looking forward to. Mum doesn't know if Dad left her enough money to get all the ingredients and I am not sure if we can trust Dad to remember to bring home the pasta machine.

This has pretty much been our week thus far and I am looking forward to Saturday for my first game of baseball and luckily I have my first training on Friday afternoon so by Saturday I should at least know the basic rules. I am a bit worried about Sam though because he will miss his training tonight because of dinner (neither of us know how to play.)

Talk soon

Hunter

An Ordinary Week

We have had a pretty laid back week. Sam has had a week off cause in Australia his school is on camp. Mum has still made him do some work but I say he's done nothing. I don't get weeks off so I have done my usual amount of school work this week.

We got a keyboard a couple of days ago so I am back to practicing, Mum says I'm a little rusty. The keyboard is a Casio, full length, weighted keys and one pedal. It is not an Indian plug so we have to use the international adapter.

Mum left today to a women's retreat so its just Dad, Sam and I. We plan on eating food we don't usually get and I think that we are definitely going to get Maccas one night, in India they do delivery. I got new thongs and after a few moments I realised they were MacDonalds colours, red and yellow. Sam said that if I put them together they look like the golden arches!

We have youth on Friday which is always something to look forward to. Me and Sam are registered for baseball with the Gibbons (The Australian Family.) Otherwise it has been a pretty ordinary week so far.

Talk soon

Hunter

The Weekend!

Sorry I haven't written a blog in awhile but I'll try to catch you up. So...

On Saturday we went to city walk where there is a whole strip of big malls. We went there looking for a couple of things but only found Sam some new sneakers. The only thing that I liked about those malls was the Hardrock Cafe! We went there for an early dinner an got hamburgers...they were good. The frozen yoghurt was good as well but Hardrock was definitely the winner.

When we were driving home that night we saw a tea towel wallah (tea towel man) We have been looking for one cause we need tea towels in the apartment. The moment we saw him Sam stuck his head out the window and started shouting "Tea towel wallah over hear!" Dad started beeping the horn and I started jumping up an down. The guy obviously came over, I mean how could you not see us we were obviously going to by one.

So when he came over we asked him how much and he said 100 rupees for 3 ($2.50) Of course we took them and then he had one more left. He asked if we would buy it for 30 rupees so we bought it. The guy had no more tea towels left so he walked home probably thinking we're a bunch of maniacs, but what I didn't get is how can 3 be 100 rupees and 1 be 30 rupees? However that works.

On Sunday we went to the ashram for the church service. I really like Sundays at the ashram and I'm thinking its because we get chicken for dinner, oh and not to forget chow mien for breakfast....my favourite!

However that night I felt a little but ripped off. You see usually Mum gives me 1 or 2 pieces of her chicken because she's not to keen on it but that night she didn't give me ANY...isn't that just ridiculous?

And so for the rest of the week we just do school work...

10th Birthday in India!

Well it was my birthday on saturday and we went to splash water park. It was my first time. I was tall enough to be an adult so I got to go on all the rides. At first I was a little scared but once I had one go I loved it. Luckily the big slide opened...on that one you have to use mats. One guy left with a head injury because everybody tried to get his mat but he wasn't off it yet. There weren't many mats so everybody fought for them.

There was one slide that you had to push yourself down the whole time so your hands get tired but it worked for Dad. He went so fast water splashed out of the sides. There was a bit of a line at that slide but whenever the guy saw me he let me through past all of the Indians every time.

Everyone kept asking me what my name was and asked me to show them how I swim although the water was only knee deep. Dad was popular as well, heaps of people crowded around him and wanted to know his name as well but it never seemed to come out right for them. They also asked him if he would dance with them!

When we got back to the ashram instead of a birthday cake we handed out papaya to all the patients.

That night we went to the apartment and watched Hannah Montana and ordered in Chinese food.

I got the Game Of Life for my birthday but I am finding it hard to get everyone to play. We have not had one game yet with all of us and I'm not very happy about it.

School is going great and it all seems to be working. The ashram is great as well and we have been visiting everyday.

Talk soon

Hunter

Namaste!

Although I have already been in India for nearly a month now I this is the start of real monsoon decided to right my own blog, the junior version of life and lentils!

I am lying on my bed writing whilst the rain pours down. Its been going for at least an hour now and I'm hoping this is the start of real monsoon.

Tonight was pasta night to avoid another bad meal today, I am not to keen on the food on Mondays, but as always the pasta is the best especially the sauce since I cut up the tomatoes.

I am soaking wet because I played in the mud with Sam, George and Oscar, the New Zealand boys. We went mud sliding on the badminton courts and ran around in the rain like maniacs. It was fun to have the rain and I was actually cold for once :)

Well I'v got to go to bed now its the first day of school tomorrow...