Christmas in April

Finally, a blog post!! It's been a busy year but we are trying to catch up on sharing the big things that have happened in the past several months. The first big adventure since the last post was our Christmas vacation where Elizabeth's family came out to Mumbai and we spent 3 weeks traveling around Northern India and Rajasthan. We are trying to avoid writing a novel about all the details so instead we have all been putting together photos and comments in a Google Slideshow which is embedded below. Take a look through the photos, videos, and comments to see all that we did. We will try to get some perspectives and reflections on the trip to put up soon as well. You can see all of our pictures here (they are split up by city, all titled "India Christmas")

So a quick overview of our trip starts with a few days in Mumbai where we toured around the school, downtown, went to the Dharavi slum, and spent Christmas at our place. We then headed north to Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world and the center of cultural and spiritual life in India. We spent some time visiting temples and taking some serene boat rides by the ghats on the Ganges. It was then off to Delhi and Agra where we visited a number of monuments, temples, landmarks, and of course, the amazing Taj Mahal.

From Agra we headed by train to Ranthambore, a park and wildlife reserve where we went on a couple safari tours (saw some deer and birds but no tigers) :-( A highlight of this trip was Pip missing our stop on the train and having to turn around and catch a new train back to the station. All we can say is thank goodness for technology. It's really crazy how different this whole trip would have been without cell phones and portable internet.

It was then off to near-by Jaipur by van to catch a flight over to Udaipur. After 4 hours in a van to the Jaipur airport (with everyone feeling pretty ill for various reasons) we found our flight was canceled. The only option quickly became a 7 hour continuation of our van ride all the way to Udaipur. Let's just say it was a day that we would all like to forget.

Luckily, Udaipur was a gorgeous last stop on our trip and we had a lot of time to just relax, enjoy the scenery and take in all of India for another couple days. Then it was back to Mumbai to say goodbye and get back to life as normal. It turned out to be a really amazing trip and it was great to share the experiences of India with our family and for them so see what it's all about. It really is something that you really can't understand until you experience it first hand, and it's nice to share that common experience.

That being said, enjoy the photos and slideshow and if anyone else wants to come and visit we're ready!!


Christmas in India Slideshow (for larger view click here)



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K&E

Ride The Wave

We take a moment of silence to mourn the slow and eventual death of our friend "email". You have served us well good friend but it is time to move on. Check out the newest app from Google that will completely revolutionize the way we communicate across the web. This will blow your mind! Enjoy!

Google Wave full demo presentation (80 min)

Google Wave brief overview (if you have time....watch the 80 min one)


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K&E

The Great Malaysian Wildlife Adventure - Part 2

So when we last left our brave heroes, it was the 4th day in Kuala Lumpur and they had just made it back to the hotel after surviving the pit of man-eating fish and the forbidden jungle of green-bean eating monkeys.

The next morning we got up early to head North to the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. Earlier in the week we were looking up various things to do online and came across this place just out of the city which is a non-profit elephant rescue and relocation operation located in the Krau Game Reserve. They specialize in caring for injured elephants as well as trapping and relocating elephants that are in danger of some kind of negative human interaction (local tribes hunting them or ones that get too close to villages and cause damage and threaten humans). As part of their efforts to raise awareness and gather donations, they offer free tours of the sanctuary and the opportunity to interact with the elephants and their caretakers.

So we hired a driver through the hotel and headed out to the sanctuary. Upon arrival, we first watched a video presentation on what the organization does and their mission. It was a story of a relocation effort to capture a family of elephants that had invaded a palm plantation and were damaging crops. It's quite the process to find and capture an elephant but what's really amazing is how they are able to transport it. They first tranquilize it just enough so that it can still walk and they load it on a truck then transport it to a boat which takes it into the game reserve. It's really dangerous and difficult for people to move an elephant around so what they do is they take the older elephants that have been in the sanctuary for a while and they train them to help in the process. They have their trained elephants walk along side the captured one both to aid in the moving and lifting process but also to "talk" to it and calm it down during the move. Apparently elephants are very touchy-feely animals and they constantly touch each other with their trunks to show affection and comfort each other.

After the video we went out to watch and participate in some of the elephants' daily routines. Each day they have a very consistent schedule of feeding, training, bathing, and play time and they open a couple hours of the day to allow tourists to take part. First they brought out a baby elephant who was probably about 5 feet tall or so and we were able to pet him and feed him some fruit. He was very sweet and also very animated and kept swaying back and forth just waiting for someone to give him something to eat.

We fed him some bananas and mangoes while we waited for some of the larger ones to come out for their lunch and bath time. While we were waiting, I took a number of photos of the baby elephant and tried to get down lower and take some head on shots which resulted in one of the greatest photos I have ever taken. Every time you put your hand out, the elephant would stretch out his trunk to see if you had any food for him. When I squatted down to take a picture, I held out the camera in front of me and he apparently thought it was food so he stretched out his trunk right at the camera to check out what I had. I was apparently the perfect distance away so he couldn't quite reach me and I was able to get the shot off with perfect timing to get a picture of his trunk right in my face. I turned out to be an awesome picture, especially since you can see his head and eyes in the background as well. It always makes me laugh every time I look at it.

After a few minutes the adults came out and they brought a couple of them out for people to pet and feed. What was strange was that we were pretty alone with the baby elephant but all of a sudden there was this new crowd of people that showed up including a ton of photographers and video cameras. From where we were standing we just saw this giant mob of cameras filming these elephants and interviewing some of the staff and it was all pretty confusing why this was going on. Then we noticed a group of guys all decked out in matching jackets and hats with advertisements all over them. We asked around and quickly figured out that this was a group of four Formula 1 racers that were in KL for a big tournament and had come out to visit the sanctuary. This got really annoying really fast though as we had now shifted to a peaceful, fun time with the elephants into a paparazzi mob complete with news crews, managers, staff people, and sexy ladies whose sole purpose was to stand next to the racers during interviews. So of course these four guys got to do all the activities first and their hordes of camera people followed them everywhere and got in the way of everything. Ugh. But we were still able to do everything and have a great time, ignoring them as much as possible.

After the craziness died down a little bit, they brought the rest of the elephants over to the river for a bath. The staff members just rode them straight into the river and sat on top of them while they scrubbed them down and rinsed off. Then it was our chance to feed them some more so they brought out giant buckets full of huge pieces of melon and other fruit. These elephants were all trained and well mannered so there were a couple of ways we could feed them. We could just hold out the food in front of us and they would grab it with their trunk, or we could lift it up above our heads and they would open their mouths and we could put it right in. We got to do this a few times and ended up with elephant slobber all over our hands...yummy.

Then it was time for the climax of the day, the elephant rides and "play time". So they do little rides around a circle which is fun just to say you've done it but really not too exciting. At the end though, they march one of the elephants into the water while you're on it! This was pretty fun. A group of people would hop on and the elephant would just take a couple steps and splash into the river. We had someone take a video of us which turned out really well (it's included in the You Tube montage if you haven't seen it yet). It was then time to say goodbye, dry off and change then head back to KL.

After another trip to TGI Fridays for our last beef fix before leaving Malaysia, we headed back to the hotel for our early flight to Singapore. We got up Thursday morning around 4am to grab a taxi to the airport. The hotel booked one for us but we ended up with some guy whose cab was seconds away from breaking down and was making awful noises for the entire hour to the airport. We were a little concerned that we might not make it and end up stranded in the middle of nowhere, but luckily his little car made it the whole way. We got all checked in for our flight and landed in Singapore around 9am. We hopped on the much more efficient subway system and headed over to our hotel.

Singapore is a really great city. It's got all the convenience and organization of a US city, it's super easy to get around, everything is spotless, efficient, and well maintained plus it's got a ton of stuff to do and a lot of very diverse parts of town. We started off by going to Orchard Road which is the main shopping area and center of downtown. We had some really great food and did some exploring around the area. We of course stopped in the national library which was HUGE! and really incredible. Elizabeth was super excited and it was a great example of what a utopian library should be. We also stopped in at the world's largest book store which was also ridiculously huge (although still only had a math section comparable to Borders....boo).

We also stopped by the Raffles Hotel which is this really fancy and pretentious colonial hotel named after the founder of Singapore Sir Stamford Raffles. They have a large portion of it open to tourists but also have a fully functioning hotel as well which we were not allowed into. It's an amazing building and was really beautifully designed with fountains and ballrooms and patios and such. Very nice.

The next day we started by heading up to Arab Street and visiting the mosque and Middle Eastern part of town. Then it was off to the waterfront by the river to check out the old colonial buildings and historic sites from the early days of Singapore and Mr. Raffles. We then headed over to China Town and did some shop browsing. We decided to buy a fancy new SLR camera so we were doing some price comparisons here and there as we walked around town. One cool stop in China Town was this Buddhist temple that was beautiful and ornate and surprisingly enough, had a service going on inside while we were there. This was a bizarre experience. First of all, we've never actually seen a Buddhist temple being used before and second it was odd that they just let everyone in to take pictures and watch while they sang and worshiped. It was cool to see such a combination of ancient culture and modern culture at the same time.

We then headed over to hawker stands nearby to have some Chinese food then back to the hotel to get ready for our night activity. Singapore has a pretty large zoo in the center of the island and they do these kinda-cheezy-but-kinda-cool night safaris where you hop on a little tram and they drive through the zoo and show you the animals. When we went, it was a week before Halloween so they had the whole zoo decked out in Halloween decor and had a special "Horror Tram" that was running along side the normal night safari. We just went on the regular one but it was fun to see what a huge event this was and how many kids and teenagers came to do it...quite a neat and elaborate program.

So our little safari was fun. You can't take any pictures because, first of all, it's totally dark, and second because you might scare the animals. What was amazing about the "safari" was how close the animals were to the road. We were literally 3 feet from some tapirs and no more than 15 yards from a huge rhino with no fences or cages or anything around. Kinda scary, but really cool. So we drove around and saw a number of different animals and a lot of it was totally touristy and cheezy but we like a lot of that stuff and it turned out to be pretty neat. They also have a group of fire eater/blower/dancers that did a little show afterward that was kinda fun as well.

On our last day, we didn't fly out until the late afternoon so we spent the morning going down to Sentosa which is a little island connected to the bottom of Singapore that has an aquarium and a bunch of theme park/Disney-type things for families and kids. They also have a few nice beaches down there but unfortunately we didn't find time to get any beach days in. So we went down to the aquarium which was pretty cool but not as good as KL's. It's quite a bit smaller and has less to it. It is also connected to another bird park and butterfly park just like in KL (both of which were not as cool as the first ones). We did get to pet some stingrays and play with some giant bugs (a scorpion and a giant millipede) which was a good way to round out our week of animal adventures. We then headed back to the city to have some lunch and finish running errands and get all our last minute shopping needs taken care of (aka, get some art, buy a camera, and hit up a grocery store) before heading to the airport.

All in all it was a really fun week and Malaysia and Singapore left us wanting to go back and explore some more. These are both definitely places that will be on our radar for future travels and future jobs. So for the final total for our Malaysian Wildlife Adventure:

Birds, Butterflies, Lizards, Monkeys, Sea Creatures, Fireflies, Foot Fish, Elephants, Night-Time Zoo Critters, More Birds, More Butterflies, More Sea Creatures, Insects, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Wait....no partridges actually. I meant parrot. A parrot in a mango tree.

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K&E

The Great Malaysian Wildlife Adventure - Part 1

We are back from our first real vacation of the year in Malaysia which means it's blog time! For Diwali this year we flew to Kuala Lumpur where we spent 5 days then took a short hop over to Singapore for 2 days before heading back to Mumbai. We were expecting to have a relaxing week in two very well developed, clean, and modern cities (which they were) however we quickly found that our activities were all centered around a common theme: animals.

Malaysia is a very nice country and we will probably go back someday to explore all it has to offer. We were staying right in the heart of KL amidst restaurants, hotels, parks, skyscrapers, and malls. However being such a diverse natural region there is a TON of wildlife and untouched jungle just outside the city. The peninsula also has some amazing beaches up north, a number of small island getaways just off the coast and a whole other half of the country on Borneo that holds more of its cultural heritage.

Kuala Lumpur is a pretty cool city as it contains some really modern aspects but at the same time still has a little feeling of a developing country. For instance they have a number of really great public transit systems in place including a light rail, monorail, subway, and commuter train. However, they were all built by separate companies at separate times so none of them really connect to each other. So all transfers between lines means you have to leave the station and walk a few blocks up the road to another station. Still, it's better than nothing and I applaud any city that has a rail system in place no matter how weird it may be. It is, however, a very hard city to walk around as there are not a lot of designated sidewalks and the roads have lots of overpasses and cumbersome intersections that often make walking from point A to point B quite an adventure. Even so, exploring cities on foot is what we do best so we quickly got the hang of things.

We left Mumbai after midnight and arrived in KL in the early morning after a 5 hour flight. We found our way on to the commuter train (after an awkward journey across the street from the airport to reach the station) and made a connection onto the monorail towards our hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Equatorial which I highly recommend not only as a very comfortable, upscale, affordable place to stay but also for its amazing location right next to the monorail stop and only a 10 minute walk to the center of the city.

We dropped off our stuff, took a nap and a shower, had some lunch then took off to start exploring the city. We started by going over to Chinatown which, like most Chinatowns, felt a lot like being in China. There were Chinese shops and a few temples here and there but mostly Chinatown was about the shopping. There were two big markets that we went to, the first being a street market selling mostly jewelry, clothes, shoes, and bags from knock-off brand names.

The second is a spot called Central Market which is more of an artisan market. This was a little more interesting as it had a lot more handicrafts and was housed in a building that was much quieter and had the shops well laid out and organized. We walked around for a while then went outside where they had a free "cultural show" which that evening consisted of a local martial arts class doing some drills for us. It was then back to the hotel to get rested for our first full day of walking.

The next morning we took off toward the KL bird park which is one of the largest in the world. On the way we stopped by the national mosque where we walked around for a few minutes before it closed for prayer time. We also stopped in at the Islamic Museum which was actually really interesting. The main galleries are divided into geographic regions where they give a brief history of how Islam developed in that area of the world along with a collection of artifacts.

The most interesting to me was the history of Islam in China which for some reason I had never really considered before. When we read about the religious/philosophical influences in China all we hear is usually Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. We never hear about Islam even though it makes sense that there would be a big Islamic influence given all the Persian and Arab trade that came through the region. It really blew my mind that I had never thought of that before and made me want to go back to China again and try to find some more of this history. It was really cool to see a Chinese mosque (which incidentally looks very similar to other Chinese temple architecture) and, my personal favorite, some old Chinese-style calligraphy written in Arabic. The other really neat exhibit was a big room full of miniature models of famous mosques and Islamic landmarks from across the globe. All in all, a very neat museum and definitely worth a visit if you ever go to KL.

After some more walking we made it to the bird park. It was a bit pricey to get in but it was definitely worth it.

The majority of the birds are free to roam around the sanctuary and you can get ridiculously close to them. We saw all sorts of birds including parrots, hawks, flamingos (which I thought were really ugly when you actually look at them), storks, ostrich, and our favorite, the peacock. They had a bunch of peacocks just walking around and we got a good show from them a number of times. We spent quite a while exploring the bird park including going to a cheesy little free bird show. We also went into the parrot sanctuary where Elizabeth paid a few ringgits to get a little cup of water and some seeds to feed the birds. She held them out in her hands and quickly had a nice little row of birds sitting on her arm. We came away with some great pictures and it was neat to be able to get that close to them.

We then walked back to the monorail to head over to the center of town and visit the Petronas Towers and the mall. On our way back from the bird park we stopped to take some pictures of the mosque from our vantage point on the hill when all of a sudden there was a giant lizard in front of us just sitting on a rock. It was a little strange after just leaving the bird park since we still felt like we were in a zoo. It was definitely wild though and it was just unexpected to see it sitting next to the road.

We steered clear of the lizard and made our way to the giant mall housed beneath the towers. It felt nice just to walk around a mall even though it was full of high end Gucci, Versace, etc. junk and there was really nothing there to shop for. It was neat to see the towers all lit up at night though as they are the key landmark of the city and they are really amazing.

The next day we went back to the bird park area where they also had a large butterfly park and orchid garden. We spent the morning walking amongst the butterflies and strolling through the

orchid garden which was very pretty even though we think that many of the flowers had recently been planted and the garden was not yet up to its fullest potential. On our way back down the hill we passed some caution signs with pictures of monkeys on them and laughed and took some pictures. We then came to the same place we had seen the lizard the day before and this time there was a giant pile of bananas sitting on the ground. And of course there was a big group of monkeys jumping all around the trees and sidewalk. Again we laughed at the irony and how bizarre it was to see a big group of monkeys hovering over a giant pile of bananas. They were funny but still wild and a bit scary so we took some more photos and quickly went to the other side of the road for the rest of the walk down the hill.

It was then back to the hotel to get ready for our first trip out of the city. A couple hours north of KL there is a river that is home to one of the world's largest colonies of fireflies. They are protected by the Malaysian government and they have a few organizations that provide evening river tours to watch them. So we got a driver and headed out to see the fireflies. On the way we stopped by a hill town in Bukit Selangor to eat and see a quick bit of Malaysian history. This hill was the old capital of Selangor when it was ruled by sultans in the 18th century. When the area was invaded they build a fortress on the hill to defend themselves.

The story our guide told us was that they were far outnumbered in both soldiers and weaponry and were thus defeated. However, before they left, they poisoned the well atop the hill and over time the enemies began to get sick and die. Once their army had diminished enough, they attacked again and reclaimed their city. It was overthrown again years later and much of the area has been destroyed but there are still some neat lookout towers, a lighthouse, and some cannons from the original fortress. It also has the Royal Mausoleum where the three sultans are buried.

The other neat thing about this hill is that it is infested with silver-leaf monkeys that have become a regular part of the tourist attraction. They are very mild and you can buy peanuts or green beans and hand feed them. We were pretty skeptical about this after living in India and seeing the disgusting and nasty monkeys we have all over the place. These ones were very fun though, they just put out their hands and you give them a green bean. They all just sat quietly and waited for us to give them something. It was amazing how docile and patient they were.

We then left towards the river where we hopped in a traditional river boat (like a flat canoe) and paddled quietly up the river. It was dark out and it was tough to see the fireflies until you got close to the banks of the river and then all of a sudden it looked like flashing Christmas lights in the bushes. Our river guide would steer the boat right into the bushes so we were able to catch them and look at them up close. Of course it was dark so we just saw little blinking lights but after growing up in a place without fireflies it was really fun. I was surprised first of all by how tiny they were, maybe only half a centimeter long and how they all flashed in unison. It was crazy how they were able to all be synchronized. We tried to take some pictures but we couldn't use the flash so all we really got was blackness with the occasional little dot. It was a very peaceful and relaxing ride and definitely worth the 2 hour drive back to KL.

Day four was spent mostly just hanging out, shopping, and walking around the malls. In the morning though we went out to the Batu Caves which are some really pretty natural caves just outside the city that were taken over by Hindus and turned into a temple of sorts. There is a long staircase going up to the caves with a giant gold statue out front that was by far the most exciting thing about the caves. Once inside you realize that, although the actual rocks are amazing, the place has been invaded by Indians which means its scattered with garbage and felt like walking through the streets of Mumbai. Way to show respect for your own sacred places guys. Seriously...I'll never be able to wrap my head around that.

We then headed over to the aquarium which was really impressive. It wasn't huge but it had a great layout and lots of cool exhibits. One of the neatest ones was the piranha tank where they do feedings a few times a day which was really fun to watch. They took out a squid in 16 seconds...ouch. They also had a really nice ceiling aquarium that you could walk through and watch all the sharks and rays above. Very cool. From there we went next door to the "Aquazone" fish therapy center. If you have never seen this, there are these Garra rufa fish that live off of eating dead skin. They are about the size of your pinky finger and they have no teeth so they just suck dead skin cells off your body.

Gross?....kind of. Totally worth it?.....yes.

They are used all over the world and are commonly known as "doctor fish" as they are often used to treat skin diseases as they only remove dead and damaged skin and leave healthy skin to grow. Quite amazing little critters when you think about it. So we went in and dunked our feet into a big tank of them for about 40 minutes and it was really fun. It was totally creepy at first and you can see some of our pictures of skeptical faces when they started to nibble. After a while it started to feel nice....like little pinpoint vibrations all over your feet. Weird, but nice. And they did a pretty good job on the pedicure too. All in all a really fun time, especially since our feet were totally exhausted from all our non stop walking around town.

After stopping by the mall and having some steak at TGIFridays (oh yeah!!) we headed back to the hotel to get a good night's sleep before our next big adventure....the elephant sanctuary.

Stay tuned for part 2. Until next time, the pictures are up on Picasa. We've split it into two folders, one for Kuala Lumpur and one for Singapore. We've also made a short video of some of our favorite wildlife experiences and put it on YouTube. Enjoy!

Days: 4 Animal Encounters: 8

To be continued.....

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K&E

When Lightning Strikes Twice

The monsoon this year has been a very interesting beast. They say that it comes in quietly and goes out with a bang yet we seem to be having a lot of bang and no end.

A few weeks ago there was a feeling in the air that the rain was about to end and skies were clearing up. Besides, the monsoon this year has been very mild so it seemed it would go out unnoticed. Then the storms came.

For the first time since we've been here we experienced the full fury of the monsoon. Torrential downpour, ominous dark red clouds, and the feeling that Zeus and Thor were having a fight to the death right above our heads. If you have ever been in an east-coast or mid-west thunder storm you can get a close idea of what was happening except that I have never heard thunder that was that steady and with such a constant rumble. And the lightning....oh the lightning.

With so much humidity and cloud cover and pollution the lightning is very bright and touches down quite easily....especially on building rooftops....namely our rooftop.

Now for those who haven't had science class in a long time, when lightning strikes the air around it is superheated causing an enormous change in pressure which translates into a sound wave which is heard as thunder. So longer lengths of lightning or strikes that branch several times create many different waves which gives that rolling thunder effect. This is what we usually hear during a storm because of our distance away from the strikes. You might also remember the fun trick of counting the number of seconds between the light and the sound to tell how far away the strike was. Five seconds is a little over a mile away, one second is 1125 feet away, and zero seconds.....

Now this is actually my third time getting "hit" by lightning (some say it's my electric personality, I say it's my animal magnetism) and if you've never been that close to a bolt of lightning you can imagine that the light and sound would come at the same time....and boy do they. The big difference is you don't hear the rolling echo of a sound wave, you just hear a "crack" as the air around you explodes outwards. This happened to our apartment twice during this particular storm resulting in some hair standing on end, shivers down the spine, and the loss of a number of electrical appliances including a couple tv's and pretty much everyone's internet router.

Lucky for us that we have the most friendly and reliable internet company around so they came right away and fixed everything. Oh wait....we have You Telecom.....I forgot. They actually denied that there was any problem with our connection and refused to send anyone out until we got the entire apartment and the school involved to yell at them and force some action.

What I meant to say was lucky for us that we have the most friendly and reliable IT staff in the country who volunteered their evening to come over and babysit the incompetent You Telecom service people as they went room by room fixing everyone's internet. Our IT guys are amazing and I just want to go on record saying that I think ASB should buy some server space and set up an internet company because I know they would be miles ahead of the other ridiculous companies out there.

Most of the electronics around the building were fixed no problem but there were some casualties so we are now very cautious every time there is a thunderstorm to unplug all the important stuff. After the big strikes were over, the storm moved out over the water and a few of us went up to the roof to try to catch a look and get some pictures. Our buddy Dave brought his fancy camera up there and took some shots with long exposure and ended up getting some really nice results, like the image above.

As I mentioned in the beginning, we thought this would be the big finale to monsoon season but we have had at least 5 more big rain/thunderstorms since then so we're not really sure what to think. One day is beautiful clear skies and the next is a crazy storm. We had another storm last night and it has been raining non stop all day. We can't complain though, the city needs it since the rest of the monsoon has been so mild. Hopefully the reservoir is getting full enough to sustain everyone for the rest of the year.

I just hope it gets it out of it's system before next week when we head back to Matheran for Week Without Walls (although to view a thunderstorm from the hill station would be pretty sweet). So next time someone says that lightning never strikes twice you make sure to tell them that it sure can and you better unplug your appliances if it does.


क्या कहाना
K&E

Ode to the Swine Flu Security Guard

To the brave and partially trained men who stand behind the thermal scanner in our entry way each morning who's sole duty is to watch 800 men and women pass by and stop those with high temperatures...we salute you.
_____________________________________________________

Twoscore and five days ago this author brought forth on this blog a new post conceived in frustration, and dedicated to the proposition that all types of flu should be treated equal.

Now we are engaged in a great temperature war, testing whether that school, or any school, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a testing place for those who here gave their temperatures that that school might live.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate...we can not consecrate...we can not hallow this ground. The brave men behind the thermal scanners have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we post here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the symptom-free, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who stood here have thus far so nobly advanced.

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored guards we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these men shall not have stood for hours in vain—that this school, under Paul, shall have a new birth of freedom from flu—and that academics: of the student, by the student, for the student, shall not perish from the earth.


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K&E

Hello?...Anybody Home?...

Yes....it's been about a month and a half since our last post and yes...we are still alive. We avoided the swine flu and survived distance learning and now it appears that my calendar says October and it still feels like school just started. I have been significantly busier this year with new responsibilities and new committees which has meant less time for planning and school work and more time spent in meetings and working on projects.

Things are starting to calm down a little bit now as we gear up for Week Without Walls and Diwali although with two weeks out of the classroom it is going to make October go by even quicker. Before we know it, Christmas vacation will be upon us and the first semester will be over. Crazy.

It is currently Sunday of our first 3 day weekend of the year which means the first real weekend that we have spent relaxing and taking a break from work (although Elizabeth is still working on her grad school assignments as I write). So as a result, you get the treat of our first real posting of the school year. I've been keeping track of all the things I've wanted to post about over the last month and I bring them to you in a few separate entries. Enjoy.

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K&E