Bees Poop on School

Dylan has been asking to have school on our roof for several days so today I decided to oblige him.  The day was gorgeous…sun shining and clear skies…we could even see the Himalayan Mountains!  We were having a wonderful school morning when all the sudden Tony yelled at us to get up and run downstairs!  There has been a large beehive hanging on the house next door to ours full of many busy bees.  Well, today the bees decided to evacuate their hive.  They swarmed over our roof before heading off across the field.  When Tony and I went up to see if the coast was clear, I noticed a bunch of pea-size yellow dots all over the ground and our school materials.  It looked like mustard and even smelled a little like it…yes I did smell it but I didn’t taste it!

Of course, this was a perfect opportunity to turn this troubling experience into a little science discovery.  We were very intrigued to find that these little yellow dots all over the roof and our school materials were bee poop!  According to one beekeeper, it is left over or undigested pollen that is expelled by adult bees when they leave their hive.  They usually do this within about 25 meters of the hive.  We were the lucky winners today! Apparently, bee poop is very rich in protein and is used by some African farmers to fertilize their fields.  I just have one thing to say about this whole experience…EWWWW! 

Here are some pictures from our school morning and the beehive before and after we got pooped on…

Neighborhood Bike Ride

We are getting settled into our new home and trying to establish a new routine.  The kids are really enjoying their freedom and their friends! We have begun building relationships with our new neighbors and are trying to find a few individuals who can help us continue our language studies.  We are speaking Hindi much more here in Siliguri than we ever did in Delhi and it has been great for us.  We are enjoying getting to know our landlord’s family.  He has four teenage children that have taken a shine to our kids.  We play badminton with them and other neighborhood children most every evening.  A few evenings ago, Delaney and Rae-Rae had a “dance party” with the girls in their house.  They had a blast! 

This morning, our family loaded up for a bike ride through our new neighborhood.  We had a wonderful time exploring, especially through the tea gardens.  The people in Siliguri have been very welcoming to us.  We are loving our new location and especially the beautiful weather and fresher air.  Here are a few pictures we took during our bike ride…

Christmas Preparations

Normally, Tony has some lame rule (hehe) that we are not allowed to put our Christmas tree up until after his birthday…December 17! Well, apparently that rule does not apply overseas…so…we put our tree up today! Actually, the tree and all the decorations were a part of the furnishings that we purchased with the apartment…it’s a good thing since we have yet to see any Christmas trees or Christmas decorations anywhere around here.  That feels really strange to us…so does decorating our tree with the windows wide open. 

The kids and I strung popcorn too! I popped two huge bowls of popcorn but we ate much more than we got on the strings…at least two strings of popcorn made it on the tree!  We are super excited about how great our tree looks! Ours is the only Christmas tree around…hopefully that will be a great conversation starter.  

Our Thanksgiving Turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving to your family from ours!  We have so much to be thankful for…and that includes YOU!  Thank you for sharing this journey with us!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with our friends in our new location.  We even had turkey, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie!  These delicious treats are all thanks to our friends who had just returned from a visit in the States and brought a suitcase full of goodies…including a Costco turkey breast!

We are also thankful for our amazing son whose 12^th birthday we celebrated the day after Thanksgiving.  Twelve years ago, Dylan surprised us with his grand entrance into the world three weeks early - on Thanksgiving Day!  Here are a few pictures of him at his birthday celebration!