Our first couple of weeks...

Hi, it's a little hard to work out where to start. These last two weeks have passed in a blur of busy-ness both at home and at various locations in AV and Pondicherry.

 

During our first week we spent time at the AV Residents service filling out forms that were to be taken to the RRO in Pondy (the immigration office) as well as the financial service, foundation office, a lunch/swim at Mango Hill, a few visits with old friends, getting the bags unpacked and settling in and 3 birthday parties. We also had a few days of thunder storms which were just spectacular to see/hear. C and I sat out on our balcony and watched the most impressive forked lightning practically overhead. Gave me a taste of the coming monsoon!

 

It was also Ganesh Chathurti just after we arrived which is a celebration of Ganesh's birthday, there was big brightly painted statues of Ganesh outside temples and they have a national holiday to mark it. After that they collect all the small clay models of Ganesh from households and smaller temples along with the bigger models and put them in a river or here, they put them in the sea as it's closer, we were having lunch yesterday when a couple of trucks of whooping young lads and Ganesh models drove past.

The view from our bed

 

The view from our front door

 

Lunch and a swim at Mango Hill thanks to C's mum and her partner. A much needed relax!

 

 

Ganesh Chathurti

 

This last week we have made 3 trips to the RRO as it seems the Indian Embassy in London messed up our visas by not letting us know we needed a one year entry visa  instead of six months and not adding the Auroville endorsement to the visa itself. Indian bureaucracy is at best, a pain in the bum so it's not a huge surprise and we'll just see what happens, not too worried at the moment.

K will be starting Kindergarten on the 7th Oct, the day after his 4th birthday which we are looking forward to, he needs the time away from us and to settle back into a routine after such an upheaval. He'll be going 5 days a week 8.30/9am-1pm which is pretty much the same hours as his nursery but 3 extra days. They use a more Montessori approach to education so he'll attend until he's 6-7 before going to school and until then his time will be dedicated to play, body awareness (yoga etc), singing, playing outside and making friends - he's not at all shy so we hope he will thrive once he's gotten over his tendancy to hit and be rude which I think is a reaction to the big move. It means once he's there I can start work which is essential before starting my Newcomer process. C is classed as a 'Returning Aurovillian' so only has a 6 month probation also starting once he has work.

 

Other than that we have been working on the garden area of our house, it has only been habited by housesitters before we moved in so there is much to do. So far we have planted some trailing plants in the troughs on the balcony above the front door as well as some tulsi and aloe vera. C's mum has given us 4 plants for the front garden - I can't remember what the first two were but they have pretty pink flowers and the second two are desert roses. We have also been planting some grass to cover up the patches of red earth which was easier last week with the rain but now the earth is so hard that it's much harder work.

 

The front of our house

 

 

That's it for now, there is so much more to write about like how life is here, the wildlife, food, people etc but it will come in time. Speak soon.

 

Laura.