Brussels, August 2009

 
Belgium was the third country of our visit and by now, we were literally eating desserts for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We took the train from the airport and spent an evening in the city center. Ro was moved by the little boy who ( literally ) pissed to save his country from a fire.
Chocolates, waffles and some good Belgium beer was part of our dinner that day.

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Paris, August 2009

 
The "Everyday Style of Parisian Women” is impressive. It is refreshing to notice that that they leave their hair in its natural element and not fuss over perfectly straightened hair.
We took the Euro Star to Paris and commuted with in Paris via metro. After we visited Notre Dame, we went to the book store right across from it called the, “Shakespeare & Co”, which housed many writers during their early days. I bought the “Hunchback of Notre Dame” with the official seal of the store. We walked by inspector Cruso’s (Pink Panther) head quarters and tasted chocolate crepes and ice cream from Berthillion.

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London, August 2009

  
It rained the day we landed and had the chance to experience an “English Summer Evening”. Right after the rains, we went on a nice stroll through the neighborhoods in suburban South Hampton. We tried to do nothing touristy, just the local churches, neighborhood stores and the pub where M’s cousin played chess. We ended the day with dinner at an Indian restaurant. It is true; the curry recipes taste much better in UK than in US.

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Sonatina Festival

Ri participated in the Baroque-Sonatina festival. Each kid is allocated a specific time and they play before the Judge/Panel sans audience. Ri played "Singer's Sonatina" by Mary Sallee. "Your playing has spirit" was one of the comments the judge gave her.
Its time to move from a key board to a real piano !!!

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Travel Planning

I talked to Ro in an effort to prep him, for my week long work related trip sans him. He responded right away "Amma, How can you go? I am going to be sick in April, Don't you know that ?"

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First 90 Days

The book starts with the following line – ‘The president of United States gets 100 days and you get 90.’ I gave it a quick reading as most of the book is geared towards C-level officers. At 16,000 feet high, the book talks about the impact a person needs to make in the first 90 days when taking over a new role irrespective of whether it is in the same organization or outside.
It left me thinking about the changes I needed to make since the title change -

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Dallas or India

I sometimes wonder if I am living in Dallas or in India. I get over 50,000 search results when I google ‘Indian Restaurants’ in the area I live. With in a 5 mile radius, I get authentic Hyderabadi Biryani, chats, south Indian tiffins and Chettinad delicacies. I am yet to discover good Punjabi or Mughlai Khana. There are at least 10 Indian groceries stores, 5 clothe stores, 2 radio stations (one FM and one AM), many classical dance/music schools and the regular Hollywood theaters play Bollywood movies as well.

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The Asian Art Museum

A couple of weekends ago, we visited the Crow Collection of Asian Art. It’s a decent museum and is worth a visit if you are in the vicinity of Dallas downtown. There were a few ‘New World’ paintings that did not appeal to me. The craftsmanship of the Qing Dynasty Jade is impressive.
Ri likes art museums and can spend hours reading the notes on the artifacts and adsorbing historic facts. Ro on the other hand does not perfer certain places like fine dining restaurants, where the lights are dim or museums, where you see a lot of people but do not hear them. He was more intrigued by the farmer’s market around the corner, where he could be just himself.

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The "not so" Morning Person

RO is adept at cleaning after himself. Right after he comes back from school, puts away his lunch bag, his coat in the closet, shoes in the shoe stand and his pre-school work in the drawer. For most part, he puts away the toys he plays with as well. This was easy to accomplish, as I rewarded him a coin in his piggy back for every clean up activity. We continued this for a whole month, until it became his second nature. The fun part for him was putting the coins in his piggy bank. He did not mind if the coins were cents or chucky cheese coins. Additionally it helped that the Montessori system he attends re-enforces this aspect.

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