Chicago - Part I

As I loaded the dishwasher and went over the happenings of the day, I realized what an eventful one it had been. Not just the day, in fact this week had been pretty significant. The second car on Monday, Vansh's first day of school on Tuesday, the bed today, Jiya's Kids Club class, a preschool tour, a successful visit to the Social Security Office, and waiting for a few more big ones in the next few days. I also realized that I am never going to get time to get back to my blog, I'll have to make time in the midst of it all. So as I am waiting for the milk to cool for setting the curd, I switched on the computer and resisted the urge to go onto craigslist for finding an easel and a tent with a tunnel and after a quick look at my inbox, opened blogger. The kids are growing up way too fast with personalities emerging and changing with lightning speed and I wish at least to pen down the big points if not all.

The few friends who still follow my blog probably know already that 3 weeks back we moved to Chicago. Yeah destiny again showed its enormous presence and owing to Ashwini's job we moved yet again. What we had thought to be the final move a little over two years back turned out to be not so. Now the post can take several directions but what I had in mind foremost was to pen down how the kids are taking it, how they are conducting themselves while interacting with peers at school, at other classes, etc, how they are feeling and the likes.

I am rather pleased that they are not giving me a hard time as I had expected they would. From a joint family filled with much love and pampering and many sights and sounds all day long, someone to play with and talk to any time of the day you feel like, the charged atmosphere that results from just the fact that you are staying in a city like Delhi, to the stark contrast of the noiselessness of a quiet Chicago suburb, the weather still not conducive to pulling people out of their homes for walks and hence some socializing in a new place, I had expected them to be dull and bored the first few weeks. Luckily they were very excited about the new surroundings, literally soaking in the newness of every experience they got. From spotting the familiar goldfish (from 2 years back :)) on the Target aisles, the Cheetos that they always used to have with a Subway sandwich, the chalupa at Taco Bell, Vansh was rather happy to see he had familiarities to come back to here.

His interaction with people around has been splendid. Not withstanding that his spoken English needs much improvement, he doesn't hesitate all to say what comes to his mind when someone talks to him. He conducts himself very confidently. Two weeks back, I was at the park and in my conversation with a gentleman who was there with his son told him that we had moved from India a few days back. Vansh added to say that "we come by Lufthansa from India to Munich and Munich to Chicago". At the library, when a librarian asked him how he was he said "I work (am working) on the computer just like office!" Yesterday at his school, they took the children to the computer lab and had them do something (draw a flower, he says) on iMacs. He, needless to say, was elated and told me that today asked his teacher whether they would be going everyday to which she said no. I can bet had she said yes, his next question would have been would they be getting a laptop/iPad for home.

Jiya was confident too in her preschool program today. In a few minutes was ready to leave me and join the group for a bubble making activity. Right now she is enrolled for just once a week class and I told her that if she does well there, plays with other kids, talks to them and the teacher, I would enroll her in a dance/music class since she loves it. She is on the shy and reserved side though she is getting better. To which she said "I promise I will be good! Please enroll me now only."

In the mornings when they were home, the kids chatted with both set of grandparents and their chacha chachi, who are missing them enormously, almost everyday. Vansh told them about everything he had been doing, the new things he had been getting, showed it to them on the webcam and alongside got a chance to browse nokia and blackberry sites since he got the laptop not password protected during this time. He is way too crazy about phones and computers. He now troubleshoots online when something is not working at the grandparents' end much to their delight and admiration! At that time, the kids are almost like there again, sharing notes, making silly faces, laughing. Its really heartening that technology lets us do so much inspite of being far away.

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