Yummy!

By Evan Sayer

Food! food! food! Where else in the world can you get food better than the American Embassy School's.

Open Hand Rocks! 

Sit down, relax and enjoy your food! Open Hand Cafe has many options for meals, pastries, and drinks. If the temperature is cold outside try a hot chocolate and a hot muffin to warm you up, or in the summertime you could try a sandwich and a milkshake to cool you off.

Lots of Food for a Little Place...

What little place has a lot of food? The Kiosk of course! You can get home-made food straight from the AES kitchen or get packaged items that are branded. I prefer the home-made AES food, though.

Are there Seconds?

Yes there are. In fact, you can get as much food as you want here at the cafeteria. There's a whole process of getting food: You wash your hands at the hand-washing station, get a tray, pick your food, sit down, and eat it!

Blood!

A true story by Evan Sayer.

Clickity Click! Clickity Click! went the chains on the bikes as we road along the bumpy Angkor Wat road.
"May I have some water?" asked my sister.
"Sure," answered my Dad. We all hit the brakes.
"Wah...aaAAAHHHH!" my sister yelled as she tumbled off her bike. "Ahhhhh!!! Ahhhhh!! she screamed again and again as blood dribbled out of her head.
My mom flagged down a car as my dad helped my sister up. Me and my mom locked the bikes up and ran to get into the car.We pulled up into the 24 hour emergency driveway. A man came out with a wheel chair. As the man wheeled her in the emergency room with my Mom, me and my Dad walked into the waiting room. We got some hot chocolate and sat down in front of the TV.
"The stitches are done," said the doctor an hour later.
"Finally!" my Dad gasped in relief.
After talking to the doctor and going back to our hotel, we were all happy again.

The End.

The Last Den Meeting

by HouseBoy

Evan and I had our last Den meeting with New Delhi Pack 3060 on Saturday morning. We decided to end the year with a special event and arranged for a "safari" ride with Champa the elephant along the Yamuna River. We used the ride as a way for the boys to earn their "Naturalist" badge. The boys were asked to spot and identify 12 local bird species (the badge requirement is six so they easily made their goal!). The floodplain along the edge of the river is a good spot for "birding."

The morning ride took the boys through a local nursery and a green belt and finally under one of the huge metro-train skyways that connect Noida with Delhi. As parents and scout leaders, we trailed behind the boys in the dust doing our best to avoid Champa's giant bombs of elephant poo.
At the end of the ride the boys returned back down the road to the rally point, and a few of us explored along the edge of the river to see what we might find. We uncovered two rather unique sights... The first, according to the sign, was a 40 year old temple to Ganesha, that had been built as a way to honor the buried remains of an elephant.

The second discovery was a little more interactive... a local "ferry" used to take farmers across the water to an island situated in the middle of the Yamuna. Of course we had to give the ferry a try. The raft was made from the ultimate in recycled materials: Plastic feed sacks sown together and then filled with Thermocal (Styrofoam) waste. Very buoyant

It was a great morning, and a unique way to celebrate the boys' scouting experiences together in India.

Rajasthani Puppet Theater

by HouseBoy

I'm always amazed how kids can create something new and fun out of almost anything...

After the AES Science Fair, we were left with two large cardboard tri-fold displays...  Being a parent who is gearing up to move back from India to the US, I keep scrambling for ways to give things away. Recycling is something that is fortunately really easy to do in India... just about anything is adapted for a second, third or even forth use. When Audrey saw me trying to slip the cardboard displays out the front door, she would have none of it. I asked the typical parent question: "So these giant tri-folds are going to sit in the corner collecting dust until we move?" Audrey was not phased by my resistance to hanging on to yet another piece of school memorabilia.
"Don't worry," Audrey reassured me. "I have an idea."  Against my better judgement I let the subject drop, and Audrey held on to her beloved tri-fold displays.

This past weekend, Audrey and Evan began construction of a large structure in our living room. It was hot outside, so I let them go for it... not really knowing what the result might be. "It's a surprise, Dad," Evan told me.  Blankets, pillows, chairs were all placed in the center of the room. Held in place with string, yarn and beach blankets. Buried in the center, unmistakeably, were the two cardboard tri-fold display boards.

Voice recordings were made, music was practiced on a keyboard hidden behind the structure.. Lesa and I were shooed out of the living room on several occasions. Then finally the big announcement was made: "7pm Show time" exclaimed Audrey. " Right at the prescribed hour we were treated to a Rajasthani Puppet Show, with sound effects, incidental music, puppeteering (the kids dusted off their small collection of puppets from Rajasthan) and a very wacky, but original story.

The puppet stage looked great - complete with fringe, curtain and of course, the tri-fold cardboard displays! Couldn't have been a more perfect way for our kids to create some fun indoors on a hot Delhi Saturday.