My Trip to Buffalo, Part 2

By Evan Sayer

The “Great Wolf Lodge” is a partially expensive hotel with an inside water park(exciting!). We went to the water park and did some fun things there for example: water slides (there was a big giant orange one, a roller coaster one, and a toilet bowl one.), wave pool etc.. After that we took our dinner (as the Indians say). We ate at a buffet that had goldfish snacks, chocolate pudding and much, much more! We went back up to our room which was on the third floor to go to bed. I slept pretty good through the night, of course I had a little jet lag.

When I woke up it was about six in the morning, that's when I got up and started to read a book called “Ripley's Believe It Or Not,” which is a book like “The Guinness Book of World Records.” Eventually my whole family joined in reading the book while we all waited for my grandma to wake up. After a little while we snacked on some rolls and went to the water park to swim a little bit, then checked out.
On the way back we had fun looking for gazebos and singing songs like “We are Cookies.”  (There seem to be a lot of gazebos in Canada.)
When we got home my mom and my dad unpacked the stuff that we packed up to go to the “Great Wolf Lodge.” Then we got ready for Christmas.

My Aunt Heidi was supposed to come the next day but she surprised us and got there that night!

The last thing I did when I was in Buffalo that was fun was sledding on a big hill called, Chestnut Ridge. Even my Mom and Dad went down the hill with us! It was very fast and icy.

THE END well, not really...

Three Birthdays in India

by HouseBoy

Evan turned nine on Saturday. This was the third birthday of Evan's we have celebrated while living in India. We had a festive weekend planned, and the weather was perfect!  We spent the day on Saturday exploring a nearby neighborhood called, Hauz Khas (see related post at Swimming-in-India).

Evan and Audrey enjoyed wandering in the 13th Century stone stairs and corridors of this Mogul college, reservoir and ancient Mosque. We ate lunch in a wonderful South Indian Bistro called, "Gun Powder."

This is located in the neighboring Hauz Khas Village and is up high on a third floor, overlooking the pond and park of the Mogul reservoir.
In the late afternoon we walked off our big lunch in Hauz Khas Deer Park. We watched the small herd of spotted deer that lives there, walked shaded paths and even stumbled across the "Delhi Drum Circle..."

... an all-ages group of local musicians that gathers every other Saturday there to make music together.
We ended the day back our home by turning the flat into a Nerf-gun warzone. It was Mom and Dad...
vs. Evan and Audrey.

The battle ended in Armistice (mainly because it was bedtime)...
On Sunday morning we had chai and sat in the sunshine at the Delhi Riding Club while Audrey enjoyed her riding lesson, and then prepared for Evan's party! He decided to just have a few of his best friends over, so invited three buddies from his AES third grade class. It was quite an international gathering.

The boys came from families representing Germany, South Korea, England, Brazil and the US. The first half of the party was held outside in our neighborhood park. The boys played a soccer match with 5 local Tibetan kids (the AES kids lost to Tibet, 7-2) and had a great time in the sunshine! 

Then the party moved inside for a few games, Dominos pizza, cake from our favorite Canadian Bakery (Red Moon) and a few presents...  I think we all had a great weekend - especially Evan!

My Trip to Buffalo, Part 1

by Evan Sayer

I took a fourteen hour plane ride from New Delhi India to New York, then we had to take another flight to Buffalo which was about one hour. There were TVs on board the first aircraft we took because it was such a long flight. When we finally got there it was very very cold because there was snow on the ground, but for some reason I noticed the snow was blackish. “GROSS!” I thought. Then my dad told me that it was probably from car exhaust fumes and mud.

When we got to my grandma's house my mom and dad started unpacking our stuff while we tried on some new clothes that our grandmother bought us for playing in the snow. We came to my grandma's for Christmas and here is my Christmas list:
Lego kits,  an ipod touch, Playmobile.

Unfortunately I didn’t get all the stuff I asked for, which is normal because I don't think anyone ever gets all of their presents on their list.
The next day I played in the snow. My grandma had some sleds for example: a circle sled and a straight sled. She had these big dirty snow hills in her front yard that we sledded on.

Then we had a snowball fight and made snow angels with our friends from across the street named Josh, Katie, and Stephanie.
The day after that we baked cookies like snicker doodles,dark chocolate craisin cookies, peanut-butter
cookies, peanut-butter oatmeal cookies, Mexican wedding cakes, and chocolate chip cookies! And we went Christmas shopping. After that we went to the “Great Wolf Lodge” which is in Niagara falls Canada.

To be continued...

Shopping in Kathmandu

by Audrey and Evan Sayer

We had a nice time shopping in Nepal. We went there for Thanksgiving. We flew there on Spice Jet. We didn't fly over Mt. Everest, but we saw lots of tall mountains! When we got there the air smelled clean, but as soon as we got into the city the air smelled like petrol. We stayed in a hotel called, "Blue Horizon Hotel." Our Hotel room was average. The beds were comfortable and warm, but the carpet had pitch black iron-burn marks that were crispy and flaky. In our room there was a matchbox that had Tin Tin on the front.
We ate at the Northfield Cafe for dinner then walked back to our hotel and went to bed.
In the morning we had breakfast at the Pumpernickel Cafe. After breakfast we hired a taxi-cab to a temple or a site.

Then in the afternoon we went shopping. Audrey bought a Nepali hat with braids on the sides. Evan and Audrey both bought these mittens that can transform into fingerless gloves! They also found some socks or slippers or whatever they are. Our mom calls them "booties," but I call them slippers. They are handmade.

I also bought a traditional Nepali knife called a "Gorka Knife" as a souvenir. It has a bone handle and lots of decorations. Don't worry, it's not sharp! And last but not least, Evan bought an incense holder that can hold incense or a small candle.  There were lots of things to see and try on!

On the last day Audrey went in the markets to look for earrings, but didn't get any. That last night we ate at a restaurant called, "K-Too." It is named after the famous mountain. Audrey and Evan met a man from Florida and chatted away while watching English Soccer. We talked about movies, travelling and football. Then we all walked back to our hotel and went to bed.
In the morning we caught our plane and were swept away! (Back here to Delhi)