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Saturday, September 8, 2007

Lions & Tigers & Bears!!! --- Bannerghatta National Park....

Each month we get the "second Saturday" off of school as a special "holiday." Today we headed out early in the morning to fulfill the kids fantasies about India being filled with elephants and tigers.... It was a really great day, and the kids loved everything! Here are their highlights:

Sylvie says - We rode elephants today and we saw really cute bears. They had a little white "shirt" that was really white fur on their belly and chest. They were lounging in the zoo. And then we went on a safari bus, and it was so cool because we saw more bears out in the wild. The bears and deer weren't Yosemite bears and deer. They were Himalayan Black Bears and Sambar Deer. We also saw tigers and deer that could walk around wild and free. They also had lions there. We saw a girl and boy sambar deer. Now I'm going to talk about masala dosas! I LOVE them so much. they are kinda like tortillas, but even better and super good. They have potatoes inside, and some of them have red chili, but they'll make it for you special without chili if you ask them. I want to eat them every single day. We mostly eat them in the morning. They also give you bowls of sauce, but we don't eat the cold stuff, just in case it could make you sick. Daddy always dips and eats the hot spicy sauce, but I usually dont. I wish you were here to eat masala dosas with me!

Eliza says - I'm having a good time in India.... much better than I thought it would be! Sometimes I wish I was in El Portal, but sometimes I really love what we're doing here. First, I really liked going to Bannerghatta National Park today. The first thing we did was looked around the zoo. My favorite animal there was the elephants, and also they had a zebra. It was so close you could have petted it, but it was in a cage. Then we got on a special bus that has cages on the windows so on our safari the wild animals wouldn't scratch us! We saw a lot of animals like sambar deer, wild bison (gaur), wild tigers and lions. The lions weren't native to there, people brought them there. We also saw crocodiles. We saw some wild sloth bears that were wrestling in the middle of the dirt road in the forest. I thought the coolest thing in the whole safari was seeing two tigers mating!!! The male sort of sat on top of the female, then after a while they growled and the male jumped off! On this safari the animals are all inside a HUUUGE like 20 mile fence, so they can wander around in the jungle. After that we went back to the zoo and saw hippos with "scooper" tails to splash themselves. Then we were ready to ride elephants, but the park workers said they couldn't find any elephants. They let the elephants roam free, and in the morning they go out in the forest to look for elephants to ride. So Dad asked lots of different workers, and they all said "no elephants today." But later, when we were about to leave I SAW some people riding on an elephant! I wondered why THEY got to ride, and right then Dad came running back to us with the tickets for riding elephants! So we got on top of the elephant... instead of a saddle, there is a little platform with railings, and you sit with your feet hanging out. The ride was really tippy, and when we were on its back its trunk came up and it sprayed "snotty water" on us... We all laughed! It was sort of like a sneeze. Then after the ride we got to pet its trunk and ears. It's really rough and hard. Right down the street from our house, there is a man selling coconuts. He just chops the top off, and we stick a straw in and drink it.... It's SOOO good! Then he chops the nut open, and makes a scooper out of the husk so you can scoop out and eat the coconut meat. The young coconut meat is pretty soft and gooey... not hard! The food here is really good. I think my favorite food so far is masala dosa (without the red chilli). At school I made a good friend named "sweetie." She's helping me out cuz I was really shy, but now I'm thinking school is FUN! Whenever people crowd over to to me she tells them to go back to their desk. She tells me to play with only her.... So far, she's my best friend in India.There is a palm tree growing right through our roof. When you walk down the street there are dogs, horses and cows just walking down the streets with NO owner. Everyone just goes around them, even with cars, cuz they think that cows are like gods. Last thing, there is a lake near our house called Sankey Tank where all the fruit bats live. We can walk out there and look at the trees. You see big black bats hanging upside down from the trees. In the evening we go up on top of our roof, and watch the bats, with a 3 foot wingspan, fly over our heads. I feel really excited and I squeal! Sometimes they come so close, but it isn't scary... I just love it! I'm really liking India, but I still miss all of my friends a LOT!

5 comments:

mickie cello said...

Hello,I am Jessie 's sister Mickie.Jess told me a lot about you.it is a shame me and my kids didnot get to know you this summer.However Yosemite became our most favor place since this summer.still we can see your journey from your blog.Enjoy your stay in Asia.

Mrs. Bown aka Allison said...

Your friends at school LOVE reading all about you. They want to know if you plan to bring them back an elephant. Everyone is convinced it would be happy in the hills of El Portal. We are studying Sequoias and today we made the circumference of the Giant Grizzly on the Upper Field. Everyone is very impressed that you are going to such a big school. We hope it's getting better for you Sylvie. We love you all!

Rebecca and Mike said...

Hi Amstutz's
This is Rebecca. I met you, Paul, at the Fulbright conference with my husband Mike. I just read through your blog and it brings back a lot of memories of our time in India last fall. It sounds like you are having a wonderful time and the girls (and Mom and Dad) are adjusting well. I am very happy for you all but also very envious. India is one of those places that gets under you skin. Can't wait for my next trip back. Keep up the blog- it's very entertaining. I especially love the girl's perspective. Namaste~Rebecca

Phyllis said...

It's Ms. Weber here, with her friend Dinah in San Francisco. We love reading your blog, and looking at the photos. This is the house where Rama stays when she comes to San Francisco, so Dinah and Noah feel like they're taking part in this adventure too. Noah is a vet and loves to look at your animal pictures. We hope you will cook us some Indian food when you come back - maybe we'll have an Indian day. Dinah knows of a good restaurant in San Francisco that has very good dosa. Eliza, say hi to Sweetie from all of us here in California and thank her for being such a good friend so quickly. Sylvie, I'm glad you are able to have some friends now, in 2nd grade. Which grade will you be in when you come back to us? Lupin, your school sounds like a lot of fun, with lots of friends too. Rama is very happy here, but she wishes her kids and husband were here. She just had a visit from her niece & nephew from Philadelphia, for a week. Is Marya there yet?

Phyllis said...
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