December 2004/Goa

As always, December was very hectic month. Rowan performed in his school’s Christmas Play, and all the boys wound up their club soccer seasons. Rajjina and Sareet were kept busy learning the ropes on how to buy a house in Shanghai. There is not enough space on this blog to detail the experience. In the end, it all worked out, but now the challenges of renovation begin. You will see more updates on this throughout 2005.

We went to Goa for the Christmas holidays, where we spent most of our time beaching, swimming, shopping and eating great meals. Rajjina and the kids endured an Air India induced 48 hour journey of getting from Shanghai to Goa. We have posted Shaun’s entertaining account of that misadventure. Luckily for Sareet, he followed a week later and was only delayed by 5 hours. The kids spent a lot of time getting spoiled by their Grandmas. Santa did manage to find us once again in Goa, and we had the Second Annual Santa hunt (see Video Dec. 2003 for details). We also managed to see wild salt water crocodiles while cruising the Goan river deltas.

On a more somber note, many of our friends did inquire about whether we were affected by the Asian Tsunamis. Fortunately, we were on the other coast of India, and the only thing we noticed that day was an inordinately low low-tide. Upon returning to Shanghai, we did find out that one of Shaun’s teammates on his Intl. soccer team (actually pictured in our Nov. posting- School Rep Game) is still officially missing along with his parents and one of his two siblings. Our prayers are with the family and the others who were so tragically affected.

Keep in Touch,

The Majumdars