India

The 4th grade students at Carnegie did a research project on India for Cultural Day.  They learned so much, and wanted to know more.  Ms. Lewis realized that a former employee of hers, and a fellow Carlynton Alum, Jeana Hickling, moved to India.  Jeana so graciously agreed to host Flat Stanley!  

He arrived on May 17th, 2013.  It took him 3 weeks to arrive!  I hope Stanley had enough milk & tuna fish sandwiches to last him that long!  Stanley stayed with Jeana & her family on Galgibag Beach (village), Canacona (country), Goa (state), Inda (country) at a yoga ashram.  Ashram means "community" but it is often used for yoga schools.  

When Stanley arrived, it was 93.2 degrees and windy.  The wind was bringing the rain.  For 9 months out of the year, there is no rain in Goa, but then for 3 months, June, July & August, it rains A LOT, EVERYDAY!  They refer to this time as monsoon season.  The field where Stanley was staying turned into a lake!  

For fun in Galgibag Beach, they spend a lot of time at the beach, swimming and building things in the sand.  Since it is monsoon season, the waves have gotten too large, so it is not safe to go swimming.  The kids in the village play a lot of cricket (similar to American baseball) and football (which is American soccer).  At the ashram, people do yoga every day and read a lot of books.  

Here are Stanley's pictures & information about his trip:

We went to the local market.  You can see me on the way there on the scooter on the bridge.  That's how we get around.

At the market we got pomegranates and golden mangoes from the fruit seller

And cinnamon from the spice seller.  Did you know cinnamon is the bark of a tree?

We went to the beach

Where I relaxed with our dogs.   None of the dogs are on leashes here, they all just roam arounds, most animals here just roam around freely.

 We ate lots of fresh fruit from our trees, I helped pick mangoes, pink and green ones.

and Jack fruit.  They taste kind of like bananas. 

I even helped pick coconuts!  

I saw a lot of animals roaming around... like these water buffalo, cows and goats!  

If a herd of goats are coming down, you have to drive very slow!  

Stanley thought it was really neat that their houses in India were painted very brightly!  

Stanley even got to participate in a yoga class!  

Stanley would have told us about his trip sooner, but last week the lady he has been staying with had a baby, so they've been a little busy,  She's been glad to have him there, as he has been helping the baby to sleep peacefully, so Stanley thinks he will stick around a while longer.

Thank you, Jeanna & family, for sharing with us your adventures with Flat Stanley!  Congratulations on the new addition to your family!  Best of luck!