FOBISIA!!!

So what exactly is FOBISIA? Any guesses? Well, it's the Federation of British International Schools in SE Asia - over 30 schools from 13 different countries, including our very own Dulwich College Suzhou, are a part of this federation. Throughout the year, FOBISIA organizes a wide range of activities - music festivals, maths olympiads, short story and art competitions, model united nations - but the most popular and the most well-known are the FOBISIA Games!! An inter-school sports competition, the Junior FOBISIA Games require students to participate in 4 activities - athletics, swimming, football and T-ball. The schools take turns hosting the event - and this year it was the Discovery Bay International School (DBIS) in Hongkong!!

The tryouts were scheduled for January, and when Manasi made the U9 Girls squad, I was really excited but also a little apprehensive! Sure, she can run fast, and she's pretty decent in the pool - but football and T-ball??? In fact, the only time she's ever played football is 4 years ago in Chennai when I signed her up for lessons - and she spent the entire hour picking daisies by the side of the field!! Needless to say, the lessons stopped pretty quickly!! Anyway, the training sessions in school began - Wednesdays and Fridays after school for the field activities, and Saturday mornings, a gruelling 3 hours in the pool!!! The coaches were making these kids work really hard to get them in shape!!

I have never ever participated in any sports event - let alone one on this scale - so I was enjoying every moment! Manasi brought home all the different kits she was supposed to wear - singlet and shorts for athletics, football gear, T-ball gear - all emblazoned with the Suzhou Tigers logo!! That was my first 'Aha' moment - these FOBISIA games were a much bigger deal than I was thinking!! The schedule of the games was announced - there was to be a Gala dinner on the last night - so of course, Manasi had to go shopping for a new dress!! Not only did we find a cute peach dress, but also a headband and shoes to match!! Hey, my daughter is off to Hongkong - if she needs a smart dress, she's going to get one!!

Getting all her stuff into her suitcase was a bit tricky - all her kits, plus she had to bring a towel for swimming, regular clothes for the evenings and 4 - yes that's right - 4 pair of shoes!! Sneakers, football cleats, flip flops for the beach and her pretty evening shoes!! I think this was also the first time that she had to pack her own toiletries kit - usually her things just go with mine!! And I'm not ashamed to say it - I was so emotional, almost a nervous wreck, tears all over the place as I was packing - it finally took a chat with my parents to calm me down and put things in a little bit of perspective!! After all, they did send me off to the US all by myself - whereas I was going to be on Manasi's flight both ways, and see her every day...

Roarrrrr!!

U9 Girls - at the airport

Manasi drove to the airport with the rest of her team in a school bus - I caught up with them at the gate. All the kids were in great spirits - off to a grand adventure, as it were! The flight to Hongkong is just a little over 2 hours - and the day we flew out, there was an incredible amount of turbulence, a very bumpy flight!! All part of the fun, of course - lot of fake screaming and gasping - seriously, it's unimaginable how much noise 36 excited kids can generate!! At the HK airport, it was a little bittersweet - watching Manasi walk off with her group to their hotel, while I made my way to my hotel room!! Funny feeling - all 3 of us in different places at bedtime!!

Tuesday was 'acclimatization day' for the team. Translation - they all went to Disneyland!! I didn't go with them - I think it is safe to say that I'm all Disneyed out - 4 times should be enough for anyone, right!! The best part of this HK Disneyland outing was that I was able to wriggle out of taking Manasi to the Tokyo one!! So what did I do with my day of solitude - well, that's a story for another post!! The hotel I was staying at- the Novotel Citygate - is conveniently located right next to an outlet mall. Plenty of restaurants, plenty of shopping! The Tungchung MTR station is a 2 minute walk away - so getting to the city is really easy!! Ajey flew in that night as well, and his parents were to land in HK on Wednesday morning! Plenty of cheerleaders for Manasi!!

Before I get into the actual Games, let's get our bearing in Hongkong! HK can be mainly considered as 3 parts - Lantau island, Hongkong island and the Kowloon peninsula. The airport is located on Lantau, and so is the host school, DBIS. There's a couple of airport hotels on Lantau, including the Novotel I was at, the Regal Airport Hotel where the team was staying, and the Marriott, which we had booked for our last night's stay. DBIS is a fairly small school - and since they did not have athletic fields and a pool in-house, they had outsourced all the events to different venues - which meant that we spent a large amount of time traveling back and forth!! So the athletics were at Kwai Chung sports ground in Kowloon, the swimming at Tung Chung pool back in Lantau and the football and T-ball were to be played at King's Park Rugby pitch in Kowloon!! Whew!!

So Day 1 of FOBISIA - athletics in the morning, swimming in the afternoon!! The weather was terrible - a steady downpour of rain! Due to a slight mix-up at the airport, by the time Ajey and I made it to Kwai Chung, Manasi had already run both her races - the 60m and 4x100m relay. Not only had she finished running - she also had medalled in both!!! Gold for the 60m, silver for the relay!!! You could have knocked me over with a feather!!! Seriously, my Manasi?? An hour into the event, and she has 2 medals??!!! Felt terrible about not being there to watch her - and felt worse when she burst into tears when she finally spotted us!! Her third event, the 3 springs jump, was cancelled because of the rain - so we didn't get to see her in action at all! In spite of the rain, it was great fun for us parents - cheering our team on, as we watched them win medal after medal! A good morning for the Tigers - they walked away with almost 50 athletics medals!!

The enthusiastic supporters!

After the athletics, Ajey and I went back to the Novotel - picked up Ajey's parents, a quick lunch, and then we headed to the Tung Chung pool. This was only about a 5 minute walk from the hotel. The weather had changed, and instead of the cooling rain, we had hot sun and unbearable humidity! Swimming has never been our school's forte - things have been better since we got our own pool this year - but still, we have a long way to go before we're serious contenders!! Manasi was again in 3 events - 25m breast stroke, 25m back stroke and 4x25m medley relay - backstroke is her weakest stroke, so I'm not sure why she was in that race, and as for the other strokes, while Manasi is technically perfect - a pleasure to watch in the pool - she has never been really fast. So, when she took off furiously in the breaststroke, leading almost to the very end, losing out the gold by a whisker - once again, me, feather, you get the picture!! As expected, she didn't do so well in the backstroke, and the medley relay was canceled because they ran out of time! 14 medals total for our school - the best haul ever!!

Happy with the silver!

Proud grandparents!

On the podium...

Day 2 - Kings' Park Rugby Pitch for a day of football! The morning was the round-robin, and after lunch, the playoffs. It was quite an exciting scene - 6 simultaneous matches, with parents and coaches cheering and shouting instructions! I think football is the one sport which touches a chord in everyone - it is very hard to stand on the sidelines peacefully - a little craziness is guaranteed!! The Friday before we left, Manasi found out that she was to be goalie for her team! Really?? Oh well, one more shopping trip to Decathlon to buy goalie gloves, and then a crash course in goal-keeping with Dad - more than enough training, right??!! Our team started off a bit slow - losing the first game 0-2. When Manasi let the first goal in, she dissolved in tears - and it was incredibly heartening to see her friends and coaches boosting her up! And she wiped off her tears, and stood tall once more - I think I've never been more proud of her!!

Our Tigers rallied remarkably well - the next game was a draw, and they actually won the third one, leaving them 2nd in their pool, with a good shot at a medal! Manasi had a couple of impressive saves - diving onto the ball, totally fearless!! The semi-final was against a team who had had decisive wins in all their previous games - but Manasi's team held their own, the game actually ended in a draw!! Which meant we're into a penalty shootout, and Manasi is the GOALIE!!!!! Stress levels were so high, I thought I couldn't even watch her!!! She did save one goal, but it still went on to be a heartbreaking loss!! One more chance - they fought hard for the bronze, and the victory was so very sweet!! What an awesome group of girls!!

Zen before the games!

Goalie

Go Tigers!!

Celebrations!

Bronze medalists!

After the football, the kids headed over to DBIS for a beach barbecue and some other fun stuff. We decided to go for some sightseeing instead of the beach - so it wasn't until next morning that I found the Manasi had picked up 2 more gold medals!! One for the 3 springs jump which had been cancelled the first day, and had been rescheduled to after the football, and the second for the shuttle relay, which had the entire U9 - boys and girls!! In case, you've lost count - that's 6 for Manasi now!!! After all this excitement, the T-ball was a bit of an anti-climax. First of all, there were so many weather delays - with the games proceeding in fits and starts. Secondly, our kids just hadn't had that much training. The school schedule is so jam-packed, these kids are already stretched thin - it really is hard to find the time to not only learn a whole new sport, but to also get in enough practise to get good at it! Notwithstanding the T-ball washout, Dulwich College Suzhou still ended doing pretty well! The U9s were third in athletics, and third overall as well. The school as a whole was 5th out of 8 schools! This is the best we've ever done in FOBISIA!!

Posing with the athletics cup!

SIX MEDALS!!!

What a wonderful opportunity this was for all our team members!! Yes, the winning is great - but beyond the medals are life experiences that are invaluable! For many of them, including Manasi, this was the first big solo trip outside of home!! Add to that the pressures of the sport, the drama of winning and losing, learning that disappointments and achievements always go hand-in-hand - and the more mundane things like going to bed on time, getting kits ready for the day, and yes - remembering to brush twice a day!! Just a week away, and I can see the growth in Manasi - the quiet confidence, the inner strength!! I am awed and humbled by this group of girls - Manasi and her friends - for showing the resilience of spirit and coping in situations which would have made adults give up!! Way to go girls - you have made your parents so proud!!

Last, but by no means the least - a round of applause for the PE staff and coaches who made this all possible!! Starting with giving up their Saturdays to coach the kids, and then shepherding them all the way to the end - a big thank you for all the hard work! I think coaches are always under-appreciated - parents are quick to blame them when kids don't do well, and stingy with credit when success does come our way! But after this whole week, I have a new-found appreciation for these dedicated teachers! Well done - our kids wouldn't be where they are without you!!

As I said before, it was really, really stressful watching Manasi on the field - I was going through so many mood swings!! Crossing fingers, hoping she would do well - elation, totally top-of-the-world when she did - and then wanting to cuddle her and wipe her tears when she didn't!! Seriously, I must have teared up at least a couple of time even when writing this!! My shy little Manasi - the determination to win, this competitiveness was a side of her I've never seen before!! What an absolutely wonderful achievement!!! Truly, the world is at her feet today!!!

Hiroshima and Miyajima

August 6, 1945 - the world's first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. An estimated 80,000 people died instantly, and a large portion of the city was reduced to rubble. The nuclear attack brought Japan to its knees, effectively ending World War II - a devastating end to a war which had its roots in the atrocities of the concentration camps. The history is well known - and visiting Hiroshima is like stepping back in time.

The Japanese are a remarkably resilient people - earthquakes, tsunamis, nuclear attacks, nothing seems to faze them. So, Hiroshima was rebuilt, and today is one of the largest cities in Japan. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park is of course, a constant reminder - not only to Japan, but to the rest of the world - of the horrors of war, and the fallout of nuclear weapons. Now known as the City of Peace, Hiroshima should be on the itinerary of every visitor to Japan!

Getting to Hiroshima from Kobe is easy - by this time, we were veterans on the Japan Rail system - navigating stations, and finding trains with panache! A little longer ride, about 3 hours to get to Hiroshima! Hiroshima uses electric streetcars for public transport - a fancy name for trams! The tram station is right outside the train station, and a short ride on tram number 6 brought us to the entrance of the Peace Memorial Park.

This park is built around the Genbaku Dome - this building is a ruin of the Hiroshima Prefecture, and is the only surviving structure near the bomb's detonation center. It is an extremely somber sight - voices hushed instinctively, heads bowed respectfully. Framed by whispering trees, the Dome is both serene and full of emotions. A reproachful monument to the follies of mankind, and yet, it is also a beacon of hope and peace. Very few places have this electric atmosphere - a sense of living history!

The Motoyasu-gawa river flows right beside the Genbaku Dome, and through the Memorial Park. The park is very beautiful and peaceful - could have easily spend a day here! It is dotted with monuments - Children of World Peace Monument, Hiroshima City Zero monument, Peace Clock Tower, Statue of the Merciful Mother and many more. At the very center is the Flame of Peace and the Memorial Monument for Hiroshima - in my opinion, an eternal flame is one of the most beautiful, symbolic sights ever - the one here is no exception. I also loved how the Memorial Monument perfectly frames the Genbaku Dome - absolutely wonderful! At the end of the park is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum - we dithered at the entrance, deciding not to go in - would have been a little too much to handle.

Motoyasu-gawa river

Statue of a Prayer for Peace

Memorial Monument

Close to Hiroshima is located the Itsukushima Shrine in Miyajima - one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan. The shrine is located on an island - we were pleasantly surprised to find that the ferry is run by JR as well, which meant a wave of our magic JR passes got us right onto the boat! The shrine is designed to appear like it is floating on the water at high tide, and the striking red gates or torii are one of the most recognizable features in Japan! We didn't get to see this floating marvel - the tide was out - nevertheless, the excursion was quite enjoyable!

JR ferry

View of the island from the ferry

The torii up close

The highest point on the island, Mt. Misen, can be reached either by cable car or a hiking trails - we had to pass on both, time restrictions as always. The island is home to a particular type of deer - they were quite tame, and in some cases, aggressive - reaching out for paper bags and food!! We did walk to the shrine, and then through a typical shopping area - plenty of souvenirs and even more eateries. Tried the fish cakes and a speciality of the Hiroshima region, okonomiyaki - this was actually quite interesting. It is made fresh on a hot griddle - fresh means you can customize the ingredients, make it vegetarian! - starts off with a thin pancake, then layered with cabbage, sprouts, vegetables, cheese, pork/seafood (if desired), fried noodles and topped with an egg, and then finished with a special sauce - Japanese food, at last!!

Okonomiyaki

Of course, like everywhere else in Japan - the sakura was in full bloom!! Only a couple of photos, I promise - so beautiful, so irresistible!!

Hiroshima wasn't on my initial itinerary, but I'm so glad we came! Truly one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities!!

Busy April weekends!

Whew, what a month this has been - non-stop activity, barely a second to catch my breath! We got back from Japan - an amazing but hectic, tiring vacation - and dived straight into a whirlwind! April is always special, 2 special birthdays - my mom and Ajey! This year even more so - Ajey hit the big 4-0 - but hold on, I'm getting ahead of myself, more on that in a little bit!

A day after we got back to Suzhou was the Shanghai Marathi Mandal's Gudhi Padwa celebrations. I usually steer clear of all these Marathi Mandals - too much politics and backbiting for my taste - but this program was too good to pass up on! Dilip Prabhawalkar, one of the greats of Marathi film and theatre, in person!! A 2 hour program followed by lunch at the Puxi Marriott. Mr. Prabhawalkar presented 'Chimanrao te Gandhi' - 'From Chimanrao to Gandhi' - a synopsis of his career bookended by the 2 characters he is most identified with. Both iconic roles - Chimanrao, warming the hearts of so many Maharashtrian families, and Gandhi, catapulting Mr. Prabhawalkar to national fame! A delightful couple of hours, as he shared anecdotes, and even acted out a few scenes - no props, no costumes, no makeup - but changing his personality through body language and accents! Simply amazing! Mr. Prabhawalkar also spent a day in Suzhou, and we had the opportunity to sit down to dinner with him - such a down-to-earth person, it almost felt like we were entertaining someone's favorite uncle rather than a famous celebrity!!

The biggest event of the month - well, not really an event, more of a landmark - Ajey's 40th!! After all the buildup, the day itself was kind of low-key. Started off with midnight ice cream cake from Coldstone, always a favorite!! Landmark birthday or no, Saturday mornings are always earmarked for Manasi's swimming - followed by rugby training! Rugby, where did that come from??!! Well, the annual Dulwich community rugby tournament was next weekend, and Ajey and Manasi had been both convinced to play - hence the much needed training! Predictably, watching from the sidelines, I was tempted to join in too - come on, it looked like so much fun - and before I knew it, I was officially part of the team!

Of course, Ajey was on the phone a lot - birthday wishes from friends and family pouring in - most mysterious was a call from a local florist - flower delivery for the birthday boy!! We didn't get home till 1pm, all the time wondering about the flowers - lucky for us the delivery person agreed to wait - and there it was, a big, beautiful bunch of roses sent by Ajey's parents! What a sweet gesture!! I love how roses smell, and as I walked in with the bouquet, I took a deep breath and inhaled the unmistakable aroma of - wait for it - cigarette smoke!!! Only in China!!! Quite a simple explanation, though - the delivery guy must have sat in his van with the roses, smoking like a chimney, waiting for us to get back - infusing the roses with the smoke!!!!

We were to have a dinner with our Suzhou friends, and they showed up at 6pm to pick us up - bearing with them an unique gift! A big box filled with 40 different kinds of beers - an awesome 40th birthday gift!! Dinner was at Amigos - our favorite Mexican restaurant in Suzhou! Sizzling fajitas and margaritas - the perfect combination! An evening to remember - thanks the H family and AM (SM, we missed you!) for sharing our special day and making it even more special!! To round of the evening, we headed over to Mahjong night with another group of friends - seems like it's been ages since I've played, I really miss playing regularly!! Sunday - another dinner - this time a farewell for DH - he'll be missed here in Suzhou, but I'm so glad he's going back to his family in Peoria!! Absolutely packed weekend - nothing like what I should have planned, but great fun, nevertheless!! Happy Birthday once more, Ajey!!

Hard to believe, but the next weekend was even crazier! The fun started on Friday night with Quiz Night at Dulwich!! Our team this time was fairly mixed - 2 Americans, 1 Brit, 1 Japanese and 2 Indians - win-win all around!!! The questions are simply all over the place though - some fairly straightforward, some a little more tricky! My favorite of the evening - In which body of water can the Islets of Langerhans be found?? Hmm, Scandinavian sounding name, maybe somewhere in Norway, Denmark - has to be somewhere North - Arctic Sea, Bering Sea...??? What do you think, any guesses?? If you named any sea anywhere in the world - you would be absolutely wrong!!! Islets of Langerhans are part of the pancreas in the human body - high school biology, anyone!! It's one of those - you know that you knew it after you hear the answer!! Fun, fun, fun!! Needless to say, we did not win - we were nowhere close - but it's all in the playing, right?!! Too bad we didn't take any pictures!!

As forecast, Rugby Day dawned bright and sunny - not!! It was overcast, and grey and raining incessantly - I was hoping that they would announce a rain day and postpone the tournament - what I didn't know, rain apparently makes rugby even more fun, so no postponements! The morning was the kids tournaments, a total of 12 teams - few from Suzhou, some from Shanghai and even Nanjing. I was slowly beginning to understand that this was a serious tournament, and not just some friendly games - just what exactly have I signed up for?!! Manasi's team did really well - in fact, they remained unbeaten and went on to win the Gold!! A lion's share of the credit must go to the boys on her team who have been playing rugby regularly for the last couple of years - but still, a gold medal is a gold medal, and winning is sweet!! Go, Manasi!!

As the morning progressed - no sign of the rain letting up - the teams for the afternoon games started arriving. Real rugby teams - with real uniforms and real rugby players!! Seriously, just the sight of them was enough to turn my knees to jelly!! The first team that we played was from Shanghai - and they simply steam-rolled us! We had no idea what hit us - all our training (rolling eyes) flew out the window!! Not a pretty sight!! The only consolation we had was that this team went on to win the whole thing - so losing 8-0 was really not bad!! It got better though - no, no, we didn't win, that would have required a miracle - we just lost better! From 8-0, to 4-0, to 2-0 and then finally 2-1!! The grass was slippery from all the rain - the men all wore cleats, but us women with our sneakers kept sliding all over the place! Couple of nasty tumbles, but luckily no serious injuries!! To my surprise, I had a wonderful time - rain and all! Strange as it may sound, there's nothing like losing dismally to build team spirit and camaraderie!!

That's the weekends - but I should have had more than enough time to finish my Japan blogs, you would think! Well, I started a new project - any new project, I kind of go a little crazy in the beginning, spending every possible waking minute on it - and this one has been no exception! This blanket wasn't really planned, but I stumbled across this gorgeous design on a blog - and when a trip to Wuxi flea market was planned with my friends, why, it was almost like the universe wanted me to make my own rainbow blanket!! 100 rmb and 12 yarn colors later, I'm well on my way! Most of my other projects are in sober, muted colors - ok, ok, maybe even a bit boring - this explosion of color is a little hard to handle. Also, I've been obsessing about color combinations a bit too much - I'm sure a little randomness wouldn't hurt - but it's so hard to give up control!! Here's a picture of the progress so far...

And the other thing that has been consuming me? Yes, a new series of books - after all the hoopla surrounding the new season of Game of Thrones, I picked up the first book in the series from the library. Instant addiction. The series is called 'Song of Fire and Ice', and 'Game of Thrones' is actually the first book - I've gone through the first 4 in record time, and am almost done with the 5th - eagerly awaiting the release of the last two!! I'm utterly spell bound - it's been a long, long time since I've lost myself so completely in a book!! I'm almost sure I'll get around to posting my thoughts on the series sometime soon - so watch for it on 'Have blog, will write'!

So now that I'm almost done with 'Dance of Dragons' and my initial new project fervour has settled down into a more steady rhythm, I'm going to finish up my Japan blogs - quite a few stories left to be told! The month of May promises to be as exciting as April was, so lot more updates coming your way! Stay tuned!