Cousins!

Rigby and Sue brought Ryan and Leigh to visit us for the first time.  It was amazing to be with them again.  They came up in taxis from Delhi with other friends from Waverley.  They were so excited to see the sights that they drove the whole way with their heads out of the windows.  We met them at the taxi stand.  They all tumbled out of the car with soot-covered faces. We had such a good laugh.  With them was a young girl, Alison Francis who was from Hout Bay.  She had come to help us for six months.

Wilf the carpenter made a doll’s house for the girls and sent it with Sue.  Rig also bought us a video camera and we were able to film them opening their many gifts.  They had almost forgotten they had relatives.   They were very excited and there were many sweets and strange looking goodies all over the place.  It was fun to watch them being spoilt rotten.

Tony took the guys on a prayer hike up to the source of the Ganga.  Jason had just been baptised in the little river down the hill from us.  A few days later he had his appendix removed.   The hike was a week later and we were praying that he would be well enough to go.  He seemed fine and they set off on their ten hour drive to Gomukh and spent the night there.  They hiked off the next day.  Jason woke up with chronic food poisoning.  He walked until he was almost crawling.  He wanted to die right there on that mountain.  Tony told him that wasn’t an option so he rode on a mule to the next stop.   He stayed there while they went up to Gangotri which was 10,250 feet above sea level.  They picked him up on the way down and drove ten hours along winding mountain roads back to Mussoorie.

Sisters!

It was so nice having visitors.  We had fun showing them around Mussoorie and introducing them to our new friends.  Saying goodbye was hard.  I was glad Ali stayed behind with us.

When Sue got home, she showed Wilf and Val the video of the girls opening their presents.  It was only then that their hearts were settled about us being in India.  They could see where we lived and were relieved to see that the girls were healthy and happy.  The only thing Val had a problem with was how the girls sounded.   She had tears in her eyes when she said, “Sue, please can you ask Lin to do something about the girl’s accents?  They sound like little Indian kids.”   We had a good laugh.  What accents did she expect them to have?  Chinese?