Life with Kunjal

7 years 3 months.

2011-11-29T09:59:00.001+09:00

The month of november is already here. Only one month to go before the year ends.

In school Kunjal is learning about air. They are doing lots of experiments to know more about its properties.

Writing journal on their findings about air.(Taken from 2nd grade blog)

Kunjal's experimenting with primary and secondary colours in art class.

(Photo from GSIS website)

Leaf painting done at school. (from GSIS website)

This month we had been to lantern festival in Seoul's Cheongyechon stream.The lanterns based on Korean cultural theme was placed all over the 2km stretch of the stream.

It was a great experience.

Kunjal and Manan crossing the stream and playing with water.

On 20th of this month there was Christmas bajar in her school. Kunjal got her hand painted and nailart done. She also decorated cup cakes with her friends. We bought few books nd accessories and ate the yummy food in cafeteria.

Getting her nails decorated by a 3rd grader.See the dedication with which she is doing it.

Kunjalwith Rebecca and China.

Cup cake decoration with Claire.

Kunjal with her teacher Mrs Weise(on right) and Cheena's mom.(on left)

Hand painting by high schooler.

The same day in the evening we went for a overnight stay in yangjae pine resort. We spent a great time along with our friends. Kunjal had her friends Manan, Adi to play with.

Kunjal and Manan showing their drawing skills.

So how is it??

Kunjal was very happy to be able to feed little Adi . She did with full passion and didn't give up untill the guy finished his share of bread.

Our group near the entrance of the resort. Seen here from left are Shagun with Adi, Shruti, Vardhaman, Rohit, Vijay , Sidhant ,Swapna,Rajesh , Manan , Chandra,Kumar and Kunjal.

First snow of the season so what its artificial!! The snow was sprayed artifically on the ski track at Yangji ski resort.

7 years 2 months.

2011-10-30T10:45:00.003+09:00

Finally much awaited october is here. This month we had a wonderful time celebrating diwali and enjoying the autumn .

On 23rd of oct Diwali was celebrated at Bucheon Catholic university hall. There was a strong audience of 500 people this time. Kunjal participated in two events . The fancy dress parade and dance.

Kunjal dressed as Ramayan character Kaushalya(Lord Ram's mother) in the fancy dress show which had Ramayana theme.

On the stage with other participants.

The kids of suwon danced on the recent bollywood songs . They practiced for one month. Every week on alternate days we used to meet at one of our houses for practice. The kids played, had fun together and so did the mothers.

Here is the link of their dance.

The group together (from left Neha , Gautham, Harshit, Manan and Kunjal.)

The cute moves on the stage by the kids.

Prize ceremony . They were happy to receive the gift coupons.

Finally the diwali event was a great sucess. We enjoyed thoroughly.

This is Kunjal's rangoli which she made for the Rangoli event.

On 26th the real diwali day we celebrated and bursted crackers with few of our friends in Suwon.

Kunjal bursted lots of crackers with her friends. Seen here with Gautham and Shravya.

Kunjal also received the certificate for finishing her AR goal in the first semester.

Great job dear.

This month we had been to some parks to enjoy the last autumn colours and foilage.

At Manseok park near Suwon.

At Ilsan lake park in seoul.

7 years 1 month.

2011-09-29T10:44:00.000+09:00

September is here. Kunjal successfully passed her first month in 2nd grade. She just loves her teacher Mrs Weise .

This month we are busy like every year with our diwali preparations. Kunjal is doing a group dance along with her friends and I am busy with my dance. Kumar is busy with organising diwali event.
Every weekend we go around attending diwali meetings and seeing halls for diwali around seoul and vicintiy.

Not much updates and pictures this month.

This picture of Kunjal's was taken on Chusok day in Korean tradtional dress Hanbok.

Chusok is Korean thanksgiving festival.

At one of the Universities where we went to look for diwali hall.

Few of us ladies participated in a multicultural dance show in Seoul. Kunjal and Manan were so bored waiting for the show to be over that by the time we received our prize they were all in tears.

7 years.

2011-08-29T09:38:00.001+09:00

The summer vacations are on here. Its the hottest part of the year. On 1st August we were at Busan , the southern most end of Korea. Behind is our Pension located next to Songjeong beach. We had been there with Kaushani, her parents Nilanjan and Kasturi and Naveen and Nishi .

Beaches can be fun anytime .

Creativity with sand and toys.

Next day we went to the most famous beach of Busan, the Haeundae beach.

At Haeundae beach.

These new buildings are under construction very near to the Haeundae beach.

This train took us to the heights of Taejongdae observation deck, another major attraction of Busan.
The sea as seen from the Taejongdae .

On 8th of August Kunjal's school re opened. There were few new faces in the new class as well as some of her old classmates left the school. We accompanied her on the first day.

Ready for the first day of school as a 2nd grader.

Grade 2 classroom.

The 2nd graders . There are some new faces where as Sasha , Simon and Giyun left .

On 15th of august we celebrated the Independence day here with other Indians. There were many games to play followed by Indian snacks .

Ready to sing the anthem.

Here's our flag on iphone.

The kids had fun with all different kinds of games.

There were fun games for grown ups tooo.

Kunjal's 7th birthday..

2011-08-15T12:16:00.000+09:00

Our little angel crossed one more year of her life. She is 7 years now.

This year's birthday we celebrated in a different way . It was only between three of us and everything was done according to her wish.

On 5th morning we received a parcel from her dida(grandmother) and mashi.

They sent 4 pairs of dresses , bag and lots of candies. She was very happy .

In the evening she shopped for her favourite toy, the rabbit which can jump walk and eat carrot .

The gifts she received on the birthday.

We thought of giving Kunjal a surprise and took her to the science museum in seoul .

The lunch menu was chosen by her .

It was her favourite Pasta and Pizza at Nilli's.

Kunjal selected this cute ice cream cake and on right side is her birthday gift the bunny.

The celebrations extended till next weekend and we had been to Carribean bay , the water resort .

Kunjal was very excited and we played all day long .

The school re opened on 8th of August. Kunjal took donuts on that day to celebrate with her friends at school.

6 years 11 months.

2011-07-30T12:57:00.002+09:00

This month we had been through a very very special event. The President of India

Smt.PratibhaPatil was on visit to Korea and she visited the Samsung electronics campus on 26th of July
The authorities assigned Kumar to be the representative from computer division and Kunjal was
selected to welcome the President .

The Samsung group ready to welcome the President.

Due to high security reasons no personal cameras were allowed . The pics have been collected from newspapers and local media sources.

Here is she asking Kunjal her name.

Kumar explaining about the latest laptops and computers .

The gift she received from President Pratibha Patil. Its a box full of Feraro Rocher choclates.

Its been raining almost non stop since mid of june and shows no signs of stopping any sooner.
Kunjal is running out of options to keep herself entertained indoors. Its getting boring now.

Making mango ice creams. She can manage the whole process herself .

While parents are bowling the kids are busy playing.

The IIK team cricket match against Australian team at Sungkyungwan University .

Enjoying the game in the shade with Ladies

This month we also had been to Daechon mud festival like every year.

Kunjal , Manan and Doniv playing in the sand.

6 years 10 months

2011-06-28T14:11:00.001+09:00

This is the month of June. The vacations have started from 4th of this month.
My friend is here and Kunjal is having good time with Mehul .(my friend's three year old son)

Rupa Mehul and Suman at Kunjal's school.

The little guy is so adorable and cute. They do fight sometimes but soon they are good friends and Kunjal likes to play a responsible big sister.

Soon the good times came to an end and on 12th of june my friend left for India. Kunjal was really sad and upset . For the first time I realized the importance of having a sibling.

Now mom have to plan something to spend these 2months in more productive way.

To cheer her up we planned to visit KIDZANIA , a roleplay theme park made for kids. There are many professions to choose from and must say it was sucha great place.

Her friends Rebecca Rachel and Sasha also came along with their mommies .

Making the Gana choclate at Lotte's chocolate factory.

The painter ready to paint the walls.

It was great painting a boy's nails.

Learning some vanishing tricks from magicians.

Dressing up to go inside the diary to make cheeze.

Filling up the donuts at Dunkin donuts factory.

The lotteria Pizza that Kunjal made here was our lunch that day. I must say it was agreat experience eating a pizza made by my Kunjal.

Learning photography tricks from the Sony team.

Finally the friends together having funtime inside jail.

Kunjal have recieved this certificate from her ballet class.

6 years 9 months.

2011-05-29T10:21:00.002+09:00

Here is the last month of Kunjal's first year of school. She is about to complete grade 1 this month.I cant belie e how fast the year went over. There were lots of activities this month.

The month begin with dress your character day. Kunjal dressed as her favourite Hello kitty.

She had two dance performances at school . We were too busy reharsing the steps and preparing the costume.

On 14th the International festival day was celebrated in which Kunjal performed on a traditional folk song bihure logon.

This pic of hers taken by Olivia(Kunjal's classmate) mom.

Kunjal with Gautham, Navodit, Nirupam at her school fest.

Me and Kunjal in traditional costumes ready to participate in fashion show.

She danced well and even we had a great time watching things and eating food from different countries.

The much awaited school sleepover that she earned by reading 130 books was also this month.

Kunjal was very excited to be with her friends all night and play in the school.Kunjal was confident enough to manage on her own . We stayed in the school till 7 pm and came back.

Morning during breakfast when we went to pick her up she was all in tears missing her home and parents.

This was the first time she stayed overnight alone without us. May be it made her feel so sad .

On 25th of May there was talent show in her school .Kunjal had given an Indian dance performance in that .

Kunjal waiting for her performance

She danced on a folk number Jhun jhun moina.

The end of this month we had the most important event of this month.

Kunjal had school end concert in which she received academic excellence award in Korean .

All the happy faces on the stage.

These eight students received the award from grade 1 for different subjects.

I am delighted and overwhelmed to see my little princess receiving award .Keep it up darling.

The first graders song for the concert.

On 27th my friend from India came with her family.Kunjal was quite excited and felt very happy to meet her three years old son. For next 14 days she had a great companion.

6 year 8 months

2011-04-29T09:15:00.001+09:00

Spring is in the air. The cherry blossoms are all around but the month of April was quite hectic for us. Kunjal had received a goal of reading 130 books within 30 days as a part of reading challange. The students who finishes the goal are invited for the sleep over at school.

The reading challenge book shows the goal .

The last page!! . Finally by the end of this month Kunjal was able to finish reading all the books .

Every night Kunjal read around 10 books . Since her reading level is high ,the books she can choose had around 250 to 500 words and reading ten books every day was more than a task for such a small child.

The attraction of sleepover made her endure the pain and reach the goal .

With her classmate Cheena at Kyunghee university.

Mamma's birthday celebration.

Kunjal gave all her pocket money to me in a nice well decorated purse as a birthday present.

Having dessert after the birthday lunch.(we had duck barbeque course meal)

On 23rd of this month there was a barbeque party at Kunjal's school . We had great dinner there along with other moms and kids.

Kunjal and her classmates watching performances while having food.

Me and Swapna also had good time eating all the yummy food.

This month I was invited by Kunjal's class to give a lecture on Indian culture. The kids made this nice card as a token of love from them.

6 years 7 months.

2011-03-29T14:32:00.001+09:00

The tooth fairy story :- This month Kunjal lost two of her precious incissors one after the other. She had learnt that tooth fairies give money if you keep the tooth under the pillow and sleep.

She did that with great excitement and Kumar kept 2000won under her pillow. Morning she received the money and was quite happy but in the night she started asking questions whether the tooth fairy really arrived.Kumar gave in finally and told her the truth.

She had one more tooth and she said today I am going to keep it under the pillow and only tooth fairy should give me the money not you.

No wonder she didnt receive anything .She said so now I am sure now that there is no tooth fairy.

Learning about different country and cultures

This semester results were explained to the parents through student led conferences.

Kunjal tried her best explaining which areas she has done well and what are the things she needs to improve.

The kids worked hard for a week to make their portfolios and understanding things on how to lead the conference with parents.

Kunjal explaining her semester reports to us. (In the picture :MS Arias, her class teacher along with us)

The cosy corner of Kunjal's classroom. She is found reading books in this area most of the time.

Learning about temperature. The kids made thermometer .

The students ready to measure the school field with yard stick . Another part of learning about measurement.

This month we had been to Donguk university to be a part of holi celebration. Kunjal was little scared to see all the colourful people playing wildly with colours.Later she did enjoy when she involved herself into it.

Holi celebration at DONGGUK University.(from L: Vardhama, Shruti, Rashmi Gupta , Chandra and Kunjal)

There was a weeklong spring break this month.

Kunjal and Sasha together decorating cup cakes .

6 years 6 months.

2011-02-27T20:49:00.004+09:00

The first month of this year 2011 is also over. February is here.

This month Kunjal had a week long holidays for the korean new year.

During this time almost all shops, offices, schools are closed for 3 days . But since Papa went to office and we could not go out in cold winter , Kunjal and me did a lot of innovative things at home.

Making a garden with claydough.

Final result. The clay garden.

This winter we didnt go to any ski resorts . So to compensate we went to a sledging area nearby . The place had 3 sledging slopes. The weather was not cold and we all enjoyed a lot.

Satisfied Kunjal after all the sledging and snow fun she had.

At school Kunjal is studying about maps . Her favourite past time these days is to search the Google earth and find new places. We have bought an atlas for her. She likes to test our geographical knowledge about capitals of all unknown countries .

Kunjal at work in school . Knowing more about maps.

Learning about the weight volume and capacity.

The kids busy finding out more about Gallon pint and cups.

6 years 5months.

2011-01-27T09:10:00.000+09:00

Happy new year. Welcome 2011

This new year we celebrated in India with the family.. .Kunjal had a great time with her cousins and watching doraemon on tv.

Kunjal with Khushi .Playing big sister role.

At Rosevalley amusement park.

Our group set to celebrate the new year.

The two little cousins of Kunjal.

Kunjal with her grandma and Anay.

Kunjal and Khushi with their kiddo uncles.( They are Kumar's cousins)

We came back to Korea on 8th of Jan. Korea is as cold and white just as it was when we left .

On 22nd we went to Lotte world along with Partha uncle and Lipika aunty.

Inside Lotte world Korean museum.

We very much enjoyed the lotte indoor amusement park .

Kunjal clicked this picture for us on anniversary day while having tak kalbi(chicken dish)

All the kids of Grade I in North american masks which they made in Art class (Gsis art class)

Kunjal and Hanah at work in school . They are checking the moon's surface while learning about Universe.(Photo from GSIS )

Finding out on how moon shines.

This month Kunjal learnt a lot about earth moon and other planets. The kids learnt about constellation and planets .Also Kunjal explained me why earth is so precious and different from other planets. She also told me that moon shines because of Sun .

This month we had some homesickness initially since our vacation was shorter than previous years but slowly we have overcome and now Kunjal is also having great time at school.

6 years 4 months.

2010-12-24T12:34:00.013+09:00

The month of december was full of fun right from the beginning.

Kunjal was busy preparing for christmas concert at school. I was busy preparing for our India vacation trip.

On christmas bazar day we met Santa right at the entrance.

Kunjal and Sasha making christmas decorations.

Cheena and Kunjal got some painting done on face and hands.

On 11th of December there was christmas bazar at her shcool . Kunjal had a great time at school decorating the cookies, playing games and making own christmas decorations with her friends.

Sasha and Kunjal checking out their magic pens bought from a stall.

Cookies being decorated with cream and jelly beans. yummm.

We had lunch in the caffeteria of the school .

we bought some books and decorations from the different stalls put up by the teachers and parents.

On 15th of december they had christmas concert at school. The first graders sang 3 carols and Kunjal was so much into the songs that she kept practicing them all the time at home.We also almost memorized the songs that she was going to sing that day.

The kids all set to perform

These paintings of first graders were on display inside the auditorium.

Rainsticks made by the first graders.

The elementary section of GSIS together.

The principal along with the students ( check out the expressions!!)

The show put up by the elementary school kids all together was awsome. We really could feel the dedication and hardwork kids have done all those days .

On 18th of december we left for our much awaited vacation . First to Malaysia for three days and then to India.

The warm weather in Malaysia was such a relief from the cold winters in Korea.

Our hotel lobby.

Kunjal lazing around while mom is busy checking clothes.

At batu caves.

Ready to play .

The famous Malaysia's twin towers.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and Kunjal just feasted on yummy mangoes all the three days soo much that she named Malaysia as mango country.

At the Mahamariam temple near our hotel.

We had a 8 hours of waiting at Bangkok airport.We had fun looking around the airport and having the delicious tom yum soup of thai.

Bangkok airport.

Nothing can beat the yum yum tomyum soup. Its just the best.

We reached our hometown on 21st . Having a great time in India.

6 years 3 months.

2010-11-30T10:24:00.010+09:00

This month of November and the past month we all were quite busy with diwali preparations. Kunjal had a very busy schedule. After coming home around 3:30 from school she had ballet classes till 6 and then after dinner she used to practice for her performance with Gautham till 8:30 or 9 pm.

It was indeed tiring for such small kids but they completely cooperated and danced well to the tune of ZOOBI DOOBI.

Final day reharsal at Gautham's house.

The moves on the stage.

Proud to receive prize from 2nd ambassador's wife on diwali day.

Kids sitting quietly and enjoying the performances of adults.

The colours of autumn at suwon art center.

The otherbig event of this month is that Kunjal lost her two front teeth .

The toothless smile of little fairy.

Kunjal displaying the clay sheep that she made in clay art class in school

The 3D model of solar system that she made in the class.

The kids searched all the information about solar system from internet and library books and made a nice journal about different planets , their colour size etc.

The parents were invited to school to show what they learnt . It was great to see the model Kunjal made and also knowing the things she learnt through the process.

At Nidhi's first birthday party.(seen here Tanvi Kunjal and Rohan with Zaheed uncle carrying the birthday girl)

The same night of Nidhi's birthday we crazily planned to see sunrise at Gyeongpodae beach 300kms away from Suwon. So few of us together left around 3 am for the destination and reached around 5:30 am only to be greeted by a cloudy morning. It was quite cold near the beach still we had our breakfast there, spent some time and then headed for home.

Horse riding at the beach early in the morning.

Left to right Jagdeesh, Dwarka Rakesh Naveen Nishi Chandra and Kunjal.

Kunjal happy to be near the beach even in a chilled morning.

6 years 2 months

2010-10-29T21:42:00.006+09:00

This month Kunjal celebrated Korean culture week in school for 4 days. It was a great experience for her to know about korean food and culture.

She went in Hanbok(traditional dress of Koreans) to school and performed .

This month also we had been to Seoul amusement park from Samsung . The kids went along with samsung volunteers to enjoy the rides while we went around with other kids. Kunjal enjoyed to her core and she also went to different thrilling rides which we avoid usually.

It was a great fun day.

Few days back the high school music teacher of her school died of heart attack . The school had a memorial service inside the school cafeteria for parents and kids. Kunjal heard that he died of heart attack and that he is now with God.

Her questions started what is heart attack. I told her its when your heart stops working

Kunjal -- and then one dies? I told yes. She kept asking how he went to God by ambulance or by special car. I told her litle details about cremation and that its ur soul which goes to God.

I dont know what she could make out of all these but she started crying inconsolably . I felt like fool for giving her such detailed information which she could not handle. Any way after 3 rounds of her favourite cd program she forgot about things and finally went tosleep.

At Pyeongtaek lake park .

6 years 1 month

2010-09-30T18:33:00.001+09:00

September also just breezed over .

This month she started having swimming classes at school . Best part is she can change her clothes take shower and then again dress up all by herself.

Kunjal is marked as a curious student by her teacher.

She chose the story telling class for after school activity.They illustrate and also write about the story they read. So overall its a great fun time.

At the art class in school painting the night sky.(photo courtesy GSIS ART webpage)

In school right now they are learning about the rights and responsibilities of them at school and home. She took the responsibility of cleaning her room every day and watering the plants at home. They also made a journal together in the class about how to be a responsible citizen.

Cleaning up time. Lets take out the vaccum cleaner.

Watering plants. Favourite activity of hers.
Creativity by Kunjal . Writing with I- Clay.

6 years

2010-08-29T11:50:00.001+09:00

The month of August was quite a handful. Lots of things happened .
Kunjal started going to Gyeonggi suwon international school from 9th of this month. The first day we accompanied her . Most of the kids were new to that school (except a few who came from kindergarten of same school). The schools timings are quite long from 8 am to 3:05 pm . She leaves home by 7:50am.

First day at the entrance lobby

Inside the classroom with Ms Melinda Arias( her class teacher)

The pictures of all 21 classmates of Kunjal on display board.

First day over happily.

Within a week she made two new friends .One Japanese girl named China and a cute Korean boy named Joseph who also comes back from school along with Kunjal.

he is still missing her old school and friends but new school seems exciting as she has music ,art ,gym korean and swimming lessons .

On 24th we had a parents meeting with the teacher and PTA meeting.

Inside the classroom with her classmate Vishal.

Kunjal giving us details about her classroom.

With the Headmaster of the school Mr Penland.

Kunjal also helped in the lotteries during a game in PTA meeting.

On 28th of this month we went to camping at Gangwon do . It was first time that we spent overnight in the tent .Kunjal was too excited to sleep inside the tent whole night in the middle of mountain and hearing the stream passing by.

Satisfactory smile after getting favourite ice cream at the rest area.

Sharing with Rohan.
We are all busy eating lunch while Kunjal busy posing for the camera.

Good morning!!
Her dolls also had a great night out with us.

Time to say good bye . Ready to go back home.

This month one more important event was the celebration of independence day in suwon.

All kids dressed as different freedom fighters participated in fancy dress. We also had many other events.Kunjal dressed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh the famous freedom fighter.

Bhagat Singh on stage.
All the kids together.

One more month passed. Our little princess has crossed one more year of her life. Hope the next year also brings lots of happiness and joy for her.

Kunjal's 6th birthday.

2010-08-17T10:00:00.000+09:00

Kunjal is now 6 years old. This 6th year of her life brought a new chapter . She is now in the GS inernational school . No more a kindergartener. Now 1st grader.

This year we celebrated her birthday three times.The day 6th august begin with a surprise parcel from her aunt(mashi) She sent her favourite choclates and a very cute dress.
On 6th of august We went to ONE school to celebrate birthday with her friends and say good bye for one last time.

Jian was soo happy to see Kunjal that she almost lifted her.

The kids at Kunjal's class were very happy to see Kunjal.

The best of friends together( Jian Kunjal Raina, Danny)
Ear pulling ceremony by boys.

Cutting the cake with Rebecca.
Having the cake together.
I could see the sadness and pain in Kunjal's eyes when she was saying goodbye to her friends. But thats life!! We need to move on....

The next was on 7th of august at our home . This time we had all our friends there to bless her.

Birthday girl in birthday dress.

Checking the cake with friends.

Cake cutting time.

Recieving gift from friends.

Play time.

The birthday food.
We had a great time with all our friends .

On saturday the 14th we had a small lunch get toghether with some of our close friends.

Lunch time.

The menu for the party.

We went to Kyunghee university for a walk.

Played bowling with friends.

Kunjal was playing video games while we were busy with bowling.

Cake cutting time .
Kunjal is wearing the dress sent by her Mashi . Thank you for such a pretty dress.

The birthday celebration kept going almost for two weeks. We had a great time with all our friends. Thanks for coming and blessing our Kunjal. Blessing from Ma and Papa too.

5 years 11 months.

2010-07-30T09:04:00.001+09:00

The month of July is already here One more month to go for Kunjal's birthday and her countdown begin already.
This month we had been to the mudfestival in daechon. The weather was good and Kunjal played a lot along with her other friends.

Inside the bus Kunjal giving self introduction.
The muddy pack made Kunjal so scared that she was not ready to come anywhere near us.

On 8th of july it was parents observation day at Kunjal's school . The kids had been prepared for a short play on farm . It was really nice to see these small kids remembering their dialogues and telling them so well. Kunjal had memorized the full play and she kept doing at home this full month.

Singing the song together. from left to right( Danny, Jian, Daniel, Andy, Stephanie, Alvin , Kunjal , Ryan, Alex, Raina)

Meet Kunjal the bunny.

The bunny along with other farm animals waiting for the play to start.

Kunjal with ELIN (her most fav of the korean teachers)

With Rebecca, her class teacher.

We also had been to a camping site this month. The place was around 15 kms from our home .

Kunjal trying the roasted pork .

Camping time.

This month's the big surprise rather shock for Kunjal was her change of school. We took a sudden decision of putting her to International school grade 1 on july end . We were late in taking decision because of her age. She was born on the last date of their cut out age for that grade.Finally thought its better to be youngest in the class rather than losing on one year. Everything was settled down in a week and from the first week of August Kunjal will be a biggg first grader!!

During summer vacation in july end Kunjal was invited by her best friends to spend a day in the play time and hv lunch together.

(Seen here are Joel and her sister , Alvin and Jian with Kunjal.)

She is missing her ONE school and her best friends with whom she spent almost 2 and half years of her kindergarten life.

5years 10 months.

2010-06-29T09:26:00.000+09:00

The summer months are finally here . This month Kunjal has started swimming classes in YMCA . The class was quite a fun time for her as she loves to be in water. She is the last one to get out of the pool everyday.

Infront of the indoor pool at YMCA.
Getting ready to get into the pool.

Latest news is now she can float for sometime with the help of float.

Kunjal skating at the dongtan park inline skating rink. The skating area is quite huge and perfect for all level of learners.

Beautiful colours of spring .

Gwanggyosan park in suwon.

World cup fever has gripped whole Korea these days. Everyone is wearing red tshirts and the devil hairband to show their support for Korean soccer team .

Kunjal is also quite aware of matches and she tries to understand the rules of the game. These kids talk and discuss soccer at school too and Kunjal brings all the updates she learnt from her friends.

The little red devil supporting Korea in worldcup .

Kunjal has started writing on her own these days. These days she is in addiction with farmville games has written a small story on the farm. It was quite good (a few spelling mistakes can be ignored) She loves to write and keeps on writing small notes about her friends , toys and mom.
Guess its time to buy her a diary where she can write her heart out.

woosh !!! such a long leap from all those white board scribbles to a well formed story. Good job dear!! Mamma is so proud of you .

Kunjal's first story

One more new thing of this month is the introduction of hers to the farmville games. She learnt it from her teacher Rebecca who was teaching about farm this month. No wonder within a week Kunjal has become expert player and she is spreading this addiction to her father and other uncles and aunts. . Thanks to them she now has more than ten neighbours.

Kunjal caught playing farmville.

5years 9 months.

2010-05-30T10:37:00.000+09:00

On 5th of may was children's day in korea. Like every year we went to samsung campus on 2nd of may for childrens day celebration. This time Kunjal and mom were sick and couldnot enjoy much. Still it didnt stop Kunjal from doing face painting and playing with water.

The water fountain Kunjal just played for a few minutes this time.

Hand painting this time.

Children day card from school .

On 3rd of may we had farewell at our place for Navodit and Nirupam the two best buddies of Kunjal.

we all had a great time with all the kids in suwon after long time and yes Kunjal is still missing Navodit and Nirupam.
Readyto pose together.

The card that all the kids made together for Navodit and Nirupam.

Food prepared by all mothers together.

On parent's day Kunjal brought a cute card with a note written by her.

A parents day card with a cute note from Kunjal.

On ballet front Kunjal is now into ballet academy. The academy trains kids to become professional ballerinas. She has now classes three days a week and a bus comes to pick her up and drop her at home so I dont need to accompany her anymore for the classes as it was in YWCA classes.

Kunjal is little disturbed as she is missing her old teacher and her batch mates with whom she learnt for almost 2 years. The teacher here is much more serious and strict when it comes to stretching and taking right postures.( will be posting the pics soon!!)

At Mangol park near yongin. The huge network of slides was more than a treat for her. She was not ready to come out.

The water tempting but still cold.

This month we also had been to a 2 days trip to Yongwol with our friends., a county in northern part of Korea.

At rest area. See the magical tap behind.

Kunjal showing her skills in hoopla .

The pension that we had reserved for 2 days.

Kunjal was out of patience during the lengthy photo shoot at a place where one can see the island shaped like korea peninsula.

Thats the island behind and see Kunjal's face.

We also did rafting in Yangwol . We took the moderate course Kunjal was excited but she wanted some more thrill.

Enjoying the rafting.

So finally our princess was happy at the end of the trip.

5 years 8 months.

2010-04-30T09:05:00.003+09:00

The spring season is almost there for its april now.This month we were quite busy showing Dida (granny) all the famous places of korea.
At cheondok palace.
.In front of a traditional costume shop near Cheondok palace.

At Insadong . Kunjal won a candy

shell collecting at jebudo.

At jebudo.

celebrating mamma's birthday.

seoul grand park cable car ride.

With Dida.

Cherry blossoms near yeoido.

At 63 building aquarium

The Imax theater in 63building.

Everland visit.

Fun time in everland.

All of us had lots of fun in everland.

At waujongsa temple.

At the temple entrance.

This month the Goyang flower show wasalso going on in Ilsan. Kunjal was more than happy to see so many flowers and morethan this she enjoyed at the park where she played for long time.

On 29th of april Dida left Korea . Kunjal didnt go to school on that day and we all went to the airport to say good bye. All of us were feeling sad to say good bye as she was here for three long months and we had a very good time with her .

Ready to leave home.

Inside Incheon airport.

On school front , Kunjal is having dictation test every friday. So far she has got all smiling faces and full marks. She has started liking her teacher Rebecca who is very nice and pretty according to her.

This month we bought inline skates for Kunjal. She is also going to a skating class to learn how to skate.

At YMCA skating class.

5 years and 7 months

2010-04-01T10:32:00.011+09:00

Kunjal is now in the Full moon class,the highest level of class in her kindergarten. Her new teacher is Rebecca now but she is still missing her old class teacher.

Also this month on 27th of this month she had her ballet recital , the day for which they have been preparing since december.

This month of march is quite full of activities for all of us.

All set for the recital.

On the stage.
With Shrabani Aunty.

Dida was too impressed with her performance.

With friends.
Thanks to all our friends who came to see hers and Tanvi's recital.

We visited the samsung children's museum in jamshil. The museum was full of scientific wonders and lots of hands on experiments
Putting energy to move the ball higher.

The kids kitchen was quite nice.

Kunjal and Dida in photo session.

Meet the little astronaut.

Lets build a house .

we also visited Paldalmun palace in suwon.

This month we were invited to a Indo-korean wedding of our friend Imtiaz and Sara.

There was also an Indian cultural program at the wedding. Kunjal performed dance alone for the first time in her life.

With the pretty bride Sara.

5 years 6 months.

2010-03-01T22:54:00.000+09:00

This is the month of february and we reached Korea on 7th. Its still quite cold here.

Entering Korea with Dida.(maternal grandmother)
Kunjal is busy with school and ballet class again. In school she is getting ready to go to the next class.

The books I read this year.

In ballet class she is trying her best to make up for the lost one month practice as she has ballet performance on march.

Shopping for the stationaries with Dida.

See what I bought for my new class .

Farewell party for Niyor who left Korea on feb.

At kyung hee university park.

At dongtan park.

How do we look?

Kunjal is surely having fun now as she has someone to play . She also had few holidays this month. From 3rd of March she will be in the next higher class.

5 years 5 months.

2010-02-08T18:00:00.000+09:00

Happy new year 2010!!

The month of january is full of snow here. The weather being exceptionally cold here this time.

On 5th of Jan , korea saw a record snow fall . Kunjal had her winter vacations and no need to say we enjoyed a lot in the snow. Her friend Tanvi also joined us near our appartment and we shared a great time making snowman and playing with snow.

Kunjal and Tanvi enjoying snow.

Making snow man.

Lots of snow all around.

We left for our India vacation on 8th of jan morning. We had a direct flight to Delhi this time.

Inside the flight.

We stayed in delhi for a night and next day reached kolkata where Kunjal joined her grandparents. For next four days she was very happy to keep hopping from one place to another seeing all new attractions and meeting new people.
She was very excited to see the scientific activities and fun things at science city.

Welcome to science city.
Wow the shape of my hands.

Play time with Dadu .

At Nicco park.
The toy train Nicco park.
She wanted to play and stay longer in the park but we had other attractions waiting .

The Dakshineswar temple.

The cathedral church Kolkata..
Victoria memorial Kolkata.

Taking Horse ride near the victoria memorial area in kolkata.

On 15th of jan we took a flight from kolkata to ourhometown and finally reached home.

Kunjal and Khushi attending their parent's anniversary party.

With her cousin Khushi.

Fun time in holidays.

The holidays almost came to an end and on 2ndof feb we started our journey from Agartala.
This time we stayed at my sister's place in Delhi for few days.
Kunjal celebrated her cousin Anay's birthday.

Busy playing.

Celebrating birthday.

With Mashi.

We returned back to korea on 7th of february but this time Kunjal is very happy as her accompanied us to Korea for three months trip.

5years 3/4 months.

2010-01-05T15:51:00.000+09:00

I am writing the updates of november and december together . These two months have been quite eventful .The most important event is the loss of Kunjal's milk teeth. All of a sudden one day she started complaining of her lower teeth being loose. First it was one then two more ofher incissors in lower jaw started moving and she lost them . We could see the permanent teeth peeking behind. To ensure if everything is fine we visited the dentist too.

One tooth gone.

On 12 th of Dec Kunjal's school invited the parents for obeservation. The kids showed us what all they learnt in the second semester.

Tajmahal sketch by Kunjal.

Kunjal along with her classmate.

The kids inside the class room.

Kunjal with Papa and her teacher Beelal.

Inside school cafeteria.

The end of the year was full of fun with Santa's party and year end blast.

Santa like previous years this time too gave her lots of gifts and that too seeing her wish list.

The vaccum cleaner , the beads machine and a book from Santa. she received them at school.

Christmas celebration at Kids activity.

Nishi aunty giving the gifts that Santa chose for them.

The kids cutting the christmas cake.

See my cap,mittens and my new purse.

On 31st of dec we went to a log house far from city to celebrate the new year along with our friends.

At the bowling center on 31st

Kids busy dancing around.

In full action.

we enjoyed the bonfire in the freezing cold weather.

Happy new year .
On the 1st of Jan we visited a ski resort nearby and spent the afternoon there sledging .

At the entrance of ski resort.

Snow fun.

Sledging around.

This year had been a nice one .Lots of fun and joy we shared together. Hope the next year too have lots of good moments in store.

5years 2 months.

2009-10-31T10:58:00.000+09:00

This month of october was too hectic for all of us. The reason being diwali celebration . Every year the Indian community of Korea celebrates diwali and we were all actively involved in it.

Diwali with friends on 18th in suwon.

On 18th we had been to Dongtan park to enjoy the fall weather that is setting in slowly.

Kunjal trying to do rock climbing.

Kunjal and papa in the park.

Beautiful flowers all around and the blue sky on top.

Kunjal had participated in a dance and song for diwali . Every day after school and regular ballet and painting classes they practiced for an hour.

I also participated in a dance but the involvement and dedication Kunjal showed was truly amazing. She practiced at home too whenever she got time.

On 25th of oct we celebrated at Sogang university auditorium in seoul.

Kunjal and her friends performed graciously in front of a crowd of more than 300 people. They also sang a wonderful prayer song . We had a good time over all.

Inside the aduitorium.

Kids enjoying program.

Singing the prayer Humko man ki shakti dena.

Dancing to the tunes of barso re and dholi taro.

Kunjal and other kids participated in the art and craft competion too.

Prize giving by our honourable chief guest.

On 30th they had haloween party in school. She dressed as princess this time.

The face painting done in the school .

On 30 evening we left for 3 days trip to soraksan to see the foilage colours of fall. The weather was rainy there but it couldnt dampen our spirit and we went around sight seeing in the soraksan mountain.

Inside a temple in soraksan national park.

Fun time inside the condomanium.

The wild sea at sokcho.

The foilage colours .

Having tak galbi(chicken barbeque) in a restaurant at sokcho. photo taken by Kunjal.

Kunjal and Navodit plyaing with stickers inside the car.

Way back home.

It was a good month over all. Themonth started with hectic and busy days and ended with a good and relaxing weekend trip.

5 years 1 month.

2009-09-30T09:25:00.000+09:00

This month of september passed off quite nicely and happily. The month started with suwon olympics. Kunjal along with her gang enjoyed to the core during the event.

Ready for bowling.

Spoon marble race just begun.

Eat the biscuit.

Kunjal along with her gang enjoyed to the core during the event. She participated in the games like biscuit race, bowling and spoon marble race. She achieved second position in all of them . But the prize was only for the first so she missed it.

On 12th we went for a 3 days trip to Muju , a small county in the jeolla province of korea.

We plucked apples from apple garden and had fun inthe national park walking in the woods.

Celebrating Nirupam's birthday.Kunjal taking picture with mobile.

Inside the apple garden.

apple plucking.

The kids inside the farmer's truck.

The game crazy kids.They are playing game in the mobile phones .

Fun in the swing.

I am a ballerina too.

See what I got.

The kids busy searching wild flowers.

This month we bought a new car.Heavy heartedly Kunjal said goodbye to the old car but at the same time she was happy for the new one. We kept hopping in the showrooms to look around for the models. Kunjal's only demand was the sunroof.

Good bye Avante.

Hello I30. Kunjal is very happy about the sunroof.

Papa and Kunjal ready for ride.

This month in kids activity at Maitryee aunty's house the kids learnt about money and shopped at the pretend shop. It was lots of fun for them. Kunjal was ready to shop end number of times.

Buying things at Suma aunty's shop.

Paying money.

Kunjal has improved a lot in painting . She can manage alone with water colours and also she can copy images almost to accuracy .

Drawing the hello kitty.

5 years .

2009-08-31T21:18:00.000+09:00

This month of august Kunjal has completed five years.

The month was full of many kinds of activities. On 2nd of august we went to a water park at Ttueksom resort han river park. She played a lot with water and also took part in watergun fight .

On 6th she celebrated her birthday . She was happy to get so many gifts . Papa again bought her some of her favourite toys on saturday.

The gifts by Papa.

Making her own stickers.

Kunjal thinks that with every birthday celebrated she turns one year older. If we can celebrate her birthday two or three times a year then she can grow up real fast and soon become onni( elder sister in korean) In korea age really does matter and the elder person generally have the last say and all has to obey.

On sunday 8th we had been to Deepak uncle's house. There she again cut the cake and she was so happy that she started telling that she is now 6 years old!!( two birthdays in a week)

Ready to cut the cake again.
Happy birthday Kunjal.

On 15th of this month we went to Naksan beach with our suwon group . The bus journey to Naksan was quite long because of bad weekend traffic but the kids kept shouting jumping and playing insie the bus for seven long hours.

Inside the bus sharing together.

Fun in the sea

With ajjashi.

Way back home all tired.

Kunjal was down with throat infection and high fever this month . Her fever was there for almost three days . The scare of swine flu and her symptoms really made us scared. Every passing day was like a nightmare. But on the third day the fever went down and she started recovering.

Kunjal played with clay whenever she felt little better.

The clay models she made.

Kunjal these days asks questions which we also have no answers some times.

She is getting aware of her existence and wants more clarification on topics like :-

Was I a girl by birth or slowly after birth I changed to a girl ? Then the next question was who decided that I should be born as a girl ? Was that you or papa?

Her father asked " Don't you like being a girl?"

Kunjal replied ' "Yes I love being a girl . I can wear princess dress and twirl and dance . I can wear my tiara and ear rings. Boys cant do that."

Thanks for making me a girl!!!

woooooooooo so many questions. I guess there are more to come .

This month on 27th she celebrated her birthday again in the school.Kunjal wore her tiara, necklace and bracelet to school . She was very happy to get all the gifts .

With all the gifts from her classmates.

This month passed off happily . Our dear Kunjal is fit and fine now and back to all the acitivities that keeps us lively and happy.

kunjal's fifth birthday.6th august 2009

2009-08-11T20:32:00.011+09:00

On 6th of this month we celebrated birthday of our little princess.

The princess ready for the party.

wow my cake!!

Cake cutting with mummy.

How is my wand?

Pooja conducting the bingo game.

All busy playing.

Kunjal giving gifts to the winners.

The kids busy playing.

Anant trying to figure out the cube puzzle.

Navodit and Tanvi busy with the computer.

Niyor trying to bottle feed the baby doll.

Kunjal opening the gifts with Anjali aunty and her friends.

The lunch.

The sweet dishes .

Jumping on the bed .

We had lots of fun with all our friends that day.

I would like to thank you all for being there and for all your lovely gifts. Special thanks to Shrabani and Maitryee who have captured these moments on the camera.

4years 11 months.

2009-07-30T13:59:00.000+09:00

This is the month of july and Kunjal is counting days for her 5th birthday.

On 3rd of this month we had been to the biggest water park of korea , carribean bay. Itwas lots of fun.Kunjal was more than happy enjoy so many kinds of water sports for more than 5 hours.

Lets go inside the carribean bay.

The lazy river,where we played for more than an hour.

This month there was parents observation at Kunjal's school. The kids were asked what they want to be and most of the girls including our Kunjal wanted to be princess, and live in castle.

The kids surprised us with their reading abilities and also their knowledge about insects , stars moon and the ocean world.

check this video of Kunjal and Alex in a question answer session.

Kunjal and Tanvi with their teacher.

We also went for a trip to danyang and wooraksan this month.

Inside the boat with korean aunt.

Kunjal inside the boat which took us for a 2 hour tour around all the eight wonders of Danyang.

At the stream near wooraksan camping area.

Kunjal and Navodit having fun in water.

From 24th of july Kunjal had summer vacations. We went to a waterpark nearby with all the indian kids here for a full day fun .

At the stream inside the park.

The kids played a lot in the fountain.

water gun painting.

This month end we are busy shopping for Kunjal's birthday. She wants a princess set and we are searching around to buy all the accesories of a princess.

4years 10 months

2009-06-29T09:05:00.000+09:00

This is the month of June.The summer is setting in here and our outings have increased now.

On 12th of this month we went to mallipo beach for 3 days . Kunjal went there with her best friends and the kids had a blast.

We are ready to go beach but where are our parents??

Play time at the beach.

Its evening and we are still playing.

She played all day in the beach and night at the pension where we stayed.She had lots of fun for three days and the kids were not ready to come back home.

All ready to sleep(are they????)

Martial arts with Suma aunty.

Early morning shouting competition.

Jumping around .
Lets make a heart with our hands.

We also went to a water park nearby for Kids activity this month.

Activity time.

See a pink car.

Now time for water activity.

Singing humko man ki shakti dena.

This month at school Kunjal finished reading 2200 pages and she got a new passport for writing the names ofthe books she is reading. She was very happy and got a present from Papa for this achievement.

In ballet too she has been promoted to the third level class. The steps this time are little tough but Kunjal is really enjoying and she keeps dancing at home too most of the times.

A few creations of this months's painting class.

A lazy evening walk by the garden.

Kunjal with her pororo .

This month was a good month over all with lots of activities and yes Kunjal is ready to go to beach again.

4years 9 months.

2009-06-01T10:28:00.011+09:00

This month of may our Kunjal has turned hopping four years nine months. This month was full of fun and also full of illness. Her throat infection accompanied with fever bothered her many times this month.

On fifth of May we enjoyed children's day here .kunjal's day was filled with lotz of fun inside samsung campus.

Kunjal the fire fighter.

Lets drive the fire engine

Waiting to get in

wow its fun!!

Inside the samsung kiheung campus.

On 9th may we went for India day program at seoul art museum. I had participated in dance along with my other indian friends and Kunjal was very busy playing around with her friends at the auditorium.

The gang dancing to the tune of "its the time to disco."

on 10th afternoon Kunjal was down with throat infection again. It seems she had too much of fun on 9th and the result was soon following. Still she enjoyed our picnic at hangang park.

The picnic on 10th at Hangang park.

These days when Kunjal and Tanvi are together , they play pretend games like mother -baby or teacher- student etc. Its fun to watch them and I sometimes can't believe the pace with which she is growing.

Reading a book together.

This month Kumar's korean friend had come for dinner and his daughter Bijou is just same age as Kunjal . Needless to say they had bang all evening.

Lets double ride.

It doesnt need a beach to set the mood.

This month we had kids activity session at our house.

Reward stickers given by Pooja aunty.

The study is over now cartoon time.

The last weekend of this month we went for a stay at Yeoju. Kunjal was sick again with throat infection and also nose bleeding. But that didnt stop her from having fun.

The kids inside the tent.

4 sleepy kids and two mothers trying to feed

Kunjal giving a ride to Papa.

Kunjal driving the atv bike.

Chal meri luna.(the bike ride was coool)

How is the banana boat ?

Over all it was a good month and Kunjal is recovering fast..

4years 8 months

2009-05-03T21:33:00.000+09:00

Kunjal is now 4 years and 8 months old. This is the month of april and its spring all around.

On 11th of this month we had been to gwacheon a place around 3 hours drive from seoul , to celebrate bengali new year.

Our gang at gwacheon.

Kunjal had very high fever all through our stay of 2 days there and she could not enjoy much. .
Kunjal also celebrated maa's surprise birthday there.

A sweet surprise for me and Kunjal (thanks to papa.)

She clicked few random pics when she was feeling little better and played with her puzzles.

As clicked by Kunjal.
Kunjal trying to enjoy the sceneries.

With our friend's family.

Kunjal busy with puzzles inside the pension.

On 16th Kunjal celebrated maa's birthday. We went to a thai restaurant and Kunjal really enjoyed the noodles being served there.

Happy birthday !!

the water garden inside the restaurant.

This month Kunjal received a bookworm award for studying 1720 pages of books. Now she is pretty good in reading by herself and need very little help from our side.

she can type youtube and search her cartoon serials like pororo , pocoyo and hello kitty . so whenever the computer is free its invaded by our little viewer to watch these serials.

Her love for painting has increased and now she can replicate different pictures on her sketch book

The picture Kunjal drew by seeing the card she recieved from school.

4 years and 7 months

2009-04-02T16:06:00.006+09:00

Since the begining of this month Kunjal is in ocean class . Its a unique experience for her to be in a higher class in the same school. . There are other Indian kids too in the junior class and she loves to be their elder sister and meeting them in school.

Kunjal is now under a male teacher. Initally she was missing her Gerri but slowly she started liking her sir.

Kunjal started the year with two awards, star of the week and star student of the month. Quite an achivement!!. keep it up dear.

Star student booklet which is painted and signed by all her class mates

Star of the week award ( ocean class)

She is now in the world of reading and writing sentences. Now she can read word by word and we enjoy reading new books together everyday.

The new jigsaw puzzle of word making is also helping her a lot.

Word making session.

Lonpos pyramid , the game which kept her busy all through our India journey and even now.

From this month she also joined the painting classes. The first painting she made was so marvellous that Papa has already framed it.

The first creation of painting class.

She enjoys the class as she can paint using the water colour and get creative with it , something she misses at home( the messs!!!!!)

We also visited the korean contemporary art museum this month. It was nice looking around all beautiful creations.

Lets push it together.

Giant wheel cart.

Inside the gallery.

The weather is getting better here and its spring finally!!

Our outings to parks and Kunjal's cycling sessions have started back again.

Windy spring !!

Fun in the park.

4years 6 months.

2009-02-28T09:28:00.000+09:00

The month of february passed by . Kunjal was busy in the school to wrap up the year and also getting prepared for the next class. She has been promoted to the ocean class .

This month she received all the books, the files and the creations she made the entire year in her wind class. She also received the year end report card .

Hey see I shine!!!( star of the week award for feb)

The books Kunjal studied this year at the school.

Some of the beautiful creations she made this year in the class.

The year end report card.

On the otherhand we were still missing India and our relatives back there. Kunjal again started playing alone with her toys. As its still too cold out so our outings are restricted only to indoors.

Unique way to ski around the house.

So how is my dinner table .

The slide made with lego blocks.( her fav past time)

Kunjal heavy heartedly bid goodbye to her Gerri teacher on 25th of feb They had a snacks party on that day.

The momento of Wind class . Thanks Gerri for such a wonderful gift.

She is going to join a new class with a new teacher from 2nd of march.

The three days vacation we were busy preparing for the new class and right now we are shopping around for the items needed for new class.

4year 5 months

2009-01-31T11:50:00.000+09:00

Happy new year !!! 2009 started with a good note for us. We are having lotzz of fun here at home in India

Kunjal was very happy to see her grand parents and she met her cousins for the first time .Her uncle's daughter Khushi who is ten months old and her masi's son Anay who is 12 months old.

Kunjal with mashi's son Anay.

Khushi(kunjal's kaku's daughter) and Kunjal.

Initally she was little jealous but slowly she was the affectionate big sister who would take good care of her cousins.

She played whole day with her little uncles who also had winter holidays. She refused to join us for shopping or other outings.

The three musketeers.

In between she could findout time to complete the holiday homework .

Busy with homeworks.

Iam trying to finish my works as soon as possible.

We had been to a amusement park with all our family members Need less to say Kunjal and all of us had loads of fun there.

Kunjal with her grand parents kaka, kaki and two little uncles ( Kumar's cousins)

The kids having fun.

Inside the park.

The boat ride.

The slides were her favourite.

Kunjal with great grand mother at their house in village.

The tripureswari temple in Udaipur

On 23rd we started our journey back . we went to delhi and stayed for few days at my sister's house.

Infront of a restaurant .

we visited many historical places and also Tajmahal

At the qutubminar.

The lotus temple.

On 25th morning we decided to visit tajmahal . We started our journey at 8am in the morning.

Our driver said it might not take more than 4 hours but the trafic was so heavy that after 6 long hours of journey finally we reached tajmahal.

But thanks to the beautiful views and all those yummy street food we never felt bored.

The camel ride at Taj mahal.

Kunjal was all tired of the journey from delhi to agra.

The entrance gate of Tajmahal .

Soo crowded!!!

wow nice place !!

Thanks mesho for cooking such yummy food . I had a hearty meal

Thanks to this man who showed us almost full delhi and Agra in such a

short span of 3 days.

At delhi international airport. waiting to fly off.

We reached here in Korea on 27th morning after a month long refreshing trip

Kunjal started going to school from 28th and I am trying to fit into the regular routine of Korean life again.

4 year 4months

2008-12-31T09:47:00.001+09:00

This month of december was full of excitement and fun. we were busy planning for our india trip.
Kunjal was busy at her school for the parent's observation day.. All the parents were invited to sit inside the class and see their kids performing.

Kunjal and Tanvi with Gerri teacher .

This is for you papa.

Performing on parents day

Here in her ballet class she got promoted to the intermediate level and from now onwards she has classes thrice a week.

I explained Kunjal that she has been promoted to higher class as she can dance well now. She thought for some time and then she replied back oh nooo! "what if Ikeep dancing and get promoted higher and higher and sooon there will be no more stories left and we hv to dance on the terrace???" hahahaha funny!!!

on23rd we celebrated christmas here with all our Indian friends. Kunjal got a nice present from Santa.

On 24th she had christmas party at her school . They sang carols, had snacks and got her favourite toy from Santa. She was really amazed that Santa could know her wish and got her the same stuff.!!!!!

celebrating christmas at home.

By the last week of dec we were too busy with cleaning and packing etc. Kunjal too cleaned her room .

Kunjal cleaning her kitchen cabinet same as maa is doing hers.

On 27th we left for one month vacation .

we reached Hongkong on 27th and stayed there for two days .

At Incheon airport.

At honkong internatinal airport.

the bus that took us to our hotel.

Inside the hotel .

The subway station at hongkong.

The big buddha at Lantau island.

One of the few pics that kunjal has clicked for us.

Refreshing garden.

soo much to look around!!!

whats there under the rock??

wow its really bigg.

Getting to the tram which took us to the peak .

Hehehe nice umbrella .

The hongkong city was beautifully decorated bcoz of christmas and new year.

We finally reached our hometown on 30th morning.

4 years 3 months

2008-12-03T20:57:00.010+09:00

The month of November is here and the fall weather is almost coming to an end.

We celebrated yet another diwali in seoul on 2nd of nov in a very grand way.

The kids having fun

Kunjal gave a performance here too in front of Indian ambassador and 200 guests in yonsei university auditorium.

The ambassador of India in Korea along with other chief guests.

The ballet performance by the little ballerinas
Kunjal and Tanvi were so happy to perform that they didnt want to go back after performance and wanted to do again .

One more dance by all kids bam bam bole also had Kunjal performing. It was quite a fun for all the kids to dance and play around the auditorium.

Bam bam bole on the stage

With the IIK logo

There was one more event this month, a friendly cricket match among the indians here in suwon.

There were some events for kids too but Kunjal couldnt perform in all . she had sprained her toes few days before the event. It was really painful to see our little one with all that bandage on her leg. She couldnt walk well for a week and still its not fully recovered.

The tug of war.( only game she could participate)

Pull pull pull!!

Enthusiastic viewers of cricket match.

This month me and Kunjal are little relieved as I have reduced my timings in the institute and Kunjal has to wait only till 2:30 pm.

Santa is coming to town!

Here is Santa and Dec is knocking.

4 years 2 months

2008-10-31T10:11:00.006+09:00

The month of october went off as the most busy month of this year. Kumar was busy with organizing diwali at two places suwon and seoul . I was busy with my full day job and Kunjal was there with me after her school .
Kunjal's new passion lego blocks

She too was busy with painting and piano classes in my institute. She also joins for one english conversation class with me .

Kunjal busy with painting.

Also every weekend we went off to Seoul to our friend's house and stayed back till sunday night for seoul diwali preparation and dance practice. Kunjal and I participated in dance and we needed to practice for that.

Kunjal used to practice ballet with her friend Tanvi after6:30 pm . Even though tired she enjoyed those sessions.

But all this busy schedules took a toll on her and she suddenly started refusing to go for full day schedule at my institute. she got dis interested in piano and painting and started missing her ballet lessons.

On 26th of october we celebrated diwali here in suwon. It was a gala event and Kunjal for the first time gave a stage performance on ballet.

The ballerinas busy with ring

The performance

The proud mothers

Kunjal also had a haloween party at her school and she dressed like a fairy.She enjoyed a lot at the party and brought home a bag full of candies.

The fairy ready for haloween party

4years 1 month kunjal

2008-09-28T14:26:00.001+09:00

This month of september had been quite a busy month for us.

Kunjal enjoyed Nirupam's birthday at Yangji pine resort

Celebrating Nirupam's birthday
Kunjal and Navodit helping to take out the wrappers.

What if no snow we can skate with pillows!!!

At the Yangji pine resort entrance.

Next day in Chusok we went to chiaksan . She was too happy that we just hopped on from one condo to another.

chiaksan was around 3 hours journey by car . Chiaksan condo.

Kunjal trying to take a nap inside the wardrobe.

The trail to chiak mountain.

The water stream near the mountain.

At the temple
The beautiful stream .

At the temple.
Walking towards the mountain.

On the way back we stopped at abreath taking camping site at river side. Kunjal played her heart out in the water she also tried to learn swimming from papa.

Kunjal learning to swim.
Kunjal with her tube.
The beautiful valley.

All busy with sand sculpting.

This month there was a big change in Kunjal's schedule. I have been working in a institute for part time but this month I had to work full time due to the lack of other teacher. Kunjal joins me after her school . She liked the frist day as there was a play room full of toys and the art classes were interesting . Still its quite a long day for her and she is dead tired by the time she is back to home at 6 pm.

48 months kunjal.

2008-08-31T08:48:00.000+09:00

Our Kunjal is now bigg girl of four years.

This month has been quite eventful and fun filled.

The starting of this month we were busy preparing for her birthday. Kunjal helped me a lot in wrapping up the return gifts.She also decorated them with stickers and wrote thanks note by herself.

Busy with wrapping up the gifts.

Putting stickers on the thanku note.

we had been to Gyeongpodae beach on 16 of august . we had fun with all our friends from suwon. Kunjal enjoyed to the core at the beach .

Just before boarding the bus

Kunjal and Navodit had a good time together.

With friends .
Fun time at the beach.

we also celebrated rakhsa bandhan ( a festival for the bonding between brothers and sisters ) .Kunjal tied rakhi to her young brothers and we all had a good time sharing gifts and food.

The kids busy among themselves.
Kunjal putting tika for Doniv.

Tying rakhi to Anant.

Eat the sweet Doniv.

Now time to get a tika for myself.

This month one more hindu festival janmashtami was celebrated too . The little boys dressed as Krishna and the girls as Radha . Kunjal danced with her friend Tia .

Radha and Krishna dancing.

Kunjal and Tanvi dressed and Radha and Krishna.

Breaking Dahi handi( candy bowl here )

See all the candies gone in one blow.

The school also celebrated kunjal's birthday on 27th of this month. She was showered with lotz of gifts again .

Maa see what all I got.

At Namdaemun.

kunjal completed four long years in this world. God bless you my dear. May God bring more happiness and health for you this year.

Kunjal's fourth birthday.

2008-08-22T08:59:00.008+09:00

Kunjal turned four years on wednesday 6th of august . We celebrated the day with all the friends of Kunjal in Suwon and aunts . Being weekday Kunjal had been to school and received a nice greeting card signed and coloured by all her classmates.

Maa and Kunjal ready to host

Cake cutting .

Thanks a lot for the gift.

Thanks Muneyong.

Kids playing .

Wow beautiful doll house.

On sunday we hosted a small get together for few of our friends staying in seoul.Kunjal was showered with lots of gifts again . she was too happy.

See all these for me!!

Wow thanks uncle .

So how do I look with new hat and bag?

New dress and new bag.

These sandals and Eddy are my favourites.

One more shot with the new dress

The birthday cake.

Hehehee uncle .

47 months old Kunjal

2008-07-28T09:16:00.009+09:00

This is the month of july , very hot and humid here.

0nly one month to go for the birthday and Kunjal is too excited . also last few months she has been celebrating her friend's birthdays and kept enquiring when is hers.
Kunjal singing happy birthday song for Anant on his birthday.

These days she is busy with sight words learning . She can now read the words like the, on , in , is of etc in a book and she is more than excited if she can find out one in a sentence.

We had been to see the north korean border at DMZ too. Kunjal and Navodit played a lot there.

we also went thru a tunnel which was said to be dug up by north koreans during war. but kunjal was so too upset inside the tunnel as it was dark and cold.

At the park near Dmz area

Kunjal still upset over the tunnel episode.

This month we also had been to mud festival in daechon beach . She played a lot in the water and kept doing it till dead tired.

On the way to daechon beach

Kunjal helping us for lunch distribution.

She loves to play in water and its fun seeing her enjoying like crazy.

At the water park near our apt.

Her week long vacations started from 26th of this month .

she also received some homework to do in this vacations. Kunjal received the first progress report of her life. It was a six page long report which included details about reading writing socalizing , art craft math etc .

The comments her class teacher made in the report card.

The first page.

This whole week we just went around different shopping malls preparing for her big day on 6 th of next month. Nothing much to do whole day as papa had no vacations during this period

time pass noodles
Maa its time to go Music time with papa

Our korean kunjal.

46 months Kunjal.

2008-06-29T20:58:00.001+09:00

This is the month of june . Its still not that hot as it should be.

Kunjal has started taking ballet lessons from the starting of this month. She liked the dress and also the class as she can meet new friends there.

Kunjal and Tanvi ready for ballet class.
With her teacher inside the ballet classroom

She and Tanvi goes together so they share a good company we sometimes go to the library after the class. The classes are twice a week but she wants to go everyday.

This month Kunjal also got a new bicycle. Its a Hello kitty(selected by her) pink cute bicycle . The cycle is little bigger for her age but she can paddle well these days and understood the techniques of applying brakes and not paddling in the downside slopes.

Bicycle riding in the park.
In full speed.

This month had been quite an event ful month for us . Kunjal was selected star of the month and received a cute booklet with stars being coloured by her friends.
Kunjal too happy to pose withthe booklet .

we also had been to the everland where she enjoyed the rose festival and the water fountain and ofcourse certain rides .

Wow its fun!!!
Enjoying the water fountains.

Please click fast its so sunny!! The carnival on the way.
Posing with the flowers.
New pose

Splashing water on each other.

we also had been to osan park for a family day outing. Kunjal played a lot with Navodit and Nirupam all day.

The indoor aquarium at osan park

See where am I resting after a long walk.

Kunjal busy with her hoopla ring
The kids together.

45 months kunjal

2008-05-31T09:55:00.000+09:00

This month kunjal has completed the fourtyfifth month of her life.

She has mastered writing all the 26 alphabets of english in small letters as well as capital .

The small and capital alphabets all done.

She can also write the spellings of numbers upto 10.

This month she celebrated her Papa's birthday . she for the first time wrote the card for her

papa. It was a very big achievement for her and she was very very happy.

See I wrote birthday wishes for Papa

At wiwang lake

Papa's birthday celebration.

She had also written the card for her two friends whose birthday were celebrated this month.

All set to celebrate her friend's birthday in school.

Few pics of her field trip sent from school

Kunjal was patted and awarded this month by her teacher Gerri . She was very happy and we were happier as this being the first award of my little princess.

One more new hobby of hers these days is to play this drum set which Nishi aunty gave her last year on birthday. She likes to make lot of sound and till now luckily the neighbours hvnt complained.

The drum master on the make.

This photo is of our chai wali.(tea seller)She loves to sit inside her ring and arrange all the cups and teapots around . She calls us to come , pay and drink some tea from her shop (ring)!!.

Serving tea passionately.

44 months kunjal

2008-04-23T14:55:00.017+09:00

This month we all are enjoying the beautiful spring in korea. This is the best time and this year its little earlier than previous years.

Jump jump !!!!
Heeheee hee Got you little cherry blossoms.
Yellow flowers and us.

This month we travelled around many places to see the flowers in bloom.

At morning calm park.
Lets roll over .
Shall I ???

Smileeeeee.

Lets make tea together.

Taking rest after a long day

The famous monkey pose.

she also celebrated maa's birthday this month. We had been to Osan park and spent the afternoon there.

Wow nice place .

Come lets pose together.

Maa's birthday present, one more plant.

At osan park tapiary garden.

The restaurant where papa and ma ate while I played.

Kunjal is enjoying her school . Now she is all set in there . she likes her Gerry teacher and she is ready to make friends with everyone according to her teacher.

She has started writing hindi alphabets and also small letters of english alphabets.

Kunjal has also learnt few korean rhymes which she learns in the bus . Its fun to hear the rhymes with her actions.
This is for my painting class.
Carefully putting raisins on the muffin mix.
Creativity with hair pins.

Colouring time with Lucy , her classmate.

On 27th of this month we had been to samsung campus for celebrating children's day .The weather was not very favourable still kunjal could nt control her seeing water.
she did some boating, also wanted to catch some fishes in the pool but we didnt allow her.

Nice to pedal around.
Getting her face painted.
See flowers on cheeks!!

With the colourful dinosaur.

43 months kunjal

2008-03-26T17:33:00.000+09:00

This month is very significant in korea. It marks the beginning of new session in schools ,colleges and also marks the begining of spring . This month our little Kunjal is no more little . She is now a big girl .

Our little darling has moved one more step ahead. She has started going to her kindergarten from 3rd of this month . This marks the starting of her formal education for many years to come.

On monday she got up early . I had kept things ready last night itself. Kunjal was excited too. she had her breakfast said big bye bye to papa and then got dressed . I was feeling little sad and excited at the same time . The bus came right at 9:15 there were four more kids inside sitting with long faces. Kunjal said goodmorning to the teacher and smiled at me and said good bye.No crying !!!!

Ready to go to school

Waiting for the bus.

As the bus passed by I felt like crying. From now on she wont be with me all the time .

I went to the school an hour later to check if she was doing ok. I checked her from the hall through the cctv . She was doing colouring with other kids . The teacher told me she has been doing fine , had her lunch and actively taking part in the classroom activities. I came back with a satisfaction that she can manage well without me .

The most enjoyable thing is the bus ride and also the lunch served in the school is yummy according to her.

Going for field trip to a museum.

One more big achievement this month is that she has started sleeping alone in her room .the study table also has been added in her room. she needs to be tucked in the bed and kissed by ma before going to sleep.

Kunjal studying in her room

Kunjal's bed and the table.

And the final big thing that she did this month is to use the big potty seat all by herself, something that she learnt from her friend Lucy in school.She can now even manage with potty and clean herself!!!!!!.wheww no more tensions . Her pottty training is complete now.

No photos of this . kunjal refused to pose on the potty seat.

. These days no more help needed she can do most of the things by herself. she can brush her teeth get dressed and also try to comb her hair and put hair pins.

Brushing hers and takuls (the doll) teeth.

Putting on the socks.

Now the pants.

Putting on the t-shirt.

Now combing the hair .

So how do I look ?

we celebrated holi this month on 21st .

The kids wearing traditional clothes

With beautiful aunties.

Kunjal dancing with the songs.

Kunjal wore her ghagra choli , and was very happy all throughout till she saw us playing with colours . she was soo scared that she started crying and screamiing loud.

Kunjal hiding herself and crying.

Niyor and kunjal doing some serious studies together.