Keeping up Culture

We attended a Chinese acrobat show recently at a nearby college, the whole family really enjoyed this. It was pretty amazing to see all the things they could do. At intermission....

they asked people to come and sign up to win two tickets for season passes. I thought this sounded like a great idea, plus they were giving out candy bars to all who signed up and the kids thought this was a great idea. When I filled out the form they asked what other types of programs we would like to see brought to the college. India came to mind, so I wrote down something to do with India’s culture. I would love to bring our daughter here to see a group from India and she can be proud of her birth country too. When we were sitting in our seats, waiting for the program to start, we saw some flags hanging up behind us and Sananda and I found India’s flag and the U.S. flag among the rest, it felt good to see them both hanging up there together.
Some friends of ours who have adopted from another country host one of the college students from that same country for special outings so their children can be more connected with their roots. I am thinking that this would be a great idea for us too. Perhaps the college student that we could host would like to come to our home for holidays and such being so far from home(India). It would be great getting to know these kids and supporting them here while they may really like getting to know our little one and have a great impact on her as well.
Other things we really like to do is to listen to music from India, put up decorations that portray the country and eat at the nearest Indian restaurant whenever we get the chance. I do try my hand at cooking some of the same foods myself and buying things from the Indian grocery that we have come to love. We buy clothes that I and my daughter’s can wear and watch things about India when we get the chance. Meeting other families with kids from there and keeping in touch with the families through blogs and e-mails is fun and beneficial for our little girl and us too. I have gifts that I picked up last time I was in country to give our daughter for each of her birthdays for a long time to come. I am hoping I get back there before I run out and hoping that Sananda will be along with me in the not too far future for one of these trips so she can experience India again to visit her state of birth and wherever else we are fortunate enough to visit. I also made an Indian doll for my daughter and am making clothes of India for her, to dress them in, since these are so hard to come by. We also celebrate some of India’s holidays and we look for things pertaining to India and talk about them, this is a lot of fun and also educational for the whole family. Attending culture camp is another fun thing that our whole family can do together which also encourages our child to learn even more about her homeland.