March Madness

     I have been here for over a year now. I am loving it! My favorite thing is Hindi. For about 11 months now, our Hindi tutor has been coming to our house and teaching our whole family. She is amazing. She teaches Hindi, Marathi, German, and knows almost all the main languages(about 9) of India. I have a blast learning. I've always wanted to learn another language. After Hindi, I want to learn maybe French or German. :D

     Guess what? We are coming to visit the US during April and May! I'm so excited about coming to visit my family and friends, and having some American food. But while we're gone, I'm so gonna miss my friends here! My mom is planning to take some Murg Makhani and Paneer Curry packets to the US so we can still have Indian food! I am taking chai to make for all of my friends and family. Can't wait to see you guys!

     This Thursday is our last day of school! We are having a pool party to celebrate. :) I'm then going to go through my clothes and stuff and clean out my room before we leave for the US, which I also have to pack for. Then, on March 31st, I'm going to Kolhapur because my dad is speaking there. Road trips are super fun! I have an exciting few weeks ahead of me! I'm missing my friend that just left to get a job before college. He's probably going to Liberty, which is a college in Virginia, so hopefully I can visit him one day! :D

     So yes, hopefully I will be more consistent with my blogging, even though I'm not that good at it. :P Oh yeah, by the way, I get my braces off in 2.5 months! :)

New Ideas

So, I'm changing the way I blog. Starting in February, I'm going to do one big post on the 25th of every month that sort of summarizes that month. Every month there will be one post, kind of like a newsletter, but on my blog. With my (crazy, but awesome) full schedule this will work well for me, and then you guys will know to check back on the 25th of every month. Until then, Happy Early Valentines Day! :D

Randomness...

Our week of fall break was awesome! We went to the zoo, we hung out at home a lot, we went to Chili's, and we went to a Diwali party. Diwali is a festival here that is pretty much about light over darkness, but if you ask me, it should be called the festival of fireworks! There were fireworks all night and all day for about 2 to 3 days straight. Not much sleep was gotten in the Hartman house during those days. The party was at an orphanage that we go to sometimes. The kids told about how Jesus is the light over dark instead of Hindu gods or something else. It was a blast!

Chili's was awesome! We went with some of our friends who have just adopted a 1 year old boy. He is so sweet! I had the Ranch Chicken sandwich, fries, and a bottomless Pepsi! Now, for me, an unlimited drink is awesome because no other restaurants here have those! It was great to have a taste of home! We also got their amazing chips and salsa.

My birthday was wonderful! I'm now officially 14 years old! We went to see The Three Musketeers that morning, did some shopping, and had a wonderful lunch at a place with a chocolate fountain on the buffet! Zach ate more chocolate than real food I think! We had Bible study that night, which was cool! My favorite present was... MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT! I love facebook! It's been fun to catch up with everybody!

So, yep! This is what's been going on lately! Thanks for reading!

Indian Independence Day

I give you, without further ado, Indian Independence Day!!!

A New Restaurant, and some day to day stuff...

This morning my dear sweet mother said something that almost made me cry. She told my siblings and I that something from America was coming to our city. It is going to be in a new mall called Phoenix Market City. The name of the place is…. CHILI’S! :) Our whole family was dancing around the room like maniacs! If our neighbors saw us, they would have thought that we had won the lottery or something. It was definitely a “Kodak Moment” as they say. Now that I’m finished telling all of you guys about our morning, here are some things that have happened recently in our crazy busy, Indian lifestyle.

As I write this, we (My Dad, Zach, and I) are sitting at the dentist while my sister is getting two of her teeth pulled. I have to come back tonight to get spacers so that on Saturday I can get braces on the bottom teeth of my soon to be total metal mouth. (I already have braces on the top) As we sit here we can smell fresh pound cake baking at Kalyani Bakery, which is about 500 feet from where we are sitting. We are drooling!

Zach had a wonderful birthday. We went to an indoor putt-putting place for his birthday, and McDonald’s for lunch. He had a green Lego cake for his birthday treat. (See recipe below…)

Lego Cake

-One cake mix and the stuff that goes in it

-A Cupcake pan

-A regular 9x13 pan

-Any color frosting

Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box. Put most of it into the cake pan, but fill 6 cupcake cups ½ to ¾ of the way full. Bake the cake and cupcakes according to the directions on the box. Once cooled, cut the “bump” on the top of the cake off, as well as the cupcakes. Place the cupcakes top down on top of the cake, and ice. Enjoy!

That’s about all for now, but stay tuned for a special “Indian Independence Day” post, with pictures!