Sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Montreal and then on to Toronto. It has been raining non stop since last night - I am so glad we are leaving.
We got back from Belgium and Luxembourg road trip on the 17th night. Yesterday we went to Rouen - the place where Joan of Arc was burnt at the steak oops stake.
Apparently it was a mis(s)stake because the church declared her innocent long after she was dead.
Nice town - very crowded and you know something after a while all the cathedrals look the same, although the church of St Joan of Arc was modern and so different from the others we have seen. It was a nice drive back & forth and then in the night we went to see the Eiffel tower again.
Let me tell you - do not see the tower during the day, it is magical during the night - we caught the last metro back home.

The driving was good - passing through the French country side was an amazing experience. The open fields, the houses they were picturesque and exactly how I had imagined they would be. Driving to Belgium and Luxembourg we took the scenic route, I got on everyone's nerves by stopping the car to take photographs ...

Well, no accidents and the car was a Mercedes C220 cdi. I am not into cars but this was a nice one. Even in Germany it was another Mercedes - I am getting used to this. The funny thing is I don't care about cars and I am getting to drive really nice ones. So now I have driven in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and the UK ...

Looking forward to being in Toronto for the next month, it does seem weird to return with no house of our own ... one day. We do look forward to meeting up with all our friends and taking care of some personal stuff as well.

Thank you Thank you Thank you

I have spent an hour going through all the messages and it is quite overwhelming.
I guess Facebook makes it so much easier to remember and I feel blessed to have so many of you take the time to send me a message ... you thought of me and that is absolutely amazing. Thank you !!

We got back to Paris last night, I spent my birthday in Luxembourg. Small country, cute  - nothing much to see but its pretty and we wanted to check it off our list of countries to visit.

More later ....

Blessings
Ben

Took these pictures while in the car driving down from Mussoorie to Delhi. For those of you who have a quizzical look on their faces - I wasn't the one driving.
The photographs came out nice giving an effect almost like a painting ...
For a better look visit the posterous blog.

A quick update to let you know that we are staying on in Woodstock for another year.
Some of you are going whhhaaaaa??? But didn't post that you were leaving? Its a long story and the stewardess will be coming around any minute to ask me to turn off my phone.
Will tell the whole story in subsequent posts. Hint: Its not all that exciting and may be difficult to understand.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from !DEA

Sitting in the plane waiting for the gates to close and then we are off to Paris.
What a tumultuous semester this has been. We are all looking forward to having a good break after what has gone on.
We are going to be staying for a week in Paris and then renting a car and driving to Belgium, Luxembourg, Bonn and then back to Paris. Sounds exotic eh? Well, let's see how the experience unfolds.
Will write more in detail now that I am out of Woodstock's clutches....
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from !DEA

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Ben & Sangeeta's blog - www.bensangeeta.ca
Ben's website - www.masihivandana.com

I attended the Junior School assembly the other day. The grade three class made a power point presentation in Open Office and I am thinking what ?????!!!!
The first time I encountered the internet was in 1997 when I was 32 years old. I made my first power point presentation (with some difficulty) when I was forty ...

It is wonderful to see what was a luxury is now the norm ... I know I know it could also be that I am slow.

It is hard to believe that it has been three years since we came to Woodstock. I can look back and remember the upheaval the decision to move to India had brought in our lives as well as the lives of our loved ones. We have now decided that it is time for us to move from Woodstock.
It has certainly not been an easy decision and while I sent out an email to the staff last week, Sangeeta and I are still coming to terms with it. We have grown to love this place, despite all that you may hear. We will miss the people, the sights and sounds, the views ..oh yes and the work.
We know that the Lord brought us here and we know that He is taking us forward. At this point in time we do not have any idea as to where it is we are going. Going back & forth on our decision has been costly because it has now affected our job search. Having said this, I guess this is where faith steps in. As humans it is tough to let go and trust God in this whole situation.
So why are we leaving Woodstock? Well, we and others explored various ways and means but each of the doors shut as we explored the possibilities. So we leave knowing that we explored all options and having peace in our hearts.
We leave looking behind at all the wonderful things that we have experienced and all the learning that has happened in our lives. When we embarked on the journey we knew that this would have a significant impact on our finances, however God has blessed us. We have enjoyed things that we could not enjoy even when we were earning three times as much.

We leave knowing that the Lord has His hands on Woodstock and just as He has sustained and provided in the last 157 years He will continue to do so in the future.

We do want Arpit to continue on in Woodstock for at least for another year. We would also like to see if we can get an opportunity to work in an International School in another part of the world. Personally I have really grown to love the school environment, the opportunities to connect with people and contribute to the learning environment even as support staff is exciting.

Siddhant is finishing off Year One at the Tyndale University in Toronto in the BBA program. He seems to be loving it and is getting too relaxed in my opinion ....

Today India is playing Pakistan in the 2nd semi finals of the Cricket World Cup. As far as India is concerned - this is it!! Today is the final, it matters not who India plays next but they have to win today.
I am in my office, the school is up at Parker Hall watching the cricket on the giant screen. I have been running off to the Lyon's Lounge to catch a few moments of the game. Everything is quiet - I think I am imagining it but its deadly quiet because everyone is in front of a TV. I have heard no vehicles on the road either for the past several minutes.
Sangeeta called me from the staff room and is asking why I am not up there watching the game.

Ladies & Gentlemen - India is on hold for the next eight hours. May the best team (India) win !!

Was having a nice lunch - mutton curry with chappati's .... and then crack. Half my tooth is chipped and it hurts ....

Its always the tooth isn't it?? The tooth and nothing but the whole tooth is what I need ...