Goin' to Goa…….

Our work here is done
And it's time for some fun!




It's not that the teaching at UFV Chandigarh has not been fun….but the students haven't been the only ones working.

Our final exams have been written and grades completed.

Congratulations to my OB students!  You proved that effort does lead to better performance and that leads to achievement of outcomes.  There is a theory about that, isn't there?

We have had a great time working with some very talented students, and we expect to meet many again when they are at UFV Abbotsford completing their degrees.

November birthdays did continue this week.

Adi had his 24th and we presented him with some "memorabilia" of his favourite subject--girls!

But, where is Barbie?

This was just one of his several birthday cakes.  It seems that every birthday in India must be celebrated with at least three cakes.

Lunch was at the Marriott and the group posed for the traditional photo on the stairs.

A visitor from home -

Shabnam Brar, Abbotsford businessman, was visiting the Punjab and stopped at the campus for a visit.

We hope this will be the beginning of a relationship between Dashmesh Punjabi School in Abbotsford, a passion of Shab's, and UFV Chandigarh.

We have made some friends on our frequent jogs and walks through our local park.  Mr. Sharma is one very wise older gentlemen who has shared many writings, pictures, spiritual philosophies and conversations with us.

Although he doesn't know us all that well, he presented us with a written "analysis" of our family members' personalities--George and me as well as Wade, Matt and Blair!  He was very accurate!

We so often meet friendly people who want to sit and chat.  We do stand out in Chandigarh.  Sony, a young woman from Ludhiana, joined us when we went to our local McDonalds.  She actually has relatives by the name of Sidhu in Abbotsford.

And now we are saying goodbyes!  Bethany will be the first to head home to Abbotsford and she treated the gang to lunch at Hot Millions.

We wanted to say thank you to the staff of drivers and cleaners, these amazingly loyal, hardworking and respectful men who treat us royally.

Brojinder, Suresh, Sanjeev, Anil and Harbans are modelling our gifts of UFV sweatshirts.
Unfortunately, Radhe was on leave today.  He knows exactly how and when we want our morning coffee and afternoon tea.

Simlee, Adi, Mushtaq and Sanjeev have also been supportive and good friends to us.

Of course, Dilmeet and Gurneet are UFV Chandigarh!  What leaders they are!  Students and staff are well served on this campus.


We will miss them all and will soon have to say our final goodbyes.

But first, it's off to explore Southern India--the beaches of Goa and the backwaters of Kerala!

And now, the end is near……..

 At least the end of the semester at UFV Chandigarh is near…..


This is the final week of classes for us, and we give our exams on Monday, the 25th.  Yes, the time has flown and it has been  enjoyable (and a lot of work) teaching the students here.

George awarded his "Honorary Canadian Citizenship (if he had the power)" certificates to the New Batch of 41 students.

In this photo, Mithat is representing that huge, noisy and very intelligent group of young people.

Budhiraja's Toy Centre, Sector 22-D, Chandigarh!  Every grandparent must visit this shop.  The third generation Budhiraja, Shrey, is not in this photo.  He was in class at the UFV Campus.  We expect he will create Budhiraja's Toy Centre International after he graduates.

CCT - Canada Connect Thursday at the Canadian Consulate was our last for this visit.  Carol is now heading Immigration here in Chandigarh.  Her husband, Jukka, is a fellow Suomilainen who worked in the Finnish Embassy in Delhi.  From them we have learned about suomibhangra.com, featuring a Finnish Bhangra group.  Check them out for unique and entertaining cultural fusion.

Satinder and Bernie are two Consulate Staffers who are always on hand to create this great social evening.

An office fit for a young executive!

Gurneet has final moved from his small cubby hole to this spacious office.  It is a great place for afternoon tea--at 5:00 pm which is Canadian dinner time, if I remember correctly.

 A highlight of our week was our Saturday visit to Satluj Public School in Panchkula to attend their Annual Event--a combination of awards ceremony and pageant.

The Serai family, owners of the school, always welcome and honour us.  Reekrit is a recent graduate of our BBA Program, Mom (Rema) helps Dad run the school, young Krimit is going to be a golfer, not an education.  Grandma is half of the dynamic grandparents who founded the school.  Unfortunately, Grandpa has had a health issue and could not attend.

We were honoured guests, though we have never done anything to deserve that title.  However, the Chief Guest certainly had.

We were surprised and honoured to meet, for the second time, Mr. Balbir Singh.  He is in the Guinness Book of Records for having won three Olympic Gold Medals while playing field hockey for India!  Where did we first meet him?  At a field hockey tournament in Abbotsford!

After over 600 achievement plaques were awarded quickly and efficiently to students,  the amazing pageant began.  Every student in the school was involved and each grade level made a colourful and musical contribution.

It was a perfect day for this outdoor venue.

There was dancing from around the world and from several states of India.

A bit of drama!

The Life of Lord Krishna followed by King Lear!

The staff and students had spent hours preparing for this show that flowed smoothly for one and a half hours.

The finale was a fashion show by the Class XI students.

While the young men looked pretty sharp, the young women were absolutely stunning!!!

Sunday dinner was at the Charaia home, Simlee's family.  I think we have been fed by every incredible cook in this country.

Dad was a great host….

And Mom, with Simlee's help, prepared the meal.  (We think she is really Simlee's sister!)

Sunday was also the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev, the first Guru and founder of the Sikh religion.  So, the family entertained and fed us before going to the Gurdwara.

Here is Simlee's brother and the family baby, Snoopy!

Simlee made the rounds so we could all have our photo taken with her.

Of course, our temporary Indian son (and housemate and chauffeur and caregiver), Adi, was there.  His birthday is tomorrow, November 20, so we are bracing for anything that might happen around midnight to announce that event!!  And we know that we will all be treated to lunch……...  

Happy Birthday to you and you and you………...

Oh so many birthdays at this time of year!  It does make one wonder about the impact of Valentine's Day!!!!!

We began with celebrations for Dilmeet's birthday on Friday, November 8.

After returning from Delhi in the early morning, having escorted President Mark and crew to Agra and the Taj Mahal and seeing them off on their flight home to Canada, Dilmeet fulfilled her birthday role of hosting lunch.  This was held at Mainland China--the restaurant not the country!

Back at campus, we continued to eat!

Simlee provided the multi-layered, multi-coloured birthday cake--baked on her stove top!

Someone must help with the first bite. Simlee was too kind and did not provide the usual cake facial.

Mushtaq serenaded the birthday girl.

Obviously, I don't know how to upload a video.
It was classic Mushtaq and beautifully sung.

We were happy to see Mrs. Akre when she stopped by on her way home to Shimla.  She was just checking to see if we were doing a good job of looking after her boy!

Saturday, in Canada, was the BIG birthday.  My amazing Mom, Bertha Kallio, turned an amazing 95 years old!!!

We were able to "attend the party" via Skype.  (It is a little strange to see a party happening in your own home when you are actually on the other side of the world!)

Our granddaughter, Indi, travelled from Reno, Nevada, with her family to surprise her GG on this special day.

GG's large family (children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews) and some friends joined her for the celebration.  She received greetings from family in Finland, and of course, in India.

She always sits and smiles when surrounded by family.

Sunday was Gurneet Day!

He treated us to lunch at Willow Cafe.

Angad joined the Canadian end of the table hoping it would bring him immediate dual citizenship.

The long faces were due to the longer wait for food at this end of the table.

Little brother, Ishpreet, offered Gurneet the first bite of this version of a Simlee cake.

We were very proud to present our Indian son with the car of his dreams, a Lamborghini!  This is the best style of Lamborghini to own in this "crazy traffic" country.




Sunday was also the birthday of my brother-in-law.  Happy Birthday to you, too, Peter!

We met more of Dilmeet's family that day as well.

This is her Naanaaji, Naaniji, Mamiji and her cousins.

Lest We Forget………….

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, in the middle of my Organizational Behaviour class, we paid tribute to those who have given their lives in war.

We have made some friends as we jog in our neighbourhood park.  Mr. Aluwalia is one who first made us feel welcome, and today he invited us to his home for tea.

He and his wife are leaving for Dallas, Texas, on Friday to spend four months with their daughters.

Mrs. Aluwalia quickly called their niece, Prof. Manjeet Paintel, to come and meet us as well.  Manjeet works at Panjab University.  We were surprised to learn that she had attended the presentation made by Mark Evered and Peter Geller last week, and that she has visited the UFV Campus in Abbotsford.

It is a small world after all!

This was the week that was......

It was the whirlwind week of the President's visit.  All the students awaited his arrival on Monday, October 28.

Mark Evered was accompanied by his wife, Maureen, Peter Geller  and Satwinder Bains.

That evening, we all gathered for a dinner prepared by Ninni Anand.

Tuesday was the big shopping day at Elante  Mall....

Followed by dinner at the Bhasins, Dilmeet's family.

Wednesday - the first Principal's Symposium hosted by UFV Chandigarh was held at the Taj Hotel.

Team Peary spoke to the invited highschool principals and other staff members present about education--particularly in BC.  We hope to have some of them visit us in Canada.

This was also George's birthday.  So, after a short meeting with the UFV faculty and that prankster, Dr. Evered, he shared his first birthday cake.  This delicious one was baked by Simlee Ma'am.

His second cake was truly explosive.  This was supplied by Pirates of the Grill where we had dinner  and watched India beat the Australians!

His third cake was presented by three students who were waiting patiently at the campus for  us to return.

Thursday, of course, was Halloween.  We came prepared this year with our costumes.

The students, too, were prepared with many amazing costumes and masks.

Friday was particularly busy, starting with the first ever UFV Inter-School Business Quiz.  The first round had been conducted by a short written quiz completed by students in various highschools in which UFV presentations had been given.

Quiz Master, Mushtaq, was in fine form, making his entrance to the final round with a little macarena.

Friday night, Team Peary again hosted an evening of celebrating successes.  George finally got to perform his Blackberry Boys routine (renamed the Teampeary Boy) and other stunts from his repertoire.

Entertainment this year was the amazing Punjab Pipe Band.

Too early on Saturday morning, we were off to lovely Shimla....

with all its interesting sights and monkeys and baboons. Along the way, we encountered a cookie snatching monkey and I will try to upload the video at another time. 

In addition to some great shopping and sightseeing, we had a nice dinner at the Himland East with Adi and his father, Mr. Akre.

Sunday we were back in Chandigarh to celebrate Diwali....

starting with a visit to the Gurdwara.

And ending with some quiet fireworks.....

as well as dinner at the Anands.

This evening, President Mark hosted his farewell dinner at the Taj Hotel

Faculty, Staff and their families, as well as friends of UFV Chandigarh enjoyed a visit and a meal poolside at this beautiful hotel.

Time does fly when you are having fun!  We are now in week eleven of the semester.  In three weeks time, the students will be writing final exams..........

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