Janaki's Blog

After a five hour train journey with a train change in Munich, we arrived in Salzburg. We had our eyes glued to the window through the entire bus ride, taking in the sights of the quaint city and the tall, rocky Alps. Mom was especially ecstatic about the the tiny shops selling a variety of things. Our lodging was a little far from the hubbub of Salzburg. We got off at our stop, and then it was a short walk to the Boutique-Hotel, Essigmanngut. The view that met our eyes was incredible. It was the kind of thing I had only gotten to see in movies; large green, rolling meadows framed by the ranges, old-fashioned houses with sloping roofs, and no one around for miles. It was a windy day, and the trees were swaying with sunlight filtering through their branches. We had never seen a place so serene. We did face one issue however- it was difficult to locate restaurants nearby. It took us a while before we finally identified a group of them, hidden away from the main street.

Just two more months and then we can say ‘adieu’ to 2016! It’s crazy how fast the year went. I can’t believe how so much happened in 2016. School kept me busy most part of the year. Finally it was time for SA-1 exams, which marked the ending of the first semester. The minute I reached home after the last exam, I took my laptop and crawled into bed and spent hours on the Internet, before catching up on much-needed sleep. I’m currently spending the Pooja holidays, which began on the next day after the exam and continue till Thursday, in Riyadh. It feels great to be back. I’ve already decided all the restaurants I need to go to because I miss most of my favorite ones like TGI Friday’s, Buffaloes, and Portuguese Grill. Plus the one at IKEA, they have amazing meatballs. Mom and I went to  Barbecue Nation along with Kunjunni, Kunjichechi, Valyamma and Valyachan. The food really was incredible.   

Exam week was upon us, and now it’s over! This officially marks the end of all the FA’s of ninth grade. It also marked the beginning of the weekend where I did nothing and acted like a total couch potato. Now all that’s left is the SA-2, and then curtains closed on this year. On the recommendation of my friends, I read the ‘ Wings ’ series by Aprilynne Pike . It was pretty great. Out of the four books in the series, “ Illusions ”, the third book, was the best. When the gang discovered Yuki was a winter faerie, I was like “Oh my god!” My parents and I watched the movie ‘ True Grit ’ yesterday. I liked the way the actress who played Mattie delivered her lines, for it was flawless and clear and her voice was perfect for the lines she spoke. TaylorSwift stuns everyone with her new music video ‘Out of the woods’! When the trees came up on the beach and formed the letters ‘Out of the woods’ that was totally sweet! Although from what I garnered from the video, T-Swift likes

Finally, finally , my FA-3 exams got over. It felt like I’d been having them for a year. Last week was a rainy week. After the first two exams, everyone was texting each other of how there was a 99.9% chance of there being a holiday the next day. Our class Whatsapp groups were the most active. Where normal people would wish for the rain to stop, everyone in Riyadh was begging for a thunderstorm, some lightning, hailstones, or any other freakish weather phenomena, just to stay home from school. Some people had contacts with teachers as well, so they were kind enough to keep us updated. “Hey guys! Our math teacher just told me that we have a holiday tomorrow! Wheee!!!” “Really, are you sure?!!!” Then a screenshot of the conversation would be sent, and everyone would change their Whatsapp status to something regarding the blessing of the rain. An hour later, the principal’s message would reach our phones, and that would be circulated around the Internet. This

Phew! So the FA-2 exams are finally over! The last exam was yesterday. Now, its officially time for summer vacation. Mom and I are going to India tonight and Dad’s coming later. Last week was really hectic so I’m looking forward towards the vacation. Kunjunni has already taken leave from school so that he can greet us at the airport. Kunjichechi’s first year at college starts in August, and since she was not able to spend much time with us last year due to studies, this time she plans to  be at our home 24/7. My grandparents are eagerly waiting for us as well. So it’s clear everyone is excited. We’ll reach tomorrow morning at 9. That’s always what I like; reaching India in the morning. You can start off with the new day instead of the time when you reach there at night, and everyone nags you to go to bed even though you are not sleepy and want to do something else.  Nanditha’s plane was today too, only hers was at noon and mine’s late night. Her flight had got postponed an

Sunday my FA-3 is starting. I’m just praying it gets over soon. After that we have our winter vacation for which I will be spending my time doing “Aaaaaaagh………” and relaxing. Now that I have finished ‘Blood of Olympus’ too, I think it’s a bit sad that Leo’s friends never really found out he was alive. Apparently today is “ Black Friday ”. If you stand outside a shop in the US, you will probably get trampled. Last evening at badminton class, our teacher made me and Raksha as team captains. One thing you should take care of- always try to win. Otherwise all the blame goes to you. But we were able to win 2 games out of 3. Once, Anne was a captain at school in our group for a project, There were an overall of 4 team captains in the class. Anne had me and Chandana too in her team. We weren’t really worried because we had all this right in the bag, but Anne was a bit nervous when it was time for submission. We didn’t make her feel better when we asked our teacher if Anne

“Next, we will go to NEXT ”  Mom said, grinning. My father and I chuckled. We were having a long day of all types of shopping. Dress and grocery shopping took a lot of time always. My FA-1 had finally finished and after 7 days of exams, I was ready to sit back and enjoy the weekend. But my Mom had other plans. We had to complete a load of shopping which we did over the 2 days. So when I went to school on Sunday, my eyelids were feeling heavy and I was ready to use the table as a bed and my bag as a pillow. Nobody seemed well in my class. Rabia and Sauda had headaches, some people had cold, and others were ready to go to sleep. I was suffering from all the above. There had been a sandstorm on both days of weekend, and we all had been victims.  So, last week and this week had and will be a total drag, according to my calculations. To make things worse, a rumor had been spreading that the FA-2 exams would be starting early. I was like “Just great!” Sunday is not exact