As the holiday quickly approaches, I sit back and reflect on what a busy term we have had preparing for this trip. I can't believe in just two months we are on our way to place that will change our lives for the better. I thank these 10 grade 11 students for being so enthusiastic about everything Mr. B and I prepare for this adventure. There are busy schedules to contend with and yet they have all pulled their weight and made a great impression on us. I look forward to the final months preparing with visits into the lower school, our second casual day which is tied in with India lunch in the cafeteria and bake sale. We are working our way towards a head shaving to raise more money with many keen participants in the group including Mr. B. We have Visa's to obtain, medical clinics to visit and packing out the donations given to us by the lower school! And yes - magic to practice - some more than others, Mr. B is certainly outdoing us all with his practice and showing it off!! Ms. P

Really Snowy Monday Night

Very nice start to the conversation... Kudos to Erin, Carly and Loren for getting the blog up and running. Thanks! It's been a blast getting this expedition launched these past few months. The magic, our car wash, our dinner out and our retreat were great. You would have been proud of me - I tried all our tricks on York School staff at the staff Christmas party on Friday night. My magic show biz debut. (They were suitably dazzled and if nothing else it confirmed my co-worker's impressions of me as being a bit..... 'eccentric'). Have a great holiday. Cheers. Mr. B

Car Wash Aftermath

On behalf of the India trip students, Jim and Barb, we would like to say thank you to all those that came to the car wash on Saturday September 15th. We are very fortunate to have so many enthusiastic staff and family come support our fundraising efforts for the orphanage. We washed, big cars, little cars, dirty cars, already clean cars and bikes! A few taxi's even dropped by!!!
We were able to raise just over $1600.00 which far exceeded our goal. This money will come with us to the orphanage so we can spend it on the children and the facility. We will make purchases once we are in India from a wish list the children at the orphanage have made. It may be a new playground set, reconstructing the entrance way into the orphanage, or perhaps some new books, toys or shoes. Whatever it may be, we want to be able to give it to them. We will be able to do this this support and donations.

The children in India will benefit from this as we are already planning with the orphanage what projects we will be working on while we are there and what we can spend our money on when we arrive.
Thank you again for your kind contributions.
The India Team

October Retreat @ Brickell's Cottage

On Friday October 26th we (the whole gang) left TYS in the infamous YORK van to the Cawartha Lake area (aka Brickells cottage). Our 4 hour drive was very interesting and included..playing awkward question games (thanks to Erin), making a stop at the Peterborough grocery store, seeing the local Peterborough people and listening to interesting music at very high volumes :)

Once we got to Brickell's cottage, we all settled in, calling dibs on the rooms. Josh got especially comfortable and broke a glass candle holder from India within the first 10 minutes :) After that we made dinner (Hamburgers!), and got serenaded by Mr. Brickell, Josh and Harry around the fire......Speaking of Fire, on the retreat we watched a movie called Fire which we all determined was the most interesting movie we'd ever seen. It was good times! We all bonded over the appropriatness of the movie (good selection Mr. Brickell)!

Saturday morning we all awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes. We bundled up in our warmest and set off in groups around the bay with only a compass in hand. We paddled around for hours, navigating around the lake to find our clues to peice together the story of India (including history, culture, food etc.). We finally arrived at a point in the lake which looked like it could have been painted by the group of 7 to have our picnic :) After we were all finished, we paddled back; amazed that no one had tipped their canoe yet.
Apparently, we had spoken too soon.....
Within 2 minutes from Mr. Brickell's cottage (aka safety and warmth) Katie got really anxious and "lightly" encourage Max to up his game and increase his speed! They got a little too carried away and within seconds they were in the freezing depths of the lake. Katie, being the AMAZING tripper she is, responded to the situation promptly.
"CANOE OVER CANOE RESCUE...FORM A TEE"
Max Levitt and his Under Armour saved the day!
Overall, it was a great weekend of bonding and made us all SO much more excited for India!

Families for Children (FFC) Orphanage

Families for Cihldren is a non-profit organization which helps women and children. It is supported by sponsors and volunteers.

FFC is located in Podanur, near the city of Coimbatore and houses over 450 needy children. FFC provides these kids with an opportunity for education - and is structured so that everyone feels like they are part of one big family. Children may remain at FFC as long as they need to, after which many find jobs or marry.

This March, 12 students from the York School will be spending time at FFC. We will be helping out with the children and maintenance and by bringing over donations from Toronto.

http://www.familiesforchildren.ca/ - Visit this link for more information.

Coimbatore Information

Below are some websites about Coimbatore (the area we'll be staying in when we're at FFC)

FFC is at the Podanur Junction just outside the city of Coimbatore in the province Tamil Nadu.
http://www.familiesforchildren.ca/index.html#anchor183887

Check out this website for daily weather forcasts: http://weather.123india.com/tamil_nadu/coimbatore.html

The District Admin of Coimbatore:
http://coimbatore.nic.in/

Do You Beleive in Magic?

Over the past few months, the India crew has been meeting with our favorite magician Julie Eng. From vanishing balls, magical cups, “knotty” ropes and impossibly found cards; Julie has amazed us with her talent and taught us a few tricks. We’re all very excited to bring these tricks to India as a medium for us to connect with the children. Magic will be a great tool for us to have as it surpasses all language and cultural barriers and will be something which will immediately allow us to connect and bond with the kids. Special thanks to Ms. Prevedello who has the genius idea of learning magic and to Julie for her energy, expertise and time.
So, if you ever want to be amazed, we’d gladly show off our new magical skills to you!

York-India 2008 Promo Video

Made by: Brickell & Prevedello

Pictures from York-India Expedition 2007