The monsoon is over. For a week we haven’t had anything but sunshine and blue skies. Then, just like a tube of toothpaste that never ends – you always manage to squeeze a little bit more out – we have one of those last inexplicable and senseless showers. The Return of Monsoon, Monsoon Strikes Again, Monsoon 2.

Friday we have our first vacation after two intense months. My first quarter report card is good. Not even one failing grade, for the first time in my life!

Rehearsals for “The Taming of the Shrew” are going well. The show is gradually becoming an Indianized version, Bollywood style. The other day we practiced the first choreography, and I have to dance… how can I explain? If you’ve seen Moulin Rouge, the part near the end, “chamma chamma”.

Have you ever thought about what certain words or names mean in other languages? I had a big laugh to myself when I found out that “sala” means bastard [in Hindi] (there’s even a song that goes “Hey Sala!”) while “tona” is a type of black magic used by certain religious sects.

Today in “Religions of Indian Origin” I learned that some strange religions come closer to god by eating pieces of dead, burned human flesh, or the dung of sacred cows.

NO. This I will not try.

But maybe that one where you smoke a lot of dope to reach some kind of nirvana – that one, yes!

(I’m joking, Mom.)

Exhilarating photo taken during the school dance.

MomComm: I know she is. If she was interested in smoking dope, she could have been doing that back in Italy!