However many I feel like on Sunday

Ok, ok, I realize it's been a while and all of you avid readers out in the world are having hunger pangs for more bloggage.

So, easiest will be for me to just list things. Sorry, no pics right now.

1- I haven't been able to update because the internet at my house has been super spotty. I put in a request to have it fixed just now. So hopefully I will be able to blog and surf the net comfortably from my own home.

2- I also just haven't plain been at home very much this week.

3- Monday night I came down with something. Still made it to school Tuesday but slept from 5 that afternoon until 7 on Wednesday.

4- The ferns are starting to change color. When they go brown it's a sure sign that monsoon is coming to an end. huzzah

5- For as much as I don't like celebratory days like Christmas, Thanksgiving, or my birthday
I actually had a really good time on Wednesday. After school a bunch of us (~20) went to the one and only local watering hole for some dinner and fellowship. The food was good, the company excellent but the vodka tasted like isopropyl alcohol.

6- Incidentally, August 27 is also Moldovan independence day. For those not in the know, Moldova is a small, former Soviet Bloc country in eastern Europe. It used to be (and may very well still be) the poorest country in Europe. It is landlocked (thanks to the soviets who screwed them over when they broke up and gave away their ports. It is situated between Ukraine and Romania. Lastly, it is one of only two (I believe) flags that are actually different on either side. Both sides have red, blue and yellow stripes but only one has the Moldovan crest upon it. Just an interesting fact.

7- I finally made it up to the top of the hill this week. I had duty to go help watch one of the boys dorms. They said they chose the ones we went to based on where we lived. Somehow, all of us at Suncliff got stuck having to go all the way up to the top and on the other side of the hill to Rokeby.

8- I finally got my first Indian haircut and shave. It was definitely interesting. No clippers, everything was done by hand scissoring. The accompanying massage was interesting. Apparently, so were the huge red marks on my neck the straight razor left were too.

9- Woodstock had an all city field hockey tournament yesterday. They only got teams together four days ago and lost every game pretty badly, but I think the kids enjoyed themselves. I enjoyed watching old fat men from Mussoorie take on kids half their age.

10- I finally got Mike's package. I hadn't realized how many comic books he was able to fit inside that box. My friend Andrew and I decided that a bocce set would probably fit inside one of the flat rate boxes. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. He thinks he's found a good place to play as well.

11- We closed school on Friday in protest of some religious persecution going on in southern India. The kids were happy, I'm not sure how much they grasped the reasoning behind it though.

12- My buddy Saahil threw a party at his place last night. Had a great time talking, dancing, and singing karaoke. They kept chanting for me to get up and do another. Who am I to deny my loving fans? On the way back home I almost died. The ramp up to his house is very slippery and I, of course, slipped underneath the guardrail. Luckily, I was holding on to it and caught myself because the entire lower half of my body was definitely hanging over the cud.

13- Another staff member had a little get together at his place on Friday. We were supposed to play some poker but we just ended up chatting, eating hors dourves, and having a few drinks.

14- I'm finding myself having more alcohol here than I ever would back home. Funny how it took a Christian school to bring that out in me. Still, never to excess.

15- My friends think I'm a really good dancer. I don't know about that. I just wiggle around and toss the lady around like I know what I'm doing.

16- The only thing that sucked about this birthday was a noticeable lack of peach pie. Instead, I have to settle for shots of Indian vodka and whiskey while some Tibetan fellow sings an extraordinarily too long version of happy birthday.

And well, that about sums up the week for me. My battery's about dead and I should probably pull some files off of the school drive before it dies on me so I can do some work.

Friday

TGIFF

I'll let you decide what the second 'F' stands for.


Anywho, it's good that it's Friday. I finally understand the meaning of working for the weekend. It's not that I dislike my job, just that it's pretty stressful and having the weekend to just chill out is nice.

This morning I woke up because I had this strange dream. It was in colour. I was in Turkey of all places with a few people from school and someone I didn't recognize.. maybe a turk. Anywho, the guy I don't know was driving us in a van. We had stopped because one of my friends had wanted to get some coffee so he hopped out and got it. We took off again and were on a highway coming in to the city and there were these huge sconces. They dwarfed buildings and their flames were a vivid orangish yellow. I couldn't get my camera out b/c another friend was sitting on my bag. I asked her to give me copies of the pictures b/c it was just amazing. Another friend then told us to get close so she could take our picture. As we did there was a tap tap tap on the back window of the van. We looked behind us and saw our friend, coffee in hand, clinging to the back of the van. I guess we sped off without him. When I woke up I remember thinking to myself, 'Huh?' and that's pretty much how I feel about it now. I talked to one of my pals about it and she took her hand at interpreting it for me. She said that it was important because it was in colour and that I felt comfortable around those people and that's why they were there. She also said that I like to get rid of my one friend sometimes b/c he can be a pain in the ass and that's why we left him behind. She also said something about the sconces being important b/c the way I described them to her as being like the Olympic Torch. And she said Turkey b/c that's one place I'd really like to go.

Who knows what it all means?

So, classes went pretty well. I'm still not used to the block schedule. No two days are the same during the week so class times are always changing and it's very difficult to keep track of how long you have for a class. I'm getting through it though. Somehow...

We also had our first exploratory block this afternoon. Apparently no one was interested in campfire skits and songs so they nixed it. I didn't find out until tea break this morning so thank goodness I didn't put anything together last night. Instead, I'm helping out another teacher with a first aid class. Not really the most exciting thing to do but I can certainly handle it. We'll see how it goes. Maybe at quarter break I'll look into the comic book thing. I think that would probably go over better.

This evening was adviser night. I am an adviser for 10 grade 10 students. I brought them over to my place and we had some Dominoes. The pizza was late, cold and not very plentiful. Next time I'll get larges. The kids enjoyed themselves though, I think. After dinner I had them play a game I had played with some staff members. You divide up into two teams and pick a person, a book and a movie for the other team to do a sort of charades meets telephone. You stand in a line and the person in the back acts it out for the next person while the others are facing the other way. Then they do it for the next, etc etc etc. (ah... Yule Brenner... quite the quotable man.) It was a lot of fun even if they didn't follow the rules and talked the entire time. Later we had some ice cream and chatted about things. They're all good kids and I'm looking forward to doing more stuff with them.

It's 10.30. I'm hella tired. I think I'm going to turn in early this evening. I think I'll end up going down to the bazaar again tomorrow. I want to try and get my hair trimmed and maybe pick up some more homey items. I finally got some plates and cups. Bowls and silverware are looking like necessities. Maybe I'll even stop by the Cambridge bookstore again for a bit of an early self birthday present. If I do end up going down I'll take the camera and (hopefully) use it this time.

Ten on Tuesday

Blah blah blah, Maggie was whining about neglecting my blog duties. Heaven forbid I should do my actual job. Anywho, here's ten:

1- Teaching is getting better. I'm still disorganized as Hell but I'm getting there. Tonight is actually the first night I haven't HAD to come back home to prep until 11. That's nice.

2- That's actually a bad simile up there. I'm pretty sure Hell is very organized. There's lots of sinners down there that need repenting. I'm sure they use Excel spreadsheets and Outlook to keep everything running smoothly. Of course, they probably run them on Macs too.

3- I'm down a prep. Last week we had one of the science teachers resign for her own reasons. This gave me the opportunity to pick back up that Chem 10 I gave her and pawn off the Chem 11 on someone else. Sure, it's sad to see her go, but it actually helped me out. Wow, that really makes me sound like an asshole. I'm leaving it. James-Rice-not-so-nice right?

4- I've joined a sewing/crafts group. Really, it's me and a bunch of old ladies doing our own various projects. We met last night for some soup and just talking. I have an idea of what I want to do and know where I can get stuff. Alice, Sarah, and Kaylee... you all can be expecting pieces by Christmas. Hopefully. So far projects I've come up with: an elephant, a monkey, a tiger, a moose, and a marionette version of Mr Punch.

5- I have Advisor Night this Friday. I'm in charge of 10 grade 10 kids. So, to get to know them I have invited them over for some Dominoes and some games. I'd watch a movie but I don't have a tv, dvd player, or even any dvds. Now... if only my dominoes hadn't gotten unpacked... Cindy... we could've had Dominoes and dominoes. Yeah... these kids think I'm weird.

6- I made it on the Eyebrow on my own last night. Now, that sentence just sounds funny. The Eyebrow is a path that takes you up the hill and is far more level than going via the road. The thing is, it's extremely treacherous. It was dark, there are no lights on the path, it started raining, the moss and mold make it extremely slippery, it's very narrow, trees pop out of the side of the hill to block your path so you have to lean over the cud to get around them, and there is a guard rail but it comes up to your knees so if you do slip it flips you over so you go head first into the cud. It was quite the accomplishment if I were to toot my own horn. I told everyone about it today.

7- My mold is growing back... for the second time this week.

8- There's pottery on Thursday nights for staff. I might go and check it out. I wouldn't mind making my own coffee/tea pot or mug.

9- I have finally gotten around to writing down all of my ideas for a comic. They all center around the Kung-Fu Cowboy. It's my pet project. We'll see if it gets off the ground, there are lots of other projects too.

10- Rather than think of something else to put in for number 10 I took my length of rope and tied in a Turk's Head so that I could put it down instead.

Independence Day

Yesterday, the fifteenth, was the 61st Indian Independence Day. From what I've been told, it's usually just another day for most of India. Woodstock, however, is not like the rest of India.

We got the day off from school. The Indian government, however, mandates that all schools should have a flag raising/national anthem singing ceremony. All three schools gathered around the flagpole at 9.30 on Friday and there were some songs, a keynote speaker, and, of course, the flag ceremony. Afterwards local vendors were invited to provide everyone with food on the quad. There were plenty of momos and dosas to feed everyone. Personally, I picked up some potato patties that were quite spicy and covered in coconut and mint chutney. I also devoured a few mutton momos and drank some chai.

Afterwards, everyone I talked to (and myself as well) took a nap. I was invited by the head of the science department and his wife up to their place for a 'bland meal.' It was smoked chicken, carrots and mashed potatoes.

Just some views I thought were interesting. These were actually taken last Sunday on my way to dinner. When I got there I found out that we had chapel that evening and it was formal. I had half an hour to eat, run back up to my place, change, and make it back down for chapel. I was only 2 minutes late.

Some staff and students getting settled in for the big ceremony.

Some staff members getting to their seats. The bearded man in black is the head of high school.

Some of the grade 12s peering over the balcony at all that is going on.

The Indian staff choir singing some traditional Indian songs.

The principal introducing the keynote speaker.

Afterwards in the quad.

Some of the vendors make rotis (I think) in a 50 gal drum oven.

The longer the line = the better the food.

The longest line by far was the Tibetan momos.

The Suncliffe gang. Us guys in our kurta pyjamas and the ladies in their saries.

Today I went back down to the 'buzz' or bazaar. I finally got my hands on an electric blow heater. Well, my figurative hands anyway. They had to order it and said they'll send it up tomorrow. This makes me very happy. I also stopped back by the local bookstore. Just to browse. I picked up a copy of The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins because I've read a lot about him and decided to see what he's all about. I also picked up two hardback copies of the comic compilations of Tintin. I've just had a hankering for some comics and I always liked Tintin. The last stop I made was at another grocery store. I picked up some cheese. Real, bona fide, crumbly, yellow, cheddar cheese. It's delicious.

I have never felt more insignificant...

Yeah yeah... not a pity blog here. I just back from dinner which I spent with Jane, a 75 year old volunteer from Canada who's just a peach. Real fun gal and great to talk to over your rice and daal. Anywho, we had our conversation and were drinking our tea and coffee when another staff member came in to have some coffee with us.

Somehow it came up that he was Tibetan and he proceeded to give us his life story. Fleeing over the Himalayas at the age of four. Not seeing his parents for 40 some years. Trying to visit his family only to be turned away at the border. Finally getting to see his family and then bring a niece back only to be caught and thrown in jail for it. Finally getting her here and only to have tragedy strike. Getting threatened to have the Chinese police sent to him and then running into an old classmate who takes him and his family in. Saving a drowning man in a raging mountain river and getting dragged for kilometers. Then he sings a Thai song to a homesick Thai boy.

Cripes...

He just blew me away.





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On a different note, sign up for google talk. Add niftysunburn and we can chat. Free computer to computer calls.

How I spent my Saturday

So, today was a gorgeous day. I got to sleep in a bit. Raji, my ayah, came over to do my laundry and clean up a bit and once again got out the bleach water to clean mold off of the ceiling and some of my personal effects. Around noon I went up to school to have some lunch. I sat with Jane, our 75 year old counselor who is also new staff. We had a good conversation over some tea and coffee. Afterwards I made a trip over to the bazaar because I needed some lightbulbs and Nutella.

This is what my trip looks like. We start off at the top of the stairs at Suncliff and go all the way into Mussoorie.

The top of the stairs at Suncliff. It can be quite treacherous some mornings when they have not put bleach down to kill the slickery mold and moss.

After the stairs comes a fairly steep path. It scares the hell out of me only because rather than lay something like woodchips, they lay bits of broken brick, bathroom tile, and glass.

View of the road from above mentioned path.

Finally on the road. There are no sidewalks or anything of the sort around here. You walk on the side of the road near the cud (the drop off) and hope you don't get knocked over the rail by a truck or motorbike. I've had a few close calls. You stay on that side so that if worse does indeed come to worse you knocked down the side of the cliff and not painted on the side of the hill.

The view down into the cud.

Some Tibetan prayer flags.

It's a tree, did I really need to explain that?

The ramp up to school.

Coming in the back way, behind the kitchens.

Through a corridor or two and you come to the quad. This is where the elementary and middle schools meet. The dining hall here is also where we have our meals.

The ramp up to the high school. It's quite steep and gets steeper as you go up. And you wouldn't believe how slippery campus is. Between the bricks and flagstones you are lucky if you stay on two feet.

Woodstock front gate.

A view of lower campus. Those are some of the dorms.

Mussoorie.

Flowers.

Crickets exist in India.

More flowers.

More of Mussoorie.

More prayer flags. These ones still have color to them.

And yet more flowers.

The view of Woodstock from near the entrance to the bazaar.

Just some majesty.

Stellar eh?

And down into the valley. Hell of a drop off into the cud if you ask me.

On my way back I ran into some friends and we stopped by the Cozy Corner (a local shack that sells snacks and cigarettes), this languor decided to join us.

More monkey. Just for Mike.

View of the hills from Cozy.

The lower dorms again from Cozy.

Mussoorie from Cozy.

So, there you are. I didn't take any pictures while in the bazaar because it just makes me feel like too much of a tourist. I promise some day I'll overcome that show you what it's like. Really, it's ridiculous. You're always looking over your shoulder because the streets are so narrow and there are always cars, trucks, buses, bikes and people trying to get through. Tonight a few of us are going to order Dominoes just to get away from the monotony of rice and daal. Afterwards we're going to another staff home for a bonfire.

One of the places I stopped by was the Cambridge Book Shop. I was absolutely wowed by it. It's stacked floor to ceiling with lots and lots of books. He even has some comics. I was tempted to pick up some of the Tintin hardback three-in-ones that I read so fondly in my youth. I resisted, however, only because I bought a book on Hindu myths and another about Buddhism. The next time I go down to the bazaar (or the "buzz") I'll stop by again and check out what actual issues he has. They looked pretty old. Maybe a good gift for Mike?

Oh, and as an aside, in the comics here, Snoopy is colored brown and so is Calvin's hair.

For Jill

Because she wanted to see pics of the kids.*

This one shows some of my kids. They're having a lot of fun in chemistry class as you can tell.

*Laws and general rules about creepiness prohibit me from actually posting pics of my kids. But she kept begging. You know the deal. Two way street.

For Maggie

Here's the PV=nRT derivation from HY=EY. I thought about typing it all out nice and neat but figured that would waste TOO much time. So, here are the scans dad or Cindy or some elf/dwarf/pixie sent me. It made a lot more sense when I was in the class. Oh PChem...

KKKKT!

Page 1

Page 2
(just a little but it is important)

Page 3

The end.
PV=nRT, isn't it beautiful when something comes together?

Lordy, I hate PChem. They try to fit EVERYTHING into a straight line of y=mx+b.

OK, let's procrastinate...

It occurred to me that I really haven't mentioned a lot about what I actually do aside from being a chem teacher. Kinda vague isn't it? The thought crossed my mind that I should just leave this post at that and leave you all to wonder. I'm not that big of a jerk though.

Or am I?...

eh

Ok, so I'm a chemistry teacher here at Woodstock School. Originally, I think I was supposed to be the low man on the totem pole taking the lower level courses and maybe even a general science or lower level bio. As luck would have it, the entire science department is new this year. The other chem teacher, Gayitri, has been teaching for a lot longer than I have but has been mainly 9th and 10th grades IGCSE and no upper level courses, especially not AP. So, that leaves me stuck with the AP 12 kids (two sections), a section of AP 11, and two sections of IGCSE 10.

oi

I can't complain though, we're all stretched pretty thin in the science dept this year.

Ok, so the schedule is kinda screwy. I only see 3-4 of the classes on a given day. MWF are extended periods of 65min and TR are shortened periods of 45min. T and R we have whole school assemblies in the mornings. Fridays have a bonus block at the end (in which I am doing campfire skits and songs). Mondays I have advisor group. I have 10 kids from grade 10 whom I'm supposed to get to know, take to dinner, have activities with etc etc. Wednesdays are homeroom where we get all the grade 10s together so they can do whole class things (like vote on officers). No two days during the week are the same for me. Luckily I'm in the same room for all but my AP 11 class. My AP 12 classes each have a double period once a week on M or F. That's two 65min periods back to back. It's supposed to be for labs and whatnot. Luckily we have our tea break between the classes. Which reminds me, we have tea breaks throughout the day. One mid morning and another after school. It's quite nice. Breaks up the craziness. I'll probably end up working through most of them though. That's another thing. We have a lot of random duties. I have lunch duty every W. I'm supposed to let the kids go every so often from the high school down to the cafeteria so that things don't get too crazy. Every now and then I'm supposed to supervise the tea break. Twice a semester I have to chaperon some weekend event. In November I have to take a group of kids somewhere on Activity Week. I really hope I get to go on a hike rather than go to Delhi. Umm... oh, if someone calls in sick I may have to substitute for them during my free period. Subs are hard to come by in the Himalayas (him-all-yas, who knew we were pronouncing it wrong this entire time?).

I'm sure there are other things that I'm forgetting at the moment. I don't care much. This has kept me from planning for a good long time.

First Day of School

Piece of cake. And boy, did I look sharp. Sweater, tie, nice shoes, the whole bit.

Can't believe I forgot to put up the derivation for PV=nRT from HY=EY. Oh well, there's two classes I've yet to have met.

The thing that sucks though is that today was the easy day.

And aside from 15.August (Indian Independence Day) I don't get any days off until winter break. Well, there's activity week but then I'm stuck hiking in the mountains or going to Delhi with the kids. Hiking would be great... Delhi not so much. Even that though isn't until November.

*sigh*

I've signed my life away to the land of perpetual wet for a good part of the year. Eh, that last sentence just has poor phrasing. I'm here for two years. It's wet here for a good part of the year. Workin' for the weekend right?

Highlights from today:

-The look of fear in every kids eye as I told them we were having a test today. (Just to see what they already know.

-I got asked if I'm Scottish (he said it was the beard) right after I said I'm from the states.

-Totally skipped my lunch duty. (On accident)

-We had momos for dinner. Quite a nice change from rice and daal and mutton curry. Ice cream cones for dessert too!

-It's over! (almost, need to do some more planning)

-I butchered almost every kid's name and they laugh when I tell them my name is Mr Rice.


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Oh, and sorry, looks like AIM is a no go for the time being (except AIM express, which sucks). I was told that google messenger isn't blocked (they have a messenger?) so I think I'll try downloading that and seeing how it works. SKYPE is also another option they said.

Talked to the HS art teacher yesterday and she hooked me up with a sketch pad and some graphites. Funny thing is, I did draw last night but it was with a ballpoint pen on lined paper (my favourite media).

Last thing, maybe, apparently some of the staff had arts and crafts nights last year where they got together and sewed and whatnots. I emailed one of the gals and asked if she knew where I could get some supplies for stuffed animals. So the girls may not be neglected this Christmas. They may get stuffed leeches though.



Edit: Yep, Google Talk works. niftysunburn Doesn't look like you can video chat but at least it would be real time chat and I wouldn't have to go through AIM Express. Get a Gmail account.

Two Reasons Why India Sucks

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