Am I ever going to be able to come back home?

Today I took a little trip into the bazaar. I was supposed to go down to Dehradun and hang out but I've been sick all week and have a pretty well established cough right now. Anywho, I woke up this morning and kept coughing. I canceled the trip and slept in.

Eventually, I got up and made my way to the shower and off to lunch. The Indian version of anything has some amount of spice and kick to it. Their fried chicken is no different. I'm getting off topic though. Have I even been on topic yet?

Whatever.

So I head into town. I need to pick up some items like speakers; headphones; and, most importantly, toilet paper (remember, I've been on one roll this entire week, not a good thing to do in India, especially when you're sick). It was an open bazaar day so it was simply crawling with little Woodstockers. Quite a few stopped me to say they really enjoyed the staff talent show last night.

I suppose I should take a little tangent to explain that. You see, the staff puts on a talent show for the students each year in the fall and the students are then to put their own on come spring time. When the call first came for acts I was quite reluctant. I eventually signed up for the staff Bollywood finale. Just imagine 30some teachers up on stage doing a multitude of Indian dance moves (Think Benny Lava) and a good majority of them are white. I did Signal Signal with one of the elementary teachers. There is going to be the actually talent show on youtube sometime soon. I'll link when it is. Soon after I signed up for that I got roped into making a guest appearance for the female staff's Evolution of Dance sequence. I popped out of the side during What is Love? wearing dad's old yellow cardigan and a bowtie. I was promptly kicked off stage. Not before I recieved wonderous applause and cat calls though. The night before the talent show I got roped into the skit "The Enlarging Machine." Jared, the middle school science teacher, and I, being the men of science that we are, created an enlarging machine to help alleviate some of the shortages we experience here on the hillside. First went a piece of a broom because if you've ever been to the dorms you'd think there was some shortage by how filthy the rooms are. There were others like a water shortage where Jared spits into the machine and gets a glass of water in the face. The punchline was that there is a huge teacher shortage going on (we need to hire soemthing like 6 I think) and Jared decides to throw me in. There's screaming and Dave, a guy about a head taller me and probably twice as wide, comes out wearing the same outfit and my glasses and chases off Jared. The last thing I got roped into was literally just before it. It was the skit with people fishing and one guy in the middle is the only one catching anything. We all ask him what his secret is and he just mumbles. Eventually he spits out whatever is in his mouth and says, "The secret is, You have to keep the worms warm." Ba-dum-dum. It was a good night and the kids really enjoyed it. I promise to post the video when it gets put up.

So, back to my story, I was in the bazaar getting things I needed. I picked up some speakers for my laptop so that when I brought it in to school to show movies for my new exploratory block, Cult Movies, I wouldn't have to use my laptop speakers. I have 15 kids in the expo block and showed them Spinal Tap on Friday. We didn't get to finish it but I think they enjoyed it. I think next week is going to be The Gods Must Be Crazy. It was a warm day in the buzz today. I wore jeans and a light hoodie and was still sweating. I trudged all the way through the bazaar amidst innumerable students who all stopped to say, 'Nice dancing Mr Rice' or 'Funny skit.' There were even a few elementary students who asked if I really turned into Mr Boven during the enlarging machine. Oh the wee ones...

I made my way all the way to the other end of the (useful, i.e. non-touristy) bazaar and trecked into the Cambridge Bookshop. I had a list of books I was hoping to get priced. Most were graphic novels or some of C.S. Lewis's non-Narnian works. Unfortunately, he told me he wouldn't be able to get any of them. Sad day, but not like I don't have enough to do/read as it is. I picked up two books I had eyed last time I was there and hiked back.

And this is where I've been going with this entire thing. As I was walking down the hill there was a dog walking up. The dog suddenly stops in the middle of the road and proceeds to give birth to her litter of puppies. I casually keep walking. This is not something completely out of the ordinary around here. I'm sure if it happened back home that some mother would probably be outraged by the fact that her story she told her children that they were brought by the toothfairy and not spurted out of her birth canal was just utterly shattered. Lawsuits would be had and I would be saddened even more.

But things are just different. When the power goes out, people scream and then get scared and upset. Here, no one misses a beat. You're having dinner, the power goes out, you still eat. The other night was pooping and the power went out. I finish my business and wipe my butt in the pitch black. Of course, as soon as I gird my loins the power comes back.

...

There are other things. Getting used to living with giant spiders (it's just not ok when they're inside my shoes in the mornings...). Monkeys. Trust me, they're not cute and just get annoying.

Then I think how much do I really miss it? Not a whole lot. There are a few people I miss but I wouldn't see them that often even if I was in the states. I did think earlier today about how much I miss the UP. I'd love to go back there and spend some time. I'd love to go back for the turning of the leaves and Winter Carnival.

And I think it all ties into how I feel things have been going so far since August. Am I enjoying teaching? Sure, it has it's ups and downs and it is only the first semester of my first year. Will I stick it out? Fer sure. I plan to definitely stay at Woodstock for my two years and we'll see how I feel about the profession after that. Lately I've been going back to play with the idea of being a real lab chemist. Of course, I do plan to get my masters so maybe I'll get some engineering or something like that.

Ok, I made my point ages ago and rambled into other things. I'm just going to sit back and try to enjoy my pipe.

Edit: I also just wanted to say that Ben Fold's album Has Been with Will Shatner is amazing and would make an amazing Christmas gift for anybody. Especially expats.

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Let's see how long it sits in Delhi and how many (extra) pieces it's in when it gets here.

Touch wood.

By the numbers

Because I'm sick ... here's the best you're gonna get:

2- the number of boots I got made in the buzz

47- the number of kids that bailed to camping with me this weekend (that was all of them)

1- number of leopards I'm pretty sure I saw about a week ago

8- number of hours I spent in the sun getting burnt last Friday attending the mandatory sports day

2- boxes of apple juice I've gone through since this weekend

6.022 x 10^23 - number of atoms/molecules/formula units in one mole of substance (Mole Day's coming up folks)

0.5- how I'm feeling right now on a scale of one to ten

2- the number I saw in the 'optical illusion' ... colour blindness tests do NOT count as optical illusions...

1- rolls of toilet paper I have left in the house

5- the number of classes I should be prepping for

1- number of freakin' rad elephant head mugs I've made in the clay centre

4- number of winter hats ('tooks') I've busted out of hibernation

1- prototypes of elephants I've made

1- the number of accordions I have in the mail right now somewhere between Delhi and Chicago