(Turkey on Rice)^-1

Come to Istanbul...

2012-02-07T02:08:00.003+05:30

...adventure lies around every corner.

Visitors and Snow Days

2012-02-05T21:19:00.002+05:30

Coming back from winter break was good. It's always nice to take a fresh start. Unfortunately, it is more than difficult when the family matriarch passes away right at the beginning of the first day back. I thought about possibly taking the day off but figured that there was not anything I could do from here and what good would bumming around the apartment do me? I stuck it out. A friend brought brownies and all was basically well. School has been going well and we just finished up the first semester. It is a very crazy time as teachers rush to complete gradebooks and comments and students flock to find out how they can raise their grades that one or two (or twelve in some cases) percent to get to that next grade level/pass.

A friend came to visit. Mon Petit Chou (MPC) taught French at Woodstock while I was there (technically she still does). She decided to come for a week towards the end of her winter holiday as she moved back towards India from France. Things worked out well because she came the same week that reports were due and she would go out and see the city while I worked and we would both get home around the same time and would relax and catch up on old times. There are pictures of some of the places we visited below.

The weather has also been pretty crazy here. The Friday that MPC spent here turned out to be a snow day for us so she worked on some things for school while I ran in to finish up my reports. We then went out and had some fun in the snow. The next week we had Monday afternoon classes cancelled, then Tuesday, then Wednesday. Thursday was an early dismissal because it was the end of the semester and Friday was a day off! I only taught 135min last week. Luckily, school has a few extra days built into the calendar as a buffer so the snow days will just be absorbed into that.

This is the time of year that international schools really start looking for new hires. There are job fairs going on resumes and CVs coming and going and the excitement is contagious even if you're still contracted for at least another year. Having friends packing up and leaving has gotten me to start thinking again about what I want to do in the coming years. Of course, nothing is set in stone right now but I have a pretty good idea of what I'd like to do. Istanbul is a great city and even in just this one semester I can see MEF growing and changing into a better school. At some point I would like to go down and do one of the four to six months tours in Antarctica at one of the science bases. Realistically, I would not be working with anything science-y unless I could manage to get some kind of a job as a lab tech. I'll be happy to be a janitor down there. So, what I'm thinking is that I can study and take the GRE while still in Istanbul. Then I'll go down and do my run sweeping floors or wrangling penguins in the antarctic. That will get me back Stateside around February or March when I can make definite plans for grad school. I'm leaning more towards getting a higher degree in chemistry than anything else at the moment but have emailed one of my profs from ISU with my thoughts and questions. Any snippets of advice that you all might have would be welcomed. It's all very confusing.

Anywho, supposedly the weather this week calls for lots more snow which is rather unfortunate since the past few days have be gorgeous. I went to Eyup yesterday. It's a very conservative part of the city as evidenced by the overwhelming majority of women wearing headscarves and the fact that grandmothers have to actually get up from their seat on the public transport to sit between myself and their granddaughter. Obviously I'm just so virile that I will impregnate her by sitting next to her (With a good gap between us no less. You could see seat.). There is a nice cafe up the side of one of the hills there. My friend, Lurch, and I went up to check out the view. It was a beautiful day and the view of the city was great. There was a little smog but it did not really inhibit the view all that much.

MPC looking at the waterfront of Ortakoy in the snow.

There were quite a few snow peoples out.

The snow started melting and turning to slush. Good days could be seen ahead.

Watching the fishermen on the bridge as we head to the Golden Horn. The weather was wonderful.

Galata Tower

An interesting carpark.

The view of Istanbul from Eyup.

Brunch on the waterfront.

Houses

Glasses of cay are a common sight.

Walking along the waterfront to Rumeli Fortress.

I call this my "Maria Pose."

The fortress.

Exploring the walls.

More houses. The architecture here is awesome.

Turkish graveyard.

Hookah pipes.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T05:42:00.000+05:30

I was thinking about my previous New Year's celebrations. Back home they usually consisted of Swedish Meatballs and Guy Lombardo and running down streets shouting, "walla! walla! walla!" I had a nice one backpacking in South Africa a few years ago. The rest have been low key (fireworks on a rooftop in KL) to downright sad (sitting in my home alone on the hillside (Hey, I was traveling the next day and everyone else had already left Mussoorie.)). This year proved to be a little different. Things started off nicely with an Ugly Sweater Party. Trust me, in Turkey they're not that hard to find.

We promptly headed down to the waterfront to scope out places to hang out and party. Although it was raining we were fine due to it being unseasonably warm. After the countdown at midnight we continued to dance in the rain and enjoy ourselves. The party didn't stop for several more hours, a few rounds of Balderdash and much more dancing.

The way to wear an ugly sweater (or anything really) is to own it. This guy's got it.

Some sweaters were uglier than others. We still had a good time.

Party by the bridge awaiting fireworks.

Grapes for each of the twelve strikes of the clock. It's a Spanish tradition. She's Irish. We got them from Colombians.

Rockin' in 2012. Let the good times roll!

Froehliche Weihnachten

2011-12-28T22:12:00.001+05:30

Wien was a great trip. The city is beautiful and it was certainly great to spend Christmas in a place where most of the population celebrates. There's lots of photos after the jump (somewhere around 150). Just saying.

Click on for the pics. That's what you really came here for anyway.

The first real view of Christmas in the outside halls of the Rathaus (city hall) on our way to one of the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) or more commonly Christkindlmarkt (Christ Child Market).

Tower of the Rathaus.

Lots of stalls selling food and wares.

The next day we traveled around Wien. The place was practically a ghost town. Finding food was more than a little difficult at times.

Oh. My. God. Cheese Land! a.k.a. Heaven

Sauerkraut and pickles

We did a little Christmas tree shopping. I could smell them from across the street and had to visit.

Lots of architecture to photograph.

The Rathaus in daylight.

I got this sugary concoction as a snack and didn't need to eat for another six hours.

We stopped in for a concert in the Rathaus. Obviously it was all in German. Unfortunately I was only able to pick up about 2% of what they were saying/singing.

In the Museum Quartier.

Maria Theresea Square

The Natural History Museum. Locked up that day (Chirstmas Day).

The Emperor's Palace

More architecture. The buildings were so close I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if there was a fire.

St Stephen's Cathedral. We came here the night before for Midnight Mass.

Another Weihnachtsmarkt. This time out by the summer palace, Schonnbrunn.

As we walked around we got hit by this overwhelming smell of gym socks and teenage boys. After a second we realised we were standing next to the Kaseraclettebrot stand! Basically the have big slabs of stinky cheese sitting under some heat sources and let the cheese get all melty. Then, they take it and slather it on top of a slice of bread with chives, onions and bacon. It was amazing. Top it off with a mug of Gluhwein (mulled wine) and you're good to go.

The cookies just say, "Badass."

St Niklaus rockin' it with Krampus on a chocolate bar.

Screw reindeer, these two get around in style.

Wood carvings, smokers and nutcrakers.

This guy had an awesome booth full of puppets. Had I the money I would have totally bought some.

These look familiar.

More ornaments.

Old-timey toys.

Pretzels!

Felt toys

Beeswax shop.

Looking at all the stalls full of ornaments I couldn't help but think of mom and how much she would have loved to have been there. I'm also pretty sure she would've bought too much Christmas stuff.

Miniatures

By Christmas night the streets were starting to look lively again. We had a very difficult time finding someplace to eat on Christmas Eve so we made sure to scope out some places Christmas Day as we walked around. I ended up with ribs. They were a little over done but still pretty good. We were just mostly thankful that this was not the Christmas we got introduced to Chinese turkey.

Carriages outside of the cathedral.

I have no idea.

We finally got into the Natural History Museum. The first part was all rocks. Made me think of Grandpa Rice.

This one reminded me of K.

I thought it was particularly interesting that they put down the chemical formula of some of the minerals.

Blacklight luminescence.

Meteorites

Being a chemist I know that various cultures are going to call chemicals and elements different things. However, I always thought that some things were standardised by IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the governing body of chemistry) including formulae and element symbols. Then I came across this. Jod. What was particularly intriguing was that the symbol was 'J.' Now, no periodic table that I've seen has the symbol 'J' on it. I was stumped. Apparently it's iodine. Why that haven't converted the symbol to 'I' I have no idea.

Petrified wood

Lots of fossils

Giant turtle

Venus of Willendorf

Group portrait using infrared cameras.

Moose

Dodo

Anteater

The tiny nutcracker I got at the Schonbrunn Christmas Market.

And the beeswax ornaments.

This is where I live

2011-12-18T02:24:00.000+05:30

Friends from India arrived yesterday for a vacation/honeymoon/stop on the way to the States. I met up with them today for a cold boat ride up the Bosphorus. Here's a good view of the city from the water. Maybe this break I'll take some time to visit other areas and show you what they look like too.

That's the mosque in my title picture. It's being redone at the moment. Keep heading up this direction and you'll eventually hit my place.

Pfizer. There's lots of Viagra on display in the pharmacies here.

A favourite nook for breakfast.

Hagia Sophia at night.

Blue Mosque at night.

'Tis the season

2011-11-27T22:55:00.000+05:30

For Gram

2011-11-24T01:09:00.001+05:30

When I came home this evening I did my usual thing of putting up my scarf and hat and realised it reminded me of something. Well... more of someone. A bunch of hats hanging up just inside the doorway when you walk in, anyone?

:)8

10 on Tuesday (two days early??)

2011-11-21T02:01:00.001+05:30

10^0 - I have committed a cardinal sin. I have begun listening to Christmas music. I don't care what people say about not until after Thanksgiving. Contrary to what ties you might believe Turkey has to the holiday it is not celebrated here. Therefore, ergo etcetera I am starting to listen to it now. It makes me happy. Except for the times it makes me sad.

The smallest prime integer - I went on a ten mile hike with the Scouts today. It was through Istanbul. Along the Bosphorus. On the Asian side. Alas, I forgot my camera at school so no pics for you.

pi rounded to the nearest whole number - The brother and I have started a new blog born out of some musings over the past few months and my post with Cthulhu. Approximately once a week we take turns picking a topic and then we both post drawings/sketches/whatevs for it. Check it out and let me know what you think.

sqrt(16) - The parentals have bailed on me for the holidays. Some friends and I are thinking Vienna. Egypt is also in the cards as is Italy. Any other suggestions?

-log(0.00001) - I need some other Christmas albums to pad my Christmas playlist. I'm leaning more towards things like the Vienna Boys' Choir, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Chanticleer, et al. I'm open to other suggestions. I also love my Bing.

3! - It always amazes me how much all of my senses are tied to memories. For me I think it tends to be mostly sound and smell. I was listening to some Bing the other day-- I think it was Christmas in Killarney-- and it immediately took me back my first real LEGO Christmas. I had gotten a few Pirates sets and I distinctly remember sitting at the dining room table putting together the Lagoon Lock Up, my first "big set." I can vividly picture putting those yellow blocks together and marveling at how awesome the whole thing was. I also remember losing a sword that same night to the infernal, yellow shag carpet. I miss LEGOs. Don't get me started on Bing's Do you see what I see? Smell is the same way for me. I once got into an argument with an ex (SHE WHO SHAN'T BE NAMED) about whether or not I thought about my other exes. I told her that sure, I do sometimes but never deliberately. The best example I could give her was I had to stop using a certain kind of deodorant (and more recently all deodorants, but that's just getting off topic from the story) because the smell of it reminded me of the time I was with a different ex. I said that I'm sure there are other things that crop up that will cause those synapses to fire and make me remember something. She didn't believe me because she said things didn't happen like that for HER. Really, it just snowballed from there. Seriously, dodged the bullet on that one. Anywho...

The number of legs on a seven-legged spider - I made my first batch of Istanbul chili last weekend. It was topped off with some slightly overdone (not burnt) cornbread and some bad, processed "cheddar cheese." The friends I had over said it was really good and all seemed to enjoy it. They were really astounded by what all I put in it. Don't you add whisky, chocolate and honey to your chili?

(I'm too lazy to keep doing this) 8 - Bex, I need some of mom's cookie recipes. I have a decent oven, decent access to ingredients, a more adventurous attitude toward baking and cooking in general, and a need for some of mom's cookies.

9 - Just finished Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour. It reads like an episode of No Reservations and I really enjoyed it. I've been looking for a new read. I've started a few but couldn't get into them. I'm blowing the Le Petit Prince and will soon finish it. Recommendations for something new?

10^1 - Speaking again of memories, I picked up oranges yesterday. For me, oranges are the ultimate cold weather food. Not in the sense that they're going to warm me up or anything like that but more from the fact that each year we got a big box of Pittman-Davis oranges and grapefruits from one of dad's siblings or pseudo-siblings. Often they were left on the porch to keep cool. Just another reminder of Chirstmas. One day I'll move my Christmas stuff to wherever it is I live (along with my books and other crap) and I'll be able to put up my ornaments and nutcrackers. I'll put it all out, turn on some Bing, Chipmunk Christmas, and/or Peter, Paul & Mary Holiday Celebration, turn off the lights and cuddle on the couch with my dog and a mug of peppermint Schnapps infused hot chocolate. How cozy!

Bonus (oh how lucky!):
10 + 1 - A friend and I were discussing having a Christmas movie marathon. We came up with A Christmas Story, Home Alone and Christmas Vacation. What others? I mean, besides Scrooged, obviously.

:)8

Edit: I was looking through the pages of LEGO Pirates sets and found this one. Seriously? How does that even work? Forget the fact that the cannon would probably just sink the boat or blow a hole in it when it was fired. Logistically, how the hell are you supposed to load that thing? Most cannon crews had something like three guys on them. Standing up and moving around on the tiny boat would quickly capsize it. Oh well. I'm sure that as I kid I would have loved this set as my little renegade to take on my pirate ship. Think X-Wing v Deathstar.

Vacation to Izmir

2011-11-14T00:18:00.003+05:30

I've been on holiday for the past week. It's Kurban Bayram in Turkey. My Turkish friends described it as basically the Muslim equivalent of Christmas. I'm not up on all the details but I know it is about sacrifice and ties back into Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son.

If you recall, I spent the previous Bayram (at the end of August) in Istanbul. I spent a lot of it holed up in my apartment because of a bad ankle injury. I made for a proper trip this time and spent five days south of Istanbul in Izmir. It was only an hour flight south and I was soon into warmer climates and the bustle of holidays.

Keep reading after the jump for pics and stories.

Allow me to take a moment to plug my hotel for the week, Guzel Izmir Oteli. The hotel was great. They're centrally located in Izmir just around the corner from the train station, bus stop and about a block from the metro. The staff had impeccable English (difficult to find in Turkey) and were extremely helpful. Orhan especially made his best efforts to help me get everywhere I wanted to go to and made suggestions for along the way. The room was rather cramped with barely enough room for the bed but it was fine. They were also very cheap. Maybe not the place to go if you want luxury but if you are going to visit and are on a budget it's perfect.

Anywho, on to the good stuff. My first full day in the city I actually left. I went down to the city of Selcuk where I did a lot of hiking around. My first stop was to the Temple of Artemis, my first of the seven wonders of the world. Like five of the remaining six the temple no longer exists. The only thing that stands to remind one of what was once there is a single, huge column. On top was a stork's nest. Admittedly, it wasn't as cool as one imagines it to be but at the same time, to think that this was once the spot where a huge temple stood, known throughout the ancient world, is pretty cool.

After I got my pictures there I continued my walk towards Ephesus (Efes), the most complete ancient Greco-Roman city. I made another detour off to see the Seven Sleepers' Grotto. Supposedly what happened was that seven Christians were pursued by Roman troops and hid inside the cave. The Romans found them and proceeded to seal off the cave. The seven awoke again 200 years later and all the miracle stuff happened. It was later converted into a crypt where the seven were laid to rest. It too was a bit of a let down. You read about things like this and get a very clear picture in your mind of what you'll see. I pictured walking into a dark cave with holes dug out of the walls where skeletons were resting and the like. The actual site was fenced off for the most part and there was much more masonry and a lot less natural cave.

OK, ok. I make the trip sound like a mistake but trust me it only got better. I turned around and hiked the rest of the way to Efes. After a quick lunch I paid and started wandering. The best I can describe it is like a big playground for adults who always wanted to be archaeologists a la Indiana Jones. You can go just about anywhere. There are a few places gated off (probably for safety) but there are a lot of things that are intact and you can wander through, around, over, into, etc. I didn't get one of the audio tours but there were signs posted for a lot of things. I'll try to explain as much as I can below in the pictures.

After I went through Efes I was going to stop by the House of Mary where the Virgin Mary supposedly spent her final days but I took a wrong turn (there were no signs). I made my way back to Selcuk and hiked up to St John's Basilica. As I walked in I was approached by a man who was surprised I spoke English. Turns out that he's a teacher too in Istanbul and works with the wife of one of my colleagues. We chatted a bit about teaching abroad and Istanbul in general before I took a picture for him posing in front of the entrance to the basilica. I wandered around a bit, saw the tomb of St John and looked at the sunset from up there. It was a good, tiring day. I must have hiked upwards of 7-8miles that day. It was good.

The remainder of my time was spent in Izmir going to some lackluster museums and castles. I took part of a day to find THE FAT MAN. One of my friends used to work in Izmir and demanded I go find this guy and have his tavuk sis (chicken kebab). I boarded the bus and went to his area of town and followed my directions to the letter. I knew his shop was past one cafe and just before a pharmacist. I came armed with a photo from facebook of my friend just so I could ask, "Do you know this guy? He told me to find you." Well, I went into a few and no one knew what I was talking about. I was starting to think this fat man was a myth. I went into one more restaurant and as I was pulling up the picture it turned into a big "?" Luckily the guy said he had wifi and after making a few phone calls he got me on and I pulled up the picture of my friend and he too didn't recognise him. Resigned to the fact that my friend likes to send me on ridiculous goose chases I gave up, ordered an adana kebap and pulled up facebook to scold my friend for lying to me. I knew he told me there was photos of him and some others in the restaurant taken last year so I looked for them and when I found the photo (minus the fat man) I looked at the curtains in the picture, then the curtains next to me and I was sitting in his shop the whole time! I showed him the picture and he finally recognised my friend. I happily ate my kebap and went on my way. I even ended up with a free bus ride because when I went to pay the driver (they're supposed to give you a card you can use three times) he just shrugged me off and said to forget about it. I'm not going to complain.

I made my way through markets selling everything at reduced costs, cafes offering chay (tea) and everything else. The only other noteworthy thing I did was to finally go see a movie. I saw Tintin in 3D. It was good and faithful to the books. I recommend it.

Anywho, let's get to the pictures. That's all you really wanted anyway. Get ready, there's 110 of 'em.

Marina at Izmir.

Izmir's clocktower. It's a landmark.

Chasing pigeons.

All that remains of the Temple of Artemis. Wonder of the World #1 -- CHECK

Just to get a sense of scale, that's a full grown man sitting at the bottom of the column. Now, imagine something like 36 of these. That's a big temple.

Seven Sleepers' Grotto

Sarcophagi in Efes

An old temple turned into a church.

One of the main streets.

The theatre.

A fountain outside the theatre.

He just walked into the shot. I think it works.

First view of the library.

The Library of Celsus.

Houses.

One of the gates.

Back at the Library.

Mosaics

Your most dashing tour guide.

I love it.

Cotton fields just outside of Efes.

St John's Basilica.

A Byzantine castle I really would've liked to go to but it won't be open for a few more years (according to an old man who claims to work there after trying to sell me real, old coins).

The Fat Man and I. I was told he looks like Santa. My friend is not the best at making up descriptions of people.

The Agora at Izmir

View of Izmir from Kadifekale, an old castle on the top of the hill.

If you look closely in the lower left quadrant of the picture you can see the Agora.

Sunset from the castle.

:)8

Halloween

2011-10-31T00:57:00.002+05:30

Ahh... Halloween. It really is one of those magical times of the year. Here in Istanbul it falls around the same time as Republic Day. As such, we had a half day of classes on Friday. Not wanting a perfectly good half day go to waste with productive classes and learning we had THE HAUNTED HALF-DAY, oooooooooEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids were split up into all day activities consisting of movie making, dancing, and some art projects and others went to rotating workshops. Not surprisingly, I got roped into doing a mad scientist's lab. We had a few demos for the kids -- puking pumpkins, beating hearts, burning money-- and we also let them make some slime. And let me tell you. Carving pumpkins can be a pain. Most people who read this are probably familiar with pumpkins as being the orange, smooth-ish round things. Well, those ones are fine for decoration and all but when you eat a pumpkin it probably comes from this lumpy, green monstrosity with flesh a few inches thick. We bought a few of these for the labs and proceeded to carve them the night before. I spent a good hour doing mine. Not because it was intricate and detailed, but because it was so thick that cutting out simple triangles takes a very long time. The end result was good though and they did their jobs amicably.

After the half-day a few of us went out to hang with the Brits and play a Halloween themed quiz game. My team, Jaws 13 in 3D, came in third place. Not too shabby but no real bragging rights either.

The next evening we went to hang with the Americans at the Marine House. Everyone showed up from Mexican wrestlers to Canadian mounties to Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice. Yours truly attended as Dr McNinja. What?! Who's that, you ask? Well, he's Irish, he's a doctor and he's a ninja. What else do you really need to know? Fine. Here's the link.

I'll let the pictures do the rest.

Lurch and I getting ready for the fresh meat, I mean children.

I've been drawing zombies, vampires and werewolves all month for my kids. They love it and so do I.

This guy stayed in character as a zombie too well. He only groaned and kept his face perfectly expressionless.

Me with two of my helpers, Igor and Captain Underpants, getting ready for some hijinks.

One of our demos.

The same demo again from another class. Note the scary music in the background.

Making slime is so gross!

In case you were wanting to make your own slime (it comes out like that Nickelodeon Gak of yesteryear) all you have to do is mix a bottle of glue (make sure it says PVA or polyvinyl acetate on it) with a little less than equal parts warm water. In another container saturate about the same amount of warm water with some borax found in your local laundry aisle. When no more will dissolve start adding it to the glue mixture and you should immediately see the polymer (the slime) start to form. Mix it well and when you get a big glob pick it up and start kneading it with your hands. It should come together with some squishing. You can play with its consistency and stickiness by changing the ratio of glue to borax. Add food colouring to the glue before the borax to colour the slime. You can also use glue gels (again make sure it's PVA) to get clear slime that looks a lot like snot. It's perfectly safe to handle but, like all things you can make in the lab, do not ingest your slime. The slime bounces but don't throw it hard. It will shatter and tiny pieces will go EVERYWHERE and get stuck to EVERYTHING.

Performing Thriller!

Getting ready to hang with the Marines.

Hanging out with Diana Ross, Holly Golightly, Robin Hood and the Queen of Spades.

Drinking some of the most vile blood I've ever tasted.

Out with the Brits. This is my Blue Steel. I used to be a hand model you know.

Team Jaws 13 in 3D


The doctor is in

:)8

Missed call...

2011-10-26T22:55:00.002+05:30

I forgot how therapeutic sketching can be after a a long, stressful day. I was thinking Mike and I should start a blog where we give each other a topic and the other has 10-15 min to make up a sketch from the time of reading with whatever is nearby. It could be interesting.

Happy Halloween!

:)8

identity issues?

2011-10-17T22:55:00.000+05:30

Since moving here I have been mistaken for a Frenchman, Englishman and an Irishman (all in one week too!). I'm not entirely sure why.

Yeah, I don't see it either.

In other news. I went to the bank today to try and open a bank account. I was told that it was relatively painless. You go in, give them your papers, sign something, they scan it and you're done. It was supposedly a newly streamlined process. Well, of course things are never that easy. Everything is fine until the woman leaves the room and reenters with a stack of papers. She laughs slightly and motions for me to sign the bottom of the page. I do. She flips it over and motions for me to do it again. Then again.

For 110 pages...

Now, I'm no John Green, but I think I took care of business. Truly, it wasn't really my signature but more my initials. It's OK, when the J and the R are written in cursive and blended together they look kind of like a butterfly. I like it.

:)8 (<-- Bowtie smilie? I like it.)

Less of an update and more of a rant

2011-09-19T01:26:00.000+05:30

This past Thursday I made an excursion north near the second bridge across the Bosphorus (remember, I live near the first). All my previous efforts to find a scout group in Istanbul turned up fruitless because of websites not being up to date. Wanting to continue doing something in some capacity I contacted my top boss from the jamboree to see if he had any ideas on what I could do. I had thought about going to see a turkish troop but figured the language barrier would be too much of a burden for all of us at this time. Anywho, my boss got me in touch with a BSA troop in Istanbul, hence the excursion north. Things went well. I got to meet the boys and the parents and it all seems pretty solid even if membership and roles are a bit fluid.

Fast forward to the next night. I'm talking with a colleague and due to me mishearing what she said I told her about my finding the troop. See, she asked how my dating life had been since getting here and I heard daily life. Imagine her confusion when I started talking about meeting a group of young boys... Yeah, I cleared that one up quick. Well, later on she started talking about the BSA not letting gays be a part of the organisation. Some of her comments really made me feel like I was the one being judged. Are some of the higher-ups old curmudgeons, less open-minded and push policies that I personally may not agree with? Sure. Does the current policy reflect the views and opinions of every single member? Absolutely not. I always get riled up when people act this way towards me about scouting.

I cannot see myself turning my back on an organisation that has given so much to me and truly helped form me into the person I am. For example, without scouting I honestly believe that I would never have gone abroad. The way I see it is this, why would I leave something I feel so strongly for because I disagree with some policy? Doesn't that sort of attitude allow bad policies to prolong? It's more like giving up. Is it not better work from within to change things? I don't know if I'll ever get to the point where I'll be the one changing things but I did get to rub shoulders with a few gold tabs (read: national staff) and a lot of them don't agree with things the way they are and would like to see a change. To be honest I would not be surprised if the whole 'no gays' thing goes away in a few years. Now, letting girls in is a bit trickier. I can see Scouts going co-ed for all age groups but I can also see a big stink being thrown by parents. Future parents just remember, summer camp is about earning merit badges, not orgies in the woods.

Yeah, I had to go back and reread that too just to make sure I wrote that.

I guess what I'm saying is that let's not judge the Scouts solely by this but also look at what it does for so many youth and others. The kids involved directly get a lot out of it and so do the people they help. It's a worthwhile organisation that has helped and continues to help many people.

A quick post

2011-09-12T00:14:00.000+05:30

So, I really should be finishing my planning but I think I work best under pressure and there's just not enough pressure yet to be truly productive. You need to have pressure to form diamonds after all, right?

It was the first week of school and it really feels great to be back in the classroom and working with the kids. My grades 9 and 11 kids are great but I'm still adjusting and warming up to the 7s and 8s. Slowly things have been coming together and I'm getting more settled. It's definitely been stressful. Honestly, it's been a lot of gaining, losing, and regaining ground. I'm just figuring out the system and flushing out the bugs or finding a workaround. It's been stressful but mostly the good kind of stress.

In other news, I have gotten in contact with the Transatlantic Council of the Boy Scouts of America and found out they do indeed have a troop in Istanbul contrary to what any websites I've found have said. Hopefully I will be able to make time to work with them and get involved with scouts again. It will also be nice to find something to do that gets me out of the local area and away from school. Not that school is bad, it's just that I don't want to get stuck in the same rut I was in in India where all the people I interacted with and things I did were school related.

Finally, the weekend was good. I got to hang out with some friends from the primary school on Friday night. I don't really get to see them so it was nice to be with them. We ended up going over to the Asian side and meeting some other folks there for a few drinks and chatting. It's kinda fun to be able to say that I woke up in Europe, went to Asia and then came back in the span of just a few hours. Last night was a friends birthday so we gathered at her place for a bit before heading out for some dancing. Nothing too out of the ordinary there until the cab ride home. It's not every day you see topless, screaming trannys being chased down the street by cops.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the news from Istanbul.

Odd things are afoot

2011-09-02T01:07:00.000+05:30

Today was the final day of some R&R. I go back to work on Friday for some professional development. I made the most of it all things considered. I backed out of a trip to the islands because my ankle has been paining me but took up an offer for lunch. A few friends of mine wanted to go out and have some Indian. I psyched myself up for some tawa roti and murgh makhani by listening to some Bollywood hits before heading out. Unfortunately, when we went there the restaurant was closed until evening. We cut our losses, said we'd come back tonight and found a little place to get some grub. My chicken pasta was quite dry and the spaghetti bolognese was incredibly garlicy. We're talking bad Italian restaurant garlic bread garlicy. It was difficult for my friend to get down.

Fast forward to this evening. We make it back to the restaurant and thankfully they're open. We decide to sit inside so that we can watch the Bollywood numbers being played on a big screen in the back. I did manage to recognise All Izz Well from 3 Idiots. Well, we ordered some dishes off of their severely limited menu (murgh makhani, naan, daal, etc) and had a good time. I wonder if I keep going there on a semi-regular basis if I can get them to make some sort of special dish like my favourite, the murgh noorjahan malaiwala (I think that's how it's spelt).

Well, on our way back out we got stopped by a man whom I can only classify as pure, unadulterated crazy. He looked me right in the eye and asked if I was Japanese or Chinese. Now, I've been mistaken for British and German before but never Japanese or Chinese. Now that I reflect back on it I really wish I had stopped to talk to him more and maybe have gotten a picture (didn't have a camera). He was just so insistent and myself and one other were of one of those descents. I kind of want to know now what he was going to do if we had said, 'yes.'

Oh Istanbul...

2011-09-01T03:43:00.000+05:30

So, I've spent just under a month in my new home and I am LOVING it. When I went abroad going home to the States was always a distinct possibility. This just sort of solidifies things. Now, before you freak out Cindy let me clarify. This is more like a solidify in the sense of a non-Newtonian fluid. That is to say under the right conditions it will behave as a solid and maintain its shape, etc. but under another set of conditions it acts as a liquid and takes the shape of its container so on and so forth. What I'm trying to say is that things are peachy keen at the moment and life is good. Why mess with something if it's not broken?

Anywho, moving in a more forward direction... School has been hectic. I've freaked out a little bit about the course load I have this year. It's not so much the amount of classes I have but more the breadth. I am teaching grades 7, 8, 9, and 11. I am also teaching three different curricula (Checkpoint, IGCSE and IB) and not just chemistry this time but physics too! Now, it's not like I didn't expect this. I was told about the lower grades when I interviewed with the distinct possibility of teaching an IB course. It just really hit when I saw it on paper. To be honest, I'm probably most concerned about the middle school classes. I've been teaching 10-12 for the past three years and it's going to be a big adjustment for me to shift down to the level of 7th and 8th graders. I have three levels of external tests to be preparing kids for and it's just something that is going to take a lot of organisation from me to keep straight. I'll just do my best to make it so that I am not having to go over the same concepts each year.

Gosh, I'm already starting to sound like I'm a lifer.

Moving on...

This week is Eid, the end of Ramadan. Ramadan is the month-long fast that Muslims undergo to learn about spirituality, humility and the like. In Turkey everything basically shuts down (well, not everything but quite a bit) and they call it Şeker Bayramı. The funny S is pronounced "sh-" (Digraphs?! We don't need no stinkin' digraphs! (Though an interrobang would be nice.)). Also not that the 'i' at the end is dotless. It is also another letter and from what my limited understanding of the Turkish language tells me it has the sound of a long i. For example, take the word rakı. It's not pronounced like the Italian Stallion's breakout role but more like 'rock-a.'

Using that as a delectable little segue into raki (I'm not going to be bothered with the dot/no dot from here on out). We had a lovely get together at the ranch of the schools' owner. We got to wander around a bit and check the place out until dinner after sundown (for Ramadan fasting purposes). Well, after the sun went down the food and beverage flowed rather liberally. One of my colleagues brought a bottle of raki back to the table and we began to partake. This colleague happened to also be in the science department. He poured his and passed me the bottle. I pour some into my glass but was immediately dumbfounded. My raki was clear and colourless! Now, for those of you who have not had the experience of destroying your liver with such fine pickling substances allow me to explain that raki is a liquor made from the anise seed giving it a distinct licorice flavour. It is also served milky white. Imagine my surprise when I poured a glass that looked just like water. I quickly asked what made his raki so different from mine and he reminded me that one must add water to the raki in order for it turn CC (that's clear and colourless) to an opaque white. Well, we started discussing it with some other science folks and deduced that what must be happening is that a precipitate is forming when the water is added. For the non-chemistry friendly folks out there that means that a solid that had been dissolved in the liquid was forming crystals and coming out of solution. In this case the crystals are small and tend to remain suspended (see this post about supersaturated solutions forming precipitates) giving the appearance of a colour change. We joked around and said it would be an interesting investigation for my IB-1 class. Well, I did look it up and we were pretty close. It is a precipitate that forms. It is more soluble in alcohol than in water. So, in pure raki it is dissolved and all is well, but as soon as the water is added you start to change the chemical make up of what's in the glass and the molecules that were once soluble cannot stay in solution any longer and start to come out as little clumps of crystals.

Pretty cool, eh?

OK, no more nerding out. For now.

We've had this week off and it was quite a good thing. On Friday I played football (soccer) with some other teachers and in an aggressive fight for the ball I managed to land on the side rather than bottom of my foot and heard a loud *POP* *POP* I was down. It didn't really hurt but I knew that something had moved around down there. Whether it was tendons or bones I cannot say. Luckily, I was just down the hill from home and was able to walk pretty much after it happened. My friends took care of me. They brought me brufenCis Kofte, basically spiced raw meat balls). I've kept off of it for most of this week. There's very little swelling and no discolouration and very little pain if any. I count myself lucky for how well it's been healing thus far. And of course this had to happen the night before my birthday. I did manage to still go out and have fun. I met some friends at an Irish pub for dinner and drinks and then we wandered around until we found a karaoke bar. There was a guy that obviously spent too much time there and showed us all up but as one of my friends put it the guy had a great voice and awesome range (he could sing Mika) but had no outward presence. It was a great way to spend a birthday.

The ankle did put a damper on plans to wander around and check out some more of the area but I did manage to make quite the excursion today down to old Istanbul. We went to the site of the old hippodrome. The building doesn't really exist anymore except for a few remnants. We were more interested in going to the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. We went to the Blue Mosque first but didn't realise it because the signs all called it by its proper name, "Sultan Ahmed Mosque," and we didn't get to see the spectacular blue interiors that one hears about. I think it's just because it is still tourist season and since it is an active mosque we got shuffled to a side area to check out. Perhaps when dad and Cindy come in the winter we'll be able to see the real deal.

The Hagia Sophia was next. I honestly started having my own version of Nam flashbacks. We got in the gate and then realised we needed tickets first. Back out we find the ticket line as it snakes its way out and around the corner. Luckily it moves quickly and I am just a few metres from getting my ticket when someone tries bumping in line. Now, if you clicked the link above you'll see where this might be headed. I was just behind the area where it starts to get roped off so I quickly jut my hand out and grab on to keep the guy (let's be honest, it was a kid no older than 16 and his family of like 10) from getting in front of me. My friends are behind me but aren't paying as close of attention and he sneaks in between us. We exchange glances of WTF? as the kid tries snaking his was past me. I'm having none of it and stick my foot out to tie my shoe. I stand back up with my hands on my hips to block him on either side. Once we get to the ticket lines I get in one and he promptly walks up to the front of another and buts in. One guy says something to him but he ignores him and takes his tickets. Nothing but a little punk in my eyes. It was relatively short and painless. Maybe twenty minutes in line and TL20 later we had tickets and were through security. Then I saw it. The line to actually get IN. Not another one... It was so long too and snaked back and forth. We looked at each other and my friend was about to get in line when I spied the most glorious sign next to these people,

"Headset Tours Only
<--- Entrance"

I was elated. These fools got guided tours (well, honestly most of them didn't have headsets and were just queueing b/c that's where most others were). We went left and walked right in. I've been to the Taj Mahal a couple of times and even when the experience wasn't painful I was never struck with awe like one would assume they should experience when seeing it. Walking into the Hagia Sophia, however, I just felt immediately enveloped in awe and a sense of deep history. It was gorgeous even in its partially refurbished state. Elements of Islam and Christianity sat side-by-side with Islamic scripts nary a hand's breadth from a mosaic of Christ. I was able to imagine this church/mosque in all of its exquisite detail as a brand new building. Mosaic tiles lining the ceilings. Light pouring in from the huge dome on top. Gilded pieces of worship scattered about and men in robes scuttling about to light this candelabrum or deliver this message. It was a much more fulfilling experience for me.

Now what you really came here for--pictures:

The obelisks in the centre of the hippodrome. The one in the foreground is Egyptian and pretty cool to look at. The other has had its outer shell removed a long time ago and honestly looks like a bunch of LEGO. It's too bad this is really all that remains of the structure. It would have been really cool to see it.

Inside the Blue Mosque (though I didn't know it at the time).

First view of the Hagia Sophia.

That fountain turned on just for me. I'm a magician.

Inside, looking up.

Straight up at the central dome.

Mosaics covered the upstairs.

A view of the Blue Mosque from upstairs in the Hagia Sophia.

More mosaics.

Four seraphim adorned the sides of the interior (another is seen above) but this is the only one where the face had not been covered. I'm not sure why.

The Blue Mosque as seen from in front of the Hagia Sophia.

Don't mock the man-bag. Embrace it. LOVE IT.

At this point a year ago I was in pretty dire straits. Emotionally, I was a wreck and had a lot to deal with. I look at where I am now and hardly believe it. I made it through the year, put all or at least the majority of that behind me and am starting fresh. I used to wake up in India and think sometimes, "My god, what have I done?!" (just like the Talking Heads) but here it's more like, "Awesome. Bodacious!" (kinda like the ninja turtles). All in all Istanbul is shaping up to be a good fit for me. I feel like the school and the city and the people and everything else will end up being a great fit for me.

That is if I can learn the language. What I need is a private tutor. Can we say, "Turkish girlfriend?"

--Gobble Gobble

Same blog, new post

2011-08-22T18:48:00.013+05:30

Mike, just so you know -- I told you the internet was spotty in my apartment and I only got to update the title. Here's the rest of the story...

Merhaba!

Oh! what a time it has been. I have been in Istanbul for two weeks! Let’s not get into that just yet. I still have some final housekeeping issues to take care of before delving into the details of my newest adopted home.

Let us rewind if you will to a time not long ago when I was still in the foothills of the Himalayas. The end of the year wrapped up much as I expected it would. I was eager to move on, put certain things behind me and take on new ones. It was certainly difficult to see my grade 12s graduate and move on towards college but more than anything I was proud of each one of them for their respective accomplishments.

Here are some photos of one of my AP classes in the lab. They are synthesising acetyl salicylic acid and testing the resulting crystals for purity. For those of you not hip to the wicked chemistry lingo that’s regular old aspirin. The equipment used in the analysis is the Vernier brand of probes and software. If there was one thing I could have brought with me from WS it would have been this. I love the ability to set up various probes and test the temperature, pH, absorbance or whatever and to collect data and even graph it in real time. The best thing about it though is the fact that the data can be manipulated within the programme itself or transferred to Excel and played with there.

Mixing the chemicals...

The reaction is a success!

Filtering the product...

Aspirin

Analysing the product for purity.

Crunching the numbers

So hard...

I also have some random photos taken in the last few weeks of WS.

A mural I started in one of my friends' homes. Never finished it...

My advisees made me a great poster (and hefty cake) as a thank you for three years.

The class of '011 - Luminesence

A creepy sign by the graveyard at the top of the hill...

Two of my best friends from WS. Getting through the last year really would have been rough without them.

Raji. I also would never have gotten through it without her to wash my clothes and dishes. She said it best when she said she was my, "Indian mama."

Summer vacation was a good time to relax and get myself prepared physically and mentally for Istanbul. I spent most of my time relaxing at home reading or painting bathrooms. I got to make the rounds and see most of the friends and family. It was really good to catch up with some of my college pals who have also been teaching chemistry. We got together for the day and just chatted about the schools we’ve been in, the curricula and everything else that goes on with education. I also tried on a $400 pair of shoes. Had I the money I might have bought them they were that comfortable. Alas, I just spent the last three years in India making meager scrapings by American standards and had to pass.

That does bring me to one point that had been poking my head all summer long. First, a little background. I flew into Chicago and stayed with Becky up there for the night before going on down to dad’s. J’ville was undergoing some heavy rains and ended up with flash flooding which contaminated the water supply and damaged the pumps. Well, that put us on a boil order and limited water usage. It lasted for a good four weeks or so and the entire time there was something in the newspaper from people complaining about having to buy bottled water or limit their usage. The thing that bothered me was that none of them seemed to appreciate their situation. If I were to throw out a conservative estimate I would say that roughly 85% of the world’s population does not have access to clean, running water to the standard that the US enjoys. Heck I’d say even well below that standard. I think that as Americans we feel entitled to things like clean water when really it is a huge luxury for a lot of the world. Now, I don’t really blame anyone for feeling quite that way. Clean water has been something that most Americans have had for all their lives and it certainly seems like one of those certain unalienable rights set forth in the Constitution. I do, however, ask us all to look at the bigger picture. I think of the row of tents set up below the hospital in Landour. Entire families were huddled under tarpulines no bigger than 20 square feet. They dug through the trash to find reusable items or bottles to sell or set up a small blacksmithing get up to scrape by. While I am sure you can find poverty like that in the States I doubt you will find it as readily and as in your face as you do in other parts of the world. All I’m saying is that when we run into inconveniences like a month long boil order we should take a minute to appreciate the fact that we can get clean water in the first place and remember those people who are truly less fortunate than us.

[Steps down from soapbox]

One of the other best parts of the summer was convincing everyone to play a big game of Trivial Pursuit (using Iron Chef board pieces no less). Now, this was made even more awesome by the fact that we baked real pies. So, when you answered your pie question correctly you not only got your plastic piece but also a piece of real pie (corresponding to the proper colour of course).

Blue – Blueberry Custard

Yellow – Peach Custard

Green – Keylime

Pink – Rhubarb Custard

Brown – Chocolate Silk

Orange – Pumpkin

I don’t think I really need to say that we all felt a little sick afterwards. I still claim the title because even though JJ and I only had two pieces of pie and Chunk and Tori had three we didn’t quit playing after taking a pie break.

OK OK I’ll stop with all that and get on to Istanbul.

I’ll just sum it up by saying that so far everything has been amazing. Everyone I am working with is really great and looks like they are wanting to work to make the school better. My apartment is small but I still don’t have enough stuff to fill it up and it is literally right next door to the school. Also, it’s on a big hill so I’ll still get all the exercise I need walking around. It is definitely in one of the more affluent areas of the city as evidenced by the Bentley and Ferrari dealerships. I am excited to get started. Things have been a little overwhelming but I’m wrapping my head around how things work and am settling OK.

I have 8 classes and five preps plus a homeroom. I’m doing 7& 8 physics, 7, 9 & IB-1 chemistry. The thing about it too is that I’m working towards three levels of external tests. The Checkpoint exam will encompass the 7&8 chem/phys, the 9^th chem. will do the IGCSE in 10^th grade and the IB-1 class will take the IB exam in 12^th. It’s a little hectic and nervewracking but everyone seems super eager to help me figure things out and transition well into the new job. I found out too that it’s a brand new position (actually, I think I was told that in the interview but I don’t remember for sure).

I have gotten a little chance to get out and see the city. I haven’t done much of the cultural stuff yet (I will have the week after next off and plan to do some then) but I have gone out to check out some of the shopping centres and nightlife. Last weekend there was a school dinner that turned into karaoke and later into dancing at some clubs. The next night we had a boat trip up the Bosphorus with some more dancing. I think I am going to be enjoying myself far more in Istanbul.

Drinking the milk of the lion.

Turkish coffee in the park.

Me flipping some intestines for good eatin'

Sunset on the Bosphorus.

The view from the top of the hill at Ulus Park.

Also, did you notice the change in the blog’s title? I thought it would be easier to just rename the bloody thing rather than send out a new link to everyone. So there you go, (Turkey on Rice)^-1 . It fits perfectly. You get the food joke with the rice and turkey (obvious enough, no?) and you get the nerdy maths joke with the ^-1. See, a fraction like 2/3 (2 upon 3) can be inversed by raising it to the -1 power to give the reciprocal (3/2). So, now “Turkey on Rice” becomes “Rice on Turkey” and goes from a delectable dish of bird on grain to devilishly handsome and witty young man reporting on his new home. Also, the picture in the title is the Bosphorus Bridge which is only about a 15min walk from my apartment.

OK, that's enough for now. I'll post again at a later time when the internet connection is a bit better.

Last Post

2011-06-15T15:04:00.002+05:30

Three years has come to an end. I just had my final staff meetings this morning. My house is even more bare and empty than normal. I leave for the states in two days time. Things are somewhat bittersweet but it is beyond time to move on.

Most of the folks who read this already know how difficult this year has been for me and I don't think I would have made it through without some fantastic friends both here and abroad. I did what I came to do -- I saw my kids graduate and I sat there watching like a proud parent as each of my nine advisees received their diploma and especially when one of them got up to give her valedictorian speech. Those kids alone made all of the hardships and difficulties worth it here.

So, this is my final post to this blog. Do not fret, however, because I will surely have a new one set up for my adventures in Istanbul. I'll post a link when I come up with a clever title for that blog. Suggestions are welcome.

Until then I'll leave you with the corny line I wrote in the kids' yearbooks:

"Go where your heart takes you and never look back."

--James

An update on the situation

2011-05-19T21:30:00.008+05:30

Of course, it's been so long since my previous update that I forgot blogger uploads pictures in reverse order. I'm too lazy to reorder all of them so let's just do this reverse chronologically. The majority of this post has to do with the seniors graduating in just a few days. My advisees are seniors so I've got a little of the mother hen letting the babes out of the nest syndrome going on here. Let's just get on with the pictures and I'll wax philosophically later.

The advisor group together for the last time (during advisor group anyway). I have to give credit where it's due here. Notice that each kid holds an animal. Well, I had been considering some sort of gift to give the kids when they leave. Buying gifts in Mussoorie sucks because a lot of the shops sell a lot of the same things and once you've been in one you've seen all the others. So when I was visiting the cousins in Malaysia this winter Jess really wanted me to make stuffed toys with her and the girls. I've been out of it for a while but she motivated me enough to do it and I was inspired to make one for each of my kids when I got back to India in February.

M with her "cuddle"-fish. The others were remarking how the tentacles remind them of her hair. I told them she was mysterious and intelligent like the cuttlefish. And, like the cuttlefish can change colours (see pics below) M takes on various different roles in and out of school.

N receiving her long-legged fox. She's sly and clever much like the animal. Little does she know though that the legs are made from a pair of underpants gifted to me this Christmas.

D with her bear. A quiet, studious and fashionable bear (I mean c'mon, it's wearing argyle).

A with his striped tiger. A noble creature able to blend in and fade into the background but when it stands out it can really take your breath away. A has been seen around school three days after the fact still carrying the tiger to each class.

True to form J shows up ten minutes late to the meeting to get his sloth.

Which of my advisees is calloused, scaly and mean but still manages to be undeniably cuddly? T of course.

B was very perplexed by the event in general and especially by the fact that I made him a bunny wearing skinny pants and suspenders.

Other N got a cowboy frog inspired by her rowdy and rambunctious personality. Little did I know that she would choose to go to Nevada in the coming months.

Easily the most obvious animal. M got a panda wearing a pink dress. There is little I can say to describe M to you if you don't already know her. Suffice to say that she is a personable, caring and wonderful person. A panda in a pink dress suits her perfectly.

The kids were very confused as to why there was a bunch of animals on my desk that morning until Other N counted out 9 of the toys and 9 of them. I teach for those kinds of "A-ha!" moments.

On to some other close ups:

Rawr!

T's t-rex.

The colour-changing process.

With graduation looming on us the class flag was unveiled on Saturday at a special tea. The class name 'Luminescence' is on the bottom and the class animal, the phoenix, is in the foreground. It looks a little wrinkled only because the whole thing was quilted in a sort of fiery pattern.

From my last advisor night. I told the kids to get dressed up and meet me for dinner. I did not tell them where we were going and I ended up taking them to one of the more posh places in town where you (usuallly) don't run into other Woodstockers, Kasmanda Palace. I say 'usually' because it was the school chaplain and his wife's anniversary the same day. I remarked when we saw them leave for dinner that it would be embarrassing if we ended up in the same place. Lo and behold that when we stepped into the dining room there they were and I certainly got red (how unlike me). It was fine though. We went out onto the terrace and they got our group buffet rate.

I also did a reprise of my chemistry lab with the wee ones. Less explosive than last time I had more hands on activities for the kids this time. We made slime, oobleck and watched a few science videos. Fun was had by all.

And so thus my time at Woodstock is slowly winding to an end. My AP kids took their exam and I'm fairly certain a majority of them will do well on them. Since I still have them for a few weeks I've decided to do labs and I think I may now be regretting it. An entire day of labs is more stressful, I dare say, than being locked in a cage with a bear on rollerskates (wait, am I on rollerskates or the bear?). Now do that for a whole week. Let's just say that I think some of these kids are more suitable for online simulations and thought experiments. I can only deal with so much broken glass on a daily basis.

So yeah, don't expect me to get emotional about leaving. I'll miss the kids and I've learned a lot of things in my time here but it is time for me to personally and professionally move on to new things but I will not forget where it was I got my start.

A quick update

2011-02-27T20:35:00.004+05:30

I realise that it has been a very long time since I have updated the blog. I would say that it's been because nothing new is happening but that's a lie. Really, there's just been a lot of stuff going on that I'm still working through. Let's give a quick rundown on the major things from the past few months:

Winter break was fabu. I traveled to Malaysia to visit cousins. Kuala Lumpur is a wonderful city as is the remainder of the country (what I saw of it anyway). I stayed with Mark and Jessica for the majority of the time. There was plenty of reading, eating, snoozing, swimming, toy-making, and school-searching. Here are the three toys I made whilst there.

Guillermo the Spanish Clown.

Harvey the Beatnik Lizard.

Lester the Lion.

Pretty cool huh?

Well, after about a month in the tropics being lazy I traveled to Kathmandu for a week. It was quite cold there but we made fun. I met a lot of really cool people there and really had a blast.

After I came back to Mussoorie I had a phone interview with the MEF International School - Istanbul. A few days later they offered me a job teaching science to 7-10 graders which I gladly accepted. Istanbul has been a place I have wanted to go to for years and it was at the top of my list of places to go. I'll be teaching IGCSE chemistry and physics which will be a nice change of pace from the AP curriculum I've been doing.

As part of my going to Turkey I had to get a medical check-up. Everything was pretty standard but I wanted to go ahead and talk to the doctor about my blood pressure. It's been high for as long as I can remember. The doc back home just told me to keep ignoring it but I figured that now was probably my best shot. The doc here was definitely concerned about it especially since there's a family history. My bloodwork and ECG (EKG) came back fine so they think it's just genetics. I've been put on some meds and it seems like it's slowly coming down into a good range.

I think that covers the major stuff. I'm pushing the kids harder than ever to prepare them for the AP exam. They complain and moan about how difficult things are (especially the tests) but if it's anything like that past two years they'll thank me after the exam and say it was actually easier than what I had been giving them in class. My advisor group is graduating this year. Remember, these were the kids I decided to stay on one more year for. It's amazing how much they grow up in just three years. They really are great kids and I know that I have been spoiled teaching them. At least I'm not going back to the states to teach. The public school systems were in a state as it was without all the hoopla that's been going on recently. Yikes. At this rate, I'm not sure when I'll ever be able to go back.

Ten on Tuesday

2010-10-05T21:35:00.004+05:30

So I had said I would post a more detailed blog post over quarter break. Well, I have about 2.25 hours left to do that. I was reading through Maggie's blog and realised I hadn't done a Ten on Tuesday (or some derivative thereof) for quite a while. I'll see what I can come up with:

1 - This was by far the longest monsoon since I've been here. Heck, several locals say it's been the longest, rainiest monsoon in 30-40 years. It finally let up about two weeks ago or so but was just torrents of rain until then. It hailed yesterday but I wouldn't put much into that.

2 - This quarter I got the Woodstock Outdoor Club started. We're refraining from calling it Scouting any time soon because there's a lot of red tape regarding the issue. There's been a healthy amount of interest from the kids and we're thinking of expanding it down to some of the lower grades soon. Our first campout was about a month ago and, of course, it rained like the dickens. The kids didn't set their tents up correctly and got wet but we had a back up and they had a warm, dry night. I was cozy and warm all night long. Overall, I think the kids really had a great time and, to me, that's what matters. The main thing that's hindering any progress to the club is scheduling. We haven't met since the campout because we meet on Friday nights and since then we've had the Staff Talent Show and now it's quarter break. Wish us luck in the coming quarter.

3 - I made tacos with a friend last night. God, I love tacos. They were so good and really hit the spot that we're thinking of making it a weekly occurrence. Since dad visited last year and brought, literally, an entire box of seasoning I think we can do it.

4 - Winter plans are still somewhat up in the air. I am for sure going to Kuala Lumpur to visit some cousins. I'll be there for Christmas and probably well into January. I'm looking into visiting Thailand too but need to look into places to stay/people to go with. I have some friends in Bangkok I could almost surely crash with for a week or so but let's also see how much it's going to be to fly there. There are plenty of things to do and see in Malaysia so I may just travel around there.

5 - Speaking of those cousins, they really want me to move to KL next year to teach and stay with them. I talk with them almost nightly and I tell ya, KL sounds more and more like some place I'd like to be. I'm keeping my options open though. As one of my colleagues told me, I'm the perfect candidate. I'm young, no dependents, 3 years of experience international and science. I would still really love to go to Europe or Turkey (or just about anywhere really) so I'm not committing to anywhere just yet.

6 - So, if that last point wasn't blunt enough for you let me just flat out say that this will be my last year at Woodstock. I've unofficially told my head of department and will officially submit my letter this week. It's nothing to do with the school really. Just time for me to move on. I've learned a lot here (and still am learning every day) but there's a big toll for coming to a relatively secluded area and cloistered environment.

7 - I just want to say that I have some super friends both here and across the water. The past few weeks have been particularly rough for me but they've been there to help me talk through things and try to understand things better. I just hope they know that I appreciate everything they've done.

8 - I love hot TANG.

9 - I love the weather right now. It's crisp and cool. Perfect for going out for a walk in a sweater and cap. Honestly, I think autumn has become my favourite season. Summer is nice and warm but more often than not, wherever I am it's ungodly hot and humid. Spring is good too because everything is new and you get the whole rejuvenated/twitterpated vibe going on but it feels like things have lost the edge that autumn has. I'd say winter would be the second best for me. Again, it's cold and crisp but also perfect for lighting a fire. Nothing says cozy like lighting the fire, putting on Bing and lighting some candles to watch them burn. Throw in some hot cocoa with some Baileys (*nudge* *nudge* *wink* *wink*) and you have a contender that easily could tip the scales in its own favour.

10 - Do you think Mick Jagger realises "Cherry Red" is a colour not a flavour? He's right though, you don't always get what you want but sometimes you get what you need.

I guess it really does work

2010-09-26T13:36:00.006+05:30

So, today I had gone up to school for lunch like I typically do. While eating I took off my glasses, also like I typically do. Happily I sat as I ate my chicken burgers and rice and daal when one of my colleagues came in. I was sitting at a table along with one of the junior school teachers finishing up my meal when he (the one that came in) walked up to see what was on the menu. He said hello to the other teacher and called her by name but merely said hello to me. He looked at me quizzically and asked if we had met before and I said yes (in fact, we had several conversations of relatively decent length). I told him my name and said I was from the senior school. He proceeded to ask if I was working in Hostel (the boys' dorm) and I told him no, I teach chemistry. I could see that he was painfully confused. One could see that he knew the chemistry teacher but was certain I was not he. I started getting a little embarrassed and reached for my glass or water when suddenly it hit me. Rather than picking up my glass I picked up my glasses and put them on. His entire expression suddenly changed. You can tell he felt a little silly for not recognising me but we had a good laugh about it.

I guess it really does work as a good enough disguise for Superman/Clark Kent.

In other news, I know that I've not been very good about updating at all lately. Let's just say that it has been a hectic and stressful first quarter. Cripes... The first quarter is almost finished (one more week) ! It has been busy (mostly in a good way) and I'll be sure to put up a full report this coming weekend. Between now and then I need to plan what I'm teaching this week, finish grading, and write comments for each of my 60+ students. After Friday I'm free until Wednesday. Nothing but relaxing for me. There has been talk of some hot-tubbing, movie watching, letter of recommendation writing, comic reading, story plotting, and tacos. God, I love tacos. I'm also hoping to get to a little bit of work on some comics. I have a few ideas I've been tossing around so it might be nice to just put thought to paper and see what comes up. I'll be sure and post it here if I come up with anything good.

2010 National Jamboree

2010-08-14T14:47:00.010+05:30

The International Hosting Staff.

All of the leaders at their social.

Myself and one of the other staffers hanging with the leaders from Hong Kong.

Of course you would expect the Scottish to bring some bagpipes.

Me with my Canadian leaders.

There's always a good fireworks show.

Mike Rowe addresses the scouts about being clean but not afraid to get dirty.

Seas of scouts.

The Bhutanese scouts had me over for dinner one night. Here I am with their leaders and another staff member from scuba.

I met up with Jeff, my former college roommate. He and I met at the jamboree back in 2001.

One of the exhibits had oobleck set up. It's a mixture of cornstarch and water that becomes a non-Newtonian fluid. Apply a force to it and it becomes like a solid. You can actually run on it if you take short, choppy steps.

Jeff's brother David and I were working together and met this fellow, Marty, one night. Marty's from New York and helped us do our laundry.

I had dinner with this gentleman, Dan, one night. He's from Chicago and had some pretty sweet badges that we swapped for. I don't mind the swapping if I get to chat and meet the person I'm doing the deal with.

International scouts together after the flag raising ceremony.

Scottish and Saudi Arabian scouts.

Australian Scouts

Teaching Chemistry merit badge.

Pioneering.

OK, so it was a bit more difficult getting the blog updated whilst out scouting. AT&T was one of the sponsors so there was excellent reception for cell phones and wi-fi. I just didn't really have the time to sit down and write a blog post. Let me explain why.

I pushed my arrival date early by two days so that I could get on to the army base at the same time as dad. It just so happened that I was the first person
from my staff (except for one guy, I think) to arrive. I was lost. I got dad all settled in and when I went back to my barracks to set up my things I met my boss. He was a real nice guy and as we got to chatting I found out that he is originally from U.P. (Uttar Pradesh) the state that Uttarakhand was split from a few years ago. He actually grew up in the states and made his Eagle there. Currently, he lives in Kuala Lumpur so I chatted to him about the cousins I have moving there shortly.

Well, the first few days were set up so there was a lot of heavy lifting, Wal-Mart/Lowes runs, and sitting in ridiculous Virginia humidity. The rest of the team started arriving and I was surprised to find that the majority of the staff members were younger than I. It was something to do about wanting to show off a more youthful face of scouting to the rest of the world. I think we achieved that quite well. The majority of staff was from the US but there were four scouts from Mexico and one from Canada as well. We had about 400 international participants come in from about 27 different countries including Canada, Austria, Australia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Mexico, Colombia, Panama, Barbados, Thailand, Russia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Sweden, Egypt, Korea, England, Scotland, Wales, Trinidad & Tobago, Ireland, Brazil and one or two others that escape me at the moment.

When the jamboree actually began we started making trips out to the airports to pick up the patrols of internationals. I was tasked with picking up eight Bhutanese boys and two of their leaders. It was the first time out of the country for all but one of the leaders. Needless to say that all of them were very excited to be there. I had to get them all taken care of. Passports and flight information checked out, medicals taken care of, etc. I dropped them off to their troop and let them start to mingle. For the remainder of the jamboree my job was to check up twice a day on the Hong Kong scouts and a patrol from Canada. There was a hitch to this however. The only way to guarantee that I could catch them would be to get them in camp. That meant I had to get to their camps before 9.00 in the morning. Now, remember, the national jamboree is one of if not THE biggest scouting events in the world. It beats out the world jamboree by about 23,000 people. We're talking 50,000 participants plus about 10,000 guests a day. You need A LOT of space for that many people.

So my Canadians were up in camp 18 and my Hong Kong guys in 13. I'm down there at the bottom in the Longstreet Barracks. Each morning I got up at 5.30, showered and had breakfast by 7.00 so that I could jump on my bike and head off. The bikes we had were a bit of a mixed blessing. It was great being able to move around quickly and see my scouts but the bikes themselves left quite a bit to be desired. See, they gave us 1950s Schwinn-style street bikes. Single speed, backward break, the whole bit. Now, I don't know how many of you out there have ever been to Virginia but it certainly isn't flat. The first few days one just had to suck it up and walk the bike up a hill. By the end of it though I was able to get up most hills but my thighs were stiff and let's just say the seat could've been better padded.

So during the day there was a bit of down time so we got to go out and see the jamboree. I met up with dad a few times and we saw the sights. There was a lot of exhibits from the army, national guard, religions, sea scouts, the national park service, etc. The scouts were supposed to go around and visit these places (and things like BMX, shotguns, rappelling, fishing) and get stamps. If they get the right number of stamps for each station, then they get badges.

Speaking of badges... that's probably one thing about the jamboree that I disliked the most. Some kids only want to swap badges. Leaders can be even worse. When I brought the Bhutanese guys for their medical checkups we got bombarded by some scouts from South Carolina and they didn't even ask names or anything like that. The first thing out of their mouths was, "Do you got any patches?" I was excited to swap badges myself before I got out there but after witnessing countless scenes like that just on the first day I was turned off from it. I eventually went out the last day or so and got some sweet badges (the Dr McNinja ones I mentioned in an earlier post and a cool Captain America one) but although my intention was to obtain the badges I did make an effort to talk with whoever I was with and make more of a personal connection. The councils just encourage the madness though. Several put out multiple badges so that there can be more trading. It's cool and I don't necessarily not like the idea but for some people it takes over what the jamboree is about.

We had two arena shows where everyone attended. Being surrounded by 50,000 people is an odd feeling. Getting that many people there on time takes some planning too. Some of the troops further away had to start mobilizing about 4 hours or so before the show started. Sitting in the sun for that long can't be pleasant. Luckily I was able to go in when I wanted and so long as you can find a seat you're good to sit there. The shows were a lot more fun than the one's when I attended back in 2001. The speakers were good and the entertainment was bands that people (not me though) had actually heard of. One of my favourite parts to the shows was Mike Rowe of Discovery Channel's 'Dirty Jobs' fame. He is an Eagle Scout and came to share some thoughts with the kids. Overall it was a lot of fun. Working in International Hosting though I and several of my coworkers got rather red-faced at how pro-American the shows were. I understand that it is the national jamboree and all but even if I hadn't worked I.H. I would still feel uncomfortable with how in your face they were about it. It just felt cheesy if nothing else. Several of the international scouts and leaders approached me about it and felt it could have certainly had more of a 'scouting brotherhood' sort of feel to it rather than being like a week-long fourth of July.

Did I mention Sgt. Slaughter was there? Awesome!

We can fit about 30,000 more people in here...

Mobilising for the arena show.

All in all it was a great time and I am really glad that I went for the 100th year anniversary. It just so happens that the world jamboree is next summer in Sweden. Anyone want to help me get there? I'm not too proud to ask for donations. Needless to say, I have once again been bitten by the scouting bug. I am in talks with staff members to get something set up at Woodstock. We have some problems to deal with though. The biggest one is interest. I've really got to work on making it sound exciting for the kids. Other than that I have to do something about what programme to follow. I can't have Indian kids joining an American overseas troop and taking numbers away from their groups but I think I've got it figured out after talking with the head of the overseas programme for BSA. Hopefully, between the years of scouting experience we have here we can pull together to get something set up.

The only real complaint I have about the jamboree has to deal with the lack of recycling. One would think that with the Outdoor Code that scouts follow the BSA would have set up recycling. In some of the arena shows you can see packages of bottled water. Now imagine all of those plastic bottles in the hands of teenage boys. The morning after the evening show I biked by the area and it was trashed and where were all of those bottles going to go? I just think that the BSA could have been a bit more 'conservation minded' when considering things like that or all of the lunches being wrapped up in layers of plastic bags or all of the packaging at the trading posts that got strewn about.

Anywho, I'm back at Woodstock now and have made it successfully through a week of teaching. I was jet lagged for a few days but I think I'm over it now. It's good to see the kids again. Tomorrow is independence day so I'll have to make another post soon with all of the pictures and stories from that.

Summertime

2010-07-21T09:38:00.002+05:30

What can I say--I'm neglectful. It's better that it's my blog that I ignore for five weeks and not a dog or my bills. Anywho, I'm already off topic.

Summer has been good and restful for the most part. I flew in to Tucson to see brother Mike and his family. I think everything hit me at once there. The dryness, the dehydration, the beef, the jet-lag, the fatigue of the end of the school year. It put me down for a few days. Luckily my only responsibilities for the week were to read comic books, play with my niece, and sleep. It was a good week.

Mike and I then flew to Chicago where the rest of the clan met up at Becky's and we had mom's recipe chicken and dumplings and some good ol' peach custard pie. The remainder of my time has been spent lounging around the old stomping grounds, meeting up with old friends (went to my first tractor pull), and having to deal with a week's worth of my goddaughter's temper tantrums. One really should not ask for more.

Dad and I have since taken a trip out to North Carolina to see some more family before he and I head off towards Washington DC to go to the Boy Scout Jamboree. Dad is working the air rifles and I am working as international hosting. I'm not entirely sure as to what all my job will entail but I will find out soon enough when dad and I get there in a few hours. So while my colleagues are gathering again for another fun filled staff retreat before school starts I get to waltz around in the Virginia summer heat in a scout uniform making sure that the international kids behave themselves (which from past personal experience--they won't). I'll be back in India soon enough though. My flight leaves the day after I leave the jamboree and the day after I get back I get to teach! Oh please let jet-lag be merciful as I come back.

I should have internet access when I am at the jamboree so hopefully I will get around to putting up a few updates. Of course I'm sure that there are a few people who are thinking NERD! But seriously, when you can get these is the place really that bad?

The end is in sight

2010-06-09T21:19:00.002+05:30

I must admit that I am feeling that I am just plain terrible at this whole keeping updated on the blog thing. My old line used be that at least I was posting more often than Becky but now that she's started her new one-a-day blog that's just not something I can rely on anymore.

So, this end of the year has been hectic. Seniors graduated not too long ago. It was nice to be able to get rid of them early but they were getting idle towards the end and I was certainly ready to be rid of them. Graduation itself was interesting. During the baccalaureate service the students wore traditional dress which ranged from lederhosen to kilts to sombreros to loincloths. I would have snapped some pictures but would have just ended up feeling dirty. The graduation ceremony was nice. The guest speaker was very good and had a nice message in his speech. The most surreal part of the day was the 'wailing wall.' The seniors all line up on the ramp coming down from the high school and everyone greets them as they go down. There was a lot of tears. Literally, one student left a big wet spot on my shoulder from the weeping. One boy was full-on, open-mouthed wailing sobbing. When you think about it all it makes sense. Some of these kids have been here for 7 years or more. This isn't school they're leaving, it's home. These students and teachers are family (did I just slyly leave out dorm staff implying they're not family?, oh subconscious). I even found it somewhat moving. It just makes me wonder how I'm going to handle things next year when it's kids I actually like.

In other news, we're well into finals week. I've proctored (or as they prefer here, invigilated) two exams and have another tomorrow. It's so boring because all you can do there is sit/stand and watch them work. It gets to the point where you welcome questions to clarify something or, as one colleague put it today, you hope they start cheating just so you have something to do. My exam is tomorrow so I'll have 55 papers to mark before Monday evening. Piece o' cake right? Let's hope so. Beyond that there's a few meetings and some down time. In about a week's time I'll be heading to Delhi and then off on a plane to the States.

Hopefully I can keep my head until then. Wish me luck.

What did I see tonight?

2010-05-15T19:49:00.002+05:30

Sorry for the bad pictures. I was washing dishes this evening when I looked out and saw this. I watched him/her for bit before realising I should get my camera! It was twilight, my flash was off and I was shooting through the screen. I'm just glad they came out as well as they did.

A few points for Sunday night

2010-05-09T22:05:00.006+05:30

I realise that it has been over a month since my last post. Again, I apologise but surely you have all come to expect such things. I'm exhausted so I figure that a list will be the easiest way to do this:

1. The semester/year is wrapping up. I finished going over new material with my AP kids a week ago and should be finishing up with my IGCSE kids this week. The seniors are busy taking APs and internal exams and the grade tens will soon be in and out of class sporadically as their exams start.

2. Three (or four?) weeks ago was JSB (Junior Senior Banquet). Basically, it's Woodstock's version of prom. The 11th grade had to decorate the auditorium according to the theme (Masquerade) so being the good advisor that I am I helped set things up and get it all ready. Also, being an 11th grade advisor meant that I actually got to attend this year (not that I really had much of a choice, I also had to chaperon). Here's a picture of me with some friends:

3. Last weekend was the annual Jazz Jam. Again, the 11th grade was in charge of setting things up and then serving as were the advisors. I can't really complain too much. It DID give me an excuse to wear my bow tie again and really was quite a bit of fun.

4. Next weekend is the annual Mela. The 11th grade is selling ice cream in shifts so at least it will only be for half an hour and there will be the remainder of the time to check out the remainder of things.

5. I'm finally getting into using my Mac. As I use it more and more I find that I like it more and more too. I'm sure that I'll get plenty of time to work with it over the summer as I visit my family of Mac users.

6. Going along with the Mac, I will also (hopefully) be working on my pet projects this summer. I have purchased a comic drawing/publishing programme and am in the midst of putting together some scripts etc. Mayhaps I'll post a page or two if I find them satisfactory. I dropped $150 on books from Amazon and one of them is a book to help with the programme. Hopefully it works. As it is right now, I'm having difficulty even figuring out how to get the colour to change. Zoinks!

7. I really enjoy teaching chemistry. I especially enjoy the introductory classes because I feel I can be far more informal with the kids and make up stories and what not in order to help them visualise the material better. The only problem is that I tend to use sarcasm and a lot of the time I have to stop and explain the jokes to the ESL kids. Recently, I was discussing how substitution reactions work in organic chemistry. I decided that it really is like a soap opera. Someone's always dieing/coming back from the dead, getting brainwashed, or involved in some wicked love triangle. You see, C and H are happily married and have been for years so the writers decide to shake things up. They introduce a new character, the Chlorine Radical. She's gorgeous, sexy, witty, and is properly concave and convex in all the right places. She just happens to work at the same law firm as C and you know the drill. Late nights working on a make or break case. Ordering out, talking, laughing, the peck on the cheek, the full on mouth to mouth kiss. Well, being a substitution, the H gets replaced by Cl. Honestly, it's not as good written out like this. Maybe I should just try taping my lectures and then I can just edit to the good parts and just put them up.

8. Cindy, my step-mother, has officially obtained her doctorate degree. Hard work does pay off eh? Well done and congrats to her.

9. Today is Mother's Day. I found out about it about an hour or so ago. I'm out of touch with that sort of stuff. I made it back to the States on Father's Day last year and didn't even know it until I overheard some guy talking about it on the phone in the airport. Here's to the moms.

10. I'll be back stateside again this summer. I am making pretty much a full west to east tour. First I'll fly in to Tucson and see Mike and his family for about a week. I'm sure it will be full of beef, farts, nieces and comic books. I then will drive back to Illinois, hopefully with a stop in Colorado to see Jon since I was only to make it in two dimensions to his wedding two months ago.

But I'll be dammed if I still wasn't the life of the party. Extremely popular with the ladies in the 35-55 range.

I plan to then spend a few weeks at home in Illinois with friends and family. Don't worry Becky, I will be making a trip up to see you guys. After that I'll be making a trip out to North Carolina to see more family. The big, exciting part though is going to Washington DC area for the National Scout Jamboree. See, it's the 100th anniversary of scouting in the US so it's kind of a big deal. Dad and I are both on staff (he's doing shooting sports stuff and I'm working the international hosting stuff). I'm pretty excited to be doing it.

11. I have decided to let my hair grow out. Not in a crazy manner mind you, but enough that I can at least comb it and put a part in it. The thing is, though, that for some reason when I part it the front tends to flip up a bit. Now, I noticed it and immediately it reminded me of one of my favourite comic book characters. I wasn't going to say anything about it until a student pointed it out to me too. At least it shows I'm not crazy. Right?! Anywho, you decide.

Me, with my most emo look. (Doesn't yellow just scream emo to you?) I had to do it this way so that the flip would be evident.

And the comic book character in question. Tintin. You tell me, do I have my Halloween costume figured out for this year?

Quarter Break

2010-04-03T20:51:00.005+05:30

So, it's been quite a while since my most recent update. For that I truly and most sincerely apologize. One must understand, however, just how crazy life gets here. Life during the spring semester just becomes obnoxious. The seniors checked out in November so there's no hope in teaching them anything (as evidenced by my most recent test in AP chem). AP and IGCSE exams are looming upon us. Come May I'm not entirely sure what I'll be doing at all. My seniors take their exams and then they're gone. At any given time my tenth graders can be out of class taking an exam leaving me with anywhere from zero, to two, to twenty three students at any given class time. It makes planning ahead all but impossible. Add to that a lung infection and a curriculum overhaul for moving from a three to two school model. Oh let's also not forget about being an eleventh grade advisor and having to help out with JSB (prom), JazzJam, and mela. Life's hectic. Gimme a break if I don't post for weeks at a time.

Anywho, what's been going on since my last post? Let me see if I can recollect everything. It's all a blur really. I seem to remember lots of grading, being sick, and some badminton. Probably the highlight of the past few weeks was last weekends staff talent show. Much like last year there was lots of songs, dancing, cross dressing and some fabu emceeing. I helped our finance director, Ben, to emcee the show. We didn't have any time to get together before hand and plan what we were going to say so it was mostly improvised. The people I talked to said they really liked it and that we did a good job. All those years of campfires has paid off I guess. We had a fashion show to start things off. It was really fun to see some of the staff members get all dressed up and strut their stuff. I think the best was Chophels in their traditional Tibetan garb. There were also a few bands that rocked the house. My HOD (Head of Dept) told a continuation of his story for the wee kids that he did last year. There was a Flashdance done by some of the men on staff that literally brought the house down. By far it was the best act (and I only got to see it from the side). I took part in a skit called "3 Woodstock Alums" based on an old Monty Python skit. One of my fellow science teachers took it upon herself to rewrite the script down to three people and tool in a bunch of Woodstock references. The kids really enjoyed it when we talked about having urine dripping on our beds in the dorms back in those days. (Yes, that really happened to a kid. Gotta love temporary dorms.) The show ended, as it usually does, with a big Bollywood dance number. The kids love this stuff. My dance was something about I'm totally smitten with the girl and she's a flower and I'm a bumble bee. She asks me if I like her (or something like that) and I get all embarrassed and say 'no no.' I freeze up as I put my arm on her shoulder and my buddy Nassir has to come out and tell me to just ask her to marry me. I was told I was very cute in my dancing. Aww shucks.

The Chophels in their Tibetan garb with Ms M.

The staff Bollywood dance.

Flashdance!

Our opening bit. Big heads on little bodies is just adorable. (Family: Would a Maggie joke be inappropriate here?)

Rockin' out Woodstock style.

"You lived in a shoebox?! Luxury!"

Bantering. Really, the bow tie makes it work.

Oh, the weekend before that was the opening for Hostel, the boys' dorm. They completely renovated the place and have really made it look amazing. I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves on this one.

Lastly, my buddy Jon (all the way back from fourth grade) got married the same time as I was doing the talent show. I had really hoped I'd be able to get to go and partake but being so close to the end of the quarter and how crazy travel would be I just couldn't do it. So, what's the next best option? Why life-sized cardboard cutouts of course. Apparently I even got to dance a bit with one of the bride's aunts. I tell ya, it's the ol' Rice-Charm. Wish I could have been there for real-real and not just for play-play. Congrats to the both of you.

The two most handsomest groomsmen ever.

Even in two dimensions I am still the life of the party.

Thanks to Karan, Casey, Cookie, and other anonymous people I borrowed pictures from for this post. Let me see if I can't upload the Bollywood dance in another post. In the meantime, enjoy whatcha got.

Last Night

2010-03-13T20:01:00.002+05:30

So last evening I went into the bazaar and I looked into ovens like I had promised dad I would do. Well, I picked one out and got the necessary baking items and headed back home. It certainly seemed like it was the night to be out with the kids. The entire middle school had their class night and I ran into most of them on the way home. Aywho, the majority of that information is immaterial, much like one of those word problems from trig class. The fun comes from the fact that my neighbor had his advisor group over for dinner and whatnots as well. I knew they were still there because there was somewhere around 20 shoes outside his door.

I noticed that the lights were on low but I didn't hear a movie playing. My neighbor has decent speakers and I can hear when he has a movie going pretty easily. I was about to open my door and go inside when I heard one of the girls say something about ghosts and I just couldn't help myself. I went back over to his door and slowly opened it. Our screen doors make a nice creak when you open them. I paused for a minute to see if anyone inside was going to say something. Nothing. I then pounded on the door and was greeted to screams from the kids and barking from his dog. He opened his door and I popped in to see eleventh grade boys hugging and clinging to each other for dear life. The boy sitting in the chair right next to the door had a particularly scared look on his face. It was priceless.

In other news, I picked up some gooseberries from the market today and threw together a cobbler. I just pulled it out of the oven. It looks a bit like it might be a aqueous underneath but the top is a nice golden brown and it smells really good. We'll see what it tastes like when it cools.

Gym Night

2010-03-01T21:18:00.002+05:30

So, I definitely get a bit more exercise here than I typically would back home in the states. That happens when you live on the side of a hill and actually do walk up hill to school and back home. Well, there have been staff gym nights pretty much ever since the new gym opened up last semester. I, however, have neglected them.

Well, last Friday I got talked into attending. I played volleyball in my dresspants and socks. Now, anyone who knows me knows I never played any sports growing up. Sure, mom and dad made EVERY OTHER sibling of mine play soccer but finally gave up when it came to me. I think that has part to do with my lack of hand-eye coordination and depth perception. It's enjoyable even if I suck terribly. Tonight I played badminton with some friends. I lost every game I played but did improve throughout the night (I think). I went from losing a game 21-0 to losing a game 21-19. I still think it was because we switched partners though. I took a few dives (out of dedication) and we'll see how my knee is doing tomorrow morning.

Gym nights are every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I think I'll go at least once a week (maybe twice). Of course, our Tavern nights are usually Wednesdays or Fridays so maybe I'll just commit to the gym whichever night I'm not consuming mass quantities.

It's not too late to make New Year's resolutions is it? Heck, the lunar new year was only a few weeks ago.

Bizarre Dreams

2010-02-23T21:24:00.002+05:30

Yesterday was an amazing day. On the way to school I knew already that I had worn too many layers for the day. Spring was in the air. The sun was out and shining. There was that smell in the air that spring had sprung. That sort of musty, woody smell. Well, by the time that I had wrapped things up to go to our monthly short story reading group things had turned for the worst. Clouds rolled in and the sky was overcast. The air got bitter cold. The smell of spring was replaced by the smell of a cold, cold rain. By the end of the evening rain was coming down pat- pat- pattering on the corrugated sheet metal roof and thunder was heard in the distance.

Now, I've probably mentioned on here some time that I'm a very light sleeper and usually have extreme difficulty getting any kind of a full night's rest. I sleep with a fan on year round for the white noise it's blades and motor provide. I actually welcomed the rain. The area has been so dry since monsoon was virtually non-existent this past year and we really needed it (by we I really mean the people of Mussoorie as Woodstock supplies most of its own water). Also, that pattering on the roof provides great white noise. Sometime in the early morning the storm reached us. Lightning flashes were quickly followed by the loud boom of thunder. Around 3.30 the power got briefly knocked out. Sleeping with the fan on, I quickly awoke when the dull buzzing was cut off. I spent a good, long time moving and shifting, trying to get back to sleep but to no avail. Eventually I must have because I woke up again a few more times as the power came back on and then off again and then on again.

Now, the thing is that I must have been startled out of a dream because I was (and still am) imprinted with images of a dream I had. The dream itself was just so bizarre and disturbing that I really needed to share it. I can't say that I remember very much of it. Just snippets really.

What I really remember was having a sense of dread throughout the dream. Just about everything was in greytones. I was in an apartment building saying something to a group of people that something needed to be done. I remember looking out of a window down into a courtyard. I think I was looking out for something. The next thing I remember was that I was outside. There was a chainlink fence behind me as well as a large, leafless tree. I was startled by a giant flock of birds suddenly taking off into the sky. As I turned around I was further startled by the fact that the entire flock suddenly was turned into a vapourised mist of red blood as if some unseen force had instantly pulverised them all. I turned, thinking, "We need to get out of here. Now." And as I started to move people away there was a deafening roar from above and as I looked up I saw a plane/passenger jet engulfed in flames come crashing down. I remember how close it was to the ground when I first saw it because of how huge it looked. When I saw it hit the ground not far I suddenly felt compelled to run over and help but I quickly stopped. I had noticed that there was already some military vehicles rushing to the scene. Seeing the jeeps and vans I felt more terrified than when I saw the birds or plane. It was only then that I decided to flee. The subconscious can be pretty funny sometimes. The vehicle I left in was like one of those large doubledecker buses you think of going around London. The only thing was that it was much, much smaller. Literally, not much wider than I am. We rushed down the highway at top speed and I guess we got away. I don't really remember much else. There is more to the dream but all I can think of was having to get away again and something about antique quilts. Maybe I'll remember some more later.

So that was my bizarre/disturbing dream from this morning. I'm sure I wouldn't have remembered it if I hadn't been woken up by the power going off. It still gives me the willies. Especially the part about the birds.

Video

2010-02-21T15:57:00.002+05:30

Recently, we have upgraded our internet connection from 2MB/s to 12MB/s. A faster connection means that blogger won't time out when I try to upload videos. Less timing out means I can put up more videos. Here's one of the singing bowl dad gave me while he was here. Buddhists sometimes use these while meditating. Unless I'm mistaken, the symbols on the outside are the mantra "Om mani padme hum" but I can only find it written in Tibetan and it's not matching up. It's possible that it is written in Nepali or another similar language. If anyone can recognise it, let me know.

On the school front, things have started off relatively smoothly. We just had class night on Friday so we took the eleventh graders up to the gym to hang out and have a football (soccer) tournament. There was also a Korean film crew on campus doing a documentary on boarding schools in India. I teach a few of the students they were shadowing so they filmed me for a bit. Nothing big; just an interview, watching me prep and then a lab in class. The part I enjoyed the most was after they filmed the lab the cameraman proceeded to dig his way through the stacks of comics in my room. It's good to see that Spider-Man is really universal.

Winter Break Part 5: Don't confuse my endurance with hospitality

2010-02-13T19:43:00.010+05:30

I know that I have neglected my friends and family by not publishing any posts recently. School has just started up again and things are crazy. Hopefully I'll finish this post in a reasonable amount of time and not have to worry about it any more. You know things are bad when Becky starts leaving comments on your blog to update.

Anywho, I am avoiding what I should be doing...

Most of the remainder of my vacation was quiet and uneventful. I read, slept, cooked, and walked for most of it. Somewhere in there I was able to finally convince dad that he needed to come for a visit. Somehow he was able to procure a passport and visa in about two weeks. How exactly, I don't know but props to him for that. So, I headed down to Delhi to pick him up at the end of January. I couldn't go into the airport because of heightened security due to terrorist threats but I wore my bright yellow Woodstock jacket and hoped he would follow my directions and find me outside. After waiting for about 1.5 hours and a bit of jumping up and down to get his attention I was finally able to give the old man a hug after 6months.

I had our trip planned out (well, my travel agent did) and we had an early train back north early in the morning so we headed back to the hotel and rested for a bit. That morning we headed to the station and after a bit of confusion we got to our platform and waited for the train to come. We even ran into some fellow Woodstockers as we waited for the train to come (late).

Our first stop was Haridwar, or specifically, Rajaji National Park. I had stayed there last spring during one of our breaks and really enjoyed the camp and thought dad would to. I soon found out, however, that the agent didn't book the camp I wanted. I guess there was something about a fire at the other one and they were repairing it. The one they brought us to was a couple of British built bungalows from the 18somethings all redone and made relatively comfortable.

Now, Haridwar is one of the holiest cities in all of India. This winter it was especially true. Every 12 years Haridwar hosts the Kumbh Mela. A city that is already packed with people starts to sprout tent cities along the river and it really is just a huge gathering of people. Dad and I, however, were there to relax and being tucked away inside the park, we did just that. There was plenty of hot chai to drink, safaris to go on, and sun to soak in while you read. The nights were freezing but I was more annoyed by having to deal with dad's snoring. I managed to get used to it soon enough (thank goodness) but I still didn't sleep very well. After my initial confusion as to why I wasn't at the camp I had requested I settled down and allowed myself to enjoy what was there.

We had another train to catch that would take us over to Amritsar in Punjab. I had set it up so that the taxi would take us to the train station in plenty of time to make our train. The train left at 2.30 so I wanted to be there by 1.45 and being in the park it took a while to get to the station. I asked for the taxi to be there at 1.00. When 1.00 came I was assured that the taxi will arrive shortly and that we should have some lunch. Lunch came at 1.30 so we ate and waited some more. By now I've gotten anxious. I hate traveling enough as it is but start giving me late taxis and I get nervous. Our taxi finally arrived at 2.05 and I was miffed. I was about to tell the driver to forget it and try getting there some other way but he assured me that we could get there on time. Sure enough he got us to the station at 2.25 and I curtly took my bags and found a porter to take us to the train. You know that you're in trouble when a porter looks at your ticket and starts to run with your bags. We made it but had to literally jump on the moving train. I wasn't sure if dad was going to make it but he got on a few cars behind me. The ride was relatively uneventful aside from the begger children that would board at each stop. We got in to Amritsar late and made a beeline for the hotel.

The next morning we got up and had a nice breakfast down in the hotel's dining room. We hired a taxi to take us around and spent the day going to the Golden Temple, massacre sites, and the boarder ceremony. The Golden Temple was phenomenal. I would put it way above the Taj on places to see. There are no lines to deal with and the majority of people are far easier to deal with. The boarder ceremony was a lot of fun. Indian and Pakistani troops get all dressed up and have a very systematic ritual of retiring the colours and closing the gates. There is a huge dance party on either side and lots of fancy marching and high kicking. India's side was by far more packed and lively.

We had an overnight train that would take us to someplace near our final stop on the tour, Dharamsala. After a frightful taxi ride in the wee hours, we arrived at our hotel at 7.00 in the morning and promptly went to bed. We got up in time for lunch and again took a taxi around to various sites. Of course, we would have been fools to pass up seeing the Dalai Lama's temple and went there first. Unfortunately, he was not at the temple at the time of our visit but we did get to see lots of monks and even a museum or two. We spent our time seeing various sites important to the Tibetan community and had a tremendously good time. I really enjoyed this city. It is by far my favourite part of my entire winter break. Personally, I don't think Mussoorie has anything on Dharamsala. It was just absolutely gorgeous (even if it was covered in hippies).

After another overnight train and early morning taxi we made it home to Mussoorie. I crashed while dad skyped with Cindy. Later that night we went into the bazaar to see some places and to celebrate dad's 65th birthday in proper fashion at the Tavern. That week I had to start work so I was stuck in meetings throughout the day and dad spent a bit of time at my place just relaxing. He got out a little bit to visit the scout office in Dehradun and we made it to the top of the hill and out to Flag Hill (even if he only made up half way).

Alas, it could not go on forever and that following Monday I walked him down the ramp one last time to catch his taxi to Delhi. It was a tearful goodbye but I think we both had really enjoyed the visit and would have liked to see it extended a bit. A cold front was definitely coming in that day and it started raining not long after I got back home. It was cold and quiet for the first time in weeks.

whoa

2010-01-21T02:16:00.002+05:30

Ok, so I can't get to bed yet so I'll share this as it seemed to make quite a stir when I posted it as my status on facebook.

If I have an infinitely long sheet of paper and on the left side I start listing all of the natural numbers (positive integers: 1, 2, 3... etc) and then on the right side I write down all of the positive even numbers (2, 4, 6... etc). Which column will have more numbers?

I was listening to the show Uncommon Knowledge on my favorite NPR station (WGLT) when they were discussing this. It's not often that I get my mind blown but I'll say this was one time (another when I was a little kid and realised that what I see as green might be what you see as purple or grey and there's no way for us to compare). I highly recommend that if you're ever in Illinois in the Bloomington-Normal area you change your dial over to 89.1 FM for some great jazz and NPR programming during the week and blues (and Car Talk!) on the weekends.

Fond Memories...

2010-01-21T01:18:00.006+05:30

Recently, I was reminiscing about camp and that got me thinking about all the things I like about it. The warmth, the staff, the kids, the games, meeting the international staff. Most of all, though, I think my favorite thing about camp is the skits and songs at the campfire. There's something about watching people getting up there and either giving a beautiful performance or making a complete ass of themselves and then getting up and doing the very thing yourself.

Camp friends are great.

A veteran campfire leader.
(And incidentally, the man coming to visit in a few days.)

Another veteran leader.

I love getting up there and making a fool of myself.

Perhaps in the future I'll post some of my favorite skits and songs.

Considering how late it now (I keep going to bed later and later) I'll just give two poems that I have heard recited often at campfires. The first is "The Cremation of Sam McGee" by Robert W. Service. As you read through it you really get an eerie feeling about you. Now, picture an older man with a gruff voice reciting it from memory in front of a crackling fire as the stars flicker overhead. Granted, it might be better suited for a Klondike Derby but the effect is striking.

The second is Rudyard Kipling's "If." It has to be my favorite poem. I started reciting for the scouts at the closing campfire to sort of give them something to think about as they go back home.

The Cremation of Sam McGee
by Robert W. Service

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.
Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the Pole, God only knows.
He was always cold, but the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell;
Though he'd often say in his homely way that he'd "sooner live in hell".

On a Christmas Day we were mushing our way over the Dawson trail.
Talk of your cold! through the parka's fold it stabbed like a driven nail.
If our eyes we'd close, then the lashes froze till sometimes we couldn't see;
It wasn't much fun, but the only one to whimper was Sam McGee.

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And the dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe,
He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess;
And if I do, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no; then he says with a sort of moan:
"It's the cursed cold, and it's got right hold till I'm chilled clean through to the bone.
Yet 'tain't being dead — it's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains;
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair, you'll cremate my last remains."

A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail;
And we started on at the streak of dawn; but God! he looked ghastly pale.
He crouched on the sleigh, and he raved all day of his home in Tennessee;
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee.

There wasn't a breath in that land of death, and I hurried, horror-driven,
With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid, because of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say: "You may tax your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it's up to you to cremate those last remains."

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid, and the trail has its own stern code.
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb, in my heart how I cursed that load.
In the long, long night, by the lone firelight, while the huskies, round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows — O God! how I loathed the thing.

And every day that quiet clay seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent and the grub was getting low;
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad, but I swore I would not give in;
And I'd often sing to the hateful thing, and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge, and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice it was called the "Alice May".
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit, and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then "Here", said I, with a sudden cry, "is my cre-ma-tor-eum."

Some planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire;
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher;
The flames just soared, and the furnace roared — such a blaze you seldom see;
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled, and the wind began to blow.
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled down my cheeks, and I don't know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak went streaking down the sky.

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear;
But the stars came out and they danced about ere again I ventured near;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside.
I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked";. . . then the door I opened wide.

And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm, in the heart of the furnace roar;
And he wore a smile you could see a mile, and he said: "Please close that door.
It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm —
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee, it's the first time I've been warm."

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Now just imagine a guy going out to sing camp songs with an accordion. Gosh... I really need to practice that thing.

On a side note: Dad has finally gotten everything together for a trip out here. I'll be going down to Delhi to pick him up on Saturday. I've organised a trip to see Rajaji National Park, Amritsar, and Dharamsala (home of the Tibetan Government in Exile). I'll be gone for a week but you can expect to see Winter Break Part 5 when I get back.