Ok, before today I really was cool with monsoon. I even spent the other day drenched from mid thigh down and freezing cold but I was cool with it. Today, however, has irked my proverbial chain.
I woke up this morning to find a few of my clothing items damp and being overtaken by a layer of fuzzy mold. I can deal with mold on my ceiling, walls, window sills, etc. When my clothes start getting fuzzy I get upset. I cleaned off my gators this morning and then came home this evening to find all three of my hats were covered as well.
....
Tomorrow I'm definitely going down to the bazaar to find a blow heater so I can dry stuff out. My neighbor and I pitched in together to get a clothes washer and our ayah came today to do some laundry. So now I have a large amount of damp clothes all around my apartment. Cripes...
Can I come home yet?
02 August, 2008
01 August, 2008
It's Friday...
... and I'm too tired to do a real update.
Well, just to let everyone know, the water has been fixed in my home. I can now take frigidly cold showers in the privacy of my own bathroom.
Last night was the staff banquet. Just a bit of a get together before all the kids come. There were plenty of good appetizers and drinks. The main course was better than usual but the appetizers definitely stole the show as the best food of the night.
And now, to appease a certain brother of mine. Here's a picture of a monkey.
This is a languor. These are the nice monkeys. They're bigger than the rhesus monkeys but much more docile. That is, unless you get between them and the one armed female. Only met her once. The others will bite you and poop all over the place.
Pete and his band playing us some old time rock and roll at the banquet.
Well, just to let everyone know, the water has been fixed in my home. I can now take frigidly cold showers in the privacy of my own bathroom.
Last night was the staff banquet. Just a bit of a get together before all the kids come. There were plenty of good appetizers and drinks. The main course was better than usual but the appetizers definitely stole the show as the best food of the night.
And now, to appease a certain brother of mine. Here's a picture of a monkey.
This is a languor. These are the nice monkeys. They're bigger than the rhesus monkeys but much more docile. That is, unless you get between them and the one armed female. Only met her once. The others will bite you and poop all over the place.
Pete and his band playing us some old time rock and roll at the banquet.Sorry it's nothing that exciting. I just figured you all would like to know.
30 July, 2008
The Joys of Living in India...
I guess it's just part of living in the hills of India.
Last night we had a pretty heavy rainfall. The wetness of monsoon loosened up some of the hillside behind our apartments up on Suncliffe. I was sleeping rather soundly. The pattering of rain on the tin roof made for some superb white noise but there was a sudden crash around 4 or so. I woke up, thought nothing of it and went back to bed. Then Andrzej, my neighbor, knocked on my door sometime around 8 asking if I had water. Of course today was the day I decided to sleep in since I didn't have any big meetings this morning so I got my butt out of bed and checked. Sure enough, a trickle came out of the faucet and promptly stopped.
Crap...
I put on my mocs and ventured outside to survey the damage. The water pipe that ran down the hillside to our apartments was laying in a few pieces on the ground. Water spewed from the other end. Rather like a pretty, personal waterfall. A pile of rubble covered the walkway. In short it was a mess.
It's 11pm now. It's still not fixed. I just got back from the neighbor's to use their facilities. Tomorrow it should be all put back together and I will be able to shower in my own cold shower again.
Last night we had a pretty heavy rainfall. The wetness of monsoon loosened up some of the hillside behind our apartments up on Suncliffe. I was sleeping rather soundly. The pattering of rain on the tin roof made for some superb white noise but there was a sudden crash around 4 or so. I woke up, thought nothing of it and went back to bed. Then Andrzej, my neighbor, knocked on my door sometime around 8 asking if I had water. Of course today was the day I decided to sleep in since I didn't have any big meetings this morning so I got my butt out of bed and checked. Sure enough, a trickle came out of the faucet and promptly stopped.
Crap...
I put on my mocs and ventured outside to survey the damage. The water pipe that ran down the hillside to our apartments was laying in a few pieces on the ground. Water spewed from the other end. Rather like a pretty, personal waterfall. A pile of rubble covered the walkway. In short it was a mess.
It's 11pm now. It's still not fixed. I just got back from the neighbor's to use their facilities. Tomorrow it should be all put back together and I will be able to shower in my own cold shower again.
28 July, 2008
Ten on Tuesday
Admittedly it is only quarter to ten on Monday night, not Tuesday, but I'm bored and need to procrastinate from lesson planning. The idea came from Maggie whilst at our beach house in Michigan. She got it from someone else's blog. I dunno, I pick a theme and top ten it I guess. Let's go with the ten things I love about being at Woodstock.
Hindi Lesson: Namaste - (nom-es-tay) - The traditional Indian greeting.
- The views are stellar. I haven't even seen the best views yet because of the monsoon but the ones I have seen are wunderbar.
- The wildlife. I'm surrounded by bugs, scorpions, spiders, monkeys, jackals, yellow throated martens, birds, trees, ferns, mosses, flowers, leopards, and so much more. It's just amazing.
- The people. Seriously, they're amazing. Everyone, new and old staff alike, are so friendly. I've been invited to several dinners, shindigs, drinks, what-have-you. I'm not really wanting for something to do (especially with lesson planning looming over me).
- My ayah. Raji, my ayah, seems like a great woman. Communicating is a bit tough but she comes highly recommended from some older staff. She'll be washing my clothes, cleaning around the house, and cooking whenever I get around to buying groceries.
- The food. Not something I would've guessed either. So far the food has been good. Nothing too hard on the stomach. However, rice and daal is already getting a little boring.
- The kids. I've only met the kids of other staff members so far but I've heard stories of these kids. They really seem like an absolutely amazing group. I can hardly wait for them to come here so I can meet them.
- Tailors. I go pick out some fabric I like, bring it to the tailor along with a shirt I like from home and he copies it for me. It's comfy and affordable. And, it gets addicting.
- The bread man. Every week a guy comes up the hillside to sell you bread he baked in his little oven over in Mussoorie. It's delicious and he's quite the character.
- Being the minority. Being a white guy in the middle of India is kinda fun. You really do get stared at a lot and people even stop you on the road to take their picture with you.
- It's a slower pace. Tonight I went out for dinner. If I did that back in the states it would take about an hour to get to the restaurant, order, eat, and get home. Tonight my neighbor, Andrew, and I left around 6.15 and didn't get home until about 9.30. Things may take longer to get done but they do get done. Eventually.
Hindi Lesson: Namaste - (nom-es-tay) - The traditional Indian greeting.
I'm too good to you
Two days and three posts? Wow, I even make Mike look bad. No contest on Becky.
Anywho, the skies cleared up yesterday as I was going to high tea so I ran back and got my camera so I could take some pictures of the view.
You may now be jealous. It'll clear up even more in about six weeks.
And just for fun... Here's Mr Musch doing his famous Toyota Jump at Barrett and Cathy's wedding.
Anywho, the skies cleared up yesterday as I was going to high tea so I ran back and got my camera so I could take some pictures of the view.
You may now be jealous. It'll clear up even more in about six weeks.
And just for fun... Here's Mr Musch doing his famous Toyota Jump at Barrett and Cathy's wedding.
27 July, 2008
pictures
The view from where I live. When the clouds clear you have a wonderful view of Dehra Dun (quite stellar by night as well). When the clouds are out I quite feel like I'm living on the edge of the ethereal plane (or at least visiting the restaurant at the edge of the universe).
The view of my front door as you would normally approach it.
My backyard.
The side yard.
Let's go in and take a tour eh?
Kindly take off your shoes as you come in. Lord knows what you've been walking in around here. There's a bench here you can see in another picture that I call my Mr Rogers bench. I come in and change my shoes there. It's such a good feeling to know you're alive...
What you see when you first come in. It's my steps and a set of dressers. Bathroom through the door on the right.
Kitchen, the room I'll probably be using the least.
My Aquaguard. Gives me clean potable water. I've been sticking with bottled water for the most part but it works just fine for brushing your teeth.
The living room as viewed from the kitchen.
The mantle. Just a few knick-knacks. I want dad to notice the moose is up and even has my safety goggles on. The trophy was left behind.
Up the stairs. At first they were a bit daunting but you get used to them and now I'm running up and down them with ease.
The bedroom area of the loft.
A little crossing to the office area.
A top down view of the living room. You can see the Mr Rogers bench in the top middle.
Indians are brilliant. Stick a lightbulb in your closet and it dries out your clothes during monsoon!
The view from my bedroom window. Not that great right now.
The ever present monsoon black mold.
A shower visitor. This guy is about the size of my palm. Post-monsoon they're supposed to get the size of your hand.
Mussoorie has a ferris wheel. Man-powered. They climb up and use momentum (p=m*v) to start and stop it. They hop in the middle like a hamster wheel and even dangle from the backs of the carts.Ok, hopefully this will satiate your hunger for pictures for the time being. They take especially long to upload here and I'm sure the IT people won't be happy with the bandwidth usage.
Just something a little fun. Here's a list of the critters I've seen so far in India:
I'm acclimating fairly well. I still get winded walking around but it's not that bad.
Anywho, time to go to high tea.
Just something a little fun. Here's a list of the critters I've seen so far in India:
- rats
- mice (next door has a good story about this one)
- Jackals
- monkeys (Two kinds, they like to make a lot of noise and look in your windows. Yeah, I live with monkeys, get over it.)
- Scorpions
- leeches
- Really big spiders
- Really small spiders
- numerous stray dogs
- one schizo cat
- a few birds
- cicadas
- these worms that all hatch at once when it rains and look like a pile of noodles in the dirt
I'm acclimating fairly well. I still get winded walking around but it's not that bad.
Anywho, time to go to high tea.
Surviving.
Ok, sorry it's taken so long since my last update. There's something about flying all day
that messes with your sinuses and then coming to India in the middle of monsoon when everything is wet and mildewy that makes you easy prey for a sinus infection that requires you to be hospitalized for the better part of a week. So, bare with me if I'm a tad slow at updating the blog right now.
And you thought American hospital food was terrible.
--
But really...
I had to get my computer configured to work on the school's network. Then I had to wait until we went to Dhera Dun to buy the proper electrics. I didn't want to use a school computer
to update my blog. Which reminds me. I have yet another new email address. They prefer if you'd use this one since it won't take up as much bandwidth as, say, a webmail account.
jamesrice@woodstock.ac.in
Use that one and I shall reply to you as speedily as possible.
Ok, so I'm sure you all want a real update and pictures and all that jazz. Well, you shan't be disappointed. Well, maybe you will. Even if I take my camera with me I tend to neglect to take pictures. Not sure why. I'm just not much of one for taking pictures. Not my style. When I do, I feel kinda like a tourist but at the same time, how can deny you, my adoring public, and not take them?
I'm trying.
Ok, seriously. It's been over a week now so I may forget some names or something else. I arrived in Delhi around 11 or later last Thursday night. I met a few new staff members while waiting in line for customs. The baggage claim took a long time. I had to wait for my backpack to show up since they checked it into storage as I boarded the plane. I was also helping out some fellow staff members, the Endos. They had three kids and 15 bags/boxes to take care of. When I finally got my bags and made it to the meeting point one of the staff members meeting us there mistook me for Mr Endo and was very concerned to see me sans family.
Once we got some bug spray (100% DEET, burns the skin) and loaded the bus with our bags we headed up to the Centaur Hotel. The hotel left a bit to be desired but it was air conditioned and served sweet lime sodas. A few of us stayed up that night chatting and discussing our apprehensiveness. I think we all finally clocked out around three in the morning. I was up bright and early around 7. Jet lag... Those of us who wanted to went out and saw Delhi. I picked up a couple of kurtas (shirts) and a pair of pyjamas. We have to wear traditional garb on Indian Independence Day. Pictures will come after that day. (soon)
I wasn't a real fan of Delhi. Like any city, it was crowded and dirty. The worst thing, though, was the driving. We took taxis to where we needed to go. Now, the thing is, that in India... there's not really any traffic laws, they're more like traffic suggestions. There are three lanes painted going one way on the road and about 6 lanes of traffic. There's a lot of honking too. Not the same kind of "get-out-of-my-way-you-jerk" honking that we typically see in the west. This is more of "I-drive-a-motor-rickshaw-and-I-don't-want-to-get-hit-by-you-as-you-pass." They say it's more of a courtesy thing. I just don't think I could ever drive over here.
From Delhi it was an eight hour train ride to Dehra Dun. I saw lots of rats at the station. Have fun Cindy when you guys visit. I chatted most of the time with Jennie and Megan. They'll be two of the new music teachers. They went to school together and are brand new teachers as well. We stopped in Dehra Dun for a bite to eat before boarding the bus to take us to school. I ended up taking some Dramamine just in case. I fell asleep but didn't miss much because the clouds had rolled in by that time. I was so out of it when I got to my apartment. I'm living in the Sun Cliff area with Jennie, Megan and Andrew (Andrzej), another new staffer. It has a stellar view (when you can see it). Anywho, I took a nap before Neeraj came over to take Andrew and I over to his place for dinner. The pasta was delightful. I, however, was just having too much thrown at me at once and Maija, Prakash's wife, had him take me home. Sleep was greatly appreciated. The next day Maija and Prakash took Andrew and myself to the bazaar to see it and pick up a few things. I got a non-functional alarm clock and a few other things.
Honestly, the rest of the week is a big blur. Lots of meetings and new people. The entire science department is new this year which should make things pretty interesting. I'm the only one new to teaching though. The school facilities are pretty good. I could desire a few things here and there but I'm not going to complain because we have an assistant to prep labs for us. Very nice.
There's also a 'bonus block' at the end of each Friday where the teachers put on programs for the kids. I had a couple in mind. The first one that popped in my head was to do a critical analysis of comic books. Initially, Kingdom Come popped in my head but there are tons of other we could look at. I'm sure Mike would have a few ideas. The other one I was thinking about was doing some campfire songs and skits. I think that one has a lot of potential.
Speaking of that. There's a large number of former scouts and guides on staff and a lot seem to be interested in helping out putting a troop together. Our head of grounds is very excited about the prospect and has offered to head things with our help. Lord knows we have plenty of resources to pull it off. The tricky part would be figuring out the Indian way of scouting. I'll keep you all updated as to how it progresses.
Yesterday we took the bus down to Dehra Dun to pick up some essentials that are not easily gotten in Mussoorie. It was a rather uneventful trip. Lots of boring shopping. There was a couple of things that really stuck with me though. The first was how we could be outside in the open and I still feel extremely claustrophobic. There's just people everywhere and you have to walk in the road to get anywhere so the cars are literally less than a foot away honking to let you know where they are. You just feel like you can't get anywhere. The other thing was two beggers we saw. Now, these were by no means the first beggers (or even the hundredth) we've seen since coming, but the thing that got me about them was their arms. Each of them had their arms broken at the humerus. Not just broken so that it looked like a gnarled branch but completely severed so that the lower arm just dangled uselessly. If it had been one I wouldn't have really given it much thought, but seeing two just got to me. Later, I spoke with Neeraj and he told me that sometimes kids are abducted from villages and their arms are broken like that so they are more pitiful beggers.
Up at school you can sometimes forget you're in India but then you see something like that in the city and remember you are in a third world country.
that messes with your sinuses and then coming to India in the middle of monsoon when everything is wet and mildewy that makes you easy prey for a sinus infection that requires you to be hospitalized for the better part of a week. So, bare with me if I'm a tad slow at updating the blog right now.
And you thought American hospital food was terrible.
--
But really...
I had to get my computer configured to work on the school's network. Then I had to wait until we went to Dhera Dun to buy the proper electrics. I didn't want to use a school computer
to update my blog. Which reminds me. I have yet another new email address. They prefer if you'd use this one since it won't take up as much bandwidth as, say, a webmail account.
jamesrice@woodstock.ac.in
Use that one and I shall reply to you as speedily as possible.
Ok, so I'm sure you all want a real update and pictures and all that jazz. Well, you shan't be disappointed. Well, maybe you will. Even if I take my camera with me I tend to neglect to take pictures. Not sure why. I'm just not much of one for taking pictures. Not my style. When I do, I feel kinda like a tourist but at the same time, how can deny you, my adoring public, and not take them?
I'm trying.
Ok, seriously. It's been over a week now so I may forget some names or something else. I arrived in Delhi around 11 or later last Thursday night. I met a few new staff members while waiting in line for customs. The baggage claim took a long time. I had to wait for my backpack to show up since they checked it into storage as I boarded the plane. I was also helping out some fellow staff members, the Endos. They had three kids and 15 bags/boxes to take care of. When I finally got my bags and made it to the meeting point one of the staff members meeting us there mistook me for Mr Endo and was very concerned to see me sans family.
Once we got some bug spray (100% DEET, burns the skin) and loaded the bus with our bags we headed up to the Centaur Hotel. The hotel left a bit to be desired but it was air conditioned and served sweet lime sodas. A few of us stayed up that night chatting and discussing our apprehensiveness. I think we all finally clocked out around three in the morning. I was up bright and early around 7. Jet lag... Those of us who wanted to went out and saw Delhi. I picked up a couple of kurtas (shirts) and a pair of pyjamas. We have to wear traditional garb on Indian Independence Day. Pictures will come after that day. (soon)
I wasn't a real fan of Delhi. Like any city, it was crowded and dirty. The worst thing, though, was the driving. We took taxis to where we needed to go. Now, the thing is, that in India... there's not really any traffic laws, they're more like traffic suggestions. There are three lanes painted going one way on the road and about 6 lanes of traffic. There's a lot of honking too. Not the same kind of "get-out-of-my-way-you-jerk" honking that we typically see in the west. This is more of "I-drive-a-motor-rickshaw-and-I-don't-want-to-get-hit-by-you-as-you-pass." They say it's more of a courtesy thing. I just don't think I could ever drive over here.
From Delhi it was an eight hour train ride to Dehra Dun. I saw lots of rats at the station. Have fun Cindy when you guys visit. I chatted most of the time with Jennie and Megan. They'll be two of the new music teachers. They went to school together and are brand new teachers as well. We stopped in Dehra Dun for a bite to eat before boarding the bus to take us to school. I ended up taking some Dramamine just in case. I fell asleep but didn't miss much because the clouds had rolled in by that time. I was so out of it when I got to my apartment. I'm living in the Sun Cliff area with Jennie, Megan and Andrew (Andrzej), another new staffer. It has a stellar view (when you can see it). Anywho, I took a nap before Neeraj came over to take Andrew and I over to his place for dinner. The pasta was delightful. I, however, was just having too much thrown at me at once and Maija, Prakash's wife, had him take me home. Sleep was greatly appreciated. The next day Maija and Prakash took Andrew and myself to the bazaar to see it and pick up a few things. I got a non-functional alarm clock and a few other things.
Honestly, the rest of the week is a big blur. Lots of meetings and new people. The entire science department is new this year which should make things pretty interesting. I'm the only one new to teaching though. The school facilities are pretty good. I could desire a few things here and there but I'm not going to complain because we have an assistant to prep labs for us. Very nice.
There's also a 'bonus block' at the end of each Friday where the teachers put on programs for the kids. I had a couple in mind. The first one that popped in my head was to do a critical analysis of comic books. Initially, Kingdom Come popped in my head but there are tons of other we could look at. I'm sure Mike would have a few ideas. The other one I was thinking about was doing some campfire songs and skits. I think that one has a lot of potential.
Speaking of that. There's a large number of former scouts and guides on staff and a lot seem to be interested in helping out putting a troop together. Our head of grounds is very excited about the prospect and has offered to head things with our help. Lord knows we have plenty of resources to pull it off. The tricky part would be figuring out the Indian way of scouting. I'll keep you all updated as to how it progresses.
Yesterday we took the bus down to Dehra Dun to pick up some essentials that are not easily gotten in Mussoorie. It was a rather uneventful trip. Lots of boring shopping. There was a couple of things that really stuck with me though. The first was how we could be outside in the open and I still feel extremely claustrophobic. There's just people everywhere and you have to walk in the road to get anywhere so the cars are literally less than a foot away honking to let you know where they are. You just feel like you can't get anywhere. The other thing was two beggers we saw. Now, these were by no means the first beggers (or even the hundredth) we've seen since coming, but the thing that got me about them was their arms. Each of them had their arms broken at the humerus. Not just broken so that it looked like a gnarled branch but completely severed so that the lower arm just dangled uselessly. If it had been one I wouldn't have really given it much thought, but seeing two just got to me. Later, I spoke with Neeraj and he told me that sometimes kids are abducted from villages and their arms are broken like that so they are more pitiful beggers.
Up at school you can sometimes forget you're in India but then you see something like that in the city and remember you are in a third world country.
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