deliberate delights.

This is the first weekend I have not had anything going on, and it is absolutely fantastic to sit in solitude and catch up on the little things in life. The past weeks have been filled with more rain than I have ever thought possible. The other day in class a Bhutanese student asked me, “Ms. Shriver, is monsoon over?” …as if I would be very knowledgeable on the fact… It’s becoming evident that the rain and lack of sunshine are seeping into the psyches of people here. This is the most rain India has seen in 15 years, luckily we only have a few weeks left- the only way to tell when monsoon really is over is when the ferns turn brown…I’m on the lookout for brown ferns.

I have been frequenting the bazaar quite a bit lately, it seems the chaos and commotion of Landour and Mussoorie are becoming comforting and essential to my daily routine. On the walk from Woodstock to town you pass through a few little villages, here are a few photos from various interactions.






Tibetan prayer flags are used quite a bit around this area; prayers are whispered into the flags and then hung in a place where they can blow in the wind with the belief that every time they blow, the prayer is carried in the wind and heard. Flag Hill is a quick hike from school (meaning doable in the rain)- and it is here that many flags have been hung. It is a beautiful oasis with its monsoon greenery and flowers serving as the backdrop for an abundance of color. It even cleared up for a few moments and we got a bit of a snow capped mountain view..



Paul, Noel, Lauren and I trekked down into Dehradun last weekend and I had my first experience with crossing the street. Total success Emily: 1 cars, auto rickshaws and motorbikes: 0. It was a great day away from school, and nice to see sunshine and have warmer temperatures (we went from 1000 feet to 200 feet in 40 minutes),
Bunty and Paul fixing our flat..of course we would get a flat in the middle of the city...

My advisor group; 9 kids, 7 countries represented…(they’re grade 8s)

ahhhhh yea!

The students had friendship day in which the seniors get to dress the freshman up- they take it pretty seriously, and it was hilarious- I especially liked watching the little Korean popstar boys dance their way around school all day. Total entertainment.

jaya hay.

In case you have been wondering if I had given up on the whole concept of blogging and actually updating a blog…think again.

The bollywood performance was a success, the students ate it up and we had the most cheers by far (although the 6 year old dancers were definitely way cuter).

here's a link to the video if anyone is interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShgJVfST3cc

Sunday, August 15 was India’s Independence Day, the entire school got dressed up in their fanciest national dress to feast and celebrate. Students and staff, adorned in traditional saris, salwar kameez and kurta pajamas gathered in the Win-Mumby Gymnasium where the day began with a flag raising ceremony. The sitar band and Hindi choir provided the tunes, the first woman to ski to the South Pole provided the motivation, and the students provided the pride and energy. In preparation, all week during assembly we had practiced the Indian Anthem- Jana Gana Mana. True to nature, I still did not know it by Independence Day and had to mouth Hindi words during the singing. I’m hoping before three years are up I can master both Hindi and the anthem…





The celebration then moved into the Quad, the common area of campus, for a veritable smorgasbord of Indian food. It was absolutely delicious, there were several food stations all featuring something incredible and endless pots of masala chai and lassi were served in clay pots. Naturally, I overate. Severely. The walk back down the mountain was definitely an interesting one, I had to manage a sari, carry all of my stolen/borrowed clay pots, and balance on a very full stomach.








It was quite the occasion and seeing all the students in their various national costumes really put things into perspective. The diversity present at Woodstock is by far the most I have ever encountered; people from literally all over the world gathered together in one small community in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Leisure pursuit

This Sunday is India’s Independence Day and in honor of the celebration, various activities have been occurring all week, and will culminate in a festival/ceremony of sorts this weekend. One of these activities has been consuming my life lately, and I feel I should apologize for my extreme delay in communicative responses. Bollywood, …oh yes, Bollywood. The intensive training is taking up almost every free hour I have (example: Nan and I just returned home from practice at 8. Our ayah had made us chipatis and sabzis which we chomped down, showing more intensity in our eating than dancing- and then we practiced the routine again, and now it is time for bed..) Chorographers from Delhi are at Woodstock for the week and have been training different age groups at different times, including our staff group. Its pretty intense- I can now see why there are Bollywood workout videos back in the states. I feel like I am at a show choir practice, some of these moves are absolutely ridiculous, I’ll be sure to pass them along to you all; the Lacrosse area won’t know what hit ‘em. I never thought it would be so much fun to say, ‘sorry, I cant come, I have dance practice…” haha- naturally I have been dropping this line at every moment possible.

Im terribly sorry if you all don’t get as much of a kick out of all of this as I do.. maybe you will find the video more amusing- I’m pretty positive it will be posted on youtube at some point…
Until after the big recital…

adaptation.

PREFACE: this was written a few days ago as a word document…due to the faulty wireless router (that may or may not have been located in our living room), campus internet has been down for a few days. Good news: we’re back! School has been in session and going splendidly- I will update on that sometime soon. For now, just pretend it is Tuesday night all over again….

Today, in honor of the last day of summer, the sun decided to come out. The clouds cleared for almost half the day and we were able to get a full glimpse into what the view will be like come October…absolutely glorious.

I can’t shake the feeling that I am on a vacation in India- I find myself often wondering when it will feel ‘real’ (I suppose this is what professionals would call the ‘honeymoon’ stage of adjustment…) The arrival of students the past few days has been incredibly refreshing. We live at the absolute bottom of campus, right below the dorms, so the presence of people other than ourselves has been much welcomed. School begins tomorrow morning- I’m feeling good about the whole thing, I can’t wait to get things underway and actually meet the students who I keep hearing so much about.

Another week has gone by and little by little I find myself more acquainted with Mussoorie and more familiar with the lifestyle. I purchased my first few Punjabis (a three piece traditional Indian woman’s suit), in order to do so you first buy the fabric(s) and then bring them to the tailor who takes your measurements, sketches up a design and sets to work…talk about fair trade and buying local… I also dropped off some pants to be ‘copied’ –apparently these guys are phenomenal, I will let you know the outcome. After much browsing I found comfortable bedding and have a mattress being tailored, I do have to say I’m awfully excited to put my sleeping bag back in the closet.. I did some serious grocery shopping, loads of schoolwork, and had my first experience with the Indian stomach bug. A very eventful week I might add. The only thing I wasn’t able to do is buy a coffee maker. We searched the bazaar high and low and came up with nothing. Who would have thought that finding a coffee maker here would be so difficult? Nescafe just isn’t cutting it and while tea is wonderful, it just isn’t the same.. Drastic measures are going to have to be taken by the girls of Midland West if we don’t find a way to have our coffee and soon. (Desperate? I think so).

The other day Lauren and I left the house for literally five minutes and when we came back we found 14 monkeys in our yard. EVERYWHERE. Now, these monkeys are not nice monkeys…sure, they look awfully cute, especially the babies, but they are evil. After throwing many fistfuls of rocks, we were able to make it inside safely and two seconds later they all reappeared, thanks to the photography skills of Lauren, we were able to capture great video and pictures of the beasts. We also heard from our bizarre Australian friend, Ian, that there is a place we can purchase an air-soft gun in the bazaar…we also have a hole in our screen door that could perfectly fit the air soft gun…..
Proof of the monkey invasion. (Seriously, don't let the cute baby fool you)

Street vendor selling chai and sweet corn...thought it was an appropriate picture for those of you who will soon be celebrating kornfest... maybe they should turn the beer tent into a chai tent- they are quite complimentary tastes...





Signing off for the summer. Catch you on the flipside.