flora and failure.

In an effort to incorporate even more green into my life, this weekend I ventured into an intense search for plants, which ended up being much more of endeavor than I ever imagined. I should probably start from the beginning. Friday during afternoon tea, while eating more sugar than needed, I was talking with Dot, a charming friend from Liverpool, who clued me in on a nursery, which is just ‘a ways’ down the road near my house. Problem number one: I should have asked for more detailed directions- all I heard was, go towards the bazaar on the lower road, pass the pigs and you will see the cages of plants. Easy enough…right?- to Emily Shriver, yes. Saturday morning I headed over to the inner house swim competition, like in Harry Potter, Woodstock has houses: the Condors, Eagles (this is me) and Merlins (yes, as in the birds) I have yet to understand the workings of competition here, but it was extremely entertaining to see the spirit and competitive nature of the students.

After getting a dose of chlorinated water and loud screams, Noel and I started down the road…we walked and walked…and then we passed some pigs…and then we walked and walked…and walked and walked… we finally started to contemplate what ‘a ways’ meant. To us, we agreed, it means an hour walk or longer. So then we walked some more. After two hours of being in the middle of nowhere on a road that looked as if it went straight into the infinite abyss of cloud, and stopping at a random house full of seven men who spoke ONLY Hindi, we decided we probably had passed the plant shop. We were now faced with a decision: should we turn around and walk back, going uphill this time and likely taking four hours, or should we keep walking and hopefully hit a village or town of some sort where we could hitch a ride back to Mussoorie. It was at this exact moment that a van pulled over, filled with our fellow new staff member, Ritu and her two boys, asking if we wanted a ride into Dehradun. We jumped on this option (literally) and decided we would get dropped in the city, putz around a little bit, then take a cab back up. Long story short, we ran into Dot and her husband Pete, who explored with us for a bit and then gave us a ride back to Woodstock. Free rides BOTH ways- I am all about this! Although we came home plantless, it was well worth the journey, and the rain wasn’t even too painful, heavy rain didn’t arrive until late that day.




I woke up feeling inadequate having failed my previous day’s journey so naturally, I coerced Lauren into tagging along and we went out for round two. This time the venture was a success and we were able to get LOADS of plants for our house and yard, the best part of the mission: we were able to communicate entirely with a woman who spoke hardly any English. The walk back to campus was absolutely beautiful. The sun came out and all clouds cleared, we had a full view of the valleys and could see all the way to Dehradun. I also had my first glimpse at the Mother Ganges…it was a monumental day. If Sunday night was any indication of what life will be like after monsoon, bring it!

Mussoorie

The Ganges River

Please note the chicken wire...

We live left and down from the round building (a dorm) in the center

The great plant expedition was not my only excitement of lately… for sake of time I will just give a few highlights:

1. My backpack is deciding to contribute to the green theme by sprouting mold…
2. Our shortcut trail up to school is now overgrown to the point that there is no trail any more…we have big plans to film this life threatening daily walk up to school, keep on the lookout for that blog update soon.
3. I went to tea at Inam, my tailor’s house, and after hours of pure contentment and the best chai I have had so far, I noticed that my right leg was numb. I thought it was a bit odd but figured it was my body’s response to being relaxed. Upon arrival at home, I noticed there was blood all over my floor. I thought it odd and started searching for the source, which ended up being my foot. It looks as if it has been pierced, a hole on the top, bottom and side and I didn’t feel a single thing, even after realizing it was bleeding, and there was definitely a ton of blood lost that night- who knows how long it had been gushing for, but it was enough to make my leg completely numb. … (mom, I went to the health center and no, I do not have gangrene)

4. We also found a leech on our kitchen floor, then of course we tortured it and watched it suffer by pouring salt on it- we later found the source of the blood: Ms. Lauren Terry.

5. Monday the students went absolutely crazy for a bakesale...'tuck', the name for junk food here, is held in high regard. I was scared.
It’s been great hearing from all of you; I hope you all are well.
until the next escapade…