making the rounds.

School is officially over! This morning we had our final staff meeting, and already the hillside has cleared out. The weeks leading up to the end were as chaotic as ever, aside from finishing grading, proctoring exams and writing comments, I had to prepare for the arrival of Alison. After numerous sleepless nights, I somehow was able to make it through, and have finally found the time to sit down and reflect upon the whirlwind.

I am gearing up to leave for 6 weeks of backpacking around India and Nepal. It will be exhausting I am sure, and it is highly likely that I will never want to take an overnight train ever again, but it will definitely be an experience of a lifetime. 
Leg one of my journey is with my sister Ali. Tomorrow morning we are taking off for Haridwar, and then to Jaipur from there. I don't want to bore you with all the details (just yet)- I am hoping to at least find an internet cafe once to post an update, but odds are that it will not be for a while.

Ali arrived in India last Wednesday and is finally getting over her jet lag. Aside for a bit of a stomach bug I had, we have been keeping busy, exploring the sights of Mussoorie and enjoying the numerous seasonal parties of Woodstock.
The first was the New Crystal Frostapalooza Winterfest Eve, a party cramming all the major holidays of the season into one night, in hopes that we will be able to feel more festive, considering that Christmas is under the radar here in India. The itinerary for the night was as follows:

6:00pm – a Thanksgiving potluck

- bring a dish to share

7:23pm – light a Hanukkah candle and sing that adam sandler song.

7:31pm – We’ll celebrate the Winter Solstice by making paper snowflakes

7:43pm – celebrate Pancha Ganapati by wearing yellow, blue, red, green or orange!

8:07pm – a Christmas "white elephant" gift exchange

- bring a weird/funny gift to exchange

9:17pm – wear a vest with us for Festivus.

9:59pm – Kwanzaa

10:07pm – a New Year's Eve party to preemptively bring in the new year

 Plus we lucked out because we got to see the lunar eclipse as well...Talk about a busy night.

Christmas Gift Exchange

Extremely dangerous sparklers (aka wands) for New Years

Winter Solstice Snowflakes

and in honor of the night, it even snowed a bit (it was more like hail that just stuck on the ground, but still..)

We also attended a Willy Wonka (complete with oompa loompas) themed banquet. Yes, Willy Wonka...like the chocolate man. Now for most people, this probably doesn't seem like a big deal; but Ali loves candy..and I really love tootsie rolls- which they had imported from the States especially for this dinner. So of course, we went a little crazy hoarding all of the candy that we possibly could..these will likely be our staples for the next weeks..

We also went to Rishikesh for a night..it always seems that Rishikesh is quite the interesting occasion, and this time was no exception. I did have a moment when I felt like I was on Fear Factor, having to cross the bridge with Rhesus monkeys far too close for comfort and on all sides. I conquered my anxiety my holding my breath for a full two minutes and walking faster than I ever have before in my life.. and thinking happy thoughts. You will be happy to know that I survived- unscathed, AND was able to do the same thing when recrossing the bridge...

And of course, we have had loads of exploration within Mussoorie. The recent rain/hail/snow has made the peaks very clear, so we have definitely been taking advantage of that, getting to the top of the mountain as much as we can.

The best trash can I have ever seen

I hope you all have a splendid Christmas, be sure to surround yourself with family, friends, good food, and good DARK beer. Sending much love from across the world.