New Beginnings in India

Hey Everyone!

Well its been a few days since we arrived here in Mussoorie and we thought it would be a good time to share with you some of  our experiences of our first few days in our new home, at school and around the local area. Our settling in has been pretty smooth with no major dramas. We are both so happy to be here and have been absolutely blown away with how friendly the people are and how beautiful Mussoorie is. I will break this entry up into a few little sections... These are our home, school life, people, Landor bazaar and the monsoons!

Our Home


We are living in an area called Homestead in a gorgeous house that is over 150 years old. We have the most amazing walk to get to our house from school. It takes around fifteen minutes walkin along Tehri road. This is never boring due to the beautiful lush green forests you walk past, the monkeys swinging in the trees and all of the lovely orchids that are out at this time of the year. Our house is very cosy and has a super comfortable living room and bedroom. The bed is anything but comfortable though due to extremely hard mattresses (all three of them hehe). But our main problem is the vermin that live in the ceiling which make annoying noises all night! Much at my disgrace (Ben),  I have not even managed to see a scorpion or an extremely large spider in our house yet, but this is a good thing as Emerald is not into the creepy crawlies. We are very suprised with how dry we have been able to keep the house thanks to the dehumidifier we have borrowed. This along with our electric blanket have been a huge help in keeping the place nice and dry! There is alot more I  could say about our house... if your interested there are many photos up on Ben's facebook page and you should probably all just come visit and see it for yourselves anyway!

The path down to our house and entrance way

Our Lounge looking rather messy on day 2

Ben cooking up a curry in our kitchen

School Life


Woodstock School is such an amazing campus. For the last few days we have been getting used to the location of everything and daily rutine. Both Emerald and I started work yesterday and had a fantastic first day.  Emerald spent her day getting orientated around the school (in preparation for Parent and Student tours), spending time clearing her emails and doing some research on Indian schools aswell as looking at the current cultural makeup of the junior and senior schools. Emerald has particularly enjoyed being delivered hot chai in the morning and afternoon. It seems there is someone on hand to do even the simplest of tasks.

I (Ben) spent mine having meetings, attending an assembly and playing in the climbing gym. My (Ben) job description still has not been set in concrete yet, this was due to some department staff sharing different views on what duties are to take place in the outdoors department. I will be having a meeting with the head of the Hanifl centre (Kutty), the head of P.E. (Ajay) and the principal (Dr Laurenson) on Monday which should result in a very clear job description! Most of our days have been spent filling out paper work and getting our home in order with the help of the hospitality team (we have been leant various household items which we need to replace within 3 months). We will give you all an update on our work once we have settled in a bit more...

A view of the upper quad area

People

The people here in Mussoorie have been so amazing to us. We have had three dinners out with friends already and have been blown away by the hospitality of everyone we have met. Something that has been really interesting is the amount of respect that everyone seems to have for each other here. Right from the cleaners and coolies (carriers) up to the most respected of staff. There is always a smile, a waggle of the head and help at hand when you need it. We have just managed to get an ayah (maid) named Layla who has worked in this house for the past three years. She is a very sweet lady who can both speak and write/read english pretty well. She will be helping out around the home and we are looking forward to having her here with us! Today we are getting some helpers to come and put lightbulbs in our wardrobes to keep our clothes dry during these wet months and fix the toilet seat so Em doesn't fall off it so much.

Landor Bazaar


We have had so much fun wandering along to the local bazaar. Its about a half hour walk from our house and its so amazing to think we can be in such a bustling, interesting shopping area only thirty minutes walk from our place. Going shopping is just so entertaining and finally going food shopping will never be boring. The sights, smells and sounds of the bazaar are excellent. From monkeys swinging above your heads on powerlines, to the continuous buzzing of horns, and the smell of fresh sweets (along with alot of things which dont smell so pleasant) your senses get a unique work out in all areas! When we order food or appliances from the bazaar we get our things delivered in the evening by coolies who carry our items in bags on there backs that are wrapped around there foreheads all the way to our doorstep. They always arrive looking full of energy with a big smile and a waggling head. They are so fit and so happy even though they do a grueling job day in and day out for probably around $3-4nzd a day. Both Emerald and I have bought traditional Indian clothing for independence day. This was a wonderful process. We both got kurta and pajamas. You will see photos of us wearing these clothes very soon... ( I have never seem Em look SOOO beautiful, apart from the wedding!)

Reeces monkeys on the road to the Bazaar

Looking down from the Bazaar to the housing

Local vendors

Monsoons

All the rumours of non stop rain, scorpions everywhere and never being able to keep dry is a myth (unless you are in Pakistan at the moment). We have had some very heavy rain but it has not been non stop by any means. The monsoons are so beautiful up here. Everything is so lush and green. There are lots of rivers running everywhere and alot of the days are spent walking in the clouds (literally).

Last night we got a nice break from the cloud and we went for a little walk along Tehri road to check out the views. They were simply breathtaking! Pictures can do more than words at times like this... So here they are!

Anyways that was a long post. They will get shorter and shorter I am sure! We miss you all heaps and hope that your enjoying reading up on our adventures so far.

Much love!