Namaste India: Highs and the Lows

Namaste Everyone!

Well this post will cover what we have been up to recently which has included some very fine times but also some pretty trialing and hard times... But hey the saying 'no pain, no gain' I believe is true even if it comes through intense tummy bugs and hospital beds! But I pretty much have a degree in tummy bugs so it is nothing that I could not deal with...(This is Ben writting by the way)

The Highs! (Emerald writting)

So looking back over the past two weeks, Ben and I have been keeping busy with work and trying to keep healthy. I will touch on some fun and positive things that have happened aswell as what is happening on the work side of things.

Student Tours - I have been organizing a group of 24 grade 12 students (seniors) to become student tour ambassadors, which means they can provide a first hand perspective to potential students and their parents. This has required me to have a lot of grace and torrence to student life. I am quite astounded with the lack of responsibility installed in the top class of the high school, I have actually heard that in comparison to the previous seniors, this particular grade is outstanding....hmmmph. Getting the students to actually turn up to a meeting, have them read a document and sign an agreement caused much chaos and stress for me. Finally after answering mundane questions and having them all read up on the tour guidelines I was able to take them on the tours in small groups. I have also managed to recruit a Student Admissions Associate who coordinates with the students on my behalf. So far only 7 of my 23 students have completed the training, here’s hoping the other 16 will come through in the next week.

Maid - Our relationship with Leyla has improved greatly, her work is now meeting our expectations, or rather our expectations have met her work ethic. We had to renegotiate the hours and pay because her Husband was not pleased with the initial hours and pay. So basically she is getting the same pay that she was receiving for 15hours but she is only working 12 hours per week. I really enjoy her cooking though, she makes delicious bread rolls and potato soup. It's nice that she can make western style food, which we are both craving!

Rokeby - Woodstock staff were invited to the opening of Rokeby hotel, a converted Woodstock hostel which is now a beautiful, clean, nicely decorated hotel, restaurant, beauty salon and jacuzzi/croquet club. The party was so much fun, three of the Woodstock staff played live music for almost four hours. There was an array of delicious finger food and an open bar which was enjoyed by all. This weekend Emerald is going to the Salon with Emily (second girl on the left seated below) in the hope of getting a hair cut. Some friends will then join us for lunch at Emily's (Rokebys restaurant), which apparently serve a yummy buffalo burger - Ben can't wait for some red meat!

The Okies Jamming with the number 1 fan club

Happy to be out and about

Ben and Kutty in matching outfits

Sitting on the terrace looking out to Dehradun

Emerald in the master suite

Sunset from the Suite's private terrace

Woodstock staff enjoying the party

Celebrating Ben's First Aid Success - Ben has just completed a ten day (80 hour) intensive Wilderness Outdoor First Aid course, so we decided to invite the teachers and a few of his fellow students to our house before going out for dinner.

Arun (gap semester student), the two teachers and Matt another student

Our house is looking better at the moment, we have some fresh paint which has really changed the feel of the house. This weekend we are planning on getting curtains made up for the two bedrooms and entrance way, which should do a lot for the house :)
Following the drinks we all headed to the Tavern (a local restaurant in the main Bazaar). We headed out by foot, it was drizzling a little bit so we all took umbrellas. By the time we had got half way through the Landour bazaar it was absolutely pouring down. The roads had become two inches deep in water. We decided to take shelter in our local "supermarket" Ram Chanders. All of the group huddled in the store while Ben and I did our grocery shopping. 10 minutes later it was still pouring. We saw a cab a few shops down and all 7 of us pilled into a 4 seater car. Ben and I in the front passenger seat and five in the back seat. It was a very fun and noisy ride down to Picture Palace (the main taxi stand and entrance to the main bazaar). We then dashed 30 meters to the Tavern and had a lovely dinner.

We both had Sizzlers which smoked the restaurant out

After dinner we went looking for another cab to take us all back to campus, but we had trouble haggling taxis down to the "authorized rate", the fare to our house has been set with various taxi companies to 125 rupees. Every time we try to get a cab home the fare is either 150 or 200 rupees. Only one taxi company actually charges us the correct rate, but they had already closed for business that night.

After the 20 minutes of negotiations the group had two get two cabs at 150 rupees each. After reaching our drive way we stumbled back home in the dark. We finally reached our door step, but the house key did not. We searched through the entire contents of Ben's bag and his pockets with no luck. One of Ben's fellow first aid students suggested that he kick the door in. Sure enough the bolt and padlock stayed attached two the doors while the doors flung open, with no damage done. None the less we are now looking into more security for our house.

The next morning our grocery order from Ram Chanders arrived and the Coolie (personal courier) had Ben's keys. They were found outside of Ram Chanders, we guess they must have fallen out on our mad dash to the cab.

Critters - Ben has taken a great passion recording any insects he can find. Below are some of the amazing creatures he has spotted.

Negi's Dinner - Our wonderful neighbours, Ajay, Vimmi and Vedu invited us and some other staff around for dinner. It was really nice to get to know some of the other Woodstock staff a little better. The Negi's have been a real blessing, they helped Ben with his drivers license and also supported us when Ben was in hospital driving us to the hospital and bringing homemade meals and drinking water. Super sweet family.

Cookies - An email was circulated to a few members of the Woodstock staff requesting baking for the recent RE retreat based at the Hanifil centre. I decided I would take the challenge of baking for 42 students. Unfortunatley the ovens here are about the size of a microwave. After making a big batch of dough I spent an entire evening baking cookies. Fortunatley this was the evening that we were invited to the Negi's for dinner so I was able to use their oven and dash to the kitchen evey five minutes to load and unload cookies into the oven.

The Lows (Ben writting)

Drivers License (AGAIN)

WELL... After finally jumping ques, paying baksheesh and sneaking around the local authorities I managed to get everything I needed to get my licence. Sadly I just found out that I failed my practical which is well beyond el lamo... The process was hard, confusing and all in all corrupt. It can be taken light heartedly though! Boy the Indian Government loves to show how much 'superior' power they have... I failed because I did not get enough questions right in the test! NOW the funny part is I was told six of the ten answers (enough to pass) by the man in charge. This was because the english on the test was so bad it was undecipherable. But all in all I did really well... But because they love to make it hard I did not come up to scratch. So now I am down to just filling out the test on pure faith that one day the people in power in this country will stop showing off there amazing strength and show a little honesty in what they are doing heehee. Well heres to another few trips riding around on motor bikes with no licences or helmets breaking every law in the book on the roads in order to 'get' an actual licence (which no one has anyway). cheers

Dead rats/Maggots

Our house surely has been delivering some fun times recently. Our house has a simply amazing smell at the moment. Rotting carcass. Yes thats right ladies and gentlemen there are dead rats that are impossible to find in our house at the moment. After searching all through the roofs and rooms we have come to the conclusion that we will never find them! But we have had some luck lighting up the bukhari (fire place)... We believe maybe one of them is in the chimney so we are burning them out yeow! Smoked rat anyone??? On another side note we have had a wonderful maggot waterfall in our spare bedroom recently. There was a rotting bird lodged in the ceiling that had a maggot infestation...

Enough about this though... our house is amazing and we are very happy with it bar these two issues!!!

Hospital (e-coli)

Yes I have been sick again... I am sure everyone on here knows I have the most amazing immune system in the univers and that I never get sick. Miraculously I managed to pick up a nasty strain of e-coli recently. I have just come out of hospital for three days of agony. Well it wasnt agony due to the gorgeous monkeys that were always chilling on our windowsill thanks to Emerald strategically placing bread there. The bug I have can only be killed through intravenous antibiotics. So I am rocking around school with a drip in at the moment... Not to worry though! I am starting to feel better and am ready to conquer whatever street food passes my face (doctor John its a joke dont fret)...