Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Windsor...the Snake
Ben decided he would spend a Saturday morning clearing the forest up at Flag Hill in order for his bouldering area to be more accessible. He happened to find a baby russels viper while he was working away. He also decided that he would bring it home to show me.
I of course didn't want it in the house, so Ben made him a little house to spend the afternoon chilling in.
Ben also decided to name him Windsor due to the prenamed container. We later released the snake down from our house, and yes I mean "we", I also got up the courage to poke it with a stick, and it did try to attack us with one of those pouncing moves!
Rishikesh by the quarter
This month has been filled with many exciting adventures and visitors, so much that we have been too busy to update the blog. In my search for the first of the adventures, Rishikesh comes to mind. For our hard deserved quarter break (a 4 day holiday) we ventured to Rishikesh with our dear colleague and friend Paul. We left on the Friday after lunch and caught a taxi to the Dehradun bus station with two other Woodstock staff. Below is a picture of Emerald waiting eagerly for the taxi to arrive at school.
After finally reaching Dehradun we made our way through the hussle and bussle to the local bus station. We made our way through the crowds to purchase our tickets for the bus to Rishikesh, but we were informed that we must purchase them once we are onboard the bus. So we made our way to the allocated platform and boarded the bus, it was surprising to see that we were three of about ten other passengers - this didn't last long. As we pulled out of the station we were bombarded with what almost represented street riots with a mass of people running towards the bus with great haste. At any moment that the bus would slow down, there would be two or three more passengers jumping on board. The ticket Walla made his way through the bus and asked us to pay. We were shocked to find that the ticket for the 1.5 hour bus ride cost us a mear 33 rupees each ($1NZD).
The ride was pleasant with a beautiful forest section where we passed an array of monkeys and ant-hills along the road. Upon reaching our destination we were given the task of haggling down the local vikram drivers which drive a hard bargin. Thankfully Ben was able to use some of his Hindi to drop the price from the inflated joke that it was. We had been recommended to stay at the Bhandari Swiss Cottages by some long term staff at WS. We were a bit disappointed with our rooms to say the least. The next morning we were looking around the nearby property and found the guest house just next door was almost the same but much cleaner and 50 rupees less a night, we ended up checking out of the cottages that morning. We still enjoyed the Cottage's cafe which served delicious lemon, ginger and honey drinks as well as yummy banana pancakes.
Statues everywhere
At the bus depot
The ride was pleasant with a beautiful forest section where we passed an array of monkeys and ant-hills along the road. Upon reaching our destination we were given the task of haggling down the local vikram drivers which drive a hard bargin. Thankfully Ben was able to use some of his Hindi to drop the price from the inflated joke that it was. We had been recommended to stay at the Bhandari Swiss Cottages by some long term staff at WS. We were a bit disappointed with our rooms to say the least. The next morning we were looking around the nearby property and found the guest house just next door was almost the same but much cleaner and 50 rupees less a night, we ended up checking out of the cottages that morning. We still enjoyed the Cottage's cafe which served delicious lemon, ginger and honey drinks as well as yummy banana pancakes.
Chilling in the warm Rishikesh heat outside our rooms at the cottages
Us happy to be out on the first night in Rishikesh
Ben mimicking Lord Hanuman
The following morning we started the day with some yoga at a near by school. It was great to be in a class with a young yogi whom was keen to share his knowledge with us. Fortunately for us we were the only participants which meant the class was more personalised and we were able to get adjusted and realigned easily. At the end of the class the teacher showed us his most popular and entertaining pose which included has legs crossed around the back of his neck, a similar pose to the picture I found on the internet below.
Ben and I have a running joke which comes from the class we took, the instructor kept reiterating how if we practice yoga for a life time we will become "sparkling", however the instructor couldn't really pronounce the letter l, so we shall become sparking...
Below is a collection of images which speak for themselves
Below is a collection of images which speak for themselves
A trio of cows on the road side sunbaking The view from our room
Conversing with one of the many retailers
A view of the monkey gauntlet
Chilling with the Sadhus
Posing for a photo
A veiw of the ganges from laxmanjula
On the laxmanjula bridge
Luxman Jula Temple
Incense burns in front of the Shiva tribute
The Ganges
Ben and our new singing bowl
Sadhu
Ben on a boulder on the shore of the Ganga
Artee
Paul with his collection of flowers and candle light ready to release into the Ganga
Lord Shiva and his friends
Food
Amazing dinner at the Oasis Cafe - highly recommended
Ghatts
The chariot down near the bathing ghatts
The dreaded ganga beach yoga
Yes just an hour before sunset we had to walk along the boulders for 2 KMs to reach the beach
Night time head stands all around
Visiting Savitri
John made a visit to Rishikesh to pick us up, on the way home to Mussoorie we stopped at his childhood maid's residence to say hi. It was so nice to see such a lovely and caring woman. Although she has terrible arthritus she came to the door and walked to the end of her property to see us off.
John with his childhood ayah
Namaste
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monsoon A'gone Soon
We have had some amazing weather as of lately about September 23rd marked the first day of full sunshine, we had a patch of afternoon rain but it hasn't dampened our spirits. This past week has been full of many fun activities and adventures as well as some danger!!!
Friday night was the staff talent show, we were supposed to be performing in the bollywood number to '50,'60,'70's golden tracks but pulled out due to Bens sickness and episode in hospital. We started the evening with dinner at a nearby cafe called Chaya. We went along with Emily, Lauren and Suman and also met up with Elsa and Zachary who showed up as we were leaving. The establishment was formed by single women of tibetan/asian descent. They generally make bakery goods like cookies, bread and bagels. They also have a few kurtas, wallets, pajama pants and other fabric items for sale which are made by another organisation which hires underprivileged women. They have a mixture of mainly western dishes and some more local cuisine as well.
We then traipsed back to the talent show to watch our fellow colleagues grace the stage. Darab (also in the Outdoor department) rocked it out performing with some other staff in the Rock Band, it was really quite enjoyable. There was also a very funny movie made by one of the staff members about the monkeys on campus it is posted below.
On Saturday night we were invited to Dr. Lawrenson’s (Principal) for a New Staff Banquet. We decided to attend and had planned to spend the day in Dehradun shopping with Kutty and family, however we were pushed for time and had to be back in time for dinner so we pulled the plug on that and went to our usual market and did some rather good shopping, we bought a TV, some rugs and some other items. The Staff Banquet was very enjoyable and it was nice to have some rich Indian cuisine and get to know some of the other staff and share stories of adjusting to life in India.
Once we had all decided that we had got enough sun out at Happy Valley we made our way back and stopped at the Happy Valley restaurant which serves amazing momo's (Tibetan dumplings). We all had different dishes, Ben enjoyed a vegetarian chow mien and Emerald had fried buffalo momo's which were delicious! We then made our way back to the bazaar, grabbed a cheap taxi to the top of the bazaar and went shopping. We got a skirt, a wooden carved tea serving tray and satchels and a top.
Sunday was SO much fun. We had planned a hike from our house to Happy Valley (a Tibetan temple and hillside covered in prayer flags), there is also Happy Valley school nearby which educates Tibetan students. Paul and Zachary joined us on the hike, it was such a lovely sunny day. On the way to Happy Valley we passed many families drying out their matrices, blankets and clothes on roof tops and outdoor washing lines. The whole town was full of colour and people. There was also a Sikh celebration happening in the market with lots of chanting and people about.
Sunday evening we had a New Zealand film night at Kutty's house. We watched Boy, Mark and Anne joined us as did Darab, Naz and their daughter Vanu. It was very funny to hear the kiwi accent again. We hoped they enjoyed the art of Aoteraroa.
Gabby-
When we first settled here at Woodstock Emerald had decided she wanted a cat, especially with the rats in the ceiling it seemed very logical. A couple at the school which live in South Hill, about a 1 minute walk from our place at Homestead are planning on moving back to the USA in December. We put out hands up for their cat and we have been borrowing it to slowly adjust it to the change. It also happens to be the mother cat of the previous cat who lived in our house. Its a female ginger, very soft and quite petite. I have never met such an affectionate cat in my life. We had her stay on the first night (Tuesday) and put her in a make shift carrier, she hated it and was doing forward flips to get out. As soon as we let her in the house she was meowing and looking around the place. I jumped in the shower and Ben was in the bedroom doing something on the lap top. Once i finished my shower I found the cat on its back purring away with Ben rubbing its tummy.
We had a pretty bad sleep that night, she was sleeping on our bed, then every couple of hours she would walk all over us and onto the window sills and demand us to pat her. Once we patted her she just flopped down and purred. She was also very noisy meowing when she wanted to be patted. We both got really sick of it and locked her out of our room which didn't really help because she was scratching at the door and meowing. We finally let her in at about 7 am and she jumped on the bed and started purring again. We decided (very tired at this stage from lack of sleep) to feed her breakfast then let her out the front door for her to make her way back to our neighbours. She heard another of our neighbours dog and went to investigate, she then saw the dog and darted up the hill side ( a big steep forest).
We failed to call her down so we explained to the owner what had happened, she wasn't too concerned as she thought she would wonder back home during the day. Well she didn't. When i got home last night she was still there up on the hillside meowing. The stupid barking dog just kept barking, the owner keeps in tied up out the back and wasn't home to put it inside to quiet it down. I decided that I would try to get her down so I had to climb our back track around the storage shed over a water tank between some trees and up some very slippery hillside plants including stinging nettles. There was probably massive spiders, maybe snakes and leeches in there too (although the monsoon has now officially stopped the leeches might be gone). It was quite dangerous and completely dark, i used a headlamp to find her, luckily cats eyes glow in the light. at first i thought she was stuck in a hole or something but she was just scared of the dog. So when i approached her she was meowing but happy to see me. I carried her along the very slippery hillside and down to the tree and water tank, she then decided that she didn't want my help anymore and wriggled out of my hands. I put her on top of the water tank and she darted further up the hillside. So I had to make my way further up some dodgy footing and tried to reach her but she kept walking away from me (stupid cat!). I finally decided I would let Ben do a rescue mission. He was out doing some chores in the market.
When Ben came home about an hour after he should have been home he couldn't believe what I had done. He also had an interesting story to tell me. we have a regular taxi company which we use, and Ben had caught a cab back to our house, he was travelling along and two drunk guys were speeding on a motor bike and hit into the taxi. In India there is no procedures of swapping information or anything. Well the driver got out to see how the motorbikers were, they had both fallen off the bike, they then started to throw punches at the taxi driver. A group of shop owners and such held back the motorbike men and held them to the floor. Fortunately the taxi driver is respected in the Mussoorie and had people that were willing to testify that it wasn't his fault. Finally Ben tried to get out of the car because it was getting out of hand about 50 people were crowding the car at this stage. then some other people watching told him to get back in the car. The taxi driver was holding firm by his car explaining what had happened to all the rubber neckers. Finally after about half an hour Ben decided he needed to get out of the taxi so told the driver to pick him up further up the market once he was finished. I'm not sure on the details but apparently the taxi driver knows who the two motorbikers are and was planning to going to their house to "bash their heads in" and get the money he needs to fix his car (its still drivable).
So after bens exciting night he then faced the cat rescue and did exactly the same thing as me, she escaped at the water tank and then went way up the hillside and Ben finally got her after 20 minutes. WE bought her inside, she was a little shaken but she was meowing for a few minutes then drank some water and ate some biscuits. We decided to lock her in the bathroom if she was going to be noisy again during the night. well she must have heard us because we went to bed and didn’t hear even a single meow from her until about 3am when she had jumped on the dressing table right up on to the top of the wardrobe. Ben had to pull her down otherwise she would have broken something. Then she decided she wanted to get warm and went under the blankets and fell asleep between Ben and I purring the entire night. We were very happy that she was not noisy and we both had a good sleep considering. We then decided to carry her back to the neighbours to ensure she didn't do a repeat of the hillside escapade.
Another funny thing happened yesterday, I had asked the other admissions associate (Popsie) to help with finding someone to cut our lawn grass. Well the school employs lots of gardener type people to water plants and weed the school gardens. any how I had explained to Popsie that i wanted just the grass cut because I had already employed someone to weed the garden etc...i told her it shouldn't take more than an hour by hand. he said he would come at 3.45 to do it. When i got home 5.45 he was still there and he had not cut the grass, he had weeded the garden beds and removed lots of plants that I wanted. I was furious! not only had he not done the job but he had actually removed lots of the plants that I wanted to keep! Any how he is supposed to be coming today to finish doing more weeding and to cut the grass. we are paying him 40 rupees an hour ($1.10) and he has already spent 2 hours gardening, I wonder how much it will cost to have the whole thing done...I will let you know...
Other updates-
We selected some fabric for curtains in our room, had them made by the tailor and got them put up last night, they look great!
Ben still has Ecoli but is feeling so much better :)
We are planning on going to Rishikesh this weekend, however there is a travel alert due to a sacred land dispute between Hindus and Muslims which first started hundreds of years ago. The Ayodhya Supreme Court rulling is due to happen this afternoon to award who has the rights to the land. Rishikesh is a highly populated Hindu place with the ganga river as a very sacred spot for them. You can not find eggs or meat in the town either. We will be evaluating the situation should riots or attacks happen in the surrounding area.
Friday night was the staff talent show, we were supposed to be performing in the bollywood number to '50,'60,'70's golden tracks but pulled out due to Bens sickness and episode in hospital. We started the evening with dinner at a nearby cafe called Chaya. We went along with Emily, Lauren and Suman and also met up with Elsa and Zachary who showed up as we were leaving. The establishment was formed by single women of tibetan/asian descent. They generally make bakery goods like cookies, bread and bagels. They also have a few kurtas, wallets, pajama pants and other fabric items for sale which are made by another organisation which hires underprivileged women. They have a mixture of mainly western dishes and some more local cuisine as well.
We then traipsed back to the talent show to watch our fellow colleagues grace the stage. Darab (also in the Outdoor department) rocked it out performing with some other staff in the Rock Band, it was really quite enjoyable. There was also a very funny movie made by one of the staff members about the monkeys on campus it is posted below.
On Saturday night we were invited to Dr. Lawrenson’s (Principal) for a New Staff Banquet. We decided to attend and had planned to spend the day in Dehradun shopping with Kutty and family, however we were pushed for time and had to be back in time for dinner so we pulled the plug on that and went to our usual market and did some rather good shopping, we bought a TV, some rugs and some other items. The Staff Banquet was very enjoyable and it was nice to have some rich Indian cuisine and get to know some of the other staff and share stories of adjusting to life in India.
Once we had all decided that we had got enough sun out at Happy Valley we made our way back and stopped at the Happy Valley restaurant which serves amazing momo's (Tibetan dumplings). We all had different dishes, Ben enjoyed a vegetarian chow mien and Emerald had fried buffalo momo's which were delicious! We then made our way back to the bazaar, grabbed a cheap taxi to the top of the bazaar and went shopping. We got a skirt, a wooden carved tea serving tray and satchels and a top.
Zachary and Ben walking through the market
This is a normal truck for India, it looks like they have competitions to see who can make it the prettiest
A coolie heaving his work - amazing people
At Delhi sweet shop where Ben ate three of the best Gulab Jamuns of his life
Rikshaw drivers relaxing waiting for a ride
Happy to be out in the sun - you can see the snow white caps in the background
View from outside the temple
Prayer wheel at the temple Cows on top of the flag hill
Paintings inside the temple
Ben on top of the flag mountain at Happy Valley
Inside the temple
A Sadhu posing for a picture while we wait for a cab home
Sunday was SO much fun. We had planned a hike from our house to Happy Valley (a Tibetan temple and hillside covered in prayer flags), there is also Happy Valley school nearby which educates Tibetan students. Paul and Zachary joined us on the hike, it was such a lovely sunny day. On the way to Happy Valley we passed many families drying out their matrices, blankets and clothes on roof tops and outdoor washing lines. The whole town was full of colour and people. There was also a Sikh celebration happening in the market with lots of chanting and people about.
Sunday evening we had a New Zealand film night at Kutty's house. We watched Boy, Mark and Anne joined us as did Darab, Naz and their daughter Vanu. It was very funny to hear the kiwi accent again. We hoped they enjoyed the art of Aoteraroa.
Gabby-
When we first settled here at Woodstock Emerald had decided she wanted a cat, especially with the rats in the ceiling it seemed very logical. A couple at the school which live in South Hill, about a 1 minute walk from our place at Homestead are planning on moving back to the USA in December. We put out hands up for their cat and we have been borrowing it to slowly adjust it to the change. It also happens to be the mother cat of the previous cat who lived in our house. Its a female ginger, very soft and quite petite. I have never met such an affectionate cat in my life. We had her stay on the first night (Tuesday) and put her in a make shift carrier, she hated it and was doing forward flips to get out. As soon as we let her in the house she was meowing and looking around the place. I jumped in the shower and Ben was in the bedroom doing something on the lap top. Once i finished my shower I found the cat on its back purring away with Ben rubbing its tummy.
We had a pretty bad sleep that night, she was sleeping on our bed, then every couple of hours she would walk all over us and onto the window sills and demand us to pat her. Once we patted her she just flopped down and purred. She was also very noisy meowing when she wanted to be patted. We both got really sick of it and locked her out of our room which didn't really help because she was scratching at the door and meowing. We finally let her in at about 7 am and she jumped on the bed and started purring again. We decided (very tired at this stage from lack of sleep) to feed her breakfast then let her out the front door for her to make her way back to our neighbours. She heard another of our neighbours dog and went to investigate, she then saw the dog and darted up the hill side ( a big steep forest).
We failed to call her down so we explained to the owner what had happened, she wasn't too concerned as she thought she would wonder back home during the day. Well she didn't. When i got home last night she was still there up on the hillside meowing. The stupid barking dog just kept barking, the owner keeps in tied up out the back and wasn't home to put it inside to quiet it down. I decided that I would try to get her down so I had to climb our back track around the storage shed over a water tank between some trees and up some very slippery hillside plants including stinging nettles. There was probably massive spiders, maybe snakes and leeches in there too (although the monsoon has now officially stopped the leeches might be gone). It was quite dangerous and completely dark, i used a headlamp to find her, luckily cats eyes glow in the light. at first i thought she was stuck in a hole or something but she was just scared of the dog. So when i approached her she was meowing but happy to see me. I carried her along the very slippery hillside and down to the tree and water tank, she then decided that she didn't want my help anymore and wriggled out of my hands. I put her on top of the water tank and she darted further up the hillside. So I had to make my way further up some dodgy footing and tried to reach her but she kept walking away from me (stupid cat!). I finally decided I would let Ben do a rescue mission. He was out doing some chores in the market.
When Ben came home about an hour after he should have been home he couldn't believe what I had done. He also had an interesting story to tell me. we have a regular taxi company which we use, and Ben had caught a cab back to our house, he was travelling along and two drunk guys were speeding on a motor bike and hit into the taxi. In India there is no procedures of swapping information or anything. Well the driver got out to see how the motorbikers were, they had both fallen off the bike, they then started to throw punches at the taxi driver. A group of shop owners and such held back the motorbike men and held them to the floor. Fortunately the taxi driver is respected in the Mussoorie and had people that were willing to testify that it wasn't his fault. Finally Ben tried to get out of the car because it was getting out of hand about 50 people were crowding the car at this stage. then some other people watching told him to get back in the car. The taxi driver was holding firm by his car explaining what had happened to all the rubber neckers. Finally after about half an hour Ben decided he needed to get out of the taxi so told the driver to pick him up further up the market once he was finished. I'm not sure on the details but apparently the taxi driver knows who the two motorbikers are and was planning to going to their house to "bash their heads in" and get the money he needs to fix his car (its still drivable).
So after bens exciting night he then faced the cat rescue and did exactly the same thing as me, she escaped at the water tank and then went way up the hillside and Ben finally got her after 20 minutes. WE bought her inside, she was a little shaken but she was meowing for a few minutes then drank some water and ate some biscuits. We decided to lock her in the bathroom if she was going to be noisy again during the night. well she must have heard us because we went to bed and didn’t hear even a single meow from her until about 3am when she had jumped on the dressing table right up on to the top of the wardrobe. Ben had to pull her down otherwise she would have broken something. Then she decided she wanted to get warm and went under the blankets and fell asleep between Ben and I purring the entire night. We were very happy that she was not noisy and we both had a good sleep considering. We then decided to carry her back to the neighbours to ensure she didn't do a repeat of the hillside escapade.
Another funny thing happened yesterday, I had asked the other admissions associate (Popsie) to help with finding someone to cut our lawn grass. Well the school employs lots of gardener type people to water plants and weed the school gardens. any how I had explained to Popsie that i wanted just the grass cut because I had already employed someone to weed the garden etc...i told her it shouldn't take more than an hour by hand. he said he would come at 3.45 to do it. When i got home 5.45 he was still there and he had not cut the grass, he had weeded the garden beds and removed lots of plants that I wanted. I was furious! not only had he not done the job but he had actually removed lots of the plants that I wanted to keep! Any how he is supposed to be coming today to finish doing more weeding and to cut the grass. we are paying him 40 rupees an hour ($1.10) and he has already spent 2 hours gardening, I wonder how much it will cost to have the whole thing done...I will let you know...
Other updates-
We selected some fabric for curtains in our room, had them made by the tailor and got them put up last night, they look great!
Ben still has Ecoli but is feeling so much better :)
We are planning on going to Rishikesh this weekend, however there is a travel alert due to a sacred land dispute between Hindus and Muslims which first started hundreds of years ago. The Ayodhya Supreme Court rulling is due to happen this afternoon to award who has the rights to the land. Rishikesh is a highly populated Hindu place with the ganga river as a very sacred spot for them. You can not find eggs or meat in the town either. We will be evaluating the situation should riots or attacks happen in the surrounding area.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Highs and the Lows
Namaste Everyone!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 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
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!!!
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)...
Ta for reading!
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)...
Me rocking LCH
Wonderful Vision (I wish all 'christians' shared this view)
oh bra i think i ate something bad braaa
Ta for reading!
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