to the snow.

last friday i headed off into the mountains for a week of hiking with a group of grade 11'ers. i was a little nervous about leaving chris at home, but the little one didn't arrive to our relief... i was anxiously listening for the sound of a newborn crying as i walked the path home on saturday.

it was around a 6 hour drive north to a relatively unexplored part of the indian himalayas. one of the allures of hiking out here is the remarkable mountain culture... every time i visit these remote settlements i'm continually amazed at the simple life they live. the architecture is also very unique, this a temple and typical home below...





as we passed through this village on our first day we came upon a cricket match in the square and our group quickly joined in.

the fans

the women at the well... or spring

a traffic jam... much better than those found in delhi & mussoorie

our campsite on day 3

the goal for our hike was a high altitude lake at around 14,500ft... this meant a lot of climbing but we were rewarded with some amazing views and lots of snow

quarter break.

halfway done the semester already! crazy how it's flown by again... it's been a good quarter, christina is over 7 months along now, with the end of her teaching in sight. we spent some time this break getting the baby/art room ready, visiting the local hospital for a check-up, playing squash and climbing in the new gym, and then decided to head into the hills one last time before the little one arrives.



we passed through some amazing terraced farms. the villagers were all busy out working, but would usually stop long enough for a smile for the camera.





no big case combines here! nothing but your hands and feet to get the job done...





we hiked into a protected forest area, it's amazing to see the contrast of barren-lumbered hills to thick pine forest... amazing at how a few laws can change the hillside, that is if there are people and infrastructure to enforce them...





a creepy old hindu temple in the woods...

everybody on! i guess it beats walking 10km to town

running the race

It's hard to believe that school has been in session for 6 weeks. It's my third year of teaching art, I can't believe how fast time goes. In my sculpture and ceramics class we just started an abstract figure project using plaster, chisels and files...it's a pretty messy project but fun. Some other projects in my classes include figure drawing, monsoon theme-based pieces and typography.

Monsoon had a slow start this year and it is lighter then most years, but it rained all last week because there was cross-country day scheduled on Wednesday...but because of the weather it didn't happen until Friday when the rain finally parted for the afternoon. This is one of my favourite school events...but this year I didn't run.

The beginning and end of the race was stationed at a cross-roads where a big church is, this gives catherdral seating for the spectators. The entire school is spilt into 3 teams, Red (merlins, Blue (eagles) and Green (condors) and points are awarded for places and number of participants. Go Merlins!

Casey was given the title of 'Course Marshall' which means that he was at the back of the pack of runners, encouraging them to run when they started walking.

The race was at the top hill called 'The Chakkar' about a 20 minute walk up-hill from the school. It is a scenic and relatively flat area, so it makes for a great cross-country track, but there are always obstacles such as cars, buses and the odd coolie carrying plywood.

Students are usually excited for an afternoon off of school, as well as teachers.

Here are some engernetic fans....

Casey decided to run this year, and he planned his outfit carefully. He didn't come in first and he wasn't last...I'll leave it at that, but I thought that he did a pretty good job of running 6 km.

As you can tell I am kind of running my own race, counting down the days till the little one arrives, eating healthy food that will give me energy to endure the teaching day and trying to wonder what the marathon of parenthood is like.

monsoon round 3.

so it's our 3rd monsoon over here. i remember the last 2 being a lot damper and miserable than this one so far, maybe we're just adjusting to it. you learn to just accept the moldy-damp-old man smell that lingers in all of our clothes, the laundry that hangs in our house for days on end until at some point we decide that this is as dry as it's going to get. but the hillside has sprung to life and it's pretty amazing to see, only one leech so far too!

yes, mama and baby g (how the kids address them) are healthy and well. we went and had an ultrasound again the other week at the local hospital, pretty amazing stuff... it's wiggling and kicking lots... just like it's mom.

summer.

after a month of easy summer living in manitoba we're back here again to the damp hills at woodstock. after two years away it was so great to head home again, lots of things have changed but the familiar faces of family and friends were so great to be around. our days consisted of bbq's, golfing, strawberry picking, hockey, camping, canoeing, long showers and other things typical to a manitoban summer.

culture shock.

it has been almost 2 years now since we've been home. time has gone quickly and slowly at the same time. things here seem quite normal and comfortable now. things like wobbling my head when i talk, having vegetable sellers come to our door, driving on the left side of the road, walking everwhere (but never flat, either up or down), sticking out in a crowd, public displays of male affection, bargaining, having tea with store owners, our accents.... it's hard to imagine that we'll be back in manitoba in one week. we've heard of the culture shock that some people have when they step back into their world that's supposed to be "normal", some things may never be "normal" after india...

here's a few of the contrasts we are preparing for.

see some of you soon.

Big News, Part 2.

so i've really wanted one for awhile now. christina hasn't been so sure if she's ready but i guess i've managed to convince her. quite a few of our friends here at woodstock have them and it seems like a great place for them. it's taken a few tries, but that's half of the fun right? we also weren't sure if we were in a good enough place financially to make this committment, but there is no time like now. we also figured this would be another way to get family and friends to visit.

For those of you that remember a similar blog from october of 07, this one's the real thing. I am just over 3 months pregnant, feeling good except the Indian food is the one thing that makes me feel nauseous, which is kind of unnavoidable. We are planning on having the baby over here in India at a community hospital a mile down the road. This has occupied a lot of our thoughts lately, but life has continued to go on. Here are some pictures of what's been keeping us busy.

This is a recent project from my Drawing / Painting class. Each student was given a square to paint and then we put them all together to create a copy of this famous Indian Mughal painting, thanks for all the help Mom!

Some flowers from our gate that sprung up from our yard that surprised us.

Casey is finishing up his year in the PE Department. He was greatly appreciated and I think all of the little girls will miss him. This was at a recent PE Banquet, doesn't he look like his Dad?

This is my Advisor Group, all Grade 11 students from all over the world (India, Nepal, Germany, US, Korea). We try to have them over to our place as often as we can for some good home cooking and baking.

This last one is of one of my senior students working on her final project. All of their paintings will be put up in the High School hallway.

Only 10 more teaching days left for me! And 16 for Casey... We are really looking forward to coming home soon, 2 years has gone by quickly!