what's gotten india?

nag tibba.

2010-05-30T11:00:00.003+05:30

last weekend we all headed off to climb nag tibba. a peak a few hours drive from here around 10,000ft... dechen usually loves being outside and she's not too heavy yet so we figured this may be our one chance for a trip like this in a long time.

drew, josie and nova... just a little different than the hills of the turtle mountains

two shepherds at the top... they couldn't figure out why we were out here

an old, 2-storey temple in a village on the final day

ornate carvings at the village store

our campsite in the field of daisies

dechen sure was excited to squeeze the goats

this was our first time out camping with dechen, and after 3 days and 2 nights we've realized that our nice-compact tent is now too small.

visitors.

2010-05-16T16:59:00.003+05:30

after a few quiet weeks our house is now full again... we're slowly taking over this place with manitobans... our friend nova has been here for 3 weeks now, working as an artist in residence doing lots of clay workshops with students and staff. here's a picture of chris and nova in this amazing tree on the path up the mountain from school.

josie and drew have been here for a couple weeks now... after being sweated out in the mid 40 degree temperatures of delhi they've been doing lots of wanderings around mussoorie and the area... they just left this afternoon to spend a few days in a remote mountain village... i'm sure they'll have lots of stories to tell when they return.

on one of their first days up here we had a huge rainstorm which is super rare at this time of year, but in the wake of the storm the snow peaks were pretty amazing.

here dechen is helping out with the weaving at the leprosy mission... all of the people were amazed by how much she had grown since the last visit.

not too impressed with eating prunes... i guess she's waiting for the fresh mangoes

Going Dutch

2010-04-17T19:54:00.007+05:30

It has been a couple of wonderful months with visits from both sets of grandparents. It worked out that Tom and Mitch were on the same flight as Dechen and I to Amsterdam and they were able to hand me off to my parents. It was full of mixed emotions with teary farewells and hellos from both sets of grandparents. Here's a picture of my parents meeting Dechen for the first time at the airport.

The 2 weeks in the Netherlands was filled with family, meeting Dutch aunts and uncles, cousins and grandparents and great-grandparents, and of course my sister and her boy, Spencer. For the most part Spencer and Dechen got along well, they both enjoy being outside, but Dechen needs a couple more months and then she can keep up with Spencer.

Here's a picture of Dechen with her grandpa on his birthday. I think that she was the best present that I could have brought him.

It was great having so many people around that wanted to hold Dechen. Here are some pictures of Dechen with some of her favourite people.

Grandma

Great Grandpa and Grandma van den Ham

Aunty Kim

One of the highlights of the trip was spending a sister day in Amsterdam. It was a cold day but we managed to eat enough fries with mayo to keep us warm and hung out in the Van Gogh muesum until the rain passed. As the directionly challenged sisters, we did get lost once, but managed to enjoy a cup of coffee on an outdoor terrace until we found out where we were on the map.

Some of the other adventures that we encountered were visiting Amsterdam with Tante Petra, Danny, Els and my parents and going on a canal tour and eating excellent food a pub. Going for long walks in Koog an de Zaan and seeing working windmills and sampling wonderful Gouda cheeses. Visiting Den Haag to apply for a visa for Dechen (which we got successfully) and having the time to walk the beaches of the North Sea. Travelling to Zwolle to meet up with Famile Baan, my host family in 2001 when I did a study abroad program and feeling like I never left. Walking around the old fishing port of Volendam and watching my dad feed Dechen ice-cream for the first time, much to my disapproval. Visiting a sheep farm on Easter with Om Henk and Tante Joke as well as Spencer, Kim and my parents. And having countless cups of strong coffee with family and just sitting around visiting and feeling at home.

It was good to be away, but always good to be back at home in India. We are waiting eagerly for our next visitors to arrive.

while the girls were away.

2010-04-10T12:21:00.003+05:30

christina and dechen took off for the netherlands for two weeks of stroop-waffles, family and heineken... that left me to an empty-lonely house, so the only way to cope was getting into the hills for some hiking. myself and two woodstock colleagues headed up to harkidun, around a 7 hour drive north of here and spent a few days wandering. it was great to get away, to see the amazing villages and we even got hit with a snow storm!

titu with harkidun in the background

carvings on top of a temple

another ornately carved temple

kutty and titu on the trail back under fresh snow

the village of gangar, where we were snowed in two winters ago with greg

the girls are home now, pretty amazing how much that little one grew in two weeks!

i also wrote an article for our school website on our trip, the link is http://woodstockschool.in/News/Spring2010/April/100405.htm

glimpses of the past weeks

2010-03-12T17:19:00.007+05:30

The weather has slowly been warming up making it feel like spring. Fresh strawberries dot the fruit stands, rhodendons are blooming all over the hillside, new green leaves are pushing the old dry brown leaves off and the monkeys are rampet in my garden. Here are some snapshots of the past couple of with Grandpa and Grandma Guenther.

Green goodness

chatting

shiny useful objects

wolly warm tibetan sweaters

bright blue eyes

next door neighours

drying laundry daily

yellow dress from my childhood that my grandma van den ham made

time with grandma

sleeping with grandpa

knitted toque from a dear friend

afternoon stroll

being a star with the girls (her namesake is the girl on the right...)

a view from flag hill

In Mussoorie you can pay to get your baby/toddler pushed around the steep bazaar roads by one of these men. If you pay them enough I am sure that they would babysit for a couple of hours too when you do your shopping... well we did pay him a couple of rupees for this picture but we didn't use his services. I am not sure what made me more nervous the condition of the stroller or having a stranger pushing my baby on 22 degree hills with no seatbeat.
Well, the grandparents will off visiting the Taj Mahal in a week and then a they will be accompanying me and Dechen to the Netherlands for more Grandparent time with the van den Hams.

Life is full and good.

spoiled.

2010-02-22T20:50:00.004+05:30

the new grandparents arrived here just over a week ago to see their new granddaughter... they brought lots of hugs and goodies for dechen. here are a some photos of our few days on the beach in goa.

relaxing at our favourite beach shack, it was just over a year ago that codi and holly were here giggling away...

a little monkey toque from canada

hilariously enjoy water skiing.

2010-01-31T10:35:00.005+05:30

like most travels here in india, expectations can really affect one's experience, if you have some notion or idea of what a place should be like you should probably stay at home. yesterday some friends and us headed down the mountain to a "lake" to enjoy the warmer weather and water.

our friend darab and his daughter vanu.

and our little dechen is growing and growing each day... hopefully someday she'll look back and smile at all of the places we dragged her.

visiting.

2010-01-14T20:36:00.005+05:30

a couple weeks ago we bundled dechen up and took her on her first trip to delhi.... she was a champ, sleeping for most of the trainrides, winding taxi journeys and rickety rickshaw races. we were able to apply for her canadian passport and citizenship and then met up with doug and louise and headed up to the quiet and coolness of the mountains in mussoorie.

it's always great to have visitors here... not just because of the supply of licorice and maple syrup that gets delivered, but being able to show family why it is that we love it here. the beautiful views, friendly merchants in the bazaar, power outages, fresh veggies, huddles by the woodstove, chai... all things that at times get lost as normalcy to us but are so refreshing to experience through others first time experiences.

some shots from the last couple of weeks...

one of our favourite places here is a leprosy mission down the mountain in dehradun and we usually try to make it a must-visit for anyone from afar. it's an amazing home and workplace to around 80 people who spend their days spinning yarn, creating beautiful weavings and living in community with each other.

i think one of the neatest things about being parents so far is seeing how much joy this little bundle can bring to people. the smiles, laughter and excitement is amazing.... and she's only been woken up by some of the old ladies strong pinch to the cheeks a few times

we were able to make a few bike and scooter trips exploring the mussoorie area... at this chai stop they were constructing a new mobile phone tower... flip flop sandals and good climbing skills are all that are needed.

dechen's new blanket from great grandma van heyst made it just in time for our first snowfall

christmas.

2009-12-26T14:31:00.004+05:30

i guess it hasn't been a typical christmas for us this year. having dechen in our lives has changed the priorities of things, so no christmas decorating or christmas trees... rather long walks in the afternoons, diapers on the line and amazing december views of the mountains. and although we haven't taken the time to christmasize our place, others on the hillside have and it's been great to have numerous potlucks and gatherings and skype dates with our families to make it feel like christmas.

this is a view over mussoorie from the top of the ridge above our place.

our little bird...

the banderpunch range in evening light on christmas day.

one week.

2009-12-13T20:24:00.004+05:30

it's been just over a week now with dechen in our lives. what a rush... the lack of sleep, poopy diapers, laughing, learning, and basically marvelling in this amazing being. i remember a long time ago someone told me that having a newborn around was like sitting by a bonfire... how you can just get mesmerized by the beauty and wonder of it all, time just passes by so easily... i definitly agree... here's a few glimpses from our first week at home.

dechen susan guenther.

2009-12-06T14:46:00.002+05:30

it's been quite a last couple days... the little one first began showing signs that her time was approaching at around 3am on Friday, and at 5:45am Saturday, December 5th our beautiful little girl entered the world. it was a long labour but christina was amazing and both her and dechen have been recovering nicely. she weighed in at 8lbs which amazed the indian nurses (i guess the indian babies are generally quite small in comparison) and they all kept commenting on how strong and well mama did. she's got a lot of dark hair and long legs for climbing these mountains. dechen is a tibetan name that a few of our students here at woodstock have and it means happiness, good health, and peace... and susan after grandma unrau who recently passed away.

to the snow.

2009-11-12T20:08:00.005+05:30

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.

2009-10-04T14:15:00.004+05:30

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

2009-09-13T18:51:00.008+05:30

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.

2009-08-09T20:57:00.005+05:30

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.

2009-07-24T07:56:00.004+05:30

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.

2009-06-14T12:20:00.005+05:30

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.

2009-05-21T20:54:00.004+05:30

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!

quarter break.

2009-04-13T16:29:00.004+05:30

it was quarter break time here again... classes ended early on thursday and we were set free for a few days. we decided it was time for a motorcycle adventure, so we packed up all of our gear and headed north. i'd heard rumors of a "short-cut" across a certain pass that used to only be hikeable and would save us hours.... well, i should've known that nothing here is that simple. it was definitely the roughest road we'd ever been on, and it was pretty obvious that we weren't going to take it on the return trip. but we made it...

this is just across the pass... and it is one of the smoother sections

we got into uttarkashi (a bigger town) at around 9pm, spent the night and headed another hour north in the morning. we stashed our bike and started climbing hoping to get up to an aread called kush kalyan which is known for it's rolling green pastures.... we camped the first night near some shepherd huts where a few curious cows, mules and shepherds stopped by to examine us.

our campsite on the second night, just below chuli peak (around 13,000ft)... can you spot the tent?

some easter reminders for us along the trail.

this is a view from the village of silla looking up. that's chuli peak, where we camped on the 2nd night... a long way up

a lot of the wheat had already been harvested here and the fields were being plowed for the 2nd crop... maybe just a little ahead of the fields back home? but it was amazing seeing all of the harvesting being done by hand, the people would give us a quick look, maybe ask a question or two and then get back to work as we passed.

Life on the Other Side of the World

2009-03-14T11:35:00.005+05:30

Sat am March 14th. Been here for a week, actually 8 days, and with the pics below you will understand that we have seen a lot of life here in India--but with so much more to explore. The common carriers of product to market are donkeys such as this one loaded with milk jugs.

Last Sunday, we walked up to top of the mountain, Char dukan, where we had coke in glass bottles and homemade french fries, called finger chips here. Right beside where we ate was this sight as shown in the pic below. These are honest to goodness cow patties, collected, formed and laid out to dry to be used for fuel later on. Where is the Board of Health--not an issue!!

Other forms of getting product to market is just plain physical grunt work, like these men hauling milk products, either uphill or downhill--level places are virtually non-existent, and where it is flat, there is a building.

Below is a picture of the lower part of the campus, where Christina and KC spent last year. The clay center and the PE classes are held down there--so the trek up and down still happens for Christina and KC.

These are abandoned terraced fields, but as you walk between villages, one will see many others that are being prepared for spring planting.

The irony of what we deem as an estate is in sharp contrast to what we have come across here in India. Often cows are wandering on the roads, in people's backyards--they are sacred and can go wherever, but often are scrounging for something to eat--in general, very poor condition.

Need something delivered, this may be the UPS of India. Trudging up these hills with a load on their back these coolies just take their time. At the end of the day, they will often all get together and be found sitting on the curb in the village.

Hydro outages are a way of life here, and the example of the infrastructure explains why.

Looking down from one street down onto the next, shows how the people in this village live.

Where there are no villages, you get these expansive areas of very steep hills, beautiful scenery and an appreciation for the ingenuity of the locals to sustain an existence.

They looked pretty pleased to put us up--but this was taken a couple of days ago--I am wondering if they are counting the days till we leave.

What the owners of these trucks don't spend on safetys, they spend on adorning their units. These trucks were bringing slate and bricks up for the new gymnasium being built on campus.

The trucks unloaded at the side of the already narrow roads, then the donkeys would be used to haul the product up the hill to the gym site--and it is not just a small climb. Or the workers would haul up slates of flooring on top of their heads and deliver it to the gym.

This is the gym project. Very few power tools, no excavation equipment--pretty well all done by hand. The roof girders that you see below were hoisted up there by block and tackle and the scaffolding system, is at best shaky, some of it tied together with sisal twine.

This past week, on the 11th, was a holiday for the locals, which they call Holi--the day the marks the beginning of spring, the first full moon on March, and on that day you avoid the bazaar and markets, because you will get powdered color thrown all over you. We attended a Holi party that evening and as you can see, there was no lack of colored powder!!

snow.

2009-02-15T10:31:00.002+05:30

this tuesday marked the beginning of school for us here. campus was a-buzz again with students, all excited to be "home" and catch up with their friends. that night we were awoken to flashes of lightning and loud thunder and tapping on the roof... thinking great, finally some rain as the hillside was getting extremely dry. soon though the loud tapping of rain stopped and the muffling snow took over.

this is a view from the school towards town. you can see the clock tower in the distance, this is where the new restaurant is, yep, that's the big news around here.... good pizza and real coffee! you can also see the terraces of the school's organic farm in the bottom of the picture.

looking down from school towards the dorms and the dehradun valley.

this is the main road that runs along the mountain. it was nice and peaceful for awhile, but soon word of the snow reached the people on the plains and the roads were packed for the next couple of days. there were tonnes of men, all cruising on their motorcycles, yelling, drinking, singing and throwing snowballs... but it's all melted now and things are nice and quiet again.

empty nest.

2009-02-09T21:12:00.003+05:30

we've been enjoying our time here in mussoorie with the girls before the beginning of school and all of the responsibilities that come along with it. our days were mainly spent wandering the hills, the girls seeking out bargains to spend their remaining rupees... also cherishing the coke in a bottle, small tailor shops and small cafes.

codi, kyle and myself also took a couple days to hike up the highest peak in the area, nag tibba, at around 10,000ft. there were a couple neat villages, some good views and sore muscles to remind us of the steep climbs.

holly at flag hill... just a short walk from our door

this was the girls' favorite way around town... the indian way, 3 on a bike! i'm a little scared because they seem to be inspired to get their own...

but all is quiet now... they took off this morning, leaving us with our quiet house and a day to get ready for school to start, it may take awhile to get out of holiday mode.

hockey night in ladakh.

2009-01-30T14:23:00.005+05:30

after a 50 hour train ride to delhi from the south, and a few days of shopping and rickshaws we flew up to ladakh... it was only a 1 hour flight, but it seemed like a completely different world. leh is at around 12,500 ft, a barren-mountain area, full of buddhist monasteries, muslim mosques, weathered beautiful people and yes, hockey. i had found some fellow canadians living in delhi who were making their way up for an annual tournament against the locals... so despite our aching heads and burning lungs, i knew it was hockey time so that made it all worth it.

the people up here live a pretty tough, physical life in the summer when the weather co-operates and they work the fields to get through the long winter.... the winters though don't have much going on... so we had lots of people out watching, cheering when we'd fall on the rough ice or someone would lay a hit.

nice pads eh?

we had 4 games in our couple days. they put together some all-star teams and kept us wheezing from the high elevation. it was a pretty surreal experience, hard to describe, hopefully these pictures help.

when we weren't at the frozen pond we tried to wander around as much as we could. the mountains around leh are pretty amazing... we felt like quite the hot-shot hikers.

we're now back in mussoorie, at home again after a month away. we had quite a long day of travelling, felt like we were in the amazing race, flying, taxi'ing, training...

tea time.

2009-01-17T10:02:00.005+05:30

the sunny beaches of goa seem to be far behind us... we've spent some time in the town of fort kochin further down the coast but the main reason for our travels south was to venture into the cool weather of the hills to the land of tea. the girls were excited to become tea snobs and wandering the hills sounded pretty good to me.

the two gigglers were actually quiet for a little while... probably thinking about their honey's....

we decided to rent some motorcycles for a day to explore a bit. it was so good to be on the bikes instead of being trapped and rattled around inside a bus. we all felt pretty cool humming steppenwolf all day long.

yesterday we hopped on a water taxi and traveled down the backwaters for 8 hours to varkala. it was a nice slow day compared to the in your face bus rides. and soon enough we'll be catching a train for the 50 hour trip up north to delhi.

let the giggling begin.

2009-01-08T12:03:00.004+05:30

with the temperatures in the mountains quickly dropping we decided it was time to make for the coast and warm beaches of goa. all it took was a 10 hour train ride to delhi and then 32 more hours to goa... we travelled with our friends nate, joie and their 3 year old boy will and 1 year old girl annie, yes, very brave parents! it was a long trip, but made the waves and sand so much more worth it.

goa can be a pretty "white" place. full of hippy tourists and peddlers... but we're at a more remote and local place, where the yacky old fishermen still take to the seas in the mornings. i think that's been one of our favorite things... watching them all work together to bring in the catch, so far we've seen a big water snake, squid and a barracuda in the mix of smaller fish.

here's the women busy sorting.

on the 1st our peace and quiet took a bit of a hit.... codi and holly arrived, giggling away and eager to swim, shop and keep us entertained. it's been so good having them here enjoying the more laid back lifestyle of goa. all of the women peddlers on the beach know them by name as i'm sure the legend of the giggly two canadian big spenders is quickly spreading. but we're gradually exposing them to more of the "real" india as we head off tomorrow for kerala, further down the coast and then eventually up to chaos of delhi and snow of ladakh.

we rented some junker bikes the other day and were able to explore some more remote beaches. it's nice though because you never have to go too far and you'll reach a little beach hut where they've always got some good coke in a bottle... yes mom, i know you'd be jealous.

the girls and getting pretty good at the bartering... using christina's classic "walk away" and having the indian men chase them down the aisles with lower prices. i'm still not sure how we're going to carry everything?

Silent Night, Silent Day

2008-12-22T08:40:00.004+05:30

Well, things have been settling down, students have left, staff have gone for winter vacation some have flown back to their homes, some have left for warmer parts of India, but there are still some people left on the hillside including us. We decided that we would stay about a week extra and spend Christmas in our cozy house, and then leave for Goa the day after. It has been great sleeping in, going to bed late, having people over and working on randomn art projects. Here are some photos that I took when we went for a stroll in the bazaar the other day, usually I make short quick trips in and I don't look at the details.

Here's an attempt at trying to be in the Christmas spirit, I made this using ferns and pine, unfortunately, ferns wilt pretty fast.

When you walk into the Bazaar usually our first stop is the tailor shops, the ones that we like to go to are at the start of the bazaar. I find it a really inspiring place to go, with all the colourful material stacked on the shelves, clothing hanging outside of the shop that are waiting for people that ordered them to pick them up, you can have anything tailored to fit. The other interesting thing is that most tailors use hand-propelled sewing machines, it's convenient because of the often power surges. I inquired about a machine, thinking that I would like to do some sewing myself...I don't think that I will, I am on vacation. The sewing machine in the first photo is from Germany, about 90 years old, the tailor was a little reluctant to sell me that one.

If you walk down the steep hill further into the heart of the bazaar you pass some interesting shops, I think that my favourite one is the clock repair shop, it is about the size of a phone booth and an elderly man sits and tinkers with clocks and watches.

Then you continue down through the bazaar and if you are lucky the antique shop will be open, the good one on the left hand side. It is stocked with evidence of the British wealth, original paintings, glass chandeliers, teapots and cups, gold and silver bangles.... I could spend hours looking, but I don't. So, we continue through the bazaar passing old bajaj scooters, ambassadors and peeling paint that has seen the passing of time.

As we walk past the tea and coffee shop that also functions as a second-hand clothing store, we make our way to the touristy area, where things like Dominoes pizza and Cafe Coffee Day are. This is where I put my camera away, the details are just not there to photograph and have been replaced with fancy signs, fresh coats of paint and modernism...

To get a good cup of coffee can be difficult (if you don't want nescafe), so I do go to the chain of Cafe Coffee Day, I guess that you could say that it is kind of like a Starbucks... I think that the location is my favourite place, it is on second-story of a building, with a glass wall that overlooks the street. When I sat here a couple of days ago I watched a man get a shave on the street from a man that had a little supply box that said Body Massage...I don't think that I would like to get a body massage on the street.

The weather has been beautiful here, with amazing views of the mountain ranges that surround use, this is a view from our house...the flat prairies of Manitoba will be different someday. Anyways, we are awaiting more company and adventure.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

a quest.

2008-12-08T20:58:00.003+05:30

so it feels like a long time ago when i was forced to say goodbye to my baby blue... we've moved on and life without her has become normal. life here at woodstock has kept us pretty busy, and with little free time to make the long journey... and not knowing if the road would be fixed has kept me from attempting the trip. i was a little worried to head back though, the first time we went there we were snowed out and sent home early, then last time i was sent home without the bike... what would be in store this time?

but i convinced kyle that we should head off on a good adventure before the end of the school year. so we were off at around 7 am on saturday. after a couple bus rides we made it to sankri at around 4pm, over the newly fixed wash-out that prevented my escape in summer 5 months ago. we found raju (our trekking guide-buddy) and there was the bike, looking a little dusty, but still there.

raju's guest house... heading off at the crack of dawn

here's kyle at the washout. it's fixed, not smooth, but fixed.

so this all probably seems to easy... well, it wasn't so simple. one of the beauties of indian petrol is that there is usually quite a bit of water in it, so after cleaning it all out we only had around 2 litres to get us 50 kms to the nearest pump. most of the trip was downhill so we figured we'd coast as much as we could, drive a bit, and then when we ran dry.... push. it felt like we were in "cool runnings". with helmets on, pushing and hopping on.... the locals had some good laughs.

after some tiring pushing we made it to the village where we hoped to find some fuel, but it turned out the gas-man was closed for sunday. so we hired jeep to make the rest of the journey to the pump.

activity week.

2008-11-08T17:23:00.005+05:30

early last sunday chris, myself and our teaching buddy darab headed out with a group of students deep into the hills for weeklong trek for activity week. we drove around 6 hours to the trail head of hanuman chatti along the winding yamuna river. there was a small temple above the village where this sadhu was hanging out.

we had the rest of the first day for organizing our mules, guides and of course some good old rock-throwing-from-bridges-to-try-to-make-a-big-splash. the local man was pretty intrigued with our strange behavior.

here's a picture of the whole crew, including the dogs. these village dogs will join whatever group that seems to have potential for left over food. yes they followed us for 4 days, at first we were annoyed but after some animal encounters at night we appreciated their company.

this is what we woke up to our second morning at the summer pastures of seema at around 11,000 ft.... lots of frost. now i remember telling the students to not leave anything outside, i guess this is one way to learn... nothing like frosty boots to climb into in the morning.

our second day of hiking was beautiful, traversing a high ridge with banderpunch right in our face. last year we were shin-deep in snow here, but this year there was nothing but the bitter cold. we were a little dissapointed as we had carried a snow shovel with us hoping to build some snow forts. lunch was a bit of a struggle as we tried to eat our crackers, cheese, tuna and salsa with our gloves on...

this is our 3rd night campsite, just above the treeline. we managed to scrounge some wood from below to get a little fire going to huddle around. we heard animals in the wee hours of the morning this night as well. our guide said he heard a large cat outside the night before so we were a little reluctant to go out for a late night bathroom break. they told us it was most likely a snow leopard... yikes....

here's our water source nice and frozen over. after a little ice smashing we were full again.

here's a picture at the darwa pass... all the uphill finished, just 2 and half days of downhill cruising left.

this is the sacred lake of dodital. we met another group of woodstock hikers here who were coming from a different route. after they left in the morning for a day hike we made sure to put a bunch of rocks in their empty sleeping bags.... i think that was the highlight for some of our kids.

as we descended from dodital we passed through a few villages. life up in these places always amazes me, these people live such simple yet hard lifestyles... and the way technology is slowly creeping in crazy, like seeing a man with an oxen plowing his field then stopping to answer his cell phone, or women hauling massive loads of hay and wood on their backs to their houses where they have a satellite dish.

diwali.

2008-10-31T16:55:00.002+05:30

this tuesday was diwali here in india. it's a huge celebration with tonnes and tonnes of fireworks everywhere. we went to a friends house and ate lots of food, watched the light display across the mountain, and avoided our share of flaming rockets. no one was hurt so i guess it was a good night

here's a view of banderpunch from the top of the hill. chris and i are taking a group of students on a week long trek on sunday.... we're so excited to get away and be in the big hills again. it's been a busy week of planning and trying to prepare the kids for the walking, cold and snow.

we've got quite the huge pile of food in our place now. the kids were just over making hot chocolate, pancake mix, trail mix and other goodies... and of course our child anu had to be in the picture.

sports day.

2008-10-20T21:33:00.003+05:30

so the last few weeks have been a bit of a blur. not only were my parents here but it was sports season here in the hills. our after schools usually involved practicing and trials all leading up to the big day. everyone here at woodstock is divided into 3 teams, the eagles, condors and the merlins. we compete against each other in all sorts of events throughout the year, it's a good way to try to get some school spirit going and finding other schools to play against is sometimes hard. our "field" is located about a 1000ft down from the school, so convincing students to come practice is a little difficult, not to mention the tight corners on the oblong field, atleast most of the donkey poo gets cleaned up for the big day....

very serious business as usual.

one of the highlights is the end of the day staff relays. as you can see, someone is a little excited... but some staff get pretty into it, going through elaborate warm up rituals in an attempt to not look so old and slow. the students love seeing us all run, and there were no injuries this year so i guess that means it was a success.

i was surprised chris got this photo of me, i guess our camera has a pretty fast shutter speed... just call me flash.

visitors.

2008-10-03T20:26:00.004+05:30

so my parents have been here for a week now, we spent some days getting overwhelmed in the crowded-dirty-heat of delhi before retreating back to mussoorie. this is the main bazaar near where we stayed...

this is one of the first views of mussoorie on the ride up from dehradun. i think one of the most entertaining things here is the driving... avoiding the cows, monkeys and oncoming vegetable trucks.

this is the indian version of "blockbuster". i don't think we've found a non-pirated video yet...

vegetable shopping in the bazaar.

we had a holiday due to gandhi's birthday yesterday so we went out for a walk to some local farms... lots of vegetables and curious kids. this girl was busy cleaning rice...

we also went down to dehradun today to a leprosy mission. christina and mom were on a mission to spend their rupees for a good cause.

Is monsoon over?

2008-09-06T09:02:00.003+05:30

The weather has been really nice this past week, and everyone thought that monsoon was over. But, when I woke up this morning there was no sun and it was misty and wet... Despite the cold wet weather this morning, I took my camera and went searching for a couple signs of the end of monsoon.

Brown ferns are a good indication. Over the past week I have watched this trees ferns go from a bright vivid green to a dull brown.

Another good indicator is the red seeds on this plant. If you walk around the hillside, you will notice that it is spotted with these red topped plants. So, I hope that monsoon is near the end, my clothes need to dry out.

One of this years projects for our new house was planting a garden. This is a little corner of the garden, this is were all the mishapen, and broken pots go, it is always growing.

This was really exciting for me, I planted tomatoes plants and a couple of old-timers on the hillside said that tomatoes wouldn't produce here...but look there is a little fruit growing.

Here is a potatoe plant, flourishing in the monsoon weather

and a cucumber growing on the vine

and then something terrible happened...people warned me

My garden was attacked by monkeys and they pulled up every tomatoe plant, broke every bean stem and ate all the potatoes. I guess that people warned me...

Here is Anu the watch cat, but shes afraid of monkeys.

Well, it is always an adventure here, whether it is trying to grow a sucessful garden in a monkey infested area or trying to guess when monsoon is over...or teaching. It keeps me busy.
The sun just started to shine through the mist, so perhaps monsoon is over.

monsoon.

2008-08-17T12:38:00.004+05:30

so we've survived our first two weeks of school. my new pe teaching job is keeping me busy, trying to get students active in the middle of this really wet time, with no gym and slippery mountain trails is sometimes pretty challenging. i've got grades ranging from the super-cute-energetic grade 1's to the lazy grade 10'ers.

this is a picture of a langour monkey. there are 2 kinds of monkeys around here, these are the more passive-beautiful ones and the other kind are called reesus (spelling?) which are the aggresive-jump-on-your-back-pull-your-vegetables kind.

the monsoon has been in full swing for quite a while already and it's taking it's toll on our things. lots of mold everywhere but it gives us an excuse to fire up our "bhukari" or wood stove in an attempt to dry out our place. but it does'n't feel as bad as last year, i'm not sure if we are just used to it? some parts of the monsoon are beautiful, like the ferns, flowers and mist...

this is a glimpse of mussoorie after a rain from the "eyebrow" path which hugs the mountainside through campus.

this last friday was indian independence day, so it was a holiday everywhere. we had a flag raising ceremony followed by some great food in the quad. it's neat seeing everyone in their traditional dress. there was also a meal for all of the local employees and their families. it's a neat opportunity for our priviledged woodstock community to try to serve those who serve us.

home.

2008-08-04T20:32:00.004+05:30

here's a few pictures of our new place, it's old, quiet, and filled with lots of character... a great change from life in the dorm. in our move we also picked up a cat, and yes, i'm getting used to not getting any attention from chris anymore... spoiled thing... but anu keeps the mice and scorpions away and sure enjoys the fire when it's lit.

this is the view looking out from our living room onto our porch area.

we're pretty excited to have a yard... we had a garden planted right away, but just today the monkeys came and pulled up our corn and beans... they're lucky we weren't here with our rocks and slingshots. a few of us were laughing the other day about how someday back home we'll go to a zoo and start harassing the monkeys to everyone elses confusement.

this is looking up the path from our gate. it's about a 10-15 minute walk to school from here. we've only gotten a few leaches so far... we just need to keep the gate closed otherwise the local cows wander in and eat everything.

here's chris sitting on her birthday present, enjoying a brief moment between the monsoon rain.

this is the view down towards the valley. one of the great things about the rain is that when it stops it's super clear. seeing the lights of dehradun a few thousand feet below at night is amazing.

chris' mobile from thailand souveniers with a little touch.

sawat dee.

2008-07-26T18:09:00.006+05:30

"Sawat Dee", or "Hello" in Thai. While Casey was off on his adventure in the mountains, I was attending a writing workshop for school in Thailand. I went a couple days early with another staff member so we were able to enjoy some of the sights and sounds of Bangkok, some very touristy such as the Original Floating Market.

At the Floating Market we went in a boat, hence the "floating" and could buy souveniers from vendors in other floating boats. Some of the vendors selling tactics included hooking us with a long cane and pulling us towards fruit, hats, statues of Buddha and much more.

One of the best things about Thailand was the fresh food. It was refreshing being able to eat food from any restaurant or street vendor without worrying about getting sick. But no, I didn't eat the chicken, or the dried seafood (below), but I did have my share of phad thai, papaya salad and other yummy Thai dishes.

The fresh fruit was amazing, this is a picture of a rambutan, something that I ate a lot of. In order to eat the soft sweet fruit inside you'd have to peel off the red-soft-spiky skin.

This is the main river that flows through Bangkok. It was so easy to travel around Bangkok with all of the metros, skytrains and river taxis... just a little different than Delhi.

This the Temple Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) in Bangkok. The decoration on the outside of the Temple is all made of mosaics from recycled tiles, plates, cups and bowls. It was impressive up close and we were able to climb up the steep steps to get good views of the city.

The majority of my time was spent in Pattaya at the workshop. In the free evenings I was able to see the largest transvestite show in the area. Believe it or not the "women" below were once men.

We were able to take a day trip to an island where we swam and I forgot to put sunscreen on my legs, so they are still hurting a little, but it's a cheap souvenir.

It's good to be back at home in Mussoorie, school starts soon and I'm already thinking about our next vacation.

harkidun.

2008-07-18T09:05:00.004+05:30

christina left for thailand just over two weeks ago, so after spending some time relaxing in our new house, watching seinfeld and getting our new garden going i decided to take the bike on a bit of an adventure to harkidun. the "valley of the gods" is a place where we tried to get to over the winter break when greg was out, but we were snowed out then so i thought it was a good time to try again... even though it is the monsoon, which means rain, leaches and landslides.... but one of the benefits would be there would be no tourists.

the trailhead is only around 140 kms from mussoorie, so back home that means less than an hour and a half... here that means around 7-8 hours on some amazing roads, some amazingly beautiful, some amazingly horrendous. there were a couple deep creek crossings, and one place near sankri (the trailhead) where the jeep had to stop on our last visit actually had a new bridge so i was able to cruise, or i should say bounce my way into town to the stares of the locals.

on my first day i hiked around 24 km to a village of gangar. it was a pretty long day, hard getting used to carrying a big pack after being spoiled with horses in ladakh. i was going to tent it this night but the granny saw me walk up and offered a spot on the floor with the family, so i was thankful for the dry night. this family had two small houses, there were the grandparents, mother and father plus 9 kids and then some grandkids and in-laws thrown in there too... they were all busy gathering the wheat at this time of year but they loved having their photos taken and then giggling away seeing themselves.

the weather was actually really great for most of the time, generally partly cloudy throughout the days, then clouding over and raining at night. but everything up there was so green and lush. there were lots of shepherds out grazing their herds in the high pastures who would come by for a chat and stare throughout the days. this picture below is looking back down the valley with only about 8 kms more to go.

the views from harkidun were great. green slopes all around, huge boulders and streams, and then when the clouds would clear off for a minute the snow peaks right above. the "chowkidar" or caretaker of the tourist house at harkidun wasn't there as tourists generally don't wander up at this time of year, but i found a nice cozy spot on a covered porch to crash and keep the rain off. i was thankful that the bears and snow leapards didn't come for a visit, i think the shepherds and their dogs scare most wildlife away...

this stuff grows all over the place up here, kind of like a weed i guess.

the trip back down was pretty interesting. there had been a lot of rain lower down at some areas and some big landslides... a few times where i had to wait for locals to see how they ventured across the slopes and then i would quickly follow. and remember the new bridge that i drove into town on in the beginning.... well it was long gone, and in it's place a 100 ft gorge with a sketchy unstable trail down sliding slopes and a narrow greasy log crossing over a torrent to the other side. the locals just accept this as part of everyday life and continued on carrying boxes of vegetables across for selling down in the plains, tires to be patched, the sick, supplies... everyone just continued on despite the huge change. for me the problem lay in that my motorcycle was on one side of this gorge, and my way home was across. so yes, we are now motorcycle-less, for awhile at least. the word is that it may take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months for a better temporary bridge to be built, but for now everything was really unstable and too risky... although the locals were trying to convince me that 5 porters could carry it across this maze of mayhem with "problem nahi hai". this picture is where the bridge used to be, if you squint you can see some men standing on the other side.

a month in ladakh.

2008-06-30T07:20:00.008+05:30

we just returned from a month away. a month up north in an area of indian called ladakh, which is more tibetan than indian, it sure didn't feel like the india we've gotten to know so far. we flew into the city of leh, a little green oasis in the midst of barren hills and snow-capped peaks. leh is at around 12,000ft so acclimitizing was a great excuse to just lay low for a couple days, eating, reading, sleeping, and planning our big trek.

i'd read about leh claiming to have the highest golf course in the world... so after some digging i found it's location. a picturesque 18 hole course, run by the army... no grass though. just barren sand and rock. you have to carry around a little piece of carpet for hitting off of! and the greens and called browns, as they use a mixture of old engine oil spread on the sand to stop the dust... but no, i wasn't allowed to play as it's only for the big-shot army guys, it was still great to see, it's there in the distance, the patch of sand surrounded by a small bowl of hills.

so the trek we decided to do was around a 3-weeker, starting from a small place called lamayuru, heading south through a region known as zanskar, which was a small kingdom until recently, crossing around 8 passes and eventually leading us to the state of himachal pradesh. here are some ladies in lamayuru, as we were walking past one of them piped up "photo?", so we couldn't resist, and then "rupee?"... clever ladies

it was amazing how green the areas near water were... there were some pretty elaborate canal systems and the villages all nestled around the streams were amazing. people were busy at work together while the weather is good. once the cold winter settles in, they spend their time relaxing with their homebrew and visiting, but now was work time.

one of the cutest babies, full of smiles. it was amazing to see the older siblings looking after the young ones, this sometimes being a 5 year old looking after a 1 year old, or else seeing the toddlers just playing in the dirt while the others worked in the fields.

we came across a lot of yaks on the trip, mostly up in the high pastures. most of them had their winter coats sheered for some sort of weaving, but they still looked pretty strange.

this is looking up towards the highest pass on our trip, the singge la, around 16,500ft. we had to start around 5:00am to get through the deep snow before it thawed in the hot sun. it was a pretty tough climb, especially for the horses as they would sink in a lot.

there were quite a few spots on the trip where getting wet was unavoidable. all of a sudden the trail would disappear into a river or stream, and we'd be forced to take the boots off and venture in. they were usually smaller side streams but this one is in the big zanskar river.

we passed numerous "hotels", all still closed though as the main season hasn't quite begun yet. it's amazing what some cultures define a hotel as, some quite scary. we were happy to have our tent to say the least.

the area we went through was almost entirely tibetan buddhist, it was great to see this lived out by the people in a variety of ways, one of them being the "mani-wall". these stone walls would dot the trails, and have intricately carved prayers and mantras on the tops of them. we were told that people would carve them during the cold winter months. you would always have to pass by them on the left as well...

this is the phugtal monastery. it was an amazing place, with the main prayer hall located in the large cave in the cliff. we went in for some tea and lunch with the monks... some of them so young and curious, always asking lots of questions, mainly about our horses and horseman. i think that a lot of their fathers worked with treks in the summers so they were trying to see if they knew him. i'm still amazed at the precarious locations of the monasteries, always clinging to cliff or rock.

christina was excited at the amount of wild flowers on the trek. we'd read about the blue poppy and she was lucky enough to spot one with her well trained eye.

the women in this area were super outgoing and curious, a lot different from near mussoorie. but these ladies were heading out to their nomad huts for night and stopped by for a chat and curious stare. most people only spoke the local dialect but some knew some hindi and english so we could understand a bit... very funny though.

after 10 days of walking we made it to the town of padum, the first and only road connection on the trip. it was a pretty gross place, it's amazing how the road and "advancement" affects a place. but christina did manage to find some pretty cool zanskari boots made of yak hair... so she atleast has good memories of padum.

another interesting aspect of tibetan buddhism was the prayer wheels. some of them were up to 6ft tall and amazingly decorated, and others were made of small tin cans.

the tall peak to the left is called gumburanjun, a white granite pinacle that's a pilgramage place for the local people. you can see chris crossing the bridge, which we later realized was a mistake as we had to cross back over, with no bridge... burrrr

this our campsite just below our final pass, the shingo la. we awoke to a thick layer of frost and cold toes.

here's the crew, tashi the horseman and kalsang the cook... it was great to get to know them over the trip and they were a lot like dads by the end, making sure we'd phone them once we arrived safely home.

oh the end.

2008-06-01T22:09:00.003+05:30

so all is quiet here at woodstock. the kids are gone, the tears have been shed... we survived the craziness of taking a few hundred students down to the heat, chaos and pollution of delhi to be delivered to the airport at all hours of the night. now it's time for the final meetings, being able to hang out with staff who it seems we last saw in july... some final random pictures from the year though. this one from a staff vs student hockey match... yes, this is a tough time of year for me, not being able to watch the stanley cup playoffs, but getting a few chances to pretend i was gretzky made it a little better.

for our final dorm party i planned a dinner in the bazaar and a photo-scavenger hunt.. for the most part the boys took to it... doing random things from giving flowers to girls, to kissing donkeys, it was a good end. it's been pretty amazing at how well i've gotten to know them, i'm sure at some point i'll miss life as a dorm dad, but for now, the quiet is nice.

this is a view from the other weekend when chris and i got away for a night of tenting. the monsoon rains have been here pretty early, but when they break it makes for great views. this place is called bear hill, and it's about an hours walk from our door.

clothes drying on a sunny day

we also made it out to happy valley recently. it's a very interesting corner of mussoorie, tucked away from the hustle of the bazaar, and very quiet and peaceful. it's a community of tibetan refugees, a place where they have their own schools, housing and are free to keep their traditions. walking amongst the prayer flags and temple, and the great food make it a great getaway.

Mural, Mural on the Wall...

2008-05-24T08:31:00.009+05:30

It's amazing what can happen by sending 1 e-mail, that is how 'the mural project' got started. I sent 1 e-mail to Sharon, a professional mural artist from the United States that has ties to Woodstock, asking if she would like to assist my art classes in creating murals around the school. After a couple phone calls back and forth she booked her flight ticket, and came for 6 weeks, starting in the end of March till the beginning of May. We had 3 seperate art classes working on murals at the same time in different locations around the school. It is amazing how paint can transform a space.

The first group of pictures is the 'jungle mural' that the grade 9 art class did in a concrete playground area by the preschool/kindergraten and grade 1& 2 classroom. The space was very dark, and the children did not like to play back there, so we took it upon ourselves to make it into a friendly and cheery environment....and now they love it!

This a photo in my art classroom, the brainstorming and pre-planning stages.

Some students creating the watering hole for the giraffes and elephants.

Building up the jungle background

Each student was incharge of painting an animal, we tried to represent jungles from all over the world (hence, the panda, leopard, gorillas etc.).

The pictures below are of the finished project, who wouldn't want to play here now?

We invited the preschool/kindergraten and grade 1&2's to come and add something to the mural to make it their own. So, if you look closely you can see lots of ladybugs, flowers, snakes, butterflies and spiders painted by them.

This next mural was done by the grade 10 art class. Before Sharon even came to Woodstock, I asked around to see what areas of the school wanted murals. The music department responded the most enthusiastically to having murals and they had a lot of white walls because of all the practice rooms, therefore they got the most murals. This band silhouette mural is in the music lobby.

The silhouttes are of band students from the school, first we took pictures, then made overheads and traced the figures onto newspaper. From there we placed the newspaper figures on the music room walls (picture above) and then the students traced around them and started to paint.

This is a painting hanging in the music lobby done by art students in the past, we tried to match the colour palette of the canvas painting with our musicans.

The below pictures are of Indian musical instruments, the sitar is the guitar shaped instrument and the tabla is the drums.

As the final project of the semester for the grade 12 art students, they could choose what they wanted to paint. What did they want to leave behind at the school for other students to enjoy? Here are just a couple of the murals that the students created.

In all it has been a good year for the art department, we have been able to make art outside of the classroom for others to enjoy. This 'mural project' would never have been done without the help and support of Sharon, I hope she will come back next year....there are more white walls.

holy water

2008-05-04T20:44:00.003+05:30

it had been a long 5 weeks without a weekend so we figured it was time to get away for a bit. so we decided to make the crazy drive down to haridwar, around 2.5 hours from here... one of the holiest places to visit for a hindu and one of the most interesting and in your faces places for white people. it was a great place to get to see the more "real" india. we sure realize how our life here in mussoorie and woodstock is not typical compared to most indians. people travel from all over to take a dip in the holy, bacteria infested water of the ganges to wash their sins away... we didn't take the plunge, but with the temperature in the high 30's it did look pretty inviting, but no, i only mustered up enough courage to dip the feet in... but along with these flocking pilgrims there are countless beggars, some genuinely down and out, some not... it's tough to know how to handle situations like these...

each day at sunrise and sundown there is a ceremony where people will float their prayers and offerings in small banana leaf baskets full of various flowers and a candle down the holy waters. it was amazing at how quiet and orderly things were. if these ceremonies ran like the majority of other services here like driving and banking... it could have been quite the chaotic affair, but despite the huge crowds it was peacefully quiet except for the noise of the river.

it was a great experience... so different from anything i can relate to

In my free time...

2008-04-27T19:07:00.006+05:30

Ahh, the weather is warming up and it feels like summer, only 3 more weeks of teaching, 1 week of exams and then summer holidays...it sounds wonderful! This past month has been a busy one with activities every weekend। I'll start with photos of the annual Win Mumby Basketball Tournament that happened last weekend. The school invites teams from all over India to come and play, so the campus is transformed into a sports stadium and all the staff and students watch the girls and boys teams play. I helped coach the girls team, unfortunately we lost in the quarter finals by 2 points, it was an exciting game and they deserved to win. The picture below is the Woodstock guys team playing, notice the spectators in the windows. (box seats)

Casey and I ventured out to the famous JP hotel for a morning brunch, it was a little different from the cafeteria. The grounds of the hotel are beautiful and if anyone comes to visit we will take you there for brunch.
I went for a walk this morning with Sharon, a visiting mural artist who is working with some of my classes on mural projects, and we found lots of wild irises. I am taking advantage of this blog and putting lots of flower pictures in it, I don't think that Casey would do this himself.
I also found a field of dreams
This past weekend was a Mela (festival) that Woodstock puts together every year to raise money for scholarships. It is a big production with different types of food stalls (Japanese, Korean, Tibetan, Indian), games, bands, cultural dances and lots of shopping. It is also a wonderful time to come and visit. I was in charge of putting something together with my grade 10's so we had an art show on the theme of Global Peace. It was a big success.
This was at the Japanese stall, we are pretty good at changing roles.
This is a picture of the Woodstock band in the Quad, an open area in the school, kind of like a town square. There was a Yellow Rose cafe up on the balcony which served tea and cookies, I am thinking that this should be a permanent fixture of the school.
In the evening there were dances done by students, the picture below is a fire dance with twirly chains. Another exciting thing...well you may not think that it's exciting, but Casey and I got new glasses when we were in Delhi. Casey got sunglasses and I got regular glasses. The amazing part about this was it was all done in one day, the eye examinations, fitting of the lenses and adjustments.
So when I am not teaching, in my free time I am coaching basketball, setting up art shows, doing pottery, planning big ambitious mural projects and yes, taking pictures of flowers. It feels busy, but I can't imagine things any other way.

some pictures of mussoorie.

2008-04-19T10:41:00.003+05:30

so what is life in mussoorie like? well.... although it's become fairly normal for us now there are still times when we are amazed. the area around woodstock is relatively quiet, besides the monkeys on the roof, the men hacking in the mornings and the noisy students... we are surrounded by some amazing hills and forest. as you wander into town things slowly begin to change. it's about a 25 minute walk with amazing views.. unless you look just over the edge of the cliffs as they're covered in trash. once when all garbage was biodegradable this would have been fine, but since good old plastic has been here it's a pretty messy situation. the town is precariously perched on a steep ridge... woodstock being at the far east side, and the more and more you walk in, the more and more touristy things get. we have our favorite places by now... the best tailor, the small grocery store, the shoe man, the bread man, the pirated movie guy.. so we don't often wander into the depths of the cheesy-indian tourist section... but here are a few pictures of a rare daring adventure to the "west side".

the revolving restaurant (just like winnipeg!)

some students in p.e. class... some kind of aerobic workout.

mussoorie has a large population of tibetan refugees living here in a colony called "happy valley". with the recent happenings in tibet there has been some hunger strikes to try to raise awareness. the dalai lama actually spent time here when he first fled tibet... thought that was an interesting fact.

not sure about this one.... but you'll always see the indian tourists getting their pictures with it... isn't it amazing?

quarter break.

2008-03-30T22:10:00.004+05:30

last weekend was quarter break here. so as residence staff i had to plan a trip for the kids who couldn't go home. we decided to head off into the hills for some camping, trekking and the famous temple of yamunotri. so after a 6 hour jeep ride on thursday afternoon, a tire puncture, and a landslide, we arrived in the tiny potatoe village of hanuman chatti. we were lucky that there was one tiny chai stall open and we found some rooms where we crashed for the night.

don't worry mom, there was a hospital... sort of

early morning chai

there was a small group of boys who wanted to go "extreme" and find some snow and camp on one of the local peaks. we were thinking after a day we'd reach snow and then camp... but after 2 hours we were waist deep... so we headed back and camped with the rest of the group.

we did a day hike up to the yamunotri temple one day, this a view looking back down the valley

this is the famous temple.. pretty dirty and tacky, but we'd heard of hot springs being here.

we'd set ourselves up for some filthy, luke warm springs... but they were super hot! i can't remember the last time i had a bath... no bathtubs here in india. the holy sadhu's in their skimpy sumo style shorts was pretty funny. the girls were a bit disapointed though as the ladies section is below the mens with all of the dirtier runoff water... the equality hasn't quite made it here.. this is kyle and i soaking up the holy goodness. legend says that one dip in these waters and you will be spared from a horrible death! so we were pretty confident on the drive home...

it was a great way to spend our easter break... and there was also a hindi festival going on at the same time called "holi". this festival is basically a big water fight, but the water is dyed with many bright colors... it was neat watching the villagers go at it and hearing the drum procession as different groups marched through town trying to find their next victims. for the most part they left us alone but we managed to get some color at the temple... my color looked more like a war wound to the head so i think some people were concerned as we walked by... just another reason to stare.

a day off.

2008-03-16T11:48:00.004+05:30

i was able to get on the bike this friday and get some exploring done. i drove along the mussoorie ridge until the road ended, then started walking...

this is the view down towards dehradun and the hot plains below, the step farms were pretty amazing in this area.

after a few hours i made it to this temple at the end of the ridge. it was pretty nice, and the amount of garbage around was quite small compared to the other temples i've seen. it seems the holier a place is the more garbage there is.

a funny thing happened when i got here though. i didn't see many people the whole way, but there was a family near the temple eating lunch when i arrived. now two of the men seemed to find me pretty interesting and soon were there right beside me staring as i tried to enjoy my lunch and catch a snooze. they didn't say anything, just sat there and watched.... kinda strange. and i didn't really feel like entertaining so i let them gawk away. and then as soon as i packed up they followed right behind me for awhile until i made a detour and they gave up the chase.

ring the bell, say your prayers

some old carving on stone near the temple

looking back towards mussoorie, the peak in the foregroung is benog tibba, where we took some students camping last semester, and near where i started my walk today.. the town is on the other side somewhere.

this last picture is from a hike a couple weeks ago. the whole high school had the day off to do various trips. this one was pretty fun as we were treated to some amazing panoramas of the snows... (yes greg, it was clear, unlike our trip)

Spring

2008-03-09T20:55:00.009+05:30

It is spring here, and I love it! The air is warmer, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and the wood stove was taken out of my art classroom. We have just reached the 6 week mark of school, and quarter break is just around the corner, so things are looking pretty good. The picture below shows my relief that winter is finished and that I am surviving teaching.

I have been working in the pottery studio quite a bit creating all sorts of things and trying to figure out how to mix a good glaze. It has been a long and frustrating process as with every firing the glaze doesn't melt quite right, but it has been a really good learning process. Below is a cup that I made that the glaze ran too much and whole bottom of the cup stuck to the kiln shelf. I guess this could be a bottomless cup of coffee.

This past weekend I went for my first long motorcycle adventure with a fellow teacher, we both had our own bikes. It was so good to be out on the windy roads in the sun with the snowy mountains in the distant. There was a women's Mela (festival) at town that was about an hour drive away so we decided to check it out.

Part of the Mela included a cultural programme which means different types of dancing. The thing that impressed me the most was the colours and pleats of the clothes that the women wore.

There were also little stalls set-up around the town square selling all sorts of cheap plastic gadgets and jewellery. I decided that I needed to get some bangles for my wrists, so these men helped me pick out some nice colours, the unfortunate thing was that they didn't fit, my hands are too wide. But, luckily I was in India and there is no such thing as doesn't fit when it involves making some money. So, the bangle man forced all kinds of colourful glass bangles onto my hands, it was a really painful experience. I didn't really like the colours (reds, yellows and blues) that he had choose, but I couldn't get them off so I had to pay for them. The picture below is only a glimpse of the bangle selection, you can see the shadow of boy looking at the colours.

Most of women that were at the Mela wore bright head coverings, long pleated skirts and blouses. The colours were beautiful and it was good to see so many women together enjoying the day in the sun. In all, it was a good weekend and I am glad that spring is here.

a hike.

2008-02-24T19:39:00.003+05:30

so greg made it back from his adventures in indonesia awhile back, and it was my weekend off so the three of us headed off into the hills for a little weekend trek. our goal was nag tibba, the highest peak near here, just below 10,000ft. so we were up at 5:30 saturday morning, after an hour and a half drive we made it to the trailhead.

the villagers were out busily working in the fields getting ready for the spring plant. it was pretty neat seeing all of the cows plowing away, men and women working away together, and of course all of the other animals running around and the village kids swarming around us as we passed through.

this is a view down from where we'd come... but our first day was a bit of an adventure... we had some topographical maps, an old trail description but that's it. and of course here in india they don't believe in marking any trails, it would just be too easy. some of our directions were "the trail becomes increasingly hard to see and find" or "walk up until you can't handle it anymore"... so, we took a wrong turn and ended up a little lost, but we made camp after 8 hours of hiking and eventually found our bearings.

we woke up early sunday morning and decided to give the peak a shot. so greg and i took off without our heavy packs and after what seemed like forever of climbing we reached it. it was pretty cold up there, with some snow, and we could imagine some amazing views, but it was pretty cloudy so we didn't get to see too much.

one of the highlights of the trip down was the "photo" guy. he stopped us as we passed asking if we had a camera. greg pulled his out and soon enough he was ordering us around and getting us to pose in different ways in his "hinglish". we had a good chuckle at the "romantic" one... and then of course the catch... a fee for his amazing professional services. so we coughed up a few rupees and were on our way.

sunshine and snow.

2008-02-20T08:37:00.002+05:30

the other weekend treated us to a few inches of snow. a pretty big deal for these parts... the kids were very excited to say the least! scrounging through the dorm and wood shop for any type of sled they could find. one thing we found scary was the lack of "snowball etiquette"... there didn't seem to be anything scary or wrong about trying to pelt your neighbor in the face... yikes! and not to mention all of the "plainsmen", mainly people from near delhi who drive up into the hills for the chance to see snow, and then usually end up parked on the side of the cliff hugging roads with their stereos cranked and booze flowing.

i was able to get out the other day for a good walk with another dorm staffer. having the chance to explore this area during the days sure make the long weekend hours worth it. we followed a nearby stream down the mountain, it was pretty amazing. small waterfalls, jungle... and of course garbage everywhere... the great beauties of india. it was crazy how quickly the climate seemed to change as we descended, things were so green already and the crops were well on their way.

i also took my boys on an overnight trip last weekend to our outdoor ed centre. it was great to get away with them. we spent the night playing games, having a bonfire, and of course watching a late night soccer game. we also made it up to one of favorite places on the top of the mountain for breakfast... great omelettes, pancakes and skip-bo!

back to normal

2008-02-02T19:55:00.000+05:30

Things are getting back to normal again, no more big adventures for a while. It's about 2 weeks into teaching and I think that I am getting back into the swing of things. Casey is busy with all his boys in the dorm, giving out medicine, helping with homework, making them watch rock'em sock'em (thanks Tom & Mitch), giving girl advice and of course making sure that they get up on time and go to bed on time. Things are pretty routine.
The weather on the other hand has been cold, not like Manitoba cold, but cold as in the buildings have single-pane glass and no insulation. The mornings are the worst in my art room, I can see my breath for a good part of the day until the sun shines in and warms up the room at 4:00, just when school is out. I know that this coldness will pass, usually the school doesn't open until the middle of Feb but they are trying to extend the summer vacation, so shorter winter breaks. Oh well, it makes us tougher.
Oh, the picture above is a hail storm, it has happened a couple times this winter and sometimes is accompanied by thunder.

We went on a hike last weekend to the remains of the Everst House, actually this is a picture of me on top a nearby mountain, it was a beautiful day with great views. The Everst house is an interesting landmark because Mt. Everst was named after the man who lived in this house, he was a famous surveyor who mapped alot of the Himalayas.

This is our friend Will, he is the son of some fellow teachers at Woodstock. Will loves motorbikes and as soon as he found out that we had one, we became one of his heros(appartently before bed he lists off all the people with motorbikes that he knows, yes we are in that list!). Last weekend, Will saw us with the motorbike so got a chance to sit and play with all the buttons.

Casey also grew a beard for a while during vacation, he has trimmed it up since, but I think that this the most facial hair that he has ever had. This is also a picture of Casey enjoying a cup of coffee, of course it had to have whipped cream.

to the hills.

2008-01-11T20:41:00.000+05:30

so after spending a couple weeks in the desert, smog and craziness of life on the plains we decided to head out for a different kind of craziness. it was a 7 hour jeep ride into the himalayas until the road was washed out, so our trek began a little earlier than expected. we were hoping to get as far up the Harkidun valley as we could, it's supposed to be a beautiful place in summer and full of hikers, but this is january, it's cold and usually snowy, so we would need some help from mother nature to be able to make it there.

we made it to the village of sankri and found a guide whom a fellow woodstocker had used before, he instantly took us in and soon enough his daughters were singing for us and we felt right at home

some donkeys making their way across a sketchey landslide, it's only around a 150 ft to the river below.

it was about a 6 hour trek to the village of gangar, around 50 timber framed houses tucked into the hillside by the river. we spent the night with our guides relatives.

some of the girls from where we stayed. all of the people here wore long woolen jackets, and usually with sashes as well.

the houses up here had some amazing carvings. besides that they're pretty basic being there are usually only 2 rooms, and that up to 10 people will sleep together on the floor, and the animals are on the bottom floor so some of their heat creaps up through the floorboards... greg was kept up one night by the cow bell ringing just below him.

mother nature dashed our hopes of reaching harkidun by greeting us with a good dose of fresh snow through the night

this spot was a little hairy, after we crossed our guide mentioned to us that a couple hikers had had a fatal fall here to the river earlier this year.

yes, we are funny... that was after we had to run across a section of the trail that had slid from the snow and rain...

we made it back to sankri, but everything we had was soaked... so i borrowed some clothes from our guide... stylin i know.

so with the nasty weather we had, and the lack of dry clothes we decided to head home a day early. to make a long story somewhat shorter, we had a dilema, our jeep driver told us we could phone him anytime to have him pick us up early, but we couldn't get ahold of him... but we had already made the 12 km hike and crammed jeep ride to the nearest phone and we didn't want to go back. so we decided to just try to get to mussoorie anyway we could. so we found another jeep going to the next town and there found a bus heading for mussoorie. we threw our packs on the top and found seats in the very back, happy we had seats, but unhappy we hadn't found our driver and were going to have to pay more. so as we started to pull out we looked out and saw OUR DRIVER! our eyes met, him confused as to why his 3 tourists are in a bus, a day early... us amazed it's him, this being only one of many towns along the way, one in a thousand shops, and just a passing moment....

it's amazing how you spend so much time and effort trying to not look too out of place, too foreign. but here we were, our bus pulling out, our driver staring at us... for these buses to have foreigners is quite something, but to have these foreigners yelling and screaming was enough entertainment and confusion for a year!

now the bus finally stopped, but the aisle was jammed with locals and there was no way out, and we weren't sure how long it'd stay stopped. so we jumped out the window! i think chris suggested it at first, half as a joke, but out we went... oh they were confused, us crawling up to get our packs, laughing at it all.

it was a good end to a good trip.

Holidays.

2008-01-03T19:58:00.000+05:30

During the last week of school, before the winter holidays I and a music teacher organized an Arts Festival. It was set-up like a coffee house, with an art gallery, musicans and singers. The event went over well, and we will plan another one in the spring time. Casey and I also were on "going down duty" which involves chaperoning students to Delhi and then to the airport to catch their flights. We were pretty busy with everything going on at school so this winter holiday was looked forward to with much anticapation. As I write this blog, we have just returned from a 2 week trip to Rajasthan...hope that you enjoy the many pictures.

Before we left for Christmas we had a little gift exchange, in case you are wondering that's our version of a Christmas tree, it even has a star.

Here is a picture of Casey and his prize he found in one of the crazy markets, he thinks it may be the biggest sesame snack ever!

We stayed at a wonderful guest house in the outskirts of Delhi in a Tibetan Colony, the banana pancakes on the rooftop were the best!

We then made a 20 hour journey by train to Jaisalmer, a small town on the edge of the Thar desert. I was overwhelmed by the beautiful fabrics and clothes that were being sold and I had a hard time not spending money.

Greg and Casey decided to visit one of the local barber shop for a shave with a straight blade razor. Greg got alot of comments on his moustache from Indian men in the streets.

In Jaislamer there is a fort that rises out of the desert. Some people still live in the fort, and there are lots of shops and restaurants on the rooftops, our favourite was an italian resturant with the best pizza and pasta. As we were eating, there were kites flying in the sky and the sun setting....beautiful!

This is the view from our guest house of the fort.

Next was a trip into the Thar desert for 3 days on a camel safari. We spent Christmas day on camels, just like the 3 wisemen. It was good to get away from the crowds and see some of the villages.

The 3 wise people...

Our camel guides would always be on the look out for goat herds in search of milk for chai. Lots of the desert is grazed by animals, so it is not uncommon to see shepherds wandering the desolate sand plains. I was very close to taking a little goat with me.

3 days on a camel was enough and we were glad say good-bye and then made our way by bus to Jodphur, the blue city.

The fort was amazing and the view is even better.

The market in Jodphur was fascinating and busy. The market was set up with different areas, all the spices together, cloths, vegetables...I don't think the store owners mind the competetion.

The busy market, oxen, motorbikes, scooters and rickshaws, watch out!

After Jodphur we headed off to Pushkar and celebrated New Years there. It is a small desert town that surrounds a holy lake. It was very touristy, but had the best and cheapest shopping...I had to buy another bag to hold everything. We made friends with these kids at a tea stall, they were very excited to talk and show off to us.

The holy lake, the town of lots of hippy tourists, pilgrims and sadhus. (holy men)

We had to get out of the busyness of the streets, so we decided to rent bikes for the afternoon. I only got 2 flat tires...really good quality, but it only costed us 50 cents a bike.

And now we are back in the beautiful hills of Mussoorie, travelling around sure makes you appreciate home.

hockey night in india

2007-12-11T21:51:00.000+05:30

so for a couple nights a week after study halls for the last 2 months we've been having a street hockey league. it's been awesome, i'm not sure who's more pumped? the kids or me? stats, players of the week, and yes a trophy, and even our own version of champagne.

greg also got out this week. so he's adjusting quickly to life here and the other day we headed out to tackle his first peak and were greated to some snow... i guess he brought the cooler temperatures with him.

leprosy mission and a village trip.

2007-12-02T17:33:00.000+05:30

i headed down to dehradun this week to check out the leprosy mission. it's a very neat place. a place where people with leprosy can come live in community, and they all work together to produce some amazing fabrics, bags, and rugs.

on friday after school 7 of us headed out to a local village. it was only 4 miles away as the crow flies, but driving these roads it took us 2 hours, pretty crazy.

kyle and i headed out on a hike saturday, while the rest of the gang visited the schools... christina has them busy working on portrait drawings.

looking back at the village

the countdown is on.

2007-11-28T09:19:00.000+05:30

So it’s been around 4 months now. The blur of all things new, and the monsoon have long lifted and life here seems pretty normal. As normal as life here can be, but normal in a strange sense, not normal like Manitoba normal, but like this is our home for now normal.

a couple of my boys dressed up for "open house". our theme was "blockbuster", they were supposed to decorate their rooms in a movie theme and dress up like actors, can you guess what movie they're from?

chris was at an "artfest" in dehradun last weekend. she had to create a piece while a bunch of people watched her every move and asked her many questions...

this is where chris can be found on many saturdays or sundays... hanging out by the kiln, with her cup of coffee, an artbook or sketchbook... it's a good place for her to get away. the kiln here is run by propane as well, so you physically have to be there to turn it up every 5 minutes for around 7 hours, kind of forces that busy girl to slow down

kyle (another dorm parent) and myself headed out to this village last week, it was a couple hours down the ridge, but felt like years and years away, except for the satellite tv and cell phones. the pumpkins on the roofs were one of the few hints it was fall, as the leaves haven't really changed yet.

But life moves on, the semester is quickly ending, Greg is coming soon so we’ve got to get some travel plans done…

caution on the roads.

2007-11-14T09:08:00.002+05:30

it was the woodstock employees sports day awhile back. it was great to see everyone out with their families, enjoying the sun, the sports, and not having to work. pretty funny though... lots of barefeet, jeans, sari's... no expensive sportswear here.. but lots and lots of laughter

here's the biker ready for action... the monkeys and cows better watch out!

activity week.

2007-10-28T13:16:00.000+05:30

christina, myself and lorenz (an austrian chemistry teacher) took a group of 13 students off into the mountains this last week for "activity week". it was a great time, a challenging time... hard to describe, so hopefully pictures will do.

this was the home for a potatoe farmer, a lot of our first day was up through terraced farms, mainly potatoes at this time of year.

this was where we camped on our first night hiking, a pasture at around 10,000ft. absolutely beautiful, shepherd huts, mountain streams, the himalayan peak of banderpunch right in our face

that's it for climbing... all downhill from here

a group of nomad huts, empty now, but amazing nonetheless. it felt like we were walking through a museum

gourmet mac and cheese

the journey home

camping trips, our baby, blue skies, and finger paint.

2007-10-16T15:57:00.000+05:30

christina and i took a group of kids hiking and camping last weekend. it was great to get away, enjoy the amazing october weather, and see some snow peaks. we're all getting pretty excited for our "activity week" hike, which starts this sunday! it was crazy to gaze off at the snows and imagine that we'll be there amongst them soon.

i've managed to sneak away a few times to test out the new wheels. we're pretty excited at the new world that is accessible to us now and the adventures ahead...

these are some pics from chris' art class... looks like fun, i think they're building a rickshaw and something with pudding or fingerpaint.

big news.

2007-10-07T16:56:00.000+05:30

our quarter breaks

2007-10-02T19:43:00.000+05:30

Time goes by so fast! It was just quarter break at Woodstock, which means that students have a chance to go home for a couple of days if they live close by and those who don't have an opportunity to go hiking, shopping or rafting. For quarter break I decided to stay at school to work in the clay studio, paint the walls of our appartment and hike a couple hills. It was a relaxing time for me, but not so relaxing for Casey because he led a group of students to Rishikesh to go rafting and camping

Here is a picture of flag hill, since I work during the day I don't have alot of chances to do some of the hikes that are near by. During my break I also visited the bazzar and found out that I have the talent of spending every single rupee that I have in my wallet.

This picture doesn't really show off the walls that I have painted in our appartment, and I am still painting more (it can be very addicting) but it shows that we have made our place homey. Notice in the background that Casey is making Chai in our kitchen. I hope that this picture may tempt some of you to visit!

Here are some pictures of Casey and the boys that went camping and rafting. For some it was the first time that they had every slept in a tent! He also brought the game of skip-bo along and got some of them hooked.

quest for the snows.

2007-09-24T13:54:00.000+05:30

brown ferns and the end of monsoon season, my weekend off, a birthday, and the need for open spaces and the hope of seeing the snow peaks to the north.... all viable reasons for a hiking trip... so yes, christina and i managed to sneak away from woodstock this last weekend and it was great. we hiked out to a local peak, just over 8000ft where we spent a couple nights. it was about 12 kms to the base and then quite a few feet up.. we arrived just as the moon was coming out on friday night, thanks to the help of a village boy who showed us part of the way as our legs were failing us and our trail was quickly disappearing.

we woke up to blue skies and an amazing view

we were out of water by saturday but found some at a nearby farm. little did we know that we would then have curious visitors throughout the next day and a half. the young boy brought up different people each time... which was a lot, sometimes for a picture, sometimes to test their english, sometimes to inspect our things... like my harmonica, or hockey/walking stick, or slingshot.

looking back west towards woodstock at dusk

the easton synergy-himalayan style

village life.

2007-09-09T23:18:00.000+05:30

last week i was able to catch a motorcycle ride out to a local village with our outdoor education leader. he was busy planning some events for "activity week" in october and i was able to walk around, play with some kids, take some pictures...

it took some time to win the kids over, but once i let them play with the camera they were pretty excited. i really love how this last one turned out...

holy water...

2007-09-04T23:47:00.000+05:30

so we both had last weekend off and headed out with some fellow woodstockers to rishikesh and the holy ganges... a place with many pilgrims, hippy tourists seeking enlightenment, and of course the beatles at one time. i realized on our way down the mountain that i hadn't left the woodstock/mussoorie area since we first arrived over a month ago, crazy how time passes... it was great to get away for awhile, but it did feel good to come home to the high elevation and cooler temperatures.

a walk...

2007-08-28T14:54:00.000+05:30

here are some images from one of my walks last week, mostly within 5 minutes of our door... i often find myself awestruck... in disbelief that we actually live here.. so much to learn, see and explore

expect the unexpected

2007-08-15T21:15:00.000+05:30

Well, I thought that it was my turn to write a blog, and give all of you avid readers a different perspective on life here in India. We have been here for about 3 weeks and we are settling in quite nicely, I have already gotten a couple of shirts made at the tailors and found the best place to have coffee in town. Once in a while we get a little tease, and a small portion of blue sky will become visible and the dense fog will lift enough that we realize the amazing view. This picture below was taken on my way up to school, I have about a 15 minute walk uphill every morning, the only traffic that I face are the students walking slowly up to school. (some of them take about 45 minutes to walk up the mountain).

I did survive the first couple days of teaching and I am well into my second week. The classroom is starting to feel more natural, except for the fact that monkeys peer into my windows from time to time and stare at the apples set-up in the still-life. (I lost 2 apples to a monkey last week that entered my room through an open window!)

This is my first day of school outfit, notice the umbrella you can't go anywhere without one in monsoon time.

This is Casey with some of his boys (not all 30 could fit in the picture), it was Independence Day so they are all dressed up in their Indian wear. India celebrated 60 years of Freedom! All the students had a day off of school, there was a flag raising ceremony in the morning, a special lunch and a free afternoon.

I think one of my favourite things about India is the way that they decorate for celebrations. This is a floor design for Independence Day made out of glitter and powder paint.

These are clay cups that they served chai in at the Independence Day lunch, after you are done with your tea cups you get to smash it. (it's environmentally friendly!) I didn't have the heart to smash mine, instead I think I will start a mug collection.

These are pants from one of the boys in the dorm, he wore them for Independence Day. Actually they look quite good on, there is a drawstring for the waist that gets pulled tight.

Okay, that's all for now...I have to get ready for a full day of teaching tomorrow.

adjusting...

2007-08-04T23:02:00.000+05:30

well, another week has passed. things are slowly starting to feel more normal, but from what we've been told, this two week "normal" time will drastically change when the kids start arriving in the next couple of days. so much for the quiet dorm and free time, but everyone seems pretty excited to get going.

a patchwork of houses in mussoorie

chris had her birthday this last week, along with catherine, a fellow woodstocker. we had some people over and she was thoroughly spoiled... i don't know if she's had "happy birthday" sung to her this many times before

the birthday girls with their indian garb

just below us here is the village where most of the local laundry gets done... it's pretty crazy to see huge sacks of laundry piled on little scooters flying down the hills. and we're not sure how things dry as it's usually raining, but we are getting used to damp clothes and sheets.

i was able to go exploring a bit this afternoon with some friends to a place called "flag hill". the rain let up again and we were treated to some amazing views. when the monsoons pass you can supposedly see the snow peaks of the high himalayas to the north... i can't wait. but it was a very cool place, and hopefully i'll be able to bring my boys up here camping soon!

is this home?

2007-07-25T11:22:00.000+05:30

well... we're here. it's been a long journey, 30 hours or so on air india, some big delays, bad weather, but we made it nonetheless. it was great to be greeted at the other end by some woodstockers, and we found some colleagues right away so we could stick together.
we spent a day or two in delhi, it all sort of feels like a blur, the 10.5 hour time change takes a toll on your system. but it was long enough to be overwhelmed by the amount of people, the humidity, the pollution, the poverty. we took a taxi downtown on the craziest roads and traffic i've seen. seeing motorcycles piled with families, buses with people hanging on the top, holy cows lazyily wandering wherever they please, rickshaws... interesting, but it made us long for the mountains. all of us new staff caught a train up to dehra dun, the end of line and then took a bus the remaining 30 km up to woodstock... now this wasn't your typical 30km... it took around an hour and a half, hugging the cliffs as we climbed approximately 4000 ft up to school at 7000ft. we were warned to take some motion sickness pills before as many travellers can't make it up without some quick pit stops or leans out the window.

here's a monkey outside chris' art room... this kind is pretty aggressive, especially to women. but it's going to take some getting used to as they're everywhere. and each morning they wake us up running around on our roof, just remember no smiling, no food outside...
this is a view of one of the high school buildings shrouded in the monsoon mist... chris' room is on the top floor, supposedly with an amazing view. i guess we'll see in a month or two once the monsoons let up, as for now we'll just imagine.

this is the quad, where the middle and elementary school and cafeteria is... we've been here having orientation meetings for the last few days.. it's around a 15 minute hike, straight up switchbacks from our apartment. they say that after around 6 weeks we'll be used to the elevation.. as for now, we'll keep sucking wind.

here's a quick picture of one of our views on our way up to the quad while the mist lightened up... but all is well, we're busy, still fairly healthy, overwhelmed with info and new faces. it's hard to believe that we're here, so much is new and so much to write... but we're looking forward to when this begins to feel like home.

we're off

2007-07-16T02:06:00.000+05:30

so it's been about a year since we last updated. it's been a good year, a fairly "normal" year for us in winnipeg. it was great being in manitoba again, around friends and family... some highlights were chris' grad, biking to work, christmas with family, and finding jobs in india..

yes, india. we are going to be working at an international school called woodstock, located in the foothills of the himalayas in northern india. we're pretty excited and it seems like a good fit and opportunity for us, chris teaching high school art and i'll be working as a resident leader (www.woodstock.ac.in). ok, hopefully we'll keep this thing updated.

chris in maine, where we are now.. visiting old friends

a couple pics from my bike trip from winnipeg to brandon... special thanks for the east wind

something familiar

2006-07-12T03:04:00.000+05:30

well, we made it. back home to familiar soil, familiar faces and the works... the last 8 months in poland have been pretty crazy, let alone the last month in romania. but romania, wow... what a place...

as we crossed the border we were greated with men cutting the grass with sythes, abnoxiously loud music and dirty haired kids curiously waving at us as we passed by.

we were working alongside a canadian couple who have been living in romania for the last 10 years working with gypsies in a small village. the relationship between the romanians, gypsies and the missionaries is pretty complex and confusing... such different cultures and strong opinions working against one another, simply writing something wouldn't do it justice.

main street before the traffic jam

main street during the traffic jam

some big smiles for the camera

but we spent most of our time teaching the kids english, helping out with whatever projects were going on and trying to not get attacked by any bivols (which are these huge, super aggressive sort of cow animals). what else... beautiful children, dark haired and big brown eyes... usually dirty and shoeless but craving love. such a contrast of amazing scenery alongside such poverty. it felt like it could have been 1950 and that these people didn't know any other way than the one they have to live daily.

what month is it?

2006-06-10T23:02:00.000+05:30

before taking off for romania, we decided to head down to the polish mountains and do some hiking. we were dreaming of walking the green hills in shorts, jumping in lakes and streams.... well, not exactly. it was green for a little while but as soon as we scaled the mammoth mountains things got a little cold and snowy. most of the time we were left wondering what month we were in.... it definitely felt like february and not june.

we spent 4 days hiking and it was pretty cool because we just slept at different mountain hostels along the way. they were amazing old log buildings tucked away in the middle of nowhere. last night was fun because poland was playing in the world cup, so everyone was squished into the kitchen watching this tiny tv, chanting things in polish, drinking lots of vodka and trying to educate us on the finer points of football.

we were also able to explore some caves. which was pretty intense as things got a little tight at times and our headlamps and flashlight weren't the best. but we were laughing at how anyone could just go into these caves, without any sort of pre-knowledge, maps or anything... i don't think it'd be like this back home.

1 week away

2006-05-29T14:58:00.000+05:30

Just when things are getting nice in Inowroclaw, Casey and I are about to depart for another adventure. That’s right, we are finishing up teaching this week, saying good-bye to friends and students and packing up our home that we lived in for 7 months. (I still have this habit of collecting things, so we will have to give a lot of things away to friends or donate them to the salvation army).

We are not actually leaving Poland right away, but we are taking a trip to the famous Polish mountains, the Tatras, for a week to do some hiking. And then we are hopping on the train to Romania, and will be helping out with a Christian organization in a remote village in the mountains by teaching English and helping out with some building projects. So we will be back in Canada on July 7, to enjoy a Manitoba summer.

As I type this I have mixed feelings, we have really been blessed in Poland with meeting alot of new friends, having good jobs and living in a different culture. Sure, the language barrier has given us a little grief, but it has given us the understanding of what many people deal with when moving to a different country. My perspective has changed a lot since the first day we set foot in Poland. The generosity of people has overwhelmed me, we have felt welcome here the entire time by people inviting us to their houses and taking us places. So, Casey and I have decided that we would like to find some Polish people in Winnipeg to keep us in touch with Poland.

These past few weeks we have been trying to see everything that we can around our area now that the weather has been nice. Friends of ours, they took us to Biskupin, a prehistoric settlement from about the 8th century.

We also had the opportunity to go to Malbork this past weekend with some other friends. It is biggest Gothic castle in all of the World built in the 1300s, it also had a tower so we climbed it.

Well, okay I better go and start packing up or at least thinking about it.
Chris.

get the combines ready?

2006-05-23T18:27:00.000+05:30

One of the wider roads, lined with trees, and you can see the canola is already blooming.

Our neighbors took us for a hike on sunday... an area fairly close to here with lots of forest, lakes and wild boars. No, we didn’t see any but trying to communicate through broken Polish and English is a sure way to make any trip more interesting.

There are some pretty neat vehicles here, and this one would wake us up almost every morning during winter as it struggled to start. The other day I saw a man push-starting his own car, by himself, which I thought was pretty cool. I guess the benefits of having a Fiat.

These tiny garages are everywhere.

Just trying to leave my mark here.

Empty Nest Syndrome

2006-05-15T14:00:00.000+05:30

So, it’s just Casey and I now, Codi left on Friday to continue her adventure. We will miss having her around especially because she always did the dishes for us and she was great company and a better shopper then Casey. Our first and last visitor in Poland.

After our trip to Prague we worked for 2 days and then headed to the Baltic Sea for the weekend. We were really impressed with Gdansk, a sea port town widely known for its amber and nearby beaches.

We got to climb the church tower of Virgin Mary, the biggest brick church in all of Europe. The 407 steps were a little bit of a challenge, but we had taken it upon ourselves to see how many towers we could climb when Codi was visiting. It is funny usually Casey and I have bad luck, and all the towers are closed when we want to climb them, but we had no problem with Codi.

We went for a meal of pierogies, I think that I was the only one that enjoyed them. I suggested Codi and Casey try something a little different other then the usual potatoe and cheese. I guess that they shouldn’t have listened to me.

On Sunday we had a bit of a disappointing day. It all started at about 2am in the morning when Codi and Casey were consistently woken up by some rowdy people. (I was sleeping). We headed to the sea side in Sopot only to find that everyone else had the same idea, and it was so busy, you had to wait in-line half an hour for ice-cream and it wasn’t even that good. The one highlight of the Sopot was the Wobbly House, based on the architecture style of Antoni Gaudi.

After fighting the crowds, losing a jacket, we got tired and caught a train back to Inowroclaw, the train was really old and shaky.(4 hours long) So shaky that you couldn’t read a book or even sleep without falling off your seat. To top the day off, we had a run-in with a fake cop that demanded that we pay him money or he would arrest us, after arguing in broken Polish he finally left us alone. We were relieved to be back at home, I guess there has to be one bad travel day.

Chris.

someone is on our couch..

2006-05-05T16:45:00.000+05:30

Well, chris and me have had a little visitor for the last few days… yep, and we’re not sure if she’s gonna leave. No, it’s not a cat, or a mouse… but worse… a little sister. The giggle-meter has been reading a little higher than usual too, but it’s been great to see codi again, yes, despite all of the giggling, and chris and her seem to enjoy ganging up on me… ohhh, life is hard.
for those not in the loop, we met codi in prague. it was around a 14 hour train ride, but definitly well worth it. the one nice thing about the slow polish trains is that it gives you lots of time to enjoy the scenery. but prague was awesome, and kept us busy oohing and ahhing and taking pictures. these are just a few random ones.

Stroop Wafels, Windmills and Bikes

2006-04-22T19:07:00.000+05:30

We had some time off for Easter so we thought that a trip to the Netherlands would be a good idea, and it turned out to be a great idea! The travelling part of the trip wasn't really that fun, it involved riding on a very full bus for 15 hours watching English movies, that had voice-overs in Polish. I think that the most interesting part of the trip,. besides Casey feeling a little motion sick was the difference in roads between Poland and Germany. The roads in Poland are very bumpy, narrow,old and curvy with trees that line the sides of the roads, while as soon as we crossed the border the roads in Germany were wide, smooth and noise barriers lined the sides of the roads. We arrived in Amsterdam at 6:00 in the morning it was so quiet, that Casey and I walked around the city without hardly seeing a soul. There are many things to do in Amsterdam, and after a long disscusion we decided to visit the Henekin muesum. It was a very interesting muesum and we learned alot about the process of making beer, and of course we got to sample the product. (this all being at 10am in the morning)
Afer seeing some of the sites in Amsterdam, it got a little busy with tourists so we headed to our final destination Zwolle. For me it was exciting to be in a city that I called home 5 years ago when I did an exchange program in University. It took me a little while to remember some of my Dutch, and sometimes I got confused and used Polish words instead. It was good for Casey to see what the Dutch were all about besides windmills, tulips and cheese. We stayed with Famille Baan, that was my host family that I lived with 5 years ago. We were well fed and the bed was so comfortable that Casey and I were thinking of staying longer or taking the bed with us to Poland. Not to mention that the family is really great and it was fun to catch up on the past 5 years. We also had the opportunity to visit with some Great Tantes (Aunts) and Great Omes(Uncles) from my Grandpa's side.
Some of the highlights of our trip were seeing all the bicycles and of course getting to ride 'Dutch Bikes', seeing fields of flowers (not all the tulips were ready yet because of the late spring), going to the Dolphinarium with my host mom (Jenny), and going to the Sea with Tante Pee and Ome Gerard.

Well, I better go and catch up on some sleep but first I think that I will have some stroopwafels and tea! Hope that you all had a good Easter!

Chris

wadna pogoda

2006-04-05T16:49:00.000+05:30

So spring is here, and it feels so good… we’ve had some beautiful weather and have quickly picked up a new polish phrase, “wadna pogoda”.. which means nice weather. Seeing as we arrived here in November, all we have really seen of Poland has been for the most part cloudy and grey… so to see the green coming has got us pretty excited.

It seems like there are tonnes of workers out now trying to clean things up. From sweeping up the ragged side walks, raking up dog poop, to cleaning windows… and the warm weather has also brought out the men who like to have a few too many sips… I guess there are always pros and cons. Another thing we’ve noticed more of are people pushing around their make-shift wheel barrels, taking the days’ finds to the market to try to get a few zlotys.
On Sunday night we were walking home from a friends and we stumbled upon a memorial march for Pope John Paul II, who died one year ago. About 95% of Poland is catholic, and he was from Poland as well. So it was pretty huge. Here we were walking on the main street, which is quite narrow when a never-ending processional of people rounded a bend and started down towards us. So we made friends with a wall and waited out the massive crowd. It was pretty interesting to see so many people, all very somber and reflective, singing songs and carrying candles. I guess we were pretty lucky to see it all, being as we really have no idea of what’s going on in the world with no tv for news and not being able to understand the newspapers.

Ok, other than that, it was pretty much the same old, same old.

Till next time.

Please send Speedos...

2006-03-27T14:31:00.000+05:30

Well, it’s been a while since I have posted a blog, so I thought that I would take a little time out of my Sunday afternoon to kept you all updated. Well, lets see…what is new. For one thing KC got some new glasses, we decided that it was a good idea to buy them here because it’s cheaper then back home. So, he says that he can see even better then before, but it still takes him a while to see that the dishes need to be done. (maybe he has the wrong prescription)

The weather has been starting to warm up, and there seems to be even more and more birds around. I actually have made a few friends and feed them daily on my window sill. I really hope that my plan doesn’t back fire and that they remember my kindness to them when I walk in the park.

Well this Sunday afternoon, after KC and I missed church because we didn’t know about the time change. We decided to go on a little adventure, so we hopped on the train and went to a nearby town. We had heard that this town had a new swimming pool, so we equipped ourselves with swimming suits and towels. But, little did we know that it wasn’t enough. When we entered the building a lady pointed for us to take off our jackets and shoes…I have never heard of a shoe-check before. And then as soon as we entered the pool area everyone seemed to stop and stare at us, a life guard came over to us and rattled something in Polish…and then pointed to our heads. I guess that we had forgot to pack our swimming caps, so he was nice enough to lend us some. We also noticed that KC was a little out of place, he had forgotten his speedos, and it was obvious that swimming trunks were out of style. Anyways, if we go back to swim we will remember to pack some swimming caps, sandals and well I think that KC will just have to look out of place in his shorts. We also went to a nice little café today, it was called Kotka i Motka (Kittens and Butterflies). There is also a café in our town that is called Roze, Fioki i Aniolki (Roses, Pansies and Angels). I am very thankful for the Polish Titles, because I don’t think that I could drag KC in these restaurants if the titles were in English.

Things are seem pretty normal here in Poland. I was thinking today, it might be a bit of a culture shock to go back home and see Tim Hortons on every corner, to drive a car and not depend on the train and walking as main modes of transport, and also to be able to walk freely in a park with out worrying about where you step. (lots of dogs here, and they haven’t learned to clean up after themselves) It is funny how after 5 months of living in a place, you seem to forget how different everything was when you first came. I feel that we blend in pretty well, until we open our mouths that is, we often have people ask us for directions, I guess that we still look friendly.
Anyways, thanks for reading.
Chris.

back to work

2006-03-15T16:57:00.000+05:30

Well.. we’ve been back at work now for a couple weeks. This working thing is pretty tough, ok, maybe that’s not entirely true.. it usually doesn’t feel like a job… lots of laughing, and its pretty neat seeing the students excited and learning.

But other than that, not much exciting has happened. Besides Chris getting pooped on again in the park. Yep, same scenario as a few months ago, just after she commented on the birds they found her curly head… polish people say that if you get pooped on that it means your going to be rich someday, so now that’s been twice.. so we figure we’ll be pretty well off.

Chris was pretty excited this last week because we got to celebrate National Women’s Day. Here in Poland they have all sorts of holidays, Grandpa and Grandma Days and the classic mothers and fathers day, child’s day… but no, there is no Man’s Day. I was trying to explain to my classes that in Canada we don’t celebrate Women’s Day because everyday is women’s day in Canada… So the flowers were out again, helping each man not to forget his better half.
Another thing that they celebrate here in Poland is as well as having a birthday, you also have Name’s Day’s. Each day of the year has a couple names associated with them… and from what we’ve been told as you get older, you quit celebrating your birthday and switch to celebrating your Name’s day. I guess that way you don’t have to remember how old you are. So it was Chis’ Name’s day on Monday, so yes, please send money, cause my wallet is getting pretty thin with all of this spoiling.

We spent the weekend playing with swans in Torun… ok, not true, but I’m not sure if any of you have seen the latest “Avian” news, but they found an infected bird in Torun, which is where we were this weekend for a housewarming party. We tried to go for a walk down where the swans always are, but after we passed a bunch of bright “warning” looking signs all in Polish, we were quickly turned around by some police officers. As you can see our Polish still isn’t the best.

Later