Let freedom ring

My second year of celebrating my Indian Independence was pretty great. I got wrapped up in my sari and shuffled down to school. We had a ceremony, and then I ate lots of good food. This year eating the food was much better because I at least had an idea of what I was eating. Everyone was dressed to kill and eating like they were about to be killed.

The quad was filled with vendors offering food from all over India.

They simply can't get enough food.

My stylish and well-fed students.

Even Laiba is enjoying her independence.

What if we dressed like this every day?

Missing our bff Miss E!

The World's Greatest

A common question asked by children, "Do you like dogs?"

"Yeah, I like my dogs."

The first dog I remember having was Rover. Now, in my memory Rover was the perfect farm dog. I don't remember if Rover was a boy or a girl, but I'll guess "he" was a boy because we never had any puppies. 

He was a little bit scary, but he was mostly kind and gentle. One time I was sitting with Rover, and he accidentally scratched my arm. I  was so horrified that this gentle creature used his power on me. I was scared of Rover for awhile, but he was harmless to people. It was the other animals that should really fear Rover. He was fierce but a hard worker. Rover passed away when he was well into his senior citizen years. 

Then some years later, we got the world's greatest dog: Xena. She came as a pup from one of my aunts. At first, Xena was pampered and loved. She got to come in the house and roam around. We tried to make her sleep in the garage, but she was so sad. We would usually bring her back in the house. 

As Xena got older, we started to train her to be a farm dog. We would tie her up to things while we worked, hoping that she wouldn't run away or get hurt. One time, we were working outside, and Xena was roaming around. Moments later she had disappeared, horns were honking, and it seemed as though Xena went for a walk on the highway. She survived, but this would not be the last time Xena flirted with death. 

                                      

Xena fell into her role as a farm dog well. She chased the cows out of the barn and sometimes chased them the wrong direction. She liked to follow everyone around when they were working. She could catch mice and rats with ease. Xena wasn't all gumdrops and daisies, however. She had the occasional slip up... She didn't get along so well with children and strangers. She also enjoyed chasing them or barking at them like her smaller prey. 

The life of Xena was certainly enjoyable. She would roam from our house to my grandparents eating everything on her way. She had her pickings from a wide range of dishes: burgers, cat food, milk, KFC chicken bones, and anything else she could jump and take out of your mouth. They say that you shouldn't feed dogs chocolate, well Xena had plenty in her day, and it never slowed her down. It was almost like being on a diet because you always had to share whatever you were eating with Xena.

As she got older, Xena started to suffer from various health ailments. Her final diagnosis would be kidney failure. It started to slow her down. I wasn't around much during her intensive care unit time, but it still pained me to know that Xena wasn't her energetic, crime fighting self. 

This summer when I was home, Xena passed away. There will never be another dog like her. Consider yourself lucky to have been chased, jumped on, or barked at by The World's Greatest.

Tuesday, 14th August, Day 3

This is what a Tuesday and day 3 in the life of me looks like at Woodstock School...

Our school runs on a 7-day cycle. All of the classes I teach are minors, which means they meet 3 times every cycle. I currently teach 7 different sections of PE, and I am filling in for a downed soldier, which means I have 4 more sections of health. Basically, I see a crap-ton of kids in a seven-day cycle.

Today, a Tuesday, meant that I had to be at school at 7:15 for the small gymnastics club that I run for the senior school students.

School begins at 8:30 with assembly. I go to the senior school assemblies on MWF and junior school on TR. Junior School assemblies are usually filled with some singing, devotions, and incredibly long-winded announcements. Today, we sang a classic, "If I were a butterfly." Let me just say that these kids have nothing on the gospel singing of Holy Family Catholic School students from back in the day. They just don't have the same spirit.

Then of course, class started late due to the long-winded assembly. I started off with some 5th graders. Today was a fitness today, and the kids worked their tails off. I was quite impressed. After they were good and sweaty, I sent them back to class. Then, I got my favorite students the first and second graders. They are in a combined class. I think they would enjoying collecting rocks, if I asked them to.

Then from 10:35-10:55 we have tea break. I usually don't participate in the group deep fried snack sessions, but I try to pack some crackers or fruit from home.

My next adventure for the day is the 9th grade health sections I teach. I enjoy teaching health quite a bit, but the students are not as into it as I am. I have two sections back to back. There is also a student teacher here who is going to be working in one of the sections. Yep, a second year teacher with a student teacher. This is what happens at WS.

Then we have a LONG lunch from 12:30-2:15. Insane. Luckily, most days I teach a junior school class from 1:30-2:10, which shortens it up. Some of the students take music classes during half of lunch, but a large majority of them spend tons of time wandering around aimlessly.

The lunch was pretty good today. We had mashed potatoes, "bbq" chicken, vegetables, and mango cheesecake. I also got to spend a lot of time sharing interesting travel stories with some co-workers. 

I was supposed to have one more class after lunch, but due to Indian culture week, the students had a puppet show by the famous Dadi Pudumjee. It was pretty interesting. It was a bit long and in Hindi, but it was based on the story of The Giving Tree. You can guess through most of it. It did remind me a bit of the good old days of attending crazy dance performances at UW for my required dance classes (yep, PE majors take dance... twice).

After school, I head up to the top of the mountain with 5-10 students to run in preparation for the cross country races in September. Then around 5:45ish, I get to my house. YAY!

Tomorrow is Indian Independence Day. We dress up, have a ceremony, and eat lots of food. Plenty of pictures coming soon!!

A monsoon kind of day

 It's just one of those days...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrMmr1oMPGA


Luckily for you, I decided to make use of this rainy day and give you a photo tour of my new place Oakland Getters #3. Enjoy!

Kitchen-I have a gas burner and baby sized oven.

It's been 13 days since I left America. In that time, the Rice Krispie Treats from America disappeared first. The Rolos were next, followed by the Girl Scout cookies. I still have some beef jerky, marshmallows, pumpkin in a can, Animal Crackers, Reese's, and Clif Bars. 

Miniature refrigerator with a matching garbage or as we call it here, "dust bin"

Front porch equipped with running shoes, rain boots, umbrellas, and rain jackets.

View from front door

Cozy bathroom

View of living space from kitchen

Sun room

Loft/bedroom and view of skylight (covered with a sheer tin that leaks during heavy rain)

Badgers are not normally found in India, exception.

View from loft

 

All in a day's work.

Stop by anytime!

Back in unending dampness.

It's been awhile. I survived the end of the year. Briana and her friend Paula came to visit. I went to America. Now, I'm back at Woodstock. There, you're all caught up.

Me, Briana, and Paula at the Woodstock Main Gate

No gathering is complete without evidence.

Lake Mendota Magic

I had a great time in America. I visited friends, saw family, and ate great food. I spent most of my time at the farm doing a little bit of this and little bit of unloading hay. Being home was pretty wonderful. I do understand why people say that it will be so difficult to get back on the plane to come back. As soon as I got on the plane from JFK to Delhi, it was clear America was being left behind. I was instantly reminded of the confusion of waiting in a line, lack of personal space, and interesting smells of India. 

Either way, I'm back. I shifted to a new house this year. I am pretty excited about it because I am now living alone, away from the dorms, and at the top of a mountain. Previously, I walked up to school about 13 minutes. Now I walk down to school (15 minutes).

My new location makes running much easier but a little more mundane. Similar to running the "block" back home (a four mile loop in the country--one mile on highway, three miles on desolate gravel roads). Running the "chukkar" consists of a figure-8, with a small loop around 1.1km and a big loop of 2.5 km. So, one figure-8 is about 2.25 miles. It gets old quick.

I will be posting photos very soon of my new place. I'm loving my new place and feel much more at home when I know everything is mine-every mess, every vegetable, and unfortunately every critter found...

This year brings more of the same: teaching grades 1-8, a little bit of health, coaching cross country, and just trying to survive.