Investing in India

Reasons Why I Love It Here.

1)      The kids.  Straight up. 

2)      The location.  Who could ask for a better location than the Himalayas?

Things that I’ve learned about myself.

1)      I need to be in a place where people work for the common good of the students.

2)      I need to be in a place where proactiveness reigns over apathy.

3)      I need to continue playing my horn before I either go entirely insane or I die.  Neither is an exaggeration.

4)      Teaching really is for me.

5)      Teaching in India may not be for me.

6)      I’m not going to let myself be walked over, pushed around, or intimidated because I’m female, because I’m young, because I’m American, or because I’m a new teacher.

7)      I need to stop being optimistic and trusting of other people.  Both just lead to disappointment.

8 )      I still need to seriously consider the option of becoming a mountain (wo)man and living self-sufficiently in the mountains.  However, now I’m also considering living in a large, crowded city where I can become completely anonymous and disappear for a while.

Christmas Gift to Self: Patience to regain strength for the coming year and a half.  Confidence to stand up to what I think is right.  Thick-skinnedness to not let things bother me when I know I should pick my battles.  Fairness to help the students have the best possible education they can get here, while they still learn about the world and the craziness of it all. 

New Year’s Resolutions:  To follow through in everything I say I will do.  To leave this place as soon as possible.  To not place blame.  To regain mental sanity.  To do my job as best as possible.  And then leave this place as soon as I can.  

Right now, it’s Tuesday evening, and I’ve just finished my second day of sitting at the computer all day long to get my grades done.  The kids are in finals, so it’s been pretty quiet around the music building, and while I’ve been fairly productive and surrounded by other music teachers, it’s actually rather lonely without them.  I think Jennie is sick with a cold, so I made her soup (and by “I made her soup,” I mean that I heated up some soup she made last night and watered it down so I could fit some more vegetables and noodles in it, and now it tastes like nothing.)  Anyway, here I am sitting on my bed listening to Christmas music (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Nutcracker, and Christmas with the Rat Pack), so I’ll give you a quick run-down.  :S 

Activity Week

Back-tracking about a month now, I visited a village named Takarna with fifteen FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC ninth graders and two other chaperones.  We had a kicking time.  We brought tents and camped out in one of their fields for the week.   We went to the bathroom in trenches dug in another field, and we ate every meal on the cement floor of an outdoor public gathering place.  Our main activities involved us trekking across a bunch of hills to hike up to a temple on the top of another hill, working in the schools with the village children, visiting with the villagers about their life, “helping” with agricultural chores, and hiking down to the Aglar River (very similar to the Temperance River). 

Outside of the itinerary, we had a lot of fun other activities: making a fire every night, singing and playing the guitar while watching the sunset over the Mussoorie hills, playing cricket with the village kids, watching and waiting for shooting stars (I saw the second one of my life) and just sitting outside talking with the Woodstock kids.  One of them, a trumpet player of mine, found a “coktoos” and decided to impale it and hold it over the fire to see what would happen.  Nothing did, it just juiced like crazy.  Ok, well, I guess that wasn’t the best of stories, but it was sure fun to watch him and see him so excited about it. 

Village life makes you feel like you’re living in the past.  They plow their fields with a team of oxen.  They bury their dead because if they cremated them, they run the risk of spreading tuberculosis (an airborne disease).  They suffered a “plague” of chicken pox a few years ago when fifteen children died.  Love marriages are very few and far between because almost every village marriage is arranged.  Takarna is lucky because they have a water source that comes directly into their village.

My favorite part of this trip was the hiking…it was SO incredible to spend a day walking across and up the hills.  Or going down to the river where we spent a few hours just playing around and skipping rocks.  Or watching the Woodstock kids try and figure out how to teach the village children.  Or watching a funny, little student trip his way ALL the way down to the river.  Or playing cricket with the kids.  Or laughing at the Korean kids who sang a Korean children’s song for the “cultural exchange” that I learned at Korean Culture Camp when I was small. 

It was a grand week, and even though I got sick on the last day and had stomach problems for the entire week after, I would do it all again in a heartbeat. 

Also: I have this tiny piano student named Lily.  She’s eight years old.  She’s going to play Hark! The Herald Angels Sing on Sunday for Christmas Chapel.  She’s pretty excited.  

Lily

Do you ever go to bed at night, cuddle up with your teddy bear, and wonder what in the hell you got yourself into?  No?  Yeah, me neither…

We just got back from our Thanksgiving, I just finished taking the elastic out of the fantastic green flannel pants I just bought, and Jennie and I are now officially listening to Frank Sinatra Christmas music.  We celebrated a very wonderful Thanksgiving this evening, despite the fact that we worked today and tomorrow.  We had a potluck Thanksgiving dinner: chicken, Gamashed potatoes, gravy, beans, corn, stuffing, fruit, pomegranate, pumpkin pie, apple pie, chocolate, white wine, apple pop, and hot chocolate.  Ok ok, so the beans weren’t three bean salad, and the stuffing was not meat stuffing.  And when in your life will you have pomegranates to substitute for cranberries?  And the apple pop was actually apple juice and sprite that I mixed myself, not the sparkling apple cider that comes in a fancy bottle, and you can pretend that it’s actually real wine.  (We brought the stuffing, and by “we,” I mean Jennie made an experimental batch, I ate it, and then she made a double batch to bring over.)  The fact that we were among fantastic company and the comfort of a home made it a nice night.

Wow, life is so different now.  This Christmas is not going to be like the previous ones.  There will be no huge lasagna, no tree decorated in only crystal ornaments, no funny little lambs that sit in your staircase, no spritz cookies, no one saying “no, I will not make the candy cane cookies, but you can make them if you want,” no Christmas music on 94.9 FM, no wreaths on the big windows or fake-out candles “lit” in the small ones, no homemade candy.  There will be no HUGE Christmas tree that is just covered in PINK ornaments.  (How the heck did was I ok with that after all these years?!)  There will be no Christmas at St. John’s, no making dinner for the brass choir, no Dale conducting in a Santa hat, no Perkin’s end of the semester trips.  But worst of all there will be NO SNOW, which mean NO SKIING.  *Sigh.*

At the same time, there will be no jellyfish to watch in the aquarium, no popsicles to dip in rum, no playing brass quintet Christmas music, no looking for eels on the island, no snorkeling, no conch salad, no eating KFC chicken on the beach, no staying up all night every night, no balcony time, no Burger King for breakfast, no watching funny people on the boat.   That’s ok, though.  This is India.  We’ll make the best of whatever we have here.    It’s fun having to figure out how to do things here that would be no-brainers in the States. 

For Christmas, Jennie and I decided that we’re going to stay at home until right before New Year’s, and then we’ll travel to Delhi where we’ll meet up with our friend, Jeanne.  Then we’ll work our way to Lucknow, Varanasi, and Calcutta.  We’ll stay there a week with fellow music teachers, and then we’ll fly to Goa and Kerala to spend some time in warm weather before we come back to the mountains a week early.  Jennie and I decided that we’ll make lasagna on Christmas Eve (a tradition that is applicable to both our families) and exchange gifts, and then on Christmas morning, we’ll get up and make egg bake.  It should be quite nice. 

As for goings on in my life at the moment, this is my last week of teaching lessons.  Next week is music evaluation week for all the students who haven’t played in a recital, yet, and three concerts.  The week after is kinda low-lying for the music department because the other teachers will be giving finals.  (Our high school does finals in a very similar way to a college set-up: the schedule changes to accommodate longer periods to take finals.)  Hopefully, I can get my grades done during that time.  Jennie and I have been living with no heat in our place, but this weekend, I think we’re going to get blankets, more hot water bottles, and small space heaters.  And I’ve started wearing long underwear to school. 

I think that’s all I’ll write tonight.  I’ve still got a lot to share because it’s been quite a while since I’ve blogged, but I’ve been in a bit of a reminiscent mood.    

Happy Thanksgiving! 

P.S. I don’t know if the United States keeps up with world events, but this happened last night: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Terrorists_strike_Mumbai_16_dead_many_hurt/articleshow/3761410.cms

M sits by herself at a table reading a book.  W enters and invites herself to a chair.

M: Hello.

W: Oh, hello there.  You must be new.

M: Yes, I am actually.  Is it that obvious?

W: Well, dear, you don’t have the rings around your eyes, yet.

M (politely laughs): Ahh, well.  I suppose that will come in due time, won’t it?

W: When do you start applying for colleges?

M: What?  Oh, grad school?

W (chuckles): Oh no, dear, for the university.  When do you start applying?

M (gives an awkward side smile): Um, actually, I’ve already graduated. 

W (smiles back): That’s sweet.  I know you seniors.  You are all so ready to graduate that you think of yourselves as being graduated already.  But do you know where you would like to attend university?

M: ACTUALLY, I’m a teacher.  I teach music here.

W (condescendingly): You do?  Wow. (Thinks to herself: she’s Korean and probably about 16 years old – definitely a student.  But she thinks she’s a teacher.  Cute.)

M (continues): I’ve just come three months ago, but I’m enjoying myself immensely.

W: That’s terrific.  Who are your dorm parents, dear? 

M (a tad annoyed): Actually, I’m a teacher, a TEACHER, and I live just up the road.

W (not hearing a word that M is saying): Ahh, very good.  And are you scheduled to take the SAT soon?

M: TEACHER!! I’m a TEACHER!!!

W: Oh wow!  You’re a musician?  That’s wonderful!  We’re known for our music here.  It’s wonderful that you’ve come.  What instrument do you play?

M (regaining some control): Horn.

W: So let’s see, who’s the band teacher here now?  I can’t seem to remember his name…

M (grumbling inaudible syllables): Really.

W: Yes, I think he is very excellent.  You’ll love him. 

M: Actually, I AM one of the new band teachers. 

W: Don’t be silly, dear!

M: NO.  REALLY.  I TEACH here.

Teacher X enters, grabs a cup of coffee, sits cross-legged on the other side of the table, and opens a newspaper. 

X: Hey, M

M: Hey.

W: Hello, X.  Do you know M here?

X (Looks at W.  Looks at M.  Looks back at W. Rolls his eyes and goes back to his paper): Yes.

W: M says she teaches here.

M gives W a ridiculous, non-believing look that W can’t see.

X (nose still in the paper): She does.

W: What?

W (to M): Are you married, dear?

M: Absolutely not.

W (to X): See?  Not a teacher.

X (glances up): You can be a teacher and not be married.

W chuckles to herself as she gets up from the table and gathers her things.  She walks away as M subtly reaches into her bag, grabs out her throwing knives, and whips one at the door W is heading towards.  As it shatters, M shoots web from her wrists and launches herself up to the roof where she joins the monkeys in throwing rocks at the humans that pass by.  She hits W square between the eyes, and as she makes a beeline for the treeline, she lets out her Asian yell, “Hasta la vista, baby!”

Exit.

Last Thursday, everyone left campus to go on quarter break.  Jennie and I went to Delhi with some friends, one of which was from Delhi and provided us with a place to stay and knowledge of the city.  Two tires, a transmission, and a bombing later, we’re back in Mussoorie. 

Wednesday after school. 

We left Mussoorie in plenty of time to catch our 5pm train in Dehra Dun, but I also needed to make a stop at the bank.  At this point, I have not been able to use my debit card, nor access an ATM machine.  I have 53 rupees in my possession, so just over $1.  And I’m heading to Delhi.  On the way down the hillside, we blew a tire, but the driver was able to fix it within fifteen minutes. Lucky for me, my bank in Dehra Dun (where we were catching the train) was closed (!!!), and we found out that the banks would continue to be for the next two days. 

Thursday.

We went to Agra and saw the Taj Mahal!!  It’s got some interesting stories to it.  Emperor Shah Jahan from the Mogul Empire built the Taj for a tomb for his wife who died giving birth to their fourteenth child.  After twenty-two years of construction, it was completed in 1648.  It has fourteen chapters of the Koran engraved into it with black marble.  It also has some very tasteful flower “embroidery” (or colored stones) around the arches and entryways.  It’s made out of white marble that is semi-transluscent, so depending on when it is viewed, it glows a different color.  For example, sunrise is a very popular time to see it because it has an orange tint to it.  The full moon is also a good time to see it because then it’s blue.  The four pillars on each corner are tilted two degrees outward so that in case of a natural disaster, they will fall away from the Taj.  Four hours to Agra, Taj Mahal, four hours back.  Back in Delhi, we punctured a tire and spent twenty minutes at a garage.  And that was Thursday.

Friday.

We slept until noon, and then got up and went to the Big Chill, which is a very popular, hip restaurant where they serve Italian, salads, cheesecake, and other FANTASTIC cuisine.  I had the best mango smoothie in the WORLD and prawns in a spicy, vodka-tomato cream sauce.  Later that evening, we ended up at a friend of a friend’s house in Delhi where we ate tandoori chicken and sat around.  (I also managed to make it to a bank and withdraw some money…FINALLY!)

Saturday.

The morning was wonderful and relaxing.  We drank tea and talked for hours in the dead heat of Delhi.  At about two in the afternoon, we broke open a bottle of white wine and enjoyed that with homemade pizza before taking cold showers and heading into Delhi to shop.  Before leaving for the first shopping centres of two, there was a phone call at the house, and we received word that there was a bombing in South Delhi, near where we were staying for the first couple nights.  We finally turn off the TV and hit the road, but on the way there, we hit a bump and dropped our transmission.  Oh well, we just all jumped out on the side of the eight-lane highway where two taxis picked us up and took us to the shopping centre.  The vehicle was maneuvered into a very nearby garage, we picked up our lost sheep, and headed out.

The first shopping centre was nice.  It was a street of little shops.  The second was called Dilli Haat (“Dilli” is how “Delhi” is pronounced when written in Hindi).  Um…Jennie and I had a little too much fun haggling over prices.  We got little earrings, shoes, a Kashmiri shawl, coasters, wall hangings, a table runner, and a Kashmiri boy’s phone number.  Ahh, for the love of the game.  

That night, because we were out one of our vehicles, some of us had to take an auto rickshaw (see visual below) across town.  It was exhilarating.  In Delhi, the highway is four-lanes for one direction, but with the auto rickshaws, cars not staying within the lines, buses pushing their way across lanes, pedestrians holding conversations with drivers in the middle of the roads, cows, and bicycles, it’s easily a six-lane road.   At one point, I reached out and touched the car next to me because it was so close. 

Later that night, we went and ate at a place right across the street from where a bomb blast took place a few weeks ago.  And then we had pan (“pawn”), a breath freshener that is a bunch of different herbs and nuts (including crushed rose petals mixed with sugar) and then wrapped in a big, folded leaf and held together with a toothpick.  It was breath freshening, that’s for certain, but I was spitting seeds for the next hour.

We crashed that night, and today (Sunday) we woke up this morning at 5:30am to catch the train back to Woodstock.  It’s good to be…home?  Well, it’s good to be back.    

1) I don’t believe you can get napkins anywhere in Mussoorie. Thus, “Will you please pass the toilet paper?” is a common phrase at the table.

2) One of our friends has seaweed and left a package of it at our place. So I made rice and cooked vegetables and had little California rolls. Homemade sushi.

3) We’re approaching quarter break. That meant we had to get grades in this past week. That meant that, like every other assignment in college, I procrastinated. And after two long nights at the computer, Jennie and I decided to treat ourselves to a lazy bazaar day! This was our first one because every time we go into the bazaar, we have lists of thing to get, people to see, things to do, and a time to get back by. This time, we could just mosey, look at shawls (what we now use as blankets), say hi to our favorite tailor, and basically check out what Mussoorie has to offer besides the necessities. One of our finds was the “everything” store. They literally have EVERYTHING. We bought knives, tiny little candle elephants and turtles, and gel, floating candles.

4) So we found these funny, little, colorful, gel balls in a bowl on the counter at the “everything” store. As we were paying, the clerk tells us that we can buy them. They come in a little package as very small…baby balls? You add a decent amount of water and in 6-12 hours, you have these little balls. So for a total of about $1 and a good laugh, we bought two packages and are now…um…growing balls. Many, MANY jokes for the next few days.

5) We went to Dehra Dun this weekend. We took a taxi down, and stopped at a few places to run errands. In general, I felt way more comfortable in Dehra Dun this time (this will be the third time I’ve been there). I am better able to find my way around, deal with all the people, and just fricken cross the street. Maybe that’s due to the fact that I’m more used to India now, but maybe it’s also because it was just Jennie and me and not a large group.

6) There is this place called the Leprosy Mission where people with leprosy used to make cloth and sell it. Apparently, they close at noon on Saturday, which we didn’t know, but our taxi driver called ahead of our arrival and convinced them to open for us. We ended up getting a few rugs, and I got a baby holding cloth to put up on my walls. I’ll take it down in nine months for proper usage. (Kidding, haha, I kid.)

7) I finally figured out how to wash dishes. So the water doesn’t heat up here in our kitchen, and I FINALLY figured out that I can BOIL water to use as hot water to wash dishes. Sometimes, I amaze myself.

One thing that I find funny is that all the people asking for money and all the taxi drivers who wait around for clients come up to Jennie and not me. They figure that the tall, white girl has money. And then I say “no, thank you” to them in Hindi and they leave us alone. Do you think it’s because I’m Asian? Haha.

I have this song on my itunes, and I have no idea who it’s by or what it’s called.  I googled the lyrics, but nothing came up.  It’s about ten minutes of sweet funk:

Do you want to take a trip in a space tornado?

Do you want to take a trip in a space tornado?

The way to go about is to get to zero point.

Any other way about it, you’ll explode like a volcano.

If you want to know the answers, get the questions right.

There’s a spider in the sky weaving daydreams in the sunshine.

If you look with rainbow eyeballs you may see the web so tight.

Been up there since the first day, and she’ll be there ‘til the last day.

Always weaving, always looking as she wove the web of life.

Are you caught up in a web, paralyzed with no place to go?

Do you live in zombieland, watching TV every night?

When you look up to the sky, reach inside yourself and you’ll know.

There are pathways simply hidden from your 3D eyes and mine.

Let your spider sister throw you into the stellar light!

The way you go about it, you’ll never catch that flight!

1) I really love lighting matches.  It’s definitely a power trip.

2) I think monsoon is going to be gone soon.  We were told that it would be close to the finish when the ferns on the trees started to turn brown.  Well, they’re turning brown now.  I don’t exactly know how I feel about that.  I actually really like the monsoon.  It rains a lot, and the mist is SO nice.  But I’m also ready for my bed to not be damp and my clothes to be dry.

3) Jennie made cookies.  They were…um…interesting. 

4) Our neighbor had an attempted break-in to his house last night.  That’s comforting.

5) I found some new juice.  It’s cucumber spinach.  I’m not exactly sure how I feel about its…aroma…but it’s good.

6) Jennie and I own ALL TEN seasons of FRIENDS!!  It cost us about $44.  The only downside is that they have English subtitles…for the show…in English. 

7) I’ve finally been able to start running.  It’s great.

8 ) It is very comforting to have friends on this side the Atlantic, even if they are still worlds away.  I love that so many people I know either have traveled or ARE currently traveling to foreign countries.  Godspeed, kids.

9) We didn’t have class last Friday.  This was not exaclty a snow day.  There has been unrest in Orissa, an eastern state in India.  From what I gathered, the growing population of Christians has concerned the Hindus, and for the past ten years, there has been violence against Christians.  Missionaries are not allowed to enter the country (they have to come for a different “purpose”), and Christians are not allowed to convert people.  As of recent days, mobs have been causing riots and burning churches, houses, and people.  Christian schools nation-wide closed on Friday to honor and support the Christians suffering in Orissa.  So while the Obama craze is going on in the United States, this is what is going on in India.

I decided it would be a good idea to go hiking this weekend.  And it was.  FOR THE LEECHES.  Well, it actually was a good idea for me, too.  We went to a nearby hill, Bear Hill.  It was a nice hike.  Four of us went, and one woman took her son and his friend, so we had two elementary boys with us.  It was really fun to just go slow and look at everything: mushrooms, brightly colored beetles, ferns, flowers, and LEECHES.  Actually, I was the first one to find one on me.  So we all stopped to check, and almost everyone had one.  GROSS.  We got to the top, and we sat down to eat lunch.  It was super nice, we had seaweed, crackers, eggs, rice, cookies, potatoes, and chocolate.  AND THEN, one of the boys freaked out because he found TWO leeches on his jacket.  So we all checked ourselves when I found this crazy, bloody mess in my shoe.  It was fun.  Now I have this leech bite mark on my foot.  There’s nothing worse than a leech scab.