Frequently Asked Questions (1)

Now that we've had some time to settle into our life here, we thought we'd answer some of the specific questions that we've been asked since we got to India. These came from a lot of different people and are in no particular order. Some of the questions may have been answered somewhere before, but it might be possible that you haven't read everything we've written. Interspersed with the text, we've put a few pictures from today to make things a bit more interesting. So...here we go:
Is the monsoon season over with or coming?
When we arrived on campus, the heavens were pouring rain down on us. The monsoons last from early July until the middle of September when they start to clear up. We're told that by the middle of October we will have stunning views of the valley below and the snow-capped Himalayas to the north. In the meantime, we get short glimpses of these views when the fog and mist temporarily roll out of our way.


What are the average daily temperature factors you are facing?
When most people think of India, they think of the hot and humid plain in the middle of the country. When we arrived in Delhi, the temperature was pretty stifling. Thankfully, we were shuttled off to an air conditioned hotel pretty quickly. Up here in the mountains, it is very comfortable. In the winter, it will get pretty cold and it will feel colder because most of the buildings have no central heating.


Are you close to the border with Pakistan?
The name of the town that we're living in is Mussoorie. If you were to look on a map of India, it is north of Delhi in the state of Uttarakhand. Just to make things more difficult, the state was known as Uttaranchal before 2006. Before 2000, it was part of the larger state of Uttar Pradesh. Before that, of course, it was part of the British Empire. Pakistan is quite a ways to the northwest of us. The school has been around for more than 150 years and there has never been any ethnic or religious strife to speak of in Mussoorie.


What subjects will you teach?
Dave will be teaching all three levels of middle school social studies. Beth will be teaching 6th and 7th grade English and art.

When does school start?
The school year starts on 6 August and goes until 16 June. Thankfully, we have a very long break in the winter from about 20December until the beginning of February.


Are you in the winter season now?
Mussoorie is at about 30°N latitude. In fact, all of India is north of the equator. As such, we'll have the same general seasons that occur in North America.


Do many people speak English where you are living?
India has a very rich linguistic history. India's constitution recognizes Hindi and English as the official languages of the central government. In the north of India, most locals speak Hindi as their first language, but a surprising number of people know a good deal of English. If you're not sure what Hindi looks like, here's an example: भारत की भाषाएँ. We're hoping to learn as much Hindi as possible, but India has 22 other official languages used at the state level. I'm not sure we'll get to all of them.


What is the time difference between here and there?
Indian Standard Time is five and a half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. Right now, that puts it nine and half hours ahead of the eastern US and ten and half hours ahead of central time in the states. That extra half hour really throws people, but we think it has to do with the fact that all of India is on one time zone and they needed to average out the difference between the two halves of the country. Interestingly, we don't observe daylight savings time, so the differences between here and North America will change.

That should be enough questions for one day. We'll leave you with a picture of Dave eating one of the donuts that the bread man delivered to our door today. They are not quite Krispy Kreme, but they were very good.


Dave and Beth