Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Almost two months ago, we answered some of the most frequently asked questions of our friends and family. That was only about half of the questions that we were asked in the first couple of weeks, so we thought we'd tackle a couple more:

Are there a lot of teachers your age at the school?
The teaching staff at Woodstock is quite varied. About half of the staff comes from South Asia and the rest come from all over the world. There is also a good variety of ages and experiences. We have been able to start some good friendships with teachers our age that have been here for only a year or less. But we've also been able to get to know some older staff members that have been here for a decade or more. It has been a great experience to meet teachers from all over the world, too.


Is there anything you're missing that cannot be found where you're living?
We've been surprised at how much stuff is available if you are willing to pay for it. If you want crunchy Skippy peanut butter, it can be had but it is expensive. We've been able to make do with most of the things here. One thing that has been difficult to match is the food back in the states. It is next to impossible to get any beef here (though there are shady ways to procure comparable buffalo meat). Most of our meat is chicken and mutton and, occasionally, pork. We were able to find mozzarella sticks in Dehradun this weekend, but a nice Giordano's pizza would be a welcome break from the rice and dal that we are served most days at lunch.

What grades are you guys teaching?
We are both teaching in the middle school. Beth is teaching English (imagine that) to the seventh and eighth graders. She is also doing art for both of those grades. Dave is teaching social studies to all three middle school grades. In addition, we have an advisor group (like a homeroom) of ten sixth grade students that we take care of.


How long is the school day?
The academic day here at Woodstock is comparable to a school in the US. We start school every day at 8:30am. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we have 5 class periods of 65 minutes. On Tuesday and Thursday we have 7 class periods of 40 minutes. The schedule is different every day, so it has taken some getting used to, but the end of classes comes at 3:30 each afternoon. The days seem very long because we usually have after school clubs, sports, meetings, or other activities when the day is done. We usually don't make it home until about 5:00 or 5:30pm. We've had a lot of busy weeks.

Do you guys teach year round?
Our school year is very long by American standards, but that is mainly because of our extra long winter holidays. At a boarding school it is important to give students enough time to travel home (whether it's India, Nepal, Korea, or anywhere else) over holidays. School started the first week of August and we go until the middle of June, but we get almost 6 weeks off in December and January. We are planning on coming back to the midwest during that time to visit.

Why did you eat Chinese food your first night?
Because it was there.

Why did your maid make lasagna?
Our aya has worked for a lot of western families over the years so she is adept at making a lot of western dishes. She has proven to be an excellent cook and we usually just have her make whatever she feels like.

What kind of student do you work with?
The student body at Woodstock is split, more or less, into thirds. About a third of the students come from India, a third come from the rest of Asia, and the final third come from the rest of the world. This helps to give a truly international flavor to the school. Woodstock began as a boarding school for missionary kids whose parents were working in south Asia. Today, there are still some students whose parents are serving in India, but most of the kids' families pay full tuition rates...which are pretty expensive. So some of our students are quite wealthy. It has been an adjustment switching from poorer students on the south side of Chicago to wealthy students in northern India, but we are managing.

How's the weather in India?
So far, the weather here in Mussoorie has been rainy and damp. The monsoons are just about completely over, so we're looking forward to more pleasant weather. In the plains of India, it is hot and humid. We experienced some of that when we flew in to Delhi and when we went to Agra this past weekend. We are thankful that we are up in the hills and will have some relief from the heat. They tell us that it even snows once or twice a winter in Mussoorie (nothing like Chicago or Michigan snows, though).


Hopefully, that gave you a little more insight into what our life is like here. If you have more questions, let us know.

Dave and Beth

Our First Vacation (2)

The major stop on our vacation is the most iconic building in India. When most people think of the country, they immediately imagine the ताज महल (Taj Mahal). This massive tomb was built in 1648 by the Mughal emperor of northern India for his favorite wife. The two are entombed together in the building.

The entrance fee for the Taj Mahal was a bit steep because we are not Indian nationals, but we got a free water bottle and shoe covers for that price. The security at the site was also quite tough. Dave and Jared had to wait in a long long to be frisked by male security guards. There line was about 15 minutes long. Beth, Emily, and Maureen were in a much shorter line to be frisked by female guards. It would seem the women were paying the men back for stereotypical long lines at their restrooms. We entered the Taj Mahal complex and were greeted by a very nice view of the tomb. Our first action was to pass our various cameras around and take pictures with various people from our group.

We then began walking up towards the beautiful structure. In order to get onto the platform we were asked to either take off our shoes or use the shoe covers provided. We decided to use the shoe covers (as you can see in the picture below) for fear of never seeing our shoes again.

The building itself is very impressive. The beautiful white marble is inlayed with precious stones in beautiful floral patterns. There are also flowing verses from the Koran that are used as decoration along the main entrance.

We made it to the Taj Mahal complex at around 5:30 and it was scheduled to close at 7:00. It was very pretty as the sun was setting. Unfortunately, there is no electric lighting inside the tomb, so it was very difficult to see anything with the failing light from the windows. We also missed out on a chance to see the other side and get close to the river behind the tomb. The guards began herding people towards the exit at about 6:30. We snapped one last picture as we neared the front gate.

As we were waiting for the electric bus to take us back to the car park and our taxi, we were accosted by countless salesmen. Everyone thought that their trinket was the best, but Beth had her eye on a small plastic snowglobe keychain. The kid started working on selling it to Dave for about Rs.200. This converts to about $5, which the keychain was definitely not worth. By ignoring the salesman completely, Dave got the price down to Rs.20 ($0.50). This was still a bit much for the item, so Beth talked him the rest of the way down to Rs.7 ($0.20). Her negotiating skills are very well honed and she has the keychain to prove it.

The next morning we awoke to a buffet breakfast and then headed off to Fatephur Sikri, the abandoned capital of the Mughals. On the drive, we saw a herd of water buffalo taking a dip on the side of the road.

The city itself was very interesting and full of beautiful buildings. It only served as the capital of the empire for about a dozen years before it was abandoned (they ran out of water). Many of the buildings are still very much as they were 400 years ago, though the treasures have been stripped away by now.

Dave loves to use the timer on our camera, so we decided to take a picture of the crew in front of the place where imperial audiences were given. On one of the pictures, Beth and Emily decided to run away after Dave set up the camera. It turned out nicely, so we included both of the pictures for your enjoyement.

Adjacent to Fatephur Sikri is a large mosque that was built around the same time. Again, we had to take our shoes off. This time, instead of cool white marble at the end of the day, we were asked to walk on burning red sandstone in the heat of the sun. A quick video of the courtyard was about all we could get before our feet melted. The video starts with the mosque itself and then pans to the main gate which is just to the left. The white marble structure just to the right of the mosque is a shrine to a Sufi Muslim mystic.

After Fatehpur Sikri, we made the trek back to Delhi and the same hotel we had stayed at earlier. We were welcomed by a cute little lizard in our room, and a nice soft bed.

The next morning we caught the Shatabdi back to Dehradun at 6:50am. It was a nice relaxing trip without all of our students running around the place. When we made it to the platform, we were welcomed by a group of students from a local tourist professionals school. They gave us flowers and maps in celebration of World Tourism Day. They looked very excited to see white tourists, so we didn't have the heart to tell them that we lived in Mussoorie (we were afraid they'd take the gifts back, as well).

We made one last stop at McDonald's and a couple of other places before taking our taxi back home.

Today, we have been resting and recovering from our vacation. We came back a day early so that we'd have Sunday off before the kids return to school. It was a wonderful trip. We feel much more confident in our ability to travel in India. We had some more veteran friends that could show us the ropes. Now we're ready to take any friends and family that want to visit to all the sites of India. We'll see you here soon...

Dave and Beth

Our First Vacation (1)

For the last two months, the most the we have travelled has been an hour outside of Mussoorie to the city of Dehradun. To be honest, we've been getting a bit of cabin fever. This weekend, we reached the half-way point in our first semester. To celebrate this milestone, teachers and students had a four day weekend. We decided to take a trip to see the sights in Agra with our friends Jared, Emily, and Maureen. For those of you that don't remember your Indian geography, Agra is the home of the Taj Mahal.

But there is much to tell before we get to this iconic symbol of India. Our trip started with a winding taxi ride down the hill into Dehradun. We made sure to stop at McDonald's before continuing to the train station. The McChicken sandwich was not exactly like the ones in the states, but it was pretty close.

We saw many of our students and their parents there as they made their way home or on holiday. Our train left at about 5:30 and it was the same train that we took up from Delhi when we first arrived in India in July. The Shatabdi is an express train that serves a meal, a snack, a bottle of water, and a newspaper. All that and an air-conditioned, reclining seat only cost about $10.

After our six hour train ride, we got picked up at the station and taken to our hotel. By this time, it was about 1:00 am, so we pretty much went directly to bed.

Our continental breakfast the next morning consisted of a small glass of juice and two pieces of toast. But our real goal was to get on the road with our very competent taxi driver to get to Agra. Our taxi had room for all five of us to sit comfortably and, again, the air-conditioning was a key factor in our happiness.

The route took us around Delhi as we made our way to the highway. We got to see first hand what it is like to drive around the city. We were sharing the roads with auto rickshaws, buses, cars, bicycles, mules, and camels.

Overall, the trip was about 5 hours including a couple of stops for refreshment and relief. The first attraction that we came to was the tomb of Akbar the Great at Sikandra. This precursor of the Taj Mahal was started around 1600. Akbar was the third emperor of the Mughals and built the place for himself while he was still alive. This is definitely not the most famous tomb in India, but many elements were copied later in the Taj Mahal. You can see us here standing in front of the main gate and this is followed by a view of the tomb itself.

After Akbar's tomb, we hit the Agra Fort. This was the palatial walled city that served as the capital of the Mughal empire for several generations. It was a beautiful place on the River Yamuna.

It offered lost of nice views of the Taj Mahal and had a bunch of green parrots that thought they owned the place.

Unfortunately, the heat and the dry air on the Gangetic plain took its toll on us. Beth got a couple of nose bleeds. She was a trooper, though, and enjoyed the Red Fort in spite of her constant tissue usage.

After the Red Fort of Agra, we went to get some Chinese food so that we were fully prepared for the Taj Mahal. The first bit of our first Indian vacation turned out quite nicely. Stay tuned for more information on our trip.

Dave and Beth

Crossing the Country

Today was the interschool cross country competition here in Mussoorie. A couple of weeks ago, our students competed among themselves in races of varying lengths. Today, the best runners from Woodstock faced off against students from two other local schools. It was a long walk to the top of the hill where the course was, but the whole middle school was there to support the runners. Our stands were the steps of one of the churches that we've attended. Here you can see Dave keeping our crown under control with the help of our neighbor, and fellow middle school teacher, Dot.

Our students performed well and it was a fun afternoon. The sun was shining and most of the students had a good time. With this event, the cross country season is at an end. Because of the limited number of schools in the area, most of our sports are single events or tournaments such as this. It's a very short season and its disappointing if you don't win, but it is nice to keep some variety in what the kids are training for. The students wearing white in the picture are some of our classroom and advisor group kids.

Now we are looking forward to the Taj Mahal. Only one and a half days of school left before quarter break.

Dave and Beth

More Firsts

Yesterday was a day of firsts for us in the bazaar. Our friend Jared lost a filling from his tooth this week so he needed to go to the dentist. Interestingly, the dentist's office in the bazaar is called an "Oral Health Resort," though Jared said it wasn't too relaxing. Since Jared was going there, we went with his wife, Emily, to get a new piece of jewelry for Beth. Unfortunately, the jewelry store was closed and we had to keep walking. Instead, we went to Cafe Coffe Day. This is about as close as one can get to Starbucks here in Mussoorie. It has a nice view of the bazaar and the...um...intersting electrical wiring practices employed in India.

After Jared was finished with his novacaine-less procedure, he and Dave headed off to the barbershop. His hair was getting quite long, so he went in for a quick trim. There were no electric clippers, so it was all done using scissors. At the end, there was a "head massage" that involved a lot of slapping and teeth jarring. It was not the most pleasant experience, but the price of Rs.30 (75¢) was definitely right.

While Dave was getting lined up, Beth went with Emily to get that piece of jewelry. She picked out an earring from the counter and the man in the store filed the end down to a very sharp point. After sterilizing it, he proceeded to jam it into her nose. This was, unfortunately, not the most swift and painless process. She could feel it going through skin, then cartilage, and then more skin.

This is definitely not the act of rebellion that it is in the United States. Of the middle school staff at Woodstock, there is not a single female Indian member that doesn't have her nose pierced. It is a cultural thing that most of the women here have done.

So both of us now look a little different. Beth's transformation is a little more impressive and lasting, but Dave does look pretty good with his new haircut. We are now looking forward to a shortened week of school and an impending trip to the Taj Mahal next weekend.

Dave and Beth

Mountains and Monkeys

On our way up from school today, we had a nice view of the hills. The coulds were really beautiful, so we thought we'd share it.

We also found a whole herd (if that's the right term for it) of gray langurs on our patio. These are the nicer of the two monkey species that we have here in Mussoorie, in case you forgot.

Dave and Beth

Retreat!

This week has been another very busy one for us. Since we started school in the first week of August, we are now at the halfway point of our semester. That means that this week has been filled with grading papers and writing comments about each of our students. We spent two nights this week at school until 10:00 pm or later and ordered pizza from Domino's so that we could get the work done. The other result is that, yet again, we were unable to post on our blog. What follows is a belated account of the middle school retreat that we attended last weekend.

It would seem that a lot of the activities of the weekend revolved around food. One of the things that the students appreciate is being out of the dorm and away from the standard dorm food. When we got to the retreat center, we started with a quick session talking about sin. We then continued to a small group discussion and dinner.

After the meal, we had some free times to play games. We thought that it would be appropriate to teach the kids some American games that they weren't familiar with, so we started with 500. As you can see from the picture, Beth was dominant.

We also had a time for games and stories around the campfire.

That night, we were the official adult representatives in the dorms. It was a long night as we waited to the kids (mostly the boys) to quiet down and go to bed. Much of their energy was spent trying to stuff as much junk food into their faces as possible. As mentioned above, this was their chance to get as far away from dorm food as possible. The most popular items were chips, pop, and Korean noodles.

After a couple of hours of sleeping on the floor, we were both awakened by students that felt the need to continue their junk food binge at 6:00 am. The one consolation for this early rousing was the beautiful scenery outside the dorm windows.

After getting dressed, the kids continued to eat. This time it was real food for breakfast.

After breakfast the program called for another session for the students. Rather than simply standing and lecturing to our captive kids about sin, salvation, and service, we tried out best to make things fun and interesting. This involved singing some songs and playing some games. Before you look at these next pictures it is important to understand something about Dave and our friend Jared. To get the kids excited, these two have adopted the personas of professional wrestlers. Jared is dressed in yellow and has the alter ego of "Sunny Delight." Dave dresses in red and has been dubbed "Fruit Punch." These two wresters were the masters of ceremony for the games and, again, things revolved around food. Below you can see a contest to see which student could eat the most rice and दाल (dal, which is a lentil soup). In the second picture, "Fruit Punch" is thoroughly enjoying a game where partners drop interesting food combinations (think of carrots in chocolate sauce and chocolate chunks in blue cheese dressing) into waiting mouths.

With some free time after this session, we decided to teach the kids some more American games. This time it was hacky sack. You can see quite clearly that Dave worked up quite a sweat in the process.

We also took a nice trip up to char dukan at the top of the hill. This is a place with four little shops that sell good cheap food. One of our favorites is the french fries that remind us a bit of home. Please note that the young lady in the bottom right of the first picture had just gotten some candy cigarettes and was not actually smoking.

On the walk back from char dukan we met a cow that seemed to have gotten himself into quite a pickle. We couldn't tell how he got there or how he was going to get down, but he seemed content to be eating the grass.

After our last session, we sat down to a nice candle lit dinner. It was nice to provide a little relief from the dorms on the retreat and this was a pleasant way to end.

When we returned home that night, we were pretty beat. We went right to bed and spent most of the day Sunday recuperating. Now that we've rested up we'll hopefully be able to return to our more frequent posting on our blog.

Dave and Beth