Settling Catan

We've had several occasions to play the German game Settlers of Catan while living in India. We have our set here and there are several other enthusiasts on campus, so we decided to host the First Annual Woodstock School Settlers of Catan Tournament yesterday. We ended up with 22 people on the bracket, but only 20 were able to play in the tournament. It was a good mix of people who have played a lot, people who have never played, younger, and older. The first round consisted of five separate games.

Beth decided not to play so that she could entertain the children who were a bit below the recommended age on the game box.

There were some heated moments during the evening and several references to the official rules to see whether a play was legal.

In the end, the final championship was contested by our friends Tami, Moryam, Cookie, Greg and Nate.

The final was a close match watched by several of the losing players. Cookie got out to an early lead which is not always a bright move in Settlers. She was then targeted by the other four players, and was easily knocked down a few pegs. After some monopolizing that displayed questionable moral fiber, Tami and Moryam looked to be the main contenders and in the end, Moryam was crowned Lord of Catan. You can see from the photo below that not all of the other settlers were ready for Moryam’s benevolent rule of the Island.

It was a very successful evening of fun and fellowship. Several people suggested that we make the tournament quarterly, but we certainly won't be able to host such a large gathering that often. We'll keep you posted on the results of the second tournament...

Dave and Beth

Bandaloop

This afternoon, we were scheduled to have the presentation of the distinguished alumnus award to Chris Anderson (the current curator of the TED conference and a member of the Woodstock class of 1974). Unfortunately, he was held up in the states and couldn't make it. Instead, we watched a performance by a dance group founded by a Woodstock alumna. It was an interesting demontration of "vertical dance" (in spite of the name, the performers were almost always horizontal, unlike regular dancers who are almost always vertical). These pictures and the video should give you some idea of what it was.

Dave and Beth

Life on the Trail

On our hike the other day, we saw lots of life while we were walking. Naturally, there were lots of critters along the way, but we also noticed lots of interesting people involved in a completely different pace of life. The animal pictures show a magpie, an insect, and a big lizard.


On the human side, we saw some men mending a rug while smoking their hookah, a group of women carrying a variety of things on their heads, and some agriculture in action.

Dave and Beth

Down in the Valley

One important part of the curriculum here at Woodstock is the outdoor education program. Yesterday, we didn't have classes in the middle school so that all of the students could get outdoors on a hike. We decided to take our advisor group on a hike down to the town of Thatyur. We started with a quick bus ride to the trail head and then had a long walk down hill.

We did get some great views of the Himalayas along the way.

It was a very nice walk with lots of animals and vistas as we went.

After a couple hours of hiking, we stopped for lunch. Some of our students enjoyed their sandwiches more than others.

The final descent into Thatyur gave us more pretty scenery as we looked down the valley.

Even though two of our advisees were missing for the day, we took the opportunity to get a great group picture.

Though we definitely miss Chicago, there is no we would ever get a view like this in the Midwest. Again, for a couple more pictures, you can check out our website.

Dave and Beth

It's Time to Celebrate Diwali...

Yesterday was Diwali here in India. This festival of lights is one of the biggest celebrations in the country. It is almost as much an Indian cultural occasion as it is a Hindu festival. The preschool kids at Woodstock spent most of Friday afternoon decorating the Quad for the holiday.

The feeling of celebration was also very apparent in the bazaar this week. Most of the shops had metalware, fireworks, garlands, and Shahrukh Khan posters out in front of their stalls.

The school also put on another fantastic fireworks spectacular at the dorms.

One of the best parts of the night, though, was the view down into Dehradun. It is a bit difficult to see in the video below, but there were nearly constant explosions as far as the eye could see.

One of the most interesting parts of Diwali this year was the way that it is clearly marking the time. This is the last of our two Diwalis in India and it just seems to draw us closer to the end of our time here and (thankfully) closer to being back at home in Chicago with friends and family.

Dave and Beth

CARE-ing Again

This morning, we took another trip up to the Firs orphanage on the top of the hill. Our students get a chance to fulfil some of their community service requirements, but they end the day being blessed by the great kids that live at Firs. We started out with a couple of games like Partner Tag and the classic Giants, Wizards, and Elves.

After that, we broke up into groups. Beth made friendship bracelets with some of the kids,

while Dave and Matt played soccer...er...football with some of the older boys.

Our kids all did a fantastic job of interacting with the boys at the orphanage and it was a great opportunity to recharge in a great setting.

Dave and Beth

More Sports

After our students competed in their inter-house sports day, they were given a second chance to demonstrate their athletic prowess. Today we had our inter-school sports day. It was a long walk to Wynburg-Allen School, but it was a fun day of competition.

In general, Woodstock does very poorly against the other schools in Mussoorie. They spend a lot more time training than we do and it shows. One area where we make a very poor showing is the march-past. At the beginning of sports day, each school marches past the stands where the honored guests sit. This is, apparently, a very important part of Indian athletics competitions. You can compare the marching performance of the girls from Waverly to our Woodstock kids in the video below.

At least we can take comfort in the fact that our school was recently named the best international school in India for the second year in a row. Who needs athletics...

Dave and Beth

Sports Day

This past weekend, we had our second Interhouse Sports Day. This is another one of those occasions where everyone gets to express their animosity towards the two-thirds of the school that wear a different color. We are Merlins and Dave tried to be very honest is his assessment of our chances.

Naturally, the students participated all day in the traditional track and field events, but the highlight for everyone was the staff relays after all the events had been decided. The Merlins fielded four staff relay teams (one female and three male). Beth was selected for the ladies team, but Dave could only get a spot on the third string men's relay squad.

Beth's team was dominant from the beginning and you can see the sort of seamless baton transfers that they employed to cruise to a first place finish.

Dave's team, on the other hand, was composed of two tall and slow young men from the states, a short and round Indian music teacher, and an elderly Tibetan man. You can see below that their baton hand-offs were much less graceful as Dave almost ran over Mr Chophel.

Dave's team did end up taking fifth place out of seven teams (though this feat loses some of its impressiveness when it's explained that the seventh place team suffered a broken leg in the course of the race).

Overall, it was a great experience and we all basked in the successes of the Lady Merlins. We're hoping to make a custom of putting extra pictures on our website, and this particular blog post is no exception.

Dave and Beth

People of Garhwal

During our recent trek into the Himalayas, we got to meet lots of interesting people in the villages along the way. Several of them let us take their pictures, so we thought we'd post them here.

Dave and Beth