Bye Bye Mossourie . . . Finally

Week 4 [A Review of Weeks 2-4]

Yes, this is out of order, but life is like that sometimes. Moving back to New Delhi and trying to get settled left me with little time to process my time from Mossourie and give that beautiful place a proper goodbye/blog post. So here I am, three weeks out of Mossourie and there truly are some things that I will miss and some memories that I’d like to highlight here.

The 5 Things/Moments I Will Miss the Most:

1. Ivy Bank Guesthouse: For our three week stay we lived at Ivy Bank where we created a family of sorts. Between Manoj and Auntie Ji, as well as Ravi and Sunil, I had quite a few smiling faces to greet me at the end of each day :-) We made a home of sorts out of this place and between our group meals, sharing bathrooms (I don’t think there was a time when everyone had a working bathroom/shower), and studying Hindi, the other ETA’s and myself started to become a family. We lived camp style – two per room and it gave me a chance to get to know my roommate, JoJo, very well ;-)

2. “The Internet is working!” (for now lol): The lack of internet was somewhat the bane of our existence while in Mossourie . . . we literally went crazy when someone said it was on – we’d skip meals if the internet was working. And sometimes we would even try to keep it a secret from each other because we didn’t want to overburden the connection and lose it lol. But you know, (if I can be honest) it was actually kind nice not having super access to the internet/stuff back home. The lack of technology in the town we’re in now forces us to read and go outside and talk to each other lol (even though sometimes it feels like a fishbowl). And with internet not guaranteed at Ivy Bank we would gladly travel about ¾ a mile down the mountain to an internet café (getting there wasn’t the problem, but climbing those hills to get back was nothing to mess with).

3. Me & Jo v. “The Beetle”: Jo and I had a great time rooming together all three of the weeks we were in Mossourie – complete with dance breaks, fumbling through our Hindi lessons, lots of laughs and snoozing the alarm clock over and over and over again each morning. But there is one moment that sticks out for me – the night the beetle of all beetles, as far as we were concerned, came into our room. . . this night proved to us that teamwork indeed makes the dream work! After the beetle flew into our room, it chilled out for a while and we forgot it was there, but as soon as we were getting ready for bed we heard a loud buzzing noise and we saw something the size of a fun size candy bar flying around. I instantly screamed and hid under my covers and Jo screamed too. Problem was, neither of us were going to sleep until we found it and it got rid of it. Luckily it started to fly around again, it landed on Jo’s bed and she smashed it with the Hindi book – this part was quite dramatic as she leaped into the air and landed on the beetle with her whole body weight lol. After she killed it, it was my job to dispose of it. Night saved and we both got a good night’s sleep! I can’t say this enough, I loved rooming with my JoJo aka Radio Jo aka Boo Thang (hahaha) – but the beetle was a moment to remember.

4. Clothes, Clothes and more Clothes!: One thing I don’t need is a reason to shop – but you see, since I’ll be teaching here and I’d like to be as culturally appropriate as possible . . . a new wardrobe is a must! And you know, I acted a fool . . . the coolest thing about Indian clothes is that they truly are one of a kind – made just for you. Gosh, I had too much fun when I bought plain fabric and had to go to another store and beads/borders for the shirts I would make. There aren’t even size tags in the back of any of the clothes I had made in Mossourie because each piece was tailored to my body. Now that I’m in Delhi, I’m glad I got so many clothes made and the teachers at my school seem to be impressed by my Indian wardrobe thus far ;-)

5. The Long Way Home (a.k.a. “The Loop"):

Mossourie was an absolutely beautiful place and being in the mountains, allowed me to take a few moments to myself a day and just chill. It was soooooo beautiful out there that I couldn’t help but to relax. A few times a week, I would take the loop home from school in an effort to process my thoughts and have a few moments with God. Anyone who knows me knows that I need alone time – it keeps me sane and the long way home helped me keep myself together.

So there it is – goodbye Mossourie, you were so very good to me and I am glad I had the opportunity to know you :-) I must add here that I am so grateful to God for this opportunity and I’m just trying to soak it all in – even now that I am in the hustle and bustle of New Delhi.

Finding My Groove and Trying to Make a Mark

Week 5 (and a bit of 6): Days 30 - 37

Goodbye, Mussoorie . . . Hello Delhi – we are finally part of the “real world” of India. Oh my, New Delhi is indeed a different place from Mussoorie and now that we have left the alternate universe known as the Taj Mahal Hotel, we are experiencing New Delhi for all its worth – people EVERYWHERE (literally); cars cars and more cars; plenty of noise; lots of trash; tons of restaurants and markets; trees with the most colorful and gorgeous blossoms; and of course, street vendors selling anything from fruit & veggies to clothes to bike parts to tupperware and pretty much anything you can imagine. While I know that things will take some getting used to, I am happy to report that I am indeed enjoying my time.

We have moved into our apartment and we are trying to get used to Delhi these days. We live in a neighborhood called Malviya Nagar and I am growing to enjoy my surroundings. Our landlord Munish is a wonderful man with a great family – complete with his warmhearted wife (Reena), his two beautiful daughters (Maanvi and Chithali), and his sweet spirited Father (Mr. Satish). The apartment is lovely and we consider ourselves quite lucky to live in a good neighborhood, complete with multiple parks (score!), plenty of restaurants, a nearby metro station, and a market where we can service most of our daily needs. As time goes on and I get used to things, I look forward to knowing my neighbors and finding my way around this place.

I’ve had my initial introduction to my school and I am simply humbled by this opportunity. I serve as an English teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Andrews Ganj in New Delhi – for general information about my school check out the website http://www.kvandrewsganj.edu.in/. FYI, my kids and my school rock ;-) My head spins a bit each day as I am surrounded by students who want to speak to me – it kind of feels like I am an exhibit at a museum or something. They are just eager and excited to meet me – a living and breathing American. I will say that it feels nice to be received so warmly and I hope to visit as many classes as possible while I am here.

I will teach four different classes of students, with a total of 12 sessions per week. My students are in Classes VIII C, VIII D, IX B, IX D (they’re between the ages of 12-15 overall). And between the four classes, I have roughly 150 kids of my own to get to know, love & teach over the next 8 months. Whew – my work is cut out for me ;-) I am excited though and I am sincerely looking forward to the highs and lows that teaching will bring me here. Truth – I just want to do a good job and I don’t want to disappoint them. It is my hope that when I leave here they not only have improved written and oral English skills, but that my students also feel as if they are connected to someone in America. I want this school year to be a good memory for them, one that they won’t forget. I’m just hoping that God works in and through me to accomplish such a daunting task.

The 1st student that I’ll highlight from my time at Kendriya Vidyala –Andrews Ganj is Angely [not sure if I spelled that right] – she is such a precious little girl in Class VI and I think she’s about 10 years old. Although she is not in my class, she came up to me and introduced herself to me on my 2nd day of school. She asked me to help her speak English well and I asked her to help me with my Hindi. We both agreed :-) I think that we will have a wonderful relationship. She even looked around for me on Monday morning to give me a friendship bracelet (Friendship day is a pretty big deal around here and it is celebrated on August 7th). My heart literally melted when she said “Jessica ma’am, I like you very much” – oh these are the moments I’m living for while I’m here :-D I’m so excited to see what else God has in store for me here . . .

P.S. This is a bit out of order – a post saying goodbye to Mussoorie for Week 4 will soon follow ;-)