Journey to Varanasi

Varanasi is the holiest city in the Hindu religions. The Ganga (Ganges) River flows through the city, and many come here for their final resting spot. We arrived on Saturday afternoon to see work crews blasting away the sand deposits from the high river during monsoon.

Traveled a lot by boat along the ghats.

Attended a Hindu ceremony on the river at night.

People to come from near and far to bathe in the sacred river.

We spent hours wandering the endless, winding alleys of Varanasi - little shops, animals, and worshipers around every corner. Even some seasoned India vets find Varanasi overwhelming, but we thought it was so interesting.

Here's the crew: Maki's mom and bro, Isaac and Becky from AES, and Maki and I. Great group to travel with.

Neemrana, Round 2

 Maki and I went on the faculty retreat with lots of fine faculty friends. It was to Neemrana Fort, an enchanting hotel a few hours outside Delhi. Its so fun just wandering around all the nooks and stairwells.

Trekking in Nepal

Went on a nine day hike to Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal with my friend Iggy. Here's a link to his pictures.

Family History Tour: PA

Towards the end of my summer, my Dad and I took a trip up;to the Pottsville area to check out some family history. He is very passionate and knowledgeable about several generations before mine, so it was interesting to hear about their lives and how things came to be. I've been a history teacher, but haven't thought much about the personal confluences that shape who I am - Ireland (and a little bit of Italy and Wales), Philadelphia, and coal country in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Here is the house in Pottsville where my grandfather, Francis J. Murphy, grew up.

It is a few blocks away from the original Yuengling Factory! The author John O'Hara (Appointment in Samara) grew up on the same street, and wrote many books with a Pottsville-like town called "Gibbsville." Also, according to my Dad, "Also on Mahantango St directly across from 215 was Reading Anthracite, a major coal company in the 1800’s. The president of that company pursued the Molly Maguires, hiring a detective to infiltrate the group, which resulted in several Mollies being hanged.  The Molly Maguires were a secret group of Irish coal miners who took revenge on mine owners for intolerable working conditions."

Later that day in Tremont, we visited the house where my grandfather's grandfather, TJ Murphy lived. He owned the general store in the town.

Landfill tour

Hey there, get ready a wild tonal shift from "what is the best roof in this city upon which I can watch Octopussy" to "staggering scale of economic disparity on display." I've learned about the 1% in America, and seen the haves in have-nots in Bangkok, but these pale in comparison to the grand scale of class in India. Lavish consumer malls; destitution.
On Earth Day in the spring, my fellow teacher / friend Scott and I were able to take a small group of students on a tour of the largest landfill in Delhi. It is a mountain of trash with roads cutting up to the top. As we walked on the solid road made entirely of trash, trucks with more garbage rumbled by. The mound was smoking from various articles of trash decomposing and spontaneously catching on fire. 

Dozens of people, mostly in families (including small children) scour the surface for recyclable materials to sell. 

the wedding

Hi! We're married! Where to begin... We tied the knot at Borough Hall in Brooklyn on Friday, June 28th. We met, dated and lived in Brooklyn for three years before moving to Bangkok, so it was a fitting place. We waited in some lines and took orders from sassy bureaucrats, and then officiant Robin married us in a short ceremony in front of our immediate families. 

 Meet the parents. 

Official! 

The following day, we had a celebration at my parent's house in the Philadelphia suburbs. We surprisingly didn't have too much to take care of (bonus of not having any brides involved I suppose) so on Friday we had a totally normal and quiet dinner in Wayne, followed by drinks at a local bar with some out of town guests. Saturday was random errands like picking up balloons. We got dressed, took some official photos (Thanks Kathy!) and the guests started rolling in. 

Bootsie waiting with champagne.

Us. 

After cocktail hour, we had a ceremony with a few speakers. My brother Tim did a nice reading. 

Our softball friend Tim read a poem. 

My Aunt Mary introduced us for vows and read a blessing. 

And we read our own vows. 

My brother Matt gave a toast

as did Maki's friend Denise 

and then it was party time! 

My talented cousin Alisabeth created a tree for our guests to fill with their fingerprints.

Maki and I had and unplanned first dance to The Spice Girls' "Wannabe"

and people drank, danced and were merry. 

What a great night! Best of my life. I've done a lot of emoting over the past few weeks, so I'm sticking to the business here on the blog, but if you see use we will happily share the amazing details!