Nepal, pt. 2

Nepal, pt 1

5 days of trekking in Nepal. Amazing vacation, one of the best I've had. We hiked for most of the day, and then stayed in guest houses. That meant no tents, carrying food or water. I could get used to that. Anyway, lots to say but I'll just let the pics speak for themselves.

more around Delhi

Maki stopped in for long weekend after WOW. We got a chance to soak up some character in Delhi. The majority of the pics are on his camera, but here we have a very typical street scene

Open air barbers are all the rage here. The corner where I stand to meet my carpool always has a customer lathered up as the lanes of traffic swiftly drive by.
This weekend led up to Diwali, the biggest holiday for most Indians. Similar vibe to Christmas. Lots of lights and fireworks. Here's a house on my block, all geared up to celebrate.

Wow!

Wow! I've been out of town a lot in October. First up was our Week Without Walls (I'm just now noticing that this does not spell Wow, as everyone calls it.) We took the students up to a beautiful valley outside the Indian town of Rishikesh. Lots of playing in the river,

getting creeped out by giant insects,

and an all-day hike upstream

I was fortunate enough to be with very awesome chaperones. Here are Liz and Kim, two of my co-workers. When we arrived back in Delhi, I already missed them.

This beautiful waterfall served as a rappelling course.

which was no match for me. Just kidding, I totally lost my footing and swung like a pendulum out into the waterfall. But it was fun and safe.
I also led an art activity, wherein students each had to create a work of art using natural resources from a stream. Knowing very little about art, I just mimicked the positive comments I hear on Project Runway. The students were actually very creative and inventive. Here was my favorite, a little temple fashioned from sticks, rocks and a mushroom.

The last day we did a huge hike (by middle school standards) and stopped at a farm (I refrained from posting about 20+ adorable baby animal photos), a school and another awesome waterfall. Overall a great week getting to know co-workers and students better, and having fun!

work

Here's a couple shots of where I work. My room is right behind this arbor. My door opens up onto this outdoor space. Definitely the nicest physical environment I've worked in.

Entertainingly, there is a family of kitties living somewhere nearby. Here are the two kittens.

And big mama.

Metro trip to Old Delhi

After school, a couple teachers took me on a trip to Old Delhi. We took the Metro. Despite there being a stop about 7 minutes from where I work, this was my first trip. The Delhi Metro is very new. Most of it was completed in time for the Commonwealth Games, about a year ago. It was clean, efficient and crowded. We were so packed in that a random man rested his chin on my shoulder. Let me ease your burden, random man.

Then we jumped out at Chawri Bazaar in the heart of Old Delhi. Wow, what a difference. Where New Delhi is full of wide avenues, green trees and relative peacefulness, Old Delhi is a brown jostle of shops, electric wires and throngs of people. The most popular way to travel seems to be bicycle rickshaw, and this definitely worked for us.

After visiting a famous mosque (Jama Masjid), we followed the stream through narrow, ancient corridors lined with every service and bauble imaginable.

I found this trip refreshing and energizing. There's so much out there to see, and I have considerably increased my pace since this trip.

adventures

Hello faithful readers. As you may have surmised, I have been busy getting set up here. But fun and adventure has been has. I blogged about this in the last post, but here is the great fort that is now a resort that I stayed in in August.

October is bursting with holidays here. Last Monday, our school kicked off the Dusherra holiday with a visiting performance of Ramlilla, a Hindu epic. A group of disadvantaged and disabled schoolchildren performed the ballet, and it was a smash hit.

Following the Ramlilla, we took our students outside to witness the burning of Ravana. This stories-high effigy is a representation of evil, and burning him brings on the good fortune.

Here he goes!

No one told me he was also stuffed with firecrackers, and it was quite startling. One interesting concept I have thought about is the positive destroyer. I had always assumed that Shiva the Destroyer was a baddie, but soon after arriving in India, an Indian person told me that destruction must take place in order to create. Food for thought! The study of the Hindu religion and culture are very interesting to me, I hope to learn more soon.