From the bus ride back to the hotel. Driving at breakneck speed and no fancy camera, just my iPad, but maybe you can tell it was a beautiful thing.
1 Comment
The campus is gorgeous and was apparently built on a bare field of red dirt. Students, alumni and faculty have built these grounds over the past 18 years, planting trees, shrubs and flowers. This is their lawn library. What a terrific place to read, study or just think! There was a class going on under the trees while we were touring the campus.
A couple of views from the hotel that make me want to go find out more about what is up in those hills. About 20 minutes after I took this photo, I looked up from my iPad to see this crow pick up a whole boiled egg, in the shell, and fly away. Very impressive
A quick photo of the Dehradun airport. Yesterday, as we loaded up in the taxi, I tried to get in on the "American" passenger side of the car. The said, "Mem saab" wants to drive!" Haha! I cannot imagine driving in India, much less down the side of the mountain we live on and into Dehradun! It was quite a drive. I didn't realize the Dehradun was so sprawling. It took us almost 2 hours to get to the little airport, but we had time to get to know it well, because our flight was late. In fact, in the couple of hours we sat around there, we only even saw 2 planes and they must have left at about the same time. The airport itself was quite small, but the building was quite new looking. Once the plane arrived, we rode out to the plane on the hottest bus I may have ever been on. I really think the heat was blasting on it. The plane was much nicer and was not completely booked so each of us had our own row. The flight to Delhi only takes about 30 minutes, so it was pretty much up and then back down, followed by the mad scramble through the Delhi airport to get to the next gate. I was concerned because our flight arrived late and we only had 15 minutes before the next flight was supposed to leave, so I rushed the girls only to arrive to find out that our next flight was also going to leave late. There wasn't an announcement of any kind, you understand. Just everyone hanging out until boarding. I think I was the only one who even noticed the flight left a hour later than scheduled. This flying experience here made me realize how much I hate the whole process of flying in and out of the US. Our bags got screened and we got wanded down, but I never had to take off my shoes and I didn't have to give up my water bottle either! Yes, there were military-grade munitions on the guards, and there were several of them around, but at least I didn't have to go through the fake security measures that are apparently supposed to make me feel safe, but in in reality just mean I can't have water without spending $6.00 a bottle on it. When we got off the plane in Pune and walked to the building, because that's what we do here, a helicopter landed and a retinue of people got off and walked into the airport. None of the girls with me recognized anyone who rated a helicopter, so we got our baggage and headed for the exit. That's when we encountered a gathering of people, all men, who were gathered up around the airport exit doors, clearly excited and waiting for this person to come out. Eventually, we determined it was a political figure. There were lots of phones out for camera purposes, a few signs, and too much leering at my students to make me comfortable. The traffic around the airport was being altered a bit because of the hubbub, so we called the hotel to make sure that our driver was there, eventually found him and managed to make it into the car and got on our way. While we were waiting for him, we heard a marching band play a quick clip of a song, so we were hoping for a parade, but we never even saw them and they didn't play again before we left. Such a loss for the blog. I was hoping to have gotten a video, but I was too worried about arriving safely with all my girl-children, that I didn't want to be distracted by taking photos. I had thought that our hotel was fairly close to the airport, but it was quite a ride, so we got to see some of Pune. I'm not an expert on what Indian city/suburbs look like, but it looked pretty typical. What I noticed was the flatness of the land and how wide the roads were. I've been up in the mountains long enough for the geography to strike me first, I guess. The girls made the standard "Welcome to India" joke. They said, "Welcome to India, cows, construction and dogs!" It was pretty funny to hear how they view India in all it's contradictions. I enjoyed just riding around in the madness of traffic and seeing people, businesses of all sorts, scooters, motorbikes and cars battling it through the continuous negotiation of traffic. I hope I can get some photos as we move around today of the fish stalls. Pune is relatively close to the coast and there were multiple stalls selling whole fish. No refrigeration of course, so it's not like I'm going to buy or eat any of it, but I can't wait for winter break to have the opportunity to eat seafood! Finally, we made it to the hotel, which is nice. We had dinner in the cafe here, got our internet access squared away by, you know, paying for it since that is the only way you get real internet access in the hotels here. The kids did some research for their countries and topics and by 10:30, I was ready to sleep. I guess it's time to jumpstart my adventure quotient. I have agreed to accompany three students to a MUN conference in Pune, which is a city just southwest of Mumbai. We will fly out tomorrow and be in transit most of the day. Then, we'll spend the weekend at the conference and fly back on Monday. All week long, I've been a bit of a whiner about this trip, but now that all the arrangements have been made thanks to the amazing woman who coordinated that, and my sub plans are completed, I'm pretty excited!
So, hopefully there will be some great stories and photos. I don't know that we will have the time to really explore, but the air travel alone should be something. We are flying out of the regional airport in Dehradun to Delhi, then on to wherever we land. The trip was quite last minute, so I haven't even really looked to see if we are flying into a big airport in Mumbai or another smaller airport in Pune. Look for the updates starting tomorrow night (India time, of course, so for most of you it will be nighttime). Today was a half day of school and the Woodstock Cross-Country Races. The path we ran (or in my case, walked) was the beautiful figure 8 path at the top of the mountain. Monsoon is still with us, though waning now, but apparently when it is clear, we will be able to see "the big mountains" from up there. The path is called "the chukkar" and it is one of my most favorite places to be.
The students and staff are divided into houses, and the Pearson-Percevecz clan is in the House of the Condors. For this race, everyone who participated earned 1 point for their house. Tim and I walked the path and it was really so much fun, mostly by ourselves, except when students were running past us or we were passing where all the cheering fans were. Our friend, Marg, guided us down one of the paths from the chukkar back to the school. It's beautiful, and very, very steep. We are both quite tired, but perhaps not as tired as the students who walked up to the top from the school. Tim and I took a taxi up. Hooray for adulthood! A huge thank you to my mom for sending us a package. It's a rare thing for anyone to get a package here, because it isn't cheap. Fortunately for us, Cassidy's birthday is tomorrow, and my mom is the BEST! A big ol' package from the USA! Tim and I picked it up at the mailroom today. We actually stopped by to pick up something much less exciting, and there was a lot of paperwork being completed and then they asked Tim to come around to the side. Wow! When he came back around to the front of the mailroom with a box, I did a happy dance. Several staff members and students walked by and all of them commented about how exciting it is to get something in the mail from home. We really wanted to open the box then and there, but we restrained ourselves since we knew there would be birthday presents for Cassidy and she wasn't around. Tim lugged the box down the mountain to our house and we unpacked it. It was glorious! Just look! To you, this might look like a random collection of not-very-significant items. To me, this is luxury itself! File folders don't seem to exist here. Paper towels? Forget it! Coffee? Hard to come by in the Himalayas. Real Kleenex? Bring on the next cold! But not really because I really did not enjoy the last cold I had. In short, this was definitely the highlight of our week.
Thanks, Mom! |
AuthorTrish grew up in Texas, but has never owned a pair of cowboy boots. She enjoys a wide variety food, hobbies, locations and people. She also silently judges your grammar. Archives
October 2015
Categories |
Trish's Vision
We are back for the second year here in our cloud-covered home. Monsoon is over and there is a chill in the air. Soon it will be time to light a fire and have hot beverages. Then, Winter Break!
Feel free to leave a comment! It makes us all so happy when we know you are reading it!