Swim Lessons on the Hill

Gregg and I volunteered our time this May to teach swim lessons at Woodstock.  Like most things here, the people are wonderful, the organization and communication are lacking, and the control of the process for those directly involved is nil.

So we did not have the lessons at a time we choose, and did not have control over how many students were enrolled.  We did have help from a couple teachers, so there were usually 3 of us teaching, and  a few high school students and a few middle school students that helped us as aids.

Despite the frigid water temperature, we had 180 enthusiastic students who became better swimmers in one of the 3 half hour lessons we taught 3 times a week for 4 weeks.  I passed my camera onto one of the parents to take some photos during our first group.  These were all EY (early year, aka elementary) students ages 3 to 10.  We did not get any photos of our grade 5-12 students since there were no parents and we were too busy teaching.

Gregg giving a safety talk at the beginning of the lesson.

Kerry teaching with Zibby and Gauri as aids.

Gregg's swimmers with Kerry and 2 high school aids in the background.  (Gregg took this photo as we stalled waiting for our third teacher to show up.)

Kerry's group in the foreground, and Claire with her group in the water.

Nainital- YRS Conference

Young Round Square (YRS) Conference India and Gulf Regional Conference was held in Nainital this spring.  Woodstock had 6, 11 and 12 year old students represent them.  Mark Windsor and myself were the chaperones.  Nainital is a hill station similar to Mussoorie, the difference is their lake.  

Opening night, students were required to wear their school uniforms.  Woodstock students came up with their uniform.

The conference was held at All Saints College, an Indian girls school for grades 1 through 12.  Part of my education at the conference was to see an Indian school.  At the opening ceremony, our group walked in at the back of the auditorium down the main isle to our assigned seats.  If I had had my eyes closed, I would not have know that the auditorium was filled with 500 All Saints students, it was so quiet.  The All Saints students were all in uniform, sat respectfully, and even their applause was in unison.  When they left, they walked in straight lines, 2 by 2.  As I passed students, I was greated with a, "Good morning, ma'am " or "Good afternoon, ma'am"  "How are you, ma'am."  The students are held to high academic standards.

 Botanical gardens.

 High tech lock at botanical gardens.

Displays in need of help at botanical gardens.

 At the conference, there were 2 environmental speakers.  We heard about musk dear, and the Himalayan environment.  The first speaker spoke about poaching of musk dear, and the need to have musk dear farms to increase the population.  She also included an anecdote about how a musk dear died because it was so sad.  The second speaker was a bit better with science, but included photos of poached animals (headless elephants), and people who had died in a factory fire.  He also was a bit bigoted toward Americans as he spoke of our consumerism as an indication that we are not good environmental stewards.

Students met in small groups after listening to each speaker.

Activism march through Nainital.

The students had some activities around Nainital.  We walked through the botanical gardens, explored some caves, participated in a activism march, tried to see the white capped mountains, ate lunch at the old boat club, and played basketball (the rain kept us off the lake).

Dodital Trek

Our 5 day trek began with a 5 hour car ride.  We were delayed by several traffic incidents- a motorcycle dispute, a truck without enough power to get up a hill, a broken down truck.

After our drive, we had a 6km hike to Agora, a village along the path to Dodital.  We were supposed to hike 8km, but the prospect of a late arrival, and setting up our tents in the rain kept us back.  We spent the night in a guesthouse.  There was not much to it- a few rooms with beds and lights that didn't really work.  There were toilets, but more like outhouses.  It truly was like camping.

Our second day we made it 12km to Manjhi, a seasonal home for the shepherds and herdsmen of Agora.  From Manjhi, we could see Darwa, the peak we would have liked to try to summit, but there was too much snow.  

The kids started off slow, and I'm sure there were times that they thought they couldn't walk another step, but by the time we stopped, they were off to play in the snow and gather sticks for a fire.  Felix did an awesome job helping to set up the tents.  Zibby could have done it herself, and Oscar was content to allow the work to get done.  The path we walked was at times well groomed, and at others, I had to smother my parental instincts and allow my kids to walk the terrifying path.

After our first bridge crossing, Zibby wanted to take a swim in the clear water.

Felix thought the mini pine cones were cool, and carried them for most of the day.

Tea time by the fire.  We all enjoyed the Indian food on the trek, but the kids liked the Maggie (Indian version of Ramon noodles) best of all.

Our third day was our attempt to make it to Dodital.  We turned around half way due to lots of snow and a fallen tree across the path.

 Lots of mica rocks.

 The rhododendron trees were in bloom despite the snow.  The red and pink blossoms were beautiful. We also saw a few Lungour monkeys.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  The last day of our trek.  No easter eggs or bunnies, but we did all get a hot bucket of water when we got home.

Indian Music Concert

Wow, it feels like the end of a school year.  Saturday night we saw the spring drama, Metamorphosis, a collection of short greek stories.  Sunday night we went to Easter chapel.  Tonight (Monday) we attended the Indian Music Concert.  The special treat for the concert was that Felix played the tabla in the concert.  He has been going to school early 2 morning almost every week this school year.  His goal is to eventually learn to play the sitar, but tabla is were every student starts.  Here is a video of his part of the concert.  The concert was a bit long, so feel happy it is not on the blog in its entirety.

Outdoor Learning Weekend

Today, Friday, is the start of Woodstock's Outdoor Learning Weekend.  I didn't get information about what kids were doing until yesterday- part of the poor communication here- but it appears that things were planned well.  It sounds kind of exciting.  There is a group at Hanifl Center doing a Wilderness First Aid course, a group going to Nag Tibba (one of the few overnight groups), a group going various places with the music teachers to collect rhythmic sounds to make into an original composition, a group going to Flag Hill to look at elevation, a group going to Dunda to build a path for the village, a group going to Everest House and exploring Mussoorie's history, a group going to an art festival to paint a mural...  And that is all that I heard about, there are more.

Gregg and I were asked yesterday evening to join a group, but we decided to stick together today and maybe go see if we can find a rug in the bazaar, and make sure our youngest has a parent to pick him up after school.  The school is already sounding empty, only the younger years to make noise.

Blecher Hill

Wednesday, 11th of March we enjoyed a hike to Blecher Hill.  Mark Windsor "guided" us along with his wife and nephew and a visiting family from Canada.  The views were amazing, and the company was top notch.

 Sara, Gregor, Anika, Finn, and Tally traveling the world for the year found their way to Mussoorie.

 Water management.

 Putting Gregg's ankle to the test.

Back at the quad on our bench.