Sunday, July 29, 2018

farewell to india

I’m a stubborn and somewhat arbitrary person, so when I decided that I wouldn’t post anything about our new life in Philadelphia, PA until after I posted something about leaving Woodstock, I stuck to it. This means nearly eight long weeks have passed by not only due to some legitimate distractions (unpacking, buying, building, job-searching) but also some old-fashioned writer’s block. How do I sum up our six years in Mussoorie? How do I say goodbye to such an experience, to all the people who shaped it?

It still feels surreal to write this, sitting here in a fancy hipster coffee shop, drinking cold brew, with the prospect of another four weeks of break -- all while my former colleagues at Woodstock leap into another school year. It still feels like I should be puttering around my windowless, damp classroom with those hilarious and wonderful (and sometimes infuriating) WS students. But here we are. I just have a few reflections, which I’ll intersperse with some photos from our last few months.

One of Chloe's favorite play areas!

We celebrated Chloe's first birthday with our advisees - here's her first cake!

Teaching. Though I began teaching at Woodstock with several years of experience, it was college-level. WS was my first full-time, high school teaching job, and I was lucky to have some great mentors and colleagues help me come into my own as a teacher. My fellow English teachers were passionate, funny, and dedicated practitioners with unique styles. And the school generally gave us a lot of freedom to experiment and push boundaries. I couldn’t ask for a better place to begin my career!

Bindi baby
Chloe's first drawing, circa April 2018 (?)

Traveling. Working abroad cemented our love of travel. Though our paychecks at WS were fairly small, day-to-day expenses were so low that we were able to travel all over India and the world. It helped Chris and I see that we want to avoid spending all our extra money on fancy electronics, big houses, or cars and instead funnel it into more travel. The past year showed us just how difficult it is to travel (especially internationally) with our strong-willed child, so we’ll slow down for a few years. But I know we’ll be itching to explore a new culture soon enough. 

Chris's sweet mother's day gift!
How Chloe spends most of her time.

America. There’s a lot to feel ashamed about as an American these days. Trump is an embarrassment, and he’s firing up the pocket of the U.S. population that leaves me slack-jawed with astonishment. Still, living abroad helped me think more deeply about what I do value and love about my nation -- mainly because I constantly compared America to the places we visited. I found myself newly proud of something like America’s birthright citizenship after realizing Chloe would receive no special rights for being born in and living in India. It’s hard to put this concept into words, but as Chris said, going abroad just made us feel our American-ness more as well. We realized that lots of practices and beliefs we took for granted were merely results of our American upbringing. This seems like a “duh” lesson, but it’s one I had to experience to truly understand.

There’s more I can say, but I know people don’t read these days. I’ll end with a quick listicle of what we miss about India now that we’ve officially left…
**Sadie!!
**delicious hot chai
**my students, and a student culture I know and can navigate
**the mountains -- always so stunning!
**delicious and cheap and simple Indian food
**Anil’s at chardukan
**walks around the chakkar
**my colleagues
**the best neighbors I could have asked for (thanks, Mount Hermon!)
**my weekly massages, and my amazing ayah
**not having a smart phone

Have a lovely week, everyone.

Sunday, March 11, 2018

i need a vacation....

When I was a young thing, my mom and her extended family introduced me to the musical Pump Boys and Dinettes. It was love at first listen, and though I haven’t actively sought it out in a while, I still sometimes lapse into “Farmer tan on my neck and arms, farmer tan the secret of my charms…” or “Tune ups, tune ups, gas for less…” randomly as I traipse around this mountainside. Chris hates it.

But one of my favorite songs -- one I rely upon and that becomes my mantra nearly every Friday is “I Need a Vacation.” From its first plaintive cries, you can tell the singer is desperate to leave behind her job, if only temporarily, for something more exciting and relaxing. (Please please check out this video of the Tony Awards performance, and you’ll see how much fun this musical is.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG6LA9UsJQ4

Working at Woodstock is often joyful, particularly the actual teaching part, but man is it exhausting. By December last year, everyone was drained and thinking something akin to: “If I could only do something different, somewhere else, oh what a joy -- a mighty joy! -- that would be!”

Thankfully, Woodstock does grant us a hefty break from mid-December until early February, a necessity in a school that lacks real heating. Chris, Chloe and I spent our break in America and in South India.

America was loads of fun because we got to see Chloe interacting with her extended family, and that means we got a bit more of a break too! Here’s a sampling of those photos (all except the first two are from Grandma Kathy)… 

Chloe's first Christmas! (photo credit: Uncle Michael)
She loved the wrapping! (photo credit: Uncle Michael)
Chloe-bear playing with my old bear
Hanging at the mall
Chloe stayed up late the day Chris came back from Philly
Chloe's first haircut!
Chloe and Grandma
South India was quite the contrast, particularly after spending time in snowy Rochester. The weather was balmy and the ocean was too. We rented a nice airbnb apartment that had a kitchen and allowed us to take a relaxed approach to getting out and about, something that I realize is key with a baby. Chloe had her first interactions with the beach and the ocean waves, and she seemed to enjoy herself thoroughly. Unfortunately I don’t have many photos from Goa, but here are a few of Chloe in the water.
Yay sand!
Yay waves!
Now we’re back in the rising workload of trimester 3. It's bittersweet to think we're only here for three more months. We can’t wait to begin a new adventure, but it will be hard to say goodbye to this place and these people. I’ve been derelict in my documentation of the past few weeks, as Chloe was pretty sick and things were chaotic, but now my goal is to be better about taking photos and posting every week or so. I wish Chloe could remember this place, but she’s too young, so few photos will need to suffice.

Have a great week,
love, mel