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.