I arrived in Mussoorie two days ago. An acquaintance from last time I was here (and a travel agent in the area) picked me up from the train station in Dehradun and we drove the hour and a half up the mountain. For some reason, the switchback and hairpin turns never get any easier! I think if the roads were wide enough to fit two cars I would be a little more at ease during the drive. I was just thankful I was not in a bus…
Nonetheless, we made it to the guesthouse he had booked for me. It was much further from the school than he had made it seem. The room was fine, until he opened the back door to it, which led down a dark alley to the “bathroom.” The bath was a spigot with a bucket (which I was expecting, as bucket showers are common in India to save water), and no toilet. He brought me back further through the alley and showed me three consecutive holes in the ground. The third one was the toilet, not the first two, and it was shared with the family, with no door. I immediately flashed to needing to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night in the dark and falling into one of the first two holes before finding the right one…
Needless to say, I was a bit taken aback by the place, though the room was cozy and the view from the veranda outside the room was amazing. I asked if there was anything closer to the school. He made some calls and everything was full. One last call, he said, before we had to go back to the first place. I prayed to every Hindu god I could think of that there was a room. It worked. We arrived at Hazelwood House and my room was still being painted. No bed or furniture yet, but I saw a brand new toilet (still with plastic on the seat!) and a shower head. I said I’d take it five seconds after seeing it. We had lunch while the owner furnished the room. There is another girl living next door from France named Lisa, so it is great to have a friend nearby.
How could I forget, my view! Twenty feet from my doorstep is a cliff that drops off into the mountains. I can see miles upon miles of lush green mountains with bright-colored houses carved into the sides. It’s truly spectacular.
The walk to school is breathtaking—in both ways! It’s a hike up the mountain, and I left twenty minutes earlier than I would have this morning to make sure I could get there on time! I can’t explain the beauty of what I am seeing, and pictures certainly wouldn’t do it justice either, though I will try to get some up soon. (I can upload photos from my nifty new Indian phone, so if you are on facebook check them out there).
I am currently sitting on my veranda (well, I was when I wrote this out, now typing it I am crammed into a teeny little internet café on a 1980’s Windows desktop) listening to men from below chant mantras in the temple that echo through the hills. The fog is dense, and I can’t see ten feet in front of me. An absolutely HUGE gray langar monkey keeps running back and forth over the tin roof above me, scaring the daylights out of me every time he pounces over my head.
I met some other people from the school and 15 of us went out last night into the bazaar. It’s about a half hour walk down from where we are all living and the bazaar is packed at night with tourists escaping the heat from the plains.
A few of the girls went on a long hike the other morning to a small river/stream and then on to “flag hill,” where hundreds of Tibetan prayer flags hang on the mountains. Near the river there are hundreds of leeches and they got covered. However, they both said it was worth it. I bought some boots and long socks in town today. Lisa and another boy are doing the walk on Sunday morning; I am still undecided. I really want to see flag hill, but the thought of leeches is keeping me away! We will see if I can get the guts to do it. We are bringing salt and lighters so we can get them off. Not sure if I will go yet, but it does sound fun, and I should get some exercise!
I start classes on Monday and don’t have class until 12:15 everyday, but it goes until after 5. The schedule changes every week and so do teachers so I can request times and teachers if I want to. I asked some of the girls what I could do in the mornings and they said I will be surprised at how much work I have. When I met with the Principal yesterday he could not stress enough how important it was that I keep communicating and speaking with people. Gulab, our domestic help, only speaks Hindi so it has been interesting with him…I am surprised at how well I communicated with him the other day. Anyways, it’s going well and I think school will take up a good amount of my time, which is good.
Everyday I think about my parents coming in August and I am so excited for them to be here! I’m also a bit scared that what I have planned will not go as we planned... There is no way to prepare someone for what is India; after all, India is different for everyone. It is what one makes of it…
