Mussoorie

It's been a while since I last posted, I can't believe it actually, almost 1.5 months, but I'm here in the Himalayas, in a town called Mussoorie studying at the Landour Language School (www.landourlanguageschool.com). It's good, because after much searching, I have finally found a place to study Hindi, for those who don't know, it was a mess trying to get a teacher in Faridabad and in Punjab. The Hindi is coming along nicely, but of course, language takes a while, and even if I started off ahead, there's still a lot of road ahead of me. But first, here are some pics.

Not sure if the pics came at the top or in between, but the first one is a general one of the view from the inn I stayed at the first night. The second is of sunset, and the last is the view from my apartment where last Saturday morning I saw people washing their clothes on the roofs of their houses. To be honest, you can see the snow covered himalayas from so many points in Mussoorie (which is in Uttarakhand by the way), and yes I have taken pics of them, so I will try and put them up soon, as well as pics of my school and apartment.

Mussoorie is majestic, and cold. I thought living in central mountainous Japan, where indoor heating is nonexistent, would have prepared me for living here in the himalayas, but I forgot that at least I had a heater in Japan, as well as a kotatsu (low table with a heater attached to the underside) - here, there are no kotatsus. There are these small very dangerous looking heaters though, but with planning on only being here 1 more month I'm not sure whether it's worth the investment. Of course, I have already spent 1 night wishing I had bought one.

The school is good, though I wish the teachers would start on time. Of course you have those teachers that you like better than others, that's just what happens at school. But I am lucky to have found a class at night with a woman who according to me, is an excellent (and very hard-working, her attitude towards teaching is much more committed than some of the teachers at the school) teacher, and I learn a lot in her class. The school is also located near this international school, called Woodstock, where I could start teaching English if I wanted too. Hmmmm...

It's funny how opportunities come up. But the school is going to vacation soon, so if they wanted me to work, I would have to work next year, I believe starting in February. The plan was to learn Hindi as quickly as possible, and then start working here in India hopefully in the field of education, before I went back to graduate school for international development next year. Hindi is coming along nicely, but not fast enough, so I might have to slow down on the Hindi and just start working.

There's lots more to write about, but that's all for today, I hope you all are well and thanks for reading!