1st post since January!

Wow, it's been a long time. As many writers know, one can only really write when so motivated. I haven't been up until now. This semester, my schedule is as follows:

9th grade RE (world religions)

10th grade RE (philosophy)

11th grade RE (Intro to Christianity)

10th grade world history

11/12th grade Indian history

So much stuff! It's been fun teaching about such a huge variety of things. Once every 8 school days, I teach all five classes. One day I taught about topics like early Indian nationalism, circumcision, atonement, Aristotle, and Evita (the person, not the musical). Such a variety! But, next year should be easier. Assuming it doesn't change, the plan for next year is that I'll be teaching all of grade 9 RE, all of US history, my Intro to Christianity class 1st semester and philosophy second semester. Only 3 classes to prep for instead of 5. Sooo nice...

As one may imagine, this semester has been long and tiring, but eventful. I got to go to Italy for MUN, marking my first visit to Europe. I enjoyed it (although I will say that taking care of 10 high schoolers takes quite a bit of the magic out of Italy), but I don't think I'll go back. It's marked off my list and I'd rather go visit other places.

I'm also getting ready to say goodbye to some people who I care about- some of my coworkers and students. Last year, I didn't really care about the seniors; part of this was because I didn't get to know them, part of this was because getting to know people during the second semester of their senior year is not the best time to do so. Being so isolated on a hillside like this, we become family. The students are an odd mix of younger siblings and sons/daughters, while coworkers become brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles, and parental figures.

But, why start writing again now? One main reason: I am inspired. The source of this inspiration? I like to think I have this in common with the great Urdu poet of the court of the Mughals, Mirza Ghalib...

We both love mangoes. No joke, I ate one of the first mangoes of the season and I wanted to blog. I wish I could follow the mango around the world, it is so delicious. The way the skin gives way to the knife, the slight trickle of juice that runs down the outside to my hand, the sound of the flesh tearing away as the pit gives way... I love it all.

Go and find a good mango and eat it. If you can't find a good mango, pity yourself for you are missing out on one of the most enjoyable things God has created on this earth.

I'll try to be more regular in blogging, or I will for as long as my fruit supply keeps up.

Been a while...

I'm at the point where it's embarrassing to come back. Like skipping church for three weeks, it's more of a hassle to come back. Yeah, I haven't written for a while. The past few weeks have been busy. Some highlights:

• School ended, 1.5 month break started. Excellent.
• Christmas happened. Showing off my amazing coordination skills (is that the right word?) a bunch of us got together for a nice Christmas Eve dinner and an almost-midnight almost mass. It was Anglican and it started at 11:30, but close enough.
• Christmas Day potluck. I love potlucks, because I can experiment then nervously ask everyone what they thought. I'd be crushed if anyone didn't like my food, and I always suspect people are lying to me. I semi-succeeded at making peppermint marshmallows, failed at vanilla marshmallows and made my onion soup which is hard to mess up.
• My house fell apart. A fuse needed to be flipped, then I found my fusebox behind a locked door outside my house. After that, my gas ran out (the reason for the failed vanilla marshmallows) leaving me with no ability to heat anything. Yikes.
• Vacation! I headed to Lucknow then Varanasi where I met up with a bunch of people I know from MN. So nice to see faces of people I've known for over a year. Lucknow was decent (the Residency was impressive) and Varanasi was the same attractive pit it was when I was there last time. A timeless city, if that's a good thing. Plenty of fun and feces for all...
• 28 hour train ride to Hyderabad wasn't actually that bad. I was surprised.
• Hyderabad was mixed. Hussain Sagar, a big lake in the middle of the city was great. Perfect weather and a walk by there after a nice meal was a great mix. Golconda Fort and a few tours of former palaces were nice too. Rickshaw drivers seemed especially out to get me though.
• A taste of the West- Subway, KFC, and an IMAX theatre playing Avatar in 3D for Rs. 200 (around $4)

So, I just got into Chennai today. I'm staying with my friends from MN, Taylor and Ann for the next few days. I'm then off to Madurai, Cape Comorin, Trivadunum, Varkala, Kumily, Munnar, and finally Cochin. From there, I'm flying to Delhi (need my passport renewed) and then back to Mussoorie for a ton of work for the next semester (a trip to Italy and a new Indian history class await!). I'll be sure to write another update of my vacation later.

Ciao.