Week One!

(I feel a bit guilty writing that we've only just begun our semester, but I certainly won't complain about having a 6-week winter vacation!)

After a week of staff meetings, the students started arriving last weekend. Winter break is technically longer than summer break and, as you can imagine, the level of excitement was high. Students came back with new haircuts and new clothes, which made my confidence drop significantly in associating the right name with the right face. Also, many of them came back sounding different: I was perplexed when an Indian-American student who usually speaks with a heavy Indian accent came back after a month in the states talking like a Californian valley girl. I think by next week, she'll be back to her Indian accent.

As soon as the students arrived, horrendous weather set in. The usual sunny and clear skies were replaced by violent wind, frequent hail, and monsoon-like rain for about 36 hours. The staff, rushing to get everything ready for the semester, made many comments on this metaphor. As predicted, the clouds cleared up for the first day of school, but in the night left a covering of snow! This is not the first snowfall of the year in Mussoorie, but it is the first I've witnessed. The walk up to school was comical with students slipping down (while trying to walk up) the steep slopes. With my snow and ice expertise, I gave them a few pointers and most of us made it to school on time.

The new semester marks a new job for me... I have said goodbye to dorm-parenting and hello to teaching High School Art full-time. The switch, I found out last week, is permanent; I'll continue teaching art next year as well. I'm really excited about this!

Week 1 of my first official teaching job went well. We spent time going over expectations, rubrics, and other boring stuff before getting into the fun part. Now, I have 5 classes going on 5 completely different projects, so next week will be a fun and slightly chaotic test of my organizational skills. It feels great to be back in the classroom and I'm amazed at how easy a transition it has been. The students are incredibly used to change, so have barely batted an eye at my new role.


Snowfall on our patio in the morning sun.

Girls struggling up the hill. Laughter is a good way to start the semester!