Rest for body and soul :)

This weekend I did NOTHING. And, when I say nothing, I actually mean A LOT...but I did it ALL by myself! (and of course, my wonderful husband!). I came home right after school on Friday, and didn't see another non-husband member of the human race until late Saturday night when our neighbor stopped over to say hi. It was seriously wonderful.

So, I spent all of Friday night and Saturday working on school stuff....things that I've been struggling to find time to do for over a month, and this weekend I found it! It's been a struggle to figure out what each grade should be achieving each quarter, but I now feel quite organized and on top of things. :) It feels SO good!

Not much to tell about the weekend, and it feels wonderful to have not much to say about the weekend. And, I really love my husband a lot!

This next week is a short week ended by mid-quarter break, and we're going to Goa with Yvonne and Rachel! Haven't thought much about the actual trip, but have thought a LOT about getting to be with family again!

Later ya'all!

Things I DON'T like...

I officially DO NOT like how humid everything is here! Or rather, how humid our home is. I can't put on clothes without feeling like I'm going to get sick...they're all cold and damp! It's officially DUMB. There's my rant for the night. :)

On a happy note, this weekend looks like it should be quite wonderful. I'm excited for some down time, maybe extended date time with Chris?! Hanging at a coffee shop?! Getting ready for our guests and traveling to Goa!

India Book Club #3: Princess

Princess is a book telling the story of Princess Sultana, a member of the royal family in Saudia Arabia. It's a true story with changed names, and has really struck my heart in a new, strange way. I don't remember all the details, but it's one of those books that has left me stewing over "concepts" and "injustices". I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and just today started the sequel, Daughters of Arabia. (the sequel started out by telling the readers that 1 month after Princess was published, her family found out that she was the princess! Intense...)


The thing that struck me about Princess was how oppressed I felt by just reading it. The entire story is just a narrative of her life's events, and the struggle she's had living in such an oppressive society. Sultana is fiery, vivacious, troublesome, and NOT one to conform. Unfortunately, her society doesn't respond well to non-conformist women!

I learned about the abaaya, and how women have to cover immediately after reaching puberty. The abaaya covers the entire body (excluding the face), and is worn with a niqab, which covers the entire face except the eyes. I've seen a few women wearing the hijab (traditional Islamic dress) in Mussoorie, and feel an overwhelming sense of sadness every time I see them. To the outside world, they seem nondescript, almost than a person.


Another "concept" that has refused to leave me in peace has been whether or not I'm wiling to "fight". This princess has lived her whole life in anonymity from the men of her culture, and yet somehow she managed to tell her story to an American writer, and her story has now reached millions, and stayed on the New York Bestseller list for 13 weeks. DETERMINATION! A specific example of her unwillingness to give in when she didn't have to came when her husband told her he was planning to take a second wife. This is a VERY accepted tradition in the Muslim world...the Koran says that men may take up to four wives. (and they can divorce them for any reason!) Sultana and her husband had a marriage of love, so when he told her this news she FLIPPED OUT, secretly stole money from him, forged his permission to leave the country (These men aren't dummies, they know how to keep their women in bondage!), and took their three children to Europe. She REFUSED to be treated as less than she deserved!

The biggest concept, though, that I will take from this book is how important it is to possess passion of purpose. What do I really believe strongly in? How strongly do I want to see things change? WHY do I want to see change? What am I willing to give up in order to see change happen?

An area that I've felt strongly about for many years is adoption/the care of orphans. I really need to do some soul-searching about how God wants to grow this passion in my life...and make sure that I'm really willing to let myself be challenged! Sometimes I think I'm ready, but when I'm completely honest with myself I realize that I'm unwilling to give up my own dreams or comforts. Something to ponder...

Reading this book ultimately made me SO thankful for my God, my family, my country, and particularly the men in my life. I feel very blessed.


***There was a commentary/film made in 1980 about Princess Sultana's cousin called Death of a Princess. She was forced to marry an old man at a very early age, and ended up falling in love with someone else. She had an affair and tried to escape the country with the man she loved, but was caught and they were both executed for sins against God and the state. It's an interesting story, and really makes you think about morals and expectations. Adultery is never okay...but then, neither is marrying early teenage girls to 60-year-old men! Thoughts?

A list of Jean Sasson's books...
Princess (read)
Daughters of Arabia (reading currently)
Princess Sultana's Circle
The Rape of Kuwait
Growing Up Bin Laden
Ester's Child
Mayada, Daughter of Iraq (just checked it out!)

A fun weekend...

Life has really picked up here lately, and I feel like I'm finally catching my breath for the first time in about a week. I am, however, catching it just in time to lose it again, because this week looks to be quite full. :) Being a Stellmaker at the core, most of you know that we tend to thrive on the "crazy" in life...so even though I do feel a bit overwhelmed, there's that underlying sense of excitement. I somehow hear myself saying, "Self, can you do it?" And then of course, I say back to myself, "BRING IT ON!"

So, I'd like to breathe in the present, take a look at the past, and then look forward to the future. BREATHE...here I go!

Friday
This last Friday was the new gym dedication here at school.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the gym took place over 11 years ago, so the P.E. department has been without ANY facilities for the last 11 YEARS! The P.E. teachers were beaming all day, and the ceremony was really exciting. I ended up taking care of the elementary kids, and had a great time of it! They got a bit squirrelly during some of the long talks, but in all were VERY well behaved. WAY TO GO kidddies!

After the ceremony they had a FEAST...where they flew in food, had hot dogs, burgers, salads...all the things that we NEVER have here! Granted, it wasn't beef. But, it was a GREAT chicken burger! And, ice cream. The simple pleasures!





And then, we danced the night away! Seriously, an awesome dance. They flew in the best D.J. in the country, and a guy who did the laser shows for Michael Jackson when he was in India. SWEET! Danced our hearts out, and CRASHED. We were so tired afterwards! GOOD NIGHT!





Saturday
Megan (our neighbor) and and I left for the inter-school cross-country meet at 7:30 AM Saturday morning. I'm officially the girl's "coach", but I've quickly come to realize how loose that term is here. Basically, I gave little pep talks and took times. It was fun! Woodstock swept the meet...in LAST place. :) It was okay though...the school's spirit wasn't dampened in the least!

After the meet we went to look at Mount Herman, a place where a bunch of our friends will be moving. Now it doesn't look so bad...but if they had put us up there when we first got here, I would have run away screaming! Funny how perspectives change! We ate at chardukan (a place on the top of the hill), I went to Hanifl to reserve some camping equipment for the night, then FINALLY came home around 4:00 to see my hubby for the first time in the day!

We had two hours to pack up for a night of camping, get snacks together, and make a dish for the once-a-month woman's bible study. I head off to the bible study (which is SO encouraging!), while Chris head up to Flag Hill with some other guys. The rest of our group head out for Flag Hill around 9:00 PM, at which point I was almost hysterically tired (Amy, I missed you!). It was quite funny. :)

Dave and Beth, Greg and Jenny came up to just hang out for the night (but didn't spend the night), while the Burchell's (Joie, Nate, Will and Annie), the Guenther's (Casey, Christina, and baby-to-be!), Kate, Megan, Laura, and Dave and Cookie Wiebe stayed the night. We had a BEAUTIFUL night to go camping, and woke up to a BEAUTIFUL morning. Life is good!

Sunday
Came home, showered, and headed to school for a FULL day of grading. And, I'm DEFINITELY not even close to being done. They require us to write a paragraph comment for each student in each of our classes, THEN give them an academic grade, THEN give them 6 different effort grades. It's intense! I still have lots to do, but knew I needed a break when the computer screen in front of me started spinning. :)

COMING UP...

This week is filled with getting grades in, the regular evening/morning activities, and getting ready for Yvonne and Rachel's visit! Here's my To-Do List:

- Order music from J.W. Pepper, send to Yvonne.
- Think through, make sure I've thought of everything I want them to bring us!
- A little bit more painting/decorating
- Get one more mattress
- Figure out our 2nd weekend in Rishikesh!
- Stock the house with food/water
- Work ahead at school, so I don't have to do anything while they're here. :)
- Figure out things to do/places to go during the week while they're here

Next weekend, it looks like the plan may be to try Nag Tibba again. :) I think we decided to take a taxi down, so we can make sure to get up this time. Still on the fence, though...not sure if I want to face that monster again!

Here I go...more grading awaits!

OH, India...

Today I had a couple of moments that I thought...."WOW, I'm definitely in India!"

1. As some of you readers may know, much of the world pronounces their "w's" as "v" and their "v's" as "w". Today an Indian co-worker said "we vowed...", except it came out as "we woved". I giggled for 15 minutes!

2. I was walking to school, and passed two men on the road. We said our "namaste's", and as I passed one of them "tooted" quite obviously. Nothing like saying hello from various orifices! (and there was no laughing...I don't think it was intentional!)

This last one isn't necessarily Indian, but it is necessarily ELEMENTARIAN!

3. One of my VERY cute kids has a tendency to be negative in his words...he started calling the guy in front of him "trashcan" (which, in itself, is kind of hilarious!). I asked him to stay behind to talk with me, and when I asked his side of the story, he looked around for a while (obviously coming up with his story), and said "I didn't call him a trashcan...I said, 'You're sweet!'" Oh, the stories kids come up with.

India Book Club #2: White Tiger

"In the old days there were one thousand castes and destinies in India," says Balram. "These days there are two castes: Men with Big Bellies, and Men with Small Bellies."
This quote comes to life on the streets in Mussoorie or Dehradun. Very interesting...

I had heard a lot about this book since coming to India, and had the chance to read it recently. This book is Aravind Adiga's first book, and is unlike any other book I've ever read. It's written from the perspective of Balram, an Indian man born to a lower-middle caste of no importance...born in a family with few chances for education or meaningful opportunities. He's quite a bright boy, however, and his family makes sure he knows their expectations of him: to make something of himself! He has one goal: to wear a smart-looking uniform. He achieves the goal, and continues to set higher and higher goals for himself...eventually achieving them all.

The most interesting thing about this book is that it's all written in the form of a letter from Balram to an official in China. He slowly unfolds the story of his life, ALL in narrative-story form. I loved it, because it seemed to give a really strong voice to the perspective of the lower-caste Hindu working man in India.

The caste-system is EXTREMELY oppressive. Since Hinduism teaches reincarnation, there is a belief in self-worth determined by birth. At it's core, it depends on hierarchies of worth, and therefore perpetuates harmful cycles of social oppression and inequalities. Since the narrator was born into a lower caste, his opportunities were very limited. The story unfolds his journey to break free of the constraints placed on him from birth.

Balram ends up doing some horrible things to break free of his social bondage, and ends the book as a millionaire with a very successful taxi company. It's interesting, though, to see how he had to do so many WRONG things to get there...the frustrating thing is that you almost feel like he was justified in doing them! The author paints a very clear picture of the hopeless struggle that much of India finds themselves in.

GO CROSS-COUNTRY!!!

This last Friday we had the Inter-House Cross-Country day. Now, only in India could they POSSIBLY think it was a good idea to make Cross-Country a compulsory sport. :) Actually, it ended up being a REALLY fun day, particularly for the elementary kids.

I ended up handing out place cards and helping out where I could all day, and it was a GREAT day! Now, I have to tell you. The school is divided into three different houses: Eagles (blue), Condors (green), and Merlins (red). Guess which one I am!

DURING one of the races, these ladies AND this car blocked the road. Quite funny. :)

Hisaeoo is a dorm parent...can you guess which house she's in?!

Mr. Anderson is the head of high school, and didn't want to show any favoritism,
so he wore this...

This is our friend Nisha, who just adopted this girl from the orphanage we're hoping to partner with eventually. She's BEAUTIFUL!

Hmm...interesting. :)

Whatever staff wanted to run could...this is James, Brady and Aman right before their race!

One of my favorites! All the school guards got flags, and marked the course for the day.
They got really into it!

The junior highers cheering for their team. Get rowdy!

Me and my girls. :)

Little cuties. :)

More little cuties. :)

More little, LITTLE cuties!

Ready, set...(SLAM!) go!

Run run run!

Mr. Mark (head of P.E. department)

GO EAGLES!

Go MORE EAGLES!

Smile pretty!

It was a really fun day, and of the first times that I felt really REALLY happy that I have elementary! I seriously am starting to love these kids...their smiles, hugs, energy. ADORABLE!

AND...I ran with the 11/12th grade girls, and ended up getting 2nd. WAHOO! Now the top 11/12th and 9/10th girls run at Inter-School Cross-Country day on Saturday, so I'm the coach for the next week. I was trying to size up the runners we've got. Should be an interesting day. :)

India Book Club: Kite Runner

So, I've been working really hard to read books about this part of the country. While "Kite Runner" (by Khaled Hosseini)doesn't take place in India, there are a lot of similarities between the two cultures (the book is set in Afghanistan).


The book revolves around the tumultuous relationship between a wealthy boy and his "servant brother". Amir (the wealthy boy) struggled for his father's acceptance and love, while Hassan (the servant boy) grew up with very little material comforts but lots of love. Amir's longing for his father's praise lead to devastating actions, and after a series of events the friendship between the boys becomes estranged.

As I write about the books I read, I really don't want to give away the plot line too much...because some of these (this one included) are SERIOUS page-turners! I actually read this book in one night (and was VERY tired the next day, I might add), because every time I got ready to put it down, something else crazy kept me going. SO, instead of writing about the book, I'm going to write about what I learned and will take away.

- One action (or lack of) can truly change an entire life.
- This part of the world embraces belief in the superiority/inferiority of various people groups. America has a sad past dealing with prejudice and inequality...but many countries have a very sad and real present.
- Things are NEVER as they seem.
- I definitely want to see a Kite Fight some time!
- I really enjoyed reading this book in particular, because a lot of the "foreign terms" are now familiar to me! They talked about Tandoori food...and we have a Tandoor (a big barrel filled with clay that's heated up and cooks food) outside the back of the school kitchen that cooks a lot of our bread and chicken.
- It's always best to try and deal with issues...don't let them fester.
- It's never too late to try and make up for a mistake.

That's what I remember learning from the book. You should definitely check it out, it really is a GREAT book...go read it!

Ah, inexperience...thou art a worthy opponent!

So, I've just been kind of all over the place these last couple of weeks. I've been failing at my consistent blogging goals, but this is definitely a good one. :) Get ready!

This weekend I bit off more than I could chew. We thought, "Hey! Let's go on a BIG hike! Oh, and let's have a campout! So I guess that means we'll be hiking a really long way with a really heavy pack! GREAT IDEA!" I'm learning that the best adventures happen when you say yes to things you don't understand. Hmmm...

The weekend plans started with 6 of us planning a 2-day trip to Nag Tibba. Friday, 2 people drop out. Saturday morning, one more drops out. We're down to 50%. Should that tell us something?! So, it ended up just being Matt, Steve, and myself. I didn't bring the camera because I was trying to bring as few things as possible...maybe I'll get some from them and post them later. Can I just note: Matt has done multiple triathalons, and Steve has run 5 marathons. How did I get myself into this group?!

We hiked down to Thatyur (which is a WONDERFUL hike!), but I wore my new hiking boots. For the FIRST time! Seriously dumb. By the time we got down to Thatyur I could barely walk. Oh well, let's keep going! That's when the uphill started. And, that's when I started to DIE. The combination of VERY blistered feet and 30+ pounds on my back definitely changed my hiking experience. We made it about two 1/2 hours out of Thatyur and I couldn't go any more. I'm so sorry fellow-hikers! I wussed out. They were great about it, and we ended up having a great time. It was about 4:00 when we set up camp, and we just spent the night hanging with the locals, trying (quite successfully I might add!) to build a fire, laughing at some quite ridiculous moments. :) My favorite two moments were: 1) I ended up taking off my shoes and hobbling down the mountain back to where we camped. If you haven't been on a trail in India, you can't possibly imagine the amount of animal feces, but my socks don't smell so good anymore! And 2) I got charged by a bull. Almost got run off a bridge...he had horns.

It was a BEAUTIFUL night, and my hankering to go camping was filled. Seriously, couldn't have been more beautiful. Then we got up, headed back down to Thatyur (I made it!), and Matt and I opted for the taxi back.

Other fun moment: this was the first time we took the "local" taxi ride. The jeep didn't have any doors, the horn was honked by touching two wires together, and we had some fun jeep riding partners. Good times!

I have HUGS blisters, and bruises on my shoulders, hips, and ankles. But in all, it was a seriously GREAT weekend!