Woo woo!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while! Work has been super busy, and I've been trying (and succeeding!) to meet deadlines and get everything done before leaving for the Xmas break. It's been pretty great, though.

I'll do a general update of what has been going on around here:

1. Drama
Pradeep decided to leave the English team without telling anyone. He still works with the 7th grade children at the rural school, but is no longer involved in the English team. This is SUPER awkward, considering he was the head of the English team. Womp womp. Anyway, in this process, he's managed to screw over all of his co-workers in the ET, since they had a deadline the week he left and were relying on him to finish his work, which he did not do. Ughhh. I hate drama, so this was kind of stressful/generally unpleasant. Everything is still pretty awkward regarding Pradeep, but at least our expectations of him have dropped to zero.

2. Mallory and Chase!
Mallory e-mailed me a while back asking if she could come and volunteer, and we said we'd love to have her. She is a superstar. We went to Northwestern together and had a bunch of mutual friends. We also hung out a couple of times in some good company (and at a TFA interview - haha). Now, Mallory is being a BAMF/Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, but she wanted to get out and do awesome things in India for winter break, thus she is here. She brought along Chase, who is an awesome Kentuckian also on the Rhodes at Oxford. They have been really really great. They brought a thousand pounds of fun-sized candy, which we devoured in three days. And we curse all the time. And it's just great to have someone to fully understand your perspective. They've been given bikes by the REC, so we're out daily scaring villagers on our awesome white-people-bike-gang. It must be quite a sight, haha.

3. Puppies!
Are still adorable! And growing! I'm gonna take the wonky-eyed one and love it, I'm pretty sure. Pictures to come (I've already taken them!). The puppies will be a really great time-consumer once I am done with my grad school applications.

4. Foundation for English Curriculum for Grade 3 completed!
Yesterday was my deadline to complete all of the themes, vocabulary lists, structures and reading passages for the grade 3 program. When I come back from all the traveling, I'm gonna start spittin' out mad milestones. It's going to be AWESOME.

5. Bangalore
We're going there for the weekend. BALLER. We're gonna go to the movies and drink lots of coffee and eat lots of pizza/chicken/meat/NOMNOMNOMs and maybe see some sights, as well. (Bangalore really isn't a very spectacular city, sights-wise, but it's supposed to have fantastic food/shopping options. Haha. Oh, well, we'll make the best of it! :)) We're leaving in a couple of hours.

6. TRAVEL!!!
I have exactly a week until I leave for West Bengal awesomeness! I'm going to hit up Kolkata, the Sunderbans Tiger Reserve, Darjeeling, and do a Himalayan trek. Happy holidays, indeed. My Christmas present? Anya's rolling in to meet me in Darjeeling on Christmas Day to accompany me on the Himalayan trek and be generally awesome. I! AM! SO! EXCITED!

7. It's cold in Rishi Valley
Not Chicago-cold. But cold, nonetheless. I have to wear socks and sneakers every day. And my hoodie. I also have to close my windows at night. And I use TWO woolen blankets in addition to two sheets and a soft blanket I brought from the States. Brrrrr. I might or might not have caught a cold. I'm hoping the pizza and beers will help this weekend!


Life is pretty awesome. Since next week is supposed to be super busy with me tying up loose ends before leaving, I don't know how much I'll be updating (I'll try my best). And I doubt they have internets up there in the Himalayas, so that will be limited as well.

Happy holidays to everyone!