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Our Adventure to Pillar Rock
We needed to get away for a day but during monsoons you don’t have many options. So during the 2-hour break of rain one Sunday, we took Brian’s bike and drove about 20 minutes out to the edge of part of the mountain. Pillar Rock is mostly a tourist trap, but it is very beautiful with the clouds rolling in. Kyle is so good looking we can’t go anywhere with out someone asking for his picture. I think because he’s white, so good looking, and way taller than most Indian people. It was a beautiful ride and our first bike ride together. Kyle did great. It’s hard driving on the opposite side of the road. When you get into a pickle, you automatically want to go right which can be detrimental here. However, my husband is amazing and got us home safely.
Harvest Fest.
It seems no matter where you are in the world there is still Halloween or a Halloween substitute. The elementary school had a harvest fest last Friday night for all the ES students and a local Cresh school (preschool). The ES secretary is in charge of this preschool for Dalit children. Dalit means they are not allowed to go to English schools because of their social class. Every year the 5th graders run the harvest fest booths for the Cresh school in the morning and then the teachers run it at night for our students. I dressed up as a cat and Kyle a scarecrow…a very convincing one too!! We were in charge of the apple-dunking booth. It was gross. The kids were just dunking their whole head under water. Some kids came 5 or 6 times. By the end of the night the water was just full of spit. Luckily kids don’t care about that stuff, but I couldn’t take it. The students all looked so adorable.

My First Stuffed Chicken
As some of you may know, before moving to India I could cook pancakes and eggs. Oh and I could make a mean salad. Sadly, that was as far as my talent went. However, I am proud to say that I have broadened my horizons since being in India. I cooked my first chicken…(Mom I was actually able to find the hole this time!!! But all the guts were still in there and I had to pull them out. Gross!). I spiced it and filled it with apple-onion stuffing. It was so good!!! Sorry I’m bragging but I was so proud.

Mapping and the Earth
During the month of October my class was studying maps and the Earth (rocks and the layers of the Earth). To bring the unit to a close, we had a treasure hunt. I had the students in 6 groups running all over the ES campus. There were 10 stops. At each stop they had to complete a task with their group and then figure out the clue to get to the next stop. One of the tasks was using the library search to find out how many books we had by Eric Carl. The hardest part was figuring out how to spell Carl. Carol. Carul. Karel. Carel. They were so pooped by the end of the Hunt. They had been running up and down and around! But they all finished. I was very proud of them and they had a blast. Luckily I have an athletic husband who was willing to chase them all around the campus taking videos and pictures for you to see.

Monsoons = Mold. Lots of it!! If I say anything else I’ll get bitter so I’ll leave it at that. Just know that we had a rough 2 weeks in the middle of the season.