The good life

I just HAD to keep you all updated with a few of the latest things!!

1. Grocery shopping.
I just got off the phone with our local grocer. (By the end of this experience we are going to be tight...that is if he does not swindle me out of my rupees!) I gave him a call at approximately 6:30 pm and the man who answered the phone asks me to wait a bit so that he can get another man on the phone...presumably one that can speak and understand English well. Once this other man is on the phone, I begin by asking if I can set up an account with the grocery store, which takes about 15 seconds. I give him my first name (spell it out) and last and then where I live. ACCOUNT OPENED. Everyone with ties to Woodstock--that being local grocers, haulers, taximen, etc.--knows exactly where each building is located. Okay, now it's time to place my order. So I list off the things we're hoping for: 2 brown bread; crackers; how many eggs come in a case? 30? how about half a case?; CHEESE (it's SOOOOO GOOD! Just like Wisconsin!); do you have yogurt? no, it's coming tomorrow? okay; and then the essentials: butter cookies, vanilla ice cream, and dark chocolate. A little taste of home. After he takes my order he asks when I want it to be sent out. Could it be sent out ASAP? Yes. YESSSSSSS my craving for home screams. In less than an hour a man called a "coolie," or carrier of anything from gas tanks to washer/driers, arrives at my door with my order and a bill that could be paid anytime in the next month. Oh, the Mussoorie life.

2. Numbers.
Woodstock School has 154 staff, 290 acres of campus, and 530 students--110 in grades preK-6, 420 in 7-12. Quite a feat to behold!

3. More numbers.
If any of the new staff so happen to be invited to a birthday or wedding, we have learned the protocol for gifting. For birthdays it would be appropriate to give 50 or 100 rupees (about $1.10 and $2.20), but you would want to make sure to give 51 or 101. Same thing with weddings: 251 or 501 rupees. That extra rupee is a sign of good measure and that you wish the person's money keeps growing. :)