Namaste!

I'm here! YAY!!! I arrived at the school at 2pm on Wednesday, July 27th, approximately 46 hours after I left Pittsburgh. A very long 46 hours. I'll spare you the details of my travel. Suffice to say I ended up in cities I didn't mean to at times I wasn't supposed to be there, but all in all ended up in India only a few hours behind schedule. A minor miracle. I was met at the airport by a Woodstock staff member and drove up to the school with a couple late-arriving students. The drive took another 8 hours.
So, you know how when you visit some countries, you find yourself thinking "this could be America?" This would not be one of those countries. I don't even know where to begin! Delhi was insane--people everywhere, traffic like you would not believe. Totally overwhelming. Let me give just a few highlights from the drive up:
1) Cows. That's right--I am in the land of the sacred cow and there are lots of them. Although, admittedly, not as many as I first thought -- a number of the alleged "cows" turned out to be naught by humble water buffalo (okay, so I'm not exactly Dr. Doolittle!). I'm trying to figure out, without looking like a total moron, exactly what the deal is with the cows. Are they all sacred? Or just the ones with the funny hump between their shoulders. Hmm....
2) Hinduism. One of the most interesting sights on the drive were the hundreds, literally, of men, usually in groups of two or three, wearing bright orange t-shirts and walking along the side of the road carrying brightly bedecked yokes across one or both shoulders. Really gaudy things with gold sparkly streamers and whatnot. Turns out it's the time of year for this huge water pilgrimage, centering around the god Shiva. Thousands and thousands of men make the pilgrimage to the headwaters of the Ganges river to pick up water and WALK it back home (as far as 600 km sometimes) to purify their local temples. Amazing. They're everywhere. Our drive took longer than it could have, becasue they closed the main road from Delhi to Dehra Dun to accomodate them.
That's all for now. I'll give an update on things like my apartment and whatnot later. I will say that it is AMAZINGLY gorgeous here. I've never lived in anything resembling mountains before and these are serious mountains. From outside my house I can see the snow peaks of the Himalays to the north (at least, I assume that is north...) and the whole Dun valley stretching out below. It's like nothing I've ever seen. I'll try to take pictures soon and figure out how to post them somewhere. It's monsoon season now which means a) lots of rain (duh) b) lots of fog, obscuring such picture-taking and c) moldy clothing if I'm not careful. Ewwww.