We're down to just two more weeks in Mussoorie. School is going great and we can both now converse in Hindi. I'm not entirely sure yet if I feel comfortable saying, "I can SPEAK Hindi." But I'm just a few weeks (or maybe months) away from being able to speak three languages. Elizabeth is pretty good at Spanish, and her Urdu is pretty good as well, so she might even be approaching the ability to speak 4 languages, and read and write 3 different scripts.
Liz's sister, Megan, will be here in two weeks to visit Mussoorie for a couple of days before we all head out together on some other adventures. Our last 5 days in India will be mostly filled with a trip to Amritsar, a city very near the border with Pakistan. We plan on seeing the Golden Temple, which is a Sikh place of worship, and also hope to check out the daily border closing, which is supposed to be pretty festive. After Amritsar, we'll head back to Delhi and visit with Rufus's new friend, Sitla. Sitla is a 4-year-old Indian girl that was adopted by a British family. Her mother works in Delhi for the British government agency that controls all British foreign aid. They came out to Mussoorie for a week and stayed right next door to Doma's, so the kids played together almost every day and even had a sleepover. Not surprisingly, Rufus snuck in a kiss. Sitla promptly set borders, "You can kiss me on my cheek and on my nose, but not on my lips."
We've made many other friends during our stay in India. We often hang out with Lisa and Lisa. Lisa 1 is from upstate New York and Lisa 2 is from Paris. They are both here studying at the language school. Back on July 4th, they invited us to a small celebration where we ate mutton burgers and met the other Americans, Europeans, and one Sri Lankan that are studying Hindi here in Mussoorie. These contacts eventually led us to several other Americans, a couple of which are also learning Hindi to boost their chances of getting into the federal government.
All of our teachers are also very friendly, and last night we visited the home of one my teachers. They made us a delicious medley of Indian food, including a spinach cottage-cheese ball thing, lentil soup, spicy pickled chillies, spiced rice, and a potato soup kind of thing. They have two children aged 11 and 12 that speak excellent English because they attend an international school where English is the language of instruction. We all took turns entertaining each other, and Liz and I showed off some of our salsa skills. I also taught the kids how to play Scrabble and we finally left when our hosts were falling asleep in front of us. It was probably the most fun Rufus has had since being in India. He does really well with children that are a bit older than him.
We also met some random friends one night at Rokeby Manor, the fancy British-era hotel cottage at the top of the hill. Liz and I went on a date to just get some really good food (Rokeby is super clean and serves a lot of American staples like mashed potatoes, chips and salsa, etc). We sat down on the deck near a family of decent size, maybe 7-8 people. Suddenly the family swelled to about 20 people and they insisted that we join them. They were a very wealthy, modern family. For example, the grandmother was born in Goa, a former Portugese colony in western India, where she a grew up on a wealthy estate speaking Portugese, and later went to Harvard for medical school. She is now an eye surgeon in Delhi. Several of the kids had been educated in the States or in England and they all clearly had a lot of money. They were celebrating two birthdays in the family and did it in great fashion. They insisted we eat all of the food that they had ordered, including several pieces of delicious chocolate cake. Later, they invited us back to their rooms, where they served us wine, champagne, fancy cheese and crackers. This was my first real experience with Indians in an informal setting, so I wasn't prepared for the onslaught of food and drinks. As soon as they saw my glass was empty, they filled it up with something new, often without asking. One time they even pushed two glasses into my hand, and I felt like a fancy frat boy. They also gave me a plate with snacks, and soon as it was empty, they put more on it. If I ever looked at the Dad and happened to have some food or drink that had not been consumed, he would slightly cock his head to the side and give a quick flip of his wrist, which meant, "Drink up, eat up, and get more." Fortunately for Liz, she had experienced this Indian custom before, so she knew to keep her plate half full, her glass half full, and don't look at anyone for too long. I'll know for next time.
In addition to friends, we have a few pets. Given that there is door that goes to the outside, and that between the bottom of this door and the floor, there is about a 1-2 inch gap, it is not surprising that we have a pet mouse, who likes to eat the crumbs from our daily room-service breakfast. He's not a pain at all, except that we often wake up in the morning, step out of bed and feel something a bit squishy. That's right, mouse poop. And Liz is convinced that she stepped on the actual mouse once. But the mouse really isn't a big deal. Last week, Rufus was playing with some cars on the floor, when he suddenly jumped up with a squeal, and yelled in a very scary voice, "It's a bug! With pinchers!! It's a pincher bug!!" I just laughed, because I thought he was being dramatic about some kind of spider. I slowly walked over to check out the scene, and sure enough, there was a black scorpion in our room. We're in the mountains, where it is cold for most of the year, and we still had a scorpion in our room. I'm not sure what to expect when I'm in Jaipur, a desert city, in the fall.
Well, I may write one more email while I'm here if I find the chance. Otherwise, I will see most of you soon, or I will call you when I'm back in the States because I'll have my cell phone again. I love and miss you all. Take care.
nolan
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