Newbies at Woodstock

Mid-July 2005: We complete a wonderfully organized week of orientation for new staff, though we are still woozy with jetlag and altitude and new water and new food. Jeff then got the first case of traveler's diarrhea, which simply kept him in bed for a day, then a bit hesitant. Next, Coleman got it -- so Barb stayed home while Jeff and Chris traveled with the new-staff group for the scheduled shopping trip, down the mountain to DehraDun.
DehraDun was a reminder of the heat and dust and crowdedness of India. We each bought a few hundred dollars worth of kitchen and household supplies, and were exhausted from the effort and the heat, by the end of the shopping day. We loaded everything on the bus and on top of the bus, including our 4 Thomas foam mattresses (most mattresses here are simply coir fiber, neither springy nor soft).
On the drive up the mountain, the monsoon reasserted itself: foam mattresses soak up alot of water! We took the next 2 weeks drying them out, as the next 2 weeks rained every day, most of the day.
And yet, attached here is a photo taken then, to the south from the back gate of the school, during a few hours of dryness, showing the beauty of the mountain view.