Landour Language School, Mussoorie

At the end of the first week of our arrival in India, we traveled North to Mussoorie, a hill station in the Himalayas where British officers, not too long ago, took refuge from India's heat.  Nicknamed the "Queen of the Hills," Mussoorie is a quaint little town complete with fabric shops, tailors, cobblers, cafes, bookstores, and sweet shops.  For three weeks we took Hindi classes at Landour Language School.

10 AM tea break at Landour Language School, and all ten of us are present!

Our group of ten ETAs split into two ability levels for classes, beginner and non-beginner.  I went with the beginner group.  Even though I had some knowledge of Hindi, I only knew some very basic phrases, and I didn't know the grammar behind any of them.  So I thought it best to go a little slower in order to get a more solid foundation in the language, especially since I will be using it long after the completion of my Fulbright grant.

Overall, I had a great experience at Landour, and the classes were super intense.  Prior to attending Landour, I had virtually no knowledge of Devanagari, the Indian script in which Hindi is written (English is written in Roman script), but by the end of our three weeks I was able to stumble my way through paragraphs written in Devanagari.  Ah, the joy of literacy!  And how delightful to be able to read Hindi street signs and metro maps upon returning to Delhi, and directions at the train station in Aligarh.  It was as if a whole new world had opened itself to me at once.

Saying goodbye to Principal Ji, one of our Hindi teachers.

The teaching style at Landour, which included a lot of information but lacked much practice, was not ideal for everyone, but I think the teachers did a great job for the short time we had.  Admittedly, I had an advantage being that I had my Hindi-speaking husband to help me study at home, but I also did a lot of studying outside of classes--of which we had four per day, five days per week, all ending by noon.

Mussoorie was green and beautiful, but it would have been much nicer had it not been monsoon season.  I presume it was from a combination of the high altitude, the cold, and the constant humidity/fog that all ten of the ETAs--plus my husband--managed to get sick during our stay there.  Poor Nick missed about the first week and a half of classes.

SOME THINGS ONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MUSSOORIE IN MONSOON SEASON:

1. Nothing dries.  Except for maybe your underwear.  Thus, even if you choose to wash your own laundry instead of giving it to the dhobi, at least give it to the dhobi to dry, or you'll discover #2: 
   

   

   Outside our front door in Mussoorie.

   
   
2. Everything gets moldy.  Your clothes, your suitcase, maybe even your backpack.  And if it doesn't get moldy, it will at least smell mildewy.
   
 
3. Monkeys are everywhere.  So are their close relatives, langurs.  One day I nonchalantly walked outside while eating a sweet so as not to get crumbs in our room, and was jumped on by a monkey.  Scary?  Yes.  But also a little funny.  The monkeys leapt and bounded across our tin roof for the next two and half weeks.

A few more pictures from Mussoorie...

The kuttha that was waiting for us everyday when we walked back "home" after classes at Landour.  He always sat on top of that wall--except, of course, on the day I took this picture.

Trying to feed a calf on our way down to the market, but the calf would have none of it.

A nice view walking down the mountain to the market.

Contrary to popular belief, more than 70% of Indians live in rural areas.  Mussoorie, of course, is largely a tourist destination, but it's also very green--not how most people picture India.

All dressed up and ready for dinner with the rest of the ETAs.
(And I'm happy to report that I can now drape my sari much nicer than this.)

Another view of Mussoorie.  Puzzle picture perhaps?

FUTURE ETAs:

You might consider purchasing some salwar-kameez, the kind of Indian suit that you (girls) will be expected to wear to school.  Unless, of course, you want to don a sari.  Visit the fabric shops and have your clothes custom-made at a tailor's shop while in Mussoorie so you're all set for school when you return to Delhi.