6 Weeks

Six weeks ago today I left Montreal for Ooty. How time flies! It seems like only yesterday I met Val Graham (South Africa) and Tim Cather (Australia) at the airport. We had lunch and waited for the Trythall family (England) to arrive with their 3 children. We picked up Tom and Valsa George, Vice-Principal student affairs and started the 3 hour bus ride up to Hebron School in Ooty.

We have had just over 4 weeks of classes and marks for reports are due in on September 18. The children have written 2 math tests with a third to come next week. Their "prep" (homework) has also been evaluated. For the Level 7's we are giving only a comment as to how the child is doing.

Starting September 26 we have the drama presentation by Levels 7, 9, 11, and 13. in order to prepare for the Drama Festival, a major event, classes are shortened by 5 minutes each on Thursdays. The school day finishes just before 3:00 P.M. For those students not involved in drama, 8,10, and 12 their are different activities to keep them occupied while the other levels practice their plays.

Last week the Level 8's visited the Ooty Club. This is a left-over from British days. It was and still is the official hunt club of the region. It is also the location of the first snooker table where coloured balls were used. Their is a plaque on the wall and it is all "very proper" as the English say. We were told "no cameras"

This week the visit was to the Raj Bhavan. This is also a relic of the early 1800's. It is an official government building and is used today by the Governor. He stays there about one month per year. There are over 100 bedrooms in the residence. The current governor stays in a suite of room on the upper floor over looking the Botanical Gardens. Once again we were told "no cameras". AS we had to walk through the gardens to get to the Raj Bhavan I took my camera and was able to get a shot of the gate, the pool garden and the palace showing the front door. The garden side is around the back.

Today most of the school is at Wellington, Coonoor for a sports day. Feeling slightly under-the-weather I decided to skip the bumpy one hour bus ride and enjoy the sights and sounds of Ooty. The sun was beautiful for about 20 minutes and then the clouds came and the rain came, too.