Last Post from Hebron

This has been a very interesting week as everyone has been preparing for the holidays. The students started leaving as early as Wednesday and others left early (8:30 ) on Thursday before the school assembly. There was quite a transformation in the Sports Hall between Saturday's dinner and the assembly. There were a number of empty chairs.

Following the assembly I left with 6 students for Bangalore. We drove down the Western Ghat and its 36 hair-pin bends. It was a relief when we got to the bottom. We went from an elevation of 2200 m. to just over 1000 m. The temperature increased dramatically. We then went through two wild life sanctuaries and managed to see monkeys on the side of the road as well as a wild boar.

Just after arriving in Mysore we went by the famous Mysore palace and I managed a quick photo as we drove by. We stopped at the "usual" Pizza Corner for a lunch of pizza, chicken, and other "western" food before continuing on to Bangalore.

We arrived at the Bangalore Majestic train station and the parents and/or guardians of three of the students were there to meet and pick up the respective students.


The traffic was thick to say the least. Our driver took us to the hotel and we found there was "No Reservation" for Hebron School. As we had only 1 1/2 hours we had dinner and then drove to the airport. One student was met by a friend at the airport. We arrived at the Bangalore airport at 9:20 P.M. and as the two students flying were "Unaccompanied Minors" I had to purchase their identification. Once this was done, the flight attendant took the two students and I was released of my responsibility. The time is now 10:30 P.M. and I went looking for the driver to no avail. Once the flight was called I went back to the car and we left the airport at midnight. Driving back through the wild life sanctuaries we saw no wild life at all! The driver had assured me we would see deer, as he drive the route often.

Carol Service

More decorations were added to the Sports Hall for the Carol Service on Sunday night. All along the edge of the balcony were lighted candles as well as two large candle chandeliers.

The Concert Band, Choir, Chamber Choir, and a Tamil Choir participated as well as readers and monologues.

We had visits from King Herod and the Inn Keepers Wife.

It was an enjoyable evening and a fitting conclusion to the end of Term I.

On Monday the Junior School presented their musical "It's A Miracle" with the Reception Class (4-5 yr) doing Baa-Baa-Baa, Baa-Ba-Ba-Ba! A real whole school participation.

Tuesday and Wednesday are normal school days with a final assembly on Thursday morning and by 10:15 A.M. most of the students will be on their way. I am escorting a group to Bangalore for a mid-night flight. It will give me a chance to see Mysore and Bangalore. We are going by taxi for the 300 km journey which will take between 65 and 7 hours. I will be given lunch and supper money. The taxi driver and I will stay overnight in a hotel, school expense, and I will return to Ooty on Friday. Hopefully there will be opportunity for some pictures as we travel along.

Stay tuned.

Christmas Dinner

The Sports Hall was well decorated and places were set for 510 dinner guests. The students were in their finery as were the staff. There were candle centerpieces on the tables as well as other decorations.

The caterers had set up four food serving areas each nicely decorated. The food was appropriately displayed and it almost seemed a shame to break up the display by taking the food. Within 1 hour all 510 had served themselves dinner, buffet style, and had dessert of Christmas pudding and ice cream.

Following dinner there was a presentation by the String Quartet. This allowed the staff to get into costumes As soon as the tables were cleared of dirty dishes etc., the Pantomime was presented by the staff. The theme was "Peter Pan" with suitable Hebron School adaptations. The students cheered and howled with delight as the staff members danced, pranced, flew, and sword fought their way across the stage. The appearance of the Crocodile was a real hit.

It was an excellent evening all round. The "A Level" boys and their IG had to take down the tables and generally clean up the Sports Hall in readiness for the Carol Service on Sunday night. More later.

Trip to Market

The market in Ooty is very interesting and colourful as you can see from these pictures.

The market is contained within a cement wall with the initial "M" on the outside. There are vendors at the various entrances to the market.

Once in the market you can find just about anything you may want to eat or use in cooking along with other household items like clay pots and baskets.

How do you like your chicken - Dead or Alive! Your choice!

Did you say fish?

How about some coconuts?

The sights, sounds, and smells are hard to imagine without actually being there. It was quite an experience.

Christmas Serenading

Last Wednesday afternoon the Music Department recorded a 30 minute Christmas Radio program to be aired on All India Radio on the evening of December 21, 2007. The Concert Band, the Chamber Choir, the choir, the staff octet, and a solo were the musical items. There were also several readings.

Later in the evening I heard the sound of voices. I thought the boys of the dorm were practising their Christmas Carols for Sunday's Carol Service. This went on for some time, growing louder all the time. I was curious and went to investigate. As I opened the door I was greeted by the words to "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". The boys had song books and flashlights. They were in shorts and T-shirts. They were having a great time. It made me realize just how close the end of term is and that Christmas will soon be here.

The weekly Thursday staff meeting took a different form this week as we all went over to Selborn, Girl's Residence, for a Christmas Party in the Common Room. There was a decorated tree in the lobby and a fire in the fireplace. The room was festooned with streamers and there were candles on all the tables. There was a quiz for each table to complete. We had to solve the riddle. For example 3 B M and the answer is Three Blind Mice or 8 P in the S S = 8 planets in the solar system. It was good fun. Then we were given a lump of Play Dough and one person was given the clue and had to build the clue so that the others could guess the item. Fun for all!

The eats were out of this world. Miss Lily, the Head Caterer at Selborn, spared no effort. A wonderful soup, home made donuts, mince pie, apple crisp and a host of other edibles. This was followed by dessert of 3 kinds of ice cream and rhubarb, fruit salad or other toppings. Milo (coffee with milk) ended the food part.

We had speeches of "Thanks" to all the IGs and appropriate responses. Then Santa arrived with a small gift for everyone. it was a wonderful evening.

Sorry folks, no pictures for this one!

Avalanche - Part 2

Here are a few photos of the camp setting which some of you may enjoy.

The camp is located on 16 acres of land. The bush is dense as you can see from this trail leading down to the lake.

The kitchen is really not much more than a shelter over the counter and the wood-burning stove. This is where the wonderful fried rice and noodles where prepared along with the roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables.

The terrain is rather hilly and the tents are set on the hillside not far from the washrooms, or should I say, toilets. There are taps for washing at the right hand end of the building. Cold showers are available for those who wish. You can get hot water by the bucket from the kitchen.

The camp property touches the lake at three (3) points and there are plans to open up a second camping section.

The 4.8 km walk out was through forest (jungle) with some excellent scenery.

Avalanche!

On Saturday December 1, 2007, I left Hebron with one staff member and 20 Level A boys for a weekend at Avalanche. Avalanche is the Scripture Union Camp site not far from Hebron.

We went on chartered buses to the drop off point and then took the truck, with luggage and live chickens, as far as possible and then walked the rest while the truck churned on through mud and ditches.


The camp site is quite primitive with no electricity, open area dining room and camp fire/chapel site. The boys enjoyed kayaking and swimming as well as abseiling (rappelling and then dropping into water). They boys even found an old sailboat and had fun seeing how many they could get into the boat before it capsized. The mud along the shoreline was great for mud bathing!


The fire was kept burning all weekend and so most of us are quite well "smoked". It will be a few days before all the smokey smell is gone from our clothes. I managed to borrow a sleeping bag and woollen hat for the night. I was quite warm.

As we were praying through our prayer requests on Sunday morning the chicken started to squawk and the "silence" followed by another squawk and then "silence". The roasted chicken we had for lunch was delicious; as were the fried eggs we had for breakfast. Now I know why they chickens were so silent on the trip in on Saturday.


I chose to walk out the 4.8 km. to the bus drop off point. It was pleasant enough in the forest (jungle) with some rather spectacular sights to enjoy. The weekend was wonderful and I will remember it as one of my highlights.