Christmas Dinner

Well, here we are at the end of our stay in the fascinating country of India. In just 2 days time we leave Hebron in Ooty and start our voyage home. We will have a brief stop in Bangalore before boarding the plane to Frankfurt and then to Montreal.

Last Saturday was a very exciting day in the Hebron community. It was the day of the Annual Christmas Dinner and the Staff Pantomime. The Sports Hall was the location for the dinner and had been transformed into a Winter Wonderland by the creative use of banners. There was a wonderful festive feeling in the air as the students arrived dressed for the occasion. The staff were in their finest, as well. There were 3 serving stations and each was very pleasing to the eye in the layout of the food and the decoration.
Following the dinner all adjourned to the GSM Hall for the pantomime. This year's panto was "Snow White." The staff had worked diligently to learn their lines. A very enthusiastic audience helped to stoke the adrenalin and a stellar performance was delivered. The students screamed with delight as they saw their teachers on stage in all manner of costumes!

Sunday night we had Carols by Candlelight on the football field outside one of the dorms. The event was open to the community at large and such a large crowd gathered it was necessary to fetch more chairs. The students were seated on blankets on the ground. (Much like the outdoor concerts at de Lanaudiere) There were white lights around the periphery, a cloudless sky above, and about 500 candles burning brightly. Indeed, an impressive sight to behold. A wonderful reminder of what it must have been like on the night the angels made their announcement to the shepherds those many years ago.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Stay tuned for new developments in 2012.

Christmas Fayre, Formal Dinner, and St. Stephen's

It has been quite a week with all the activities which are taking place as we get ready for Christmas. The Christmas Fayre was a sight to behold. Various organizations from the Ooty community and surrounding area had set up their stalls in the main dining hall as well as the Junior dining hall. There were ladies in Toda dress selling the various Toda products, shawls, bags, scarves, and other hand work. The Freedom Firm group had jewellery for sale as well as Christmas cards. There were several book tables from the Christian book stores in Ooty. There were hand crafted artificial flowers and all other items suitable for young children to buy as they did their Christmas shopping.

In the evening was the Standard 10 Formal Dinner at Nahar's vegetarian restaurant. I am becoming quite "vegetarian" in my food choices! The Standard 10's organized the entertainment and we all had some good laughs.
Sunday night was the Carols by Candlelight at St. Stephen's Church. The church was decorated with hundreds of candles which were used for illumination during the service. The Hebron choir and the St. Hilda's choir participated in the service.

Joint Carol Festival

The weekend of November 25 - 27 was one wet, ugly weekend. The power went off on Friday afternoon and we were on partial generator power for Friday night. It rained ... all night! The generator, which is located right outside our bedroom window, was turned off at 10:30 P.M. Around 3 in the morning the power was restored, briefly! We got up to cold showers, no power and more rain! After an early lunch we boarded the school bus to Coonoor for the Joint Carol Festival. The bus did not quite make it out of Ooty before breaking down. We sat in the bus on the side of the road while we waited for another bus to pick us up for the balance of the journey. We arrived at St. Joseph's just as the Festival was starting. We had to walk across the football field, which was about 2 cm deep in water, to the auditorium, in the p o u r i n g rain! There were 8 schools in the festival which was MC'ed by 2 students from St. Joe's. The last group was the staff of St. Joseph's singing several carols. The ladies were very colorful in their sari's. Following the festival we had tea in the lower level of the building before we had to make our way back across the campus to wait for our bus. Due to the bus breakdown we had to wait over one hour for another bus to pick us up. The rain clouds had sunk to a new low! We could scarcely see in front of us. Finally the bus did arrive and we had to walk down the driveway to the bus. The bus was unable to make it up the driveway due to a tree which had fallen across the road and knocked down some of the power lines. By the time we got on the bus we were damp, wet, soaked - it all depended on who was holding the umbrella! It rained all night, again! The power was by generator until 10:00 P.M. Sunday night! Still no hat water for showers. On Sunday afternoon a bus load of girls was sent over to Lushington for their showers! They had full generator power but also ran out of hot water! It's been a long time since we have seen any sign of the sun. this morning the sky is clear and blue. Hopefully it will stay that way for most of the day. During the week there were interviews with the Standard 12 students as the term reports were shared. Most students were not surprised by their results. There were a few tears! We are now in count down until the Christmas break and are going to the Christmas Fair this morning.