October Already?

Thought you might like to see what I see every day.  

Across the street, the neighborhood pack will play rousing games of King of the Mountain.  I'm totally not kidding.  This isn't a great picture, but if you look closer, you'll see there's a black dog on top of the gravel pile, just behind the gate, and that little tan dog running away.  Black dog wins.

So, the Delhi police will randomly put these barricades out in the streets.  There's one that says something to the effect of: "We might slow you down, but hopefully no criminals get past us".  It's a head scratcher.

This is the main entrance to school.  It's the closest to the Tiger's Den, where I eat breakfast every morning.

This guy is just inside the front gate.  I'm sure he's meant to be someone important,  I just don't know who.

My ususal: bagel omelette sandwich.  Yummy.

And this is my desk.  Somewhat cluttered, but it helps me find things.  And you'll notice the musical wall Hanging - my mom made that for me, and it has hung in every classroom I've had overseas.

This week on Tuesday was the Festival of Dussehra (pronounced doo-SHARE-ah), which celebrates the triumph of good over evil.  Read more here. It is commemorated by burning the effigies of an evil king, his son and brother.  All of them have fireworks stuffed inside.

This is the brother.

 The wicked king

This is the evil son.

Political speeches were made from the platform in the park.

 As the sun set, it was time to start lighting fireworks!

My lovely teaching assistant's home is literally directly across the street from this park.  She invited me and another family from church over for dinner, then we came and sat in the park.  One of the girls said, "This would never be allowed in Oregon" - meaning that we would never be so close to live fireworks.  It was loud and very near.

Then there came actors who did a pantomime of the story and the culminating event - the burning of the effigies!  All three had fireworks inside them - this is the burning of the last, the evil king.

So, the whole event lasted an hour or so, but it felt very much later than 7:30 when I got into my friend's car to go home.  The ride home was enlivened by seeing another effigy in parts on top of a small golf cart-like truck.  We were tempted to follow, but didn't.

So.  Today is parent-teacher conferences.  I'm bored, as usual.  One can only plan for so long, or look at assessment ideas, or be on Pinterest looking for ideas.  3 and a half more hours, though, and then it's the weekend.