hello all,
havent been as good about sending mass email updates as i had  originally intended, so here we go...
well, you have all been asking if i have been sick and i can finally  answer yes. it happened this weekend, and of all places and times  while i was chaperoning a 9th grade camping trip. i am considering  myself extremely lucky though for a couple of reasons: 1) my  stomach actually held out for 3 weeks in india, 2) it only lasted  about 36 hours and started at the latter half of the camping trip,  and 3) supposedly it should only hit once (we will see; we all know  how much i enjoy being the exception to every rule). 
the camp was at a beautiful spot called Poondi. the school owns  several hundred acres of land surrounding a lake about a 2 hr drive  and then a 30 minute hike from campus. KIS is in the process of  building bathrooms and showers, a sand volleyball court, and a  deck going out onto the water. so it was actually great to be there  "roughing it" with the 13 students before all the distractions are in  place. we spent the days repelling and doing archery and i was  actually leading some of these activities. SCARY?? so aside from  the 3 rats in the girls hole in the ground bathroom and the  extremely bumpy bus ride it was rather enjoyable. the kids got a  kick out of the herd of bison (and so did i) on the road on our way  back to school. they were absolutely enormous and the bus driver  had to turn off the engine while we sat patiently and waited 20  minutes for them to finish doing whatever it was they were doing so  we could proceed on.
priya and i were scheduled to chaperone a school dance that  evening but given my stomach problems i opted out and it ended  up being canceled anyway for a memorial service. a 5th grade  student who became ill the first day of class, Jan. 8, died this  weekend. he was transported to madurai for care on jan. 9 and had  been in extremely bad condition ever since. indian dr.s have no  idea the cause and had called on other dr. around the world to help  identify the cause but still nothing has been determined. the first  thought was that he contracted something at school but that was  quickly ruled out given the short time frame he was actually here.  the students werent allowed to arrive before jan. 7 and given his  unique case and that no other students have had any of symptoms  it was ruled an impossibility. even more tragic, the parents of  another student had gone to visit Asad in the hospital shortly after  he was admitted and on their way home were involved in a car  accident. the father died immediately and the mother has been in a  coma. she is expected to make a full recovery, but nonetheless,  extremely traumatic events for young children at the start of the  semester. 
lets move on to a brighter topic.... i am still enjoying myself. i  started study hall last night. i will be doing study hall every tuesday  night from 7-9 in the girls 7th and 8th grade dorm for math and  english. its unbelievable how stupid you can feel trying to do 8th  grade math. i was reading the textbook to remind myself what the  rules were for arithmetic and geometric sequences. intramurals  began this week. mondays and thursdays i am doing 7th and 8th  grade boys vball intramurals. so my evenings are pretty busy and  my days are getting busier. i just took on the kindergarten PE  class. i start next week. there are 6 of them and when i asked what  they are doing currently the elementary school coordinator told me  that yesterday they were marching left, right, left to learn the  difference between their right and left. he suggested that next i  teach them to skip, hop, gallop, etc. how cute is that? i am really  looking forward to it especially after spending everyday 9th and  10th period with the juniors and seniors. some more good news...I  found out monday that all volunteers were given a pay increase  effective immediately for the month of january. i was making 700  Rs/mo. (approx. $14) and am now making 2,000 Rs/mo. (approx.  $40). priya assures me that she doesn't spend more than 4,000  Rs/mo. so obvioulsy expensives are of little concern. so this is an  invitation to all of my fellow ex-enron employees still job-hunting  with no attachments or responsibilities (Bryan, Niclas) to come for  an extended visit?  dont worry its not a one time invitation. you will  be asked again. 
this weekend i am helping to finalize plans and registration for the  Terry Fox 10K Cancer fundraiser on sunday. Terry Fox was a  canadian man who lost a leg to cancer and started this fundraiser  before he died in the early nineties. The fundraiser now takes place  in 54 countries and India is the 8th largest contributing country. A  canadian woman that i work very closely with here brought the  fundraiser to Kodai last year and it was a huge success.  before all  of that i am chaperoning the middle school's weekend activity  saturday night, Night Frisbee. 
It should be a pretty tame weekend (not that weekends here arent)  given the recent events in Calcutta. the state of Tamil Nadu and the  rest of India have put American Institutions on high alert. So this  morning at an all-school assembly the principal met with staff and  students to inform us of the security measures that are in place for  the remainder of the week and through the weekend and possibly  ongoing. All school campus have been shut down and locked up  with only the main entrances accessible and guarded by indian  commandoes. the students all laughed at the word "commandoes"  instead of "police" or "armed guards" but that was the word used.  students and staff effective by end of school today are required to  wear ID badges, no visitors other than family members of student  and staff are allowed on campus, and students who live in dorms  off campus will be transported to and from dorm by bus. I LIVE ON  CAMPUS!! I still feel very safe here given the inaccessibility of  Kodaikanal. we are extremely far south of everything that continues  to happen in the north, 7,000 ft up in the mountains, a 3 hr. ride up  the mountain, and remember indians aren't the people committing  these acts. i havent said any of this to worry anyone. actually my  intent was quite the opposite. i am anticipating emails from a lot of  you questioning the schools response to the incident in calcutta  and wanted to assure all of you that security measures are in  place. 
love you and miss you,
Lisa
I know i forgot many people. my distribution lists are set up on  my hotmail account. Ashley, please forward on to Jahnke.  Leigh Ann, to Tracy and the rest of the girls.