Yesterday was a new experience, to say the least. I woke up around 5:30 and walked around our complex, checking out the Dhauladhar Range (the Himalayan ridge which in Hindi means "snow covered" and is also the name of the school in which I am teaching) and reading my book on Gandhi and Churchill. At around 7 I helped Pawan (the cook) make Chai and some breakfast. We hung around the homebase until 9 when my adventure for the day really started...
The drive to our school is only about 15 minutes and actually quite pleasant. When we arrived we were greeted by the sound of the children (about 50 total - grades K-6) performing their daily morning prayer and assembly. This is a feat in and of itself, and I will have to take some video for those of you at home to truly appreciate it. Just to whet your appetite it is pretty much a 3-12 year old military processional which is led by a handful of 6th graders, one of whom beats rhytmically on a large drum. After prayers they do an exercise where they stand "at attention" and "at ease" about 15 times, followed by some light calesthenics and their Indian pledge of allegience (which includes an allegience to their parents and family names). Once the kids realized that we were standing behind them watching it pretty much fell apart; apparently they were just as excited to see us as we were to see them. Upon our saying "hello" they all responded with "Good morning sir; good morning madam." Following this they all filed into their classrooms and we met with Pinky (the only teacher who speaks even broken English) and the Principal, who was visibly very shy and excited to have us. We were supposed to sit and observe the classes for a few hours and then return to the home base. Instead, what ensued was one of the most taxing (emotionally and mentally) two hours of my entire life...
I took a chair into the 5th grade class in order to sit and observe, and Pinky just sat there and looked at me. Apparently she wanted me to teach the entire lesson for the day! "Oh my God, what do I do!?" Talk about pressure - I have now been placed in front of six young kids who speak only what they have been able to mindlessly memorize in English, and I have no idea what to teach them. Fall-back plan: review what I think that they may know in math ('maths' to everyone here) and English. We began with the standard (in a slow and deliberate tone and pace) "Hello, my name is Will. What is your name? I am from the United States. I am 22 years old. Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have any brothers and sisters?" Thankfully this lasted about 15 minutes, but then I found myself stuck again. After standing in front of the kids and teacher for a few minutes with the standard "Umm, uh" and sweating my ass off I decided to grab one of the kids' maths book and do some review of everything from fractions to multiplication and division, telling time and even some basic geometry. We ended with a little English and then it was on to the 3rd and 4th grade class (which are held in the same room due to a severe lack of space. Pictures are to come, but I thought that it might be too much of a distraction for the first few days.
This was one of the most tiring two hours of my life and, judging by the amount that I sweated, about as stressful as any interview that I have ever completed. Everyday when we are done we have to complete a log and journal of the day's proceedings so we did this before our lunch at 1pm. Lunch was followed by our first Hindi lesson of the trip and a 'drop off' exercise where we were abandoned in the market of Palampur and given various tasks which we had to complete. This wasn't really very hard and we had a great time walking around the market (a true market in the sense that every single door for a few miles is a shop) and seeing the town of Palampur. We came back and had some down time before dinner, in which we played the first game of cricket.
This was very fun because we have been watching cricket for the past two days and I have been furiously asking questions about the rules, scoring, etc. of the game. For anyone that isn't serious about the game I do not suggest trying to learn. Scores routinely reach between 150-300 points and there are ten different ways in which a batter can be called out, just for starters. We played for about three hours (until it got too dark to see the ball) and then retired to dinner. After our meal and a quick meeting I fell dead asleep at around 8:30.
Today began at 7am (pretty late seeing as how I have been waking up at sunrise, or about 5:30) with some chai and a nice phone call from my family. We went to school and left about 12. I'm not sure why, but I had a pretty big wave of angst come over me after school today. Some of it may have to do with the cultural change, as I haven't experienced much (if any) negative culture shock to date. Mainly I was a little discouraged with the state of the school in which we work, how much responsibility we have been given, and how hard the educational exchange is with such limited common language. After venting to Weezie and having her talk some life and enthusiasm back into me we headed to the market, which greatly raised my sprits (though I didn't realize it until we had come back to our homebase). While there I found some great shops in which to buy cloth for traditional Indian clothing and some souvenirs, but the purchase of the day was a few CD's of Punjabi Hip Hop music (the choice of our drivers) to which I have taken a special liking. We got home and jammed the new tunes, played Carrum, and watched our meal being cooked in the tandoor (a large cylindrical oven which plays host to cooking chicken, potatoes stuffed with cheese, and flat bread called naan which is slapped on the side of the tandoor). This was the best meal that we have had, in everyone's opinion. We found out that this is a traditional send-off feast which was prepared for our friend Eliza, who has been here for four weeks and is leaving Palampur tomorrrow to travel south.
Now that the sun has gone down people are sitting around writing in journals, playing Carrum (which I have decided will be a definite investment when I get home, if I can find a nice set), and swinging in the chairs which sit out on our lawn. I have to go because I am being summoned to the Carrum board by the staff (could be an intense game tonight), but I will keep writing as much as I can.
The drive to our school is only about 15 minutes and actually quite pleasant. When we arrived we were greeted by the sound of the children (about 50 total - grades K-6) performing their daily morning prayer and assembly. This is a feat in and of itself, and I will have to take some video for those of you at home to truly appreciate it. Just to whet your appetite it is pretty much a 3-12 year old military processional which is led by a handful of 6th graders, one of whom beats rhytmically on a large drum. After prayers they do an exercise where they stand "at attention" and "at ease" about 15 times, followed by some light calesthenics and their Indian pledge of allegience (which includes an allegience to their parents and family names). Once the kids realized that we were standing behind them watching it pretty much fell apart; apparently they were just as excited to see us as we were to see them. Upon our saying "hello" they all responded with "Good morning sir; good morning madam." Following this they all filed into their classrooms and we met with Pinky (the only teacher who speaks even broken English) and the Principal, who was visibly very shy and excited to have us. We were supposed to sit and observe the classes for a few hours and then return to the home base. Instead, what ensued was one of the most taxing (emotionally and mentally) two hours of my entire life...
I took a chair into the 5th grade class in order to sit and observe, and Pinky just sat there and looked at me. Apparently she wanted me to teach the entire lesson for the day! "Oh my God, what do I do!?" Talk about pressure - I have now been placed in front of six young kids who speak only what they have been able to mindlessly memorize in English, and I have no idea what to teach them. Fall-back plan: review what I think that they may know in math ('maths' to everyone here) and English. We began with the standard (in a slow and deliberate tone and pace) "Hello, my name is Will. What is your name? I am from the United States. I am 22 years old. Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have any brothers and sisters?" Thankfully this lasted about 15 minutes, but then I found myself stuck again. After standing in front of the kids and teacher for a few minutes with the standard "Umm, uh" and sweating my ass off I decided to grab one of the kids' maths book and do some review of everything from fractions to multiplication and division, telling time and even some basic geometry. We ended with a little English and then it was on to the 3rd and 4th grade class (which are held in the same room due to a severe lack of space. Pictures are to come, but I thought that it might be too much of a distraction for the first few days.
This was one of the most tiring two hours of my life and, judging by the amount that I sweated, about as stressful as any interview that I have ever completed. Everyday when we are done we have to complete a log and journal of the day's proceedings so we did this before our lunch at 1pm. Lunch was followed by our first Hindi lesson of the trip and a 'drop off' exercise where we were abandoned in the market of Palampur and given various tasks which we had to complete. This wasn't really very hard and we had a great time walking around the market (a true market in the sense that every single door for a few miles is a shop) and seeing the town of Palampur. We came back and had some down time before dinner, in which we played the first game of cricket.
This was very fun because we have been watching cricket for the past two days and I have been furiously asking questions about the rules, scoring, etc. of the game. For anyone that isn't serious about the game I do not suggest trying to learn. Scores routinely reach between 150-300 points and there are ten different ways in which a batter can be called out, just for starters. We played for about three hours (until it got too dark to see the ball) and then retired to dinner. After our meal and a quick meeting I fell dead asleep at around 8:30.
Today began at 7am (pretty late seeing as how I have been waking up at sunrise, or about 5:30) with some chai and a nice phone call from my family. We went to school and left about 12. I'm not sure why, but I had a pretty big wave of angst come over me after school today. Some of it may have to do with the cultural change, as I haven't experienced much (if any) negative culture shock to date. Mainly I was a little discouraged with the state of the school in which we work, how much responsibility we have been given, and how hard the educational exchange is with such limited common language. After venting to Weezie and having her talk some life and enthusiasm back into me we headed to the market, which greatly raised my sprits (though I didn't realize it until we had come back to our homebase). While there I found some great shops in which to buy cloth for traditional Indian clothing and some souvenirs, but the purchase of the day was a few CD's of Punjabi Hip Hop music (the choice of our drivers) to which I have taken a special liking. We got home and jammed the new tunes, played Carrum, and watched our meal being cooked in the tandoor (a large cylindrical oven which plays host to cooking chicken, potatoes stuffed with cheese, and flat bread called naan which is slapped on the side of the tandoor). This was the best meal that we have had, in everyone's opinion. We found out that this is a traditional send-off feast which was prepared for our friend Eliza, who has been here for four weeks and is leaving Palampur tomorrrow to travel south.
Now that the sun has gone down people are sitting around writing in journals, playing Carrum (which I have decided will be a definite investment when I get home, if I can find a nice set), and swinging in the chairs which sit out on our lawn. I have to go because I am being summoned to the Carrum board by the staff (could be an intense game tonight), but I will keep writing as much as I can.
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