December 16, 2008
The last week of the first part of my trip was quite crazy. Lynne and Ratnam got back the 5th, but their flight was 5 hours late, which meant that it messed up the normally good timing to get over jetlag. We spent the 5th playing with the babies and Ratnam slept pretty much the whole day.
During the day though they got a call from the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers-in-training who had come for diwali, who wanted to invite some kids to their campus to play with them and it had to be the next day because they were about to go back home. The problem is getting sixty kids arranged to be ready to go on an outing takes a lot of planning. Lynne and Ratnam went through the list of kids to pick who would come. They took the oldest kids first because they thought they could get the most out of the people to be their role models, since these people will become probably the most paid and respected people in India in a few years. They also took some little kids that were easy to manage because they are the kids that the officers-in-training want to play with. We called Jayapaul at 6:30am on the 6th to get the kids ready since they wanted us there at 11 and it takes over an hour to get there. At 8:30 we set out to the hostels to make sure that they were looking presentable. They all looked very nice, but some how that process took over 2 between the 4 hostels, which meant that we were late. The hosts didn’t mind too much. We went to their cafeteria and all the kids sat down while the hosts handed out cookies, crackers and tea. The hosts went around to different tables to talk to the kids. Almost all of them found a table that they liked the most and spent most of their time with them, luckily most of they were different table so all the kids had some one to talk to. Every so often the kids got up and sang a song for the person sitting with them. At around 1 they served a nice lunch for the kids. After everyone finished they took us to their clubhouse, which had ping-pong tables, Carrom boards, and chess sets. The kids had a blast in here. They then took us to their pool to look at it. They then continued our tour through their campus. Their campus was so big that some of the kids got really tired and I ended up having to carry one on my back for a while. At around 4 we headed home and everyone was exhausted.
On the 7th Lynne and Ratnam had to go all the way back to the IAS officers campus because the officers-in-training had raised Rs. 75,000 and they wanted to formally present a check to Lynne. While they did that I had my last classes. At around lunch they came back. After my two classes in the afternoon I came back and helped Lynne and Thanuja who were sorting the 9 suitcases that they had brought from American that were pretty much all toys for the kids. We also sorted the frocks into hostels so that we could go try them on the next day to make sure that they fit.
The 8th morning we went over to 4th hostel to try on the dresses unfortunately Suma had some how messed up and a bunch of the dress were to short, which is a big problem since they all sit on the floor. We swapped a couple to try to make it work, but the biggest girls getting frocks they just didn’t fit. In the afternoon we tried them on at 3rd hostel. All the biggest dresses were shorter then the smaller ones and they were way too wide for any Indian kid. Again we tried to switch them around, but they just did not fit 7 of the girls, meaning that I had to see Suma again which was not going to be a happy reunion.
The 9th we brought all of the toy filled suitcases over to 6th hostel to start laying out the Christmas presents for all the kids. We had to do it somewhere where no kids would be, so that they wouldn’t see then until the day of Christmas. The morning we spent separating the toys into young girls big gifts and young girl small gifts, then older girl big gifts and older girl small gifts. We also did the same for the boys. These big gifts were really quite big and Lynne got them all for 5 dollars or less. The young girls had nice dollhouses and baby dolls. The young boys had cool cars. The older boys had big remote control cars and the older girls got cosmetic things like nail polish, hairbrushes, hair things, body butter, body wash, mirrors and other things. After we sorted we headed back for lunch. Right after we finished we went back to 6th hostel to lay out bags for every kid and the started giving out the big gifts. We started with the boys because they had the most toys. After we finished the boys we started with the girls we worked until 9:30 and pretty much finished giving all the big gifts except the older girls cosmetic packages. So we took all the supplies and their bags back with us so that we could make the bags back at the house in our nighties with coffee the next morning. We worked for two or three hours and the packages came out nicely for the girls. We then had to go to the office so that Lynne could finish off the accounting with Hafeez from when she was gone. I worked in the office organizing the applications and did the SSA for the months of October, November, and started the December one. It took quite a long time because there is a lot that they have to buy in three months. At around 5 we went back to 6th hostel to put out the general gifts like towels, pencils, erasers, toothpaste, and pens. We had to go back early because one of Ratnam’s friends came over for dinner.
The 11th was a more relaxed day we hung out at the house in the morning to play with James and Luke. We then went back to 6th hostel to put out the belts for the older boys, the nighties that we had and filled out gifts that we thought were lacking a little bit, We did something else but I am not remembering. The 12th you guessed it we went back to 6th hostel where we stuffed all the bags and put labels on the gifts that were too big to fit in the bag. The presents are pretty much done except that we did have enough nighties or towels. We then came back for lunch. Lynne had planned to take me to this big handycrafts festival but it didn’t start until the 13th. It is actually the same place where I went when I went to visit TT , but all crafts makers from all over India come for about 3 weeks at the end of December to increase the number of shops 10 times. We decided to wait until the 13th so we went to Suma to try to deal with the miss fitting frocks problem. She tried to deny that I gave her a good sample size, but luckily we had brought the girl who happened to be wearing the sample dress we had given Suma. She decided that she would use the scraps of cloth left over to add to the bottom to make a little flare at the bottom. We let her try and show but we did not have high hopes. While we waited for her to do we went to the boys hostel to check on the blanket situation because they we saying that they didn’t have any and since it is there winter they now need some heavier blankets. We brought so more blankets from the “go-down” (storage house) and gave them out an went back to see Suma’s work. It was not bad except that she didn’t have big enough pieces so she had a really weird seem which did not look good. The 13th I spent the morning packing and then in the afternoon we were almost out the door when the SSA officer dropped in and stayed for 3 hours. As soon as she left we headed off to Shilparam, the handy craft festival. It took about an hour to get there, but it was more than worth it. It was amazing the amount of people, and so many more will come in a week. I bought up the place and we finish only when the stall owners started putting up their tarps so that they could cook their dinner and sleep in their little area at around 10:30. We then went out to a really weird dinner. It was late so they were trying to hurry us up which is understandable, but when we came in no tables were clean. After thy supposedly cleaned a table, the chairs were covered in crumbs and when out food came we found a cockroach on the table. It was just not a good experience. The food was ok, but it didn’t really matter.
This morning I packed everything that I had bought at Shilparam and then we headed off to monda market to get the towels, short sets, combs, saris, and nighties that we needed to finish off Christmas shopping. We did pretty well, we got every thing except the nighties. We then rushed back because a man showed up at the school to interview for a position as either a teacher or as a warden. Only in India people just show up on Sunday without calling for an interview. While they were having the interview I hung out with the boys and said good-bye. After they finished with the interview we went over to 3rd hostel were we hung out for a little while. And then we said a very quick good-bye to 2nd and 4th hostel. We then went back to the house so I could finish packing and giving Lynne the rest of my notes so she knows what is going on when I leave. We left at 11 for the airport. I said good-bye to Lynne and Ratnam and checked-in. The check-in and security process was painless. All my flights were fine and uneventful. I am now home enjoying my extremely comfortable bed and having all the doctor, dentist, and hair appointments. I feels good to be home, but I miss everyone back in India. Hope I get a chance to see everyone before I head back.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Last Before Holidays
December 3, 2008
So this will probably be my last update before I head home for the holidays on the 15th, which I am really excited about because I will get to see you all. And the fact that I am coming back after New Year’s makes leaving a lot easier.
So there is not too much to report, still teaching and tutoring. Thanksgiving was very relaxing we actually didn’t have school. Not for a happy reason though, Hafeez’s brother-in-law passed away and so he had to go home to his village. Since both bus drivers quit a month or so ago, there was no one to drive the school bus. The other teachers actually went to individual hostels and taught, but there was no one to drive me and I sort of can’t teach computers without the computers.
Outside of school, the septic tank kept backing up on our street and so we had pipes put in, in front of the house. We had a huge hole and the water was cut for almost two days, but it is all-better now. On Monday I did something fun, I had Thanuja teach me how to cook one of my favorite curries that she makes. It was really good and it was nice to talk to Thanuja about other things than just the babies. After the delay of Lynne and Ratnam coming back because of Ratnam’s papers, they will be arriving on the night of the 5th. Because of the Mumbai terrorist attack, Lynne thinks that we should stay out of the old city, which is where we had planned to do a lot of the rest of the shopping because it is the Muslim district. So I guess we are going to have to find another way to get the last minute things that we need. We will see.
See You Soon!
So this will probably be my last update before I head home for the holidays on the 15th, which I am really excited about because I will get to see you all. And the fact that I am coming back after New Year’s makes leaving a lot easier.
So there is not too much to report, still teaching and tutoring. Thanksgiving was very relaxing we actually didn’t have school. Not for a happy reason though, Hafeez’s brother-in-law passed away and so he had to go home to his village. Since both bus drivers quit a month or so ago, there was no one to drive the school bus. The other teachers actually went to individual hostels and taught, but there was no one to drive me and I sort of can’t teach computers without the computers.
Outside of school, the septic tank kept backing up on our street and so we had pipes put in, in front of the house. We had a huge hole and the water was cut for almost two days, but it is all-better now. On Monday I did something fun, I had Thanuja teach me how to cook one of my favorite curries that she makes. It was really good and it was nice to talk to Thanuja about other things than just the babies. After the delay of Lynne and Ratnam coming back because of Ratnam’s papers, they will be arriving on the night of the 5th. Because of the Mumbai terrorist attack, Lynne thinks that we should stay out of the old city, which is where we had planned to do a lot of the rest of the shopping because it is the Muslim district. So I guess we are going to have to find another way to get the last minute things that we need. We will see.
See You Soon!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Set Backs and Triumphs (but mostly set backs)
November 19, 2008
So last week I got pink eye, so I stayed in my room most of the time. Not only could I not teach, but I had to stay away from the other side of the house because anytime I went over there the babies started crawling on me or crying and I couldn’t do anything for them which was really difficult. I watched a bunch of movies and read some. By about Sunday I was clear to go back to teaching and playing with the kids. On Monday I had a lovely coming back present of two computers dieing. The first one had been acting up a lot by freezing and finally the mouse just stopped reacting and stopped working completely. The other computer would start and an error message would come up saying that a file was missing and that it couldn’t start. I officially hate PCs. I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked I gave up after 5 hours straight working on them. I had the kids that were on these computers move to other groups. This morning when I came in a third computer stopped working with a different problem and I decided that I now had to call HP support because soon we would have no computers left. The new computer problem didn’t even get to the point of an error message. It just stopped in the middle of starting up and froze. I couldn’t even turn off the computer without pulling the plug out. Of course I figured out one of the original failures just as I called, but the other two continued to not work. The woman helping me on the phone was very nice and very patient, but ended up not being able to figure out what was wrong with the other two. Another annoying thing is that Suma the frock tailor is so flaky. I wanted her to finish by Monday but she asked if I could wait until today because she was going to her village for the weekend. I didn’t really have a choice so I said yes, but then today she said that she needed until Saturday. So Hafeez and I decided to give 11 of the 22 left to another tailor to make sure that the rest are done on time. Hopefully the new tailor will be a little more reliable.
November 21, 2008
So internet has been very uncooperative this past week, which is kind of a big problem since the benefit is tomorrow and Lynne needed some pictures from me, but hopefully she will come up with something else. Another bad thing is that the new tailor is asking to increase the price by 50%, which even though it is only 30 rupees (60 cents), it adds up. So we have to try to find another tailor. Good news though is that I fixed (sort of) all the computers today. One I just switched the computer box with one that didn’t have a monitor, so we will have to deal with that problem again at a later date, but now all the computers that the kids have been using are in full working condition. I felt really smart and it made the whole day go really well. I finally have gotten my teaching schedule down. I begin teaching at 9:30 and have computer classes all morning. Then everyone breaks for lunch at 12:50. I then have one more computer class. I then have my one leisure period before I tutor math to 7th, then grammar to 9th, and then English to 10th. I am done by about 5:15, after which I pretty much crash. Lynne comes back on Monday night, so my schedule will probably change again, but for now it is working out well.
So last week I got pink eye, so I stayed in my room most of the time. Not only could I not teach, but I had to stay away from the other side of the house because anytime I went over there the babies started crawling on me or crying and I couldn’t do anything for them which was really difficult. I watched a bunch of movies and read some. By about Sunday I was clear to go back to teaching and playing with the kids. On Monday I had a lovely coming back present of two computers dieing. The first one had been acting up a lot by freezing and finally the mouse just stopped reacting and stopped working completely. The other computer would start and an error message would come up saying that a file was missing and that it couldn’t start. I officially hate PCs. I tried everything I could think of and nothing worked I gave up after 5 hours straight working on them. I had the kids that were on these computers move to other groups. This morning when I came in a third computer stopped working with a different problem and I decided that I now had to call HP support because soon we would have no computers left. The new computer problem didn’t even get to the point of an error message. It just stopped in the middle of starting up and froze. I couldn’t even turn off the computer without pulling the plug out. Of course I figured out one of the original failures just as I called, but the other two continued to not work. The woman helping me on the phone was very nice and very patient, but ended up not being able to figure out what was wrong with the other two. Another annoying thing is that Suma the frock tailor is so flaky. I wanted her to finish by Monday but she asked if I could wait until today because she was going to her village for the weekend. I didn’t really have a choice so I said yes, but then today she said that she needed until Saturday. So Hafeez and I decided to give 11 of the 22 left to another tailor to make sure that the rest are done on time. Hopefully the new tailor will be a little more reliable.
November 21, 2008
So internet has been very uncooperative this past week, which is kind of a big problem since the benefit is tomorrow and Lynne needed some pictures from me, but hopefully she will come up with something else. Another bad thing is that the new tailor is asking to increase the price by 50%, which even though it is only 30 rupees (60 cents), it adds up. So we have to try to find another tailor. Good news though is that I fixed (sort of) all the computers today. One I just switched the computer box with one that didn’t have a monitor, so we will have to deal with that problem again at a later date, but now all the computers that the kids have been using are in full working condition. I felt really smart and it made the whole day go really well. I finally have gotten my teaching schedule down. I begin teaching at 9:30 and have computer classes all morning. Then everyone breaks for lunch at 12:50. I then have one more computer class. I then have my one leisure period before I tutor math to 7th, then grammar to 9th, and then English to 10th. I am done by about 5:15, after which I pretty much crash. Lynne comes back on Monday night, so my schedule will probably change again, but for now it is working out well.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Other side of India
November 12, 2008
So this weekend was a lot of fun. It took a little time for the driver to find the house, but once he found it we headed back to TT’s apartment where I met his wife, Lakshmi and two boys. One is in 8th grade, Arvind, and the other is 2 and a half, Rakov. They are all very nice, but Rakov is a little shy so he hid from me most of the time. We had lunch and then the girl that is sort of Rakov’s nanny, who speaks very good English, and the lady that does the cleaning, took me to a market really close by where the craftsmen and women sell the things that they make. It was a really nice green area and I got a couple of nice things there. We then came back and got ready to go to the movies. I was a little unsure as to what they were going to wear so I packed everything. Luckily, I brought my jeans, because I would have felt a little funny walking around in my Punjabi while Lakshmi was in capris. TT, Lakshmi, Arvind, and I, all went to the movies. It was a little far away, but it was a nice IMAX theater. We had good seats and it was a fun movie. It is interesting though because apparently in every movie there is an intermission even though the movie was only 2 hours long. It wasn’t like other James Bond movies, since there was no “Bond, James Bond” and there were basically no gadgets, and there were a lot fistfights, unlike Bond’s usual one shot wonder. As TT said and the critics said the following morning, it was more like a Borne Identity movie. Nevertheless it was a good, entertaining movie. We came back to the house for a quick dinner and then I headed off to bed. It was a really nice room. Their apartment has two floors and is in a complex that has a “clubhouse” that has a swimming pool, a fitness center, badminton courts and basketball court. It was nice because it meant that Arvind had a lot of friends to hang out with. Sunday morning was very relaxing, I got a massage from a woman that comes to give Arvind one every week. It felt so good and I was very relaxed afterwards. We then just hung out for the rest of the morning. Rakov finally warmed up to me and we play hind and seek for a little while. We then went off to have lunch at a place called “Little Italy”. It was really, really good. It is an all you can eat gourmet buffet. They could make any kind of pasta for you and stir-fries and they had really good breads along with amazing appetizers. Also, their dessert were not half bad. I think I ate more in that one meal then I have in any one day since I have been here. We then went back for little while before I headed back to Uppal. It was really nice vacation to a different side of India. Monday I had to miss my first class because the power was out. I tutored math and then let them use the computers, however in the middle of my of that class, with 7th class, the power went out again. While we were waiting for the power to come back on they asked me questions about school in America. They asked if we took all the subjects they took, and they were surprised that we had social studies and science like they did. It was nice to talk to the older boys for a change. Finally we gave up and I went back to the house for a little. The power didn’t come back on until after lunch, but the kids were taking their unit tests. I got one more class in before the power went out again. And while we waited they asked me about the US election. After school I had 10th class try to do one of the writing sections from the 10th class exam from last year. The power was out for most of the rest of the day and it was a nice temperature outside, so Srilata, Laxmi, and Deepika had some running races while Thanuja and I took the kids. It was fun day, even though the power was out. I got to have a conversation with the older kids for a little while instead of just teaching them. And playing outside was quite fun also. But that didn’t last long. Yesterday, Hafeez took me into the city to help me pick up some things that Lynne had ordered for Christmas, which meant that I missed my morning classes and the kids were not that happy with me since I missed Saturday and the power was out the day before. Also, as soon as the first group started the typing program stopped working on two computers. I set one of the groups on another computer, but the others had to wait and a person came to tell me that the group’s computer wasn’t working every 5 minutes or so, which got me really frustrated since I was working on the other one. I decided that I needed a little quiet to figure out what was wrong with the programs so I closed the computer lab. I finally fixed the first one, but before I could fix the second I started to feel sick. I slept for a while and I felt a little better. This morning I felt even better, but am still not 100%. Today I finally got to have all my classes and I picked up some more of the dresses.
So this weekend was a lot of fun. It took a little time for the driver to find the house, but once he found it we headed back to TT’s apartment where I met his wife, Lakshmi and two boys. One is in 8th grade, Arvind, and the other is 2 and a half, Rakov. They are all very nice, but Rakov is a little shy so he hid from me most of the time. We had lunch and then the girl that is sort of Rakov’s nanny, who speaks very good English, and the lady that does the cleaning, took me to a market really close by where the craftsmen and women sell the things that they make. It was a really nice green area and I got a couple of nice things there. We then came back and got ready to go to the movies. I was a little unsure as to what they were going to wear so I packed everything. Luckily, I brought my jeans, because I would have felt a little funny walking around in my Punjabi while Lakshmi was in capris. TT, Lakshmi, Arvind, and I, all went to the movies. It was a little far away, but it was a nice IMAX theater. We had good seats and it was a fun movie. It is interesting though because apparently in every movie there is an intermission even though the movie was only 2 hours long. It wasn’t like other James Bond movies, since there was no “Bond, James Bond” and there were basically no gadgets, and there were a lot fistfights, unlike Bond’s usual one shot wonder. As TT said and the critics said the following morning, it was more like a Borne Identity movie. Nevertheless it was a good, entertaining movie. We came back to the house for a quick dinner and then I headed off to bed. It was a really nice room. Their apartment has two floors and is in a complex that has a “clubhouse” that has a swimming pool, a fitness center, badminton courts and basketball court. It was nice because it meant that Arvind had a lot of friends to hang out with. Sunday morning was very relaxing, I got a massage from a woman that comes to give Arvind one every week. It felt so good and I was very relaxed afterwards. We then just hung out for the rest of the morning. Rakov finally warmed up to me and we play hind and seek for a little while. We then went off to have lunch at a place called “Little Italy”. It was really, really good. It is an all you can eat gourmet buffet. They could make any kind of pasta for you and stir-fries and they had really good breads along with amazing appetizers. Also, their dessert were not half bad. I think I ate more in that one meal then I have in any one day since I have been here. We then went back for little while before I headed back to Uppal. It was really nice vacation to a different side of India. Monday I had to miss my first class because the power was out. I tutored math and then let them use the computers, however in the middle of my of that class, with 7th class, the power went out again. While we were waiting for the power to come back on they asked me questions about school in America. They asked if we took all the subjects they took, and they were surprised that we had social studies and science like they did. It was nice to talk to the older boys for a change. Finally we gave up and I went back to the house for a little. The power didn’t come back on until after lunch, but the kids were taking their unit tests. I got one more class in before the power went out again. And while we waited they asked me about the US election. After school I had 10th class try to do one of the writing sections from the 10th class exam from last year. The power was out for most of the rest of the day and it was a nice temperature outside, so Srilata, Laxmi, and Deepika had some running races while Thanuja and I took the kids. It was fun day, even though the power was out. I got to have a conversation with the older kids for a little while instead of just teaching them. And playing outside was quite fun also. But that didn’t last long. Yesterday, Hafeez took me into the city to help me pick up some things that Lynne had ordered for Christmas, which meant that I missed my morning classes and the kids were not that happy with me since I missed Saturday and the power was out the day before. Also, as soon as the first group started the typing program stopped working on two computers. I set one of the groups on another computer, but the others had to wait and a person came to tell me that the group’s computer wasn’t working every 5 minutes or so, which got me really frustrated since I was working on the other one. I decided that I needed a little quiet to figure out what was wrong with the programs so I closed the computer lab. I finally fixed the first one, but before I could fix the second I started to feel sick. I slept for a while and I felt a little better. This morning I felt even better, but am still not 100%. Today I finally got to have all my classes and I picked up some more of the dresses.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Miss Maia the Teacher
November 7, 2008
Sorry that it has been so long since my last update, there was nothing really exciting to report, but I was kept busy. I started teaching a couple more classes. I finally started my 10th grade tutoring on Monday. I was holding off because one of the three was not coming to school because he burned his hand during Diwali, but he is feeling better now and is back in school. My goal is to get them ready for their 10th class exam, which determines if they graduate or not and if the local Junior College will accept them. Once I started them, Srilata (Ratnam’s niece) joined the classes, so that she can take her 10th class exam again this year. I have mostly been working on Reading Comprehension, because that is basically 75% of the exam. Even though this is basically the blind leading the blind, I have taken so many class, that even if I can’t put the tutors advice into practice, maybe they can. I also added some more classes to the computers. Now 5th, 6th, and 7th are also getting the chance to learn to type. Luckily, 9th class has been able to help with both my 5th and 6th class, so that they can understand me and so that I can have some more eyes and ears. One set back was that they typing program can only have 5 names as users, so by the time 5th class got to class, a lot of the computers had maxed out. Luckily the older classes are quite small, so a couple of computer still had space and there were just enough so that only one group had to have three girls in it while the rest had two. The younger classes are doing quite well, but I have to remind the 9th class every so often that they started out slowly too and to not rush them. While I was in class, the 9th class asked me if I could be their English grammar teacher. Their teacher was the Headmaster, who had a stoke a month ago, so their Social Studies teacher has been working with them on other aspects that they need to learn, and I have been working with them on Parts of Speech and punctuation. Right now I have a class every period and after school, which is keeping me busy. And then after school I have to come up with lesson plans. The math tutoring is a lot easier because I can just work from their text book, but there is no really test book for either 10th or 9th because they are doing it in their normal English classes, meaning I have to come up with the lesson and the materials. The web has been quite helpful though, with practice grammar exercises and past 10th class exams that I can use the stories from to get the 10th class prepared for the type and layout they are going to see in March. Today I am hopefully going to meet up with TT, and really good friend of my uncle, who lives just out side of Hyderabad. The only problem is that it is on the opposite side of Hyderabad, so it is over an hour away. He offered that I stay over, to make the trip worth it, so I will get back tomorrow afternoon. I am really excited. It will be nice to be around people I can really talk to, and also he has tickets for his whole family and me to go see the new James Bond movie that comes out today, which should be fun. I will let you know how it goes.
Sorry that it has been so long since my last update, there was nothing really exciting to report, but I was kept busy. I started teaching a couple more classes. I finally started my 10th grade tutoring on Monday. I was holding off because one of the three was not coming to school because he burned his hand during Diwali, but he is feeling better now and is back in school. My goal is to get them ready for their 10th class exam, which determines if they graduate or not and if the local Junior College will accept them. Once I started them, Srilata (Ratnam’s niece) joined the classes, so that she can take her 10th class exam again this year. I have mostly been working on Reading Comprehension, because that is basically 75% of the exam. Even though this is basically the blind leading the blind, I have taken so many class, that even if I can’t put the tutors advice into practice, maybe they can. I also added some more classes to the computers. Now 5th, 6th, and 7th are also getting the chance to learn to type. Luckily, 9th class has been able to help with both my 5th and 6th class, so that they can understand me and so that I can have some more eyes and ears. One set back was that they typing program can only have 5 names as users, so by the time 5th class got to class, a lot of the computers had maxed out. Luckily the older classes are quite small, so a couple of computer still had space and there were just enough so that only one group had to have three girls in it while the rest had two. The younger classes are doing quite well, but I have to remind the 9th class every so often that they started out slowly too and to not rush them. While I was in class, the 9th class asked me if I could be their English grammar teacher. Their teacher was the Headmaster, who had a stoke a month ago, so their Social Studies teacher has been working with them on other aspects that they need to learn, and I have been working with them on Parts of Speech and punctuation. Right now I have a class every period and after school, which is keeping me busy. And then after school I have to come up with lesson plans. The math tutoring is a lot easier because I can just work from their text book, but there is no really test book for either 10th or 9th because they are doing it in their normal English classes, meaning I have to come up with the lesson and the materials. The web has been quite helpful though, with practice grammar exercises and past 10th class exams that I can use the stories from to get the 10th class prepared for the type and layout they are going to see in March. Today I am hopefully going to meet up with TT, and really good friend of my uncle, who lives just out side of Hyderabad. The only problem is that it is on the opposite side of Hyderabad, so it is over an hour away. He offered that I stay over, to make the trip worth it, so I will get back tomorrow afternoon. I am really excited. It will be nice to be around people I can really talk to, and also he has tickets for his whole family and me to go see the new James Bond movie that comes out today, which should be fun. I will let you know how it goes.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Overnight and Diwali
October 28, 2008
This past week I finally got into a rhythm. I had my math tutoring then computer classes until lunch then one more class and then I spent the rest of the doing other work. In India they still have class on Saturday, so Sunday was my day off. Slept in which was nice. I went over and played with the babies and at around ten Hafeez came to the school to pick something up. I decided to tale advantage of this and asked him to drive me to 2nd hostel. I had some clothes that I wanted to hand out and they had been asking me all the time to sleep over with them. I packed an over night bag and the clothes and Hafeez dropped me off. The kids were in their last few minutes if Sunday school so I waited in the medicine room. As soon as Sunday school was over, everyone came over and surrounded me. Whenever I go to a hostel, I feel like a celebrity. Everyone wants to be next to me and to talk to me. They all ask me to sit with them at meals and asked that I sleep next to them. I set up in the playroom to start handing out cloths that were donated by local people. Most of the clothes are quite little. I had the girls come first. I would call out a girls name and I would hold up a piece of clothing to see if it almost fit. Then they go into another room were the older girls were helping them try them on to make sure that it actually fit. I was actually pretty good guessing if it was going to fit or not. I gave as many as I could to these Sishu Viha kids. Sishu Viha is a government orphanage, and once these kids were found to be HIV positive, they were sent to Agape. Because they are complete orphans, with no relatives, they get no new cloths from them on their birthday or during festivals, so I gave the most to them. The clothes that didn’t fit any of them I gave to some of the other girls. I then started with the boys. I had basically no pants, and that is what they really need, but I gave away a bunch of shirts. Within about 15 minutes after I finished with the shirts, one of the little boys was wearing his new shirt and it ripped. After I finished handing out the clothes, I had batches in the playroom. They are batched together based on age, so they are playing with similar toys. The first batch was a little crazy because there are so many little kids but they were very cute. There were five batches, and each got a half an hour in the playroom. This finished at around 4:30 and then it was the girls time to shower. They all shower every morning, but twice a week in the afternoon they take another, where they get to wash their hair. We then played for a while before dinner. Everyone then got read for bed. I decided to sleep with the older girls. In India pretty much everyone sleeps on the ground on mats. The kids got out their mats and they all basically slept on top of each other. Not because there wasn’t enough room, I think it was more for the sense of company and safety. I wasn’t really prepared for this, so even though the lights were shut off at about 9, I couldn’t fall asleep until about 2:30. I then was woken up at 5:30 by one of the youngest girls, Saivithri, who was poking me in the back. Only a couple of other girls were up, who were sweeping and cleaning the hostel. At around 6 everyone woke up and said their morning prayer before they brushed their teeth and took their shower. I decided to wait until I got back to the house to shower. The older girls helped everyone with their hair and then we had breakfast. After breakfast we played a little more before the bus came. I took the bus with the kids and took my shower and got ready to tutor. Monday was he same schedule as the week before. Today is Diwali the morning was normal, but at 3:30 guests came to celebrate Diwali with the kids. Diwali is celebrated similarly to the 4th of July. Fireworks, sparklers, lights are everywhere and will continue long into the night. The guests were from the Civil Service Program, the same people that came before, but there were about 20 of them. It seemed that everyone had fun. They handed out snacks and gave he kids sparklers and set off small fireworks. They left at around 6:30 after a fun filled couple of hours.
This past week I finally got into a rhythm. I had my math tutoring then computer classes until lunch then one more class and then I spent the rest of the doing other work. In India they still have class on Saturday, so Sunday was my day off. Slept in which was nice. I went over and played with the babies and at around ten Hafeez came to the school to pick something up. I decided to tale advantage of this and asked him to drive me to 2nd hostel. I had some clothes that I wanted to hand out and they had been asking me all the time to sleep over with them. I packed an over night bag and the clothes and Hafeez dropped me off. The kids were in their last few minutes if Sunday school so I waited in the medicine room. As soon as Sunday school was over, everyone came over and surrounded me. Whenever I go to a hostel, I feel like a celebrity. Everyone wants to be next to me and to talk to me. They all ask me to sit with them at meals and asked that I sleep next to them. I set up in the playroom to start handing out cloths that were donated by local people. Most of the clothes are quite little. I had the girls come first. I would call out a girls name and I would hold up a piece of clothing to see if it almost fit. Then they go into another room were the older girls were helping them try them on to make sure that it actually fit. I was actually pretty good guessing if it was going to fit or not. I gave as many as I could to these Sishu Viha kids. Sishu Viha is a government orphanage, and once these kids were found to be HIV positive, they were sent to Agape. Because they are complete orphans, with no relatives, they get no new cloths from them on their birthday or during festivals, so I gave the most to them. The clothes that didn’t fit any of them I gave to some of the other girls. I then started with the boys. I had basically no pants, and that is what they really need, but I gave away a bunch of shirts. Within about 15 minutes after I finished with the shirts, one of the little boys was wearing his new shirt and it ripped. After I finished handing out the clothes, I had batches in the playroom. They are batched together based on age, so they are playing with similar toys. The first batch was a little crazy because there are so many little kids but they were very cute. There were five batches, and each got a half an hour in the playroom. This finished at around 4:30 and then it was the girls time to shower. They all shower every morning, but twice a week in the afternoon they take another, where they get to wash their hair. We then played for a while before dinner. Everyone then got read for bed. I decided to sleep with the older girls. In India pretty much everyone sleeps on the ground on mats. The kids got out their mats and they all basically slept on top of each other. Not because there wasn’t enough room, I think it was more for the sense of company and safety. I wasn’t really prepared for this, so even though the lights were shut off at about 9, I couldn’t fall asleep until about 2:30. I then was woken up at 5:30 by one of the youngest girls, Saivithri, who was poking me in the back. Only a couple of other girls were up, who were sweeping and cleaning the hostel. At around 6 everyone woke up and said their morning prayer before they brushed their teeth and took their shower. I decided to wait until I got back to the house to shower. The older girls helped everyone with their hair and then we had breakfast. After breakfast we played a little more before the bus came. I took the bus with the kids and took my shower and got ready to tutor. Monday was he same schedule as the week before. Today is Diwali the morning was normal, but at 3:30 guests came to celebrate Diwali with the kids. Diwali is celebrated similarly to the 4th of July. Fireworks, sparklers, lights are everywhere and will continue long into the night. The guests were from the Civil Service Program, the same people that came before, but there were about 20 of them. It seemed that everyone had fun. They handed out snacks and gave he kids sparklers and set off small fireworks. They left at around 6:30 after a fun filled couple of hours.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Classes Start
October 21, 2008
So yesterday morning was busy, but productive. I started tutoring 7th class math. I gave them the quiz to see where they need help. After I finished there I taught my first class of computers to 8th class. Most have only seen Lynne and my computer and none have ever actually touched one, so I started with the basics of turning the computer on and off. Also, I told them not to touch any of the settings or files. I had put on a program that teaches them who to type, and I had them work on that for the class. There were twelve kids in the class, and even though there are twelve computers in two rooms, I only had them on six in one room, so that I could keep an eye on them, at least for the first couple of classes. They all seemed excited to finally get to use the computers since they have been sitting there for months. Some were very good at keeping their hands in the right position, but others kept moving their hands to what they felt as easier, which reminds me of some one I know (me). But, I think they are getting the hang of it. The other kids that had leisure period at the same time wanted to come in to help, so finally I had to lock the door. After 8th class, I had 10th class. It was pretty much the same thing, but there are only three of them, so they got a lot more practice since they didn’t have to share. They did quite well and many of them got onto the next level. Since there were so few kids, I let some of the 9th class come in and use the open computers. Then the kids had lunch and I went back to the house to relax for a little. After their lunch I had 9th class. Since many of them had sat in with the 10th class they had a head start. One of the girls passed the first two levels. In the middle of the class, Hafeez came in to tell me that the wholesale tailor just called and said that they would be here in about 5 minutes. Luckily it was towards the end, so just as class was over he arrived. I kind of wanted to say that he should wait until I have my lunch since I had waited for him for hours, but this is India, and if I did that he would have been gone and I probably wouldn’t have seen him again for another week. We had all the girls go up on the roof, the same as we had with the boys and the tailor measured and yelled out the numbers and I wrote them down. I had organized all the cloth for him to take it, but he only had a two-wheeler, and had to come back on Wed. to pick them up. I then finally got to eat my lunch at around 2:30. The rest of the day I got to relax a bit. I did a little office work and then I played with the kids. They are becoming a little crankier since they still are sick. Luke now screams when I walk into the room for me to pick him up. It is a good thing that he is so cute. Today, Hafeez came and asked me to help him upload a file onto a CD at the office. I went back on the bus with him after he finished dropping the kids and showed him how to. The problem was that the CD he was using was in the wrong case. It was a Re-Writeable case, but the CD was not, and it had already had something on it. I gave him a blank CD, it worked fine, and he drove me back to the school on the two-wheeler. I then started tutoring 7th class again. After looking at their quizzes, which they didn’t finish, I decided that we should do the questions together. They all got Roman Numerals, so I skipped that and went onto the bases questions. It took them a little while, but it was exciting when they got the concept. We then moved onto HCF. They all understood factors, so it made it a little easier. We did the question on the quiz and then I let them choose random numbers and let them do it. It was fun seeing that they really got the idea. We then moved onto LCM. We didn’t get to finish that because the bell rang. They actually asked me to stay and continue teaching, because they had a free period, but I had to go give computer class. But, just as that happened, the power went out. I told them that as soon as the power came back on we could start, but it didn’t for about a half hour. By that time the period was over, so I had 10th class. They started, but then the power went out again. They went back to their room to do homework, but then the power came back. I told them that we should wait because having the computers shut off that way is really bad for them, but if the current stays on for a half hour we can start. It did, but about 10 minutes after we started the power went off again. It continued to go on and off through out the day. At three o’clock a group of people came to hold a birthday party for the kids. One of the women, who wasn’t the birthday girl sang with the kids and taught them new songs. They passed out cupcakes and chocolates. All the kids seemed to have a good time. I then went back to the house and we played with the kids. Thanuja, Srilatha, Laxmi, Deepika and I brought the kids up to the (flat) roof and waved good-bye to all the kids as they left on the bus. We then played tag. It felt good to run around a bit, but it was really hot so I didn’t last too long. We then went back down stairs and tried to set up the boys so that they could race each other, but obviously it didn’t work. They were very cute anyways.
So yesterday morning was busy, but productive. I started tutoring 7th class math. I gave them the quiz to see where they need help. After I finished there I taught my first class of computers to 8th class. Most have only seen Lynne and my computer and none have ever actually touched one, so I started with the basics of turning the computer on and off. Also, I told them not to touch any of the settings or files. I had put on a program that teaches them who to type, and I had them work on that for the class. There were twelve kids in the class, and even though there are twelve computers in two rooms, I only had them on six in one room, so that I could keep an eye on them, at least for the first couple of classes. They all seemed excited to finally get to use the computers since they have been sitting there for months. Some were very good at keeping their hands in the right position, but others kept moving their hands to what they felt as easier, which reminds me of some one I know (me). But, I think they are getting the hang of it. The other kids that had leisure period at the same time wanted to come in to help, so finally I had to lock the door. After 8th class, I had 10th class. It was pretty much the same thing, but there are only three of them, so they got a lot more practice since they didn’t have to share. They did quite well and many of them got onto the next level. Since there were so few kids, I let some of the 9th class come in and use the open computers. Then the kids had lunch and I went back to the house to relax for a little. After their lunch I had 9th class. Since many of them had sat in with the 10th class they had a head start. One of the girls passed the first two levels. In the middle of the class, Hafeez came in to tell me that the wholesale tailor just called and said that they would be here in about 5 minutes. Luckily it was towards the end, so just as class was over he arrived. I kind of wanted to say that he should wait until I have my lunch since I had waited for him for hours, but this is India, and if I did that he would have been gone and I probably wouldn’t have seen him again for another week. We had all the girls go up on the roof, the same as we had with the boys and the tailor measured and yelled out the numbers and I wrote them down. I had organized all the cloth for him to take it, but he only had a two-wheeler, and had to come back on Wed. to pick them up. I then finally got to eat my lunch at around 2:30. The rest of the day I got to relax a bit. I did a little office work and then I played with the kids. They are becoming a little crankier since they still are sick. Luke now screams when I walk into the room for me to pick him up. It is a good thing that he is so cute. Today, Hafeez came and asked me to help him upload a file onto a CD at the office. I went back on the bus with him after he finished dropping the kids and showed him how to. The problem was that the CD he was using was in the wrong case. It was a Re-Writeable case, but the CD was not, and it had already had something on it. I gave him a blank CD, it worked fine, and he drove me back to the school on the two-wheeler. I then started tutoring 7th class again. After looking at their quizzes, which they didn’t finish, I decided that we should do the questions together. They all got Roman Numerals, so I skipped that and went onto the bases questions. It took them a little while, but it was exciting when they got the concept. We then moved onto HCF. They all understood factors, so it made it a little easier. We did the question on the quiz and then I let them choose random numbers and let them do it. It was fun seeing that they really got the idea. We then moved onto LCM. We didn’t get to finish that because the bell rang. They actually asked me to stay and continue teaching, because they had a free period, but I had to go give computer class. But, just as that happened, the power went out. I told them that as soon as the power came back on we could start, but it didn’t for about a half hour. By that time the period was over, so I had 10th class. They started, but then the power went out again. They went back to their room to do homework, but then the power came back. I told them that we should wait because having the computers shut off that way is really bad for them, but if the current stays on for a half hour we can start. It did, but about 10 minutes after we started the power went off again. It continued to go on and off through out the day. At three o’clock a group of people came to hold a birthday party for the kids. One of the women, who wasn’t the birthday girl sang with the kids and taught them new songs. They passed out cupcakes and chocolates. All the kids seemed to have a good time. I then went back to the house and we played with the kids. Thanuja, Srilatha, Laxmi, Deepika and I brought the kids up to the (flat) roof and waved good-bye to all the kids as they left on the bus. We then played tag. It felt good to run around a bit, but it was really hot so I didn’t last too long. We then went back down stairs and tried to set up the boys so that they could race each other, but obviously it didn’t work. They were very cute anyways.
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