January 31, 2009
So Friday Marion had her last set of classes and Amy had her last day with hostel 2. We then came back and worked on bills and the Library. Saturday we spent all day doing bills. At around 5 we went to 2nd hostel so that Marion and Amy could say good-bye. We then went back to third hostel to say good bye to 1st and 3rd. After the long ceremony, we finished off the bills from the last 3 years. We then went upstairs and packed. We had planned to stay up all night since they had to leave at 4:30 for the airport, which was a good plan in theory, but once 1:30 came around I was completely exhausted and ended up falling asleep until about 3. We then watched Grey’s Anatomy until 4:15 to keep awake. We headed to the airport so that they would catch their 7:30 flight and we said good-bye. We came back and I slept in my old room at the guest-house for a couple of hours.
Sunday I realized that I didn’t have the key to get back into the room. I am thinking that both the keys ended up heading back to the states. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but not having clean cloths for the day was quite a bummer. We then went to clean Lynne and Ratnam’s new house because they are planning to move in this weekend. We brought along some of the kids who volunteered and cleaned pretty much the whole day. Monday was Republic Day so we went to first hostel where all the kids were waiting. They had Lynne hoist the ceremonial flag and the kids sang the national anthem. They then had the teachers play some games and they handed out some candy. We went back to the house where Lynne and Ratnam started packing to go to New Delhi. Lynne is going to New Delhi to make sure that their application to bring in foreign money is processed. They had applied three times before, but each time the government didn’t even respond to say that they even received the paperwork. Tuesday they left early in the morning. I worked on administrative things at the house. Wednesday I went into the office and worked online for a while. Thursday I started back up classes I took 7th, 8th, and 9th in for computer classes, 7th math class, 9th grammar class, and 10th math and English class. It was quite a long day, but it was good to get back to teaching. Yesterday Laxmi and Thanuja were packing the house, so I was helping to watch the kids. I held the non-computer class, but I canceled the computer ones. Today. I had classes as usual. The older kids are very anxious to start learning how to program, so I gave an exercise similar to the “Making an Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich” problem where you have to very specifically describe how to make a sandwich. However since they don’t eat PB & Js I had them write about their morning schedule. At first I had them write a little, but while they were writing I wrote one to show how detailed it needs to be. They had trouble at first, but once they got the idea they did a really good job.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Busy Busy Busy
January 19, 2009
So Friday all the kids had math exams in the afternoon, so I went to school and sat outside and let the kids ask me any last minute questions before their exams. Some of the older kids I was really impressed with, but there were others that I had a hard time understanding how they past 2nd grade let alone the ninth. I worked with them until the afternoon and I had lunch at the school with Marion, who had classes for most of the morning, and then we went over to Lynne’s house since we could do anything there while they are taking exams, Marion and I helped Lynne work a little, but mostly played with the boys.
Saturday, Marion and I spent the day entering things into the Library, and Amy spent it sorting bills. Both super, super fun tasks, but they need to get done. We worked from about 9 to 5:30. We then just relaxed in the room for some time before coming out to play with the girls.
Sunday I woke up quite early to pick up my grandmother Bammy who decided to make a quick stop, (probably 4 hours out of her way by plane) to come visit me. I hired a driver for the day ad he brought me to the airport. We met up really easily and headed back to hostel 3. I introduced her to Amy and Lynne and all the girls. We then went over to hostel 1 to meet the boys. We then drove into the center of Hyderabad to the Charminar. I had never been there so it was a very cool experience. The Charminar is the main monument of Hyderabad. When we first got there we walked in the area around it which is called the old city. We went down a street with so many bangel shops that had thousands of bangels. On that road we stopped and Bammy, Marion, and Amy all got bags. We then took a tour around the Charminar from a guy that came up to use and flashed his Deparment of Tourism badge and told us all about the significance of it. It was created after the Plague hit India and to comemorate the 4 thousand people that died in Hyderabad the created this four tower structure of limestone. Each tower was constructed for 1000 people. He took us up to the second floor of the structure we he pointed out other important sites that we could see, like the second biggest Mosque in Asia, seating 10,000 people. After we finished the tour we went back to car. He took us towards the airport, but right before we got there we stopped at the airports 5 star hotel’s buffet for lunch. The food was absolutely amazing, especially since we had been eating hostel food for 2 weeks. The chairs were some of the most comfortable chairs I have ever sat in. After we finished we had a couple of minutes to relax on their bed like seating area. At 4 we brought Bammy the last 5 minutes to the airport so that she could make her flight to Chennai. We said good bye and then the three of us headed back to hostel 3. It was a very good day.
Monday, Marion and I went to school and Amy went to 2nd hostel as usual, but instead of teaching computers, Lynne took me into the city to by the rest of the nighties for the girls, because only half ended up getting them for Christmas. We walked around for quite some time, with no luck. We actually came across a very cute shop for baby clothes for Lynne’s kids and for the new baby Hannah. We were not successful in finding nighties, but we put in an order so that they should come with in the next week. We came back, and since Monday was Dan’s last day, we had a small function for him at 3rd hostel and 2nd hostel. While we were out two new girls were admitted to 3rd hostel, one is 5 years old and one is 4. At 11 we said bye to Dan and headed off to bed.
Tuesday we worked at 3rd hostel. Marion and I worked on the library while Amy started putting the that she had sorted on Saturday, into binders. At around 12 Ratnam called me to tell me that a computer Engineer had come to fix the computers, and that he needed me to identify which ones were a problem. Even though we have four computers that are messed up, he would only fix one, because apparently Ratnam had only given one serial number when he filed the complaint for the computers, which seems completely stupid. After he engineering guy left I had lunch at Lynne’s house and then we went and picked up Amy and Marion to take them shopping in the city. Amy was looking for a Punjabi for when she gives a little presentation for the people that gave her donations to come here. Lynne took her to Palaka Bazaar, where I got my first Punjabis, because they can make them there within an hour. We then came back to Uppal and went on a driving adventure into a village that is only a few minutes outside of Uppal. It was very cool to see how the majority of India lives. We saw a ton of buffalo, classic village homes, that are one room with slate roofs. We also went into a field were some people were working and Lynne bought some of the greens that they were growing. We stayed out and watched the sunset. We came back, had dinner, and then crashed.
Wednesday, Marion and I went to the school and Amy went to second as usual. At school I sat with the computer guy that came back for a while. I then came down helped Lynne with some paperwork. After lunch we went into the city to look for cloth for the boys
Easter clothes. How crazy is that! We finished Christmas just to start the Easter project. We went to the same guy as last time for shirt and pant pieces. We brought him a calendar to thank him and to help him be even more willing to give discounts on his merchandise. We stayed there only for an hour before we had to come home. Lynne and Ratnam were going out to dinner with Shelia and her husband at the Marriot and were dropping off James and Luke for a sleep over in Marion, Amy, and my room. The transition process was pretty smooth, but about half an hour in James started crying and screaming for about an hour. At 9:30 we finally got him to bed. Luke was as happy as he could be, but once we put him to bed he woke up a couple of times but went right back to sleep.
Today I took my shower downstairs and made their bottles and about 5 minutes after I came back in the boys woke up peacefully and I had their bottles ready. They were very cute this morning and played nicely. Lynne picked them up at 11am and then we did some work. I did my laundry, and cleaned the room after the tornados named Luke and James had passed through last night. The rest of the day I have been trying to fix the wireless portion on the internet router unsuccessfully.
So Friday all the kids had math exams in the afternoon, so I went to school and sat outside and let the kids ask me any last minute questions before their exams. Some of the older kids I was really impressed with, but there were others that I had a hard time understanding how they past 2nd grade let alone the ninth. I worked with them until the afternoon and I had lunch at the school with Marion, who had classes for most of the morning, and then we went over to Lynne’s house since we could do anything there while they are taking exams, Marion and I helped Lynne work a little, but mostly played with the boys.
Saturday, Marion and I spent the day entering things into the Library, and Amy spent it sorting bills. Both super, super fun tasks, but they need to get done. We worked from about 9 to 5:30. We then just relaxed in the room for some time before coming out to play with the girls.
Sunday I woke up quite early to pick up my grandmother Bammy who decided to make a quick stop, (probably 4 hours out of her way by plane) to come visit me. I hired a driver for the day ad he brought me to the airport. We met up really easily and headed back to hostel 3. I introduced her to Amy and Lynne and all the girls. We then went over to hostel 1 to meet the boys. We then drove into the center of Hyderabad to the Charminar. I had never been there so it was a very cool experience. The Charminar is the main monument of Hyderabad. When we first got there we walked in the area around it which is called the old city. We went down a street with so many bangel shops that had thousands of bangels. On that road we stopped and Bammy, Marion, and Amy all got bags. We then took a tour around the Charminar from a guy that came up to use and flashed his Deparment of Tourism badge and told us all about the significance of it. It was created after the Plague hit India and to comemorate the 4 thousand people that died in Hyderabad the created this four tower structure of limestone. Each tower was constructed for 1000 people. He took us up to the second floor of the structure we he pointed out other important sites that we could see, like the second biggest Mosque in Asia, seating 10,000 people. After we finished the tour we went back to car. He took us towards the airport, but right before we got there we stopped at the airports 5 star hotel’s buffet for lunch. The food was absolutely amazing, especially since we had been eating hostel food for 2 weeks. The chairs were some of the most comfortable chairs I have ever sat in. After we finished we had a couple of minutes to relax on their bed like seating area. At 4 we brought Bammy the last 5 minutes to the airport so that she could make her flight to Chennai. We said good bye and then the three of us headed back to hostel 3. It was a very good day.
Monday, Marion and I went to school and Amy went to 2nd hostel as usual, but instead of teaching computers, Lynne took me into the city to by the rest of the nighties for the girls, because only half ended up getting them for Christmas. We walked around for quite some time, with no luck. We actually came across a very cute shop for baby clothes for Lynne’s kids and for the new baby Hannah. We were not successful in finding nighties, but we put in an order so that they should come with in the next week. We came back, and since Monday was Dan’s last day, we had a small function for him at 3rd hostel and 2nd hostel. While we were out two new girls were admitted to 3rd hostel, one is 5 years old and one is 4. At 11 we said bye to Dan and headed off to bed.
Tuesday we worked at 3rd hostel. Marion and I worked on the library while Amy started putting the that she had sorted on Saturday, into binders. At around 12 Ratnam called me to tell me that a computer Engineer had come to fix the computers, and that he needed me to identify which ones were a problem. Even though we have four computers that are messed up, he would only fix one, because apparently Ratnam had only given one serial number when he filed the complaint for the computers, which seems completely stupid. After he engineering guy left I had lunch at Lynne’s house and then we went and picked up Amy and Marion to take them shopping in the city. Amy was looking for a Punjabi for when she gives a little presentation for the people that gave her donations to come here. Lynne took her to Palaka Bazaar, where I got my first Punjabis, because they can make them there within an hour. We then came back to Uppal and went on a driving adventure into a village that is only a few minutes outside of Uppal. It was very cool to see how the majority of India lives. We saw a ton of buffalo, classic village homes, that are one room with slate roofs. We also went into a field were some people were working and Lynne bought some of the greens that they were growing. We stayed out and watched the sunset. We came back, had dinner, and then crashed.
Wednesday, Marion and I went to the school and Amy went to second as usual. At school I sat with the computer guy that came back for a while. I then came down helped Lynne with some paperwork. After lunch we went into the city to look for cloth for the boys
Easter clothes. How crazy is that! We finished Christmas just to start the Easter project. We went to the same guy as last time for shirt and pant pieces. We brought him a calendar to thank him and to help him be even more willing to give discounts on his merchandise. We stayed there only for an hour before we had to come home. Lynne and Ratnam were going out to dinner with Shelia and her husband at the Marriot and were dropping off James and Luke for a sleep over in Marion, Amy, and my room. The transition process was pretty smooth, but about half an hour in James started crying and screaming for about an hour. At 9:30 we finally got him to bed. Luke was as happy as he could be, but once we put him to bed he woke up a couple of times but went right back to sleep.
Today I took my shower downstairs and made their bottles and about 5 minutes after I came back in the boys woke up peacefully and I had their bottles ready. They were very cute this morning and played nicely. Lynne picked them up at 11am and then we did some work. I did my laundry, and cleaned the room after the tornados named Luke and James had passed through last night. The rest of the day I have been trying to fix the wireless portion on the internet router unsuccessfully.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Library Mishaps and Confusion
January 14, 2009
Tuesday was quite frustrating. It took us forever to get the library software to work and when it finally worked we brought it over to third hostel, but we were missing a power cord for the monitor. We had to wait until Hafeez got back from picking up the kids at school, so the whole morning was lost. We then had lunch and came back to find that the power was out. We decided to work on sorting the mountain of clothes that were donated that were sitting in one of the rooms downstairs next to Dan’s room. The power stayed out for at least 3 hours. When it finally came back on we found out that the monitor we were using doesn’t work. So, again we were stuck. We spent the rest of the day pretty much playing with the kids and relaxing.
Yesterday was a Hindu holiday, so three teachers were not going to be there. I had planned to take over one for the Math teacher that was not supposed to come, so I took the school bus and was all prepared. Once we got to the school I found out that the teacher was in fact going to come. I was a little bummed, but I decided that it was a good thing because then I could start computer classes. However, three out of the ten computers were not working and also most of the kids had finished the typing software that is on the computers. I spent a while trying upload new software, but the power kept going out in the middle so I gave up. I worked at Lynne’s house for a little while updating the medical records and other administrative things up until lunch. Marion and I had lunch at the school. Marion spent the day teaching English by herself. She seemed to really enjoy it!
After lunch I went with Lynne to the store to buy some supplies for the Hindi movie we were going to have that night, we then went to 2nd hostel to hand out the kids Easter outfits from last year for them to wear and then we ended at the office. I did a lot of photocopying and printed out some application photos. At around 5 Ratnam picked me up on the two-wheeler to take me to get a cell phone. While we were there we went across the street to Coffee Day for a really good treat we both had a drink called a Café Frappe which had coffee and vanilla ice-cream. It was really good, and while we were drinking I got to hear all about Ratnam, He has such a cool story. He literally came from nothing. He went to public school were his parents didn’t have to pay his tuition until college. Then he had to beg for them to let him in because he had no money for the tuition. By the ended he felt really guilt for not paying anything so he and his parents sold there only cow to pay for half of his tuition. When he got to medical school he had nothing even to sell to pay the tuition, so he took a year off and worked three jobs everyday. At the end of that year he had just enough for the tuition for the year and a little pocket money for food. At the end of the first year he really had no desire to work as hard as he had the year before, so he had an idea to make sort of a study guide for first year medical students. The whole summer he spent writing a condensed version of the text book with helpful sample questions. He went to a publisher, but they would not pay for the idea so he sold it on his own. He said that he went to all the local medical schools and sold them. It went really well and he didn’t have any money problems after that. He made another book after each of the next three years and he got them all published. He said that I could still find his study guides in schoolbook shops. We then went back to the house were everyone was waiting to start the movie. Hindi movies are all about three hours, so we had to start early. It was called Jab We Met, which means, “when we met”. It was pretty good, considering all Hindi movies have music videos in the middle of them. Lynne, Ratnam, Dan, Amy, Marion, Thanuja, and I all watched it, and then had dinner at around 10:30.
Today I went to ARV with Amy. It was the same usual group of kids except that one negative boy, A. Sai, came with us because he has a weird skin rash. We met Sheila there and waited to be called to see the doctor. The hospital was nice enough to provide ride on toys for the kids while they waited, which they had a blast on. After we say the doctor, Jayapaul took A. Sai to the dermatology department with Amy, Sheila, and I, while Hafeez stayed with all the other kids. It turned out to be a kind of virus that is common in HIV positive patients, which caused us to be a little scared. We all went back to the ambulance and then Jayapaul took Sai to get a blood test done to make sure that he is not positive. We waited in the ambulance for the results for almost 2 hours and everyone fell asleep including Amy and I. We woke up and luckily the results said that he was negative. We headed back to have lunch and we hung out in the room for a while. We had to wait until Dan got home to get into the ground floor where the library is. After Dan got back we worked on the library for a while, seem to get nothing done, but I guess we made a little dent. We are about a 20th of the way done WOOHOO! Well at least we finally started, after talking about it for four months.
Tuesday was quite frustrating. It took us forever to get the library software to work and when it finally worked we brought it over to third hostel, but we were missing a power cord for the monitor. We had to wait until Hafeez got back from picking up the kids at school, so the whole morning was lost. We then had lunch and came back to find that the power was out. We decided to work on sorting the mountain of clothes that were donated that were sitting in one of the rooms downstairs next to Dan’s room. The power stayed out for at least 3 hours. When it finally came back on we found out that the monitor we were using doesn’t work. So, again we were stuck. We spent the rest of the day pretty much playing with the kids and relaxing.
Yesterday was a Hindu holiday, so three teachers were not going to be there. I had planned to take over one for the Math teacher that was not supposed to come, so I took the school bus and was all prepared. Once we got to the school I found out that the teacher was in fact going to come. I was a little bummed, but I decided that it was a good thing because then I could start computer classes. However, three out of the ten computers were not working and also most of the kids had finished the typing software that is on the computers. I spent a while trying upload new software, but the power kept going out in the middle so I gave up. I worked at Lynne’s house for a little while updating the medical records and other administrative things up until lunch. Marion and I had lunch at the school. Marion spent the day teaching English by herself. She seemed to really enjoy it!
After lunch I went with Lynne to the store to buy some supplies for the Hindi movie we were going to have that night, we then went to 2nd hostel to hand out the kids Easter outfits from last year for them to wear and then we ended at the office. I did a lot of photocopying and printed out some application photos. At around 5 Ratnam picked me up on the two-wheeler to take me to get a cell phone. While we were there we went across the street to Coffee Day for a really good treat we both had a drink called a Café Frappe which had coffee and vanilla ice-cream. It was really good, and while we were drinking I got to hear all about Ratnam, He has such a cool story. He literally came from nothing. He went to public school were his parents didn’t have to pay his tuition until college. Then he had to beg for them to let him in because he had no money for the tuition. By the ended he felt really guilt for not paying anything so he and his parents sold there only cow to pay for half of his tuition. When he got to medical school he had nothing even to sell to pay the tuition, so he took a year off and worked three jobs everyday. At the end of that year he had just enough for the tuition for the year and a little pocket money for food. At the end of the first year he really had no desire to work as hard as he had the year before, so he had an idea to make sort of a study guide for first year medical students. The whole summer he spent writing a condensed version of the text book with helpful sample questions. He went to a publisher, but they would not pay for the idea so he sold it on his own. He said that he went to all the local medical schools and sold them. It went really well and he didn’t have any money problems after that. He made another book after each of the next three years and he got them all published. He said that I could still find his study guides in schoolbook shops. We then went back to the house were everyone was waiting to start the movie. Hindi movies are all about three hours, so we had to start early. It was called Jab We Met, which means, “when we met”. It was pretty good, considering all Hindi movies have music videos in the middle of them. Lynne, Ratnam, Dan, Amy, Marion, Thanuja, and I all watched it, and then had dinner at around 10:30.
Today I went to ARV with Amy. It was the same usual group of kids except that one negative boy, A. Sai, came with us because he has a weird skin rash. We met Sheila there and waited to be called to see the doctor. The hospital was nice enough to provide ride on toys for the kids while they waited, which they had a blast on. After we say the doctor, Jayapaul took A. Sai to the dermatology department with Amy, Sheila, and I, while Hafeez stayed with all the other kids. It turned out to be a kind of virus that is common in HIV positive patients, which caused us to be a little scared. We all went back to the ambulance and then Jayapaul took Sai to get a blood test done to make sure that he is not positive. We waited in the ambulance for the results for almost 2 hours and everyone fell asleep including Amy and I. We woke up and luckily the results said that he was negative. We headed back to have lunch and we hung out in the room for a while. We had to wait until Dan got home to get into the ground floor where the library is. After Dan got back we worked on the library for a while, seem to get nothing done, but I guess we made a little dent. We are about a 20th of the way done WOOHOO! Well at least we finally started, after talking about it for four months.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Going to Monda Market
January 12, 2009
Today was a pretty good day. I had to wake up a little early because I am handing out medications for the boys at hostel 1 at 7:30 am. I came back and had breakfast at hostel 3. When the bus came, Amy, Marion, and I, all got on. Marion and I got off at the school and Amy stayed on until 2nd hostel to play in the playroom. When Marion and I got off there was over an hour before her first class so we went into the guesthouse to play with the babies. The wire bringing current to the second floor is completely fried, and the computer room just happens to be on the second floor, so I could not teach computers today, but I spent the day getting Marion settled into being a teacher. After the classes we went back to the house to help Lynne with random tasks. When the school bus came Lynne suggested since she was already planning on bringing Dan into the city to buy pearls for various family members, that we all should come too, since Marion and Amy have not seen the city yet. Also, Thanuja came because we were going right near Monda market where she buys all of the vegetables and fruit for the house. On our way we picked up two of the older girls to help carry bags for Thanuja.
We arrived in Monda market and we split up into groups: one to go the pearl shop and the other, which I was in to go with Thanuja around the market picking out vegetables and carrying bags. It was a nice time with just Thanuja and the two hostel 3 girls. We finished before Dan finished picking out all the pearls he needed to get, so Ratnam met us and we went to go buy some test prep books for one of the 10th class girls and a couple English books for Marion to teach out of. We then got some treats from the snack waller that were batter covered green chilies. They were both hot in temperature and quite spicy, but they were really good. After we finished we walked over to the pearl shop, which was perfect timing because they were just finishing. We started heading back to hostel 3 at 9:15. It was a very good outing. Tomorrow, I think we will start to work on the library.
Today was a pretty good day. I had to wake up a little early because I am handing out medications for the boys at hostel 1 at 7:30 am. I came back and had breakfast at hostel 3. When the bus came, Amy, Marion, and I, all got on. Marion and I got off at the school and Amy stayed on until 2nd hostel to play in the playroom. When Marion and I got off there was over an hour before her first class so we went into the guesthouse to play with the babies. The wire bringing current to the second floor is completely fried, and the computer room just happens to be on the second floor, so I could not teach computers today, but I spent the day getting Marion settled into being a teacher. After the classes we went back to the house to help Lynne with random tasks. When the school bus came Lynne suggested since she was already planning on bringing Dan into the city to buy pearls for various family members, that we all should come too, since Marion and Amy have not seen the city yet. Also, Thanuja came because we were going right near Monda market where she buys all of the vegetables and fruit for the house. On our way we picked up two of the older girls to help carry bags for Thanuja.
We arrived in Monda market and we split up into groups: one to go the pearl shop and the other, which I was in to go with Thanuja around the market picking out vegetables and carrying bags. It was a nice time with just Thanuja and the two hostel 3 girls. We finished before Dan finished picking out all the pearls he needed to get, so Ratnam met us and we went to go buy some test prep books for one of the 10th class girls and a couple English books for Marion to teach out of. We then got some treats from the snack waller that were batter covered green chilies. They were both hot in temperature and quite spicy, but they were really good. After we finished we walked over to the pearl shop, which was perfect timing because they were just finishing. We started heading back to hostel 3 at 9:15. It was a very good outing. Tomorrow, I think we will start to work on the library.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Winter Cleaning
January 11, 2009
Friday we went to 2nd hostel to clean the playroom. We went on the school bus and played with the kids for a while until Lynne arrived with the playroom keys. The room was a mess all the bins of toys were all mixed up pieces of games were missing. We spent from 9 in the morning until 1 cleaning. About halfway through Sheila came to help. Marion and I spent at least a half an hour putting clothes on the hundreds of naked Barbies and baby dolls. We found at least 100 battleship pegs in random bins. After we finished sorting all the toys we swept it and washed the floors. At 1 we took a break for lunch. And after lunch we brought the kids in to play in groups of about 8. They all seemed to enjoy it. We then went back on the bus to 3rd hostel. We were all so exhausted we ended up taking a nap. We went down to the kitchen area were Lynne and all the older girls were sitting in huge piles of donated clothes making sure that it was acceptable and the sorting it into hostels. We helped a little bit and then went to have dinner.
Yesterday was “bright and white day” were we spent the day cleaning the school. Only the older boys and girls came. They were split up into pairs and each group tackled one room. Amy, Marion, and I were put on the task of organizing the office and then the storage room. The office was a mess. There were piles of random books in all the corners and old exam papers everywhere. We decided to separate the books by class and put them on the one set of shelves. We ended up with a ton on trash. We then went to the storage area, which we couldn’t even walk into. It was hard to even know were to start. However, by the end you could actually see all that was in there and walk in with room to spare. After we finished with that nightmare we saw what all the kids were doing. It was amazing how much dirt was coming off the floors. After a little while we went over to play with the babies. We didn’t get back to the hostel until 7:30. We brought all the kids even hostel 2 boys and 4 girls to 3rd hostel because we planned in starting family game night. We had actually planned on letting the boys at hostel 1 to have the first chance to play but because the kids worked so hard to day Lynne decided to have just the kids that worked to play. We all had dinner and then went downstairs were Lynne was sorting the cloths the other night and we broke up into 10 groups of 4. We played games like UNO, Life, Rummy, Business which is the Indian version of Monopoly, and other games like that. It was a lot of fun and I think that the kids really enjoyed it. We ended up playing until almost 12. Amy was not feeling well; she had shooting pains in her ears and then she burst an eardrum, so she didn’t end up playing.
Today is very relaxed. Amy still is not feeling much better but I think that she is not in as much pain as last night. We hung out in the room for a while reading and writing. After lunch Lynne and Ratnam arrived and we went over to 1st hostel. We had planned on taking the older boys to 6th hostel to play at the volleyball net outside, but Lynne got started handing out batteries for the Christmas toys but then got side tracked, checking and distributing clothes. While she was doing that Dan, Shiva, Varun, and I played badminton in the boys yard. It got quite intense and Ratnam ended up coming in and it got even more intense. It was quite fun and it was nice to get some exercise.
Friday we went to 2nd hostel to clean the playroom. We went on the school bus and played with the kids for a while until Lynne arrived with the playroom keys. The room was a mess all the bins of toys were all mixed up pieces of games were missing. We spent from 9 in the morning until 1 cleaning. About halfway through Sheila came to help. Marion and I spent at least a half an hour putting clothes on the hundreds of naked Barbies and baby dolls. We found at least 100 battleship pegs in random bins. After we finished sorting all the toys we swept it and washed the floors. At 1 we took a break for lunch. And after lunch we brought the kids in to play in groups of about 8. They all seemed to enjoy it. We then went back on the bus to 3rd hostel. We were all so exhausted we ended up taking a nap. We went down to the kitchen area were Lynne and all the older girls were sitting in huge piles of donated clothes making sure that it was acceptable and the sorting it into hostels. We helped a little bit and then went to have dinner.
Yesterday was “bright and white day” were we spent the day cleaning the school. Only the older boys and girls came. They were split up into pairs and each group tackled one room. Amy, Marion, and I were put on the task of organizing the office and then the storage room. The office was a mess. There were piles of random books in all the corners and old exam papers everywhere. We decided to separate the books by class and put them on the one set of shelves. We ended up with a ton on trash. We then went to the storage area, which we couldn’t even walk into. It was hard to even know were to start. However, by the end you could actually see all that was in there and walk in with room to spare. After we finished with that nightmare we saw what all the kids were doing. It was amazing how much dirt was coming off the floors. After a little while we went over to play with the babies. We didn’t get back to the hostel until 7:30. We brought all the kids even hostel 2 boys and 4 girls to 3rd hostel because we planned in starting family game night. We had actually planned on letting the boys at hostel 1 to have the first chance to play but because the kids worked so hard to day Lynne decided to have just the kids that worked to play. We all had dinner and then went downstairs were Lynne was sorting the cloths the other night and we broke up into 10 groups of 4. We played games like UNO, Life, Rummy, Business which is the Indian version of Monopoly, and other games like that. It was a lot of fun and I think that the kids really enjoyed it. We ended up playing until almost 12. Amy was not feeling well; she had shooting pains in her ears and then she burst an eardrum, so she didn’t end up playing.
Today is very relaxed. Amy still is not feeling much better but I think that she is not in as much pain as last night. We hung out in the room for a while reading and writing. After lunch Lynne and Ratnam arrived and we went over to 1st hostel. We had planned on taking the older boys to 6th hostel to play at the volleyball net outside, but Lynne got started handing out batteries for the Christmas toys but then got side tracked, checking and distributing clothes. While she was doing that Dan, Shiva, Varun, and I played badminton in the boys yard. It got quite intense and Ratnam ended up coming in and it got even more intense. It was quite fun and it was nice to get some exercise.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
India Part 2 Begins
January 6, 2009
So I am sitting in the Heathrow airport on the way back to Hyderabad. It was really nice to see so many of you over this break. I don’t think I could have made it all 7 months without seeing you all. I am going back with two girls: Amy and Marion. Marion is one of my best friends from High School, and Amy is a daughter of a friend of Lynne’s. The first flight was not bad, but it is half as long as the second leg, which is over 11 hours, and will be the real test. I am definitely a little sad to be leaving again but I am really excited to see all the kids.
Also if you ever have any questions or comments feel free to post I love getting them. Hope you all have a great couple of months and I will see you in a few.
January 7, 2009
So we got here without any mishaps, and the flight didn’t actually seem that long since I slept for most of it. We got to the hostel and Lynne told us to sleep for a little while. At around ten we got up and got ready to go. We played with the girls a little while and then went over to have lunch with all the kids that don’t go to school and those that only go in the mornings. Lynne then came to take us to the school to show Marion and Amy and we got to see the babies. Luke and James look older and Sophia is just walking perfectly around at 11 months! It crazy how much they have changed in 3 weeks. Also the new baby is really cute but her hands, arms, legs, and feet look the size of a newborn even though she is supposedly over three months old. There were actually two new babies that came only a couple of days after I left, but the other one passed away on Christmas Day. Lynne was absolutely devastated, but she has seemed to have calmed down a bit. All the Agape kids look the same as when I left, still incredibly cute.
After going to the school we went to visit 2nd and 4th hostels to finish off seeing all the kids. We then came back to 3rd hostel were planned out what we were planning on doing. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Marion is going to be teaching English grammar classes, I am going to be teaching math and computers and Amy is going to be working in the 2nd hostel playroom. We then have various organization activities to do on the other days, so it will be a packed three weeks.
January 8, 2009
So today we got up at around 8 and went downstairs to eat and clean up. We then went over to the office and we all checked our email before Lynne arrived. She put Marion and Amy organizing the bills and from the past year and had me start downloading the software that we are going to be using to catalogue the library. But then Lynne and I decided that we should use one of the computers that isn’t being used at the school so that we can take it and leave it at 3rd hostel where the library is. So Lynne and I went off to the school to pick it up and on the way got some food at the local “super market” we picked up the computer and then headed to hostel 3 to put the food in the fridge were we met up with this woman that had called Lynne this morning about volunteering while she was in Hyderabad with her husband who is working at a consulting job here for the next two weeks they are from Washington State and she seems very nice. She came with us to hostel one where the office is and Amy and Marion were still sorting bills. I tried to set up the computer, but it was not working. So Lynne had to take it back and switch it on her way to showing Sheila, the woman from Seattle, around 2nd hostel.
Amy and Marion took a break from the bills and we went to have lunch with the kids in hostel 1. We played with the kids a while before going back to bills I helped Marion and Amy on a couple of months. We finished them all at around 5:30, which I think is pretty impressive. I thought it was going to take days. The new computer arrived and luckily it worked and I was able to download the software so that we can work on the library tomorrow.
So I am sitting in the Heathrow airport on the way back to Hyderabad. It was really nice to see so many of you over this break. I don’t think I could have made it all 7 months without seeing you all. I am going back with two girls: Amy and Marion. Marion is one of my best friends from High School, and Amy is a daughter of a friend of Lynne’s. The first flight was not bad, but it is half as long as the second leg, which is over 11 hours, and will be the real test. I am definitely a little sad to be leaving again but I am really excited to see all the kids.
Also if you ever have any questions or comments feel free to post I love getting them. Hope you all have a great couple of months and I will see you in a few.
January 7, 2009
So we got here without any mishaps, and the flight didn’t actually seem that long since I slept for most of it. We got to the hostel and Lynne told us to sleep for a little while. At around ten we got up and got ready to go. We played with the girls a little while and then went over to have lunch with all the kids that don’t go to school and those that only go in the mornings. Lynne then came to take us to the school to show Marion and Amy and we got to see the babies. Luke and James look older and Sophia is just walking perfectly around at 11 months! It crazy how much they have changed in 3 weeks. Also the new baby is really cute but her hands, arms, legs, and feet look the size of a newborn even though she is supposedly over three months old. There were actually two new babies that came only a couple of days after I left, but the other one passed away on Christmas Day. Lynne was absolutely devastated, but she has seemed to have calmed down a bit. All the Agape kids look the same as when I left, still incredibly cute.
After going to the school we went to visit 2nd and 4th hostels to finish off seeing all the kids. We then came back to 3rd hostel were planned out what we were planning on doing. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Marion is going to be teaching English grammar classes, I am going to be teaching math and computers and Amy is going to be working in the 2nd hostel playroom. We then have various organization activities to do on the other days, so it will be a packed three weeks.
January 8, 2009
So today we got up at around 8 and went downstairs to eat and clean up. We then went over to the office and we all checked our email before Lynne arrived. She put Marion and Amy organizing the bills and from the past year and had me start downloading the software that we are going to be using to catalogue the library. But then Lynne and I decided that we should use one of the computers that isn’t being used at the school so that we can take it and leave it at 3rd hostel where the library is. So Lynne and I went off to the school to pick it up and on the way got some food at the local “super market” we picked up the computer and then headed to hostel 3 to put the food in the fridge were we met up with this woman that had called Lynne this morning about volunteering while she was in Hyderabad with her husband who is working at a consulting job here for the next two weeks they are from Washington State and she seems very nice. She came with us to hostel one where the office is and Amy and Marion were still sorting bills. I tried to set up the computer, but it was not working. So Lynne had to take it back and switch it on her way to showing Sheila, the woman from Seattle, around 2nd hostel.
Amy and Marion took a break from the bills and we went to have lunch with the kids in hostel 1. We played with the kids a while before going back to bills I helped Marion and Amy on a couple of months. We finished them all at around 5:30, which I think is pretty impressive. I thought it was going to take days. The new computer arrived and luckily it worked and I was able to download the software so that we can work on the library tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
I Am Home!
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.
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.
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