Running on a battery and Electricution

So, there is no power in Hosur right now. I have to finish everything as quickly as possible since we're on battery power. I'll try to add photos if possible.

Feb 14

Saturday
Saturday morning was fun because I taught Beena tap. For those Ohio Northerners out there, this is her second lesson and she learned through the shuffle ball change lunge progression. Pretty impressive, huh?

What's really fun about teaching one child something (especially tap) is the crowd of gawkers it draws. So very rarely do any of the children get individual attention that anything individual causes huge amounts of curiosity. I arrived early and put on my tap shoes. Instantly I was surrounded by a gaggle of children saying "Show miss," and "Can you do the dance from Happy Feet?"

The best part of the day was celebrating Valentine's day with the fourth grade. I gave them each a conversation heart (which my mom sent) and some heart stickers (which my grandmother sent) and asked them to write Valentines to either my mom, Mike, Eric or Emily. I showed them a picture of each person and told them how they've helped me and/ or Shanti Bhavan. Then they made cards. They are soo funny. I plan to send them as soon as I figure out postage.

I went to Hosur on Saturday. It was fun because Elizabeth hadn't been out of Shanti Bhavan in the daylight, so sitting next to her made the drive exciting. No upchuck reflex this time. We had fun in Hosur. We bought fruit and went to the internet cafe. I got to chat with Eric, which I was really happy about. Especially since my voice has been gone so I've been hoarse. Then Elizabeth and I got our eyebrows done. 15 rupees each to get them done. Seriously... I can get my eyebrows threaded 24 times in India and still spend less than getting it done once in New York. To top it off, in New York it hurts, my eyes water and it takes twice as long. We looked for a place to make photocopies, but couldn't find one. We each bought a kurta. It's like a long t-shirt dress with slits to the top of your thigh. Sort of. Any way, it's informal Indian wear, and it's fun to dress like the kids and staff.

Since our group split up at the beginning to accomplish our various tasks, we planned to meet at Janani, our favorite restaurant. Elizabeth, Molly and I hopped in an auto-rickshaw and headed over. We sat down and ordered. About fifteen minutes later Jacques and Veena arrived. They sat down and ordered as well. Their food came first. Even though they ordered the same things as us. Go figure. Typical India, we saw two cockroaches at least as big as any I ever saw in Texas. Both were close enough to us to creep several of us out. It was frustrating trying to sort out the bill. In the end most of us were ready just to pay the whole thing to stop the confusion. Seriously, the whole bill was 900 RS, which is something like $15. The amount we were trying to figure out was less than $2. Perspective sometimes gets lost in the little things.

After Janani we stopped at the grocery store, where Elizabeth and I got oatmeal (!), juice, cookies, henna and coconut oil. After stopping on the way home in Bagalore (our driver was once again the same one who took us to Mysore, however this time he didn't pick up his kid, as there were eight of us) to buy phone cards, we headed back to good ole Shanti Bhavan. Going away from Shanti Bhavan definitely makes you appreciate it when you come back.

While Elizabeth caught up with her family and friends on the phone in the hall, I mixed the henna with water and watch some kind of Indian version of American Idol. It was called something like Personal Superstar. It was funny to watch. We watched French Kiss, because it was Valentines Day, and we had watched a scary movie for Friday the Thirteenth the day before. Elizabeth gave me a manicure. It was fun. Then we dyed our hair with the henna. It was pretty funny because the henna looked like poop both on the plate where we mixed it and in our hair. My hair definitely looks different. I like it though. I might do it again. Although washing it out wasn't all that fun. I've been using coconut oil to help keep the color nice.

I developed a new addiction: Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Even though I wouldn't watch it at home, here I'm going nuts over it. Saturday night I stayed up until God-knows-when with Arjun watching it. It was ridiculous.

Sunday
I slept in. I ate so much fruit. Pineapple, pomegranate, chinese cherry, fig, gooseberry and papaya. Sometimes this place is like the garden of eden. Elizabeth and I played with the second and third grade girls in their dorm and then visited the first grade. It was fun. The sixth grade took me around Shanti Bhavan. It was fun, seeing what they pointed out and what was important to them. Gooseberries, the place where the laundry women put all the things they find in pockets, the trampoline, Dr. George's father's ashes.

I spent a lot of time reading Herzog. It was lovely. Dr. George wanted the 11th grade to watch Chicago, so we had them over to the volunteer lounge. It was fun. Molly, Steve, Elizabeth, Dr. George, Ms. Beena, Ms. Veena and I watched it with them. Dr. George nominated me to give a historical setting. Joy. The best part of watching it with them was watching their reactions. The costumes and dance moves never seemed so racy. It was really interesting. I was actually constantly surprised how skinny the women were. I guess after looking at Indian people who idolize people who look healthy (and pale), the women in the movies looked shockingly thin. It's weird to think a month ago that was completely normal to me. Every jutting bone made me gasp. I couldn't et over it. I went around our 400 m track 12 times with Jacques, jogging half and walking half. So that was good. When we got back Amiran White was outside the volunteer house. She's a photo journalist who's been to Shanti Bhavan twice before. The photos I've seen are absolutely stunning. She trailed all of us around and took our pictures. It was fun.

I watched back to the future with the sixth grade before going to dinner. That was funny, because although they appreciated the physical comedy, the exaggerated verbal jokes flew right over their heads. Dinner was fun, I sat with the fifth and fourth grade boys and we talked all about movies. That was funny. On my way out of the dining hall I ended up having a lovely thirty minute discussion of classroom goals and techniques with Mr. Daniel and his wife Ms. Irene. Their daughter, Abhilasha, who's in the fourth grade, was also there. After that Amiran interviewed me. That was interesting. We watched Billy Madison. I couldn't believe how much that made me miss my younger brother, Steven. Telehoohoo, sabadoo! We played Phase 10 and it took forever. I don't remember it being so interminable. I was stuck on the same phase for 7 rounds. Bah. Nevertheless I came in second. I stayed up late to read. That was good. It's nice to find a few moments by myself.

Monday
I spent last week trying to reflect on the idea that how people perceive you is 70% How you look 20% How you say it and 10% What you say. That really applies to learning. If I jump around during class and make a manic face the kids retain it better than if I just tell them the exact same thing in the exact same voice.

We had aerobics for the older girls. We spent most of the class working on form. The girls don't point their toes, hold their centers or any of those other things we ought to do if we want to look nice and feel good.

It was the first day of my new schedule:

6:30-7:30 AM M-F Aerobics
7:30-8:30 AM M-S Breakfast, Flute (some days)
8:30-9:15 AM M-F 4th Grade Math
9:15-10:00 AM MTR 4th Grade Science
10:00-10:45 AM M-F 5th Grade Math
10:45-11:05 AM M-S Snack
11:05-11:20 AM M-S Assembly
11:20-12:05 T-R 5th Grade Math/ Music Theatre/ 2nd G Learning Activity
12:05-12:50 PM M-F Music Theatre
12:50-1:20 PM M-S Lunch
1:20-2:05 PM M-W 4th Grade Math
F 4th Grade Spelling
2:05-2:50 PM MWF 4th G Grammar/ 4th G Learning Activity/ 5th G Math
2:50-3:35 PM TR 4th Grade Story Time
7:00-7:30 PM T Choir
8:00-8:45 PM TR Music Theatre

Plus whatever else I have to do. It's certainly not boring.

Basically Elizabeth is taking over third, fourth and fifth grade English classes and I'm taking over fifth grade math. That creates relief on the permanent staff and lets them work on any of the other eight million things there are to do.

Comparatively to fourth grade, fifth grade is a dream. They're quiet, well behaved, respectful and ready to learn. It's great. I come in, show them how to do the problems, assign some, then put extra practice on the board. Then I read my book until someone has a question. It's like having a nap compared to the back flips I have to turn for the fourth grade. I told them if they work hard and sit how they should, I'll make the last few minutes fun.

In musical theatre class we had the kindergarten. We're going to have them perform rubber ducky as a warm up for the Billy Elliot show. It's going to be amazingly cute. The plan is to dress them like ducks too. We had a couple duck related theatre games and then learned the first verse. So cute and fun.

After class I fell asleep reading. I slept for over an hour and missed snack. I went to the prayer hut to read a couple chapters of the the stories of Krishna. I though perhaps reading the religious material of Hinduism might give me the insight I'm lacking on their religion. No such luck. Whatever I'm missing from conversation is not being filled in by the Indian-English account of Krishna's adventures. Then I played with the kindergarten and first grade for an hour. The boys are fascinated with my watch and the girls with my hair. They all want to sing and dance for me. One girl, Sounderia, showed me how many different places she could pick up a magnetic rock from. For an hour. It was fun, funny and refreshing. I love little kids and really miss the time I spend with my 'New York kids.'

Dr. George gave another talk to the 7th-11th grades. He talked about the difficulties of living in India. He discussed the constant struggle to avoid bribery, government issues, issues with landlords and confusion and anger. He also talked about philanthropy as it exists in India vs in western countries. He also discussed what he hopes the children will choose, and said as always it is their choice and they are free to disagree. It was an important talk to have with the kids as they're getting older. These kids, despite the struggles they face at home, are pretty sheltered and used to people being good, kind and caring. The realities of the world in which they live are something they definitely need to be prepared for.

I'm trying to plan a trip to Hampi for the volunteers. A few of us are thinking of going, but any and all volunteers are invited. It should be really fun. We'll take the overnight train Thursday night and spend Friday and Saturday in Hampi, then we'll take the overnight train back and come back on Sunday. I guess it's absolutely beautiful there and it's a great place to visit.

I wore my new kurta, pigtails and a tiny silver bindi. All the children told me how cute I looked. It was funny. I looked about twelve.

Dinner was fun, I sat with the other table of fourth and fifth grade boys. We played Green Glass Door and Going on an Airplane, which are logical word games. It was great because they're old enough to solve them, young enough to be enthusiastic and they didn't know how to play. What a great group of kids.

My voice is getting better, finally. I'm getting really psyched for the upcoming weeks. The Billy Elliot is going to be amazing. Having Elizabeth around reminded me that though other people can be a good way to judge yourself, sometimes you just have be confident in your own actions. It was a nice reminder.

Tuesday
Here's something coming to you from the fourth grade creative writing class: "On Monday is the start of the week, so we need to put on our seat belts and zip our mouths and study well." I can tell the kids have at least learned SOMETHING from me: sit down and be quiet... in Miss Amanda terms.

This morning was sixth grade aerobics. We worked on a few ideas for the B.E. show. I taught four periods of math today. Who'd a thunk it?

I edited "Electricity" on Garage Band so it starts right where we're having the choir end, and does the dance break, cuts out a verse then does the ending. It sounds pretty good.

We taught the first grade musical theatre class. It's fun. We taught them group work theatre games. It was funny because it was a silent activity, but the teacher had a hard time not talking to them to tell them what to do. She had a hard time just letting them do it.

We taught the sixth grade the choreography for part of the "Electricity." They really struggled with the syncopated bit. We had choir, and started teaching them the opening of "Electricity." We picked soloists for the opening of it. It was fun. The kids really learned something.

I went through a lot of music with Arjun, to explain how we'd need it for the show. It was fun. I miss music.

We watched the Bourne Identity. I sat with eighth grade girls at dinner. They asked for photos of movie stars. I said maybe... internet is not that reliable.

Wednesday
We had oatmeal for breakfast, that was a smart buy. My stomach still isn't completely used to it here. We taught the second grade the ballet to 'Shine.' It was exciting because one boy had an injured toenail, and it almost fell off during class. I taped it on. We showed the third grade the documentary and discussed possible art projects. We had a spelling bee in fourth grade. That was fun. It was interesting to see how the kids handled the pressure and the disappointment. We got tap shoes out of storage, and picked out tap shoes for Beena and sorted out some smaller ones for a dance to teach the children. I really wanted to go to bed early, so I skipped out on dinner and just went to bed. It was good for me.

Thursday
We had the older girls for aerobics and started teaching "All That Jazz." It was perfect. The girls are so funny when they are learning, but they're pretty good. We started teaching Rajne the flute. We taught the fourth grade the ballet for Electricity. I spent some time in the afternoon messing with my computer camera. It was really fun! We showed the documentary to the eighth grade. We had choir rehearsal because we're having visitors on Sunday. It was a disaster. They wouldn't listen, they were completely unfocused and had no idea how to sing their parts without MMC wailing on the piano. I guess the disadvantage of having a world class pianist being your first choir teacher is that you don't learn how to play with a normal pianist. I was pretty frustrated. I sat with fifth grade boys and played more fun word games. In the lounge we chilled out and watched Wedding Crashers and Saturday Night Live.

Friday
We had the sixth grade for aerobics. We cleaned up the dance we taught them the other night. It took a while, but it's getting better. We had oatmeal again for breakfast. Mmm. I had a frustrating start to the day. I was in the middle of trying to get the kids to clean out their desks, when I was called into the fifth grade to listen to a lecture from a teacher justifying her teaching methods (which I never even considered, let alone questioned). So when I finally got back to class I only had about twenty minutes to teach the kids their math lesson. Good thing it was just review subtraction. I'm so excited. My voice is working. I even sang a little today. I had fun teaching Beena tap. However it wasn't so fun getting momentarily electrocuted by an exposed wire. (Don't worry I'm fine.) Actually it was kind of exciting. It didn't hurt that badly, but it sure made my heart race! Tapping actually helped me find alignment in my back which I haven't felt since college. So I'm feeling pretty good, despite the shocking events of the afternoon. It was cute when Beena put on her tap shoes for the first time and started tapping with me she said "Why are you so much louder than me?" I said "Because I practiced." I didn't mention the fact that I was wearing professional tap shoes and she was wearing kiddy shoes that couldn't make as much noise as mine if they were worn by Savion himself. Haha, motivation.

I ducked into the foundation house to ask one of the native language speakers to help us book our hotel for Hampi next weekend. We're all set. I can't begin to explain how helpful everyone is. It's really amazing. He also found out what train we need to take and told me where I can get the ticket. I'm pretty excited. I think the plan is something like this: leave Thursday after class for Bangalore, eat dinner in Bangalore, catch the overnight train to Hampi, arrive at the hotel early am, sight see Friday and Saturday, take the overnight train back to Bangalore, sight see there then head back to the good ole SB Sunday evening. Sounds pretty good to me. I can't wait. Hampi (Vijayanagar) is supposed to be absolutely stunning. We might even be able to be blessed by an elephant! I. Can't. Wait.

Choir was so much better. We switched to easier songs for the performance and worried about expression and pitch. It was a very successful endeavor. They actually stayed in tune after an entire verse of a cappella singing. That was the most impressive singing I've heard yet. Here's to hoping the kids remember and improve from there.

After choir I skipped out on dinner to correct math reviews for the fifth grade, and to suggest extra practice on their weak sections. There were two problems that everyone missed, so I wrote out how to solve them and left them for the teacher who will be in tomorrow. I also planned for the fourth grade's classes tomorrow, so whichever poor eleventh grader is stuck with them has clear directions and an easy assignment.

I came back about fifteen minutes after dinner and had the whole guest house to myself. It was unusual, and I figured I was missing something until someone reminded me that three volunteers left for Chennai for the weekend. I had a lovely time chatting with Jacques, Elizabeth and later Arjun. The power was on and off, but mostly off, so we chewed the fat. Overall it was really nice.