STILL NO VOICE and Elizabeth!

Sunday
The morning started with ecstatic Amanda. Pancakes, hardboiled egg AND BANANAS! Spoiled at breakfast. Man I was soooo happy. Then we got in the car to go to Hosur. I started feeling sick on the way there, but didn't want to whine. I made it all the way to Hosur, then as we were pulling into the city really very close to where we'd be stopping I started ralphing. Out the window. I was apparently so quiet that no one else in the car knew I was sick until about the fifth time. Mmm. So I bought some gum and went to get on the internet. It offered good news! My subletter moved in and payed his rent! Huzzah! The past few sleepless nights proved to be for nothing. I was so happy I didn't even care that I threw up the first fruit I'd eaten since I arrived in India.

Two of the fourth graders were released from the sick dorm, bringing our number back up to fourteen. Huzzah.

Power was out all evening. We listened to Steve playing the guitar. We sang along to a few, and sang a round. It was fun. We stayed up late and chatted in Molly's room. Everyone said goodbye to Sheryl. The two of us stayed up until she had to leave, then I went to bed. I was sad because she's been so fun and so much help. Not to mention such an inspiration to the kids.

Monday
Getting up after staying up until two was really hard. I didn't really have any desire to do aerobics four and a half hours later. Nonetheless I did it. Dr. George called us to a talk about Obama's stimulus plan. It was very interesting. Dr. George carefully explained the situation the economy is in and how it got there. Then he explained all of the parts of the plan. Then he discussed what he thought of the plan. Basically he thinks it might work, but it's not likely to have the effect it needs to. He thinks if we're going to invest in transportation it should be in mass transportation, not roads. That was we become more eco-friendly. He says of course when you throw a huge amount of money at something, something will happen. He's worried about the massive amounts of money many countries, including the US, are printing. Toward the end of the assembly a visitor from Australia came to interview Dr. George. She's an ex-journalist working on a fellowship in social entrepreneurs.

I spent a huge amount of time writing a 100 question math test. It took like forever. We watched the Matrix before bed. It was seriously like watching my freshman year of high school replay itself. Yeah. I seriously could hear Mike and James saying like every line. Really amusing. I had trouble falling asleep. I think it's because Sheryl wasn't there already asleep, so I didn't HAVE to be quiet... so I couldn't be. Since I couldn't sleep, I read some of my book, Herzog. It's really great so far. I recommend it.

Tuesday
I taught rounds to the first grade using the song A Ram Sam Sam. I ate leftover chicken and had a diet coke for lunch. It was delightful. Three rows of children got candy for good behavior today. That was awesome. The kids started the math test. I think I'm going to use it as a way to teach test taking skills. Lauren and I had a fun reminiscence of Tales of the Crystals and "Into the Land of Unicorns." I started reading it to the fourth graders today after getting frustrated by their reading comprehension and dictation skills. Two days a week instead of video time I'm reading them a story. They're really into it. They weren't too happy about it at first, but once I started reading they were totally engrossed. It's going to be great for vocabulary.

At five, Lauren arranged for there to be basketball games. We watched the sixth and seventh grades, then the older boys, followed by the older girls. Each match was fifteen minutes long. It was uber fun. I sat with the kids and played games with them. Joe ran up and down the assembled crowd, starting the wave and leading cheers. It was so fun. There were hundreds of dead and dying bees in the dining hall. Three or four times during dinner I removed bees from students with my fork. Once an aunty came and swatted a bee off of me. Ugh I had the heebie jeebies for the rest of dinner.

All the volunteers came to my musical theatre class's viewing of Hairspray. We watched the Princess Bride in the lounge. I talked to my mom on the phone. That was nice.

Wednesday
Elizabeth arrived at 4:30 in the morning. I did Tae Bo with the older boys during aerobics. I'm really stressing push ups and strength training with them. They are so thin. For creative writing today our topic was realistic fiction, and Harish wrote the most amazing story: (which I meant to type up and forgot)

The fourth grade took the second part of their math test. I actually had to give them a third period to finish. Still two or three didn't finish. During assembly we said goodbye to Lauren. Since power was out during video period, I read Into the Land of Unicorns to the kids. We're already to chapter seven. That book is going to be finished in no time. The kids love it. Lauren left at 4pm. We couldn't find the key to our room after snack so we had to ask someone to unlock it. We found it later but it was frustrating there for a minute. I spent the afternoon journaling and relaxing. It was nice.

After discussing Billy Elliot options for our show, Elizabeth and I headed to dinner. Regular vegetable soup and tuna sandwiches. Woah. We're watching Jurassic Park. I forgot how amazing this movie is. Soooo good.

Thursday
Elizabeth and I had the older girls for aerobics this morning. It was fun. We played statue. Morning classes were ok. The kids are getting used to the rules so it takes a lot less to calm them down. Since they didn't do well on their math test I gave a class on test taking skills and then asked them questions from the test. They did better when I just asked them. I am going to have them retake the test next week. I really want to improve their ability to take tests. Basically their whole career is determined by their scores on tests in the tenth and twelfth grades. In addition I really want to work on their reading comprehension. I started by adding reading to their curriculum and this week, I'm going to ask them to write book reports on their library books. That way they can get some practice.

We had a great time with the fourth grade in musical theatre class. They're really musically talented as a bunch. I want to encourage a couple of them to sing solos in our upcoming Billy Elliot show. We sang rounds using A Ram Sam Sam and Row Row Row Your Boat. We also did some repeat after me songs. I think I started a Baby Shark craze.

Went to PT and played octopus and Red Light Green Light with the second grade. I had lots of fun. It sort of deteriorated into us running after each other and then hugging someone. Elizabeth and I planned the fourth grade curriculum together, since Mrs. Law told Miss Beena that I was excelling at teaching math and asked me to teach the fifth grade math classes as well. We're going to co-teach some stuff for the fourth grade. In any case, I'm excited to work with some other kids more closely too. I walked a couple miles with Jacques and did my laundry before dinner.

I'm kind of tired of rice. Not gonna lie. All the volunteers are singing parodies of "All That Jazz" with "All That Rice." Yeah. It's a lot of rice. In any case, I think I'm going to have to make a plan about when I'm eating rice. There's just too much in my diet it's making me feel icky. After dinner we watched Superbad. It's so funny. Why didn't I see this before? About 3/4 of the way through the power went out and we thought it was going to be gone for the night. We were so happy when it came back on.

Friday (the thirteenth)
We had the younger kids for aerobics. I was planning a stretch class because both Elizabeth and I needed one. Can I just take minute to say how AMAZING Elizabeth is? I'm so glad she is here. It was fun. I'm having them do a series of strengthening exercises every morning followed by dance, theater games and mayhem. It's a good way to start the day. I think my malaria pills give me an upset stomach. Luckily I only take them once a week. We finished watching Hairspray with the fifth grade. It was fun discussing cultural parallels with them. Elizabeth and I planned our Billy Eliot show. Details to follow. We visited the 1st grade and KG. They are so freaking cute. I started a weight lifting program. I ate with the fourth grade, who's ranks are rapidly being depleted by chicken pox. So many of them are out. I found a playable flute and some amazing puppets. I'm still working on getting some tap shoes. Steve (guitar), Joe (harmonica), Elizabeth (voice) and I (flute) sat outside playing together. It was really fun. We were joking about getting a jug and spoons. We watched the Sixth Sense and it made me cry. Some of us stayed up and watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I can't believe I've never seen it before. It's like live action family guy or something. Watching it makes me miss college and watching things with Greg, Mike, Kyle and Emily.

Saturday (Valentine's Day)
Today is my one month India anniversary! Internet is spotty- forty five minutes for a photo to upload. We're heading to Hampi in a few weeks. I think we'll also being doing a local village tour some time soon.

The RSS, a radical political party, threatened couples who celebrate Valentines day. Some journalist recommended sending some official pink panties for Valentines Day in acknowledgement. It's a huge scandal. The kids love it.

I had the fourth grade make some valentines today. I will send them as soon as I figure out how. I have a picture of Genevieve on my computer, they saw it and FREAKED OUT! They miss you, if you're reading this. The sixth grade recited some love poetry at assembly it was a big hit.

Love and miss you all!