He Says I Have Talent!

Tonight I got to co-facilitate a session on weekend fun with Sid, and I did a little needs assessment and activity. Nothing fancy, just small stuff. (I led a brief re-entry session this summer, after which Roshen told me I can do re-entry and some other sessions throughout the semester.) Later this evening, I bumped into Roshen and we were debriefing the day and he said, “You are just so talented at that! I am going to learn so much from you.” And I was like, Rosh, I have books and books of activities like this, I can show you some if you want,” to which he replied that he would much rather just watch me do it. Yay yay yay! (and thank you, TDEL!)

Discombobulated Day

Well, my worst fears came true. My life has completely changed. And I don’t really know how to deal with it. The girls are all asking me where I am, why I am not eating with them, which (a) makes me so sad because I absolutely cherished that time with them and (b) makes me feel really special because they love me J I am running around like a crazy person trying to get myself and everybody else balanced and settled, and it is making me pretty discombobulated. I know that things will settle down, though, and I also look forward to those weeks that the kids will be traveling and I can go back to my rice 3x/day with the girlies. I also have to find the balance between administrator and friend, and my high context/low context pendulum is swinging back and forth more quickly than a metronome keeping superfast time. Things will settle, things will settle…but for now, I just have to deal with the discombobulation!

BUT the exciting thing is that Kengemma has started asking me to read with her. A few weeks ago I realized that she can’t really even identify all of the letters in the alphabet, and definitely can’t identify the sounds that they make in order to form words. I have asked her in the past if she wants to read with me, and she has shook her head violently and said, “grrr no auntie no!” But today she came up to me and asked to read! It made me so so happy and I hope it continues!!!

Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard

So last night we picked the kids up at the airport and got back to Visthar at around 3am. Yup, that was way past my bedtime. To pass the minutes while we waited for them, Sid and I made up a name game. We had a roster of the kids’ names, hometowns, majors, etc., but nothing else. Therefore, he said a name, hometown, major, and I said the very first association that came to mind. For example:

Jackie (female): Women’s Studies: Well, Jackie Robinson was the first African-American baseball player. There was a movie made about the first women’s baseball team…so Jackie, women’s studies.

James: James is a strong name. James was Jesus’ brother, so clearly James is studying philosophy.

Alexander: Alexander the great was born in Jordan (I have seen his birthplace) and it was on a grassy hill with lots of trees…equaling Alex is studying environmentalism.

Etc.

Whenever I didn’t have one, he did. His were more of a reaction to the name, though, such as:

Rachel [last name]: ah, a good Jewish girl!

[First name] Underwood: oh, well that’s easy! Underwood is such a British name, he must be studying English!

Several of mine also stemmed from songs [of course], like

Devaney from Montana: “My home’s in Montana - Devaney wears a bandana…”

Julio, who is studying political science: you know that Paul Simon song? “Me and Julio down by the schoolyard…” they always wondered what me and Julio were doing down by the schoolyard. Now we know that they were studying political science.

This was a great game. And gave us many, many laughs in those hours of delirium between 10pm and 1:30am. However. It didn’t really help us connect names with faces; instead, when I met Rachel all I could think was “ah, a good Jewish girl!” and I still haven’t stopped singing “Me and Julio down by the schoolyard…”

Tomorrow My Life Will Change

Well, this is it. Tomorrow, the students are coming. And I think that it is going to be a hard adjustment to make. I have gotten so used to my schedule, to my space, and my time, and tomorrow that is all going to be shaken up. I am not going to be able to eat my meals with the girls, and the time that I do get to spend with them is going to dramatically decrease. Even though I came here for the semester program with American students, for some reason I wasn’t anticipating getting so connected with the girls and I (a) don’t want to lose my time with them and (b) don’t want to share them. Yes, look at me, I’m so selfish. Oh, and I’m also getting a roommate…so I have to share my little brick hut, too. I was talking to a visiting former intern about this yesterday over dove chocolates, and right after I mentioned the roommate part I looked down at the promise in the wrapper: appreciate the people around you and share. We got a great laugh out of that omen ;) Regardless of my fears about change, though, I am really excited for the kids to come. Nervous, because what if they’re bad? What if they’re mean? What if they don’t like us? But so excited because it is 16 new relationships, 16 growing minds and souls, and I finally get to strut my stuff and do my thing, and I am so so so excited.

7-Star Hotel

Well today Sid and I continued our “research” for places to bring the students when they get here, and that research led us to the Leela Palace, Bangalore’s 7-star hotel. I walked in and knew that I wouldn’t mind coming back J OH to be in a place so pristine and sophisticated was absolutely wonderful. Sometimes I wonder at the contradictions in my life – here I am, living with nature and studying social justice, poverty, and development, yet I love me some upper-class comfort.

Sick Day Part Deux

Guess who has a fever again? Yup, I do. This morning the first people I saw were Anu and Roshen, and the first thing Roshen said to me was, “You look awful.” Gee thanks, Rosh. I can tell that it isn’t as bad as the last time, though, and I went back to bed for the afternoon to avoid it getting worse. The absolute bummer of being sick, though, is that I had to cancel my English class. Today was my favorite class, 3rd, 4th, and 5th, and I had really been looking forward to it.
When I walked down to tell them that I wasn’t going to make it, Gangamma saw me coming and ran out to meet me with open arms. She stopped dead in her tracks when she got within a few feet of me, put her hand to her throat, and asked me with inquisitive eyes, “Jaya (fever), auntie?” I smiled weakly and nodded, and she wrapped her arms around me and walked me to the classroom. At this point, it started raining, and all of the girls came and got me inside. Shacuntala got me a chair to sit in, and they made me sit until the rain let up, most of them stroking my arm or hair. At dinner that night, Gangamma came to sit by me and (after inquiring about the status of my fever) told me, “Auntie, I was badger (mad/sad) today that we didn’t have English class. I like English class. I like you. I was badger that you were sick.” (This was in a lot more broken English, which I wish I could remember so that you can get a better feel for how the girls speak, but alas I have only my understanding of what was said). This warmed my heart in so many ways – first and foremost, that she likes English. Secondly, that she likes my English class (and me ☺). I ran into Shiva on my way out, and she seconded Gangamma’s thoughts. And asked if we could make it up tomorrow. Or Saturday. Or Sunday. Or Monday. Or Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Oh man I love these girls.

Pondering Pomegranites

Since I moved to India, pomegranates have become my new favorite fruit. I have always loved pomegranate-flavored things, pomegranate juice, pomegranate frozen yogurt at Freeziac, and chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds, but I realized that I have never actually eaten the fruit purely on its own. I even have a pomegranate tree outside my front door, which makes me so so happy.

Yum. Besides its delicious taste and incredible nutritional value, I think I love pomegranates so much because you cannot eat them in a hurry. Pomegranates take a long time to eat, and for that reason you enjoy them more. You can’t eat a pomegranate while doing something else (even reading – the seeds are too juicy), and to that end you are completely concentrated on the process of breaking apart the flesh and pulling out the seeds. Eating a pomegranate isn’t a mindless activity like pulling out a bag of potato chips would be. You are focused on the process, on the taste, on the juice, and are able to think, to relax, to enjoy conversation. A small pomegranate should take at least 20 minutes to eat; today, I had a medium-sized one that I ate in 45 minutes…and even that was rushing it a little bit. Who has time to take 45 minutes to eat one fruit, you ask?

I think that we all should.