Starting All Over

Because Christ King is conducting standardized testing for the rest of the week, today Montana and LuRue went to PRS for the first time. Stephen had asked them for preferred grade levels, for which we requested Standards 4, 5, and/or 6. Well, this being India, we've learned to expect the unexpected. We were assigned Standards 1, 2, and 3. We learned later that this was because everyone wants the Global Volunteers and the three lower grades had never had any. But being the savvy teachers that we've become, we quickly switched gears and adapted our activities as we tentatively interacted with each grade level and saw how much English each group did/didn't know. Standard 3 was only slightly less capable than our other school, so we adjusted accordingly. By the time we had our third and last class of Standard 1, we realized that they understood almost nothing, so spent a lot of time teaching action songs. Turns out that was a good thing to do as the only reason they don't know any songs was because they had never had any volunteers. So Alice the Camel, the Five Little Monkeys, and the Penguins are having a ball with painfully shy little kids who blossom and come alive during the course of 40 minutes.

After lunch, Sheeba took LuRue to get a haircut. The hairdresser almost did a double-take to have an elderly woman with practically no hair come in and ask to have her hair cut even shorter. In this country of thick waist-length hair, it was almost like asking to be shorn. But LuRue explained that the hair on her neck added to the drippiness when the humidity is high and she is moving around a lot. The cost of the haircut was 150 rupees or about $2.50.

Sheeba then led LuRue to a shop which specializes in churidars (which is apparently what a salwar kameez is correctly called in southern India--with a slight difference in style). LuRue chose a fabric which will be taken to the tailor. Cost of the embroidered fabric was 495 rupees or about $8.25. On the way home, they stopped at yet another shop for more craft supplies for SEAM, a tiny place hidden behind greenery that was so full of things to buy that it was impossible to walk through the narrow aisle without bumping heads against the bags of notions hanging from the ceiling. But the shop had all the requested items.

The rest of the afternoon was devoted to filming a few of the needed scenes to plug into already-filmed scenes...care being taken, of course, to ensure that there are no "errors in continuity". With such devotion to make the film "Oscar" material, the movie moguls don't want to make silly mistakes which will be noticed by the film critics.

The day was capped with a nightly visit to SEAM. By now enough colorful rubber band bracelets had been made so that each child could get one, so they were handed out. Crafts continue to be popular, so Montana and LuRue will continue to lead those activities. They also had a taste of what next week will be like when the team number drops to two...they were the only adults leading the singing/dancing/action songs. It went quite well, really. Again...thanks to Alice, the Monkeys, and the Penguins!

Some random photos taken on the way to SEAM.

At dinner Stephen and Sheeba described the typical dinnertime in an Indian home, which would include his parents and possibly brothers and their families, as well as possible aunties and uncles. As the eldest son, he would be served first. There would be no conversation at all...everyone would be concentrating on his or her food. Since food is typically eaten with the fingers, Stephen would immediately get up when finished in order to wash his hands. He may well finish before the last person had been served. He said that for many years he saw his father only rarely as the father rose early to go to work (he was in the military), came home for lunch when Stephen was in school, and was back for the evening after Stephen was in bed.

Like everywhere else, things are changing. Stephen interacts a lot with his son Roshan. He and Sheeba seem to delight in telling us all the idiosyncrasies of Indian life. They are a lot of fun and are a big part of our experience. What a treat to have them as hosts!