A low day

Today I don't have much exciting to share. Unfortunately, I was sick last night. It felt like food poisoning, but it seems to be going through the volunteers, so it's tough to tell exactly what's going on. My roommate was sick, and then the next night, I was sick. I am feeling better, but really tired right now. I mostly stayed at the hostel today, and on top of everything, the air conditioning went out, so it is really hot. At least we have the fans. And luckily, I am feeling better now. I guess this is India, right? I'm looking forward to tomorrow and feeling well enough to be back at the school.

Success!

One of the things that has been the most difficult for me is the way that students in India are taught. Everything is rote memorization and copying. Because of this, they see no problem with copying work from one another, and writing is very difficult because it requires them to think of things themselves. I get lots of whining when I require my 7th and 8th standard English classes to write more than a couple of sentences, which I do every day at the beginning of class. In 1st standard, the idea that writing could be used to communicate and express their own thoughts is completely foreign. They only think of writing as copying sentences as words provided by the teacher to practice letter formation. So, I have been trying to get them to sound out and write words - invented spelling is fine, I just want them to make the sound-symbol connection and record something original. Today, I went back to early kindergarten and had them draw a picture and label it. And it worked! I had pictures of ice cream, cats, suns, dogs, lions, tigers, dinosaurs, fish, and many more. The kids drew and labeled their pictures, mostly by sounding them out. It was really great to see their success and their excitement, and I think the message was at least partly received that writing is not copying - it is communicating.

Life Dance Video take 2

Okay, my attempt at linking the video didn't work, so try checking it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=2064297899686&oid=103449216362829&comments

Life Dance Video

Dear Friends and Family:
Check out this video of Life Dance. It was created by one of my roommates.

A list that I will undoubtedly add to

Things I like about India:
Chudidars - so comfortable in the hot weather that it is like wearing your pajamas all day
Fresh mangos - we are in the middle of a mango grove, and I never knew I loved mangos until I got here
Rising Star kids - they are affectionate and fun
Other volunteers - I am with a great group!
Indian food - I've had some great food, including this fantastic pineapple and cashew rice pudding that I really want the recipe for

Things I don't like about India:
Heat - I am melting
Fresh papayas - I didn't know it, but I really don't like this fruit
Indian food - Some of the things are not to my taste, like this fish curry that we had last week, with huge pieces of fish including bones and eyeballs - thank goodness for peanut butter

New chapel in progress in Chennai

Church in Chennai

Church in Chennai

This morning, we left at 7:30 am to travel to Chennai (about two hours by bus) to attend church in the Latter-day Saint branch there. The service was in English, since that was the first language of the majority of the congregation, but they did have a Tamil Sunday School class, and they regularly paused to translate into Tamil for the people who do not speak English well. We were probably about half the branch (there were about 30 of us), and then there were a couple of American families that are living and working in Chennai. Although the native Indian population in the branch is still not tremendously high, it is growing very quickly. There was a baptism today after church, and there was a confirmation during church of a member that was baptized this week. Apparently there have been about 40 baptisms within the last month or two. Not all are active, but active members are growing as well. They are building a new church building a couple of blocks away from the old one. It is very large and, right now, it seems like it would be impossible to fill, but the members have faith and the church is growing very quickly.

As is the case whenever I travel, even though people were dressed differently and spoke a different language, the church is the same - the sacrament, the lessons, all of it. I will be substituting in the 12 and 13 year old Sunday School class in two weeks, and the lesson manual is just like those at home. People are welcoming and kind, and many of these Indian saints have great faith. They attend church weekly knowing they will not understand everything, they read their scriptures, they pray, they pay their tithing out of the limited money that they have. I can tell that Rising Star is increasing missionary opportunities, as many people from Rising Star (including several housemothers and older children) have chosen to attend church. It was wonderful to attend church in Chennai.

Later, I fell asleep for a long time - I was exhausted. But I woke up in time to watch Life Dance perform again. There dance number really is inspiring. I hope that I will be able to share it with others and inspire them, just as the dance suggests. Unfortunately, the volunteer who has been teaching dance will leave this week. The students plan to continue on their own, but I know it will be difficult for them without an adult to lead. These students are very dedicated - they give up their play hour from 5-6 pm every day for dance class and practice. And I know that they love it. Last Friday, I taught my 7th standard about persuasive paragraphs. I asked them for an opinion about what they should do this weekend, and one of my boys told me dance. His reasons were that it makes our bodies strong, it is fun, and it makes our audience happy. He is certainly right when it comes to me as the audience!

Mamallupuram

Indoor soccer during family time in the boy's hostel

Bedtime in the boy's hostel

Homework time in the boy's hostel

Our Marvelous Bathroom and Shower Facilities

Trip to Mamallupuram

Today was Saturday - no school for the kids - so the other volunteers and I went to the small town of Mamallupuram. This is a beachside town, and it has a lot of little shops. We visited the beach and swam in the Bay of Bengal. The water felt wonderful in the heat, but it was really salty. I made a few purchases with my rupees. On the way back to Rising Star, we stopped and ate parotha, which is a lot like nan. It is a thin bread that you dip in a sauce. It was served with an egg and onion omelet. It was actually very good. Then, when we got the rest of the way back, it was time for movie night with the children. This happens each Saturday evening at 7:30. Since the children don't have televisions in their houses, they are very excited to see the movie. Tonight, it was Tron. It was in English, to help them work on their language skills, but I think the younger ones especially still had trouble understanding it. They didn't mind - the visual effects kept them quite entertained. The children like to use the volunteers as pillows. I had two little boys with their heads on my lap through the movie. My legs kind of fell asleep and I had to periodically shift position slightly. At one point, as I looked down at them, it struck me that these little boys, who have known some very hard things in their lives, are still quick to show affection. I was so glad that they are at Rising Star, where they have good nutrition, an opportunity for an education, and health care. When I was in Mamallupuram, there were many children, especially young girls, who would come up to tourists and try to sell them simple beaded necklaces. I thought that our children here at Rising Star would be in this situation, or worse, if they did not have this opportunity. Many of them have begged with their parents in the past, but this Saturday, Gokulraj excitedly told me that he would be riding a bike (the children get a turn to ride bikes about once every two weeks). Other children worked on homework, helped with chores, and played. Some read books. In the evening, they watched a movie together. These are things that children should be doing, and I was grateful that these children that I am coming to love are able to do them.

Teaching

In India, Responsibility Comes Quickly

So, on the second day of teaching (Thursday), I was invited to serve as principal for the time that I would be here at the Rising Star school. The person who has been doing this since March is leaving tonight, and the regular principal has had her visa denied several times so, until further notice, she cannot come. In the end, I felt that I did not know the school, the teachers, or the students well enough to do this job, but I will be taking on a number of "curriculum specialist" type responsibilities - training teachers, working with teachers, helping with behavior management plans for some students, and even working with teacher evaluation - in addition to my teaching responsibilities. I will work closely with the education volunteer coordinator and, together, we will help the school to run as smoothly as possible. It strikes me that in India, especially here in rural India, the knowledge and skills that you possess are put to use quite quickly. There is plenty to do. I am really enjoying working with the children, but it is definitely a challenge. For example, in my 1st standard class, the students really struggle with English, and giving directions requires a lot of acting out or drawing pictures and checking with students regularly for understanding. Sometimes, an Indian "housemother" is there with me, and that is quite helpful. She can translate into Tamil. However, the housemothers are not great at English either, so communicating with them can take work, too.

Yesterday I got to see the Life Dance group at Rising Star (a group of about 20 students) perform a piece. It was beautiful. It was about how one person can touch and help another, and this is magnified. There is a portion of the piece where the students were assigned to watch their parents and family members at home who have leprosy, and turn some of the movements that they observe into choreography. This was very moving and a reminder of the situations that these children come from. I was also able to see a number of my 7th and 8th standard students perform in this piece. One of my 8th standard boys, Joseph, had a dance solo. He was quite remarkable. His performance was powerful.

Today, a major highlight was a visit from the Marriot hotel staff. They come once every three months, serve food to the children (and volunteers - it was wonderful!), and do fun activities with the children. They danced with balloons and music from a DJ, and it was a blast. We got to dance with them. They were so excited and having so much fun! It also rained several times today. I never appreciated rain until I arrived here. It is wonderful to stand in the rain. It is cool, but not cold, and feels wonderful in the heat. It is really hot here. But I am so glad to be here, to interact with the children and the teachers and the other volunteers. It is beautiful where we are, in the middle of a mango grove and a coconut grove, and it is wonderful.

Playtime with the Rising Star kids

Dinner: Traditional Indian food on the roof on a banana leaf

The last few days

We've had some Internet trouble (it is rural India), but I'm on now and I want to share an update of my first few days in India, hopefully before I lose power. I arrived in the middle of the night on Sunday and took a shower, since I felt like I needed one after 30 hours of travel time. I was staying in the Marriot, so they had a western-style shower. Also, I wanted to savor my last real shower. On Monday morning, I ate at the Marriot breakfast buffet. I had Indian breakfast, and it was good, especially a stuffed bread called a Paratha. It is made to order with things mixed into the dough and then baked on a stone in a brick oven. Then, at 11 am, we left in a bumpy bus through the city of Chennai for Rising Star. It was fun to see the interesting sights out the window, especially the cows wandering on the side of the city streets. When we arrived at Rising Star, I got to see the exciting Indian toilets and bucket showers, as well as the room where I'll be staying, the courtyard, the grove of mango trees, and so on. Then we all headed over to play with the Rising Star children during "playtime." Playtime was exhausting! That evening I learned that in addition to teacher training, I would be taking over four classes starting the next day - 1st grade phonics, 1st grade writing, 7th grade English, and 8th grade English. They call grades "standards" here. On Tuesday, I observed the teachers of these classes to find out what was going on, as well as running a teacher training on lesson planning. The training went really well. Although I only had a half an hour, and I could have talked much more about lesson planning, the teachers responded really well. I've since had a number of teachers tell me that they thought that what I taught was really useful and they plan to use it. Also, it allowed me to get to know the teachers a little bit better. I told them that it was really hot here (it is - I think I'm melting), and they laughed. I told them that it snowed not that long ago in Cody, and one looked at the other with a confused expression and said "snow?". The other one explained that it was cold from the sky. Today I taught for the first time. Mostly, it went really well, but my first class with the third grade group (phonics) was tough. It is clear that the young kids think that Americans are playmates, and so when I showed up to teach, they figured it was playtime. This made managing the class difficult, but I got through it, and when I came back to teach the same group writing after lunch, I was better prepared and the class went much, much better. I have high hopes that tomorrow will go well. One of the wonderful things that is happening is that the children are starting to know my name. They call me "ma'am" or "auntie" or "Heather ma'am." They run up to me and climb on me like kittens. I have a couple of boys in my "family" - I'm assigned to a group at the boy's hostel - who find me in school and remind me to come during "family time" and help them with their maths. They tell me about what they're doing and are excited for me to get there. I have to say, kids are pretty similar all over the world, whether they are in class or playing, whether they are teasing, or getting into trouble, or showing love. These kids absolutely love cameras - they want to take pictures and have their pictures taken all day. They like to dance in front of the camera and make funny faces. They also love to tease their "auntie" and "uncle" volunteers. Today, some boys made a lasso with a rope and covered it with sand and then tried to get volunteers to stand in the middle of it so that they could pull it tight and catch them. They are a good group of kids - some are better, more motivated students and others are more challenging, but they all have great potential. I am enjoying my time here and I am excited to see what the next weeks will bring.
I miss you all, and I hope to be able to tell you more soon. Hopefully the Internet, and the power, will hold out. We have quite a few power outages every day, but they usually don't last too long. I hope that all is well with you!

Watching "The Story of India" from PBS

Packing in progress...

Fundraising ... we did it!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated to Rising Star Outreach in my name! I have reached my commitment, and even slightly exceeded it. I am honored to be surrounded by such kind and generous people! I am taking the final steps to getting ready - final shopping trips for those important last (I hope) things, packing my suitcase, trying to figure out how I'm going to make it through 30 hours of travel time, reconfirming my reservations, starting my anti-malaria medication, and on and on. I can't believe that I leave in only a day. Thank you all, and I promise that I will post more exciting photos as soon as I have them.