What a jam packed four days that I experienced at the end of March! I was invited by my friend to teach an English camp for 2 full days in Northern India in the state of Uttar Pradesh with an NGO called Our India Foundation. This foundation has created a school for children that are low income, have been displaced due to violence and rioting in the area and/or are orphaned. It currently serves 120 children and plans to almost double in the next school year.
I had no idea really of what to expect and while there were many wonderful parts, there were times I felt completely overwhelmed. I flew into Delhi on Saturday and arrived around 5:00pm and met the program coordinator at the airport. We had a pleasant ride to our destination which was about a 3 hour drive from the airport, a small rural area called Kandlha. We stopped for some dinner along the way and I had this awesome tomato based paneer curry with garlic naan. Yum! We arrived about 8:30 to this house where I'd be staying for the next three nights. This organization is run and funded by a group in Kerala, where I live, and predominately is made up of those from the Muslim faith. I was greeted at the house by about 8 men in traditional dress and appearance. They dropped my bags in my room and hospitably offered me snacks and drinks. I wasn't hungry but did my best to not appear rude so I took an orange from the plate of four and rather poorly attempted to eat it one handed. You try peeling an orange using only your right hand! It's tough!
About 6 men sat around the table watching my every move and another few started to wander in off the street and sit on this long couch in the adjoining room so I felt very unprepared for such an audience. I commented to the coordinator, who spoke pretty good English, "Wow, nothing like sitting in front of 15 men trying to eat an orange gracefully while your every move is being scrutinized." I wasn't sure he would get my sarcasm but he started to laugh and translate my comment. I smiled as they all laughed and the owner of the house picked up one and joined me. I told him, "Thank you" with over-exaggerated relief. As they tried to get me a drink, I explained that I would just have water but that I needed to be careful and only drink bottled water. I saw one of them say something to the house help guy and he went out the door. I sort of forgot about him but a few minutes later, I see him carrying a huge box of water bottles. He set it down in a corner in my room and I started laughing. Ask and ye shall receive! He frequently went into my room and put one in the fridge so that I could have a cold drink with meals which was really kind. I went to my room not long after that...maybe 10 and we arranged a plan for the next morning's breakfast.
I walked into my colorful bedroom and sat on the bed. The bed made a crinkly sound and I picked up the bedspread and discovered the plastic on the mattress. I thought maybe that I was the first to use this guestroom so I walked out hoping to catch my friend before he went to his room. He unfortunately had already went into his room so I walked out and 12 pairs of eyes were on me. I knew that I wouldn't be able to just say nothing so I motioned to the coordinator to come while asking him about the bed. I asked, "I was just wondering if I was the first person to use this bed. The plastic is still on and it makes a loud noise when sitting or lying down." He paused a minute and then smiled apologetically saying, "No, this room has been used. We keep that on because it's new." Oh, ok...logic confirmed. So for everyone that knows me, I have a super sensitivity to sound, light, temperatures, basically anything that could disrupt my sleep. Did I mention noise? So I smiled and said, "Ok, no problem." He decided that we should get another bedspread set that was thicker and soon enough I'd drawn a crowd of about 4 guys trying to lay down enough blankets to make the sound less audible. It was so sweet of them to try but when all was said and done, still made the crinkly plastic sound. haha
I attempted to get settled in and it took quite awhile to fall asleep because there were people talking, laughing and milling about outside my door for the next 2 hours. I finally fell asleep around 12:30 or so and was awoken unpleasantly at 5 am to the sound of the call to prayer. Apparently we were next door to the local mosque. Oh boy I thought. This is going to be a rough sleeping environment. I had set my alarm for 6:30 so I tried to fall back to sleep and I must have succeeded because there was a knock at my door, which we had said was the signal to tell me that breakfast was ready. I looked at my little travel alarm and saw 6:30 displayed. I was like, "Why are they already calling for me?" I walked over to my phone and pulled it out of my backpack and saw the glaring numbers of 7:30 am!!! Aghh! My alarm had stopped working and it was totally time for me to eat and then leave so we could be at the school by 8. That was not a way to start the day and I felt so rushed and unorganized as I got dressed in 5 minutes, threw my hair in a pony tail and walked out to eat breakfast. I tried to explain but realized it wasn't worth the translation trouble.
I shoveled eggs in my mouth, packed my bag up for everything I would need, brushed my teeth, quickly applied a stroke of mascara, powdered my face with sunscreen bronzer and was out the door. It was a quick 3 minute walk to the school and I realized that really there was no serious need for me to hurry as they spent the next half hour getting all the computer/microphone equipment ready for me to start teaching. While I waited, they gave me a bunch of English newspapers to browse through and I had fun reading through the articles and especially the matrimonials page where people advertise what type of spouse they are looking for. I met a few of the teachers (so happy to see some women!) and we got started. I had to give them a lot of credit. For the most part, they had purchased all the supplies I had asked for in advance and had them ready and we stuck to the schedule pretty well overall. I spent the morning rotating groups of about 20 kids who were the youngest of the school, from 4-6 years old. We did a short lesson about camping, what supplies are needed, what animals you would see on a camping trip, danced to an animal song and then they did some artwork before their time was finished. We broke for lunch and the owner of the house, his wife, prepared some delicious meals for us. I never saw her because she was upstairs but she was a wonderful cook.
The afternoon was much of the same lesson, with one staff member translating what I said word for word but this time I was working with the oldest children who were 6-7 years old. They were going to get the bulk of my classes as the younger ones just got a preview of hopefully what's to come in the future for them. I really enjoyed teaching, playing and doing crafts with the children and the afternoon went by very quickly. We finished around 4 and walked back to the house. I decided to lay down for a few minutes and soon had a knock on my door. I had changed into more comfortable clothes, jeans!!! with a traditional long shirt. The weather was the very best thing about being in northern India. It was about 80 during the day and got into the upper 60s at night. I was in heaven! Finally not sweating every second! So they told me that I was going to go visit the village nearby so I grabbed my phone to take pictures and we were off. I had no idea about what was really to come...I thought maybe we'd take a driving tour since we hopped into a big SUV with like 10 people shoved inside. However, that was not the case. Part 2 coming soon!
I had no idea really of what to expect and while there were many wonderful parts, there were times I felt completely overwhelmed. I flew into Delhi on Saturday and arrived around 5:00pm and met the program coordinator at the airport. We had a pleasant ride to our destination which was about a 3 hour drive from the airport, a small rural area called Kandlha. We stopped for some dinner along the way and I had this awesome tomato based paneer curry with garlic naan. Yum! We arrived about 8:30 to this house where I'd be staying for the next three nights. This organization is run and funded by a group in Kerala, where I live, and predominately is made up of those from the Muslim faith. I was greeted at the house by about 8 men in traditional dress and appearance. They dropped my bags in my room and hospitably offered me snacks and drinks. I wasn't hungry but did my best to not appear rude so I took an orange from the plate of four and rather poorly attempted to eat it one handed. You try peeling an orange using only your right hand! It's tough!
About 6 men sat around the table watching my every move and another few started to wander in off the street and sit on this long couch in the adjoining room so I felt very unprepared for such an audience. I commented to the coordinator, who spoke pretty good English, "Wow, nothing like sitting in front of 15 men trying to eat an orange gracefully while your every move is being scrutinized." I wasn't sure he would get my sarcasm but he started to laugh and translate my comment. I smiled as they all laughed and the owner of the house picked up one and joined me. I told him, "Thank you" with over-exaggerated relief. As they tried to get me a drink, I explained that I would just have water but that I needed to be careful and only drink bottled water. I saw one of them say something to the house help guy and he went out the door. I sort of forgot about him but a few minutes later, I see him carrying a huge box of water bottles. He set it down in a corner in my room and I started laughing. Ask and ye shall receive! He frequently went into my room and put one in the fridge so that I could have a cold drink with meals which was really kind. I went to my room not long after that...maybe 10 and we arranged a plan for the next morning's breakfast.
I walked into my colorful bedroom and sat on the bed. The bed made a crinkly sound and I picked up the bedspread and discovered the plastic on the mattress. I thought maybe that I was the first to use this guestroom so I walked out hoping to catch my friend before he went to his room. He unfortunately had already went into his room so I walked out and 12 pairs of eyes were on me. I knew that I wouldn't be able to just say nothing so I motioned to the coordinator to come while asking him about the bed. I asked, "I was just wondering if I was the first person to use this bed. The plastic is still on and it makes a loud noise when sitting or lying down." He paused a minute and then smiled apologetically saying, "No, this room has been used. We keep that on because it's new." Oh, ok...logic confirmed. So for everyone that knows me, I have a super sensitivity to sound, light, temperatures, basically anything that could disrupt my sleep. Did I mention noise? So I smiled and said, "Ok, no problem." He decided that we should get another bedspread set that was thicker and soon enough I'd drawn a crowd of about 4 guys trying to lay down enough blankets to make the sound less audible. It was so sweet of them to try but when all was said and done, still made the crinkly plastic sound. haha
I attempted to get settled in and it took quite awhile to fall asleep because there were people talking, laughing and milling about outside my door for the next 2 hours. I finally fell asleep around 12:30 or so and was awoken unpleasantly at 5 am to the sound of the call to prayer. Apparently we were next door to the local mosque. Oh boy I thought. This is going to be a rough sleeping environment. I had set my alarm for 6:30 so I tried to fall back to sleep and I must have succeeded because there was a knock at my door, which we had said was the signal to tell me that breakfast was ready. I looked at my little travel alarm and saw 6:30 displayed. I was like, "Why are they already calling for me?" I walked over to my phone and pulled it out of my backpack and saw the glaring numbers of 7:30 am!!! Aghh! My alarm had stopped working and it was totally time for me to eat and then leave so we could be at the school by 8. That was not a way to start the day and I felt so rushed and unorganized as I got dressed in 5 minutes, threw my hair in a pony tail and walked out to eat breakfast. I tried to explain but realized it wasn't worth the translation trouble.
I shoveled eggs in my mouth, packed my bag up for everything I would need, brushed my teeth, quickly applied a stroke of mascara, powdered my face with sunscreen bronzer and was out the door. It was a quick 3 minute walk to the school and I realized that really there was no serious need for me to hurry as they spent the next half hour getting all the computer/microphone equipment ready for me to start teaching. While I waited, they gave me a bunch of English newspapers to browse through and I had fun reading through the articles and especially the matrimonials page where people advertise what type of spouse they are looking for. I met a few of the teachers (so happy to see some women!) and we got started. I had to give them a lot of credit. For the most part, they had purchased all the supplies I had asked for in advance and had them ready and we stuck to the schedule pretty well overall. I spent the morning rotating groups of about 20 kids who were the youngest of the school, from 4-6 years old. We did a short lesson about camping, what supplies are needed, what animals you would see on a camping trip, danced to an animal song and then they did some artwork before their time was finished. We broke for lunch and the owner of the house, his wife, prepared some delicious meals for us. I never saw her because she was upstairs but she was a wonderful cook.
The afternoon was much of the same lesson, with one staff member translating what I said word for word but this time I was working with the oldest children who were 6-7 years old. They were going to get the bulk of my classes as the younger ones just got a preview of hopefully what's to come in the future for them. I really enjoyed teaching, playing and doing crafts with the children and the afternoon went by very quickly. We finished around 4 and walked back to the house. I decided to lay down for a few minutes and soon had a knock on my door. I had changed into more comfortable clothes, jeans!!! with a traditional long shirt. The weather was the very best thing about being in northern India. It was about 80 during the day and got into the upper 60s at night. I was in heaven! Finally not sweating every second! So they told me that I was going to go visit the village nearby so I grabbed my phone to take pictures and we were off. I had no idea about what was really to come...I thought maybe we'd take a driving tour since we hopped into a big SUV with like 10 people shoved inside. However, that was not the case. Part 2 coming soon!
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