I am nearing the end of my first week in India and I thought I'd give you all a brief update. After over 30 hours of traveling across three continents, Eric, Zach (my two co-teachers) and I arrived in Mumbai (Bombay) at 2 am on Sunday. From there, our director and roommate, Priya, had a van waiting to drive us another seven hours to our village. Finally, late Sunday morning, we made it to our village, Kadod, and got to take a much needed shower and sleep for a while.
Later in the afternoon, we explored the village for a while and I even had the opportunity to have some Indian attire made, so I could impress the staff at school on Monday. We found a great tailor and with a lot of gestures and the help of a translator, I had two Indian dresses, called salwar kameez, made. Later that night, we enjoyed dinner and some Bollywood soap operas at an elderly couple's house. It was delicious!
After a much needed night of sleep, we woke on Monday and headed to our respective schools. Zach and Eric are teaching at Kadod High School, while I am teaching at Madhi High School. The first day was quite an experience. Priya, Felicia, the summer intern and I departed for the 15 kilometer journey to Madhi. The commonly used form of transportation for short distances is called a chukra, a very small, open-aired vehicle that should fit 5-7 people comfortably, but here fits 10-18 uncomfortably. We found one going and jumped in, but the only way we'd all fit was if Felicia hung out the back. Needless to say, it was not the safest trip.
On the first day of school, we met the principal, Modi Sir, and the other staff members. No one really speaks English, including the English teachers. Luckily, the head of the English department, Veejaybhai speaks English, so he took me around to his classes. At his first class, he introduced me and allowed the students to ask questions. The questions I received were: "What is your favourite (Bollywood) actor?", "Who wrote the American national anthem?" and "Who made the American flag?" Well, I have only seen Slumdog Millionaire, which is not technically Bollywood, I do know the anthem writer and I do not know who made our flag, so I was a little embarrassed. Five minutes later, I used the Indian toilet, which is a glorified hole in the ground and walked out with my dress tucked in my pants!
The last few days, I have been observing more classes and just figuring everything out. I am teaching myself Hindi so I can communicate with everyone since English is not spoken by the majority of the villagers. I am now capable of speaking Hindi when the colours, animals and modes of transportation are involved! Yesterday, I observed at an English medium school, where the students are "taught" all subjects in English, supposedly. Contrary to the name of the school, not all of the teachers can even speak English. I did have a cool ride home on the back of a motorcycle, weaving in and out of traffic. Good thing I decided to go with the insurance that covers extreme sports!
The food is AMAZING! Every meal consists of 2-3 chipati (soft tortillas), a raw onion/tomato mixture, and daal, which is a sauce or soup made of lentils and other vegetables and potatoes. I have liked everything so far, which is good, because the meals are pretty much the same on a daily basis. Alcohol and meat are not permitted in the state of Gujarat, so I will only have them if I visit big cities, like Mumbai. I am already looking forward to that weekend away.
I am addicted to chai (tea). It's sugary and I think caffeinated and it's excellent! We have it in the morning and mid-afternoon, too. The other day I three glasses in one sitting, which definitely gave me a chai high.
All in all, the week has been good. It has definitely been an adjustment and I know it will take me a while to figure out what I am doing, but I am optimistic. And thankfully, it's cooling down because the monsoon arrived on Tuesday. Unfortunately, with the daily rains come a plethora of insects. This morning we woke to an insect massacre... 70-100 dead crickets, flies, mosquitoes and foreign insects outside our door. This is India, I guess.
