Incredible India!

Priya, Zach and I with the heads
of ELT@I after our workshop on Sunday.

Today is my last day in my village.  It really seems like it was yesterday when I was arriving in the 110+ degree weather.  Well, maybe that's because it's 110 once again.  Those breezy evenings are gone, the mosquitoes are bigger than ever and I'm back to sweating in the cold shower.  Nonetheless, it's been an incredible year and I'm sad to see it end. 

Ameeta and I with her
Certificate of Completion.

My last few weeks have been filled with completing my big projects, a major teachers' workshop we conducted on Sunday, a few awkward attendances at weddings and lots and lots of farewell dining.  Last week, we held a ceremony and gave our local co-teachers their certificates of completion for a year of training with us.  And Ameeta, my co-teacher improved so much that she was selected to be a trainer next year.  She'll be assigned recent local college graduates and she'll mentor them to become stronger English teachers.  I'm so proud of her and thankful that I had the opportunity to work with her this year! 

Farewell meal with my favorite family.

When moving away, it's considered very rude to leave without a meal with your friends, but I can't complain.  Coincidentally, I'm friends with a handful of people who do eat chicken on the sly, so my goodbye dinners have been nothing short of scrumptious! In fact, I've even sipped on some local whiskey or gin and fresh mango juice. Life's been pretty good these last few weeks.

Cheers to a good year training teachers!
It's Fanta Orange, not champagne.

My year in India has been an adventure, to say the very least. This country and its education system have thrown me challenges left and right.  I've dealt with being a woman in a place where men are far superior, I've handled being an American (white) woman in a rural village where the nearest foreigner resides 300 kilometers away, and I've attempted to tackle an English curriculum that promotes memorization and copying.  It's been a tough year.  But despite the days when I wished I could be anywhere but here, the days when my power's been gone for a full day or I'm warned that a leopard's prowling, I am really grateful for the experience.  I've met some fantastic individuals and I am more certain than ever of the career path I've chosen. And while I'm ready to return to the States and hopefully start grad school in the fall, I am really going to miss this place. 

This will be worth a lot someday!

To bring my blogging to a close, I came up with a list of the lessons I've learned and the things I've accomplished this year...

1. No matter how many hours I spend on Rosetta Stone or with my nose buried in a Hindi Phrase Book, everyone in India is going to think I'm speaking in English when I'm actually talking in what I think is pretty good Hindi.

My veggie scrambled eggs! 

2. I've perfected my signature and successfully signed 1-3 autographs every day. Why they want it so badly, I'll never really understand. 

3. I am a knowledgeable chef in all things egg and can prepare them anyway you like. I recommend my omelet or my veggie scrambled platter.

4. I can adequately mask my intolerance of the spiciness of food when eating at someone's house.  I just explain that Americans sip water after every bite of food. I mean, it's our "culture" and Indian's know not to mess with that. 

5. I am one accomplished mosquito assassin.  Barehanded or with an electric shock device, no mosquito can last more than one sting around me. 

Mosquito racket- resembles my
favorite sport equipment-
the badminton racket.

6. I can appreciate mocktails. As you know, alcohol is illegal in Gujarat, so at all restaurants, they serve mocktails.  I've discovered that they are so sweet and sugary, if you have enough, it gives you a sugar high, resembling a buzz from a couple beers. Sad, but true.

The mango lassi- my most
favorite non-alcoholic drink.

7. I can semi-gracefully run after and hop onto a moving bus or train.  Let's just say if I were an actor, no stunt double would be needed.

8. I'm a walking human Thesaurus.  After a year teaching English to students and teachers who don't speak it, I can now explain a word 500 different ways.  And if my explanations fail, I am also now a skilled stick-figure artist. 

9. I can run 6 miles in 110+ degree weather! Maybe that's why I sweat in the cold showers....

Principal Modi Sir and I on my last day
 at Madhi High School. Look at that saree!

10. Finally, after 1 year, I can wrap my own saree. It's been a long road and my neighbors and the other teachers at school still re-do it for me, but I can make it look decent. 

It's been one hell of a year and it's time to go. But since we live in a global village, and already over 50 of my students have requested my friendship on Facebook, I have no doubt I will remain in constant communication with my friends and family here. One day I hope to return to an English-speaking village! 

My Standard 9 boys on my last day at school.