75 days came and 75 days went, so today it is now time to head back home. What does my travel itinerary look like you ask? A 2 hour flight from Kolkata to Delhi followed by a 5 hour layover followed by a 15.5 hour flight to Chicago followed by a 2 hour layover followed by a 2.5 hour flight to Philly followed by a 5 hour "layover" followed by a 4.5 hour bus ride to State College - it should be a good time...
My service finished very strong at the Loreto Day School, and in the end I was actually very sad to have to leave the students and staff. Don't get me wrong I can't wait to be back home, but I really became invested in the school and the people during my eleven weeks here. Plus, I feel like I did some good things for the students over the past few weeks so part of me wishes I could stay here longer to try to do even more. Sustainability was a big goal of mine, though - I just hope my efforts in that area will end up being successful.
This will be my last post on this blog, but before I sign off I just wanted to do one more shameless plug. This fall I will be working with the US Public Service Academy in Washington, DC to try to pass legislation that would establish a national school for public service similar to the existing military academies. I am very much looking forward to jumping right into this project, and I encourage anyone who reads this to learn more about it and pass this web address along to anyone else who might be interested:
http://uspublicserviceacademy.org/
If you support the initiative please consider signing the online petition and calling your Senator and Congressperson to ask them to support it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sampurna Program
The Loreto Day school runs, or has its fingers in, a large number of programs in the Kolkata area. One program that I've been learning a lot about lately is the Sampurna Program, which just began last summer. The loose translation of "sampurna" from both Bengali and Hindi is "togetherness" or "self-sufficiency". Thus far the program has opened up 6 schools (with three more set to open next month) for over 800 students in rural villages surrounding Kolkata, and they have focused on areas that become easily cut off during monsoon season. Several of the schools were opened in slum areas where large numbers of families are squating on unused government land. The Loreto School funds the building/renovation of schools (usually just one large room for classes 1-4), and also trains (and pays) local community members to be the teachers and school administrators. Obviously this is not an ideal solution, but it is certainly better than nothing for the large number of students who would not be able to attend school otherwise. Additionally, these schools also offer adult education classes in the evenings, and several will be starting up micro-credit programs in the coming months.
I have been doing a little fundraising work on the side to help out with this project, so I was invited yesterday to go visit one of the schools. I took a train to the edge of Kolkata, and then had to walk about 20 minutes along the train tracks to get to the school because there is no road to the area during this season. The school is in the middle of a slum that is located a mere 20 feet or so from the train tracks. Below is a picture of the path that that leads to the school:
Here is a shot of the school itself. Note that it is raised off of the ground - this is due to the fact that flood waters rise very high during the monsoon season.
My Bengali teaching/tutoring bag of tricks is quite limited, so I was happy to have the opportunity to work briefly with the student below on the English alphabet. Aside from "5" coming after "Y", I think we did pretty well...
Finally, this is a picture of the community from across the lake/flood waters. If you did not know better or look too closely, you might think it was some sort of lakefront area.
Now a quick shameless plug: if you or someone you know would be interested in supporting the Sampurna program, please drop me an email (jay.s.thompson@gmail.com) and I'd be happy to pass along the necessary information. For just $36 you could pay a teacher's salary for a month, and in turn help to open up even more schools that would reach even more students...
I have been doing a little fundraising work on the side to help out with this project, so I was invited yesterday to go visit one of the schools. I took a train to the edge of Kolkata, and then had to walk about 20 minutes along the train tracks to get to the school because there is no road to the area during this season. The school is in the middle of a slum that is located a mere 20 feet or so from the train tracks. Below is a picture of the path that that leads to the school:
Here is a shot of the school itself. Note that it is raised off of the ground - this is due to the fact that flood waters rise very high during the monsoon season.
My Bengali teaching/tutoring bag of tricks is quite limited, so I was happy to have the opportunity to work briefly with the student below on the English alphabet. Aside from "5" coming after "Y", I think we did pretty well...
Finally, this is a picture of the community from across the lake/flood waters. If you did not know better or look too closely, you might think it was some sort of lakefront area.
Now a quick shameless plug: if you or someone you know would be interested in supporting the Sampurna program, please drop me an email (jay.s.thompson@gmail.com) and I'd be happy to pass along the necessary information. For just $36 you could pay a teacher's salary for a month, and in turn help to open up even more schools that would reach even more students...Sunday, July 27, 2008
Terrorist Bombings
The entire country is a little tense right now following two straight days of multiple bombs exploding in major Indian cities. On Friday bombs went off in 8 different locations in Bangalore (southern India), killing one person and injuring several others, and yesterday 16 blasts killed 45 people and injured over 100 more in Ahmedabad (western India). An Indian terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for the blasts, saying:
"We the terrorists of India - the Indian Mujahideen - the militia of Islam whose each and every Mujahid belongs to this very soil of India, have returned to execute the compulsion of Allah".
While watching the news last night with the family that I'm staying with they mentioned that many people think that the group is based out of the Kolkata area, and that is why Kolkata itself has yet to be hit. I doubt that their sources are the most reliable, but it was an interesting theory to hear. Either way, hopefully things will return as much to normal as possible over the coming weeks, and the terrorists will be apprehended before they can strike again.
"We the terrorists of India - the Indian Mujahideen - the militia of Islam whose each and every Mujahid belongs to this very soil of India, have returned to execute the compulsion of Allah".
While watching the news last night with the family that I'm staying with they mentioned that many people think that the group is based out of the Kolkata area, and that is why Kolkata itself has yet to be hit. I doubt that their sources are the most reliable, but it was an interesting theory to hear. Either way, hopefully things will return as much to normal as possible over the coming weeks, and the terrorists will be apprehended before they can strike again.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Teaching in the village
Yesterday I went out to the surrounding villages of Kolkata (about 1.5 hours outside of the city by bus) with a group of about 150-200 Loreto Day School students. Every Loreto student in class five and above is responsible for teaching younger students at the overcrowded, underfunded rural government schools one Thursday a month. The students are given complete responsibility for the classes (of about 30-50 students), and it was really impressive to watch how well they did. The bus simply stopped every few minutes and dropped off the students in groups of 6-10, and they then walk the rest of the way (upwards of 40 minutes) to the schools.
Unfortunately my camera battery died midway through the day, but I still got a few decent shots:
This is the school that I visited - it had around 200 students split among four rooms:
Below is a picture of the school's 2nd grade students - I talked to them briefly about America with some translating help from one of the Loreto students.
The last two pictures are shots of Loreto students in action:
Friday, July 11, 2008
Home stretch
Today marks day 50 of my adventures in India - 50 down, 25 to go...
This was the view from our hotel's terrace - unreal...
Flat Stanley came too...
...and he had some travelling partners as well...
Molly likes to say that she is the tallest woman in Nepal - this picture definitely helps her case...
In Delhi I got to check out the Gandhi Memorial and museum. Below is a picture of the exact spot where he was assassinated, with footprints marking his final steps - coupled with the museum exhibits, it was very moving...
Over my first seven weeks I did a lot of exploring in and around Kolkata, but this week I finally took the travelling plunge and flew across the country to visit Delhi and Agra. I travelled to Delhi by myself, but met up with Molly (who is slowly making her way back to Nepal) and another volunteer in Agra. Overall my trip was very good, with the one exception being that my miraculous 46 day health streak came to a screeching halt, and unfortunately the halt aligned perfectly (or imperfectly) with my trip. Regardless, my stubbornness won out so I still got to see everything that I wanted to and really did have a good time. Below are some pictures from my travels:
I call this my "cocky American" pose...
This was the view from our hotel's terrace - unreal...
Flat Stanley came too...
...and he had some travelling partners as well...
Molly likes to say that she is the tallest woman in Nepal - this picture definitely helps her case...
In Delhi I got to check out the Gandhi Memorial and museum. Below is a picture of the exact spot where he was assassinated, with footprints marking his final steps - coupled with the museum exhibits, it was very moving...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
an observation, and some pictures
I couldn't help but notice that my post about getting food thrown at me on the street set the record for the most reader comments on my blog thus far. I'm glad I'm not under any pressue to achieve high ratings or else these next few weeks might have been rough ones for me...
A few random pictures and stories:
Yesterday I went shopping with Erin, Molly, and Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley is much trendier than I am so we ended up at Fabindia. They didn't have anything in his size, but he did help pick out two shirts for me.
These birds are everywhere in Kolkata, and as near as we can tell they are pure evil.
Last Sunday Molly, Erin, and I went to check out the Hoogley River. The bridges were extremely modern looking, but the scene below, though very interesting, was not.
A few random pictures and stories:
Yesterday I went shopping with Erin, Molly, and Flat Stanley. Flat Stanley is much trendier than I am so we ended up at Fabindia. They didn't have anything in his size, but he did help pick out two shirts for me.
These birds are everywhere in Kolkata, and as near as we can tell they are pure evil.
Last Sunday Molly, Erin, and I went to check out the Hoogley River. The bridges were extremely modern looking, but the scene below, though very interesting, was not.Near the river is a very large flower market that we walked through. The first picture does not make it look amazingly attractive...
...but this one shows how beautiful the arrangements being sold actually were.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
normally i love curried potatoes...
Living in Kolkata is hard. Every time I think that I'm starting to figure things out something new gets thrown at me, in some cases literally. Today I was just walking down the street on the way to the market for lunch when I felt something hit my back. I turned around to see a very angry old woman yelling at me in Bengali with the remnants of curried potatoes in her hand - those same curried potatoes were now on the back of my shirt. It was immediately obvious that she was missing a few screws upstairs, so I think the best way to describe my reaction was an instant of anger followed quickly by an emotionally defeated sigh. Joe Ballard, if you are reading this, I feel it must be said that you never mentioned anything like this in our trainings - needless to say I felt completely unprepared...
Friday, June 20, 2008
random updates
a few quick thoughts/updates/predictions:
- I led a one hour career preparation workshop for 119 11th and 12th grade students this morning - needless to say that my project is now in full swing. In addition to the fact that the room I was given had an intended capacity of somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 (some students were standing, others were sitting on each other's laps, and the entire front row was within two feet of the front blackboard sitting on benches that were brought in for the occasion), it was also long and narrow with three relatively loud fans spread down the middle. My voice is a little sore coming out of it, but a technique that I learned at City Year (hands up) definitely kept me from losing my voice altogether. Overall it went very well, and I learned today that they want me to come up with a different career-themed presentation every Friday while I'm here.
- A slightly different kind of story...yesterday I sat in on a training session for Kolkata "teachers" (not fully trained, but still providing a much-needed service) that was being held at the Loreto School. A lot of the strategies that were being taught involved teaching through songs and games, so I jumpd right in with everyone else - luckily it was being taught in English. During the training, though, I saw a white lizard crawling along the ceiling above me. I later asked the trainer about it, and he said not to worry because they were safe. That made me feel better, and I told him I had been a little antsy because I knew that some lizards bite or were poisonous. He then said something like "oh yeah, it's poisonous, but you still don't need to worry about it - we just keep them here to catch bugs". For any Simpsons fans out there, it made me think of the episode where the lizard birds were celebrated because they ate the town's annoying pigeons, and all fears of what to do with the lizard birds, themselves, were brushed away by the suggestion to just get a bigger animal to eat them - I believe it was a mongoose, but I may be mistaken (I also believe Homer may have called it the "circle of life" or "nature's cycle" - regardless, good times... Either way, I must admit that I'm just not a big fan of any poisonous reptile that crawls along the ceiling above my head, even if I "don't need to worry about them".
- Finally, if anything is going kill me here I'm convinced it will be an umbrella - it is no fun being tall in a city of largely shorter people now that it is raining pretty much every day (the monsoon has arrived). If the umbrellas themselves don't get me, I think a bus might when I tilt my head into the street to avoid the umbrellas...either way, I just want the record to show that I called it if it actually happens...
- I led a one hour career preparation workshop for 119 11th and 12th grade students this morning - needless to say that my project is now in full swing. In addition to the fact that the room I was given had an intended capacity of somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 (some students were standing, others were sitting on each other's laps, and the entire front row was within two feet of the front blackboard sitting on benches that were brought in for the occasion), it was also long and narrow with three relatively loud fans spread down the middle. My voice is a little sore coming out of it, but a technique that I learned at City Year (hands up) definitely kept me from losing my voice altogether. Overall it went very well, and I learned today that they want me to come up with a different career-themed presentation every Friday while I'm here.
- A slightly different kind of story...yesterday I sat in on a training session for Kolkata "teachers" (not fully trained, but still providing a much-needed service) that was being held at the Loreto School. A lot of the strategies that were being taught involved teaching through songs and games, so I jumpd right in with everyone else - luckily it was being taught in English. During the training, though, I saw a white lizard crawling along the ceiling above me. I later asked the trainer about it, and he said not to worry because they were safe. That made me feel better, and I told him I had been a little antsy because I knew that some lizards bite or were poisonous. He then said something like "oh yeah, it's poisonous, but you still don't need to worry about it - we just keep them here to catch bugs". For any Simpsons fans out there, it made me think of the episode where the lizard birds were celebrated because they ate the town's annoying pigeons, and all fears of what to do with the lizard birds, themselves, were brushed away by the suggestion to just get a bigger animal to eat them - I believe it was a mongoose, but I may be mistaken (I also believe Homer may have called it the "circle of life" or "nature's cycle" - regardless, good times... Either way, I must admit that I'm just not a big fan of any poisonous reptile that crawls along the ceiling above my head, even if I "don't need to worry about them".
- Finally, if anything is going kill me here I'm convinced it will be an umbrella - it is no fun being tall in a city of largely shorter people now that it is raining pretty much every day (the monsoon has arrived). If the umbrellas themselves don't get me, I think a bus might when I tilt my head into the street to avoid the umbrellas...either way, I just want the record to show that I called it if it actually happens...
Monday, June 16, 2008
walking is exercise, right?
On Sunday (my one day off) I decided that the most logical thing to do on a scorchingly hot day would be to go for a four hour walk around town. The goals of the walk were to both see the city, and also test out the warning on my malaria medicine that says it makes people more susceptible to sunburn - my theory was that they were bluffing - they were not.
Below are a few pictures that I took along the way - it really was a beautiful day, especially compared to all of the heavy rain we've been getting lately. This first picture is of the Victoria Memorial. I didn't go inside, but plan on going back some evening when apparently they do a fountain show at sunset.
This next picture is of St. Paul's Cathedral. I just happened to walk past it and was blown away. The inside is equally amazing, so I'm going to try to attend a service sometime just to try to soak it all in.
Finally, I'm happy to report that Mrs. Paul is alive and well, and it looks like my intended project, at least parts of it, just might work out - I'm still cautiously optimistic, but coming out of yesterday I'm more optimistic than cautious...
Below are a few pictures that I took along the way - it really was a beautiful day, especially compared to all of the heavy rain we've been getting lately. This first picture is of the Victoria Memorial. I didn't go inside, but plan on going back some evening when apparently they do a fountain show at sunset.
This next picture is of St. Paul's Cathedral. I just happened to walk past it and was blown away. The inside is equally amazing, so I'm going to try to attend a service sometime just to try to soak it all in.Finally, I'm happy to report that Mrs. Paul is alive and well, and it looks like my intended project, at least parts of it, just might work out - I'm still cautiously optimistic, but coming out of yesterday I'm more optimistic than cautious...
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Introducing Flat Stanley
This post is for my nephew Ben, who recently sent me this email, dutifully typed by his mother I'm guessing:
"Dear Uncle Jay--
Is Flat Stanley still in India? I have another Flat Stanley in my Flat Stanley book. Bye. Ben"
Is Flat Stanley still in India? I have another Flat Stanley in my Flat Stanley book. Bye. Ben"
For those of you not affiliated with the Clinton School, Flat Stanley is a children's book character that the First Lady of Arkansas Ginger Beebe uses to get kids excited about reading and learning about different cultures. She carries a cutout of Flat Stanley with her wherever she goes, and she asked my class to do the same during our international service projects. I am proud to say that my Flat Stanley was expertly decorated by my nephew, so he has every right to demand to know its whereabouts.
Well, Ben, I am happy to report that Flat Stanley is still here with me, and that he is enjoying himself in India. At first he was a little nervous and did not get out much. He instead chose to spend a lot of time sleeping under his mosquito net.
He has started to get more and more adventurous, though. On Monday, for example, he visited the American Center in Kolkata for a conference on Child Labor issues. Below is a picture of him with my classmate Erin:
Erin will be doing a project soon with the younger students at the Loreto Day School, where they will get to decorate their own Flat Stanleys. Third grade students at Rockefeller Elementary School in Little Rock, Arkansas were nice enough to decorate Flat Stanleys for us to bring to the students here in India, and we will then be taking the ones that the Indian students decorate back to Arkansas - sort of a Flat Stanley pen pal program.
I vow to do a much better job in the future of keeping all of you up to date regarding Flat Stanley's travels and exploits in India, and once again, many thanks go out to Ben for his hard work and decorating - the students here really like him.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Strike update
a few quick updates:
- Apparently the strike in Kolkata is in response to a recently announced 11% increase in fuel prices in India. I've mentioned this to several people now, but I just can't understand how many people here are able to afford gas at all, with the average price in Delhi now being over $4.50/gallon. Just to give some context, I took a 30 minute taxi ride yesterday that cost me a little less than $2.50. The profit margins in that example must be non existant, and I would think they would actually be losing money.
- Also, the strike will only last from 6am-6pm each day (which is why I'm able to get to a computer now). This was nice to find out today because I am a little hungry right now and don't have much in my flat to eat, so now I'll be able to hit up a little Chinese food stand on my block for dinner.
- It was wild to walk around the city today with the streets pretty much deserted. There were a handful of soccer and cricket games being played in the middle of streets, even main streets. The only vehicles out during the day were ambulances, police cars, and a small number of rogue taxis.
- Apparently the strike in Kolkata is in response to a recently announced 11% increase in fuel prices in India. I've mentioned this to several people now, but I just can't understand how many people here are able to afford gas at all, with the average price in Delhi now being over $4.50/gallon. Just to give some context, I took a 30 minute taxi ride yesterday that cost me a little less than $2.50. The profit margins in that example must be non existant, and I would think they would actually be losing money.
- Also, the strike will only last from 6am-6pm each day (which is why I'm able to get to a computer now). This was nice to find out today because I am a little hungry right now and don't have much in my flat to eat, so now I'll be able to hit up a little Chinese food stand on my block for dinner.
- It was wild to walk around the city today with the streets pretty much deserted. There were a handful of soccer and cricket games being played in the middle of streets, even main streets. The only vehicles out during the day were ambulances, police cars, and a small number of rogue taxis.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Power to the people
It sounds like I won't have internet access for the next two days or so because the majority of the city (which unfortunately includes cyber cafes) will be on strike tomorrow and Friday. Apparently all public transportation except planes will be shut down, as well as most businesses. I'm not exactly sure what they are striking about, but I have heard that strikes like this are not rare, so I guess I'll just have to get used to them.
I also wanted to share a few more pictures of the Loreto Day School:
This was taken from a pedestrian walkway that crosses over AJC Bose Road, the main road in my neighborhood. In front of the school you can see a few of the many street vendors that line the sidewalk along the road.
This is the main entrance to the school (sorry, I don't know how to rotate pictures on blogspot). I'm not exactly sure what the sign out front says - I'm hoping it has something to do with a BBQ that they are throwing in my honor, though...
I also wanted to share a few more pictures of the Loreto Day School:
This was taken from a pedestrian walkway that crosses over AJC Bose Road, the main road in my neighborhood. In front of the school you can see a few of the many street vendors that line the sidewalk along the road.
This is the main entrance to the school (sorry, I don't know how to rotate pictures on blogspot). I'm not exactly sure what the sign out front says - I'm hoping it has something to do with a BBQ that they are throwing in my honor, though...
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Miscellaneous
Nothing too incredibly exciting to report, but I'm afraid if I don't post every now and then people will stop checking my site...
On Saturday my housemates (3 girls from Ireland, 1 guy from the US, and my classmate Erin) and I decided to go out for a non-Indian dinner (which my stomach very much appreciated) in the touristy part of Kolkata - there aren't really any good places to go out near where we live, and the area itself is not extremely safe at night. I ordered the chicken tenders with french fries and a side of naan (I love naan but unfortunately it is only available in the nicer restaurants, and I mainly buy from street vendors), and also a few Indian beers. A cold beer on a hot day is a truly great thing, and we have had more than our fair share of hot days over the past two weeks, so it felt great to indulge a little. We went out to a bar afterwards as well, and it just felt good to get back to "normal" for a night.
Even though it appears that my main project for the summer won't be getting under way until at least mid-June (if any of you see a Mrs. Paul that works at the Loreto Day School in Kolkata please let her know that I am looking for her), I have still been keeping myself busy by tutoring the older girls in English. Teaching English as a 2nd language can be very challenging at times, but I have really been enjoying myself. Several of the pieces that the girls are reading and analyzing would be difficult for even English-speaking American high schoool students, so it has been fun to both challenge and support them through the process. Below is one example of a poem I recently worked with them on:
Where The Mind Is Without Fear, by Rabindranath Tagore
Where the mind is without fear and
the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken
up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost
its way into the dreary desert of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into everwidening thought and action -
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
I love the "clear stream of reason...dreary desert of dead habit" line, but it was certainly a challenge to explain to my students - an enjoyable challenge, though, and they seemed to have a good time watching me try. Tagore is a famous author from West Bengal (he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the early 1900's), and I recently bought a book of his short stories - I'm still not sleeping incredibly well, but like I said, I'm reading more than I ever have...
On Saturday my housemates (3 girls from Ireland, 1 guy from the US, and my classmate Erin) and I decided to go out for a non-Indian dinner (which my stomach very much appreciated) in the touristy part of Kolkata - there aren't really any good places to go out near where we live, and the area itself is not extremely safe at night. I ordered the chicken tenders with french fries and a side of naan (I love naan but unfortunately it is only available in the nicer restaurants, and I mainly buy from street vendors), and also a few Indian beers. A cold beer on a hot day is a truly great thing, and we have had more than our fair share of hot days over the past two weeks, so it felt great to indulge a little. We went out to a bar afterwards as well, and it just felt good to get back to "normal" for a night.
Even though it appears that my main project for the summer won't be getting under way until at least mid-June (if any of you see a Mrs. Paul that works at the Loreto Day School in Kolkata please let her know that I am looking for her), I have still been keeping myself busy by tutoring the older girls in English. Teaching English as a 2nd language can be very challenging at times, but I have really been enjoying myself. Several of the pieces that the girls are reading and analyzing would be difficult for even English-speaking American high schoool students, so it has been fun to both challenge and support them through the process. Below is one example of a poem I recently worked with them on:
Where The Mind Is Without Fear, by Rabindranath Tagore
Where the mind is without fear and
the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken
up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost
its way into the dreary desert of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into everwidening thought and action -
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
I love the "clear stream of reason...dreary desert of dead habit" line, but it was certainly a challenge to explain to my students - an enjoyable challenge, though, and they seemed to have a good time watching me try. Tagore is a famous author from West Bengal (he won the Nobel Prize for Literature in the early 1900's), and I recently bought a book of his short stories - I'm still not sleeping incredibly well, but like I said, I'm reading more than I ever have...
Friday, May 30, 2008
Small world
I braved the heat this morning and walked about 20 minutes to the nearest indoor market (just like a supermarket, only 1/5 the size). When I got to the cash register I was extremely surprised to find the cashier wearing a Penn State t-shirt. Needless to say I was very excited, and I'm sure my excitement coupled with the language barrier made for an initially awkward situation. I was wearing my PSU golfing hat, though, so when I explained to him that I grew up in State College and that my parents taught there he seemed to understand, and told me that his brother is currently a student at PSU.
A few quick photos
During my early morning walk last weekend I saw some kids playing carroms on the sidewalk. My dad has always been a big carroms fan so I made sure to get a picture. They all loved it when I showed them the picture on my digital camera.
This is a photo of the Loreto Day School's courtyard. Due to the heat it was pretty empty, except for a pick up cricket game that broke out.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
I knew it was going to be hot, but come on...
Yesterday was not a great day for me. It involved two hours in a taxi to and from the airport (the traffic and heat/humidity were both astounding, but it was very nice to see my classmate Erin), a power outage in the afternoon that raised the heat/humidity bar even higher (I was literally dripping with sweat while home in the afternoon), and the woman that I will supposedly be working closest with for my project did not come into the school for the 4th straight day, leaving my project extremely up in the air. On top of all of that my sleep schedule had yet to improve so I woke up at around 2:30am again, having slept for less that four hours for the 4th straight night. Overall, it was a bit of a rough day.
I'm happy to report that today has been much better though. I wish I could say that the temperature has cooled down, but in actuality it is even a little hotter. I believe the heat is much easier to take after a good night's sleep, though, which is what I got last night for the first time in India - I am hopeful that it is the first of many.
Today I helped the school finish some reports in the morning and then tutored two students just before lunch. This is the 4th straight day that I have been working with these students, and I feel like I am starting to earn their trust. We read a play in English today and I even had them reading in character and emphatically acting out a few parts. I think they are still a little unsure of what to make of me, but one of them came up to me afterwards and told me that her older sister (who was one of the first Rainbows in the early 90's and is now in her 1st year of college) wanted to know if I could tutor her in English as well - I'm hopeful that means the students think my assistance has been at least a little helpful so far.
Finally, a silver lining to my lack of sleep has been that I have been doing a lot of reading - it is amazing how much you can read from 2:30-7:00am when there is nothing else to do. If anyone is looking for a good book to read I highly recommend "Three Cups of Tea" (you can learn more at www.threecupsoftea.com). It is about an American who sets up girls schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan - a very interesting and inspiring story. Thanks to my friend Sara Pugh for introducing it to me.
I'm happy to report that today has been much better though. I wish I could say that the temperature has cooled down, but in actuality it is even a little hotter. I believe the heat is much easier to take after a good night's sleep, though, which is what I got last night for the first time in India - I am hopeful that it is the first of many.
Today I helped the school finish some reports in the morning and then tutored two students just before lunch. This is the 4th straight day that I have been working with these students, and I feel like I am starting to earn their trust. We read a play in English today and I even had them reading in character and emphatically acting out a few parts. I think they are still a little unsure of what to make of me, but one of them came up to me afterwards and told me that her older sister (who was one of the first Rainbows in the early 90's and is now in her 1st year of college) wanted to know if I could tutor her in English as well - I'm hopeful that means the students think my assistance has been at least a little helpful so far.
Finally, a silver lining to my lack of sleep has been that I have been doing a lot of reading - it is amazing how much you can read from 2:30-7:00am when there is nothing else to do. If anyone is looking for a good book to read I highly recommend "Three Cups of Tea" (you can learn more at www.threecupsoftea.com). It is about an American who sets up girls schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan - a very interesting and inspiring story. Thanks to my friend Sara Pugh for introducing it to me.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
31 hours of travel and several time zones later...
Well, I made it...
I arrived in Kolkata at around 5:30am local time yesterday morning, having slept approx. 3 of the 31 hours I spent travelling. Even now my body has absolutely no idea what time it is. I woke up at 2:30am this morning and was unable to get back to sleep. At around 5:00 I gave up and just went for a walk. It was amazing how many other people were taking advantage of the cooler temperatures at that time of day (it has been 90+ degrees and extremely humid both days I've been here) - there were even a few soccer and cricket games taking place at that early hour.
Overall, so far so good. Everyone at the school is very nice, and I have already started tutoring several students. The school is actually on holiday until June 15, but there have still been 100+ of the "rainbow" students (street children who either live at the school or drop by periodically) running around each day. It has been fun getting to play with the younger ones, but the language barrier has definitely been difficult. I've been told that the older students could serve as good Bengali tutors, though, so I definitely plan on taking advantage of their kindness.
Internet access has been more difficult than I planned, but I found an internet cafe near my housing. Also, the food has been pretty good so far, even though my dinner yesterday included curried fish eggs (I am not the most adventurous eater so this was an accomplishment for me). My stomach has protested a little, but in the spirit of India they have only been non violent protests so far.
I arrived in Kolkata at around 5:30am local time yesterday morning, having slept approx. 3 of the 31 hours I spent travelling. Even now my body has absolutely no idea what time it is. I woke up at 2:30am this morning and was unable to get back to sleep. At around 5:00 I gave up and just went for a walk. It was amazing how many other people were taking advantage of the cooler temperatures at that time of day (it has been 90+ degrees and extremely humid both days I've been here) - there were even a few soccer and cricket games taking place at that early hour.
Overall, so far so good. Everyone at the school is very nice, and I have already started tutoring several students. The school is actually on holiday until June 15, but there have still been 100+ of the "rainbow" students (street children who either live at the school or drop by periodically) running around each day. It has been fun getting to play with the younger ones, but the language barrier has definitely been difficult. I've been told that the older students could serve as good Bengali tutors, though, so I definitely plan on taking advantage of their kindness.
Internet access has been more difficult than I planned, but I found an internet cafe near my housing. Also, the food has been pretty good so far, even though my dinner yesterday included curried fish eggs (I am not the most adventurous eater so this was an accomplishment for me). My stomach has protested a little, but in the spirit of India they have only been non violent protests so far.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Background Info
All students who attend the Clinton School of Public Service are expected to complete an international service project as part of their Master of Public Service coursework. For my project I chose to serve in Kolkata, India, where I will be working with the Loreto Day School, Sealdah (www.loretosealdah.com). The exact details of my service project have yet to be finalized, but the current plan is that I will be working with members of the school community to establish college and career prep programs for the girls at the school.
I am scheduled to arrive in Kolkata on Friday May 23rd a little after 5:00am local time, and will head straight to the school from the airport. The inevitable jet lag aside, I'm very much looking forward to meeting the students, teachers, and Sister Cyril Mooney, the headmistress of the school - I am truly humbled by the opportunity to work with all of them, and can't wait to get started.
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