Habitat for Humanity with the US Consulate

The US Consulate sends people to a Habitat for Humanity build every year and they invite the American School.  Because this is the day Spring break starts only two of us volunteered to go.  I left at 5:30 am this morning to walk to Santa Cruz to Susan's apartment.  She is a consulate worker that I have met before at church.  Her co- worker Martha rode with us and we picked up Vijaya part way there.  Vijaya is the other ASB teacher that signed up and I have never met her before because she works in the Elementary school.  We caravanned with 3 cars and we stopped at McDonald's which is the first time I have ever eaten there in India!  I had an Egg Mcmuffin and it was ok.

Li- Ping

Vijaya

Cherilyn and Chris

We drove to Kajarat which is the same site that I worked at a few months ago when I took the ASB kids.  It is March 31st and it was BLAZING HOT!!!  They had us painting two houses - good thing because it afforded a little shade.  There is no way we could have hauled bricks like we did last time.  The house I was working on was huge - Three brothers, their wives and children all lived there.

It was fun working with the people from the consulate.  Their lives are similar in some ways and very different in others.  Susan's car as diplomat license plates so we flew through toll booths.  They move pretty much every two years.  They don't have to go to FRRO and get residency cards because technically the Consulate is US soil.  Also their taxes are regular because they work for the US. One of the workers, Chris, is a 22 year old marine who guards the consulate.  All of the people got along really well and seem to enjoy working together.  I am hoping maybe I can find some ways to hang out with them more often.  I need some friends outside of school!

The people of the village walked us work and these kids laughed and stared at us all day.  They got really shy when I started taking picture which was funny because usually Indian kids LOVE it when westerners take their pictures. I had to beg them to let me take the pictures and I took probably 10 before I got some where they were looking at me!

how adorable is this little one?

tough boys!

shy!

goofy!

Pretty

Yummy lunch they made for us!  Rice, Dal, chippati, that spicy potato stuff I don't know the name of

It was hard to get up at 4:45 am on the first day of spring break, but it was worth it!

Growing in the first year - me and Charlie!

Babies grow and learn so much in the first year!!  I too have grown and learned a lot in my first year teaching overseas.  And neither of us have completed our full first year yet!

Obviously she loves milk as much as I do!!  and I miss it soooooo much!  I tried the boxed milk for about 4 months and gave up.  A guy in my building says there is a place we can order cow's milk from that is pasteurized so we don't have to boil it.  We are looking into it!

Charlotte Grace Stiers was born about 10 days after I moved to India.  I have never met her in person.  We skype though.  I have seen her smile, make cute noises, sit up, army crawl, clap, wave, and play peek- a- boo!  I am certain she will recognize my voice when she meets me and will love her aunt Bob!!!

Similaries

She cried a lot this year.  So did I!  Ha!  Moving to a new country is hard.  Adapting to a new school is hard. Trying to make friends when you know no one is hard.

She learned how to eat.  I have learned how to be very picky about what I eat and drink so I don't get sick.

She learned to move.  She isn't walking yet, but is army crawling.  I lad to learn to move in Mumbai.  To watch every step I take so I don't fall in a pit, trip over a street person, trip over a street dog, step in some kind of poop, or get hit by some kind of vehicle.

She's learning how to "talk" .  I have had to learn to communicate with people who speak very little English.

She's learning what a lot of things are - grass, snow, the cats, etc.  I am leaning Haiku, Prezi, Google Docs, Cam studio and other technology things!  I have also learned about of words and phrases connected to international teaching.  I am also learning a lot of words and food products from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, France, India, Israel, the UK, Korea, Japan,  etc.  I think my learning is a lot harder!  When I first got here, every third word people said to me was foreign even though it was in English.  I felt like a 2nd grader trying to operate in an 8th grade world!  Now I feel like I'm a 5th grader in an 8th grade world.  I am still confused a lot, but gaining ground :)

It will be exciting to meet this goober in just a couple of months!  Both of our learning will continue during our second year :)

Illness, parent conferences, and an i phone!

Last Wednesday I spiked a 101 fever around lunchtime.  It only lasted about 12 hours, since then I have had bad sinus headaches, a bad cough, and loss of my voice.  People make comments about it being India or my apartment or the dust storm we had.  We can't blame everything on India!  It is spring time!  I'd have a cold or sinus infection if I was still in the states.
 Although the dust storm that started in the middle East blew over the Arabian Sea and hit Western India hard.

Amazing satellite picture!






After school from 3:30-6:30 we had parent conferences. The school put electrical plugs next to each of our tables so their cords laid out on the floor.  I got up to use the restroom when there weren't parents at my table and on my way back I tripped over one of the cords and fell flat on my face!!!!  embarrassing!  but thankfully I had pants on and not a skirt!!  and Ididn't have an open Coke can or anything in my hand!  My voice was still going in an out and I was coughing a lot so it was a long night.  I saw about 18 parents.  The bus ride home seemed to take forever with traffic!  On Friday we had conferences from 8-4.  LONG day!  but my voice was better! and I didn't trip on anything :)  The cords were taped down with colored xs on them to make them more visible.  I saw a dozen parents trip over the cords, but no one fell like I did!  I saw most of the parents of my kids.  Many of them asked if I could move up to the next grade level to teach their kid :)

After school the school put on a happy hour at the Cricket Club.  It was nice to relax and chat with co-workers.  The bus took us home and there was barely any traffic - miracle!!!

Will has been helping out in one of my classes.  I have a lot of hyper kids with different abilities and he's helping to differentiate.  He is really good at technology so he is helping a lot with that.  When we got here the school gave us very cheap phones to use.  A lot of people brought their blackberries or  iphones from other countries.  I have just been using the cheap phone because all I need it or is texting or calling school people.  A few weeks ago a friend told me I HAD to get a smart phone before I went to grad school this summer :)  Will went with me Chroma to get my new iphone!  :)  I'm going to take it to school on Monday to have the business people set it up for me.  I am moving up in the world!

It is Nancy's birthday today so tomorrow I am going to the Mariott tomorrow for brunch :)

Blessings during hard times

This is has been one of the longest, most difficult two weeks of my life.   I will spare you the miserable details - don't want anyone feeling sad for me.

The point of writing this is to highlight that during our darkest times still have light in them.  That no matter how hard our journey might be at the moment God sends circumstances, people and Himself  to make things better, if only for a moment.

I was blessed by a friend at home that listened to me cry for like an hour and a half on the phone.  There wasn't anything she could do to make it better except listen.

I was blessed by getting to skype with my adorable niece who is starting to recognize me.

I was blessed by support services at the school that will help you when you need it.

I was blessed by an opportunity to get some fresh air outside of Mumbai last weekend.

I got to celebrate pi day this week!

I am blessed by a wonderful co-worker who will take over some of my responsibilities to help me cope with other things.  They keep me occupied with work things and get me to think outside of myself.  and if they see tears they ignore them and get me working on something else.

I have been blessed financially.  My grad school fees for just this summer was going to be $8000.  I got a $1000 scholarship.  My school let my use my $1000 PD money for next year towards grad school since it fits in with ASB goals.  We are getting a few hundred dollars for coaching math counts. and today I a check for $1005 because my escrow account was over.   God knew I needed that!!  so almost half of this summer is paid for!! My friend said I need to set up a lemonade stand for the rest :)  I haven't filed my taxes yet because they are very confusing this year, but I should get some back from that..  who knows maybe I can get two- thirds of it paid for with unexpected money.  Now the other two years won't go like this because I will no longer get tax money back, but this year will be nice.

I am blessed by the little things... the fact I got to make medals for our NESA champs by painting protractors with gold spray paint and tying a red ribbon around it.  The kids are going to love it!

My kids make me laugh constantly.  My little French boy who couldn't speak a word of English in August came in and said "Miss Staley, you know when you say I could have cookie and I said no?  I want one now" I told him another teacher had just eaten the last cookie.  He put his cute little face in his hand, batted his eyelashes and said " I KNOW you have something else to give me"   ha!!!  The cookie eating teacher taught him the word "cheeky".  When I ask him what Mr. Pamperin calls him, he says "I am cheeky" in his very french accent :)  It is hard not to laugh at that!!

I am thankful my friend Chiquita is coming to India for work and she will be just 3 hours from me!!!  I haven't seen her since she was 17 and I was..... much older :)   No, her real name isn't Chiquita - it was her camp name.

I am praying that the following weeks are easier, but if they aren't, I have a plan in place and a couple of people here to help with the plan.

These verses remind me that God is in control of everything in my life!!

• “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

• God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. Psalm 46:1-3,7

• ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’Isaiah 41:10

• I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.Psalm 16:8 (AMP)

• He only is my Rock and my Salvation; He is my Defense and my Fortress, I shall not be moved.Psalm 62:6 (AMP)

• “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” – Phil 4:19 
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• Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." 
  Psalm 90:2 
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Contrasts of India

The family of one of my students has a house in Lonavala.  I guess they hold a staff picnic there every year.  The school vans picked us up at 6:45am and took us to the school then we all got on a big bus from there. It was a very pleasant 2 hour drive - most of us dozed off on our way there.  The drive was gorgeous once we got out of Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. This is what it said online - It is popularly known as the jewel of the Sahyadri Mountains. Lonavala is set amongst the sylvan hills of the Western Ghats and is a popular gateway from Mumbai and Pune. It looked like the foothills of mountains you would see in kentucky/Tennessee.  Their house was beautiful and had lovely views.

I got to go hiking up the "mountain" with Waciuma, Mario, Naren, and Yadav.

Naren pretended he spear hunted a squirrel.  I pretended to eat it.

We had lots of yummy food - parsee eggs, biryani, chichen tikka, paneer tikka etc.  The drive home took about two and a half hours and we stopped in the town of Lonavala to get chikki. 

Just so that you can truly understand why I appreciated this day so much I will attach some pictures of a walk from my flat to the school :)  What am I going to do when I move to a country where I can't just walk in and hire a gunman!!  ha!

 You'd be super impressed if I could attach the sound/smell track to this!  and of course I didn't take any pictures of things that would make me look ridiculous taking it - like people peeing on the street, the guy who was asleep on the stairs at the train station, people sleeping on the street, the sad chickens trapped in their death cages, the filthy stores....

so many different things to see and experience in India - some great - some not so :)

A great week!

This has been a good week!

On Monday I had a great day teaching.  My Algebra kids rocked!  and my 6th graders made amazing presentations.  On Tuesday I had more 6th graders make amazing presentations and we got to play with the 3 D shapes.  I love Geometry.  Brianna had a snow day in Kentucky so she got to spend all day home with my niece which means I got videos of her attempting to crawl and repeating sounds.  So of course we had Charlie time in class :)  I cannot wait to lay my hands on that baby girl!!!!

We had our CSR day last week.  We have three a year.  We take a school day to work with an NGO (non governmental organization)  6th graders work with Welfare for Stray Dogs.  We made dog biscuits at the school then took them to the shelter.  We walked dogs, fed them, washed them, watched surgery, went on ambulance rides, and painted a mural.  8th graders get a choice as to which organization they work with.  My teaching partner Jordan has 7 students that work with JEET.  They are an NGO that work with kids after school.  They use sports to teach life skills.  Jordan's kids can't go work with the JEET kids during the day so they used their CSR day to plan evening activities for the JEET kids.  There were 30 + kids and they were split up into groups of 11 and younger and 12 and up.  Jordan's kids were responsible for getting the kids involved in activites and I was just supposed to chaperone and not step in to help.  It was interesting to see them be teachers.  They noticed when activites were not taking as long as they wanted and they had to come up with other things fill time etc.  They would ask me what they should do and I tried my best not to help :) and have them problem solve.  They did pretty good.  I was in the room with the younger kids so they did not speak much English.  Two of the presenting kids translated Hindi.  It is amazing how much I understand because they use a lot of English words mixed in with Hindi.  The kids were adorable!  There was a tiny 6 year old who was about the size of an American 3 and a half year old.  The JEET volunteers had to help him alot with games.  He was the youngest and trouble following what was going on.  I wanted to take him home with me!!!!  They played charades,  pictionary, guessing games, did paper folding etc.  After two hours we took them down to the gym and just threw soccor balls in there and let them run wild.  it was craziness!!!!  We had Pizza Hut deliverd and it was funny to watch some of the kids eat a little pizza then pull out the Indian food they brought with them - they prefered that!. When Jordan went home for Christmas, he brought back American and Canadian candy and his CSR group had a candy sale.  Peanut butter cups go for a premium here!!!  They raised enough money to buy soccer jerseys for the JEET kids.  The shirts said JEET on the front and "will suceed" on the back.  The kids LOVED them!!!  The school also donated 2 used laptops for the organization.  Jeet is run by Alok.  He grew up in this slum and is 21 and in college now and donates all of his free time to run this organization.  He has the biggest heart and was so thankful for the work the ASB kids did with his kids.  He hugged Jordan with joy when he left.  I had a great night working with those kids!

On Wednesday my Algebra kids had a quiz on Combining like terms, distributive property, and variables on both sides.  These kids are not the most gifted math students so I work really hard with them.  The first quiz I graded belonged to a girl who is a "selective mute"  she is physically able to speak but chooses not too.  It is a lot of work to get her to squeak out and few words and she gives you the look of death for making her do it!!  ha!  She got a 100.  I started crying!!!  My kids were asking if i was really crying.  YES!  I was so proud of her!  Then 3 more kids got a 100. 2 got a 95 and 1 got a 90.  I called the principal and asked if she had a few minutes to come down to see my kids.  We had a parade where they showed her their quizzes.  She took a group picture of them.  Then she sent it to all of their parents :)  I was sooooo proud of them.  H block didn't do as well, but their lowest grade was a 75 and that is pretty fantastic for them!!! 

We have puzzle club after school on Wednesdays and we had 18 kids today and they loved it!!! 

I got on the 4:10 bus and hussled over to my millionth dentist visit.  He cleaned all the debris out and he should be able to fill it next week.

Tomorrow is Holi and I am not ready to embace it!!!  I do not want to be in all that messy chaos!  I got hit with multiple water balloons and guns tonight but at least it was clear water - tomorrow it will be paint!

On Saturday I am going to Lonavala with some staff - should be fun!

Trying to figure out what to do during spring break!  choices are stay here, Darjeeling, or Dubai... hmmm.

another great week at ASB!!

Keeping the Dentist on his Toes

So I went in today to start my 2nd root canal.  He put me in a different room today - said I may as well experience all the rooms since I visit so often :)  funny man that dentist!

He shoots me up with 4 or 5 doses of lidocaine over a period of time - we're chatting while the meds kick in.  All of a sudden, I get really sleepy and can't keep my eyes open.  I could no longer talk and my eyes kept closing.  I could feel the dentist taking my pulse and reclining the head part of my chair.  I could hear him talking in Hindi and telling his assisstant to get me pani and glucose.  After a few minutes I felt better and could open my eyes.  He said my blood pressure plummetted and I scared him.  He said the lidocaine wouldn't cause it, but I don't know what else would have done it.  He waited until I was stable then we started on the root canal. 

The lidocaine kicked in and it was really numb.  He pokes these long push pin things in side my tooth to clean out the nerves.  They also take the shape of the nerves when he pulls it out.  He always says things like "hmm" and "interesting" and "weird"   then he'll say things like "The nerve should look like this, but yours looks like that"  or " you should have three separate nerves her and two of yours have grown together"  or "hmm you should have a nerve here and you don't"  ha!!!     I know the Bible says I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  but I am also weirdly made!  ha!  I have two spleens. My retinas are in danger of tearing because my eyes are so stretched and oval shaped, my immune system decided my organs are the enemy. My feet point outward like a ballet student.  HA!  and apparently my teeth are not formed correctly either :)

The abcess is still there, but he put medicine in it and if it heals properly by Wednesday, he can put the filling in and start fitting me for my crown.  Hopefully this will go much faster this time!!  :) 

Good news the root canal procedure cost $80.  :)  gotta love that!