Magnificent Monsoon Monday

During the first week here we had a bad episode of monsoon, but since then it hasn't been too bad and I was lulled into forgetting that it is monsoon season.  Since Friday it has been raining pretty much nonstop.  and it rains hard.  The roads are flooding and it is not pleasant to be out and about.

when I got to school, a friend and I were talking about how overwhelmed we were with everything we have to do this week.  Then comes a blessing in disguise - we get released at 10:30 am due to possible flooding.  I don't really understand tide stuff since I grew up in landlocked areas, but apparently the tide was supposed to rise the water level 15 feet - I don't know.  Mumbai is at sea level so there is nowhere for the water to go.  Water runs from the street into drainage holes pretty decently but I guess the tide was going to raise those levels and push water out.  Apparently in 2005 they had horrible flooding - the water came up from the drainage system and blew manholes out into the street and sucked people it.  Does not sound pleasant.  anyway better safe than sorry.

I was amazed at how quickly the parents got the message to come get their kids (or send their drivers) and the kids all left on time.  Teachers were home by noon.  The rain actually stopped for about 2 hours so I went for a walk and went by the sea.  It was by far the highest I had ever seen it!!!!  Usually there are a lot of rocks out to the water but there were no rocks visible today -  the water was already up to the promenade - kind of like Galveston's sea wall. The tile was wet and dirty in spots so you could tell the water had come all the way up. 

 

As tiring as the rain is right now, I know we will have months and months with no rain and the sun beating down on us and I will be wishing for some rain :)  This is the only rain India gets all year so I need to embrace this part of mumbai like any other part!!

First full week of school

This was our first week teaching 5 full days!!  Went pretty well.  Love my kids and they worked hard this week.

I share an advisory with another teacher.  We have our work cut out for us!  We have 3 girls and 9 boys and some of those boys are a challenge!!!.  I take on 5 of the boys and she gets the other 7 kids.   They are all sweet kids and I am interested to see what they are like in a few years!  The woman that is my co-advisor is super sweet and I found out this week she drives.  DRIVES.  Took lessons and has a Mumbai drivers liscense.  She is officially my hero.

Continue to love the school.  I like the block periods, I like that they rotate, I like that the hallways are outside, I like that it is sooo clean (the bathrooms get cleaned multiple times a day, the floors mopped also, the lockers wiped down etc)  I like that I get tons of planning time with the other math teacher.  I just like everything about it in general.

Mumbai is a different story.  I like it but don't love it.  I am finding my way around better.  The monsoon is driving me crazy!  It just rains and rains and makes me sad.  but I know I will miss it when the sun is beating down on me! 

Laid around this weekend and did a lot of school work.... so that is a plus to the rain!

My principal invited some of us to brunch at a hotel is Juhu.  It was fantastic!!    Beautiful place - almost made us forget we were in Mumbai.  The food was so yummy too and I got to hang out with some friends and their kids. 

Trying to decide what to do for Christmas.  I really wanted to go to New Zeland but traveling around India would be a lot cheaper :)

Got to hang out with a family of one of my students - it is nice knowing them at a personal level too :)  I've never gotten to do that with my students!  some other ASB friends were there too and we ate pizza, played and game, talked and got shot at by nerf guns.  I good family night :)

Dahi Handi

So last night we walked around watching teams build human pyramids and trying to break the pots.  Most of the ones who went on top were very small children.  The top person generally hada helmet on, but not sure than really would have helped much had they fallen from that height.

The pyramids were impressive.  There was lots of music and dancing.  Very interesting to watch.  Below is info on the festival and I will attach pictures my friend Zach took.  I took some great pictures, but someone stole my camera out of my purse on my way home :(  It was so crowded and I felt someone tug on my purse.  by the time I got a little space and looked, my camera was gone.  Thankfully I had saved all the pics but the ones I had taken last night.  Hopefully I can get a new one soon and be back to recording my events here :)

 

Ceremony of Dahi Handi

Celebration of Janmashtami, birth of the famous Lord Krishna includes a number of ceremonies like, Raslila, Jhankis (tableaux) etc. Dahi Handi is a popular ceremony, celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and glee. Dahi Handi is an enactment of Lord Krishna's efforts to steal butter from Matka (earthen pot) suspended from the ceiling.

The Celebrations
Dahi Handi generally takes place on the second day of Janmashtami. An earthen pot containing a mixture of milk, dry fruits, ghee is hung around 20-30 feet high in the air with the help of a rope. Silver coins are hung along with the rope,which are later distributed as prize to the winners. Enthusiastic young men, form a human pyramid by standing one on top of the other, trying to break the pot. Onlookers throw water on the young men in order to prevent them from breaking the pot. Breaking of the pot is followed by prize distribution. Devotees believe that the broken pieces of earthen pot will keep away mice and negative powers from their homes.

Dahi Handi is celebrated with fervor, especially in the twin cities of Mathura - Vrindavan, Dwarka and Mumbai. Young men in Mumbai yell 'Ala re ala, Govinda ala' during the ceremony.

Eventful Sunday

I woke up around 7 and got to skype with my friend in NYC.  then I went for a run.  There was some kind of organized kids race on my road so I got to cheer on some runners - one set of girls told me it was a mile race, but I don't know.  Most were running barefoot.  ow. 

I met Amy and Laranie at this church we were told about.  It was awesome!  Really good worship and nice people.  The pastor seemed great.  There was a guest pastor this week and he was good.  I really enjoyed it.

I did some school work and took a nap.  Then I decided to go for a walk.  I am making it my mission to know these roads in my area so I know where I am all the time.  Maybe it is all my crisis training.  Most of you know that I was part of a CERT team back home - part of Homeland Defense where we are trained to help in emercencies and rescue people in the event of a disaster etc.  We work with first responders - secure the area, do search and rescue and administer first aid until EMTS get there.  or in a big disaster, they might never get there.  We label people minor, critical and dead and toe tag them so that EMTS don't waste their time on people they can't save.  I'm trained in Incident Command and was the point person for my area.  Anyway I am one of those people that always knows where the exit row is in a plane, or the stairway in a hotel.  Today my obsession with knowing the streets paid off!  I wandered into a huge government protest.  Thousands of people were marching.  Police were there and it was peaceful, but loud!  I was trying to cross this huge intersection which was impossible.  I saw some guys looking nervous and went to talk to them.  They asked if I was a tourist or if I lived here.  They are from Singapore and are here for an internship and have been here two weeks.  They are a little overwhelmed with Mumbai.  It is WAY dirtier and crazier than Singapore!  I helped point them to where they needed to go, then I started walking the same way as the protesters.  I couldn't get through them to go the way I know how to go home so I just had to wing it.  I dodged through the protestors and went on some back roads home and managed to come across a place I walked by just yesterday!!  so all my exploring paid off.  I got home safely and am on my way to a friend's house for dinner.

I love my job!!

I love my job!!  Love it. Love it. Love it.   The way it is set up makes it actually possible to get to know kids and love on them.  They get 10-15 min breaks between classes so their little brains actually get a rest. They are allowed to eat in the halls so I think that contributes to their ability to think.   Many of them come to class early to tell me about their day or have me help them with something.  The long break between classes is great for teachers too because it gives us time to set up for the next class and a lot of teachers float here so it gives them time to get to their next class and set up.  I have three 6^th grade classes.  There are some pretty goofy 6^th graders but they’re fun!   One class is super great (that is the class with the French kid that speaks no English so I translate all my projected stuff into French)  they like laughing when I try to learn a new word in French and they like the gesturing/charades I use to communicate with the boy.  One class is fairly typical and the third class is a challenge!  Some really uptight type A kids who can’t be without my attention for three seconds while I’m helping the academic support student who needs a lot of help (and two other students that are struggling).  I also teach two 8^th grade classes.   They crack me up – they are supposed to be the lower Algebra kids but some are pretty bright.  We are just doing basic stuff right now just to see what their background knowledge is, so it will get a lot harder.  One class has 5 girls that sit together and 5 boys that sit together.  The boys work hard and do every problem I ask them to do, but they do it LOUDLY and OUT OF THEIR SEATS.   If they are doing problems on the individual white boards or something – the girls hold theirs up so I can see the answer.  The boys RACE over to me to shove it in my face!   They are so funny!   The other class is good too and there is this boy that I’ll call “y”  who has the most stereotypical Indian accent that you would see in an American movie.  It is hilarious.  I told him my goal is to be able to talk like him by the end of the year.  He told me I’d “just sound like a silly American trying to be cool like the Indians”  ha!!

Part of why I decided to do international teaching was to get out of my rut and challenge myself.  Well that is definitely happening.  Just moving to a city like Mumbai is a challenge.  I make a point to walk around as much as possible and get my bearings.  Walking anywhere takes constant concentration and the ability to tune out the horns.   Sometimes I will walk across the street like I’ve been doing it my whole life – expertly dodging cars.  Other times I will be standing at the side of the road paralyzed with fear practically having a panic attack at the thought of crossing a certain street- Trying to figure out if it is worth the stress or if I should just go home hungry!!!  I generally decide to cross.  I am proud of myself because some of the new people are having a rough time making themselves walk anywhere because it is so stressful. 

Finding a church has been a challenge.  At all my interviews I asked if there were Christian churches nearby etc.  I was told there were “four or five” within walking distance.  I should have specified that Catholic churches don’t count!  I grew up Catholic – have nothing against it but I want a Bible teaching evangelical church.  That is hard to come by here.  But God has put some people in my path to help me find one.  I am going to go this Sunday.  I also found a believer in our group of new people and that relationship will be a comfort. 

It is a challenge being with my normal support system.  It is fairly easy to make new friends here – we do a lot of things together and even riding the bus to and from school gives us a chance to chat with people and get to know them.  But there are friends and there are the inner circle of friends.  It’s a little harder to get the inner circle, but I have to remember we haven’t even been here one month though! This week I have bonded with 3 people this week that struggle with specific things I struggle with or are experiencing the same thing or have the same thought process.   Those relationship will develop into true friendships I think!

Getting used to fairly constant stomach issues is a challenge J  It’s not even caused by something I ate – it’s just from being in contact with India!

Getting my master’s degree hasn’t really been in the plan – I have always been intimidated by it.  But possibilities seem to be endless here.   I have already been totally inspired by other people’s experience and will be enrolling this summer.  It will take three summers and I will get to do it in Europe.  And guess what it is in???  Educational technology!!  Me with a tech degree!!!   Amazing!!!!  This place helps make dreams come true. 

Off to go watch a Hindi movie! 

The eggs are getting gross

I mentioned a few posts ago that they 6th graders were given eggs to carry around in a jar to simulate taking care of their computer.  The eggs were blown out and apparently soaked in some bacteria killing solution.  One of my boys opened his jar and told me to smell it.  um no.  He kept it open and the smell wafted over.  yikes!  so of course every boy in the room opens theirs and it smells to high heaven in there!  I tell some one responsible for the eggs that they are starting to rot and we have a week left and they were like "no, we did all this stuff to make sure they wouldn't rot"  well, they are rotting.  one kid today showed me all the fungi that is growing on the cotton balls that he has in the jar protecting it.  gross.  so ready for the actual computers!

My A and B block 6th graders are great!  I will see them tomorrow.  I have to do a lot to prepare for them like translate into French, but they are mostly sweet, hardworking kids.  My F block... a little squirrelly with an "academic support kid"  which is how they say Sped here.  My H block 8th graders are a little rowdy too - they do their work and participate, just loudly and while out of their seats!  My E block 8th graders are wonderful.  I have all the regular Algebra kids who are a little low in math.  They all HATE it with a passion because they don't think they are good at it.  The other math teacher has all the kids who excel at math and love it in the advanced algebra class.  we were talking about how yea, I have to teach equations and other algebra..y things but really my focus should be to raise their confidence and get them to like math more.  My E kids were rocking today!  totally smoking my H kids.  A girl got a pretty hard exponent question right and I called her a "smarty pants" and she leaned over and told her friend "I've never been called smarty pants before"!  The boys all wanted high fives when they got a question right.  They did really well today and felt some confidence! 

I am liking the 80 minute classes.  they are wearing me out but I can get a lot done! 

Indian Independence Day

I went out for a walk today and saw a lot of smiling, happy Indians!  Many had the day off of work or school.  The sun was actually out a little so I walked down to the Arabian sea to take pictures.  I was walking along the promenade and several people asked me to take their picture.
How cute are these two?  They were just waving their flags at the sea.

This man saluted me when I walked by and let me take his picture and insisted he see it :)  When I walked back by him about 10 minutes later he asked me to take a picture with him and his friend.  His friend refused to smile! 

These boys were playing on the bench trying to balance and I took the first shot.  When I came back about 20 minutes later they totally wanted to pose.  An older man was with them - no relation, but helped them get into the pyramid.  They all introduced themselves and asked my name and told me they "were pleased to meet me" their English was great.  The man if I was from American and asked if I'd be showing the picture of the boys to my friends back home :)

The guy on the left saw me taking pictures of the sea and ran up to me and asked me to take a picture of him with his friends.

It was actually fairly dry today and moderately sunny so people were taking advantage of the time off to do laundry.

This woman asked me to take pictures of all of them.

They take their Independence seriously and joyfully. - I heard Pakistan had a hotel bombing on their Independence day today. This was at the bottom of a flag pole.  I saw this a lot today - looks like a birthday cake.

I was going to go take pictures of my guys down in Pali Market and my "Indian boyfriend" Allan who serves me my food every time I go to Eat Around the Corner -which is 5 times in 2 and a half weeks!  but my camera battery died.  I'll get them later and hopefully some pics of my kids this week.

The Ugly Monster Awakens

So I had a really awesome day yesterday and was looking forward to a really fun time going to Sanjay Ghani National Park today.  The park is the only NP that is completely surrounded by a city.  There are caves, monkeys, lions etc.  I went for a walk this morning and felt great.  I was so excited when I got to the park.  It was GREEN!!  and beautiful!!
We went on this caged bus to drive through an area where they have lions.

Bus window

Then the Monster appeared.  I started to not feel too well then my hands started spasming and my chest hurt.  Lupus. This is usually the first sign of it causing problems.  I don't know why.  I fell yesterday - maybe that startled my nervous system!  I have been really busy, but I feel like I get enough rest.  My routines get messed up so sometimes I forget my meds - but the meds I'm on now doesn't help with this part too much.  For a split second, I felt fear rise up because whenever symptoms appear my mind goes back to those two years where I was so sick and couldn't do hardly anything.  Here I was doing one of my favorite things - walking in the beautiful outdoors (an opportunity that doesn't come offen here :) and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to do it.  But lovely Amy came over to open a bottle of water for me and help me eat half a sandwhich.  I don't like to be a burden and I felt bad because I've only know these people about a month so it was a little embarrassing to ask them to open my water for me, take a picture for me, or slow down (when I am usually super hiker!)  but you know what?  A little hurt pride never killed anyone.  So I did my best - I walked all the places I wanted to.  and I got to see some cool things.

Faint mumbai skyling surrounding the park.

My hands and my legs hurt quite a bit, but the chest pain eased up and I didn't fall!!  There are people with way worse problems than some pain and uncooperative hands!  I'm pretty fortunate!

On our way to the Jain temple in the park, there was a traffic jam. It was hot in the car so some of us walked and had the car pick us up a little down the road.

Sarah doesn't seem too happy about the traffic jam.

Our last stop in the park was a Jain temple.

Greg (a high school math teacher) and his wife were at the park too and we ran into them and they said we should try the train back.  What an experience!  I couldn't take many pictures because it was so crowded.  Four of us took a cab to the park and paid about 400 rupees.  The four of us took the train back and paid 24 rupees for ALL of us. That's about 55cents maybe.  All of us women rod in the ladies only cars where it is less crowded and there is less staring :)

When we got back some of us went with Greg to eat some Indian food and by then my hands were doing pretty good and I actually got to eat with a fork!! I don't think my new friends are ready to see me eat with my face!  ha!  don't want to scare them!! 

Hands are doing ok now - legs still hurt pretty badly and spasm some but I thinkthat is because I've been sitting here typing!  I'll go walk around a little, get a good nights rest and be good as new tomorrow.  This week's goals are to balance work, rest, and excercise so that I am able to do all the things I want to do!  I have a great job and good friends and lots of things to see and do here - life could not be better!!

Comments from kids

I had the kids write letters about themselve - some told me very little, some wrote a lot.  I put the funniest ones first and then the inspirational ones at the back.  MAKE SURE YOU REAS THE LETTER IN RED. - by a 6th grade girl.

“   I have no favorites in math... The hardest for me in math is when there are complicated problem sums with crazy numbers.”

6^th grader “I was solving ohm’s law equations over the summer with parallel and series…I think I’ll get around an A this year in math “  um… yeah, mr. ohm’s law.  I think you will get an A.

“I have 6 six friends their names are…”   HA!  He has exactly 6 friends.

“I don’t like questions that I have to write words”

“I hope that this class isn’t boring, because in Germany it sometimes is really boring.”

 “I hate rain and basketball”

“my favorite singer is Justin Bieber”

“my favorite band is One Direction.  I love Thai and Asian food”

“My favorite thing in math is 1 + 1”

“my nephew is 5 months and already says ooops.  I used to have a dog called hollie but she died.  I also had a rabbit but we had to give him away.  I love all animals.  I’m scared of the dark and insects.  I also do not know how to read a clock and I struggle a lot with fractions.”

“ I enjoy doing extreme sports such as dirt biking and paintballing.  I know how to DJ.  I have been to 7 schools”

“I speak malay, Tamil, and English”

This is almost the entire letter from a 6^th grader!!!! WOW  “My home language is English. When I am bored I like go out on my skateboarded (if it is not raining). Like most other kids I have a hobby, I like to think that my hobby is piano because it interests me. My goal and dream in life is that I want to be a music teacher or be a PE teacher.

The things I am proud of is that I manage my Coeliac disease (wheat allergy) very well.  I have been a Coeliac since I was 4 and now have a good understanding of what I can and can’t eat.  I don’t try and cheat because it makes me so ill.  I can remember being in hospital a lot until the doctors found out what was wrong with me, so I want to stay fit and healthy now.

There is another thing I would like to share with you this is my first time I have lived abroad and I am starting my third year here in India.

As a student I would like to think school is about making new friends every year, learning and understanding more.  Also school is where you met your first friend or friends and also school prepares you for when you go to work and when you enter the big world.

I am a hard working, respectful student who will always try her best.  I do not find school work easy but I try my hardest.  My favourite subjects are PE and Choir and my parents think I am quite sporty.  I enjoy Maths and Language Arts but I do find them challenging.  I am hoping that this year I will get better at these subjects and find them more fun.  When I receive homework I do my homework on that day even when it is due another day.  I do this because you will get more homework the next day and you will have twice the amount.  At the moment I am trying out for the SAISA swimming team so I know I have to stay on top of my work as if I make the team I have to practice 4 times a week.

One of my most memorable maths moments is when my friend and I played a game, where you pick one card and the other player does the same.  The first person to guest what the two numbers both add up to wins.  I remember this because it does not seem that you are learning.   It felt like you are playing a regular game.  My favourite maths topic is adding and subtracting big and small numbers I like this because sometimes it can be challenging and others not.  My least favourite topic in Maths is dividing because I cannot find a technique that suits me.

I know I need to improve my maths skills and the only way I am capable of doing that is by practicing a lot.  I am hoping for my grades to be at least 80% and do not know if this will be my level, but all I can do is try my best.”

8^th grader       .” I have one dog, and one sister, and I live in south mumbai. I used to be fine with math in elementary school and 6^th grade, but by the time I got to 7^th grade, I started to hate it. I don’t know if it was because of the teacher, or because of just not being good at that kind of math, but either way, it didn’t work for me. I don’t like decimals very much, and I don’t like that geomatry perimeter thing that we did at the end of last year. I like fractions, and I like negative numbers.”

8^th grader .” I am only 12 years old because I skipped first grade in ASB. I love to act and I spend most of my free time playing video games and stuff like that. I have a sister in 10^th grade at this school. I was born and brought up in London, England and I have a British passport. I moved to India 7 years ago and I am moving back after eighth grade. I am good at working in a  team because I get along with everyone and I do my share of the work.”

I am not very good at math and it is definitely not my favorite subject. This year I am going to put in my best effort to understand everything that goes on in class and I am hoping to start liking math more.

“ I would like to think I listen to all the members of the team.  I think working in a team makes work seem more fun.  I’m nervous because I don’t want to make too many mistakes because it brings the whole team down.  I’ve always had my strengths and weaknesses in math but I always try to improve.  I’ve liked learning algebra even though it can be very hard at times”

“As far as math is concerned, its not my strongest subject.  I started enjoying math towards the end of the last year and I really work to try super hard to excel in maths.  I really like geometry (though I’m bad at it) and I struggle with integers.  I know math is a really important subject and I really want to try harder”

An 8^th graded who requested to move out of advanced Algebra and into my class.  He got the top score on our quiz the first day. “I love food, golf and hanging with friends.  I actually don’t mind math but just need some extra help every now and then”

“I look forward to learn from you”

Super fantastic Saturday Morning

What a great Saturday!

I got up and walked to the Sea – it is very dreary, gray and rainy today.

Jane Hoover (a 5^th grade teacher) invited me to her apartment for brunch.  She had invited maybe a dozen women from the school and from her church.  One was the pastor’s wife – she is from the Northeast part of India, but married a Mumbai man.  They have two kids and she was really sweet.  Their church only has an 11am service on Sundays which is kind of rough because my friends plan a lot of things on Sundays and I want to be able to go so an 8 or 9 am service would be better J  She said the attendance is very different from week to week because so many people are expats and travel on the weekends.  There is a women’s group on Wednesdays so I can go to that and go to church when I am around on Sundays.  Two women work for the American consulate and two worked for IJM – I think it was international Justice something.  They help women involved in human trafficking.  One was a social work that counseled them.  One worked with them making jewelry so they can support themselves.

Jane made quiche and had a waffle maker!!  I had waffles with mango puree and maple syrup this morning!!!  Her apartment was super cute.  It was really good to meet some women from other walks of life besides ASB.  A lot of them went to her church and it seems like a place I will fit in.  I’m excited about trying it!  There is another woman at my school that has a Bible study on Fridays at her house so I’ve got some opportunities to meet with small groups.

After leaving Jane’s I went to a grocery store and ran into two ASB men.  I don’t run into people I know at the stores in Houston!!  This feels like home!  The store didn't have everythign I wanted - only soy milk which I can't drink due to my Lupus so I am going to have to go to another store later.

Now I am working on school stuff.  Translating everything in french for my 6th graders takes time!  I am being observed Tuesday - only my 2nd time with these kids!!  I don't really understand it -apparently they have permanent subs at the school and they come to observe classes so they know how things are done at ASB etc.  I've taught here 2 days!!!  not sure I know how things are done here :)   We have to show them how to save files on their computers, but they don't have their computers yet - they have EGGS!!  So I have to walk the whole class to the office to get their computers, do our work then go put them back.  ah. 6th graders.

I had the kids write letters to me and some of them are pretty funny.  I'll post some of the better things later :)

Day two of school

So today was the 3rd day I got up between 5:00 and 5:15 to run/walk before work.  I love the semi stillness and watching Mumbai wake up.  Preyanka came with me today and it rained on us :(

I LOVE my block E 8th graders.  They are awesome.  Terrible at math :(  but they seem like they are willing to try.  I told them I would teach them math and they could help me with technology.  I tried to have them turn in their work on Dyknow today and well... yeah... that didn't work out so well!  but they have used Dyknow before and they are gonna get me up to speed!  My H block 8th graders weren't as awesome.  Pretty goofy but it was the last block of the day.  One thing this school does is rotate the schedule.  so on day one I see ABCD, on day three I see BCDA, on day 5 I see CDAB and day 7 I see DABC and the even days do the same thing for EFGH.  So basically they are on an 8 day cycle.  They only thing that is constant is that we see advisory every day after the 2nd block of the day then we eat lunch.  So I won't always have the same kids at the end of the day or at the beginning when they are sleepy!!  awesome!!!

I gave a quiz to the 8th graders just to see where they are.  They were really nervous but I don't them it wasn't for a grade I just wanted to see where to start teaching them.  Yeah... I'll be starting with order of operations with exponents.  They were worse at integers than my 6th graders!!!!!!

My 6th graders are just goofy.  Two of them had to fill out insurance papers on their egg!! ha!!!  It was one of my kid's birthday today and he brought chocolate cupcakes.  in middle school!  loving this advisory thing.  He is from Hershey Pennsylvania - his dad works for Hershey and that's why they are here.  so. yea.  he's. my . favorite. kid.  :)   It rained crazy hard during one of my classes and the boys wanted to see so we took a little break so they could go in the hall (it is an open hall with no walls) and they were like "the cafeteria is getting wet"  sharp ones these 6th graders :)  I said not to worry, they'd have it mopped up before we ate and if it was pouring while we ate, we'd just get wet.  no biggie :)

One of my kids is the son of a new teacher here so he flew with me on the plane to Mumbai and we had meals together during new teacher week etc.  I had all important papers in my "folder of life"  and guarded it carefully on the way here.  They all got organizers in advisory (daily planners)  and he already had papers vomitting out of it!  He looked at me and said "This is MY folder of life!"  ha!! ha!!

We have a three day weekend this week so the kids were all telling me about their plans.  I am meeting people for dinner tonight, going to brunch at a teacher's house tomorrow, and going to Sanjay Ghandi park on Sunday hopefully.  fun weekend.

First day of school

Yesterday the new kids came to the school including all the 6^th graders because they are new to the middle school.  I got to meet only my advisory kids for that.  All the kids have to buy a tablet PC to use at school so they went to a workshop about it and got their eggs.  They all have to carry around a blown out egg for a week or so.  If the egg gets cracked or broken they have to fill out “insurance” forms etc.  It gets them ready to carry a laptop with them all the time.  Most of them wrapped their egg in tp or something in the container.  One container flipped off a desk today and you should have seen the horror on the faces of all the kids!!!  The egg survived though J

Today all the middle schoolers met in the gym and we did our middle school cheer and a bowing ceremony which was pretty cool.  Then we had advisory and handed out schedules and handbooks etc.  We also gave them a lock.  Oh. My. 6^th graders are the same everywhere in the world when it comes to combination locks.  We practiced A LOT.  I think most got it down by the end.  I got to see Block A and B today.  They seem pretty sweet.  On kid is really uptight and freaking out about everything and another one was really trying to pull attention to himself (in People to People today he said “I like people who are criminally insane” etc.  when everyone else was saying things like “I like people who wear black shoes” )  other than that pretty good.  I have a kid named Francois who doesn’t speak a lick of English.  I have a kid from Belgium in there who speaks French so he translates but it was rough for all of us to wait for it.  It was really hard to play people to people because the kids wanted to run before Owen had put it in French – and it is hard for a 6^th grader to translate “criminally insane”!  I have a kid named Harshit. And yes you say it exactly like that!  Sounds like Horse shit!!!!  Ha!!  His mom kept saying it yesterday and it was so weird.  In the states when kids have names like that they change it to Joe or something J  The kids are from all over the place.  It is so cool – I am going to learn a lot.

They were cracking me up!  They don’t have their computers yet so they couldn’t do their assignment electronically.  It took me a good 7 to 8 minutes to get them to understand NO you do not do your work in the book.  You need to do that on a piece of paper.  I was asked “where do we get the paper?  What kind of paper?”  Just get any paper at your flat and do your work!!  They really didn’t quite get the paper thing J

Some of them have lived here for several years so I was teasing them and said I could use some pointers on crossing the street.  One kid said “wait for a traffic jam and run between the cars”  one said “just run fast while they are moving”  very funny.

Tomorrow I get to meet the rest of the 6^th graders and my 8^th graders.  I am going to try my hand at dyknow tomorrow and test my tech skills.  I am sooo fortunate to get to work at this school with all the tools that are available.  My principal and AP are awesome!!!  The 6^th grade team is great!  Most of the Middle school teachers are fun and nice.  I am so thankful that my math teaching partner is so awesome.  It is just the two of us and it could have made for a miserable year if one of us was lazy, rude etc.  We work well together – he is really patient at teaching me tech stuff and  I pitch in by making paper things and giving ideas on how we could teach things.  I am trying really hard to contribute what I can so it isn’t one sided.  But once I get the hang of things I can contribute more!!

The school is very different.  It starts at 8 and all these kids were in the halls at 7:20 and I was thinking like Kahla “go away!  Go sit in the cafeteria”  but here the school is their “home” and they are allowed to do a lot of things they aren’t allowed to do at other schools.  They get 10-15 min breaks between classes and can eat and are encouraged to sit on the seats in the halls and hang out.  It’s actually pretty good because they have time to use the bathroom, they get to socialize and snack so they aren’t starving! 

We just have tomorrow then Monday we are off for independence day!  J

Gateway to India and Elephanta Island

On Sunday I waited around for the shipping company to come by to pick up my documents – my stuff should be here by Saturday! 

I walked over to Zach and Nancy’s (and didn’t get lost!) and we took a cab (it didn’t really happen that quickly but he finally arrived) to the Gateway to India to meet the Thextons.  We walked around the gateway and in the Taj hotel (beautiful) then boarded a boat to Elephanta Island.  The area around the Gateway is full of hawkers trying to get you to buy touristy stuff.

Gateway to India

taj mahal palace hotel

 The boat ride was 130 rupees.  The ride over took about an hour.  There are 1500 people who live on the island. A guy named Krishna who was born there latched onto me and wanted to give us a tour.  For 400 rupees he would explain all the caves to us “protect” us from the monkeys and tell us the ends and outs of what goes on on the Island. Zach told him he’d give him extra if we saw a cobra.  Ha!  We didn’t.   I ended up giving him 500 and we bought him a beer.  He did a great job.

 The caves have all these great carvings and sculptures of Hindi gods.  A lot of them are missing limbs etc because the Portuguese used them for target practice trying to rid the area of Hindus.  Nancy is Portuguese so we teased her a lot J The island is peaceful and quiet compared to Mumbai standards.  Krishna says there is a Hindi festival in February where they sacrifice goats and have a big celebration.  It is open to the public.  I am there!

monkey with b

The boat ride back was a lot less pleasant – the water was choppy and lots of it was splashing on the boat.  We tried to keep our mouths closed.  They pulled our boat up to another boat and we had to get off with them bouncing all over etc.  there was an older woman and she was obviously not super limber and able to jump out of the boat.  The guy kept trying to drag her but her children hung onto her – they were scared for her safety.  The boat man got really upset!!!  Got in our boat and was ylling at the daughter right in her face!!  I’m not sure what their hurry was and why they couldn’t wait a few extra seconds per person til the boats were aligned better.  Tully and Rick got off and the boats were really even and I went right after but the second I stepped out boat dipped and I was straddling both and then was squatting so low I couldn’t get up.  Three men grabbed my arm to pull me up – surprised I don’t have bruises.  The cab ride home was interesting too.  This the fasted I’ve ever seen a cab go!!  He was speeding in and out of lanes, ignoring signals and honking like crazy.  (which they all do, they just don’t go very fast)  nancy and I couldn’t look!  They guy just said “this is India!  This is how we drive!!”

I got home alive and worked with Bryan on some math stuff and went to bed.  Very fun trip for my first official weekend here!  I am putting more of the pics up on facebook. 

The India food is catching up to me and I am a chunky monkey!  Do they have weightwatchers here in Mumbai?!?!?!

ridiculously lost in Mumbai

So, it's Saturday morning and I thought I go exploring.  I walked down to the Promenade to see what the running situation might be.  I left at 6:45 am and it was quiet but starting to get busy so if I go at 5 like I've been advised the streets should be still enough that I can run to the Promenade.  the Promenade goes along the Arabian Sea.  It is so beautiful.  It isn't beachy like you could swim or anything but it smells way better than Galveston Bay!!  I saw very few runners, but a lot of walkers and people sitting out on the rocks just thinking etc.  On my map it was Carter road curves to the right and there is nowhere else to go.  So I thought I take the curve and walk to Linking rd and see what shops are there.

That is not where I ended up!

I live in Bandra West which is a part of Mumbai that is nice - lots of shops and restaurants and people tend to have a better quality of life here.  I walked into a part of Mumbai that was totally different but I saw some cool things - but didn't have my camera.  The streets here are FAR more crowded!!  Everything is in Marathi or Hindi - I don't know the difference.  I saw a man brushing his teeth with q-tips over a drain.  I saw a little boy - maybe three (hard to tell they are so little) naked and peeding into a drain.  I so no adults around and wondered who he belonged to then I walked a little further and saw a bunch of people laying outside a store where they spent the night.  There were chickens in cages on the street.  There were tons of richshaws and crowds of people.  I was trying to keep track of where I was but that is hard to do. 

1. my map doesn't show all streets and I wasn't on my map part of the time

2. I think I saw one named street in an hour - they don't put signs

3. there is no sun to help me.

4.  I try to notice what I am passing etc.  but there is sooooo much to notice that what you notice going oneway is not what you noticed the other way.  Also it was early morning so stalls were closed up etc but then when I am the other way they were all open and looked different.  and all the signs were in Hindi or Marathi so no words stood out to me.

I got very near the airport!  - could see the planes taking off.  I was hopelessly lost so I tried to ask for directions back to the sea.  I asked more than 10 people.  No one spoke English.  If I come across a Spanish speaker and I ask if they speak English they shake their head and say "no English".  If they ask me "hablas espanol"  I don't speak fluently but i know they are asking if I speak Spanish.  The people here didn't flicker recognition at the word English.  and when I showed them a map they didn't even know what to do with it.  I found a sign that said Juhu Tara rd (Mumbai people - how far is Juhu beach from here?  was I close??  :) :) and I found two guys who spoke a little english and told me where I was, but not how I could get to where I was going.  I started walking and this angel of a Rickshaw driver pulled over and asked me if I needed help.  He said he was an educated man so he spoke English.  I told him I was trying to find Carter rd by the Arabian Sea.  He looked shocked and said "that's in Bandra'  ha!  I had walked myself right out of Bandra.  I was kind of tired and he told me I was 5k from Carter rd and then it is still a decent walk home from that and I'd already been walking for an hour and a half so I asked him to drive me there.  He was very nice and dropped me off at a place on Carter road where I knew how to get home! 

Lessons learned - never take a new route unless you have LOTS of time - always carry money with you!

yesterday we did a lot of school work.  I am going to work on math stuff today and reward my self later by taking a break and walking to Linking rd which was my destination today and never got there!! 

Jordan the other middle school Math teacher so we've been working on curriculum.   Thankfully I have a classroom but Jordan and Pauline (the French and Spanish teacher) doesn't so they use my room too.  so my 6th grade classroom will have Algebra and French posters in it :)  Preya is my downstairs neighbor - she teaches high school English.  Yesterday was Jordan's birthday so a group of us went out to eat.  Preya took these pictures with her phone.  My camera battery died so I didn't get any group pics. 

Jordan and I in front of his building

Preya and I

Meeting returning teachers

So yesterday we graduated from new teacher status and today ALL the staff came back.   Some people didn't get here until this morning!  Including Will.  Will is Pauline's significant other and he lost his passport the day they were flying to Newark.  he flew with her hoping they would find his passport in the suitcases during their long layover. No such luck - he had to fly back to Green Bay and has spent the last week trying to get a new passport and visa! 

They had a wonderful welcoming ceremony for the new teachers.  They had us all go to the front of the room and put red marks on us "tikka" and lay the garlands on us.  very cool.

        We moved around at the tables a lot so we got to meet many of the returning staff.  It is hard to remember names!  I cannot believe the sheer number of staff.  Way more than my last school and it had twice as many kids!      

We got to spend some time in our classrooms today.