Third Rabies Shot

So I was going to post my vacation blog right away, but felt the need to do this first.  Today is day 7 from the monkey attack so I needed third shot.  I walk down to the hospital with the perscription the doctor at the school gave me.

People at the front direct me to pharmacy.

After waiting in line and getting pushed the pharmacy tells me I have to get a scrip from this hospital and sends me to the ER.

I tell the ER my story and they say I have to go to pharmacy to get the meds then they'll inject me.  I explain the pharmacy won't give me the meds without a scrip from this hospital.  I am told the ER doc went out for tea and will be back soon. Really?  the ONLY ER doc went out for tea?  ok then.

I wait for ER doc.

She gives me scrip and sends me to pharmacy.  I wait in line and get shoved again.  They print out receipt and say I have to go to the cashier counter to pay before they will give me the meds.  ok.

I walk over the cashier counter to wait in line and get shoved.  I pay and they give me receipt and go back to the pharmacy.

They give me syringe.

I go back to ER and they inject me.  ER has 3 beds and HANDWRITTEN posters about triage protocol and burn protocol.  handwritten in sharpie.

note to self Never get attacked by wild animal  in India.  I am going to ask the school doctor to give me the syringes for the next two shots so I can just show up at the hospital with the meds. 

Week Without Walls

Every year the middle schoolers at ASB go on a Week Without Walls trip.  The 6th graders go together to one place and the 7th and 8th graders go to separate places.  the 7th and 8th graders leave on Monday and come back Friday.  The 6th graders don't leave until Tuesday so on Monday we had classes to prepare them for the trip to Matheran.  I taught monkey safety - the irony of that will be evident later :)  The kids were really excited to go to Matheran.  The roads are too steep with hairpin turns for busses to go so we went in a convoy of minivans.  Each van had a driver, a teacher or trailblazer (the outdoor education people that helped us with the trip) and 4 kids.  We also had vans with luggage, supplies and security guards.  It is about a 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive up to the car park.  It is one of only two pedestrian hill stations in the world so no cars are allowed.  We had to hike the kids up to the top - about a 45 minute walk.

I was in the car # 2 with two girls A and R and two boys M and J.  A speaks Hindi and that was helpful to talk to the driver.  R had a difficult time playing games in the car because she is hard of hearing and doesn't understand a lot unless she reads your lips.  so R and A hung out int he bag texting other girls.  J was playing his video games.  M... well.  M has some special challenges and let's just say everyone was happy I had M in MY car and not theirs!  19 minutes into the trip M asked if we were almost there!  We could practially still see the school!!  He asked every 2 -3 minutes after that - even though it was obvious we were still in the middle of Mumbai!  He was very excite to see monkeys so he saw them everywhere.  I could hear him saying constantly that he saw a monkey and J was back there saying. "No M, that was a dog (or piece of garbage or chipmunk or grass"  or whatever!!  they were so patient with him for the most part.  At one point A said "M please stop asking Ms. Staley if we are almost there, she will tell you when we are - and no there are no rinoceruses in Matheran"  ha!!!  poor M!

About 2/3 of the way up the hike I started puking.  We thought it was just car sickness, but then I puked all afternoon and the next day... and it was coming out of both ends... so must have gotten something weird from India!  So I didn't get to go with my kids on the first day of activities.  But the 2nd day i went with my advisory to go rock climbing, rapelling and do some nature stuff.  They loved the adventure stuff and I was so proud of them!! My advisory did a lot of singing while we were hiking.  :)  It was like being a camp counselor again!!  At the beginning of the year the advisorys had to pick a name and we were the Funky Chickens but this week they changed it to SS Ninjas.  :)  Staley and Sodhi are their advisors( sodhi has a baby and couldn't come on the trip)  and I call them Ninjas all the time :) 

The kids were bunked 4 to a room and teachers were interspersed throughout.  The girls on my floor needed help with a lot of things - broken class, monkeys got in their room and they needed me to chase them out, hot water wouldn't turn off etc.  so I have a scald mark on my arm from a hot water pipe :)

Every night we did activities together and awarded someone the best camper of the day with a golden bell :)  then the kids would go to their advior's room and debrief the day.  I have 4 girls and 8 boys in my advisory so that is not a quiet time :)

On thursday we took them to the town to go souvenier shopping and get snacks.  Mr. Fast, the counselor who was paired with my advisory wanted to take the boys back while I stayed with the girls while they looked for jewelry.  You should have seen the look on the security guard's face when he saw we were breaking up.  You could see he was thinking about how to be in two places at one time!!  In the end he stayed with us and I asked if it was because we were girls and he said yes.  I wanted to remind him Mr. Fast had M and M needs more guarding than any other kid!!! ha!!  In the evenings the kids had flex time and could swim or play cricket or read etc.  The teachers would gather in the play space and watch them.  they served us snacks every evening.  So even though I was the monkey safety teacher and had shooed many a monkey away and reminded kids constantly of the dangers of monkeys I still thought it was ok to take my snack to the pool without putting it in my backpack.  So I get a few feet from my room and a huge alpha male comes at me and hisses.  One of my boys was right there and was terrified.  I threw my fanta to distract him so we could get away.  I turn the corner and there were four monkeys ready to pounce so I threw my oreos but they didn't leave!  now there are like 9 monkeys all around, above me ready to attack.  The Trail blazer people were out there and told me to stand still while the guards raced over, but before they could get there, one monkey jumped on me like I was a tree!!  and clawed my arm...so now I am on the rabies shot series which is screwing up my vacation plans because I have to get shots on certain days.  

It is really fun teaching international kids.  One of my girls asked me where to plug in her phone charger - I told her to put it in a socket.  she said she couldn't find one so I went in there and found one in half a second.  later, an adorable British girl who sounded exactly like Hermoine said "In her defense Miss Staley, that socket did look quite abnormal"  ha!!  love it!!  what houston 6th grader talks like that???

Friday we started our decent down and M was wanding into horses etc.  Every 5 minutes the security guard would get my attention and say "madam, M" and point to whatever he was doing... augh!

We finally get in all the cars and start home.   The roads are awful - full of pot holes etc.  when we got tot he expressway the driver noticed we had a flat.  so no I am on the side of the road with four kids and a driver that doesn't speak english.  Another car stops to help and bring a jack.  they start rocking my car - I guess to get it high enough for the jack.  My kids are tumbling all over the car as they are rocking it!!!  I ask if I can get them out and they said "it's ok madam"  Vinesh, the Marshall shows up and tells me we are getting in another car. I get all my kids to look at me so I can tell them how serious it is that we are getting out onto a freeway.  Had to grab M's face an make him look at me!!    The guards get our stuff and try to get me in the car and I refused to do so until the kids were in. I thought we were going in a luggage car, nope. the school had a spare car with us in case one of the cars broke down.  Each car had a tag with our car number and the inventory of people in it.  I noticed the marshall had moved the tag to the new car.  I felt like the president and this was the new Air Force One!!  ha!  doubt a rabies infested person is allowed to be leader of the free world!!  ha!

15 minutes later the student teacher texts me and says she also has a flat!! We finally get to the school.  I get my rabies shot and we head home.  Now I am trying to pack for my vacation!
Sorry this is full of typos.  and uncapitalizated words.  I wanted to get it done before my next trip :)

Parent teacher conferences

we had parent teacher conferences this week 3:30 to 6:30pm on Thursday then all day Friday. All but 4 or 5 of them showed- out of 70! Pretty good!  I've never had parent conferences like this - I was a little nervous. I had the kids fill out these reflection sheets about their progress in math.  many of the kids mentioned how they are math ninjas in training and want to be Ninjas or Jedi masters :)

the conferences were wonderful! the parents  were really supportive and it was obvious they loved their kids. They rubbed their kids' heads, squeezed their cheeks, etc. Some wanted me to challenge their kids mathematically, others wanted me to boost their kids up to grade level. I have some kids who get 100s on everything and can do math far above grade level, but they speak mostly by grunting and rarely speak three consecutive English words. Their parents want me to work with them on math communication. 
I was bowed to A LOT! a couple families gave me Diwali gifts. many parents thanked me for making their kid like math! several told me they liked the relationship I had with their child. Overall it was a good experience!

I love this school!

Yesterday during advisory we went to watch the middle school band and choir perform.  The band was AMAZING!  I have never heard a middle school band concert that good.  I loved watching my kids perform and watching my other kids enjoy it :)

Today we had our big Diwali program.  the school was beautifully decorated. 

 Many kids and teachers were dressed up in their Indian finest.

One family ( I teach two of their kids) gave me a really beautiful Diwali gift.  So sweet of them!

About 5 weeks ago I signed up to run the half marathon with a charity.  They came to the school to get two checks - one for them and one for United Way.  Apparently I signed it in the wrong place (Indian checks are weird!) and they emailed today to say that if they didn't get a check by this afternoon they'd give my place away!!  My checks were at home and I wasn't going to get home until after 7 due to Parent Teacher Conferneces.  I went to talk to Purvi - who is head of our community outreach.  They've had my checks for WEEKS and to tell me that I have to get new ones in hours was unfair and she told them so.  They wouldn't even hold my spot until Monday.  Purvi said maybe the school could write a check.  So we go to Alok - master of the money :) and tell him the situation.  He gives the Idian head nod and says "email so and so the names of the places that need the check - I have checks written for you and take it out of your paycheck - I have them ready in one hour and you can send them by courier"  more head nodding "Indian great place"  ha! ASB is a great place!  whew I think my spot is secure! I love this school!!!!

We had parent conferences from 3:30 to 6:30 - everyone wants to see the math teacher.  I didn't take a breath for 3 hours.  Tomorrow we have this all day!  it was good though.  We have such great kids and great parents and thankfully they mostly LOVE me!!  I had parents say such great things to me. One said "I love the relationship you have with my daughter"   So so so happy to be in place where I am appreciated!!!

We have been getting thunderstorms - apparently this is what happens at the end of monsoon.  I don't like it.  I hate thunder and lightning.  and storms cause a lot of pain.  My hands and feet were killing me today.  My Lupus does not like stormy weather!!!  Trying to deal with it - haven't had this much pain in awhile.  Let's hope it is better for Week without walls. 

Two perfect days

On Sunday I woke up and went walking really early in the morning.  I came home, did some work then met Amy so we could walk to church.  I really enjoyed church then went home to put my stuff away and wait for Andrea to show up so we could go to lunch.  She calls all exasperated and asked where I was because she was standing outside of my door.  I thought I misunderstood and that I was supposed to meet her outside of my building.  No - she had been knocking at another apartment - she was on the wrong floor!!! ha!! We went to Eat around the Corner - one of my favorite places and actually ran into some of the people at my church.  A few new interns had come during the last week are just getting used to India.  After lunch we went to Pali market and chatted with the guys at Choice market while they helped us get our stuff.  We went to my flat so I could get my work stuff then we walked over to Andrea's - I laid on her purple chair to work and she laid on her couch.  I got a lot of work done!  Dax and Amy came over for awhile.  We ordered food from Falafel house and then Andrea's friend Joel came over and brought his friend who is a runway model.  She was probably over 6 foot and was really thin.  real live runway model who probably doesn't eat an entire sleeve of oreos in one sitting....

On Monday I had a good ride on the bus to school, had a great new picture of my niece Charlie, got a lot of work done before school and was ready to hit the day running.  I had the kids answer reflection questions for Parent Teacher Student conferences and most of them wrote great things!!!  In 8th grade we were doing exponent laws which is not the most fun thing and they were doing well.  One of my kids - we'll call him Mr. India - is not the best at math and his parents say it has always been a struggle and he hates math etc... Well, today he rocked!!!  He asked me for lots of help at the beginning but after I worked one out with him, I'd make him go explain it to another child.  As the morning went on, he didn't better and asked less questions.  I emailed his mom to tell her and she was so excited.  She has told me several times that she is so appreciative that Mr. India likes math now.  Later his Dad emailed me!!  thanked me for making his son and wife happy and said he wished he had a teacher like me!!  yea!!
My 6th graders worked hard today - one part that wasn't perfect was their marks on the quizzes but.....
During my off block I had a meeting with the principal that went well...
On Monday's after school the other math teacher, Mr. Davis, and I work with the lower kids who need help in math.  We usually have a lot of kids and we do some fun game or something with them.  Today only 5 kids showed up because soccer has started.  I had worked really hard on making this activity for them that would be no fun with 5 kids so I was kind of bummed.  Mr. Davis had a meeting so it was just me and the 5 girls so I said we'd hang out and have "girl talk".  We went on this really cool math website and competed with each other and kept score to see who improved etc.  They were so into it!!!  Constantly trying to beat their time and score.  The hour flew by - they had so much fun!!  What a fantastic way to end my school day!! 
I caught the first bus and had a great ride home, a great walk in the evening and a good chat with my Dad on the phone.  it was a really good day!!

Ajanta caves

On the second day our driver came at 7:00 to get us - the ajanta caves are a 3 hour drive away.  We drove by a lot of lot of corn, sugar cane and cotton fields.  Using squatty potties is part of India :)

We saw a lot of water buffalo, oxen, cows, and a few camels :)  We drove through small roadside villages and again had wind in our hair :)
The ajanta caves have a lot more Paintings whereas the Ellora caves had more scultures. There were a few sculptures.

We took Zach's advice and went through the caves backwards and as a result we were much less of a tour attraction and we asked to have our picture taken much less often.  We enjoyed the peace and quiet - nature and actual wild flowers. We saw kids crabbing in the water.  These caves were all Buddist so we had to keep our shoes off most of the time. There were a lot of chipmunks around and we sang "spider pig" from the Simpson movie a lot and changed it to spider chipmunk :)  You can see him in the center completely vertical head first!

We ate at the state run restaurant and had some chicken fried rice and Megan and Andrea had a Fosters which was a treat because holidays in India are dry days and alcohol is not supposed to be available.  We went back down to the main area to meet the driver and the hawkers were horrible here!  We were so harrassed.  It puts a damper on the whole experience.

the drive back was really long.  The driver played Hindi music on the way back.  We took a nap and then watch some Hindi music videos and movies.  Oh my gosh - if you want a good giggle - watch hindi movies - so funny!!!
Zach and Nancy stayed at a budget hotel like us, but the other 7 stayed at the Lemon Tree - very fancy.  so we went over there Sunday night and sat by the pool and had dinner at the hotel restaurant - the food was amazing!! My friends had stocked up on alcohol because they knew two days were dry.  the hotel staff was upset they were drinking in public by the pool but were gracious enought to let them continue as long as they hid the bottles under the table and called in "juice" in public :)  It started raining so we went up to one of their hotel rooms and hung out.  It was fun to hang out with people I don't get to spend a lot of time with.  We had music and were singing and dancing.  It was nice to just relax...

Nancy, Zach and I were on an 8 am flight to Mumbai and the others weren't leaving until night.  The owned of my hotel drove me to the airport :)  this was our first official holiday and we had a blast!  I get to travel with Nancy, Zach and Andrea to Kerela at the end of October - looking forward to it!

http://ajantacaves.com/

Ellora Caves

Ten ASB people went to Aurangabad this weekend.   I went with Megan and Andrea.  Our friends Angelo, Andrew, Debbie, Fenella ,Zach, Waciuma, and Nancy were on the same flight as us. The school van took us to the airport after school. This was my first Indian domestic flight. Security is tight -  you have to prove you have a ticket to get in the door and many times after that. It is not really common, but also not unheard of to have terrorist attacks in Mumbai.  Indian sites have a huge problem with my first name having two word!! I could not get my boarding pass even with a guy helping me. When I finally got it through a woman at the counter, I figured out the problem! It was listed as Bobbi Jostaley !! So I have a new last name!  There is a separate security line for women and they pretty much feel you up.  So do not complain about pat downs in the US!  We had a  Kingfisher plane with propellers. That did not sit well with our companion who is afraid of flying!

When we got to Aurangabad I tried to go to bed right away. Megan and Andrea went to find food and an ATM. There was a doorbell to our hotel room that kept randomly going off! I thought it was an alarm system and couldn't figure out why it would go of when I was opening cabinets. It made a horrible sound! When Andrea came back we realized it was the doorbell and two hotel guys came to fix it. I was in my pjs in bed with my head less than 12 inches from the stupid thing. It went off so often I stopped reacting to it. Megan and Andrea were in the hall laugh hysterically because other guests on the hall were poking their heads out of their rooms to see what the commotion was about! Tthe guys would think they fixed it say "ok madam no problem" and start to walk away and it would go off! Finally he unplugs it and says "ok madam. It fixed now" ha!

On Saturday our driver picked us up at 8:30 am to drive us to Ellora Caves. We stopped at the tour agent place where we had bought our tour through and they had internet with an old school computer :) He gave us tea and sent us on our way.  There are 34 preserved caves. Four are Jain. Twelve are Buddist and the others are Hindi. they were amazing! Wonderful sculptures and quiet green spaces. The drive up was nice-lots of green and water buffalo. We actually had the windows down with the wind blowing through our hair! We stopped at a Sheva Temple on the way. Sheva is a very hot tempered god so worshippers pour milk on him (well the big penis that represents him) to cool him off.Tthe outside of the temple was really pretty. we had to take our shoes off to go in and itwas hot and the smell of hot milk mixed with a crowd of people was not pleasant! Hindis welcome everyone to participate in their ceremonies so they gave flowers for us to give as offerings. It is hard to balance being a Christian with experiencing the culture here. I want to observe their culture and learn about it but so much of it is religious. I don't want to be rude but I also refuse to give offerings or worship another gods. I have found that a lot of International teachers are very free spirited it and inclusive so there aren't many born again Christians that I work with. I learn a lot from the non Christian teachers but it is nice that I have a few believers to share with and help keep me accountable.

Anyone want to guess how long it took me to fall on this trip?? Any guesses? First stop at the temple!! Stepped out of the car and fell in a hole! Twisted my knee before I got to do any hiking.

The caves were great but we had no idea we would be one of the major tourist attractions!! Tons of Indians asked to pose with us for pictures. Andrea and Megan went exploring in this huge cave temple while I sat by a sculpture and rested my knees. Many people sat next to me to get a pic. This guy ran up to me handed me his baby!! He and all the rest of the family stood back and tried to get the baby's attention - he was  looking at me with big eyes that said "who are you white woman and why am I in your lap?"

On the way back we stopped to get snacks and I paid 5 rupees each for a bag of chips and a pack of cookies. That's like 12 cents. We stopped at silk weaving place that was amazing. they showed us how the matierial was woven. I bought some pillow covers and the others bought some scarves etc.

I am obsessed with elephants!

We went back to the hotel to take a nap. My pill bottle rolled under the bed. I was leaning over the bed with my hand fishing under the bed. I couldn't reach it so I looked under there and thought i saw a rat! I realized the tail was really long and it occurred to me it was a string - it was a used tampon!!! so gross!!!!!! Other than that the hotel wasnt too bad.  We had a western toilet and hot water and there was a huge die in the shower for some reason.

We met Nancy and Zach at this great tandori restaurant.  The food was awesome and we had a great time!


Here is some more info on Ellora caves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellora_Caves

I have lots of picutres up on facebook :)