Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday #2

This week is, in many ways, overwhelmingly busy. But I just can't stop smiling.

I know I'm using less and less detail as the days go on. I wish I had more time to document my final week at SB but, 1) I barely have time as it is with the lack of volunteers here this week and 2) I feel like it's better to be truly present in every moment that I have with the students.

TWO DAYS AGO: Sunday

My trip to Hosur with Kathya seems like it was ages ago. We woke up at around 8:30 to head to a temple in Hosur where we spent about a half an hour exploring. One of my favorite parts of traveling in India is taking part in traditions right along with the people who practice them on a regular basis. This experience was no different. After the temple, we headed to the bazaar market where we did some shopping. I got a new kurta (an India tunic-like garment that you wear with leggings) and a nice dark green kurta dress with purple, red, and gold accents for my last day at SB. We had lunch at a restaurant called Janani, one of my favorite food experiences from last year's trip, and had an incredible meal. You forget how rich Indian food is when you're eating the most simple, basic dishes on a daily basis. At Shanti Bhavan, almost everything is a spicy vegetable broth over rice with maybe a side of "ladyfingers" (okra) or pickled veggies and chapathi, an Indian flat tortilla. Anyway, it was delicious and a nice change from the sometimes bland, though very much appreciated, SB food. We went to the supermarket and stopped at the cash machine before returning home.

That night, Dr. George was giving a special discussion, apart from his usual Thursday night talks, just for the 10th-12th graders. The topic was DG's interpretations of Reverence for Life by Albert Schweitzer, reinterpreted by several graduates of SB. I watched as the former SB students worked their way through the dense material, explaining and providing examples to the current SB students. DG's profound and often aphorism-filled speeches have altered my way of thinking drastically on several different occasions. I sit there taking notes, whether mental or physical, questioning my every action, and what's weirder, questioning my every thought. Dr. George makes me question the inner workings of my very own mind... and I love it. So, I thought I'd share a few points I wrote down from this discussion:

1)The will to live + sensitivity to the plight of others = REVERENCE FOR LIFE

2) If you cannot give when you do not have, you will never give when you do.

3) Compassion without action is a dead matter. 

- DG used an example like this: A man walks down the street and sees absolute, abject poverty. He feels compassion and sympathy for these people in this predicament, whether begging, homeless, sick, or hungry. He looks at them with sorrow in his eyes as he passes through their neighborhood, or lack there of. And then he returns home to his comfortable home and feels better about himself. After all, he did a good deed today! He felt compassion towards those in need. 
- DG is absolutely right, not that this surprises me. Compassion is an instantaneous pick-me-up. We feel better about ourselves once we have "felt" for someone else. But... what are we going to do to put that compassion into action? Build a school for children of India's lowest caste to provide them with a world class education that will eventually allow them to break the cycle of poverty? Maybe not. Maybe this is too much for some of us. Or most of us. We're not all Dr. Abraham George. But, we just have to take a step back and really think about it. Because, it's true! What is compassion without action?

YESTERDAY: Monday
Remember when I said any period labeled "free" in my original schedule would be filled by a class this week? I was right! My schedule now includes 2 classes of Geography 7, 2 of Grammar 8, and 3 of English Literature 8, as well as some sporadic additional Drama 3, where I've started teaching them to sing Brand New You from 13 The Musical. 

I don't have a ton to say about yesterday. I spent nearly all day lesson planning, grading, and teaching, and especially, preparing for my crazy busy Tuesday. But, as dancing with the upper grade girls always is, this was definitely a highlight: 

TODAY: Tuesday 

Without a doubt my busiest day this week, I taught 7/8 class periods today. I'm exhausted, but also feeling incredibly fulfilled. My day started with 6:30 AM prep followed by Civics 7, where we went over the Indian State Government and the different types of jurisdiction for their August monthly test on Thursday. In History 9, we reviewed for their Civics monthly test, because we had reviewed History the day before, working on fundamental rights and freedoms. I ran to History 10, once I had finished with the 9th grade, to review the Moderates, focusing on Dadabhai Naoroji and his contributions. Then came tea time and assembly, a pleasant and refreshing break amidst a truly chaotic morning. After assembly, I taught Geography 7, covering the Rock Cycle and beginning to talk about different types of soil, as well as Civics 8, where I gave them their exam on the UN. [A little side note: I just finished grading those tests and am super proud of their grades!] After Civics 8 was lunch, followed by my only free period of the day, followed by Grammar 8 and Drama 5. 

I've just returned from reading stories to the 3rd graders, which will forever be my favorite part of the day. Tonight I got to put the 1st graders to bed as well, as they live in the same dorm as the 3rd graders. I snapped this picture:

I promise you it wasn't staged. This is 100% honest. Though I must admit that I now have about 20 pictures like this of all the first graders because if you take a picture of one child saying their prayers before bedtime, every other child will want a similar picture. And I simply can't say no to these little faces.

Finally, I just have to share this special moment with you all: 
I felt like a proud mother today when my 8th graders showed me that they had discovered a way to recycle their chalk by collecting chalk shavings, adding water, and waiting for it to harden into a large, blob-shaped piece of chalk. It writes pretty roughly and it isn't the best option in the world, but considering the chalk shortage SB seems to be consistently experiencing, this was incredibly resourceful of them! I was so overwhelmed with happiness that I got a lump in my throat and nearly started crying. I'm sure they thought I was a fool, but I just couldn't control myself in that moment. 

These kids are beyond amazing and I'm having a hard time imagining my life without their innate brilliance inspiring me every moment of every day. Luckily, I'll have these blogs to look back on and when I need a bit of inspiration, I'll just think of the recycled chalk blobs and I'm sure the lump of pride in my throat will be restored.

Friday #1 and Saturday #2

Have I really been here for an entire week? Already in complete denial about leaving a week from tomorrow. No length of time at SB will ever be enough for me.

YESTERDAY: Friday 

Fabian, a German volunteer who is about to begin studying in London to become a lawyer, offered to take my early morning prep with the 9^th and 10^th graders because it was his last day of teaching. After several early mornings in a row, I wasn’t going to argue, so I got to sleep in just a little bit, which was a nice change of pace. I taught Civics 6, where we covered the Nyaya Panchayat Village Government System, followed by History 10 and History 8, where I shadowed Caroline L. (there are two Carolines) on her last day of teaching. If you’re reading this, you’re probably realizing that I’m mentioning a lot about “last days of teaching.” Four volunteers have left within the past 12 hours… crazy!!  

After classes, I got ready for afternoon PT dance with the upper grade girls. I knew that by the end of Wednesday’s class, they were feeling like the contemporary dance might be a little too far out of their comfort zone, but I had prepared the rest of the choreography just in case. However, they ended up wanting to do a hip hop dance, which I wasn’t surprised by, and asked me to choreograph something to I Knew You Were Trouble by Taylor Swift. I was working on the spot, but we got a chorus of movement done, and I’m working on some more to teach them on Monday. 

I bucket bathed quickly and got ready for evening prep, followed by a delightful dinner of rice and a sweetly pickled mixture of carrots and other veggies with the normal spicy broth. BUT, and this is the good part, volunteers were also given a fresh tomato and herb salad from the SB farms/gardens. The hardest thing for me about eating in India is that there is a serious lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, so this was ridiculously exciting. 

I headed to the dorms for bedtime stories, knowing it would be a difficult night because Caroline O. and Caroline L., the respective readers for the 1^st and 3^rd grades, were leaving. It was definitely difficult for them, as it is for any SB volunteer on their last night, but it helped that they had that final moment with some of the younger students to take pictures and say their goodbyes. Here are some of the shots we got (and some I got to be a part of!)

 

(Miss Caroline L. and the 3^rd grade)

(L. braids my hair nearly every night during bedtime stories)  

 
Because Marina (my roommate) and Fabian were also leaving, all of the volunteers stayed up to watch The Lion King together. A fine decision, indeed.

TODAY: Saturday

Marina and I woke up early to have a quick SB breakfast and see the business students off to their Goldman Sachs interview field trip. Four volunteers went with them, leaving just me, Marina, Fabian (Fabs), and Eduard (Edu) here at SB. Marina and Fabs still had to pack before Fabian’s dad, who lives and works in Bangalore, came to pick them up. I had promised the 5^th graders, which turned into the 5^th and 6^th graders, that I would take them on a morning nature walk, so I left Fabs and Marina to their own devices and headed back up to the school building. I had a wonderful morning playing around on the rocks with the kiddos.

Fabs and Marina sponsored a special morning snack of Fab Cookies, which the kids thought was perfect because of Fabian’s nickname, so after the nature walk, I helped them set them up on plates at each table in the dining hall. Fabs’ dad and a few of his friends showed up right before Saturday assembly, which was really special for Fabian. I then accompanied Marina, Fabian, and his family/friends on a final tour of SB until lunchtime. Dr. George had prepared a special lunch for Ms. Beena, Marina, Fabian, and Fabian’s guests and was generous enough to include me in it because I was the only volunteer at lunch. I was so incredibly grateful! We ate curried potato soup, seasoned greens, scrambled eggs with onions, and had the most delicious mango I’ve ever eaten for dessert. So special.

After lunch, I said goodbye to Fabian and Marina. It was really sad to see them go, but I’m glad I had that last special day to spend with them. We’ve already made plans for me to come visit them while they’re studying in England sometime in the next few years.

I’m looking forward to hearing all about the Goldman Sachs trip when the students and volunteers return tonight! I’m sure it was an amazing experience for all involved.

I'm off to Hosur tomorrow to shop and grab some good Indian food with a volunteer named Kathya, so I'm sure I'll have some fun tales when we return!

Wednesday and Thursday #1

What a wonderful past few days it's been! 

YESTERDAY: Wednesday
I woke up early for 6:30 AM prep period and spent much of my time running back and forth between the 9th and 10th grade classrooms, making sure all students were quietly doing their work. Wednesday is a little bit of a slower day for me. I teach 9th grade civics after morning tea and assembly, and Drama 3 after lunch (without a doubt, my favorite class!) Civics 9 was spent preparing the students for their monthly test to be administered next week. That's essentially going to be the bulk of my work next week: reviewing for, administering, and grading the monthly tests for all of my classes. 

There are no monthly tests to be had for 3rd grade drama students, however... only fun! We played a number of fun games during the students' afternoon "play-break". Ms. Beena, the vice principal of SB, met with me briefly earlier this week to discuss ways for students to gain confidence in speaking to large groups. I thought it might be a good idea, even for the little ones, to get used to standing up before their class and introducing/ telling the group a few interesting facts about themselves. Interestingly enough, some of the 3rd graders were far more comfortable with this than a lot of the upper grade students are. They just don't seem nervous because there are never any stakes. Ignorance is bliss I suppose! We also played a few rounds of charades, which I discovered was more of a challenge for them than the introductions were. These young students feel comfortable talking freely, but when it comes to using their bodies to communicate, their imaginations shut down. If the class didn't guess what they were acting on on try #1, they would say in a whiny tone, "Miss! I don't know how to do!" This is something we'll definitely be working on. We finished out the class with a classic game of Indian Chief, a "silent game", which is good for refocusing them before they return the the much more rigid academic classroom. 

After classes were finished, I taught afternoon PT (physical training or PE) dance for the upper grades. We did lots of conditioning kinds of things - ab work, lunges/squats, push-ups - and I'm fairly certain they hated me for it. But, when I got to the choreography we were doing, they understood why I had them doing all of that strength work. I decided to throw some "contemporary" their way, a strong, kind of science-fiction-y piece to Dog Days Are Over by Florence and the Machine. I was terrified they wouldn't like it, but to my surprise, they LOVED it and couldn't wait to learn more. It has a little bit more technique in it than I think they're used to and because they've never truly trained, it's exciting to see how their bodies approach the movement in a purely instinctual and logic-based way. 

After PT, I played my dance girls several different songs I'm considering teaching the choir, as they are all the oldest "leader students" of that after school activity. They decided they wanted to learn a choral arrangement of Man in the Mirror, which I was expecting them to really like. I warned them, though, that it was a pretty difficult song and that they would have to put in some extra time if they wanted it to be finished by the time I left. And, course, they agreed. This is my favorite thing about SB, and I know I use that phrase a lot, but I really mean it in this case, because they were all on board 100%. Ready to work, ready to put in the extra hours, ready to come together to create something really special. 

During evening prep, I worked with Shrimathi, who I mentioned in my previous post, on her interview skills for this weekend's Goldman Sachs trip the students on the business track at SB are taking alongside all SB grads currently majoring in business. This is a huge opportunity that could result in internships and potential externships for all involved. Shrimathi has always been shy, but it was beyond exciting to see her blossom as we worked on her basic information answers (strengths and weaknesses, "tell me about yourself", "where do you see yourself in 10 years", etc.) 

Halfway through prep, which is an hour and a half, the whole school gathered in the main hall. Yazmani, an ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty) volunteer, is at SB right now working on a global film project in which children from all over the world sing the song "Where You Lead" by Carole King in places that showcase their culture, eventually to be compiled together into one incredible music video. They've been filming in various locations since I got here, but yesterday was the rehearsal for the whole school's cameo appearance. And for about 20 minutes straight, the entire school was singing and dancing, no inhibitions, in  perfect harmony (ok well... almost perfect harmony.) Here is some footage from this awesome moment:

I sat with some older girls last night at dinner which is always a nice change. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love having riddles thrown at me each night by the little ones, but it's also nice to have some real conversations about school, home, and life in general. Shrimathi had to eat ragi ball, a food that's actually crazy nutritious and that's used in Indian cooking frequently with tons of spices. However, when left plain, it looks like a ball of ground raw meat and tastes absolutely horrible, hence its famous use as punishment at SB. I'm not sure what she did to get ragi ball that night, but having tried it myself and having nearly gagged, I decided I would make it a little easier on her by joking around. I went to take a picture to document the moment, but instead, caught a video! 

I read the 5th grade story last night, as the volunteer who usually does that job was in a meeting. I was happy to do it, as they're currently reading Peter Pan, and couldn't wait to move on to the next chapter: "Hook or Me This Time." 

It was a long day, but a fulfilling one for sure.

TODAY: Thursday
I walk past the older boy's dorm every morning on my way to supervise prep in the school building, but this morning was particularly hilarious. The boys are always listening to American Top 40 radio, often blasting profanity-filled rap music that I'm pretty certain they don't understand a word of. But this morning, I walked past their dorm to hear Love Story by Taylor Swift at top volume, accompanied but every single boy's voice singing every word and every note perfectly. Yes... this made my day.

This morning's breakfast was momentarily alarming, as I walked up to the counter to see a pale yellow rice with cooked vegetables mixed in and a beige sauce with giant chili peppers floating in it. I always try everything they serve at SB, simply because I'm here, so why not? 9 times out of 10, I'm glad I did. And this morning was no exception. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this potentially mouth-shreddingly spicy breakfast food was quite delicious and not nearly as overwhelming as I was expecting. 

I had classes as normal during the day, and then the volunteers went on a village tour this afternoon, which was both devastating and inspiring all at the same time. We visited two different types of villages: villages that The George Foundation (Dr. Abraham George founded SB) has yet to begin work on and then ones that TGF has completely transformed. TGF is building sustainable houses in impoverished villages all over India by giving the villagers sources of income in the building and maintenance of the very houses they're going to be living in. The goal is to have 1 million of these houses in the near future. By putting a glimpse of hope and a more comfortable lifestyle amongst complete and abject poverty, TGF is forcing people of different socioeconomic statuses to live next to one another, shattering the caste system into pieces. 
 

When we got home, the students were preparing for their first school-wide debate: "Which is mightier: the pen or the sword?" From 6:30-7:30, we watched two groups of four students each duke it out. There was a panel of four judges and the students got to vote on who they felt gave the best argument as well. It was tremendous... you could just see the wheels turning in all of these brilliant students' minds.

It's now after dinner and I'm preparing to go to a volunteer meeting. I'm exhausted, but excited to discuss all of the grades' progress and any other business we might have. Again, apologies for typos. I REALLY didn't proofread this time!

Tuesday #1

**Apologies for typos/stream of consciousness-sounding entries. As I get busier, I have less time to write completely thought-out, edited posts!**

I can't tell you how special each and every one of the SB students is. They're all so unique and they all have such passion for so many things. I had a particularly rewarding moment, however, when I was chatting with Shrimathi, a now 12th grader who I tutored nearly every night in essay writing and grammar last year. I was supervising her evening prep period last night and in the moments before the rest of the class came in, she pulled me aside to say this: "Austin! I've been waiting to tell you this for so long. All of my teachers told me I have improved so much in English. I get the highest marks on my English tests now. When they told me this, I was so happy I said, 'I have to tell Austin! She'll be so proud of me!" Shrimathi then proceeded to run to me and hug me saying, "Oh thank you so much, Miss." It sounds like something out of a movie as I type it all out, but I swear to you this is exactly how it happened. Shrimathi has dyslexia, though she doesn't know it, and because I struggled with dyslexia my whole life, I decided to take her on as a private tutoring student last year. She hadn't gotten any help for her learning challenges in all her years in school and all of her tiny mistakes had added up to some tough-to-crack habits. I sat with her each night, making her write and re-write her essays, hoping to have some impact on her writing skills and more importantly, on her ability to make a clear argument so that she could stand up for herself. I left SB feeling unsure. I hoped my words would come back to her during a big exam or essay and would give her the push she needed to do her best work. So you can only imagine my thrill when she told me how well she's now doing. For a student who was in danger of having to repeat 11th grade, this success fills me with unmeasurable pride and excitement.

But on to today...

This morning I woke up at 6:00 AM for morning prep (study hall) with the 9th and 10th graders. It was oddly chilly, so I brought along the one sweater I have with me (you don't generally pack sweaters when heading into a tropical, semi-arid climate zone but it's been unusually mild and even cold at times). I got there a few minutes early to check some messages before the school day began and then walked up to the second floor where the upper grade classrooms are. 

After prep, I went to breakfast, which was a scary-looking yellowish squishy rice situation. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad at all, especially when adding a cut up hard boiled egg to the mixture, one of the better parts of breakfast at SB. I shadowed the teacher I'll be taking over for during the first three periods, but after tea time and assembly, I went off to teach my 8th grade civics class. 

Because I don't have a ton of lesson planning to do this week, during my free periods, I've been working on all of the lessons, review games, and monthly tests to be administered next week. I'm sure my schedule will change when all of the volunteers leave this weekend, so I'm trying to get ahead, knowing I'll have to spend much of my weekend lesson planning for additional classes. 

I taught Drama 5 - a time for the kids to get out of the classroom and run around in the afternoon - which I was particularly excited about. They're a tough class to handle (I had them for dance and social studies when they were 4th graders), often disobedient and rowdy, but they mean well... most of the time. :) We started with "Do You Know Your Neighbor?" so I could remind myself of all of their names, then played "Indian Chief", and finished with a rousing game of "Zip, Zap, Zop! - Speed Edition", a game I usually use to emphasize the importance of enunciation and eye contact. I'm thinking of having them do skits next week! They need to work on their speaking skills.

I plan to spend most of my afternoon preparing choreography for the upcoming week's dance classes. I have 2 options: a jazz/hip hop combination (which I'm 99% sure they'll choose) and a musical theatre combination (which I have in case they're feeling like trying something new). I'm also contemplating having a contemporary combination because I hear they've been interested in that recently. 

I also thought I'd share an observation with you all. In teaching grades 5 and 7-10, it's been especially interesting to me to observe and sort out the developmental similarities and differences between the grades. Something as simple as asking them to erase the notes from the last class on the chalk board while I get out my notes for my own class is a completely exciting privilege to the 5th, 7th, and 8th grade students. But if I were to ask my 9th and 10th graders to do the same task, they wouldn't be excited about it in the slightest. In fact, they would put on a mask of apathy in order to show their classmates how much they didn't care and even, how much they resented me for making them stand up from their comfortable, back-of-the-room hiding spot. It's like some kind of internal switch flips when they move on to the upper grades that tells them it's no longer cool to be excited about doing the teacher a favor. But now that I think about it, the impetus for the flipping of that switch is almost assuredly external. So maybe it's not really developmental but rather social - a change in dynamics caused by exposure to constructs that tell them that apathy is the more acceptable route to choose. As obvious as this now seems to me thinking back on so many of my experiences as both a teacher and as a student, it's so different to observe it in this kind of environment. A place where respect, appreciation, and enthusiasm for learning are of utmost importance. And I'm by no means saying that my students work against these virtues once that inevitable "switch flip" occurs. But it's just interesting to me that even at Shanti Bhavan, students fall victim to the apparently global epidemic of false apathy. I'm usually able to crack it, though, especially when we're in dance or PT. I know that's not who these kids really are!

Sunday and Monday #1

My first Sunday was spent resting and running around with the students. Most of the volunteers were traveling so the campus was incredibly quiet, especially during the first part of the day. I had had trouble sleeping the night before so rather than waking up for morning PT and the 6:00 AM upper school volleyball tournament, I tried to sleep for a little longer... unsuccessfully. Breakfast is served at 9:00 AM on Sundays and two of the volunteers had sponsored a special treat, chocolate chip banana pancakes, which the kids were SO excited about! 

Because the students had a day full of community service planned (cleaning, gardening, etc.), I decided to head back to my room to read some of Pride and Prejudice and watch an episode or two of my History of India DVD, which is really quite breathtaking. After taking a nap, I left to rejoin the kids for afternoon PT. We played a game of "throw ball", which is really just throwing a kickball back and forth over the volleyball net, followed by kickball itself, and a game of "dog and the bone." Here are some pictures from yesterday's PT adventures:

Dinner last night was rice and chicken in a spicy sauce (nearly everything is in a spicy sauce at SB and I wish I was able to tell the difference between them all!) Chicken is a Sunday treat for all "non-veg" students, staff, and volunteers. Each night, the volunteers get to sit and eat dinner with the students, which is without a doubt the best part of my day. We eat at separate tables for breakfast and lunch, as it would be difficult to establish the teacher-student relationship if we were goofing off with them one minute and taking control of the classroom the next. After dinner, several of the volunteers headed back to the volunteer quarters to watch a movie. We ended up chatting instead and after several hours, we all went to sleep. 

I sprung awake at 4:30 AM this morning (Monday) and couldn't go back to sleep. I'm obviously still adjusting to the 9.5 hours ahead! I stayed in bed hoping to fall back asleep at some point but, much to my dismay, I never could. I decided to get up at around 6:50 to bucket bathe and get ready for the day, putting on one of my favorite kurtas. Breakfast at 7:30 was a simultaneously spicy and sweet yellow rice which I remember well from last year. 

I'm now anxiously awaiting my schedule, which the On Site Advisor (OSA), Mohit, is in the midst of making. I'll continue writing once I receive it because, as of now, I still don't have a clue what I'll be teaching! More later...

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 


I have just received my teaching schedule and could not be more excited to begin tomorrow. Here it is:

Monday
6:30 to 7:30 AM > Supervise morning prep for grades 9 & 10
Period 1- free
Period 2- free
Period 3- free
Tea Time/Assembly
Period 4- History 9
Period 5- Social Studies 5 (a class I taught last year)
Lunch
Period 6- History 8
Period 7- free
Period 8- Civics 8
4:00-5:00 PM > Afternoon PT, Dance 
5:00-6:00 PM > Bath time
6:00-7:30 > Supervise evening prep for grades 11 & 12 
Dinner 
8:00-8:30 > Bedtime stories, grade 3

Tuesday
6:30 to 7:30 AM > Supervise morning prep for grades 9 & 10
Period 1- Civics 7
Period 2- History 9
Period 3- History 10
Tea Time/Assembly
Period 4- free
Period 5- Civics 8
Lunch
Period 6- free
Period 7- free
Period 8- Drama 5
5:00-6:00 PM > Bath time
6:00-7:30 > Supervise evening prep for grades 11 & 12 
Dinner
8:00-8:30 > Bedtime stories, grade 3

Wednesday
6:30 to 7:30 AM > Supervise morning prep for grades 9 & 10
Period 1- free
Period 2- free
Period 3- Civics 9
Tea Time/Assembly
Period 4- Social Studies 5
Period 5- free
Lunch
Period 6- free
Period 7- Drama 3
Period 8- free
4:00-5:00 PM > Afternoon PT, Dance
5:00-6:00 PM > Bath time
6:00-7:30 > Supervise evening prep for grades 11 & 12
Dinner
8:00-8:30 > Bedtime stories, grade 3

Thursday
6:30 to 7:30 AM > Supervise morning prep for grades 9 & 10
Period 1- free
Period 2- free
Period 3- free
Tea Time/Assembly
Period 4- Civics 7
Period 5- free
Lunch
Period 6- Civics 10
Period 7- Civics 9
Period 8- free
5:00-6:00 PM > Bath time
6:00-7:30 > Supervise evening prep for grades 11 & 12 
Dinner
8:00-8:30 > Bedtime stories, grade 3

Friday
6:30 to 7:30 AM > Supervise morning prep for grades 9 & 10
Period 1- free
Period 2- free
Period 3- free
Tea Time/Assembly
Period 4- Civics 6
Period 5- History 10
Lunch
Period 6- History 8
Period 7- free
Period 8- free
4:00-5:00 PM > Afternoon PT, Dance 
5:00-6:00 PM > Bath time
6:00-7:30 > Supervise evening prep for grades 11 & 12 
Dinner
8:00-8:30 > Bedtime stories, grade 3


** NOTE: Almost everything marked free for this week will no longer be free next week due to the "mass exodus of volunteers" this coming weekend. I'll most likely be taking over some upper grade English classes as well.

I actually ended up teaching 8th grade civics today... complete surprise! We talked about the UN, its "major organs", how it helps India, and how India has helped it. I might be assisting on some of these classes for now, as many of the original volunteer teachers are still here and want to finish out their last week before leaving over the weekend. Others happily handed me the textbook and told me to get crackin'! I'm loving every second of my time here as it gets busier and busier. 

I'm off to lesson plan and get ready for prep!

Arriving at SB

After a truly grueling flight process, I finally arrived at the Bangalore airport. I got through customs, gathered my incredibly heavy bags (filled with paper, books, flash drives, etc. to donate to SB), went to the Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange Booth, and began to look for the driver SB had sent to pick me up. I had a minor panic attack when I couldn't find anyone with an SB sign. But, after waiting a little while, a nice young man named Hanan appeared with a sign that read, "Shanti Bhavan: Austin". 

I put my bags into Hanan's car and we began the 2.5 hour drive. I had been wondering what it would feel like to return to India... familiar or surprising and new? Here is a piece of a journal entry from my first time arriving: "The car ride to the school was an experience in itself. Katie and I were literally so excited that we kept looking at each other and silently squealing over the amazing landscape we were soon to be a part of. The first thing we noticed was that there were mopeds and bikes on the same highways as huge trucks and cars. Very young children rode on the back of motorcycles, whizzing past and driving in and out of traffic. There were several buses filled with people that were staring at us as we went through towns and cities as if we were some strange, otherworldly race, which to them, we probably were." 

Arriving the second time did feel oddly familiar. I found myself recognizing tiny villages and certain dirt roads that had changed or that looked exactly the same as they had last year. However, regardless of how familiar everything seemed, the rich colors, genuinely happy outlook despite complete and utter poverty, and overall culture, remain just as magical to me. And these were all abundantly clear within the first minutes of our drive.

Pulling up to the gates of Shanti Bhavan is always a wonderfully powerful moment. I feel silly saying this, but I've always felt like there was a parallel to the Gates of Heaven somewhere in there. But maybe that's just because I sincerely hope my personal heaven is SB. 

I was so excited that I made it in time for my favorite SB treat, sweet chai tea in a little tin cup, as well as morning assembly! I got to see the SB classics, the nondenominational prayer, school song, daily news, and moral lessons from the little ones. Then I got to speak in front of the school, something I had been so nervous about last year. This time, it was easy! I knew just what to say. 

I'm writing this having just bucket bathed and changed into clean Indian clothing. What a difference that made! I'm taking advantage of this time because I've just learned that there are only 8 volunteers here right now, 4 of which will be leaving in the next few days. That makes for some CRAZY busy teaching schedules for the 4 volunteers that remain, as well as the permanent Indian teachers. I'm hoping I'll still have time to update the blog! Really looking forward to finding out what I'm teaching tonight. I'll report back some time tomorrow whilst preparing lesson plans for Monday, my first day of teaching!

Sending lots of love to my friends and family.

Xoxo,
Austin 

The Dreaded Delay

Sitting in the London Heathrow Airport... flight super delayed. It's currently 11:30 AM and I won't be boarding until 5:00 PM. Somehow, this doesn't seem quite as bad as last year's unexpected, 9 hour, middle-of-the-night layover in Mumbai. Ahh perspective :) I'm so looking forward to arriving at SB, I can barely contain my excitement! More to come!

The Beginning!

I leave for Shanti Bhavan in just 10 hours, friends! I cannot wait to see these beautiful smiling faces again. I'm truly beside myself with excitement, overcome by the most wonderful kind of anticipation, and simply thrilled to get to share my teaching adventures with you during the next few weeks. Follow along!

Lots of love,

Austin