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...

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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!