Monsoons Make You Fall in Love

 The rains have started. I mentioned to my host parents how heavy the rains were and that we got caught in a downpour on the way home from school. Basically, they said, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!" If the roads flood too much, we could get a "rain day" from school. Can you imagine! They told me if you get caught in the first monsoon of the season, you will fall in love. Too bad I got caught in the 3rd, 4th and 5th rainstorms! Though it is muddy, I am so thankful for the rain, as it has made the temperatures MUCH cooler. For the first time in twenty-some days, I went for an extended period of time without sweating. The heat (often 96, felt like 111 with the humidity) was unbearable and difficult to get used to. 

Kiddos walking to the buses during the monsoons.

Naturally, I wore my cute rain boots to school (because that’s what you do when it rains, right??) and changed my shoes when I got there. The teachers laughed HYSTERICALLY at my rain boots. “Why would you need those?” They asked. It downpours every day, and streets are filled with puddles and mud, so I'm not sure why...?  Every single person stared at me like I was a freak! (The staring was even worse than when I first arrived, and they had never seen a white, blonde girl before.) My cooperating teacher kindly explained that “gum boots” were an old-fashioned idea and something only men wore. Well, I’m owning it and will continue to wear them to school, American style.

India is so disorganized. One hard lesson I've been learning is the planner in me is to let go—and check any preconceived notions for how the day will go at the door. As in many of my international trips, I have learned my plan takes a backseat to the tradition and culture of the place I am visiting. It has made me appreciate the day when I get to manage and make decisions for my own classroom.

Everything is a process. From cooking and getting places, to paying bills and getting a cell phone. Usually a trip to get groceries takes stopping at several stores. We have not had WiFi all week, and that takes a long time to get fixed, too. I guess these are opportunities to practice patience.

Teachers created this peacock (the national bird)
decoration for a special workshop the school was holding.
It's made from flower petals and colored sand! 

Monday there was no electricity at school, so students completed their first 3 periods in the dark. Everyone acted like this was a normal occurrence. Additionally, the higher-ups changed the daily schedule and cut students’ breaks without any notice. Thirty seconds before I was supposed to teach, I found out the Social Studies teacher needed to push my lessons back three days. The one SMART classroom was randomly locked for my science lesson, so I led 41 students back to their classroom to do the parts of the lesson I could. Can anything go as planned?!

Nonetheless, students loved the science experiment. This week, the kiddos learned about birds. I created a station where they had to experiment with different types of tools representing beak types. They practiced "grabbing" different kinds of food and determining which "beak" best fit each food type. Science is the most work to plan, but the most fun to teach! Tomorrow, we are taking them to the zoo and I am beyond excited!

English is mostly grammar lessons. Though it's not the most fun and it's difficult to think of creative lessons, I feel very equipped to teach it. When I taught subject pronouns, I made funny sentences using the kids' names--they loved it! They are adding each type of pronoun to a colorful flipchart (which I painstakingly made for each of them on Saturday).

In math (pronounced "mats" here), they are learning to mentally multiply by multiples of tens, hundreds and thousands. In my "interactive" lesson, I will have student volunteers sit in chairs representing a place value and "kick" students to the next chair when they got 10 times bigger. We also practiced grouping with seeds in egg cartons, straw for making lattices, and skip counting activities.

In Social Studies, I am planing lessons about Mumbai. Students will pretend they live in Mumbai and write letters to their friends who want to visit them, explaining how they could get there, places to visit and what to eat, etc. They are also learning letter writing in English, so hopefully this gives them some extra practice.

Force feeding--It’s a cultural thing I do not understand. My host mom thinks I do not like a dish if I don’t take seconds. And even if I say no to another helping, she will put it on my plate anyway! After having dinner with our supervisor, she explained that Indians feel rude if they do not offer you food at least 2-3 times, even if you refuse the first time. At least I am well-fed! Not losing any weight here, that’s for sure. They also claim every meal is healthy, when they cook with so much butter, ghee and oil!

Andrea and I joined a Hatha yoga class here, in the yoga capital of the world!! Okay, the yoga capital is actually in southern India, but close enough to being authentic. There are people our age (including a girl who studied at Ferris in Michigan!), and it's a nice way to get out of the house. Indians are very particular about their yoga. They say American yoga is too commercialized. To them, it is one of the branches of religion, and more about the centering and focus of the mind--not so much physical exercise. 

Those are all my updates for now! 

Sending love from India,

~Rachel