Today was another rainy day at Bethania! We woke up early to have tea with the kids at a bit after 7. Its so cool and peaceful in the morning, with all the kids doing their chores- sweeping, washing, pumping water. Prayer was at 8, the kids mentioned "Paige sister, Kelsey sister" in the prayer again, just wish we could understand Tamil and know what they're saying about us! Joseph told us later that Sathya was praying that when we leave, we come back. It's going to be so hard to say goodbye to all these children.
We said bye to the two volunteers from Kodai today, they were nice and we'll miss them! They were very sweet with the kids. We spent the morning peeling lots and lots of onions and helping with kitchen work. After lunch we spent sometime with the two little girls home sick. Mugambigai still had a fever, and Muthulakshmi had a bad ant bite in her ear that she had to go to the hospital for. We gave them some candy, joked around and took pictures with them. Hopefully didn't catch anymore germs! They told us about going to the hospital and showed us photos of their family. They had blood tests and injections.
The afternoon was quite eventful. Just as we were starting to take our rest, we were told to go help in the kitchen. Both kitchen ladies, ST the bus driver, Joseph and Anushiya were all out in front of the kitchen making chapati. We sat on the ground with them, rolling small balls of the chapati batter, using chapati presses and rolling pins to flatten them out to a thin pancake shape. We floured all of the raw chapatis and laid them, pile after pile on newspaper. All of the rolling, flattening and flouring took quite a while. We made more than 150 chapatis in total! We then brought over the stacked layers of chapati on newspaper to the big fire pit, using coconut shells as fuel. A huge black slab was on top, about a sqaure meter, where all of the chapati were being cooked. The kids were very excited about the chapati. Mani and Satish each ate '9 chapatis sister!'
In the afternoon, after the kids came home and had tea, we played games. Even in the mud, we played football (with the ever deflating football we bought in Madurai that was punctured) and cricket with the tennis balls we'd brought. Muruganadam said, "You are bringing football, all the boys very, very happy sister!" It didn't seem to matter that the ball was almost flat, the boys kicked it through the puddles and mud anyway and loved it! I played some cricket with little MK and Suganya, it was nice to see a girl playing sports with the boys! So far, only the boys ever played cricket. We played some chess games with the girls, M+M, Rani and Sathya. Chess knowledge is definitely improving here at Bethania.
After evening prayer, we did some English studying with the 8th and 9th grade girls. Today's lessons was actually really good and a lot of the girls seemed to be really understanding. They don't get a lot, if any, one on one interaction with teachers at school to clarify things at school. We taught comparative and superlative, using fun examples like the height, ages, favorite foods and favorite colours of all of the girls. Veni, who often times really struggles in our English lessons, was doing quite well with one on one attention. She needs a lot of attention, but when I was working with her, she started to really understand. They had fun comparing us. 'Kelsey is slower than Paige.' 'Paige is slower than Kelsey.' 'Paige is the oldest girl.' They also practiced talking about these charts all the kids are making for school tomorrow. There is some sort of inspection, where officials come to see how well the children are doing, which all the kids seem nervous for. Without their teacher in the room, they have to present charts about all of their subjects- Tamil, English, Maths, etc, and answer questions in English.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
November 4th, Rainy day at Bethania
Today was a rainy day at Bethania. Though it still was probably in the high 70's, we felt cold here and all the kids had on big sweaters and hats! We're really used to the heat by now. After morning prayer and breakfast, we went to ride on the school bus to drop the kids off at their three schools. The older girls excitedly pointed to their teachers to show as they got off, it's so nice to see how much they admire their teachers and love school. We had to make a stop at the hospital after we dropped the rest of the kids off, as little Mugambigai now has a fever and had to get an injection and some tablets. Thankfully most of the other kids have already recovered from being sick.
We started to do field work when we returned, but didn't get much done before the rain started to fall hard again. So we abandoned our stone collecting to help in the kitchen instead. We, along with the two other volunteers here, carried bucket after bucket of water from the huge water storage containers to the kitchen. With rain falling on us, we hoisted the big matkas, our water jugs, on our hips and tried not to slip and fall on the wet rocks or spill as we walked over. The bus driver was concerned, 'slippery sister!' But luckily everyone was fine.
When the kids came home at 5 we had tea as it poured outside, and we then brought out some nail polish and music. We danced, took pictures, and mixed crazy colors of nail polish. Thankfully, we'd bought more nail polish in Madurai! The girls loved the dark deep red for all their toes and fingers. Antony and Mani chose a more masculine blue and green polish for their nails :) They proudly took pictures of their colorful nails. Little Karthi painted each finger a different color- pink, green, blue, silver... We also looked over to see him making designs all over his left palm. Good thing that's not his eating hand at least! Nandhini also decided to make some nice Indian flower designs on the top of my feet with the blue paint too.
After some drawing, chess playing, and admiring the girls' Christmas dance practice, we did and English lesson with the elementary and 6th grade girls. It was a remarkably successful lesson, and we learned about singular and plural, using names of body parts. The kids get 'is' and 'are' mixed up a lot, so we went over, 'one finger IS brown. Five fingers ARE brown.' We learned from Patti school, that everyone loves to make sentences about colors. 'The eye is blue.' 'The eyes are brown.' 'One toe is red.' 'Five toes are pink.' We had all the girls write sentences. Nagehwari is so smart she caught on quickly and was very enthusiastic. She's a lot of fun to teach because she really wants to learn. We did some fun little body part puzzles too. They were ones we had brought from America, so had a picture of a blonde and blue eyed baby on there that the kids found funny. It took a little while to convince them that "the hair is yellow!" and the eyes blue, as they just wanted to say the eyes and hair are black.
After a nice dinner with the German girls from Kodai, we hung out with the older girls up stairs and admired their charts they are drawing for school. Since it's been raining so much recently all the halls are filled with moths and these huge flying beetles. We're not big fans of these. But all the girls just sit around, cheerfully completing homework, drawing or talking. All their clothes are hanging to dry in the inside hall to avoid getting soaked. Today when all the kids were drawing, little Antony drew us a picture of the iPod speakers. It was super cute. They love that music so much.
It's crazy how much it has cooled off! Taking our cold bucket shower today reminded us vaguely of being frozen cold in Kodai! Okay, it's no where near that cold, its just weird to not be hot anymore!
We started to do field work when we returned, but didn't get much done before the rain started to fall hard again. So we abandoned our stone collecting to help in the kitchen instead. We, along with the two other volunteers here, carried bucket after bucket of water from the huge water storage containers to the kitchen. With rain falling on us, we hoisted the big matkas, our water jugs, on our hips and tried not to slip and fall on the wet rocks or spill as we walked over. The bus driver was concerned, 'slippery sister!' But luckily everyone was fine.
When the kids came home at 5 we had tea as it poured outside, and we then brought out some nail polish and music. We danced, took pictures, and mixed crazy colors of nail polish. Thankfully, we'd bought more nail polish in Madurai! The girls loved the dark deep red for all their toes and fingers. Antony and Mani chose a more masculine blue and green polish for their nails :) They proudly took pictures of their colorful nails. Little Karthi painted each finger a different color- pink, green, blue, silver... We also looked over to see him making designs all over his left palm. Good thing that's not his eating hand at least! Nandhini also decided to make some nice Indian flower designs on the top of my feet with the blue paint too.
After some drawing, chess playing, and admiring the girls' Christmas dance practice, we did and English lesson with the elementary and 6th grade girls. It was a remarkably successful lesson, and we learned about singular and plural, using names of body parts. The kids get 'is' and 'are' mixed up a lot, so we went over, 'one finger IS brown. Five fingers ARE brown.' We learned from Patti school, that everyone loves to make sentences about colors. 'The eye is blue.' 'The eyes are brown.' 'One toe is red.' 'Five toes are pink.' We had all the girls write sentences. Nagehwari is so smart she caught on quickly and was very enthusiastic. She's a lot of fun to teach because she really wants to learn. We did some fun little body part puzzles too. They were ones we had brought from America, so had a picture of a blonde and blue eyed baby on there that the kids found funny. It took a little while to convince them that "the hair is yellow!" and the eyes blue, as they just wanted to say the eyes and hair are black.
After a nice dinner with the German girls from Kodai, we hung out with the older girls up stairs and admired their charts they are drawing for school. Since it's been raining so much recently all the halls are filled with moths and these huge flying beetles. We're not big fans of these. But all the girls just sit around, cheerfully completing homework, drawing or talking. All their clothes are hanging to dry in the inside hall to avoid getting soaked. Today when all the kids were drawing, little Antony drew us a picture of the iPod speakers. It was super cute. They love that music so much.
It's crazy how much it has cooled off! Taking our cold bucket shower today reminded us vaguely of being frozen cold in Kodai! Okay, it's no where near that cold, its just weird to not be hot anymore!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
November 3rd- teaching in Pattiveeranpatti and back to Bethania!
Today was very busy and fun! Now we're finally back at Bethania from Patti, we were so happy to get back and see all our brothers and sisters again! It was great arriving to their smiles and yelling, surprised that we were home earlier than expected. "I very very happy sister! I see Paige sister and Kelsey sister coming and I very happy." So sweet!
This morning we taught more at our Lakshmi school in Pattiveeranpatti. We taught a group of six Upper Kindergarten students, 5 years old, who were very cute. It was good to have a smaller group of children, as there was a lot more comprehension, participation and learning we feel. They were very quiet and shy at first since there were so few of them, but soon warmed up to us. It was very fun, reading, acting out and talking with them. They love doing the actions to words- driving, shoveling, up, down, push, pull. Its good to help them understand the story too. After the story we played some games and gave out stickers, which always makes us tons of friends. We've had the entire kindergarten class singing head, shoulders, knees and toes, and if that's not success, I don't know what is.
After the UKG grade was finished, we did another art class with the second half of the third grade. They had fun drawing face proportions and a self-portrait. We had them fill out sentences about their favorite animal and color, then gave out stickers that matched. They were a very fun and excited group, even though some faces did look kind of strange, especially one that turned out with horns for some reason.
After lunch, we took a second grade class. We played our antonym and synonym matching words game. It was a bit difficult, as they didn't know all of the vocabulary words, but with some help got the hang of it and made good sentences with their words. We had some extra time at the end, so their teacher told us to tell any story we wanted. We improvised a version of the three little pigs that hopefully was close to the real story. We didn't quite know how to describe that the big bad wolf is killed by falling into a pot of boiling water. Paige's version was more, "The pig put a big thing of hot water under the chimney, and then the wolf came down the chimney to eat the pigs! And, yea... The wolf was gone!"
After packing up and having coffee, we got in the car for our 40 minute drive to Bethania at around 5. We spent the evening talking to the girls, playing chess and uno with the boys, and bringing out some new gifts from Madurai. Satish and Mani especially were really happy about the new chess board. We also had brought a soccer ball, which was a huge hit for about 30 minutes until it found its way to the pricker bush and was punctured... Hopefully can fix that somehow! There are also 2 volunteers here from Kodai for the next few days too. We're so happy to be back, have the kids happy, be able to spend as much time with them as we can before we go. Time is flying by here, we're not ready to leave at all!
This morning we taught more at our Lakshmi school in Pattiveeranpatti. We taught a group of six Upper Kindergarten students, 5 years old, who were very cute. It was good to have a smaller group of children, as there was a lot more comprehension, participation and learning we feel. They were very quiet and shy at first since there were so few of them, but soon warmed up to us. It was very fun, reading, acting out and talking with them. They love doing the actions to words- driving, shoveling, up, down, push, pull. Its good to help them understand the story too. After the story we played some games and gave out stickers, which always makes us tons of friends. We've had the entire kindergarten class singing head, shoulders, knees and toes, and if that's not success, I don't know what is.
After the UKG grade was finished, we did another art class with the second half of the third grade. They had fun drawing face proportions and a self-portrait. We had them fill out sentences about their favorite animal and color, then gave out stickers that matched. They were a very fun and excited group, even though some faces did look kind of strange, especially one that turned out with horns for some reason.
After lunch, we took a second grade class. We played our antonym and synonym matching words game. It was a bit difficult, as they didn't know all of the vocabulary words, but with some help got the hang of it and made good sentences with their words. We had some extra time at the end, so their teacher told us to tell any story we wanted. We improvised a version of the three little pigs that hopefully was close to the real story. We didn't quite know how to describe that the big bad wolf is killed by falling into a pot of boiling water. Paige's version was more, "The pig put a big thing of hot water under the chimney, and then the wolf came down the chimney to eat the pigs! And, yea... The wolf was gone!"
After packing up and having coffee, we got in the car for our 40 minute drive to Bethania at around 5. We spent the evening talking to the girls, playing chess and uno with the boys, and bringing out some new gifts from Madurai. Satish and Mani especially were really happy about the new chess board. We also had brought a soccer ball, which was a huge hit for about 30 minutes until it found its way to the pricker bush and was punctured... Hopefully can fix that somehow! There are also 2 volunteers here from Kodai for the next few days too. We're so happy to be back, have the kids happy, be able to spend as much time with them as we can before we go. Time is flying by here, we're not ready to leave at all!
Monday, November 2, 2009
November 2nd
Today was quite busy and fun, teaching at the school. We woke up early and taught an Upper Kindergarten class, with ten five year olds. They were all very sweet and precious. We wanted to have them speaking English as much as we could. We started off with having everyone introduce themselves. Most started off very quiet and shy. We then read a Curious George book and asked them questions as we went along. They got less shy and were soon pointing out colors in the story, answering questions, and telling us their favorite colors. We asked questions and tried having them arrange the words to make an sentence to answer, but they are quite young so it was hard. Our main goal was to just concentrate on having them talking as much as possible. We acted out different parts of the story as we read and had them act out the whole story at the end as well. They were so cute! We did hand motions like "up" and "down", "push" and "pull", "good monkey" (thumbs up) and "bad monkey" (thumbs down). They really liked that part.
Most of the talking was just repeating what we said though, which we want to try to break, and have them think for themselves. After having them repeat a sentence like "George is a good monkey", if I said "good job!" to praise their efforts, they repeated "good job!" after me. It was pretty funny. When I told them "say dump truck", they replied "say dump truck!" So their repetition skills are good, comprehension not quite as good! They were good at pointing out different colors though, finding the monkey in the picture, and telling me which color sticker they wanted at the end :)
We took three groups of this kindergarten class today. We're glad we broke it up into groups of only 10-15 kids, to get more talking and acting in, with individual attention. We ended off with a heads, shoulders, knees and toes dance for some of the classes, which they liked. They're smart and know the body parts in English, and once they figured it out, loved the dancing and moving around! Its amazing how quickly they go from being shy and only whispering to having tons of energy and jumping around. So cute!
The rest of the day was calm, full of great meals, resting, and writing. People were coming in and out of the house all day as usual. We love sitting on her front steps and watching all the activity in the evening- the last few kids leaving, the teachers grading papers, the constant stream of family members coming and going, always getting coffee and snacks. It's a very fun place to be! We wrote tons of postcards today. Chandra gave us extra postcards, from places we've never even been too, so you might get one of those.
Shout out to Paige's Grandma and her Uncle Dud...what are your addresses? Can't post these postcards without them...
Most of the talking was just repeating what we said though, which we want to try to break, and have them think for themselves. After having them repeat a sentence like "George is a good monkey", if I said "good job!" to praise their efforts, they repeated "good job!" after me. It was pretty funny. When I told them "say dump truck", they replied "say dump truck!" So their repetition skills are good, comprehension not quite as good! They were good at pointing out different colors though, finding the monkey in the picture, and telling me which color sticker they wanted at the end :)
We took three groups of this kindergarten class today. We're glad we broke it up into groups of only 10-15 kids, to get more talking and acting in, with individual attention. We ended off with a heads, shoulders, knees and toes dance for some of the classes, which they liked. They're smart and know the body parts in English, and once they figured it out, loved the dancing and moving around! Its amazing how quickly they go from being shy and only whispering to having tons of energy and jumping around. So cute!
The rest of the day was calm, full of great meals, resting, and writing. People were coming in and out of the house all day as usual. We love sitting on her front steps and watching all the activity in the evening- the last few kids leaving, the teachers grading papers, the constant stream of family members coming and going, always getting coffee and snacks. It's a very fun place to be! We wrote tons of postcards today. Chandra gave us extra postcards, from places we've never even been too, so you might get one of those.
Shout out to Paige's Grandma and her Uncle Dud...what are your addresses? Can't post these postcards without them...
Sunday, November 1, 2009
November 1st, in Madurai!
We woke up early and hurriedly put on our shuridas, jewelry and bhindis. We rushed to meet Divya and Chandra to walk to another temple close to our hotel. These Hindu temples are spectacular and mind blowing. It's crazy to think something so ancient, around 3000 years old, is still being used in the same way thousands of years later. No matter how much influence British rule had in this country, it in no way wiped out the culture and importance of Hinduism. The temple is still intact, with its intricate stone carving, bright designs and beautifully painted exterior. We admired the inside of the temple, with the various statues of gods, which Chandra and Divya prayed to. We then climbed the stairs to the roof. We got to see close up the incredible painted tower on top of the temple, covered in thousands of intricate paintings of gods, telling so many stories. There were Vishnu, Genesha (the elephant god), some that were red holding tridents, cows, and countless others. The view of Madurai from the roof was beautiful. The Meenakshi temple towers are the highest points in the city, and we looked out across the crowded, bustling scene at the rooftops, signs and windows of Madurai. We climbed inside the temple's tower to find a giant sleeping Green Man. The entrance was quite small, I guess built thousands of years ago as well. We walked in a square through the narrow passageway inside the tower, on both the bottom and top level, up steep steps. The early morning city scene was incredible, and we took many pictures.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a small temple on the side of the road and listened to a monk chant. First he spoke several prayers while we stood with our hands together and gave donations. He then first gave us an edible herb in our hands to eat, then sweet milk to drink out of our hands, and then spiced water. We also got some green leaves and jasmine for our hair, and the monk put a red smudge on our foreheads after we captured some smoke from a candle in our hands and released in onto our faces. It's so interesting learning about Hindu stories from Chandra and Divya and slowly learning about this completely different and ancient religion.
After having our morning coffee and putting on our sarees, with the integral assistance of Divya, we hurried to the wedding as it began with breakfast at 9. The breakfast was delicious. The wedding served three meals in total over the two days for all of the over 2000 guests of the bride and groom. And the wedding will even continue for one more day, with just the bride and bridegroom's families. Chandra told us that the meal for all of the guests is vegetarian, but the families will have meat tomorrow. The meals have been so good- idly, dhosai, rice, curd rice, curry, sambals, coconut chutney, potatoes, cauliflower, sweet cardamom jelly, sweet biason, sweet kaseri, and much more. We sit along long tables with a banana leaf each in front of us. The custom is to pour some water and wash off the leaf before you eat. Then a dozen servers walk in front of the table, in a line, and scoop huge portions of their dish onto your leaf. Everyone pretty much gets every single dish, unless you are convincing enough to assure them you don't want anymore. Paige and I rarely were able to persuade an server that we didn't want anymore! At least 10 items were served each meal. Most waiters liked to pause in front of us and stare for a while and ask questions sometimes. We got a lot of that, being the only foreigners at the whole wedding. Everyone was impressed with our sarees, which are a completely different style than everyone else's for some reason. Even when we wear our Indian dress we look different! Most people like to ask if we speak Tamil and if we knew the bride or groom. The bride and groom themselves were probably wondering who we were, at their wedding. We definitely got a few glances from them up on stage!
The bride looked even more beautiful today and you could tell they were both very excited and smiley. It took a while for them to finally come up on stage. When they did, several rituals started. The groom and then the bride cleaned their parents' feet out of a bowl of water. Two monks wearing the traditional white skirts and single rope over their shoulders lead the ceremony. The bride and groom placed several long necklaces of flowers over each others' heads. After putting one on the other each, the bride went to put another on the groom, and he backed away. She had to chase him and eventually get the flowers over his head. Then he had to do the same to her as she backed away. It seemed part of the custom, and they were both laughing as they did it. The stage was crowded, with the couple, three photographers/men filming, and a circle of family around them. The couple sat next to each other on the ground, and had many people come and bless them, giving them white dots on their foreheads. Then flowers were passed into the crowd and at one moment were all thrown forward towards the couple, as the people on stage sprinkled the pink petals on to the bride and groom. For Paige, it turned out to be more of a throwing rose petals into the hair of the women sitting in front of us, who were not so amused.
Afterwards, the couple sat in the two golden chairs that looked like thrones, with people hovering all around them so that it was difficult to see them from our chairs. They were presented with different gifts as different relatives and friends came onto the stage. They fed each other bananas, first the bride giving the groom a bite, then the groom to the bride. It was all done as a process, as all Hindu weddings go we are told. Every act the bride did was reciprocated by the groom, and vice versa. They held a cup to each others' lips to drink. They held hands and walked around in several circles around the monk's little altar. The whole time they laughed nervously and smiled. During each step they paused for the photographer to capture every moment. Eventually they got off stage, changed, and then came back on to take more pictures. The whole time the hundreds of people in the crowd talked excitedly and the band played loudly, according to the acts of the couple. It all seemed so chaotic yet planned and as expected for the guests. The guests all seemed like one big family, and everyone we were introduced to seemed to be related somehow.
Chandra told us how the marriage was arranged by the bride's and groom's families. He lives in Bangalore, a city in another state. She will move to live with him there. So she will have to learn a new language, as they don't speak Tamil there. Vijayasarathy said she already has some family there. They had met only a few times before their wedding, and had spoken on the phone some. Even during the ceremony they seemed a little embarrassed and still getting to know each other. Chandra told us that back in her time, the first time the bride and groom would ever see each other would be on the stage during their own wedding. It seems crazy to imagine, children here must have a lot of faith in their parents to choose a life partner!
After we had finished lunch and taken many pictures, we left the wedding hall to pack up our things at the hotel. We changed out of our sarees and went out for more Madurai sightseeing. We drove past a giant square "tank", with steps leading down to it and surrounded by roads, that usually is filled with water but is now dry. People played cricket, walked around, and cows grazed in it. We then went to the famous Madurai palace, which was very impressive. It's was built in 1636 and was the home of the King of Madurai. There were giant white columns that sparkled in the light and the ceilings were so high, painted light yellow and red with incredibly intricate detail. It was all quite breathtaking. We admired all the incredible halls and the beautiful, ancient statues. There was a big open courtyard in the center, opening up to the clouds. Chandra measured that one pillar had the circumference of six of the arm lengths. Vijayasarathy explained to us about the ancient Tamil stone carvings of the King. It's crazy to see all these incredible, ancient artifacts from thousands of years ago. This Palace was beautiful. It was restored in the 1800s by the British. It used to be much larger, but only one quarter of the original building still remains.
After stopping at Vijayasarathy's sister house for a little while, we headed back to the country. We did some last minute shopping at a big grocery store, as most staples for us, like toilet paper, can only be bought in the city. Even in the center of the city, buildings still seem short, only about 5 stories. It seems like a small city as far as the infrastructure goes, but its very densely populated and is the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu. We definitely appreciated the benefits of urban life while there- fewer power cuts, plumbing, restaurants, banks, big shops, grocery stores instead of outdoor markets and little roadside stands. But as we drove back towards the mountains, rice paddies, coconut trees and big fields, we were happy to be back in the rural land. It was so nice to get back home to Patti. The city was so exciting, interesting and bustling, but that city air had us coughing and we missed the countryside. We got home, took rest, and Chandra showed us how cooking idly and dhosai. They are both made with the same batter. That surprised us a lot, because they seem so different. The idly is steamed in a round metal idly maker with six dents for the round idly, and dhosai is cooked like a crepe or pancake on a pan. We then sat down to our normal delicious dinner and talked with Vijayasarathy about the exciting time in Madurai before saying "iravu vanakam" and heading to sleep.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at a small temple on the side of the road and listened to a monk chant. First he spoke several prayers while we stood with our hands together and gave donations. He then first gave us an edible herb in our hands to eat, then sweet milk to drink out of our hands, and then spiced water. We also got some green leaves and jasmine for our hair, and the monk put a red smudge on our foreheads after we captured some smoke from a candle in our hands and released in onto our faces. It's so interesting learning about Hindu stories from Chandra and Divya and slowly learning about this completely different and ancient religion.
After having our morning coffee and putting on our sarees, with the integral assistance of Divya, we hurried to the wedding as it began with breakfast at 9. The breakfast was delicious. The wedding served three meals in total over the two days for all of the over 2000 guests of the bride and groom. And the wedding will even continue for one more day, with just the bride and bridegroom's families. Chandra told us that the meal for all of the guests is vegetarian, but the families will have meat tomorrow. The meals have been so good- idly, dhosai, rice, curd rice, curry, sambals, coconut chutney, potatoes, cauliflower, sweet cardamom jelly, sweet biason, sweet kaseri, and much more. We sit along long tables with a banana leaf each in front of us. The custom is to pour some water and wash off the leaf before you eat. Then a dozen servers walk in front of the table, in a line, and scoop huge portions of their dish onto your leaf. Everyone pretty much gets every single dish, unless you are convincing enough to assure them you don't want anymore. Paige and I rarely were able to persuade an server that we didn't want anymore! At least 10 items were served each meal. Most waiters liked to pause in front of us and stare for a while and ask questions sometimes. We got a lot of that, being the only foreigners at the whole wedding. Everyone was impressed with our sarees, which are a completely different style than everyone else's for some reason. Even when we wear our Indian dress we look different! Most people like to ask if we speak Tamil and if we knew the bride or groom. The bride and groom themselves were probably wondering who we were, at their wedding. We definitely got a few glances from them up on stage!
The bride looked even more beautiful today and you could tell they were both very excited and smiley. It took a while for them to finally come up on stage. When they did, several rituals started. The groom and then the bride cleaned their parents' feet out of a bowl of water. Two monks wearing the traditional white skirts and single rope over their shoulders lead the ceremony. The bride and groom placed several long necklaces of flowers over each others' heads. After putting one on the other each, the bride went to put another on the groom, and he backed away. She had to chase him and eventually get the flowers over his head. Then he had to do the same to her as she backed away. It seemed part of the custom, and they were both laughing as they did it. The stage was crowded, with the couple, three photographers/men filming, and a circle of family around them. The couple sat next to each other on the ground, and had many people come and bless them, giving them white dots on their foreheads. Then flowers were passed into the crowd and at one moment were all thrown forward towards the couple, as the people on stage sprinkled the pink petals on to the bride and groom. For Paige, it turned out to be more of a throwing rose petals into the hair of the women sitting in front of us, who were not so amused.
Afterwards, the couple sat in the two golden chairs that looked like thrones, with people hovering all around them so that it was difficult to see them from our chairs. They were presented with different gifts as different relatives and friends came onto the stage. They fed each other bananas, first the bride giving the groom a bite, then the groom to the bride. It was all done as a process, as all Hindu weddings go we are told. Every act the bride did was reciprocated by the groom, and vice versa. They held a cup to each others' lips to drink. They held hands and walked around in several circles around the monk's little altar. The whole time they laughed nervously and smiled. During each step they paused for the photographer to capture every moment. Eventually they got off stage, changed, and then came back on to take more pictures. The whole time the hundreds of people in the crowd talked excitedly and the band played loudly, according to the acts of the couple. It all seemed so chaotic yet planned and as expected for the guests. The guests all seemed like one big family, and everyone we were introduced to seemed to be related somehow.
Chandra told us how the marriage was arranged by the bride's and groom's families. He lives in Bangalore, a city in another state. She will move to live with him there. So she will have to learn a new language, as they don't speak Tamil there. Vijayasarathy said she already has some family there. They had met only a few times before their wedding, and had spoken on the phone some. Even during the ceremony they seemed a little embarrassed and still getting to know each other. Chandra told us that back in her time, the first time the bride and groom would ever see each other would be on the stage during their own wedding. It seems crazy to imagine, children here must have a lot of faith in their parents to choose a life partner!
After we had finished lunch and taken many pictures, we left the wedding hall to pack up our things at the hotel. We changed out of our sarees and went out for more Madurai sightseeing. We drove past a giant square "tank", with steps leading down to it and surrounded by roads, that usually is filled with water but is now dry. People played cricket, walked around, and cows grazed in it. We then went to the famous Madurai palace, which was very impressive. It's was built in 1636 and was the home of the King of Madurai. There were giant white columns that sparkled in the light and the ceilings were so high, painted light yellow and red with incredibly intricate detail. It was all quite breathtaking. We admired all the incredible halls and the beautiful, ancient statues. There was a big open courtyard in the center, opening up to the clouds. Chandra measured that one pillar had the circumference of six of the arm lengths. Vijayasarathy explained to us about the ancient Tamil stone carvings of the King. It's crazy to see all these incredible, ancient artifacts from thousands of years ago. This Palace was beautiful. It was restored in the 1800s by the British. It used to be much larger, but only one quarter of the original building still remains.
After stopping at Vijayasarathy's sister house for a little while, we headed back to the country. We did some last minute shopping at a big grocery store, as most staples for us, like toilet paper, can only be bought in the city. Even in the center of the city, buildings still seem short, only about 5 stories. It seems like a small city as far as the infrastructure goes, but its very densely populated and is the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu. We definitely appreciated the benefits of urban life while there- fewer power cuts, plumbing, restaurants, banks, big shops, grocery stores instead of outdoor markets and little roadside stands. But as we drove back towards the mountains, rice paddies, coconut trees and big fields, we were happy to be back in the rural land. It was so nice to get back home to Patti. The city was so exciting, interesting and bustling, but that city air had us coughing and we missed the countryside. We got home, took rest, and Chandra showed us how cooking idly and dhosai. They are both made with the same batter. That surprised us a lot, because they seem so different. The idly is steamed in a round metal idly maker with six dents for the round idly, and dhosai is cooked like a crepe or pancake on a pan. We then sat down to our normal delicious dinner and talked with Vijayasarathy about the exciting time in Madurai before saying "iravu vanakam" and heading to sleep.
October 31st- Wedding in Madurai (not a typical halloween!)
We woke up early this morning, packed our things for the weekend and drove an hour and a half to Madurai. It was us, Chandra, Vijayasarathy, his mom, and their daughter Divya in the car. The drive was beautiful, passing the mountains, rice paddies, small villages along the highway... We stopped at one small temple while we waited for a train to pass. They burnt some incense which we catch in our hands and breathe in, and then take the white powder to mark a dot on our foreheads.
When we got to Madurai we first stopped at Vijayasarathy's sister's house on the outskirts of the city. We have been meeting so much family, it's getting really hard keep track of how everyone is related in these big families! Afterwards, we went to leave our things at the hotel we are staying at for the night. We then went out with Chandra and Divya to do some jewelry shopping. We went to a famous three story jewelry store, full of nice gold and silver items. Chandra bought us beautiful anklets that we wore to the wedding tonight. It was fun to walk around a big, bustling city again after the quiet of Kanivadi and Pattiveeranpatti. People are selling food and goods on every corner, the streets are overflowing with auto rickshaws, buses, motorcycles with 4 people on them, and cars. Cows lazily graze through the garbage on the streets and block traffic without a worry. Madurai is the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu after Chennai, and very busy. It was funny to see a father riding his bike pulling a wagon full of children behind him.
We had a nice late lunch at the veg restaurant at the hotel. We had the standard lunch meal- a plate with 11 small bowls with different curries, sambals, cauliflower, curd, and vegetables, along with mountains of rice and popadom. It ended off with sweet cardamom biason, very delicious.
At 3 we left to go sightseeing. We drove over to Madurai's famous temple, the Meenakshi temple. We first walked through a small bazaar in front of it, with hundreds of little stands selling all sorts of things- bangles, pots, statues, clothing, bags, food... We bought many souvenirs, presents for the girls at Bethania (earrings, bangles), and had some custom sewn shirts made (about $4 each). We then crossed the street, where a huge line was already forming to get into the temple that opened at 4. The Madurai temple was beautiful. It's over 3600 years old and made out of all stone. The incredible colors of the painted statues and ceilings were mind blowing. It was huge. The statues of different gods were so intricate and impressive, we were in awe. There are four main towers, facing North, East, South and West, all displaying an overwhelming assortment of various bright colored carvings of gods. There are also special gold peaked towers as well. We walked around the Golden Lotus Tank of water in the center, with steps leading down to it. Only Hindus are allowed in the main, religious center of the temple, so we waited in the outer areas with a beautiful view of the colorful skyline. The most exciting thing was finally seeing an elephant! As we walked through the huge temple area, different statues of gods were on display, as well as live representations of them. There was a huge elephant with bright paint covering its grey, wrinkly skin. It blessed people's foreheads with its trunk and knew how to collect donations by grasping notes in its nose and giving it to its handler. We got to touch and take a picture with the huge animal, the temple's version of the elephant God Genesha. Next to it there was also a big bull inside, also painted bright colors. We got to touch and take a picture with it too. It was crazy to see live animals inside of a temple! We walked around the various rooms, seeing the very famous intricate carving of Meenakshi being married. We saw monks giving offerings to the gods, people burning incense, hundreds of people praying to the various statues and countless gods. We walked through the room of One Thousand Pillars- each pillar made of huge stone blocks, with detailed carvings and designs. It was all so beautiful and grand, it's hard to imagine this could have all been built in 1600 BC. The time and manpower that must have gone into its construction is unbelievable.
After the temple we came back to the hotel for a quick coffee and to change for the evening "engagement" reception. We got dressed up in our nice shuridas, anklets, colorful bhindis, chains, bangles, toe rings and earrings. We feel very Indian :)
We arrived at the wedding engagement, in a building was covered in bright strings of green, red, and yellow lights. Outside the brightly lit up building was a huge billboard with a picture of the faces of the bride and groom. We entered the sea of bright saris, flashing cameras and smells of jasmine. We posed for photos and pinned jasmine in our hair in the entrance. The main room was brightly lit, with hundreds of chairs set out for the guests and a stage with two big chairs. The bride came out and sat in one chair. She looked so beautiful, with sparkling jewels all over, flowers in her hair and brightly colored saree. The husband was very smiley and handsome with his Tamil hero mustache and nice suit. Their names, along with their college degrees were written on the back wall behind them, as doting relatives came to shake hands, pose for pictures and put white powder on their foreheads. Strings of flowers were strung on their necks, and they opened presents as the camera filmed it all and it streamed onto the TVs in the room. The music from the band there was loud and we went up on stage with Chandra and Vijayasarathy to sing and eat cake with a boy whose birthday was today and to pose for more photographs. We saw so many relatives that we know from Patti and met new relatives as well. It was a very colorful and festive affair. Downstairs we enjoyed a big, delicious meal served on a banana leaf. Waiters came by in a line, each serving one item- mushrooms, borotas, coconut chutney, sambal... Yum! It was all very delicious and ample for the hundreds of guests. Several people came up to ask where we were from, and if we knew the bride or groom. Everyone there was happy, all seemed to know everyone else there like one huge family. Tomorrow is the actual marriage, as tonight was just the engagement. We arrive tomorrow at 8 for breakfast! Wow. Better get some rest now!
When we got to Madurai we first stopped at Vijayasarathy's sister's house on the outskirts of the city. We have been meeting so much family, it's getting really hard keep track of how everyone is related in these big families! Afterwards, we went to leave our things at the hotel we are staying at for the night. We then went out with Chandra and Divya to do some jewelry shopping. We went to a famous three story jewelry store, full of nice gold and silver items. Chandra bought us beautiful anklets that we wore to the wedding tonight. It was fun to walk around a big, bustling city again after the quiet of Kanivadi and Pattiveeranpatti. People are selling food and goods on every corner, the streets are overflowing with auto rickshaws, buses, motorcycles with 4 people on them, and cars. Cows lazily graze through the garbage on the streets and block traffic without a worry. Madurai is the second biggest city in Tamil Nadu after Chennai, and very busy. It was funny to see a father riding his bike pulling a wagon full of children behind him.
We had a nice late lunch at the veg restaurant at the hotel. We had the standard lunch meal- a plate with 11 small bowls with different curries, sambals, cauliflower, curd, and vegetables, along with mountains of rice and popadom. It ended off with sweet cardamom biason, very delicious.
At 3 we left to go sightseeing. We drove over to Madurai's famous temple, the Meenakshi temple. We first walked through a small bazaar in front of it, with hundreds of little stands selling all sorts of things- bangles, pots, statues, clothing, bags, food... We bought many souvenirs, presents for the girls at Bethania (earrings, bangles), and had some custom sewn shirts made (about $4 each). We then crossed the street, where a huge line was already forming to get into the temple that opened at 4. The Madurai temple was beautiful. It's over 3600 years old and made out of all stone. The incredible colors of the painted statues and ceilings were mind blowing. It was huge. The statues of different gods were so intricate and impressive, we were in awe. There are four main towers, facing North, East, South and West, all displaying an overwhelming assortment of various bright colored carvings of gods. There are also special gold peaked towers as well. We walked around the Golden Lotus Tank of water in the center, with steps leading down to it. Only Hindus are allowed in the main, religious center of the temple, so we waited in the outer areas with a beautiful view of the colorful skyline. The most exciting thing was finally seeing an elephant! As we walked through the huge temple area, different statues of gods were on display, as well as live representations of them. There was a huge elephant with bright paint covering its grey, wrinkly skin. It blessed people's foreheads with its trunk and knew how to collect donations by grasping notes in its nose and giving it to its handler. We got to touch and take a picture with the huge animal, the temple's version of the elephant God Genesha. Next to it there was also a big bull inside, also painted bright colors. We got to touch and take a picture with it too. It was crazy to see live animals inside of a temple! We walked around the various rooms, seeing the very famous intricate carving of Meenakshi being married. We saw monks giving offerings to the gods, people burning incense, hundreds of people praying to the various statues and countless gods. We walked through the room of One Thousand Pillars- each pillar made of huge stone blocks, with detailed carvings and designs. It was all so beautiful and grand, it's hard to imagine this could have all been built in 1600 BC. The time and manpower that must have gone into its construction is unbelievable.
After the temple we came back to the hotel for a quick coffee and to change for the evening "engagement" reception. We got dressed up in our nice shuridas, anklets, colorful bhindis, chains, bangles, toe rings and earrings. We feel very Indian :)
We arrived at the wedding engagement, in a building was covered in bright strings of green, red, and yellow lights. Outside the brightly lit up building was a huge billboard with a picture of the faces of the bride and groom. We entered the sea of bright saris, flashing cameras and smells of jasmine. We posed for photos and pinned jasmine in our hair in the entrance. The main room was brightly lit, with hundreds of chairs set out for the guests and a stage with two big chairs. The bride came out and sat in one chair. She looked so beautiful, with sparkling jewels all over, flowers in her hair and brightly colored saree. The husband was very smiley and handsome with his Tamil hero mustache and nice suit. Their names, along with their college degrees were written on the back wall behind them, as doting relatives came to shake hands, pose for pictures and put white powder on their foreheads. Strings of flowers were strung on their necks, and they opened presents as the camera filmed it all and it streamed onto the TVs in the room. The music from the band there was loud and we went up on stage with Chandra and Vijayasarathy to sing and eat cake with a boy whose birthday was today and to pose for more photographs. We saw so many relatives that we know from Patti and met new relatives as well. It was a very colorful and festive affair. Downstairs we enjoyed a big, delicious meal served on a banana leaf. Waiters came by in a line, each serving one item- mushrooms, borotas, coconut chutney, sambal... Yum! It was all very delicious and ample for the hundreds of guests. Several people came up to ask where we were from, and if we knew the bride or groom. Everyone there was happy, all seemed to know everyone else there like one huge family. Tomorrow is the actual marriage, as tonight was just the engagement. We arrive tomorrow at 8 for breakfast! Wow. Better get some rest now!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 30th in Pattiveeranpatti
Today was a nice day in Pattiveeranpatti. We spent time around the school, talking to teachers and coordinating which classes we will be teaching next week. We want to take smaller groups of kids and do a lot of speaking with them, because we think their writing and grammar is already very advanced, but could use practice in talking. The teachers are very excited about us doing this with the students. The Bethania children are so far behind these kids it's quite sad. It's a shame how they don't get this level of education at their public school in Kanivadi.
We spent a lot of time around the house and kitchen, watching the cooks prepare our amazing food. We learnt the proper technique of making the very popular curd rice that's always served at the end of meal. Sometimes it has a spicy red "pickle" sauce too. Otherwise it cools down the mouth after a spicy meal. It's made of rice and milk and different spices.
In the afternoon, we went with the older students to visit another school nearby. This was a bigger school, from kindergarten to 12th grade, and where most of the students from Chandra's elementary school will go when they graduate. This school had a big exhibition on display of historical political cartoons and different artifacts. We took the school bus over. As soon as we got off the bus, we were literally swarmed by hundreds of kids. They all asked "How are you?" "What is your name?" "What is your native place?" "How many siblings do you have?" "You are sisters?" They were very sweet, it was pretty overwhelming though. Even teachers came up to us in the hoards of children to ask us questions. Most were very surprised that we came all the way from America, and asked if we took an airplane. They were even more impressed when we told them we had. They said our names were beautiful, even though after we said "Kelsey" and Paige" they laughed for a while and tried to pronounce them unsuccessfully. The teachers from Chandra's school were trying to get us to follow them into the exhibition building, but we literally couldn't move through the courtyard, we were surrounded by so many kids. They all spoke English quite well, and wanted us to speak Tamil to them. None of our key phrases really seemed to fit at the time.
We finally were able to go inside the exhibition building, full of children all in one line slowly moving past all the tables. There were long tables full of Tamil political cartoons from different eras. We couldn't understand most, but some were pretty interesting. Early ones included Churchill, Stalin and Wilson. There were many of Gandhi- the stereotypical picture of him short, bald, old and with glasses. Many showed Gandhi standing up to Churchill, Stalin and Wilson and the tables turning on the British as India gained its Independence. One showed a British man holding a baby India, that then grew into a man and held a frightened old British man. One showed a tiny Gandhi in front of Churchill, Wilson and Stalin, that grew till he towered over the three leaders. Some dated back over 80 years. The more recent ones were interesting, despite less recognizable political leaders. There were cartoons of the earth crying, and one of a artificially beautiful Miss India being crowned Miss World while Mrs. India was dressed in rags, pregnant and surrounded by starving children. There were a tables of currencies. They had ancient Indian coins and bills, one that was really big, about the size of half of a piece of paper. They had foreign currencies too- from Saudi Arabia, Canada, and American dollar bills. It was a pretty impressive collection, especially at this rural school. There were students at every table eager to tell us facts in articulate English about the pictures or money at every table with pins stating their rank in their class.
After coming back to Chandra's and resting a while, we spent the evening with Chandra, her daughter who has come down from Chennai for the wedding, and other relatives. We sat around and had tea and snacks while we looked at old photo albums. It's funny how the women decades ago still seem to wear the same style shuridas and sarees as they do now. There were old photos, like one of Vijayasarathy and his five siblings about 50 years ago. It was nice to see all of Chandra's family and cute grandkids. There were pictures of people sitting around the table we were sitting at, talking and eating just like us. There's a feeling that this is the way things have always been done, with relatives always stopping by the house in the evenings, sitting around to eat, talk, and joke. The strength of Indian culture is so apparent, and it feels like the important aspects of the lifestyle have always been there and always will be. Indian music, food and style are all so powerful. It's different than a lot of other countries that listen to American music, watch Hollywood films and dubbed American TV shows. Everyone here enjoys Tamil movies with their own movie heroes like Vijay and Lawrence and their own beautiful Tamil and Hindi music. We're really enjoying experiencing this beautiful, powerful culture.
Tomorrow we're dressing up and heading to Madurai for a visit to the huge, famous Temple and for the wedding of Vijayasarathy's sister's grandson!
We spent a lot of time around the house and kitchen, watching the cooks prepare our amazing food. We learnt the proper technique of making the very popular curd rice that's always served at the end of meal. Sometimes it has a spicy red "pickle" sauce too. Otherwise it cools down the mouth after a spicy meal. It's made of rice and milk and different spices.
In the afternoon, we went with the older students to visit another school nearby. This was a bigger school, from kindergarten to 12th grade, and where most of the students from Chandra's elementary school will go when they graduate. This school had a big exhibition on display of historical political cartoons and different artifacts. We took the school bus over. As soon as we got off the bus, we were literally swarmed by hundreds of kids. They all asked "How are you?" "What is your name?" "What is your native place?" "How many siblings do you have?" "You are sisters?" They were very sweet, it was pretty overwhelming though. Even teachers came up to us in the hoards of children to ask us questions. Most were very surprised that we came all the way from America, and asked if we took an airplane. They were even more impressed when we told them we had. They said our names were beautiful, even though after we said "Kelsey" and Paige" they laughed for a while and tried to pronounce them unsuccessfully. The teachers from Chandra's school were trying to get us to follow them into the exhibition building, but we literally couldn't move through the courtyard, we were surrounded by so many kids. They all spoke English quite well, and wanted us to speak Tamil to them. None of our key phrases really seemed to fit at the time.
We finally were able to go inside the exhibition building, full of children all in one line slowly moving past all the tables. There were long tables full of Tamil political cartoons from different eras. We couldn't understand most, but some were pretty interesting. Early ones included Churchill, Stalin and Wilson. There were many of Gandhi- the stereotypical picture of him short, bald, old and with glasses. Many showed Gandhi standing up to Churchill, Stalin and Wilson and the tables turning on the British as India gained its Independence. One showed a British man holding a baby India, that then grew into a man and held a frightened old British man. One showed a tiny Gandhi in front of Churchill, Wilson and Stalin, that grew till he towered over the three leaders. Some dated back over 80 years. The more recent ones were interesting, despite less recognizable political leaders. There were cartoons of the earth crying, and one of a artificially beautiful Miss India being crowned Miss World while Mrs. India was dressed in rags, pregnant and surrounded by starving children. There were a tables of currencies. They had ancient Indian coins and bills, one that was really big, about the size of half of a piece of paper. They had foreign currencies too- from Saudi Arabia, Canada, and American dollar bills. It was a pretty impressive collection, especially at this rural school. There were students at every table eager to tell us facts in articulate English about the pictures or money at every table with pins stating their rank in their class.
After coming back to Chandra's and resting a while, we spent the evening with Chandra, her daughter who has come down from Chennai for the wedding, and other relatives. We sat around and had tea and snacks while we looked at old photo albums. It's funny how the women decades ago still seem to wear the same style shuridas and sarees as they do now. There were old photos, like one of Vijayasarathy and his five siblings about 50 years ago. It was nice to see all of Chandra's family and cute grandkids. There were pictures of people sitting around the table we were sitting at, talking and eating just like us. There's a feeling that this is the way things have always been done, with relatives always stopping by the house in the evenings, sitting around to eat, talk, and joke. The strength of Indian culture is so apparent, and it feels like the important aspects of the lifestyle have always been there and always will be. Indian music, food and style are all so powerful. It's different than a lot of other countries that listen to American music, watch Hollywood films and dubbed American TV shows. Everyone here enjoys Tamil movies with their own movie heroes like Vijay and Lawrence and their own beautiful Tamil and Hindi music. We're really enjoying experiencing this beautiful, powerful culture.
Tomorrow we're dressing up and heading to Madurai for a visit to the huge, famous Temple and for the wedding of Vijayasarathy's sister's grandson!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
October 29th
Today we left Bethania today for a day of rest at Chandra's before we go to the wedding in Madurai. It was so sad to say bye to our brothers and sisters at Bethania. We handed out candy while they lined up for school and wished everyone 'Happy Halloween!' They don't know what it is, but we'll read a book about it when we come back. We helped the kitchen ladies a bit in the today chopping cauliflower. The rains came today, which was good. Those dark gray, purple clouds are so beautiful here, wrapping themselves around the mountains. The puppies and dogs rolled themselves in the red mud, that the parched ground became. The puppies were unrecognizable red mud blobs racing towards us, ready to jump with muddy paws and bite at our feet and skirts. The cows were all laying down this morning, so Kelsey cleverly pointed that rain was coming.
We did a bit of work today after waking up early and being with the children. But we're still recovering from the fever, so we also took rest. After having tea with the children and saying our sad goodbyes we waved and headed on the Bethania bus to Chandra's.
The ride was beautiful as usual, but quite different with the rain, the purple clouds and the cool breeze blowing in the coconut trees. The outdoor cooking fires in front of homes, had big metal plates over the top of the pots, that hung over the edges and protected the fire from the rain. Today we burned some trash right as the rain was beginning. Glad we took care of that before the rain started to pour. It's very good for Bethania though because the well desperately needs water. GP was telling us about how difficult it is, with no rain and all the cows, children and plants that need water at Bethania.
We're going to take cooking classes from Chandra and her cooks tomorrow and sit in on some of the classes at Chandra's school. We'll be teaching there all next week after returning from the wedding. We're very much looking forward to the wedding and visiting Madurai. We're going to buy the children all new clothes with money raised by the Atlanta International School, and buy some presents too. These kids still need simple things like pencils to be able to do their school work.
We did a bit of work today after waking up early and being with the children. But we're still recovering from the fever, so we also took rest. After having tea with the children and saying our sad goodbyes we waved and headed on the Bethania bus to Chandra's.
The ride was beautiful as usual, but quite different with the rain, the purple clouds and the cool breeze blowing in the coconut trees. The outdoor cooking fires in front of homes, had big metal plates over the top of the pots, that hung over the edges and protected the fire from the rain. Today we burned some trash right as the rain was beginning. Glad we took care of that before the rain started to pour. It's very good for Bethania though because the well desperately needs water. GP was telling us about how difficult it is, with no rain and all the cows, children and plants that need water at Bethania.
We're going to take cooking classes from Chandra and her cooks tomorrow and sit in on some of the classes at Chandra's school. We'll be teaching there all next week after returning from the wedding. We're very much looking forward to the wedding and visiting Madurai. We're going to buy the children all new clothes with money raised by the Atlanta International School, and buy some presents too. These kids still need simple things like pencils to be able to do their school work.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
October 28th
Thankfully, we're feeling much better and on the road to recovery from our fevers. About 10 other kids are still sick, lots of fevers and cold, but they all seem to recover quickly. We had enough energy to start field work again this morning. We fed the adorable baby cows and collected stones in the field with GP. Then we did a lot of onion peeling. This was interrupted by everyone sprinting to collect the kids' clothes when rain started to fall. It's very good to see rain, and has been raining on a off for most of the day- we definitely need it here! Everyone was smiling and happy to see it come. After kitchen work we did laundry, and were able to have the clothes dry for a few hours until we had to sprint out to get our own clothes before they got soaked in the rain. With another brilliant dental floss contraption we managed to eventually hang it all up inside after many failed attempts.
When the kids came home it was" ball playing, monkey in the middle playing, chess playing and Uno playing sister!!" After prayer we taught English to the elementary school and 6th grade girls. We went over Snow White vocab words and then had them do a test on it- including words scrambles, labeling pictures and finishing the sentences. Some girls, like Nagehwari, are very bright and remembered most of the word. Some girls, like Sathya, found it difficult to even just read the words on the test paper. We corrected each test individually and had them read it all out loud. At the very least, we're improving on differentiating been P, D, B, G, and T!
When the kids came home it was" ball playing, monkey in the middle playing, chess playing and Uno playing sister!!" After prayer we taught English to the elementary school and 6th grade girls. We went over Snow White vocab words and then had them do a test on it- including words scrambles, labeling pictures and finishing the sentences. Some girls, like Nagehwari, are very bright and remembered most of the word. Some girls, like Sathya, found it difficult to even just read the words on the test paper. We corrected each test individually and had them read it all out loud. At the very least, we're improving on differentiating been P, D, B, G, and T!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
October 26th and 27th
So there's been an outbreak of fever here at Bethania. Many of the children had to go to the hospital to get free government distributed medicines today. We, along with some staff and many children have fevers and colds. Everyone is still in good spirits though, and there is much joking and prayer and vitamin taking. We're drinking our tea, have been resting for the past two days and taking cold medicine, as well as doing a lot of medicine sharing.
There's been an outbreak of "pig fever" (swine flu) in the nearest big city, but it has not come to Kannivadi. Muthumari said one of her classmate's brother had died from it. But we've been assured that our fever is not dangerous. It was high yesterday, but today we've been feeling much better. We've been told that we're actually just sick because sometimes people get allergic reactions to the sugar cane we ate on Sunday... Which still doesn't explain why all the other kids are sick too! Divya also told us that people with white skin have less hemoglobin, so get sick more easily. Not sure how much scientific basis there is for that, but our immune systems are definitely still getting accustomed to life here!
Aside from resting a lot, we've been up to our normal everyday chores here- filling and carrying up our water buckets, doing laundry, sweeping... Been too tired for any field work! Tuesday night we did English with the 8th and 9th grade girls. We played the antonym and synonym word matching games. They found it very difficult and didn't know what a lot of the vocabulary meant. Its sad to see how these older girls struggle with this game, while the third graders and Chandra's school found it too simple. As always, it was fun to sit, talk, and make jokes with the older girls for much of the time too :)
There's been an outbreak of "pig fever" (swine flu) in the nearest big city, but it has not come to Kannivadi. Muthumari said one of her classmate's brother had died from it. But we've been assured that our fever is not dangerous. It was high yesterday, but today we've been feeling much better. We've been told that we're actually just sick because sometimes people get allergic reactions to the sugar cane we ate on Sunday... Which still doesn't explain why all the other kids are sick too! Divya also told us that people with white skin have less hemoglobin, so get sick more easily. Not sure how much scientific basis there is for that, but our immune systems are definitely still getting accustomed to life here!
Aside from resting a lot, we've been up to our normal everyday chores here- filling and carrying up our water buckets, doing laundry, sweeping... Been too tired for any field work! Tuesday night we did English with the 8th and 9th grade girls. We played the antonym and synonym word matching games. They found it very difficult and didn't know what a lot of the vocabulary meant. Its sad to see how these older girls struggle with this game, while the third graders and Chandra's school found it too simple. As always, it was fun to sit, talk, and make jokes with the older girls for much of the time too :)
Monday, October 26, 2009
October 25th "Tamil Nadu Girl!"
We woke up early for church Sunday morning. All the kids were wearing their nice Sunday outfits, and the girls all had flowers in their hair. Ramya braided Kelsey's hair and told her, "Now you look like real Tamil Nadu girl!" For us, that's the ultimate compliment :)
Church was very nice. I love the chapel, where the chaplain's voice echoes in the domed ceiling and the children sing and pray loudly and happily. The cows and walk by around us, as we gaze towards the mountains and feel the cool morning breeze. The kids were very excited to have the chaplain there. After church, it was a busy Sunday, full of Uno, chess and music playing. The songs "Jogi", "Right Round", "Jai ho" and "Gasolina" were played repeatedly. We did an English lesson with the elementary and 6th grade boys in the afternoon. We had them take turns reading a book, and then drawing and labeling pictures with important vocabulary words. Reading with little MK was pretty difficult, and it took a long time to get through only a few simple words. We're still making progress in sounding out words instead of guessing.
Some of the other boys can read well though, and little 7 year old Karthi can actually read quite a lot. After lunch, we listened to music and drew pictures with the girls. They love for us to cut out paper butterflies and flap them around. Mugambigai acted out a lovely little play with her two purple butterflies. "Hello, I am going to school." "Bye, bye."
At night, we continued our English lesson with the 10th and 11th standard girls, as they have too much homework during the week to do it then. We continued reading Snow White and writing out our play. Some girls are still uncomfortable with being creative and making up their own lines, but we encouraged them to not copy quotes from the book. These oldest girls also love to just sit around and talk with us, which is fun too :)
A lot of the kids here are sick, with colds and fevers. We're sick too :( It's hard when you're constantly surrounded by 33 kids with fevers! They try to keep the sick kids in separate rooms and have them eat away from the other children. Nevertheless, more people are getting sick everyday, just hope they recover soon! We've been giving out some medicines to help.
Church was very nice. I love the chapel, where the chaplain's voice echoes in the domed ceiling and the children sing and pray loudly and happily. The cows and walk by around us, as we gaze towards the mountains and feel the cool morning breeze. The kids were very excited to have the chaplain there. After church, it was a busy Sunday, full of Uno, chess and music playing. The songs "Jogi", "Right Round", "Jai ho" and "Gasolina" were played repeatedly. We did an English lesson with the elementary and 6th grade boys in the afternoon. We had them take turns reading a book, and then drawing and labeling pictures with important vocabulary words. Reading with little MK was pretty difficult, and it took a long time to get through only a few simple words. We're still making progress in sounding out words instead of guessing.
Some of the other boys can read well though, and little 7 year old Karthi can actually read quite a lot. After lunch, we listened to music and drew pictures with the girls. They love for us to cut out paper butterflies and flap them around. Mugambigai acted out a lovely little play with her two purple butterflies. "Hello, I am going to school." "Bye, bye."
At night, we continued our English lesson with the 10th and 11th standard girls, as they have too much homework during the week to do it then. We continued reading Snow White and writing out our play. Some girls are still uncomfortable with being creative and making up their own lines, but we encouraged them to not copy quotes from the book. These oldest girls also love to just sit around and talk with us, which is fun too :)
A lot of the kids here are sick, with colds and fevers. We're sick too :( It's hard when you're constantly surrounded by 33 kids with fevers! They try to keep the sick kids in separate rooms and have them eat away from the other children. Nevertheless, more people are getting sick everyday, just hope they recover soon! We've been giving out some medicines to help.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, Octonber 24th
We woke up early again this morning to do yoga with Muthumari. We stretched and meditated and learned from Dhana Packiam that massaging your feet stimulates an important vein. It certainly made our day more "brisk". Ramya and Nandhini braided our hair beautifully, and showed us how to tie it so that apparently it will grow faster. We're trying! We're jealous of all the girls' strong and beautiful hair.
It's fun waking up early, once you get over the original shock. We helped with cooking before breakfast, standing in front of that big kitchen fire in the smokey kitchen with all the older girls. Wow. What a luxury to think back to our stoves. Hahaa. We grinded up coconut ("tanga" in Tamil) chutney, and spent an equal amount of time cleaning out the grinder after. By cleaning, we mean pouring a little water in a scooping all the residue out by hand, then cupping out the murky water.
We had a delicious breakfast of some kind of mix between chapatti and dhosai and some coconut chutney, that Kelsey had helped grind. Paige kicked Kelsey's butt in an intense Chess game while the kids did their sweeping. Then the intense cooking began. The kitchen women come in later on Saturday, so most of the morning it was just us and the girls. We scrubbed okra with a wet cloth and chopped it into small pieces, peeled tons of tiny onions, and chopped up tomatoes ("Takali"). It's crazy to see how much effort and time goes into cooking and preparation. No buying pre-peeled onions, and all vegetables are cooked. Rosie and Paige grinded up tomatoes, lentils, and other ingredients for a sauce in the giant mortar and pestle. 'Quickly Sister! Quick!' Muthumari said as I tried to move that giant stone in rapid circular motions and avoid crushing Rosie's hand as she pushed the food into the center of the mortar as the stone pushed them out. We cooked the okra over the fire, standing as far back as possible, reaching our spoon in the bowl to stir.
After our help was no longer needed in the kitchen, we led English classes for the elementary school girls. Incorporating Kelsey's very popular iPod, we looked at photos and wrote what we saw. We're trying to have kids sound words out, instead of relying on teachers to always spell everything for memorization. Many of the elementary school girls are quite smart, and when they are engaged classes are really productive. Paige sat with Muga and Nandhini and we learned about 'ing,' what noise it makes. The girls listed words with ing endings and I had them spell them. Expressive little Muga got really excited about it, dancing around the sleeping hall, 'the dog is dancing sister! The dog is running, the dog is sleeping, the dog is washing, the dog is going, the dog is king, the dog is beating!!!' 'Earring sister!' Ramya added while she was folding clothes. It was very fun and exciting to see them engaged in learning. Some kids still struggle a lot with English, reading and school, so it's hard to engage them. The iPod helped a bit, with fun pictures and a promise of dancing afterwards. Kelsey made them say a sentence with the word in the picture (apple, dog, clouds, sun, etc) before they could do everyone's favorite, zooming in and out of the photo.
When lessons were finished, it was time to go play the chess master, Antony, and try and redeem the sister's reputation after it was tarnished with Kelsey's infamous loss to the skinny, 5th grade Antony. After an intense game, with Paige sister concentrating very hard, despite being attacked occasionally by a pack of adorable puppies intent on biting her, sister prevailed. But it was quite challenging, with countless close calls. Antony was not deterred and I'm sure we will play again. Some Uno card playing sister, chinese checkers, and monkey in the middle occupied everyone until lunch. Kelsey impressed Sethu, Muruganadam (Snow White) and Karthi by spinning the basketball around on one finger. Muru is determined to learn, and monkey in the middle was paused for a while to practice. For lunch, we sat outside on the ground with the girls, playing (aka losing) the 'out' game. I definitely feel like we're improving, probably because our eating rice with hand technique is improving and we're learning speed eating techniques from our kids.
After lunch we listened to more music with the boys. They are learning the words to 'Right Round' and 'Gasolina.' Hahaa :) Kelsey and M+M played chess. We're still teaching a lot of the girls the basic rules of chess, but it was quite fun. Kelsey somehow won about 3 times in one game, with M+M making miraculous (and illegal) recoveries each time. We took some rest and then woke up for Saturday market at around 4.
The Saturday Market, in the middle of our little village of Kanivadi, is right next to the temple, the Christian school and the big red Communist flags. People go shopping, walking through admiring and purchasing vegetables laid out on burlap sacks and cloths on the ground. There are brightly colored vegetables and women and men measuring out their produce on hand-held scales for their customers, while others sit on the ground calling out to those walking by. We were hardly stared at all today by the townspeople, which was a pleasant surprise. Kelsey claims it's because she was wearing a shurida. One crazy man approached us, grabbing at us and talking about the Bible and money in Tamil. The people in the market screamed at the man, with one man brandishing a sugar cane and ordering him out of the market. We ate some sugar cane today too. Standing on the side of the bus, waiting, we took bites out of our canes and chewed to get the sugar juice out. We think we were the oldest people there eating sugar cane, as its mostly a little kid treat. We had fun having spitting contests with Muniyappan after we'd chewed the sugar out of our bites. An old woman in the market gave us some interesting, different kind of wider and short bananas which were quite delicious. Rani came with us into town as well, because she apparently has a fever. She's been separated from the other kids, taking tea and dinner in a separate room.
We bought chocolate in town as well, for all the children. We passed out our 33 mini Cadbury Dairy Milk bars at tea time. It's so sweet how thankful and sweet the kids are. All the kids were so happy, saying thank you, thank you, nanri, nanri sister, I love you sister over and over again after tea. Sathya shook our hands and everyone was 'very very thank you sister.' Awww. :) I love all our brothers and sisters here. They remember everything people give them. They love to talk about Shanta who came and brought them clothes. 'She's coming and bringing all the students clothes. She is your teacher? Wow! Super. I like Shanta. When is she coming again?'
We began english classes with the 10th and 11th grade girls as soon as tea was over. They read the Snow White book, which everyone loves. I think it would be a good idea to get more of those big colorful Disney books with simple, but not too simple stories that the kids are interested in. We took out maps and talked about the world and the seven continents. 'How many rupees to come visit you in America? How many dollars Sister? 10 dollars? More than 100 dollars?!' We showed them all the cities we flew to, to get here. They love talking about the Amazon and the giant anacondas they have seen. Zoos were a very exciting idea. We looked at a map of India and Tamil Nadu that Chandra had given us for the kids, and found everyone's native place. It was very interesting and fun. After we put away the maps, everyone wrote their own lines to a Snow White play that we'll perform tomorrow. It was fun just talking with the five oldest girls- they told us about their friends and gossip in their girls' school. We talked about how their parents would get very angry if they were friends with boys. "Indian culture is very difficult. I do not like," said Dhana Packiam, about how her family will arrange her marriage for her when she is 21, and how she's not allowed to really spend time with boys before then.
Dinner was good, rice and vegetables, finished with some toast and jam from Kodai. Afterwards we sat in the hall with the girls, laughing, reading, studying and learning Tamil. Dhana Packiam wrote hilarious jokes in our journals and sketch books. I'll share one with you guys here:
"There are four friends living. Somebody is an angry man. One day Brain is going to the toilet. Then somebody killed Nobody. So Mad called inspector. 'Sir, sir! Somebody killed Nobody, sir! Somebody killed Nobody!' 'Are you mad?' 'No, sir. I am Mad.' Called a Mad. Inspector told 'where is your brain?' 'Brain is in the bathroom sir.'"
By Dhana Packiam
You memory for this joke
You don't forget for me.
It was very funny, and we spent time learning to pronounce a lot of important Tamil words and write our names. Learning Tamil is so much fun and the girls love to teach is. Mary asked if it was normal for Americans to learn Tamil.
It's fun waking up early, once you get over the original shock. We helped with cooking before breakfast, standing in front of that big kitchen fire in the smokey kitchen with all the older girls. Wow. What a luxury to think back to our stoves. Hahaa. We grinded up coconut ("tanga" in Tamil) chutney, and spent an equal amount of time cleaning out the grinder after. By cleaning, we mean pouring a little water in a scooping all the residue out by hand, then cupping out the murky water.
We had a delicious breakfast of some kind of mix between chapatti and dhosai and some coconut chutney, that Kelsey had helped grind. Paige kicked Kelsey's butt in an intense Chess game while the kids did their sweeping. Then the intense cooking began. The kitchen women come in later on Saturday, so most of the morning it was just us and the girls. We scrubbed okra with a wet cloth and chopped it into small pieces, peeled tons of tiny onions, and chopped up tomatoes ("Takali"). It's crazy to see how much effort and time goes into cooking and preparation. No buying pre-peeled onions, and all vegetables are cooked. Rosie and Paige grinded up tomatoes, lentils, and other ingredients for a sauce in the giant mortar and pestle. 'Quickly Sister! Quick!' Muthumari said as I tried to move that giant stone in rapid circular motions and avoid crushing Rosie's hand as she pushed the food into the center of the mortar as the stone pushed them out. We cooked the okra over the fire, standing as far back as possible, reaching our spoon in the bowl to stir.
After our help was no longer needed in the kitchen, we led English classes for the elementary school girls. Incorporating Kelsey's very popular iPod, we looked at photos and wrote what we saw. We're trying to have kids sound words out, instead of relying on teachers to always spell everything for memorization. Many of the elementary school girls are quite smart, and when they are engaged classes are really productive. Paige sat with Muga and Nandhini and we learned about 'ing,' what noise it makes. The girls listed words with ing endings and I had them spell them. Expressive little Muga got really excited about it, dancing around the sleeping hall, 'the dog is dancing sister! The dog is running, the dog is sleeping, the dog is washing, the dog is going, the dog is king, the dog is beating!!!' 'Earring sister!' Ramya added while she was folding clothes. It was very fun and exciting to see them engaged in learning. Some kids still struggle a lot with English, reading and school, so it's hard to engage them. The iPod helped a bit, with fun pictures and a promise of dancing afterwards. Kelsey made them say a sentence with the word in the picture (apple, dog, clouds, sun, etc) before they could do everyone's favorite, zooming in and out of the photo.
When lessons were finished, it was time to go play the chess master, Antony, and try and redeem the sister's reputation after it was tarnished with Kelsey's infamous loss to the skinny, 5th grade Antony. After an intense game, with Paige sister concentrating very hard, despite being attacked occasionally by a pack of adorable puppies intent on biting her, sister prevailed. But it was quite challenging, with countless close calls. Antony was not deterred and I'm sure we will play again. Some Uno card playing sister, chinese checkers, and monkey in the middle occupied everyone until lunch. Kelsey impressed Sethu, Muruganadam (Snow White) and Karthi by spinning the basketball around on one finger. Muru is determined to learn, and monkey in the middle was paused for a while to practice. For lunch, we sat outside on the ground with the girls, playing (aka losing) the 'out' game. I definitely feel like we're improving, probably because our eating rice with hand technique is improving and we're learning speed eating techniques from our kids.
After lunch we listened to more music with the boys. They are learning the words to 'Right Round' and 'Gasolina.' Hahaa :) Kelsey and M+M played chess. We're still teaching a lot of the girls the basic rules of chess, but it was quite fun. Kelsey somehow won about 3 times in one game, with M+M making miraculous (and illegal) recoveries each time. We took some rest and then woke up for Saturday market at around 4.
The Saturday Market, in the middle of our little village of Kanivadi, is right next to the temple, the Christian school and the big red Communist flags. People go shopping, walking through admiring and purchasing vegetables laid out on burlap sacks and cloths on the ground. There are brightly colored vegetables and women and men measuring out their produce on hand-held scales for their customers, while others sit on the ground calling out to those walking by. We were hardly stared at all today by the townspeople, which was a pleasant surprise. Kelsey claims it's because she was wearing a shurida. One crazy man approached us, grabbing at us and talking about the Bible and money in Tamil. The people in the market screamed at the man, with one man brandishing a sugar cane and ordering him out of the market. We ate some sugar cane today too. Standing on the side of the bus, waiting, we took bites out of our canes and chewed to get the sugar juice out. We think we were the oldest people there eating sugar cane, as its mostly a little kid treat. We had fun having spitting contests with Muniyappan after we'd chewed the sugar out of our bites. An old woman in the market gave us some interesting, different kind of wider and short bananas which were quite delicious. Rani came with us into town as well, because she apparently has a fever. She's been separated from the other kids, taking tea and dinner in a separate room.
We bought chocolate in town as well, for all the children. We passed out our 33 mini Cadbury Dairy Milk bars at tea time. It's so sweet how thankful and sweet the kids are. All the kids were so happy, saying thank you, thank you, nanri, nanri sister, I love you sister over and over again after tea. Sathya shook our hands and everyone was 'very very thank you sister.' Awww. :) I love all our brothers and sisters here. They remember everything people give them. They love to talk about Shanta who came and brought them clothes. 'She's coming and bringing all the students clothes. She is your teacher? Wow! Super. I like Shanta. When is she coming again?'
We began english classes with the 10th and 11th grade girls as soon as tea was over. They read the Snow White book, which everyone loves. I think it would be a good idea to get more of those big colorful Disney books with simple, but not too simple stories that the kids are interested in. We took out maps and talked about the world and the seven continents. 'How many rupees to come visit you in America? How many dollars Sister? 10 dollars? More than 100 dollars?!' We showed them all the cities we flew to, to get here. They love talking about the Amazon and the giant anacondas they have seen. Zoos were a very exciting idea. We looked at a map of India and Tamil Nadu that Chandra had given us for the kids, and found everyone's native place. It was very interesting and fun. After we put away the maps, everyone wrote their own lines to a Snow White play that we'll perform tomorrow. It was fun just talking with the five oldest girls- they told us about their friends and gossip in their girls' school. We talked about how their parents would get very angry if they were friends with boys. "Indian culture is very difficult. I do not like," said Dhana Packiam, about how her family will arrange her marriage for her when she is 21, and how she's not allowed to really spend time with boys before then.
Dinner was good, rice and vegetables, finished with some toast and jam from Kodai. Afterwards we sat in the hall with the girls, laughing, reading, studying and learning Tamil. Dhana Packiam wrote hilarious jokes in our journals and sketch books. I'll share one with you guys here:
"There are four friends living. Somebody is an angry man. One day Brain is going to the toilet. Then somebody killed Nobody. So Mad called inspector. 'Sir, sir! Somebody killed Nobody, sir! Somebody killed Nobody!' 'Are you mad?' 'No, sir. I am Mad.' Called a Mad. Inspector told 'where is your brain?' 'Brain is in the bathroom sir.'"
By Dhana Packiam
You memory for this joke
You don't forget for me.
It was very funny, and we spent time learning to pronounce a lot of important Tamil words and write our names. Learning Tamil is so much fun and the girls love to teach is. Mary asked if it was normal for Americans to learn Tamil.
Friday, October 23, 2009
October 23rd
We woke up before any of the kids, at 5.30 this morning. It still looked as dark as night outside, and for once felt very cool, almost cold, out! At around ten to 6, the girls started to wake up, wash, brush their teeth, etc. I started to help Mary, the 11th grade girl with the huge list of English words she has to memorize. At around 6, we did yoga with Muthumari, what we had woken up early for! It was fun, just us 3. She led us through breathing exercises, stretches, different moves, and even foot massages. It was a good way to wake up!
For the next few hours, the kids did their homework and chores. This is when the big daily Bethania dirt sweep takes place, which we hear from our rooms most mornings. Each child is in charge of a section of land, where they sweep all the leaves and garbage out of their spot of ground. Some kids grind grain to feed chickens, get water for the kitchen, feed the animals, etc.
Kelsey then helped the kitchen ladies grind up coconut chutney. We sat on stools around a huge stone grinder that goes up to my knees. With a big cylindrical stone with a wood handle, we spun the pestle around fast, smashing up lentils, white coconut pieces, peppers, and green leaves, while pouring in water.
It was nice waking up so early, having a lot more time with the kids and to help out, before school. After breakfast the kids left for school and we did some field work with GP. We filled up huge pink and orange jugs with water we pumped from the well and then carried them to fields where we dumped them on the dry hard ground. The well keeps going dry which is frustrating. We jumped up and down, throwing our weight on the pump, while the kitchen ladies looked on laughing. We watered these vegetable vines while GP worked. After thoroughly drenching the plants we went to work removing stones from around the roots and the throughout the field. We took a nice break to pet our three adorable baby cows a while. The youngest likes to lie around and wait for Paige to put its food inside of its mouth. The other one appreciated some good ear scratching by Kelsey. We had some refreshing lime juice during our break. After, we did a bit of wash, trying to conserve as much water as possible, leaving us with slightly dirty clothes. Smacking the laundry on the tiles was still as fun as ever though.
After our delicious lunch, we collapsed for a well deserved nap after cooking, field work and washing since 5.30 in the sun. Muthumari came home from school and asked if our day was more 'brisk' because of yoga this morning. She says that if we keep practicing every day, in no time we'll touch our feet to our head like she can. Hahaa. We'll see.
When the kids came home, after tea and snack, games began. We played ball and tag with the boys. Taught Chess and of course there was some 'Uno card playing sister.' There is some definite improvement in the Chess skills at Bethania. We sewed up the ball where it ripped yesterday. Today Peanut (a dog who is very afraid of fireworks. During Deepavali he hid under our bed and in our bathroom and shook for the next three days) attacked one of the geese. This goose is white and looks like the typical goose with orange feet and orange bill. Today I saw Pandi wrestling with this goose by the kitchen, and I sprinted over, ready to enforce the 'no beating goose brother rule.' But Pandi and Mani showed us where Peanut had bit the goose's wing. Pandi held down the goose's body, MK held his head down and his beak closed while Mani applied medicine to the duck's wounds. Muga petted the goose's head too. 'I very like is goose. Very super' Nandhini told us. It's very sweet how all the kids care for the animals here.
The kids had Christmas practice and we prepared our lesson for the 7th and 8th standard boys. We had all the boys read a page of a section of snow white, then we cast characters for a play. It was very sweet and hilarious. Smart Satish, after refusing to write down his lines impressed and surprised us with his narrating skills. 'Snow White is running in the forest. What happens next? Watch and see!' Muruganadam (Joker) got himself a new nickname, Snow White. And Mani announced, "I am a squirrel. I am helping Snow White to clean!" Meanwhile Muruganadam, Mani and Chella pretended to sweep the ground. It was a bit challenging to get everyone to write their own lines and pay attention while other boys were reading, but they enjoyed acting it out a lot, and of course watching themselves back on Kelsey's camera is the best part.
After dinner, of delicious chapatis and two sauces and rice and papadam, we hung out with the girls on the hall. Ramya and Paige did their hair funny tied in mirroring knots on the side of their heads, and sat side by side for a photo. Saraswathi and Muthumari taught Paige some more Tamil, to write in her journal. I'm learning how to write my name in Tamil. It's super Sister! Kelsey played Chess with M+M and Veni before everyone said 'Iravu Vanakam' and went to sleep. Waking up early tomorrow too, for yoga. Wow. Waking up at 6 on a weekend. Only in India!
For the next few hours, the kids did their homework and chores. This is when the big daily Bethania dirt sweep takes place, which we hear from our rooms most mornings. Each child is in charge of a section of land, where they sweep all the leaves and garbage out of their spot of ground. Some kids grind grain to feed chickens, get water for the kitchen, feed the animals, etc.
Kelsey then helped the kitchen ladies grind up coconut chutney. We sat on stools around a huge stone grinder that goes up to my knees. With a big cylindrical stone with a wood handle, we spun the pestle around fast, smashing up lentils, white coconut pieces, peppers, and green leaves, while pouring in water.
It was nice waking up so early, having a lot more time with the kids and to help out, before school. After breakfast the kids left for school and we did some field work with GP. We filled up huge pink and orange jugs with water we pumped from the well and then carried them to fields where we dumped them on the dry hard ground. The well keeps going dry which is frustrating. We jumped up and down, throwing our weight on the pump, while the kitchen ladies looked on laughing. We watered these vegetable vines while GP worked. After thoroughly drenching the plants we went to work removing stones from around the roots and the throughout the field. We took a nice break to pet our three adorable baby cows a while. The youngest likes to lie around and wait for Paige to put its food inside of its mouth. The other one appreciated some good ear scratching by Kelsey. We had some refreshing lime juice during our break. After, we did a bit of wash, trying to conserve as much water as possible, leaving us with slightly dirty clothes. Smacking the laundry on the tiles was still as fun as ever though.
After our delicious lunch, we collapsed for a well deserved nap after cooking, field work and washing since 5.30 in the sun. Muthumari came home from school and asked if our day was more 'brisk' because of yoga this morning. She says that if we keep practicing every day, in no time we'll touch our feet to our head like she can. Hahaa. We'll see.
When the kids came home, after tea and snack, games began. We played ball and tag with the boys. Taught Chess and of course there was some 'Uno card playing sister.' There is some definite improvement in the Chess skills at Bethania. We sewed up the ball where it ripped yesterday. Today Peanut (a dog who is very afraid of fireworks. During Deepavali he hid under our bed and in our bathroom and shook for the next three days) attacked one of the geese. This goose is white and looks like the typical goose with orange feet and orange bill. Today I saw Pandi wrestling with this goose by the kitchen, and I sprinted over, ready to enforce the 'no beating goose brother rule.' But Pandi and Mani showed us where Peanut had bit the goose's wing. Pandi held down the goose's body, MK held his head down and his beak closed while Mani applied medicine to the duck's wounds. Muga petted the goose's head too. 'I very like is goose. Very super' Nandhini told us. It's very sweet how all the kids care for the animals here.
The kids had Christmas practice and we prepared our lesson for the 7th and 8th standard boys. We had all the boys read a page of a section of snow white, then we cast characters for a play. It was very sweet and hilarious. Smart Satish, after refusing to write down his lines impressed and surprised us with his narrating skills. 'Snow White is running in the forest. What happens next? Watch and see!' Muruganadam (Joker) got himself a new nickname, Snow White. And Mani announced, "I am a squirrel. I am helping Snow White to clean!" Meanwhile Muruganadam, Mani and Chella pretended to sweep the ground. It was a bit challenging to get everyone to write their own lines and pay attention while other boys were reading, but they enjoyed acting it out a lot, and of course watching themselves back on Kelsey's camera is the best part.
After dinner, of delicious chapatis and two sauces and rice and papadam, we hung out with the girls on the hall. Ramya and Paige did their hair funny tied in mirroring knots on the side of their heads, and sat side by side for a photo. Saraswathi and Muthumari taught Paige some more Tamil, to write in her journal. I'm learning how to write my name in Tamil. It's super Sister! Kelsey played Chess with M+M and Veni before everyone said 'Iravu Vanakam' and went to sleep. Waking up early tomorrow too, for yoga. Wow. Waking up at 6 on a weekend. Only in India!
October 22nd
After field work this morning, we went for a hike up the mountain. Followed by Zues and Heylia, we walked up the gorgeous mountain side in the sun, taking in the beauty and capturing it in many pictures. The plains are covered with squares of tall palm trees, and speckled with houses here and there. The flat land is interrupted in a few places where randomly there are stone hills sticking up into the blue sky, with temples at their peaks. Butterflies flutter around the flowers, and the cows graze in the adjacent pastures. The dogs waited for us in the shade of cactus plants, acting as our snake watch-outs.
Our Tamil has been improving greatly. We know counting from 1 to 10 well, and Kelsey can count up to 20 with a little bit of help :) some of our daily phrases are:
"Sotiram"- Praise the Lord (after prayer each child says this to us)
"Calle vanakam"- Good morning
"Malay vanakam"- Good evening
"Iravu vanakam" - Good night
"Naanre"- Thank you
"Nan unay nesecarain"- I love you
"Cherri"- Okay
We get a lot of practice speaking here, and have picked up a lot of other vocabulary. We're a far way from forming real sentences, but are making progress! Next step is learning Tamil letters which will be more difficult! There are a lot of sounds which we don't even have in our alphabet and in the English language that we have to learn to make. Naming is also very different, and the girls were confused why our full names don't start with the first letter of our father's name. I explained how we have first, middle, and family name to Rani, and now she recites my entire name to me. "Kelsey Sanborn, family name!" Rani is very smart and wants to become a doctor when she is older. She studies English and Math diligently.
When the kids came home, we played handball and monkey in the middle with the boys. Playing handball was quite fun, racing up and down the playground and enforcing the 'no beating brother' rule. We also taught chess to some girls who had never played before. Little Antony actually beat Kelsey in chess! At first he just copied every move I made, and before I knew it, I had no pieces left! He's a smart boy. Skinny little Antony, who slouches like an old man and was coughing with a fever just a few days ago, is a Chess Master.
At night, we did English with the 8th and 9th grade girls. We read a section from Snow White, with each girl reading a page. We then had them all choose characters- Snow White, dwarfs, the prince, the Queen, the animal friends- and they wrote their own lines. It was nice to let them be creative for a change rather than just memorizing things! At the end, we filmed it on the camera, and all the girls loved to watch themselves. It was really funny. We changed the story a bit, because the picture of Snow White baking a pie is actually Snow White making chapatis here.
Snow White says, "I am cooking chapatis. I love chapatis."
Her animal friend, the deer, says, "All the animals are helping cook chapatis. But I am eating chapatis!"
At night we helped girls with homework and looked through pictures from Deepavali. They told us to mail them some from America when we print them out! We probably have taken over 2000 pictures here, so we have a lot to choose from.
Our Tamil has been improving greatly. We know counting from 1 to 10 well, and Kelsey can count up to 20 with a little bit of help :) some of our daily phrases are:
"Sotiram"- Praise the Lord (after prayer each child says this to us)
"Calle vanakam"- Good morning
"Malay vanakam"- Good evening
"Iravu vanakam" - Good night
"Naanre"- Thank you
"Nan unay nesecarain"- I love you
"Cherri"- Okay
We get a lot of practice speaking here, and have picked up a lot of other vocabulary. We're a far way from forming real sentences, but are making progress! Next step is learning Tamil letters which will be more difficult! There are a lot of sounds which we don't even have in our alphabet and in the English language that we have to learn to make. Naming is also very different, and the girls were confused why our full names don't start with the first letter of our father's name. I explained how we have first, middle, and family name to Rani, and now she recites my entire name to me. "Kelsey Sanborn, family name!" Rani is very smart and wants to become a doctor when she is older. She studies English and Math diligently.
When the kids came home, we played handball and monkey in the middle with the boys. Playing handball was quite fun, racing up and down the playground and enforcing the 'no beating brother' rule. We also taught chess to some girls who had never played before. Little Antony actually beat Kelsey in chess! At first he just copied every move I made, and before I knew it, I had no pieces left! He's a smart boy. Skinny little Antony, who slouches like an old man and was coughing with a fever just a few days ago, is a Chess Master.
At night, we did English with the 8th and 9th grade girls. We read a section from Snow White, with each girl reading a page. We then had them all choose characters- Snow White, dwarfs, the prince, the Queen, the animal friends- and they wrote their own lines. It was nice to let them be creative for a change rather than just memorizing things! At the end, we filmed it on the camera, and all the girls loved to watch themselves. It was really funny. We changed the story a bit, because the picture of Snow White baking a pie is actually Snow White making chapatis here.
Snow White says, "I am cooking chapatis. I love chapatis."
Her animal friend, the deer, says, "All the animals are helping cook chapatis. But I am eating chapatis!"
At night we helped girls with homework and looked through pictures from Deepavali. They told us to mail them some from America when we print them out! We probably have taken over 2000 pictures here, so we have a lot to choose from.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
October 20th and 21st
On Tuesday after breakfast we did more field work, removing stones from another plot of land. It was really hot out, and changed to kitchen work after about an hour. We peeled the small onions for a while with two women. Our hands still smell of them as a souvenir of our work. Its difficult, especially considering the massive quantity of onions we consume here. Those, tomatoes, and peppers are the primary staples here, along with rice of course.
We had our lunch at 1, after a shower (exciting new development- we recently realized that the guest cottage has running water from an actual shower head! So we got to take a real shower not involving a cup and bucket. It was strange actually having two hands to use, instead of one pouring a cup. Oh, how easily we get excited here... It was great!) We read and rested for a while until tea when the kids came home a little before 5. We then played some chess and Uno with the boys, the younger girls came up with an inexplicable version of Chinese checkers. Yet to figure out how anyone actually wins in that game. We gave Muniyappan the song lyrics he'd requested, and he proceeded to diligently study them while listening to the song on repeat. What a good student. The boys taught me proper technique for how to throw a spinning top off a string. Next step is learning their game, where they all stand in a circle, throw the tops in and try to hit each others, or get it in a circle drawn in the dirt. Still don't really understand that one... I love these kids.
Much of the evening was spent on English studying. Each night is dedicated to one subject, the same for students of every grade level, and Tuesday is English homework night. We had the girls read their poems and stories to us, helping them with pronunciation. They did well, and it's easy to tell how much time they spend in class repeating and memorizing the same sentences over and over again. They memorize questions as well as pre-formulated answers from their text books about prose or poems too. They probably have limited understanding of these poems they have memorized, but can recite them well. I had some problems with Nandhini though, and tried unsuccessfully to get her to say the word "artist" about 20 times. We compromised with her sticking with "Arshchess"... close enough!
With the grade 9 girls we learned about the internet and computers. They were really excited about the idea of email. 'When I go to Dindigul sister. When you are in America. I will write you an email letter Sister!' 'Super Sister!' We read passages about the internet in their text books and drew and labeled parts of the computer.
Through most of the night and starting again early Wednesday morning, we could hear music from a wedding. Muthimari told us that it is her friend's sister's wedding, going on in Kanivadi. The bride is 18, right out of high school. The wedding probably will go on for three days, typical for Hindu weddings. It's crazy to think that it's normal for girls our age to be getting married and starting a family, so young!
Wednesday morning started with our normal getting water challenge. We carry down our two big shower buckets, over to the big rain water tanks. We fill them up and lug them back up the stairs, dodging dogs and trying to spill as little as possible. We got to witness a particularly amusing dog and cow chase this morning as well. The dogs all start barking and those cows start running, the little puppies, following behind their parents, barking and yowling. Literally an entire family of dogs chased this one young cow, its nose rope dragging in the dirt behind it. This is a daily occurrence.
We spent the morning doing our normal stone-moving out in the sun. It's still really warm here. At 4 we went to pick up the kids in the Bethania bus! It was really fun. We had to sit in the bus for a while with all of the elementary school kids while we waited for high school to finish at 4.30. We played thumb wars, rock paper scissors and other hand games in the hot bus. Other students coming out of school all came to surround the bus to see us and bang on the windows. "Very bad, sister. Beating , sister." They helped protect us by shutting all the windows and doors on the sweltering bus, to show their love :) it took a while to convince them that 8 year old children harassing us wasn't as bad as suffocating! We sang songs and watched Zues, Bethania's big Labrador, chase the bus the way home.
When we came home, we played some ball games like monkey in the middle and our version of handball, while the older boys played cricket. The kids were doing their wash, but the well has dried up. We've been in a drought the whole time here- the soil is dry and cracked, and the plants aren't growing well. There are some large tanks of rainwater here, but with 40 people here, we need a sustainable, steady water supply! The kids jumped up and down, pumping and pumping the water pump, but no water is coming out. Little Muga came over, 'sister! No water! I am very very angry Sister!'
This evening after Christmas practice, we did English lessons with the 10 boys. We read parts of Snow White to them, and had them draw pictures and label important objects. Then we tested them. They all got tests with the pictures (houses, brooms) that they had to name. We also gave them some word jumbles to help them with their spelling. It was a good exercise, but difficult as always because of the different levels in the group. The boys all help each other too. In the end, we always go through and correct them with each kid and have him read the correct answers. It was really a fun learning exercise and they all love the bright colors and the drawings of the big snow white book. We read aloud and then discussed the story, pointing out vocabulary, and learning new words.
After dinner we sat with the older girls in the hall to help them with homework, our nightly ritual. I helped Saraswathi pronounce a list of 200 words and their abbreviations. Most of the words seem really strange and not useful in everyday life at all. Not sure why 10th grade students need to memorize what "UNESCO", "FBI", "CIA", "BBC" and "UNICEF" stand for, when they don't even know what these things are! Paige worked with Mary on a list of similarly not useful words, such as "adieu" and "barbarous", that they need to memorize the pronunciation but not know the meanings of. They have to memorize more than 200 words like this, 'Baroness, adjunct, awkward, abscess..' We have many issues that we want to discuss with whoever is writing these Tamil Nadu state English books!
We had our lunch at 1, after a shower (exciting new development- we recently realized that the guest cottage has running water from an actual shower head! So we got to take a real shower not involving a cup and bucket. It was strange actually having two hands to use, instead of one pouring a cup. Oh, how easily we get excited here... It was great!) We read and rested for a while until tea when the kids came home a little before 5. We then played some chess and Uno with the boys, the younger girls came up with an inexplicable version of Chinese checkers. Yet to figure out how anyone actually wins in that game. We gave Muniyappan the song lyrics he'd requested, and he proceeded to diligently study them while listening to the song on repeat. What a good student. The boys taught me proper technique for how to throw a spinning top off a string. Next step is learning their game, where they all stand in a circle, throw the tops in and try to hit each others, or get it in a circle drawn in the dirt. Still don't really understand that one... I love these kids.
Much of the evening was spent on English studying. Each night is dedicated to one subject, the same for students of every grade level, and Tuesday is English homework night. We had the girls read their poems and stories to us, helping them with pronunciation. They did well, and it's easy to tell how much time they spend in class repeating and memorizing the same sentences over and over again. They memorize questions as well as pre-formulated answers from their text books about prose or poems too. They probably have limited understanding of these poems they have memorized, but can recite them well. I had some problems with Nandhini though, and tried unsuccessfully to get her to say the word "artist" about 20 times. We compromised with her sticking with "Arshchess"... close enough!
With the grade 9 girls we learned about the internet and computers. They were really excited about the idea of email. 'When I go to Dindigul sister. When you are in America. I will write you an email letter Sister!' 'Super Sister!' We read passages about the internet in their text books and drew and labeled parts of the computer.
Through most of the night and starting again early Wednesday morning, we could hear music from a wedding. Muthimari told us that it is her friend's sister's wedding, going on in Kanivadi. The bride is 18, right out of high school. The wedding probably will go on for three days, typical for Hindu weddings. It's crazy to think that it's normal for girls our age to be getting married and starting a family, so young!
Wednesday morning started with our normal getting water challenge. We carry down our two big shower buckets, over to the big rain water tanks. We fill them up and lug them back up the stairs, dodging dogs and trying to spill as little as possible. We got to witness a particularly amusing dog and cow chase this morning as well. The dogs all start barking and those cows start running, the little puppies, following behind their parents, barking and yowling. Literally an entire family of dogs chased this one young cow, its nose rope dragging in the dirt behind it. This is a daily occurrence.
We spent the morning doing our normal stone-moving out in the sun. It's still really warm here. At 4 we went to pick up the kids in the Bethania bus! It was really fun. We had to sit in the bus for a while with all of the elementary school kids while we waited for high school to finish at 4.30. We played thumb wars, rock paper scissors and other hand games in the hot bus. Other students coming out of school all came to surround the bus to see us and bang on the windows. "Very bad, sister. Beating , sister." They helped protect us by shutting all the windows and doors on the sweltering bus, to show their love :) it took a while to convince them that 8 year old children harassing us wasn't as bad as suffocating! We sang songs and watched Zues, Bethania's big Labrador, chase the bus the way home.
When we came home, we played some ball games like monkey in the middle and our version of handball, while the older boys played cricket. The kids were doing their wash, but the well has dried up. We've been in a drought the whole time here- the soil is dry and cracked, and the plants aren't growing well. There are some large tanks of rainwater here, but with 40 people here, we need a sustainable, steady water supply! The kids jumped up and down, pumping and pumping the water pump, but no water is coming out. Little Muga came over, 'sister! No water! I am very very angry Sister!'
This evening after Christmas practice, we did English lessons with the 10 boys. We read parts of Snow White to them, and had them draw pictures and label important objects. Then we tested them. They all got tests with the pictures (houses, brooms) that they had to name. We also gave them some word jumbles to help them with their spelling. It was a good exercise, but difficult as always because of the different levels in the group. The boys all help each other too. In the end, we always go through and correct them with each kid and have him read the correct answers. It was really a fun learning exercise and they all love the bright colors and the drawings of the big snow white book. We read aloud and then discussed the story, pointing out vocabulary, and learning new words.
After dinner we sat with the older girls in the hall to help them with homework, our nightly ritual. I helped Saraswathi pronounce a list of 200 words and their abbreviations. Most of the words seem really strange and not useful in everyday life at all. Not sure why 10th grade students need to memorize what "UNESCO", "FBI", "CIA", "BBC" and "UNICEF" stand for, when they don't even know what these things are! Paige worked with Mary on a list of similarly not useful words, such as "adieu" and "barbarous", that they need to memorize the pronunciation but not know the meanings of. They have to memorize more than 200 words like this, 'Baroness, adjunct, awkward, abscess..' We have many issues that we want to discuss with whoever is writing these Tamil Nadu state English books!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
