India update!

Sorry you haven't heard from me in 3 weeks. Haven't checked my email since the last time I posted (i.e. for the past 3-4 weeks!). Have already promised myself to check my email and update once a week (if possible - we have to visit internet cafes...).

Well, remember I wrote about a wedding I found out about the day after I arrived? It was on the 6th of September, and I played! I can now add that to my resume (in case I ever have to write one: wedding 'organist' - it was actually a keyboard). The funny thing is, right before the bride came down the aisle, the electricity went out, and she had to wait until I could resume playing my 'march'. I also played for a song that the teachers sang for the couple, and I would have played more had I not 'kindly' told the bridegroom earlier (he had told me - not asked me! - to play at his wedding) that I "cannot play for everyone at your wedding" (my exact words. He was quiet after that). :) I explained that playing a Western instrument (with Western chords) with a Indian song sounds awful (which it does - they don't seem to understand this concept. You can play anything, and they'll think it's nice).

The first week of September (after the students' exams - which I didn't have to mark - YAY!) was a holiday, so I got to know Indian life and cooking, and bought a couple of sarees! Monday the 11th of September, we started school. That day, I found out who and what I'd be teaching. I'm teaching grades 3, 4, 6, and 7, and I'm only teaching 'moral', which is basically bible lessons: I tell the students a story from the bible, and they have to answer questions about it. That's all - but that's boring! So I'll have to think of interesting things to do with them. The problem is that the students are taught to memorise everything. They do not understand the concept of thinking for themselves, and answering questions on their own. They always ask me to write the answers on the board, which I refuse to do. They cannot think critically! It's terrible! (I could go on a huge rant about this, but I'll leave that for a future email - this one's going to be long enough as it is).
I teach 15 periods a week, which is more than Cristy, the Mexican volunteer (who lives in the US), teaches: she only teaches 10 periods a week, plus she has grades 5, 8, 9, and 10, which are easier to handle because they LISTEN when you ask them to - something all my classes (except 7th) still have to learn.
It's way to early to tell whether I'm liking this teaching thing, seeing as I'm still trying to get used to the school system (memorisation!), and am trying to come up with ways to ease my students out of that...I'll work on it. If you have suggestions, I'm open to them!

The food here is excellent! It's actually much easier for me to eat Indian 3 times a day than I thought (they have specific breakfast dishes, so most of the time breakfast is still different from the other two meals). However, they stuff me! THey always force me to eat much (but I don't give in! Yay for noemi!), and then laugh at the fact that I eat '5 grains of rice' for lunch (not true). I've learned to live with it. It's not that bad, really. Our neighbours cook for us most of the time. We usually bring over a dish (salad or curry), and when they make chappathi we always go over and help them, but they do feed us most of the time. They're so sweet! I'm so thankful to have them there, because they make us feel so at home. Pratheeba (the mother) cooks SO well, and yesterday I sat her down and squeezed about 10 recipes out of her. I'm building up a Indian recipe book, so when I leave I can continue cooking the food.

The weather is usually rainy. Sunny days are such a novelty, and we enjoy them so much (because we can finally do washing!). It's also much colder than I expected. Some days I'll walk around in a sweater, and some nights were cold). But now I've adjusted (somehwhat), and I'm doing fine.

I love the friendliness of the people here. You go into a shop to buy something, and you leave with what you've bought (more than you were planning on buying!) and a new friend. It's amazing!
Of course, as the only foreigners we get a lot of attention. When I first came, I'd jump off the road when a car honked at us from the back, but now we've realised that they do that just to tell you you're coming; most of the time you're in no imminent danger. However, we also realised that they honk at us especially, just to get our attention. Fortunately there aren't any cows roaming around freely here, so we don't have to worry about them. :)

I'm getting along well with Cristy. We already have so many inside jokes! We've started documenting them on posters in my room (because I didn't bring anything to decorate my room!) :) The posters are already really full!
At times I'll want some time alone, so I can retreat to my room, but most of the time we spend together in the living room, talking, playing guitar and singing (she's taught me how to play the guitar! And when we go borrow the principal's violin, she'll teach me the basics of it, too! Doesn't quite make up for the lack of a piano here, though. I miss it. Even though the school has a keyboard [not full length], I haven't used it ofen). It's great to have someone you can talk to about the culture here (things we wouldn't want to be telling locals). :)

2 days ago she even taught me how to wear a saree! Once I'm finished here, I'll go home and practise. Oh, and I found a scorpion in my room yesterday evening. A bit freaky, really. It was only small, but apparently they're rare around here, so finding one in my room did freak me out a bit...

Missing you all lots, and thinking about all. Let me know how you are, and leave comments so I know someone's actually interested in reading all this!

Signing off...

~noemi