Go, go, go...

Week number 3 down and I'm not slowing down...

School...

I'm about to start my 4th week and I can't believe how time has flown by. Last week we had back to school and 11 out of my 14 parents showed up! The night wasn't much different from a back to school night at home... two sessions so parents could have the opportunity to meet multiple children's teachers. Refreshments... well that was a little different, yummy Indian food! THEN on Saturday there was a school picnic... oh my gosh, what a picnic! Huge tents set up, people dressed up in different Disney character costumes, food like you wouldn't believe, huge fields for the kids to play around on, the gym, pool, and roof top (yes roof top) tennis courts were open for different age group rotations. It was pretty impressive.

*The entrance

*Look at all those tables... they were filled with people!

Kamini, Anne, Ashley and myself serving drinks at the picnic :)

Social Life...

I continue to take my pilates class every Tuesday and Thursday. It is wonderfully relaxing, especially after leaving a stressful day of work and then sitting in traffic with all the car horns blowing.

This past weekend I went to Ideal Beach Resort. It's about an hour down the coast from where I live. It was wonderful there and so nice to escape the busy city. I spent the day on the beach lying in a hammock!

*THE BEACH!!!

*My Hammock

*Reading in the hammock

*The fisherman's boats just next to the resort.

I have also just begun doing some volunteer work at a local orphanage, The House of Hope. The orphanage is here in Chennai and homes children who were effected by the Tsunami. The children living in the House of Hope either had one or both of their parents die in the Tsunami. On Friday the group of us that are volunteering went to meet the children and have a small ice cream party with them. The children were so happy and polite, I'm very much looking forward to working with them. I will be going every Wednesday with Kate to do an art lesson with the children.

This week, some time, I'm off to see about getting a treadmill and turning my empty room into an exercise room. I'm itching to run and there aren't any safe areas, away from all of the traffic, around my flat or the school. Also looked into doing a race (possibly a half marathon) here in India... wow the reviews for the races were horrible. "Disorganized, not enough water, people and traffic in the way... During one race the person who won was disqualified for not following the official car even though the official car didn't go the correct route and the winning runner did!" So we shall see... maybe I'll take a weekend and do one up north where it's cooler and the races are supposed to be a little better organized. It would be cool to say I ran a half marathon in INDIA!

WOW spice!

So today was the first day my maid (I feel silly and slightly snobby American saying I have a maid), but anyways, she is great, super friendly, and tells me about all the places to shop! Anyways back to what I was saying... Today was the first day, Selena (my maid), cooked for me! Oh boy that first bite was delicious and then WOW, POW, SPICE!!! Ahhh, I think I downed an entire bottle of apple juice and half a loaf of bread (ok so maybe that's a little bit of an exaggeration) but it was spicy! I'm definitely going to have to tell her to tone down the spices for my American tongue!!!

Ganesh Chaturthi

The birthday of the Hindu god Ganesh is known as Ganesh Chaturthi and is celebrated on August 23 this year. Ganesh, the elephant- headed god is not only the god of wisdom and success but also the Remover of Obstacles. He has the head of an elephant and is plump with a prominent pot belly! Many Hindu homes, shops and temples have an image of Ganesh over the main doorway to ward off any evil. His blessings are invoked before beginning anything important such as starting a business venture, getting married, constructing a house and even before embarking on a long journey. Even other gods worship Ganesh before a new beginning.

Beautiful clay images of Ganesh are made for worship on Ganesh Chaturthi. After prayers and offerings have been made to the clay image, it is taken in procession to the sea or river for immersion. Special sweets like laddu and steamed rice dumplings stuffed with jaggery and coconut known in Tamil Nadu as ‘Kollakotai” are made for the occasion.

Ganesh is also called Ganesha or Ganapathi. As Remover of obstacles (vighna) he is called Vighnesa, Vighneshwara, Vighnaraja and Vinayaka(leader).
All Hindu Gods have a vehicle and Ganesh rides a mouse. He is man, elephant and mouse in one and has a solution for every problem.

There are many stories about Ganesh and how he came to be. The most widespread story goes like this… ..
Goddess Parvati wanted a follower who would be loyal to her above all else. So she created a beautiful son and told him to stop anyone from entering her chambers. When lord Shiva, Parvati’s husband was stopped by this boy Shiva was furious and chopped off his head! Parvati appeared when she heard the shrieks and was in tears as she told Shiva that the victim was her son and he must restore his life immediately. The first passing animal was an elephant and Shiva used the elephant head to restore life to the boy. He also promised Parvati that the child would be the lord of the followers and be worshipped by all the gods.

Getting out There!

It's barely two weeks into my life in India and boy did I hit the ground running. My first week I didn't seem much more than my apartment and school as I was trying to make a classroom out of not very much at all and catch up on my severe case of jet lag. As the weekend rolled around I was feeling like I finally had recovered from the jet lag and well... that classroom was what it was going to be until I received more supplies.

Friday nights so far... well the two that I've been here for... seem to be teacher happy hour nights. Which is great! Like I mentioned before there aren't many places to drink, alcohol is only served at hotels. Conveniently enough there is a hotel within a 5 minute walk from my place... PERFECT!!! Some of us are going to check it out tomorrow evening. It's not supposed to be as nice as some of the other hotel bars but it's close and they have alcohol!

Last Friday I met up with some teachers and we went to a restaurant called Eden's. It was delicious, my first real taste of Indian food! I had this amazing coconut and cashew curry. But what was even more amazing was the cost of the meal! Ten dollars got me... are you ready for this... my delicious coconut and cashew curry, a bed of rice, 2 buttered naan (basically a buttered tortilla), a big bottle of water and a brownie sundae!

Naan

Coconut and Cashew Curry

After dinner we had quite an adventure. Eleven of us squeezed into an SUV of one of the teachers and traveled 30 minutes across town, in Indian traffic, which is not the smoothest or safest of rides, to a hotel bar. We met up with 15 or so more teachers and had a great time getting to know each other and for those of us who were new learning some insider information on how different things worked around town. About halfway through our evening a few of us girls found ourselves in the bathroom (yes we travel to the bathroom together, even/especially in India) chatting. When in walks two girls looking very NY, but of Indian decent... out of the blue one girl turns around, throws here hands up in the air and yells AMERICANS! I find myself giving one of those confused, probably not one of the most friendly, looks... for a split second I'm trying to figure out do I know this girl, is she being friendly, does she hate Americans, and then instantly she yells, I'M AMERICAN TOO! Haha, how cute and funny, well the long and short of it was this girls is 22, maybe 23, she came to India in September, after graduating from NYU to do some volunteer work before starting a career back in the US. Well she is not returning to the US now, she met a man here, fell in love, they were engaged by December, she went home for a month or so, came back and got married in May! Wow... talk about a whirlwind, she seemed happy and extremely friendly, took our numbers and said she'd be in touch. She was so excited to be around so many Americans especially when we told her that there were more of us :)

Saturday brought some adventures as well... another new teacher, Terry, and I went out and did some walking and exploring around our town Adyar, which is in the city of Chennai. Chennai is absolutely huge! We walked around to a few shops then made our way back to my apartment to catch a taxi we hired... 3 hours for $10, I know craziness! We went to a shopping mall (not quite what your picturing I'm sure) but nice enough and did some looking around. A lot of things had or were elephant patterned so I bought myself an elephant key chain and a small wristlet with an elephant imprint. I also bought a beautiful blue printed shawl, which I'm not using as a shawl but have placed over the back of my couch to add some color and decoration to the apartment.

After returning home I ventured out on my own to buy some groceries, about a 15-20 minute walk down the street to the store. I also have a wonderful fruit stand about a 2 minute walk from my place, which is another shocking price story. Eight bananas, one papaya, are you ready for this... 40 rupees (47 rupees = $1)!!!

Random sights on Saturday...

wedding car

*Read the sign closely*

Earthquake!!!

YES!!! There was and EARTHQUAKE here!!! I woke up at 1am to my bed shaking, boy was that the craziest thing ever! I was in such a deep sleep and was so confused, I couldn't quite figure out if my bed was shaking or not... I turned on the light put my foot on the floor it was so weird, it didn't seem to me that anything else was shaking, but I guess it was! It went on for a good 10 minutes stopped and then started up again. Actually I was so out of it that I thought maybe my place was haunted (my cell phone light randomly turned on also)! Yay, yay... go ahead and laugh, I did! In the morning when I woke up my first thought was "Ok that definitely happened I remember turning on the light and trying to figure out what was going on." The first thing I did was try to make my bed move, I shook it from the end and then sat on it and tried bouncing to see how much it would move and boy was that thing solid! It didn't move at all!

The earthquake wasn't actually in Chennai, it's epicenter was around the Andaman Islands, off the coast of India. Click here for details!

School Days

So my classroom isn't quite finished, I'm still waiting on more bookcases, as you can see all the books are piled up on the tables at the moment (but at least I have books)! Like I mentioned in my last post my students are from all over the world. I had them write where they visited this summer, I think almost every continent was touch with the exception of Antarctica and maybe Africa, pretty incredible! The students are fairly well behaved but that could also have to do with the fact that there are only 14 of them. All of my students with the exception of 2 or 3 are all English language learners. They are all very eager learners and should make for a fun and exciting year. My classroom is my classroom unlike in the states where I had to teach what they told me, when they told me, how they told me! It's a bit challenging at the moment because I'm used to having more of a direct curriculum but I know it's going to be fun and exciting being able to implement things I wish I could have done before but there just wasn't time!

Oh yeah... the kids call us by our 1st names so I am Miss Coleen, I love it!

*From the entrance
*From the windows (opposite of the entrance) door to the left connects to another 3rd grade classroom

*From the back entrance side corner
*From the my desk (front of the room farthest from the entrance)

Tid Bits

Just a few little tid bits of information that I've learned so far... per my mother's request ;)

*When riding on Auto rickshaw (auto) cover your mouth with a scarf to avoid inhaling all of the fumes and pollution from the many cars on the road.

*Which I hailed on my own auto today, my very first time! Yes, I'm a bit proud of myself :) I have also discovered that I am in need of a scarf to put around my head to keep my hair from blowing all over the place! I know it's part of the experience but I've experienced it a few times now and don't think I want to experience it for the next 2 year ;)

*The large amounts of jewelery (specifically gold) that Indians wear is placed on different parts of the body as thought to be an equalizer. It is not so much a religious practice as a spiritual practice to balance the body by placing gold (often silver, because of the cost) on the wrists, toes, ears, nose, fingers, and neck.

*Which leads me to my next tid bit... I'm getting my nose pierced... I think I need to be balanced ;) Haha... I've always wanted to and well I needed a teaching job so I opted not to, so here is my chance, Sorry Mom :) everybody's doing it ;)

Hard at Work

Cleaning here seems almost like a ritual. Each day there are people outside sweeping the sidewalks, spraying off the front steps, cleaning pots on the street corner, etc. which in its self seems so ironic when you look around and see the garbage just lying in the streets.


Each morning as I walk out onto my balcony I see my one neighbor busy working and cleaning. No matter when I'm out in the morning she is always cleaning something! Usually I see her sweeping the front steps/walkway. This morning though I was lucky to observe her washing clothes no washing machine or washing board, only a cinderblock, scrub brush and a small bucket of water, Watch the video below...

Some things never change...

I've been in school since Wednesday (including Saturday and Sunday) unpacking/setting up my classroom (sound familiar)... yup same thing I'd be doing in the states! Also needless to say I don't have everything I need to set up my classroom, guess that's how setting up a new building goes.

It's not all complaints though...
*I have only 14 students (only 2 are American, the majority are S. Korean and French, the others are from Australia, Japan, Germany, Hungary, Israel)
*I have 8 (yes 8) 45 minute specials throughout the week!
*I have a 10:15-10:30 morning snack/recess break (just like when I was in New Zealand)
*All of my beginner ESOL kids are pulled out during the entire reading block (that leaves me with about 10 students for reading) AND I am NOT responsible for their reading grade (makes sense since I don't even see them for reading)
*There is one aid for the 5 3rd grade rooms which means that I get her two mornings and two afternoons a week!

I will have pictures of my classroom and school to post soon! It's still a work in progress!

First Indian Experience

My first night out in India... on the beach at a hotel for some drinks with a few other teachers :) Hotels are the only place where they are allowed to serve alcohol.

Arrival

As I flew into Chennai a wave of nervousness overtook me... was my luggage going to be there, would I get through customs smoothly, will I be able to find whoever was picking me up. Well I moved through customs and security without a problem. However waiting for my luggage was a little stressful as I waited for 20 minutes until mine came through but there it was and I was off. This airport was very small (this was helpful as I didn't have to walk very far) but the first thing I saw as I walked through security from the baggage claim were masses of people waiting to pick up those arriving. Was I ever going to find the apartments manager with my name on a little board, I scanned about 10 name plates until I found mine... yay!!! I had done it traveled all that way by myself!!! The 3 men that were there to pick me up were very nice and helpful, grabbing all of my luggage from me and taking it all to the car.

The drive to the apartment wasn't very long, maybe 20 minutes. As we were driving though I literally felt myself sitting up as straight as possible and completely wide eyed taking in everything I was seeing. My first impression as I walked out of the airport reminded me of Mexico, lots of men trying to sell their cab service to you, but not as quite as pushy. As we drove down the street to the apartment it was kind of hard to see, it was 1am and everything was dark. My first, oh my gosh I'm in India moment, was seeing a cow eating from the trash piled on the side of the road. Then as we got a little further I saw what appeared to be a young couple on a motorcycle, she was on the back holding on tightly while wearing her sari. Other than the clothing this was nothing different than what I would see at home and it was comforting.

Then... we arrived at the apartment, as we entered I was thinking this must be a joke, or there must be someone else living with me. The place is huge... 3 bedrooms (two, with beds and linens) 4 bathrooms (each bedroom has a bathroom and then a main bathroom) a bigger than I could use kitchen ;) (stocked with dishes for 4, some staple foods to get me through until I find the local grocery store, and 3 water jugs to get me started), a great sitting area and dinning area (with table, already set up with table cloth place mates and napkins, and a box of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal). But that's not all... each bedroom and the sitting area have a walk out balcony! The windows already have curtains, the beds have linens and there was one bath towel waiting for me (thank goodness because all of mine are being shipped, I forgot to pack one!) Also the phone and internet were already set up for me.

Completely jet lagged I was up until 3am local time slept then for an hour. At around 4:30am I couldn't lay in bed anymore so I got up to look around the apartment. The car was coming to pick me up at 8am for my first day of work so I had some time to kill... around 6 I decided to take a shower, not knowing at the time that I had to turn on the hot water heater in order to take a hot shower... needless to say my 1st Indian shower was a cold one. In my mind I was thinking well I guess this is just what I have to get used to... until I was informed about the hot water heater! YAY! The next day I had a nice hot shower!

Living Room

Dining Room Kitchen

Empty Room and Bathroom Main Bathroom and Guest Bedroom (that means people need to come visit me!)

My Bedroom and Bathroom

Flight

The 28 hour flight didn't start off too well... an hour and half delay in Baltimore definitely set the tone for the rest of the flights. The next two flights JFK and Brussels were also bumped back about an hour. Good thing I had 3-4 hour layovers factored into each stop! My flight from JFK to Brussels and then Brussels to Chennai I was sitting next to a very nice man who happened to be from India and went to school in Chennai. He had been living in the US working since 2000 and was going home for a few weeks to visit his family. It was wonderful speaking with him, he gave me a wealth of information plus his email if I should encounter any problems or have more questions! *Lauren I know you are so proud of me for carrying on a conversation with a stranger ;) but you weren't there to do it for me :)!!!

As I was flying into JFK I saw the NYC skyline. I had never seen it from the air that was pretty cool! Check out those pics!