Christmas

Christmas didn't feel like Christmas at all, but it was fun for what it was.
On Christmas morning, we had a party at school. The kids had decorated stockings the day before and when they arrived, Santa had come and filled them. We had food and took lots of pictures (with the disposable cameras from the field trip) and decorated Christmas tree ornaments. The girls came over to watch Home Alone. They liked it. The boys watched it on Christmas Eve and they LOVED it. They laughed so hard! After the girls left, Lauren and I went into Kolkata. We went out to eat at a really nice place called Marco Polos. I had pesto pasta and a peach daquari. Delicious. Aside from ordering a round of beer with my family in Mexico, it was my first time ordering and being served alcohol in that way. Park Street was absolutely packed with Christmas pedestrians. It took so long to walk down the street. We stayed at a hotel for two nights.
The day after Christmas, we got up and went to a little bakery for breakfast. It had the freshest bread I've had since I've been in India. Then we went to the Park Hotel salon so I could get my hair cut. Lauren decided to get her hair dyed a darker, reddish brown. It turned out a disasterous purple though, so she had to re-do it. This took a very long time. By the time it was fixed, it was time for our massages. We each got a one hour professional massage at the spa at teh Park. It was heavenly. The facilities were amazing. I never dreamed I would be in such a nice place, but things are so much cheaper in India.
After our massages, we met up with Babai and walked around town. We went to a mall and to a hooka bar/cafe'. It was fun. Then Babai had to go and Lauren and I went out to dinner. A big Indian family walked in the restaraunt right after we were seated, and Lauren and I remarked how American the three girls looks. (Style of clothing; one of them was wearing tie-dye) Then we heard them speak, and sure enough, they were American! We assume their parents were from Kolkata and they had come back to visit. It was funny though, because Lauren had asked me what a certain kind of naan was (I didn't know) and a few minutes later we heard them ask the same thing.
Today we got up and went to the same bakery for breakfast before coming back to Khardah.
Lauren and I were at Piya's house earlier today. Her brother's new wife was there, and she was really friendly. She was so subdued at the wedding party, I was surprised today that she is really very spunky and cheerful. They gave us the customary tea and biscuits, and then they gave us chapati and potato curry that they will have for dinner later tonight. It was my first time eating any of my students' dinner food. It was delicious.
Tomorrow I am going to Mumbai to meet my parents. We will tour around India for two weeks. I can't wait!

~m

Field Trip

Today we took the CRAWL students on a field trip to the Victoria Memorial and the Botanical Gardens. We chartared a bus and drove into Kolkata. Every student got a disposable camera to take pictures of the memorial and of eachother. We had a picnic breakfast at the VM, and then played frisbee and cabade (a really popular game in Bengal that is kind of like tag) in the lawn. As expected, the kids were shocked to see couples holding hands and leaning into eachother under trees all throughout the grounds. It was cause for much giggling and whispering. We took the kids through the museum quickly; we didn't really take time to read any information. All this took a few hours.
Next, we got back on the bus and drove to the Botanical Gardens. We had a lunch of kachuri, which is fried flat bread, and aloo dum, which is potato curry. It was yummy. Then we walked through the gardens. We looked at the world's largest tree. It's a banyan, which drop roots from their branches and just continue to spread and spread. The canopy of the one tree covers some ridiculously large area.
On the bus, we listened to music and watched music videos. After plenty of prodding, tugging and pleading from the students, I agreed to dance with them in the aisle of the bus. It was extremely difficult. Driving in India involves weaving and slamming on the breaks quite frequently. So we would try to dance, only to be thrown in all directions, falling over eachother. It was still fun though. Most of the kids have never ridden in cars or buses except for on previous CRAWL field trips. On the ride back, almost every single one of them got sick and threw up. We passed out plastic bags. Some were sick from the beginning, but by the time we reached Khardah, even the girls who had been dancing with me were sick. There was vomit dripping down the outsides of the bus when we got back. It was a sad end to such a fun day. Despite that, I think the kids all really enjoyed themselves. I know I did.

~m

continuation of wedding party description, and then some

When we arrived at Piya's brother's house, we sat on the bed with the bride and about a zillion little cousins. (Most of the Indians I know here don't have living rooms. When they have guests over, they sit on the bed, or on the floor if they don't have a bed) So we sat and talked and took lots of pictures. Finally we got the bride to smile and relax a little, but she'd quickly go back to looking sad. I did manage to get a few pictures of her smiling, which will hopefully compensate for all the ones where it looks like she's about to burst into tears. Anyway, we sat and visited for about an hour, and gave her the gift we'd bought (a yellow and blue shawl). She thanked us and quickly set it aside, like she did with all the gifts she recieved.
Then we went outside to the tent (it was basically a pandal - constructed of bamboo and fabric - without the dieties) to have dinner. Everyone else who was there by then ate at that time too. The plates were made of palm leaves, and the first thing we did was pour water on them to rinse them. Serves brought around rice and dhal, which we ate with our hands. Because we are foreigners, we were being watched by everyone, which made it even more awkward to eat in a way to which we are so unaccustomed. Its sad that its actually difficult for me to use my own fingers to perform a task as simple as eating. But it was hard for me not to drop grains of rice or get food on my face. I think part of the difficulty came from the fact that eating like that is so against the way I've been trained all my life; its bad manners. I would look up expecting to see people gawking at me for being so rude, but instead I'd see everyone else just shoveling it in.
The meal consisted of rice and dhal, potato and cabbage curry (aloo gobi), a sweet chutney with crispy chips, and spongey white sweets drenched in a sugary sauce. There was also chicken curry, but I didn't eat it because I'm vegetarian. We finished off with packets of pan (or paan), a breath freshener that is a mix of a flavored powder (in this case mint) and crushed betel nuts. It was pretty yummy. The betel nuts have addictive qualities though, and some people's teeth are stained red from constantly chewing pan. There is red spit all over everything here because of it.
We went back into the house, back onto the bed to visit for a little while longer, and then we left. Prativa and Arati had to get home, and Bobby wanted us to go all together. Huge groups of people were arriving as we were going out. So we missed the main partying, but it was still really kool to be included at all.
A few days later, Piya came to the flat to choose which pictures she wanted me to print. Last night I picked up the prints and bought an album and took them to her house. The pictures are something her family could never afford (or at least would never choose to spend their money on). So I was really happy to be able to give them the photos. They were all really excited.
Piya had gotten a photo of herself taken at a studio. She was in the same outfit she'd worn for me to take her picture last month (with the addition of a red hat that made her look remeniscent of a flapper), if you remeber that blog entry. The pose was awkward but cute. She had had three copies printed, and she gave one to me as thanks for all the photos I'd had printed for her. "You one keep." She said. I'm very happy to have it.

~m

These past few days have been really fun. I didn't go to Sealdah on Sunday because I was kind of sick (still kind of am, but not to the same extent) and I felt it was better to rest.

I took the girls to the Iway for computer class and at craft class I did a GK (general knowledge) on geography. We went over the continents and oceans, and I printed out pictures of landmarks from every continent (except Antarctica). The kids liked the photos, but didn't really care about the rest...

On Monday Lauren and I went into town to buy a bunch of things. We got some movies to watch with the kids (the Lindsay Lohan version of The Parent Trap dubbed in Hindi, Hook dubbed in Hindi and Home Alone in English) and a few cheesy Bollywood movies for ourselves (we don't want to upset any parents with questionable content). We got fancy salwars to wear to Piya's brother's wedding party. We had been to that same shop twice before for Lauren to get salwars, and we had always haggled down the price. This time we couldn't talk them below Rs 1000 apiece, and we were really angry about it. But when we got home, Bobby said that was a reasonable price. We felt bad because we had argued with the guys for so long. Haha, oh well... I'm sure we'll be back again. Lauren likes going there, but I prefer to buy the salwars that aren't yet put together so I can get them custom tailored. We also bought a few random food items.

When we got back to the flat, Prativa, Manisha and Arati came over to do mhendi (what Americans call henna. Here henna is the same stuff - tumeric - but henna means hair dye and mhendi is the design on hands) on our hands for the wedding party. They did some and we also began watching The Parent Trap, which they really liked. They all speak Bengali and Hindi, but most of them, with the exception of Prativa, can only read and write Bengali. Prativa only reads and writes Hindi. Actually, she can read and write Bengali and English too, but not very well... Anyway, the movie was a hit. They're coming back over on Sunday to finish watching.

On Tuesday we went with Bobby to buy a wedding gift. We settled on a nice blue and yellow shawl. We then bought bangles, earrings, necklaces, and bindis (the little jewel or dot worn on the forehead) to wear to the party. Then we went to Prativa's so her sister could finish doing the mhendi on our hands. When it first dries, it is very orange. It looked like they had drawn on me with orange sharpie. But over time it turns browner and darker. Because of this, my two hands were different colors since one was done the day before the other.

The actual wedding party was really neat. We were there before most people even arrived. We had to leave a little after nine to get Prativa and Arati home, but it was still really fun. Piya was dressed in a really nice sari, wrapped in a Hindustani way which looked really kool. Everyone around here wraps them a Bengali way. But Piya's family is Hindustani, so hers was wrapped differently. She looks older than me when she gets all dressed up, so I called her Piya Auntie. Anyway, we took bicycle rickshaws to the part of Khardah where her brother lives. Its quite far away. When we got there, not very many people were there yet. The bride was all dressed up in a really elaborate sari and wearing pounds of makeup and jewellery. She was sitting on her bed, which was all decorated with flowers, to recieve guests. People come in to give gifts and to wish her well. She was absolutely gorgeous, but she looked exhausted (understandable after many days of wedding festivities) and, frankly, she looked like she was going to cry. It was an arranged marriage (something like 90% of marriages in India are arranged). So though she had met her new husband before, it wasn't as if she knew him very well. I would have been terrified. She is only 18 and he is 31.

I had written alot more for this post, but then internet explorer messed up and I lost it. I'll continue the description of the party later.

~m

December, WHAT?!?!

Yes. It's true. It's December. It has been for a few days, in fact. I'm as shocked as you are.
Anyway, this past week has been good. I'll try to run through the highlights.
(Oh, I recovered fully from whatever weird sickness I had that caused me to pass out. In fact, I was completely better by the next day. But starting yesterday I seem to be a little under the weather again. I'm gonna skip Sealdah so I can sleep in tomorrow and hopefully prevent real sickness.)
So, the highlights:
When Lauren and I went into town, I had a really yummy, American-tasting veggie sandwich. It had lettuce on it, which is a no-no for foreigners in India, but I was fine.
School and football have been going as usual. Attendance at school is better than it was when I first got here; most kids come most days. And the kids are so much more respectful and just better students in general than they were when I got here. It just takes time to earn their respect.
On Thurday when Prativa, Manisha and Sayani came for computer class, we totally blew it off and had "American culture class" instead. We played some American and Hindi music and danced. And looked through Lauren's hindi-english picture dictionary, especially at the vegetables. We had the girls try peanut butter (they liked it). And I showed them a bikini that I had brought with me (I didn't put it on) Even though I had described it to them before, they were really shocked. It was a really fun two hours.
On Friday, I wore a sari to school. I didn't get as big of a reaction as I had expected, but it was definitely a hit. Though I can wrap them myself, Bobby wrapped it for me because obviously she can do a much better job.
On Friday night, Lauren and I went to a puja for Piya's brother's wedding. Lauren and I were kind of a spectacle; they made us dance in front of everyone. It was really kool though. The rituals invovled lots of smearing of paint and tumeric. The groom was very serious while around him it seemed like people were partying. People were chasing eachother to smear haldi (tumeric paste) on each others' faces. Lauren and I both got hit. It makes Indians glow, but we just looked yellow. We looked rediculous. We had to use peroxide to get it off. So anyway, it was really awesome to be included in the culture that way.
I talked to a girl, Rhea, who is 18 and had been married for two years. I asked her how it was to get married so young to a person she didn't know. She said she was terrified. Her husband is 10 years older than her, which is common. (Piya's brother is 31, but his bride is 18) It was interesting though because she described her marriage as her not having enough time for her husband because she's in school. Rather than her not having enough time for school because of her husband. She said it works out though, because he isn't demanding of her. I was appalled though, when he asked her to ask us to give him a picture of us because we are "very beautiful". Being white wins us that title.
We're gonna go to the wedding reception on Tuesday, but we won't get to go to the wedding itsself, which is on Sunday. I'm still really excited though.

~m

Thanksgiving

Damn, time flies. I can't believe its Thanksgiving already. I guess part of the shock comes from the lack of clues building up to it. No cold weather (though it is cooling down) no turkeys and pumpkins everywhere I look. It will be ok with me if Christmas sneaks up in a similar way, because then hopefully I can avoid the nostalgia of not being home for the holidays.
Today was an odd day. I felt really sick when it was time for me to get up for school, so I decided I wouldn't go. I got up to write out some math problems for Lauren to give to the kids. When I was heading back to bed, I began feeling especially woozy. I was holding onto my door for support and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor. It was the first time in my life that I legitimately passed out. Lauren didn't go to school so she could stay with me in case something else happened. Subhamita came over and a doctor came, but by then I was feeling mostly better. I got prescribed some antibiotics and went back to sleep.
Maybe 30 minutes after the doctor and Subhamita left, the doorbell rang. Lauren went to answer it and I heard someone yell, "Auntie!!" "Shhh! She's asleep!" Lauren says. I got out of bed to see what was going on. Three of my students had come to see if I was ok. Lauren let them in and they began feeling my forehead and stuff. It was really sweet. We sent them home and I went back to bed. The only other major event of the day is when I got up for lunch had some soup. Exciting, huh? I actually am feeling much better now though (otherwise I wouldn't be here at the Iway typing this) Hopefully tomorrow everything will be back to normal.

But the real reason I wanted to write today is to address the fact that it's Thanksgiving. Though I'm doing nothing to celebrate (no turkey and pumpkin pie for me), I feel like this is the year where I have most fully observed the holiday. I have never been more thankful in my life than I am now. I guess there's nothing like spending months in a developing country to make one realize just how much one has.
My other thoughts on Thanksgiving are more on the nature of the holiday itself. It is thanks-giving, the one day of the year that Americans set aside to be thankful for all they have. And how do we choose to show thanks? By consuming even more of the world's resources which are unfairly alotted to us.
Don't get me wrong. I love Thanksgiving. Its a nice time when families get together and enjoy each others' company. And the family aspect is of course more important than the food. I know I'll be thinking about mine as I eat my turkey-less dinner tonight.

~m

Let's see... this past week hasn't been too out of the ordinary. On Friday Anna left, which made the flat seem empty and quiet. Then on Sunday Ellenoor left, which made the flat seem even emptier and quieter. This is the first time there's only been one other person with me at the flat since a few weeks after I got here. I really was sad to see both of them go, because things tend to be more fun with more people and because I really liked both of them alot. Hopefully I'll get to see them again sometime. Ellenoor told me that if I go to school in New York, she'll come visit me. That wold be neat!
Lauren has been really sick since one or two days after she got here. She seems to be on the mend today though, so that's good. Major culture shock plus physical sickness make for a miserable existence.
School, computer class, and football playing have all been going along as usual. Some of the kids' English has improved alot since I've been here, I think mostly because they're talking to me so much. Its really neat to see that.
Sealdah was pretty normal on Friday and Saturday, but on Sunday wound care was worse than usual. We treated two people with really nasty, infected wounds on their feet and legs. There was also a guy who had a big gash at the back of his knee and a woman with a finger which appeared to be broken. These were along with the usual cuts and scrapes we treat on the kids.
I got two salwars made and they look pretty nice. I will wear one of them to school tomorrow. The kids are pretty excited about that. I can't remember if I've described what a salwar is before, so here's a brief description: they are outfits for women that consist of a long tunic worn over pants (usually really baggy, but sometime skin tight) and a matching scarf (called a dupatta) which is draped over the chest and thrown backwards over the shoulders. I got a blue one and an orangey-browney-green one. I'll post pictures some time.
Today Lauren and I went to Bobby for a sari lesson. Usually I just wrap the sari over my clothes, but after I did this today Bobby decided I should go ahead and do it the right way too. She got out a really nice sari for me to wear and I changed out of my clothes on and put on her petticoat and blouse thing. The shirt was too loose so she had me take it off and she proceeded to stitch it up the sides so it fit. She did the wrapping so that it looked right. Then she told me I should wear it home and for the rest of the day. I couldn't say no. Next she got out jewelery and had me put on makeup and a bindi (the red dot on the forehead). She called her husband home from work to take a picture.
I thought that my walk back to the flat would be the most humiliating ten minutes of my life, but it was actually ok. People definitely looked harder than usual, but they were very approving. Some people even stopped to tell me I looked nice. I wore the sari around the house for about four hours, but then I changed out of it to go play football with the kids. I was surprised to find that saris are really quite comfortable.

~m

The pictures, from the top are: the lizard in the light switch, Mount Kangchenjunga, kids coloring at Sealdah, me and a few kids at Sealdah, what I saw instead of Mount Everest because it was cloudy, the Japanese Peace Pagoda, and the inside of a gompa.

Sealdah was busy as usual today. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, though it was Anna's last day, so we took an extra-lot of pictures. Cereal and biscuits were on the menu. Babai asked me if I'm married because he saw pictures of me at prom on facebook. Lauren and I tried to explain prom to him, but I'm not if he really got why I was wearing a really nice dress and taking lots of pictures with a boy who wasn't my husband...

The lizard was still in the light switch at school today (and still alive, which was the more surprising part). We unscrewed the cover and tried to get him out. I pulled him from behind because his front is smaller than his back and we thought it'd be easier to get him out that way. So I began pulling and his tail came off!! I dropped it on the ground and it lay there wiggling for a few minutes. Lauren thought he's probably the kind of lizard whose tail comes off if it gets stuck. I didn't know those exist, but that makes sense. Bobby ended up pulling him out the front. I thought we'd go let him outside, but no. She walked up to the roof and chucked him into the little stream that goes by the school. (the one we throw the trash at school into) I thought it was quite cruel, but his arm was broken so he probably wouldn't have survived anyway...

I forgot to mention that yesterday Bobby had a man come to her house to show us salwar kits. Ellenoor bought one and Lauren and I each bought two. The kits have the three pieces of fabric necessary for a salwar in them (one for the tunic, one for the pants, and one for the scarf) later that day we went to the seamstress to get measured for them. They will be ready on Friday. I payed almost exactly $15 for the whole thing: the kits and the tailoring. That's two complete (hand made) outfits for fifteen dollars. Amazing.

~m

Thursday at school, the kids were perfect. Seven kids came in the advanced group, which is really rare. There are usually only three or four there on any given day. When the group gets large like that, they're usually hard to handle because they talk to each other and copy uncontrollaby. But they all listened, genuinely learned the material, and did their own work. If someone didn't understand, they'd ask me or another student would explain it to them in Bengali. It felt like a real, well-run class room. Not that they're bad most of the time, but on Thursday they were just exceptionally good. The more they get to know me and like me, the more inclined they are to do what I ask. It was really fabulous. Friday morning they were back to more normal behavior (not as perfectly behaved) but it was still nice to have them be so good for one day.
A little later on Thursday morning, a new volunteer named Lauren arrived. She's 20, from MO, and will be staying for six months. I'd talked to her on facebook and stuff before she got here. She will be here for all of the rest of the time that I'm here, except for my last few weeks. (She goes home at the beginning of May, and I go back at the end) She has a really bubbly personality; I think we'll have lots of fun together.
Thursday was our first day back to playing football (and frisbee and badminton) after we cancelled because the kids were being too rowdy. They were on their best behavior and there was no fighting whatsoever. I was releived.
Sealdah was slow on Friday as usual, but it was quite busy today. The kids are so cute. I've gotten used to seeing the despair there, but for some reason today I was affected more than usual. When we walked up to begin setting up, people were still sleeping on tarps on the ground. Those poor little kids; what a terrible life. Like I said, I've seen it all before, but for some reason today it just hit me again.
The kids continued working on the mural today. Its turning out really well. When we got to school, someone went to turn on the lights and I heard a scream. I thought some one had gotten electricuted. I went to investigate and found that there was a lizard stuck in an empty light switch. I'll put a picture of it tomorrow. It was hilarious! (unfortunately the poor thing is going to die)
The power's out so we're running on generator power, so I have to go.
Pictures tomorrow!

I can't remember if I've already talked about this, so sorry if I'm telling you twice that at craft class on Saturday, we started making a mural of life in Khardah. It isn't all that representative of Khardah, but its turning out pretty well and the kids love doing it. It has a market, a football field, a house, a shop, and a train station on it.
Sealdah has been quite busy but not too hectic recently. Lots of kids; we're finally back up to pre-Durga Puja numbers. I'm learning how to say some of the colors in Bengali from handing out crayons for coloring. Lal is red, Kalo is black, nul is blue. I knew yellow but now I forget...
On Monday, Ellenoor and Anna and I went into Kolkata. We had coffee at a little coffee shop that felt almost like being in the US except unlike at Starbucks, where they do everything in fastforward, at Barista, everything is painstakingly slow. It was nice though. After coffee we went to New Market. Anna bought some really nice marble, wood, and metal statues, and Ellenoor bought a beautiful shawl and a scarf. (Not that it's anywhere near cold here, but she'll put them to good use when she returns to Holland) I always have fun when we go to New Market. I just like shopping. All I bought, however, was cheese. Real cheddar cheese. The only "cheese" to be found in Khardah is disgustingly processed. Think American cheese but worse.
The kids asked us to bring these badminton rackets that we had at the flat to the field on Monday. Ellenoor played badminton with them, but I am horribly unskilled at all sports involving rackets, bats, and other tools of the extension-of-the-hand variety, so I brought a frisbee and played with that. It was quite fun. I absolutely love frisbee, so of couse I had a blast. Today we played all three: football, badminton, and frisbee. I swear the field looked like there was some kind of family reunion at a public park: lots of children brandishing all sorts of new, cheap plastic sports equipment. The kids have been increasingly aggressive with eachother recently. They chase, hit, kick and wrestle with eachother. Ellenoor and I are constantly telling them to stop fighting. Its not that they're truly angry, but they aren't quite "just playing", either. One of them could really get hurt, because they're quite rough with each other. Today I finally got fed up with it. I told them that if one of them hit another again, we wouldn't play tomorrow. Of course the madness continued. I let it go on for a little while, continuing to threaten. Then I'd had enough and I cancelled our plans of playing tomorrow. The kids were a little taken aback, and I think they were nervous that I was truly angry. I wasn't, I was just a little annoyed. Those kids need to respect my and Ellenoor's authority, and more importantly, they need to calm down and stop being so aggressive with eachother. They were instantly apologetic, and they swarmed around me, hugging me and begging to play tomorrow. I told them no, we'd play again on Thursday. Then they tried to tell me that none of them can play on Thursday. "Monday, then," I said. "No Monday" "Then I guess we won't play anymore. Playing finished" "You and Ellenoor Auntie will play all alone" Empty threats. They'll all be at the field, same as always, when we come bearing balls and rackets on Thursday. Some of them told they won't be at school tomorrow, clearly because they wanted to get back at me for not playing. I guarantee every one who said they won't be there will be.
Ellenoor and I have been continuing our sari lessons with Bobby. Today we used a silk sari, which is quite a bit more difficult to wrap than a cotton one, because its so slippery. Bobby arranged for a man to come to her house later this week so I can choose some material for a salwar. On Saturday we're going to order a sari. So soon I'll be all decked in Indian garb!
Photos are coming, I promise...

~m

Darjeeling and then some

On Saturday afternoon, Trina and I took an overnight train to Darjeeling. We were in AC three tier, which means there were three beds stacked where we could sleep. We met a guy from England who is travelling around Asia for a year. He was in the same compartment we were in.
When we got off the train, I could see the difference in the way people looked. Even though we were in the same state, it felt like a different country. People looked more stereotypically "Asian" and less stereotypically "Indian". We got a share jeep to Darjeeling (about a two or three hour drive up into the mountains from the train station).
I was surprised to find that Darjeeling is actually way more Westernized than Kolkata. I had thought that since Kolkata is such a large city, it would be more Westernized. But Darjeeling is way more tourist-oriented. Also, I think the weather had something to do with it. The locals (guys and girls) wore jeans and hoodies. It felt like walking around an American college campus...
Our first two days in Darjeeling, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We went around in jeans and a t-shirt and took pictures of the Beautiful mountains and of the tea plantations. The last two days weren't so nice; they were cold and overcast. We got up at 3 a.m. on the second morning to go to Tiger Hill to watch the sun rise over Everest. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy and we couldn't see anything... So I've seen the Himalayas, but not Everest. We did see Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak and India's highest mountain. It was pretty stunning. We also went to see gompas, Hindu and Buddhist places of worship. One of my favorite things we say was the Buddhist Japanese Peace Pagoda. They built about 300 of them around the world, including some in the US.
I'll try to put some pictures up tomorrow.
We left Darjeeling and had a painless trip back to Khardah.
Last night Trina and I went over to Piya and Kajals' houses. They live in the same little compound. They had us take lots of pictures of all the little kids who live in the compound. They gave us bananas and deep-fried cookie-type-things that were left over from a recent Puja. They also showed up photo albums from last year. Its crazy how young they look. Then Piya asked us if we'd take a picture of her in this black and red skirt she had. We said sure and she proceeded to spend at least 15 minutes putting on make up and getting all ready for the picture. Kajal dressed up as well, in these really tight white capris and a white t-shirt that said "Roxy" and a jean jacket. Trina and I were both amazed that they put so much effort into getting ready for one picture. They did look gorgeous though. We were joking with them that they look older than me. Kajal turned 15 today and Piya turns 15 in a couple weeks. They seriously did look a lot older though... Quite different from how they seem when we're out playing football and they're wrestling with the boys.
I was in Darjeeling when I got the news of Obama getting elected. I had just woken up (it was Nov 5 here) when my mom called me to let me know. The power came back on in the hotel in time for us to see Obama's speech - magnificent. I'm so glad!! When we got back to Khardah the next day, I bought six newspapers with front page coverage of the election - three in English and three in Bengali. I meant to get a Hindi one too, but when I looked later I realized I hadn't. The 6th was the first day the Indian press could cover the election because by the time the results came in, it was already 9 or 10 am here on the 5th. Anyway, I will keep those papers for the rest of my life so my kids and grand kids can see a primary source from when America elected its first Black president. It seemed a little unreal from Darjeeling, where there was no one to celebrate with. But I am so glad!
Today we had school, played football and went to Sealdah. Trina left for Goa. She's been here almost the whole time I have, so its weird to have her gone...

~m

more halloween pics

Halloween!

Today we had a Halloween party at school. It was super fun. The kids looked quite skeptical as we put out newspaper, pumpkins, spoons and a bucket full of water and apples. But they had a blast as soon as things got going. Yesterday I saw a lady selling pumpkins at a vegetable stand. They weren't as orange or quite as big as the ones we use in the US, but I was really excited because it was my first time seeing them in India. She thought I was crazy when I asked for a whole one (she was selling it in chunks, by weight) and the fact that she didn't speak any English didn't help. Then she must have thought that I had completely lost it when I came back later that day and bought two more. How was one girl going to eat THREE whole pumpkins? Anyway, we split the kids into three groups: little kids, older boys, and older girls. I mostly dealt with the older girls. They looked at me like I was crazy when I told them that we were going to cut a face into a pumpkin. But as soon as I cut the lid out and told them to scoop out the insides, they loved it. They were happily disgusted by the orange goo, and all five girls put their spoons into the pumpkin at once. They took turns cutting out two faces on opposite sides of the pumpkin.

Next we bobbed for apples. The kids had done it once before so they all knew what to do. It involved much giggling, slobbering and splashing. Only Manisha was completely successful in getting an apple out of the water. Prativa and I both got bites out of an apple, but couldn't lift it out of the bucket.

I made Manisha let me paint her face, and she reluctantly said she wanted to be a cat. None of the other girls let us paint their faces. Two of the older boys got theirs done, and all of the little kids did. I have to say, all the ones who got painted were insanely cute. The girls painted all of the volunteers face. Manisha did my face. She copied the picture of the girl painted as a lion on the front of the face paint box. But when she finished, she decided I wasn't nearly colorful enough (especially compared to the other volunteers, who were getting original Indian designs), so she added splotches of color to my eyes, cheeks, nose and lips.

We handed out goody bags and Special K bars, and Subhamita gave out the new CRAWL uniforms. They're collared shirts with brown and white checks and black pants or skirts. When she described them to me, I was quite skeptical, but they're actually pretty cute.

When we cleaned up, Bobby and I balled up all the newspaper and other trash. She took me up to the roof and we threw it all down into the little stream that runs by the school. From all the other trash in it, its apparent that that's what everyone else does, too. Now I know where the man who collects the trash from the flat puts it. Its crazy.

I asked Bobby about leaving the uncarved pumpkin (the girls did one and the boys did one, but the little kids didn't) in the classroom as decoration, she looked at me like I was crazy. I may as well have suggested that we hang potatos around the room. I told her that in the US people decoarte their houses with pumpkins at Halloween, but I think she was unconvinced...

When school was over, we walked back the flat like always. People were staring with awe at the crazy Westerners with out faces painted in bright colors. Some people sneered, others laughed. I can say with complete honesty that all eyes were on us as we walked up Station Road.

~m

Diwali/ Kali Puja

Its Diwali right now, which is a three day festival that involves lots of fireworks. It celebrates Kali Puja, a Hindu god. Last night, Piya, Prativa, and Momita (not one of my students, but one of their friends who plays football with us) took the other volunteers and me around to see the pandals. They weren't nearly as big, nor as numerous as they had been for Durga Puja. We went to about six pandals and then we went to Prativa's house. They had us come in and sit down, and they gave us sweets to eat. The sweets had been on their alter to Lakshmi and Ganesha, so they probably went out to buy more for the gods after we left. Its part of Indian hospitality to feed their guests. So even though some of the students are really poor, we don't refuse the food they offer us because it is part of their custom to give food. They genuinely want to give us food, and they might even be... I don't know if offended is the right word, but they wouldn't understand why we were refusing the food if we didn't take it. So anyway, Prativa gave us Laddus, which are orange ball things that taste quite like honey corn bread. Partiva told me that in Hindi its pronounced ladDU, with the stress on the end of word, and in Bengali is LADdu. I think. Maybe its the other way around. But I found it interesting that its different in the two languages.
When we left Prativa's, we ran into Manisha and Mili, who had planned on coming with us to see the pandals, but their moms hadn't let them. Mili asked us to go to her house. It was my first time going there. Her house was small, but it was nice. They had electricity: lights, a fan, and even a TV. They had one chair and they unfolded a mat for us to sit on. The walls were concrete and the roof what either thatch or metal, I couldn't tell from inside because it had a plastic lining under it. Out of all of my students' houses I've seen, Mili's seems to fall right in the middle as far as how nice it is. Prativa's is the nicest one I've seen. So anyway, Mili's mom introduced herself, and they ran out to get us samosas, which were quite good.
We left Mili's house to go back to the school, where there was a fireworks show. On the way, we stopped by Bobby's house to ask if she wanted to go to Sodpur with us tomorrow, and we ended up staying there for an hour. She can't go to Sodpur because she's going to her in-law's house, but she talked to Piya's mom so that Piya could go. I'm not completely sure, but I was under the impression that she lied to Piya's mom, who is quite strict, and told her that she was going with us, so that Piya could go. I'm not completely sure though. When most conversations happen in Bengali, I'm a tad out of the loop.
Bobby served us fried chapatis (I don't know what else to call them). I'd had them in the States but had never really liked them. Lots of Indian restaraunts in the US serve them as kind of complimentary appetizers. Anyway, the ones Bobby gave us were fresh, and they were made with ground black pepper. They were quite tasty. Then Bobby's husband set off some fireworks for us, and the girls took pictures with our cameras. Prativa and Momita went home, and we went back into Bobby's house for tea and biscuits. Bobby wrapped a sari on Ellenoor and we took lots of pictures of all of us. It was a fun visit.
When we left, Piya took us the fireworks show by the school. They weren't quite as extravagant as the 4th of July shows I see in the states, but Khardah is just a small town, so I imagine the shows are much bigger elsewhere. Mind you, this was fireworks Indian style. That is, they were set off quite haphazardly, going dangerously close to buildings, people, trees, and power lines. When we had played football with the kids earlier that day, a few boys were setting off fireworks in the field while we were playing. There's just no caution about them. Several times when we were walking to see the pandals, people would set them off as we were coming towards them on the street. Anyway, the show was still fun, and the Khardah-ians seemed to really enjoy it. They cheered especially loud for the big fireworks that threaten to light them all on fire.

Earlier in the day yesterday, we went to the Blue Sky Cafe for breakfast, and then we went to New Market. Most of the shops were closed for the Puja though.
On Monday a new volunteer named Anna arrived from the States. She's a jewellery maker, and she brought a whole bunch of supplies for the women to make jewellery with that they can sell.
On Sunday, I went to the Nayak's house for dinner. The Nayaks are a family that Nancy, the US coordinator for CRAWL is friends with. They're an Indian family, but they lived in the US for awhile. They cooked me yummy (totally not spicy, they were extra careful) Indian food and their daughters played American board games (Clue and Othello) with me. It was nice to get out of Khardah and go somewhere different. They live in a nice apartment complex with trees and grass and bushes in it. Its not one of those disgustingly luxurious subdivisions, but it was solidly middle class. Its interesting to see how the Indians who are better off than my students live.

~m

On Wednesday and Thursday, I brought more kids to the Iway to e-mail previous volunteers. They really enjoyed it. I let some of the girls look at pictures of me on Facebook, and they were a little unsure about short shorts and prom dresses. They loved looking at the pictures though.
We've been playing football with the kids alot recently, which is quite fun. Yesterday when we finished playing, I splashed water on one of my student's face, and everyone went crazy. Later I found out that it was a big deal because I got her hair wet. They only wash their hair every couple of weeks, and they don't want it to get wet the rest of the time. Luckily she wasn't angry or anything... She actually jumped right into making football plans for next week.

Sealdah was busy today, but not hectic. No one got in fights or anything; they mostly acted sane. We gave out guava, bread, jam, and vitamins.

~m

On Sunday Sealdah was actually quite calm. The kids colored and we handed out food and did wound care and there were no problems.
The girls came for the computer class and I took them to the Iway so they could e-mail previous volunteers. A woman who was here earlier this year had set up e-mail addresses for them. However, when we got to the cafe', none of the girls knew their address, or even what provider (g-mail, yahoo, etc.) it was on. This is understandable because they really have no exposure to computers and the internet. Its just not something they really think or care about. Anyway, I opened new accounts for all of them and had them e-mail Nancy, the American woman who helped start CRAWL.
At school the kids drew vampires.
Yesterday morning, Ellenoor and Trina went the the Sunderban Tiger Reserve, where they'll be until Wednesday afternoon. So I went into Kolkata by myself. I went to a coffeeshop and read the news for awhile. Then I walked around the Park Street area and found this little independent bookstore that had all sorts of Communist and Marxists writing. I spent at least an hour browsing through there, and bought two books on globalization. Next, I made my way to the Oxford Bookstore where I was disappointed to find out that they don't carry any kind of workbooks for writing the Bengali script. I was hoping to find something that little kids use, but their selection is almost exclusively English. I'm a little frustrated by the lack of resources for learning Bengali. It would be much easier to get info on Hindi. I really want to do Bengali though, because that's everyones's first language here.
Anyway, I had a nice Indian lunch in town and then headed back to Khardah.
I played football with a bunch of my students and alot of other kids. The field was abuzz with activity. There were multiple football and cricket games going on at once, so were were confined to a very small corner of the field. It was hectic with so many of us playing in such a small area. It was fun though. After we finished playing, Prativa, Piya and Arati came back to the flat with me to keep me company since Ellenoor and Trina are gone. But they had only been there for about 20 minutes when Piya's mom showed up and they all left.
Today wasn't quite so eventful. I slept in, and then just did laundry and such when I got up. Four little girls (they were probably about 8 or 9) in school uniforms came to the door and wanted to talk to me. They examined my hands (white) and my hair (light brown) and asked me all sorts of questions in Bengali. I told them I don't speak Bengali, but that didn't keep them from trying. One of them showed me her English exercise book, which was interesting. It had things like singular and plural, and taught vocabulary like apple, cat, and ice cream. Eventually I figured out that the girls wanted candy. I don't know where they got the idea that I had candy, but whatever. As it turns out, we have a huge bag of candy that was left by a previous volunteer. I gave them each a piece and then they all shook my hand and left. It was pretty amusing.
After I get done here at the cafe', I'm going over to the field to play soccer with the kids again.

~m

Sealdah was pretty hectic today. Rita showed up late, so we didn't have the kids color because she said it was too late. Personally, I felt like we should let them color no matter what time we get there, but whatever... W aren't quite back up to the pre-Durga number of kids, but we gave food to 60-something kids today. Babai wasn't there, and people were extra rowdy. Adults were crowding in around us to try to get us to give them eggs. A few people stole them from us. We always feed all of the children and pregnent women before we feed any adults. Without Babai there to make them stand back, it was really hectic. People started fighting eachother to get close so they could get the extra eggs we had.
At school today the craft was making hats. We cut holes out of these huge gold paper plates and the kids decorated them. They were pretty cute.

~m

Today at school, I started long division with the intermediate kids. Prativa had done it before, but the extra practice won't hurt. Its not like with the older kids when they're way beyond what we're doing. Jayanto had either never done it, or done very little. He's a really bright kid, so he was catching on, but it was difficult for me to get him to work a whole problem because Prativa was so eager to answer. She really doesn't like math very much, but today she kept saying "Auntie, today math I like!" I told her math likes her today too, but she didn't understand what I meant.
With the advanced kids, I started doing things with perimeter, but they were so bored because they learned it so long ago. I let them do random math problems on the board, and just kinda play around until school was over. Next week I'll have something more challenging figured out for them.
Ellenoor, Trina and I went to the Penguine Inn for lunch. It was quite yummy.
Sealdah was incredibly empty today. Usually when I say that, I mean kids don't show up for food, but today there were actually fewer people in general at the station. Enough kids did come for food that we used it all, but it wasn't the usual mad rush. A lady came with a baby that she told us is one month and 11 days old. Like most babies I see at the station, she was teeny. I watched for a couple minutes and she was completely still. I was honstly beginning to doubt whether she was actually alive when she moved. She looked so sickly, I don't think she'll survive. Her little lips were all dry...
Some of the teenage boys that come are often high on something. Today they were more irritating than usual, probably because Babai wasn't with us. Females just aren't respected and listened to the way men are; we have no authority. The boys would try to take things out of our supply bag, and they were constantly in our faces, making it really difficult to distribute food to the other kids.

It wasn't a bad day, though.

~m

back to school

Today was our first real school day (as in not a craft day) in two weeks. I thought we would have really good attendance after the break, but I guess the kids weren't feelin the whole wake up early thing, so in fact only three of my students were there. No intermediate students came, so I watched while Trina taught English for an hour, and then she watched while I did my hour of math. Man am I glad that I'm doing math and not English. Grammar is probably the most boring subject in existence.
Before we went back to school, I looked over the syllabus that Bobby showed me when I first got here. Order of Operations is in fact not on the syllabus, but that's what she said they had been working on when I arrived, so that's where we started. Its crazy that we spent 5 weeks on Order of Operations alone, but that's how long it took for the kids to get it. My teaching skills drastically improved over the first five weeks too; the first two or three were probably not effective at all. I guess it isn't quite as bad when you consider that we only have three real school days a week. So anyway, I looked over the syllabus and figured that they'd probably already covered everything that was supposed to be taught from July to October in their real school. This included factors, multiples, and multiplying and dividing fractions and decimals. I had them do a few problems of each, and it was obvious that they knew how to do it already.
I did have difficulty explaining factors to them though, because they didn't have the English vocabulary for it. Subhamita happened to be there today, so she explained it to them in Bengali. Bobby, the school teacher, is a wonderful woman, but her English isn't good enough to be able to do this. CRAWL really needs an instructor who is fluent in both English and Bengali.
I asked Piya to show me what math she was working on in her Bengali school, and it involved simplifying fractions with radicals. This is something that I worked on when I was in 7th grade (which makes sense because Piya is in 7th grade) What's on the syllabus is work that I did in 4th grade. Some of the kids are just so far beyond what's on the syllabus. I'm sure that some of the kids who were not there today couldn't do some of the work though. That's really where the problem is, because they're all at such different levels.
When Subhamita came to the flat to meet the electrician, I talked to her about the problems I see with the syllabus. She told me some of the things on there aren't taught in Indian schools (like averages and percentages) and said I should teach those. I'm happy to do that, but that will not take 7 months to teach.
This is the problem with CRAWL. It has great ambitions, and the philosophy of the programs is good, but it really lacks structure and organization. I don't know how to offer suggestions without offending Subhamita and Kakoli though. As far as the syllabus, I'm not too worried, because I will follow one of the many text books laying around and just figure out for myself what the kids need to work on. What I'm worried about is what will happen when I leave and the kids are back to volunteers who only stay for a month or two.
Ellenoor and I decided to organize a big cabinet in the flat that has lots of story books and text books in it. (Its currently in complete disarray). We found a suggestion book for the volunteers that had been written in up to early this year. Suggestion that appear a year ago are the same things that need changing now. I also found a copy of the same syllabus I have buried under a pile of books, which suggests to me that they used the same one last year.
All this begins to make sense with the knowledge that Subhamita and Kakoli are both pursuing their PhDs currently. I found that out last week. So they have their hands extra-full.
I hope that I can find a way to help get the program organized better before I leave. There's definitely lots of work to be done...

Yesterday I was sick so I didn't go to Sealdah and really didn't do anything at all except work on college app essays. This morning I skipped Sealdah again because I wasn't sure how I'd feel, but when I did get up I was much better! I chilled around the flat for most of the day, working on app essays again. At four, Ellenoor and I went to play football with the kids from school. Arati, Prativa and Animesh played, as well as a few of Arati's friends (whose names I forget but couldn't spell anyways) and a few boys who were hanging out at the field. It was really fun, and we're gonna play again tomorrow, hopefully with more kids from school. The kids are endlessly amused that I turn pink when I run around for awhile. They all have those beautiful dark complexions, so I guess I look really unnatural to them. Some of the older guys that played were really good and they put my defense skills to shame. They were all really nice though. One of them heard me telling Arati that he was too good for me to keep up with. I don't think he quite understood what I was saying, because he apologized. We didn't keep track of the score, and the teams were shifting alot, so we just stopped playing when it started to get dark. (It gets dark early here) We walked around the neighborhood to cool off, and a huge group of little boys ran up to say hi to Ellenoor and me and ask us where we are from. Its like we have celebrity status here; people are always coming up to see what the deal is.

~m

Durga Puja

Durga Puja was so much fun! On Monday, Joy stopped by the flat to see if I wanted to play football (soccer). I said sure and Ellenoor and Trina came along too. A bunch of the girls came out in their brand new dresses (everyone gets new clothes for Durga Puja) to play with us. The teams were me, Joy, Ellenoor and Manisha vs. Piya, Mili, Arati and Trina. It was so hot and humid I thought I would die. It was really fun though!

That night the volunteers met the girls at school so they could take us around Khardah and show us all the pandals. (Pandals are the structures I was talking about, one of which they built right outside of school. They start as just bamboo shells, and then they put fabric or other things on them to make them look like solid buildings. Its an amazing transformation. Inside each pandal is a shrine to Durga Puja and her entourage. People file through to pray and look at the beautiful craftsmanship.) The girls all looked so beautiful all dressed up. Prativa held my hand the entire time we were walking. She just chatted away about all sorts of things. It was really sweet. I let the kids take pictures with my camera. Its a really exciting thing for them.

The next day all the volunteers and I got up early and went into Kolkata for breakfast. We ate at the Blue Sky Cafe', a place that caters to backpackers and tourists. I had an omelete and a pancake and it was delicious (though the pancake was more the consistency of a crepe) We walked down to Park Street and went to the Oxford Bookstore. Almost all the shops were closed because of Durga Puja. Then we walked up to New Market and shopped around for a few hours. It was way less crowded than the last time I was there, because of Durga Puja. I bought a luggage lock and Trina and I chipped in to buy a hot plate (the one at the flat broke). I also bought a new skirt to wear that night when we went back around to look at the pandals with the kids again. I had felt so drab in comparison to the girls who were all dressed up the night before. Also, all of my students and Bobby had kept asking me to get a new dress for DP, so I figred I'd buy into the culture and get something. We shopped around New Market and went into lots of shops that sold handicrafts - carvings, wall hangings, jewelery. I'm beginning to think of Christmas gift ideas. We had lunch at a place called Scoops, and we all got pizza. It was actually pretty good. On the way back to Khardah, the train was so empty. It was really nice! Yay Durga Puja!

That night was technically the boys' night to show us around, but Joy was the only boy who seemed interested in doing it, so (much to Joy's dismay) I invited the girls along again. At first they said they didn't want to come, but they soon changed their minds and Manisha and Mili came with us. That night it was Manisha who wouldn't let go of my hand. We walked alot further to see the pandals that we hadn't gotten to the night before. Once again, it was really fun. When I tried to take a picture of Manisha at one of the pandals, all of the children there (about thirty or so) tried to get in the picture too. As I said, cameras are very exciting objects.

The next day, Trina, Ellenoor and I took a cab into Kolkata to see the pandals there. The driver took us to the most unique ones, and they definitely upstaged all the ones we saw in Khardah. One looked like a Roman Catholic Church, another featured kites and another dolls. They were all really amazing.

After this, things began to slow down. On Thursday, three of the five people in the flat were really sick. By Thursday night, Robyn and I, the immune ones, were sick too. Because of this, today and Thursday have not been the most fun... I have gotten some work done on my app essay though, which is good.

All in all, this week has been really great! I'm beginning to love the kids so much; I can already tell its gonna be really hard to leave them.

Today at Sealdah, the drumming continued. The station was absolutely packed with Durga Puja travellers. (Think about how unusually busy airports get during winter and spring break times, and apply that concept to India). There were more kids today than there have been. Sipa, a girl who helps out distributing food, hadn't been there in awhile. She was there today and I asked her where she'd been and she said in her village. I don't know why she's back already when Durga Puja doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but lots of kids are in the same boat. Alot of the kids were wearing new clothes today. They'll probably wear that outfit until Durga Puja next year. We played with the kids for a long time today. We handed out soap and shampoo and some of the kids would take it and put it somewhere and come back and ask for more. A few of the little girls got really angry at me when I wouldn't give them more. They were yelling at me and stomping their feet. One minute they're the sweetest little things and the next they're having fits. I was not amused.
Tomorrow I'm meeting Mithi, an Indian girl who a previous volunteer gave me the contact for, in Kolkata. We're gonna look at the Durga Puja stuff and maybe go to New Market. Tomorrow night the girls from school are taking us around Khardah to see the DP stuff. Tuesday I will go into Kolkata with the other volunteers, and Tuesday night the boys from school will take us around Khardah. On Wednesday we're taking a cab into Kolkata to see all the DP stuff. The internet cafe will be close for DP, so idk when I'll write again.

~m

Today at Sealdah, there were hundreds of people in drumming circles to start off the Durga Puja rituals. It was pretty neat. Not surprisingly, there weren't very many kids there.
I found out today that CRAWL plans to send the school kids through university. The kids only attend CRAWL until they're 15, and then they have three more years of high school before they'd be ready to go to university, but I guess if they stay in school, then CRAWL has a plan to finance their university education. I don't know how much university costs here, but I was really happy to hear that. It really does provide upward mobility for the kids.
Two new volunteers arrived from Canada last night (early this morning). They're names are Debbie and Robin and they're in their late 40s. They're both fun, energetic people. They're only here for two weeks, but it will be fun.
At school today, we made dolls out of tongue depressors (or whatever they're called). We cut out cloth for their clothes and gave them pipe-cleaner arms and drew their faces on with marker. The kids really liked it. They all made at least two. I don't know if they will do this, but now at least they have little dolls to play with at home if they want to.
The girls were all over me today. They drew designs on my hands and arms. I was gonna play soccer with a bunch of the kids after school, but Bobby told me I couldn't go because the men play rough and they'd probably all try to hit on me too. So much for that. I will play sometime though, maybe when the field isn't in use.

~m

I've decided to only write when I actually have something to say. So when I have a day where school is normal, I take a nap, eat lunch, read, and do or don't have computer class but either way its not exciting, I'm not gonna post it on here. That doesn't make for very interesting reading material anyway. I keep wondering if there are things I should describe. Like, should I devote a post to describing the trains? I guess I don't know what's interesting to folks...

Anyway, we had a birthday/Durga Puja/Jen's last day party at school today. It was three kids' birthday: Joy, Arati and Dharmendra. We had birthday cake and Bengali sweets and crackers. All three of the birthday-people got a new outfit from CRAWL. And we handed out little packets of presents to everyone for Durga Puja (also from CRAWL) The packets had things like bubbles, balls, nail polish, head bands and stickers. Jen also gave the little kids (the group she works with, teaching the alphabet and stuff) coloring books and pens. It was pretty fun. I was kind of beat boxing to myself and some of the kids noticed and starting trying to do it too. It was really funny.
At Sealdah today, also because of Durga Puja, we gave out more food than usual. We got sixty little personal boxes of potato curry and some kind of Indian bread that I don't know the name of and walked around the station and handed them out with Bengali sweets. We didn't do wound care because it was raining.
Two more volunteers are coming tonight. One is from Canada and the other is from the US. Debbie, the Canadian, came last year and decided to come back again this year and bring Robyn, the American, with her. Tomorrow night a volunteer from Holland arrives. I don't anything about her except that she's from Holland... Jen is leaving tomorrow morning for Hyderbad, where she'll spend a few months doing research.

~m

October!

It kind of amazes me that its October already. I have spent an entire month, with room to spare on each end, in this country. In some ways, I guess it feels like it. In other ways, time flies. It does seem like quite awhile since I've been home. And it feels like I've spent many weeks here. However, I still feel mostly brand new. I am way more adjusted now than when I got here, but I still can't believe I've put down a whole month. Its like I'm still waiting to understand what its really like to be here; like I'm still just getting used to it. Compared to when I arrived though, I am used to it.
Today was not the most eventful. I got up a little early and went for an extremely short run before school. Next time I will go for longer. Attendace at school today was slim. Prativa, who hasn't missed a day since I've been here, was there as always, but my regulars in the advanced class weren't there. The only kids in the advanced class who were there were Joy and Arati, both of whose attendance is pretty inconsistent. Everything was fine, though the energy level was low. After school, I of course went back to sleep. I got up and had lunch and read until I went to the Women's group with Jen at four. Trina said she'd do the computer class today. The women's group meets in the same room we use for school. I actually didn't do anything at all. I just sat and watched the women stitch patterns onto fabric that will be used to make wall hangings, book marks, pillow cases, and bags. The things they make are then sold, and the money either goes back into CRAWL or to the women, I'm not sure which. Jen said it was the first day that the volunteers didn't do anything. Usually they draw the stitching patterns or something. I liked watching the women work though. None of them know very much English, so they didn't really talk to me.

Tomorrow is a national holiday, so none of the CRAWL programs will run. This means I getta sleep in, so I'm excited. I haven't slept in past 8 for two weeks...

~m

Indian Museum

Today we went into Kolkata and went to the Indian Museum. Its massive. I didn't go through even half of it, but I did go through the archeology, geogolgy, anthropology, painting, coin, and carving sections. The first two were not really my thing, but the rest was really kool. I imagine I'll go back a few times to look at the rest of the museum. There isn't very much information, just lots to look at. Compared to museums in the US, it isn't very well put together, but its supposed to be one of India's best museums. More for the collection than the presentation, I imagine. The carvings were really amazing, they ranged back to like 500 AD. India has so much more history than the US.
After the museum, we went to the Oxford Bookstore for awhile. I love that place. Then we went to a really nice restaraunt on Park Street and had a delicious lunch. After that, I headed back to Khardah and read for awhile before coming here.
Back to school tomorrow. Next week we have off because of Durga Puja.

~m

one month mark

Today Trina and I went into Kolkata to get train tickets to go to Darjeeling. First we went to Sealdah, and, with considerable difficulty, found the booking area. We waiting in line for a long time, to find out that there were no seats available on the day we wanted to go. We were discussing our options when the man told us to move out of line. A wasted hour. Trina called a travel agent she'd talked to to see about getting help booking our tickets. He told us to go to the West Bengal Tourist Center. So we took a cab there and waited in line for nearly two hours. While waiting, we talked to a guy from the states who's here studying sitar and yoga. He is a pure hippie. He was interesting to talk to though. We exchanged e-mails and we might meet up with him sometime during Durga Puja (which starts next week). We got our tickets (for the day we wanted). However, we only get to within a few hours of Darjeeling, then we have to hire a driver. It shouldn't be a problem though. We're going at the beginning of November and we're gonna spend two full days (with half days on either end) and then head back. I'm excited! I getta see the Himalayas!
At this point, Trina and I parted ways. She went to meet a lady from the orphanage from which she was adopted. I took a taxi to Park Street and had a delicious Indian lunch. I then stopped in at the Oxford Book Store and got The God of Small Things and had tea, and then headed back to Khardah.
I worked on that drawing of Zach for awhile (hair now 2/3 done) and then came here. Tomorrow we're going to the Indian Museum. Should be interesting.

~m

rain, rain go away

Yup, thats right. Rain. Yesterday it was POURING when we got up to go to Sealdah. Despite my umbrella, I was pretty thoroughly soaked by the time we got on the train. When we got to Sealdah, Rita informed us that Kakoli and Babai weren't coming because of the rain and that we would only do food distribution, no wound care or coloring. This made sense because we usually set up outside, but because of the rain we were forced indoors, and the space is very limited. There are already few people because of Durga Puja, and there were even less because of the rain. We only gave food to like 30 kids. We gave them hard-boiled eggs and plain bread. I was really surprised to see some kids throw away their crust. These kids can barely afford food and they don't eat crust. Amazing.
So anyway, we were only at the station for like half an hour because there were so few people. Back at the flat, I went to sleep then finished The Book Theif and had lunch. The kids didn't show up for computer class. Later they told me they didn't come because it was raining. We made our way through the rain to school, only to find that it had been cancelled, again because of the rain. Bobby had tried to call us, but I had my volume down low. So we went back to the flat for awhile and I attempted to work on Bengali, but was utterly perplexed. Something about inherent vowels and only writing them part of the time, and two ways to pronounce them... pure jargon. So I came to the Iway and talked to some folks on Skype for awhile. I was about to write my blog when my computer just turned off. It does that sometimes. So I just left, and went and bought a few random food items before heading home.

When I got up this morning, it still hadn't stopped raining (yes, it rained for over 24 hours straight). We were getting ready to go to Sealdah when we got a call from Kakoli. The program was cancelled due to rain. Back to bed for me. It was only 5:30 at the time.
When I got up, I read and played cards and did other things to entertain myself (including laundry) until the girls showed up for computer class. We had them doing a computer game where you put scrambled words into order to make a sentence. Then the power went out, so we played BINGO for the rest of the time. At school the kids painted plastic things to hang in wondows. Think stained glass. They came in all sorts of shapes, including butterflies, monkeys, and flowers. I took my camera with me, so I got lots of cute pics of the kids with their masterpieces.

~m

four week mark

Alot more kids were at school today. This made them a little harder to handle, but whatever. Everything went fine. After school I took a nap like always, then got up and had lunch like always, then read, like always. Haha. We went to Sealdah, and its still really empty because of Durga Puja. The kids were extra rowdy though, they kept running into my legs and almost knocking me down while I was trying to make the sandwiches. A woman named Mez (I really have no idea how to spell it) who volunteered in July met us there. She's from Holland and she's back in Kolkata for a month doing research. She was really nice and you tell how much she enjoyed interacting with the kids.
On the train ride home, it was really crowded and a few people gave up their seats so we could sit down. We have had especially uncomfortable looking facial expressions or something. I felt kind of guilty, but there was no arguing with them. I was forced into that seat, haha. I talked with the young woman who gave up her seat for me. She's studying film at West Bengal University. She asked what I thought of the Indian people. "Are they good or bad?" she asked. I said they are very good and that everyone is really friendly. She said "Indians are very frank." I guess she's right. It was interesting that she was so concerned about how I perceive their hospitality. Obviously that's why she gave up her seat.
Jen, Trina and I are gonna watch a movie tonight. And of course we have Sealdah bright and early tomorrow.

~m

Let's see... Yesterday, very few kids were in class because they have exams this week in their other school. Basically same story today. We did the usual order of operations, flash cards and story problems.
I've been spending a fair amount of my time reading The Book Theif, which I like so far. Its written in a very interesting way.
I've also begun working on trying to learn Bengali. I spent a few hours on it today and yesterday. So far I can read and write Bengali r, l, m, n, b, u, i, and a. That doesn't sound very impressive, but learning the letters, which look nothing like the alphabet, is difficult. I'm picking up a little vocab too. For instance, ma is mother, and am is mango. I can write both of those in Bengali too. It'll be a slow process, but hopefully I'll get to the point where I can get my point across and generally understand people when they talk to me.
Today and yesterday one kid came for computer class. (This is progress, as its the first time anyone has come at all on Wed or Thurs) Yesterday Suraj came and today Prativa came. The computer is acting up again, so I had them read out loud and then we played a game. Suraj and I played bingo, and I attempted to teach Prative speed. I somehow convinced myself that speed would be a simple game to teach. Wrong. She was gracious about it though, and pretended she was interested. Cards just aren't the thing here. Oh well.
Last night Jen, Trina and I went to the Penguine Inn for dinner (Khardah's only sit down restaraunt, as far as I can tell), which is why I didn't write. It was pretty delicious.
I think I may be getting a cold, which I am NOT happy about.
I think thats pretty much it on the news.

~m

Mother Theresa's mission house and the zoo

Today has been really good so far, and I don't forsee anything terrible happening between now and when I go to bed. Walking home, watching a movie, having dinner, taking a shower, reading, writing in my journal, turning out the light... none of it is too risky. So, I think its safe to say that today will end as a good day. (And the "so far" part won't be necissary)
So I got up at 7:15 (that was the worst part of the whole day, though setting my alarm for 5:30 for tomorrow will be worse) and got ready to go into Kolkata. Breakfast was Wheaties (yum!) and banana (with milk). Trina and I caught a relatively un-crowded train. The pushing was minimal, and I actually had a little space to move. The metro was also fine.
When we got into Kolkata, we began walking toward Mother Theresa's mission house. I thought it was within walking distance, but Trina said it wasn't, so after several blocks we decided to hail a cab. The quizzical look on the driver's face was explained when he only drove about two blocks away from where he picked us up. Humorously embarassing, but whatever.
The motherhouse was pretty neat. Mass was going on when we got there, so we were being serenaded as we walked through the exhibit that narrated her life story and work. It was really interesting; I honestly didn't know very much about her. We got to see the room she lived in for most of the years she was in Calcutta (its also where she died). Lastly, we visited her tomb, which was decorated with flowers. Being there made me feel the closest to Catholic that I've felt since the first or second grade. Mother Theresa was an amazing person; she's extremely inspirational.
Before I came to India, when I would tell people what I was going to do, they would often say something linking me to Mother Theresa. I would usually give some kind of nervous laugh or smile while thinking, "Don't put that kind of expectation on me. I won't make a fraction of the difference she made." I have to say I agree with myself. I guess its an honor to be compared to her, but an undeserved one. She gave her entire life, I'm giving a few months. And she was a devout Catholic, which was extremely important to her. I really don't know why I'm rambling on this. What I mean to say is she was an amazing person and I look up to her, but I do not strive to be her. I am awed by her work though.
The humbling, awing experinece of the Motherhouse was sharply contrasted with the emotions evoked at the zoo. If I were to walk through the zoo and not look at the animals and cages, I would say that it is a nice park, though not very well maintained. The buildings, like most in Kolkata, once had great splendor, but are now crumbling. The cages were depresssingly small. A large majority of the animals were birds, but they also had giraffes, tigers, lions, elephants, deer, rhinos, hippos, monkeys, a bear (possibly the saddest sight), crocodiles, snakes, etc. The water for all of the water-borne animals was green with algae. The chimp was sad to watch: someone would throw a package of food to it, it would eat it and then extend its hand in a way that was all too remeniscent of the beggars on the other side of the wall.
After the zoo, we went to grocery store, where I bought peanut butter (you'd be amazed at how much PB I consume here), cheese, and some kind of indian-italian herb seasoning.
Then we had lunch at a pretty nice restaraunt with an all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet. It was pretty good, though I must say the place where we ate last week was better.
We ran into the Oxford Book Shop and I bought a "teach yourself Bengali" book. To our disappointment, they didn't have Time Magazines or Newsweeks, but it was ok because we found a Time at a news stand outside of the metro station.
The metro was really uncrowded, and the train was quite bearable. When we got back, I read for a little while before coming here.
I am quite tired, but, as I said before, it was a good day.

~m

Today was a day off and I spent it quite lazily, but I will nonetheless provide you with an obligatory post:

I slept in, though not quite as late as I expected. I was disappointed to find that the milk in the fridge has spoiled, which meant I couldn't have a bowl of the Wheaties which I recieved yesterday in a package from my mom that took three weeks to make it from her hands to mine. Instead I had a PB&J. After I ate, I read the remainder of a Newsweek I bought a few weeks ago, and then started on the NY Times Week in Review that came in the same package as the Wheaties. Trina and I took a rickshaw to the ATM to find that the power was out in that part of Khardah, causing the ATM to be closed. I bought more milk, eggs and bananas on the way back to the flat.
There is a dog that a previous volunteer had asked us to feed (she even sends money for us to do so) that we call Baby Dog. He looks so much better than he did when I got here because now he has consistent food. His fur is much thicker, his ears aren't slimy, and he's putting on weight. Trina let him inside the gate to feed him, and then came into the flat to get his food. When she went back out, our landlord was chasing him away with a big stick, and he actually hit him a few times. When we saw him later, he had blood on his foot. People don't have pets here (though probably some wealthy folks do) because that's an extra mouth to feed. But the street animals are regarded with disdain and hostility; some PETA folks would be horrified.
So anyway, I had lunch and Trina and I watched Kung Fu Panda, which was cute. Last night we watched The Count of Monte Cristo, which was also good. After the movie, I read a little more, then went back to the ATM, and then came here. Quite an eventful day for me.
Tomorrow Trina and I will go into Kolkata, though I don't yet know what we'll do or where we'll go.

~m

Trina and I had dinner at Joy's last night. They did not eat with us, as I thought might be the case. They served us rice bryani (I have no idea how to spell that) that they bought from a vendor or restaraunt or somewhere. I know they didn't make it though, because they had it in little to-go boxes. It was very good, but I felt bad because it meant that feeding us was a big expense for them. I would have rather eaten whatever they usually eat, even if its only plain rice and chapathi. I had been looking forward to trying some Indian home cooking, but that wasn't to be. They gave us huge portions, so we each only ate half of what they gave us, in hopes that they'd eat the rest after we left. I hope we didn't offend them by doing this. I honestly wouldn't have eaten as much as they gave me anyway. We bought them a variety of cakes to share with their extended family. They didn't understand why we were giving them something when we were the guests (guests are held in very high esteem in India; being a host is an honor) We told them that in America, it is customary to bring gifts. (Once again, we didn't want to offend them). So the dinner was yummy, but I don't think I'll accept a similar offer again because is it such a big expense for the family. I am interested in seeing the other students' houses though.

Today we went to Sealdah and it was pretty empty again, though not to the extent that it was yesterday. The kids colored and then we passed out food. I didn't help with the first aid at all, instead I just played with the kids. This one little boy was a freakin' monkey, he would climb all over me and he wouldn't let me put him down. They all want to be held. They're so cute! Trina and Jen took some pictures, so I may put a few up soon.
After Sealdah, I showered and took a nap and then had lunch while watching the Godfather 2. The girls came for computer class and we looked through pictures of Subhamita's wedding. At school, the kids made clay ice cream cones. (I made a chalice). After school I came here. Now I'm ready to go have dinner! (though it doesn't come for two more hours...) Tomorrow is a day off, but I think I'll be staying in Khardah because Trina doesn't want to go to Kolkata twice a week after the train incidents last week. Oh well, I'll sleep in and spend some time doing art.

~m

I didn't go to Joy's last night, I think he was in trouble. Instead we're going tonight, he's actually waiting to take us right now. I don't know if we're having dinner or not though. I'll let ya know.

Today we went to Sealdah bright and early. It was once again surprisingly un-busy. Only 45 kids came for food, probably less than half of what we usually have. Kakoli said this is because Durga Puja, the biggest holiday in Hinduism, is coming up in a few weeks. The kids at Sealdah come with their parents from rural India. They come to Kolkata to find work, but they don't make enough money to afford housing. The parents work all day, and so the kids stay at the station unsupervised. At night, I guess their parents join them at the station to sleep. But many of them have returned to their villages for the Puja, which is a many-day festival. So I guess Sealdah will be less busy for the next few weeks.
After Sealdah, I went back to the flat and slept for a good three or four hours. I had lunch and read Time magazine until it was time for school. The craft we did today was paper cutouts where a bunch of shapes are connected. Most of the kids did people, but some did boats, butterflies, or random shapes. After school I bought an Indian cell phone. Then I came here. Now I'm going to Joy's.

~m

three weeks in India so far...

Yesterday, one of the CRAWL students, Joy, invited Trina and me to his house for tea after we left the Iway. So Trina and I went with him to his "house", which I guess I should call a dwelling. The whole place is smaller than my bathroom at home. I'd guess it to be about 5'x6' or so, though I'm not that great at estimating dimensions. It had a concrete floor, the roof was metal and the walls were woven. It didn't stand alone; it was in a complex so other people lived on the other side of one of the walls. There was a lone light bulb dangling from the ceiling, but no other electricity that I could make out. They didn't have running water, instead they fill bottles at a nearby pump. There was no furniture, just a cloth on the floor to sit (and sleep, I assume) on.
Joy's mom made tea for us on a kerosene stove. It was the best tasting tea I've had since I've been here; she ground fresh ginger into it. Joy asked if we wanted biscuits (sweet biscuits are cookies, salty biscuits are crackers) and we said sure. When his mom gave him money to go buy some, we protested but they insisted. Joy came back with a package of two cookies. So Trina and I drank the tea and cookies while they watched; they didn't eat too. Joy invited us back for dinner tonight, so I'll be going there after I leave the Iway. However, Trina is feeling sick so I'll be the only one going. I hope that they eat with me this time, because I will feel uncomfortable eating in front of them, especially if I'm the only one eating since Trina isn't coming. I am going to buy a few pieces of cake to take with me as a gift. I hope that it doesn't seem to extravagant and embarrass them, but I figure it will be a nice treat for them since the cake is something they obviously can't afford.
After tea, Joy took us to the next dwelling over, which shared a wall with his place. I think its his aunt's house, but they call everyone "auntie" and "uncle" here, so I'm not sure. This place was a little bigger; two rooms instead of one. The first room was like an entryway/storage room and it was teeny. The second room was probably 6'x6' or a little bigger (once again, I'm not the best with dimensions) and it had a bed and a table with a TV on it. There were six people in the room, all watching the TV (though when we came, they were watching us, not the TV). This house had a ceiling fan too. So it was still very meager, but a step up from what Joy has.

Today I got up early for school. The intermediate kids did story problems, and the advanced kids did order of operations, big surprise. It went smoothly though. After school, I went back to sleep for a little while, though I kept waking up. I finished Malcolm X and had lunch, and then we went to Sealdah. Sealdah wasn't busy at all. Hardly anyone showed up for wound care and all of the regular kids were nowhere to be found. On the train back to Khardah, I talked to a woman who, like everyone, was curious about me and why I'm here. When I told her about CRAWL, she said this was a good reason to be here and that at first she hadn't understood why I would leave "the comfort" of my home. She was the first Indian to talk to me about America like that. She asked if I spoke any Bengali or Hindi and I told that I regret that I don't, but that hopefully I will know some by the time I leave.
Thats basically it for today. After this I'm going to Joy's and tomorrow is Sealdah at the crack of dawn and school in the afternoon.

~m

School was back on again today. I had the intermediate kids do more multiplication and division, and then we started working on story problems. Story problems are difficult for them because their spoken english is so much better than their written english. This way, they'll practice their math and their english skills at the same time. I returned the order of operations tests to the advanced kids, and I think some of them were a little shocked at how poorly they did. We decided we'll review and re-test before moving on. Its the whole working from left to right thing that kills them...
After school I went back to sleep for about three hours. When I got up, I began drawing my friend Zach, copying a picture that I have of him from my grad open house. I spent two or three hours on his face and then had lunch. After lunch I spent another two hours on his hair (its curly), and got about 1/3 of the way done, if that. I finished the main part of Malcolm X, now I just have like thirty pages of epilogue to go. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it to anyone who has not yet read it. Even though it was written almost fifty years ago, I find much of the content to still be quite relevant. Its amazing how much has changed and at the same time how much has stayed the same since that time.
Besides e-mailing and talking on Skype, that's all I've done today. I know it sounds pertty dull, but the drawing made today so much more interesting for me than yesteday was.
~m

Went into Kolkata yesterday. It was the first time I felt like I'm living in a monsoon area. Trina and I got completely drenched walking from the metro. We went to a cafe' with WiFi and had lunch and Jen and Trina uploaded some photos and did some other stuff online. After that we went to the New Market, which is this maze of shops. Its like buildings with lots of shops and then alleys of stalls between them. We found a place that sold all of these DVDs with like five movies on one disc. Jen and Trina both bought a bunch of them. I bought one with a bunch of war movies on it, but idr what they are haha.
Today was a holiday so there was no school. I really didn't do anything, I was just bored. Hopefully tomorrow is more eventful.

~m

train madness

The Penguin Inn is pretty nice. There are no descriptions for anything on the menu, so I asked the waiter what like six things were, and then of course by the time he told me, I had forgotten which was which, so I just chose one at random. It was called Aloo something or other, and it was potatoes and peas in a red sauce. I also had "cheese butter naan". It was a pretty good meal.
After dinner, we finished watching Erin Brokovich. I like it.
Today I slept in until about nine, then Trina and I got up to go into Khardah. We went back to the Chowringhee area, though a little North of where we've been going, to Park Street. Park Street is really nice, it has lots of restaraunts and its pretty clean (relatively speaking). We went to the Oxford Book Store, which has a huge selection of books and a little cafe' and reading area. The only thing that I didn't like about it is, as far as I can tell, their fiction section stops at P. I bought The Book Theif, which I've heard is pretty good. At some point I'll start buying Indian literature, but at this point, reading is like a little escape; refuge from teh intensity of being here. I was a little disappointed that they didn't sell any newspapers there. I thought that was my best bet for finding a New York Times. I can't find it anywhere...
After the book store, we went to a restaraunt that I had chosen out of the Lonely Planet because it had some European offerings. Trina go chicken cordon bleu, but I ended up choosing Vegetable Korma and garlic naan. It was absolutely delicious. This was a pretty high-end restaraunt; a place where in the States you might expect to pay upwards of twenty dollars for your meal. The exchange rate is a beautiful thing, and my lunch cost about five bucks.
After lunch, we walked around Park Street a little more and stopped in at a cafe' called Frosty's. We left the area early so we could beat the rush and get back to Khardah relatively unruffled.
No such luck.
We made it to Dum Dum on the metro no problem, but for some reason they changed what platform a train was coming on, and it came on the platform that usually has the trains that go to Khardah. We unkowingly got on. The fourth stop, which should have been Khardah, was quite obviously not Khardah. We got off and ended up waiting for at least 15 minutes to catch the train coming back in the other direction. It was a more rural, less hectic place. When we did get back on the train, a lady gave me a slice of guava, which was nice. She continually tried to speak to me in Bengali, even though I told her I didn't understand. Trina and I got off a stop early, at Dum Dum Something, instead of Dum Dum junction. We then had to wait another 15 minutes for the next train going South. When we finally made it to Dum Dum junction and had made sure that the train we would get on would take us to Khardah, we had not beaten the rush. It began pouring rain, another damper on our spirits. We huddled under a staircase as neither of us had an umbrella. The train arrived and we fought to get on. I was barely on, and Trina was behind me. Her body was hanging out of the train, I think. I pushed as HARD as I could, angering a few people, to get Trina more room to stand. I was unhappy with the situation, but I think she was really shaken up. I have never been as happy to see Khardah as I was when we got off that time. Its a shame that in order to get to a place where we can relax and have a good time, we have to go through such a high-stress situation. It defeats the purpose in a way, though I am definitely still willing to go through it. I just can't stay in Khardah for that long. Thats India, I guess. More people than you know how to deal with.
~m