Ok, I know, its been waaaay too long since I've posted. This is partially due to the fact that the internet has been exceptionally slow recently, and partially due to the fact that I've been really really busy. Obviously there's no way I can tell you everything that's happened, but I'll try to go over the high lights.
Last week all the volunteers took the girls on the train to Shodpur to go to a theater and watch a Bengali movie called Challenge. It was good, but of course there were no subtitles so I couldn't completely follow it. My favorite part of it was how enthusiastic the audience was. When the main character first came out, everyone clapped and cheered.
Summer camp continued. We had the last session today. The kids really loved it. Some of my favorite things we did were tie-dying and marbling paper.
We tried to bake cookies in a solar oven, but it totally didn't work. They were in the oven for 5 hours and they weren't even all the way done. The internet site said things would take about twice as long to cook. Bull.
I baked the rest of the dough at Subhamita's house the next day. Most people here don't have ovens, and no one, including Subhamita and Kakoli, had ever baked cookies before. The real cookies were a big hit though.
I went to the Nayak's house for dinner last week. (They are a family who lived in the US for a few years. I went to their house for dinner back in the fall) I wore a salwar and ate the food with my hands, which they were happy to see. They gave me the recipe for a paneer dish they served which is almost ecaxtly like my favorite dish at an Indian restaraunt back home.
I can't believe I have less than 5 weeks left here. Time just flies.
~m
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
On Tuesday, I went to Babai's friend Sharvani's house for lunch, but I ended up staying there all afternoon. She is a really sweet girl, and I like hanging out with here. Also haning out with a group of friends my age is really nice. Lunch was huge and delicious. Everyone was delighted to watch me eat with my hands. We had rice, dal, okra curry, egg curry, paneer curry, cucumber salad, and tomato chutney. I had sweets upon arrival and ice cream for dessert. So I was STUFFED. Shravani is 20 but she sleeps with her mom in one room (in the same bed) and her dad sleeps in another room. This is so different from America! She told me she used to sleep alone, but then she had insomnia problems so now she sleeps with her mom again. But appartently her 23 year old boyfriend still sleeps with his mom too. And not for lack of space. Its so interesting. So strange to what I've known.
Wednesday was Bengali new year. (shubho naba boyar; happy new year!) In the morning, I wore a beautiful green sari which I borrowed from Bobby to school. I didn't wear it because of new year (rather because I complimented her on it and she asked if I'd like to wear it and I said yes) but it fit nicely with the holiday. It was fun getting all dressed up and wearing make up and jewellery. I wrapped the sari 100% by myself. Kakoli told me it was perfect. So that was exciting. For craft that day, the kids painted beautiful designs on handkerchiefs, and for GK we swabbed their cheeks and looked at their cells under a microscope. The boys thought it was really kool but the girls were uninterested.
In the afternoon, the girls came over to watch a movie. They rented Mon Mane Na, which is a really popular Bengali movie. Its actually not even out of theaters yet, but they had a bootleg version. The songs have been on the radio for months. It actually wasn't bad, and I love the whole soundtrack, so I really enjoyed it.
Piya told me to go shopping yesterday because for the puja (the new year) all of the shops were giving out sweets to their customers. So in the evening, after going to the Iway, I went to Piya's house and asked if she'd like to help me pick out some jewellery to give as a gift to one of my friends back home. She said yes, she would, so we went. We were indecisive and in the end, a man at the shop gave us a box of sweets and told us to come back another day when its less crowded. Then Piya asked me to walk around to the shops with Puja (her sister) and Kajal and Kajal's sister. Puja and Kajal were all dressed up and looking beautiful. Our first stop was the photo studio where they each got portraits taken. Then we walked around and browsed a little bit. Last, we walked to Manisha's house to tell Manisha's mom something (most of my students' families don't have phones).
As I was returning to the flat, I stopped to talk to Tabla Man's son, whom I hadn't seen in awhile. He's a nice kid.
Sanaa, a new volunteer who is Indian but has lived almost her whole life in the US arrived. She's 21 and she's really nice. Her boyfriend Abid (also American Indian) is staying at the guest house in Kolkata. They're here for three weeks. Its nice to be with some American young'ns.
At school today for GK we hooked up batteries to light bulbs with wire. The kids enjoyed it quite a bit. After that, we played BINGO and the kids won different prizes.
Its freakin hot here now, and its only supposed to get hotter. Today it was ungodly humid, and the power kept going out, which meant no fans. I sweat up a storm just sitting in a chair.
Still lovin' it here.
~m
Wednesday was Bengali new year. (shubho naba boyar; happy new year!) In the morning, I wore a beautiful green sari which I borrowed from Bobby to school. I didn't wear it because of new year (rather because I complimented her on it and she asked if I'd like to wear it and I said yes) but it fit nicely with the holiday. It was fun getting all dressed up and wearing make up and jewellery. I wrapped the sari 100% by myself. Kakoli told me it was perfect. So that was exciting. For craft that day, the kids painted beautiful designs on handkerchiefs, and for GK we swabbed their cheeks and looked at their cells under a microscope. The boys thought it was really kool but the girls were uninterested.
In the afternoon, the girls came over to watch a movie. They rented Mon Mane Na, which is a really popular Bengali movie. Its actually not even out of theaters yet, but they had a bootleg version. The songs have been on the radio for months. It actually wasn't bad, and I love the whole soundtrack, so I really enjoyed it.
Piya told me to go shopping yesterday because for the puja (the new year) all of the shops were giving out sweets to their customers. So in the evening, after going to the Iway, I went to Piya's house and asked if she'd like to help me pick out some jewellery to give as a gift to one of my friends back home. She said yes, she would, so we went. We were indecisive and in the end, a man at the shop gave us a box of sweets and told us to come back another day when its less crowded. Then Piya asked me to walk around to the shops with Puja (her sister) and Kajal and Kajal's sister. Puja and Kajal were all dressed up and looking beautiful. Our first stop was the photo studio where they each got portraits taken. Then we walked around and browsed a little bit. Last, we walked to Manisha's house to tell Manisha's mom something (most of my students' families don't have phones).
As I was returning to the flat, I stopped to talk to Tabla Man's son, whom I hadn't seen in awhile. He's a nice kid.
Sanaa, a new volunteer who is Indian but has lived almost her whole life in the US arrived. She's 21 and she's really nice. Her boyfriend Abid (also American Indian) is staying at the guest house in Kolkata. They're here for three weeks. Its nice to be with some American young'ns.
At school today for GK we hooked up batteries to light bulbs with wire. The kids enjoyed it quite a bit. After that, we played BINGO and the kids won different prizes.
Its freakin hot here now, and its only supposed to get hotter. Today it was ungodly humid, and the power kept going out, which meant no fans. I sweat up a storm just sitting in a chair.
Still lovin' it here.
~m
Monday, April 13, 2009
Easter and such
On Saturday night I went to the big field with the girls. A huge screen and been erected and they were showing Bengali movies all night. I stayed only for an hour or so, but I think it went on for quite awhile, and possibly on more nights than just one. It was totally free. It felt like a drive-in without the cars. But it was kool to see that so much of the Khardah community turned out to watch movies together on the lawn. It was a real small town community event. I liked it.
Easter was a fun day. Sealdah went smoothly. Bobby and Arpita stopped by the flat in the morning just to visit. Bobby is always telling me that in India, its ok to drop by people's houses univited for a visit. In fact, people don't invite folks for a specific time, they just expect them to drop by when its convenient. But this is the opposite of how it is in the US, where its considered rude to just drop in on people. So I never do here. I wonder if part of why Bobby dropped by was to prove that its ok to do... Anyway, we enjoyed having her there.
The girls came for computer class. They finished reading the Wizard of Oz and started watching the movie (if you think we already did that, it was with a different class. A different group of students.) At school/camp, I did a GK on air pressure and the kids made their own barometers. Then we colored Easter eggs, which they really liked. They also made "collages" which were pieces of paper cut into shapes and glued to another paper to make a picture. They were cute though.
That evening, the other volunteers and I went out to eat at the Penguine Inn, which was yummy as always. On my way home from there, I ran into Riya, a girl a little older than me who lives in the same area as Piya and some of my other students. I invited her to the flat for a bit. She gladly came, and we all talked about movies, marriage, school, etc. She turns 19 soon, but she's been married since she was 16. Her husband's family is paying for her schooling now, so that's good, but she says sometimes she and her mother-in-law argue over whether she should stay in school. She wants to be a doctor. I hope she gets to, but as she said, a woman's place in India is at home.
Today I went into Kolkata and bought a whole bunch of Hindi and Bengali movies. The girls came over to watch one, and they chose to watch Welcome, a Bollywood movie starring most of the same cast as Singh is King. I liked it quite well, but the power went out just before the end. With nothing to do at the flat without power, I came here to the Iway. Hopefully by the time I return to the flat, it'll be back on. I have just under 7 weeks left here, and I'm starting to feel the pressure of everything I want to do here before I leave.
~m
Easter was a fun day. Sealdah went smoothly. Bobby and Arpita stopped by the flat in the morning just to visit. Bobby is always telling me that in India, its ok to drop by people's houses univited for a visit. In fact, people don't invite folks for a specific time, they just expect them to drop by when its convenient. But this is the opposite of how it is in the US, where its considered rude to just drop in on people. So I never do here. I wonder if part of why Bobby dropped by was to prove that its ok to do... Anyway, we enjoyed having her there.
The girls came for computer class. They finished reading the Wizard of Oz and started watching the movie (if you think we already did that, it was with a different class. A different group of students.) At school/camp, I did a GK on air pressure and the kids made their own barometers. Then we colored Easter eggs, which they really liked. They also made "collages" which were pieces of paper cut into shapes and glued to another paper to make a picture. They were cute though.
That evening, the other volunteers and I went out to eat at the Penguine Inn, which was yummy as always. On my way home from there, I ran into Riya, a girl a little older than me who lives in the same area as Piya and some of my other students. I invited her to the flat for a bit. She gladly came, and we all talked about movies, marriage, school, etc. She turns 19 soon, but she's been married since she was 16. Her husband's family is paying for her schooling now, so that's good, but she says sometimes she and her mother-in-law argue over whether she should stay in school. She wants to be a doctor. I hope she gets to, but as she said, a woman's place in India is at home.
Today I went into Kolkata and bought a whole bunch of Hindi and Bengali movies. The girls came over to watch one, and they chose to watch Welcome, a Bollywood movie starring most of the same cast as Singh is King. I liked it quite well, but the power went out just before the end. With nothing to do at the flat without power, I came here to the Iway. Hopefully by the time I return to the flat, it'll be back on. I have just under 7 weeks left here, and I'm starting to feel the pressure of everything I want to do here before I leave.
~m
Saturday, April 11, 2009
finally
Sorry I haven't written in so long. Once I get behind, I avoid writing because I have so much to say to catch up. So I'm not gonna do very much catching up. But here are the most recent occurrences:
Instead of having school, for the next three weeks (the current week included) we are doing "summer camp" with the school kids. This is because they are all currently on their equivalent of a summer break in the US from their Indian schools. So the camp runs from 10 to 1 and we do crafts and GK. Every GK is some kind of science experiment or fun activity.
A new volunteer named Michaela came on Sunday. She's from the Czech Republic, but she's lived in the US for the past 11 years. She's staying only for two weeks. She's kool. Then on Thursday, two Dutch women (friends travelling the world together) came. Their names are Tessa and Alie and they'll be here for 3 weeks. They're also really fun. All three of these women are over 30, so I am by far the youngest in the flat. That's ok though.
I went to Dum Dum for myfirst time ever since being in CRAWL on Thursday. Because of the altered schedule for summer camp, Dum Dum and school don't overlap. It was nice. Much fewer kids than Sealdah and much less hectic. Everyone is more polite and things feel more organized. More gentle. I am still partial to Sealdah though, because I know all of the people there. I know I would grow to love Dum Dum in the same way if I went consistently, but I will only be going for three weeks, and maybe only one day in each week. We'll see.
At summer camp, we've painted clay vases, made dry flower boquets (which involved painting dry coconut flowers and turned out beautiful), made wall hangings, and decorated big sheets of paper on which we will put a small poem or drawing from each student. For the GK part, we've made mold gardens, played with a parascope, grown (or are in the process of growing) sugar crystals, and talked about taste and taste maps (ya know those maps of the tongue that show which part is responsible for which taste? Well it turns out its a myth, but we had the kids taste sweet, salty, sour and bitter things anyways, and they tried to decide which part of the tongue tasted those the most. It didn't work very well...)
Sealdah has been empty the past two Fridays, but its been really fun on the weekends. I just love taking the kids to wash and brush their teeth. Its involvement with them a new level. They appreciate it so much too. And they're all so sweet. Also, because my Bengali is improving, I can talk to them a fair amount now, which is really fun.
I have just under seven weeks left until I leave, which is really unbelievable.
~m
Instead of having school, for the next three weeks (the current week included) we are doing "summer camp" with the school kids. This is because they are all currently on their equivalent of a summer break in the US from their Indian schools. So the camp runs from 10 to 1 and we do crafts and GK. Every GK is some kind of science experiment or fun activity.
A new volunteer named Michaela came on Sunday. She's from the Czech Republic, but she's lived in the US for the past 11 years. She's staying only for two weeks. She's kool. Then on Thursday, two Dutch women (friends travelling the world together) came. Their names are Tessa and Alie and they'll be here for 3 weeks. They're also really fun. All three of these women are over 30, so I am by far the youngest in the flat. That's ok though.
I went to Dum Dum for myfirst time ever since being in CRAWL on Thursday. Because of the altered schedule for summer camp, Dum Dum and school don't overlap. It was nice. Much fewer kids than Sealdah and much less hectic. Everyone is more polite and things feel more organized. More gentle. I am still partial to Sealdah though, because I know all of the people there. I know I would grow to love Dum Dum in the same way if I went consistently, but I will only be going for three weeks, and maybe only one day in each week. We'll see.
At summer camp, we've painted clay vases, made dry flower boquets (which involved painting dry coconut flowers and turned out beautiful), made wall hangings, and decorated big sheets of paper on which we will put a small poem or drawing from each student. For the GK part, we've made mold gardens, played with a parascope, grown (or are in the process of growing) sugar crystals, and talked about taste and taste maps (ya know those maps of the tongue that show which part is responsible for which taste? Well it turns out its a myth, but we had the kids taste sweet, salty, sour and bitter things anyways, and they tried to decide which part of the tongue tasted those the most. It didn't work very well...)
Sealdah has been empty the past two Fridays, but its been really fun on the weekends. I just love taking the kids to wash and brush their teeth. Its involvement with them a new level. They appreciate it so much too. And they're all so sweet. Also, because my Bengali is improving, I can talk to them a fair amount now, which is really fun.
I have just under seven weeks left until I leave, which is really unbelievable.
~m
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