Yesterday was my first day back to teaching after my trip. We had craft class on Saturday and Sunday, but yesterday was the first day of real class. The kids are having exams in their other school right now, so the attendance was very low. Piya and Kajal were the only advanced students who came. We went over the packets that I had left for them to do while I was gone. It was geometery, specifically angles. We had done this in class before, and had a test on it. Almost everyone bombed the test though, so I left the packet for them to do more work on it while I was gone. Piya and Kajal both did really well on the test though, it was the other students that needed the review.
Prativa, Manisha and Jayanto were the intermediate students who were there. We also went over the packet I had left for them. Theirs involved adding fractions with different denominators. None of them had been able to do their packets, even though we had started working on it in class before I left. I went over a few problems with them and Prativa understood and she was off. Manisha and Jayanto weren't so quick. Jayanto could do it when the format was provided for him, but when he had to figure out what the next step was on his own, he really struggled. Manisha could do it, she just wasn't as comfortable with it as Prativa. She'll get better though.
After school, Subhamita and Kakoli came over for the CRAWL meeting. They brough the boxes that my mom had sent for us to have the the CRAWL Christmas party. She had sent them on December 2, and they didn't arrive until this week. They sat in customs in Kolkata for a month. Just goes to show how efficient the Indian Post Office is. A mouse had chewed through the corner of one box, but most of the stuff was unharmed.
Subhamita and Kakoli were going to start Bengali lessons with Lauren and me, but Subhamita's father is very sick, so they had to leave early. We'll start next week.
Aude and I went to play football, which was fun. The teams were divided evenly for once, so it was a good game. Afterwards, Jayanto and Suraj came for special reading class. Lauren gave an English test at school, and all the kids who scored below a certain number have to do special reading class instead of computer class. Jayanto and Suraj are both in special reading, so I was off the hook for computer class.
Prativa had invited Aude and me to come to her house to try some food made out of milk (turned out to be yogurt) that her grandmother had made. So we walked Suraj and Jayanto home, and then went to Prativa's house. Mili came too. First they gave us balls of puffed rice and honey. They were like rice krispee treats but with honey instead of marshmallow. Then they gave us the yogurt with sugar on it. Then they gave us rice and dal with potato and cauliflower in it. All of it was very good. When we finished at Prativa's house, Mili asked us to go to her house. Mili's grandma had come to visit (Prativa's grandma who made the food is her father's mom, so she lives with them. Mili's grandma is her mother's mom, so she lives elsewhere. Women move in with their husband's family when they get married here.) and she too had made lots of food. They served us tea, and then theese things called peethas which are kind of like crepes. They are thicker than crepes, but the texture and flavor is similar, and they had a sweet filling. They also gave us something that looked but didn't taste or feel like ice cream. I don't know what it was. Then they gave us rice pudding with apples and cinnamon and other spices in it. It was all quite delicious, but of course way more food than we needed. Mili's grandma asked us to come to her house, so I think next week Aude and I might go. It will be interesting...

Today, Prativa was the only student who showed up for school. My mom and Lauren started working on English with her while I helped Bobby sort out a cabinet. Dulal showed up almost 45 minutes late, but I did math with him for a bit. We went over the packet I'd left. Then Lauren and my mom did English with him while I did math with Prativa. She's actually not the best at math; it isn't intuitive for her. But she tries so hard to do well that she is easily my best student in the intermediate group. She is so sweet.
Lauren, Aude, Imelda and I played football today, and my mom came to watch. The students tried to get my mom to play too. I asked them if their mothers would play. "no!" they said. "Well neither will mine."
Manisha is out of town for her older sister's wedding and I haven't seen Sayani in awhile, so Prativa was the only student who came for computer class. She and Sayani are in special reading, Manisha isn't. Prativa is one of the best speakers of English, but she's not good at reading and writing it, so that's why she's in special reading. Anyway, Lauren had to clean her room when we found out a new volunteer will come tomorrow, so I sat in for her. Prativa read Frog and Toad stories. She liked them. As I think I've said already in this post, she is sooooooooo cute.
So the past few days have been good.
~m