I'm clearly getting incredibly lazy with the blog, so my apologies for the 2-3 dedicated readers. It's partly because everytime I get online, my two year old niece comes running to the computer and asks me to show her nursery rhymes on Youtube. Of course, one song isn't enough so I have to listen to 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' instead of updating this. Anyway, a lot has happened in the last week so here goes:
1. I was told not to teach 10th grade since they are constantly overwhelmed with work for the board exam. It's understandable, but I have no idea how they'll manage to score well in English. I'm now teaching 9th grade (still working on sentence formation). The first lesson turned into a question-and-answer session about my life and theirs. It was fun and eye-opening for both me and them.
2. IRB finally approved my proposal, so I can start the research part of the project. I'll be looking at what the girls want to do - educationally and professionally - once they graduate from SKV and how the school can guide them. This week is going to be busy. Today will be spent translating consent forms, surveys, and interview questions with the help of Google. Hopefully, I'll be done with surveying the girls and interviewing the 4 teachers at the school by the end of the week and can start on focus groups with the girls next week.
3. The documentary is coming out slowly. I interviewed all four teachers (they weren't very talkative or helpful). This week, I'm hoping to interview a girl from each grade to get to know their lives. I'll hopefully get a chance to go to their villages and see their homes, talk with their parents, etc. It should be busy but fun.
4. MONSOON HAS ARRIVED!!!!!! I'll actually have to go buy a couple of pairs of jeans now that it's not super hot anymore. Oh, yeah...also need to dance in the rain.
5. The multiplex movie theater strike is over!!!! Movies have been coming out since last week (about time!), so I have something to do during the weekends. Each weekend, I go to Surat, a nearby city, and have lots of fun - mostly eating food. Now I can add movies to the list. Anyway, I watched 'New York,' and excellent movie about illegal detention and torture of Muslims in NYC after 9/11. Yes, a Bollywood movie was good for a change but that wasn't the best part.
Get ready for this...each of the seats was literally a recliner sofa for one! And that's not all. You get the luxury of watching the movie with a blanket and a pillow. Holy crap indeed. Greatest movie watching experience ever.
The multiplex has 6 theaters, each one decorated according to a country (e.g. Egypt). Well, last weekend, I watched a movie in the Russian theater. Hilarious experience because the doors, the walls, and each seat was adorned with the Commi hammer and sickle. That would never happen in the U.S.
6. Last Thursday, I was listening to Aarti ben, the English teacher, give a lesson to the 9th grade and they were learning common English phrases. Here's what a few minutes sounded like:
Aarti ben: What do you say when something is good?
Silence
Aarti ben: Come on class, what do you say when you like something?
Silence
Aarti ben: For example, when you see a beautiful girl on the street, what do you say?
Muttering
Aarti ben: You say, "Very nice."
Then the class repeated, "Very nice," and I burst out laughing. Rude? Yes. But you couldn't have helped it either.
7. I may have mentioned this before but everyday, the girls and the teachers sit in a large hall from 3:30 - 4:00 pm and use the spinning wheel, better known as charka by Gandhians, like the one pictured above. They have gotten much more compact since Gandhi's good ole days, so I'm considering buying one and learning how to use it while I'm here. Here's the thing, though - what would I do with all the yarn? I'm pretty sure hand weaving machines are way complicated and expensive...
Alright, that's it for now. Pictures of Bardoli (the town I'm in), the Ashram, and the school are up, so you can check them out here!
