In the morning Jamie, Daisy and I (now just Daisy and I, Jamie's last teaching day was Friday.) head over to the office at about 9am to find our driver for the day. He quietly listens to us chatting all the way to Vasant Kunj to the Earth Saviours site, and occasionally helps with Hindi. None of them are too chatty but they'll all answer our random questions and probably pass on some of the stranger things we say unless they just zone out from the girl talk. All of this would be different without our drivers and I love them.
The route has become familiar; fruit stand here, man peeing there, children begging on that corner, man with 1.5 legs on that corner. At the beginning they all come straight to our car because they see lady foreigners, but we usually don't get a second look now because they all remember that we don't give them a second look. It's essential in order to avoid harassment.
We turn on to Green Avenue which is filled with high walls, gates, and guards. We desperately want to see the houses behind those walls and will get a rare peek behind the gate when a car is going through. But so far no good look at the massive homes back there. All the way at the end of Green Avenue is the entrance to Earth Saviours. What I would call the driveway would be the envy of any 4-wheeling adventurer, aside from the dogs and little old guys wandering it.
When we head through the gate the kids are usually lined up in the center listening to Ravi or one of the teachers. Then Ravi will often have them doing some stretching. Now, I don't know how old Ravi is but he bends better than most of the children and certainly better than me in my strangling kurta.
He always comes over to say hello with his big smile and shake our hands as soon as he sees us.
On Friday he had gathered all the children around and was speaking to them in Hindi. The ever wandering Karen was standing up in the middle in her own universe and everyone is yelling at her to sit. Ravi looks up to me and Jamie (Daisy had the ick and stayed home to rest) and with a big smile he says "Today I am teaching them to fight for the first time!" To which I said, "Oh! Goodness..." They don't need too much encouragement in this area but hopefully he will eventually teach them the control part that goes along with being a 4th degree black belt or whatever it is that he has.
He has one of the older kids stand up and help him. He kicks his foot over this kids head without touching him. The rest of them do this- GASP!....squeal....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So they do this kicking thing for a few minutes to show the kids how it's done then they all run off and try it on their own. Of course later during class it turns in to just regular kicking but it's a process. They often walk/jog a trip around the field but this morning they just wandered back to their classrooms after their fighting lesson.
**Cute side story about Ravi- a couple days ago I was sitting with my group and Ravi came over to say hello. A younger man came over, touched Ravi's feet and Ravi said something to him and he wandered off. He then came back with a towel which Ravi then used to wipe the nose of the snotty little face right in front of me. It's not like I've never seen the snotty face "ok blow" scenario before but this was extra cute that he bothers to wipe the noses of the children, because he's got plenty to do. He never rushes, which I'm always surprised by. At any given moment he has about 800 things to be doing but he will ALWAYS stop and talk for a few minutes and ask how you are doing. And maybe wipe your nose if you need it.**
Jamie goes off to her classroom, and Daisy and I usually wait to get some children assigned to us from the preschool set. They come wandering out of the tent with their bright little chairs over their heads either wandering off to where they want to sit, or yelling "ma'am! ma'am! Here!" One of the boys usually goes and finds a chair to bring over for me. Friday was a busy day. I had a few children for about 20 seconds who then all got yanked away by a relatively unpleasant old man. They all went in the tent to recite ABCs and sing Row Your Boat in that aggressive manner that they sing everything that they don't actually know the words to. They pronounce things pretty well for not having the slightest clue what the words mean.
A couple of the teachers asked me why I was sitting there by myself and I told them all my students were taken away. As I thought I was going to get them back they were all called to line up again and sit down.
About once a day someone stops by to bring snacks, clothes, or some kind of donation. Today was a Earth Saviours supporters birthday so he and his family game with lunch for everyone. All the kids sat about as patiently and quietly as I've seen them do anything. All the elderly and mentally challenged residents were gathered up and given a seat and everyone got a plate with these yummy fried bread things that we'd actually had at the home-base the day before, and some sort of spicy garbanzo bean tastyness, and a little sweet. Jamie and I stood aside to let everyone else enjoy their lunch but eventually a round Indian woman came over and decided we should also eat. So we did. It was yummy. All the children also got a new pencil, which I was pretty excited about! They use the pencil until the last little stub is dead and then they sharpen the other end until it's non-existent. A new pencil makes a big difference. They all sang happy birthday to the generous man and he and his family went away. They were all very nice. A couple days before some people had come with little bags of snacks and fresh samosas, which I had yet to have in India. I love snack days.
I was directed to a nice shady spot with my fresh batch of children, unfortunately about a foot away from the slides, but whatever. I wrote an A on a piece of paper and went around my group and had them all copy an A on the paper. Some know it right away, and some you just wonder what they little eyes are seeing when they finish and look at you for the right or wrong confirmation. For some of the younger ones, I'll just have them take the pen and I'll help them write it. Often the rest of the children are sticking their heads in to see how it's going and nobody can actually see the paper we're writing on. But we got to O I think before I'd lost half of my class.
A woman who I hadn't seen before, who I'm going to assume was previously homeless based on her disheveled look, came over and said something in Hindi. She wasn't looking at me so I thought maybe she was talking to the children. But none of them responded or really seemed sure why she was there. I didn't quite know what to say to her so she touched my knees and went back to the corner where she had been sitting with an older woman. (Touching the knees or feet of someone is a sign of respect.)
A while later she was laying in the lap of this other woman crying her eyes out. I'm still not sure why.
A couple teachers came over to see what the problem was, so some of the children started drifting over and peeking until they got shoo'd in Hindi and came back and sat down. I asked if she was ok, they said "oh, yes yes." And then suggested that I find a new shady spot as all mine had disappeared. They told me my white skin was going to turn black in the sun. I asked if I might look Indian before I left and they just laughed.
I take my children, 4 of them by this time, to a new shady spot and we get out some of the books from my bag and look at them and trade them and yank them away from each other. The usual. But I can deal with 4. I also had the little girl that I've been trying to work with. She never speaks. She never really does what everyone else is doing. She'll be there but she'll just do her own thing. I'm hoping for my last week to be able to work with her. I actually heard her speak on Friday, AND saw her smiling and playing so at least I know she can.
We were reviewing colors and animals. Her little bossy keeper was in her face, saying the colors so that she would repeat them. You can barely hear it, but she did repeat them. Her friend says PURPLE, PURPLE! Then the quiet one says ....purple.... Her little friend then would laugh and say them quietly like her. Every time any of them turn the page they whack me on the leg, arm, boob, wherever, yelling "ma'am!" They either tell me what the picture is, count something, or wait for me to tell them what it is. My little one started doing this as well. She'd pat me and them point at something so I would say the word. It's progress but I definitely don't have enough time to do as much with her as I'd like. But Ravi, being the saint that he is, said that if I point her out to him he'll make sure to check in on her when I'm gone.
As our car arrived I went to fetch Jamie who was getting mauled by her students since they would not see her again. She had drawn picture of some of them and make a coloring page for them to keep. We also got escorted to the car by some of the girls. It was all adorable.
So that was a few hours of my Friday. After that we come back and have lunch, had a feedback meeting with Jaggi, I worked on my temple visit blog until I had to come back and get ready for our outing for Terri's last day in Delhi, which I will talk about at a later time. Now I need brunch!
The route has become familiar; fruit stand here, man peeing there, children begging on that corner, man with 1.5 legs on that corner. At the beginning they all come straight to our car because they see lady foreigners, but we usually don't get a second look now because they all remember that we don't give them a second look. It's essential in order to avoid harassment.
We turn on to Green Avenue which is filled with high walls, gates, and guards. We desperately want to see the houses behind those walls and will get a rare peek behind the gate when a car is going through. But so far no good look at the massive homes back there. All the way at the end of Green Avenue is the entrance to Earth Saviours. What I would call the driveway would be the envy of any 4-wheeling adventurer, aside from the dogs and little old guys wandering it.
When we head through the gate the kids are usually lined up in the center listening to Ravi or one of the teachers. Then Ravi will often have them doing some stretching. Now, I don't know how old Ravi is but he bends better than most of the children and certainly better than me in my strangling kurta.
He always comes over to say hello with his big smile and shake our hands as soon as he sees us.
On Friday he had gathered all the children around and was speaking to them in Hindi. The ever wandering Karen was standing up in the middle in her own universe and everyone is yelling at her to sit. Ravi looks up to me and Jamie (Daisy had the ick and stayed home to rest) and with a big smile he says "Today I am teaching them to fight for the first time!" To which I said, "Oh! Goodness..." They don't need too much encouragement in this area but hopefully he will eventually teach them the control part that goes along with being a 4th degree black belt or whatever it is that he has.
He has one of the older kids stand up and help him. He kicks his foot over this kids head without touching him. The rest of them do this- GASP!....squeal....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So they do this kicking thing for a few minutes to show the kids how it's done then they all run off and try it on their own. Of course later during class it turns in to just regular kicking but it's a process. They often walk/jog a trip around the field but this morning they just wandered back to their classrooms after their fighting lesson.
**Cute side story about Ravi- a couple days ago I was sitting with my group and Ravi came over to say hello. A younger man came over, touched Ravi's feet and Ravi said something to him and he wandered off. He then came back with a towel which Ravi then used to wipe the nose of the snotty little face right in front of me. It's not like I've never seen the snotty face "ok blow" scenario before but this was extra cute that he bothers to wipe the noses of the children, because he's got plenty to do. He never rushes, which I'm always surprised by. At any given moment he has about 800 things to be doing but he will ALWAYS stop and talk for a few minutes and ask how you are doing. And maybe wipe your nose if you need it.**
Jamie goes off to her classroom, and Daisy and I usually wait to get some children assigned to us from the preschool set. They come wandering out of the tent with their bright little chairs over their heads either wandering off to where they want to sit, or yelling "ma'am! ma'am! Here!" One of the boys usually goes and finds a chair to bring over for me. Friday was a busy day. I had a few children for about 20 seconds who then all got yanked away by a relatively unpleasant old man. They all went in the tent to recite ABCs and sing Row Your Boat in that aggressive manner that they sing everything that they don't actually know the words to. They pronounce things pretty well for not having the slightest clue what the words mean.
A couple of the teachers asked me why I was sitting there by myself and I told them all my students were taken away. As I thought I was going to get them back they were all called to line up again and sit down.
About once a day someone stops by to bring snacks, clothes, or some kind of donation. Today was a Earth Saviours supporters birthday so he and his family game with lunch for everyone. All the kids sat about as patiently and quietly as I've seen them do anything. All the elderly and mentally challenged residents were gathered up and given a seat and everyone got a plate with these yummy fried bread things that we'd actually had at the home-base the day before, and some sort of spicy garbanzo bean tastyness, and a little sweet. Jamie and I stood aside to let everyone else enjoy their lunch but eventually a round Indian woman came over and decided we should also eat. So we did. It was yummy. All the children also got a new pencil, which I was pretty excited about! They use the pencil until the last little stub is dead and then they sharpen the other end until it's non-existent. A new pencil makes a big difference. They all sang happy birthday to the generous man and he and his family went away. They were all very nice. A couple days before some people had come with little bags of snacks and fresh samosas, which I had yet to have in India. I love snack days.
I was directed to a nice shady spot with my fresh batch of children, unfortunately about a foot away from the slides, but whatever. I wrote an A on a piece of paper and went around my group and had them all copy an A on the paper. Some know it right away, and some you just wonder what they little eyes are seeing when they finish and look at you for the right or wrong confirmation. For some of the younger ones, I'll just have them take the pen and I'll help them write it. Often the rest of the children are sticking their heads in to see how it's going and nobody can actually see the paper we're writing on. But we got to O I think before I'd lost half of my class.
A woman who I hadn't seen before, who I'm going to assume was previously homeless based on her disheveled look, came over and said something in Hindi. She wasn't looking at me so I thought maybe she was talking to the children. But none of them responded or really seemed sure why she was there. I didn't quite know what to say to her so she touched my knees and went back to the corner where she had been sitting with an older woman. (Touching the knees or feet of someone is a sign of respect.)
A while later she was laying in the lap of this other woman crying her eyes out. I'm still not sure why.
A couple teachers came over to see what the problem was, so some of the children started drifting over and peeking until they got shoo'd in Hindi and came back and sat down. I asked if she was ok, they said "oh, yes yes." And then suggested that I find a new shady spot as all mine had disappeared. They told me my white skin was going to turn black in the sun. I asked if I might look Indian before I left and they just laughed.
I take my children, 4 of them by this time, to a new shady spot and we get out some of the books from my bag and look at them and trade them and yank them away from each other. The usual. But I can deal with 4. I also had the little girl that I've been trying to work with. She never speaks. She never really does what everyone else is doing. She'll be there but she'll just do her own thing. I'm hoping for my last week to be able to work with her. I actually heard her speak on Friday, AND saw her smiling and playing so at least I know she can.
We were reviewing colors and animals. Her little bossy keeper was in her face, saying the colors so that she would repeat them. You can barely hear it, but she did repeat them. Her friend says PURPLE, PURPLE! Then the quiet one says ....purple.... Her little friend then would laugh and say them quietly like her. Every time any of them turn the page they whack me on the leg, arm, boob, wherever, yelling "ma'am!" They either tell me what the picture is, count something, or wait for me to tell them what it is. My little one started doing this as well. She'd pat me and them point at something so I would say the word. It's progress but I definitely don't have enough time to do as much with her as I'd like. But Ravi, being the saint that he is, said that if I point her out to him he'll make sure to check in on her when I'm gone.
As our car arrived I went to fetch Jamie who was getting mauled by her students since they would not see her again. She had drawn picture of some of them and make a coloring page for them to keep. We also got escorted to the car by some of the girls. It was all adorable.
So that was a few hours of my Friday. After that we come back and have lunch, had a feedback meeting with Jaggi, I worked on my temple visit blog until I had to come back and get ready for our outing for Terri's last day in Delhi, which I will talk about at a later time. Now I need brunch!
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