First Days in the Hostel

Note:

I am not going to have time to keep updating the blog with entries from the Myanmar portion of my trip at this time. Maybe I can insert them later. For now, however, I am going to jump forward to the present and just keep updating it regularly from my trip to Kerala. I will be busy at the school each day. I have told Joseph, the headmaster, that I will need to type about 30 minutes every day or two and that I will need to either connect to the Internet here or to go the 3 km into Kundara where there is an Internet cafe to post to the Internet every couple of days. So I will try to make that my schedule.

Thursday, Sept. 29, Mumbai and on the Train

It's 9:30 a.m. I'm at Lokmanya Tilak Station (formerly Kurla) waiting for my train to Kollam. It doesn't leave for two hours, but I wanted to be here early. Getting to here was a REAL Indian experience. After taking a taxi to Victoria (CST) Station near my hotel, I took a local train to the local station. That was where I had my experience. Then I made a 5 minute walk from the local station to this regional long-distance train station.

At CST, a couple of people helped me get on the right train. When it came, one of those, a young computer programmer, was on the same car as me. I sat with him. He told me the train would get full and that I should move toward the exit door one station before Kurla to position myself for exiting, since Kurla is a transfer point and many people would be trying to get on. He said he would warm me in advance.

As the train progressed, the seats filled. Then even 1 more person squeezed onto each 3-person bench. Next, as the aisles were filled, people moved between the facing benches to stand. Although I was on the aisle seat of the bench near the exit, I had to squeeze and push to position myself near the exit door when told to do so. Two people were in front of me. Then another person squeezed in front of me. I moved up closer and didn't let anyone else move in.

The excitement began before the train stopped as several of the people in front of me started jumping off. It was still rolling slowly when I got to the exit and pushed my suitcase and my right foot out onto the platform. At the same time, a wall of people started pushing into the car. My left foot seemed trapped still inside the car. I pulled, but I couldn't get it loose. I worried that I might lose my shoe, so I scrunched my toes. Then a man on the platform wanting on the train but obviously not going to make it saved me by grabbing my right arm and pulling me free. What an experience!

It was a HOT walk to this adjuacent station for long distance trains. When stopped at a railway crossing, I talked to a couple of taxi drivers. They laughed when I pointed out that Indians were taking trishaw taxis to make the transfer while the American was walking.

The begging began as soon as I sat down in the waiting hall. Two children wanted money. Then a man wanted me to buy him a ticket. Then a taxi driver told me times were bad and wanted me to take a local tour so he could make some money. I'm sure it will go on and on until my train arrives around 11:30 for its 11:40 departure.
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As usual, the people in my "compartment" (two facing seats) have been friendly and helpful. It's 9 p.m., and we've been traveling together about 11 hours. And we are still about 24-26 hours from my destination! It's a LONG trip. The people:

Two are Christians who are heavily into their religion. One is a woman beside me who has just returned from visiting her son in Texas (Irving) for 6 months. The other is a man who is opposite us--a retiree from the navy who played in the Navy band. She produced copies of a prayer book that she has written and gives to people she meets. He has talked about how he was a heavy drinker and gave up drinking two years ago when he found the Lord. He hopes to find a way to use his music related to church activities in some way. The two of them prayed together when he told her about the cancer his wife has had and the suffering that she still endures. The other two passangers are two men--one who is returning home after helping his son and his new wife get settled in Mumbai and the other who is returning from a business trip. The former had an unbelievably beautiful and expensive looking photo album of the wedding of his son that he showed us.

We've had some good conversations: politics in Kerala, the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones, what foods (mainly different kinds of fish) I should eat in Kerala, places in southern India I should see this year and next, etc. They've been very friendly and helpful.

Friday, Sept. 30, On the Train to Kollam

It's 1:45 p.m., and I'm still on the train. The three men who were traveling with us have departed at their stops. The lady returning from Texas is still here, since her stop is the same as mine.

I slept fairly well last night, but only after putting my earplugs in. One of the men began snoring loudly. I could still hear it slightly with the earplugs, but it was low enough that I could try to ignore it and eventually fall to sleep. It's a slow train, so it felt more like being on a ship. I slept quite well for about 8 hours.

The bad news is that the train is about 3 hours behind schedule. The good news, however, is that we should have arrived earlier than the time I had found on the Internet. Therefore, it looks as if we should reach Kollam a little early or maybe just about ontime in terms of when I originally expected to be there. In the meantime, I'm watching the beautiful scenery (waterways and land which is covered in coconut palm trees) of Kerala and reading occasionally.

For breakfast today, I had dosa. It's a pancake filled with a potato mixture. There were two sauces to pour over it. Usually, the dosa pancake is thin and crispy. This one was thicker and spongy. Instead of ordering lunch, I have had snacks from the vendors who come down the aisle. I had something that looks like a doughnut, but is savory rather than sweet. It's served with a spicy yogurt-coconut sauce. You break off a piece, dip it in the sauce, and then eat it. I also had a type of a banana fritter. The banana was more like a plantain banana than a dessert banana, but it had a nice, somehwat sweet taste when battered and deep fried. It seemed like something from Cuba or Jamaica.

I have finished reading Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner. I gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 4. It's intelligently written and raises questions about what is important in life and whether settling for less in life is acceptable. It's a short novel, so it's a quick read for someone wanting to read a well-written book.
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We've not traveled more than 50 km (30 miles) in the last 3 1/2 hours. If we could move, we are only about 3 hours from Kollam, but now it seems we are so late that they expect us to stand to the side for all other trains to pass (to keep THEM on schedule). I'm worried about Joseph at the school, since he said he would pick me up. It may now be midnight or later before we get there.
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Well, the train finally arrived at midnight. Joseph was waiting for me. We got to the school and I was in bed about 1:15.

Saturday, Oct. 1, Kovalam, Kundara

I got up around 7:30. The children were already up having activities. It's now been one activity after another all day. I was given a room on the ground floor of the hostel. It has two twin beds pushed together and two desks. There is also a ceiling fan. There are nice sheets on the bed. The floors are like terrazzo tile, and the walls are smooth cement stucco painted light yellow. Joseph also has a room on this floor as does the woman who helps run things around here. Two of the older boys also each have a room on this floor. There are six girls who live in the hostel. They are on the next floor up.

There is a toilet room down the hall with about 6 toilet closets. One toilet is only for me. Across the hall from that is the shower room with 6 shower closets. One of those is for me only.

Among the events of the day:

1. I had brekfast with the children. It was a bread crumb-type mixture with a vegetarian sauce to pour over it. The sauce was spicy and had potatoes, lentils, onions, and other items in it.
2. Joseph took me to the school. The ceiling for the third floor has just been poured. It will house the classrooms for the high school including two laboratories that have nice tiled work areas.
3. Joseph walked me around the village where we met a family going home after their son's first communion. We were invited to have lunch with them. We went to their home where we ate off placemats designed to look like banana leaves. (People used to use real banana leaves, but these fake ones don't have to be cut and cleaned in advance!) They were making a special bread which is tossed like pizza dough until thin, cut into two parts, twisted and rolled into a bun, rolled flat (after resting), and cooked on a hot griddle over a wooden fire. These tortilla-like breads were placed on the plate, then either a vegetarian mixture or a meat mixture was ladeled over the bread. Eating only with the right had, we tore the brerad, pinched up the mixture in the piece we had torn, and put it in our mouths to eat. We also had a sweet called halva (which may come from the middle eastern sweet with the same name), and we had bananas. We drank milk tea.
4. Joseph drove me and the children to the nearby lake to see it. It is so beautiful and peaceful. It looks like a perfect place to swim. His family home where he was raised as a child was just beside the place where we were (which is an empty lot that he now owns).
5. All of us went to a mommemorative party for the 7th day following the death of a man. We stopped first at the cemetary where the gravesite was covered with colorful flowers and outlined in burning candles. Then we went to the home where we were served the same kind of thown/tisted bread with beef curry. A brother of the deceased was there who has lived in Canada for 18 years, so I visited with him and his wife for a long time.
6. This is the week of the celebration of the saint of the local Catholic Church--St. Michael's. We went to a service at 6:30 which was followed by a processional march through the community. The procession included a drum corps, a float representing the three of life, a float carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary, a band, a float carrying the statue of St. Michael, and two lines of residents following behind. Homes along the route were decorated with lights and/or candles, and most of them had constructed alters to St. Michael on the roadside using flowes, incense, candles, lights, photos, etc. Some were quite elaborate.

Sunday, Oct. 2, Kovalam

There is a schedule for the students from sunup to bedtime (at 9:05 p.m.) each day. Saturday's and Sunday's are different from the weekdays and different from each other. Today, they began with stretching exercises and then went to play basketball for about half an hour. I played with them. Sunday continues with times for church, for doing laundry, for cleaning rooms, etc. Today, the schedule varied some because the festival at the church changed church times and because we took field trips yesterday rather than today when they are normally scheduled. I have helped some of them with some math problems today, and Joseph is having a 30-minute English grammar class with them right now.

I feel a bit more confined here than I thought I would be, but I have been talking to Josheph about what I need. First, I needed to clarify that I do not want to be tied down to the specific schedule the students have. I want to have activities with them, but I cannot be happy if I have no freedom from day to day. So today I told them I would stay here and read while they did some of their things. Second, this is a gated area, so it's not easy just to go out walking on my own and come back. That problem is worse this weekend, however, because the man who opens and closes the gates is off duty. I am hoping I will be free to come and go when it isn't school hours. Joseph has already told me that there is a cyber cafe in Kundara which is 3 km away. I hope to walk there after school every day or two and post my blog entries. That will also give me the freedom to shop for anything I need such as toilet tissue, soap, etc. Dinner isn't until 8:30, so I should have plenty of time.

The children here at the hostel are sweet. I like being with them. I already have a couple of favorites, although I am enjoying all of them. Jerry is one I like. He is 14 and in 7th Standard (7th Grade). His sister is also here. They proved to be the best basketball players this morning. Their mother lives in Kuwait and sends the money for their housing and schooling. Jerry takes on lots of responsibilities to help Joseph. Since his mother is gone and he has no father, Joseph is really his surrogate father. Combined with his being responsible, I find him to be a fast and appreciative learner. I can see him possibly becoming a teacher and staying here to help Joseph run the school as he grows up.

The other student I like is Abin. He's less Indian looking than the others. Since his parents are Orthodox Christians, they may have come here from the middle east at some time. Anyway, he is somewhat small for his age (7th Standard), but has a sophistication that the others lack. Obviously his parents are educated and have money. His English is good, too, and he has a sweet disposition and a nice shy smile.

I have started reading a new book--Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem. It is well written and funny (even though it is a murder mystery). The main character suffers from Tourette's Syndrome. Rather than being an outcast, he seems to be loved and appreciated for it. He's an orphan who, along with three other boys from the home, has been "adopted" by a minor mobster who picks them up regularly to do odd jobs (mainly tranferring goods from trucks to warehouses). Rather than just presenting the outwardly observable ticks and outbursts he has because of the Tourette's, the story gives the progression of thoughts that lead to each outburst or other action.
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Josheph and I were invited to dinner tonight in Kollam at the home of his cousin. Although we didn’t know it, it was also a celebration of his cousin’s wife’s birthday which is tomorrow. Both the cousin and the wife have worked for over 20 years in the United Arab Emirates. The cousin has now retired and works here as a boat repairman. His wife continues to work there because they need the income until the daughters complete their university studies.

There were two other people there besides the members of the extended family who live together. One is the best friend of the cousin who also is retired from working abroad in Qatar and whose wife is the best friend of the cousin’s wife. The other is Joseph’s brother, a priest who has been marginalized in the church due to his radical (promotion of communism) agenda to improve the lives of the poor and the dispossessed.

We were served a wide variety of snacks early in the evening—banana chips; another savory snack consisting of coiled, crispy dough; peanuts; a very spicy dish made with popcorn shrimp; and a sweet concoction made with yogurt, vermicelli, raisins, cashews, and seasonings that was sort of a noodle version of rice pudding. For dinner, we had rice, the thrown/twisted flatbread; a spicy carrot mixture; a spicy cabbage mixture; a yogurt salad mixture; and fresh salad of carrots, tomatoes and cabbage. Dessert was birthday cake.

They were a very intelligent group who speak English well. And they made me feel very comfortable and welcome. We didn’t eat dinner until after 10:00, and Joseph and I didn’t get back to the school until midnight, so it was a late evening with tomorrow being a school day!

Monday, Oct. 3, Kovalam

It was my first day at school. Everyone gathered for assembly around the inner quadrangle. There was a prayer and a pledge. Then I was introduced. Following that, classes began. Classes change every 40 minutes with a 10-minute break after two periods and with lunch at 12:30. The last regular class ends about 2:10. We have “tuition” then; that’s a guided study hall in which children are encouraged to seek help with any questions they have about homework. At 3:00, everyone goes for sports. Then there is a final assembly to sing the national anthem at 3:50. School ends at 4:00.

It was a rather boring day for me. I stayed with Miss Jolly who teaches 5 math classes, a reading class, and an English class. The math classes were interesting as long as there was interaction between the students and the teacher. But much time here is spent writing word-for-word from the board or from the text. Reading was the worst class, however. I heard “Chicken Little” (“The Sky Is Falling”) read at least 5 times as children took turns reading orally. It was necessary to do all of that so a plan could be developed: I will now go only to math classes. I will meet with Miss Jolly during sports to do teacher training—showing her how I would teach lessons that she will be teaching within 3-4 days (giving her time to think, to practice, to come back and question me, etc.). Also, I will plan a workshop on lesson planning for all teachers.

It’s a long day, because I spend a couple of hours at night tutoring the children who live in the hostel. My “normal” schedule will be (although I’ve learned that “normal” seldom occurs; there are often crises to be solved):

6:00 Get up and read
7:00 Shower and Dress
7:50 Breakfast
8:15 Walk to School
8:20 Assembly
8:30-11:50 Observe Math Classes
11:50-12:30 Prepare workshop and notes for Ms. Jolly
12:30-1:00 Lunch
1:00-1:40 Observe Math
1:40-2:20 Prepare again
2:20-3:00 Tuition (Guided Study Hall)
3:00-3:50 Teacher Training Session with Ms. Jolly
3:50-4:00 Assembly
4:00-4:15 English Training Session for Faculty (I observe and participate if invited)
4:15-6:00 Break
6:00-8:15 Help Hostel Students with Homework
8:30 Dinner
9:00 Journal Writing
9:05 Lights Out

There really is no free time away from school. In fact, being here is a little like being in a minimum security prison. The whole compound is locked up outside of school hours, and school keeps me occupied then. Of course, someone would let me out and in, but it would be a hassle for them. And it would be difficult to get anyone’s attention to let me back in, since neither gate is close to the hostel.

All that makes the experience sound as if it is a negative one. It’s not. The kids are great (except when nothing is planned for them and they start hitting each other), the teachers are nice, the facilities are fine, the food is good, etc. It would be nice to have mopre freedom. But I’m looking at it as an interesting experiment to see if I can tolerate such a confined schedule and physical setting for 2 ½ months.

In the late afternoon, Joseph drove me to Kundara to show me the cyber café there. He thought it was 3 km away, but it is really more like 5-6 km (3 to 3 ½ miles). It’s really too far to walk within the short time I have free after school. I may be able to take the bus and walk back. I’ll have to see. Anyway, tonight there was an e-mail from my sister saying that my father has fallen and cut his head and broken his femur. How sad. Now I have to hope he doesn’t get pneumonia. I’m 2 days from the airport and 2-3 days from Texas after getting to the airport. And that’s only after I get a chance to learn anything by e-mail (which I may only get to read every 4-7 days)!