New Update from Kerala, India

Thursday, Oct. 13, Kumbalam

It’s raining again this morning. Yesterday, except for an occasional sprinkle, it stopped after 9 a.m. Today’s rain, however, seems more heavy in a tropical way and may continue so that it spoils my plans to go to the cyber café.
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Fortunately, the skiles clearned by 8:30. I worked on the computer doing the 5th Standard scope and sequence chart and finished at 1:30. I walked at my normal fast pace to see how far it is to the cyber café. It took 40 minutes to get to the main highway and 10 more minutes to get to the cyber café. That was faster than I had expected.

I had already typed my journal and 3-mails and saved them onto a diskette before going there, so I only had to copy them to the blog and to the e-mail program to post and send them. It took about 40 minutes to do that and to read my e-mail (along with dealing with the frustration of websites not opening quickly and easily).

I explored Kundara, the town where the cyber café is located, for a while before heading back to Kumbalam. It would be so nice if there were a fruit juice shop, a nice restaurant, and/or a supermarket there. The only juice stand I saw was in the open air and did not look clean. The “restaurants” are dark and dirty looking. There are no supermarkets other than one that is closed. I was back at school less than three hours after I left.

I’m staying with the kids while Joseph goes to the dentist. When he gets back, I’m going to insert my earplugs and go to bed early, I think. I’m tired both from my walk and from my cold.

Friday, Oct. 14, Kumbalam

I slept about 10-10 ½ hours last night. My sore throat has improved. My nose is stuffy, but not runny. In general, I feel better.

We have a mostly vegetarian diet here at the hostel. There is rice every meal but breakfast. For breakfast, there is some type of flat bread—dosa or chipati usually—or a bread crumb type mixture which is served with a sauce of some time. Yesterday, the breakfast sauce was a yellow sauce with potatoes. Today, it was a dark brown sauce with a type of bean. The rice eaten here in Kerala is a round, plump variety that can be squeezed into balls to weat when sauce is mixed with it. There are two sauces that we have had at the hostel—a think yellow sauce made with coconut (but without a coconut flavor), and one with yogurt, onions, and tomatoes. Around the rice are placed 2-3 curries made from vegetables such as potato, carrot, cabbage, etc., and often also including coconut as a mixture. About once a week chicken is served. And about once a week an artificial meat made from soy beans is served. All the food is fine, although I find it tends to be slightly constipating.

While waiting for breakfast today, the kids performed and translated a play they will do before the whole student body this afternoon. On Fridays, Joseph tries to have a cultural activity for the end of the school day. There will be a couple of short plays this afternoon.

Joseph is trying to do so much here, and almost all the responsibility is on his shoulders. He has two principal trainees, but he is having to train them. He has a good faculty overall, but he often faces days when 1 or 2 are out, and he is regularly having to look for new faculty to replace ones either leaving or being asked to leave. Also, he is trying to work to change the behavior of faculty members from some of the things that are traditionally done in Indian schools. He oversees the bus operation which also suffers occasionally from absenteeism. He’s taken on the task of supervising and tutoring the children here at the hostel during early mornings (exercise) and late afternoons and evenings (homework, grammar lessons, journal writing). He’s in charge of the hostel and grounds staff (cooks, drivers, security, etc.). He is supervising continued construction of the school building (a third floor with an auditorium, labs, and more classrooms). He is recruiting students and teachers as the school adds a new standard each year (until it finally reaches Standard X from the present VII). He is working on odds and ends such as his present efforts to expand the computer lab and making computers available to the faculty. And he is in charge of public relations—going to meetings, visiting with concerned parents, representing the school at events, etc. It IS too much for him to do without being totally exhausted most of the time. And he has other plans for the future!

Joseph isn’t the only one overworked. Everyone seems to take on too many duties in efforts to make more money. The woman who cooks and cleans the hostel started teaching nursery school two weeks ago. I’ve noticed the last few days that she has become more irritable around the children, raising her voice and yelling at them. I imagine it is from stress caused by overworking.

At 4 p.m. when the school day ended, the hostel was locked. I sat on the porch for 30 minutes, but it was hot there. I left the compound and walked to the village center to buy a snack and check the bus schedule. When I returned 30 minutes later, I had to wait again. It was about 5:45 when the lady with the key came with the kids. It’s too bad I didn’t have a book to read. I just sat and rested all that time and let my thoughts wander.

The time I most dislike of the day is at night. Dinner isn’t until 8:30. The students are supposed to study until then. Those study hours seem to drag on forever. I can’t really read, because I will be interrupted. But there are long periods where they don’t need my help and I am just waiting while the time SLOWLY passes. Even helping the kids is frustrating, since they are not used to thinking. Here, they want you to tell them an answer that they will then memorize. That’s not my nature as a teacher. I want to GUIDE them to the answer through questioning and reasoning. Doing that is also affected by their limited English. So the little help I can give them is little indeed and makes those evening hours seem so long. How nice it would be to be able to go to bed early and just skip dinner each night.