Back at St. Joseph International Academy in India

Back at St. Joseph International Academy in India

Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006—Varkala (Cont.)

My days here are nice, lazy ones. When I returned from the center of town, I ate lunch again at the same restaurant by the temple pool. As I ate, I watched a young man who was there bathing. As part of the process, he was doing yoga. I watched as he stretched one way and then another. Then, he tried a really difficult position—one where both of his legs were placed over and behind his head. He couldn’t quite make it. He was able to get one leg in place, but not both at the same time. He tried many times, and he saw me watching him, waved, and continued to try so that I could see him do it. As I left the restaurant, he and his friend were still there at the pool, and they spoke to me. I told him I enjoyed watching him do his yoga.

I also returned to the beach restaurant for dinner where I ate last night. This time, I ordered fried rice with chicken. It was good, too, but not as nice as the rice biriyani had been the night before. There was a nice green chile sauce that I ate with the rice tonight to spice it up some.

One of the Kashmiri shop owners asked me to sit and visit with him when I returned to the hotel. We had visited briefly off and on during my stay here. I was surprised to learn that he was only 19 years old and had been coming to Varkala to work since he was 15. He took advantage of the fact that I was a westerner to ask me questions about sexual matters. He said that no one in India ever talks about sex. So our conversation became a sex education class to a certain extent with him saying things like, “I didn’t know that.” “So that is what I did wrong.” Etc. Essentially, he had followed the rather common Indian tradition of quickly satisfying himself, leaving immediately after that, and not understanding why the woman wasn’t happy.

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2006—Varkala to Kumbalam

I finished reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I gave it 3 stars out of 4. It’s a long book (900+ pages) that tells an exciting story about an escaped convict from Australia who goes to India and becomes involved in organized crime there. He works as an extra in films. He goes to Afganistan to smuggle military supplies. He lives in a slum in Mumbai. It is supposedly based on the true story of the author. He’s a fairly good writer, but he isn’t a great writer. Someone else could have made it an even better story. But anyone looking for a fast-paced, exciting book should read it. It is planned as a film to be released in 2008 with Johnny Depp in the lead role.

I left the hotel at 7:30, and I arrived at the school campus in Kumbalam around 11:30 having taken 3 buses and a train. This is the campus of St. Joseph International Academy where I was a volunteer last year: http://www.sjia.org.in

There have been lots of changes at the school The upstairs science labs have been completed. The computer lab has been upgraded and a new computer teacher hired. There is now a librarian for the library. There is a new band program. A full-sized basketball court has been built using paving stones in front of the hostel. There are several new volleyball courts with nets. And goals and nets have been added to the football field. The shortcut route out of campus toward the bus stop has been closed off and only the main entrance can now be used. Instead of 10 students at the hostel, there are 23 now. Jerry and his sister Jenny are no longer staying here; their mother returned from the Middle East, and they are living with her and commuting to school. There are now 3 teachers living in the hostel and helping the children at night as they do their homework.

It was so nice to see everyone again. Abin, who had been too close to me last year and was crying when I left, seems a little distant this year. He’s now 14, so that may be part of the reason; but I think he is being careful not to become too attached this time. Shivani, the 5-year-old who danced and twirled her way down the hallway all the time last year, is still dancing and twirling, but she has a much more mature look this year; she’s still the sweetest one staying at the hostel. Premeela, the cook, seems to be in a much better mood now that the teachers supervise the children in the evenings. Joseph, the managing director (and owner) seems much happier now that he has a full-time principal to run the school allowing him to be free to supervise the continuing construction and deal with other matters beyond the daily routine. All the children seem to be at least 10 cm (4 inches) taller than they were last year.

I like all the new students at the hostel. They speak English well and have good manners. They are all so cute in their own ways. They seem starved for affection, however; by the second night I was here, they were all giving me a hug goodnight at the end of the evening. With the bigger crowd, it is easier for them to work together in doing their homework. Now, in most cases there are 4-6 students from each grade level to work together.

I was so tired at the end of the day. The stress of the traveling combined with the activities involved in getting to the classrooms and seeing all the students again made me very exhausted. I feel asleep immediately after going to my room at 9:15 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 27, 2006—Kumbalam

I went with Joseph to the hospital. He had been having problems with one of his ears. I asked if he had ever used hydrogen peroxide to clean them, but he didn’t know the procedure. Well, the doctor found a fungal growth that was causing the problem and put hydrogen peroxide in the ear. What was interesting was that Joseph asked if it was hydrogen peroxide, and the doctor wouldn’t tell him. Later, Joseph told him that he called his doctor in the U.S. and that he told him it was hydrogen peroxide. Only then would the doctor admit it. He said that doctors here like to keep their treatments a secret so that people feel the need to come back again rather than trying to do it on their own. He was impressed that I already knew the treatment that the doctor used once we were there. But the doctor’s consulting fee was only 150 rupees—a little over $3.

There is trouble with the broadband (DSL) connection at school. I think it is because the campus is too far from the telephone switching station. Joseph said it only works occasionally late at night. Anyway, it means that I cannot get online to post my blog entries. I am typing them onto his computer here and will burn them onto a small CD to take with me when I leave. That’s why the entries are probably more detailed than they would normally be.

Joseph implemented many of the suggestions that I had made when I left last year—higher pay to the teachers, persons to supervise and assist the students at the hostel in doing their work, developing a way to communicate between the main gate and the hostel at night, hiring a professional principal to relieve him of some duties so he would not have such a hectic schedule, etc. It’s nice to know that I have made a difference here.

In the evening Joseph and I went into town to the “First Communion of Jancy Joy.” We were having heavy rain, so it was a difficult trip. Joseph isn’t a good driver in India anyway. He is too cautious, and that just creates dangerous situations in a country where everyone else is aggressive. When he is slowing and stopping to be careful, others are rushing around us on all sides in frustration that they can see gaps ahead of us that he isn’t rushing to fill. In addition, there is the problem of pedestrians in the streets, bicycles without lights in the streets, Joseph talking on the mobile phone while driving, etc. When you combine all of that with the heavy rain, it makes for a scary drive. And the crowd was rather small at the church due to the rain. The food they served was so good. We had chicken curry, fish curry, pickle, fancy rice (with cashews, cherries, peass, etc.), a ground meat patty, etc. And as is typical here in India, the sweet cake was served first while we waited for the meal.

While here, I have agreed to help Joseph with a few things: 1) Posting notices on web pages seeking volunteers for the school. 2) Writing a classified ad to be posted in an Indian newspaper in the U.S. seeking a principal or master teacher near retirement to come here and serve as principal/instructional leader of the school. 3) Looking for Hindi books for the library when I go to Cochin in a few days.

Sunday, Oct. 29, 2006—Kumbalam

It has been raining so much since I arrived here. I am glad I am at a point where I am staying put and not traveling. There has been flooding in the area. In fact, we had to avoid closed roads when returning from the trip into town for the first communion last night.

I spent most of this morning working with Sunil, the computer teacher, to try to fix Joseph’s computer so that he can use a dial-up connection to connect to the Internet when the broadband connection isn’t working. Unfortunately, Joseph was unsure of his user I.D. and password. We finally got the user I.D. figured out. But after trying various possible passwords several times, the central computer locked us out thinking that we were hackers trying to get into his account. Now we have to wait until tomorrow to contact the office and get them to reset the password and let us know what it is. But we have the computer working now the way we want it to be. When he opens the Internet page, it goes to broadband first. If there is a connection, he stays in it. If not, then it opens the dial-up procedure page for him to access it that way.

The rest of the day I relaxed and helped the kids with their work. They are all doing projects for various subjects. It involves having to copy material and keep it in a notebook. They spend a lot of time decorating the pages where they copy the information. They use colored pens to create borders and artwork. It’s more interesting for them than it would be if they were just doing homework.

While the kids went with Sunil to the computer lab in the afternoon, I stayed at the hostel and did my laundry. It just happened that the rain had stopped. So I washed 3 shirts, a pair of pants, underwear, and socks and hung them on inside lines upstairs to dry. I had run out of shirts with collars, and I don’t like to wear t-shirts when I am at the school

The hostel has a new routine. In the morning, they have group singing. Then at the end of the day after they write in their journals, they come together as a group for more singing and for a final prayer. I like it. It makes it seem somewhat like camp.

Monday, Oct. 30, 2006—Kumbalam

I had originally planned to leave today. But I came one day later than I had planned to arrive. And also, today was declared a holiday. That means that if I left, I wouldn’t be able to say good-bye to all the kids at the school. Now, I will stay at least until tomorrow. (I may have to stay another day if it begins raining again so that my shirts do not dry enough for me to put them in my suitcase.)

The holiday situation is a mess here. Last week, the government declared three holidays. Two of them were related to the end of Ramadan. I’m not sure why the other one was called. The people elected a communist government just two months ago, and Joseph says that they are trying out their new powers. Giving the holidays means that workers are free but employers must pay the salaries. So far, they have given about 10 holidays during their two months in power. Wonder how long that will last? Schools MUST observe the holidays, but they are also under a mandate to teach 200 days within the school year. They try to make up holidays by having school on Saturdays (as they did this last weekend). But when they have 3 holidays in one week and then begin the next week with another holiday, there just aren’t enough Saturdays to make up the difference.

Mr. Thomas, Abin’s father, came to visit today. He’s a lawyer and was the one who invited me to their home for a weekend last year. It was nice to see him again.

Well, you are reading this because Sunil, the computer teacher and I, went into town to the computer office today. They tested the line and found that there was a problem. The repairman was working in our area, so they called him and asked him to come see us. He just finished. The broadband is now working. That means not only that I can post to the blog, but I can also start working on the projects that I told Joseph I would do for him that involve the Internet.