The End Is Near

Saturday, Nov. 26, Kumbalam

I took Jerry to the cyber café with me this morning. He’s been wanting to know about the Harlem Globetrotters. I told him about them when he was trying to spin a basketball on the tip of his finger. So I searched for websites and showed him videoclips and still photos of them. India uses PAL rather than NTSC, or I would mail a DVD to him after getting back to the states. It wouldn’t play on their systems here, however. Besides, there’s only a VCR at the hostel and not a DVD player and none of the computers have DVD players on them at school.

It’s been a slow day otherwise. I napped, read, and visited with the kids. Weekends seem so long here. I may go back to Varkala next weekend just to make it pass faster.

Sunday, Nov. 27, Kumbalam

It’s been a quiet Sunday. I was disappointed that there was no Sunday outing. Although it’s in the schedule, an outing seems to occur no more than once every two weeks. Not having one makes the weekends seem SOOOOOO long! All I’ve done is relax and read.

Monday, Nov. 28, Kumbalam

The entries to the blog are shorter these days. There’s no reason to write the mundane. I will put only what seems significant for the next two weeks. After that, I will be traveling again and there should be longer entries.

Today is the beginning of my last two weeks here. I have a long list of things on my to-do list for these two weeks. Most of them are personal things rather than ones for school. I need to get cash from an ATM; buy gifts for the cook, the kids, and Joseph; get my train ticket for Dec. 22 from Goa to Mumbai before reserved places are sold out (due to Christmas and this being a Christian area of India); plan my itinerary from here to Goa; etc. For the school, I need to plan the in-service session for Dec. 10, parepare the materials for it, help interview some job applicatns, finalize a letter for Joseph to send out about the goals of the school and changes that will occur for next year, etc. I will also go with Joseph to Trivandrum on Wendesday to invite the Minister of Education to a program the school will have in January. I’ll probably go to Kollam tomorrow to start working on my list of things. I need to transfer some final files to the computer on the Tangasseri campus anyway. And I can be on the Internet there for a couple of hours to research info for my travels and maybe to make a reservation or two since this is now the prime tourist season in India.

Monday, Nov. 28, Kumbalam

Today is the beginning of my last two weeks here. I have a long list of things on my to-do list for these two weeks. Most of them are personal things rather than ones for the school. I need to get cash from an ATM; buy gifts for the cook, the kids, and Joseph; get my train ticket for Dec. 22 to Mumbai before reserved places are sold out; plan my itinerary from here to Goa (my last stop before going to Mumbai for my flight); etc. For the school, I need to plan the in-service session for Dec. 10, prepare the materials for it, help interview some job applicants, finalize a letter for Joseph to send out about the goals of the school and changes that will occur for next year, etc. I will also go to Trivandrum with Joseph on Wednesday to invite the Minister of Education to a program the school will have in January. I’ll probably go to Kollam tomorrow to start working on my list of things. I need to transfer some final files to the computer on the Tangasseri campus. And I need to be on the Internet there for a couple of hours to research some things related to the in-service session and my travels.

Tuesday, Nov. 29, Kumbalam

I went shopping today with Joseph and Prameela. We went to Kollam right after lunch. I bought address books to give to the kids, since they have so many volunteers here. I thought they should keep contact information in case they want to write letters or e-mail some day. I also bought a sari for Prameela for cokking and serving my meals and for keeping the toilets, shower stalls, floors, etc., clean. Joseph picked up his air ticket to go home and had an appointment with his lawyers. Prameela bought brooms, a mop, and other household items.

I'm worried about Jerry and Jenny, but especially about Jenny. I can see she is depressed. She showed me her journal tonight, and it's related to her mother who lives and works in Dubai. The mother didn't come home to visit them last summer. Now, she has changed her plans about coming at Christmas. Even if she does come some day, esentially these kids have been abandoned by her. She lives with their uncle (the brother of their foather) and there are questions about how the father died, since she and the brother began living together immediately. In the meantime, Jenny's journal professes her love for their mother, questions why the mother won't come to see them, and tells about how she keeps praying to God, yet he won't listen to her for some reason.

Wednesday, Nov. 30, Kumbalam and Trivandrum

The weather has been different this week. We're getting rain in the morning hours for the first time. It's due to a low pressure system that has turned into a cyclone according to the paper. Anyway, a man in Kollam yesterday said that the weather is not following the normal pattern this year. This should be the sunny season here, yet rain continues almost every day. Fortunately, it has been mostly good weather during the daytime.

I hope the rain stops before Joseph and I leave for Trivandrum. His driving is scary enough in good weather! Yesterday, I found myself hoping I will survive the next 1 1/2 weeks without being in an accident as he drove to Kollam and back!
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What an exhausting day. I'm tired mainly because of Joseph's driving. It was a long trip with me on the edge of my seat much of the time. The rain stopped, but his driving was still bad.

We went to several government offices in Trivandrum. The high minister's office waived a new law so that Joseph could offer summer programs this year. We missed the Minister of Education, because he had left town to see his brother who had been in an accident. We got back to Kumbalam at 9 p.m., and I'm going to bed!

Helping Jerry Shave

Wednesday, Nov. 24, Kumbalam (Part II)

Rajesh showed up here in Kumbalam tonight. When he first arrived, I was afraid he had come to see me about the fact that I left Sunday morning after waiting for him 1 ½ hours. He did say he went to the hotel and got my message. He mumbled some excuse about trouble getting a bus. But then he said he came on a bike he had borrowed for the day. I imagine he slept late and then borrowed the bike. Anyway, it doesn’t make a difference. Fortunately, he was here to see Joseph to ask about a pay raise.

When I was with Rajesh on Saturday, he told me he had trouble living on his salary. I got the impression that he told me that and took me to his home so that I would know the situation and maybe try to persuade Joseph to give him a raise. Of course, I said nothing to Joseph. While waiting on Joseph tonight, he again told me about his financial situation. It does sound bad on the surface. He makes 1750 rupees per month. That’s only $30.26 per month. His mother also works as an aid at a hospital. IF she makes as much as he does (which she may not but probably does), that’s only $2 per day of income for their family of 3. (There’s also a brother who was introduced to me as a student Saturday.) That family is living on 67 cents per person per day or less!! But here’s the other side of the coin that I now know from talking to Joseph after Rajesh was gone. Rajesh does not have a teaching degree and could probably not get a job in another school. He promised Joseph he would use some language tapes to improve his English if Joseph would hire him, and he never took the second tape. The brother graduated from technical school and had a job paying 3000 rupees per month in Bangalore and quit it to return home because he was having to spend most of it to eat out, since he doesn’t know how to cook and wouldn’t learn. Rajesh also does not know how to cook and spends 15 rupees per day to eat lunch at a boarding house. Some of Joseph’s teachers with teaching degrees only make 2000 rupees, so a raise for Rajesh could not be too much without upsetting them (and people ask about salaries here).

I had a bit of a feeling on Saturday that Rajesh also saw me as a money cow. He wanted to take trishaws when walking would have done. He ordered prawns even though I really wasn’t enthusiastic about them. Actually, in the back of my mind when I decided to leave after he was late, I was relieved to know I wouldn’t be spending a bundle of money on the day trip with him that day. Indians tend to think that Americans are rich, don’t worry about how much money they spend, and should share it with their Indian friends. My guess is that he knows the former English teacher from this campus and has observed how a former volunteer living with him is paying all the expenses and thought I might be a possible source of money for Rajesh. Anyway, I have decided to steer clear of Rajesh. When he proposed trying to go to Kovalam again this weekend using a rental bike, I told him I didn’t want the responsibility of a rental vehicle and that I wasn’t sure if Joseph had any plans for me for the weekend. Both were true, but they were also excuses to stop the planning there.

Thursday, Nov. 24, Kumbalam (Thanksgiving in the U.S.)

I had forgotten it was Thanksgiving until Joseph mentioned it. His children had called him from Boston. At breakfast, we explained the meaning of Thanksgiving.

I did laundry this morning. It’s a tedious, hot task here with mosquitoes swarming around throughout it. I’ll only have to do it one more time just before I leave, thank goodness.

I also finished the last scope and sequence chart for the school. There are charts for 13 subjects, and at least 5 of them are double charts because they had to be broken into two due to the subject being taught at all grade levels. What a relief it is to be finished! I hope they will be helpful to the school. Joseph is proud of them because they are impressive to show people. But I have also seen him actually using them to try to analyze the program.

I went to Tangasseri with Joseph this afternoon. Since Rosalind is there full time now, it was the first time I’ve seen her since last Wednesday. On the way back to Kumbalam, we stopped at a small roadside stand for parota (pulled, twisted flat bread) with beef curry. It was great. Joseph treated, since it cost a grand total of 35 rupees (81 cents) for the two of us together.

I finished reading Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett. It is a collection of short stories with each related to science in some way. I really liked it. The writing was wonderful. 4 stars out of 4!

Friday, Nov. 25, Kumbalam

We had my favorite breakfast today—rice flour dosa (pancakes) spread with a thick syrupy sugar-grated coconut mixture. Ummm! It’s one of the few ways they use coconut here as a sweet.

Joseph must be paying attention to my list of observations and suggestions, because there was a big uproar this morning during which he did not raise his voice. I set it off accidentally by asking Shivani why she was keeping her eyes almost closed. Anashree, the daughter of Prameela the cook, spoke up to say she had put eyeliner on Shivani’s eyes. Joseph told her she shouldn’t do that because it is easy to damage the eyes. Joseph told her not to do it again. Prameela went into one of her yelling rages. I couldn’t tell why, since it was in Malayalam, but there could only be about 3 possibilities:

1. Fussing at Anashree for having done it (either because she shouldn’t have or because she shouldn’t be wasting the cosmetics).
2. Fussing at Joseph for getting onto Anashree.
3. Fussing in general out of embarrassment that her daughter got into trouble.
Anyway, she yelled and yelled and just wouldn’t let it go. Anashree began crying, and the yelling continued. All the time, Joseph was trying to stop it by saying, “That’s enough,” 2 or 3 times. Then he spoke back to Prameela in Malayalam and she began yelling directly at him for sure. All the while, he kept calm with a controlled voice. A week ago, they would have both been yelling. I guess the item on my list of observations
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After n ordinary day when I helped the vice principal begin learning to do word processing and interviewed a job candidate, I had a special experience tonight. Jerry came to me to say that he wanted me to tech him to shave. He's had a thin mustache of dark hair on his upper lip for several months and is proud of it. But he ha recently had skraggly hairs growing on his lower lip and his chin. A friend of his told him it looked bad. So I gave him a new disposable razor from my pack and helped him shave for the first time in his life. Then I warned him about never using someone else's razor and never loaning his out. (HIV-AIDS and hepatitis are problems here.) He's been rubbing his fingers over the smoothly shaved area all night since then.

I've begun reading Snow Falling on Cedars. Many friends read it and loved it when it first came out, but I was still teaching then and not reading as many books for pleasure as I do now. Everybody raves about it, so I'm looking forward to reding it.

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, America

Saturday, Nov. 19, Kovalam and Kollam

I found out late last night that there would be school today. I had already told Joseph I was leaving this weekend, so I plan to take the 9:30 bus if there is no problem that develops this morning.
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I’m in Kollam. The Sea Bee is more depressing than it was two years ago, and there is no TV now, although the cable still comes into the room. It will do as a base for today, however. The sheets look clean. And it’s nice to be on my own again.

I walked to Kollam Beach, but there was nothing to see there. The only people on the beach were fishermen dragging nets to try to catch fish. I stopped at a bakery and ate a chicken-filled pastry and another with beef. I bought some milk candy for later. Coming back into town, I found a cyber café and spent an hour posting to my blog and reading and writing e-mail.

In my room, I read a story and became sleepy. I took a nap, and it felt so nice to relax without any concerns about the school. At the hostel, I always worry that I should be out of the room helping the kids with their homework.
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I went out looking for a cookbook I read about recently. The newspaper said almost every bride in India gets it and that there is a new edition for the first time. It sounded like the Joy of Cooking for India. I went to a wedding store, a gift store, and two bookstores looking for it. No one seemed to know what I was talking about. While I was wandering around looking, a man recognized me. He said, “I know you. You are staying in Kumbalam.” He is a sales representative for tobacco products who had seen me there.

I stopped at a restaurant in the back street behind the hotel and ate dinner—barotta (sp?) (the slapped, cut, twisted, coiled, and rolled flat bread) with beef curry and vegetable curry. It was spicy and delicious. When I paid it was only 30 rupees (68 cents) including a liter of cold water which usually costs 12 rupees. So I guess I paid 18 rupees for dinner.

Rajesh had been here when I returned. He said he would be back about 8:30. I can’t believe I missed him after being around the hotel for 3 ½ hours earlier.
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Rajesh took me to his neighborhood. There’s a small beach, and his home is down a pathway along a small ditch. We stopped at a beach cabin where we were served toddy, a fermented drink made from coconut, some prawns, and some tapioca. As soon as he served us (after pushing us to order the food), the owner started pushing us to leave saying it was closing time. It was an example of someone trying to make a buck off the tourist but not caring at all otherwise. Then he wanted a tip!! I walked out.

We walked to his home where I met his mother and his brother. They wanted me to drink fresh coconut milk, so his brother climbed a tree and brought down two coconuts. Rajesh cut off the top to make a hole, and I drank it with it running down my chin and my neck. Then he brought me back to the hotel. He’ll be back at 7 a.m. tomorrow to pick me up to go to Kovalam.

Sunday, Nov. 20, Kollam-Kumbalam

I was up at 6:00, since Rajesh had said he would pick me up at 7:00. I hadn’t slept well. The hotel room was warmer than my room at the hostel, and there were lots of mosquitoes. I kept the ceiling fan on high to try to blow them away, then I shifted my head to the foot of the bed where the strongest fan breeze was. When I picked up my pants this morning, about 15 mosquitoes fluttered out of them; I guess they had gotten into the gaps to avoid the breeze from the fan.

I went downstairs at 6:50 to wait for Rajesh. I visited with George, the night clerk. He’s a 34-year-old man with a wife and a son who live in a village east of Kundara. They are all members of the Assemblies of God church.

When Rajesh still had not arrived at 8:20, I wrote a note to leave for him. I pointed out that it was getting too late to go toKovalam by bus, since it takes 2 ½-3 hours to get there and we would have to return on a 4:00 p.m. bus for me to catch the last bus for Kumbalam. Besides, rain was in the forecast. So I left the note with George and just started walking toward Kundara/Kumbalam. Eventually, I caught a bus.

I was back at the hostel at 10:30. The kids and Joseph were having breakfast. Bot the gate and the hostel were locked. I climbed over the gate. And I walked up to the dining room window to ask them to open the front door for me.
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I was so tired in the afternoon. I think it was from getting so much sunshine yesterday and from not sleeping well at the hotel last night. I napped about 2 hours this afternoon.

We went on the traditional Sunday outing about 4:00. Joseph drove us to a peninsula that juts into the lake near here. There were beautiful views. Then we stopped at a lakeside resort there. The children enjoyed playing on a swing and seeing the rabbits they had. We watched as 3 men tried to get into a canoe and caused it to tip over. They all frantically searched for their mobile phones which had fallen to the bottom of the water.

Monday, Nov. 21, Kumbalam

This is the beginning of my last three weeks here. I can tell I will have mixed feelings when I leave. I’ve learned to love the kids at the hostel. They are all sweet and likeable (most of the time). It will be very difficult to leave them knowing I may never see them again. I have great respoect for Joseph’s dedication to his dream and the efforts and sacrifices he is making to get this school to be what he wants it to be. And I like the way he can laugh at his problems. I’m going to miss Rosalind, Jospeh’s most dedicated employee, too. I’ve even grown to appreciate the quiet, slow pace of village life. I will be happy, however, to be free again—no more locked gates at night and at the hostel during the daytime. I’ll be glad to leave the school’s problems behind, too. I’ll also be happy to have more variety in my diet. Two-and-a-half months has been just about right for me here. I’ve accomplished work that is worthwhile. I feel like I’ve really lived in India rather than just being a tourist!
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The day was a difficult one for Joseph. One bus driver was out, so he had to first worry about whether the substitute would arrive and then give him instructions. The cook was gone for both breakfast and lunch, so he bought barota (flat bread) and heated beans from last night for breakfast and he asked the live-in driver to make rice for lunch which the kids served with leftovers from Saturday night. A teacher called to say she would be out because her “aunty” (a term used here for a family friend—NOT usually a relative) died. The absent bus driver is also the office manager who deals with visitors and phone calls, so no one was covering that. Rosalind was also out, and she’s the one who might have handled the office chores. (I’m not sure if she was sick, was interviewing for another job, or was searching for alternative housing so she can quit her job. I hope it was the former.) Joseph was occuped five periods because he is temporarily teaching the English classes to get them on track and to model what he wants the new teacher to do. And finally, I was sick.

I felt fine earlier. I got up early and took the kids to basketball practice so Joseph could deal with the driver and with breakfast. I got dressed and went to school on time. I ran a couple of errands to help Joseph out while also doing some of my work on the computer. Then, about 9:30, I had a bout of diarrhea. I continued to work until unch. But walking to the hostel, I realized I had flu-like symptoms—achy joints and tiredness. I walked to the table and couldn’t even think of forcing the food down. I went to my room, ate about 5 small plain cookies, and went to bed until 2:30. I walked back to school to close the office windows, get my bag, etc., and I noticed my symptoms were more pronounced. I worked, however, for about an hour. I returned to the hostel and napped and rested from 3:45 until now (6:45). I’ve smelled dinner cooking and it smells horrible to me; I doubt if I will be able to eat tonight. I’m taking Advil and drinking water.

I hope these are just minor temporary symptoms. My two fears, however, are: 1) I ate some prawns (only about 5) Saturday night, and guidebooks often warn against eating shellfish. 2) Even though I am taking anti-malarial medications, it’s still possible to get malaria. If I’m not better tomorrow, I’ll probably ask Joseph to let the driver take me to a doctor’s office. Local doctors can usually recognize if symptoms are of a disease that exists only locally. In the meantime, I’m going to leave the room for a while to see if the kids need any help.
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Well, I never went down to the kids. And I didn’t eat dinner. I did read a story in my current book. And now I’m off to bed hoping I can sleep all night and will feel fine tomorrow.

Tuesday, Nov. 22, Kumbalam

I’m not well, but I am somewhat better today. I had a normal bowel movement, and I ate breakfast this morning. There’s still a bit of stomach pain, and I have been burping. My body is still tired and sluggish. I taught 1 ½ classes this morning, since the math teacher was late arriving due to a private bus strike. Then I worked in the office all morning.

Rosalind called. When I asked how she was, she didn’t say anything about being il. She did mention, however, that Jasmine was out. Maybe she has stayed in Kollam to run the campus there in Jasmine’s absence. I hope so. But she asked me for the new web address for the school. I hope that wasn’t so she could show it to prospective employers.

Joseph is getting tired of all the hassles and the fact that he is having trouble gettng teachers to do what he wants—be here regularly, speak English all the time, and move away from memorization and toward developing thinking and reasoning skills. He said this moring he would rather have only 30 kids if the parts of those would support his ideas. Then we talked about what he could do to get better teachers. He asked me to think about it and put a plan in writing. It might be a good way to get out of this present mess and do something really progressive in India, but I wonder if memorization and a poor work ethic are so ingrained that they cannot be left behind.
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My stomach still doesn’t feel good. And I’m still burping a lot. I had breakfast and lunch, but I think I will skip dinner.

Jerry’s and Jenny’s mother called from the Middle East today. I’m glad, because both were so sad that they were almost in tears a week ago due to not having heard from her for a while. She told them she will be home during the entire school break in December. They are so excited.

I gave Joseph the report I’ve been working on. It was 13 pages single-spaced of observations and suggestions. I don’t know how many of the ideas he will accept, but he can’t affort to ignore several of them. He wanted them now so he could thik about them and have time to discuss them with me.

I also developed suggestions for what he would need to do if he wanted to pursue his idea of promoting comprehension, thinking, reasoning, and problem solving skills. I doubt that he will do this. That’s too bad. What good does it to to build a school if it’s just like all others, especially when that means the kids mostly memorize everything and never understand or know how to apply any of it?

Wednesday, Nov. 23, Kumbalam (Anashree’s birthday) (Part I)

Anashree is a very pretty girl who is 11 today. She’s the daughter of Prameela, the cook. She’s quite charming and was one of the lead dances in the recent comeptition. Last night, I made a paper crown. I painted it gold with red “rubies” and green “emeralds” on the points. I cut out holes in the shapes of diamonds. This morning I placed it on her head and declared her Queen for the Day at 7:30 when we gathered to sing Happy Birthday and have cake—a spice cake with dried fruits inside.

Joseph told me he read part of my report last night. At 13 pages, it was too long for him to digest it all at once. He surprised me by telling me he has already made changes to improve the situation with Rosalind. He has placed her permanantly at Tangasseri where she lives and has sent his other trainee back to the classroom. (That’s why Rosalind hasn’t been here this week.) Here at Kumbalam, he has named the only remaining male teacher as Vice Principal/Principal Trainee. He also said he will quit micro-managing (as I suggested), will communicate to Rosalind and Renjith the goals they should work toward, and will have weekly meetings with them to discuss progress toward the goals, problems, and strategies for dealing with the problems. I have a feeling we will have several discussions over the next 2 ½ weeks related to my report. It’s my feeling that he will become happier if he adopts more of the suggestions. He has been over-extended for too long and needs to cut back his responsibilities to the most important things. He also needs to solve some of his problems.

I feel better today. I think that my stomach may be back to normal. I don’t feel pain there, and I’m not burping as much today. I just hope there’s not a bug in me that could cause other problems over time.

Only Three Weeks to Go at the School

Tuesday, Nov. 15 (Part II), Kumbalam

Using a CD worked well for saving and transferring my blog and e-mail to the cyber café. My next task is to determine how many times I can re-use the same CD. It’s not re-writable, but I ticked the option of being able to burn more files onto it, since the ones I burned took up only a small portion of its memory.

I finished reading Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre this afternoon. I was so disappointed in it. The beginning was promising with interesting dialogue from the mind and mouth of a teenage boy. By the end of the book, however, I realized that as a whole it read like a good attempt at a novel by a graduate student. It did NOT read like a professionally written book deserving of the Man Booker Prize (which it got). I gave it 2 ½ stars out of 4 and will have no interest in reading anything else by the author.

I’m concerned about Rosalind at school. I can see she is unhappy at work these days. There have been so many times lately that Joseph has been displeased, and he seems to think that Rosalind is the problem. Personally, I just think the venture with the school has grown too big for Joseph to micro-manage, and his frustrations are getting the best of him and affecting others. Rosalind is a very dedicated worker, but I feel the strain of recent weeks may be causing her to question being here. For her, however, it is a complicated situation due to the fact that her family lives in an apartment above the other school. Leaving her job would mean having to find new housing and moving.
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I walked Rosalind to the bus stop, but we found the gate to the compound already locked. As I returned to the hostel to get the key, the bus drove by. Knowing it would be at least 40-50 minutes before another bus would come by there, I suggested that we walk about 1 km (½ mile) to an intersection where there are more buses. Unfortunately, there was a big gap between buses there, too. It took about 35 minutes before one came.

During the evening, I hleped Jerry study math for a test tomorrow. Then I talked to Joseph about my weekend with the Thomases. It was essentially a non-eventful night.

Wednesday, Nov. 16, Kumbalam

I finished the computer scope and sequence chart today. The biology teacher also proofread the biology scope and sequence chart. I printed them at lunch. It’s nice to have something physical to show for my work!

I also began reading Ship Fever, a book of short stories related to science by Andrea Barret. It won the National Book Award about 8 years ago. I will only have two books left after it, and it is only 254 pages long!

There may be a new volunteer coming to the hostel. Joseph heard from a guy who was here for one day while headed for a “paid volunteer” (meaning he paid $1000-1500 for the privilege of volunteering AND had to pay his way here) position. Apparently, he did not like what he was doing as a volunteer and left after a week or two to travel around India. Now he’s tired of that and wants to come back here as a volunteer. Joseph thinks he is from Spain, but he said the guy speaks English with an American accent. He may have been an exchange student in the U.S., or he could be a Cuban who went to Spain before immigrating to the U.S. and later returned to Spain. I hope he comes. If so, I’ll hold my tongue and watch to see his reactions to this place.
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There’s another god in my toilet. This time the spider is only about 3 inches (7.5 cm) in diameter—a baby compared to the last one. I’ll just watch for it and leave it there rather than altert Joseph. I don’t want a Hindu to get upset again.

I tried to plan my itinerary for Chile tonight, but there were too many interruptions. I’m tired from all the help I gave the children.

They got back their mid-term exam results today. In most cases, they weren’t good. Jerry was one of the better ones with only 63% of the possible points. Abin’s father called to ask about his exams, and I was surprised to see Abin crying afterwards. Indians put great pressure on children to do well in school as a way of assuring success in life. But I have learned since coming here that the U.S. and China really have nothing to fear in terms of competition from India. In the U.S., they may be known as good thinkers and hard workers, but it’s a different story here. I guess only the thinkers get recruited to come to the U.S. By far, the majority of these students doing well in school are NOT thinkers. They are memorizers. They don’t even comprehend what they have memorized. As long as the exams and the system are based on memorization, this won’t change. My guess is that those who do become thinkers and reasoners do so because they have some innate ability to do so. My experience here at the school with the faculty, the construction workers, the part-time coaches, the candidates we have interviewed, etc., is that the system certainly doesn’t teach or promote thinking and reasoning, and until it does, the millions of hard-studying children will not really be a threat to the rest of the world. Furthermore, over and over I have been told and have observed that people in India do not have the same work ethic that Indians display in other societies. People here do not seem to care to do a good job. They expect to be paid, yet they expect to take off work regularly without even giving notice and to never do more than is necessary. It’s rare to find someone who does something because he likes the challenge or because it makes him feel good to know he was able to do it. My guess is that the “hard working” Indians in the U.S. have just accepted the fact that their Indian approach to work will not allow them to keep their jobs there and have adapted. Most of them send much of their paycheck home to support their parents and the rest of their family still living with the parents, so there is pressure from families here for them to do their job and do it well so that the good pay check will not be lost.

Thursday, Nov. 17, Kumbalam and Tangassari

Joseph is having problems with Abin. He has lied 3 times in the last couple of days and has gotten caught. It relates to homework that needs to be done. I imagine it also relates to his being home over the weekend with no discipline and his having problems adjusting back to a disciplined routine. He got spanked this morning for it.

I rode with Joseph to Kollam today. I went to a couple of bookstores and found some math puzzle books. I think I’ll share a puzzle a day with them until I leave to get them interested in them. Then I’ll give the books to them as a group just as I leave. Maybe the interest I build with the daily activities will encourage them to look at the books more than they would if I just gave them to them now.

I stopped at the bakery and ordered 3 pizzxas for our lunch (Joseph, Rosalind, and me). Then I arrived at the school at 11J0. Joseph still wasn’t there. He had gone to his lawyer’s office. He arrived around noon. The pizzas were good and they had given me an extra one in the bag! Both Rosalind and Joseph were surprised that I had them. It was Rosalind’s first time to have pizza. Joseph liked it except for the sweet dough they used as a crust.

I saw Rajish, the English teacher, while in Tangasseri and finalized plans for the weekend. I will go to Kollam on Saturday and stay at the Sea Bee Hotel ($6) so we can get an early start on Sunday morning. His motorbike is having problems, so we’ll go to Kovalam by bus. I’m looking forward to it. I don’t really know Rajish, so it will give us a chance to get to know each other. We can talk on the bus, whereas the travel time would have been lost on the motorbike. He knows where I will be on Saturday, so he may find me sometime that day, too. I think, however, that he tutors students on Saturdays to make extra money for his family.

We have a new boy at the hostel today. His name is Seejin, and he’s in Standard V. He seems like a nice boy. We’re getting close to the maxiumum number at the dining table with all the kids we have now. And Prameela’s job of cooking and serving meals increases with each new students. If more students come, there will have to be some changes.
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I’m tired again tonight. I got lots of sunshine today. And I tutored a lot tonight. I’m also very thirsty (from the pizza, I guess). I’ve had over 1 liter of water tonight.

Friday, Nov. 18, Kumbalam

I started typing the scope and sequence chart for social studies this morning. When I was interrupted with 75% of the work done, I accidentlly closed the program losing my work. Usually I have saved it before then, and I guess I just thought it was already saved and passed the warning page in a rush. There was no backup copy, so I had to do it over again in the afternoon. Then I started developing charts for General Knowledge and for Moral Science. The former is a hodgepodge of info related to various topics--names of gardening tools, governmental leaders of India, men whose ideas changed the world, shapes found in our lives, etc. Moral science is a combination of religious studies and lifestyale guidelines (obey your parents, brush your teeth every day, etc.). I should finish my work early next week, then I'll have to figure out what to do the last two weeks or so that I am here.

I hlped Joseph change his e-mail password today. He has given it to volunteers in the past, and he thinks maybe one who became disgruntled has been logging into his account and sending e-mails to potential volunteers to discourage them. There have been 2-3 volunteers who said they were coming and then didn't show up. The new volunteer who was supposed to arrive today, for instance, didn't make it here. I'm still hoping he will arrive this weekend, however.

I gave Jerry a haircut tonight. He has no money, so he lets his hair get bushy. Eventually Joseph notices and takes him to get a haircut. Since I've cut Wes' and Arne's hair for years, I cut it for him. He looked so nice afterwards. His sister gave me an okay sign with her fingers and said he looked like a soldier looks (meaning the clost cut around the ears--not short all over).

I also had to teach basic multiplication and division to a group of about 6 kids tonight. They were assigned multiple-digit division, and they didn't even understand basic division or basic multiplication (which must be understook to know what the answer to a division problem represents).

I'll be off to Kollam for tomorrow and then off to Kovalam Beach with Rajesh on Sunday. Will have postings of those outings sometime next week.

Still Chugging Along in India

Thursday, Nov. 3, Kumbalam/Kundara/Kollam/Tangasseri

Rosalind invited me to come to see her in Tangassari. She lives at the school annex there with her husband, their son, and her mother. She suggested that I come after lunch. I always find invitations here to be somewhat uncertain. Is the invitation only for the afternoon? Does she want me to stay for dinner? Her English is okay, but it’s limited. She (and others, too) doesn’t communicate completely. And if I ask questions, I get answers that don’t match indicating that they haven’t really comprehended what I am asking. (For instance, if I ask a “which” question, I always get a “yes” response.)

Anyway, I left Kumbalam at 9:40 on the bus to Kundara. There, I went to the cyber café for an hour. Next, I caught a bus to Kollam. I got off near the computer place where Joseph plans to buy the computers. I hoped the owner or the technician who came to the school with him would be there so I could ask them if they know any potential applicants for our job, but they weren’t Instead, I left a message. I bought some sweets at a bakery there to take to Rosalind and began walking toward Tangasseri while looking for a restaurant. I never found a decent restaurant, so I finally stopped at a small, but very clean bakery, very close to the school. They had small (4 inch/10 cm) Pizzas with tandoori chicken, onions, bell pepper and tomato slices on top. I bought one of those and ate it there.

I stopped to take photos at the old fortress, the beach, and the lighthouse. Three boys who attend the school were playing in the stret and walked with me. (It’s another Hindu holiday, so there was no school today.) Rosalind was eating when I arrived. Although I told her I had already eaten, she said she had prepared some vegetables for me to try. So I ate small helpings of rice and of three vegetable dishes. It was spicy and delicious as usual.

Her son has 3 baby kittens as pets. They are so tiny and cute! I held one in my lap as we visited. I’m still not sure of the purpose of my visit even now that it is over. We talked about a teacher who is ill. Rosalind is concerned that Joseph is expecting so much of her. We also discussed the fact that she would like Joseph to build up the computer lab on the Tangassari campus at the same time that he upgrades the computer lab here in Kumbalam. Maybe she wants me to help her commicate things like this to Joseph. However, she also had some computer questions. And I can tell she likes me. So maybe she just wanted to be sure I was entertained and not bored on a holiday afternoon.

I hope I didn’t offend her when I left. I don’t know the bus schedule for Kumbalam, and I don’t want to walk the narrow road from Kundara to Kumbalam in the dark. I left Tangasseri about 4:45. I hope she wasn’t wanting me to stay for dinner. The timing, however, was perfect. I caught a bus to Kundara, and five minutes after arriving there, a bus for Kumbalam picked me up! That’s good, because even getting buses all the way, I arrived at the school at 6:05, just 5-10 minutes before it is dark here.

Everyone was gone when I arrived. I don’t know where they are. A man was waiting for me with keys. He let me into the gate and the hostel and then asked me to go back and let him out at the gate. About 1½ hours later Pragosh showed up, but he was also surprised to find eveyone gone. There’s no note. I’m just glad Pragosh showed up, because that relieves me from having to listen for the car at the gate. Pragosh will watch out for their return and go to open the gate for them. It’s now 8 p.m., so they should be back within an hour.
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They all returned about 8:10. They had been together to a funeral. Unfortunately, one of the girls created problems: She contradicted a nun while pinting a finger in her face. And she picked lice out of her hair and showed them to everyone. So we all sat through a 30-minute discussion of proper behavior tonight. The girl is to think overnight and submit a plan on paper tomorrow of what she will do to deal with the problems she created. But the discussion went further. Premila, the cook, thinks Joseph is too lenient on the children by trying to discuss what is wrong and get them to think about it and make a plan. She was raising her voice in complaint to Joseph that he should be more strict and should give punishment when they do something wrong.

Friday, Nov. 4, Kumbalam

Well, today was declared a holiday to correct the fact that they guessed wrong regarding yesterday. Apparently, there must be a holiday on the day there is a special configuration of the moon and a star. When they make the calendar, they make it based on the day they THINK this configuration will occur. However, a group of muslim men watches to determine if the moon and star have the right formation. If not, it means it will happen the next night and the next day is also declared a holiday. Anyway, having Friday as a holiday creates problems. Some teachers have tests they were completing by putting drawings into them. Testing starts on Monday. We plan to duplicate the tests for the students this weekend to have them ready. But the teachers who have tests are not going to bring them today, I’m sure. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to care enough to worry about things like that. There will be a mess on Monday, and only Joseph and I will care.
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Today has been a horrible day. There was another meeting of the hostel kids and of a non-hostel student who didn’t come to dance practice yesterday to talk about responsibility. I am never comfortable in these meetings.

A teacher who called last night to say she was coming today at 10:00 with a job candidate didn’t appear until 10:45. By then, Joseph had left to visit 3 families in the village who had deaths last night. She came to the office where I was working. Although I had no idea of the location of the homes where Joseph might be, she seemed to expect me to find him. She said that there was a death in her family, too, and that they had to be back for the funeral at 12:00. The candidate, I found out, is a relative who can’t speak English. Yet they want her to have a job at this school which requires instruction in English! Anyway, I walked them back to the hostel to ask Premila if she knew what home Joseph had gone to. Then I sent Jerry there to get him. When Jerry returned, he said they told him Joseph had gone to the church. The teacher didn’t know where the church is, so I rushed off to find Joseph, upset that I was losing time on the work I had planned to do and that I was dressed only in shorts and a dirty shirt which are inappropriate attire to wear when entering a church here. I found Joseph, fortunately, at a fruit stand rather than the church and brought him back. The teacher and her relative didn’t leave here until 12:45. Was there a funeral, or was it a lie to assure that Joseph would see the job candidate? (Tied to it all was the fact that Joseph had already told me that teacher would come on Friday whether there was school or not, because she had discussed having him give her an advance on her salary. So was her insistance on seeing Joseph because she wanted the money? I’ve seen other examples here of people not seeming to consider others’ feelings and needs before their own here.)

Next, I gave Joseph a report of the tests we don’t have because teachers took them to make darawings, to write in Malayalam or Hindi, or to revise them. He had no idea there was a problem. He tried to call Rosalind to see when she is coming here and was told she was at the copy center. He had been told the same thing earlier, and he reported to me that he had been told that twice the other day before we went to the center, and they told him there at the center that they hadn’t seen her all day. He is upset that he can’t reach her and that “being at the center” seems to be an excuse for when she is doing something else.

Things were building up, and he was getting upset. The last straw was discovering that the girl in trouble yesterday had not made a plan for remedying the problems she created. He took her to the office and yelled at her and spanked her.

It’s only 2 p.m., and the day seems to have lasted forever. I’m waiting on Rosalind’s arrival while Joseph has gone to the home of a teacher whose aunt (who lives in the home with the teacher) has died. I’ve got some ideas for Rosalind to consider regarding the problems with the tests. With all the tension around here, however, I wish I could disappear for a few days!
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It’s now 7 p.m. and it’s still a BAD day. Joseph left at 3:45 to take the kids to Kollam for basketball practice at the YMCA. He left me to be here when Rosalind arrived. That was about 5:30. I had to sit and listen as she called him. They fussed back and forth and she cried. The phone call lasted at least 40 minutes. It was horrible to hear it. Even though it was in Malayalam which I don’t understand, I could hear the tone of her voice with its pain and frustration. On the way here, she fell on her bicycle and cut her heel and tore her dress (one of her best ones). Anyway, we gathered the tests that I had typed and just as I was walking her to the bus stop, Joseph arrived. They are outside talking now (or maybing yelling). I made the kids come inside so they would have some privacy, and I am inside watching them.

I find myself wanting to leave again. All this tension with fussing and spanking is horrible to have to live with. How I wish tomorrow were a school day so everyone could be busy. The bad times tend to happen on non-school days. And there are still two more days before we have school again!

Saturday, Nov. 5, Kumbalam

I awoke to yelling, spanking and crying this morning. It just seems as if it will never end! Abin’s father has invited me to their home next Saturday, so I want to hang on here until then if possible. He will come on his motorcycle to get us. I imagine there will be school every Saturday starting next week; I think they have to have school every Saturday through the end of December because of strike days and extra holidays that have eaten away at the required 200-days-per-year of classes. If there are any more stike days, there will have to be Sunday school days, too. I’ll go back to working on scope and sequence charts this week and see how the days go.
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I had dressed in shorts and t-shirt and started working casually on the biology scope and sequence chart when I noticed one of the kids was dressed well. I asked why, and he said it was for school. Joseph decided last night that today would be a school day. I had no idea. So I changed into my school clothes.

Only about 90 of the 270 kids showed up today, and only 3 teachers came. Joseph has combined 2-3 grade levels into one. We are doing a review for the exams they will take beginning on Monday. Joseph is conducting the English review for the first two hours, and I will conduct the math review the next two hours for the 5th, 6th, and 7th standards. It’s actually good this is happening, because I have been worried that there are basic things the students don’t REALLY know that could create problems for them on their tests. I will concentrate on trying to re-teach those things. Their problem, I have observed, is that they do not THINK about anything they are learning. They want to just hear it and memorize it. That seems to be the Indian way. How any people here ever become computer programmers is amazing considering that. Programming is based on thinking and reasoning. These kids can tell you that a right angle has 90 degrees and that it is a square corner, but show them drawings of various angles, and they cannot visually pick out the ones that are right angles. They have never thought about what “square corner” means or noticed what shape occurs when they have drawn a 90 degree angle. That’s just one example of what I mean by memorizing and not really learning.

The rain began about 1 p.m.—heavy northeast monsoon rains that were continuous. As I made trips back and forth to print things, I just quit wearing my shoes. The water was 2-3 inches (5-7.5 cm) deep in many places, so the shoes would have just gotten sloppy wet.

Finally, I just stayed at the hostel. I read for a while, then I became sleepy. I napped for 45 minutes. It was a deep sleep. I know I haven’t been sleeping enough lately with the yelling that starts around 5 a.m. each morning, so I guess I needed the nap.
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There was more yelling tonight. Rosalind came over after work, and the cook yelled at her. I heard the name “Pragosh.” That’s the cook’s brother. My guess is that the cook was upset that Joseph sent Pragosh to drive Rosalind home last night. It’s not proper in India for an unmarried man and a married woman to be alone together.

The children are studying for their exams for next week. Joseph had them studying for the ones they will take on Monday. Math exams aren’t until Wednesday and Thursday, so no one was studying math. I spent most of the evening reading. I’m reading a book every 7-8 days, and I only have four more books. I’ll need to find a bookstore and buy more.

Sunday, Nov. 6, Kumbalam

Jerry is one of my favorite kids at the hostel. He’s 14. He speaks English better than the others, and is quick at learningmath. He’s the only boy at the hostel who has gone through puberty, and he’s proud of the small moustache on his upper lip. What makes him so likeable is his shyness and the way he expresses it. Last week, we had to borrow a book from a girl in his class. He wouldn’t go inside the fence. He peaked over it while I went inside to ask. When I teased him about it, I got his usual reaction, a high-pitched shreek (somewhat like a mouse squeel). When he makes this sound, he shrugs his shoulders and widens his eyes.s

Although he’s a teenager who makes mistakes (like writing love notes to a girl—a big no-no in India which can ruin a girl’s reputation and cause her to become unmarriageable—and leaving a mess in the shower or in his room), he is remarkably responsible. He rides one of the buses for 2 hours each morning and again each afternoon to help kids get on and off. He watches out for the others from the hostel when we go places. He runs errands and opens gates for Joseph.

Joseph is exactly what Jery needs. He was a street child abandoned by a family paid to take care of him and his sister who is also here, when he was brought to St. Joseph. His father is dead, and his mother is living and working in the Middle East with his father’s brother. Joseph is the surrogate parent. Jerry and his sister are the only hostel kids who are ALWAYS here. They have no place to go, and they have no one to help them. They have no spending money. Their mother pays for the school, but they are dependent upon Joseph for all their needs.

I wish Jerry had professional ambitions, but he doesn’t. He even told Joseph recently when they had a spat that he would like to leave school. He told me he would like to drive a lorry (transport truck) or a bus. I’ve been trying to discuss how important a good education can be for him in terms of increasing his standard of living and happiness. I’m afraid that the most we can hope for is that he will stay here to complete 10th Standard (the end of high school here). He’s in 7th Standard this year.

Puberty is creating some problems for him, but it’s nothing like what kids get into in America. He got into trouble trying to touch his roomate while he slept; now he has a room on his own and goes to the toilet stall for 30 minutes each night. The notes to the girl stopped, and I get his cute shreek if I try to talk to him about them. Essentially, he’s a better-than-average kid, and I’m hoping for the best for him.
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Joseph and I missed a Hindu wedding today. He forgot about it, and I didn’t know it was as early as it was. When they returned from church about 9:45, I asked him about it. We had missed the processional from the home at 8 a.m. and were missing the ceremony which started at 9:30. It’s not acceptable to go only for the luncheon, so we missed it all. It was the wedding of the brother of one of the teachers, and she will be upset that we weren’t there.

I’ve helped the students study most of the day. It’s mostly silly repetition of memorized responses. It’s a real disappointment to observe how little learning is occurring. I asked one boy to read a paragraph from the novel I’m reading. He orally read it perfectly. When I asked what it meant, he shrugged. There hadn’t even been an attempt to comprehend it. Even in math, things aren’t understood. Everything is memorized. I spent yesterday trying to teach them WHAT an angle is. They have been studying angles for weeks, but I could tell they still had no idea that it is the sweep between the two rays. They couldn’t eyeball an angle and tell me whether it was a right, an acute, or an obtuse angle because they didn’t really know what to look at—what an angle is. They could quote perfect definitions for each kind of angle, however.
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It was a long day. There was more yelling as the evening arrived. I’m so tired of being around it. We should have 6 days of school in a row this week. I hope that makes things better.

I’m also getting tired of the food here. It’s too bland and we have the same things too often. Last night for dinner and today for lunch we had the soybean fake meat which I dislike the most. I had to force it down, then I burped it up for hours. Breakfasts tend to be the best meals. Lunch and dinner consist too often of bland vegetable dishes and the rice which I also find to be bland here. They’re usually the most flavorful when we have the yogurt-tomato-onion sauce to go with it all. Thank goodness there was no more soy meat tonight, and we were given the yogurt sauce instead.

Monday, Nov. 7, Kumbalam

I worked hard in the morning. I organized and typed the bilogy scope and sequence chart. I added more to the English S&S Chrt, and I interviewed a candidate for the computer job and gave her a couple of tasked to do on the computer to test her skills.

I took off the afternoon to go to the cyber café. It was a mistake. The owner was gone to Kollam for the day. I went to another place that had such a slow connection that I only read 4 e-mails and wrote one e-mail over 20 minute. It never opened Blogger far enough for me to post my blog. It was a frsutrating experience. I did get some things I wanted from the supermarket, however. And three college boys walked about halfway back to Kumbalam with me visiting along the way.

I was told I looked bad today. Actually, I’m tired. I couldn’t get to sleep until 10:30 last night. And all the noise early in the mornng here wakes me up every day. I hope I can sleep tonight.

I finished Atlantic Shift by Emily Barr tonight. I gave it 2 stars out of 4. It was a rather simple book that would make a Class B independent film or a made-for-TV film starring a TV actress who has never made a feature film before. Also, the main character wasn’t very likeable; she admitted throughout the story that she was a fake and that all her actions were fake.
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Tonight I asked Joseph about a woman who came into the office today. I first met her about 3 weeks ago. Then, she walked into the office and started talking about my becoming a sponsor of a child in India. This time, she hinted that there are things going on at this school that aren’t right. She told me, “You don’t know nothing, do you?” She gave me her phone number and told me to call her so she could tell me about it. And she warned, “That’s a private number, don’t give it to anyone!” Joseph confirmed that she’s strange. He said that she was accusing the man who runs our office of trying to kiss her this morning. Then she insisted on removing her child from this school. She asked Joseph to bless the child before she took her, and after he did that she said, “I can’t take the child now that you have blessed her.” And she returned the child to the classroom. I hope I don’t have any more encounters with this lady while I am here.

Tuesday, Nov. 8, Kumbalam

Rosalind is worried about me. For two days now, she has asked if there is a problem. Essentially, I’m tired from having my sleep interrupted by yelling and other noises. But I’m also a little depressed, I guess (also because of all the yelling). Apparently it shows. I hope going away to visit Abin’s family this Saturday will help. And I probably should plan another weekend on my own somewhere the next weekend.

We hired a computer teacher today. He’s a nice young man and seems competent. He has a nice personality, too. His father died recently, so he now has the responsibility of supporting his mother. He lives near here, so he should be a reliable, long-term employee. I spent much of my day with him—interviewing him, howing him the lob, telling him about our plans, and going to Kollam with him and Joseph to see about ordering the computers for the lab.

While in Kollam, I asked Joseph to take me to an office supply store. Tomorrow is Rosaland’s birthday. She carries a plastic bag each day with papers in it. I bought her a plastic folder that closes with velcro and a plastic locking case with multiple compartments for paper. Being plastic, both will be waterproof. And each will be more professional looking than the plastic bag with advertizing on it. The children have made her a card. And Joseph bought her a sari to replace the one she tore over the weekend. It should all be a nice surprise for her tomorrow. We’ll give them to her before the entire school during opening assembly tomorrow morning at 8:30.

Wednesday, Nov. 9, Kumbalam

There are so many ups and downs here. The computer teacher we were so excited about didn’t come to work today. He should be here from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. At 10:45 Rosalind called his home. His mother told her she told him not to come to work today because he was here so late yesterday. He’s 34 years old!! And we dropped him at his SECOND bus stop at 6:40 last night; he wouldn’t have gotten there any earlier if he had stayed on campus until 6:00 and taken his first bus from here. Everyone seems to consider Joseph as a Sugar Daddy who will let them do whatever they want while still paying them their salaries. It’s ridiculous.
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I went to the cyber café again this afternoon and was unsuccessful again. The diskettes just aren’t going to work again. When I returned, I checked the office computer. It has a CD-RW drive, so I will buy a re-writable CD and see if that will work for taking blog postings and e-mails to the cyber café.
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I can’t believe it. Tomorrow has been named a holiday!! Between strikes and holidays, I don’t think we’ve had a week with 5 days of school since I got here 5 ½ weeks ago! This time, it’s because a former president of the country died today. It creates lots of problems for us. First, tomorrow was to be the last day of mid-term exams. Now it will be changed to Friday. But Friday is the day the dance team is to be gone to competition. Will they still go? Also, this probably means school for both a Saturday and a Sunday some weekend in the future to make up for the lost day. Worse for me is that tomorrow now becomes one of those days that seems to last forever, since the kids have no school and get bored and restless.

I had an e-mail from a former volunteer today. I’m not sure how she got my e-mail address, but my guess is that it may have come from the English teacher who was fired (although I’m not sure how he would have gotten it either unless he has found my blog which is possible with special searching). (Technically, he resigned, but he had no other choice.) Anyway, she was obviously disillusioned with the school. Of course, I’m not sure what she expected. I knew not to expect a TRUE international school. She expressed concern about teachers leaving when she was here, but I haven’t experience that; the only one that has left was the one who needed to be dismissed. Anyway, I wrote back letting her know I had my own concerns (my confinement/all the yelling) but am still here. She was here for 3 months and is now volunteering somewhere else in India.

Thursday, Nov. 10, Kumbalam

I had vivid dreams last night thanks to mefloquine, my anti-malarial drug. I dreamed I was back in San Antonio. Jay was at the pool. My apartment was high-rise. I was so skinny I could touch fingertips and thumbs of my hands when I put them around my waist.

Actually, I am thin, but not that thin. As usual, I lost down to about 165-170 lbs. (75 kg) during the first 4-5 weeks of my travel. Now I am staying the same. Even all the vegetarian meals with no desserts have not caused me to lose any more weight. I feel good at this level, however, and wish I could maintain it in the U.S.

I was bored throughout the morning. I spent much of it in my room napping and reading. Then Joseph gave me an assignment that made the day much better. He asked me to go to Kollam and have signs made with the school’s name, location, and phone number on them for putting on the back and side windows of the SUV. He wanted everyone to know where they are from as he takes the dance group to Ernakulam to perform in the competition. The driver Sonny rushed me there, we got the signs, and he rushed me back. It was an exciting drive. In 25 minutes, we covered the one-way distance in heavy traffic that Joseph takes 40-45 minutes to cover!

I’ve been left in charge along with Prameela until Joseph returns late tomorrow night. Of course, that means that Prameela will be in charge most of the time, yelling at everyone. But she is going home tomorrow afternoon and will leave us alone for the evening. Several of the girls are on the trip, so there are only 6 children still at the hostel.

I’ve started reading Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre. It’s really a different kind of book. The main character is an intelligent teenage boy from a lower-class Texas family whose best friend has just killed several people at school in a shotting rampage. The boy is being acused as an accessory just because he was friends with the shooter and has not satisfactorily accounted for his whereabouts at the time the violence occurred. With all that seriousness, it’s a surprisingly funny book with the humor and the story coming mostly through the thoughts of the boy.

Friday, Nov. 11, Kumbalam

Today is the last of the mid-term exam days. I’m glad they are ending, because I don’t like watching the kids just memorizing without understanding anything. Since it’s an exam day, there won’t be any homework. Therefore, I’ve developed a plan for the evening to keep the kids occupied and not getting bored and restless. Joseph likes them to write, and one boy started telling me about his ambitions last night. I decided to make “My Ambitions” a writing topic for tonight. When school is out this afternoon, we’ll start the brainstorming process. As the evening progresses, they can make an outline and write their papers. I also plan to let them watch a film. They can review the schedule in the paper and select one they want to watch.

Prameela is yelling up a storm today. She likes to be in charge, but she’s miserable when she is. I got up early to take the kids to exercise (stretching and warm-up activities and basketball) the way Joseph usually does, but she said Joseph left instructions for them to study. I question that, because Joseph took them out on the other test days. He probably just figured I would be sleeping or in my room and wouldn’t want to take them out and told her they could study. He should have communicated better with me before leaving. Anyway, I closed my door and let her yell away. Thank goodness she will be gone tonight. Her yelling causes my stomach to knot up.

I’m having a skin problem. A patch of dry skin (psoriasis?) about the size of a penny has developed below my left eyebrow. It just got dry one day and the outer skin flaked off. Now it is dry each day with a few flakes of skin. The only cream I have is suntan lotion. I’ve put some of that on it, but it’s still flaky after a week. I’m not sure what else to do, but today I have started using Chapstick on it in case that will help.

The computer teacher didn’t show up at work again today. It seems to be an indication that he doesn’t want the job. I guess that is better than having to deal with him later. It’s too bad he didn’t work out, however. He has the potential to be good at the job. I hope he’s not out looking for another job with the idea that he can come back here next week and this job will be here. If he does, I will strongly discourage Joseph from keeping him because he would likely continue to look for another job and leave as soon as he found one paying a little bit more. I went ahead and spent the day today working on the scope and sequence chart for the present computer instructional program. It will help whoever is eventually hired to evaluate the weaknesses of the program and suggest changes.

Saturday, Nov. 12, Kumbalam

What a miserable night. The man waiting up to let Joseph into the gate when he and the dancers returned from out of town smoked strong cigarettes from midnight until about 2:30. The smell was so bad that it awakened me over and over. Then there was the noise of arrival.

This morning didn’t turn out as I had planned. I had been told by Rosalind that there was no teacher work day as there usually is on the second Saturday of each month. I planned to go to Kundara after breakfast to update my blog and to buy some chocolates or something as a gift for the Thomases. But Joseph asked if I could do something for the teachers. They were arriving at 9:00 and needed a workshop until 2:00! I quickly abandoned my plans and developed a program for the workshop which involved Joseph doing a big part of it. I didn’t have anything I thought I could do for that long, and I didn’t want to let him off the hook. For the Thomases, I had to put a package of cheap cookies I already had into my bag.

The teacher workshop went until 2:00. Then the PTO meeting was from 3:30 to 5:30. It was a long, tiring day. The PTO meeting was all in Malayalam, so it was rather boring for me. The procedure was interesting, though. Parents stood and expressed their concerns. When all were finished, Joseph responded. I was a lot like a town hall meeting in America.

Mr. Thomas brought Abin and me to their home after the PTO meeting on his motor cycle. It’s in Kallada, a pretty area with lakes just north of Kumbalam. The house is new and nice. I’m staying upstairs where there are two bedrooms, a bath, and a sitting area. I’m not sure how many rooms are downstairs, but they seem to all live down there normally. It was dark when we arrived, so I haven’t seen the neighborhood. The home is on a country road, however.

Abin became a different boy when he entered the house. He has spent all his time watching TV or playing with his father’s mobile phone. He didn’t eat more than 3-4 bites of his dinner. He had snacked on wheat chips, sesame seed balls, and banana chips earlier. And he ate a candy bar after leaving the table. I can see why they want him at the hostel. I don’t think he would ever study at home. I thought he would be excited to show me things, but he has mostly ignored me.

Dinner was rice with lots of small dishes—dal sauce, coconut sauce, beef curry, fish curry, and fried fish. For dessert, we had the noodle dish that is like rice pudding. It was all very tasty and good. As usual here, they wanted me to eat more than I could

Sunday, Nov. 13, Kallada

It was very quiet at the Thomas house last night. I slept well, at least until 5 a.m. when I began hearing music from a nearby temple.

Apparently it’s common to have a late dinner and go straight to bed. That’s what we did last night, and that’s what we do at the hostel and did when I went to the wedding with Joseph.

I was cleaned and dressed when Mr. Thomas brought me a glass of tea at 6:45. While they worked on things, Abin took me walking. It’s a beautiful area filled with lush plants. The roadways are red clay and narrow. The homes are all quite nice and middle class looking. Everyone was so friendly, including a +2 (junior college) student named Abin Jones who visited with us as we passed his home and then caught up with us on his bike and visited some more.

Mrs. Thomas served us dosa with coconut chutney. As everywhere I’ve been in Kerala, only the men sat and ate. She continued cooking and served us. Also as usual, she encouraged me to eat more and more and more.

Abin and I left for church at 8:15. The Thomases arrived later. It’s a Syrian Orthodox Church. The building is nice. There are arched windows filled with formed bricks with holes making nice patterns. As the sun rises, rays of sunshine stream through these holes. There are 3 large arches at the front of the sancturary with red, green, and gold curtains hanging behind them. In front of the curtains is a communion table where seminarians were leading chanting when we arrived. After a while, the middle curtain opened to show the alter with the priest knealing facing it.

There was much pagentry to the service. A seminarian was swinging an incense burner almost constantly. All the service except the sermon and a letter from the bishop was done through chanting. There were two tamborine-type instruments at the ends of long poles that were used at times. They were metal disks with small bells attached around the edges, and seminarians shook them in either a slow or fast beat.

The service was already going when we arrived, and it continued for another two hours! The congregation stood at least 1½ hours of that time. Males were on the left and females on the right. Children were in the front rows. I sat there with Abin.

Several people were friendly after the service. One boy, in particular, spoke English well and visited with me. A young man visiting home from his work in Brunei did, too. Some of the dacons invited me into their church office for tea and then made a plea for me to help them with paying off their new building.

I’ve spent the late morning and early afternoon reading and writing. It’s so peaceful here. Abin rode his father’s motor cycle in the neighborhood. Mr. Thomas took care of their cow, washed clothes, and did other chores. It was interesting to see a man doing domestic chores here; I wasn’t sure that would happen, but he says it is becoming more common.

Abin has been one of my favorites at the hostel. In general, he’s a sweet, nice boy there. Occasionally he loses control and goes a little wild. At those times, it’s hard to get his attention and bring him back under control. I can see why now. At home, he’s essentially a spoiled boy who tends to get his way. I like him better at the hostel than I do at his home.

Being prepubescent (age 12), Abin is still a loveable kid to most people. He usually walks up to me and gives me a hug sometime each day. He always tries to get the chair beside me at the dining table or to sit beside me elsewhere. He grabs me and pretends to be fearful when the power fails. He puts his head in my lap when we all lounge on the front porch. He likes me and tries to please me. He could, however, be more serious about his school work and more careful when doing it. And he ceases to be loveable when he loses contol and starts chasing people, hitting at them, and yelling.
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In the afternoon, we went to a nearby river to watch longboat races. It was exciting—similar to what I have seen in Thailand, but not as organized nor as colorful. Then we stopped by an area lake. Later, we went to the nearest shopping area for several things. One was a chicken. We picked out a live chicken, and then the shop owner killed it, plucked it, and cut it up while we waited. We ate it two hours later for dinner.

One of the dogs ate my shoe for dinner. Shoes are always removed outside in India. A dog chewed off part of the tongue of one of my loafers and split the corner of the tongue of the other one. This is my only pair of shoes I have with me (along with a pair of sandals). I think they are wearable, but the one with part of the tongue missing is not pretty. These are my Clarks loafers I bought especially for traveling, so I hate to see them damaged.

Monday, Nov. 14, Kumbalam and Tangessari (Children’s Day)

Today is Nehru’s birthday. It is celebrated as Children’s Day throughout India. Schools do only two things this day each year: 1) Teach about Nehru, and 2) Have a program presented by the children to entertain everyone. No formal lessons are allowed, and no homework can be given. So it’s like another holiday or strike day as far as teaching/learning are concerned!

Abin and I caught the St. Joseph school bus at 7:45 this morning in front of his house. I worked about 45 minutes as they set up for the program this morning. Then I was called out to sit at the front with Joseph and the PTO President for the program which continued until 12:30. After that, we ate a quick lunch and headed to the Tangassari campus for their afternoon program. Students told about Nehru, sang songs, recited poems, danced, etc. The little ones were so cute! Jerry dressed up as Nehru for a skit where he was answering children’s questions; he was handsome in the Nehru suit and white cap!

Joseph has both parents and teachers upset with him right now. Everywhere we go, including to both programs today, people confront him with their concerns. Of course, none of them realize how hard his job is, nor do they care. It’s amazing what he has accomplished here in 3 years. At the same time, it is such a complex operation that it seems like a house of cards that could collapse at any time.

The English treacher at Tangasseri sought me out after the program. We had visited professionally, but it was our first time for a casual visit. He specifically asked how I am enjoying being here. It makes me wonder if either Rosalind has told him I’ve been unhappy or if he has been communicating with the dismissed Engish teacher from Kumbalam and wanted to try to get information out of me. Anyway, the conversation was friendly, and he suggested that we should go to Kovalam Beach one weekend. As I questioned him further and said I would pay for the gas for his cycle if we went, he suggested that we go this Sunday. As we tried to plan it, I realized that he would like to make an early start, and I wasn’t sure if a bus would get me to Kollam earlier than 9:30 on a Sunday. I know he teaches on Saturday, but I asked if we could go late Saturday afternoon saying I would pay for a room for us. I was surprised at the response. He said he will have to get his parents’ permission and he’s not sure that they will give it! I don’t know his age, but he has a college degree. Furthermore, he’s engaged to be married in an arranged marriage. Because he lives at home, however, he is expected to obey his parents no matter how old he is. I’m now thinking I might stay in a hotel in Kollam on Saturday night so we could get an early start on Sunday, or I might go to Varkala again on Friday and ask him to pick me up there on Sunday morning on the way down to Kovalam. I’ll talk to him later this week about it.

Another surprise came later as I talked to another teacher. Joseph was meeting with faculty, and it was 5:30 with darkness approaching by 6:00. The teacher visiting with me expressed concern about the hour. She said that some parents beat their adult children if they come home too late. Women are not supposed to be out after dark alone, or their reputation can be ruined!

Tuesday, Nov. 15, Kumbalam (Part I)

I can tell my opinion of Abin has changed since spending the weekend with his family. I didn’t like seeing him be the spoiled brat he was. He sat glued to the TV, ate only junk food without coming to the table at mealtime, took over his father’s mobile phone, and yelled back at his parents without giving in when they told him not to do something. He was a totally different boy from how he is at the hostel, but he’s no longer one of my favorites even here because of what I know about him. I’m trying to be friendly, but I just don’t feel like treating him special the way I did before. He’ll probably notice that I’ve become more distant. If he ever brings up the topic, I’ll tell him why.

As I went through my shirts, I found the one on the bottom of the stack was beginning to mildew. There has been so much rain lately. Plus, I may have put it there will still slightly damp; it’s hard to get clothes to totally dry here. There weren’t black spots yet, so that was good. I brushed off the white, powdery spots with me hand and then with the brush I use for the suede on my shoes. I’m wearing the shirt today. Up close, it still has a spotty look. I hope that disappears when I wash it again.

Problems with Diskette Drives

Hello Everyone,

I normally type my entries at school and bring them to the cyber cafe to post them. For some reason the computer isn't reading my diskette. There are problems here with viruses and poor equipment, so I don't know which it is. I am fine, however. I am still at the school. As soon as I can I will post again.

A Week with Two Holidays!

Tuesday, Nov. 1, Kumbalam

Today is a Hindu holiday that is celebrated as a festival of lights. I have heard two stories about what it commemorates. One is that there was a bad king. When someone killed him, the people celebrated because it took them from dark days to days of light. The other story is about a king who had 5 sons by 4 wives. One of the later wives wanted her son to become king and sent the first-born, along with his wife and brother, to the jungle to stay for years. But the people waited until he returned to declare him king. According to this story, the festival celebrates his return.

I started the day doing laundry—sheets, towel, pants, a couple of shirts, and underwear. Then I helped the new English teacher review the English tests and assign points (called ‘marks’ here) to each question. Until the electricity went off, I was changing the heading of each test. No one gave me guidelines or looked at them until I had typed about 50 tests! Now they want changes in formatting, a ridiculous waste of time based on “how it’s been done before.” It’s times like this that frustrate me. My labor may be free, but the results of it shouldn’t be looked at as dispensible and re-doable on a whim! If something is important, I expect people to think and plan ahead so that I have proper guidelines and don’t waste time doing them in ways they won’t accept later.
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We came to Kollam in the afternoon. The boys are attending a basketball camp at the YMCA. They dropped me off at a cyber café. It wasn’t as good as the one in Kundara. The speed connection was about the same. For some reason, I couldn’t send e-mail, however; I got an address line and a subject line, but there was no box for a message. I just posted to my blog and read e-mail. I’ll send e-mail later this week from Kundara.

We went to Joseph’s resort after leaving the YMCA. We arrived just in time for a beautiful sunset. Too bad I didn’t have my camera with me.

There was an Australian couple and their 10-year-old daughter staying at the resort. The girl stayed with our kids dancing, talking singing, etc. Then she took photos of us before we left.

The staff served us tea and banana fritters not long after we arrived. Then they got dinner nearby for us—two types of flat bread, chicken curry, mutton curry, and tomato salad. Afterwards, we had ball-shaped pastries made with coconut and other ingredients and soaked in honey.

Wednesday, Nov. 2, Kumbalam

I’m spending the day finalizing tests. It’s a comp[lex job, since some require teachers to make drawings and return them to me. Keeping track of 1) completed, typed, nothing-else-needed; b) completed, typed, drawings needed; c) proofreading still needed before printing; etc.; categories becomes a major headache, especially since the originals (which I need to prove what they gave me) are also having to be spread out with the various typed categories. I’ll be glad when this task is done!

I also developed guidelines for an incentive program for Joseph to consider for the school. He can’t offer an offical pension program without joining the state program at much greater expense than it costs public schools. But he needs an incentive for teachers to stay here, or they will take public school jobs (even though it means classes sizes of 75-80 instead of 20-25 here) just for the pension plan (and the knowledge that people in government jobs don’t get fired). What I have proposed is two-pronged: 1) a pay scale with regular raises and 2) a pension-like plan where the teachers pay nothing from their salary (because the state won’t allow him to take from them) but the school pays 5% of their salary into a managed investment program each year. It’s NEVER the teachers’ money; it belongs to the investment account. But the account will start paying a monthly stipend (based on amount paid in, years of teaching at St. Joseph, and actuarial tables of life expectancy) anytime after 6 years of teaching have been completed AND 21 years have passed since first taking a job here. (The odd numbers are because there is a big pay raise after Year 1, and the investment contributions don’t start until Year 2.) Anyway, joseph can show the plan to his lawyer and to an investment firm and reivse the plan based on their input. My plan gives him a start toward the process of coming up with a workable plan.

I was so tired after the day at school that I went for a walk in the village. Two elderly men sitting on a porch invited me to join them. Then one of them called out his son-in-law who was visiting there with his wife. We drank orange soda and visited for about 20 minutes. Only the son-in-law spoke English well. He was an interesting person. He is a film director who is doing a documentary on the folk art of a special region in southern India. It's being made for television. It's always nice to talk to people like this, but the conversation always winds down rather fast due to their lack of English and my lack of Malayalam. So I excused myself by telling them I need to return to the hostel to help the kids with their homework (which I did).

A Trip to the Hills over the Weekend!

Wednesday, Oct. 26, Kumbalam

I worked all morning typing mid-term exams, then the electricity went off just as I was breaking for lunch. It was still off after lunch, so I used it as an excuse to go to the cyber café. I made my fastest trip ever. I caught the 1:30 bus from here, spent 40 minutes on the computer, went to the supermarket, and caught the 3:00 p.m. bus back. It was only 2 hours from when I left the compound and when I returned! Yet that was enough of an outing to make me feel good about the day.

I bought cookies and some peanut candy at the supermarket. I like having snacks in my room. Sometimes I’m hungry around 4:00 when school is out. Also, I want snacks for when the girl with lice makes dinner. I also bought some laundry detergent at the store for doing my laundry at the hostel.

Thursday, Oct. 27, Kumbalam/Kollam

Joseph and I have come to the Kollam campus today. We stopped on the way into town at the computer shop to tell them he will order the computers as soon as he finds a computer teacher. We took the job description with us and left it with them. I told Joseph they would probably help us recruit. Actually, I’m thinking that maybe one of the employees there might be interested in the job.

We have reviewed an English textbook series while here at the school. It’s by Oxford Press and looks nice. My guess is that it is used by international schools throughout the word, since Oxford Press has offices in many countries. Two more series are being sent to us, however—another one from Oxford and a series from the company whose science books we use. The fact that they are reviewing and planning to adopt a new English series means that I’ve wasted several days of work doing a scope and sequence chart based on the present series. But no one told me they were planning to change until now.

Rosalind’s (the principal trainee) mother cooked a wonderful meal for us. We had rice, a yogurt-onion-chile pepper sauce, tasty small shrimp, omelet, pickled lemon rind, and a greens dish made with shallots and the leaves of a tree called “drumstick.” The cooking was much more flavorful than what we get at the hostel.

The English teacher here goes to a private home at lunch where a woman provies home-cooked meals to those who want to pay to teat there. If I come here to work on my own someday, I think I’ll suggest that I go to lunch with him.
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Joseph experienced some of the frustration I’ve faced tonight. He was trying to help a 5 ½ -year-old student and realized the homework was too much for one night. He was so upset at the time that he wanted to suspend the teacher!

Friday, Oct. 28, Kumbalam to Kathmangalam

I’m on a farm in the hills. Joseph and I drove up here this afternoon. It’s only about 120 km (70 miles) from Kumbalam, but it took us 5 ½ hours to drive it. That’s because of a combination of bad roads and heavy traffic. In one town, it took us 45 minutes to go about half a mile! We’re here to attend a wedding tomorrow of Joseph’s wife’s niece.

We didn’t leave Kumbalam until 3:45. I spent the day finishing the mid-term tests I’ve been typing. Monday, I’ll need to get each teacher to proofread his/her exams, since there are lots of Indian words on them and also because letters are formed differently here. An “r” looks more like a “v” the way Indians write.

We are staying at Joseph’s wife’s brother’s house tonight. They are farmers raising ginger, pepper, vanilla, saffron, cacao, coffee, rice, pineapples, chickens, rabbits, doves, rubber, etc. It was too dark to see the farm when we arrived tonight, but I look forward to seeing it tomorrow. The family is very nice. The man and woman are only about 40. They have a son who is finishing nursing school and a daughter younger than him who is a zoology major at the university. When we arrived, they served us fresh pineapple. Then they fed us their own rice, chicken, and curries—everything grown here on their farm. It was fresh and so delicious. They understand most of what I say, but they are too shy to try to speak English to me. I’m hoping there will be some people eager to talk to me at the wedding tomorrow. Usually in a crowd like that there is. We still have to travel further into the hills for it.

The air here is fresh and cool. They turned on a fan for me, but I don’t need it and have turned it off. I’d be too cool with it blowing on me. It’s already 11:00 now, so I must get to sleep.

Saturday, Oct. 29, Kathmangalam to Idukki and Back

I’m sitting on the front porch waiting to leave for the wedding. Just in front of me is a tropical forest of the plants they grow on the farm. There are rubber trees with collars around them to protect the cut from the rain and with cups to collect the rubber dripping from the cuts. There are pepper vines climbing the coconut palm trees, vanilla vines climbing another kind of palm that provides a slightly intoxicating fruit that people enjoy here, banana palms, ginger root plants, coffee bean plants, etc. To the back are cages with chickens and ducks. To the side are the pidgeon cages.

The man here showed me how he processes the rubber. Every other day, each tree is cut. The rubber drips into a cup for about two hours and then is collected. It’s put in big pans like large birthday cake pans and left until the next morning. By then, it has hardened into a single white piece of rubber within each pan. He takes each piece and puts it through two differest presses several times to squeeze out as much water as possible. Then he hangs the pieces on a line to dry further. Eventually, he hangs them in a drying room which is much like a smokehouse. The pieces dry and turn golden brown. Then they are ready to sell. He gets about 250-300 rupees ($6-7) for one day’s harvest.
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It was another long drive to the wedding. Family members from east of here who were supposed to be here at the farm at 9:00 didn’t arrive until 10:00. Then it took two hours over very rough roads to get to the village. It was a beautiful drive along a river and through high, rocky (yet green) hills. The problem was all the potholes caused by the waterfalls and the rainfall which is high in this area.

The village is very remote. The last few miles were on a road that can only be managed by vehicles high off the ground. Parts of the road had deep potholes. Other parts had loose stones as big as grapefruits or melons.

The wedding was already 2/3 over when we got there. It was in a local Catholic church. Here, there are no seats. People remove their shoes outside and either stand or sit on the floor. The priest sang much of the ceremony to electronic music playing in the background. The women stood on one side of the aisle while the men stood on the other.

There was a big luncheon afterwards that required two different sittings before everyone was fed. We started with dosa (bread-like pancakes) made from rice flour. We had chicken masala (spicy sauce), fish in another spicy sauce, and small cubes of Asian buffalo meat. There was a salad of red onions and peppers, a green vegetable dish, and pickled tomatoes. Later, rice was served with a yogurt sauce and the same meats and side dishes. It was all eaten with one’s fingers. For essert, there were ice cream cups eaten with wooden sticks.

The groom wore dark pants and a cream colored shirt. The bride wore a red sari with a white veil. She carried a spray of white flowers.

As I expected, I found 3-4 people who visited in English with me. Two were brothers who are best friends of the groom. One lives in Dubai selling real estate and the other works for McDonalds in Leeds, England. Both spoke English well. The one who liked me the most and spent more time with me was a cousin of the bride and a best friend of the nursing student in the family where I stayed last night. His English was limited, but he was curious about me and eager to talk. He stayed with me after the meal until we left an hour later.

There is a hand loom weaving room in the village, so we stopped there as we were leaving. The women bought some nice cloth after the tour. Mainly, it is used for the wrap-around skirts that both the men and the women wear around the house here.

Joseph and I had intended to drive back to Kumbalam today. It was too late and he was too tired, however, by the time we got back to his brother-in-law’s farm. So we are staying here one more night. They’re a nice family, and I’m comfortable here. I’m sorry we have to disrupt their sleeping arrangements another night though. The 23-year old son has finally gotten comfortable enough with me to speak English, so that makes it even better for me. He has finished his 3 years of training and gotten his diploma, but he still has to do a 1-year practicum followed by an exam.

Sunday, Oct. 30, Kathmangalam to Kumbalam via Allappuzha

We ate buffalo meat again last night for dinner. This time, it was dried, salted beef that had been soaked in water to get rid of salt and then fried. It was much like carne del sol in Brazil. We had it with rice, boiled eggs in curry sauce, and a mixed vegetable curry. This morning, I had milk tea made with buffalo milk. So the buffalo is their source of meat and milk here.

There are showers this morning. I got a couple of pictures of the plants and house, however. We’ll go to 7:30 mass with Joseph’s family, have breakfast afterwards at his mother-in-law’s house, and then drive back to Kumbalam.

Mass lasted 1 hour 15 minutes. The church was full. Joseph told me that probably 80-85% of the congregation attends mass each week. Of course, in these small villages there is little more to life. The church is the center of all social life. Like yesterday, the men were on the left of the aisle and the women were on the right.

Joseph’s mother-in-law had been rather quiet in the truck yesterday and at her son’s house last night. But she came alive in her own home this morning. It’s a huge place that I’m sure is considered to be a mansion by all the villagers. It has a large curving stairwell built around an indoor grotto with flowing water. The kitchen is bigger than the living room in most U.S. homes. She made us homemade idly—rice noodles that are steamed in small bundles, sprinkled with grated coconut, and served with a spicy vegetable sauce. She mixes the dough for the noodles and presses it through a cookie press with small holes on the disk. She presses them into a pan with about six dips in it (like an egg poacher pan) so that the noodles form separate bundles. Then she puts that pan in the steamer. After they are steamed, she keeps them hot in a slow cooker with the lid over it. I’ve heard of idly as a specialty of Kerala, but this was my first time to eat it. It was delicious.

The drive back was horrible. It rained all the way. Joseph’s driving is scary enough without an extra danger factor. He is too cautious at times, and that is part of the danger. For instance, he’ll come to a complete stop as he approaches a bump or a pothole in the road, slowly change gears, and then start moving again. In the meantime, the traffic behind gets upset and starts trying to pass us. When he finally does start moving, he’s not aware of the fact that a car is coming around him by then and jerks the wheel to the left when he does realize it. That makes us move too close to a pedestrian or a bicyclest on the right side of the road. In general, too, he comes too close to pedestrians and bicyclists who are on the shoulder of the road. I kept fearing that I see him bump a pedestrian killing him right before my eyes. Anyway, after stopping in Allapuzho to visit his brother for about 1 ½ hours, we made it back to the hostel around 6:30 with no accident this time.

There’s a new boy at the hostel. His family delivered him late today. The mother was so hesitant to leave! The boy doesn’t speak English very well, so it will probably be a little lonely for him at first. The children are expected to speak in English most of the time.

I’m tired. The trip was really too long. Added to that is the tiredness that comes from the tension of worrying about the driving. I hope I will sleep well. Tomorrow will be a busy day.

Monday, Oct. 31, Kumbalam

None of the kids here know anything about Halloween. They are excited about tomorrow which is a Hindu holiday when lots of fire crackers are popped. Jerry is hoping Joseph will buy them some, but I doubt he will because of the danger involved.

I attended another Catholic wedding today. The electrician invited Joseph and me to his daughter's wedding. Joseph is always invited and treated especially honorably, because it is anticipated that he will donate a generous sum to offset the cost. We were personally escorted, seated, etc., by the bride's father. In the ceremony, we were given candles to carry forward. (it's a ceremony I don't understand. We carried a candle to the front, handed it to the priest, and he put them to the side. I guess it was symbolical to represent a gift to the couple.) We were placed at the head of the table that was served first. We had rice biriyani, chicken masala, fish in a spicy sauce, pickled tomato, onion-yogurt salad, papadam (fried flat bread), a slice of pineapple, a piece of cake, and a small galass of homemade wine. The cake and wine were served and eaten first like at birthday parties here. We ate with fingers off banana-leaf placemats. There were three differing sittings to serve everyone.

The rest of the day I tried to get teachers to proofread tests. So far only 3 have done so. there's a rush because both Tuesday and Thursday are holidays. Exams start Monday, so we must print copies Wednesday and get teachers to add drawings. Then we must take the copies on Friday or Saturday to get photocopies made for the students. These teachers have no idea what a hassle it is to type their tests. I spent days doing it. I hope Joseph doesn't want me to type the tests for December.

The English teacher who is being dismissed has finally realized what is happening, and he's taken a wise attack today. Joseph insisted that our cook who had bad encounter with the English teacher be on the dismissal committee to represent a parent. I told him he should put someone else on the committee and call the cook to tell the group about what happened with her. Now, the English teacher is saying she was against him even before the meeting took place (which is true and why I didn't think it was wise to put her on the committee). Anyway, there is another meeting this afternoon to consider the English teacher's complaint. It could have been avoided so easily. Joseph didn't have to stack the committee against the guy; any group would have recommended dismissal fo him!
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Things worked out well with Joseph. He convinced the English teacher to resign!!

I finished reading Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I gave it 4 stars out of 4. I had read it beforwe, so all the stories seemed familiar as I got into thtem. They are so well weritten, however, that it was a pleasure to read them again. Now I will begin Atlantic Shift by Emily Barr. It's a British novel given to me by Nurse Grethe. I hope I will like it as much as I did the other book she gave me: The Black Englishman.