Last week was my first full week in India. I have been able to feel out the rhythm of the college and the students and become more comfortable knowing what is coming next on a given day. Here is roughly how it goes...
Each day I get up between 5:30 and 6am. I figure since I'm dealing with jet lag I might as well make it work for me. Our host will make a pot of coffee for whoever wants it, which is a nice way to wake up. When I go out to the more rural villages I won’t have that. With coffee I will usually spend some time in conversation with my host (by the way his name is George Chavanakamanil or something pretty close to that) or reading either the Bible or the Gita (trying to understand the Hindu mindset) or writing in my journal, or reading a little C.S. Lewis.
Breakfast is at 7:15, followed by morning chapel at 8am. After chapel classes begin at 9am. There are two morning classes before morning tea which is at 10:30am. You heard me… morning tea. There are some things that remain to this day from when the British ruled India. One of them is Tea time once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. After morning tea there are three more class hours. The class hours are actually 50 minutes each, and the give students 10 minutes between each class. Actually the time between classes is for the professors. Each student selects an educational track to be on. There are several tracks to choose from. Each track has a different focus; it is kind of like selecting a major. Each track stays in one room, with a few exceptions, for the duration of class time. Tea time is the one time that everyone gets a break. The teachers are the ones that move from class to class teaching the subject of their specialty. Yeah… it did take some getting used to for me. During this time I am usually attending a class or occasionally teaching a class. Usually at some point if I am not teaching and there is nothing offered that I am particularly interested in I will go back to my room in the guest house, and prepare for a chapel message, or journal or blog, or read.
Classes finish at 1:30 which is lunch time. Today was the most amazing lunch we have had so far. We had naan, which is an Indian flat-bread, and this chicken… ooooohhhhh… Tandoori Chicken will be what I order the next time I go to an Indian restaurant. It literally mean oven chicken. There is a special clay where the cook will put the bread dough on the side of the oven and put the chicken on skewers inside the oven. Soooo gooood. Anyway…
After lunch I teach English, most of the time, until around 4pm. After 4pm I can relax a bit, and I would, except from 5pm til 6:30ish the students play sports. Cricket is the big one but there are a lot that play badminton and Volleyball. I will try Cricket at some point, but there is a lot of standing around. So I usually play Volleyball.
After that is dinner and a shower, (a cold shower) usually followed by some time of conversation about cultural differences which is carried over from the dinner conversation. There are some occasional night time events happening but usually we just chill until we go to bed.
That is basically how last week went and how this week will continue to go. My travel-mate Matt Ogden has had some great opportunities to teach on the subjects that he really seems to enjoy teaching about so I am definitely happy for him.
We have finally settled into a routine and it feels good, settling. But of course next week I will be going out into the more rural areas to visit some schools and teach there as well as visiting some orphanages to do what I can with the kids there. I will do my best to take some pictures and post some of them here for you who are following.
It has been a full and fulfilling two weeks so far and I am just one third of the way through my time here…
Each day I get up between 5:30 and 6am. I figure since I'm dealing with jet lag I might as well make it work for me. Our host will make a pot of coffee for whoever wants it, which is a nice way to wake up. When I go out to the more rural villages I won’t have that. With coffee I will usually spend some time in conversation with my host (by the way his name is George Chavanakamanil or something pretty close to that) or reading either the Bible or the Gita (trying to understand the Hindu mindset) or writing in my journal, or reading a little C.S. Lewis.
Breakfast is at 7:15, followed by morning chapel at 8am. After chapel classes begin at 9am. There are two morning classes before morning tea which is at 10:30am. You heard me… morning tea. There are some things that remain to this day from when the British ruled India. One of them is Tea time once in the morning and then again in the afternoon. After morning tea there are three more class hours. The class hours are actually 50 minutes each, and the give students 10 minutes between each class. Actually the time between classes is for the professors. Each student selects an educational track to be on. There are several tracks to choose from. Each track has a different focus; it is kind of like selecting a major. Each track stays in one room, with a few exceptions, for the duration of class time. Tea time is the one time that everyone gets a break. The teachers are the ones that move from class to class teaching the subject of their specialty. Yeah… it did take some getting used to for me. During this time I am usually attending a class or occasionally teaching a class. Usually at some point if I am not teaching and there is nothing offered that I am particularly interested in I will go back to my room in the guest house, and prepare for a chapel message, or journal or blog, or read.
Classes finish at 1:30 which is lunch time. Today was the most amazing lunch we have had so far. We had naan, which is an Indian flat-bread, and this chicken… ooooohhhhh… Tandoori Chicken will be what I order the next time I go to an Indian restaurant. It literally mean oven chicken. There is a special clay where the cook will put the bread dough on the side of the oven and put the chicken on skewers inside the oven. Soooo gooood. Anyway…
After lunch I teach English, most of the time, until around 4pm. After 4pm I can relax a bit, and I would, except from 5pm til 6:30ish the students play sports. Cricket is the big one but there are a lot that play badminton and Volleyball. I will try Cricket at some point, but there is a lot of standing around. So I usually play Volleyball.
After that is dinner and a shower, (a cold shower) usually followed by some time of conversation about cultural differences which is carried over from the dinner conversation. There are some occasional night time events happening but usually we just chill until we go to bed.
That is basically how last week went and how this week will continue to go. My travel-mate Matt Ogden has had some great opportunities to teach on the subjects that he really seems to enjoy teaching about so I am definitely happy for him.
We have finally settled into a routine and it feels good, settling. But of course next week I will be going out into the more rural areas to visit some schools and teach there as well as visiting some orphanages to do what I can with the kids there. I will do my best to take some pictures and post some of them here for you who are following.
It has been a full and fulfilling two weeks so far and I am just one third of the way through my time here…
can't wait to see all your pictures! enjoy your time there!
ReplyDeleteCant believe you have never had naan and tandori chicken?!?! I worked with someone from India yrs ago and he took me to some local Indian restaurants and I loved it!! You definitely have a partner when you get back if you want!!
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