Update

Early tomorrow morning we are leaving for our meditation retreat in Bodh Gaya. Since the retreat is media free I will not have internet access until March 4. Also- I have gone through and added pictures to all of my old blog posts, so if anyone is bored they may want to peruse (someone will appreciate that I am using this word) through those.  I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and I look forward to updating the blog about my experience learning about meditation and Buddhism.

Love,
Jenna

The One with My Wonderful 7th Graders

The girls' side of the room. In Indian classrooms the girls
and boys sit at different desks.

As many of you know I have been teaching the past two weeks at Little Star's School. I assist Nikki in teaching the 6th Standard class and then I teach the 7th Standard class with her help. At first I had a lot of frustration surrounding my internship because they put us with very young children who do not speak any English. Since my Hindi is very limited, I learned quickly that I couldn't really teach the kids who needed the most help without someone to translate for them. After speaking with the principal and others who worked at the school we finally convinced them to let us teach 6th and 7th standard English classes each day.  They offered us a copy an English book that had stories and activities, but I quickly learned that my students were way below the level of their grade level materials and would often just copy the answers to the comprehension questions from the board.

The boys...taking notes?

My experience at Little Star's School has made me think a lot about what an education is and what is the best way to teach children. I struggle to appreciate the memorization-based methods that are often used in these classrooms. At Little Star's the root of the problem seems to be that none of the "English" teachers actually speak English, so the children's English classes are conducted in Hindi. They are also supposed to take Science, Math, and General Knowledge in English, but those classes are also translated by the teacher.  The children are quite good at reading English correctly, but have no idea what half of the words mean. I also had a difficult experience yesterday when I witnessed some of my students being physically punished for their poor remarks and behavior. Corporal punishment is common in most Indian schools, but there is a large difference between understanding that cultural difference and actually seeing it first hand. Last year I did a research project on the impacts of corporal punishment in schools and so it was hard for me to see it with knowledge of the negative impacts it has on the learning environment. Unfortunately it is really not my place to say anything, especially since the practice in both homes and schools is heavily embedded in the culture. With only two more weeks at the school I know that I will not be able to change the teaching strategies employed so I have resigned to teaching my class the way I think is best.

I am teaching a lesson on possessive adjectives.

Some of the girls and me (kind of dark but they are still
adorable)

After trying to get my students to write I learned that they really needed review of basic pronouns and vocabulary. Yesterday they had a test on some basic nouns, pronouns, and possessive phrases. I am excited to start present verb conjugations when I get back.  My work for my class has been taking up a lot of my time here. Every morning I lesson plan and make worksheets and then after I teach I grade.  Though I have been spending more time than we are supposed to on our internships, I feel as though it is very rewarding because I can see improvement each assignment. The children have been putting in a lot of effort and are very appreciative of my time. Yesterday I gave an exam on the material from the first week and according to the grades my exam seems to be equivocal to a Kucer lab exam, or our Proofs final... I think that my curve (calculated by hand since I thought it was important to leave my TI-89 at home) will rectify this though.  I am also bringing in cookies (or biscuits as they are called here).

Nikki grading papers while I checked their classwork.

It is important for me to note that despite the fact that this school is not perfect it is providing children from very low income homes an education. If these children did not go to Little Star's, it is likely that they would not get any education at all and perpetuate the cycle of poverty. It seems that this school has really encouraged students to dream of doing something with their lives and I think that hope of a better life is really the most important think the school can provide. Asha, the founder of Little Star's, works endlessly to secure funds to pay for these children's education and I know that it is making a large difference in their lives.

Here is the website: http://www.littlestarsschool.org/index.html

The One with the Missing Bodhi Tree

Ancient temple ruins.

On Sunday the group did a day trip to Sarnath, the city where Buddha gave his first teaching. First we went to see the Dhamek Stupa, the spot of deer park where Buddha gave his first sermon after enlightenment. There were groups of Buddhists doing meditation and prayer and overall it was just beautiful and green.  The environment was very peaceful and I really enjoyed looking at the ruins of ancient Buddhist and Jain temples.  The actual Stupa dates from approximately 200 BCE and is over 120 feet tall. There are no entrances into the Stupa so no one actually knows what is inside.  I decided it could be a great location for some sort of murder mystery book- Da Vinci Code -esque. On the edge of the compound there was a deer park. I was excited to see them originally but they just looked really sad and contained. I guess the standards for "zoos" must be different around the world, because the area was super small and not really set up for all of the deer. We had an interesting talk with Sanghamitra (our Indian group leader) about religious acceptance in India. I found it really interesting that many Indian Hindus really appreciate Buddhism but are very prejudiced against Muslims. She was telling us some of the history behind the religious tension but also explained how it shows up in today's society, especially in politics.

The group!

Just a bit of irony....

Inside of Sri Lankan Monastery

After Deer Park we went to the Sri Lankan monastery to see the Bodhi tree grown from the cuttling of the real Bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya. I am excited to see the real one next week on our mediation retreat! We went into the temple, which was beautifully painted of scenes from Buddha's life. After that we went into this decorated compound that had large plaques in different languages (for some reason I couldn't find English) and different golden carvings. Lillian turns to me and asks "what are we supposed to be looking at in here" and I was like "I have no idea... but I think after we are going to see the Bodhi tree". Annie then informed us that the Bodhi tree was directly in front of us, but we had just assumed it was part of the greenery. 

The "Missing" Bodhi Tree

We all laughed and then I took the obligatory photographs of the tree. It made me think about how important it is to stay informed about what I am seeing and how it is important to Indian culture and history. Often when we see so many things I let myself get complacent with just looking and taking a few pictures instead of really figuring out what the place is and its' significance. I am going to try and focus on doing some more research on Bodh Gaya before we leave for our retreat on Saturday. 

We also had a really nice home-cooked lunch and visited a really cool Thai monastery. We got to hear the monks there practice some sort of chant with all sorts of musical instruments. It was really cute because most of them were just small kids who looked adorable in their robes. At the end wen everything was silent and the sounds from the drums were echoing in the huge hall one of the little kids burped really loudly and all of the other monks started laughing really hard.  The kid's face was absolutely priceless and I loved the fact that all of these monks who present themselves as so serious were just laughing about this. It was a nice reminder that people are people regardless of how different their lives are. Overall the day trip was really fun and I appreciated the opportunity to get out of hectic Varanasi to spend time somewhere more peaceful.

Lillian, Me, and Nikki in front of a mural at the Thai monastery

The One with My Walks to Yoga

When I first got to India I was very overwhelmed with the amount of stimulation all around. Nothing is every quiet or organized.  I especially notice this when I am walking down the streets. There are motorcycles, bikes, and rickshaws weaving around, street vendors calling to me, and all sorts of animals.  I realized that recently because there is so much to take in, I don't really process anything. It is impossible to get through a day if your heart breaks every time a child asks you for food or if you respond to each person who asks where you are from.  I decided to take the 15 minute walk to yoga in the morning to try and absorb more of my surroundings. Not as many people are out, and the commotion level is a fifth of what it normally is. This creates the perfect environment for me to take time and really look at everything around and try to think about what kind of lives the people I see on the street are living. I have been taking photographs the past week as I walk to and from Yoga Mandir (at 6:45am) and I wanted to share them with everyone.

The townsquare (and sunrise)

I live in Assi Ghat which essentially refers to the part of the river that the town and shops are behind. Ghats are stairs that lead down to the river bank and there are nearly 100 ghats in Varanasi. The picture on the right is of the townsquare in Assi Ghat. During elections last week a lot of political campaign speeches and voting was done in the town square. The rest of the pictures depict the street and field that I pass on my way to Yoga Mandir. It feels rude during the day to try and take pictures of the local people and where they live, so I tried to capture some of that when no one was really awake.

Little houses where people live along the street.

Some other houses in the field.

Some water buffalo who live in the field near Yoga Mandir.
During the day women use their waste to make cow pies
for burning.

All of the rickshaws before their drivers pick them up.

The family that lives across from Yoga Mandir
 with their adorable puppies

Yoga Mandir

The One With the Screw That Was a Little Bit Too Low...

Using the hammer to break off a piece of
silver for our rings.

My day yesterday was so event-filled that it warrants its own blog post.  In the morning I did yoga as per usual.  I am noticing how much regular  yoga has helped my flexibility and strength.  Hopefully in the coming week I can try and attempt a headstand against the wall. After yoga I did a bit of lesson planning with Nikki, and we prepared an English grammar lesson on question words.  We explained how where matches up with a place, who with a person etc.  Then we asked them to write out sentences starting with each of the question words.  I know that some of you will also appreciate my favorite "why" question- "Why this Kolaveri di?". I literally died and had to explain it to Nikki.  My limited Bollywood movie and music knowledge has actually been quite helpful, as none of my group members have had any exposure.

Agam and Annie melting the silver

Anyways, I taught a 7th standard class an English lesson after that by myself.  I am really enjoying working with the older kids because I feel as though there is a much larger margin for learning since they can actually understand things as I explain them.  The younger kids really need teachers who are proficient at both English and Hindi, but I suspect that those teachers are getting paid higher wages at better schools.  The story is very similar to the one in America, where the kids who have the most get the most and the kids who need the most get the least. 

The awesome metal rod I use to heat my water for my shower

After Little Stars I did a few errands and went back to my house with Annie.  We were playing with Vedika and she was being super silly.  My favorite quote of the afternoon is when she said jokingly " Your screw is in a bit too low!" (meaning that I am crazy).  I love her adorable adapted American idioms and how loving and open she has been with me.  

My new mosquito net!

That evening Nikki, Annie and I had our first jewelry class.  I am absolutely in love with the class and our teacher.  Last night we learned how to make sterling silver, by cutting the silver and then heating it with copper and zinc.  Then we poured it into a metal mold to make one rod of sterling silver.  Agam, the teacher, is hilarious and just in love with his profession.  His family has made jewelry for 6 generations and he loves to share the knowledge he has.  I am excited to make myself a ring, and maybe some other gifts if we have time. 

Anyways, off to the school!

Jenna

The One with Bulli

Sunrise Boatride

My last few days have been good and I am finally starting to get into a good routine here.  On Friday I went back to Little Star's school to try teaching again.  This time I got 3rd graders, who understood a bit more English.  I was given the syllabi, and I taught some math, English grammar, and "General Knowledge".  The math was fine, but the other two subjects were so ridiculous.  The English grammar lesson was on Gender, which is kind of a useless concept in English.  I guess the distinction between brother and sister is good, but the difference between peacock and peahen will never be used.  I couldn't even answer some of the questions they were supposed to do, because I didn't know that the male version of a maid-servant is a man-servant.  I decided to switch gears into General Knowledge, after I decided I was less qualified than the non-English speaking teacher to teach this English Lesson.  Of course the General Knowledge was on Indian cultural knowledge, so I would have to constantly reference the book to figure out which folk dance was matched with which Indian State.  I finally taught a lesson on inventors and inventions and created a game where I would ask the kids simple questions about the lesson (e.g. what did Galileo invent?).  I realized that the kids don't understand how to differentiate between different question words such as when, where, and why, so I planned a lesson for this afternoon on just that.

Some of the ghats

People bathing in the Ganga

After Little Stars we had our first Bollywood dance lesson.  On the way there we had the best rickshaw ride yet! The driver, Bulli, was just crazy and singing and dancing as he drove us.  He declared that Lillian was his daughter and would like sing things to her and make her sing them back.  We were also moving at like half the speed of everyone else around us, and he didn't even notice everyone honking as they passed. I realized how much I miss just being silly and laughing.  Once we got to our lesson we had a few technical difficulties, but we had a great time dancing to Bole Chudiyan.  I am pretty sure that the dance moves are as outdated as the 40 year old who is teaching the class, but it was nice to do something active and purely fun.  We are going to finish the dance on Tuesday night so I am really excited for that.

Vedika and me (her eyes are closed but I still like
the picture)

This weekend was nice and I enjoyed having time to spend with my homestay family and friends.  On Saturday morning we went for a sunrise boatride on the Ganga (5:30am!), which was super cold but nice.  It was super relaxing and beautiful as the sky got more light, but when we got to the end of the ghats and began to turn around the sun rose.  Of course at that moment they turned on the (super loud) motor and sped away from the gorgeous sunrise.  In a weird way I felt like this was a metaphor of many of my experiences in India.  Often when things seem so obvious (like stopping to watch the sun rise on a sun rise boatride) they will do just the opposite.

Vedika in the garden :)

We had two lectures this weekend on Ayurvedic medicine and meditation this week which were alright.  I also got to help Sweety celebrate her 18th birthday which was nice! The day before we decorated her room but cutting up tissue paper and gluing it to the walls.  The only thing I could think about was how much my parents would have killed me if I super-glued tissue paper to the walls.

Email Notice

I just wanted to thank everyone who has been sending me emails! I really appreciate hearing from everyone at home and look forward to getting online.  I am usually able to read them within a day or two of receiving them, but it does take me some time before I am able to respond.  I have been prioritizing the blog so that I can send out mass updates rather than only responding to a few individuals a week.  Thank you for your understanding!

Jenna

The One With An Interesting Social Studies Lesson...

Yesterday we spent the day meeting with various teachers to figure out our elective classes.  I am most likely taking Yoga in the mornings, and then alternating between Bollywood dance and jewellery making in the afternoons.  I also want to take Hindi lessons, though Vedika (my host sister) has been very patient in teaching me the letters and some basic words.  Last night my mom, dad and Vedika had some sort of party to go to, so I got to bond with the 17 year old tenant who is living in my house- Sweety.  She is currently studying at the university in Banaras (=Varanasi) to be a doctor.  I am so impressed with how mature she is and that she is able to live in such a crazy city by herself at such a young age.  She has big ambitions and is truly the sweetest girl.  We have a pretty severe language barrier, but I reassure myself that I am just helping her with her English as we struggle through conversations.  Last night she came to visit me in my room (after knocking on our shared window between our rooms) and told me about her family and how much her parents are giving up to send her here.

My time in my homestay has made me truly appreciate the life I have at home. I know it sounds corny but it really took me stepping into another family's life to fully understand how much I have that I don't even think about.  These people are always so happy, and it has made me realize that people really only need the basics to live fulfilled lives.  In America there is an overall mentality that more is better, and I've decided that isn't really true at all.  My time here has reminded me of a Happiness lecture I had freshman year in Lifespan Development.  We learned that more money only impacts the happiness of the poorest people, and that after a certain level (one that most of us would consider pretty low) it makes no difference.  I love that Vedika doesn't think twice about not having a DVD player or iPod and sings her own music to perform her Bollywood dances for me.

Today was my first day at my "internship" at Little Stars School.  Nikki and I decided that we both wanted to teach there and so we headed over together after my 7am yoga class.  Unfortunately they weren't really sure how to use us, and I spent the first hour teaching a basic addition lesson to a kindergarten class.  Normally I would have loved it, but the kids didn't speak any English, so it was very frustrating to try and help them when I couldn't really explain anything.  The teacher then asked me to call them up one at a time to the board to count things, and so that took at least 30 minutes.  I struggled to understand why she found this to be a productive use of time since there were over 30 kids in the classroom.  After that I met up with Nikki who had a sort of similar experience with the 4 year olds when she tried to teach Old MacDonald.  We asked the principal if we could work with older kids who spoke more English and so she put us in a 1st grade classroom during their "social studies lecture".

The "our helpers" lecture consisted of the teacher writing questions about various occupations on the board and then having the kids answer out loud.  Then the kids were to write down the questions and answers and we were supposed to check their work.  The teacher's English was not very good and so there ended up being a lot of misspelled words and grammatically awkward sentences.  My favorite was "who does the cobbler do?", answer "fixes shoes".  It was hard for me to fix the children's work because so much of what they were copying was completely wrong.  One girl wrote "delivers" instead of "dilivers" which was on the board and I had a small moral dilemma over whether I should correct it to the wrong thing.

I really wish that I could get involved in curriculum development and some of the actual teaching.  I also appreciate all of the worksheets I completed in grade school, because it is very inefficient to have the children completing work in notebooks which then have to be individually checked before they can move on to the next exercise.  Hopefully we will be able to work with middle schoolers tomorrow and actually do something that feels a bit more meaningful.  

The One With a Few Near- Death Experiences

I originally took this picture because it was the
first health related store I had seen in my entire
three weeks in India, but now I feel like the
blur of the people sums up my experience here
and the pace of Banaras (Varanasi).

After the overnight train ride we met up with Sanghamitra (our Indian program coordinator) at a very crowded Varanasi station. Since we had our large packs, we could only fit two people per rickshaw and so Cody and I hopped into one together and prayed that the driver knew how to get us to Assi Ghat (where I am living).  It was literally the most insane rickshaw ride/ experience of my life.  We hit two bicycles, one motor bike, and got stopped by a small gang of Indian men as we blocked an entire street and got a cart stuck.  Also, our rickshaw would occasionally stop running in the middle of the road and so we would have people swerving around us honking.  I am laughing about it now, but it was quite an introduction to Varanasi.  The parts of the city we drove through were very crowded, but thankfully Assi Ghat is much quieter with less people and wider streets.

Vedika and me on my first night at my homestay

We stayed a few days at Yoga Mandir, which is a beautiful ashram next to the Ganga (Ganges).  In the morning (at 7am!) I took yoga and I really love the teacher.  I hope I can continue with him once I start my internship.  We spent the rest of the day exploring different internship options and just bonding as a group.  Yesterday we moved into our homestays and my family is really nice.  The two parents (Nitya and Pinku) are young and so nice.  Pinku-Ji is a Hindi teacher and Nitya-Ji teaches cooking classes.  Their 7-year old daughter Vedika is adorable and has been translating everything for me.  She has perfect English (and French) and the parents also speak a good amount of English.  Her grandmother is also living there and taking care of Vedika's two year old cousin Omesh, who is the cutest kid I've ever seen but also the worst behaved.  He basically defines terrible twos, but at least he seems to listen to me so that is good.  

A textile market in the heart of Baranaras.

My first day at the house was probably the hardest adjustment period I've had yet.  It was difficult to be separated from the group for the first time and to adjust to how rustic the living situation is.  I have now gotten my room set up, and figured out how to lock the doors and get myself hot water.  Though I was originally quite overwhelmed, I think that this is going to be a very positive experience for me overall.  Last night I had a wonderful dance party with Vedika and breakfast this morning with the family was really nice.  I am looking forward to talking with them more tonight when I get back from exploring our different class options.  

The spider...

The other "near-death" that should be mentioned was my small spider incident last night.  I came into my room and saw a spider as big as my hand on the wall.  Though Kaitlin will certainly find this surprising, I have been killing spiders for myself since I got to college.  This spider however was definitely a different story, so I went down to my homestay parents' room and asked them what to do.  They swore it was not poisonous and told me to kill it.  I got up the courage to get it with my sneaker but then it ran under my bed.  I ended up having to sleep with it under there (after a 20 rupee phone call with Annie who reassured me that it would rather stay under the cold bed than in my warm sleeping bag).  I am hoping it decides to relocate to another room tonight...

A new brand of water....

Buying necklaces along the ghats.

The One with the 13 Hour Train Ride

My bunk.

 So most of you are probably thinking- wasn't she supposed to have a 21- hour train ride?! Well I apparently exaggerated and the original train ride was supposed to leave at 8pm and get in around 3pm the next day- so only 19 hours total.  After a long session of goodbyes, we got into our van (which made a short stop for a very sketchy money exchange halfway down the hill) and got to the station at about 7pm to quickly learn that our train was cancelled.  Julie found out another hour later that there were spots on the 11:30 train, so we just waited in the station.  Since most of us have been going to bed at around 9pm this was pretty rough.

Nikki and me in our bunks.

We rode in the 2nd class sleeper since it was an overnight train.  The chambers had little rooms with 6 beds- three and three, with a small ladder to get up to the top two bunks.  We were all on the side beds- that were only stacked in twos but had a bit more traffic than the other ones.  I was immediately thankful that my dad convinced me to get the sleeping bag with an inflatable mattress in the bottom, though the people on the train thought I was absolutely ridiculous as I blew up what looks like a pool raft.  I didn't sleep much with the snoring and hourly chai tea sellers (who wants caffeinated  tea at 4am!?) but I did finish up a book and get some good people watching in.

Thankfully this train was only 13 hours (express!) and we got in at 1pm.  Unfortunately I have to get off of the computer for the 11pm curfew in the Ashram, but I will hopefully post soon about Varanasi and update the pictures on the posts!

The One With My Last Thoughts on Ramana's Garden

When we first arrived in Rishikesh I was a bit frustrated that we would have to wait a full week before beginning what I consider the meat of my trip- my internship and homestay in Varanasi.  But the children quickly captured my heart and I now really appreciate that we had time to bond as a group in somewhere as naturally beautiful as Rishikesh.  I also really enjoyed having such a set routine, and I am very ready to get things established here in Varanasi.

Working in the Cafe

Every morning we would wake up and eat breakfast of freshly made bread with honey and fruit salad.  I am really going to miss the warm bread and cakes at Ramana's because it is quite difficult to find baked goods in India.  Then I would get dressed for the day, almost forget to take my malaria pill, and head back down to the cafe to set up.  The mornings were always slow and I would often just watch Chandra and Kali in amazement as they prepared different dishes.  Then around 1:30 pm the rush came, and it was absolutely insane.  I most enjoyed working at the front of the cafe and sending the orders back. The kitchen was a bit too crazy, though definitely a better place to get to know the kids.  In India it is important to have patience at restaurants, because it always takes at least 30-45 minutes to get your food, and Ramana's cafe was definitely not an exception.  I often head to meals not hungry at all because I know I will be hungry in a few hours.

With Uma on a hike

After the cafe we would have a bit of free time, or a group meeting, and then dinner with the kids.  They had endless chipati's (I know I am spelling everything incorrectly), rice, a vegetable dish, and dal.  Thankfully the chef always made us a special bowl of the vegetables without chilis, though once a chili got into my dal and I ate it and was literally crying at the table.  For those out there who drag me to Chipotle, I think you can imagine how ridiculous me eating a hot chili is.  After dinner we would just play with the kids outside, or chat with the older ones.  At 7:30pm most nights there was Satsong.  During Satsong all of the kids sit around in a circle and sing different songs- some religious, some just fun.  On our first night we taught them the "Boom Chick-A-Boom" song and they absolutely loved it.

All of the kids with us on our hike

After Satsong I would shower and then read in bed or journal.  I have come a long way since my first night when I asked Julie (our group leader) how to shower with no shower curtain.  I am now quite proficient (and a fan of) the bucket bath.  I have also re-discovered my love for reading and a new love for my kindle which has been extremely convenient.

Mural!

In conclusion, I loved my time at Ramana's and the people that I met there.  While there I realized how much I appreciate the openness of the people here.  I think in America our focus on privacy and individualism often leads us to not fully get to know so many wonderful people in the world.  I have found Indians to generally be super welcoming and loving to everyone they meet.  When I first got here something struck me about the fact that most families hang their laundry outside.  I have decided that it represents something important about the culture here.  The people I have met have been very open to conversation and getting to know strangers.  I love my hour long conversations with random restaurant owners and how willing the older kids at the orphanage were to sharing their stories.

The (Super Short) One with the Quick Update

Today is ridiculously busy as we are finishing up our projects at the orphanage and packing up for our 21 hour train ride to Varanasi.  My time at Ramana's has been absolutely incredible, and I will certainly update the blog with more on that once I get settled in Varanasi.  The love and compassion the kids have shown me and the other volunteers has made me feel very welcome and appreciated.  I am excited to meet my homestay family, get started on my various Hindi and dance classes, and begin my internship.  I hope all is well back in the US!

Love,
Jenna