Diggin' In

Originally posted on September 11, 2011.

First week down, and I am so ready to keep going.

Teaching the kids this past week was quite an adventure. Trying to focus on what to teach and establishing myself as a teacher to them at the same time is quite the challenge, but very worth it. Before I could really start digging in, this week I focused on getting a feel for the children and how each class works in it's own way.

Every Friday, the 'dance master' gives an award to the class who had 'outstanding participation and performance in class'. I awarded 2nd Standard B and we took this picture.

Although none of them are smiling, they are extremely happy to win this award. Smiling is just very uncommon when taking pictures- thanks to Indian technology, an Indian only really gets their picture taken when by a government official. Throughout the week, all of the classes will ask if their class can win that week, and I reply by telling them to be EXTRA good in class.

So far, 8th Standard is one of my favorite classes to walk into. We are working on creativity and shapes. They have come so far already. On my old blog, where this was originally posted, you can watch a video of Joseph Stalin (no, we do not mention the matching names) and G. Deepanraj performing their own creation, but I cannot figure out how to add a video to blogspot. So click here if you want to watch it.

Then on Saturday, Celina took me to Mamallapuram. In 600 B.C. this city was a major port city and the people carved huge temples and sites out of the rock.

This is called 'Krishna's Butterball'. It is only attached at the very bottom of the rock. About 1000 years after it's creation, the people in the city tried to take it down. They tethered boats and elephants to try to pull it off the rock, but 'Krishna's Butterball' would not budge. The people took this as a sign of Krishna's blessing on the city.



Next to the rock temples, there is a 'strip mall'. Kind of. This area is more of a tourist area and there is some amazing shopping to be done. But I plan on doing that another time. Instead, Celina and I headed straight to the beach resort where we looked at the Bay of Bengal, but ended up lounging by the pool reading and eating AMERICAN food. Almost American food, actually. But it felt good to eat some mean, a chicken burger and french fries.

Well, I'm ready to start the next week of adventures here in Tamilnadu.