A General Overview.

Well hello again.
I've decided that I haven't given you enough background information on my life here in India. There are numerous practical questions about where I'm living, what I'm studying, and who I'm with that I have failed to answer thus far.
There are 28 of us here from the University of Guelph. 26 students and 2 lovely professors, Chris and Mithila. Mithila is from Bangalore, India and she speaks 4 Indian dialects (Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu), so she is very helpful to have around. The majority of the group is studying International Development back at Guelph, and many of our courses are in this line of study here. For those of us majoring in other areas (such as English), it is still really interesting. I am taking 2 independent study units. The first is an international development paper I am writing on education initiatives and the education system in India, and I've already been able to learn so much from the NGO's we've visited, guest speakers we have had, and my own solo visits to public schools. The second independent study is a study of Indian English Literature under an Indian professor of English who I met in Mysore. He is guiding a paper I am writing on the portrayal of children and the Indian family in post-colonial Indian English Lit. Professor Srinath is the director of Dhvanyaloka publications, as well as the Dhvanyaloka Centre for Indian Studies (DCIS), where our group just spent the last month. My roommate at DCIS campus was Peter Demakos, a fantastic greek man who I had met in first year but hadn't fully realized how funny he was. We laughed a lot together, and I can only hope my roommate in Jaipur is as great. In Jaipur we will be living with host families, which I am excited about.

At DCIS, I studied the three remaining courses in my schedule for our first of two four-week "modules."I was somehow enrolled in an Environmental Science course under Chris Hall (our fearless leader, who happens to be a science prof back at Guelph), Indian Science and Technology (a kind of I.Dev. course), and Indian Culture and Ancient Civilizations. The courses were all enjoyable and our exams just finished this past Saturday. It was hectic, but module #1 is now over. Module #2 will begin when we reach Jaipur (in Northern India) in March. Now we are on our second portion of crazy train rides, visiting historical sites, exploring on our own, eating amazing food, and visiting local NGO's and learning about development work that's going on in India.

So, we just left Mysore (Karnataka State, for those of you following along on a map) on Sunday, and we are currently in Madurai. A bustling city in Tamil Nadu State. Tonight we head to Pondicherry, on the East coast, then up to Chennai, where we embark on a li'l 36 hour train ride to Varanasi, where we begin our adventures in Northern India.

And there you have it folks: a general overview. Life is good, Eating meals off of banana leaves is sustainable, and infrequent showering is A-OK.
peace.

Dosa's, Dhoti's, and Do Not's

Hey everyone!
Here's some key information for your next trip to South India:
Dosa: super good fried bready thing served with yummy potato/veg mush. yum.
Dhoti: The man skirt. Sported by Eli, Remy, and yours truly.
...and now, the DO NOT's:
DO NOT miss the sunrise if you can help it. It's gonna blow your mind and you're going to remember that this mind-blowing occurence happens daily. One of our jokes on the trip occurs every time we watch a sunrise/sunset: "Don't worry guys, we're pretty sure this is on the itinerary for tomorrow."
DO NOT shave. The majority of guys in the group are decked out with some great hairs on our chinny chin's. Some have abandonned the cause, but those of us that have refused the razor are reaping what we have sown. (Or what puberty has sown?)
DO NOT ignore your gut feelings. On a biking adventure in Hampi this past weekend, 4 of us (Peter, Ronit, Michelle, and I) were trying to find some potential nearby waterfalls. We came to a fork in the road, and although some other people told us to hang a larry, Peter's gut told him to pull a randy. So we did. After a couple Km's of some sweet riding on our 1 speed rental bikes (the day rental cost us 75 cents...darn eh?), we met a British guy on the road who recommended we climb up to a nearby temple. It was the highest point around Hampi. It was breathtaking and the wind whipped at us in refreshing gusts after climbing a few hundred steps. I just stood on a slab of a massive boulder with a 360 degree view, assuming I would receive some sort of great epiphany or secret to the meaning of life. When no great revelation came to me, I just stood and enjoyed the moment. Later, when I mentioned this to Peter, he exclaimed that that in itself was a fantastic revelation about life: Enjoy it.

"Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances..." I seem to remember someone writing that in a book somewhere...

I should probably post some photos soon. I'll try to get better with the whole writing thing as well. Hope all is well wherever you may be. Peace

India: chapter one

It would take a great storyteller to explain to you all that is happened so far in a short, fun, readable blog-length kind of story. And I don't feel like such a storyteller at the moment. It's late by my standards (10:30 pm here...so 12 noon back in Guelph), and I should be resting before my big (second) day of official classes tomorrow. Whew boy!
I feel quite nomadic. Like I'm part of some modern tribe of 26 Guelph students and 2 prof's that wanders through cities, small towns, and rainforests, equipped with the latest and greatest from MEC. We started in a nice hotel in Kochin, Near the very Southern tip of India. Kochin is somewhat touristy, very hot, and right on the Arabian Sea. It was an interesting city to simply walk around an explore, and we were given our first 5 days to do pretty much just that. It was a great bonding time with our group, considering the fact that aside from Remy and Eli I didn't REALLY know anyone. Long story short: cool history, great people, Jewish influence (who knew?), and some great nuns Eli and I met.
Our wanderings then took us up the coast to a small town named Turtle Bay, just south of Goa. It was beautiful, and we stayed at a nice beach hotel beside some cool fishing villages. We got to see a bit of life in the villages as we examined the sanitation initiatives taking place. There were some good projects to help solve the problems of diseases caused by improper toilet facilities etc (issues that exist pretty much everywhere you look here). Some of us went snorkling, and Amanda saw a shark! (A small one...I didn't see it...darn?)
Then it was off to the rainforest in the Western Ghats, where we stayed at an organic farm and learned about sustainable approaches to agriculture with a mix of brilliant PHD type people and hippies. Hippies are great. I want dreadlocks (sort of). Also, I'm excited to have my beard making a comeback. Hooray for Abe Lincoln.
And now we've settled into Mysore. A great city, I think. But I haven't really seen much of it yet. We had our first full day of classes today and things are already CRAZY busy. It's going to be a wild 4 weeks here. I'll keep you posted.
peace

Vissers Hospitality

Siguatepeque has cool breezy nights, pine trees, a nice view, a lake nearby, a really fun camp, and some great people. It was a wonderful vacation from Cofradia life. I was able to get pretty involved in life at the camp, which involved two service trips that were staying at the camp - one from Indiana and one from a city called Toronto. It felt like a really small world. Ken Vissers used to be quite involved at pioneer camp, and I met his son Josh last year when Josh came up to be a camper at Boys camp. One of the trip organizers from the group from Toronto found out I went to OPC and during one of our first meals he asked, "so do you know Ruston Martin?"
hahaha, yes...yes I do. Quite well actually.

I ended up being involved in hoisting wheelbarrows of rubble, helping Sue Vissers teach swimming classes, helping belay for high ropes, and (get this!) helping translate for groups of kids that the groups ran sports events for (soccer and other games). That´s right, I´m officially a spanish translator. That´s going on the resume.

It was a really fun change of pace and change of climate! I also really appreciated the warmth and hospitality of the Vissers home. I was fed well and given some great company - Ken, Sue, Josh, Hannah, and Theo Vissers. I got to go paintballing with Josh on Saturday, which was totally wild! I was the crazy gringo that got painted all sorts of colours and was out first just about every round we played - the kamikaze strategy didn´t work so well.

Highlights were some great conversations with some other volunteers and workers at the camp, sweet games of "Settlers of Catan," and tagging along with the Toronto group to their trip to Tela (a coastal town) on Sunday and Monday. I love the ocean. I finally got home late last night and began to plan lessons for grade 4 for the last week or so of school.

Time seems to be speeding up and I don´t have much time left! For those of you that are wondering, my camera has been broken for the whole time I´ve been here (I don´t know what happened), therefore I have no cool photos for ya. My bad.

Estoy occupado.

I would like to give you a snapshot of what my life looks like these days. I don´t have a really clever way of displaying this information, so I´ll just lay it out for you nice and simple-like.

Morning: wake up etc., teach a geography lesson to the Collegio (grade 7-9) students, chill at school with kids/volunteers, help with grade 2 english, and help with grade 1 (which has recently become a busy job because the grade 1 teacher is has left).
Noon: Almuerzo. (Lunch). throw frisbee with crazy children or kick a soccer ball around.
1245-2:10: the last two periods of the day. Normally with grade 1, 2 or my old class (grade 4).
After school: This has been the really fun but tiring part...After a day at CBS, I normally feel like taking an extended siesta, however the past week or so has involved a pretty packed schedule which hasn´t allowed for much napping. Options are as follows:
Go to a students house (today was Lissy´s house, Monday was my old student Jeff´s house) - always a great time where I speak with broken spanish and receive wonderful hospitality.
Go to Gaby´s to help teach english and learn some spanish at the same time.
Go to Marlen´s to help tutor her in math and english.
Try to write child sponsorship proposal for CBS.
Night: dinner at Ben´s place, talking about the future of the school and planning for the proposal I am trying to write at the moment.
Get invited to random Cofradian events...last night was a birthday party for Gaby´s husband´s cousin´s (Carlos - I´ve started helping him with english) grandmother! There was a Marimba instrument and I spent over an hour with a large group of children making funny faces and laughing - Gaby even joined in the fun as well!
Bed: I try to get there by 10 or 10:30, which is very different to the rest of this year.

Despite the full schedule, I have managed to find time to enjoy a good book (The Curate´s Awakening - thanks Dad for the recommendation!), go for the odd run, and just spending time thinking and praying and appreciating the beauty of life around me (or trying to). I feel so blessed to be back here, and each opportunity to see a family or receive a high five or a new nickname is a gift.

Things to look forward to: tomorrow I am heading down to Siguatepeque to spend a few days at the Scripture Union camp there and connect with the Vissers family who run the camp. I´m pretty excited about that!
Also, at the end of this week the current grade 4 teachers are leaving, and with 2 weeks to go, that leaves me in charge of doing the exam review and preparing the final exams for my old class! With the help of Mr. Phil, Ms. Kami, and my friend Laura (who taught these guys in the fall) I will hopefully be able to review all the stuff they have been learning and hang out with my favourite class for the last 2 weeks of my visit. I´m super pumped out of my mind! When the announcement of this plan was made in class there was a large cheer that occured...the funny thing about the cheer was the chorus of "NOOOOO´s!!!!!" that came from students like Mayra and Cielo..."love boo´s" we called them. Man, they are funny kids.

For those that are wondering...today´s new nickname was "SUPER GANZO!", which means super large duck. Yep, that´s me.
peace.

To beard or not to beard?

The first thing Lissy said to me was, ¨Mr. Tim jou look ugly without the (waves hands around chin/face area).¨ Now I´m not saying I´m gonna grow back the ol´Abe Lincoln, but that was an opening line that I thought I just had to share with everyone. It´s nice to be made fun of for something other than my lack of spanish fluency anyways.

Which brings me to my next topic: I have been pleased with my spanish at times, and it is exciting being in on the jokes sometimes, but I am trying really hard to simply not sound like an idiot most of the time. Alas, I don´t think languages upload themselves into my brain as well as I would like them to, but maybe someday it will click. I´m trying really hard, and I was also able to stop by Gaby´s house (my wonderful spanish teacher) on the weekend and re-unite with her family. My Cofradian spanish lessons will resume with Gaby this Thursday! They are such great people and Gaby had a new (very cute) baby daughter since I left, so it was nice to be introduced to the newest member of the family as well.

I also bumped into one of my old students, who now attends a local public school in one of the barrios - she now has no exposure to english and she attends classes with about 50 other kids in them. She invited me over to start tutoring her after school, and that has been a really great experience as well. My routine now involves a really fun tutoring/hanging out session with Marlen and her hilarious parents. They always give me free stuff from their shop, and they have even offered to pay me! (Which is ridiculous because it´s so much fun and I definitely don´t need to be paid by a family who can´t afford the 30-40$ monthly school fees at CBS).

I finished ¨The Courage of Children¨by Peter Dalglish (the guy Remy and I volunteered with in Nepal) and I really loved it. Peter has lived a fascinating life and I hope you guys get your hands on a copy at some point. (Thanks Mom for the recommendation!).
Hope all is well on the home front. peace

Sticky, Hot, Amazing.

It didn´t sink in until Eddie´s motorcycle swung past a higwayside town called Brisas Del Valle. In the Fall of 2007, some of my students had lived in Brisas and taken the ¨chicken bus¨ down the highway to school. All of a sudden the dust in my eyes and the sweat covering my body started to feel a little bit more comfortable. The next turn off was the same old Cofradia I had left behind at Christmastime, almost a year and a half ago.

Things have changed: the town has developed (now complete with a partially paved road!), there is an entirely new community of volunteer teachers, 80 students have left the struggling Cofradia Bilingual School (including 12 from my class of 30 grade 3´s last year), and there is a new restaurant serving great Baleadas (which I had to eat on my first night here). But it is definitely still the hot, dusty town with a gritty and truly Honduran feel. I´m glad to be back.

I have had one day at CBS so far. Upon entering the school, I was accosted by 5 or 6 of the grade 4 (my old grade 3´s) girls and dragged into the grade 4 classroom. After some great high fives and hugs from some of the most awesome children on the planet, I was being ordered to teach alongside the current grade 4 teachers (Mr. Phil and Ms. Camy), which I knew was not in the cards. Getting to see those kids, throw a frisbee with Victor again, get a high five from Juhn, and being latched onto by Aryani, was a real highlight of my time so far. I have also been able to reconnect with some of the amazing Honduran staff members at the school, like Mr. Gavino and Ms. Gladys, as well as having a lunch yesterday with Ninoska, Betty, and the wonderful family of the school´s secretary, Hilda. Every time I have ever planned a lesson in the school´s little office, or gone in to grab some water or spare markers, Hilda has managed to put a smile on my face. She is a wonderful lady.

At the moment I am helping with Ms. Dida´s grade 2 class (Melanie´s old class from last year that I used to help with), and I´m teaching Geography to the Collegio (grade 7-9) class. Teaching is great fun as always! I´m also looking forward to connecting with the kids whose families I was close with (Like Jeff, Jordi, and Victor), and hopefully getting to see some of the kids who have left the school. Ben (the man who started CBS) and I are also working on writing a proposal for a child sponsorship program for all of the impoverished children that are on ¨scholarships¨and need their school fees paid for them. I will let you know more as we begin this process to help the school continue to serve these children in a sustainable way. Because of a some dedicated volunteers (including Carla, who plans to stay next year and be the school director) the school is going to continue to function; however, it will need to be supported in order to keep the children at the bottom of the social ladder from falling between the cracks.

This has been a fairly long blog entry, but the first days here after a long absence have obviously put a lot on my heart to tell you about. Thanks for reading. Hope all is well back home, or wherever you are. More stories to come!
Peace