Two Weeks In

1/30
The Danish medical students just arrived and the others are giving them a tour of the facilities. We recently returned from our last day of school for the week. School here goes every day but Sunday, and it runs from 8am to 1pm. I have been teaching English, Social Studies (History and Civics), science, and maths (they always refer to it in plural form). The textbooks are poorly worded and in rough conditions, but we make do. I gave a quiz on light reflection after conducting two lessons on the seven page chapter, and I was somewhat disappointed by the results. The highest scores were sixty percent (3 out 5 correct answers), but I had numerous zeros as well. The seventh graders are unaccustomed to examinations, and I am trying to acclimate them to simple quizzes to prepare them for the eighth grade practicum. The principal, Avinash, came into demonstrate his disappoint in the class’s academic performance. The kids are respectful the most part, but I feel sympathetic to their hardships of learning in their second language, English, and the lack of learning instruments (calculators, computers, rulers, etc…)
Right now, the four of us are working on the bulletin boards that Reverend Landa and Toni had envisioned to install up in the classrooms. We have most of the bulletin board bases made by the carpenters on the compound, and we are gluing the Styrofoam (thermoclear) and then stapling the cloth on top of it. I am sure Kovita is going to give us some guilty looks when she walks in to prepare dinner tonight and see bits of Styrofoam all over the floor. Look out for pictures next week when we donate them to the Rambo Memorial English School.
We had a pizza party for all the residence at our apartment complex two nights ago. The Indians thoroughly enjoyed our cooking. We found some white flour at the lachne store in town to be the staple of the crust. Next, we made homemade tomato sauce with crushed tomatoes, Italian spices from Dr. Terry Henry’s secret stash, and onions and garlic. Dr. Rotash, an optometrist, bought us a few blocks of mozzarella while he was in Bilaspur. We topped the pizza with sautéed eggplant, onions, and green peppers. It is quite odd for men to cook in this society, which is evident by our wonderful cook and maid, Kovita. We also made a cake for Mrs. Nancy Henry (Anil’s mother) for her 75th birthday. It is much more difficult to cook here, because we use small circular, convection ovens. It is a long process to cook three batches of snickerdoodle cookies or a dozen ten inch pizzas.
We continue our learning the game of cricket as we play most afternoons with the locals. Instead of using the traditional hard leather ball, we use the safer hard tennis balls that are sold in town. It is a very exciting game when you are batting, bowling or playing backstop (catcher), but playing the field is quite boring. I had an interesting experience yesterday when I was coming home and accidently got in between the hundred pound momma pig and her three babies that living in the compound. The momma got pretty protective as she stared me down. The video we saw at Kanha National park about three pigs stomping on a leopard ran through my mind. I also had to scare off a five hundred pound cow with horns that walked into the school grounds today. Oh India. I think Mark, Joseph and I are going to conduct chapel service someday next week.
I hope to have Chris write a blog soon about the Indian cuisine that we enjoy every day, including some recipes.