Diwali-Gettin Crazy in India

Wednesday the 26^th of October marks a Hindi holiday here in India called Diwali or the Festival of the Lights, or more accurately fireworks, bangs, and sparklers.  I don’t think words, pictures, or even videos can express the fun and craziness Sid, Brooke, and I experienced on this day but I will try.

Since a large number of the students here at the school are Hindi there was no school.  Things got even better as it has been raining here lately, and periodic torrential downpours provided the perfect weather for a relaxing day with no school.

We were slightly worried about the heavy rains as we were preparing to go into the nearby town of Vempalli to see what the festivities were all about.  But the rain let up to a slow drizzle and we piled into an auto rickshaw and rode into town not knowing what the night would hold.  We began walking through the town and ran straight into our friend Raju standing under an umbrella in the middle of the street.  Raju and his wife Vani have been nothing but kind to us.  Their absolute generosity has blown us away on numerous occasions.  We walked to his house where we were served coffee and a complete meal including warm chipote as we waited for it to get dark.  Brooke was under constant attack from the almost two year old Blaine, who kept dumping curry leaves and chilies into her hands and onto her plate.

  We all slightly jumped at what sounded like a gunshot right outside the door.  We excitedly went outside to see what was going on.  What sounded like bombs echoed across the town.  Sidney remarked, “This is what living in Iraq must be like.”  Imagine the booms you hear at fireworks shows, except instead of in the sky they are five feet away.  The neighbors and their children were already setting of fireworks, lighting sparklers, and soon we were joining in.  After a while Raju led us through the town on our way to buses so we could go back to the school.   Every alley we looked down was a glow with candles and sparks from a new firework.  Even on the main streets storeowners were lighting fireworks.  The whole town had a smoky haze from so many fireworks being lit off.  Upon getting on the bus we felt somewhat disappointed to be leaving the excitement so soon but we had no idea what lay ahead for us back at the school.

The day before many of our students had informed us about how they were going to have “crackers” the next night for Diwali.  I figured some sparklers maybe a few little fireworks etc.  Boy was I wrong.  We got back to our room that night and started unpacking before we heard the first few bangs.  We all looked at each other, and made a dash for the door. We were about to truly experience Diwali. I began running towards the noise and was welcomed by a rocket shot straight at my head.  As it exploded by me I could already see the boys starting to laugh at my surprise.  The entire boys dorm was outside, around 140 since some had gone home for the holiday.  It seemed each boy was armed with an arsenal of fireworks.  Now these are not your average fireworks.  They put US fireworks to shame.  We were immediately surrounded by a mass of chaos.  Sparklers were thrust into our hands and we were told to jump and wave them over our heads.  Rockets were shooting across the field and up over the fence across the road while sparks were raining down.

Now usually in America, when we lights fireworks at home, one person lights the fuse, everyone stands back, waits, and then watches and ooohhs.   Here is India with the boys, it was more like a war zone.  We had to be careful with every step, similar to a real life game of Minesweeper.  Nowhere was safe, fuses were various lengths, giant bangs often made our ears ring, and just because a rainbow rocket was aimed towards the sky did not mean that was the direction it was going to travel.   My feet found that out after Brooke lit one.  My favorite was a firework they would light on the floor that would spin like a top sending sparks in all directions.  We soon found that you jump in the sparks as it spins.   This nonstop lighting of rockets, sparklers, bombs, and bangs went on for two hours non-stop.   As the supply finally began to dwindle the attention turned to dancing.  Some of the boys definitely have some moves and they loved it as they would do a dance move and then thrust us into the middle of the circle to imitate it.  Sidney was definitely the star of this activity as he gave them a run for their money.

We danced, laughed, yelled, jumped, acted crazy, and celebrated, all for a holiday we really knew nothing about.  But it didn’t matter, it meant so much more than that.  Lighting those fireworks made us feel a part of India, a part of our kids here. Diwali is definitely a memory that will help make India a place we will never forget.

-T

Discovering the life of a teacher...

It’s week two and we have decided that we have to go backwards in our teaching material… I gave them their first homework assignment and the next day I was met with blank stares and empty answer sheets. So we are going back to basic English words and phrases! Hopefully we are more successful this way. Sometimes we can use their English textbook (usually taught by our neighbor Chandu) but it’s difficult to teach English when their text books are full of grammatical and spelling errors… I always cringe when we do reading comprehension and half of the sentences aren’t capitalized and it switches from present to past tense randomly!

The other struggle we have with the kids is their focus. Now that they are getting used to white people being around, they are letting their true colors show and like to be disrespectful. It’s even harder when you can’t tell if they understand you when you tell them to be quiet! The teachers here have sticks that they use to keep the kids in line, and we recently got our own to use when the kids start to get rowdy. One of Trevor’s third graders actually gave us this stick and told him to hit the trouble makers… haha! India definitely has a different standard for corporal punishment.

This weekend we are speaking for vespers (they said only about a 30-40 minute talk of course), doing music for church, and leading out Bible study on Sabbath afternoon. They asked us to do the sermon for church as well, but we politely declined and said we would work up to it. We have also acquired a few other jobs during the week such as supervising a study hall period after school and opening the computer lab for students to practice their typing. We have been playing volleyball with teachers and the older students, which are pretty fun (and gets a little intense!) and have learning to play cricket a little bit too.

Right now the dengue fever from the morning mosquitoes is raging in this area and kids are going home or to the hospital for shots every day. There is also a viral flu going around that we are trying not to catch… I may have already gotten it but I’m hoping it’s just a little cold. (sometimes people give us really sugary Indian sweets and tell us to “eat! eat!”) So with all of that and the sugar we drink in our tea, my body isn’t handling it so well! Praying that it will go away soon…

In the morning I get to watch a pretty cool sunrise sometimes (while Sid and Trevor are sleeping away). Although we are in one of the more hot, dusty, and smoggy places in India, it’s still really pretty when the smog burns off every once in a while! Sunsets are pretty cool too. We are still waiting on the rain to come and cool us off and Chandu was telling us it will also kill off the virus that’s going around, so pray for rain!

Both Sid and I got packages this week from home (thanks moms!). I’ve never been so excited to eat Nutella or to open a package of splenda haha… Let’s just say that the jar of Nutella will be licked clean before we are done with it. Same with our peanut butter jars. We try really hard to savor these things, but it’s difficult. Hopefully it helps us appreciate all the peanut butter and other things we get at home! With the supplies we have we are trying to be creative with the cheaper things that grow in this area. So far we have turned our white rice into fried rice with veggies and eggs. Peanuts are popular here (I don’t understand why peanut butter isn’t) so we made candied peanuts out of those. Papaya and coconut are also a big thing, and I just happened to find a recipe online for papaya coconut muffins that we can make into a cake! Also since bananas are abundant and ripen super fast, I am going to try making some banana cake too. So our food situation isn’t as bad as I’ve made it sound, although there is nothing more comforting then eating something from America!

Well I think that about covers it for this week. Trying to keep from being homesick as much as possible…  J

-B

                                                                                        

One week of school down...

This week began with us substituting for every teacher who hadn't arrived back on campus (as well as some who were here but needed some leisure time…….). We taught several math classes, English, biology, physics, computers and some PT (physical training, equivalent to our PE). It was an interesting experience since we hadn't been given any books or notification as to what we would be teaching. Basically we walked the hallway and found classes with no teacher, jumped in, ask the kids to borrow a book and taught the lesson on the spot. I think our improvisation skills improved quite a bit actually. By the end of this week we actually figured out a set schedule and had our own classes to prepare for, which was a relief. The Hindi teacher is gone for a few months doing some training elsewhere so we took over her six classes for 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade. Since we know Hindi really well, this is a great opportunity for us! Just kidding. We are teaching English instead and so far we have learned that we have to start very basic… Since this area is pretty rural and most of the kids come from villages where their families work in the farm land, not many of them know English very well. Another obstacle is that the kids don’t have a lot of motivation to learn English because they expect to end up working in the farmland like their family. But to us it seems like having a teacher from America who speaks English is working to motivate them a little bit. So far so good… Along with the English classes, we are teaching all of the PT classes they have. Only some grades get to have PT and usually it means that their teacher takes them outside and supervises while they play, or if they are older, sit and talk. We are trying to make it a little more organized and involve them in some exercises and games that we participate in also. We don’t have a lot of resources for that, but we’re working on it! If anyone has any suggestions, let me know. So far we have volleyball, capture the flag, and running races haha!

We've been asked to take charge in a lot of situations so far, including the sermon for church, afternoon bible study, and many more… it’s a bit overwhelming but we are dealing with it! We have taken on some of the responsibilities but we couldn’t possibly do them all and we let them know that short notice is hard for us. Sooner or later we are going to have to step out of our comfort zones (more than we already have ha!).

Our neighbors, Ramana and Chandu are the sweetest!!! We still have daily tea with them and have started eating lunch at their house too. It’s fun getting to know them and feels a little like our Indian family. According to Ramana, Trevor is “big brother,” Sidney is “small brother,” and I’m the sister! Chandu is teaching us some of the ways of Indian cooking and this morning helped me make something called sweet vermicelli, which is almost like tapioca pudding with noodles in it, and of course a very different flavor… Hopefully we can come home with some great recipes!

We have been walking or running pretty much every day and have explored lots of surrounding villages. We are now used to the staring and expect a crowd of kids to form behind us as we pass through. Today we had kids on bicycles zooming past us only to stop and wait until we passed so they could ride by again. Yesterday we were invited in for some Indian coffee as we walked through a village. They didn’t speak English, but their kindness spoke for them! People are starting to get used to seeing our faces around more often and it’s fun making connections with villagers close by.  

Until next time!

-B

(No Title)

Today, we are exhausted.

That is all...

-S.

INDIA#6

Ready for kids to arrive! -Brooke

For the past week, we have been slowly adjusting and learning the way of life here in India. The concept of time is very different and although life moves a little slower, the traffic certainly does not! We have now experienced riding in the auto rickshaws with our feet dangling out the back, dodging between buses and motorcycles through the Vempalli market, which was exciting. And we still get the stop-and-stare-because-they-are-white look from everyone we pass on the street!

Yesterday, Friday, we experienced our first Indian wedding. It was very different from a quiet, precisely planned, and promptly on time American wedding. Between the camera man walking up and down the aisles in a "my name is Khan, and I'm not a Terrorist" t-shirt with his spot light that blinded you as he filmed and the crowd of children that all brought their chairs to sit as near to us as possible and breath down there necks behind us, we had a good experience! The bride and groom sat in thrones that reminded me of the kings and queens of Narnia and 9 different men sat on chairs between them in order to give their message to the new couple. At the end, the first group to sit down in the long aisle of chairs they created were served rice with daal and chicken and some delicious ice cream, while the second group waited in chairs behind. The first set of people scarf down their food (including us, eating our whole meal with our hands for the first time since we've been here) and then the second group moves in. This continues until all 500 people who attended were fed! It was quite the experience. Overall, it was louder and had a different focus than an American wedding. 

Today we had church here at the school and then made a trip by autorickshaw into Vempalli to our new friends house, Raju, Vani, and their son Blaine (named by Hillary and Kati :)). Raju used to be the english teacher here at the seventh-day adventist school, but now he teaches at a school in Vempalli. When they were at our school two years ago, they became good friends with Kati and Hillary who were the SM's in our position at the time. They are two of the nicest people I have ever met and were so generous to us, feeding us more food than we could handle as well as Indian sweets and coffee! It was neat to be able to meet them even though they aren't here at the SDA school anymore. They even want us to come back every month to visit, and we will definitely be doing that! After we ate lunch, Raju and Vani took us over to their neighbors house where we were served cold thumbs up soda (after we were already stuffed to the brim with food) and gave me a new hairdo, a nose piercing, and a forehead bead!

The only down side to the kindness and generosity people show here is that our stomachs can't hold all the things they give us! Our neighbors Ramana and Chandu give us meals and tea multiple times a day and don't ever ask for anything in return or accept our offers to pay for food etc. Even though we have only been here a little over a week, we have already made good friends that we will hold on to. Everyday we have been going running/walking through the villages that are close to our school and meeting kids and saying hello to villagers. It's fun and I think they get a kick out of seeing us come through with our sweaty faces and funny looking clothes... 

We are excited to start school on Monday and get into some kind of routine. Many of the kids arrive tomorrow and we can't wait!!! Time for some volleyball and cricket games!

Until next time...

-B

We live in that top left room!

Drinking our morning tea provided by Ramana and Chandu.

Lunch at a church in a close by village, DELICIOUS!

INDIA#4 - Cuddapah (Kadapa)

INDIA#3 - Cleaning Our Pad

INDIA#2 - 3AM

INDIA#1 - Late Flights & Long Drives

Videos! - (Sidney)

Hey people of the Americas! Over the last several days I've been filming these random short videos during our travels in India so that you can somewhat visualize what we're up to. I would've had them up earlier but the power goes out for 3/4 of the hours in the day and my computer's battery is shot. Read the posts and then watch the videos! They're like PB & J. They're good separate, but better together, yeah? Have good day and enjoy!

(The first video should be above this post.)

-S

Addresses!!!

For Letters:

Seventh- Day Adventist High School,
Duggannagaripalli ,
Thallapalli Post
Vempalli,
Kadapa District,
Andhra Pradesh, India 516350

For Boxes:

Brooke, Trevor or Sidney
SDA High School
Duggannagaripalli
Thallapalli (PO)
(Via) Vempalli
Kadapa ,India 516350

We're online! -Brooke

 Hooray! We finally have internet! So far it has been an exciting experience and we have a lot of adjusting to do in order to adjust to this lifestyle. Today is Sunday and we still have a whole week until the kids come back from their vacation… so things are slower than we had hoped, but at least we have some time to get settled. It’s definitely hot and humid but also kind of windy, which we are so thankful for! It cools it off quite a bit. The power is off and on so sometimes we have fans that keep us cool too. The people here are so kind and we have made good friends with them already! The families that live next door to us and below us are very caring and generous, feeding us lots of food and tea.

On Friday, we made a trip into the small town of Kadapa (pop. 2 million ha!), which is about an hour away. Here we bought some things we needed such as a gas stove, dishes, pots and pans, and food. Now we can cook our own food and get started on that mac and cheese and top ramen we all brought! This morning we cooked up some scrambled eggs and even had some ketchup to go with it. We even made apple sauce today with some great mushy imported Washington apples! Food is one thing we are doing well with that’s for sure. They feed us more than we can eat here and everything tastes SO GOOD. Although my mouth is on fire at almost every meal haha! Hopefully we will get better at eating spicy foods. In Kadapa, life was bustling and everyone had to stop and stare at us with our white skin and light colored hair. We ended up having an all day shopping trip to get everything we needed and were tired and ready to go home by the end.

Although homesickness has hit me a few times when I’m lying in my bed, sweating and listening to loud Indian music from cars passing by, the new things we are experiencing during the day are keeping me optimistic. The people here really make a difference in this and help us feel so welcome and cared for.

We’re glad we finally get to share some of our trip with you! More to come with our new (hopefully consistent) internet connection.

-B

And it Begins-Trevor

It’s now Sunday in India.  We’ve been in India since 3:00 am after flying into Chennai.  As soon as those airport doors opened we met with India’s heat and humidity, sometimes it feels like we have been sweating since the moment we got here but we are slowly starting to adjust and I never thought I would be so thankful for the breeze we sometimes get which keeps us much cooler.  Some of the school officials met us at the airport, which was extremely helpful.  With luggage strapped to the top of the car and the rest of it on our laps we began the drive to the school.   After only a few short miles we could tell that this was no America, driving on the left side of the road, any time is an opportunity to pass even if there is about 100 feet until an oncoming car, horns are used about every other second.  In Brooke’s words, “Man driving in America is boring.” 

After arriving at the school, and beginning to unpack lets just say we experienced the full joys of jet lag.  Early afternoon we could not keep our eyes open no matter how hard we tried.  It’s a twelve and a half hour difference from home.  We opted for a short nap, which ended up being two hours.  For some exercise we walked through the surrounding villages, the people either smile when they see us or stare in disbelief.  The children follow us through the village and yell good-bye over and over again until they can’t follow us any longer.  Later that night we made it to the extremely late hour of 7:00 before falling asleep but we were all ready to go and wide awake at 3:00 am.  We laid on the floor, stretched, did some pushups. 

We live beside a husband and wife and above another family.  They have already brought us numerous amounts of food, yes our mouths are often on fire for a few minutes but it’s worth it for the amazing food. Ramana the man next door loves tea and has discovered that Sid works at a coffee shop, inviting him over for tea numerous times a day.  The people, the food, the weather, yes they are all different but also amazing.  Sunita, the headmaster’s wife who lives below us has told us to come down anytime and eat whatever we want.  She says that we are going to sample every curry she makes and then let her now which one we like the best.  That’s the type of hospitality we are being shown.  I, and I think I speak for all of us, miss home, my friends, and my family, but I am excited for this incredible experience.

-T