In india

India. Quite indescribable, but I will try. People say that You either love India or you hate it.  Well, more 'and' than 'or'. There are parts that I love and parts that I hate. And sometimes the parts that I love are also the parts that I hate. 

My main example: the people constantly looking at you. Sometimes I find it endearing, everyone just seems curious and are excited to see a foreigner. In a different mood, that same look can get under my skin and I wish that EVERYONE would stop staring and leering without any discretion. But overall it's more positive than negative...sometimes I even feel like a celebrity as kids just come to ask your name and shake your hand, maybe have a photo taken with you (on their camera or yours, doesn't matter which!).  

The traffic is something else that I love and hate. I am quite fascinated by the traffic which seems to have no rules. Anything that moves (humans, bicycles, bicycles with multiple passengers, cars, vans, tractors, carts drawn by cows or camels, tuk-tuks, buses) can be in the flow of traffic on the street. If you are not happy with the flow of traffic, feel free to turn around and barrel into oncoming traffic to get there faster.  And the number of people in each vehicle. The other day I rode home in a van with 15 school children and 7 adults in addition to the driver. One day at school I watched a driver pick up several pre-kindergarteners and shove them feet first into a packed van. All of this commotion happens every day, too! By western standards the traffic would warrant some sort of huge festival making it impossible to get around, but this is just everyday India.

Another paradox of India is its cleanliness. Yes, India is dirty. There is a layer of dirt on everything and garbage piled up throughout the streets. People make a toilet out of seemingly any part of the street and animals are roaming everywhere. Still people are very diligent about sweeping up the mess in their house, on the sidewalk, or in the street.  I've even see someone sweeping the lawn at a school.

One of the teachers I am working with asked me 'what is your favorite thing about India?'  My answer to that is how removed India is from western culture.  Even though it is huge and incredibly populated their conventions are still quite basic and home comforts have not made their way into life here. It is distinctly India. Shops are set up for one particular niche...you buy fabric from one, take it to the tailor at another, and have a garment delivered to your home by someone else.  And business seems to be quite familial.  There may be a handful of people behind a counter, and each one participates in the transaction, not just sitting and waiting for whatever else to happen. I don't think my point is clear, but I think this point requires more ramble-y verbal examples than an attempt through writing...sorry!

So what have I been up to in India? I am volunteering at a school called Tender Heart.  It is an NGO set up by this marvelous woman, Renu, who has a passion for education.  She started by teaching just a few children in her home and now has an entire school running smoothly. In addition to educating children, she makes a point to educate the woman in local villages to be self sustainable in their daily life. The school has some 30 students with disabilities of all varieties (and unfortunately only 7 teachers working with them...considering how much attention some kids require, they are quite short staffed).  I have been working in these classrooms for my two weeks here. In the morning time we do yoga and meditation and then go outside to play softball. It is mostly helpful but sometimes confusing that I am familiar with the rules of softball. Some rules are different altogether, like, a foul ball....well there is no such thing as a foul ball, if you hit it you run. There are the changing home run rules. Sometimes if you hit it to the back wall it is an automatic home run, sometimes not.  Sometimes the people on base have to run if it is a home run, sometimes not. Sometimes you all score on the home run, sometimes just the batter.  But I never try to follow score keeping or outs because...well, sometimes score is counted, sometimes not, sometimes outs are counted, sometimes not. Despite all the confusion, it is quite an enjoyable morning.  In the afternoon I work with different students on their English and maths.  Mostly we write letters and numbers together, count out loud and go through the alphabet saying 'a is for apple,' etc. Sometimes they also try to give me their Hindi homework to correct and I politely say 'I have no idea what this says,' and they procede to give me a mouthful of instructions in Hindi and I stare blankly at them and say 'I still have no idea what you are saying.' 

It has been just two weeks and there is a huge language barrier, but I have grown quite fond of each student and I will greatly miss life at Tender Heart.