5 June

What is a monsoon, exactly? Is it bad that I don’t know this? I understand that a monsoon involves a lot of rain and wind, so I’m not clueless, but is there more to it than that? Christi and I might have survived our first monsoon yesterday... but it very well just could have been a normal thunderstorm. The great part about the rain here (other than water leaking in through the windows, which was pretty awesome) is that the temperature cools down. Sister Maria asked us if we wanted sweaters. Are you KIDDING? No. I would do anything to be cold right now.

Anyways, on to some highlights of our cultural experience so far. Indian people (well, at least Southern Indian people) do this thing where they nod their heads from side to side. Make no mistake—this is not real nodding. It’s more like… tilting the head to the left and then to the right and so on. Like a bobblehead. Everyone does it, either to acknowledge what you’re saying or simply for the sake of doing it. I wonder if it makes them dizzy. It makes me dizzy. I think I’m going to adopt this habit and see what people in America do when I bobble my head at them in normal conversation.

Another important part of Indian culture, as with any, is food. And here, it is custom to eat meals with your right hand. You mix and mush your food together and use your thumb to sort of flick it into your mouth. (This is an acquired skill). They give us forks, so we are often exempt from this eating policy, however, for the record, being left-handed makes the situation more difficult. In fact, being left-handed in India is pretty scandalous to begin with. When the girls realized I write with my left hand, they gasped in horror and exclaimed “WHAATTT?” Well, maybe the equivalent of that in Kannada. Apparently India is not over that whole left-handers being associated with Satan thing. Don’t worry, I’m doing my part to put a stop to these false beliefs.

And then there’s the morning assembly at school. All 80 students assemble in some sort of formation that involves lines, but other than the lines it makes no sense to me. Perhaps they’re trying to make the shape of India by making lines of different length? I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I figure it out. One person shouts a series of commands and the students follow suit with a few moves that make them look like Taekwondo athletes and military recruits, simultaneously. They then sing songs and recite prayers, all in the local language of course. At the end, they raise one hand, presumably to bless something (I think?), perhaps one another? This part, though, makes them slightly resemble Hitler’s army. It’s a little frightening. And then it’s over, and chaos ensues.

The classrooms in which we teach are small, dark rooms with holes in the roof to let sunlight in. Only two classrooms actually have desks, the rest only have benches. The lack of desks makes it even harder to maintain order, with students running in and out of the classroom at will. Each class has students of varying levels, as we’ve been learning. For example, there is one girl in “6th standard” who doesn’t know the alphabet yet, which means she’s behind most of the kids in 3rd standard. We gave a spelling test to 6th standard yesterday with words like “the” and “and” and “from.” Most students did terribly, and when Sister Maria saw the results, she went around the classroom pinching arms and whacking heads. Apparently physical punishment is still okay in this country? All the girls looked like they were going to cry. We’re giving a re-test on Monday… something tells me they’re going to take this one a bit more seriously.

And while we’re on the topic of physical abuse… today Christi and I found out more about the background of one of the very smart younger girls, Margaret. She’s only ten but her English is as good as some of the high school girls. Sister Annie informed us this morning that Margaret lives at the convent because her father is a drunk and beats her mother. Sister Annie said that Margaret has been psychologically affected by the situation, and often bursts into sobs at any given time because she’s worried about how her mother is faring at home. Christi and I thought it was odd that nothing was being done about the domestic abuse. Yes, Margaret was removed, but what about Margaret’s mother? Christi tried to ask if there were laws about domestic violence in India, but Sister Annie didn’t seem to understand. At any rate, it may not be that uncommon but it’s very sad. I’m surprised Margaret is still able to concentrate and do so well in school given her circumstances.

I guess that’s the most depressing part of doing service—you can only do so much. We really can’t do anything to help these girls in the long term. You can’t help but wonder where these girls will be in ten years. Will they go on to university? Will they get out of this village? Will they follow the same paths as their parents? But, that’s enough depressing stuff for now. Sorry! =p (by the way, whenever Christi writes =p, apparently she’s picturing a dog with it’s tongue hanging out of it’s mouth… not her sticking her tongue out. Just FYI).

So the girls here keep asking Christi and I to sing songs or to dance. We tell them that we can’t sing, but they keep insisting. Today we tricked them into singing for us instead, but that only distracted them from their goal for about 3 minutes. I refuse to sing though, and for anyone who has heard me sing, you understand why. Hey, Shea Bettwy, how do you feel about bringing your band to India and putting on an Acoustic Café performance for the girls?