Man, these past 3ish days have been such a whirlwind. My host program has many projects they’re working on, but not a single one that runs smoothly. They’ve had me at different locations each day, and not doing much at either. I first went to the orphanage where I was told I would be teaching English, however, when I got there they had me doing tasks in the kitchen and watching t.v. with the girls. While I thought it was great to learn about some of the cooking, I didn’t feel like I was contributing at all and I felt like some of the local women were laughing at me while I struggled to learn to use their knives. The girls were all very sweet, but didn’t seem very happy or interested in doing much other than sleeping and watching t.v. That night my body was so exhausted from everything that I slept from 3 in the afternoon until 6 the next morning. Thurs morning I met Gabby, a graduate student doing her internship here in India for NGO management. She along with Silpa have been in India for going on 3 weeks and have had similar bad experiences. They’ve been placed in areas where the programs are also not run well and the coordinators lack any knowledge of what exactly they want from their volunteers. The same day we went to a slum school where we were working with about 30 students. We “taught” by checking their work that they had already completed or were working on completing. I didn’t feel as though our presence was making a difference. There was an Indian couple that ran the slum school and mostly managed the kids. The kids seemed restless and scared to make mistakes because they would get hit in the face and head if their answers were wrong. I felt helpless and incapable of helping them because the math they were doing was way ahead of them. We stayed for the morning, and then left. I don’t think I will be working with that slum school.
After the school, the two other volunteers and myself went to the market to get a snack and use the Internet. They charged 10 Rupees for a half an hour, which translates to about a quarter. 45 Rupees are equivalent to 1 US dollar. Yeah, it’s interesting. I haven’t actually spent any money because my host coordinator hasn’t taken me to exchange money, nor have they taken me to get some clothes. I’ve been wearing the same shirt with different under tees since I’ve been here. I know exactly the reaction you all just had. I’m showering though J I haven’t had much of an appetite the past week, but I’ve been drinking lots of water and making Gatorade with the powder I bought before I left. We’ll see how this Indian diet works for me. I hope my appetite comes back for my health’s sake.
I woke up this morning to children yelling at me to wake up and go to the park. I don’t understand why they make the volunteers go with the children to the park. The kids don’t interact with us and most of the time we just sit and watch the children run around in circles. Today, there were a lot of men at the park who stopped to stare at me as they walked around. Then, to top it off a drunken man sat next to where I was and started to harass me. At that point, it was time to leave. I’m waiting to be taken to another slum school to see where they will finally place me. Gabby and Silpa will be leaving me sooner than expected, so I want to go some place that has more volunteers. I need to be around people because being a woman alone in India is not very fun.
I had my first adventure on the streets today! Silpa and I decided to go to the SRS mall, which was about an hour walk in 106 degree weather. Yeah, total test of my strength. Once we got there we found an ATM. ONLY in India will my bank account be 6 figures! HaHa. I felt awesome for a minute. We grabbed some drinks and a bit of food before continuing on our adventure. Once we got out we got an electric Rickshaw that cost 60 Rupee for a drive to a different sector. We got the guy to drop the price from 80, so I think it was a solid first experience. After a failed attempt to change money for Silpa from Singapore money to Rupees, we headed to another market for little cakes and a quick Internet bit. Total today, I spent a little under $3. Yeah, that’s major perk to being in India. It’s the weekend for us now, so we’re thinking of traveling to downtown Delhi tomorrow, then maybe Japur on Sunday. We’ll see. We start the slum school Monday, so we’re going to rest and travel a bit before the new assignment. I’m feeling a little better about the experience since I have the girls, but once they leave I think it’ll be difficult again. I’m thinking I’m going to head 14 hours north to Dharansale to teach monks of children English. I’m told it’s much nicer up there and more peaceful. I like the sound of that!
Here's a few pics from the day!
First car accident, surprisingly.
Silpa!
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