A Hop, Skip and a Week…

And T-minus 20 hours from now I will be in New Delhi, India.  As much as I keep telling myself this (at least ten times a minute at this point) I can’t seem to actually start believing it.  I don’t think it will sink in until my feet touch ground in blustery 100 degree New Delhi.

Orientation this last week in Austin was amazing and terrifying at once.  We were overloaded with so much information about cultural exchange, teaching, tips before leaving, etc.  We also got to meet some of the most amazing, smart, and brave people (living in a village in Tajikistan for the next year!! I could never).  Those of us going to India were the only ones leaving in less than a week, with most people leaving either in August, November or January.  So during the first few days I was just overwhelmed and completely stressed that I was getting information I couldn’t use.  But meeting and spending time with the 14 other people I would be sharing this next nine months with made so much of my anxiety disappear.  I have been lucky enough to become a part of such an amazing group of people: some have a great deal of experience teaching, some put me to SHAME with their knowledge of India, and some others are just plain unbelievable.  We got to share some authentic Tex-Mex, explore 6^th street every night, and dodge the millions of crickets that infested the streets.  After just a few days and nights of spending time together, I think our group has really come together.  A fellow Fulbrighter said it best: “Y’all are like a dysfunctional bunch of brothers and sisters!”  I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

We also met the two main coordinators of our program: Vinita and Shumanthu, both such adorable and caring individuals.  The time that the 15 of us were able to spend with them was by far the most educational, and also the most hilarious.  Their responses and reactions to certain questions were priceless.  The very first night we arrived, we were given an hour to be introduced and meet within our countries.  Things I learned in the first 45 minutes: 1. Don’t form any expectations before leaving because all of the ones you have right now will be too idealistic and wrong.  Form expectations once you land, and then you won’t disappoint yourself;  2. No matter how much training you go through for this next month, you will not be prepared and you will feel like you don’t know what you are doing; 3. (In response to a question about whether we should take Malaria pills) Oh that’s not necessary. You might get Malaria, but deal with it for a week and then you’ll be fine (LOLS).  The rest of the week, we were pummeled with mostly helpful information about international safety, English Second Language teaching methods, and our new insurance policy (which basically operates under the idea of, just don’t get sick because it probably isn’t covered, BUT if you die then we’ll ship your body home within two weeks for free. GREAT).  While it was terribly overwhelming at times, I appreciated how honest all of our speakers and alumni were.  Not once did any of them tell us that we were going to change the world, that the lives of the children depended upon us, or that by the end of our year our children should be able to conquer War and Peace.  The message was in fact very simple: in this next year we should be open to the change that we would experience.  We are always our biggest critics, and thus we should check our expectations of ourselves and for the affect we have on our students.  Finally, and most importantly, we should appreciate every minute we have abroad.

While I am absolutely terrified to leave my home and my family and friends I love, I’m excited for the potential relationships I’ll build in my new home.

An Introduction with a Side of Cheese

Hello everyone!  I can hardly believe that in less than a week my year as an English teacher will begin.  On Monday I’ll be heading to Austin for a week of training with Fulbrighters going to Sub-Saharan Africa and South and Central Asia.  Minus all the sessions on international safety and our new insurance coverage, I can’t wait to meet what I’m sure will be an intimidatingly amazing group of people.

I thought I would start off this first post with a little introduction to the city that will be my home for the next year.

Madurai is the third largest city in the State of Tamil Nadu, with a population of over 1 million.  It is located on the banks of River Naigai, and is fairly close to the southern tip of India.  The River and the many lakes within Madurai allow the land in and around the city to be used mainly for agriculture.  Madurai is well known because it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and as a result has an architectural history rivaled by few cities: it houses some of the oldest temples in India.  In fact the city is planned and built around one central temple, the Meenakshi Sundareshwar Temple (a temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Parvati).  Concentric rectangular streets surround the temple, and the streets of the entire city form the shape of a lotus (a holy flower) with the temple marking the exact center.  Madurai is also known for its beautiful textiles and silk (perfected due to the notoriously hot and humid weather, yippee).

While in Madurai for the next year I will be a middle school English teacher at Jain Vidyalaya Higher Secondary Matriculation School.  The school year actually starts in May, so we will be joining a few months into their school year.  I must confess as much as I love children, I usually only adore them until the age of 12, so this will be a colorful and challenging experience for sure.  We were also  informed last week that despite the fact that our title is English teaching Assistant, we are in fact full-fledged English teachers.  I have been running around like a chicken without its head on, to every bookstore in STL trying to find books on how to create a middle school English curriculum.  Anyone know how to write exams!?!?

In addition to teaching, we also have to do a research project.  As that Madurai has a patron Goddess, women are shown great respect—respect that revolves around the traditional role of women raising families.  I’m hoping to work with an NGO that provides maternal and reproductive health services (hopefully family planning, educational, & medical services) and would like to firstly, survey the resources and information that they provide (for example, do they talk about birth control and condoms as methods of family planning or is that left up to fate?); and secondly, compare the usage of these services between illiterate and literate women.  I’m extremely nervous about the possibility of hitting an impenetrable barrier when I attempt to talk to women about something so private.  I respect that family is a source of empowerment for these women, but in a city with such high maternal and child mortality rates, family planning could be very beneficial.

Now that I’ve gone through all of the boring details, a dear friend of mine suggested that for this first blog post, I also add a little bit of cheese.  Make a list of my hopes, expectations, dreams, wants, etc. before the beginning of the trip and see how they compare at the end.

My Wish-list:

I want to make an impact on my kids, and I want them to change how I think; I hope not to cry too much when my mom drops me off at the airport; I (not so) secretly wish to become best friends with an adorable, wrinkly, and wise old man/woman with a toothy smile and all-knowing eyes; I hope to form unforgettable memories and relationships with my fellow ETAs; I want to ride an elephant; I hope local women will be willing to speak to me about their experiences, and I want to not only learn, but truly understand, how their experiences define empowerment; I hope I don’t make a fool out of myself when I try to buy groceries and forget the word for apple, but probably need to accept the fact that I will be laughed at by the locals for my ridiculous accent; I want to travel to the southern-most tip and northern-most tip of India; I hope I come back with a few more answers about myself, and a lot more questions that I can explore.