7 years ago
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Co-Worker One-liners
Pradeep: Tania, now that Michael Jackson is dead, who will replace him as America's great music maker? Who is now the big popular person like Michael Jackson?
Friday, November 27, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving
I just wanted to share with everyone how my Thanksgiving went. As you may or may not know, I am the only American working at the Rishi Valley Institute for Educational Resources (RIVER), as well as the only American at the Rishi Valley School. And by "American," I mean "Russian." I guess what I'm really trying to say is that no one here has ever heard of Thanksgiving.
This past week, we had a guest staying with us. Tony Anderson is a volunteer for Open Learning Exchange in Nepal, an organization that works to enhance the One Laptop Per Child project. Mr. Anderson brought us some laptops, a server, and a bunch of great new ideas on incorporating laptops into our classrooms and, more importantly, how to improve (and essentially fix) the OLPC project through our methodology. In this way, we could very easily provide fantastic educational opportunities to thousands upon thousands of kids in Rwanda, Mongolia, Uruguay, Brazil, Nepal, etc. Since he's so awesome and brought laptops, the bosses wanted to show him a good time. Thus, when I mentioned pumpkin pie and Mr. Anderson seemed excited, they said they'd arrange whatever was needed to make this work.
Awesome.
Now, I've never made pumpkin pie before. This is probably because you can buy a pumpkin pie in the store in America for way less than what it would cost to actually bake one. The store bought ones are quite delicious, and our family is usually in a turkey coma before getting to the pie, anyway, so it doesn't matter much. I love cooking/baking, so I thought I could handle making a pumpkin pie. I made a list of ingredients.
We planned to start making the pumpkin pie by 3pm on Thursday, so it would be cooled and ready to serve after dinner. Mmm mm mm. We were so excited.
The first snag in the plan came when I found out there was no evaporated milk anywhere near Rishi Valley. No one has even heard of it. I decided to search for another recipe, and found one that called for heavy cream. I ordered that from the office. Apparently, it was all sold out in Madanapalle (the nearby town) and would not be available until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Fail. I did some research, and decided it was appropriate to substitute condensed milk for evaporated milk. I decided to not use any sugar, because the condensed milk would take care of the sweetening. Okay, we're back on track. This is still going to be awesome!
Wednesday night, I received a pressure cooker (for the pumpkin) and a mixer. I though I would use the kitchen by my apartment to prepare the pie, and then head to my bosses' house (they're an AWESOME power couple) to bake the pie.
On Thursday, I started to make the dough. I mixed all the ingredients and kneaded that shit and it even tasted a little bit like dough. The recipe called for the dough to be refrigerated, as that makes some sort of science-y process (social science represent!) happen to make it more delicious. After half an hour of running around and trying to get the keys to the kitchen, which has a fridge in it, I finally figured this out. Also, in the process of making the dough, I was brought all of my requested ingredients: pumpkin, eggs, sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. The ginger was just a dry piece of ginger. It was in no way in powder form. The cinnamon was in little bits of bark. The cloves were also in a weird flowery shape thingy. (It turns out, I don't know what cloves are!) The day before, there were jokes made about me pounding away at a mortar and pestal, bu the only problem was I wasn't given a mortar and pestal. But I had no time to worry about this, because we were already a little behind schedule. AND we had another new development: I was brought a microwave oven manual. Um...they couldn't possibly be thinking that when I said "oven," I meant "microwave," right? I mean an oven is an oven! This is a PIE for Bob's sake! I really hope they just want me to catch up on my reading of manuals... There's a real oven waiting for me somewhere, right? Right?
With the dough chilling in the fridge, I went to the Directors' Office with Tony for a meeting. We were presenting some ideas about next steps in collaboration with Nepal and Rwanda. Right before we left to walk to the Office, the chai-wallah comes to me with a bike, on which I see a microwave in a blanket tied to the backseat. Oh, fuck. He politely implores me to open the kitchen and places the microwave on my kitchen counter. He is beaming. I thank him. Oh, fuuuuuuck.
We enter the Directors' Office.
"So, um...this oven? Did you mean microwave oven? Because I meant oven oven. Dry heat oven. I-need-to-cook-this-pie-at-two-hundred-degrees-Celsius-for-an-hour-oven. Do you have one of those?"
Laughter.
"Oh, Tanya. We have not cooked anything for the 23 years we have lived at Rishi Valley! Can you get creative? Can we innovate? Can we improvise an oven?"
Improvise an oven?! Double fuck.
"...I don't know how to improvise an oven."
But we laughed. And I remembered that I had that Nestle chocolate bar in my room. So maybe Thanksgiving tea could be salvaged...
The meeting went on for two hours. It was kind of awesome (I love my job). Then, I went back to the kitchen, and tried to improvise.
First, I decided to go ahead and cook the pumpkin. My first time using a pressure cooker was a success. Woo woo me. While the pumpkin was pressurizing, I used the rolling pin to pound the shit out of the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. It was a very loud process. I think I might've scared some children. But no matter! This pumpkin pie was going to work. Or at least it would get as close to working as I could possibly get it. Just keep hope alive. The pounding process actually did wonders for relieving all that microwave hate. And, oooh, the pumpkin was finally ready!
But it was dinner time. So we left for the 12 minute walk to main campus to eat. They served toast with dinner, which somehow seemed somewhat related to Thanksgiving. We gave thanks. We ate rice and sambar. We smiled at each other.
Back at the Rural Education Center, I peeled the cooled pumpkin and put it in the mixer. I'm pretty sure this mixer was made in 1977 or somewhere around that time, because it was big and scary but the container that held the ingredients to be blended was no more than a cup. It's okay. I can divide the pumpkin and blend in stages. Just keep hope alive. This is also when I noticed that the one pumpkin they brought me only had enough flesh for one pie. All the other ingredients I had, including the batches of dough I made for the crusts, were calculated for two pies. I guess one pie is better than no pie. And so, the adventure continued. I mixed my freshly-powdered spices with the pumpkin puree, added egg, the wrong kind of milk, and mixed. It looked ... like ... something. I've never made pumpkin pie, so I had no idea what it was supposed to look like. It was very orange and kind of creamy and smelled like sugar from the condensed milk.
Earlier, Tony and I had inspected the aforementioned microwave oven manual, where it had mentioned a "grill" option. Apparently, the microwave that now stood in my kitchen could actually produce real heat, as well as microwave heatwaves. This seemed very interesting. I'm pretty sure it would explode before ever reaching 375F, but...uh...we could try? We decided to compromise (with the microwave) and cook the filling separately from the crust. This way, if the crust failed, we could still salvage the pie part. Wrap it in a chappati, maybe? I poured the filling into the microwave-safe pan (this came with the microwave manual), and set it on grill/microwave combination cooking option. But now, it was late, and it was time to go to the Directors' House for Thanksgiving tea. I went into my room and retrieved the candy bar. Welp, Happy Thanksgiving.
The tea was very nice. We sat in a circle by candlelight and discussed the issues affecting education in the world today. We said what we were thankful for this year. It was nice. It felt familiar. We smiled.
At 11:15pm, I was back in my kitchen (now being ravaged by ants), preparing to combat this pumpkin pie. Or...pumpkin mess, at this point. I started the microwave back up. Seriously, a microwave? Really, India? In twenty minutes, the pumpkin mess took on a brownish orange color (just like it should) and had the consistency of a legitimate pumpkin pie. The knife came out clean in the center. I set it to cool. I rolled out the dough and placed it in the other bowl. If this bowl isn't microwave-safe, the microwave could possibly be damaged. But then again, it's a microwave. And I hate it. And I have to make this work. Fuck it, I'll take my chances. I checked the status of the dough repeatedly, and after 25 minutes, it looked and tasted just like legitimate baked pie crust. Holy shit, SUCCESS. How did this happen in a microwave?!? I loaded the second half of the rolled out dough and put 25 minutes on the timer. I crumbled the dough on top of the pumpkin mess. Suddenly, it seemed less messy. I had succeeded in making upside-down pumpkin pie. MICROWAVED upside-down pumpkin pie. I covered it with a towel and set it all to cool.
On Friday morning, Indian Standard Time, I took out the pie and set it in front of my co-workers in the English Room. It was just after dinner-time back in Texas, exactly the time when my family would be rolling out the pumpkin pie anyway. I cut square pieces (the pan was square) and appropriated them within the group. We dug in. The Indians were brave, not even reluctant. And, you know, the pie was actually pretty good. It tasted a lot more pumpkin-y than it would have if I had bought it from the HEB bakery, but the crust was wonderfully flaky and set off the sweetness from the condensed milk. The Indians really liked it. Everyone had second helpings.
And everyone said thank you.
This year, there are a lot of things to be thankful for. Among my favorite things, I am thankful for the fact that each day in India, I learn something new, something extraordinary. Today, it was how to make a microwavable upside-down pumpkin pie. The possibilities for tomorrow are endless.
Happy Thanksgiving.
With lots of love from Rishi Valley.
This past week, we had a guest staying with us. Tony Anderson is a volunteer for Open Learning Exchange in Nepal, an organization that works to enhance the One Laptop Per Child project. Mr. Anderson brought us some laptops, a server, and a bunch of great new ideas on incorporating laptops into our classrooms and, more importantly, how to improve (and essentially fix) the OLPC project through our methodology. In this way, we could very easily provide fantastic educational opportunities to thousands upon thousands of kids in Rwanda, Mongolia, Uruguay, Brazil, Nepal, etc. Since he's so awesome and brought laptops, the bosses wanted to show him a good time. Thus, when I mentioned pumpkin pie and Mr. Anderson seemed excited, they said they'd arrange whatever was needed to make this work.
Awesome.
Now, I've never made pumpkin pie before. This is probably because you can buy a pumpkin pie in the store in America for way less than what it would cost to actually bake one. The store bought ones are quite delicious, and our family is usually in a turkey coma before getting to the pie, anyway, so it doesn't matter much. I love cooking/baking, so I thought I could handle making a pumpkin pie. I made a list of ingredients.
We planned to start making the pumpkin pie by 3pm on Thursday, so it would be cooled and ready to serve after dinner. Mmm mm mm. We were so excited.
The first snag in the plan came when I found out there was no evaporated milk anywhere near Rishi Valley. No one has even heard of it. I decided to search for another recipe, and found one that called for heavy cream. I ordered that from the office. Apparently, it was all sold out in Madanapalle (the nearby town) and would not be available until the Monday after Thanksgiving. Fail. I did some research, and decided it was appropriate to substitute condensed milk for evaporated milk. I decided to not use any sugar, because the condensed milk would take care of the sweetening. Okay, we're back on track. This is still going to be awesome!
Wednesday night, I received a pressure cooker (for the pumpkin) and a mixer. I though I would use the kitchen by my apartment to prepare the pie, and then head to my bosses' house (they're an AWESOME power couple) to bake the pie.
On Thursday, I started to make the dough. I mixed all the ingredients and kneaded that shit and it even tasted a little bit like dough. The recipe called for the dough to be refrigerated, as that makes some sort of science-y process (social science represent!) happen to make it more delicious. After half an hour of running around and trying to get the keys to the kitchen, which has a fridge in it, I finally figured this out. Also, in the process of making the dough, I was brought all of my requested ingredients: pumpkin, eggs, sugar, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger. The ginger was just a dry piece of ginger. It was in no way in powder form. The cinnamon was in little bits of bark. The cloves were also in a weird flowery shape thingy. (It turns out, I don't know what cloves are!) The day before, there were jokes made about me pounding away at a mortar and pestal, bu the only problem was I wasn't given a mortar and pestal. But I had no time to worry about this, because we were already a little behind schedule. AND we had another new development: I was brought a microwave oven manual. Um...they couldn't possibly be thinking that when I said "oven," I meant "microwave," right? I mean an oven is an oven! This is a PIE for Bob's sake! I really hope they just want me to catch up on my reading of manuals... There's a real oven waiting for me somewhere, right? Right?
With the dough chilling in the fridge, I went to the Directors' Office with Tony for a meeting. We were presenting some ideas about next steps in collaboration with Nepal and Rwanda. Right before we left to walk to the Office, the chai-wallah comes to me with a bike, on which I see a microwave in a blanket tied to the backseat. Oh, fuck. He politely implores me to open the kitchen and places the microwave on my kitchen counter. He is beaming. I thank him. Oh, fuuuuuuck.
We enter the Directors' Office.
"So, um...this oven? Did you mean microwave oven? Because I meant oven oven. Dry heat oven. I-need-to-cook-this-pie-at-two-hundred-degrees-Celsius-for-an-hour-oven. Do you have one of those?"
Laughter.
"Oh, Tanya. We have not cooked anything for the 23 years we have lived at Rishi Valley! Can you get creative? Can we innovate? Can we improvise an oven?"
Improvise an oven?! Double fuck.
"...I don't know how to improvise an oven."
But we laughed. And I remembered that I had that Nestle chocolate bar in my room. So maybe Thanksgiving tea could be salvaged...
The meeting went on for two hours. It was kind of awesome (I love my job). Then, I went back to the kitchen, and tried to improvise.
First, I decided to go ahead and cook the pumpkin. My first time using a pressure cooker was a success. Woo woo me. While the pumpkin was pressurizing, I used the rolling pin to pound the shit out of the cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. It was a very loud process. I think I might've scared some children. But no matter! This pumpkin pie was going to work. Or at least it would get as close to working as I could possibly get it. Just keep hope alive. The pounding process actually did wonders for relieving all that microwave hate. And, oooh, the pumpkin was finally ready!
But it was dinner time. So we left for the 12 minute walk to main campus to eat. They served toast with dinner, which somehow seemed somewhat related to Thanksgiving. We gave thanks. We ate rice and sambar. We smiled at each other.
Back at the Rural Education Center, I peeled the cooled pumpkin and put it in the mixer. I'm pretty sure this mixer was made in 1977 or somewhere around that time, because it was big and scary but the container that held the ingredients to be blended was no more than a cup. It's okay. I can divide the pumpkin and blend in stages. Just keep hope alive. This is also when I noticed that the one pumpkin they brought me only had enough flesh for one pie. All the other ingredients I had, including the batches of dough I made for the crusts, were calculated for two pies. I guess one pie is better than no pie. And so, the adventure continued. I mixed my freshly-powdered spices with the pumpkin puree, added egg, the wrong kind of milk, and mixed. It looked ... like ... something. I've never made pumpkin pie, so I had no idea what it was supposed to look like. It was very orange and kind of creamy and smelled like sugar from the condensed milk.
Earlier, Tony and I had inspected the aforementioned microwave oven manual, where it had mentioned a "grill" option. Apparently, the microwave that now stood in my kitchen could actually produce real heat, as well as microwave heatwaves. This seemed very interesting. I'm pretty sure it would explode before ever reaching 375F, but...uh...we could try? We decided to compromise (with the microwave) and cook the filling separately from the crust. This way, if the crust failed, we could still salvage the pie part. Wrap it in a chappati, maybe? I poured the filling into the microwave-safe pan (this came with the microwave manual), and set it on grill/microwave combination cooking option. But now, it was late, and it was time to go to the Directors' House for Thanksgiving tea. I went into my room and retrieved the candy bar. Welp, Happy Thanksgiving.
The tea was very nice. We sat in a circle by candlelight and discussed the issues affecting education in the world today. We said what we were thankful for this year. It was nice. It felt familiar. We smiled.
At 11:15pm, I was back in my kitchen (now being ravaged by ants), preparing to combat this pumpkin pie. Or...pumpkin mess, at this point. I started the microwave back up. Seriously, a microwave? Really, India? In twenty minutes, the pumpkin mess took on a brownish orange color (just like it should) and had the consistency of a legitimate pumpkin pie. The knife came out clean in the center. I set it to cool. I rolled out the dough and placed it in the other bowl. If this bowl isn't microwave-safe, the microwave could possibly be damaged. But then again, it's a microwave. And I hate it. And I have to make this work. Fuck it, I'll take my chances. I checked the status of the dough repeatedly, and after 25 minutes, it looked and tasted just like legitimate baked pie crust. Holy shit, SUCCESS. How did this happen in a microwave?!? I loaded the second half of the rolled out dough and put 25 minutes on the timer. I crumbled the dough on top of the pumpkin mess. Suddenly, it seemed less messy. I had succeeded in making upside-down pumpkin pie. MICROWAVED upside-down pumpkin pie. I covered it with a towel and set it all to cool.
On Friday morning, Indian Standard Time, I took out the pie and set it in front of my co-workers in the English Room. It was just after dinner-time back in Texas, exactly the time when my family would be rolling out the pumpkin pie anyway. I cut square pieces (the pan was square) and appropriated them within the group. We dug in. The Indians were brave, not even reluctant. And, you know, the pie was actually pretty good. It tasted a lot more pumpkin-y than it would have if I had bought it from the HEB bakery, but the crust was wonderfully flaky and set off the sweetness from the condensed milk. The Indians really liked it. Everyone had second helpings.
And everyone said thank you.
This year, there are a lot of things to be thankful for. Among my favorite things, I am thankful for the fact that each day in India, I learn something new, something extraordinary. Today, it was how to make a microwavable upside-down pumpkin pie. The possibilities for tomorrow are endless.
Happy Thanksgiving.
With lots of love from Rishi Valley.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Co-Worker One-liners
I start playing Blackalicious on my iTunes during an English work session.
Pradeep starts dancing. Gets up from his chair.
Pradeep: Oh, you just cannot sit still to this music!
Pradeep starts dancing. Gets up from his chair.
Pradeep: Oh, you just cannot sit still to this music!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Working hard or hardly working
The other day, I had a discussion with my co-workers about how much we're officially supposed to work. I noticed we take a lot of tea breaks around here, so I was just wondering what the schedule is. (Since I work a lot from my room on my own, I don't follow the common schedule. Also, all the chai here has milk in it, so I can't drink it due to my lactard status.)
This is the official work day schedule:
8:00 - Arrive to work
8:30-10:30 - Work
10:30 - 10:45 - Chai break!
10:45 - 12:00 - Work
12:00 - 1:30 - Lunch break!
1:30 - 3:30 - Work
3:30 - 3:45 - Chai break!
3:45 - 4:30 - Work
That's a whopping 6 hours of work a day! Hahaha. Even with working FULL Saturdays, Indians still work an average of 36 hours a week, compared to the American 40.
The only awesome part about this (besides from the fact that I can make up a Saturday work day by working an extra 1.5 hour from Monday-Thursday) is that I get to nap at lunchtime, if I need to. Win! :)
This is the official work day schedule:
8:00 - Arrive to work
8:30-10:30 - Work
10:30 - 10:45 - Chai break!
10:45 - 12:00 - Work
12:00 - 1:30 - Lunch break!
1:30 - 3:30 - Work
3:30 - 3:45 - Chai break!
3:45 - 4:30 - Work
That's a whopping 6 hours of work a day! Hahaha. Even with working FULL Saturdays, Indians still work an average of 36 hours a week, compared to the American 40.
The only awesome part about this (besides from the fact that I can make up a Saturday work day by working an extra 1.5 hour from Monday-Thursday) is that I get to nap at lunchtime, if I need to. Win! :)
Busy busy busy!
Work has gotten really busy in the past few weeks, which is why I haven't been blogging much. I work 10 hour days, including Saturdays and Sundays (Saturday is always a work day, though). This is kind of crazy, but I'm hoping it'll give me more off days later, which I can use for traveling - so: score. These are some things that have happened, in no particular order:
1. A team from West Bengal (Kolkata region/Howrah district) has arrived for a two week training in which they are learning all about RIVER methodology and even designing their OWN Bengali ladders/milestones. It has been awesome to learn all the details of the methodology with them.
2. I bought a bunch of kurtas, so now I have enough Indian clothes to stop looking like an American! (But enough blonde hair to completely fail at not looking like an American. Womp womp.) I can't wait to receive all the positive reinforcement for this life choice. Haha. (Indians get SUPER excited when I put on Indian clothes and compliment me a bunch to discourage Tshirt wear. It's cute.)
3. One of the REC dogs HAD PUPPIES! There were five, but now there are four. I'm not sure if someone took one or what. Whatever. THIS IS SUPER EXCITING. I will bathe them and love them and pet them and train them to do tricks. Their eyes haven't even opened yet. Pictures to come!!
4. I bought a bunch of fresh mint for FOUR CENTS. Holee sheet! The equivalent would've cost $8-16 in the States and probably over $20 at Whole Foods. I can now make sweetass mint tea ALL THE TIME. WOO WOO. Win for India!
5. A volunteer from Open Learning Exchange (an affiliate of One Laptop Per Child) in Nepal is here this week to give us some laptops and talk about technology. I'm really skeptical about technology use in the classroom, and especially OLPC, but this guy is absolutely AWESOME. He has some TREMENDOUS ideas! The capacity these laptops bring to the schools can be fantastic! So, now, we're hoping to get 3-4 laptops to each of our satellite schools and establish electronic libraries for the communities in Telugu, English, and maybe Hindi, as well as digitize some of the ladder activities to create a fifth group (computer-supported!). Furthermore, this is going to be HUGE for the English curriculum, because I can now include all kinds of exciting activities, including Rosetta Stone-like stuff and videos and all sorts of awesomeness. SO COOL! I've been working on this stuff for two days and will be working on it until Friday non-stop, and it's really giving me a lot of different ideas!
5a. I also learned that a bunch of countries (Rwanda, Mongolia, Brazil, Uruguay) all have hundreds of thousands of laptops from OLPC, but they don't have the necessary content to successfully integrate the laptops into schools. Epic fail! The glimmer of hope here is that we can somehow integrate RIVER methodology for use on these laptops. This would actually be absolutely fantastic! I think the student-centered and self-paced aspects of our methodology would be perfect for computer use, and the ladder and activities wouldn't be difficult to digitize, if we can get some smart software developers. Furthermore, this would enable for the laptops to work in tandem with teachers, empowering them to be more effective in the classroom. I really hope that some of this can work out! The hope is that we get to go to Rwanda and collaborate with them, since we have the methodology and they have the laptops. Double win!
6. Bengali food (which our rural dining hall has been serving to make the guests feel more at home) is full of sugar! They put sugar in almost EVERYTHING: the rice, the dhal, the tomato chutney, etc. There is only one complaint they had concerning an item having too much sugar: coffee. Haha. Our Andhra Pradeshi crew totally made fun of their backwards ways. (In a loving way, of course!)
7. I GET TO MAKE PUMPKIN PIE ON THURSDAY! I'm super excited about this, since I don't get to pig out for Thanksgiving. I don't get to have turkey or tofurkey (fail, India). And I don't get to go shopping on Friday. Booo. But, I DO get to bake pumpkin pies! Yayyy! My mentor/RIVER director graciously offered his oven for my use! I'm hoping to make mashed potatoes, as well. It should be awesome. :) (Although, I haven't ever baked a pumpkin pie before, so I'm a bit nervous. The OLPC dude is American, as well, so I hope the two of us can kind of figure it out. Otherwise, I think we'll just be thankful to have something-somewhat-resembling-pumpkin-pie in the spirit of the holiday. Haha. I can make some rad mashed potatoes, so maybe that can compensate, if it has to.)
8. I! LOVE! MY! JOB!
1. A team from West Bengal (Kolkata region/Howrah district) has arrived for a two week training in which they are learning all about RIVER methodology and even designing their OWN Bengali ladders/milestones. It has been awesome to learn all the details of the methodology with them.
2. I bought a bunch of kurtas, so now I have enough Indian clothes to stop looking like an American! (But enough blonde hair to completely fail at not looking like an American. Womp womp.) I can't wait to receive all the positive reinforcement for this life choice. Haha. (Indians get SUPER excited when I put on Indian clothes and compliment me a bunch to discourage Tshirt wear. It's cute.)
3. One of the REC dogs HAD PUPPIES! There were five, but now there are four. I'm not sure if someone took one or what. Whatever. THIS IS SUPER EXCITING. I will bathe them and love them and pet them and train them to do tricks. Their eyes haven't even opened yet. Pictures to come!!
4. I bought a bunch of fresh mint for FOUR CENTS. Holee sheet! The equivalent would've cost $8-16 in the States and probably over $20 at Whole Foods. I can now make sweetass mint tea ALL THE TIME. WOO WOO. Win for India!
5. A volunteer from Open Learning Exchange (an affiliate of One Laptop Per Child) in Nepal is here this week to give us some laptops and talk about technology. I'm really skeptical about technology use in the classroom, and especially OLPC, but this guy is absolutely AWESOME. He has some TREMENDOUS ideas! The capacity these laptops bring to the schools can be fantastic! So, now, we're hoping to get 3-4 laptops to each of our satellite schools and establish electronic libraries for the communities in Telugu, English, and maybe Hindi, as well as digitize some of the ladder activities to create a fifth group (computer-supported!). Furthermore, this is going to be HUGE for the English curriculum, because I can now include all kinds of exciting activities, including Rosetta Stone-like stuff and videos and all sorts of awesomeness. SO COOL! I've been working on this stuff for two days and will be working on it until Friday non-stop, and it's really giving me a lot of different ideas!
5a. I also learned that a bunch of countries (Rwanda, Mongolia, Brazil, Uruguay) all have hundreds of thousands of laptops from OLPC, but they don't have the necessary content to successfully integrate the laptops into schools. Epic fail! The glimmer of hope here is that we can somehow integrate RIVER methodology for use on these laptops. This would actually be absolutely fantastic! I think the student-centered and self-paced aspects of our methodology would be perfect for computer use, and the ladder and activities wouldn't be difficult to digitize, if we can get some smart software developers. Furthermore, this would enable for the laptops to work in tandem with teachers, empowering them to be more effective in the classroom. I really hope that some of this can work out! The hope is that we get to go to Rwanda and collaborate with them, since we have the methodology and they have the laptops. Double win!
6. Bengali food (which our rural dining hall has been serving to make the guests feel more at home) is full of sugar! They put sugar in almost EVERYTHING: the rice, the dhal, the tomato chutney, etc. There is only one complaint they had concerning an item having too much sugar: coffee. Haha. Our Andhra Pradeshi crew totally made fun of their backwards ways. (In a loving way, of course!)
7. I GET TO MAKE PUMPKIN PIE ON THURSDAY! I'm super excited about this, since I don't get to pig out for Thanksgiving. I don't get to have turkey or tofurkey (fail, India). And I don't get to go shopping on Friday. Booo. But, I DO get to bake pumpkin pies! Yayyy! My mentor/RIVER director graciously offered his oven for my use! I'm hoping to make mashed potatoes, as well. It should be awesome. :) (Although, I haven't ever baked a pumpkin pie before, so I'm a bit nervous. The OLPC dude is American, as well, so I hope the two of us can kind of figure it out. Otherwise, I think we'll just be thankful to have something-somewhat-resembling-pumpkin-pie in the spirit of the holiday. Haha. I can make some rad mashed potatoes, so maybe that can compensate, if it has to.)
8. I! LOVE! MY! JOB!
Co-worker One-liners
Ramu: What is this, "rap"?
Tatiana: You know, rappers! It's a type of music. But people don't really sing like how you think of singing, they rap. You know, like spit rhymes?
Ramu: Oh, like Jackie Chan!!!
Tatiana: You know, rappers! It's a type of music. But people don't really sing like how you think of singing, they rap. You know, like spit rhymes?
Ramu: Oh, like Jackie Chan!!!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
From my Pushkar travels...
So, I've been meaning to post a bunch of pictures and stories from my 2.5 weeks of travel, but I just haven't had the time (since I need to catch up on so much work and fill out so many grad apps!). But! My friend and fellow AIF fellow Jenny B has graciously shared this video with me!
While in Pushkar, we met this awesome Bhopa (gypsy musicians) family and they put on a private show for us. They were pretty awesome human beings. I also have a CD of their music, if anyone is interested. (Also, this video does a great job showing just how COLORFUL Rajasthan is!)
Enjoy.
While in Pushkar, we met this awesome Bhopa (gypsy musicians) family and they put on a private show for us. They were pretty awesome human beings. I also have a CD of their music, if anyone is interested. (Also, this video does a great job showing just how COLORFUL Rajasthan is!)
Enjoy.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Exciting news!!
Rishi Valley's directors, Mr. and Mrs. Rao, just won "Social Entrepreneurs of the Year" award from the Schwab Foundation and the United Nations Development Fund, scoring a ticket to present our methodology to World Economic Forum's Davos Forum and all kinds of world leaders in Switzerland this upcoming January.
Check out Rishi Valley kicking butt and taking names!
Yay!
Check out Rishi Valley kicking butt and taking names!
Yay!
How embarrassing!
I sometimes wondered what the budget of hospitals was for decorating. They always have such pretty walls and posters and chairs and the such. Even at Searle at NU, we had that spaceship lookin' chair that you got to sit in when you had blood-work done. It was awesome and made you feel like you were fighting evil aliens and such (especially if you were running a high fever during the test). Actually, occasionally, I thought that stuff was wasteful. You don't need this many magazine subscriptions. And you can do without some of the fancier decor.
Until today.
Today, I realized I really appreciate the high decorating budgets of American hospital. Score one for America.
Today, I had some blood-work done at the Rishi Valley Rural Health Center. Now, I am quite impressed that this rural health center in the middle of nowhere, Andhra Pradesh is even able to accept and process blood-work (score one for India/Rishi Valley!), so I'm not complaining. But I do want to note that hospital decorations have revealed their importance to me, here at Rishi Valley.
I don't deal well with needles or blood. I used to be absolutely fine about it. When I was a kid, I'd play with syringes (sans needle, of course), since my mom was a doctor and brought a bunch home and we always had them about. Growing up with an older brother, I was totally cool with watching blood and guts (on TV, of course). Mom and I would watch footage of surgeries, and I wouldn't even wince. Then, senior year of high school, during an Honor Society Blood Drive, I was talking to someone while they were giving blood and I suddenly just about fell down. And from that moment onward, I have gotten increasingly uncomfortable around blood and needles.
When I get any type of blood test/vaccination in the States, I always embarrassingly ask to lay down during the procedure and to have some water on hand, just in case. Usually, I am fine. I just can't run a marathon fifteen seconds after the needle's left my arm, but I'm fine.
The trick is to distract yourself. First, you read the magazines, then you look at the charts, you study the intricacy of the wallpaper, and you eventually ponder why the hospital spends so much money on decorating. It's an awesome and complex thought to think about while someone is digging a needle in you and it definitely does the job to keep you distracted from said needle.
But, today, there were no magazine subscriptions, no wallpaper, and no charts to read. I walked into the Diagnostic Center and sat at a barren white table alone for 15 minutes. Around me were doctor-people (meaning they might've been nurses or aids or randos) carrying around doctor-looking-apparatuses (my mother cannot be proud of me for this sentence) and generally doing doctor-like things. There was crazy machinery all around me and it smelled a lot like formaldehyde. Or bleach. Or disinfectant. It smelled a lot like what I called "doctor" when I was a kid. Mom would come home from her shift and I would say, "Mommy, I love you. You smell like doctors, go shower!" It was cute.
But, today, the smell wasn't cute. And I didn't love it. It made me increasingly nervous. I was also nervous, because I was close to missing breakfast and I had to fast for the test. Dum dum dum. I was even more nervous, because someone was going to stick a needle inside of me. How embarrassing. The doctor-lady came in (I had met her before), and resat me from the chair to the stool. Then, she tugged at my arm and gave me directions, as I tried very hard (and succeeded) to look away from anything that she was doing. But I couldn't escape it: there were all these hospital-y doctor-y things all around me! And it smelled 100% like doctors. And even though I didn't even see the needle, nor a drop of blood, my vision started to cloud over, I heard a dull buzz, and I broke into a cold sweat. I was more and more dizzy by the second, and I felt consciousness slipping away from me. I asked for some water, but couldn't quite work the pitcher to my mouth. I asked to be laid down, which involved me having to walk across the room. I made it. Barely.
Laying there, I still could not escape the reality that I was, indeed, in a hospital. Surrounded by needles. And blood. (Okay, not surrounded, but that stuff was in the same room!) And it smelled, unquestionably, just like doctor. I was not okay.
Finally, I decided to make a break for the fresh air, and I stumbled out of the room, mumbling a thank you to the very nice [and now utterly frightened] doctor that had drawn my blood earlier.
I felt much better outside, as I had focused on flowers, auto-rickshaws, and puppies. And I even made it to breakfast (thanks to the auto-rickshaw!).
Today, I finally answered the question of why American hospitals invest in decorations.
But the answer only raises more questions, like: how important are the ties between psychology and physical well-being? And is our lack of attention to psychological matters in the developing world reduce the well-being of the populations? By not affording the fancy decorations, could we possibly be turning off a lot of [perhaps embarrassed or scared] individuals from seeking proper health care? How important is this in the larger picture (as in, is it far more important to focus on increasing physical health through traditional means, without paying attention to this psychological aspect, as it probably affects only a tiny fraction of the population, whereas the other stuff affects people on a much larger scale)? And, finally: should I get that nice doctor lady some presents for scaring her by being embarrassingly scared of needles?
Until today.
Today, I realized I really appreciate the high decorating budgets of American hospital. Score one for America.
Today, I had some blood-work done at the Rishi Valley Rural Health Center. Now, I am quite impressed that this rural health center in the middle of nowhere, Andhra Pradesh is even able to accept and process blood-work (score one for India/Rishi Valley!), so I'm not complaining. But I do want to note that hospital decorations have revealed their importance to me, here at Rishi Valley.
I don't deal well with needles or blood. I used to be absolutely fine about it. When I was a kid, I'd play with syringes (sans needle, of course), since my mom was a doctor and brought a bunch home and we always had them about. Growing up with an older brother, I was totally cool with watching blood and guts (on TV, of course). Mom and I would watch footage of surgeries, and I wouldn't even wince. Then, senior year of high school, during an Honor Society Blood Drive, I was talking to someone while they were giving blood and I suddenly just about fell down. And from that moment onward, I have gotten increasingly uncomfortable around blood and needles.
When I get any type of blood test/vaccination in the States, I always embarrassingly ask to lay down during the procedure and to have some water on hand, just in case. Usually, I am fine. I just can't run a marathon fifteen seconds after the needle's left my arm, but I'm fine.
The trick is to distract yourself. First, you read the magazines, then you look at the charts, you study the intricacy of the wallpaper, and you eventually ponder why the hospital spends so much money on decorating. It's an awesome and complex thought to think about while someone is digging a needle in you and it definitely does the job to keep you distracted from said needle.
But, today, there were no magazine subscriptions, no wallpaper, and no charts to read. I walked into the Diagnostic Center and sat at a barren white table alone for 15 minutes. Around me were doctor-people (meaning they might've been nurses or aids or randos) carrying around doctor-looking-apparatuses (my mother cannot be proud of me for this sentence) and generally doing doctor-like things. There was crazy machinery all around me and it smelled a lot like formaldehyde. Or bleach. Or disinfectant. It smelled a lot like what I called "doctor" when I was a kid. Mom would come home from her shift and I would say, "Mommy, I love you. You smell like doctors, go shower!" It was cute.
But, today, the smell wasn't cute. And I didn't love it. It made me increasingly nervous. I was also nervous, because I was close to missing breakfast and I had to fast for the test. Dum dum dum. I was even more nervous, because someone was going to stick a needle inside of me. How embarrassing. The doctor-lady came in (I had met her before), and resat me from the chair to the stool. Then, she tugged at my arm and gave me directions, as I tried very hard (and succeeded) to look away from anything that she was doing. But I couldn't escape it: there were all these hospital-y doctor-y things all around me! And it smelled 100% like doctors. And even though I didn't even see the needle, nor a drop of blood, my vision started to cloud over, I heard a dull buzz, and I broke into a cold sweat. I was more and more dizzy by the second, and I felt consciousness slipping away from me. I asked for some water, but couldn't quite work the pitcher to my mouth. I asked to be laid down, which involved me having to walk across the room. I made it. Barely.
Laying there, I still could not escape the reality that I was, indeed, in a hospital. Surrounded by needles. And blood. (Okay, not surrounded, but that stuff was in the same room!) And it smelled, unquestionably, just like doctor. I was not okay.
Finally, I decided to make a break for the fresh air, and I stumbled out of the room, mumbling a thank you to the very nice [and now utterly frightened] doctor that had drawn my blood earlier.
I felt much better outside, as I had focused on flowers, auto-rickshaws, and puppies. And I even made it to breakfast (thanks to the auto-rickshaw!).
Today, I finally answered the question of why American hospitals invest in decorations.
But the answer only raises more questions, like: how important are the ties between psychology and physical well-being? And is our lack of attention to psychological matters in the developing world reduce the well-being of the populations? By not affording the fancy decorations, could we possibly be turning off a lot of [perhaps embarrassed or scared] individuals from seeking proper health care? How important is this in the larger picture (as in, is it far more important to focus on increasing physical health through traditional means, without paying attention to this psychological aspect, as it probably affects only a tiny fraction of the population, whereas the other stuff affects people on a much larger scale)? And, finally: should I get that nice doctor lady some presents for scaring her by being embarrassingly scared of needles?
Friday, November 6, 2009
If you're a geek like me, be jealous
...because the Leonids Meteor Shower this year is going to be out-of-this-world! (See what I did there?) Anyway, on the night of November 17th to November 18th, Earth is supposed to pass through a bunch of meteor remnants causing a half-storm with expected 500 meteor particles per hour! BALLER. The peak of this meteor is at 9pm Greenwich Time, meaning around 2am India Standard Time! (And around 2:30pm Central Time, when you'll have absolutely no visibility of this awesomeness. Womp womp.) So, I will definitely be staying up and checkin' out the night sky next Tuesday night. Am excited!! :-D
Links:
Examiner
Space
Astronomical Tours - you could take one to visit :)
Links:
Examiner
Space
Astronomical Tours - you could take one to visit :)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Nom Nom Nom
What I eat at Rishi Valley
Rice -- lots of rice. Plain boiled white rice. Steamed rice. Tomato friend rice. Onion fried rice. Other types of yummy fried rice. Rice every day.
Biryani -- we only have biryani on special occasions. We have egg biryani and paneer (see below) biryani. Usually, biryani is made with mutton or chicken and is equivalent to the Russian plov. It is rice fried with meat and veggies and has an orangish color and is absolutely delicious. My mom used to make bomb plov. The capital of Andhra Pradesh, our state, is Hyderabad, which is famous for it's amazing Hyderabadi biryani. I hope to have some before I leave India. :)
Dhal -- a thick soup-y type deal made of lentils. You mix it with your rice.
Sambar -- a vegetable stew-like concoction. It's is delicious. You also mix this with your rice. We have sambar every day. Nom nom nom.
Chapati -- an unleavened flatbread made from wheat flour on a skillet
Roti -- an unleavened flatbread made from some other type of flour. Thinner than chapatis.
Dosa -- a delicious thin pancake made of dough with buttermilk usually accompanied by sambar and coconut groundnut chutney. Nom nom nom. We have these for breakfast at least once a week.
Masala dosa -- the above accompanied with potatoes stewed with some vegetables. It's pretty awesome.
Idli -- little fat cakes (about two or three inches across and an inch in thickness) made of fermented unhusked black lentils and rice. They are white in color. They are also served with sambar and coconut chutney at breakfast.
Potatoes -- surprisingly for me, there are a lot of potatoes in Indian cuisine. Win!
Vegetables -- there is always a vegetable component at lunch and dinner. The veggies vary. They are usually fried or perhaps boiled/steamed. We often have cauliflower, green beans, okra (this is the first time in my life I've seen okra cooked any other way than southern deep-fried), potatoes, chickpeas, or beans. I think the cauliflower is my favorite with okra a close runner-up. :)
Paneer -- this is Indian cheese. It tastes nothing like mozarella. It comes in little cubes always in some sort of sauce. By American standards, it tastes closer to tofu than cheese (maybe some weird variety of goat cheese, but far less stinky). Paneer is probably the least stinky cheese I've ever had. (Stinky being good, the way cheese is supposed to be! Stinky = cheese flavor.)
Pickle -- this is the equivalent to Indian hot sauce. Usually, it's pickled mangoes (or another vegetable) smothered in a red spicy sauce. You mix this in with your food, usually the rice and sambar. Food at Rishi Valley isn't very spicy, so pickle is always passed around the table.
Soup -- soup is always available at lunch and dinner. It's usually a clear broth, well spiced. Somehow, Indian soup has somewhat of a sour taste, which is delicious if you're expecting it.
Fruit salad -- is served on Wednesday nights. It usually consists of bananas, apples, pineapples, grapes, and perhaps guava. It is the absolute BOMB and comes in a cream sauce.
Pasta -- pasta night is Wednesdays! Sometimes, we get noodles and sauce, but more often, it's pasta bakes, which are absolutely delicious. I always ask for seconds. Wednesday dinner is one meal where I don't consume rice.
Western food -- Western food night (think pizza, veggie burgers, etc.) is Saturday night. It's always funny to see what they'll come up with. It's also a nice way to spice up the week. :)
Eggs -- eggs are available three to four times a week for breakfast in various forms: hard boiled, scrambled, and as omelets. Eggs are available for dinner usually once a week, either in an egg biryani (very rarely) or in a brown delicious sauce.
Toast -- toast and jam are served for breakfast for most of the week. The jam, I'm sure, is natural and home made. It's not very sweet, which is just how I like it. Toast is usually available for breakfast at least 5 times a week, with the other two days offering dosas or idlis. Sometimes, there is butter to be had with toast. At other (quite inexplicable) times, toast will be available for dinner.
What I don't eat at Rishi Valley
Meat (Rishi Valley is strictly vegetarian and no meat is allowed on campus)
Tofu (there's no tofu available at Rishi Valley!)
Buttermilk -- which is a watered down version of regular buttermilk. Indians love to drink this after meals to aid with digestion
Curd -- yoghurt. This is sometimes mixed in with the rice.
Raitha -- a yoghurt based sauce mixed with spices, such as mint, corriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, etc. Often has onions in it, as well. This sauce can be put on anything, especially (you guessed it) your rice!
How I eat at Rishi Valley
At every meal, I eat with my hands. The ritual is as follows: there are a number (about 14?) of sinks lining the wall of the dining hall. I wash my hands with soap provided (oooh, also, Indian soap dispensers are AWESOME), and then enter the dining hall. Last semester, junior meals were served exclusively on banana leaves (palm tree leaves). I think senior breakfast and lunch was also on banana leaves, but I can't be sure. You'd sit down at an already laid out banana leaf and pass around the little metal buckets of rice, sambar, dhal, vegetable, and the bowl of pickle. You take as much as you want and put it on your leaf and then dig in with your hands. When you were done, you'd excuse yourself, put any remaining scraps in a big plastic tub (for compost) and throw away the leaf in another tub (also later re-used for compost and other uses). For senior dinner (and perhaps other senior meals -- I don't know, because I never went to them), there would be tables set up in a cafeteria-style setting and you'd come up, grab a metal plate and little metal cups (for your dhal and sambar and soup to prevent them from mixing) and take your share. Then, you could sit and eat with your hands and socialize. A water jug is always present at every tables and cups are set out for everyone. There are 8 people to a table. There are about 4-6 staff/faculty tables in the middle of the cafeteria. After you're done, you wash your hands using the outside sinks and soap.
Important note: you only only only use your right hand when you eat. You never use the left. (Well, okay, you can use the left to pour yourself some water, so you don't get the jug dirty. But your left hand never makes contact with the food.) This is because toilet paper is not widely used in India, and the left hand is used for doing "dirty" things, like washing yourself after using the toilet, taking off shoes, etc. This is actually a huge challenge for me, because when you have to tear the roti or chapati, it's really hard to do using only one hand! But I'm learning and getting better at it... You're also not supposed to use the left hand to wave or pass things to other people, but this is a challenge for me, too. It's not something I consciously think about, so sometimes, when I catch myself waving with my left hand I feel awkward, because I was trying to be nice and friendly but ended up being disrespectful. Womp womp.
Now, during the main school break, we've stopped using the banana leaves for some reason. And we have to wash our own dishes when we're through at the washing sinks inside the cafeteria. (I think due to the water shortage we were experiencing when I first arrived, the water to these sinks was disconnected. Now, after the first rainy season and with the second rainy season coming in full swing, I think they're letting everyone was their own dishes again.)
When I eat at Rishi Valley
7:00am-7:30 - junior breakfast
8:00am-8:30 - senior breakfast -- you all know my love to sleep in, so I obviously go to senior breakfast
12:10pm-12:40 - junior lunch -- I go to junior lunch, because it corresponds with REC lunch break
1:00pm - 1:30 - senior lunch
6:45pm-7:20 - junior dinner
7:45pm-8:20 - senior dinner
I usually go to junior dinner, but if I'm working late in the computer lab, I will sometimes go to senior dinner. Also, when there is a guest speaker or a movie (every Saturday night), I'll go to senior dinner, because those events usually start around 8:20, and it makes no sense to bike all the way back to REC and then all the way back to main campus within an hour (and there's not much to do on main campus after dinner).
Just FYI: juniors are grades 4-8 and seniors are grades 9-12. The seniors are significantly louder than their younger counterparts. :)
Rice -- lots of rice. Plain boiled white rice. Steamed rice. Tomato friend rice. Onion fried rice. Other types of yummy fried rice. Rice every day.
Biryani -- we only have biryani on special occasions. We have egg biryani and paneer (see below) biryani. Usually, biryani is made with mutton or chicken and is equivalent to the Russian plov. It is rice fried with meat and veggies and has an orangish color and is absolutely delicious. My mom used to make bomb plov. The capital of Andhra Pradesh, our state, is Hyderabad, which is famous for it's amazing Hyderabadi biryani. I hope to have some before I leave India. :)
Dhal -- a thick soup-y type deal made of lentils. You mix it with your rice.
Sambar -- a vegetable stew-like concoction. It's is delicious. You also mix this with your rice. We have sambar every day. Nom nom nom.
Chapati -- an unleavened flatbread made from wheat flour on a skillet
Roti -- an unleavened flatbread made from some other type of flour. Thinner than chapatis.
Dosa -- a delicious thin pancake made of dough with buttermilk usually accompanied by sambar and coconut groundnut chutney. Nom nom nom. We have these for breakfast at least once a week.
Masala dosa -- the above accompanied with potatoes stewed with some vegetables. It's pretty awesome.
Idli -- little fat cakes (about two or three inches across and an inch in thickness) made of fermented unhusked black lentils and rice. They are white in color. They are also served with sambar and coconut chutney at breakfast.
Potatoes -- surprisingly for me, there are a lot of potatoes in Indian cuisine. Win!
Vegetables -- there is always a vegetable component at lunch and dinner. The veggies vary. They are usually fried or perhaps boiled/steamed. We often have cauliflower, green beans, okra (this is the first time in my life I've seen okra cooked any other way than southern deep-fried), potatoes, chickpeas, or beans. I think the cauliflower is my favorite with okra a close runner-up. :)
Paneer -- this is Indian cheese. It tastes nothing like mozarella. It comes in little cubes always in some sort of sauce. By American standards, it tastes closer to tofu than cheese (maybe some weird variety of goat cheese, but far less stinky). Paneer is probably the least stinky cheese I've ever had. (Stinky being good, the way cheese is supposed to be! Stinky = cheese flavor.)
Pickle -- this is the equivalent to Indian hot sauce. Usually, it's pickled mangoes (or another vegetable) smothered in a red spicy sauce. You mix this in with your food, usually the rice and sambar. Food at Rishi Valley isn't very spicy, so pickle is always passed around the table.
Soup -- soup is always available at lunch and dinner. It's usually a clear broth, well spiced. Somehow, Indian soup has somewhat of a sour taste, which is delicious if you're expecting it.
Fruit salad -- is served on Wednesday nights. It usually consists of bananas, apples, pineapples, grapes, and perhaps guava. It is the absolute BOMB and comes in a cream sauce.
Pasta -- pasta night is Wednesdays! Sometimes, we get noodles and sauce, but more often, it's pasta bakes, which are absolutely delicious. I always ask for seconds. Wednesday dinner is one meal where I don't consume rice.
Western food -- Western food night (think pizza, veggie burgers, etc.) is Saturday night. It's always funny to see what they'll come up with. It's also a nice way to spice up the week. :)
Eggs -- eggs are available three to four times a week for breakfast in various forms: hard boiled, scrambled, and as omelets. Eggs are available for dinner usually once a week, either in an egg biryani (very rarely) or in a brown delicious sauce.
Toast -- toast and jam are served for breakfast for most of the week. The jam, I'm sure, is natural and home made. It's not very sweet, which is just how I like it. Toast is usually available for breakfast at least 5 times a week, with the other two days offering dosas or idlis. Sometimes, there is butter to be had with toast. At other (quite inexplicable) times, toast will be available for dinner.
What I don't eat at Rishi Valley
Meat (Rishi Valley is strictly vegetarian and no meat is allowed on campus)
Tofu (there's no tofu available at Rishi Valley!)
Buttermilk -- which is a watered down version of regular buttermilk. Indians love to drink this after meals to aid with digestion
Curd -- yoghurt. This is sometimes mixed in with the rice.
Raitha -- a yoghurt based sauce mixed with spices, such as mint, corriander, cumin, cayenne pepper, etc. Often has onions in it, as well. This sauce can be put on anything, especially (you guessed it) your rice!
How I eat at Rishi Valley
At every meal, I eat with my hands. The ritual is as follows: there are a number (about 14?) of sinks lining the wall of the dining hall. I wash my hands with soap provided (oooh, also, Indian soap dispensers are AWESOME), and then enter the dining hall. Last semester, junior meals were served exclusively on banana leaves (palm tree leaves). I think senior breakfast and lunch was also on banana leaves, but I can't be sure. You'd sit down at an already laid out banana leaf and pass around the little metal buckets of rice, sambar, dhal, vegetable, and the bowl of pickle. You take as much as you want and put it on your leaf and then dig in with your hands. When you were done, you'd excuse yourself, put any remaining scraps in a big plastic tub (for compost) and throw away the leaf in another tub (also later re-used for compost and other uses). For senior dinner (and perhaps other senior meals -- I don't know, because I never went to them), there would be tables set up in a cafeteria-style setting and you'd come up, grab a metal plate and little metal cups (for your dhal and sambar and soup to prevent them from mixing) and take your share. Then, you could sit and eat with your hands and socialize. A water jug is always present at every tables and cups are set out for everyone. There are 8 people to a table. There are about 4-6 staff/faculty tables in the middle of the cafeteria. After you're done, you wash your hands using the outside sinks and soap.
Important note: you only only only use your right hand when you eat. You never use the left. (Well, okay, you can use the left to pour yourself some water, so you don't get the jug dirty. But your left hand never makes contact with the food.) This is because toilet paper is not widely used in India, and the left hand is used for doing "dirty" things, like washing yourself after using the toilet, taking off shoes, etc. This is actually a huge challenge for me, because when you have to tear the roti or chapati, it's really hard to do using only one hand! But I'm learning and getting better at it... You're also not supposed to use the left hand to wave or pass things to other people, but this is a challenge for me, too. It's not something I consciously think about, so sometimes, when I catch myself waving with my left hand I feel awkward, because I was trying to be nice and friendly but ended up being disrespectful. Womp womp.
Now, during the main school break, we've stopped using the banana leaves for some reason. And we have to wash our own dishes when we're through at the washing sinks inside the cafeteria. (I think due to the water shortage we were experiencing when I first arrived, the water to these sinks was disconnected. Now, after the first rainy season and with the second rainy season coming in full swing, I think they're letting everyone was their own dishes again.)
When I eat at Rishi Valley
7:00am-7:30 - junior breakfast
8:00am-8:30 - senior breakfast -- you all know my love to sleep in, so I obviously go to senior breakfast
12:10pm-12:40 - junior lunch -- I go to junior lunch, because it corresponds with REC lunch break
1:00pm - 1:30 - senior lunch
6:45pm-7:20 - junior dinner
7:45pm-8:20 - senior dinner
I usually go to junior dinner, but if I'm working late in the computer lab, I will sometimes go to senior dinner. Also, when there is a guest speaker or a movie (every Saturday night), I'll go to senior dinner, because those events usually start around 8:20, and it makes no sense to bike all the way back to REC and then all the way back to main campus within an hour (and there's not much to do on main campus after dinner).
Just FYI: juniors are grades 4-8 and seniors are grades 9-12. The seniors are significantly louder than their younger counterparts. :)
Locks of Love should operate in India
One of the cleaning ladies here at REC came back today and she had a buzz cut. Like...almost bald, but buzzed instead of shaved. Her hair was down below her waist when I left for traveling, and her braid was so thick, she didn't have to use any hair bands or pins or anything to keep it from unraveling (maybe only some coconut oil...). This lady is super awesome. She speaks no English, but repeats every word I say with a distinctly Tatiana impression. And she also does little dances when I do. She also sweeps my room and takes out my trash, even though I insist she doesn't need to do that for me. I share my cookies with her. I think she pantomimed that she went on a pilgrimage and part of the experience required all her hair to be shaved off. This happens pretty regularly in India, which makes me think that Locks of Love could make all their wigs just from devout Hindis in India. They should consider it.
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