After a hearty breakfast of curry, some very sleepy school children and Strode Students gathered for Assembly. (Although I did hear the Jack, Joe and George got up at 5.30am to join the children for physical exercise - somehow I’m not sure this is something they would do at home). Assembly was like a blast from the past with a hymn, the old language Lords Prayer a reading from the bible followed by a reflection and prayers for the day. Somehow it felt right in a strange sort of way - this is a Christian school that grew from the vision of an Oxford Mission Orphanage School run by the Anglican Brothers of the Epiphany - something more special about this was standing outside in the shade with the building work for the new accommodation block happening on the other side of the complex and knowing the potential opportunities that this school will give children in the future.

Next to lessons! I gather that generally the school is a well timed, well oiled machine however I think the previous late night was catching up on even the teachers and everything ran a little late. Each of our students had been previously allocated 4 children to do one-to-One English reading practice so armed with whiteboards, word searches and story books they headed off for school work. Dan and I were told we were joining classes. My first lesson of the day was a choice between mathematics and physical science (I must have looked so panicked at the idea of maths that the teacher opted for physical science instead). Mum would be proud of me because somewhere in my very bad experience of physics and chemistry I managed to contribute to a lesson on proportional expansion of metals and even managed to explain about bi-metallic strips. Mind you I could have made the whole thing up and the pupils will be none the wiser. Next lesson English Grammar, I have always put my good grammar down to SRA cards at school however Ali do remember that I always struggled with tenses - you can imagine my joy when I discovered I was helping to teach a lesson on present perfect and imperfect and past tense. The teacher did however take up quite a proportion of the lesson proudly informing me about the fact that he had met Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Robert Runcie and John Majors Sister? After that the lessons were much easier as I had a crash course in Bengali and a general chat about life in England with 3 lovely 16 year old girls.
After lunch we were split into 5 teams made up of Strode people, Mathieson pupils and staff. We were given projects a selection of project themes for the teams to work on over the coming 10 days with the intention of each team presenting their project to the rest of the school. The themes were, East meets West, Advancement of Technology, Festivals, Essence of India and the Ethics of being human. As the theology major (with a secret love of philosophy) I felt it was only fair to take one for the team so Brian and I are working on a project about the ethics of being human and have decided that since we are in a Christian School then developing our project around the 10 Commandments is a good way to go. I have heard that in the other groups George has found a way to incorporate his robots, and that Music, Drama, Poetry and Art are on the cards. More to come on projects as the trip develops.
After snacks of puffed rice (salty rice crispies but without the milk) most of us joined the Bengali singing lesson with a lovely lady wearing the most beautiful red Sari. We sang 2 Tagore songs and she really did spend as much time teaching us as the children although explained that normally these would be learned in the Guru style having western annotations meant that we could learn more easily. It has to be said that trying to read Music from a mobile phone and follow the teacher as she switches back to previous lines is not the easiest method of learning Music but it was fun and the meaning of the words in the songs is truly beautiful,
One translation of Anando Lojey I found is
You are honourably present with the halo at the blissful world.
Your majestic appearance gorgeously fills the sky,
The mortal world coiled around your adorned feet.
The Sun, Moon, the planets, stars anxiously drink and bathe
In your everlasting beam, with incredible speed.
Springs dance down the earth, what a beauty
Flowers, leaves, melodious sound add to colours.
Ever new stream of life continues to flow day and night,
Your kindness is reflected in life and death without rest.
Love-affection, kindness, respect softens the heart,
Your raining consolation cools down.
What a grand celebration all around, revere the whole world
In the carefree, omnipresent shelter, where the beauty is wealth

The translation I found for Gram Chara is
MY KING'S road that lies still before my house makes my heart wistful.
It stretches its beckoning hand towards me; its silence calls me out of my home; with dumb entreaties
it kisses my feet at every step.
It leads me on I know not to what abandonment, to what sudden gain or surprises of distress.
I know not where its windings end-
But my King's road that lies still before my house makes my heart wistful.

Both are a little different than the teachers interpretation of the words but doesn’t appear to be unusual.

After singing it was the children teaching our very diligent students Bengali, the more singing practice and an early night.

Suvo Ratri - Good night all