Monday evening after the first day of teaching. Few pics today!

Last night I was taken to dinner by all the University bigwigs - the same place Anne and I went last year - a Chinese seafood place called the Bo Wei I think.

Wahab and his wife Rukshana picked me up, and we were joined by Murali (VC) and his wife, Sitendra (Dean)and his wife, Sarita (another lecturer) and Tito (Registrar). A lovely meal and a lovely evening, in an interestingly formal kind of way. Women on one side of the table, men on the other. Lots of deference to senior men, and delegation of minor tasks to Wahab. You certainly know where you stand in this world order.

Wahab was on the job again at 0800 today to take me to the uni. We were expecting 54 students. In the end, 10 of these didn't front, but another 22 did, so I ended up with a class of 66. It was a challenge to try to warm up a crowd that size in a big hall. You can't really make one to one contact, which makes it all the more challenging when you are faced with a cultural reticence to get stuck into plenary discussions. The fact that we were short some half dozen sets of everything added to the complication of the day. Wahab said he had positive feedback, but the jury is still out for me. As Aengus Kavanagh is wont to say, if Jesus is in your heart, tell him to let your face know! I need to learn the cultural signs.

I was surprised to discover that the majority of the students here are actually Christian, (50%) followed by Hindu (45%) then Muslim. Still, the Hindus rule the canteen, and I had a lovely vegetarian curry and roti for lunch! The campus has grown since last year, with the library building complete and a new IT lab on top.

Dear reader, if you are good, tomorrow will likely have fewer words and more illustrations!