Second blog post from Tiruvannamalai. First of all: the work at the school is not as tough as the first day. Luckily! After the experiences from Friday I decided to be better prepared for the following week and I prepared some action songs (in the meaning of using the body while singing), some games and some stuff to teach the young children like the names of colours, furniture, body parts etc. (things that are possible to visualise as a result of the language difficulties). When I got to school on Monday I wasn't going to teach and entertain the children as much as I was Friday so I had a much easier day. I spent most time in the Kindergarten & pre-school class where they started out swotting English words, the English alphabet and the Tamil alphabet. It was so funny to listen to their pronunciation of the alphabet: [yay, b, c, d, e, yef, g, hatch, i, j, k, yel, yem, yen, o, p, q, r, yes, t, u, v, w, yex, y, z]. Afterwards the children used their own little blackboard to write down numbers or English letters. The teaching is generally very much based on 'learning by heart' and not at all on the need of reflecting. For example are all the children capable of saying (shouting) the English alphabet, but if you ask what the 10th letter e.g. is, then they won't be able to answer. But the children are very eager to learn and they are just so sweet and bright (almost) all of them. They also enjoy teaching me Tamil so by now I have learned quite a few words - which I probably have forgotten within a week... Most of them at least. But it is fun to learn and they love hearing my pronunciation. They also love asking about the names in my family: "What is your mother's/father's/brother's/uncle's/auntie's/grandfather's/grandmother's/dog's name?" and they love learning new songs and games. It goes alright with the songs, but teaching them games is almost impossible; the teachers translate the game wrongly so the kids get very confused and end up playing the game in a wrong way or losing their patience.
I have been taking the local bus to the school alone since Monday and I like being among the locals doing things in their way, and they are - as Indians almost always are - very helpful and smiling. In the small village Mangalam, where the school is, I am the only white person and am treated like a celebrity. It sounds weird but that is probably the best way to explain it. People I don't know wave to me on the street, run after me to give me their hand and ask how I am, turning their heads after me, and just in general starring a lot and not at all in a discreet way... Some actually stop on their bicycles to say hello and then afterwards cycle further on. It is fun to try but it is also very nice to get home and back to Tiruvannamalai, where white people aren't as rare, to get some less attention.
At work in the school I am also treated like some kind of empress: I always get the best chair, food is served for me, cool drinks are brought... They do the best to please me all the time, which of course is done in the best meaning, I just don't want to be treated differently than them. I think that is impossible to avoid, though. The teachers are all really nice, it is just hard with the trouble speaking together. We keep misunderstanding each other and have a hard time communicating. They, however, love to invite me to their homes, and on Tuesday I went to the school master's home after work to have coffee and meet her family. The day after I went to one of the teacher's home to have lunch and it was the best lunch ever! Really, really good food in a very nice Indian house. There was just too much food... They kept on refilling my plate and it is rude not to finish your food (they'll think you didn't like it) so I ended up being more than full. When I finished my plate after having before-lunch-snacks, 2 plates of rice/sambar/carrots, and 2 eggs, I was asked if I wanted some fish as well, which I had to say 'no thanks' to listening to me stomach complaining of being too filled up, and afterwards I was handed a banana to eat now and five to my bag - in case I got hungry...! Very, very sweet of them, though J Tomorrow, Friday (my last day at the school), I am going to have lunch at another teacher's house. I really like having dinner at private families. In that way you get much better food and a much bigger experience. It is always fun to see private homes, I think.
The teachers, by the way, keep calling me Chino, because they can't pronounce my name correctly J

Except from the volunteer work, which has taking up most of my time here, though (leaving home at 8.30am and getting back at 5.30pm), I have been having a good time with Elise and Johanne. It has been really nice to have someone at home to discuss the days with and just in general be around people in almost the same situation as myself. It has also been lovely to have a home for some time with a kitchen, a living room and internet access (for free).
It is going to be a bit weird to travel around again - I have been settling a lot lately; at first 9 nights in Varkala, then 11 nights in The Andamans, and now 10 nights here in Tiruvannamalai. I am looking forward to it, though. According to my travel plan (which changes quite often...) I am heading to Pondicherry Saturday morning and is then leaving Pondicherry Monday night heading towards Chennai from where I Tuesday morning fly to New Delhi with the purpose of getting the train from here to Varanasi. So I have a lot of travelling ahead. Pondicherry is a former French colony so it has a big French touch with, wait for it, French cheeses and French wine...! I am looking so forward to this. It is also a brilliant shopping city, I've heard... Varanasi is the most holy city in India with the Ganges River flowing through, and I've heard that it is a very special experience being in this city.

I have by the way got two chudidas (traditional Indian clothes similar to tunics) stitched, which have become really good, and I have bought a saari (another type of traditional Indian clothes) as well, which I am looking very forward to try on tomorrow night after I have picked up the special made saari-blouse at the tailor. There are so many beautiful fabrics - I could buy tons of them...

So I am still very good in India. It is just so weird to think about the fact that I am home in less than a month.... I am looking really forward to it. It is going to be so good to be home again. At the same time, however, I could use much more time in India, and I don't feel homesick or alike. I am just looking forward get home - just as well as I am looking forward to my further travels in India the last four weeks. Life is sweet.

All the best,
Signe