Saree Adventure Day 3 and 4

Day 3 of my saree challenge was much more successful.  I had many pleats in the front and it looked very well done.  The teachers congratulated me for a job well done but of course had to tidy it up a little since it was Teacher's Day here in India.  Thankfully I wore a fancy saree for the days events!  Upon arriving at school I was bombarded with children trying to shake my hands and congratulate me for being a teacher.  It was very sweet.  I was also given several pens as gifts.  The first two were actual planned gifts the others were just starting to give me their pens, which made me sad and happy all at the same time.  They really do appreciate me but most of them don't have pens to begin with so it was hard to balance being thankful and trying to refuse gifts.  One girl from my 3rd standard classroom gave me earrings.  She even had them in a little box all wrapped up.  Her dad was there as well to give me the gift.  It was super sweet.  They are these little gold hoops.  They were instantly shoved into my ears by several over excited little fingers!  I was not allowed to teach my first class.  I tried to do my lessons with my regular few who enlist in English lessons and they refused.  I was then shoved into the teachers chair and anytime I attempted to get up, "No ma'am no!!"  It was really cute.

In my next class I was allowed to teach and in fact it was the first time in several weeks that the whole class was actually in the room let alone sitting in their seats!!!  However, some girls in the front row were super chatty and giggly.  Finally they got up and started to put their chains around my neck saying they were all gifts.  I had to turn them all away.  It was really cute and I hated to break their hearts, especially when they all walked away bummed!  It was a lovely day at school!

Today is day 4 and I am pretty proud of my saree wrapping!  I have several pleats lined up very well, the front across my chest looks neat and pretty!!  I will have to let you know how it goes today!!!

Saree Adventure Day 2!

Today I wore the saree that Chandra (Jonathan's headmistress) gave to me.  I did a much better job at wrapping myself in it!  I even had some pleats in the front.  Ravanan instantly said, "Super!" when I walked out of my room!

When I got to school the headmistress and another teacher pulled me into the office and fixed me all up.  They made the most beautiful pleats and helped display the beautiful design on the saree across my chest.  It look absolutely beautiful!

I also went to visit the tailor who then decided that she needed to wrap the saree differently.  She made it look more like a fancy saree rather than an everyday wear saree.  I notice as I wear the sarees that women and men look at me differently.  Women will approach me and ask if I put it on myself and sort of congratulate me for wearing it.  I am liking wearing the sarees to school.

Today I also received two packages in the mail.  It was delightful!

My school has started to make some transformations for the better which is good.  Someone from the government office came to visit and made some rearrangements which seemed to have made the learning environment a little different, mostly for the better.  Jenna also went and talked to my teacher about how my classes have not really been running due to behaviors and no teachers being in the classrooms except for me.  They all instantly went to their classroom and the teacher of the class that I was in offered to help when she came in.  I am excited to finally have the attention of the class and the support of the teachers.  

Saree Wearing Day 1

Day 1 of wearing a saree was successful!!  I started my morning off by coming out of my room half dressed trying to figure out the very intricate pleats in the front.  It is so hard.  Ravanan thankfully helped out a little.  I finally got it secure and headed to school.  The responses were humorous.  All my students screamed with joy as I approached the school.  I even got a "beautiful" from one of my students who never engages in class and always avoids me!!!  It was sweet.

Upon arriving at school my headmistress instantly beckoned me into her office and attempted to straighten out my pleats a little and then repeated several times that I did a super job!  The teachers fed me praises all day every time I saw them.

A few of my 5th standard students pulled me aside and tried to straighten out my pleats.  It was cute.  I had three of them fussing about my saree.

I did forget to take a picture but I will be sure to take pictures in the future!

Updates

My apologies for not updating my blog!  I have been a little unmotivated due to the lack of success of my students.  This lack of motivation has slowly seeped into many other areas of my life other than my work life.

My school assignment has been a huge challenge for me.  My school has lost all structure.  Some days there are only one of two teachers in the whole building and they are sitting in a classroom just talking, eating, and doing other things which I can't figure out.  The students just run around like kids would unattended.  They play, sing, dance, run around, jump off things, and fight (my ECA skills came in handy one day as one boy had another boy in a headlock).  Which I must say was a great moment when all the boys started yelling, "fighting Miss, they fight Miss" and when I separated the two all the boys looked at me in awe.  I think that they were just surprised I could actually pry the one off the other and that I didn't hit them for it but made them take a loooong time-out from playing and work on English together.  So that is what my lessons have come down to:  grabbing students as they play or run around and force them to work on their English for at least 10 minutes.  It is chaotic but at this point it is all that I can do.  It makes me sad and disappointed.  It makes me sad that the students aren't getting the education that they deserve from me and from their classroom teachers.  It makes me wonder why these teachers are not dedicating themselves to their education.  It makes me question the effectiveness of the government schools at rising above the caste system.

Last weekend I went to visit Jonathan.  It was super nice.  We had a relaxing Saturday visiting his children and then just walking around his town.  We bought a few presents for ourselves and a few for others.  It was nice.  On Sunday we went to Kerala which is another state to the west.  It was amazingly beautiful.  We went to an Ashram to watch some of his children perform yoga and be honored for their skills.  We went their in a car with all the girls on one side in the back seat and then Jonathan and I smushed on the other side.  One of his male students was sitting in the front seat with the Secretary.  It was such an interesting and beautiful trip.  The girls were amazing at yoga.  The bent their little bodies in ways I didn't quite know were possible.  We saw beautiful rice paddies and other green natural areas.  Lots of rivers were along the road on the way.  On the way home we stopped at a dam.  It took my breath away!  The mountains were massive and green.  They were simply amazing.  I hope Jonathan and I get to go back to that area.

This past weekend we celebrated Laura's birthday by going to the 5 star hotel in town and getting a cold beer to celebrate her birthday.  It was fun.  Derka dressed us in sarees and then she even came with us to eat dinner out.  It was nice that she got to do that with us.  The cold beer was everything I remembered it as!!!

I am starting a little challenge with myself:  For the next 30 school days I will only wear sarees to school!  It will be interesting to see how the students react when I show up this morning.  And how my headmistress reacts since I look like a mess!  It is so hard to wrap them but hopefully by the end of the 30 days I will be a little better at the process.  Ravanan even helped me this morning because I was seriously struggling to get the pleats in the front!!