It seems every time we post we start out with something along the lines of "wow, we haven't posted anything in ages." This is evidently not an exception. We are wrapping up our first year in India and the time has just flown by! School ends tomorrow, the end of 7th grade for me and 4th for Tessa. This year has been one of many ups and downs, much like the roller coaster metaphor given to us before we came. It has been filled with many positve learning expiriences as well as negitive ones. I've gained much insight about the culture and economics of this astoundingly different place as well as the natural hard times of moving. Tough parts have come up throughout the year with much thanks to being 13, a year I hear by many is a tough one (I can only argue for that!)
Not only has the lack of a music program in this country depleted one of my favorite passions, I have faced challenges about fitting with the crowd at the school and trying to figure out who I am. I am told thats just a part of ife and growing up. Well, having moved to India I will never know if it is really just that or a side effect of moving.
I have learned a considerable amount that I would have not even thought about back in Seattle. Altough culture here is that of one still striving from the beginings of hinduism, the economics of this country are equally fascinating. So much of this country is unregulated yet still functions considerably efficently. Take for example that although the trash collection is very modest and rellys heavily on the trash pickers, India still collects 47% of its generated plastic as compared to the states where we only collect 5%! Many of these situations occur on a day to day baises thanks to the large amounts of unemployed leading to cheap labor.
Other traditions that have interested us are those of arranged marriages which I'm sure you will hear a lot of from Mom in the future. Personally I would have no idea where to start with that topic anyway :)
One of the many positive things of India is the fruits of this region. Like it should be fruits are avalible seasonally during the time they can be grown in this region. It is officially the mango season. The many types of mangos are all amazing and to die for! I have about three or four a day sometimes, but Mom tries to limit our consumption for the purpose of not constantly buying. Along with mangos during this season there are lychees. These are also very good! For those of you who don't get to experience what a lychee is they are a fruit. Past that I don't know how to really describe them. They are about the size of grapes and have a hard shell thats purple-ish or more red. They are easy to peel and on the inside is a weird white meat that tastes amazing. Under that is a pit. Both of these things can be seen being sold on the rode on carts that are pushed by sellers. On the way home from school today there was a road where we counted 16 consecutive lychee sellers! It is a spectacular sight.
Here is a comical picture of a park we went by recently. Like a lot of things in India it looked really cool on the outside but upon closer observation all broken. There were a few other slides like this along with whole platforms ripped up and gone. There was also a ladder up to a slide on which all of the rungs were gone along with huge sections of the slides. Lets all take a moment of silence to all of those innocent kids that have died at this park.
As a family we have also spent some time teaching english to blind kids at a boys school for the blind. It is the school our driver's son attends. We have stopped now for summer but here are a few pictures of what it was like:
These pics are of us teaching the kids the body parts and simple commands using everyones favorite game "Simon Says." (The boy in the tan colored shirt is our driver's son. His name is pronounced P-ewsh (spelling ignored) and he is fourteen.) They had a lot of fun playing this game. Other, less successful ways, we tried to teach the boys were by having one on one conversations with them in which I could tell they weren't getting anything out of it but Mom was a little bit more convinced they were learning a little. Overall the experience was a good one and I learned a lot about teaching especially those you can't comunicate well with.
Well thats about all I'm going to put into this post. I will make sure that the next person who posts is Tessa because it seems it was originally her idea but I'm turning out to be the one who posts the most. I see revenge for this in the near future :) sorry Tessa. -Chase
Not only has the lack of a music program in this country depleted one of my favorite passions, I have faced challenges about fitting with the crowd at the school and trying to figure out who I am. I am told thats just a part of ife and growing up. Well, having moved to India I will never know if it is really just that or a side effect of moving.
I have learned a considerable amount that I would have not even thought about back in Seattle. Altough culture here is that of one still striving from the beginings of hinduism, the economics of this country are equally fascinating. So much of this country is unregulated yet still functions considerably efficently. Take for example that although the trash collection is very modest and rellys heavily on the trash pickers, India still collects 47% of its generated plastic as compared to the states where we only collect 5%! Many of these situations occur on a day to day baises thanks to the large amounts of unemployed leading to cheap labor.
Other traditions that have interested us are those of arranged marriages which I'm sure you will hear a lot of from Mom in the future. Personally I would have no idea where to start with that topic anyway :)
One of the many positive things of India is the fruits of this region. Like it should be fruits are avalible seasonally during the time they can be grown in this region. It is officially the mango season. The many types of mangos are all amazing and to die for! I have about three or four a day sometimes, but Mom tries to limit our consumption for the purpose of not constantly buying. Along with mangos during this season there are lychees. These are also very good! For those of you who don't get to experience what a lychee is they are a fruit. Past that I don't know how to really describe them. They are about the size of grapes and have a hard shell thats purple-ish or more red. They are easy to peel and on the inside is a weird white meat that tastes amazing. Under that is a pit. Both of these things can be seen being sold on the rode on carts that are pushed by sellers. On the way home from school today there was a road where we counted 16 consecutive lychee sellers! It is a spectacular sight.
As a family we have also spent some time teaching english to blind kids at a boys school for the blind. It is the school our driver's son attends. We have stopped now for summer but here are a few pictures of what it was like:
Well thats about all I'm going to put into this post. I will make sure that the next person who posts is Tessa because it seems it was originally her idea but I'm turning out to be the one who posts the most. I see revenge for this in the near future :) sorry Tessa. -Chase
