| Katherine's story of her early time in Madurai.
Discounting the brief frenzy of our arrival at Chennai airport, Madurai was the first place I visited in India. It's a fair sized city in the deep tropical south of Tamil Nadu; an area little westernized compared to other regions of the country. From the start my fellow volunteers Janie, Lottie, and I have been exceptionally well looked after. We have our own flat with a private roof garden, which is above the house of our host family here. I couldn't ask for better hosts. It's a big family, ranging from Ruby who is over 80yrs old (but still amazingly energetic!) to the littlest child being just four. We have really been made to feel welcome, and truly part of the family. As paying guests we have all our food made for us, and also we have been taken on many day trips to the surrounding area (such as to Alargarkoil, a temple on a hilltop in the jungle overrun with monkeys, literally this could have been a scene from out of the jungle book...) We've been teaching now for over a month, I have a range of 5-11 year olds to while my companions have been allocated the kindergarten. Most of my students already have a good grasp of English, (in fact I have a sneaky feeling their grammar may be better than mine!) but despite this it is challenging to communicate, they can't understand anything they hear, or pronounce any of their words. The school is much what I imagine a school to have been like in 1940s England, learning is almost solely by taking notes and learning by rote. We've made additions such as craft and games to the lessons, and although the teachers seem to think we're a bit loopy, the children enjoy it. Another trust builder was when we recently took part in a school trip to a play park which was a lovely way to get to know the children.
First email from Clive I can't believe that 2 weeks have passed since my arrival! I have been well received here - Betty, Sam, Mary and their wider family go to amazing lengths to make sure i have everything i need and that I am happy. My accommodation is about 5 minutes walk from one of the several houses where they live - i have my own apartment with large bedroom kitchen, 2 reception rooms, 2 bathrooms -( one with western loo and 1 with Indian loo so have the best of both worlds!! :-) ) and a larger open rooftop where I spend most late afternoons reading, listening to my eye pod and planning/thinking about the next day's lessons. All main rooms have ceiling fans and boy am I using them!! All my food is prepared and cooked for me at one of the family houses nearby. I've now adjusted well to the hot Indian dishes; the stomach only complained on one day and is now resigned to the new diet!! I had one week to settle in before starting to teach. The heat does take getting used to, but is similar to Sri Lanka - don't think I've ever drunk so much water!! However, May - June is the hottest time so just have to put up with it!! My hosts and their friends have taken me to many Temples in the area, some of these are huge - go ogle Madurai to find out more!! The area is very religious with Hinduism, which plays a major part in the life of the city. I also visited a music college where students tried to get me Indian dances and drumming!! Drumming OK, but dancing, hmmm!! We had a good laugh though!! I started teaching on Monday 16th April at the Siddhu Matriculation Higher Secondary School . I have 3 classes - 14 to 18 year olds from 8.30 to 10am, 3 to 6 year olds from 10 to 11am and 11 to 14s from 11 to 12. The youngsters are an interesting challenge - there are around 20 of them, but all really sweet. Materials are lacking, but hopefully some of these and some help may appear next week - who knows!! 14-18 years are great - we're having some good laughs along the way too. This class have already asked for extra sessions at the end of the Summer school Term- must be doing something right!! Think a teaching course would have been useful, but I'm doing the best I can and it feels right that I am here. I'm SO GLAD that I did some preparation before leaving the UK as materials are pretty non existent!! I'll send pics of the schools and classes on the next news email. The culture here is fascinating and all the people I've met so friendly and helpful. People are fascinated by the minority white face, and those who can say Hi - how are you? Others just grin and smile shaking their heads in the Indian 'Figure of 8' smile, as I call it!! I visited Tiruchirapalli on Saturday (check your Atlases) where I saw another massive Temple and a fantastic view from a high point called Rock Fort. Three hour bus journey each way though!! I've attended 2 church services - the first a Pentecostal that one of the family attend, and the second a mix between Anglican/Methodist, where I was asked to speak to the congregation at only 5 minutes notice!! All was translated to Tamil as I went along, which gave me some thinking time. I was then presented with a shawl and given a round of applause - which was moving. Many spoke to me after the service - think I'll be attending there regularly when I'm free.
Second email from Clive Hi once again from very sunny India!! After travelling by night bus and arriving back at Madurai at 5.20am,
teaching recommenced at 8.30am. It's been a great experience so far - (see
pics) the students are great - a happy bunch. Most lessons have gone well.
Summer classes finished on Friday. Numbers decreased towards the end due to
some students travelling for holidays with their families. Also annual
results equivalent to O/A level outs are out - those who haven't fared so
well I'm told wont come to class for fear of being asked by friends of their
results. Education is a big thing here and those who can afford it are
expected by their families to perform. Like our society, some will do better
than others. On the Friday the Dance part of the Summer school performed
before my small students did some nursery rhymes and songs, and the older
ones talking about their experiences of our Spoken English class - in
English of course!! I was presented with several gifts by the students - all
very moving. In the afternoon, I treated 9 students to see Spiderman 3 - in
Tamil - i think i got the plot more or less!! A good time was had by all.
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