Our tables fill with many dishes, sometimes different depending on where in the U.S. you may be, or what your family traditions are, but there are always staple foods that must be on every Thanksgiving table. Turkey being the most important, then dressing (stuffing for you non-southerners), cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and of course… pumpkin pie! Excess food pouring over the sides of dishes while salivating mouths are waiting to eat because they haven’t eaten all day in preparation for the onslaught of food about to be consumed.

Well even though I am living in India right now, the other American interns living in Jodhpur and I decided that the best remedy for any homesickness or food cravings would be to make a Thanksgiving meal here in India! This was an endeavor that was great in thought, but not carefully thought through in order to be executed smoothly. With a grocery list consisting of nearly 30 items and not a single Westernized grocery store, the shopping started at 2 pm on Saturday for our meal that was planned for Sunday at 2 pm. Everyone split the list and started shopping around in two groups. After going to vegetable markets, and small stores, the hunting really began. Where the hell are we going to find marshmallows, evaporated milk, and cranberry sauce? After long ado, all was found at various places after asking person after person at stores, and even being given a phone to talk to different storeowners. I am really glad I missed out in having to get the chicken, because apparently they got to pick their chicken live, and then watch it being chopped up in front of their eyes. NO THANK YOU!

We finally got all of our cooking supplies and started prepping on Saturday night at our director’s house. After adjourning, we decided to meet at 9:30 the next morning to get the rest going in order to not delay the lunch plans. Well I got there at 9:30, but being in India, I waited on the others for a while, then a little longer to get things going. Finally, after all the prepping had been done, cooking had to ensue. This was the difficult part considering Indians do not have ovens, and they generally only have a double gas stove in their kitchen. We had to use a toaster oven to cook the sweet potato casserole, banana bread, and pumpkin pie, but surprisingly they turned out really tasty. With the help of our director, we had an extra gas stove brought in to cook and after we cooked most of our American food, the two Indian women from our organization made some Indian dishes as well.

It was a hit! Separating the non-veg and veg items on two different tables, we pondered upon the smorgasbord of random foods in front of our eyes and teasing our taste buds. The tables consisted of mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole (complete with marshmallows and pineapple), green beans, cranberry sauce, salad, matar paneer (peas and paneer), Indian layered rice dish, paneer gulab jamon, and steaming piles of fresh chapatti. On the non-veg table, our tandori-ish chicken, pumpkin pie (made from fresh pumpkin!), and peanut butter banana bread covered in Nutella. These were non-veg items because vegetarians in India do not eat eggs and there were eggs in the baked goods. Everyone, host families and all, thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the food. I am pretty sure the Indians preferred the Indian food though, probably because our American food just wasn’t flavorful enough for their palettes.

Thursday November 3^rd

Well today was…different. Yeah, different. We’ll go with that. The day started out fairly normal. We noticed that the sewage which we saw spewing up yesterday was still going didn’t think that much of it. I took out a group of students and worked on perimeter. It was pretty easy and they were really good. I literally sat back and watched them do it helping when needed. It was lovely to feel completely in control of the class J Then it was that classes turn for sports so I helped with sports as well. They did netball which was pretty fun. Then it was break time. Nothing special there. It was picture day but I forgot my camera so I just stayed in the classroom and read. The break bell went off as usual but then another bell rang and we heard screams from outside. I looked outside and saw kids running around and then kids with backpacks walking out the school. They shut school early because of the sewage. Health hazard. It was utter chaos. I hoped against hope that we would get to go home early but no such luck. Instead I went to nursery where I thought I would be taking a small group of children out and doing a small lesson….no such luck again. The carer (what we call the ladies who are in charge) pretty much gave me a group of 40 children and told me to read to them. You can imagine how that went…not well. There was screaming, kicking, and general bad behavouir. It was pretty bad and the carers weren’t really helping either. I was thankful when it was finally lunchtime and got to help feed the children. I then went on my own lunch at ACJ before returning to nusery after naptime. I love the kids after they nap. They’re all drowsy and super lazy. It’s so cute. I helped them put on their shoes and one of them Tandalethu was laying his head on my lap. He was attached to me. He wouldn’t let me go even when it was time to put the chairs up. He screamed when I tried to move until I pulled him aside and we sat in the corner. So cute! Anyways the rest of the day was good because once they were awake we just got to play with them which is what we usually do with them anyway.

Friday November 4th

Today was an interesting day. I went to school but didn’t do anything there. Joel, Emma and I all ended up going to Ikhayalethemba which was so fun. I worked with Class A which includes Asasa who I love. She’s awesome although she is trouble. We first read to them or rather they looked through the books and we tried to read to them. Then we did a creative thing which involves glue and stickers so of course there was a huge mess. Then it was snack time and we helped the children eat then it was our break time. I enjoyed some food and then we got ready for Fun Friday. Beth brought the kids in and we watched Shrek the Third. Well half of them did the other half caused trouble so we eventually ended up taking some of them out to play and the others were left in peace to watch the movie. We also gave them popcorn, watermelon and chocolate covered bananas with sprinkles. It was so good. Then it was playtime for a while before they had lunch. I had to help Asasa in the bathroom and then I picked up one of the babies because he was crying. His name is Anathi and he is so cute. I put him down and took pictures. I took lots of pictures with my film camera which I hope come out well *fingers crossed*

It was so much fun. I love being at the orphanage! It made me sorta wish I was staying over break so I could work at the orphanage although of course I’m excited about going home. It’ll be nice to be with my family and visit my friends over the month we have off. 

Thursday November 3^rd

Well today was…different. Yeah, different. We’ll go with that. The day started out fairly normal. We noticed that the sewage which we saw spewing up yesterday was still going didn’t think that much of it. I took out a group of students and worked on perimeter. It was pretty easy and they were really good. I literally sat back and watched them do it helping when needed. It was lovely to feel completely in control of the class J Then it was that classes turn for sports so I helped with sports as well. They did netball which was pretty fun. Then it was break time. Nothing special there. It was picture day but I forgot my camera so I just stayed in the classroom and read. The break bell went off as usual but then another bell rang and we heard screams from outside. I looked outside and saw kids running around and then kids with backpacks walking out the school. They shut school early because of the sewage. Health hazard. It was utter chaos. I hoped against hope that we would get to go home early but no such luck. Instead I went to nursery where I thought I would be taking a small group of children out and doing a small lesson….no such luck again. The carer (what we call the ladies who are in charge) pretty much gave me a group of 40 children and told me to read to them. You can imagine how that went…not well. There was screaming, kicking, and general bad behavouir. It was pretty bad and the carers weren’t really helping either. I was thankful when it was finally lunchtime and got to help feed the children. I then went on my own lunch at ACJ before returning to nusery after naptime. I love the kids after they nap. They’re all drowsy and super lazy. It’s so cute. I helped them put on their shoes and one of them Tandalethu was laying his head on my lap. He was attached to me. He wouldn’t let me go even when it was time to put the chairs up. He screamed when I tried to move until I pulled him aside and we sat in the corner. So cute! Anyways the rest of the day was good because once they were awake we just got to play with them which is what we usually do with them anyway.

Friday November 4th

Today was an interesting day. I went to school but didn’t do anything there. Joel, Emma and I all ended up going to Ikhayalethemba which was so fun. I worked with Class A which includes Asasa who I love. She’s awesome although she is trouble. We first read to them or rather they looked through the books and we tried to read to them. Then we did a creative thing which involves glue and stickers so of course there was a huge mess. Then it was snack time and we helped the children eat then it was our break time. I enjoyed some food and then we got ready for Fun Friday. Beth brought the kids in and we watched Shrek the Third. Well half of them did the other half caused trouble so we eventually ended up taking some of them out to play and the others were left in peace to watch the movie. We also gave them popcorn, watermelon and chocolate covered bananas with sprinkles. It was so good. Then it was playtime for a while before they had lunch. I had to help Asasa in the bathroom and then I picked up one of the babies because he was crying. His name is Anathi and he is so cute. I put him down and took pictures. I took lots of pictures with my film camera which I hope come out well *fingers crossed*

It was so much fun. I love being at the orphanage! It made me sorta wish I was staying over break so I could work at the orphanage although of course I’m excited about going home. It’ll be nice to be with my family and visit my friends over the month we have off. 

This past weekend the other American interns and myself went of the midterm retreat for our session. For me it is no where near midterm, but the others are here for shorter times than me. Our trip to Udiapur, “The City of Lakes”, was a nice and needed time to relax and enjoy our surrounding in India. Udiapur was a much more of tourist friendly city and more relaxing than Jodhpur. The lack of people and horns crowding the already busy street was slightly mind boggling when walking around Udiapur. Being in Jodhpur, it is quite natural to walk past a cow eating trash that lines the streets while having a car almost run you down while blaring it’s horn right behind you. In Udiapur, however, it was almost like the Disneyland of Rajasthan because the lack of sensory overload was no where to be found, and the city was a lush land of beauty.

While walking around Udiapur, one might see the occasional cow walking or local bathing in the lake, but most of the time it is not nearly as crazy as the rest of the cities in Rajasthan. We even ended up riding swan paddle boats in a large fountain in the center of the city. Now tell me that is normal in India... The city’s Lake Palace was the setting for James Bond’s Octopussy and on a nightly basis, a tourist with a desire to fill their James Bond desire can catch a showing of this movie at a plethera of rooftop restaurants featuring their claim to fame. Tourists can also find a range of stores selling their goods to the doe eyed tourists not knowing what to pay or how to bargain and restaurants feathering mouth watering baked goods that are a treat to find anywhere in India. The oldest German bakery started a fad, in 1966, in Udiapur of selling desired baked goods and strong, fresh coffee to travelers in need of a taste of home. Now though, there are “French” and “German” bakeries all over Old City that try to attract the watering mouths of the Western tourists wondering if they will be satisfied by a piece of cake or a stimulating espresso. I was lured in multiple times by the Edlewiess Bakery and had my fill of pastries and coffee.

Other than the delicous pastries of Udiapur, the sites were amazing to see after leaving my current hometown of Jodhpur which is a flat dry city full of trash and dirt. Although I do not think I will see a fort in India that surpasses the grandeur of the Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, the city of Udiapur leaves you wishing for a few more days in paradise. While the weather is the same, the city gets an abundance of rainfall during the monsoon season which leaves the lakes full and the trees green for seasons to come. The mountains surrounding the city allow the tourists and locals to see an ariel view of the sparkling city especially at sunrise and sunset. Leaving the city was quite hard, but knowing I would be going back to the room I call home, and the village I have become so fond of, I knew I would be just fine.

Thanksgiving was yesterday and although no one here celebrates the American holiday, the interns and I will be cooking American food today and tomorrow and inviting our host families to enjoy our home country’s holiday. We have to do this on the weekend because we all had to work during the week. I will definitely give some glimpses of the Americans at work...

As for work though, the women are starting to teach me some Hindi words and I am trying to teach myself as well. It is a very difficult language to learn here though because there are no particular ways of spelling the Hindi words in the phonetic alphabet and when the Indians tell you word to learn, it is very difficult to understand and pronounce correctly. This is the most difficult part of being in the village. Not knowing Hindi and trying to be the manager of the center where most of the women know nothing of my language and I know none of their language, definitely has it’s drawbacks.

If you would have asked me last term I would have said that it was chaotic. But comparatively speaking, this term has been much more chaotic. School has been ending much earlier for various reasons testing, flooding, etc. It has been our jobs a lot harder when we find out that school is closing at 1 when it normally closes at 2:30. We’ve had to have a lot more flexibility then we did last term.

In addition, I have also been lacking a lot of motivation this term. I think it’s because I feel like so little progress has been made. It’s hard to see it, you know? I don’t really work with the same groups. I work with some groups one week and then others the next so it’s really hard to track the progress being made. The thing that does keep me going are the kids. There are some particular ones that hold a special place in my heart so it makes it easier for me to keep going.

Some of the chaotic things I actually don’t mind. For example, one day when we were supposed to have workshop, the choir was practicing. Most of my students are in the choir so workshop didn’t happen. Instead, Joel and I got to enjoy the choir which I absolutely love. They are so amazing. I love hearing them sing and I even know some of the songs now even though I have no idea what they’re saying.

Some things are going very well though. I think that overall I am improving as a teacher. I still know for sure that I want to teach math and I am getting better at explaining things and getting the kids to understand. For example, I had to teach the kids angles and I used my arms to make different angles and got them to do the same. The kids love playing games so I try to incorporate that in my lesson as much as possible. Then when it came to area and perimeter I made several squares and rectangles and got the kids to use blocks to figure out the area and the perimeter. They love things like that and I find it easier to be creative with math than it is for English. I find it hard to make English hands on. I was able to find a good activity to do with prepositions though and that seem to work really well. I would give the kids an instruction and the kid would have to follow it correctly in order to stay in the game. Basically they were passing the ball around. To make it harder once they got a hang of the instructions, I had them identify the prepositions. That seem to work fairly well, which was encouraging.

One more thing, did I mention dance club here? I’m not sure but one of the teachers and I were supposed to start a dance club at the school but that sadly hasn’t happened yet. There was the broken copier one week, then there was the flooding at school (more on that later). Basically it hasn’t happened yet and I doubt we’ll be able to start it before the term ends, which sucks because I was super excited about it. Let’s hope next term is a bit less chaotic and the dance club can actually start. 

If you would have asked me last term I would have said that it was chaotic. But comparatively speaking, this term has been much more chaotic. School has been ending much earlier for various reasons testing, flooding, etc. It has been our jobs a lot harder when we find out that school is closing at 1 when it normally closes at 2:30. We’ve had to have a lot more flexibility then we did last term.

In addition, I have also been lacking a lot of motivation this term. I think it’s because I feel like so little progress has been made. It’s hard to see it, you know? I don’t really work with the same groups. I work with some groups one week and then others the next so it’s really hard to track the progress being made. The thing that does keep me going are the kids. There are some particular ones that hold a special place in my heart so it makes it easier for me to keep going.

Some of the chaotic things I actually don’t mind. For example, one day when we were supposed to have workshop, the choir was practicing. Most of my students are in the choir so workshop didn’t happen. Instead, Joel and I got to enjoy the choir which I absolutely love. They are so amazing. I love hearing them sing and I even know some of the songs now even though I have no idea what they’re saying.

Some things are going very well though. I think that overall I am improving as a teacher. I still know for sure that I want to teach math and I am getting better at explaining things and getting the kids to understand. For example, I had to teach the kids angles and I used my arms to make different angles and got them to do the same. The kids love playing games so I try to incorporate that in my lesson as much as possible. Then when it came to area and perimeter I made several squares and rectangles and got the kids to use blocks to figure out the area and the perimeter. They love things like that and I find it easier to be creative with math than it is for English. I find it hard to make English hands on. I was able to find a good activity to do with prepositions though and that seem to work really well. I would give the kids an instruction and the kid would have to follow it correctly in order to stay in the game. Basically they were passing the ball around. To make it harder once they got a hang of the instructions, I had them identify the prepositions. That seem to work fairly well, which was encouraging.

One more thing, did I mention dance club here? I’m not sure but one of the teachers and I were supposed to start a dance club at the school but that sadly hasn’t happened yet. There was the broken copier one week, then there was the flooding at school (more on that later). Basically it hasn’t happened yet and I doubt we’ll be able to start it before the term ends, which sucks because I was super excited about it. Let’s hope next term is a bit less chaotic and the dance club can actually start. 

This week I have been working on the business side of the crafts center that has not been set up. Inventory, stock, marketing, artist training are all things that have been lacking and needed to ensure sustainability of the project. I started the week out by taking inventory and going over past sales to find out what items sell the most. Many items that are featured in the product catalog have not been made recently and without having samples of all the items, it is hard to sell and ensure speedy delivery of orders.

The main progress of this week though has been the possible partnership with Nest that I have been working on. There is a joint company, both non-profit and for-profit, that works with artisan groups of India. Nest is the non-profit side of the business that works with the producers on further training and getting products ready for international markets. The Collaborative Group, the for-profit side of the business, works on the export of these products to markets in the United States. Currently, I am still building on the relationship and trying to find out if this will be a good fit for both sides of the partnership. I feel I am starting to catch my stride here in India. Hopefully this will be a venture to pursue for the center.

Other than the business that I am working on with the crafts center, I am talking to a Basecamp employee, who works with the village on their projects, about the opportunity of a government greenhouse. This will take a lot of time to set up and may not be feasible in such a small village, but it is worth a try. The Indian Department of Agricultural works with rural villages on different projects, one being a subsidized greenhouse which they agree to pay ¾ of the initial investment while also training workers in the village. This type of project usually costs around 4,000,000 Rs., which is about $80,000. That is a lot of money in Indian terms, especially in a rural village where they are lucky to make over a dollar a day on average. The government does guarantee subsidies for ¾ the amount of the cost, around $60,000, but still leaves $20,000 that would have to funded by other sources. The other problem that might occur is the training. It would be bad development to only train the men to work in the greenhouse, but if the training happens to be in another part of the country, it is difficult for women to leave the village. The women are not encouraged by their families and extended families to pursue employment, and definitely not supported to leave the village for long periods of time, which training might require.

I am not able to stay at the hotel this weekend due to large tour groups coming in to stay at the hotel. I had to leave so they could use my room for guests, but I have not been in Jodhpur for close to two weeks, so I am fine with going to the city to get some supplies and hang out with the other Americans. Next weekend is going to be our midterm retreat, even though it is not close to my midterm; most of the other interns are here for a shorter amount of time than I am. The plan is to visit Udiapur in Rajasthan and stay for a three days in “the city of lakes.” There is also an FSD team that is based in Udiapur, but we most likely won’t see them during our stay there. Apparently it is a beautiful city and it is amazing they have lakes since in all the other areas of Rajasthan the lakes dry up within weeks of the end of the monsoon.

That’s it for now, but I will update if anything come up this week and definitely after our trip to Udiapur.

Saturday 8 October

Today was amazing. We just spent the day in Franschhoek which is probably my new favourite place in the world. It is absolutely beautiful. Today we went to Cook Franschhoek which was basically a cooking festival. Our first stop was at Solms Delta where I was very happy to hear that they do a lot of work for the community around them including education for the families that live on the farm and music programs for students in the area. That plus the great food made me love this place. We watched a demonstration of a salmon dish which was incredible. Then we enjoyed a three course meal which included the salmon dish we watched being made and then a choice of either risotto or lamb. I had the risotto and it was delicious. It was creamy and had some great cheese pieced with it. Then for dessert we had roobios milk tart topped with lemon sorbet and coconut foam. Also delicious. I loved the crust of the milk tart especially. I was so full after that. The entire demonstration and the three course lunch took about three hours. Can you imagine eating like that all the time?

Our next step was the Le Franschhoek Hotel which was gorgeous. The view, the hotel, everything was beautiful. This was a much smaller setting with about ten people. This course was just dessert but it was amazing. It was chocolate hazelnut dacquoise. It consisted of chocolate mousse with layers of hazelnut meringue. I even got to help whip the egg whites into shape. The end result was this rich dectate dessert. So good and they even gave you the recipe. I will try to recreate it 🙂  It was a great day. With great food and good company how can I complain?