Five Things I Say Everyday

[A quick regression to my old theme]

1) "Oh man this one is my favorite!"
Every time we have lunch or dinner, I am on and on about how much I love the food. KM thinks I am off my rocker as I shovel his meals in my mouth while the rest eat nicely. Dosas, chipattis, onion samba, dahl, purri, idlees - you name it, I love it. Here's the crazy part - I eat everything in sight but I am still losing weight. What can I do? I vacuum this stuff up and nothing happens. My poor little wrists look like toothpicks. I know what you all are saying: How can I afford to lose any weight? Well I can't. So go on ahead and get your reservations now at the following places: Ruth's Chris, Port of Call (New Orleans), and Krystal's (West End Ave).

2) "I love that kid"
You have seen their pictures - they are the cutest little things on earth. But what I really love is their personalities. The quiet ones who all of a sudden start babbling on to me, the tough guy who comes in the afternoon for extra reading, the little grinner who showed up yesterday in sunglasses so we would match. One of our little six year olds gets picked up from school by his grandmother. I swear she is shorter than her grandson, and he definitely walks her home, not the other way around. Manoj comes to class and instead of sitting in a desk, he sits in the middle of the floor. He is such a talker that I always end up moving him there anyway - it cracks me up that he now predicts this and starts off class at his "special seat". Everyday I love another kid for a different reason, and I can't stop talking about them.

3) "Very good!"
My students absolutely love that I write "very good" or "excellent" at the top of their papers. They love looking at the red pen I use. And they love hearing it even more. I kid you not when I say that while doing a worksheet in class, every single student brings their paper over to me at least 35 times, just to hear me say "Oh very good!" A five letter word needs five "very good" comments - one for each letter. Each leg of a cow needs a "very good!". They simply love it. I sound like a broken record.

4) "So I've been thinking..."
Being at a growing school with so many positive things happening is such a great opportunity - to push for more. Pati and I sit around every night, chatting away about the day, constantly thinking of new ideas and new programs. In the works is a playground. As of now the kids play with a few balls, jumps ropes, plastic pipes and a pile of dirt - and they love it. Think of how they will love this playground! We are also working on getting a special education program installed in the curriculum. A couple of our students are definitely learning disabled, but there is no way to really pinpoint their struggles, so our next big step is to have every child tested for disabilities and put on a special curriculum course. Nothing like this has been done at rural schools in India - a huge step. New ideas are abound every night in our living room.

5) "What did he say?"
I have made a good solid effort to learn some Tamil. Nothing shocks one of my chatty students more than when I bust out "Enough!" or "Quiet!" in Tamil. I don't know enough to form any sentences of significance, but everyone around me seems to forget that. Tata starts chatting to me on my front porch and literally 20 minutes later, when I haven't understood a thing, Pati finally breaks in and tells him I am totally lost. But it continues everyday and I have no clue.
These are some of the things I have been told in Tamil and then had translated:
"You can't be walking off by yourself like that little girl!" [cleaning lady]
"I hope you are only going away for the weekend since you have not told me goodbye!" [Tata]
"Those shorts look so funny - where are your pants?" [random village lady]
"You can't carry all those coconuts! Let me send my son to help you. He likes you!" [village lady #2]
"My son is naked because he heard your voice and jumped out of the bath" [lady #3 explaining why her three year old came out to say hi in his birthday suit]
"Where did she learn all this Tamil?" [one of my students clearly disappointed he can't pretend to not understand me anymore].