Today was a reallly long day.
First all the teachers came over for teacher training. We basically sat and played a bunch of different games so the teachers could familiarize themselves with said games and use them in the class rooms. I was in charge of skip-bo, which is a kind of lame version of speed and uno. But I had a lot of fun sitting and chatting with the teachers about techniques they have to get the kiddo interested in learning. They are all very excited about the new reading program. Hopefully I'll be able to give them a training on it next Saturday.
After the staff left, Suzan, Chris, Sue and I packed into the car and headed to Metro which is an Indian version of Costco. It took us an hour to get there, traffic in India is terrible. You'll have 2 actual lanes but there are easily 4 lanes of cars. The buses stop for nobody, mopeds zig in and out of the cars, people pull u turns like theres no tomorrow, and there are a zillion (yes I counted) people driving around.
Sue and I were very impressed with Metro. It was clean and as orderly as you can get in India. We have been thinking of ways to cut down on costs and one idea was to buy the school lunch in bulk at Metro. This week, well the coming week, is going to be a test run. For three days (Wednesday is a holiday, and the cook has a days worth of food left over from last week) we picked up 120 kilograms of rice which equals to 264 pounds! 30 kgs of dal, 66 pounds (dal is a yellow lintel that they cook to a gravy like consistency. It's really good, spicy. We also bought a huge bag of chili powder and 66 pounds of onions. All this for only three days! But its worth it, as Sue says.
I can't believe how different some things are here. For instance, I went to Metro wearing jean cut offs and a tee shirt. The way the men were oggling me, you'd think I was in a mini skirt and tank top! I couldn't believe it. They were stare and stare and stare until finally I'd make eye contact with them. Then they'd stare some more. It's very, intimidating, to have all of these random people staring at you like they've never seen a pair of legs before. I'm sure part of this is also due to the fact I'm the only blond within 100 miles. In Thailand, Westerners are pretty common, even in Nang Rong. Thai's have gotten used to seeing them around so they dont pay me much attention. But not here. I have not seen one Westerner, not even in the airport and I was there for 6 hours. Every time Sue and I step out of the car, we stop traffic. Literally.
On our way back we stopped at McDonald's to have dinner. This made me laugh. They don't have hamburgers or play equipment. They do have veggie burgers, a delivery service Mcflurries, Backstreet Boys and old school Britney Spears playing over the loud speaker and a metal detector outside the front door. The veggie burger wasn't bad (though it wasn't good), the music very 90's, and the metal dectector didn't make you feel any safer. Suzan told me that four years ago a park was bombed and a bunch of people were killed during a festival. Ever since then businesses have put up metal detectors up in front of their doors. Yikes!
Now to bed, if I can stop singing 'all you people can't you see can't you see' and picturing my sister and uncle singing and dancing along at the BB concert.
First all the teachers came over for teacher training. We basically sat and played a bunch of different games so the teachers could familiarize themselves with said games and use them in the class rooms. I was in charge of skip-bo, which is a kind of lame version of speed and uno. But I had a lot of fun sitting and chatting with the teachers about techniques they have to get the kiddo interested in learning. They are all very excited about the new reading program. Hopefully I'll be able to give them a training on it next Saturday.
After the staff left, Suzan, Chris, Sue and I packed into the car and headed to Metro which is an Indian version of Costco. It took us an hour to get there, traffic in India is terrible. You'll have 2 actual lanes but there are easily 4 lanes of cars. The buses stop for nobody, mopeds zig in and out of the cars, people pull u turns like theres no tomorrow, and there are a zillion (yes I counted) people driving around.
Sue and I were very impressed with Metro. It was clean and as orderly as you can get in India. We have been thinking of ways to cut down on costs and one idea was to buy the school lunch in bulk at Metro. This week, well the coming week, is going to be a test run. For three days (Wednesday is a holiday, and the cook has a days worth of food left over from last week) we picked up 120 kilograms of rice which equals to 264 pounds! 30 kgs of dal, 66 pounds (dal is a yellow lintel that they cook to a gravy like consistency. It's really good, spicy. We also bought a huge bag of chili powder and 66 pounds of onions. All this for only three days! But its worth it, as Sue says.
I can't believe how different some things are here. For instance, I went to Metro wearing jean cut offs and a tee shirt. The way the men were oggling me, you'd think I was in a mini skirt and tank top! I couldn't believe it. They were stare and stare and stare until finally I'd make eye contact with them. Then they'd stare some more. It's very, intimidating, to have all of these random people staring at you like they've never seen a pair of legs before. I'm sure part of this is also due to the fact I'm the only blond within 100 miles. In Thailand, Westerners are pretty common, even in Nang Rong. Thai's have gotten used to seeing them around so they dont pay me much attention. But not here. I have not seen one Westerner, not even in the airport and I was there for 6 hours. Every time Sue and I step out of the car, we stop traffic. Literally.
On our way back we stopped at McDonald's to have dinner. This made me laugh. They don't have hamburgers or play equipment. They do have veggie burgers, a delivery service Mcflurries, Backstreet Boys and old school Britney Spears playing over the loud speaker and a metal detector outside the front door. The veggie burger wasn't bad (though it wasn't good), the music very 90's, and the metal dectector didn't make you feel any safer. Suzan told me that four years ago a park was bombed and a bunch of people were killed during a festival. Ever since then businesses have put up metal detectors up in front of their doors. Yikes!
Now to bed, if I can stop singing 'all you people can't you see can't you see' and picturing my sister and uncle singing and dancing along at the BB concert.
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