School in India has a lot of similarities to America. We go to class for example. The teacher teaches and uses old maps. There is that annoying kid who likes to ask long winded questions right before the end of the class to show off and ends up delaying class.
Things start to change when the teacher hands out the syllabus. The first thing I notice is that there are no dates on it. The syllabus does not lay out day by day what we will be studying. Or what to have read by what day. Instead, it is a list of things we will be learning, and a longer list of books to read. A long list. Of books that can be found by wandering around the sociology department and finally stumbling into a room that contains The Binder. Inside The Binder is a list of all books and their matching number, which you can show to the Telegu speaking librarian to find for you. Once he finds said book, you can write your name on a scrap of paper and try to convey in Telegu when you will bring it back. And then you can start your homework.
The post office on campus also has a quaint charm to it. Behind bars sits a man straight out of a cabana movie who will sell you tear-off stamps that you can glue on with the drying bottle of rubber cement before putting the letter in the box and hoping it finds its way home.
The construction being done on campus will make the main road (about two miles long) into a two lane instead of a one lane. This will allow for students on bikes, motorcycles and tractors to share the road more easily. Almost all of the road construction is done by hand. Men and women haul rocks and dirt in buckets on their heads to make this road.
My fear of being chased by a wild boar on campus is lessening since I got my bike and I am learning to successfully drive on the left or in someone else's lane to fit in.
Oh, India :)
Things start to change when the teacher hands out the syllabus. The first thing I notice is that there are no dates on it. The syllabus does not lay out day by day what we will be studying. Or what to have read by what day. Instead, it is a list of things we will be learning, and a longer list of books to read. A long list. Of books that can be found by wandering around the sociology department and finally stumbling into a room that contains The Binder. Inside The Binder is a list of all books and their matching number, which you can show to the Telegu speaking librarian to find for you. Once he finds said book, you can write your name on a scrap of paper and try to convey in Telegu when you will bring it back. And then you can start your homework.
The post office on campus also has a quaint charm to it. Behind bars sits a man straight out of a cabana movie who will sell you tear-off stamps that you can glue on with the drying bottle of rubber cement before putting the letter in the box and hoping it finds its way home.
The construction being done on campus will make the main road (about two miles long) into a two lane instead of a one lane. This will allow for students on bikes, motorcycles and tractors to share the road more easily. Almost all of the road construction is done by hand. Men and women haul rocks and dirt in buckets on their heads to make this road.
My fear of being chased by a wild boar on campus is lessening since I got my bike and I am learning to successfully drive on the left or in someone else's lane to fit in.
Oh, India :)
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