Packed Weekend

Yes we do actually work in the office :)

This past weekend was definitely one of the most exhausting couple of days I’ve had this summer! It all started on Friday when I did a ton of planning for my projects and visits to vastis and worked on my handbook. The new program that Sewa Sahayog is designing consists of implementing a weekly 2 hour session in vastis where corporate volunteers will teach science, computer skills, English, and music. So I’ve adjusted my project to help this new initiative and I am creating lesson plans that are consistent with the school syllabi and include hands-on experiments and lessons on science in everyday life. This handbook will have enough material for volunteers deliver for the entire year. The idea is to recruit corporate volunteers and provide them with readymade lesson plans and a science tools kit that they can use teach every week.

Then the first half of Saturday was a very ‘Puneri Day.’ Rhucha had some work to do in Tulsi Baug, so we figured we would get some shopping that we needed to do as well while we were there :) We shopped and roamed around the very crowded Laxmi Road and Tulsi Baug. Then for lunch we had the best samosas in the world and a cream roll from my favorite Green Bakery! It has the just right amount of actual food quality, dirt, and oil to be amazing. That sounds gross, but these are the 3 necessary qualities that make India’s street food the best. Then we had mastanis from the famous Kawre shop! Unfortunately we only had about 3 hours to do all this, or else I probably could have spent the whole day shopping around. Afterwards we went back to the office for our last Samutkarsha meeting with all the abhyasika shikshaks and coordinators and presented our projects.

Next I headed to Ambedkar Nagar with two other volunteers expecting to conduct activities for 2 hours like telling stories, singing, teaching a science lesson, and teaching self-defense. But instead, we had about 40 kids packed into the little abhyasika room in almost complete darkness (because the lights had gone out) ready with a whole different plan. We did the regular checking of good personal hygiene and told a story. Since I’ve been going there almost every day for the past 2 weeks to teach self-defense I’ve gotten very close with all the girls. I had so much fun just sitting there with them and listening to them sing songs, tell jokes, and tell me about their day. Then all the kids had brought dinner from home and sat in 2 circles and took one bite from their tiffin and passed it to the next kid. Half of them wouldn’t start without at least one of us shikshaks taking the first bite. Just seeing them make the most of what little they had just made me so happy :)

Sunday morning craziness at Ram Nagar

Sunday morning started off with our regular activities at Ram Nagar. We’ve been working on giving the older kids there some experience with taking the activities there for the past 2 weeks and it’s nice to see their leadership skills develop in such a short period of time. Then for lunch we went to this place called Peter’s Pan where they have an assortment of foods like waffles, mashed potatoes, burgers, pancakes, fries, and nachos. It was so yummy. But the whole time I was thinking this needs some spice. Some chilli powder would have definitely helped my roasted vegetables! After a nice lunch we headed to the office to work and I had meetings with volunteers helping with the science project.

Despite the crazy amount of exhausting this was one of the most memorable weekends I’ve had during YFS :)

Lot's of Laughing

I only have 2 more weeks of YFS left. So you would think that I would be wrapping up my project. Actually, my science project might be taking a new direction and I’m so excited :D I’ll be sure to update ya’ll soon!

We’ve been doing some serious work on our projects, but too bad our personalities can’t handle seriousness for too long. Earlier this week Rhucha, Shrish Dada, and I ate a fantastic dinner of pani puri, sev batata dahi puri, papdi chat, and chana bhatura (yes that was all in one meal) while being that obnoxious table at a restaurant. The nonstop laughter got us lots of stares, but what’s important is that we had a great time :) What’s also important to know is that this isn’t the first time that this has happened, and it won’t be the last.  

So I’ve heard that summer is hitting really hard back home. I’m a little glad I’m not there because the weather in Pune is the complete opposite right now. Everyone is pulling out their sweaters because the rainy season has finally started. When it’s raining, it’s pretty yucky. Walking around in that humidity and mud is terrible. But when it’s not raining, it’s absolutely wonderful. The bursts of cool air are so refreshing! This has just been the weather for the past week. There is definitely evidence of lots of sun before this from my farmer’s tan and sandal tan! 

Alrighty that’s all for now. Time for a full day of working! 

IST

So we’ve been making a list of top risks for a YFS intern in India. One of them is operating a vehicle on the road (only 2^nd to drinking the regular water here). This has led to a lot of interesting experiences with public transportation :)

The public bus system is the most cost efficient way to travel around here, but that doesn’t mean it’s the easiest. For some reason, sometime last week I had an especially off day for bus travel. We got to the bus stop at 9 a.m., which is rush hour, and waited for 40 minutes. In that 40 minutes, about 12 buses went by that could’ve taken us where we needed to go. Why didn’t we take them then you ask? Well basically there wasn’t enough room to jump on. There were literally people spilling out of the bus. No matter how much we pushed, we just could not get on those buses. Then when I was coming back from Ambedkar Nagar, I had to wait 30 minutes for a bus because the complete opposite happened. There were just no buses coming to the stop that I was at.

Thankfully we didn’t have an exact time to get to the office, or else we would have been in big trouble. But this is my theory on how IST developed. People here just don’t end up getting to places on time because of the unpredictability of public transportation. And now even though people have their own cars and bikes, their just so used to being late that it’s just normal to not show up on time.  Now I’m not complaining about IST, it’s just one of the many amusing realizations I’ve had here.