The Full Uniform (as promised)!

Head to toe uniform now!

All the girls in my standard dislike the uniform, but I like not having to think in the morning about what I'm going to wear that day. It is too time consuming and I feel pressure to look my best everyday. Putting on the uniform every morning is so much easier. Also, people in the U.S. often judge a person just based on how they dress, at least in my experience, and here that is eliminated in schools. Everyone is unified and equal. With such a disparity between the wealthy and poor in the county, uniforms are all the more important. If your more interested, here's a more detailed essay I found about the benefits of school uniforms in India:

 http://www.thinkvidya.com/a/the-benefits-of-school-uniforms-in-india

Sanskar vs. ConVal

I have been keeping a list of observations in the back of my school notebook about the various differences between my school experience here in India at Sanskar Vidya Bhavan School versus my experiences at ConVal, SMS, and PES. It's grown to be quite long. Everyday I add about a page and all the students in my class get a kick out of reading it, so I thought you might enjoy what I have written so far.

School Set-up

• School seems harder here. Advanced lessons rely heavily on memorization and individual study. Indians have to study hard because they have to memorize tens of chapters of information per subject for their exams.
• School is 6 days a week for my standard. Saturday is a half-day.
• School begins at 7:30 am (bus comes at 7ish, but I have to be ready by around 6:30) and ends at 1:00 pm (I get home by 1:45).
• My bus is a coach bus, but there are all varieties of (all private) transportation. Rickshaws, vans, some kids ride on bikes or mopeds with their parents, or are dropped off by car.
• Textbooks seem to be the same across the board for standards. For example our bio book says 11th standard, as does our english text book. There is no picking and choosing of the curriculum by teachers.
• Standards or grade levels, are assigned one classroom, students only leave for computer programming class, Hindi, and labs.
• There are four levels of private schools here:
• State Board - hard
• CBSE (my school) - harder
• International Board (ICSE) - hardest
• Public schools are not a good source of an education and usually do not lead to university. Mostly poor children attend them just to be fed a meal for free by the government.
• Students in private schools can either study commerce, science (biology or maths [that's right--not math]). My school only offers science.
• Commerce leads to certified accounting, biology leads to becoming a doctor, and maths leads to becoming an engineer. It seems like everyone I meet here is an engineer.

Teaching

• Teachers are referred to by either "Ma'am" or "Sir"
• Teachers seems to be strict and loud while teaching. Two of my teachers yell/scream "Yes!!!???" at random intervals to get the attention of the class. To punish they either move chatty pupils or ask them do they know the material?, is that why they're talking?, and ask them up to show it on the board (a smart board by the way)
• Teaching is very verbal, somewhat visual, but rarely hands on. There are no classroom activities or independent assignments during the lesson, just lectures.
• Teachers expect students to speak answers aloud without being called on. Hands are raised only for asking questions (along with calls of "sir!" or "ma'am!", which the teacher answers individually while other students talk.
• The teachers repeats themselves a lot when they are saying something that needs to be memorized. Which apparently is everything.
• The teachers also do this unique thing where they say everything kind of slowly and adamantly and then put emphasis on the second to last word before dropping the last word a few seconds later. That's the best way I can describe it. It's like they are waiting for the students to volunteer the last word or say the entire phrase with them.
• The smart board is used for writing things the students are recommended, but not required to copy down. Students do need to follow along in their textbooks however. The board is rarely used for much else. Only the occasional poor quality video. One student is dedicated to look after all things technological for the teacher. However, technical difficulties are still common.
• There is a LIZARD living behind the smart board! This makes me very excited when I see it :)
• No one uses a calculator, let alone a graphing calculator.
• Personal computers and phones are prohibited in the school.
• At the end of the class the teacher just leaves.
• For large portions of the day the students may be unsupervised. Teachers are often busy and proxies are supposed to come but never show up. For my first three days, I had biology, english, and hindi on the schedule, but didn't actually have the class until the fourth day.

Students

• THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE: STUDENTS ARE VERY LOUD. All day the talk to each other. During lectures they talk (not whisper) and during breaks it gets so loud everyone has to yell. On the first day this was very hard for me, I am adjusting a bit and can actually focus on what one person is saying to me now.
• Students are self-disciplined in their independent studies but often undisciplined in the classroom. As I said, much talking and teasing occurs.
• The students are very close, especially within their gender. Most of them have been together for many years, but even the new students this year (4 by my count) are very involved and seem to have many friends. Cliques seem to not exist at all--this is very very nice compared to the U.S. What is unfortunate, however, is that though they are all friends outside of school, they do not hang out a lot because they have to study so much. They all get together maybe once a month. Some do call each other to talk everyday though.
• There is a uniform. It is different for gujarati medium and english medium students. The gujarati medium uniform is red and orange plaid shirt with a brown frock or pants (shorts for boys 6th and younger), while the english medium uniform is white button up short sleeve shirt with a grey frock or pants (shorts for boys 6th and under). All students wear black shoes and white socks.
• Everyday a girls hair must be in two braids (chotis) tied with white ribbon.
• On Mondays there a house uniforms. Students are placed in different house (a little like Hogwarts!!!) and they are expected to have house pride during certain activities and competitions. I have not been given a house yet, so I do not have the uniform. White shoes are worn these days.
• Students also have ID cards they wear on school themed lanyards every day. These cards have their photo, dob, address, and phone numbers.

Tests

• Exams are given at certain points during the year and students must use textbook language, word-for-word in essay style answers to receive full marks. Writing things in your own words is not important like it is at Conval, it's discouraged. Points are actually docked for deviation from the textbook.
• Exams, cgpa, and marks solely determine which universities you can go to. One can become a doctor at university in just 3-4 years, there is no undergrad before medical school) or an engineer in 4.
• Grades on practicals (subject tests, like unit tests to check competency) are announced to the whole class and when they are not, students share their grades with everyone anyways.
• Grades are definitely not as inflated as at ConVal. Students are just happy when they pass, no one gets even close to perfect marks. 56 out of 70 is the highest I've have heard of so far. 23/70 was considered passing on the most recent test.

Classroom

• When a student returns to the class and a teacher is present, they must hold out their hand in front of them and request permission to enter the class before coming in.
• Old fashioned benches (combo desk and seat) not tables and chairs are used in every classroom. Two students sit at each. They are also terribly uncomfortable.
• There do not seem to be assigned seats.
• Attendance is taken during the first period a teacher is present. Students say "present (ma'am or sir)" not "here". Marie's and my attendance are not recorded. We also aren't punished for any uniform deviations, though we are expected to wear it. We are considered guests.

AND THIS IS ONLY FOUR DAYS IN!

Sanskar Vidya Bhavan School: An Overview

I am currently attending Sanskar Vidya Bhavan School in Bharuch. I am in the 11th standard (grade) and my subjects are Biology, Hindi, Chemistry, Physics, and English. The school is composed of an English medium school and a Gujarati medium school. I am in the english medium school. This is nice as all my classmates speak english and I can more easily make friends. Classes are also taught in english (except Hindi) so I can follow along somewhat too. There are about 40 students in my standard, we all stay in one classroom the majority of the day and the teachers come to us. There are nine periods a day with a snack break after 4th at 10 am and another short break after 6th. Everyday of the week there is a different schedule for classes.

Here's a picture of my school (from the school website, as I can't bring my camera to school):

The entrance to the school is to the left of this photo and my classroom is on the first floor if you look straight through the gate.

The School Seal is in the upper left corner.

Me in my uniform on the second day! (Missing belt, shoes, and socks--will post another picture when I have all three)

Imagine this path crowded with students of all ages in uniform, that's my walk to school from the bus in the morning and back to the bus in the afternoon.

The reason Marie and I go to Sanskar is the head is a rotarian.

I received what is hanging around my neck on the first day as a welcome from our standard's head teacher. It is made of khadi, the hand-spun cloth Gandhi promoted making as a gesture of self-reliance.

Mumbai!!!

My first post from India was long and I have realized, from looking at other student's blogs, that what people most want to see are photos, so here is a post dedicated to photos from my four day trip to Mumbai (Bombay). We went to see my host brothers off on their flights to the U.S., but we also saw many famous sights and I met many extended family members. Here are the pics!

My host mom on the train

With my host brother, Pranav also on the train

With my maternal host granny

The sea link (a large bridge) in the city

In front of the old Taj Hotel (left) and the new Taj (right)

The Gateway of India

Full view of the Taj Hotel

Siblings by the Arabian Sea

This is Shahrukh Khan's house (the famous Bollywood actor)

Posing on the beach with Abhi and Binny

I felt like I was in Titanic in this elevator! 

Playing marbles (I'm terrible in case you were wondering)

Traditional greeting cards, usually given with money tucked inside

Dinner at a hotel (restaurant) with the whole family!
We visited almost every single member at their homes during our stay.

Seeing off Abhi, he's Florida-bound (I'm so jealous--his host parents live 15min from Universal Studios)

Mogera flowers tied in my hair (they smell wonderful!)

Mumbai local train!

"Lifeline of Bombai"

Three on a scooty!

Traditional tying of Raki on brothers, fathers, and male cousins

Seeing off Pranav, he's Texas-bound

Photos from my first few days!

Visiting an Amity School class. 

Giving my first host family the gifts I brought.

My host brother, Abhishek enjoying a maple sugar popsicle.

Presenting on the U.S. education system and my school

Students in their friday uniforms during our presentations

Speaking with some students afterward

My first rotary meeting

Rainy season

My aunt (father's sister) packing my host brother's things for the U.S.

Some of his gifts for his host families there

Greetings... From India!!!

In four days that I have been in India I have had more new experiences than ever before in my life. From eating entirely different foods to learning Gujarati and Hindi words, living here has kept me very busy. I wake at 8:30am most days, have a nap in the afternoon, and stay up until late at night, at least 2am. This is a typical schedule when one does not have school, as I don't until after I return from Mumbai to see my host brother off to the U.S.A. Abhishek (Abhi), 16, is going to Florida with Rotary Youth Exchange and Pranav is going to Texas for engineering masters education at Lamar University. I will start school soon at Sanskar Vidhya Bhavan (a private high school) in 11th grade or 11th standard as they call it. I will go with with Marie, the only other exchange student staying in my city of Bharuch. She is here from Germany. We will both learn Gujarati and Hindi. I also will take traditional dance classes to prepare me for Navratri, a nine day festival filled with dancing late into the night, and go to the Rotary Youth activities center for sports.

But this is what will happen. What have I actually done in the past few days? (Warning: This is a long post. I didn't intend for this to be so long, but I have much to say!)

Day 0/1: I left Boston airport bound for New York JFK airport at 10:30 am. This means I had to wake up that morning at 5:30 am, a ridiculous feat, in order to get to the airport 2.5 hours earlier as recommended. When I arrived in JFK I had a short layover during which I rode the airport train to another terminal and boarded a plane to Delhi. The plane was large, ten seats across, and the flight was long, fourteen hours total. That is six hours longer than any flight I had been on previously (only thanks to an 8 hour flight to Idaho recently, in which we stopped in four cities before actually arriving in Boise). I wore my navy rotary youth exchange blazer and people in the seats next to me asked me about what it was about. One random kid in the Boston airport even complimented it. On the plane to Delhi I slept about 6 hours total, which greatly helped when I arrived because I didn't experience any jet lag. When I arrived in Delhi I had a mixup with my checked baggage and customs but fortunately one other woman going to Ahmedabad also had this problem and she was able to speak with the airport authorities on our behalf and get the problem resolved. By this time everyone around me was Indian. The plane ride to Delhi was many families with young children either visiting the U.S. or returning from a visit in the U.S. I was impressed how they all handled the long flight. Of course the T.V. screens on every seat helped. In Delhi I caught my flight to Ahmedabad. It was a short trip and I arrived at 7:30 PM Indian Standard Time. At Ahmedabad I met my family outside the airport as no one but passengers are allowed in.

First thing I saw was my host brother Abhishek waving at me from outside the window. Then my host mother presented me with a wonderful smelling garland of magenta flowers and we took pictures together. It was drizzling and dark out at this point. We got in a car driven by a non-member of the family (who I later learned was a paid driver just for the occasion, but the car is owned by my family), my luggage was strapped to the roof, and off we went, giving me my first experience with Indian traffic. We encountered many traffic circles and tollbooths as we sped along on the left side of the the road. A ride that I thought was 2 hours was actually 4 hours and we also stopped at a restaurant (called hotel here) and had my first real Indian food. When we arrived in Bharuch we pulled into my neighborhood (called a society here) and parked on the side of the street at my house. And for those of you who know a little of India--yes, there were lots of cows on the streets. I was given the traditional Indian greeting at the door after removing my shoes. My host mother placed a red dot on my forehead and stuck rice in it before waving a tin plate with a single candle in a circle in front of me. Then I was allowed to enter and meet my other host brother Pranav and my maternal and paternal grandmothers living in this joint family, as it is called. You would think we would go to sleep as it was near 2 am, but everyone stayed up later, especially my host brother and I (we finally slept at 5 am)--don't ask how I managed it, I was on some sort of excitement high.

Day 2: We woke at 8:30 am (again, don't ask) and went to quickly meet my brother's head of departments and principal at his school (Amity School) in Bharuch. After we returned I was told we were going to a farewell to my brothers/welcome to me dinner at a friends house. First we went shopping for nice shirts for my brothers and we bought Indian burgers (vegetarian or just veg as they say here, vs. non-veg). They were delicious, but I tried a pepper too and it was very very spicy. I also didn't have any water and had to wait until we could buy some mango juice, which is also delicious by the way. We then crossed the famous 150 year old Golden Bridge or Narmada Bridge into Ankleshwar for the dinner. Turns out dinners are eaten very late here (at least for me, we eat at 6ish at my house in Peterborough), like beginning somewhere between 9 to 10 or even later as was the case here. The house was incredibly nice and we ate lots of snacks (bites) while the two families talked a long time in Gujarati/Hindi while I listened for those times when suddenly they would ask me a question in english and it would sound just like everything else they were saying and I would miss it. But as for understanding the Indian accent on the whole, I feel very comfortable with it for the most part and I am trying to be talkative like the good exchange students in the U.S. I don't find this hard because I get along really well with my host brother, he speaks very good english, and we talk a lot. I will miss him when he goes to Florida for exchange (his blog for your reference, I actually helped make it: http://abhishekinorlando.blogspot.in) I'll have no one to talk to at home, except for of course my parents.

Day 3: This is the day I went back to Amity School for a presentation on Mahatma Gandhi by a man who directs and translates books at the National Book Trust of India. The presentation was in Gujarati but my host brother translated a little. All the students sat on the floor (I think it was just one grade, because they have about 3,000 students in the kindergarten through 10th standard) and we sat in lawn chairs at the front of the class. We were introduced and later taken on a tour of the school. From what I understood of the presentation Gandhi is considered the father of the nation and his beliefs on non-violence and the path of truth are very much admired. The students sang some of his favorite songs as well as what I believe is the school song. On the trip to the school I met for the first time, Marie. She is from Germany and the only other exchange student in my city. My city is very small by Indian standards so there are not tourists here, people see us and stare sometimes, but not as much as I expected.

Day 4: I woke up at 10am, in NH that would not be sleeping in for me, but here it is late. We didn't have to do anything in the morning but later in the day I got to meet the family that will be my second host family. My host brother is good friends with my future host sister so we walked around the city a bit and just talked. I also went to her house and got to see the room I'll be staying in. Her family is very nice and her younger sister is adorable. After this I went to another farewell/welcome party, this time at the neighbors. Some of the food was too sweet for me, but most of it was new and delicious. My parents back home think I am a picky eater but here I like almost everything I try. I prefer spicy to sweet however. Sweet here is like maple sugar candy--very sweet. Later that night I presented my gifts to my host family and Abhishek proceeded to eat a maple sugar candy popsicle in one sitting. I knew he would like it.

Day 5: This was by far the most exciting day so far for me. If only for the reason that I got to ride with Abhi on a moped-like bike to the vegetable market. We went so fast (I swear it was way faster than any U.S. moped) through crazy traffic. It felt incredibly liberating and exhilarating. Of course I was a terrified the whole time though. I loved it.

Reality

*I wrote this earlier and planned to add more, but I never had the chance, so I shall post it now, even though I have arrived already.

My arrival date is set, my tickets are booked, my suitcase is packed (and under 50lbs finally!!), and the reality has just started to dawn on me that in three days time I will have to goodbye to my family and friends.