The Crossroads

We have found that going to a mall on Saturdays meets most of our needs that we miss during the week---Ice Cream, Italian Food, Gourmet Food Store, etc--and we do not have to deal with bargains, the pollution and dirt, and traffic. The mall is clean and easy to manage and has a play area for kids. The funny thing is that in the States, we never go to malls. James and Ashram will have visited more malls in India then they have ever visited in the States. I think they may have only been to a mall once or twice in their lifetime. The past 2 Saturdays have been spent at malls so we can get stuff for the house and for the kids and for us. It takes between 45-60 minutes to get to the mall. We leave our house around 11am and arrive back at our place around 5pm. We get something to eat and shop and then come home. Here is our journey today. 1. We found this incredible Italian restaurant that had real Italian food. We were more than satisfied and indulged a bit. Everyone was more than happy...

I had a meeting at Indus International for my school inquiry project at 9am. It was our first meeting so it was short. It looks like I will be at Indus Wednesdays and Fridays working with a history  teacher that teaches 7, 8, and 11th graders. She has been a teacher for 20+ years at private and boarding schools. I will be a participating observer (thanks John for coining the term! People really like that phrase and it seems to be less intrusive than research.). At Indus I will be paying particular attention to their Design Thinking Process (DTP) and Community Action Service (CAS). From the the way several faculty have talked about these student-centered curriculums, it sounds very similar to youth participatory action research (YPAR). DTP is actually part of their core curriculum. My teacher partner and I agreed that we could learn a lot from each other about putting these curriculum ideas into action. It felt great. I got home at 10:30 am and asked John if he wanted to go out to...

I know that many of you are anxiously waiting pictures of our home, but we are not ready yet. We have a few more things to do before we are ready to show people. We should have taken before and after pictures but we will make sure with our descriptions that you get a full picture of what we have done to turn this place into ours for 6 months. Instead, I bring to you our Villa complex and our evening routine. John picks up the kids at 3:15 pm and the kids have a snack and are ready to play, but nobody is outside. It is completely desolate. Everyone is having their 4pm tea. Instead, the kids watch their 30 minutes of TV or have their electronics. Then the kids complete their homework. John and I switch off between JJ and Ash each day. Lastly, they have dinner and gobble their food down because they want to run outside and play. Ash goes to the playground and plays with the other kids. And James goes to the grounds to play soccer. They come home tired and ready for bed and bath. I am so...

Here are a few words from James and Ashram about school. Ashram is excited about a filed trip this Friday. He is going to a place called Snow City. It is an indoor winter wonderland where they can go sledding and play with snow. When Ashram came home he told me that he needs a hat and mittens for his field trip and that it was going to be cold. I was a bit perplexed. I chose to come to India during these months to avoid the snow. When I looked it up, I saw that it is a snow park. Stay tuned for Ashram's review of Snow City. James got to choose 2 language classes and he chose French and Hindi. He comes home every day telling us new words that he learned. Maybe we will learn a little bit as well. He is also very excited to start playing soccer. I am sure you all could have guessed that. He comes home every day and goes to his friends house and plays soccer at the park with him. His friend lives in our complex and goes to Indus and is in his class. Pretty awesome.  It ...

My first class started at 8:40am and because I was told that traffic was so bad, I had a car pick me up at 6:45am. I got to the campus at 7:15am. The driver told me that the traffic does not start until 8am. I was there super early and just sat in the classroom and completed some work while I waited. At 8:15am students started to arrive and by 8:30 most of the students had arrived. 10 minutes before class was supposed to start. Now I know where I get my time obsession from! My first class had about 50 students in it. I felt a little like a celebrity in both my classes today. I was introduced as a History teacher of 13 years in the U.S. Most of the students are just starting out so they really appreciated having an "expert" in the audience.  I was energized to be back in the classroom and listen to young folks talk about education and education policy. It is a whole different world in India and I realized that every country has their unique problem sets that nee...

Sunday, I hit my stride. I got up and was feeling good about all that we had accomplished. I even perfected making a Dosa (south Indian savory pancake). And then, I was getting up from the breakfast table, and I twisted my knee and could not walk. I sat back down and tried to massage it and get it back to working condition. No such luck. I begrudgingly sat at the table for the whole day with my leg up while John balanced playing soccer with JJ, playing barbies with Ash, cooking dinner, and cleaning. Reflecting on this incident, we (me and John) came to the conclusion that it was a sign to slow down. In the afternoon, I began to feel better and started limping on it and could make it down the street with JJ's help (they are at a perfect height for me to lean on them) with moderate pain. I thought to myself that it was getting better and I would be ok for my first classes on Monday. I started to clean a bit and hurt it again and this time worse. Clearly, I did not learn my lesso...

I don't know where to begin. We have been in 6th gear since we landed in Bengaluru. I am going to write based on all the aspects of our trip--kids school, new home (which includes cleaning it, setting it up, groceries, unpacking, laundry, etc.), filing for residency in India, establishing a partnership with a school for my inquiry project, and establishing courses at a University. And they all had to happen all at once. I am impressed with the fact that the entire family rose to the occasion and did what they needed to so that we can be up and running quickly. Well, the kids were kids. They really did not realize the "behind the scenes" action that was taking place. Maybe only our short tempers:-) 1. The kids new school- Indus International School Bangalore All I can say is WOW! We got a tour and the school is everything I have always wanted for them in terms of education. Their classes are well rounded and geared towards building leadership skills. The class siz...