Am I lonely? No.
Am I homesick? Not slightly. I think of home and my family and friends, but that’s not the same. You are with me!
Am I busy? Yes, but not to an overwhelming extent. I teach art all day, and I have my dance classes every evening. I’m the official “recreation and fun” girl at this boarding school. It’s hard work to prepare my lessons, but I deliver the relief and recreation desperately needed for these hard-working students and teachers.
Am I used to it yet? Yes, as much as one month can give. Things are still novel.
Do I have some crazy mood swings? (You wouldn’t think of asking that, so let me ask for you!) YES! In one day I’ll not want to get out of bed. And that same day you'll see me laughing and dancing and hugging everyone. I’ve learned all about culture shock at school in my classes. Welcome to culture shock.
What are some of the best things about life at Shanti Bhavan Boarding School?
1.How many times will a person be able to live on 300 acres of rural India?
2.We live on solar and wind energy, and an on-site water well. A completely self-sustainable community. The current cuts out once in a while. Otherwise, it’s just awesome.
3.Rice and vegetables for every meal.
4.The Broadway cd D’Arcy made me before I left
5.Teaching my dance classes. It’s seriously a party every night.
6.Celebrating Diwali (the festival of lights). The holiday lasted two weeks!
7.Reading. Reading. Reading. Quite a funny range of books. “Mother Wove the Morning” to “Evita: Saint or Sinner?” to “India Untouched: the face of rural poverty” to “A Traveler’s guide to Hindi”
8.70-85 degrees is my weather’s temperature range. Is it November?
9.Living three months away from internet, phone, traffic, ahhh….
What are some of the worst things about life at Shanti Bhavan?
1.If you were an art teacher, and your art supplies for 195 students (preschool to 9th grade) was limited to construction paper, markers, scissors, rope, mini-chalkboards, chalk, and watercolors (note: I didn’t say watercolor paper)… how creative could you be?
2.Rice and vegetables for every meal.
3.NO sweets. I know I know… it’s great that I’m eating so healthily. But man! Once in a while a cookie? Ok, they do give out a candy piece when a child has a birthday. But it’s the “I’m supposed to be candy” kind of candy. SO… I’m in Bangalore for the weekend. I’m stalking up. I budgeted in “chocolate” on my list. Audrey would be proud.
4.I’m allergic to some kind of nocturnal Indian pollen. Every night I get stuffed up and I have watery red eyes. And every morning I wake up looking gruesome. The kids (and teachers, actually) have no problem telling me so.
5.Hearing about Harry Potter
6.Explaining my hair. Explaining the beads in my hair. Explaining how I wash my hair. Explaining why I have my hair. Explaining why I don’t want to talk about my hair!
Alas! Pictures! Emily Neaman is MOST happy, yes!? I'm so happy to share them!
playing with the little ones
some of my boy-crazy and very curious sixth graders
what can I say? Does cute do it?
I adore this photo. I think it's perfect.
Skye came and did a gig for my classes. James, Lumina, Emily and a few others came too. These kids know ALL your names now. And Skye, they love that you get paid for your music, and that you married a man you're in love with! (I did a class about "possibility" and we talked about how it's important to surround yourself with people who help you do possible things. So I introduced them to my people!)
I have a maid named... uh... haven't got that yet. This is my room.
The Shanti Bhavan School Choir
This is my hand right now. I actually have mehndi on both hands.
My mehndi hand surrounded by the most heavenly smell of India: jasmine. And I love my hands. And I loved having it done. What an art form.
a trip to the local village nearby and the bakery. These are my ninth graders. The man in back is Rishab, an Indian volunteer who teaches chemistry at the school.
we bought these chickens. they slaughtered them in the shack, and we ate them that night. Have you had that experience?
Halloween night. It's just too easy to be Johnny Depp. They love Pirates of the Caribbean here.
Ok! I'll be back in Bangalore in another two or three weeks! Thank you for all your emails, everyone! I enjoy them so much.
Love, Emily
6 comments:
good picture
YYYYAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
I love it! I Love it!
Thank you so much for this beautiful update!
You are shining so brightly from so far way.
I heard that Bangalor officially changed it's name yesterday back to Bangalulu. What's the general feeling there on that?
and yes, slaughtering your own dinner is a very interesting (and i think useful) experience. I had to kill my own giant sheep once and said goodbye to countless rabbits before supper...
That was before my nine year vegatarian stint.
More pix
Im addicted!
I can't get enough
I love you sister friend!
(ps: I married a man for love too! and Im more in love now than ever in my life - it's intense!)
Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you!
Oh joy of joys! I'm so glad to be there with you in spirit! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and pictures! You're incredible Emily!!!!
And just to make you feel better:
I also wake up stuffed up with watery red eyes looking gruesome.
I am not allergic to some kind of nocturnal Indian pollen.
I can't wait for the next update!
Oh, wow! Everything looks so amazing. What an incredible adventure!
I am so...jealous, isn't the word...envious? Is that better or worse? Some day I want to live breifly in India...though I think I would choose a urban area. I am fascinated by their culture. I am glad I found your blog to share a little in your adventure! The children's eyes are so bright and pure...even happy children in the US don't have the same light in their eyes. It is beautiful.
Post a Comment