Day 4, Education day at the school

What a day!  Elizabeth went over to the school at 7am with Anna in hopes of helping with a piano lesson, but the student wasn’t there.  We ate a little American breakfast, then several of us went over to the dining hall for some traditional Indian breakfast—idly with coconut chutney.  Interesting!

We had our morning conclave, then we were off to the school.  Our first class was upper kindergarten music.  We stood in a circle and sang mostly primary songs, actually.  Cute kids!

London Bridges falling down

After that, we went into the first standard class for a few minutes, then took a few of them with us to read in the library.  We then did similar reading with kindergarten and then 3^rd standard classes. 

 

For the next class, we went to Kyla’s dance class with the kindergarteners.  Oh my, it was fun to watch Lydia have a ball with the kids.  She told me she feels more comfortable.  They still swarm her when she walks by and call to her whenever they see her.  She really stands out here! 

At lunch, a couple hundred kids flock to the dining hall.  Most of us stayed to eat with the kids.  I sat next to Elumalai and ate lunch with his group.  They are cute kids.  It’s remarkable.  They’re articulate, happy, playful, well mannered.  It’s a little strange to eat here, for a guy who dislikes germs.  No utensils.  You grab the food with your right hand and shove it in your mouth with your thumb.  That’s it!  Very efficient.

Cute girls!

 After lunch we read with 5^th standard kids, then did 9^th standard values education.  We taught them one on one about obedience.  My student was Ashok (which means no fear).  What a cute kid!  He has been here for 11 years, has 3 brothers here, one of whom lives in the hostel, and two of whom (the youngest) live at home in the village.  His mother does laundry at the Elephant House.  He told me he wants to be a computer engineer.  After he finishes 10^th standard here, Rising Star will pay his tuition at another school for 11^th and 12^th, then he wants to go to University in Chennai.  

We then did playtime with the kindergarten kids.  After playing cars with two boys (ramming a Matchbox and a Hot Wheels into each other), a bunch of boys latched onto me and we did pushups and compared biceps.  Then they swarmed me and sang a heavily accented, “Who Let the Dogs Out.”  Cute!