i heart my india

volume v: skipping stones, shooting stars, stoking fires, studying cricket, schooling chefs (subtitled: activity week in the village)

approximately a month ago woodstock school "celebrated" activity week. activity week is meant to be a week spent learning about india first-hand. however, for the most part, activity week is a week of vacation, spent getting to know a group of students and, if you're lucky, enjoying india. my trip to upla sirwa actually served as the impetus for this entire i heart india volume of blogs. i arrived in the village following three days in the fetal position on my couch, drinking ginger honey lemons, blowing my nose and sleeping. my rebirth in the village was surely glorious, how can't it be a lovely awakening when our campsite is right on a river and the skies are filled with stars?

the campsite was deserted when i arrived, so it was just me (with my four hindi phrases under my belt) and 10 village children. racking my brains for entertainment options, i settled upon duck, duck, goose. very important clarification: this does not mean that i believe "duck, duck, goose" is the correct nomenclature for the game. it is simply an easier version for non-english speakers than the true version, "duck, duck, grey duck." (so no beth, dave, ash and jenell, the duck, duck, goose debate is not over). duck duck goose became a cult classic in upla sirwa among not just children, but also my students and some of the village women. an afternoon spent skipping stones in the river with my students and a few village kids solidified the translation of some elements of greatness across cultures. who can refuse chasing one another around a circle or jockeying to see who can skip their stone the farthest?

while much of our time in the village was spent playing cricket against the villagers (another thing that translates across cultures is "yo mama" jokes... one of my students almost rushed the mound with the cricket bat...), sitting around the campfire, dancing with the villagers, teaching my kids to play phase 10 and mafia, we actually went to the village to complete a service project, learn about rural indian culture and teach the villagers something about ourselves. my most enjoyable moments included teaching 5 students (who had never cooked anything before) to make brian's famous pasta sauce, playing mafia by the light of the campfire, villagers tutoring me in hindi and making friends with the village kids. i am a sucker for the shorties.

separated from everything i typically derive happiness from reminded me how much i really love my students... my life in india. listening to darab read tales of tiger attacks by the campfire, and searching for shooting stars with my students marked a simple, intense-yet-unforced happiness i forgot existed.