Notes From the Chauntra Team

"Diwali.

Having a Punjabi girl in our group has proved to be useful on many occasions. Nikki, born and raised in Surrey, has strong family ties to the Punjab here in India. She speaks Punjabi fluently, and can also get by in Hindi. She has been our liaison on numerous occasions: when ordering with our "parahta breakfast man", our house mother, and many of the boys who wolf-whistle at us in the street. Nikki has also taught us how to make some amazing chai, and has turned out to be an even better teacher in the classroom (team-teaching with Chloe).

Diwali happened this past Friday, and Nikki was the authority on the holiday. She gave us all the "elementary school" run-down of it... Basically this beautiful lady named Sita was told by her husband, Ram, that she needed to stand within a circle drawn on the ground in order to be protected from evil. Ram then left her to go off to fight some evil dudes. Unfortunately for the both of them, Sita was tricked by some other evil dude (who was in love with her) into stepping outside of the circle. He then carried her off to his lair. When Ram comes home to find Sita missing, he learns from the village people of her abduction. He gathers his army and marches to meet the evil dude. He wins the battle, and returns Sita to their palace. The village people celebrate their return! In commemorating her return, Indians now celebrate "Diwali" by blowing up firecrackers and lighting candles! Of course they first do a puja (prayer) and then drink and engage in general merriment in the streets and their homes.

Travis, Chloe and Amanda spent Diwali in the nearby town of Palampur where they ate delicious aloo tikki, various sweets and tandoori chicken. They had coffee with an ex-Naval officer who explained that "true celebrators of Diwali (like himself) wait until _after_ Puja to start drinking and dancing". They then returned back to Chauntra to light off many a firecracker from the roof of their guest house!

Nikki, Ana, Heather and Maria went to Dharamsala for the occasion. They ate lots of sweets as well, and were invited into the house of some locals to witness their Diwali celebrations. They also went to a local Sikh temple, lit some candles outside and got some sweets there as well. They watched the firework spectacle and lit sparklers.

All in all, the 7 of us at Sambohta school in Chauntra had an amazing Diwali!!!"

"Tibet our Country"

Today we witnessed an amazing production put on by the 370 students at our school in Chauntra. "Tibet Our Country" is a 25-year-old tradition that was started by the "TCV" (Tibetan Children's Village) schools in order to preserve Tibetan culture and traditions in young people. What resulted in Chauntra was a type of "science fair" with the kids taking us through all of their projects... but instead of Science, we were shown Tibetan animals, costumes, food and crafts. We took lots of pictures, and the kids absolutely loved teaching us about their heritage. It was an educational experience not just for the kids, but for us Canadian student teachers as well!"

"Pajamas in India"

Earlier in the week Heather picked up her tailoring from the local tailor. Included in the clothing was a shirt she had bought up in Dharamsala earlier in the week. The shirt looks like a "wrap top" - crisscrossing in the front, and tying in a bow on the side. It closely resembles the traditional Tibetan woman's dress called a "Chupa" that is worn on a regular basis here. The wrap-shirt became an instant sensation in our group because they were very cheap, stylish, and fit anyone perfectly because of their "wrap" feature.

Heather wore her shirt the following day to school. In Heather's grade VI class, one of her students asked her if the shirt was part of her "Canadian uniform", to which she replied (in a rather shocked manner) that it wasn't. Confused, she went to the school's secretary to inquire about the shirt. Here's how the conversation played out:

Heather: "I'm just wondering, what is this type of shirt called?
Secretary: *Stares at her blankly*
Heather: "Is this.... like a chupa top?"
Secretary: "No ma'am"
Heather: "What is it called then?"
Secretary: "Jammie"
Heather: "You mean, like, pajamas?"
Secretary: "Yes ma'am"

And then they both laughed. Needless to say, our group now feels as though we've been walking around in our pajamas for the past couple weeks. Cheers to being a Westerner in India!"

Hope you enjoy!

- The Chauntra Crowd

A typical day at Petoen School

Most of us rise and somewhat shine around 7AM everyday. We trundle around our rooms gathering lesson plans, school materials, tying chupas, and grabbing TP. We eat a delicious breakfast of paranthas, porridge, and most welcomed coffee in the kind owner’s kitchen, and then we walk the 15 minutes to school.

Around 8:45, assembly starts. The students line up in the yard by class number and sing a prayer and the Tibetan national anthem. On some days, there are skits, poems, or stories presented by some of the students. At 9, period one begins, and so they go until the end of period 8 at 4pm. There is a chai break, and a lunch break, where we are served the best Tibetan food ever (yay tingmo!).

We all teach different periods, and when we’re not teaching, we’re sitting in the lunchroom among the students and other teachers, working on lesson plans, and chatting. On Thursdays, we stay a bit later because that’s the day the students get time in the field up the road to play games after school. Last Thursday, we decided to take them, and with Jennica supplying balls and instruction, we taught them doctor dodgeball.

For those who aren’t aware, this is an incredibly strategic game when played well. Tactics such as the human shield, decoy doctors, and ball hoarding make significant differences in the outcome of a round. Our Tibetan students picked up on these immediately in the first game. And over the next 2 hours of rounds, the game only became more intense. Volleys of colourful balls were fired in unison at the doctors. Screams of joy could be heard from afar when the opposite doctor went down, this meant sure victory. Aim became more precise and the roll of a doctor a higher honor. Shouts for another game were constant after every win, and we played until sunset, when the light insisted we go back to the school for even the neon balls were becoming hard to see.

The real question now, however, is what do we teach them to play this Thursday?