My life now

Welcome back!

If you’re here then I must have been saying something worth reading or you are just going on a hike through random parts of the internet. If you are here because of the second reason then I hope you enjoy your stay.

If you are here for the first reason, I just want to say thanks. The feedback I’ve received has been such a great motivation.

So, I’ve been in India a little over 2 weeks now. In a conversation I had with my dad he described it as being the toughest 2 weeks for the entire trip. I sure hope that they are cause it’s been an amazing 2 weeks.

I’ve gotten used to the routine of life here, so let me tell you a bit about it.

It’s 5 days of school, then a slightly calmer weekend.

My school days begin at 6:20 when our dorm parent goes through the dorm yelling ‘6:30, wake up guy’. Getting ready just consists of getting dressed, and packing my bag. Some of the guys have showers though, depends if the waters warm or not.

I normally am ready at about 6:45, so I wait around a bit and go down to school a little earlier. Since my dorm and a couple others are on some land away from the school, it’s a 5-10 min walk to get to there.

I walk through this doorway out of the dorm:

Then go down the dirt drive way:

Which becomes a proper driveway, the right leads off to the other dorms:

The left path goes down hill, and curves around to the left, to the gate entering the property

From here I follow the road down to the right. I walk past about 10 small shops, each with its assortment of bikes and cars pared in front.

I continue to walk next to the road as it curves to the right and there’s no longer a footpath.

Afterwards I try to cross the road and I am at the school gates.

I move through security, and am greeted by the chapel and its well-tended gardens.

To get to the dining room involves going past Alumni Hall, where assemblies and school events are held.

… and the covered courts, where PE often is. Here, soccer and basketball rule. I haven’t seen a single game of cricket played in the school (only in dorm and the orphanage).

I can say that the Indians I have met are not as fanatical as they are made out to be, but that’s only from my experience, I haven’t been to an Indian Premier League T20 match yet.

The building which holds the dining room has administration offices and is next to the school quad where my locker and classes are.

The dining room has double stories. Vegetarian food is served on the second floor while non-vegetarian food is served on the bottom floor.

Here are the serving areas.

Breakfast is the most relaxed of all the meals. It mostly consists of cereal, some eggs (the way they are cooked changes every day), some toast and Indian fruit.

After breakfast is something called period A. It’s a free time slot that people can use to study, chat or relax.

On Tuesday and Friday mornings I have advanced band rehearsal. This involves having breakfast at 7:00 (they open the dining hall early for those who need it) and arriving at practise in the band room which is under Alumni hall at 7:20.

I miss out on period A on those mornings, but band is fun and a good way to keep up my skillz.

After period A or band I have homeroom at 8:15. It is pretty much an encouragement session, a time to learn life’s lessons and try apply them to the day, a mini Dr Phil time.

Our homeroom teacher mainly shows us inspirational videos on youtube, which I think is a nice way to spend the time.

After homeroom there are 2 periods for classes.

Classes run for 45 minutes, but you can have a subject allocated for 2 periods one right after the other. When this occurs for Maths and physics, it evolves into a torture class, where everyone becomes brain dead and unable to function for the rest of the day. This effect increases exponentially on a Friday, or at the end of the day.

After the 2 periods there is morning tea, a fun and chaotic affair which lasts for 10 minutes. It involves students trying to grab fist full of biscuits and sculling down tea or coffee. The tray full of biscuits requires constant refilling and many packs of them are used each day.

After morning tea there are another 2 classes, and then lunch.

Lunch is a slightly less action filled adventure, but become more as a patience test for those who come slow.

Since everyone gets out of class at the same time, they all arrive at the dining hall in a rush. The line rapidly backs up, almost to the door. Those unfortunate enough to come to lunch from a class far away need to wait patiently while others get their rice, curry and cut vegetables, then try to find an empty seat.

Lunch lasts for 40 minutes (from 12-12:40), which is enough for everyone to have a decent meal. If the sun’s shining, people will sit on the grass and eat their lunch there.

After lunch there are 4 periods all in a row. It is the slowest part of the day. Having classes between 12:45 and 4 o’clock is tough.

However, the strange thing is that even though classes feel like they go a miniature snails pace, the day in total feels like it goes in a flash. This week has just flown past. I couldn’t believe that it was Saturday already.

Anyway, after the 4 classes is afternoon tea. It is similar to morning tea in the way that there’s biscuits and drink, but fewer people come and is a lot less frantic.

After afternoon tea, I repeat the walk I did in the morning back to dorm. Once there I get all my work out, try to priorities it and then start checking Facebook. I Skype with Mum and Dad, and check in on friends before they all go to bed. I do this between 4:30 and 5:30. It’s amazing how much your parents can tell you in the couple of days since you last spoke. Up to 1 hour long conversations can occur between us, just saying things that have happened and how things are going.

After the heart warming conversation with parents, brothers and dogs back home I once again walk down to school for dinner at 6.

There’s not much to say about dinner, except it’s a fun meal spent with friends and using rock-paper-scissors to decide who will carry all our dirty trays. I haven’t lost yet gratefully, but I do fear that when I lose, I will need to carry up to 15 peoples trays.

After dinner and the walk back to dorm, it’s study time. The time between 7 and 8:30 is the time when I try to get enough work done. Having Facebook blocked during this time helps (I admit).

At 8:30 I begin to get ready for bed. Shower, pack bag, cloths out for tomorrow and read for a little while.

That is a normal school day.

The classes schedule I have runs on a 6 day cycle, not a day of the week one like back in Melbourne. At first, whenever I looked at my schedule, I thought the classes on the far right column were the one’s I’d have for every Friday, but it turns out that I could have them any day. It might just be a way for giving a bit of variety into the week.

8 periods in one day, 6 days in a cycle makes 48 classes per cycle. I am fortunate though. Since I am not doing the full IB diploma I have 11 free classes each cycle.

The classes I have are Photography (2 classes per cycle), Life and Spirituality (2 classes per cycle), P.E. (4 classes per cycle), Maths Standard Level (5 classes), Physics standard level (5 classes), Psychology standard level (5 classes), English standard level (5 classes), French standard level (5 classes) and Social Experience (1 class per cycle).

My weekends are not as restful as I would have hoped. On Saturday mornings I have hiking, which will get back after noon each time, and there’s normally an event on that evening. Last night it was cyber games, and the week before we watched Despicable Me 2.

On Sundays there’s breakfast at 8, then Church at 10:30. I am hoping to start playing drums in church soon, which may result in me not being able to go back to dorm after breakfast. Church finishes at 11:30, and I go to lunch which starts at 12.

Sunday afternoon is empty, so I do some school work, write my blog (as I am doing now) or read.

I go down to dinner at 6.

At 6:30 there’s something called CE in the chapel. It’s for youth but I don’t really know much else. Will check it out this evening.

I get back to dorm, do whatever and then repeat my process of getting ready for bed.

Something that I am hoping will begin soon is my lessons for Tabla and/or percussion.

I don’t know what God has in store for me yet, but I’ll keep you posted!

Once again, if you have any questions about my routine, feel free to email me at: comanduash@gmail.com.

Thank you and I hope you have enjoyed reading this, 

the Indian Explorer