Temperatures have skyrocketed here just as the crazy American girl arrived. For decorum, I wear long pants to school so not only is it stifling and muggy (similar to Memphis) but I am also in full dress! I will never take advantage of the fact we have A/C in America ever again! Fans are also the saviors of my sanity. Even the locals are a little surprised that the rains haven’t come yet so I know it isn’t all in my head.I have finally found my favorite class. (Though don’t tell any of the students, they will be wildly jealous!) My 5th grade B class is the very first class I ever had and they are the ones I am most familiar with. It seems classroom standards are met universally: there is the teacher's pet, the troublemaker, the person who tries to stop the troublemakers and gets in trouble, the ‘Hermione Granger’ of the class (not that that is a bad thing), and even the person who sleeps. Even so, they are my most productive class because I have seen them almost every class day since I got here. They are also pretty darn cute!
I finally gave my first real lecture this morning since it is the Fourth of July. I find that it is a lot easier to teach when you have material you are comfortable with! Here’s a salute to Dr. Leung who taught me so much about U.S. History. It is really coming in handy now! I’ll give my lecture on the American revolution to the older classes over the next few days and my lecture on the flag to the younger ones. I had to punish my students for the first time (they were in 5th B too!). Two were playing what looked like a different version of Rock, Paper, Scissors during class. I made them stand in the front of the room facing the wall for a few minutes. The class was much more behaved after that since they realized I actually could, and would punish them. As a little secret between me and you, I am so guilt ridden and I hope I never have to do it again! I don’t think I am cut out to be a teacher if I have to punish them!
The weather isn’t the only thing that was hot yesterday. Fr. Simon was kind enough to go and buy fireworks for me to light off! It turns out the safety regulations on fireworks in the US don’t apply here and we had a few close calls. It was so awesome! I will admit that the pyromaniac in me definitely had her fun last night. We had a big cylinder one which shot fireworks about 30 feet up (I have it on video), cones that were like lighting super powered birthday candles with shooting flames, and these little wheels that you lit one end and it spun in fast circles spraying sparks everywhere! Those little wheels were the most dangerous because when we were lighting other things all of a sudden they would burst into flame on the ground! I was well covered in ash after that adventure. Who would have thought I would get to celebrate the Fourth of July in the middle of India? Woohoo!
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