Volunteer work at AIC

 

I started talking to AIC before leaving the States and submitted my formal application shortly after arriving, but hadn't heard anything for a while.  I was beginning to worry that Grampa gave me a bad reference and this whole thing wasn't going to work out.  Turns out the HR-and-everything-else guy I've been talking with, Eric, had been back Stateside.  So he e-mailed me Saturday.  We met at the education center on Sunday.  And today I got a glimpse of the work I'll be doing with the Ashraya Initiative for Children.  You can read about all of their programs on their website.

I'll be starting with the education outreach program.  AIC arranges enrollment; pays tuition; provides supplies, uniforms, and a place to bathe and study for about 250 slum children.  The kids in the program return to the education center before or after school for additional instruction, help with homework, etc.  I was lucky enough to catch the weekly dance class yesterday.

All of the new students are enrolled in English medium schools, but originally many of the students were sent to Marathi medium schools.  (Marathi is the regional language in Maharashtra.)   Volunteers like me work with these students for two 1-hr sessions each week to teach them basic English.  I'll start Thursday with 3 groups of about 10 kids from the 3rd to the 9th standard.

I'm excited.  The kids are all delightfully friendly.  Even on the street near the center they run up to shake my hand, yelling "Didi! Didi!"  But I'll admit I'm a little intimidated too.  I sat in on one session with a 2nd standard group today, but I'll be leading my own classes already next time.  There are some obvious challenges and I'm sure more subtle ones as well.  The volunteer that is leaving is preparing some detailed reports on each of the groups for me.  I'll be talking more this week about how I'm trying to prepare too.

Census of India 2011

Yesterday afternoon one of the security guards knocked on our door and handed me this form to fill out.

India's 2011 census began in earnest yesterday.  I'm a little perplexed that one of the 2.7 million census employees didn't deliver the poorly xeroxed form.  It's also full of spelling errors, even headed "Censes of India 2011."  Is it possible this isn't really part of the official census?

Another phase in April/May will apparently include coming round to fingerprint, iris scan, and assign an identity number to everybody in India.  All 1.2 billion?  A massive undertaking indeed.  The FAQ on the official government census site is kind of interesting, but doesn't include any of the questions I had.

Miscellany

Boaz has recovered.  I thought I had escaped the infection and celebrated appropriately with a bottle of wine on Sunday.  Now I'm starting to feel crappy.  I've also been terrible about remembering to take pictures while wandering Pune, but I'll throw a few out to you while I spend some time resting.

Speaking of wine:  Alcohol is pretty expensive here.  The cheapest wines I can find are still over $5.  I've found a couple in that range that I like.  You can easily spend $30 on a domestic bottle of wine that is about on par with a $5 bottle at home.  I haven't found any reds I really like yet.  That's always a little trickier.  This system won't scale, but for the moment I take pictures of bottles I like or hate.

Boaz is sick

He's got some sort of head/chest cold with a fever.  So unfortunately, we had to back out of the Goa trip.  Bo is determined to plan another shortly.

The grocery stores here don't seem to stock first aid stuff.  It's a little like the East Coast; there are few supermarkets and most things are bought at dedicated shops.  I also stand out, so the pharmacy shop already recognizes me from getting bandaids and heartburn medicine.  I don't know if this contributed to how easy it was to just walk in and ask for codeine syrup.  But they sold it to me, despite the label stating it is only available by prescription, which was very convenient.   So Boaz is coughing less and a little high - not a bad place to be with a flu in warm weather.

General update

Our shipment from the States was estimated to arrive on the 27th of last month.  Now they are saying the 5th of February.  Cross all your fingers y'all.  We won't miss our stuff this week though.  We are heading to Goa for some kind of company retreat thing.  Yay!

Mosquitos

I was kind of hoping mosquitos wouldn't become a real problem until summer.  Not so.  Most nights one or two manage to hide somewhere in our bedroom until we turn out the light.  I then get up and turn on the light and hunt them with my electric mosquito bat.  This is not very efficient.

Last night one mosquito managed to get me twice on my back, once on my elbow, twice on my hand, and TWICE ON MY FOREHEAD.  Fortunately it looks like malaria isn't very common in urban areas, like Pune.  Dengue fever however is.   A well and truly determined mission to find a mosquito net will commence tomorrow.  I've checked several places already without luck.  I also hear geranium oil is an effective repellent.  I'll be trying that too.

Tonight we are trying some sort of chemical that plugs into an outlet.  "Insert the liquid dispenser into the electric mosquito destroyer machine."

The instructions indicate to both install it away from windows and fans with doors closed and to open doors and windows while in use.  I assume this means to plug it in for 30 or so minutes with the doors closed, then air the room when actually in use so that you don't get more cancer than you're already getting from all of the pollution here.  But neither of us is happy to be sleepy and not in the only room with furniture for 30 minutes before bed.

Sprouts! Part 2

Oops!  I didn't get a picture of it, but the methi (fenugreek) sprouts came out well.  I made the tempered spice salad thing and added some cilantro.  It was a little bitter, but tasty.  The moong dal and chowli sprouts are looking great.  We'll start eating them tomorrow.  I thought the chickpea sprouts would be the easiest, but so far only the ones on top are starting to grow.  We shall see.

Sprouts! Part 1

I'm really enjoying fenugreek here.  Fresh, dried, seeds, powdered.  I never used it at home for some reason.  I came across this recipe for warm sprouted fenugreek seeds.  I may be embarking on a new obsession to join the spice collection.  Salads made with all kinds of sprouts should be delightful in summer.

 

It's pretty obvious when you think about it, but you can sprout almost anything.  Speaks to how removed we really are from the production of our food.  Upon realizing this, I had to resist the urge to start sprouting anything in my cabinet I thought might work; whole peanuts, mustard seeds, ajwain, cumin, fennel seeds, various lentils.

I'm starting (from left to right) with fenugreek seeds, chickpeas, red chowli, moong dal.   After soaking over night, I'll put the beans into those water bottles.  I've sawed off the tops and cut holes in the bottom for excess water to drain.  The seeds I'll do in a wet tea towel since they are so small.

Dear IT Recruiter,

Could you read my resume before e-mailing me repeatedly and filling my voicemail box about projects with products I don't even work with?  If I turned down a project this morning because I live on a different continent now, don't contact me about another one in the afternoon.  It's physically impossible for my situation to have changed.  Also anything anybody has ever said about used car salesmen.

Thanks a bunch!
Siera

A whole new world of troubleshooting

Yesterday I nearly smashed my hairdryer to bits for refusing to work.  Don't worry, I restrained myself.  It was one in a long line of little tiny things that were just not going right that day.  Eventually I realized we had lost power, which is particularly common on Thursdays.  We have a battery backup system and the light in the bathroom was still working, so it wasn't obvious.

Our washer has also not been working.  The repairman came in this afternoon and maybe the 2nd thing he checked was that the water supply was on.  It wasn't.  This felt a lot like the time my garbage disposal wasn't working and the first thing the repairman did was push the reset button.