Back to School :)

Placid Vidya Vihar Secondary School

Hey, it's Amber and Sam, here with another update of our wonderful journey in India. We began our day bright and early because we needed to catch our motor-rickshaws to Placid Vidya Vihar Secondary School. After the best ride to school ever, we attended a beginning of the day assembly, kind of like community meeting to the power of ten. We were treated like celebrities, gave out several awards, and held out our hands during several prayers/national anthems, unsure of precisely how to act. Then, Hunter gave a speech that brought to mind Martin Luther King Jr. Needless to say, it was exhausting, and that was before we even met the students we would shadow for the rest of the day.

We were each paired with a different student in "plus one" or eleventh grade. All the "plus two" or twelfth graders were sitting exams, so we didn't get to shadow them. All the students that we shadowed were really nice and welcoming. The school that we went to visit has students in eleventh and twelfth grade who choose a "track" or kind of like a college major. Their tracks were commerce and sciences, so once students complete tenth grade, they are glued to one major source of study. Most of us shadowed students in the sciences track, but Annie and Sam shadowed commerce students. Throughout the day we attended seven classes, each about 45 minutes long. Each class stays in one room, with teachers changing rooms instead of the students.

We were struck by the similarities between Riverdale and their school. They enjoy going to movies, surfing the internet, and hanging out with their friends, just like us. However, there was a large percentage of students boarded at the school, which limited their freedom to use technology. We visited the school during their revision time, because their exams are coming up in December. Most of the teachers read from a textbook, and the students copied down what they said.

Along with sitting in on their classes, we were also invited to the front of the class to tell everyone about ourselves, and most of the kids were really intent on hearing us sing. Sam performed a beautiful rendition of "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas. Larissa and I (Amber) sang the Riverdale Fight Song, which I'm not sure was totally grasped by the students. We talked to them about our school, where we came from, and the differences between Kerala and Oregon. The kids in younger grades were quite infatuated with us, and made it their mission to get all eleven Riverdale students to autograph their notebooks.

We also got lunch at Placid Vidya Vihar, and had quite the interesting sandwich experience. The sandwich consisted of: a layer of white bread, crustless; a layer of butter, followed by a layer of jelly, bookmarked by a triangle of bread. Seems typical, right? This is where things get interesting. Beneath the innocuous layers of jelly sandwich lurked a chicken curry sandwich. Sam's reaction: surprised, but he ate the whole thing. You may be wondering how this sandwich came to be, so we will tell you the tale. Daisy had asked that Lal make half of the sandwiches peanut butter and jelly, and half of the sandwiches chicken, because she didn't know what we preferred. This was lost in translation though, and Lal created the masterpiece that we dubbed the "Indian Thanksgiving Sandwich."

After lunch, we continued with studies until 3:20, when we went back to the principal's office where we got apple juice and talked about the differences and similarities between Riverdale and Placid Vidya Vihar.

We went home after a long day of school and ate Lal's famous french fries. It was a great ending to the school day.

We're having a great time and we girls are getting fitted for our sari's tomorrow, so that should be exciting.
Love to our families and friends.
- Amber and Sam :)