After an intense thunder and lightning storm over the night, the Bridges to India Group was awakened by another drum lesson (Ben and Colin serenaded us with their new drumming skills). After having having breakfast, our pepto-bismol pink and white van arrived to take us to our second school visit: Placid Vidya Vihar. The school was made up of 3,000 fifth through twelfth graders, prodominantly middle to upper class students. We were greeted by many excited kids shreicking and waving at us. We were then ushered to the principal's office, which felt like an upscale resort lobby complete with two chandliers, white marble floors, and a giant stuffed animal tiger. After waiting for a few minutes, the principal, a Catholic Father, came in and gave us a brief introduction of the school.
From there, we split up into pairs and went into classrooms to observe. Most of us had a pretty good experience with the teachers and students. Some of us had some pretty interesting conversations about Indian and American cultures. It was interesting to see how the students interacted with their teachers. The students stood up everytime a teacher would come in and out of the classroom or if they were asking questions to the teacher. Their learning style is completely different then ours. There is a lot of memorizing, note taking, and lecturing involved. After observing two classes, we all went to their library and had a question and answer session. We discussed anything from pop culture to politics. On our way out, we were swarmed by dozens of younger kids who were asking for our names and autographs. We then piled into our van and headed out.
Our next adventure was trying to eat lunch on the bus. Tensions got high when we ran out of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Lal had made us. Our bus driver graciously pulled over in the middle of the street to buy us more bread, banna chips, and potato chips. After that, we were set for food and were on our way to the back -waters!
After some bargaining by Mrs. LePore and Daisy, we were off for a three hour tour ;). We all boarded one of the infamous back-water house boats and we were on our way. We crusied around the backwaters and stopped off at this adorable little snack shack to buy provisions. We continued our cruise and enjoyed one of the most spectacular sunsets any of us have ever seen. The colors were briliant and the surrounding area made for a serene setting. We had a great time taking pictures and hanging out but we headed back to the docks as it was getting dark. We loaded back onto the bus and were on our way to the clinic.
Much love,
Nick, Jessica, Evy and the Bridges to India clan
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