Week #2

This past week has been quite relaxing. I assisted in the office, designing name cards and an agenda for the Church Leader’s Meeting, which was held on Saturday. All of the church planting missionaries under the ministry gathered for worship, fellowship and the sharing of their work. In addition, we gave a number of them new bicycles, which they were very excited about because they will be able to more easily travel around their villages and the surrounding areas, allowing them to better minister to their people. I enjoyed getting to meet several of them and briefly converse. They were very curious about where I am from, as every Indian I have met so far has been!

I also am continuing to play games with the children and am enjoying the opportunity to meet new children as they have been arriving over the past few days. Last evening, a group of the girls took me for a walk around the area that the ministry is in and we had a wonderful time laughing and enjoying each other’s company.

Yesterday, the pastor's wife asked me if I wanted to dress up in a sari for church, which I agreed to, and did! It was quite comfortable, and she asked me later how I felt about wearing one, to which I replied “I am actually thinking of having one made while I am here!” Everyone kept telling me “you are like Indian girl!” one of the girls who helps in the kitchen here (and who helped outfit me in the sari) wanted to have her picture taken with me (She and the other girls are very excited about me being here and love to see me dressed as an Indian!). As a suggestion, if you ever visit another country, try wearing their traditional clothing. They will undoubtedly love to see you doing that and it makes them feel good to know that you love them enough to dress like them.

Today was the first day of school! I quite enjoyed the experience, although it was a bit challenging. Some of the teachers who will be here for this year have not been released from their current schools and will not be able to be here until next week. So, some of the classes were without teachers today and I was told to go to whatever class I wanted to and sit with them (we were not beginning studies, just reviewing what the students already knew), which I ended up in a class with children who were about the age of a first-grader. The unfortunate thing about it was that they understood only a little English and I do not know any Oriya! But, we made it through the day and they practiced their alphabet, some reading, and their numbers (all of them knew 1-100, and a couple wanted to go all the way to 200!).

            Of course, they became restless and wanted class to be over with, which I could understand. One of the funny things of the day was that the older son of the pastor, who is in one of the lower classes found out that I was teaching in one of the classes, and decided to leave his class and join mine! Of course, he did not behave at all, but it was funny none the less. I was not sure why he would be in my class, and his mother had come in and asked him why he was (which he responded in Oriya), but later she explained that he had told her that he had heard I was teaching and he wanted to be in my class! At least I know that I am making a good impression!

            I had the privilege of meeting all the teachers who have arrived so far (some I had met over the last couple of weeks as they have been in and out working on getting everything ready), and I have been overwhelmed by how welcoming they are. The principal told me that they really appreciate when people who speak fluent English come to help in their school and he said that he was very impressed with how well I speak English! Apparently, he has met people from different parts of the world who speak English, but their pronunciation is difficult to understand, so he and the rest of the staff are very grateful that I speak clearly! It is so strange to me that they would think that, but I suppose that comes from the fact that I am from a country where English is the primary language, not to mention my mother’s insistence that I have good diction (of course, there is also the fact that I was a bit strange as a child and developed a love for language at an early age – i.e. I used “cooperate” correctly in a sentence at the age of two, in addition to many other “big” words that I enjoyed using). Who knows! Perhaps this summer will show me that my English-speaking skills would be best utilized in a cross-cultural setting where I can teach people how to speak English! Only time will tell.

            All in all, I am absolutely loving it here, and I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me and everyone here this summer!