Shanti Bhavan's Choir Sings "Waving Flag"

The Girls of Shanti Bhavan

Shanti Bhavan Presents "A DAY (UN)LIKE ANY OTHER"

The Full Update

I wonder how long this is going to be….

First, my computer died but was brought back to life for a mere $40. This included a house call from the computer doctor to the hotel room, almost full recovery of my stuff and starting over again with newly installed Windows 7. If my computer had to die, I was glad it was here. Biggest issue is that I lost my photo editing program, so won’t be posting any more pictures for a long time I think.

Oct. 31: Halloween

I was impressed by the extent at which Halloween was celebrated here. I didn’t worry about a costume because I assumed that the children wouldn’t be dressed up. I was wrong. Again, amazingly resourceful kids had face paint and make shift costumes all around me. The 12^th graders were particularly impressive with a haunted house they created in their classroom. What they did in 24 hours was absolutely amazing, including a cauldron of boiling chemicals that they could lit on fire which they made themselves in chem lab. Crazy. We also quickly put together a haunted house for the 8^th graders who were allowed to go trick or treating to the teachers and volunteers quarters. Ours was not as elaborate, but pretty scary apparently because we made at least one girl cry in each group that came through. We made up a ghost story to accompany the experience that had spread throughout the whole school by morning. I would say it was a success.

Nov. 5- Diwali: Festival of Lights

This Hindu holiday is one of the biggest in India. The lights are meant to lead Lord Rama home from exile and they go on for 5 days, bursting crackers and all. We were given a long weekend at school, which meant no classes on Friday, and a special party and delicious meal that night. The children did some performances and they had a beautiful arrangement of flowers and oil lamps on the lawn. Then of course, they ran around “bursting crackers” which they had been talking about doing all week.

Nov. 6-7: Mysore

We hired a car to take us to Mysore (5 hours away) for the weekend. It’s actually a very economical way to travel around here if you have enough people to fill the car because it is a time saver and it gives you a tour guide for the weekend basically. We serendipitously met Mufaro as we were all waiting in the ATM line and he took the 6 of us in his brother’s “rickshaw” to get some wonderful food for lunch and then to his uncle’s shop to watch incents being made, smell some oils and drink some of the most amazing tea I’ve ever had. We also stopped by a local market and into a souvenir shop that is famous for the sandle wood, which is what Mysore is known for. I walked away with a wood carving picture and my impulse buy. We spent the evening at the palace and stuck around just long enough to watch it light up. I reminded me a bit of Christmas and Los Vegas combined. It was beautiful and gaudy at the same time. To top off the day we had dinner at a wonderful roof top restaurant under the stars and firecrackers.

The next day took us up Chamundi Hill to see the Sri Chamunderswari Temple and then down around Deveraga Market, both of which posed great photo opportunities. Then we jumped in the car to travel to Coorg, where a small Nepalese Buddhist community has settled and sat in the most beautiful temple I have ever been in.

Nov. 20-21: ABC World News

Apparently after 2-3 years in the making, ABC News finally made it out to SB to film a segment on the unique nature of the school. Lots of people were busy getting ready for their arrival, including some of my singing kids. They had a performance on Saturday night and some classes on Sunday for them to film. The crew also visited one of the 12^th grader’s homes, the recent graduates at their college and a nearby village. Everything went very well and we hope that the segment will air sometime before the end of the year on ABC’s World News with Diane Sawyer. I hope to get details out to people out on that one soon. You might even see me!

Nov. 25: Happy Thanksgiving

I had many students excited to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving this morning. We had a regular day of classes, but Dr. George (the founder) sponsored a special meal for everyone, and a party for the 12^th grade and staff. We had a delicious meal, small glasses of wine and a dance party. It was lovely. Today also marked the arrival of the founder of ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), Mary Mitchel, and the departure of Dr. Atkins, both of whom are very committed supporters of the school. It’s really amazing to be around all of these people who are so devoted to this place. They are very inspiring and this place really makes one think about what we should be thankful for.

Congratulations...if you have read this whole thing you are more commited to knowing what I'm up to than I ever thought anyone would be =)

Another Quick Update

In the past two weeks we have celebrated Halloween, Diwali and Children's Day with a two day trip to Mysore thrown in there for good measure. I have tons of pictures to post, but no way of doing so as my computer has broken down. It is currently with a "doctor", but could be pronounced dead at anytime. Further proof that I'm just not meant to be communicating with anyone while I'm here I guess.

peace.

Look at this!

And if you haven't looked at my facebook stuff lastly these are some photos and videos my fellow teacher Yazamny has been working on since I've been here. I teach most of these kids:

http://vimeo.com/16317609

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1371602663759&set=a.1371562542756.2048712.1642550899&pid=30845524&id=1642550899#!/album.php?aid=2093061&id=21204211&fbid=579327955183

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1371602663759&set=a.1371562542756.2048712.1642550899&pid=30845524&id=1642550899#!/album.php?aid=2093069&id=21204211&fbid=579333753563

http://sbchildren.blogspot.com/

http://shesthefirst.org/blog/2010/10/10/shilpa-shanti-bhavan/ - an essay written by one of our 12th graders

A quick one

A little update:

*I no longer wear western clothes simply because cotton takes too much effort to wash. I will eventually post a picture of the bucket in our bathroom that is both our washing machine and shower.

*I find the difference between vegetarian here and vegetarian in Korea very funny. In Korea if you ask for vegetarian you will still get fish or spam in it. Here a something is "non-veg" if it has an egg in it.

*Check out from a hotel is 24 hours after you get into the room. Way better than 10 am standard check out.

* I've been so frustrated with the internet situation around here right now that I've considered "radio silence" for the next two months. I'm sure that won't happen...but I've thought it.