Wednesday, June 5, 2013

And So It Begins...

After travelling over three continents for over 20 hours, Emily and I finally arrived in Nagpur, India 37 hours after our initial takeoff from the United States.  We were greeted by Father Herald D'Souza and one other boy from the center.  In traditional Indian fashion, we were presented with flowers (two roses, to be exact) upon our arrival.
Emily and her roses on our drive through Nagpur!














One thing I will admit: they weren't kidding when they said India was hot. We could feel it when we stepped off the plane in New Delhi after flying in from Paris, and we certainly felt it in Nagpur.  It was only about 7:30 in the morning, and it was already in the mid 80's!  (By the way, in India, temperature is measured in Celsius and everything is on the metric system...another adjustment.)  What I find funny is that it is probably one of the hottest countries in the world, and custom dictates that people are usually wearing long pants and shirts with sleeves (women are as covered up as possible).  Also, as we found when arriving at the center, there is no air conditioning. This may be due to the fact that they are too expensive; however, I've found that the Indian people are very proud of and dependent upon a good ceiling fan.

When we arrived at the center, we were immediately greeted by a swarm of young boys (residents of the YuvaJyothi center of ICID, where we are staying), eager to meet and greet us.  They all shook our hands and introduced themselves proudly.  What I've found since arriving here is that a thick Hindi accent can be very hard to decipher sometimes, and the boys speak very quickly.  Their English is limited, but that is one aspect with which Emily and I are here to help.

Father Harry then showed us to our room.  It is very small, but it has become something of a sanctuary for Emily and I since moving in:
And yes, that is my bed on the left with all the stuff on it...














We have our own bathroom, which is nice!  There isn't too much hot water, but that really isn't an issue considering that the normal temperature here is around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

We had a quick breakfast of toast, chai tea, and eggs where we spoke to Father Herald (a.k.a. Father Harry) about the Center's goings-on. We also met Father Paul, another Dominican who hails from Mumbai.

Afterwards, we went downstairs to oversee dance class with the students.  There are about 30 or so boys at YuvaJyothi now, and a few girls as well.  However, boys and girls are usually kept separate.

In any case, these kids had some amazing dance skills.  In America, it can sometimes be embarrassing for boys to dance, but here, they were competing with each other to see who had the best moves!  The older kids focused more on serious routines, while the younger kids just enjoyed the movement.  Their favorite song is Psy's "Gangnam Style", which I got a kick out of.

We spent the day getting to know the kids, enjoying some authentic Indian meals, and getting acquainted with the Center.  We called it quits fairly early, as we really hadn't slept in two days and needed to refresh.

The next day we were given a proper welcome from the students, who sang us a welcome song and introduced themselves in English. The morning's lesson consisted of the students breaking up into groups and listing ways that they can have good thoughts and respect each other.  Most of their writing was in Hindi, but I certainly got the gist of it. They then put on skits acting out different types of relationships (as parents, as spouses, as siblings, etc.) which showed them resolving some kind of conflict.

After lunch, everyone took a good long rest because of the heat outside.  Emily and I got to know two of the brothers who were visiting the center and staying at the nearby Priory.  They were both from the South of India, and offered a lot of interesting facts about the country's political, social, and ecological norms.  As it turns out, India has three seasons, which can often be predicted down to the day: Hot, Rainy, and Winter.  However, their winter is only around 65 degrees Fahrenheit!

Tomorrow is the official start of the rainy season, which was further proven by the thunder and lightening in the distance as we did group activities with the children this evening.  Emily and I are being escorted by other volunteers at the center to the main part of Nagpur, where we are planning on purchasing our first items of traditional Indian clothing!  Overall, our first few days have been very eventful and we can't wait to see the city.

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