Cow Says Moo By Felicity Mills

 

At my school, I teach the subject “Mother Nature”. So far, I’ve taught animals, insects, and weather/seasons. There has been a lot of “cow says moo”. I feel like I’ve finally mastered my animal sounds. The kids are such a joy to teach. At my school, there are 9 preschoolers. They are so adorable, and they call me deedee (which means sister). There’s one little boy named Gopal. He is the tiny Indian embodiment of Jack Black from School of Rock. He wears a gray striped blazer over a graphic tee shirt and sticks it to the man basically every day. I adore him. It’s been really cool to work with him. On the first day, he was really distracted and had a lot of trouble focusing. However, over time, I learned that he reacts really well to positive reinforcement. If I make a big fat deal of all of the good things that he does, he does them more frequently! Today he was so involved and attentive during class and it was so incredible to see.

We always play flashcard games as part of the lesson and it is so funny to see how competitive the kids get. From the very youngest, to the very oldest. There’re two types of kids during the games. First, there’s the ones that remind me of my mom. These are the merciless cheaters. They will do whatever it takes to win, regardless of the cost. Then, there’s the ones who remind me of my dad. These are the nerdy sticklers. They watch like eagle-eyed tigers for any sign of foul play. Should they catch any, they call out “cheat cheat cheat…”, until the mistake is rectified. A touching daily reminder of family game night at my house.

Last night we got to go to an Indian wedding! It was such a cool experience. Rather than the traditional white, the tent was bright pink and covered in golden tassels. The bride was a vision in a pink that matched the tent. She was kneeling with her new husband in the middle of the party. They were surrounded by incense and the floor around them was covered in interesting symbols. There was wonderful music and a whole lot of dancing. The steps were simple and yet it still took me practically the entire time that we spent there to master them. We left before I could showcase my newly acquired skills, which was probably for the best. There were a lot of differences between the traditional American wedding and the wedding we attended, but the atmosphere of joy was the same.

Then today, after school we got to paint a mural at our school. We definitely jammed out to Abba while we painted, and it made me so happy. Ours was a mountain range with a sunset. We made sure to use a lot of pink, because that is the marker/crayon/pencil that it the most hotly contested during craft time. I thought it turned out really well. I loved it because I feel like the mountains are the link between here and home. The kids all came and brought their family and friends to watch us paint. At the beginning of the trip, that would probably have made me feel uncomfortable, but people just watch us and record us all the time so I’m like a seasoned veteran now. It’s not easy being this famous. I have loved my time here so far in beautiful India and am so excited to see what next week will bring!