The monsoon rains are finally hitting Tamil Nadu. The constant cacophony of fireworks from Deepavali (the ‘festival of lights’ held in India) has started to wane. This signals both a divergence and a convergence in my future plans. My devices to go to graduate school will now take a backseat to my vetting out of teaching as a profession. The immediate future will continue as planned and I will travel the beautiful and diverse country of India until around March.
What have I done for the past month you might ask? Wake up at 4 or 5am. Turn off AC. Finish vestiges of assignments or teaching practice that I was too tired to finish the night before. Make breakfast and Nescafe coffee (real coffee’s expensive). Hustle out the door around 7:30 to 8am. Flag down an autorickshaw (mostly called auto in India). Flag down another auto to try and get a better price. Walk for 10 minutes flagging down autos due to stubbornness. Finally get an auto at a somewhat reasonable price. Head to the British Council. Lean forward with elbows on knees to allow air/smog to wick-away the lake of sweat that has congregated on my back. Enjoy the bumpy ride. Ears sway to pleasant sounds of putting engines and blaring horns. Arrive at British Council. Say hi in Tamil to security at entrance. Say bye in Tamil to security at entrance. Attend class. Try to pay attention to class and try not to think of all the things that could go awry in my lesson. Fail. More vestiges are finished before teaching practice. Sweat out nervousness. Take deep breaths of comfort. No comfort to be found. Teach. Flaws are found and sores are torn open. Strengths are highlighted quickly. Hurry home to work on next assignment / teaching practice. Brain starting to wander every 5 seconds is a sign that I should go to sleep. Sleep. Loop for 4 weeks.
But now the good ol’ times are through. I’ll be traversing Tamil Nadu for the next couple of weeks. I promise I’ll keep in touch more often. I think.
Some goals I have while traveling for the next couple of months:
- Learn to cook Indian dishes well (I met a man in Chennai who invited me into his restaurant's kitchen to learn the art)
- Trade English for autorickshaw repair skills
- Learn to play cricket (I'm playing a game against the Rajasthanis before the Rickshaw Run and don't want to lose terribly)
- Learn Spanish well
- Work on a farm
- Learn some travel Hindi and Tamil
- Read up on English grammar
- Be an extra in Tamil and Hindi films
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