We had our first day of classes yesterday, which was pretty good. Still getting to know people's names (as will be the trend for the next week I think), as there are about 30 participants. And most of them have names like Trilantha, Archana and Ankur - and those are just some I actually can remember!
Yesterday we did a little inauguration, which was nice but totally demonstrated why India is such a bureaucracy. EVERYONE had to say words of welcome and thanks. And there was a candle lit by a participant from each nation. And expectations were discussed and the code of conduct, and blah blah. On the plus side we get a morning tea break AND an afternoon tea break! On the down side, the tea tastes like liquid sugar.
Yesterday's afternoon session was a cross-cultural orientation, which turned into a pretty heated discussion on culture. It's definitely teaching me a lot about working to understand different points of view and working in a language that many people struggle with. The other women are mostly from India, with one from Nepal, and they just crack me up because they are constantly laughing. The guy leading the session is odd though and will be teaching again today, but he's one of those people that has a PhD and wants you to know it. Apparently he reads signatures, so I might see about doing that on tea break today.
Tonight, Nasim, Theo (another Canadian from Dominican University College) and I are going with Ankur into Warangal proper for dinner and for a tour from his friend. Hilarious side note on Ankur: he was voted Mr. North India last year and loves bodybuilding. Haha now we tease him all the time.
I'm going to go eat breakfast but I'll post again soon. And here is what our residence area looks like:
wow, that sounds somewhat intense!
ReplyDeleteshame about the tea!