Jingle Bells School and Academy Faizabad

On Monday, the 18th of July, we began our second week of volunteer teaching in Faizabad. Again, we were split between campuses in town on the first three days of the week.

During this time, Dennis was interviewed by the media teacher for a project his students were working on. He had an interesting chat with the principal about the differences between schools and students in India and the U.S. And he was introduced to the music teacher, who showed him the well-equipped music room and invited him to come and spend the weekend at the teacher’s house, writing and recording music with his teenage son. The hospitality in India is utterly astounding.

Dennis also had the first meeting of the drama group, consisting of about 30 students from several different classes. It was rather chaotic, because there was no available facility for the group to meet in, so they ended up meeting in the hall. There was just space enough and time enough to do a couple of basic exercises; but they were a big hit with the students — as well as with their teachers, who also watched (and recorded) the proceedings. One of these exercises was one that he invented, a circle game he calls “the loom”, which is designed to build reflexes, group awareness and nonverbal communication; it had been quite successful on other occasions, including the hostel in Merida, Mexico where we directed some activities for guests.

Kimberly continued bonding with the five fourth grade classes under her tutelage and their teachers. She was accompanied at all times by one of the department heads, who was a great collaborator, encouraging her and requesting activities designed to help the students on their educational journey. For instance, the students were having trouble using prepositions of place; and she trusted Kimberly to come up with an appropriate activity. Having the support and trust combined with enthusiastic students who were obviously there to learn made for a delightful experience.

Remote Campus – Jingle Bells School

Above photos taken during the commute to the remote campus

By the time we returned to the remote campus in mid-week, the long-delayed monsoons had finally arrived, bringing some welcome relief from the relentless heat. And from the waste from cows, goats and monkeys that accumulated all over the place. Things were a bit more disjointed at the rural campus and it felt we spent more time waiting around for things to get started when we prefer to just jump in, roll our sleeves up and get to work.

During one session at this campus, Dennis was called upon to critique/ coach an assignment that the seventh graders were given; they were to write letters to someone they admired, and later read them to all the students at an assembly for English Week. He was to help them improve both their writing and their delivery. One girl, when it was her turn to read, began with “Dear Dennis…” . Somehow he made it through the rest of the session.

Kimberly worked with two department heads, who preferred to have morning meetings with her to discuss what was going to get accomplished that day. And some of the requests felt a bit overwhelming. Can you write and direct a stage production for the students to perform next week? Here is an example of what we want, watch this video of another student production in Hindi. Ummmmm…. she had to politely tell them that writing scripts is Dennis’ thing (and even he needs more than 10 minutes). She can direct but doesn’t know the students well enough to be able to develop a script to suit their talents, and is not familiar with what resources are available to pull off such a project. Typically her creative brain needs a bit of time to let things stew before she can come up with a game plan to pull it off.

Oh okay, back to jumping into a few fourth grade classes and teaching them a thing or two. Kimberly also let them know that she’s love to work with the Kindergarten and 1st grade classes as she had tons of games, songs and activities that have already been kid-tested. Her request was granted, and the end result was happy kids.

The students at this campus follow a curriculum in which they study units as opposed to having their subjects divided into classes. It’s more of a holistic approach. One of the younger classes was learning to make food, and we were invited to taste their efforts. Delicious!!

Dennis’ Dentist Escapade (part II)

One afternoon, Dennis made his way to yet another dental appointment, this time with the dentist to whom he’d been referred by the school director. It turned out to be a rather memorable excursion. We’ll let him narrate it in the first person.

“As before, most of the tuk-tuks in town were busy, but I managed to grab one– and again the driver spoke no English. After a few minutes, he picked up two women carrying several bags, so the tiny vehicle became a bit crowded. When we were in the neighborhood where the dentist’s office was located, we came to a major intersection where we should have turned left, but instead we turned right. It became apparent that the driver was giving the newer arrivals priority. I didn’t know if he was going to circle back and head toward my destination, but rather than take a chance, I decided to bail and walk the rest of the way,

Problem was I could not find it. After checking and re-checking the map on my phone, and walking in circles and circles around circles. The office was nowhere to be found. I asked several people, and several people saw that I was lost and stopped to “help”. But nobody was familiar with the dentist and nobody could make sense of the map.

Finally, when I was already late for my appointment, a couple of young men on a motorbike stopped to offer their two rupees worth. But all they could do was look at the map and scratch their heads like everyone else. But then a middle-age couple on another motorbike pulled up, and they did know where the dentist was. So they told me to follow them, and they were off.

Of course, I could not possibly hope to follow them on foot. But not to worry, the two young men invited me to hop onto their transport with them and they would follow for me — which presumably was what the couple had in mind. Now riding a motorcycle, especially one that’s already doubly occupied, had never exactly been on my bucket list — unless you mean a list of activities to avoid at all costs in order not to kick the bucket. But I was already late, and it appeared I had no other hope of getting to the dentist. So I hopped on.

And away we went in pursuit of the other bike, like a scene from a spy thriller, threading our way through the streets clogged with traffic and assorted quadrupeds, and whipping around corners, and not a helmet anywhere in sight. One of the benefits of travel is that it sometimes compels you to step outside your comfort zone; and on this occasion I stepped way, way out. But we arrived at the dentist in three pieces, and the two young men came inside with me and sat down to wait, as if they wanted to make sure that I was taken care of so their trouble wasn’t all for nothing.

The dentist said he needed new x-rays before he could determine anything, so he sent me to another office about a block away where I paid for the x-rays (about 15 dollars for a comprehensive scan), and then a man escorted me across the street to the little dental lab where nobody else was at the moment. The equipment was state of the art, but the procedure wasn’t. Rather than sanitize the brace I was supposed to bite down on, he just wrapped some newspaper around it. And once the scan was completed, he threw the paper out into the street, which is how many folks in these parts dispose of trash.

As seen in Faizabad

With a complete scan of my teeth in my hand, I walked back to the dentist. His prognosis was not great. It turned out that I had a broken abutment (that’s the screw that goes into your jawbone, with an opening in the head for the crown to screw into), and so there was no point in getting the crown replaced, as it would just come loose again. He said the abutment would need to be surgically removed — although in time it might just work its way out on its own — and then I’d need to get a bone graft if I wanted another implant installed.

I decided, however, that I was all through with implants, and went with option C: just leave the damn thing alone. So he inserted a screw into the opening in the abutment to seal up the hole where the screw on the crown screwed in. And that was that. The two young men who had driven me to the office said their goodbyes and wished me well. And asked if I was on Instagram.“

The weekend was rather low-key for us. We were both a bit lethargic, so we just stayed at home and rested and got caught up on chores. We said goodbye to our contact person, an affable young man who we’d known would be departing soon (having once been a student at the school, he was perhaps due for a change of scenery) and said hello to his replacement, an equally affable young woman who would continue to make certain we were well provided for. And then for the rest of the weekend, it was just us, the security guards, and the monkeys.

7/18-22/2022