Tonight we attended a dance performance at Parker Hall at Woodstock. Father Saju George Moolamthuvuthil is a Jesuit priest and Bharatnatyam dancer who told stories of Jesus and Mary and Krishna in his dance performance. This was part of Indian Culture Week at Woodstock.  

I have never seen this style of dance. It is very expressive where every hand gesture, facial expression including eye movements, and posture are used to convey meaning. This was the third night of performance since Parker Hall cannot accommodate the entire school population. Oscar attended last night with his class, and tonight with us- he is out of the dorms for the weekend and with us, happy Mom and Dad. He said that tonight's performance was different than last night's. I found myself glancing at my watch during the first half of the show, but started to appreciate the athleticism and intricacies of this type of dance. It was not my favorite, but is was interesting.

The video is silent, but imagine indian music, singing in Hindi, and the jingle of the bells from around the dancer's ankles. I can't wait for Felix to begin his Indian drum (Tabla) lessons.

Guitars made in India

Indian Independence Day is on August 15th.  There is a day off school, and a celebration here with a flag raising, where everyone is encouraged to dress in their National Costumes, or in Indian National Costumes.  I'm not sure that blue jeans, T-shirts, and baseball hats qualify as an appropriate US National Costume, so Gregg and I are off to Fabindia to buy some salwar kameez and kurtas.  We could have some made, but we've been warned that the local tailors are a bit slow, and if there are adjustments needed, we may not have things when we want them.  The pre stitched kurtas have sleeves too short for Gregg's arms, and kids sizes are not easy to find.

On our return, to Landour, we stopped for a visit at a guitar workshop.  We met new Woodstock family that has a boy in Felix's class.  They have been living in Rajpur India for I think 7 years now where they both run successful businesses.  Mel has several sights with women making handicrafts such as bags which she sells to companies like Tom's.  Dave is a luthier, and has a workshop where he practices his craft.  This is where we stopped.  His employees/craftsmen are men who have successfully complete treatment for drug or alcohol addiction.  This is a win-win situation.  Dave has a crew of inexpensive skilled labor, and the laborers he employes have learned a skill and have employment.  Everyone seemed to be happy to be there and enjoy their work.
It is remarkable to see any skilled craftsmen, and fun to see the creative process.

Soccer Follow-up

We've had a total of 3 practices for soccer.  The first one that I wrote about earlier, is the only one that we stayed dry for. The last one, I had to end practice 15 minutes early due to lightning, though the girls did not understand why.  A good thing about practicing on a basketball court is that the ground does not get torn up or muddy, and there is a limit to how slippery it gets.
I'm down to 19 girls, only one of which is a complete beginner.  (I'm still having to teach the rules and basics of the games to most of them.  Things like kick off and throw-ins are a few of the things I've covered.)  I told the girls at the 2nd practice that I would keep everyone on the team, but I might have to limit who goes to the matches once we have them.
The athletic director found an empty dorm room for sports equipment storage, so I no longer have to carry the bags up the mountain.  By the way, it is a 40 minute hike from the practice field to where we live.  There are 2 players besides Zibby that walk most of the way with us.
Today, Sunday, we are having an informal practice on Hanson field.  I figure we need to get on a field where we can play with 11 on a side before we are ready for a match, or friendly as it is called here.

We had 4 girls from the senior team join us for our scrimmage.  Hanson field is still torn up.  There are no lines, no nets on the goals, cows and construction workers.  The game was fun, though we had to dodge the cow piles.  The cows left after a few balls got kicked their way.

Culture Shock at Soccer Practice

I've been involved with soccer as a player or coach for the past 35 years.  Hmmm, I feel a bit old saying that.  I've coached age group, travel, high school, and middle school.  When I got an email from Woodstock asking parents for help filling in advisor spots for a few activities, I jumped right in to volunteer to coach the Jr. Girls Football- 7th and 8th grade soccer that needed a coach.  Practices are scheduled Mondays and Thursdays 4:45- 6 on Ridgewood Field.

On Wednesday, the first day of school, I started to ask more questions-
Is there equipment, first aid, schedule of games, etc.  Things I thought I should know as a coach.  Hmm, no answers.
Thursday, I went to the Dean of Student Activities and got a few answers.  There were 11 girls signed up, but there will additions, since the 5th and 6th grade team that was going to be co-ed is now only boys.  The other schools Woodstock plays have only boys on their sub jr. teams.  The Dean did walk me to the gym to requisitioned some equipment, and we bumped into the Athletic Director. (Why wasn't he the one I contacted? Politics.)   I got a bit more information about the team and season from the Athletic Director.  There is no schedule of games.  When I feel the girls are ready I need to let the Athletic Director know and he will call around for a match.  I need to run tryouts and keep 16 girls on the roster.

On Thursday, I arrived at Ridgewood Field a bit early to make sure the equipment made it.  Yes.  There were 5 balls, 2 sets of pennies, and 12 cones.  Excellent.  Here is our playing field...

OK, it is not a field, but it does have lines and some small goals.  There is also a fence around it to try to keep the balls from heading down the mountain.  I knew I'd have a basketball court, since it is just outside Oscar's dorm.  The mountain location does not allow for many fields.  The Senior team (9th-12th graders) practices on Hanson field, which is more of a field, and could be quite nice.

The pile of rocks is from a landslide, and they are working to rebuild the retaining wall.  You can see the goals at the end of the dirt stretches.

So culture shock came first from the lack of information and the playing fields, but it also came during our first practice/tryout.  I am American, and as an American I posses a bad ear for foreign names, especially Asian names.  I was expecting 11 girl, plus a few more 5th and 6th graders.  I had 24 girls turn up for practice.  So I have to learn the girls names, evaluate who should be on the team, administer first aid, manage the spectators who wanted to play basketball, plus field questions from the girls about scheduling conflicts.  I think I learned maybe a third to half the girls' names.  I'll have to think up something better for Monday.

I had to take my equipment home with me.  The boys dorm parent warned, that the office of the dorm was not a safe place to leave soccer balls.  I guess despite the fence, there are balls that fly down the mountain, and replacements are sought after.  It took Zibby and I about 45 minutes to walk home with our bag of equipment.  I wonder what coaches have done in the past.  There have been times here that I feel I am the first person to ask certain questions or request information.  I'm hoping that it is a cultural, not administrative barrier causing me to feel I'm inventing the wheel.

Coaching is fun.  The girls are wonderful.  I'm hoping they can add a developmental soccer program for the girls and boys that don't make the teams.

Thank-you

A big Thank-you to the Roberts family.  They have treated us like family.  Things happen a bit differently here in India, and it is a welcome feeling to know that we have someone that will hold our hands through the process.  Eric keeps telling us that we do not have to say thank-you, but I'm not sure how else to express our gratitude.

We were introduced to a banker so we could begin the process of opening a local bank account.  Our paperwork still needs to travel to Bombay and back before we will have an account number.  If everything goes well, that will be in 8-10 days.  Once we have an account we will write a check from our US account, then wait 3 weeks for the money to make it into our account.  We could have money wired, but even that sounds like it will take a couple weeks before we will have access to it here.  No worries though, the ATM at Woodstock works, and we have money.

Mr. Roberts also secured a couple SIM card for us.  We brought along a couple of my brother, Darren's, old iPhones which he unlocked for us.  Today we went down to the bazaar with the Robert's daughter.  She helped us pay for some talk and data time for our phones.  We will still have to wait a few days for the phones to be activated before we can use them.  Have I mentioned that things happen at a different pace in India?

School Begins

The kids started school today.  Oscar walked up from Ridgewood dorm, and Zibby, Felix, Gregg, and I walked down from La Villa Bethany.  We will have to leave a bit earlier since we were 10 minutes late for Zibby's start.  Felix had 20 minutes to play with his classmates before his school day began.

This is a photo in the quad where the kids hang out before school, during lunch, after school.  Gregg and I spent quite a bit of time there the past few days during orientation, and today chatting with parents and Woodstock staff.  It was wonderful to join the kids for lunch.

Land of Contrasts

Such beauty we see on our daily walks around the  hill top.

 Yet, from the same spot, just turn the camera down, we see ugliness.  

I've talked with a few people that live here.  The garbage "problem" is a cultural one.  Indians keep their home clean, but outside their home, it is not theirs to care about.  "They will pick up the garbage in their house and put it in the next house." A quote from 2 independent sources.  I think Gregg and I are going to start carrying a bag with, and maybe some gloves.  A garbage free walk would be so much more enjoyable.  I know we cannot move a mountain, but maybe we can shift  a few rocks.