Through the eyes of a child

Nearly 6 months have passed since the day I arrived in India. My name is Coco and I’m living in a host family near Udupi. I’m working in a primary school as an English teacher.After getting up every morning I have breakfast after which I get dressed. At the school where I am working it is compulsory for me to wear a Sari. At the beginning it was quite difficult to fold it correctly so my host mother helped me. A few days later I tried it on my own and it took me more than 20 minutes but by now I can manage to sort the 6 meters of material within 5 minutes. In India, just as important as the Sari is the jewelry. Earrings, Bangles, Rings & necklace is a must have.

When I’m finish I go to my neighbors house. The daughter and I have become really good friends. Every day we walk to the bus station together. From there it takes 10 minutes by bus and a few minutes by foot and I have reached my school. My project partner, Niklas, normally arrives a few minutes later. In the school ground all students line up in front of the Indian flag and the teachers. The school choir sings the national hymn and most mornings the headmaster has a few announcements. After that all students go to class and the lessons start.

I do not teach in the first lesson because that’s when I have “Kannada Class”. One of the teachers teaches me the local language – both spoken and written. We have got quite far so that she has also started to teach me the Hindi letters. It’s always fun because we also talk a lot about the differences between the Indian and German culture and sometimes find some similarities. From 2nd period onwards i take lessons which mainly consist of a lot of pictures, songs and games in order to get the children attention and then keep them concentrated. Most time it works.

The top 3 songs:

1. “Up shubbidu shubbida, down shubbidu shubbida”

2. Head, shoulders, knees and toes

3. Mari molada moogina melle solle kutthidu (Kannada Song)

In my free time I love to travel. Nearly every weekend I’m in a different city. Several times I went to Bangalore by sleeper bus. The sleeper Bus is a great invention and really loved by me. A bus full of beds. You travel during the night, asleep and you wake up the next morning in a new city. Of course it can be quite difficult to sleep because a lot of the streets are in a bad condition and sometimes the many potholes even make sleeping impossible but I normally sleep well. I have also been to Kerala a couple of times, Goa and of course toured through Karnataka. But I want more! Together with a girlfriend, whom also lives in Karnataka, we have planned a big tour through north India. We will be travelling for nearly 4 weeks in March.

In the beginning 11 month sounded like a long time but right now the time feels like its slipping away. Every time when I reach a new place I’m fascinated how different and beautiful this country can be. All time I’m walking through the cities like a small child, starring at everything while having an open mouth.