August 2009
11 posts
Family
Aside from the amazing opportunities IAPA provided me with, my summer in India also allowed me to reconnect with family members.
Not only did I get to Bangalore (about 6 hours away from Chennai by train) and see both my mother and father’s parents, but I also had the chance to meet with two of my Mom’s cousins and their families as well as some of my father’s family in Chennai...
Ramachandra Medical College
We ended teaching in India with the start of the Universe….you know, a big bang! (Laugh! That’s was funny!) Anyway, IAPA was given the opportunity to teach at a well respected medical school, Ramachandra Medical College.
Now initially I was pretty weary of this event mostly because I was sure that the students we would be teaching would know more about the biology and the transmission...
Last Day of Teaching Kids...
You know you’re doing something great when the actual “work” part of your organization is ridiculously fun. So as the last day of teaching loomed over our heads, I got nostalgic about all the prior teachings.
This is what teaching has given me:
1. Confidence
I think the greatest part of teaching is that instills a confidence in you that you never really knew was there before....
Bye Bye Side Projects
Though we all went and saw our side-projects after I first made mention of them, the last time we saw all of them was particularly memorable. The three side projects that dealt primarily with children affected HIV with or orphaned by parents who have died from opportunistic infections, that is SHELTER, PACT House, and Peace Trust met in one venue. Here, not only did we get to interact with the...
Kerala
So right up to Kerala, teachings intensified. We refined our teaching techniques, became more and more confident in ourselves, and as such were watched much less by the staff! We had a couple days where we double taught (went to two schools in the same day) and a few teachings that lasted up to 5 hours. So, by the time mid-July rolled around, team IAPA was more than excited for a quick break to...
Fisherman's Village
One of the more eye-opening experiences I had was our two-day visit to a fisherman’s village in Chennai. People here provide food and an income for their families both by fishing and selling fish and sea products. We stayed at a small community center near the beach that was home to a small staff and one woman, European I believe. What she was doing there was never quite clarified to me, but...
July 2009
2 posts
As the end of my trip approaches...
I apologize for being god awful at blogging…
BUT, expect an amazing reflection post in a couple weeks. It’s only one week till I’m back and I’m giving myself a couple days a jetlag and a couple days of general laziness before I post.
There, I’ve given myself a deadline…I should be good to go.
Can’t wait to see you all again!!!
Gold Sneaks
I bought some…they are awesome. Picture coming soon.
June 2009
9 posts
EPIC bliggity blog post.
Apologies for not updating!!! A mixture of a lack of internet connection and laziness has kept me from doing so. Oops. I’ll absolutely promise that I will definitely try to remember to remember to be better about potentially updating from now on. I hope you can sense the extreme confidence that I expressed in myself in the previous sentence. Nevertheless, here’s the longest update known to man…or...
The internet gods are smiling today...
Orientation: Now I mentioned previously that I came to India with an organization known as IAPA. This past week IAPA provided an orientation that taught all the U.S. volunteers about Indian culture and also served to get us acquainted with our counterparts (CP’s) who will act as translators as well as fellow teachers when we go out and start teaching the IAPA prevention curriculum. The days...
Low Levels of Blogability make me sad!
Sorry to have not blogged in so long…we’re having a hard time getting a daily source of internet in Chennai! I am officially M.I.A…. Missing In Arizona, that is, and beginning My Indian Adventure! Hey-o, Wordplay! The Journey: Phoenix—>Chicago, Chicago—>London, London—>Chennai The trip to Chicago was not too bad…I was lucky enough to be able to travel with friends....
Here's to the blogging trend...
Blogging is so fashionable these days! Due to a self-diagnosed genetic susceptibility to become a follower of popular mainstream trends, minus Veganism, I’ve gone ahead and jumped on the blogging bandwagon. Naturally, the first thing I did was go to the most trendy mainstream search engine, Google, and typed in “How to write an amazing blog.” Here’s one of the top hits. A couple bullet points in,...
May 2009
1 post
Lazy Summers
“If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you are in bad company.” - Jean-Paul Satre