A Full Day

What an interesting day today. I woke up after having a nightmare! A dream where I was trying to reach someone by phone and couldn't get their number right! It probably had to do with my bike ride the other day in the countryside...

This morning it was raining. So after I did my morning routine, I took my umbrella and went to the gate in front of my guest house and stood enjoying the rain.

Since the rains have started, many people have been getting sick. I'm trying my darndest to stay healthy and am glad that I received all of the vaccinations needed before coming here. So far, I am well and I hope to remain so.

All my classes are intense because I'm covering a lot of information. I'm teaching them how to pronounce speech sounds by teaching manner and place. I'm also teaching about pronouns and had fun teaching them a “telephone” game of passing a sentence along from one to another. I used John Lennon's “Imagine” to teach listening skills. The monk-students were busy writing down the words they heard. I also had the students out of their seats asking each other questions. Lots of fun!

Dr. Panth mentioned that he could get me supplies that I needed when he went to Patna today. I gave him a list for plain, white paper, some folders, and a stapler or paper clips. Previously, I had asked some monks to help me buy some ball-point pens but they refused to do so, instead they just gave me the pens! The materials I asked for were right there at the Nalanda office, so I promptly received what I asked for. The supplies here are a little different than in the USA. The copy paper must be in metrics: 21 cm x 30 cm or about 8 ¼ in x 11 7/8 in.

During my noontime class, the students wanted to learn rules so that they can pronounce words. The /th/ sound is very difficult here in India because I believe they see the as an aspirated /t/ sound and not a totally new sound. We also worked with words ending in -tion or -tian or -sion or -stion (coarticulation changes this sound). We also spent a little time comparing Indian society to American society. Very interesting differences and similarities. We discussed marriages and I was asked to give my personal view about divorce. Yikes! Then I was asked to comment on how the politicians are saying that by 2020 India will be a developed nation. Yikes, again! Its been a long time since my university days!

The evening class was a kick. I gave groups of students an alphabet letter and asked them to write down words. To my surprise every single group could do this task. Then I had them follow directions with spatial concepts and this was more challenging for some. This group asked for pronunciation practice, too, so I worked on teaching them how to produce speech sounds! My specialty – what, else?! One student asked the difference between “zero” and “O (the letter).” I explained that both are used by Americans but zero is proper. I also explained how Americans tend to shorten many words: zer-o becomes -o, good-bye becomes 'bye, hello becomes hi, zed becomes zee, bicycle becomes bike, etc.

Half and hour before evening class begins, I arrive with one or two monks. They take me to see the head monk and offer me drinks of water and sometimes food. This evening, I was given a beautiful hand-stitched and woven bag from Myanamar that many of the bhanti (Venerable Monks) carry.

Ven Rasaindasari who rides with me to class each evening.

On the ride back from the temple, I marveled at how beautiful the countryside is at dusk. Rich green fields against wide open blue skies. Small children will say hello to me as I ride along trying to avoid people and honking motor vehicles. When we (the monks and I) turned onto the road to the university, we encountered a huge group of people. The throng of people, women and men and children, were carrying bundles on top of their heads. It looked like an exodus and I wondered if they were all moving to a new area, when much to my surprise, they were coming out from the gates of Nalanda University. There is a Thailand Temple next to the old hostel. I haven't been to it, I've just seen the gate. I asked Ven. R- what was happening and he seemed to think that the Thailand temple was giving the people something – maybe food. As I sit here and write, the chanting from women is still going on.