Activity Week at Sarab Talla - the sequel

(at the temple, top of the hill)

(3 cool chaperones)

Activity Week happened again this year! Last year was the first time I had ever gone to Sarab Talla village, and that is where the idea of the documentary was conceived. Since then, I have visited ST countless times to the point of being called Didi or older sister every time. I know the little kids are yelling to me though because they say "Hi Didi!" instead of "Namaste Didi!".

So last week, we had the sequel. As a teacher, it's always great to be able to repeat an experience 2 or 3 times, because then you have a chance to improve. This year, I was able to help out in the process of bringing more tuna cans for the hike and gloves for pulling kali ghass. Everything ran so smoothly! The recipe for our successful trip was threefold: 1) A wonderful village with great organized guides and respectful, friendly children 2) Awesome and cooperative students and 3) Totally Rockin' Chaperones.

(view of some terraces)

(map view of Sarab Talla)

So I'll just list in chronological order, some of the highlights of our itinerary. It was the same exact schedule as last year, except with a little less farming, no western birdhouse building, and no making rope out of bark.

We arrived on Sunday Day 1. And on Monday Day 2, we headed for a 4 hour hike up to the temple and 2 hours back down. Spider City was just as scary, but more enjoyable this time, as we were accompanied by a screaming girl. I will call her Spider Woman.

(1.5" abdomen)
(Mr. Rice under the spiders - black marks in the sky)
(Ahhhhhh!!!!!!)

(Remember to breath!)
(the white stuff are webs)

(Spider Woman sprained her ankle. Nagendra carried her down!)

(Calves posing)

Day 3 Tuesday and Day 4 Wednesday, we taught English at local elementary and middle schools. The village kids enjoyed playing Hangman! And, we pulled Kali Ghass, the invasive species originally from Mexico that is taking over the hillside. The good use is that it stops bleeding, but it's basically poisonous to ingest and is taking over land where cattle fodder can grow.

(Lion Heart and Nagendra)

(Mr. Photogenic)

(Giant plant! Nate's Real Roots)

On Wednesday morning, it was still November 4 Tuesday in America. The chaperones were wide awake having chai while most of the students were still sleeping. It was 8:30am in the morning, which means it was still 7pm pacific coast time on Election Day in the USA! GO OBAMA!!!!!!! What most Americans might not realize is that the entire world follows the USA election, even people who live in a village in the himalayas. And everyone wanted Obama to win!!! The Indian television was definitely biased towards Obama and the local teachers were watching the live polls. I was psyched! At the time, Obama had 175 votes and McCain had about 75. YAY!!!!!

Voting abroad on an absentee ballot is really strange. You just read some names on a piece of paper and check off boxes. I read Proposition 8 and it said "eliminate the law allowing gay marriages", huh, so voting No actually meant voting Yes for equal rights. Ok, that's a dumb proposal, so I check No, and mail it in. Little did I realize that there were and still are major protests regarding the passing of this proposition, which now makes gay marriage illegal in California. It was a serious and intense deal in CA! And here in India, it was just like, how did that proposition slip in? That's dumb!

(b&w tv in the government teachers' bedroom)

(taking a picture of this moment in history)

Day 5 Thursday, we basically just hung around. There wasn't much farming to do, as all the dal had been beaten already, and there were no crops in the fields. Below is the daily school lunch, which is cooked on a wood fire outdoors. Children are guaranteed free lunch if they attend a government school. The daily menu is rice and dal -- a staple of food here in India. When physical education (gym class) started, us chaperones pushed the Woodstock students into the line. Little did they know, it wasn't actually mandatory, I just wanted to see them do jumping jacks.

(Kusum's mom -- the lunch lady)

(Eat with your right hand)

(Eighth grade girls)

(daily calisthenics)

(Woodstockers jump!)

(Our coordinated boys)

(You can do it!)

(Village boys)

We also had to chance film an hour of Panchayat meetings, the equivalent of Town Council meetings, for Sarab Talla. The heated issues were improving the water supply and the need for a private middle and high school at the village. Government schools have teachers with kushy salaries who never show up to teach because they know that no one is watching them and that they will not lose their jobs. For the documentary, Lion Heart and I also filmed an interview of the newly elected Pradhan, village leader/mayor.

(cultural exchange that night)

The next day #5 Friday, we headed down to the Aglar River to play in the water! The entire village middle school was given permission to join us, and everyone frolicked in the sun. On the way back, we stopped by the flour mills again, and those flour covered spider webs are so cool.

(The Chain Rule)

(This was like taking amusement park ride photos.)

(Where's the Spider?)

Finally, here are some photos of our wonderful guides. They were so hospitable and nice and patient! Nagendra is kind of like a brother in that it is his family I always visit. He has high hopes for the documentary and has been helping out too! It was funny to watch these guys make dinner for us, since it's usually the woman's job. They had to use a rolling pin to make the chapati's.

(Fearless Four)

(One of the new Grooms)
(Nagendra)
(Baldav)
(Mukesh)

This trip was pretty flawless in my perspective. It was fun! For more photos of the village trip and other random stuff, CLICK HERE for the October and November 2008 photo set.