Panther sighting, or is it Leopard sighting!

There is never a dull moment at Hebron School.

Last weekend the Standard 12's went to dinner at Nahar's restaurant for a vegetarian South Indian meal. There were crowded tables and lots of animated chatter amongst the students. It was great to see the mix between the genders. There was the "sedate" staff table as well.

Following the meal we played "Find the Headline" newspaper game, had a quiz and then the new principal and his wife told their story about the long association with Hebron. The evening ran late and none of the students seemed to mind!

Sunday night we had an optional movie night for the Standard 12 boys and watched Rain Man, their choice.

On Tuesday Tori and John arrived and I no longer had to cover for Tori's Standard 8 Math class of 5 periods per week. The teaching is much more manageable now. I still have a double conflict on Wednesday and with Clare's return that will be solved as well. My teaching load is 4 classes of French each 3 times per week for 12 periods, 3 periods in DEL (Learning Support), 2 Department meetings, 4 Registration classes and 2 School Assemblies over a 4 day period. Not all days are evenly balanced. On Tuesday I have Registration and then 2 French classes. On Friday, I have Registration and School Assembly, 2 Department meetings and 5 classes to teach! Monday is our Day-off as Dorm Parents. We have no responsibilities and are free to "go to town and visit!" Saturdays and Sundays are non-teaching days and as Dorm Parents we have no specific duty to perform other than "being available"

Wednesday night a bulletin was issued in Prep Hall there was to be no indoor football in the Sports Hall and all boys were to return to their respective dorms as a black Panther had been sighted. On Thursday a yellow cat with spots was also sighted. The Forest People have been on sight and extra guards have been called in. On Saturday the leopard was sighted near the swimming pool area. The school is taking all the precautions necessary to avoid any kind of incident with the "big cat". As we are in the middle of the dry season there is the thought the leopard had come seeking a water source.

Saturday was the annual Support Staff Day. The Support Staff had the day off work and the various dorms took over the cleaning, cooking, dish washing, and other tasks. The Support Staff and their families came to Lushington for Morning Tea, were greeted by the teaching and administrative staff, and were served by the students as a "Thank You" for all they do each day. There were games for the children, the women, and the men. A banana leaf meal was served in the dining room and the staff and students waited on the tables. Our dorm had "clean up" after supper. This included washing all the huge pots for cooking and deep-fat frying as well as all the supper dishes, glasses, and cutlery. Our team performed well and we were out of the kitchen by 7:15 P.M. A movie followed. Avatar, and munchies were provided. I still have not seen "the big cat" and I am not sure if I really want to see it in the woods around the school!

Talent night show

Since I last updated my blog there is not really much to share.
Last Saturday the Standard 12's had a weekend "at home" and celebrated this by having a Talent Show after supper. There were three judges for the 10 teams which participated, needless to say, I was one of them in my role of Lord Chancellor from last semester. You might say it was "Indian Idol" Hebron version! There were lots of laughs and some pretty good talent as well. It was a great way to spend the evening and it did provide some insight into the likes and dislikes of the students and also how they view some of the school rules!

Sunday afternoon my wife and I went over to Selborne for "Afternoon Tea" sponsored by the Standard 9 girls. We were greeted by two girls in black and white attire and escorted to our table on the lawn, given a menu, and had our order taken. The food was simply delicious as was the coffee. The food was so delicious that I indulged and had a second dessert! No surprise to some of you! We came away with our souvenir name tags with some great Origami. Thanks to all who made it a special afternoon.

The rest of the week was what is becoming a "normal school week" with classes, preparation, correction, and after school activities. I am now playing E flat Tuba in the Concert Band and Gigi is giving voice lessons to a staff member. This is in addition to her teaching Standard 9 French, doing some vocal coaching for the music department, and assisting in the DPD office.

We do find time to attend adult Bible studies by alternating Monday and Wednesday evenings. This allows us to meet members of the larger community and to visit other schools and houses. There is always a snack to start the evening and a meal of South Indian food to close the evening. Lots of great memories are being made.

Last night was the combined Dorm meeting of the Standard 12 and 13 boys. Today the Standard 13's are off to Black Thunder, an amusement park down the ghat. The Standard 12's are out to dinner at Nahar's tonight. Tomorrow there will be church services as usual and then we are into next week.

Village Visits

After our wonderful weekend in Cochin with the Standard 12's last Monday was spent with the Standard 7's as they visited to local villages. The first was a Toda village called Muttanamund. There are about 15 houses in the village with less than 50 inhabitants. The women were sitting on the grass doing the beautiful Toda embroidery. The children were running about kicking a football (soccer ball) and the water buffalo were wandering about enjoying the grass! We were able to see the new water supply which is being developed and we also visited the site of the regional temple. The village priest happened to walk by while we were there. The students had to draw a sketch map of the village showing roads, buildings, and other features.

Following this visit we moved on to the village of Atthikal. This was a much larger village with about 200 inhabitants and many more buildings. Again the students had various tasksto perform. There were very few people about as it was early afternoon. We did see people working in the fields.

The weather was hot and sunny and even with sunscreen on there were several healthy looking faces by the time we returned to school later in the afternoon.

The rest of the week was spent in getting French lessons prepared and teaching the Standard 7 and Standard 8 French classes as well as doing the Standard 13 registration and PD class. The boys of the dorm are a great bunch. Last Friday evening we had all 39 (12's and 13's) for the weekly Dorm meeting and then birthday cake for the boys who had celebrated their birthday during the week.

We are getting to know them and are really enjoying our work at the school.

We are busy!

Since my last blog update there has been much activity.

Our first weekend was spent at the Staff Retreat which gave us an opportunity to meet the new staff and renew acquaintances with others. One of the highlights of the Retreat was the Staff Picnic. There was plenty of time for walking and enjoying the scenery. Following the 4 days of Staff Retreat, we had 2 days in which to prepare our lessons for the new semester. This was rather difficult for us as neither of us knew the pupils and their capacity to learn. We also had to leave work for someone else to teach as we were leaving for a 3 day weekend trip to Cochin with the Standard 12's after their Trial Exams.

There is much going on at the beginning of semester. As well as getting to know the names and the faces of our 15 boys there are also 6 other Standard 12 boys who live "up the hill" in Blades.

Our new accommodation is proving very comfortable. The on-site shower and our own hot water supply is very appreciated. The access to the boy's dorm is from our living room into their Common Room. This makes it easy for us to visit them and also to check to see if the lights are out at 10:30 P.M. each night. They are quite good at getting to bed. They are not quite so good at getting up in the morning! We know all their names and are able to call them by name when we meet them around the campus.

The trip to Cochin was a treat after a week of Trial Exams. We spent 13 hours in the bus going while the return trip took just under 8 hours. We came back by train to Coimbatore and then by mini-bus to school. During our time in Cochin we went to Wonderland Theme Park with lots of water slides and other rides. We had great fun - the Windmill, the Ferris Wheel, the wonder Splash (log ride)! The students enjoyed the more daring rides! We all enjoyed the Wave Pool. On Saturday we did a BackWater cruise and saw some amazing vegetation as well as air-conditioned house-boats!

We are now well under way with classes of French, standard 7 and Standard 8, 2 classes each of 3 lessons and Gigi has Standard 9. Between preparation, correcting Prep (Homework) and just being around we are quite busy. The weather is improving. Last week it was 8 degrees outside when we got up and not quite 13 degrees in the house. We have no heat! Today it was 23 in the house as the afternoon sun shone down on the roof and warmed up the inside air.