Leaver's Weekend 2013!

The week after Support Staff went by rather quickly. On Sunday 2 other teaching staff members and I were invited to the home of one of the administration staff to enjoy a home cooked meal! The meal was delicious and not at all too spicy. We enjoyed the meal and had a great time around the table as we shared about our families and how we are adapting to Hebron and Ooty. Later in the afternoon we walked back to school using the back roads and alleys rather than the main road.

On Monday night I was able to share a very western style meal with the Weber family. The apricot chicken was simply delicious!! Finger licking good! The broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce went down easily! I will certainly have to have another meal with the family.
After school Tuesday I went to Concert Band Practice. At the moment I am playing the Euphonium part on a Baritone! There is a need in the lower brass section. We have more than enough violins and flutes.

My Standard 10 students are in the middle of preparing for their GCSE French Oral Assessments. There is a fair amount of tension as I, as teacher, am not to help the students. They are required to present their own work!

Once again this year the Leaver's Weekend was held at Brooklands Guest House in Upper Coonoor. You will notice the gate in the photo which is to keep the wild bison out of the compound. There are other entry points and a bison was found grazing in the grass just in front of the building in which some of the girls were housed! The students were each given 20 rupees and had to make their own way to Brooklands. The whole point of the Leaver's Weekend is to prepare the students for going to university. While they are here at school mostly everything is planned for them.

They all arrived in time for supper and then the programme commenced. The first session was an introduction to culture,  TCKs (Third Culture Kids), and transition. The Saturday session dealt with practical aspect of settling in, closing Hebron well, and what to expect at university.
There was free time in the afternoon and many walked into Coonoor and went to Café Coffee Day.

One surprising element of the weekend was the arrival of a ''clone'' of one of our students. There were several Freedom Firm workers also staying at Brooklands and one of them is an exact copy of Ved, one of our students. The resemblance is remarkable from the dark hair, the dark eye glasses, the facial features and the blue fleece top they were both wearing. It provided much amusement over the weekend.

Saturday night was given over to acting out solutions to real life problems which former students had encountered either at uni or in life.
It was a great weekend and I took the school bus with 32 students back to school. There were 18 students who came back by public transportation. All in all, it was a great weekend and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with the staff and students.