Experience- Entry 1: Fun Facts and Training Day Delights

Feb 07, 2014

Posted by Impact Teachers

Namaste!

Firstly, here’s Impact’s Fun Fact #1- the hottest recorded spice ever eaten was eaten by a 26 year old Indian mother who ate 51 of the world’s hottest chilli’s in just two minutes. Kids, please do not try this at home! The woman, Ms Tamuly said she ‘’felt terrible’’ due to the heat, but surprisingly she was ashamed as she had eaten 60 in a previous event!

This week I would like to tell you about the training day session where we were informed about the many delights of the coming trip. This included the warm weather, tasting Indian cuisine and practicing the lesson observations we would partake in. I was able to meet the group as we introduced ourselves with an icebreaker which involved chocolate- so of course I was down to join in! I managed to throw in my love for ‘Gilmore Girls’ (which everyone agreed with), my extreme hatred of moths and my obsession with my mother’s lasagne.

Interestingly, I was told to leave my agenda at the door and just roll with the punches during the trip. So as of Friday, my agenda would be leaning coolly at door…and I’d be rolling swiftly with the punches and the ‘homies’ of course.’

The highlight of the afternoon (aside from the pizza) was the tactical game of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. Of course, I was envisioning the sharply dressed presenter from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’stretching out and speeding up the words making it sound like ‘‘whowantstobeeeee Amillion……AIRE!!” But as my team reached the million dollar question, we found it was about…CRICKET!! We were neck and neck with the other team throughout but unfortunately, the other team won the final stretch. We could have won- with a little last minute help from a dear friend named Google.)

Fun Fact #2- Did you know that Hindi is an Indo-European language spoken also in Bangladesh and Nepal? Hindi is known as a link language with over one thousand dialects and links Indians in Fiji, Trinidad, Singapore and many more placed besides. It descends from Sanskrit otherwise known as the mother of all languages. The language’s uniqueness is reflected in many aspects, one being that each religion keeps their own greetings, English words are on loan due to the British Empire’sinfluence and though it is an old language with a large population, Hindi is the sixth widely spoken language on Earth!

Speaking of old, we also learnt aboutJainism at the training day; an ancient religion involving trying to gain bliss and live without harm. This includes no harming animals or plants as well as human beings. It teaches respect and consideration of others.

This week I also went to get my travel injections which I’d definitely not been looking forward to. Walking to the GP I mentally prepared myself for the jabs. The atmosphere was grim as I scanned the nurse’s map of India on the screen which had a key, describing the danger zones in bright red. I tried to glance swiftly, searching for Bihar which I couldn’t spot it. Thankfully, I did not need a trolley full of vaccinations and Bihar is not in the red zone. The nurse was very welcoming and the jabs weren’t painful, however the gnawing pain in my right arm a few hours later did not subside for two days! The nurse also gave me numerous warnings on keeping safe, staying away from anything suspicious especially animal.

I must admit I wasn’t too excited when my colleague Paul said the compound in Bihar kept a friendly dog- I wasn’t sure if he was joking but I’ve never been one to want or keep a pet- I’ve only ever had space in my heart for pretty fish.

This anxiety of dogs could be linked to the amount of times me and my sisters have been chased by dogs as a children. In fact, I feel the same as Tina Fey (super comedian and awesome actress) does about animals- “I have no affinity for animals. I don’t hate animals and I would never hurt an animal. In short, I am the worst.’’ I would strongly consider crossing the road if I could, when large dogs come galloping toward me.

So, one more week until the trip! I’ll be learning and preparing loads more before I go. Watch this spa ce!

Idman- Impact Teachers Recruitment Consultant