Day 3 in Kolkata

 Day 3

We began our third day on our new routine after a good night's sleep. We were all ready to go and eagerly chatting about our plan for the day at 8am over breakfast. Here, we planned today's lessons, excited to spend another day with the students. We started sharply at 8:50 am teaching maths to our youngest group, Class 1. Here, we were greeted by lots of smiley faces and cheerful 'hello good mornings' from little ones who seemed delighted to practise their English with us. After a successful class teaching addition, we headed outside for break. After an oversized game of 'Down by the River', we split all the children into smaller, manageable groups and attempted to teach them the the playground classic 'SPLAT'! 

We then headed into Class 2, where we helped them to revise a poem, called "Upside Down". We held our final 2 classes outside, where we assisted Class 3 in multiplication and Class 4 with their similes. All the children were really keen to learn and we found fun ways to learn together... I think we have all been struck by how much they really want to learn and how happy they are when they grasp a new concept, which is hopefully an example we can learn from. We had some running races with the kids outside before class ended. We said goodbye to all the students and of course did some friendship handshakes, which the students are dedicated to teaching us, before we left for lunch. 

At lunch, we ate a yummy curry with rice and chapati, followed by some ice-cream. We all sat around the tables and played some card games while reflecting on our day of teaching and sharing our hopes for the next 8 days. At 1:30, we were invited to join the older students outside once again where they taught us all the ropes to jewellery making. Their teacher, Brother Franco has been teaching them various crafts and we were amazed by their outstanding craftsmanship and were absolutely touched when they kindly offered us all pairs of earrings which they had made (which we have been wearing all day since!) The students helped us to make our own too, but I honestly don't think any of our creations lived up to theirs. We said our 'goodbyes' and 'thank yous' before heading back up to our rooms for a quick change of shoes. 

At 3:30 we head back out for a surprise that the teachers and Brother Ronnie had planned for us. We all hopped on the Metro after a quick 5 minute walk, feeling somewhat like pros after Sundays trip. We got off after 2 stops and walked through the city absorbing the atmosphere. The colours, smells and sights here are really something that never fail to 'wow' us. We visited Tagore Museum, the home of the first non-European winner of the Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. It was full of themed rooms from countries he had visited and drawn inspiration from in his creative work. 

After the museum we continued walking around the city. The constant beeping continued as we were strolling watching the world go by. We were lead down some backstreets which were much quieter than the busy main roads where they drive like mad! We admired some of the statues made by locals. They were so detailed and watching the process was intriguing. They used straw for their base and then covered them with clay which, as our guide explained, the locals gather from the river bed and produce into a malleable clay. We learned that in the Hindu religion, statues of gods and goddesses can be found in temples and homes so the local sculpture businesses are kept busy. 

We were all so hungry after walking our 6,000 steps around the city, so we had dinner straight away- a scrumptious chickpea curry and a potato- based shepherd's pie, in case we were missing home!

 Dinner was followed by a 7 o'clock mass with the brothers, which was very peaceful and a great way to relax after the busy day. Finally, we had our evening reflection. It was special and worthwhile to discuss all our stories from today and opinions that we had. Now, we are playing some cards and winding down before saying our third 'goodnight' of this amazing trip.