Day Two in Kolkata

 Day two 

The day started off well with a wake up call at 7.30am for breakfast at 8am. We then divided into groups and 4 of the girls and Miss Somerville went off to the Mary Rice Centre and the other 8 went across the road to St.George's School. 

Those of us who travelled to the Mary Rice Centre (which is a school for students with special needs) left at 8:30am and walked to the Central Metro Station. We bought our tickets to Dum Dum, costing a mere 10 rupees each. Once on the train we stood and braced ourselves against the starting and stopping.  At the station, we got off and again began on our already-trodden path to the Mary Rice Centre. We passed the fish for sale on the road and navigated the extremely busy roads to arrive at the school.  Dodging tuktuks and embracing the smells en route to the gates of the school, we were greeted by the now familiar face of Brother Charlie. 

We began with exercise class and enthusiastically joined in to various dances and workouts. Then came the lessons. We each worked with one child - ages and abilities immensely varied, which made it all the more exciting. It was very hands-on and we were proud of ourselves for the engagement of the non-verbal children. It was so touching to be able to communicate with people in a new way.

 Once 11 o'clock came around, we went back upstairs for break and had coffee, sandwiches and biscuits. Back down again, we started colouring and doing some art work with different children. Laughter could be heard from all groups and we learned a lot about the local superheroes, cricket teams and TV channels. We were then invited to observe some of the students' shops of a variety of crafts. They had made colourful candles, handkerchiefs and earrings. We eagerly bought the gorgeous, intricate goods and went upstairs to eat with the brothers. We tried new Indian foods such as daal before thanking everyone and walking back to the metro and back to St. George's School.

The remainder of our group worked hard in St. George's today. It is a free institution that provides education to young girls and boys in Kolkata. We started the day with a visit to the coordinator and we organised which classes we'd get involved in over the next few days. We began with Grade 1 and finished with Grade 4 and we got the opportunity to introduce geography and art. The students were very knowledgeable and progressed immensely and we noticed the value they place on education and their commitment to their studies and their competitive edge, which was admirable. We thoroughly enjoyed our morning, especially the game we played during the break, such as Down by the River. We caught onto the games they taught us as well, such as 'Stop game' and are so excited to see the students again tomorrow. 

After lunch we all enjoyed a game of cards around the table with some classic Cadbury's chocolate, although we realised it isn't quite the same as Cadbury's chocolate that we find at home. We spent a while chatting around the dining table, before we played a game of table tennis followed by a very long but exhilarating game of basketball with the brothers. We utterly enjoyed our day and now are resting as we just finished our dinners and prepare for our reflection later this evening.