Today is our last day in Madurai. It's a little bittersweet. I met so many amazing people here! The Indian women we've been working with have been so wonderful and I've really learned a lot from them. I have their e-mail addresses and will definitely keep in touch! I'm actually planning to try to get a penpal program going with one of the classes here and a classroom back home.
We got together with our group and some of the Indian teachers to do presentations on something we learned or something that interests us about education. We basically had free reign to talk about whatever we wanted. I chose to make comparisons between schools I've observed in the US and schools I observed here in Madurai. I think it went pretty well, even though I went over the suggested time limit... oops! After our presentations, we went out to lunch with the founder of the school and a group of educators from Delhi who started a school for street children. They are all pretty phenomenal people and the lunch was delicious!
Tonight, most of us got dressed up in our sarees for the Pongal festival at the Residential school. It was such a nice way to end the trip. We got to see how Indians celebrate Pongal (kind of like Thanksgiving) and we had one last chance to see all our new friends from the schools before heading back to Iowa.
I successfully got my suitcase packed with all my new goodies and despite how much I love India, I'm ready to come home. Mostly, I can't wait to have quick access to my phone, eat beef (steak dinner is on the agenda) and see all my family and friends (not necessarily in that order). :-)
The bus leaves for Chennai at 8 am. It's about an 8 hour bus ride, then a little shopping, maybe a nap and head to the airport. I'm not sure I'll be able to update again before I get home, but there won't be much going on aside from traveling anyway! :-)
Love to all...
PS - I totally called the weather BS! When I got to India I said "I'll bet Iowa has gorgeous weather while we're gone and cold and snow as soon as we get back." Sure enough, I got on Facebook tonight and found many posts about snow & cold in Iowa! Just my luck...
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