Welcome to India

So, i've arrived. The flights were ok, except that Frankfurt airport has not invented chairs yet, and it's quite unpleasant to wait standing for 4 hours. But at least i had the chance to inform everyone on iwiw regarding my coming here.
In Bangalore (see map by January posts) it took my luggage about 1 hour after landing to arrive, so i already started to worry that it didn't make the transfer in Frankfurt. But it did, and so the next challenge was coming up: trying to identify Suren, the director of the school in the seemingly identical Indian masses. Luckily he prepared a little board with my name (what i of course did not see from the distance) - otherwise i would have easily passed by him as i was looking for someone about 160 high (the average height in India), but he is about 185.... Anyway, we've found eachother, and they already prepared an iced coffe for me, that really tasted good, but extremely sweet - obviously that's the way all the drinks are made here, with about 2 spoonful of sugar. Suren was coming for me with his cousin, also involved with the school (Samveda), his English was way more difficult to understand than Suren's.
That night we've spent at a guest house above a kindegarden, so in the morning the laughter of little kids was waking me up, otherwise the whole neighbourhood looked completely abandoned in the night, except for some dogs. The morning was already busyer, but luckily the next big road was quite far away, so i could sleep some more during the day - that day was anyway deducted for me taking a rest, and S. decided to only move on the next morning, so we had the whole day in Bangalore. I was reading, watching some tv, and chatting with the daughter of Surens's cousin. She (Racitha) is 18, just preparing for her Abitur/erettsegi, and she was really smart. And very interested and interesting. She was the first person telling me more about India, some of the habits, and she was so far the only one - apart from Suren - to completely understand my accent (this is a problem i guess i'll be struggeling with for a while - the Indian accent is quite difficult to understand (just like the Chinese, as all the ex-Bredans know) and at the same time Indians neither understand me). In the afternoon we went to the market with the parents of Rachita and Suren, and in the evening I was attending an Indian WEDDING :))) Quite an expreience for a first-day india traveller.... Although we've missed the wedding ceremony, and the wedding reception was already going on when we arrived. This cavalcade of colors, scents, smells, lights, people, wow.... Women walking around in sarees with bright colors and astonishing embroidery made of really expensive fabrics, lots of golden jewels.... The wedding was held in an open park-like square, flowers all around and white christmas-lights hanging everywhere. I was just standing there and tryed to take in everything. And then food was coming up - here i had some problem not knowing what is what - but luckily all the food was veg, meaning that there was no meat to be afraid of :))) this is my place ;)
Oh yes, and the numbers. There were about 800 people present at that time, but it turned out that such a wedding is a constant come and go, people hop in, hand over their presents and best wishes, and then leave, come back later to eat, then go again, some other come later, etc. So the newlyweds were standing on a stage since hours, receiving the presents one after the other. And never even touching eachother. That was really weird for me, but it was most likely also an "arranged wedding", where the groom/bride only saw eachother once or twice, hardly remembering eachothers names. Nowadays the system is already way more "democratic", so they have the right to say no, if they really believe that they coldn't live with the other - but they only have this chance once, and even then the parents can decide for the wedding. At the same time you can see happy - or at least caring - couples, like the parents of Rachita. (Yes, divorce is almost impossible, but is our society so much better? We really do have the possibility to find the one we want to live with, and still every second marriage ends with a divorce.... Here, at the school one of the teachers is getting married next months, I'll ask her how her wedding was set up.)
Yesterday our train was leaving at 6am, so i had to get up at 4:40. That is 10 past midnight at home..... The train was ok, similar to a second class train in Hungary commuting on a not-too-fancy destination. Like the trains to Miskolc, i.e. OK, here it was first class with air conditioning, but comfortable, and with enogh space for the legs. The ride took 5 hours to Davangere, there we've hopped in to a tuk-tuk (they call it here auto - picture coming up soon), and drove to my present home, the school hostel. The place was abandoned as all the students (except for two preparing for their 10th grade exams) were at school. My room is nice, although a bit spartan with a bed (including mosquito net), a chair and a table, next week i'll also get a cupboard. Oh, and the most important: an own bathroom (at the guest house in Bangalore my bathroom had windows facing the aisile, with semi-transparent fosted glass in face-height, and there was always someone walking outside - not the best for someone generally having problems with going to the toilet in foreing places. But at the hostel my bathroom is facing an empty field with some coco-palms. One thing is missing: a wash-baisin. Therefore i have a tap in ca. 1m height, this has to serve instead. So every time i'm brushing my teeth - means quite often - i'm getting wet up till my knees. But i'm sure my washing abilitites will improve soon ;)

The school
Yes, my working place for the upcoming months. Yesterday was quite disappointing, i was only coming to one class, and for the rest i was just talking with Suren, and dind't really find my place. In the evening at the hostel the boys were really welcoming, they were asking me all sorts of questions, and one of them started to teach me kannada, the language spoken here. Not to mention, kannada has also its own sript, slightly similar to hindi, but completely different from our latin letters....
This morning i was coming with tuktuk, and in the morning already joined an english class for beginners - they were just learning the letters (remember, the lating letters are just as difficult for them as ciryll) has been / would have been for us. Afterwards an already more advanced class followed, there i was playing assistant to the teacher, helping the children with pronunciation, and also correcting their work - they do a lot of self-study at school, and everyone is progressing in his/her own pace, they are even using different books, and the teacher is more coaching them than teaching. At first this might sound a bit weird, but the results speak for them. And also, when there are only 5-7 students in a class, you can pretty well teach them individually, give them their own excercies, etc. What i don't really know now, is how they are learning (i.e. counting, adding, etc. but latest in june i'll see - that's when the new semester starts).
Since lunch i've been sitting here, and now we just had a puucha, that is a little celebration at the home-altar, the offerings shall help the students at their exams on Monday. But no worries, Saturday is also a school-day, so there is still time for the preparation).
But my time for my preparation is getting less and less, as the saminar at the Mangalore University (coastal city not too far from Goa) will be held in 10 days, and i still don't have anything from my papers....
So let's get to work :)