Sushrut

Beginning to see their colors now :)

At the end of two real teaching days, I have realized:

1. I like to use blackboard a lot of times and I end up writing a lot on it. I sincerely believe that helps. Powerpoint should never have been used for teaching.

2. My class is full of examples. Let it be Kim, who just doesn't know or may it be Jenny, who is actually a very bright student but doesnt care, and then the sincere slender guys. Each and every one is of a kind. I dont know what kinds Lissette is and I dont know what makes Eli never ever talk a single word to me.

3. They are much more respectful to their teacher and this is surprising. It should not be, I am in no way connected to them nor I am a person who gives them comfort. I am the BAD BOY for them since I make them do the most uninteresting thing in their life.

4. I see a small trend here, I dont see Kim making it, I dont see new boy Jose needing this class and I dont see why Eli, Nora, Heather, Kashira and Lissette performed badly in the test. I think they all need a class or two about exam techniques as well.. May be half class tomorrow?

5. I enjoy giving them HWs, writing them out, and making these small tests too. Feels silly, but I am actually spending time on making their exams or HWs or etc. I think that does ensure that they have quality practice, but I dont know.

Tomorrow in staff meeting I will talk highly of my class, after all I have no reason to not to do so.

I really wanted to do this..

Today was the first day of my class. FIRST time ever I was teaching a class. Wow feels wonderful. They are real kids, and they are really shy of me. I didn't expect this! I know what age they are and in India the "kids" of this age are not shy.

Anyway it should be fun, I hope I can teach exponent from tomorrow. I really don't want to
1. finish early like today
2. be too friendly to them
3. challenge them too less or too much more
4. end up teaching nothing or teaching so much that they learn nothing

But i do enjoy teaching, the command, the authoritative yet by default friend like position and the respect they give for actually nothing, they don't even know me after all!

So from tomorrow, Sue will teach them math (which 90% of them hate, 9% of them don't like and 1% have nothing to say about). I want to make their life less miserable :)

Some days are know to be important days
Some become important after wards
I dont like the later ones, since I didnt expect them
But I didnt expect many things any way

It makes me instantly happy :)

After completing more than 2/3rd of a year in this country, I have definitely learned something.

Cooking.

I dont want to boast, but just want to list for my own little record book, what can I cook at this moment..

1. Bharla vanga bhaji
2. Chicken Biryani
3. Shrimp Goan Curry
4. Alu sabji with peas and onion for Dosa
5. Massala Dosa, sambhar and Alu combination
6. Cake (from mix :P)
7. Bhindi, Lauki and Karela Sabji
8. Capsicum sabji with besan
9. Modak ! !
10. Bhadanga
11. Peas fried rice, Pulao
12. Egg fried rice
13. Cheese Omlette
14. Beatroot Raita
15. Aloo Raita
16. Butter Chicken (not quite)
17. Monng daal khichadi
18. Sheera, Upma
19. Pohe
20. Thalipeeth w/o bhajani
21. Bhakari
22. Gajar Halwa
23. Pav Bhaji
24. Palak Paneer
25. Daal Makhani

all thanks to my recipe providers and unconditional all-eating roomies/neighbors.

Thanks to the East West combination of my life, I have been traveling a lot like birds, some of the biggest airlines that FLY the nation. Following the lowest fare at that moment, I have managed to fly majority of the options available and have formed my own expert(?) opinions about them.

Starting with my first travel to USA and then to the west, Delta was good. Specifically, its ultra long range Boeing 777 is fantastic. I will really appreciate if there is one such service flying home over the pacific. Only here I have encountered air-hostess communicating with passengers informally over the PA system, cracking jokes and singing a song !

Innocent and uninformed I flew US Airways later, only to get real taste of low(NO) frills air travel. It was pretty cheap but matched its price with terrible schedule, delayed flight and old, unclean plane(s). Sometimes they do land their planes in water, not with me though. Asking politely for a buck (in cash) for a cup of coffee, US airways is Air Deccan of US.

Substantially different from all these is Southwest. It is different in everything, from booking site to planes to boarding system to schedules to the algorithms that power their flight routing systems. And it is a few small steps above NO frills. Best thing I liked in southwest is the southwest logo and clear statements about what they do. They say they are cheap, low cost passenger carriers and do only that much.

Definitely above these is Virgin America. I can agree that since they fly only a limited destinations, and have only a handful planes to manage , they are well in managing stuff, but even then its a good experience. Simple to book, flying direct to the east, I am very impressed with the new planes and simplistic flying experience. Everything is paid here, and everything in premium. They allow priority boarding to first class, children and families, disabled and (at times) guys wearing RED clothes !

Finally, and may be surprisingly, my rank one is an OLD-school airline. If you ever flew with Indian Airlines in the pre-private era, you can remember the authentic airline feel. Air travel used to be luxurious then, was costly but was a royal experience. Planes used to be well cleaned for each flight, old big boeings with lots of legrrom, each seat loaded with headfones, blanket and pillow and most importantly the hospitality of air hostess used to be credible. United is exactly that.

They dont have personal screens like virgin, or they dont have small long range planes like others but United is a real old school airline which I always find closer to the Old royal days of air travel. They still fly big 767s with center seats, in domestic flights, have a FIRST class which is really a top notch way to fly and have ample drinks to spend on even economy travellers. Its not just the free drinks or other amenitites they provide but its the real old "authentic airline" like feel which attracts me to United.

I wish i can fly back home on United.

I wanted to write about so many things, in this new country where I have been for more than 200 days now. So I think I pretty much have the authority to make statements!

So here I begin, with my favorite thing.. indeed that is how I came here.