I have survived a month! Well, almost but it is close enough for me. I can tell it has been a while because the 20 hour plane ride here seems like it wasn't even that bad in retrospect (and believe me, it sucked). Grades are out for my last few classes at Berkeley and my diploma should be in the mail. To be honest, I hardly feel like a student anymore even though I was sitting down to take my last final only 30 days ago. Now, I am Mr. Jackson.

At least I TRY to get the students to call me that.

In my new role as an instructor, I would put maybe 10 percent of the challenge on mental and material preparation, the other 90 percent being dedicated to going with the flow. On Monday I arrived at room 9 on time (as per my official schedule), only to be told by another teacher that she was teaching that class. Hmm, alright I'll just teach room 10 today.

On Tuesday, 15 of the 25 students showed up with 10 minutes or less of class remaining. I told them that their lack of punctuality was unacceptable, to which they smiled (not smiles of disrespect, smiles of misunderstanding) and sat down. Hmm, OK, I guess you can come in.

On Saturday, yesterday, I was supposed to teach a music lesson to around 50 students with nothing more than my guitar, a whiteboard, and a dry erase pen. As if that wasn't challenging enough, the building I had been told to use was full of students playing some sort of game show that involved team challenges and musical chairs. Hmm, I'll just return to my quarters and wait that situation out.

50% of the resources I have available to me.

The other 50% of my available resources. Seriously. And the pen runs out of ink every day.

As the urban youth of today would say, "the struggle is real". While I may not always be able to cover the material I planned for the day (or any material for that matter, the students would rather ask me about my tattoos, my girlfriend, and Justin Bieber), encouraging the students to speak in English has been paying off one way or another. I hear less and less Hindi every day.

Peter doing his best to look professorly.

I finally remembered to bring my camera to both morning meditation and dinner. From 8-9am every morning, we join the male college students in Samayak Hall to meditate on Hindi chants. The hardest part of that, for me, has been sitting cross legged on a rock hard stage for an hour straight. My legs haven't been conditioned for this kind of torture since, like, 4th grade!

An hour of morning meditation really does give the mind and soul some preparation for the day. I appreciate the opportunity, but just wish I spoke Hindi so I knew what they were talking about.

Now that I am settled in and used to my surroundings, I have really begun to enjoy the food. The vegetarian meals mostly consist of different combinations and preparations of a few basic dishes: lentils, rice, okra, and peas. The best way to go at it is using the circular bread you see below, which they call roti, as a utensil.

Spoons are for the weak- sometimes you just have to dig in!

The college mess hall. I swear, sometimes it feels like we are wild animals at the zoo, being watched as we eat! I'm sure our technique sucks.

India remains an alien and beautiful world to us, a world full of outrageous scents, killer flavors, frightening bugs, and welcoming locals. If at any point the school atmosphere gets too overwhelming, Pete and I cruise around the surrounding area. One of our favorite spots, a giant tree that we call the Tree of Life, overhangs a beautiful pond full of ducks, ibises, and lotus plants. It's a nice escape from an otherwise unpredictable existence.

Alien in form, not unlike the rest of this country.

Kash arrived last night for the first time since dropping us off three weeks ago. I can't explain how nice it is to have a legitimate conversation with someone, a conversation that goes beyond trying to figure out what the hell the other person is saying. We plan on going to Udaipur at some point today to get some supplies, and most importantly, get some Subway!!! MEAT (shh, don't tell the faculty).

I was laughing too hard to explain to him why his shirt was so funny.

Until next week!

BJ