Hi there!
Almost two weeks without updating this blog... And almost one month already in Manipal! Today I bring good stories to be read and good pictures to be seen. Let's start with the Spanish lessons.
I'm working 10 hours a week for two batches: one for weekdays and one for weekends. So 5 hours for each batch. Weekend batch is especially tougher as I teach 3 hours in a row on sundays. Hence, my working week consists of: monday to wednesday for weekdays; saturday and sunday for weekends. I did this on purpose so that I had thursdays and fridays for free, although I'll have to screen a Spanish movie every three fridays...
So classes are going well. Although some students seem to be more gifted towards language learning, for the time being, overall they struggle to learn the new concepts and structures for each lesson. Granted, things will get more difficult as course goes on, but I try to keep them motivated with many games and activities to ease the learning process. (as a sort of acknowledgment and not spamming, I overtly thank May and Helena for the CLIL and Applied Linguistics courses I enroled on my last year; some contents result really helpful for me now).
Apart from teaching, I was also offered to study a PG diploma in Ghandian and Peace studies. Unfortunately, part of the staff responsible for the course left this year. Then I'll be studying other courses, probably an MA in European studies and some certificates from the Hotel and Management school (yes, kitchen courses).
For those exotic animal lovers out there, I've been told there was a HUGE snake roaming around my neighbourhood, namely a python. It seems that the caretakers captured it and send it to somewhere over the jungle.
So we went to a canteen near the river for having lunch. After that we went down the shore and saw the river. Yes, it's immense. Nothing like Jabalón or Azuer, this one was at least fifty metres wide (at least from where we stood) but surprisingly, it's not very deep. Its shallowness it's more than alluring to sand smugglers in Manipal and its surroundings. When there are works at a building, sand is commonly required to mix some materials. Due to the high cost of it, people are badly payed for smuggling sand from the river. Sand is eventually filtered and used in construction. That's why you can find hundreds of shells near a building under construction (e.g. near my house).
Finally we went to the beach! Stefano and I took the bus to Kapu beach, one of the many paradise retreats that spread along the west coast of India. Palm trees scattered along the shore (with huge coconuts) and some big rocks and a lighthouse on the right side (together with a "restaurant" where we had lunch). So we were walking along the shore up to a point where some rocks blocked the way. We stopped there and had a bath until we saw some people coming out a house. They were a lovely family living 30 metres away from the shore. We talked to them and they offered us sugar canes! It was quite addictive to be fair, We also took some pictures with them and finally we left to the restaurant and lighthouse before going back to Manipal.
And then we arrive to yesterday. I went to Udupi with Srini and we visited the "Big Bazaar": a three-floored supermarket with a wide variety of items: more than 10 different types of rice, saris, kurthas, kitchen utensils... After having dinner near a park Ghandi visited many years ago, we went to see our friend Subhadra (and it was raining like hell). Our four-legged friend was gobbling up some plants when I spotted two white-skinned monks (apparently they were from Russia). Once we bode a proper farewell to Subhadra, we headed to Srini's flat and watch "Despicable me". Another thing that struck me is that Srini's flat has no mattresses. He told me verbatim: "In Chennai (where he is from) it rains a lot so if you have a mattress it can get humid and harbor germs and fungus, and people can die from these things. So I've been sleeping on the floor for many years, it's not a problem for me. I have even slept on a road with no pillow nor anything". Crap, that's manly. I tried to pile some blankets as a sort of mattress and had one for covering myself. Honestly, it wasn't that bad (I slept on a steel bed with my brand new "mattress").
So this is all for today, here you have some pictures with their explanation. Acknowledgments: to Stefano for taking some of these awesome pictures in Kapu beach.
Even kids climb those palm trees. There are small cracks on the sides where they put their feet.
Chewing sugar cane
Sand smugglers at the bottom of the picture
Almost two weeks without updating this blog... And almost one month already in Manipal! Today I bring good stories to be read and good pictures to be seen. Let's start with the Spanish lessons.
I'm working 10 hours a week for two batches: one for weekdays and one for weekends. So 5 hours for each batch. Weekend batch is especially tougher as I teach 3 hours in a row on sundays. Hence, my working week consists of: monday to wednesday for weekdays; saturday and sunday for weekends. I did this on purpose so that I had thursdays and fridays for free, although I'll have to screen a Spanish movie every three fridays...
So classes are going well. Although some students seem to be more gifted towards language learning, for the time being, overall they struggle to learn the new concepts and structures for each lesson. Granted, things will get more difficult as course goes on, but I try to keep them motivated with many games and activities to ease the learning process. (as a sort of acknowledgment and not spamming, I overtly thank May and Helena for the CLIL and Applied Linguistics courses I enroled on my last year; some contents result really helpful for me now).
Apart from teaching, I was also offered to study a PG diploma in Ghandian and Peace studies. Unfortunately, part of the staff responsible for the course left this year. Then I'll be studying other courses, probably an MA in European studies and some certificates from the Hotel and Management school (yes, kitchen courses).
For those exotic animal lovers out there, I've been told there was a HUGE snake roaming around my neighbourhood, namely a python. It seems that the caretakers captured it and send it to somewhere over the jungle.
So we went to a canteen near the river for having lunch. After that we went down the shore and saw the river. Yes, it's immense. Nothing like Jabalón or Azuer, this one was at least fifty metres wide (at least from where we stood) but surprisingly, it's not very deep. Its shallowness it's more than alluring to sand smugglers in Manipal and its surroundings. When there are works at a building, sand is commonly required to mix some materials. Due to the high cost of it, people are badly payed for smuggling sand from the river. Sand is eventually filtered and used in construction. That's why you can find hundreds of shells near a building under construction (e.g. near my house).
Finally we went to the beach! Stefano and I took the bus to Kapu beach, one of the many paradise retreats that spread along the west coast of India. Palm trees scattered along the shore (with huge coconuts) and some big rocks and a lighthouse on the right side (together with a "restaurant" where we had lunch). So we were walking along the shore up to a point where some rocks blocked the way. We stopped there and had a bath until we saw some people coming out a house. They were a lovely family living 30 metres away from the shore. We talked to them and they offered us sugar canes! It was quite addictive to be fair, We also took some pictures with them and finally we left to the restaurant and lighthouse before going back to Manipal.
And then we arrive to yesterday. I went to Udupi with Srini and we visited the "Big Bazaar": a three-floored supermarket with a wide variety of items: more than 10 different types of rice, saris, kurthas, kitchen utensils... After having dinner near a park Ghandi visited many years ago, we went to see our friend Subhadra (and it was raining like hell). Our four-legged friend was gobbling up some plants when I spotted two white-skinned monks (apparently they were from Russia). Once we bode a proper farewell to Subhadra, we headed to Srini's flat and watch "Despicable me". Another thing that struck me is that Srini's flat has no mattresses. He told me verbatim: "In Chennai (where he is from) it rains a lot so if you have a mattress it can get humid and harbor germs and fungus, and people can die from these things. So I've been sleeping on the floor for many years, it's not a problem for me. I have even slept on a road with no pillow nor anything". Crap, that's manly. I tried to pile some blankets as a sort of mattress and had one for covering myself. Honestly, it wasn't that bad (I slept on a steel bed with my brand new "mattress").
So this is all for today, here you have some pictures with their explanation. Acknowledgments: to Stefano for taking some of these awesome pictures in Kapu beach.
Vertebra from a 50 feet long whale (it was stranded on the beach long time ago)
Keep calm and Namaskara!
