Post-trip blog

Our trip to India was very interesting. The flight over was around seventeen hours long, total. When we got to India, we were taken to a hotel where I realized just how large of a contrast there is between the living standards of the rich and the living standards of the poor. Here we were staying in a beautiful and luxurious, and right outside we could see the small dank houses of the impoverished. A drastic distinction between the wealthy and the poor was apparent. While I was in India, I learned how to bargain, I learned about the Hindu religion, and I learned much about the Indian culture. The traffic was outrageous and helped me to appreciate our traffic system and the value of patience much more. The cuisine was quite peculiar. In some places, it was entirely vegetarian. In other places, it was not vegetarian. In some places it did not seem vegetarian, but in actuality, the meat was stuffed with vegetables. We saw many interesting land marks, such as The Gateway to India, Elephanta Island, and an Islam mosque. The Islam mosque was very interesting because of its rules and regulations. I was not allowed to wear my shoes into it. Tayler and Ethan had to wait outside of it because in order to get in, you have to wear pants. They had on shorts. An interesting side note to me was that all of the citizens and tour guides claimed that there was little risk of danger in Mumbaii because all of the inhabitants were happy. Yet there seemed to be max security everywhere I went. Perhaps this security was just a formality to put the minds of the paranoid at ease. My host family was very hospitable and I really enjoyed their company. They had two live-in servants and a driver. This was very interesting for me, because I’ve never been anywhere that had a live-in servant before. We stayed with an ASB student named Ishan and his mother. He was a very generous host and taught us much about the Indian culture. We accomplished much during the flatclassroom conference. We prepared a presentation in about two days. My group’s project was about worldwide collaboration of literature. We did a short skit about how worldwide collaboration on a literature project can help to expand a student’s mind after hearing an opinion from another culture. Then we did another project which became one big presentation. My part of the presentation was to participate in a skit that represented the difference between a traditional narrow-minded teacher and a more tech-savvy teacher that uses Web 2.0 tools to teach students. Needless to say, the tech-savvy teacher has more of an impact on his or her students. We also attended a meeting in which we learned about new technology and methods of teaching. It was all very interesting and productive. I hope that more students will get the chance to experience what I have experienced this past week. This project is certainly an effective way to enlighten students and make the world more "flat."