It is 2014. I have to extend my finger further to the right to add the 4 instead of the 3. We are all living in another year. It is 10 years since 2004 when Shell did Year 12, 20 years since 1994 in Ballarat and so on back to 90 years since 1924 when dad was born.
Who knows what the future holds and where we will all be in 2024.
I know where I am now. I am in my comfortable room at Chevalier Bhavan with the priests and brothers. Since I was here at Easter 2012 I have not lost the connection with this place. They accept me as one of their Australian Brothers and I am part of the community. They are fairly protective of me and keep an eye on things for me. Today Brother Anthony took me into the city so that I could buy some second hand books for the Brothers in Mysore. I want to extend their library so that they become avid readers. I bought about 20 books for an average of $4.00 each. I hope to send some over when I get home. Until Br Greg gets here in mid-year they will need to keep reading and writing about what they read.
I also bought some printer cartridges for printing books for the sisters. They also need to keep reading but their level is not as sophisticated so I download books for them from a system Olga found for me and print them off. When I wake up in the middle of the night (I am still on Australian time I think) I will download some more and print them off when I get to Mysore.
I have written the Brothers Exam which they will do on Wednesday Jan 8th. I will give them two days practice on Monday and Tuesday then administer it Wednesday. After that I have a number of articles from the Warrnambool Standard and Herald Sun to read and answer questions about. Thanks to Jenni for that idea.
I had a long chat with Fr Tijo this morning about how they learn English. For most who enter the houses of training, English is pretty sketchy. Most have done it as a subject until Year 12 but their mastery is dependent on how much emphasis the school gave to it and how good the teachers were. Usually both of these are pretty weak. So my job is not so much to teach them English but to move them along a bit in writing and speaking. For the sisters it is much worse. That is why there training is so long: two years as aspirants/postulants, two years of philosophy, a year of Novitiate and then two more years of Theology. They need this long to master the language as well as the subjects.
When I go back to Mysore on Sunday morning with Fr Gerald I will have 13 days left to teach them as I come back here to Bangalore on the evening of the 22nd for a couple of days before flying out on the 25th. I have a couple of things to do before I leave here and will have a couple of days break at the Priest's insistence.
I am enjoying this phase of my adventure and look forward to the last sprint to the line. You all seem so close and yet so far away. Brucknell is tomorrow and the whole Vogels clan will gather. I will miss them but be there is spirit. The children are no doubt having a wow of a time in Cambodia and will need to dry out for a while when the party ends.
May God bless us all as we are spread out over the globe and bring us safely back together soon.
Happy New Year to all.
Gerard in India.
Who knows what the future holds and where we will all be in 2024.
I know where I am now. I am in my comfortable room at Chevalier Bhavan with the priests and brothers. Since I was here at Easter 2012 I have not lost the connection with this place. They accept me as one of their Australian Brothers and I am part of the community. They are fairly protective of me and keep an eye on things for me. Today Brother Anthony took me into the city so that I could buy some second hand books for the Brothers in Mysore. I want to extend their library so that they become avid readers. I bought about 20 books for an average of $4.00 each. I hope to send some over when I get home. Until Br Greg gets here in mid-year they will need to keep reading and writing about what they read.
I also bought some printer cartridges for printing books for the sisters. They also need to keep reading but their level is not as sophisticated so I download books for them from a system Olga found for me and print them off. When I wake up in the middle of the night (I am still on Australian time I think) I will download some more and print them off when I get to Mysore.
I have written the Brothers Exam which they will do on Wednesday Jan 8th. I will give them two days practice on Monday and Tuesday then administer it Wednesday. After that I have a number of articles from the Warrnambool Standard and Herald Sun to read and answer questions about. Thanks to Jenni for that idea.
I had a long chat with Fr Tijo this morning about how they learn English. For most who enter the houses of training, English is pretty sketchy. Most have done it as a subject until Year 12 but their mastery is dependent on how much emphasis the school gave to it and how good the teachers were. Usually both of these are pretty weak. So my job is not so much to teach them English but to move them along a bit in writing and speaking. For the sisters it is much worse. That is why there training is so long: two years as aspirants/postulants, two years of philosophy, a year of Novitiate and then two more years of Theology. They need this long to master the language as well as the subjects.
When I go back to Mysore on Sunday morning with Fr Gerald I will have 13 days left to teach them as I come back here to Bangalore on the evening of the 22nd for a couple of days before flying out on the 25th. I have a couple of things to do before I leave here and will have a couple of days break at the Priest's insistence.
I am enjoying this phase of my adventure and look forward to the last sprint to the line. You all seem so close and yet so far away. Brucknell is tomorrow and the whole Vogels clan will gather. I will miss them but be there is spirit. The children are no doubt having a wow of a time in Cambodia and will need to dry out for a while when the party ends.
May God bless us all as we are spread out over the globe and bring us safely back together soon.
Happy New Year to all.
Gerard in India.
No comments:
Post a Comment