Life at the ECC

6:00 AM         The alarm goes off. I hit snooze and roll over.

6:09 AM         The alarm goes off again. I turn it off. Where am I? Oh, that’s right, we’re in Bangalore now, at the Ecumenical Christian Center (ECC). Yikes! Yoga starts at 6:30, I better get going. I pull on my clothes, nudge Greg to get up, then shuffle down the outdoor corridor past Maggie’s room to James’ room. I knock on the door. “James? Are you awake? It’s time for yoga.” Then I repeat the process at Grace’s door.

6:25 AM         We walk over to the next building and enter the conference hall, leaving our shoes outside. We grab blankets to use as yoga mats and spread out. Our instructor, Aswini, arrives right at 6:30 and says cheerfully, “OK, let’s get warmed up!” We start by standing, but soon we are running in a circle, flapping our arms and tweeting like birds. Next we line up and walk across the room – on our toes, on our heels, lunging – we look like Monty Python characters from the Ministry of Silly Walks. Eventually we do a little breathing, and maybe a couple of poses. One very fast sun salutation vinyasa and we are ending the hour in corpse pose. This is nothing like the yoga I'm used to.

7:30 AM         We wander back to our dormitory, called the Dialogue House, and take a bucket shower to clean up.  Greg and I are the only ones sharing a room.  All the students and each of our kids has his/her own room AND bathroom – making this the one and only place so far where we haven’t had squabbles over who gets to brush their teeth first.

Maggie in front of the Dialogue House

8:00 AM         We walk across campus to the Refectory for breakfast: rice patties (called idli), curried vegetables, eggs, cornflakes, bananas, yogurt, toast.  Coffee and tea.

The Refectory

9:00 AM         Class time.  Back at the Dialogue House, Greg and the students head into the classroom, while the kids and I go to the lounge. Unless we have an excursion today. Do we have an excursion? No? Ok, then let’s get some math done!

10:30 AM       Tea time! We head back to the refectory for tea and cookies.

11:00 AM       Back to class. Who is writing a blog post about yesterday’s excursion? What about the day before that? Does anyone remember what we did three days ago? We have to get our blog posts written and up while we have internet access.

12:00 PM       Lunch time in the refectory. Rice, spicy veggies and meat, soup, fruit, delicious homemade chapatti.

lunch  #nosilverware

12:30 PM       It’s free time.  The kids get a game going in the big field with the other children who live at ECC (several of the boys have been waiting outside the Dialogue House for James – he’s already popular since he’s willing to play anything with them: cricket, badminton, blob tag, soccer). I head back to the room to do a load of bucket laundry, then find a comfortable spot to read my book.  Oh wait, the tailor is coming today.  We all gather in the lounge to be measured for the colorful clothes we are having made. Then there’s time for a walk around the beautiful grounds – past the giant termite mound and down to the “petting zoo” complete with emus and bunnies.

Emus at the "petting zoo"

Random lamb on our campus walk

Grace wants to bring a bunny home.

James with his buddies.

The termite mound!

Getting measured by the tailors

2:30 PM         Class time again.  I drag James away from his field game (the local children are on school break right now, so they just want to play all day!).  Grace and Maggie are doing leaf art in the courtyard with some of the Oles, and since the Oles have to go to class, too, they are easier to corral. Maggie gets to read independently while Grace and James and I discuss our latest book (this week it is The Outsiders).  Then it is Maggie’s turn, and we read Johnny Tremain out loud to each other while Grace and James use the geography app on my phone.

4:30 PM         Tea time again!  That’s right, more tea and cookies – or maybe even an apple fritter or samosa.

5:00 PM         More free time. Greg is preparing for tomorrow’s class when a student knocks on the door needing to chat for a bit. That’s my job – so we go for a walk and talk through today’s concerns.

Greg at his desk in our room

7:00 PM         Dinner. Delicious Indian food – spicy enough to be interesting, mild enough that we know they’ve altered it for our American palettes.  Maggie is surviving on rice and fruit and the odd piece of chicken or fish.

8:00 PM         Do we have a group meeting tonight? If not, let’s play flashlight tag in the big field with all the kids.  Or now would be a good time to connect with folks back home since they are just starting their day.  Tomorrow we’ve got an excursion to the Buddhist Temple, so let’s get our water bottles filled and pack up the snack bag. The bus leaves right after breakfast.

9:00 PM         I make my rounds to the kids’ rooms, making sure they are settled in for the night. On my way down the corridor I hear music coming from the classroom – the Oles will probably be up for quite a while.  Not me. I’m ready to read myself to sleep…

Daily life at the ECC is a far cry from the challenges of life in New Cairo.  Our food is prepared for us, we’re close to the students, and there is energy and vibrancy all around.  I wouldn’t describe it as easy (I’m still exhausted by 9 PM each night), but there is a lightness in the air that permeates all of our interactions, making everything feel not quite so hard.  Most days in the Egyptian desert felt like a constant battle for survival, while India is simply bursting with life. The overstimulation can be a lot – especially on excursion days – but our little enclave here at the ECC is a welcome retreat, giving us both the time and space for reflection.