Saturday, 16th November

We sorted out a timetable at the Schwartz Matriculation school this morning, so from now on we've got to work! We have six lessons to plan each day, making a total of thirty lessons a week, four and a half hours a day, twenty-two and a half hours a week. Easy street. When we expressed our concern at the loss of real teaching time, the HM assured us that the children will be having extra lessons to make up. Of course, we had to write it down before she understood, as she is a little deaf and it is even harder for her to understand us.

Schwartz Matriculation School, (Mornings: 9:30 – 12:30): Days1234 MondayVIII AVII BVI AVI B TuesdayVIII AVI AIX AVII A WednesdayVII BVII CVI BVIII B ThursdayVIII BVI CXIVII C FridayVI CIX AVII AIX B
 

St. Andrew's Girls' School: 1830 – 1900

Schwartz Boys' School: 1630 – 1730

C. and I are feeling ever-so-slightly let down by USPG. Firstly, Our greeting in Madurai, though friendly, left us none the wiser as to our future, and the following two weeks were much the same. In Ramnad, no one had heard of us or C. Cocksure (the stunningly misinformed gentleman who gave M. all the wrong info. on Ramnad), and no one had any idea what to do with us. It would have occurred to any sane person that a meeting with the Heads and the English teachers together would have proved infinitely more profitable than the haphazard way we were handled.

We've had to go round each school (admittedly originally accompanied by the mad vicar Athisayam who is no help at all – everything he volunteered on our behalf being wrong in every sense) explaining who-what-why-when-where etc. And again when we eventually moved here for good last Monday. We have food brought to us, for which we are grateful, but have been left to do everything ourselves. We don't even know where the church is and we are expected to attend tomorrow!

We asked the Rev. to explain to Kumar that we can't eat the vast quantities of food he's supplying and don't want to keep wasting it. Less food means less cost, so it would also help us to get back on budget. He said that the food isn't wasted, it goes to feed the workers who are helping us. Naturally we shouldn't mind paying for people who are being paid, fed and housed by the church...

Of all the stupid things I've done in my life, the biggest blunder must be my coming to India to teach English with no experience, no idea of how to do it and no materials. How I'm going to manage for four months I'll never know.