July 5-9: Orientation

The view from our Kolkata hotel room

Our orientation session in Delhi was a short day and a half, after which we five Kolkata ETAs left to continue the orientation in our new city. During those several days, we met with security officials from the US Embassy about staying safe, a doctor about staying healthy, and current Fulbrighters about living in the city. During the Kolkata portion especially, many pieces started coming together regarding what we’ll be doing these next nine months; we met our English teacher trainer who will meet with us twice a month starting in August to help us become more effective ETAs and to offer advice for any problems we might be experiencing; we had a getting-to-know-you session with our host school principals and teachers and later, were able to visit the schools and work out a teaching schedule (I’ll be teaching four, 35-minute classes a day for grades 6-8); we visited the American Institute for Indian Studies where we’ll be taking intensive Bangla classes for the next three weeks; and, most importantly, we met with our facilitator, Oisharjya, a local college student with the arduous task of teaching three bumbling Americans how to survive in the city. She has taught us how to take all forms of transportation (bus, taxi, auto rickshaw, and metro), shown us where to buy the latest fashions (Fab India) and basic necessities (Big Bazaar), helped with the apartment search, and will be spending several hours with us tomorrow as we register with the foreign registration office. Without her holding our hands along the way, I don’t know how we would have survived this first week!