It's 4am monday morning, but since I am up from a splitting headache, I figured I would try to catch up on my blogging....
I woke up Saturday morning wishing with all my might that I had successfully conveyed to dear "uncle" that if he didn't meet a certain minimal level of expectation we would be out of there/I would ruin his business's reputation.
Many of the students went off in the morning to continue their never-ending rounds of shopping in Old Manali or some small treks in the area. I decided to stay in to finish up some work and be sure everything was set for the start of the actual class on Monday.
Mid-morning, Shavan, Bimsim and some of the other staff knocked on my door and asked if they could clean the room. Good start, I thought...
I went outside to work so they could have their space and watched from a distance. Suddenly, the floors were swept, the bathroom tile was spotless, and the beds were nicely made with newly bought sheets and pillowcases. The only issue was that they did not know how to make a bed with a top sheet (this is not typically done in India, apparently), so we had a fun little lesson on the finer points of bed-making -American style.
The result was really quite impressive. When the kids came back for lunch, the first thing Abby said to me was, "The rooms are so clean! It's so nice. I don't know what you said to them, but apparently it worked..."
Finally, I thought. It was like a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. It seems like a small thing when you write about it here, but for those of us living in the situation, and more importantly, responsible for the relative comfort of the students, it had turned into a maddening environment.
A wave of relief and sympathy also washed over me as I realized that 98% of the issue was different cultural expectations and not the staff's unwillingness to be helpful. This helped me reckon the two experiences I had had with them too. Most of the time I thought the staff were absolutely wonderful... making sure I had everything I needed and was safe (especially when I was here alone before the others arrived). They had responded very quickly to one-time needs/events, it was the daily, repetitive things that were the problem. And sometimes it is the small details that make the biggest difference. For us, having the bathroom floor mopped and clean (instead of covered in water from our bucket bath) made a huge difference because we are not used to having water all over the floor since our bath/shower is in an enclosed space. For many Indians, however, this is perfectly normal and does not bother them. So once we were able to specify the little things that were specific to us, but that would make us more comfortable, and convey the expectation that they be done regularly without being retold, the result was tremendous. Everyone's dispositions have been greatly improved and we are all more comfortable. This also proved to be a valuable lesson which I tried to share with the students... sometimes understanding why people respond in the manner they do is just as important as their actual actions. They are undoubtedly going to be faced with similar cultural misunderstandings and communications, and the sooner they can identify that that is the issue, the sooner a compromise or resolution may be reached.
I woke up Saturday morning wishing with all my might that I had successfully conveyed to dear "uncle" that if he didn't meet a certain minimal level of expectation we would be out of there/I would ruin his business's reputation.
Many of the students went off in the morning to continue their never-ending rounds of shopping in Old Manali or some small treks in the area. I decided to stay in to finish up some work and be sure everything was set for the start of the actual class on Monday.
Mid-morning, Shavan, Bimsim and some of the other staff knocked on my door and asked if they could clean the room. Good start, I thought...
I went outside to work so they could have their space and watched from a distance. Suddenly, the floors were swept, the bathroom tile was spotless, and the beds were nicely made with newly bought sheets and pillowcases. The only issue was that they did not know how to make a bed with a top sheet (this is not typically done in India, apparently), so we had a fun little lesson on the finer points of bed-making -American style.
The result was really quite impressive. When the kids came back for lunch, the first thing Abby said to me was, "The rooms are so clean! It's so nice. I don't know what you said to them, but apparently it worked..."
Finally, I thought. It was like a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. It seems like a small thing when you write about it here, but for those of us living in the situation, and more importantly, responsible for the relative comfort of the students, it had turned into a maddening environment.
A wave of relief and sympathy also washed over me as I realized that 98% of the issue was different cultural expectations and not the staff's unwillingness to be helpful. This helped me reckon the two experiences I had had with them too. Most of the time I thought the staff were absolutely wonderful... making sure I had everything I needed and was safe (especially when I was here alone before the others arrived). They had responded very quickly to one-time needs/events, it was the daily, repetitive things that were the problem. And sometimes it is the small details that make the biggest difference. For us, having the bathroom floor mopped and clean (instead of covered in water from our bucket bath) made a huge difference because we are not used to having water all over the floor since our bath/shower is in an enclosed space. For many Indians, however, this is perfectly normal and does not bother them. So once we were able to specify the little things that were specific to us, but that would make us more comfortable, and convey the expectation that they be done regularly without being retold, the result was tremendous. Everyone's dispositions have been greatly improved and we are all more comfortable. This also proved to be a valuable lesson which I tried to share with the students... sometimes understanding why people respond in the manner they do is just as important as their actual actions. They are undoubtedly going to be faced with similar cultural misunderstandings and communications, and the sooner they can identify that that is the issue, the sooner a compromise or resolution may be reached.
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