21-6-2024
We occasionally get questions about where we are staying in Kochi. In the beginning, I wrote a little story about living on campus, but we had not yet shared photos of our room. We inhabit a cosy guest room, with a semi-double bed to sleep in. A lot firmer and less wide than we are used to. Our private bathroom has a shower and toilet. Unfortunately, we do not always have hot water. We take showers at least once a day. When we travel and stay in a three, four or five-star hotel, we enjoy the soft big bed and hot shower 24 hours a day all the more.
In our room, we have a kettle and cups and glasses. We supplemented our homeware a bit ourselves with cups for soups, a bedside table, as well as some cleaning equipment. Basically, our room is cleaned weekly by the ladies of the housekeeping service. Unfortunately, the brothers who have to manage them, occasionally forget to tell them to do so. And besides, we are self-reliant Dutch people who can clean just fine ourselves, and we feel slight embarrassment to have people working for us.
We buy our own snacks and drinks that we consume in our room through the day or in the evening. All meals are taken care of. Next to our room is the VIP dining, and next to it the canteen with the kitchen. There is also another ‘café’ in the central square of the campus.
Three times a day, we cross the campus to the dining hall/kitchen/laundry room. There, our meal will be waiting. Sometimes we don't feel like puttu in the morning. For much-needed variety, we bought some muesli and milk. In the afternoons and evenings, the menu is usually the same. The ladies in the kitchen cook large quantities of food, serving for two meals for us and for the students living in the dorms. Only on Sundays they have a day off. Then we eat bread and jam for breakfast, and taak-out food is bought at noon and in the evening. Often Chinese (with an Indian twist) or dosa.
If we feel like a change in out menu, we go out for dinner. We do that at least once a week. While eating in the kitchen, the television is often on. Movies are watched, or the news. And lately, cricket is on, due to the World Cup. We talk to the fathers or the brothers. Sometimes conversations on serious topics. We learn a lot from them about the state of affairs in India/Kerala. But often they also joke and laugh exuberantly.
In the kitchen building, there are also about nine flats. This is where the fathers live, and some teachers with their families. They still have their homes elsewhere, and live in a two-room apartment during the school year. Some with a family of up to four. If they have are free a few consecutive days, they often go back to their (parental) home.
The brothers live in the hostel with the students, where they are responsible for the quiet and behaviour of the students living in shared rooms there. Since this school year, there has been a girls' hostel on the campus across the street. This is run by a trio of nuns. The girls also share a room with up to three people. They have to be inside by seven in the evening as that is when the gate of the hostel closes. The chastity of all students is well guarded here.
There are several large halls on campus, where larger meetings are held. For example, exams are made in the auditorium, the Pappali hall. On Friday afternoons during the school year, there are often cultural activities in the Bachinelli hall. Every course has to prepare such an event twice a year. This hall is also where prospective students meet before registering for the new academic year. Classrooms are located above our room and on the floors surrounding the largest halls. The ground floor has offices and smaller halls. The classrooms on campus do not have A/C, but they do have ceiling fans. These run overtime during classes. With classes of up to 40 students, it still gets very hot in the classrooms. Moreover, the fans make quite a bit of noise. The classrooms on the topfloors are generally only used in the mornings.
Apart from the new students, two new brothers started in the new year. Brother Edwin and brother Rimesh have returned to school. They are going to get their master's degree in theology and will get their white priestly garments. At the beginning of the holidays, they were replaced by brothers Stayn and Anmod, who will be doing their one-year social service at St Albert's.
The Fathers serving on the board of St. Albert's are, of course, the chairman, father Thoppil (the only one addressed by his surname) and registrar Father Shine Pauly and bursar Father Jensen Livera. At the start of the new academic year, a new father has also been appointed as vice-chairman, Father Nibid, to ease the workload of Father Shine in particular. Another father who visits regularly are Father Vincent, head of the sports campus located elsewhere in the city. And during his vacation in Kochi, Father Christy, vice-chairman who recently completed his Phd in the US visited the college.
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