the train to delhi was fine, in fact fun. We just chatted and played games and spoke to tourists, and slept. The idex hotel was beautiful. Me and another volunteer hopped on a bicycle taxi and went to a mall in Delhi which was enormous and i have never seen such an upper class mall in my entire life. It genuinely makes the trafford centre seem like a scruffy place. We had a kind of house party at night. I got my hair straightened which was not a pretty sight but it made us all laugh which is the main thing. The flight was fine. we had lot's to drink as it was included. We were all very emotional, some excited some sad. I got back and saw Louise, my mum and dad for the first time in what seemed like forever. I must be honest and admit that i was not sad to leave my indian friends. I spent ten weeks with them non stop. They have had such a huge impact on me that i will never forget a single one of them. I am over the moon to be home. India was enlightening. Thanks go to all who read this blog and supported me.
ps - dear old james, if you are reading this it means you kept the blog. I hope you did other cool stuff after this! you better have a degree man!
Monday 18 October 2010
Saturday 9 October 2010
last blog until I conclude from my home in england :)
2/10/2010 very interesting day. went to town early in the morning and did some lone wolf shopping. loads of us went to a roof top restaraunt for lunch. it took 3 hours, the food was rubbish and we spent an hour arguing with the staff over the price. we took about a third of a ten person bill so it was worth the heated debating. we went on the lake on boats for an hour which was brilliant, although we kept crashing which was as dangerous as it was funny.we slept in a hotel in the fort, the view was unbelievable and i slept like a baby.
3/10/2010 woke up at about 8. spent a couple of hours enjoying the morning sun. I went off wandering alone again. I saw a group of volunteers after a while so i chilled with them for most of the day. we did loads of group bartering and got loads of good prices for stuff. we are not tourists so we do not act like it or accept tourist prices. nothing near them actually. we spent a few hours swimming in the early evening. We had a few beers at the pool and then paid a hotel owner a small sum to sleep on his roof. it was immense. beers, friends, sleeping under the stars on top of a fort in the great thar desert of india. I could not ask for much more. we woke up with the sun and it felt good.
4/10/2010 got up about 6 am. we had a laugh over a horrible breakfast and set off back to work. it had been ghandi's birthday over the weekend so traffic was a bit mental. The taj mahal goers spent 44 hours in the jeep rather than the mere 36 hours it took my group last week. partly due to the commonwealth games. School was excellent today. It was our health day and we taught the kids about cleanliness in general. we gave out a load of tooth brushes and toothpastes which many of them had never seen nor used. we played a load of games too. musical statues was my favourite. We painted the school in the afterrnoon. I went to bed at 4am and slept all the way until 7 the next morning. I had a really bad rash. I was to spend the next several days thinking i had malaria. but i can tell you now, i don't and i didn't. i was paranoid because about 15 people on camp have got malaria. pretty rubbish.
5/10/2010 woke up after that ridiculously long sleep. I felt dazed and strange. We set off on a 3 hour trip to see a government gm crops lab. It was rubbish. It was a load of boring government propoganda and i wish we did not waste a day there, rather than be with the kids. I tried millet and basil plant, which were unfortunately the highlights. Spent the night when we got back lying under the stars outside. We played music and chatted and relaxed. we saw tons of shooting stars as we always do.
6/10/2010 we were allowed a lie in today but i woke up at 6ish with the sun. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast. Today was our fun/sports day at school. it was brilliant. Football, limbo, balloons, drawing, painting, general chaos. The kids just ran round and acted like kids. They are very surpressed for most of their young lives. Had a good deep chat with my project exec vinod, i shall miss him a lot. He is only 24 but acts much older. In the afternoon I returned to learn that even more people had contracted malaria. I did a lot of cheering up sad people, which cheered me up too. Things i am looking forward to upon my return home besides people are : a pint of carling, fruit juice, milk, takeaways, red meat, mayonnaise, pastry, football, a double bed, warm running water, electricity. In the evening I had a rubbish night. I just got upset as i ever have in my life. Purely because i have been away for so long and i want to come home to everything that makes me happy. I have been so lucky to do this but i am ready to go back to england.
7/10/2010 I woke up with snot and dried tears all over my face which tells you what a state i was in. The quicker these last days go the better! We got a tuc tuc to our last day of school. It was chaos again, we just had fun with them and played a load of games.The goodbye was not emotional because the kids were too busy playing with the presents we had got them to think much about our departure. This was maybe a good thing. I left Jodha village for good, I felt proud rather than sad to have made it through. I am not cut out for teaching young children as a career, but it has been damn fine giving it a go. Spent the afternoon in the pool with one of the other volunteers just to escape camp. it was really nice, played a bit of frizbee and relaxed. I went to bed a lot happier tonight than the last night.
8/10/2010 woke up in a good mood with the sun again. I am pretty much camp early bird these days. I am almost always one of the first 2/3 awake. We spent a couple of hours evaluating the second half of the trip. I spent the two hours after this packing. It took absolutely ages and I will be fortunate if i am allowed on as i have far too much weight and hand luggage. I do not want to throw stuff away but i have no money so i am not sure what i can do. It is about 32 degrees hotter here than in england, and i dont even feel warm. because of this i think it is likely i will freeze and get ill in england because im acclimatised to 40 degrees plus weather. We had our leaving party, and it was pretty good. we had amazing food, dancing, drinks, a talent show. we all tried to dress and look our best and we had a late curfew. it was nice.
9/10/2010 today i have spent wandering round town saying goobye to everyone ive met in jaisalmer. im staying on a roof in the fort if all goes to plan. probably have a few drinks and enjoy my last night. tomorrow i have to be back at camp for 8. i will pretty much waste time until half 2, then i set off for my train. train leaves at about 5, and that will be it. i will just get closer and closer to home :)
3/10/2010 woke up at about 8. spent a couple of hours enjoying the morning sun. I went off wandering alone again. I saw a group of volunteers after a while so i chilled with them for most of the day. we did loads of group bartering and got loads of good prices for stuff. we are not tourists so we do not act like it or accept tourist prices. nothing near them actually. we spent a few hours swimming in the early evening. We had a few beers at the pool and then paid a hotel owner a small sum to sleep on his roof. it was immense. beers, friends, sleeping under the stars on top of a fort in the great thar desert of india. I could not ask for much more. we woke up with the sun and it felt good.
4/10/2010 got up about 6 am. we had a laugh over a horrible breakfast and set off back to work. it had been ghandi's birthday over the weekend so traffic was a bit mental. The taj mahal goers spent 44 hours in the jeep rather than the mere 36 hours it took my group last week. partly due to the commonwealth games. School was excellent today. It was our health day and we taught the kids about cleanliness in general. we gave out a load of tooth brushes and toothpastes which many of them had never seen nor used. we played a load of games too. musical statues was my favourite. We painted the school in the afterrnoon. I went to bed at 4am and slept all the way until 7 the next morning. I had a really bad rash. I was to spend the next several days thinking i had malaria. but i can tell you now, i don't and i didn't. i was paranoid because about 15 people on camp have got malaria. pretty rubbish.
5/10/2010 woke up after that ridiculously long sleep. I felt dazed and strange. We set off on a 3 hour trip to see a government gm crops lab. It was rubbish. It was a load of boring government propoganda and i wish we did not waste a day there, rather than be with the kids. I tried millet and basil plant, which were unfortunately the highlights. Spent the night when we got back lying under the stars outside. We played music and chatted and relaxed. we saw tons of shooting stars as we always do.
6/10/2010 we were allowed a lie in today but i woke up at 6ish with the sun. We had scrambled eggs for breakfast. Today was our fun/sports day at school. it was brilliant. Football, limbo, balloons, drawing, painting, general chaos. The kids just ran round and acted like kids. They are very surpressed for most of their young lives. Had a good deep chat with my project exec vinod, i shall miss him a lot. He is only 24 but acts much older. In the afternoon I returned to learn that even more people had contracted malaria. I did a lot of cheering up sad people, which cheered me up too. Things i am looking forward to upon my return home besides people are : a pint of carling, fruit juice, milk, takeaways, red meat, mayonnaise, pastry, football, a double bed, warm running water, electricity. In the evening I had a rubbish night. I just got upset as i ever have in my life. Purely because i have been away for so long and i want to come home to everything that makes me happy. I have been so lucky to do this but i am ready to go back to england.
7/10/2010 I woke up with snot and dried tears all over my face which tells you what a state i was in. The quicker these last days go the better! We got a tuc tuc to our last day of school. It was chaos again, we just had fun with them and played a load of games.The goodbye was not emotional because the kids were too busy playing with the presents we had got them to think much about our departure. This was maybe a good thing. I left Jodha village for good, I felt proud rather than sad to have made it through. I am not cut out for teaching young children as a career, but it has been damn fine giving it a go. Spent the afternoon in the pool with one of the other volunteers just to escape camp. it was really nice, played a bit of frizbee and relaxed. I went to bed a lot happier tonight than the last night.
8/10/2010 woke up in a good mood with the sun again. I am pretty much camp early bird these days. I am almost always one of the first 2/3 awake. We spent a couple of hours evaluating the second half of the trip. I spent the two hours after this packing. It took absolutely ages and I will be fortunate if i am allowed on as i have far too much weight and hand luggage. I do not want to throw stuff away but i have no money so i am not sure what i can do. It is about 32 degrees hotter here than in england, and i dont even feel warm. because of this i think it is likely i will freeze and get ill in england because im acclimatised to 40 degrees plus weather. We had our leaving party, and it was pretty good. we had amazing food, dancing, drinks, a talent show. we all tried to dress and look our best and we had a late curfew. it was nice.
9/10/2010 today i have spent wandering round town saying goobye to everyone ive met in jaisalmer. im staying on a roof in the fort if all goes to plan. probably have a few drinks and enjoy my last night. tomorrow i have to be back at camp for 8. i will pretty much waste time until half 2, then i set off for my train. train leaves at about 5, and that will be it. i will just get closer and closer to home :)
Thursday 7 October 2010
an extremely brief update.
today is thursday 7th oct. i have finished work now. ive said bye to the kids. tomorrow we are having an absolutely massive party in camp with a talent show, dancing, food and games. in england it would be a night out, here it is paradise. anyway, i am pretty much off duty until sunday afternoon (morning in england) then i will do a short drive to an 18 hour train ride. sleep in delhi, then hop on a plane to london, and drive home.
thus, i should have time to write my blog properly either tomorrow or saturday. i have about 300 more pics. however, i reckon i will wait until im home to put those on facebook. i can say that ive loved it, the kids, the place and the people, but im ready for home. please check for updates tomorrow and saturday and sunday even.
i love y'all.
ps - we are hearing a lot about a high terrorist alert because of some trouble in pakistan. this highly worries me.
thus, i should have time to write my blog properly either tomorrow or saturday. i have about 300 more pics. however, i reckon i will wait until im home to put those on facebook. i can say that ive loved it, the kids, the place and the people, but im ready for home. please check for updates tomorrow and saturday and sunday even.
i love y'all.
ps - we are hearing a lot about a high terrorist alert because of some trouble in pakistan. this highly worries me.
Saturday 2 October 2010
in one week, i will be on the way home :) this blog is huge.
firstly, sorry for the lack of blog. this may or may not be my last one. also, there are hundreds more photos of me on facebook. the taj mahal ones are blurry but my friends have better ones which will be up a few weeks after we get home.
20 / 9/ 2010 woke up at half 6, knackered from the camel safari. the whole camp felt like we had run a marathon. sun burn, dehydration and sore thighs! had a shower and got into school, we continued teaching about body parts and we are certainly getting somewhere. painted big india flags on the school in afternoon construction which is a lot more satisfying than moving rocks in the hot sun. tea was spaghetti and potatoes which was marvellous. the last month with this chef has been excellent. i hardly remember what dhal tastes like. i found out the chef's helper was called dan singh which deserved a laugh, so it got one! we had a rare bit of electricity so we watched about half of ghandi.
21/9/2010 still worn out from the camel, our thighs made us pay. pancakes for breakfast softened the blow though. school was a bit rubbish, some school holiday meant that almost all the kids were off. this happens all the time and we never get told. the way india works in terms of time and preparation is so different to england. much slower and laid back, they seem to have faith that every thing will just fall into place which from my experience it does - ish. we just drew pictures with the kids. when we got back i destroyed a couple of hornets nests in the girl's rooms. i then saw a peacock and preceeded to chase it. noone told me in school how quick peacocks were. quick! i may as well have been chasing the road runner. played a game of catch with some indian kids from the village. I also saw a goat sacrifice, long story short i got an opportunity to hold a goat scrotum and i took it.
this needs a pharagraph on its own. for reasons too indepth to write here. the indian company who i work for, are extremely corrupt. i exxagerate not. they are quite a disgusting company in terms of ethics.
moving on, typhoid, possibly tb, and definitely malaria, along with a hugely poisonous snake have all made their way to camp. yaaaaay. i have pulled half the hairs of my little beard out through boredom which i can assure you is painful. did painting in the afternoon, and then i spent half an hour teaching dance moves to some indian village kid. he doesnt know that i cant dance, so it was good for my ego. played a lot of connect 4 at night then went to bed.
22/9/2010 Woke up to electricity, a shower and scrambled eggs. it was going to be a good day. it is cold in the mornings now in india, although to you western folk i am sure you would be sweating buckets. i think i will have thinner blood now, and will find english winter hard! taught the kids groups of letters at school. Then i learnt some more hindi words off my executive in my spare time. I also wrote down a list of english swear words. he asked for the meanings because when we all used them he wanted to know the context etc. im not saying we swear much, he just wanted to learn. went to town in my time off. tourist season is starting so suddenly there are europeans and rich indians everywhere. i feel like its my village, but when they look at me they probably think i am a tourist too. listened to a lot of indian pop music which i love. had an early night after painting.
23/9/2010 woke up feeling weird. the toilet trips have been off again. Also, most of have definitely managed to pick up a cold. chappattis, jam, spicy nutty rice for breakfast. took the morning off in an attempt to recover. After 30 minute battle with gravity i managed to fix my spasmodic mosquito net to the roof. people keep getting malaria so we are all being more cautious now. I worked out on a map that i had been to 22 countries, making me a very lucky 18 yr old. I spent the rest of the day tidying and reading roots, which i finished! what a book, the longest and most difficult and worthwhile book i have read. I persuaded one of the girls that my dad wore a suit and lived rough in the himalayas for 3 months which had made him a legend in nepal. it took a very long time for her to realise i was winding her up. was very funny. had our group discussion on water and sanitation. it was my turn to do a presentation which me and louise had made before i went. everyone loved it. i was so relieved and proud. we discussed the issues late in to the night. had a game of volleyball with the staff losing 14 12. we're getting better though.
24/9/2010 woke up and for the first time had a negative thought about going home. i guess i am worried because i NEED a job. loads of my friends have gone other places to uni, and i won't see louise perhaps as much as i did before as she will be in uni a lot. along with this, i am unsure of how well i will settle in to everything about england. i suppose in ten weeks i am bound to have these thoughts at one point. school was great. we played loads of hindi learning games so we were learning as well as them. Rushed into town at lunch to see the commonwealth games baton pass through jaisalmer. due to india living upto its reputation we never saw it and so had to leave. afternoon meeting was rubbish everyone just argued about sewage and where the camp puppies had been taken. Spent the next 3 hours trying to book our trip to the taj mahal. we had had a few drinks so it was very stressful. our driver was in dheli, people couldnt afford it, it was physically impossible to do in a weekend, everyone was arguing. all sensibility suggested we should not go. so, in true india fashion we thought bugger it, and we decided to go. we went to bed as we would have to get up at 4am.
25/9/2010 Woke up at 4, it was pitch black. most of the camp were going on other long distance trips so the taj mahal goers were surrounded by other groups who were going early too. flopped about in the dark and got in our jeep at 5. did 5 hours driving and got to jhodpur, feasting on a mcdonalds which in india is like heaven. arterie clogging heaven. alice also taught me to dance the fox trot, at which i did not perform well. I spent about an hour thinking about how the kids can count to 20 now, instead of 3. i pretty much love all the kids at school. they should all be models for GAP kids. drove through india for another 13 hours. we saw every time of scenery you could imagine, travelling through bits of india tourists just do not see. we had a few drinks and hours worth of singing. so, after EIGHTEEN HOURS of driving in a jeep we arrived in aggra at 12. we stayed in a 60pence each hotel and slept.
26//9/2010 unfortunately we only had time for 4 hours sleep. 4.30 we were up again. I did not know thios until morning, but we had slept in a hotel literally next to the taj mahal. picture a b and b next to buckingham palace and you get the picture. we walked down at 5 30 and got our tickets. queued with thousands of people. and there we were, the taj. we saw the sunrise. on one half of the taj sun, other half moon. i must say, the two hours i spent there were thrilling. i have never been so awestruck in my life, other than when i saw niagara falls. it was breathtaking. i will never forget the beauty of the building. i still found time to mingle with people from canada, india, korea. for some reason i find myself wanting to talk to everyone i see. so, 8am we had to set off. all unsurprisingly in a dazed over tired state. after 9 hours of travelling we realised we would be hopelessly let. it turns out that it actually was impossible to travel through 2 states of india, have a night in a hotel, see the taj in one weekend. we stopped in some weird indian truckers stop in the middle of nowhere. had their strange surprisinglyweak currie and chapattis and carried on our way. did a lot of sleeping. stopped for a wee break where me and a girl saw some locusts. we picked them up and threw them. we did not hurt them, it was just a peculiar feeling to hold them. we spent the last 6 hours literally sprawled all over eachother. as battery chickens in a jeep, it is the only way you can sleep. got back the next day at 3am. 36 hours travelling over 2 days. no regrets, the taj was immense.
27/9/2010 after only 3hours sleep, and not getting shouted at because we informed staff we would be late, all 9 of us got up and went to school which helped our cause on the disciplinary levels. we were all knackered, we did a lot of colouring with numbers at school. i then had to use the toilet which consists of ...go where noone can see. all i will say is that it was memorable. in the afternoon we painted a red border round the bottom of the school. in terms of how tired i am, the taj was still totally worth it. i crashed very early at night.
28/9/2010 woke up, still not completely rejuvenated. it has begun to sink in how amazing the taj was. it was so symetrical and stunning. i can only imagine what it would be like under moonlight. school was good, we did a load of dancing and teaching about vehicle names. I haven't mentioned this before, but for most of this trip i have had no torch at night. i have learnt to be very useful in the dark which can never be a bad thing. i reckon i can see why blind people get really good at judging things because you get used to relying on other senses. btw, i am not suggesting being blind is a good thing. in the afternoon we did some more painting. i crashed early yet again.
29/9/2010 had many pointless rows this morning.tensions are high. i will skip over them because i dont want them to be lasting memories of this brilliant experience. school was wonderful. one of the best days in the whole time i have been here. we played loads of games including what time is it mr wolf. in this game i took the role of the dancing wolf. It was just a load of fun, the kids make me feel great and hopefully and i thinkthey do, lovecoming to school. i spent a couple of hours learning london slang of jilo. most of was spent with me lying on the floor crying with laughter. jilo is a very funny young lady. i then went to town and spent about an hour doing the blog which i have today spent 2 hours redoing. as im sure you know it got deleted, ouch. bought a couple of presents and set off back. the afternoon was also brilliant. We went to a village called dabla for a community visit. i had another row with a certain volunteer but anyway bugger it it is part of life. i spent an hour running around with these kids id never met. they were holding my hand, playing with my shoes, jumping on my back. it was great, they took me to the village elder. i spent the next 20 minutes experiencing a situation ill never forget. ihad 15 to 20 youths of all ages stood around me. i exhausted all my hindi words on the elder so as not so cause offence. turned out she liked me, she did want me to cut my girly hair but she gave mea desert cucumber which was a huge honour. i made all the kids laugh hysterically, teaching them loads of cool tricks, like hand tricks or how to make paper planes etc. then i literally told them about me, louise, my family, and my friends. we all knew that we didnt understand eachother but i told it in an animated way and weall just burst out laughing at thenature of the situation. after this we went to a lake and climbed some trees.
30/9/2010 goodbye september. I met a very interesting spanish girl who was travelling. It's cool to see loads of people on their own just floating round the world and taking it in. toilet trips were to off to go to school unfortunately. Spent the morning doing nothing. at lunch we spent an hour debating the vegetable class system. it was hilarious. We pulled in so many aspects of life, gender, culture, religion, nationality just to decide wheather a vegetable was a cafe worker or a yacht seller of the veg world. afternoon session was crasp as noone had made a presentation. weall spent the night together in the common room just having a laugh being together. it's got hot again. like 40 plus hot. it feels like being in an oven. i also discovered the train i will be getting bak for 18 hours next week is officially the most dangerous train int he world. oh the joy. went to bed happy enough !
1/10/2010 first day of october meant that school schedule changed. we now do 6 hours of work at one go rather than coming back for a siesta. I did not go in today either as i needed to be veryt close to a toilet at all times. didnt do anything of blog worthiness all day. in the evening i walked to the lake and watched the sunset with a few volunteers. it was beautiful.
conclusion.... im so excited about coming home. i think this week will go quick. and it feels good to be me at the moment. i hope youre all ok. thanks for all the emails, support etc. :D
20 / 9/ 2010 woke up at half 6, knackered from the camel safari. the whole camp felt like we had run a marathon. sun burn, dehydration and sore thighs! had a shower and got into school, we continued teaching about body parts and we are certainly getting somewhere. painted big india flags on the school in afternoon construction which is a lot more satisfying than moving rocks in the hot sun. tea was spaghetti and potatoes which was marvellous. the last month with this chef has been excellent. i hardly remember what dhal tastes like. i found out the chef's helper was called dan singh which deserved a laugh, so it got one! we had a rare bit of electricity so we watched about half of ghandi.
21/9/2010 still worn out from the camel, our thighs made us pay. pancakes for breakfast softened the blow though. school was a bit rubbish, some school holiday meant that almost all the kids were off. this happens all the time and we never get told. the way india works in terms of time and preparation is so different to england. much slower and laid back, they seem to have faith that every thing will just fall into place which from my experience it does - ish. we just drew pictures with the kids. when we got back i destroyed a couple of hornets nests in the girl's rooms. i then saw a peacock and preceeded to chase it. noone told me in school how quick peacocks were. quick! i may as well have been chasing the road runner. played a game of catch with some indian kids from the village. I also saw a goat sacrifice, long story short i got an opportunity to hold a goat scrotum and i took it.
this needs a pharagraph on its own. for reasons too indepth to write here. the indian company who i work for, are extremely corrupt. i exxagerate not. they are quite a disgusting company in terms of ethics.
moving on, typhoid, possibly tb, and definitely malaria, along with a hugely poisonous snake have all made their way to camp. yaaaaay. i have pulled half the hairs of my little beard out through boredom which i can assure you is painful. did painting in the afternoon, and then i spent half an hour teaching dance moves to some indian village kid. he doesnt know that i cant dance, so it was good for my ego. played a lot of connect 4 at night then went to bed.
22/9/2010 Woke up to electricity, a shower and scrambled eggs. it was going to be a good day. it is cold in the mornings now in india, although to you western folk i am sure you would be sweating buckets. i think i will have thinner blood now, and will find english winter hard! taught the kids groups of letters at school. Then i learnt some more hindi words off my executive in my spare time. I also wrote down a list of english swear words. he asked for the meanings because when we all used them he wanted to know the context etc. im not saying we swear much, he just wanted to learn. went to town in my time off. tourist season is starting so suddenly there are europeans and rich indians everywhere. i feel like its my village, but when they look at me they probably think i am a tourist too. listened to a lot of indian pop music which i love. had an early night after painting.
23/9/2010 woke up feeling weird. the toilet trips have been off again. Also, most of have definitely managed to pick up a cold. chappattis, jam, spicy nutty rice for breakfast. took the morning off in an attempt to recover. After 30 minute battle with gravity i managed to fix my spasmodic mosquito net to the roof. people keep getting malaria so we are all being more cautious now. I worked out on a map that i had been to 22 countries, making me a very lucky 18 yr old. I spent the rest of the day tidying and reading roots, which i finished! what a book, the longest and most difficult and worthwhile book i have read. I persuaded one of the girls that my dad wore a suit and lived rough in the himalayas for 3 months which had made him a legend in nepal. it took a very long time for her to realise i was winding her up. was very funny. had our group discussion on water and sanitation. it was my turn to do a presentation which me and louise had made before i went. everyone loved it. i was so relieved and proud. we discussed the issues late in to the night. had a game of volleyball with the staff losing 14 12. we're getting better though.
24/9/2010 woke up and for the first time had a negative thought about going home. i guess i am worried because i NEED a job. loads of my friends have gone other places to uni, and i won't see louise perhaps as much as i did before as she will be in uni a lot. along with this, i am unsure of how well i will settle in to everything about england. i suppose in ten weeks i am bound to have these thoughts at one point. school was great. we played loads of hindi learning games so we were learning as well as them. Rushed into town at lunch to see the commonwealth games baton pass through jaisalmer. due to india living upto its reputation we never saw it and so had to leave. afternoon meeting was rubbish everyone just argued about sewage and where the camp puppies had been taken. Spent the next 3 hours trying to book our trip to the taj mahal. we had had a few drinks so it was very stressful. our driver was in dheli, people couldnt afford it, it was physically impossible to do in a weekend, everyone was arguing. all sensibility suggested we should not go. so, in true india fashion we thought bugger it, and we decided to go. we went to bed as we would have to get up at 4am.
25/9/2010 Woke up at 4, it was pitch black. most of the camp were going on other long distance trips so the taj mahal goers were surrounded by other groups who were going early too. flopped about in the dark and got in our jeep at 5. did 5 hours driving and got to jhodpur, feasting on a mcdonalds which in india is like heaven. arterie clogging heaven. alice also taught me to dance the fox trot, at which i did not perform well. I spent about an hour thinking about how the kids can count to 20 now, instead of 3. i pretty much love all the kids at school. they should all be models for GAP kids. drove through india for another 13 hours. we saw every time of scenery you could imagine, travelling through bits of india tourists just do not see. we had a few drinks and hours worth of singing. so, after EIGHTEEN HOURS of driving in a jeep we arrived in aggra at 12. we stayed in a 60pence each hotel and slept.
26//9/2010 unfortunately we only had time for 4 hours sleep. 4.30 we were up again. I did not know thios until morning, but we had slept in a hotel literally next to the taj mahal. picture a b and b next to buckingham palace and you get the picture. we walked down at 5 30 and got our tickets. queued with thousands of people. and there we were, the taj. we saw the sunrise. on one half of the taj sun, other half moon. i must say, the two hours i spent there were thrilling. i have never been so awestruck in my life, other than when i saw niagara falls. it was breathtaking. i will never forget the beauty of the building. i still found time to mingle with people from canada, india, korea. for some reason i find myself wanting to talk to everyone i see. so, 8am we had to set off. all unsurprisingly in a dazed over tired state. after 9 hours of travelling we realised we would be hopelessly let. it turns out that it actually was impossible to travel through 2 states of india, have a night in a hotel, see the taj in one weekend. we stopped in some weird indian truckers stop in the middle of nowhere. had their strange surprisinglyweak currie and chapattis and carried on our way. did a lot of sleeping. stopped for a wee break where me and a girl saw some locusts. we picked them up and threw them. we did not hurt them, it was just a peculiar feeling to hold them. we spent the last 6 hours literally sprawled all over eachother. as battery chickens in a jeep, it is the only way you can sleep. got back the next day at 3am. 36 hours travelling over 2 days. no regrets, the taj was immense.
27/9/2010 after only 3hours sleep, and not getting shouted at because we informed staff we would be late, all 9 of us got up and went to school which helped our cause on the disciplinary levels. we were all knackered, we did a lot of colouring with numbers at school. i then had to use the toilet which consists of ...go where noone can see. all i will say is that it was memorable. in the afternoon we painted a red border round the bottom of the school. in terms of how tired i am, the taj was still totally worth it. i crashed very early at night.
28/9/2010 woke up, still not completely rejuvenated. it has begun to sink in how amazing the taj was. it was so symetrical and stunning. i can only imagine what it would be like under moonlight. school was good, we did a load of dancing and teaching about vehicle names. I haven't mentioned this before, but for most of this trip i have had no torch at night. i have learnt to be very useful in the dark which can never be a bad thing. i reckon i can see why blind people get really good at judging things because you get used to relying on other senses. btw, i am not suggesting being blind is a good thing. in the afternoon we did some more painting. i crashed early yet again.
29/9/2010 had many pointless rows this morning.tensions are high. i will skip over them because i dont want them to be lasting memories of this brilliant experience. school was wonderful. one of the best days in the whole time i have been here. we played loads of games including what time is it mr wolf. in this game i took the role of the dancing wolf. It was just a load of fun, the kids make me feel great and hopefully and i thinkthey do, lovecoming to school. i spent a couple of hours learning london slang of jilo. most of was spent with me lying on the floor crying with laughter. jilo is a very funny young lady. i then went to town and spent about an hour doing the blog which i have today spent 2 hours redoing. as im sure you know it got deleted, ouch. bought a couple of presents and set off back. the afternoon was also brilliant. We went to a village called dabla for a community visit. i had another row with a certain volunteer but anyway bugger it it is part of life. i spent an hour running around with these kids id never met. they were holding my hand, playing with my shoes, jumping on my back. it was great, they took me to the village elder. i spent the next 20 minutes experiencing a situation ill never forget. ihad 15 to 20 youths of all ages stood around me. i exhausted all my hindi words on the elder so as not so cause offence. turned out she liked me, she did want me to cut my girly hair but she gave mea desert cucumber which was a huge honour. i made all the kids laugh hysterically, teaching them loads of cool tricks, like hand tricks or how to make paper planes etc. then i literally told them about me, louise, my family, and my friends. we all knew that we didnt understand eachother but i told it in an animated way and weall just burst out laughing at thenature of the situation. after this we went to a lake and climbed some trees.
30/9/2010 goodbye september. I met a very interesting spanish girl who was travelling. It's cool to see loads of people on their own just floating round the world and taking it in. toilet trips were to off to go to school unfortunately. Spent the morning doing nothing. at lunch we spent an hour debating the vegetable class system. it was hilarious. We pulled in so many aspects of life, gender, culture, religion, nationality just to decide wheather a vegetable was a cafe worker or a yacht seller of the veg world. afternoon session was crasp as noone had made a presentation. weall spent the night together in the common room just having a laugh being together. it's got hot again. like 40 plus hot. it feels like being in an oven. i also discovered the train i will be getting bak for 18 hours next week is officially the most dangerous train int he world. oh the joy. went to bed happy enough !
1/10/2010 first day of october meant that school schedule changed. we now do 6 hours of work at one go rather than coming back for a siesta. I did not go in today either as i needed to be veryt close to a toilet at all times. didnt do anything of blog worthiness all day. in the evening i walked to the lake and watched the sunset with a few volunteers. it was beautiful.
conclusion.... im so excited about coming home. i think this week will go quick. and it feels good to be me at the moment. i hope youre all ok. thanks for all the emails, support etc. :D
Wednesday 29 September 2010
reason for lack of blog.
i just spent over an hour doing absolutely loads of writing. it all got deleted. i put so much into it that i cant bring myself to do it again. however, im pretty much out of money so im staying on a guys roof at the weekend who has internet because its free. i promise to spend like 2 hours doing it. long story short i like it here but i miss home. im ok, i love you all.
Wednesday 22 September 2010
2 and a bit weeks until i set off, home soon-ISH ( doing it in two blogs)
okay, let's try and write a successful blog shall we.
16/9/2010 - the chef has continued to be amazing. fried rice, spring rolls and peppers. i ate loads. there has been loads of arguing over how much of his food we can eat each. tension in camp has hopefully peaked as it is like a war some times. Afternoon meeting went well, we had really good conversations about education and gender inequality for a good two hours. tea was weet. noodles and garlic naan bread. Slept on the top bunk with no mosquito net, and surprisingly did not regret it. also, camp illness has gone down lots lately.
17/9/2010
woke up to electricity. it had been a while so i was happy about it. i did about 20 mins with the lads of really hard muscle work outs. was in a lot of pain because muscles weren't used to it. i guess now we're eating enough we feel we can exercise things must be ok. chapattias and jam for breakfast. i knew i had a lot of work to do as i'd been put in charge of organising a camel safari for the whole camp. i kind of liked it, to be honest. Had a successful trip to town. I finished organising the trip which felt amazing because i worked really hard on it, and every one was grateful. failed to get any money out of the bank which was crap, so i went for some tibetan food in the top of the fort in jaisalmer. the view was immense, the food not so much. went in a couple of shops and went back to camp. weekly meeting was ok, usual moaning about sewage and cleanliness. the camp is gross, but it aint gone change. people seem to forget that when you are in this situation you should change your expectations rather than acting like a tourist. this is something which i am nor brave enough or bothered enough to share with the moaners of camp :) had a massive game of volleyball lads v staff it was so much fun. we only stopped because it was too warm, and eventually dark.
18/9/2010 woke up at 6ish. i like that i wake up early and not tired. i have thorns in my feet from volleyball and sore arms from working out. oh well, damn my competetiveness. we played early morning volleyball and actually beat the staff. goliath was crushed! spent another few stressful hours failing to sort out my bank. i met a very interesting woman from holland, who when i said i taught maths and english in jhoga, thought i said yoga, i went along with it for my own humour. still gutted i have no ipod :/ had lunch and severely banged my head on a steel pole which the lump on my head will not let me forget. next we got in loads of jeeps to oure camel safari. parked a couple of times to get sdome photos, then we arrived to the camels. it was absolutely brilliant. my camel was called rocket, and it was rapid! i had so much fun. we got the sand dunes. literally it lo0oked like a scene from aladdin. we spent 2 hours having rolling races down massive steep dunes. we were all loving it! we spent the next hours until the early morning drinking and dancing in the middle of the desert. it does down as an amazing night.
19/9/2010 - woke up at 6. everyone was varying degrees of knackered. we had some boiled eggs and toast, sorted ourselves out as much as you can after sleeping o nthe sand in the middle of absolutely nowhere,. set off back in the jeeps all feeling chilled out. we all went to a hotel that said we could use the swimming pool free. spent a couple of hours having fun in the pool which was sweet. then i went on a lone wolf trip to do some bargain hunting. i cant say what i got cause theyre presents. but i did amazing at bartering. i used al lsorts of legal tactics, but they worked and i KNOW i left alot of the very capable hustlers feeling a bit hard done by price wise. very proud of yself i went back in the pool and then went back to camp.
16/9/2010 - the chef has continued to be amazing. fried rice, spring rolls and peppers. i ate loads. there has been loads of arguing over how much of his food we can eat each. tension in camp has hopefully peaked as it is like a war some times. Afternoon meeting went well, we had really good conversations about education and gender inequality for a good two hours. tea was weet. noodles and garlic naan bread. Slept on the top bunk with no mosquito net, and surprisingly did not regret it. also, camp illness has gone down lots lately.
17/9/2010
woke up to electricity. it had been a while so i was happy about it. i did about 20 mins with the lads of really hard muscle work outs. was in a lot of pain because muscles weren't used to it. i guess now we're eating enough we feel we can exercise things must be ok. chapattias and jam for breakfast. i knew i had a lot of work to do as i'd been put in charge of organising a camel safari for the whole camp. i kind of liked it, to be honest. Had a successful trip to town. I finished organising the trip which felt amazing because i worked really hard on it, and every one was grateful. failed to get any money out of the bank which was crap, so i went for some tibetan food in the top of the fort in jaisalmer. the view was immense, the food not so much. went in a couple of shops and went back to camp. weekly meeting was ok, usual moaning about sewage and cleanliness. the camp is gross, but it aint gone change. people seem to forget that when you are in this situation you should change your expectations rather than acting like a tourist. this is something which i am nor brave enough or bothered enough to share with the moaners of camp :) had a massive game of volleyball lads v staff it was so much fun. we only stopped because it was too warm, and eventually dark.
18/9/2010 woke up at 6ish. i like that i wake up early and not tired. i have thorns in my feet from volleyball and sore arms from working out. oh well, damn my competetiveness. we played early morning volleyball and actually beat the staff. goliath was crushed! spent another few stressful hours failing to sort out my bank. i met a very interesting woman from holland, who when i said i taught maths and english in jhoga, thought i said yoga, i went along with it for my own humour. still gutted i have no ipod :/ had lunch and severely banged my head on a steel pole which the lump on my head will not let me forget. next we got in loads of jeeps to oure camel safari. parked a couple of times to get sdome photos, then we arrived to the camels. it was absolutely brilliant. my camel was called rocket, and it was rapid! i had so much fun. we got the sand dunes. literally it lo0oked like a scene from aladdin. we spent 2 hours having rolling races down massive steep dunes. we were all loving it! we spent the next hours until the early morning drinking and dancing in the middle of the desert. it does down as an amazing night.
19/9/2010 - woke up at 6. everyone was varying degrees of knackered. we had some boiled eggs and toast, sorted ourselves out as much as you can after sleeping o nthe sand in the middle of absolutely nowhere,. set off back in the jeeps all feeling chilled out. we all went to a hotel that said we could use the swimming pool free. spent a couple of hours having fun in the pool which was sweet. then i went on a lone wolf trip to do some bargain hunting. i cant say what i got cause theyre presents. but i did amazing at bartering. i used al lsorts of legal tactics, but they worked and i KNOW i left alot of the very capable hustlers feeling a bit hard done by price wise. very proud of yself i went back in the pool and then went back to camp.
Friday 17 September 2010
just a quickie
i am going on a camel safari this weekend so i will wait until after that to properly update. I figure it is a good time just to write a pharagraph about my feelings here in general. So, here goes.
I do miss home, but now I can see the end in sight (3 weeks) i am beginning to have more fun here as time is passing by a bit quicker now. The weather is still hotter than summer in spain, but it is cooler than what it was. That, along with me aclimatising naturally, along with electricity being present about 20 percent of the time now rather than 10 has led to things becoming a little bit easier.
The kids have progressed beyond measure. I love them all, i know so much about their personalities and abilities. I am not really around kids much at home as i am a young one as far as my family goes ( although that should change whem im back. someone from middleton please tell johnny and rach i am desperate to see lois). I just feel good about it, we're damn fine teachers, certainly compared to 7 weeks ago.
We have a new chef, and the food has gone from being occasionally genuinely unedible, to verging on tasty. The effect this has had on camp morale and camp health has been excellent.
I miss home very much. I miss my family and friends. I miss rain, being cold, queues, fixed prices, over priced things, my bed, toby, kipper, everything about england. however, i am well aware how lucky i am. especially seen as though most of my colleagues have not got a chance to do this until about 4/5/6 years after me. i have not got 'close' to anyone because there are so many of us and it is more fun to float and chat rather than become really good mates because separating groups is not cool.
As soon as i am back, and soon as 6 months have gone i will still miss it. i will see you all very soon. also, whilst i don't know who is reading this now ( because a lot of you have gone to uni, and also it might have got boring) when i am back please all come have a pint with me and catch up if you can.
this is me signing off, i can't waitttttttttttt to see my home land. pint of full fat milk, chinese take away, red meat, tuna, sweet corn, mayonaise, pumpkin pie, bland food. saweeeeeeeeeeet!
right, bye, i love you all
I do miss home, but now I can see the end in sight (3 weeks) i am beginning to have more fun here as time is passing by a bit quicker now. The weather is still hotter than summer in spain, but it is cooler than what it was. That, along with me aclimatising naturally, along with electricity being present about 20 percent of the time now rather than 10 has led to things becoming a little bit easier.
The kids have progressed beyond measure. I love them all, i know so much about their personalities and abilities. I am not really around kids much at home as i am a young one as far as my family goes ( although that should change whem im back. someone from middleton please tell johnny and rach i am desperate to see lois). I just feel good about it, we're damn fine teachers, certainly compared to 7 weeks ago.
We have a new chef, and the food has gone from being occasionally genuinely unedible, to verging on tasty. The effect this has had on camp morale and camp health has been excellent.
I miss home very much. I miss my family and friends. I miss rain, being cold, queues, fixed prices, over priced things, my bed, toby, kipper, everything about england. however, i am well aware how lucky i am. especially seen as though most of my colleagues have not got a chance to do this until about 4/5/6 years after me. i have not got 'close' to anyone because there are so many of us and it is more fun to float and chat rather than become really good mates because separating groups is not cool.
As soon as i am back, and soon as 6 months have gone i will still miss it. i will see you all very soon. also, whilst i don't know who is reading this now ( because a lot of you have gone to uni, and also it might have got boring) when i am back please all come have a pint with me and catch up if you can.
this is me signing off, i can't waitttttttttttt to see my home land. pint of full fat milk, chinese take away, red meat, tuna, sweet corn, mayonaise, pumpkin pie, bland food. saweeeeeeeeeeet!
right, bye, i love you all
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