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
Wednesday 15 September 2010
blogs have gone downhill
sorry for this. i am on trips every weekend so i can not get online on saturdays. during the day i can come to town but i get very little time. to all the people who have emailed or facebook messaged me if i have not sent a good reply i am really sorry i just do not have the time.
9/9/2010 september is slowly going through. feel ill again but refused to miss school. had loads of toast and jam which helped. still gutted about broken ipod. i took class 2 today because people were off. enjoyed it alot. taught them some funny stuff including 'whats cracking'. we played camel camel goat instead of duck duck goose for obvious reasons. played what time is it mr wolf and loads of other games. they loved it. went to town and had a veg burger, ive ate so many things i wouldnt touch in england. it chucked it down with rain in the afternoon and after some rubbish meetings in camp i had tea and slept!
10/9/2010 woke up in pain again, stomach wise. had a shower and felt a bit better somehow. picked up a wild puppy and carried it round. i named it peter. most of my group were off, i got to school and touched a sheep. school was brilliant. loads of kids thought they were off so only like 4 came. did loads of games and drawings. the staff annoy me, the teachers are overpaid lazy and pathetic people. i will have a row with them at the end but i cant yet or ill get sent home. they dont care about the kids, put it that way. i sa a snake on camp!
11/9/2010 got up at 4 am. got on a jeep at 5am for a 5 hour journey to jhodpur. got in a hotel, went out and had so much at a cheap and amazingly tasty mcdonalds. went to jhodpur fort. after niagra falls it is the most amazing place ive ever seen. please google it. also, about 100 people had photos with me because i look like an alien to indian people ( i mean it ) its like being famous. went to a temple in the afternoon and spent all night at the only nightclub within 5 hours of where im living. it was amazing, we all just had a couple of drinks. let all the pressure of india go and danced. i felt a lot better. spent a couple of hours sat on our roof at the hotel and went to bed. it had been eid and ganeshes birthday, so was a good day to go to a huge city.
12/9/2010 woke up at 7. slept amazingly well on a proper bed. had a shower, followed by spicy beans on toast and a butter scotch milkshake. went to see clocktower and palace and markets and more mcdonalds then set off on our 5 hour journey back. had a couple of drinks in the jeep and just laughed and sung our way and slept our way back to camp.
13/9/2010
woke up not feeling great. illness is normal by now. school was fine but due to unbelievable rain the day before ( happens in india every few YEARS) the school flooded. so we taught outside. went town at lunch, had a pizza and some ice cream. tea was egg fried rice, we have a new chef so seems miles better than the old one. our diet is so important out here to how our day goes, this new chef has been treated like royalty.
14/9/2010 woke up cold, whuich felt lovely. had toast and took some to work which was sneaky but worth it. had a strange dream last night that i was home, and in jjb with my dad buying sports socks. make of that what you will faher. drew bodies at school, we used a kid as a blueprint and drew round him it was so funny. also, im running the camel safari. thats the main reason tourists come to jaisalmer. and its the most important trip the camp want to do. all 43 people have trusted me to organise it. it feels amazing, im the youngest on camp and although its keeping me really busy every1 is grateful and surprised that im managing it well. i hope it all goes to plan. tea was sweet, more egg fried rice. all hail the new chef. ive had loads of arguments with people, but evreryone is outgoing, and older so usually more upfront. which i like, because the arguments go like this a ) youre an idiot, here is why b ) youre an idiot, here is why ..... ten minutes later, ok lets move on. its nice!
15/9/2010 got up and had a couple of rotis with a banana it was ok. i think its a bit contradictory to our reason for coming that all 20 odd staff that have worked here have been male, but oh well they keep changing all the time. did some letters at school and made the kids laugh with wobbly stickers. about a month ago i told akid i was called dr evil. they saw me today and remembered, they shouted DR DR. i laughed so much.
conclusion - 100s of pics going on facebook today, hopefully mum will put best ones on here for those who dont have facebook. im struggling to get online for anything other than a short time which im sure myt writing style has told you already. thanks mum for the parcels. dad, i miss you. louise, everything will be great when were together and i cant wait to see you. friends, thank you for the support! i am no less homesick, but i set of f in 3 and a bit weeks. ican do it. i will do it. i am so lucky. bye england!
9/9/2010 september is slowly going through. feel ill again but refused to miss school. had loads of toast and jam which helped. still gutted about broken ipod. i took class 2 today because people were off. enjoyed it alot. taught them some funny stuff including 'whats cracking'. we played camel camel goat instead of duck duck goose for obvious reasons. played what time is it mr wolf and loads of other games. they loved it. went to town and had a veg burger, ive ate so many things i wouldnt touch in england. it chucked it down with rain in the afternoon and after some rubbish meetings in camp i had tea and slept!
10/9/2010 woke up in pain again, stomach wise. had a shower and felt a bit better somehow. picked up a wild puppy and carried it round. i named it peter. most of my group were off, i got to school and touched a sheep. school was brilliant. loads of kids thought they were off so only like 4 came. did loads of games and drawings. the staff annoy me, the teachers are overpaid lazy and pathetic people. i will have a row with them at the end but i cant yet or ill get sent home. they dont care about the kids, put it that way. i sa a snake on camp!
11/9/2010 got up at 4 am. got on a jeep at 5am for a 5 hour journey to jhodpur. got in a hotel, went out and had so much at a cheap and amazingly tasty mcdonalds. went to jhodpur fort. after niagra falls it is the most amazing place ive ever seen. please google it. also, about 100 people had photos with me because i look like an alien to indian people ( i mean it ) its like being famous. went to a temple in the afternoon and spent all night at the only nightclub within 5 hours of where im living. it was amazing, we all just had a couple of drinks. let all the pressure of india go and danced. i felt a lot better. spent a couple of hours sat on our roof at the hotel and went to bed. it had been eid and ganeshes birthday, so was a good day to go to a huge city.
12/9/2010 woke up at 7. slept amazingly well on a proper bed. had a shower, followed by spicy beans on toast and a butter scotch milkshake. went to see clocktower and palace and markets and more mcdonalds then set off on our 5 hour journey back. had a couple of drinks in the jeep and just laughed and sung our way and slept our way back to camp.
13/9/2010
woke up not feeling great. illness is normal by now. school was fine but due to unbelievable rain the day before ( happens in india every few YEARS) the school flooded. so we taught outside. went town at lunch, had a pizza and some ice cream. tea was egg fried rice, we have a new chef so seems miles better than the old one. our diet is so important out here to how our day goes, this new chef has been treated like royalty.
14/9/2010 woke up cold, whuich felt lovely. had toast and took some to work which was sneaky but worth it. had a strange dream last night that i was home, and in jjb with my dad buying sports socks. make of that what you will faher. drew bodies at school, we used a kid as a blueprint and drew round him it was so funny. also, im running the camel safari. thats the main reason tourists come to jaisalmer. and its the most important trip the camp want to do. all 43 people have trusted me to organise it. it feels amazing, im the youngest on camp and although its keeping me really busy every1 is grateful and surprised that im managing it well. i hope it all goes to plan. tea was sweet, more egg fried rice. all hail the new chef. ive had loads of arguments with people, but evreryone is outgoing, and older so usually more upfront. which i like, because the arguments go like this a ) youre an idiot, here is why b ) youre an idiot, here is why ..... ten minutes later, ok lets move on. its nice!
15/9/2010 got up and had a couple of rotis with a banana it was ok. i think its a bit contradictory to our reason for coming that all 20 odd staff that have worked here have been male, but oh well they keep changing all the time. did some letters at school and made the kids laugh with wobbly stickers. about a month ago i told akid i was called dr evil. they saw me today and remembered, they shouted DR DR. i laughed so much.
conclusion - 100s of pics going on facebook today, hopefully mum will put best ones on here for those who dont have facebook. im struggling to get online for anything other than a short time which im sure myt writing style has told you already. thanks mum for the parcels. dad, i miss you. louise, everything will be great when were together and i cant wait to see you. friends, thank you for the support! i am no less homesick, but i set of f in 3 and a bit weeks. ican do it. i will do it. i am so lucky. bye england!
Thursday 9 September 2010
away in jhodpur this weekend, so early update
hello! going away on a trip so can not update at the weekend. no new photos this week, but loads more will be on facebook and on here next week!
4/9/2010 woke up earl;y and watched a film.; the boys got a tuc tuc into ;to;wn and went to boo;k; in to a hotel. went right to the top of the fort into a very interesting fabrics shop. met an amazing woman and she made a lot of money off my fabric buying abilities. got a ride on some guys motorbike all the way down the fort and he could hear me giggling like a girl, so he took me all the way round the fort at about 60 mph it was so much fun i cant describe it! sat on a roof of some cafe with the boys for a few hours and had a couple of extremely weak gin and sprites. found out that another illness to add to our group such as typhoid etc was anal prolapsing. basically, a girl's bum keeps falling out. it's funny but sad at the same time! Lots of the christian girls did some gospel singing for us which was angelic and relaxing. spent about an hour speaking to a french couple, i found out i know loads of french. they were very kind people, they kept chain smoking which confirmed a stereotype. Went to midtown for lunch, lovely food and a great view. a lot of the guys had bhang ( weed basically) and sheesha, whilst i declined it made me laugh to see them feeling rather calm should i say. 20 of us went for tea, and then stayed in the pool all night having a laugh it was top! then got in my lovely hotel bed and slept like a baby.
5/9/2010 had a wonderful shower, watched football highlights for the first time in 5 weeks. watched some indian soap drama. had breakfast on the roof with every1 who stayed at the hootel. played games with every1 in the pool for a few hours. Left on my own for a few hours to be a lone wolf and get some jobs done. got some nuts, an adaptor, baked beans and phone credit. had a spicy pizza in a sie alley cafe, felt weird because the family who owned it were eating. maybe i wentAT a bad time. had a good conv with some people i met from brighton. came back in the pool in the afternoon. met loads of french spanish and japanese people. we invited the japanese guys to tea and had a good night with them.
6/9/2010 had enough electricity the night before to watch a film the WHOLE way through for the first time so none of us got much sleep.such electricity had only been dreamt about. my ipods broke. im gutted, no music now or ever :(:(:(:( school was good. me and lana taught them letters, old mcdonald had a farm and we got them to draw pictures of animals. most kids attend every day which suggests were entertaining them somewhat. i have a swollen ankle from an agressive game of swimming pool bulldog which went wrong, ouch. kids keep asking if im married! and women keep staring at me then going shy when i grin and wave. Ive lost weight, its bringing me down a bit! moved rocks in the afternoon it was rubbish as usual but a villager gave us a huge watermelon and a desert cucumber which cheered me up. i saw a peacock sat on a pilon on the way home and that made me laugh.
7/9/2010 woke up in a lot of pain. stomach cramps! stayed off work all day. nothing to say, sat around, read, chatted, slept!
8/9/2010 exactly the same
conclusion - really sorry the blog is so bad this time. im on a dreadful computer with a time limit. ill update some time next week. goodbye and much love. ps week 7 starts on tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!
4/9/2010 woke up earl;y and watched a film.; the boys got a tuc tuc into ;to;wn and went to boo;k; in to a hotel. went right to the top of the fort into a very interesting fabrics shop. met an amazing woman and she made a lot of money off my fabric buying abilities. got a ride on some guys motorbike all the way down the fort and he could hear me giggling like a girl, so he took me all the way round the fort at about 60 mph it was so much fun i cant describe it! sat on a roof of some cafe with the boys for a few hours and had a couple of extremely weak gin and sprites. found out that another illness to add to our group such as typhoid etc was anal prolapsing. basically, a girl's bum keeps falling out. it's funny but sad at the same time! Lots of the christian girls did some gospel singing for us which was angelic and relaxing. spent about an hour speaking to a french couple, i found out i know loads of french. they were very kind people, they kept chain smoking which confirmed a stereotype. Went to midtown for lunch, lovely food and a great view. a lot of the guys had bhang ( weed basically) and sheesha, whilst i declined it made me laugh to see them feeling rather calm should i say. 20 of us went for tea, and then stayed in the pool all night having a laugh it was top! then got in my lovely hotel bed and slept like a baby.
5/9/2010 had a wonderful shower, watched football highlights for the first time in 5 weeks. watched some indian soap drama. had breakfast on the roof with every1 who stayed at the hootel. played games with every1 in the pool for a few hours. Left on my own for a few hours to be a lone wolf and get some jobs done. got some nuts, an adaptor, baked beans and phone credit. had a spicy pizza in a sie alley cafe, felt weird because the family who owned it were eating. maybe i wentAT a bad time. had a good conv with some people i met from brighton. came back in the pool in the afternoon. met loads of french spanish and japanese people. we invited the japanese guys to tea and had a good night with them.
6/9/2010 had enough electricity the night before to watch a film the WHOLE way through for the first time so none of us got much sleep.such electricity had only been dreamt about. my ipods broke. im gutted, no music now or ever :(:(:(:( school was good. me and lana taught them letters, old mcdonald had a farm and we got them to draw pictures of animals. most kids attend every day which suggests were entertaining them somewhat. i have a swollen ankle from an agressive game of swimming pool bulldog which went wrong, ouch. kids keep asking if im married! and women keep staring at me then going shy when i grin and wave. Ive lost weight, its bringing me down a bit! moved rocks in the afternoon it was rubbish as usual but a villager gave us a huge watermelon and a desert cucumber which cheered me up. i saw a peacock sat on a pilon on the way home and that made me laugh.
7/9/2010 woke up in a lot of pain. stomach cramps! stayed off work all day. nothing to say, sat around, read, chatted, slept!
8/9/2010 exactly the same
conclusion - really sorry the blog is so bad this time. im on a dreadful computer with a time limit. ill update some time next week. goodbye and much love. ps week 7 starts on tuesday!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday 4 September 2010
about half way now!
firstly, i am putting hundreds of photos on facebook all the time if you want to look, or if not i should be able to get some of the best ones on to the blog.
28/8/2010 just a quick recap as usual. got up early, washed my clothes and it was boiling! got on a tiny bus to town, wandered round and bought school supplies. had a very spinachy lunch and went on a boat with loads of people, it was top we just rowed about and took photos. a very peaceful day.
29/8/2010 woke up and had 5 pancakes with nutella that i got off another volunteer. we had enough electricity to watch most of pearl harbour. got a massively painful electric shock when i took my dodgy indian torch out of the dodgy indian plug socket in a wall made of poo and hay. oh well, just a small blister and a broken torch later i survived. went into town on a massive tuc tuc with loads of volunteers. went in a swimming pool. there was about 20 of us just playing games and listening to music it was loads of fun. it was 46 degrees at its hottest, ouch! met two women from oregon which was fun because i gave them loads of advice and they thought i was in my early 20s and i must have lived there for a long time. ate on the roof of a hotel, first omlette in a month went down very well. had a walk throguh the market on my own, a rather 'rasta' south african couple had a blazing row with an indian man about humility, and the price of his guitars. it was funny to watch as the whole street treated it like a soap episode and we just stared. after it fizzled out i went further and met a couple from camebridge who were travelling. we exchanged some useful information about india and went our seperate ways. i was proud to be able to say that i was a teacher. had some ice cream and went to bed feeling optomistic about the week ahead at school.
30/8/2010 the wild dog in our shower gave birth! 4 puppies, very cute. I'm starting to miss rain. i started singing don't worry about a thing by bob marley and the whole camp ended up humming it which made me laugh. It was boiling again. I was on a tuc tuc and i had a chat with a guy on a motorbike behind whilst we were moving. he was friendly but he winked at me too much for my liking. i am learning slang such as stern, and raaaaah. i suppose that is likely being that people are from so many different areas of the uk. I got to school, and enjoyed it. I LOVE the kid who i call charmander. he is full of life. i played football with about 30 kids and they just didn't stop smiling. after i got back from school i found out one of my mum's parcerls had arrived which made my eyes light up. i got a tin of beans and some noodles. i was so happy i could not contain it. I spent an hour marking the kids' work and i learnt a lot about their abilities. they worked as a team to kill a huge hornet in class today, and also they worked together to get rid of a huge spider which looked more like a scorpion. scorpions live in our room actually, with a rat, several geckos, and many other creatures. I waved at a load of strangers out of the bus who all waved back, as indian people usually do. I missed home very much on this day, but i feel at least as though i am doing a bit of good now. talking on the phone to people i care about is keeping me sane! we moved rocks in the afternoon for two hours, i just put oasis on my ipod and time went quickly enough. Oh, tony if you're reading this - I met the austrian lacrosse coach in a restaraunt!
31/8/2010 got about 5/6 hours sleep. the heat and humidity is taking it's toll. i feel drenched in sweat all the time. i had my tin of cold baked beans for breakfast which i was very greatful for. the kids decided to be naughty at school today so i had to do a lot of moving them about and telling them to shhhhhh. they call me white boy in hindi, they don't mean it in a bad way but i try hard to get them to use my name. still marking their books, and giving stickers to the hard workers. Me and my group of teachers work pretty well together in general. the kids are of very different abilities so we try and work hard to accomodate for that. I spent ten minutes just teaching charmander because he struggles with numbers, and i always give keku hard questions as she is very clever...etc. Cockroaches crickets hornets geckos and birds roam the class. i think if that happened in england there would be pandemonum! i played some bob marley to a hindi lady with no english and she bobbed along enough to suggest she liked it. the camp have started dropping like flies again. there are so many random illnesses, i dare not describe them. there have been a vast amount though. i beat one of the staff at chess which turned him into a laughing stock for the other staff members and it was good for my ego too. had a rubbish afternoon, tired of moving rocks and missing home a lot. i don't mind hard work but this seems pointless. i don't know if i was worn out or homesick but i had a rubbish night i was just unhappy. I hoped to wake up in a better frame of mind.
1/9/2010
woke up doubled over in pain. desperate to go the loo, it's been 9 days! still went to school. taught the kids some handwriting and they did ok. had a bit of a row with some indian teenagers but neither of us really understood what we were saying to it descended to taking the piss out of eachother in our own language. The ground at school started literally shaking, it turned out to be mining nearby but it was enough to scare us all. in the afternoon we dug holes for plants and played a bit of cricket. finally went to the loo after 4 laxatives, went to bed and watched the lightning for an hour or so.
2/9/2010 Woke up in a lot of pain again. i am going to the loo but it's an extremely painful trip. We had a couple of hours meetings to evaluate the trip so far. Went to town with some volunteers and had chicken for lunch, it was great. i bought some cornflakes as well to have dry at camp. turns out i have cost the insurance rather a lot of money when i went to the hospital, oh well. the camp spent an hour cleaning the whole place and it is now a lot cleaner. the boys cleaned the toilets and sinks which was a messy job due to the maggots, scarabs etc. It chucked it down with rain at night. It's rained twice in 5 weeks which is apparently a 7 year record. mental........
3/9/2010 in the boys room we decided it might have come to the time where we should prank some of the girls. we discussed hiding chappatis in lockers, and making chairs mysteriously vanish. we turned up to school with out the key to our room and so we had to teach outside. we made the best of it and drew pictures whilst teachinf them about animals. Most of the kids don't even know their birthday because they don't celebrate them so their age does not seem to matter to them. i arrived at camp to two more parcels off mum with bisuics and snacks in them. my happiness levels sky rocketed i feel very lucky as many people haven't been sent anything. We spent 2 hours planning the next weeks work and it was very productive. there are two other teachers in my classroom, one i like a lot and we work really well as a team. another is highly lazy and has a case of can't-be-arsed-syndrome. I shall leave her too it, she has nothing to be proud of when she gets home though. At night one of the lads sat up too quickly and banged his head on the bed, i laughed myself to sleep.
conclusion - today has been an eventful day, so i shall write about it next week. i'm ill again, dhiarrhoea and it is horrible. hope everyone is ok. half way point now which feels good :)
28/8/2010 just a quick recap as usual. got up early, washed my clothes and it was boiling! got on a tiny bus to town, wandered round and bought school supplies. had a very spinachy lunch and went on a boat with loads of people, it was top we just rowed about and took photos. a very peaceful day.
29/8/2010 woke up and had 5 pancakes with nutella that i got off another volunteer. we had enough electricity to watch most of pearl harbour. got a massively painful electric shock when i took my dodgy indian torch out of the dodgy indian plug socket in a wall made of poo and hay. oh well, just a small blister and a broken torch later i survived. went into town on a massive tuc tuc with loads of volunteers. went in a swimming pool. there was about 20 of us just playing games and listening to music it was loads of fun. it was 46 degrees at its hottest, ouch! met two women from oregon which was fun because i gave them loads of advice and they thought i was in my early 20s and i must have lived there for a long time. ate on the roof of a hotel, first omlette in a month went down very well. had a walk throguh the market on my own, a rather 'rasta' south african couple had a blazing row with an indian man about humility, and the price of his guitars. it was funny to watch as the whole street treated it like a soap episode and we just stared. after it fizzled out i went further and met a couple from camebridge who were travelling. we exchanged some useful information about india and went our seperate ways. i was proud to be able to say that i was a teacher. had some ice cream and went to bed feeling optomistic about the week ahead at school.
30/8/2010 the wild dog in our shower gave birth! 4 puppies, very cute. I'm starting to miss rain. i started singing don't worry about a thing by bob marley and the whole camp ended up humming it which made me laugh. It was boiling again. I was on a tuc tuc and i had a chat with a guy on a motorbike behind whilst we were moving. he was friendly but he winked at me too much for my liking. i am learning slang such as stern, and raaaaah. i suppose that is likely being that people are from so many different areas of the uk. I got to school, and enjoyed it. I LOVE the kid who i call charmander. he is full of life. i played football with about 30 kids and they just didn't stop smiling. after i got back from school i found out one of my mum's parcerls had arrived which made my eyes light up. i got a tin of beans and some noodles. i was so happy i could not contain it. I spent an hour marking the kids' work and i learnt a lot about their abilities. they worked as a team to kill a huge hornet in class today, and also they worked together to get rid of a huge spider which looked more like a scorpion. scorpions live in our room actually, with a rat, several geckos, and many other creatures. I waved at a load of strangers out of the bus who all waved back, as indian people usually do. I missed home very much on this day, but i feel at least as though i am doing a bit of good now. talking on the phone to people i care about is keeping me sane! we moved rocks in the afternoon for two hours, i just put oasis on my ipod and time went quickly enough. Oh, tony if you're reading this - I met the austrian lacrosse coach in a restaraunt!
31/8/2010 got about 5/6 hours sleep. the heat and humidity is taking it's toll. i feel drenched in sweat all the time. i had my tin of cold baked beans for breakfast which i was very greatful for. the kids decided to be naughty at school today so i had to do a lot of moving them about and telling them to shhhhhh. they call me white boy in hindi, they don't mean it in a bad way but i try hard to get them to use my name. still marking their books, and giving stickers to the hard workers. Me and my group of teachers work pretty well together in general. the kids are of very different abilities so we try and work hard to accomodate for that. I spent ten minutes just teaching charmander because he struggles with numbers, and i always give keku hard questions as she is very clever...etc. Cockroaches crickets hornets geckos and birds roam the class. i think if that happened in england there would be pandemonum! i played some bob marley to a hindi lady with no english and she bobbed along enough to suggest she liked it. the camp have started dropping like flies again. there are so many random illnesses, i dare not describe them. there have been a vast amount though. i beat one of the staff at chess which turned him into a laughing stock for the other staff members and it was good for my ego too. had a rubbish afternoon, tired of moving rocks and missing home a lot. i don't mind hard work but this seems pointless. i don't know if i was worn out or homesick but i had a rubbish night i was just unhappy. I hoped to wake up in a better frame of mind.
1/9/2010
woke up doubled over in pain. desperate to go the loo, it's been 9 days! still went to school. taught the kids some handwriting and they did ok. had a bit of a row with some indian teenagers but neither of us really understood what we were saying to it descended to taking the piss out of eachother in our own language. The ground at school started literally shaking, it turned out to be mining nearby but it was enough to scare us all. in the afternoon we dug holes for plants and played a bit of cricket. finally went to the loo after 4 laxatives, went to bed and watched the lightning for an hour or so.
2/9/2010 Woke up in a lot of pain again. i am going to the loo but it's an extremely painful trip. We had a couple of hours meetings to evaluate the trip so far. Went to town with some volunteers and had chicken for lunch, it was great. i bought some cornflakes as well to have dry at camp. turns out i have cost the insurance rather a lot of money when i went to the hospital, oh well. the camp spent an hour cleaning the whole place and it is now a lot cleaner. the boys cleaned the toilets and sinks which was a messy job due to the maggots, scarabs etc. It chucked it down with rain at night. It's rained twice in 5 weeks which is apparently a 7 year record. mental........
3/9/2010 in the boys room we decided it might have come to the time where we should prank some of the girls. we discussed hiding chappatis in lockers, and making chairs mysteriously vanish. we turned up to school with out the key to our room and so we had to teach outside. we made the best of it and drew pictures whilst teachinf them about animals. Most of the kids don't even know their birthday because they don't celebrate them so their age does not seem to matter to them. i arrived at camp to two more parcels off mum with bisuics and snacks in them. my happiness levels sky rocketed i feel very lucky as many people haven't been sent anything. We spent 2 hours planning the next weeks work and it was very productive. there are two other teachers in my classroom, one i like a lot and we work really well as a team. another is highly lazy and has a case of can't-be-arsed-syndrome. I shall leave her too it, she has nothing to be proud of when she gets home though. At night one of the lads sat up too quickly and banged his head on the bed, i laughed myself to sleep.
conclusion - today has been an eventful day, so i shall write about it next week. i'm ill again, dhiarrhoea and it is horrible. hope everyone is ok. half way point now which feels good :)
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