December/January

Ooops I haven't updated this in a while.. the last month has been very busy!

Going back to December; we had the christmas play a few days before christmas, which didn't quite go as planned but was really funny. The songs got all messed up so whilst they were sorting it one of the men working here put on 'gangnam style' - there were priests and nuns and the owners of the school present watching the play and this comes on full blast on the speakers during the play, it was so funny! The play was so difficult for the children because, being blind, they don't know where to go on stage, who to face when saying their lines and so on, and on top of that there were microphone leads all over the floor which they could have tripped up on so we had to lead them all on and off stage. But despite that they all really enjoyed it, and their costumes were great.. Yes the kings do have lipstick on in the photos! And don't ask why Joseph is dressed in tiger print...

Then we had Christmas day itself; we met up with one of the other volunteers called Katy and dressed up in saris and went to a posh 5* hotel at the end of our road to treat ourselves for christmas dinner. We normally pay around 50 rupees each for a meal if we eat out (around 60p), but because it was a posh hotel we expected to pay a lot more so we were thinking it would be maybe 600/700 rupees, which we'd be happy to pay. So we turned up and asked how much it was..... 2500 rupees per person!!! It was the most awkward thing ever, we'd come all dressed up and were too embarrassed to walk straight out but we couldn't afford that much, we only get 2400 rupees a month as our allowance! Sooo in probably the most awkward conversation of my life I asked for the manager and explained to him that we are volunteer teachers in the school down the road and we get less than that a month etc... and got the price down to 1200! So we happily paid that because it was Christmas, and it was so good to have western food for the first time in a few months. And I can now say that I haggled in a 5* hotel! :P It's going to be a nightmare coming back to the UK and having to pay set prices for everything! 

Katy, Holly and me in the Taj hotel!

We spent New Years Eve in school with the kids which was really nice. We got to help do rangoli patterns which is a traditional Indian thing they do at festivals, drawing patterns on the floor with paint. Then some of the older kids sang songs and things and one of them did impressions of the other teachers which was really funny, even though they were speaking in Telegu we could tell who they were impersonating! The younger children spent the night dancing to music which, not meaning to be horrible, but is the funniest dancing I've ever seen, me and Holly were crying from laughing so much!! Then there was a countdown to midnight and then about 10 cakes! In India there is a tradition of feeding other people pieces of cake on special occassions, so if its your birthday everyone feeds you a piece of cake and on new years everyone feeds everyone cake, I've never had so much cake in my life!! So we had a really nice night :)

 Me helping out!

 Rangoli

Midnight cheers!

January:

On the 10th Jan we went on holiday to Kerala. We got an overnight bus again, which i thought was about 14 hours, but 18 hours later we arrived in a place called Cochin! We got a ferry across to Fort Cochin which is a really nice chilled out place, it was nice to get out of busy noisy Hyderabad and have some calm! In Cochin there are some Chinese fishing nets, which are massive contraptions on the shore which basically lower a big net into the water to catch fish. Most of them aren't used much but luckily the day we were there, there were some men working one, so we sat watching for a while because its really interesting. Then one of them called us up on to it and let us have a go at pulling it in.. there are these massive ropes which need about 5 men to pull up the wooden poles which hold the net and we got to have a go at pulling them in! 

I had been craving fish for months, so that evening I bought a fish from the fishmongers which you can take to a local restaurant to be cooked... it was delicious!

The next day we went to the backwaters, which Kerala is famous for. There are miles of rivers, big and small, which are lined with coconut trees and so serene! We went in a small boat which didn't have an engine, but punters at the back and the front with really long bamboo sticks to push the boat along. We went along the rivers for a few hours, stopping along the way at a place where they dry coconuts for coconut oil, and at a small spice plantation where we had a traditional Keralan lunch on a banana leaf. In the afternoon we went to the back of the boat and one of the men let us have a go at punting! They make it look so easy but it's really difficult because the bamboo stick is about 5 meters long! We nearly made the boat go into the river bank so we didn't last long at it but it was fun! 

The next day we got a bus up into the mountains to a place called Munnar, where there are tea plantations covering the mountains. I hadn't quite thought what a tea plantation would look like, but it makes the landscape beautiful! The mountains were covered in bushes different shades of green that had been planted in rows across the mountains, it looked amazing! The next day we caught a bus from Munnar to the top station, which is a viewpoint at 1880m which looks out onto the Western Ghats. The view was stunning, we arrived early and sat on a rock for a couple of hours in the morning sun never wanting to leave! The photos don't really do it justice but I think the area around Munnar is probably the most beautiful place I've ever been! 

Next up we had to go back to Fort Cochin for a night, we went to a cute little cafe which had Indian rarebit on the menu which was strange! Then we got some buses up to the mountains north of Kerala to a place called Wayanad, which was again another beautiful place. We stayed in a cheap hotel that had cockroaches but I had my first hot shower in months - I wouldn't have cared if there were 50 cockroaches in the room I would still have stayed there for that hot shower!! The next day we went to a wildlife reserve where we got taken around in a jeep and saw some elephants, a bison, monkeys and loads of really cute little bambi deer!  our guide said that earlier the other visitors had seen a tiger but it was no where to be seen for us! But it was still a really good trip :) 

That afternoon we went to some caves which have carvings in them from the stone age, around 3000-8000 years ago, there were carvings of men and peacocks and some writing which has been translated as saying 'there was one man who killed lots of tigers, his name in Nandu'! So that trip was really interesting.

On the way back from the caves we saw a baby gollum-monkey!!

We spent our last couple of days in the city of Mysore, everyone we have met has said we must go to Mysore, and it was on the way back to Hyderabad, so we did! It's so different to any other Indian city, its green and peaceful and in the morning we came out of the hotel and we couldn't believe the road was clear - in Hyderabad the roads are always congested! Also on the bus in we saw loads of bright yellow cows, and one yellow dog! There's a festival called Sankranthi (which is why we had a school holiday) and in Mysore they dip all of the cows in yellow dye, it looks so strange. In Mysore we visited a temple - and got ripped off by a guide who we though was just being nice and then wanted loads of money -_- , and went to the Maharaja's Palace which was beautiful, but we weren't allowed to take any photos so i can't show you! We also got to see incense being made, and got to have a go ourselves ( I was better than Holly ;) ) but it was so diffcult... but the girl who was doing it makes 8000 sticks a day!! 

 Yellow cow

 Making incense

In the temple

And last but not least, best part of the holiday is we got to drive an autorickshaw!!! 

Christmas is coming!!

Right, the internet in school has been broken for the last few weeks so its been difficult to find time to write my blog. Not much has happened in the last month or so, teaching has definately got a lot easier. I think i wrote about how bad 5th and 6th class were, but now they're fine and we actually enjoy study period with them now. LKG (kindergarten) are still a bit hit and miss, some lessons have been a disaster and some are okay, but we've given up on making them sit down and teaching them because it does't work so we just play with them and teach them nursery rhymes. Teaching LKG is at the same time the best and worst job we have; they are just soo adorable so we love (some of) them to bits, but then its also pretty disgusting as they often reek and have snotty noses and hands and you just want to be as far away from them as possible!!

We celebrated Diwali last month which was such an amazing night, watching fireworks across the city from the rooftop of a block of flats. I've never heard so much noise in my life, I felt like I was in a war zone!! Then   last week Holly had to go back to England for a week so I was on my own, and happened to be ill that week too and one day had to teach 7 lessons and then 2 hours of study period in the evening, it was horrible!! Holly coming back on Sunday was like christmas had come early - there had been lots of little things we wanted from the UK and she was able to bring them back with her, so we now have speakers and a radio and just little things like some ear plugs for me (so the 5am bell doesn't wake me up!), and then also she brought back loads of tinsel and christmas hats and jaffa cakes and Terry's chocolate oranges, i was so happy!! But we've wrapped up all of the treats and put them in a box under the christmas tree to open on christmas day! I spent most of my free time last week making christmas decorations so our room now looks amazing with a paper christmas tree, paper chains and tinsel everywhere! Also Holly brought back some christmas lights so it looks so good. If you haven't noticed I'm getting really excited about christmas given the amount of times I've just mentioned it!! I'm really gutted i'm not at home for chrsitmas so we're trying to make the most of it here. This week has been really nice because I've received a few christmas cards and presents in the post (thank you everyone!!) which are now under the tree too... exciting!! :D

Last Sunday Holly got back in the morning, slept for a few hours and then in the evening we had a wedding to go to!! Bharavi, who is our country representative and kind of oversees everything in India with Project Trust, invited all the girls living in Hyderabad to a wedding he had been invited to. It was absolutely amaaaazing!! We got dressed up in our Saris and Padma madam at school gave us some jewelry to borrow - i wore this really nice sari i bought second hand in Goa for 300RS, and people have said that new it would have cost 6/7000Rs!! The wedding was breathtaking - it was the daughter of a famous film producer so there were probably thousands of people there and it was just the most beautiful, most colourful thing i have ever seen! I will upload photos as soon as the internet in working in school. 

This week me and Holly have been assigned the task of doing the school play, so have had rehearsals with the children. We're really enjoying it, its nice working with the older children too because we can't teach them because we're not qualified so its nice to get to know them. Also - everyone that knows me well enough will find this hilarious - i am teaching the children to sing! We're started a choir practice to teach them christmas carols to perform in the christmas show, but not gunna lie the children are mostly awful singers! But maybe thats just because they're learning from me!!

Anyway my time is running out in the internet cafe, i will try upload pictures as soon as i can, and if i don't update my blog before the 25th - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE :D 

Back at school, first day teaching..

Me and Holly got back from our holiday last Sunday, had such a good time! We spent the last couple of days in Hampi which we both agreed was the weirdest place we have every been!  In a good way though, it was really interesting. We got a 9 hour overnight sleeper bus there which was awful – each ‘bed’ is half the size of a normal single bed so was tiiiny and there were bugs crawling all over the side and across my pillow so I didn’t sleep at all! I wasn’t feeling great either, and then some Israeli guys decided to light up and start smoking weed right next to us on an unventilated bus! We arrived around 7 in the morning, and looking out of the window it looked like a real life Flintstones scene! The landscape is so weird; there are giant boulders of rock everywhere, then ancient ruins and temples scattered around in between them. There’s a massive temple in the center which is really impressive, I’ll try upload a picture when I put them on the computer. There are loads of hills surrounding Hampi which are also covered in these massive boulders, and they’re balancing in precarious positions on the top of the hills, then on top of that you’ll see the ruins of a tiny temple – it’s crazy! I can’t really get across how odd the place was, I think it’s something you have to see for yourself..!

So we arrived back at school really early on Sunday morning after another sleeper bus (luckily  no bugs this time!), school was starting the next day.. but there were hardly any kids in school! They came in trickles throughout the week but still not everyone is here, so our principal isn’t happy. Its lucky for me and Holly though because it means our classes have been smaller this week so its been easier for us to get used to teaching! We started teaching on Tuesday, we’re teaching LKG which are age 5, class 2 which are around 7 and class 4. Then on an evening we have to supervise classes 5 and 6 (ages 10-12) when they’re supposed to be doing their homework. So far teaching has been fine and we’re both really enjoying it, luckily we’re both teaching LKG together because they don’t understand any English so you have to direct each one of them individually which is really hard! This week we’ve been teaching them ‘head, shoulders, knees and toes’ and realised how difficult it is teaching blind children as opposed to sighted children. Normally you could just stand at the front, do the actions and the children will copy you, but we have to go around each one individually putting their hands on their heads, shoulders, knees and toes! And its not like they get it after the first time either..! But its fun teaching them and they’re learning slowly! Class 2 is a lot easier because they understand basic English, this week I’ve been teaching them time :)

Class 5 and 6 though have been a nightmare! They haven't had any work to do because its only the start of term so they spend the 2 hours in the evening being as loud and disruptive as possible! They're at the age where they can take the mick and find everything funny and are really cheeky so its difficult to control them! The other teachers use a stick to bang on the tables and threaten to hit them if they're being naughty, but we obviously won't do that so the kind think they can do what they like because they know we won't hit them! We've now got a 'bad list' system so if anyone is naughty and is still on the bad list at the end of the lesson they get reported to the head, and so far it seems to work! 

We've got a half day tomorrow so in the afternoon me and Holly are going to the bazaar to buy some Indian clothes because we haven't had chance to yet, then hopefully going to see James Bond on Sunday! 

Canyoning!

Had the most amazing day today! Me and Holly booked this jungle adventure thing, so this morning we met this crazy french guy who runs it who kitted us out with a harness and helmet etc to go canyoning. We set off in an open jeep for an hour long journey into the jungle, the ride itself was amazing - driving in India is always fun especially in a jeep through the jungle! On the way we saw these massive spiders with giant cobwebs which were absolutely disgusting but fascinating, but scared me a little bit in case I walked into one of their webs - I'm scared of spiders normally, never mind when our guide told us these ones were poisonous!  When we got there we set off on this trail (which wasn't much of a trail at all) through the trees and towards the waterfall. It was about a 40 minute trek to the water and was actually really hard work because it was mostly uphill. On the way our crazy french guide saw a snake... and decided to chase it! It was a little green vine snake, which was actually quite cute but apparently poisonous too, but that didn't stop him grabbing it and holding it for us to see! He told us that yesterday they had seen a king cobra on their trek, which is really rare to see and their poison can kill you in 10 minutes! Although that sounds terrifying I'm kind of gutted we didn't get to see one today.When we got to the water we put on our harnesses and abseiled down a waterfall and did a couple of 3m jumps into the pools and slid down the rocks and stuff, it was so much fun! We did a couple of 5m jumps too, and Holly did a 6m jump but I chickened out! Really not keen on jumping off things but what we did was really fun. One of our abseils was about 16m down this waterfall which was soo scary because you had to slide down the first part then try to turn around on the slippery rock and abseil the last bit, but the rock was so slippy it was really hard! Then at the end, the rope was about 1m short so you had to push off with your feet into the pool below, it was so fun! At the end we scrambled onto some rocks on top of the next waterfall which was 55m high, and you could see the one below it too which was 30m high, and in the distance you could see the hills and the forest it was amaaazing, such a good day!

Holiday!

Sorry for not updating this sooner, I haven't had much chance until now! So for the first month me and Holly were just settling in and had to sort out this really long registration process which was really stressful.. typical Indian bureaucracy! And we didn't have a set timetable of lessons because the children had exams so were just revising, and the plan is to start teaching properly after the holidays. We were however randomly given lessons when teachers were ill or when there was no teacher for a class which was a little bit scary because we weren't told what to teach them so didn't have a clue what to do! But we managed and made it through the lesson at least. Teaching the little LGK kids (age 4/5) is so difficult, because they don't speak any English and obviously can't see you so its really difficult to get across what you want them to do! They are sooo cute though, especially when they say their school name they say 'Devnar school for the flind'  which is really funny, and Holly had to leave the room once cause she was laughing so much and left me trying to teach them to say blind and not flind! We're hoping that we'll actually be given a syllabus when we get back though so we know what to teach them. 

The school holidays started last weekend so all the kids left and me and Holly planned a trip to Goa where we're staying for two weeks! We've already spent a week in North Goa, we met up with Sarah and spent a few days with her which was really nice, but now she's gone to Thailand! :( We had a good time though and went out to this nightclub with people from the hostel we were staying in, it was free entry and free drinks all night and had a swimming pool, it was amazing! Otherwise we have just been chilling, we went to a fort where we saw a Bollywood movie being filmed which was really interesting, they were filming a typical bollywood love song scene and there were men wearing white turbans with fake swords dancing in the background which was hilarious. Then we went to watch the sunset which was really nice and we also went for a walk on this beach and found a washed up chicken head! 

Since Sarah left me and Holly have traveled south, on Saturday night we stayed in a place called Panjim with two girls we met at the hostel and went out for somewhere to eat; in one of the guidebooks it recommended a restaurant in a hotel that did really good thali at a reasonable price so we went to find it. Turns out it was a really posh 4* hotel and the staff were dressed up in posh, traditional (and quite funny) outfits! Thali is a traditional south indian dish where you get bits of everything and it was really good and so nice to have a bit of luxury for the first time in 6 weeks! I'll try upload a picture when i can get the pictures on the computer. 

Today me and Holly traveled further south to a place called Palolem which everyone talks about as being beautiful, and it's amazing! The beach has white sand and is lined with palm trees and beach huts, its soo nice, and for the next two nights we're staying in a really cute beach hut! 

Anyway my internet time is about to run out, but I'm going to try and update this a bit more often now i have more to write about :) 

My first week...

Yaay I'm finally here! I arrived last Wednesday around 6am, so after being awake for 24 hours we all spent the next couple of days sleeping and getting over our jet lag in a hostel in Hyderabad. Then on Friday we all went to our different projects (there's 20 of us)- I didn't have far to travel because ours is already in Hyderabad but some people got planes and trains to the north and south so we said our goodbyes and will probably be meeting up at some point in the holidays.

The first day at the blind school was a bit daunting, loads of blind children running around and asking our names and banging on our room door. Then there were the awkward moments where you have to ask someone to repeat something again and again...and again until you just nod and say 'yes' pretending to understand! But after a few days we've settled in and are enjoying it more and more as we get to know everyone.

So far the major differences between India and the UK;
The roads are insane. They are absolutely crazy! Lanes don't seem to exist in India and cars are constantly beeping their horns and overtake literally inches away. When we asked our host where his left wing mirror was he was like "why would i need one of those?"..
Being in an auto rickshaw is an experience too.. they aren't the fastest things ever so its a little bit scary when they turn around on a major road and cars look like they're about to crash into the side of you. Then there's the motorbikes; you see whole families on one bike, like a father driving, a mother on the back holding a tiny baby and a child in the middle, and none of them wearing helmets, its crazy!
Driving through the streets you come across the odd cow and family of buffalo's just standing in the road.. a little bit weird :p

When people tell you you'll be eating curry 3 times a day in India, they weren't joking. This morning we had chapattis with literally the spiciest curry i have ever had, my eyes started watering because it was so hot, not the best thing first thing in the morning!! But other than breakfasts its been mostly nice, still spicy though! Me and my partner Holly are eventually starting to get the nack of eating with our hands (there's a proper technique apparently) after a week of the staff laughing at us attempting it. The other day me and Holly cheated a bit and put bananas and jam in our chapattis for breakfast, which then tasted more like pancakes and were lush :)

Everyone always talks about the smell that hits you in India, but to be honest I haven't noticed it really.. the only thing I've noticed is that the school smells a bit but only because of the river next to it, and oh my god passing a truck with dead animal carcusses in it that had blood dripping down the street was vile... it made me and Holly wretch - possibly the worse smell i have ever smelt.. but now we know to cover our noses when passing those trucks!

Yesterday was really fun, it was Ganesh's birthday so there was a statue of Ganesh put up in the school and we dressed up in saris and had a bindi and orange stripes painted on us, and had rice and petals thrown at us by the kids. It was really nice to experience it not as a tourist if that makes sense?

So far the weirdest thing that has happened to us was when a bird got beheaded by a ceiling fan and came flying at us as we were walking through a classroom - the body whacked my leg and the head hit Holly's - we didn't know what it was until we saw it in two bits on the floor, the feet were stil moving on the body and the beak was still moving on the head.. weird!

The heat is bearable and Holly has a million mosquito bites and up until today i had none hehe so i don't think they like me but i'm not complaining :p Oh and Indians doing their head-bobble is so funny, really hoping i don't pick that up and come back home doing it!

 So thats an outine of my first week here, there's loads more to write about but i don't have any time left, we're hoping to start teaching next week so hopefully i can write more about the school next time, and i'll try to upload a picture of some sort asap :)

Getting started

Okay so on Tuesday I leave for India where I will be spending the next 12 months teaching English in a blind school in the city of Hyderabad.. and I'm setting up a blog for anyone who's interested in what I'm doing over the year :) I have no idea how to use it! so this is just a test run, and hopefully the future posts will be more interesting than this one... 

So I'm all packed and ready to go to Heathrow in the morning, I'll try and post whenever i get chance next week from India!

See you all in a year! :)