So, here I am sitting in the apartment on the internet for the last time waiting to go home.
The days down in Kerala were very relaxing for the most part. We moved about by bus from Kochi to Allepay to Kumily and back to Kochi. The bus trips were hilarious - very bumpy and very quick up high mountain passes and through tea gardens - I have videos. We watched many a Kathakali perfonrmance, rented out a house boat through the backwaters of Kerala (sipping on the milk of coconuts) and nade friends with an elephant in a spice plantation amongst other things. Kerala is much more friendly and open than Delhi - even saw a couple holding hands the devils - and the hotels that were stayed in were fabulatastic. I will tell y'all more when I see you - as I am likely to see some of thou before you read this woow!
We made it back from Kerala on Saturday and then began the long and arduous process of present buying and saying goodbye...Kalkaji was strange to go back to - the slum I had painted in just two years ago. Not least, amy I add, because it was being partly bulldosed down in order to make way for wider roads - the shop owners had at least been informed even if ASHA had not. I saw a few of the children and met Gayatri and Jayabai, which was really nice. But it wasn't the smae without the team for only an hour or two. At least our painting was still there:) However, due to demolition, we had to leave early and avoid some falling debris to get safely out of the slum.
Mayapuri then was different again. Very few of the kids came until the afternoon so we spent the morning out in the slum watching tran go by extremely close to the houses with man and beast having to temporarily leave their business on the tracks. Sad thing is that not everyone leaves in time, especially the drunk ones. We then went to a local market and bangalised to our hearts content. By this time it was late, so I had only a short time with the kids who did come, giving them out presents and thanking them for coming to class. It was harder saying oodbye to the staff who really were very funny and very caring. They tried to fatten me up. And I am not joking.
The, today was Zakhira. It was defnitely harder here but it was still a very nice day - going out into the slum to find the boys and then being in with the girls classes in the afternoon. I do not think that he will have a problem, but I think Jon finds it weird to be teaching on his own. He stays on until the 25th April before heading on home. It is strange thinking of a time not knowing Jon, we have been with each other so much for what seems like a very long time. Anyway, the kids in Zakhira seemed to like their presents and I got some really lovely cards made by Shainee and a kurta from all the staff - which is going to stink as i am travelling in it.
There have been a lot of goodbyes and many a preents bought in the last few days so i am quite mentally and physically tired. But i think I shall not sleep on the plane, the adrenalin will soon kick in. Orlagh and I already had a laughing breakdown in an ATM last night, which gave us odd looks from the security guard...I hate leaving places, but I think that I am ready for home now, just for a bit of a rest. And then - who knows. I will blog again from Belfast with some more thoughts probably, my mind just doesn't want to work now. So talk soo, and see you even sooner...
strange
Peace
Duff
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Monday, 24 March 2008
Happy Holi/Easter!
1.Foreigners
2.Groups
3.Freedom Fighters
4.VIP's
I love Indian signs...
Goodness, I once again have not managed to write i this for a long time, but this time I promise to be more brief in my brevity. Or something like that.
Last you heard I believe, I was on my way to Agra to stay overnight and relax. Wrong. Due to a slight passport malfunction, i.e. people not bringing them we couldn't check in to any hotels in the area so Ellie and I had to run to the train station to change our tickets to later that day. So we did get to see the Taj and the Red Fort again but for a little less time than I originally would have liked. Nonetheless it was as breathtaking as I remembered it and was still a pretty relaxing day. We said our goodbyes to Ellie and departed, us for home and her for Varanasi, with promises to meet up soon again.
The next week then was an interesting affair. It was the start of my rather long goodbye to the kids that I had been teaching for what seems like years. May still for a couple of days could not come along because of exams, so we sufficed ourselves with giving them role plays in Eglish and getting them to act them out. A big hit and absolutely hilarious for us!
But then came the inevitable on Wednesday, I said goodbye to the Zakhira kids whom I had become very close to. We had long parties, which included a big cricket match with the boys in the middle of a road on a raised platform underneath a flyover. That was different. And then there was the dancing! O the dancing. I have lots of videos and photos do not worry - including one of our computer teacher getting it on in no uncertain terms. A memorable watch! The girls were a bit harder to coax into dancing but a fair few participated in the end. It's always the shy ones who are actually amazing at dancing and that turned out to be the case again. The party was briefly interrupted by a prayer meeting in Hindi and then I had to say final(ish) goodbyes. Some of the younger ones led me by hand to the car, which was amzingly cute - one of them shouting out in an extremely high pitched voice "I am sad". I'm ging to smuggle her home somehow...
More on that later in the week when I return from traveling and see them again.
We were supposed to go north to Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. Wrong again. Orlagh got sick and the last minute so we were encamped in the flat for another few days. However, we were not idle, on St Paddy's night we managed to somehow end up at the Irish Ambassador's house for a wee ceile, rubbing shoulders with diplomats, big important people and the Irish! Who, may I say, stayed long after all the Indians had gone home. We had met the deputy ambassador, Pat Byrne, and an Irish Minister Eamon O Cuiv earlier on a visit to the slum beside ASHA, Ekta Vihar, and he managed to mention this party. We didn't need to be asked twice. The band was great and we tried to start dancing reasoably unsuccessfully - however, our attempts were not unnoticed by the band and we ended up going on with them to (wait for it) one fo the swanky bars in the British High Commission Compound. Yup, on St Paddy's day we ended up with a bunch of trad players and two long haul Irish travellers (www.crazyjourney.com) in a British Compound. Only in India.
Despite some minor scares then that things would fall through, we managed to get going on thursday of last week and flew down to Mumbai where we met up with Orlagh's friend Ashish, for Holi. The first couple of days were spent just around Mumbai seeing a few things and lounging on his 7th story flat (incidently where paranoid movie star Parveen Babi died a few years ago) which he is renting for a short time. It overlooked the Arabian See and really was amazing! Then on Saturday we managed to experience first hand the Indian Holi. Suffice to say that there was a lot of paint, a lot of water involving a huge rain dance and a hell of a lot of it somehow coing to reside upon my person. They like to make white people welcome so to say. It was in the flat block of Ashish's old house with all of his friends and their children (who had amazing English!) and it was so much fun!
I'm afraid that was only a brief account of Mumbai, I am slightly pushed for time. Yesterday we hottailed it to Kerala - near the southern tip of India and I am writing this from a gorgeous little internet cafe overlooking old style portugese and indian houses in a place called fort cochin. We will move on again today top try and find somewhere to go on a spot of houseboating and then hopefully a wildlife park with elephant rides woooooo! I feel like such a tourist but it is just so nice to be travelling at last! Then soon we will be back in Delhi for my fair and final goodbyes for now and then home. Weird.
Will update again soon, hope everything is well!
Graham
PS I lost my phone - o don't try and call me on my british number - if it is urgent then text or call 0091 9999133165. Love to all!
2.Groups
3.Freedom Fighters
4.VIP's
I love Indian signs...
Goodness, I once again have not managed to write i this for a long time, but this time I promise to be more brief in my brevity. Or something like that.
Last you heard I believe, I was on my way to Agra to stay overnight and relax. Wrong. Due to a slight passport malfunction, i.e. people not bringing them we couldn't check in to any hotels in the area so Ellie and I had to run to the train station to change our tickets to later that day. So we did get to see the Taj and the Red Fort again but for a little less time than I originally would have liked. Nonetheless it was as breathtaking as I remembered it and was still a pretty relaxing day. We said our goodbyes to Ellie and departed, us for home and her for Varanasi, with promises to meet up soon again.
The next week then was an interesting affair. It was the start of my rather long goodbye to the kids that I had been teaching for what seems like years. May still for a couple of days could not come along because of exams, so we sufficed ourselves with giving them role plays in Eglish and getting them to act them out. A big hit and absolutely hilarious for us!
But then came the inevitable on Wednesday, I said goodbye to the Zakhira kids whom I had become very close to. We had long parties, which included a big cricket match with the boys in the middle of a road on a raised platform underneath a flyover. That was different. And then there was the dancing! O the dancing. I have lots of videos and photos do not worry - including one of our computer teacher getting it on in no uncertain terms. A memorable watch! The girls were a bit harder to coax into dancing but a fair few participated in the end. It's always the shy ones who are actually amazing at dancing and that turned out to be the case again. The party was briefly interrupted by a prayer meeting in Hindi and then I had to say final(ish) goodbyes. Some of the younger ones led me by hand to the car, which was amzingly cute - one of them shouting out in an extremely high pitched voice "I am sad". I'm ging to smuggle her home somehow...
More on that later in the week when I return from traveling and see them again.
We were supposed to go north to Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. Wrong again. Orlagh got sick and the last minute so we were encamped in the flat for another few days. However, we were not idle, on St Paddy's night we managed to somehow end up at the Irish Ambassador's house for a wee ceile, rubbing shoulders with diplomats, big important people and the Irish! Who, may I say, stayed long after all the Indians had gone home. We had met the deputy ambassador, Pat Byrne, and an Irish Minister Eamon O Cuiv earlier on a visit to the slum beside ASHA, Ekta Vihar, and he managed to mention this party. We didn't need to be asked twice. The band was great and we tried to start dancing reasoably unsuccessfully - however, our attempts were not unnoticed by the band and we ended up going on with them to (wait for it) one fo the swanky bars in the British High Commission Compound. Yup, on St Paddy's day we ended up with a bunch of trad players and two long haul Irish travellers (www.crazyjourney.com) in a British Compound. Only in India.
Despite some minor scares then that things would fall through, we managed to get going on thursday of last week and flew down to Mumbai where we met up with Orlagh's friend Ashish, for Holi. The first couple of days were spent just around Mumbai seeing a few things and lounging on his 7th story flat (incidently where paranoid movie star Parveen Babi died a few years ago) which he is renting for a short time. It overlooked the Arabian See and really was amazing! Then on Saturday we managed to experience first hand the Indian Holi. Suffice to say that there was a lot of paint, a lot of water involving a huge rain dance and a hell of a lot of it somehow coing to reside upon my person. They like to make white people welcome so to say. It was in the flat block of Ashish's old house with all of his friends and their children (who had amazing English!) and it was so much fun!
I'm afraid that was only a brief account of Mumbai, I am slightly pushed for time. Yesterday we hottailed it to Kerala - near the southern tip of India and I am writing this from a gorgeous little internet cafe overlooking old style portugese and indian houses in a place called fort cochin. We will move on again today top try and find somewhere to go on a spot of houseboating and then hopefully a wildlife park with elephant rides woooooo! I feel like such a tourist but it is just so nice to be travelling at last! Then soon we will be back in Delhi for my fair and final goodbyes for now and then home. Weird.
Will update again soon, hope everything is well!
Graham
PS I lost my phone - o don't try and call me on my british number - if it is urgent then text or call 0091 9999133165. Love to all!
Saturday, 8 March 2008
What's the craic?
Yes I have taught the kids Northern Irishisms, I am spreading the word:D
Hey everybody!
OK first I can only apologise for not having written for nigh on a month. This could, as a result be a very long blog, so get a cup of tea and try not to fall asleep. I will try and cut everything down into sections.
Teaching – I don’t know quite how much everyone knows about what I am actually doing apart from class structure come to think of it. The kids mainly have basic English but some have come out of the shadows recently have told us that they actually study in English in their school, written if not orally anyway. It is amazing because they seem to understand commands and can read quite well, but when it comes to forming sentences they are, well, not very good anyway. In Mayapuri I have started to teach an extra class after the afternoon class for a few such students – including a girl called Soni who wants to be a teacher. Explaining the process of compost to someone with only reasonable English was fun! But their exams, which they are in the middle of at the moment are ridiculous! In one of the comprehensions that Soni show me, not only is the English extremely flowery and complicated, but wrong! “Birds flip their wings” It really annoys me because these kids are so cleaver but they are basically not given a chance against people in other school where English is taught well and teachers actually turn up to class! On the subject of exams, a lot of our kids have been irregular in attendance recently due to their big exams that happen in the afternoons. And I spent three hours trying to go over writing practise with one of the kids, who is really clever but has little chance due to his lack of writing skills, which the government schools will never teach well. So it has been interesting teaching half if not less than half classes with not much time to plan extra stuff! But it is nice to get to know some of the kids better who do manage to turn up, especially some of the older ones that are practically my age. I know that there will be some that I will miss especially.
Staff members the same actually – we are teaching all the staff members in Mayapuri at the moment – verb tenses are not nice things. And the staff in both places have started feeding us piles of food. Natasha – who works in Mayapuri – said that we needed to be fed because we are skinny and she is fat, which sparked off all the other staff members remarking on how fat they were. That was a funny moment. Zakhira have also started to give us food every day – which sometimes blows the mouth off of us – and both sets are looking after us really well. I felt quite ill this week and Pancaj (a computer teacher) kept on giving me his own water – bearing in mind that it is now about 33 degrees C here which just isn’t pretty. The kids still only find it warm too…
So this week will be a few parties of farewell – though I will see them all in between the end of travelling and coming home. That seems really close atm, it is scary!
O, while I remember – a story to break up this beast. On of the boys in Mayapuri, Vishal, told us he would be at a wedding the next day, so of course everyone said oooooo Vishal is getting married and it became a running joke throughout the lesson. So I put up (teaching his and her) this is vishal’s wife "her name is ?", which he proceeded to fill with Orlagh, which the kids found hilarious. The next day he was missing again. When asked where he was Vipin shouted out, “honeymoon!”
A slightly more serious story emerged from Ekta Vihar, where Orlagh and Ellie are teaching. One of the girls, Usha, who is only 16, they were told, was going to be sent back to one of the villages and married off to a man twice her age. Not only was this illegal, but obviously detrimental to her chances of ever having a job or even much of a life if it actually happened. Ellie and Orlagh came back fuming and cry rape, which essentially is what it would have been in many ways. The family would not even have had a legal ceremony because it was an illegal act and they were doing it for the dowry. Upon speaking to Freddie however, we learned that it wasn’t usha (who is the leader of the children’s group) but it was a friend. He told us that any time ASHA had tried to intervene the girls had disappeared before anything could be done, never to be seen in Delhi again. The best thing we can do is educate them so that they can earn money and not essentially be sold off as brides. I know this is a completely different culture and it is never black and white to say that the family was only doing it for a dowry or whatever, but it is not an easy pill to swallow. It made me wonder how I would feel if that happened to Soni or Nimmi or one of the other girls in my class, how angry I would feel. Luckily, more women and families are becoming empowered and more children educated through ASHA than ever before. It makes the work I think, all that more important.
I will lighten up a little for a while. We have done quite a bit of going out at weekends especially since Ellie arrived. We travelled up to Old Delhi to see the Red Fort, the bazaars and markets and went into India’ largest mosque – the Jami Masjid. We went up a particularly hair raising tall tower with many Indian’s and tourists at the top and not a whole lot of room! The photos will tell the whole picture…I think the most impressive thing was the Gandhi memorial at Raghat. It was a very peaceful atmosphere and set in some beautiful grounds in the east of Old Delhi. There is a very simple black stone memorial with the words “Hay ram” written in Hindi – very apt, as someone pointed out, that they weren’t translated into English. And we saw a three and a half hour Bollywood movie – with an interval. Wow.
The next weekend Freddie took us out to dinner with a team from Yeovil and played possibly the best practical joke ever on Jon. All the way he had been talking about picking up this fabulous looking woman a former miss California. Linda somebody – “who needs a second name when she look like that” Freddie! haha, Anyway as soon as Jon got out of the car to get her Freddie broke out laughing and proclaimd that Jon was not picking up a woman but an old man, one of ASHA’s partners. Jon of course asked this man from Holland when he came down in a slightly bemused fashion why ha wasn’t a woman! Freddie is a little child! We have also then been out to the Lodi garden’s, a few markets and a really posh hotel for tea and cake. Scary how colonial it felt, and the toilets were pretty fantastic!
We have even tried out the Delhi nightlife in a place called Bacchus. Orlagh, Ellie and I went out and as soon as we walked in all the Indian men cheered and I was enveloped by a rather fat and very cheerful(and tipsy) man from Tanzania. That was interesting! The Indian were maybe a bit too over zealous in their dancing so any time they got too close to one of the girls these huge bouncers would step in and protect the white girls! Naturally we ended the night at one o’clock in Indian McDonalds (which are amazing!).
We got a new housemate too about a week ago, Sue is from South Africa but based in England and is in her 30’s so living with students is, I am sure, an interesting experience!
O and I have another story about Natasha entitled “a lovely love story”
Well OK the narrative won’t really flow I am afraid but basically another staff member, Sheeja, told me in broken English that Natasha (who coms from a village in UP but lived in Delhi) got married last year. She had fallen in love with this guy in school and eloped with him because her parents didn’t approve, with the help of another staff member, Balinder. She is in love with her husband but does not now speak to her parents because of it. For India I felt this was even more daring and truly romantic. Natasha is just so lovely! It is strang to think though that she is twenty and only a year older then me. Everyone here is asking me why I am not married, because so many Indians would be by now. It is so weird, I just say, I am too young!
On that subject actually, we were in Agra to see the Taj (and only didn’t stay overnight because Jon and Orlagh didn’t bring their passports so no hotel would take up, whoops…). So Ellie and I, having gone to change the train tickets, can back and queued up to get in. The male line went so much quicker that Ellie shout to a guard that her husband was so far ahead of her (ie me) and as a poor woman she couldn’t be left on her own. The guard drank every word and brought her to the front of the queue! She is unbelievable sometimes! So not having as much time as we wanted to, seeing the Taj was great but short lived, it is a really beautiful place and just as spectacular as the first time. We met these kids on the train back, who I think we managed to scare a little but they gave us a parting present, they were so cute! Indian people are really amazing sometimes!
OK I think I need to stop for everyone’s sake, but hopefully I have brought you a little, if not a lot up to speed and kudos if you have read all of this! It is still amazing here with the kids, and I am not happy that this is my last week teaching them, I know that I will not know just how much I will miss them until I leave. It’s a scary thought but I think I have made an impression here, I hope anyway. – the good news is that in both places more computers have arrived and hopefully that will be followed by internet soon. We are still some of the first English teachers in ASHA and I hope the new Indian teachers will be able to take on the challenge. AH! everything is a bit weird. Anyway I will write again soon, probably no more emails for a while due to travelling but I will definitely this time write here!
I will leave you with a sign I saw on a house near Mayapuri, and an excalmiation of Jon’s during one lesson. I love India…
peace out!
G
“Cheap Inn Guesthouse. Sorry Gentlemen! No families allowed!”
John ad verbatim, “I want to give birth.”
Hey everybody!
OK first I can only apologise for not having written for nigh on a month. This could, as a result be a very long blog, so get a cup of tea and try not to fall asleep. I will try and cut everything down into sections.
Teaching – I don’t know quite how much everyone knows about what I am actually doing apart from class structure come to think of it. The kids mainly have basic English but some have come out of the shadows recently have told us that they actually study in English in their school, written if not orally anyway. It is amazing because they seem to understand commands and can read quite well, but when it comes to forming sentences they are, well, not very good anyway. In Mayapuri I have started to teach an extra class after the afternoon class for a few such students – including a girl called Soni who wants to be a teacher. Explaining the process of compost to someone with only reasonable English was fun! But their exams, which they are in the middle of at the moment are ridiculous! In one of the comprehensions that Soni show me, not only is the English extremely flowery and complicated, but wrong! “Birds flip their wings” It really annoys me because these kids are so cleaver but they are basically not given a chance against people in other school where English is taught well and teachers actually turn up to class! On the subject of exams, a lot of our kids have been irregular in attendance recently due to their big exams that happen in the afternoons. And I spent three hours trying to go over writing practise with one of the kids, who is really clever but has little chance due to his lack of writing skills, which the government schools will never teach well. So it has been interesting teaching half if not less than half classes with not much time to plan extra stuff! But it is nice to get to know some of the kids better who do manage to turn up, especially some of the older ones that are practically my age. I know that there will be some that I will miss especially.
Staff members the same actually – we are teaching all the staff members in Mayapuri at the moment – verb tenses are not nice things. And the staff in both places have started feeding us piles of food. Natasha – who works in Mayapuri – said that we needed to be fed because we are skinny and she is fat, which sparked off all the other staff members remarking on how fat they were. That was a funny moment. Zakhira have also started to give us food every day – which sometimes blows the mouth off of us – and both sets are looking after us really well. I felt quite ill this week and Pancaj (a computer teacher) kept on giving me his own water – bearing in mind that it is now about 33 degrees C here which just isn’t pretty. The kids still only find it warm too…
So this week will be a few parties of farewell – though I will see them all in between the end of travelling and coming home. That seems really close atm, it is scary!
O, while I remember – a story to break up this beast. On of the boys in Mayapuri, Vishal, told us he would be at a wedding the next day, so of course everyone said oooooo Vishal is getting married and it became a running joke throughout the lesson. So I put up (teaching his and her) this is vishal’s wife "her name is ?", which he proceeded to fill with Orlagh, which the kids found hilarious. The next day he was missing again. When asked where he was Vipin shouted out, “honeymoon!”
A slightly more serious story emerged from Ekta Vihar, where Orlagh and Ellie are teaching. One of the girls, Usha, who is only 16, they were told, was going to be sent back to one of the villages and married off to a man twice her age. Not only was this illegal, but obviously detrimental to her chances of ever having a job or even much of a life if it actually happened. Ellie and Orlagh came back fuming and cry rape, which essentially is what it would have been in many ways. The family would not even have had a legal ceremony because it was an illegal act and they were doing it for the dowry. Upon speaking to Freddie however, we learned that it wasn’t usha (who is the leader of the children’s group) but it was a friend. He told us that any time ASHA had tried to intervene the girls had disappeared before anything could be done, never to be seen in Delhi again. The best thing we can do is educate them so that they can earn money and not essentially be sold off as brides. I know this is a completely different culture and it is never black and white to say that the family was only doing it for a dowry or whatever, but it is not an easy pill to swallow. It made me wonder how I would feel if that happened to Soni or Nimmi or one of the other girls in my class, how angry I would feel. Luckily, more women and families are becoming empowered and more children educated through ASHA than ever before. It makes the work I think, all that more important.
I will lighten up a little for a while. We have done quite a bit of going out at weekends especially since Ellie arrived. We travelled up to Old Delhi to see the Red Fort, the bazaars and markets and went into India’ largest mosque – the Jami Masjid. We went up a particularly hair raising tall tower with many Indian’s and tourists at the top and not a whole lot of room! The photos will tell the whole picture…I think the most impressive thing was the Gandhi memorial at Raghat. It was a very peaceful atmosphere and set in some beautiful grounds in the east of Old Delhi. There is a very simple black stone memorial with the words “Hay ram” written in Hindi – very apt, as someone pointed out, that they weren’t translated into English. And we saw a three and a half hour Bollywood movie – with an interval. Wow.
The next weekend Freddie took us out to dinner with a team from Yeovil and played possibly the best practical joke ever on Jon. All the way he had been talking about picking up this fabulous looking woman a former miss California. Linda somebody – “who needs a second name when she look like that” Freddie! haha, Anyway as soon as Jon got out of the car to get her Freddie broke out laughing and proclaimd that Jon was not picking up a woman but an old man, one of ASHA’s partners. Jon of course asked this man from Holland when he came down in a slightly bemused fashion why ha wasn’t a woman! Freddie is a little child! We have also then been out to the Lodi garden’s, a few markets and a really posh hotel for tea and cake. Scary how colonial it felt, and the toilets were pretty fantastic!
We have even tried out the Delhi nightlife in a place called Bacchus. Orlagh, Ellie and I went out and as soon as we walked in all the Indian men cheered and I was enveloped by a rather fat and very cheerful(and tipsy) man from Tanzania. That was interesting! The Indian were maybe a bit too over zealous in their dancing so any time they got too close to one of the girls these huge bouncers would step in and protect the white girls! Naturally we ended the night at one o’clock in Indian McDonalds (which are amazing!).
We got a new housemate too about a week ago, Sue is from South Africa but based in England and is in her 30’s so living with students is, I am sure, an interesting experience!
O and I have another story about Natasha entitled “a lovely love story”
Well OK the narrative won’t really flow I am afraid but basically another staff member, Sheeja, told me in broken English that Natasha (who coms from a village in UP but lived in Delhi) got married last year. She had fallen in love with this guy in school and eloped with him because her parents didn’t approve, with the help of another staff member, Balinder. She is in love with her husband but does not now speak to her parents because of it. For India I felt this was even more daring and truly romantic. Natasha is just so lovely! It is strang to think though that she is twenty and only a year older then me. Everyone here is asking me why I am not married, because so many Indians would be by now. It is so weird, I just say, I am too young!
On that subject actually, we were in Agra to see the Taj (and only didn’t stay overnight because Jon and Orlagh didn’t bring their passports so no hotel would take up, whoops…). So Ellie and I, having gone to change the train tickets, can back and queued up to get in. The male line went so much quicker that Ellie shout to a guard that her husband was so far ahead of her (ie me) and as a poor woman she couldn’t be left on her own. The guard drank every word and brought her to the front of the queue! She is unbelievable sometimes! So not having as much time as we wanted to, seeing the Taj was great but short lived, it is a really beautiful place and just as spectacular as the first time. We met these kids on the train back, who I think we managed to scare a little but they gave us a parting present, they were so cute! Indian people are really amazing sometimes!
OK I think I need to stop for everyone’s sake, but hopefully I have brought you a little, if not a lot up to speed and kudos if you have read all of this! It is still amazing here with the kids, and I am not happy that this is my last week teaching them, I know that I will not know just how much I will miss them until I leave. It’s a scary thought but I think I have made an impression here, I hope anyway. – the good news is that in both places more computers have arrived and hopefully that will be followed by internet soon. We are still some of the first English teachers in ASHA and I hope the new Indian teachers will be able to take on the challenge. AH! everything is a bit weird. Anyway I will write again soon, probably no more emails for a while due to travelling but I will definitely this time write here!
I will leave you with a sign I saw on a house near Mayapuri, and an excalmiation of Jon’s during one lesson. I love India…
peace out!
G
“Cheap Inn Guesthouse. Sorry Gentlemen! No families allowed!”
John ad verbatim, “I want to give birth.”
Saturday, 16 February 2008
My love is like mutton
Heya! OK I no doubt have a massive backlog of emails to send – I haven’t really been on the computer doing that stuff in ages – it was basically most of the time I had to phone home once in a while lol. So I will first catch y’all up here and then send my multitude of emails, promise!
Well I think the last time I wrote, we were still a twosome in the flat – that has now developed to four. Orlagh came two weeks ago now and Ellie, Jon’s friend, arrived about four days after her. They started work on Monday in Ekta Vihar near the ASHA HQ. They were told that they would be getting young students with little English like us. What they got was 16-20 year olds who need a lot of polishing, which was a little surprising! However, on Valentine’s Day they did get them to write love poetry and the results were hilarious: “My love is like mutton” and “Love is life, husband is wife, and another knife” were two of my favourites lol!
Valentines day at Zakhira and Mayapuri were a bit less advanced – we got them to make Valentine’s cards, some of which were very creative – the ones from the boys class will go to the girls and vice-versa. They had fun making them anyway and it was a fun way to get to know the kids a bit better – albeit through our low levels of enlgish and hindi – and a hindi dictionary lol. I am really fond of them all – especially in Zakhira though – but I do worry that the differing ages (we have 9and 16 year olds in the same class) will make difference in how much they can be taught. We don’t want to leave some behind but I would like to help push the better ones even further…
We took a trip around the first area of the Zakhira slum on Wednesday 2 weeks ago as well. It’s a really interesting slum to look at – a bit like Kalkaji. It is set by the railway – which we saw from the roof of the support centre – and runs right along the track for a kilometre I think. It was more interesting because the kids took us round the slum so it was great to actually meet their families and see the community through their eyes. As usual everyone wanted to feed us, so we got unlimited amounts of biscuits. I will put some of the photos up sometime. We watched one of our kids called Haider Ali cut up the straps of sandals from the original factory rubber– the women in the slum get 1 rupee for every dozen they cut out – and it was amazing just how skilled and quick he was at doing it. O and we saw goats wearing cardigans, which was rather cute lol! It’s going to be strange going round Mayapuri because it is hard to see where the industrial area ends and the slum begins. We have about three hours of lunch time in Mayapuri and so I asked some of the workers if they wanted any time to learn some English – I didn’t quite bank on the idea of teaching reported speech, so I will have to look into that; however I am so glad that I feel I can help them too. One of the girls (well about 20) Natasha, gave us roses on Valentines day, so we made her a card with the kids – it was lovely! We also had three English teachers, who are starting permanently past time as part of the new literacy programme with us this week. Neeti, Aarti and Archana were apparently told that we were *dynamic* teachers and were to try and learn something from our teaching style. That seemed more than a bit weird to us as we have never taught before. But it was great having them there. They helped us translate a lot of stuff that we needed and also helped us communicate with the children a bit better. I think it moved us along definitely. Archana did have a mouth on her though – she would do well in Ireland…There was a hilarious moment when she was going on about the hospitality of the Indian people – “They are very hospitable, the Indian people, they will take you into your home and hospitalise people.” And she also gave Jon and very long and interesting history of Bollywood, and Hollywood. Very long. Anyway, they start work at the same place as Ellie and Orlagh on Monday.
We did the second part of the Personal Development course on Saturday, which was really interesting and trying to fit seven people in Sanjana’s car was fun. The next day we managed to get locked out of the apartment, which we also managed again today, except locked in this time. The door has the most annoying security system in the whole world.
I am pretty sure that I am missing out a lot of stuff but I won’t go on in much detail. The kids in Mayapuri during lunch are really cute and do not let us go a day without playing. The first class also wrote up on Friday “We missing Orlagh.” Highly cute. Half way trough almost and I still feel I need to make a big difference but I have loved getting to know them better. I wish in a way I could just spend a bit more time with some of them and push them on. We shall see. Anyway to bed soon, I was very tired today and I think we are going to Old Delhi tomorrow which should be very cool. Love to all, talk soon.
G
Well I think the last time I wrote, we were still a twosome in the flat – that has now developed to four. Orlagh came two weeks ago now and Ellie, Jon’s friend, arrived about four days after her. They started work on Monday in Ekta Vihar near the ASHA HQ. They were told that they would be getting young students with little English like us. What they got was 16-20 year olds who need a lot of polishing, which was a little surprising! However, on Valentine’s Day they did get them to write love poetry and the results were hilarious: “My love is like mutton” and “Love is life, husband is wife, and another knife” were two of my favourites lol!
Valentines day at Zakhira and Mayapuri were a bit less advanced – we got them to make Valentine’s cards, some of which were very creative – the ones from the boys class will go to the girls and vice-versa. They had fun making them anyway and it was a fun way to get to know the kids a bit better – albeit through our low levels of enlgish and hindi – and a hindi dictionary lol. I am really fond of them all – especially in Zakhira though – but I do worry that the differing ages (we have 9and 16 year olds in the same class) will make difference in how much they can be taught. We don’t want to leave some behind but I would like to help push the better ones even further…
We took a trip around the first area of the Zakhira slum on Wednesday 2 weeks ago as well. It’s a really interesting slum to look at – a bit like Kalkaji. It is set by the railway – which we saw from the roof of the support centre – and runs right along the track for a kilometre I think. It was more interesting because the kids took us round the slum so it was great to actually meet their families and see the community through their eyes. As usual everyone wanted to feed us, so we got unlimited amounts of biscuits. I will put some of the photos up sometime. We watched one of our kids called Haider Ali cut up the straps of sandals from the original factory rubber– the women in the slum get 1 rupee for every dozen they cut out – and it was amazing just how skilled and quick he was at doing it. O and we saw goats wearing cardigans, which was rather cute lol! It’s going to be strange going round Mayapuri because it is hard to see where the industrial area ends and the slum begins. We have about three hours of lunch time in Mayapuri and so I asked some of the workers if they wanted any time to learn some English – I didn’t quite bank on the idea of teaching reported speech, so I will have to look into that; however I am so glad that I feel I can help them too. One of the girls (well about 20) Natasha, gave us roses on Valentines day, so we made her a card with the kids – it was lovely! We also had three English teachers, who are starting permanently past time as part of the new literacy programme with us this week. Neeti, Aarti and Archana were apparently told that we were *dynamic* teachers and were to try and learn something from our teaching style. That seemed more than a bit weird to us as we have never taught before. But it was great having them there. They helped us translate a lot of stuff that we needed and also helped us communicate with the children a bit better. I think it moved us along definitely. Archana did have a mouth on her though – she would do well in Ireland…There was a hilarious moment when she was going on about the hospitality of the Indian people – “They are very hospitable, the Indian people, they will take you into your home and hospitalise people.” And she also gave Jon and very long and interesting history of Bollywood, and Hollywood. Very long. Anyway, they start work at the same place as Ellie and Orlagh on Monday.
We did the second part of the Personal Development course on Saturday, which was really interesting and trying to fit seven people in Sanjana’s car was fun. The next day we managed to get locked out of the apartment, which we also managed again today, except locked in this time. The door has the most annoying security system in the whole world.
I am pretty sure that I am missing out a lot of stuff but I won’t go on in much detail. The kids in Mayapuri during lunch are really cute and do not let us go a day without playing. The first class also wrote up on Friday “We missing Orlagh.” Highly cute. Half way trough almost and I still feel I need to make a big difference but I have loved getting to know them better. I wish in a way I could just spend a bit more time with some of them and push them on. We shall see. Anyway to bed soon, I was very tired today and I think we are going to Old Delhi tomorrow which should be very cool. Love to all, talk soon.
G
Sunday, 3 February 2008
"make a decision from a position of knowledge, not a position of ignorance"
So! today was a bit of a break from the norm - we actually did something and it wasn't teaching or planning! Lol!
Not that we are tired or anything...
Sanajana - if I haven't posted of her before she is a friend of a friend of a friend of Jon's - promise it isn't that complicated - took us to the Lotus Temple, a Baha'i House of Worship, away from the tourist times for morning prayers. It was beautiful and so peaceful inside. It is in the shape of a Lotus flower and built partly of marble - in the morning haze it was a spectacle to behold!
We then went on to a Personal Development course that she had invited us to in the Baha'i House in the centre of Delhi - also set in really beautiful grounds. It was a bit of a hit or miss thing for all of us because we didn't know much about it, but actually it was really interesting. The man was Baha'i but it had something for people of any religion or athiestic beliefs. It was certainly something different from what I had been doing in Delhi up until this point. Anyway, despite leading Sanjana round a bit of a wild goose chase getting Jon phone cards and petrol and stuff, it was a great day and we promised to thank her with dinner after the course completion on Saturday - she really was great!
And from her we went to Freedy and Kiran's house to yet more amazing Indian hospitality. Despite turning up late, being held up by big Hindu weddings causing the traffic to become choc-a-blok, we went over for dinner. They really make you eat and don't take no for an answer! Like really! It was great fun, though Freddy, bless him, was exhausted. They really must work so hard that pair, it is riduculous that they spend time with us. But it is so much appreciated!
Anyway I am up here now, waiting for Orlagh's plane to arrive in (at 1.25 AHHHHHHHHH!) and then off to Zakhira for a new week. I really like Zakhira and can't wait to see the kids - and learn a bit mroe Hindi of course! Peace friends,
Duff
Not that we are tired or anything...
Sanajana - if I haven't posted of her before she is a friend of a friend of a friend of Jon's - promise it isn't that complicated - took us to the Lotus Temple, a Baha'i House of Worship, away from the tourist times for morning prayers. It was beautiful and so peaceful inside. It is in the shape of a Lotus flower and built partly of marble - in the morning haze it was a spectacle to behold!
We then went on to a Personal Development course that she had invited us to in the Baha'i House in the centre of Delhi - also set in really beautiful grounds. It was a bit of a hit or miss thing for all of us because we didn't know much about it, but actually it was really interesting. The man was Baha'i but it had something for people of any religion or athiestic beliefs. It was certainly something different from what I had been doing in Delhi up until this point. Anyway, despite leading Sanjana round a bit of a wild goose chase getting Jon phone cards and petrol and stuff, it was a great day and we promised to thank her with dinner after the course completion on Saturday - she really was great!
And from her we went to Freedy and Kiran's house to yet more amazing Indian hospitality. Despite turning up late, being held up by big Hindu weddings causing the traffic to become choc-a-blok, we went over for dinner. They really make you eat and don't take no for an answer! Like really! It was great fun, though Freddy, bless him, was exhausted. They really must work so hard that pair, it is riduculous that they spend time with us. But it is so much appreciated!
Anyway I am up here now, waiting for Orlagh's plane to arrive in (at 1.25 AHHHHHHHHH!) and then off to Zakhira for a new week. I really like Zakhira and can't wait to see the kids - and learn a bit mroe Hindi of course! Peace friends,
Duff
Friday, 1 February 2008
A whiter shade of pink
Bout Ye
The Bucket of Happiness – what does this imply? Ha! A theorem that Jon and I thought up featuring the Jon Bell spring of happiness and sensitivity and the Graham Richardson springback function. For anyone who cares I will explain sometime!
Well, it has been a long week, but we have got through it thank goodness! Last Sunday was a great day. We read and went to the park (exercised!) and then went out to meet a friend of a friend of Jon’s called Rochelle and her friend Sanjana. Not having spoken to many people socially for a while was quite amusing and I’m sure we seemed so random but it was fun! They are Bahai’is working in Connauaght Place up in north Delhi. Anyway, it transpired that Sanjana was interested in working with ASHA and getting her kids that she taught to meet with some of the kids in the slum. And we are also going to the Lotus Temple, the Bahai’I house of worship, which looks beautiful, on Sunday for morning prayers. Cool!
The Southampton team then left on Monday night and spent the evening with us which was really nice and quite sad. Having only met them a few times, it was quite sad to see them go! God bless guys, hope to meet you again soon!
Class this week was harder, inevitably in some respects. English is a darned confusing language! Basically, we didn’t realise just how many fiddly bits we were trying to teach them and as a result got a bit messed up in Zakira – it just wasn’t as exciting as last week I guess. And we both got tired, while I managed to loose my voice. But the kids in Zakira are great. The guys are maybe a bit over zealous sometimes, but they are fun. It is amazing though how much kids can repeat, and then completely forget very soon. The tests proved that much anyway. There are a few kids who are doing well though and we have started to give them extra work so hopefully they can pick up. We are even being taught Hindi during lunch times in Zakira, which is hard, but starting to get through!
Mayapuri is still good too, but still very polluted. I really can’t imagine living there. The first class are good fun and pick thigns up quickly. However, the second are really very inattentive and noisy. A few of them didn’t show up today to watch the cricket. It seems amazing to us that out of possibly 3-4,000 kids, the ones who wanted to learn English, volunteered, didn’t show up. Though it was the minority, it just annoyed us. Then Dr Kiran visited Mayapuri today and after the lessons, we really got into some dancing – I have the photos to prove it unfortunately. They don’t take no for an answer, but I don’t think either of us tried very hard to say no! Dr Kiran is great with the kids, they really do seem very bright and knowledgeable about their own issues now, which is something ASHA manages really well. Paul and Rakesh translated her talk with the Baal Mandal (childrens group) to us and then there was a party lol. It was fun and great to see the kids enjoying themselves. We managed to start a mega game of “What’s the time Mr Wolf” again – and literally all the kids want to hold your hand, they fight over it. It is ahumbling experience in the slums. Everyone makes sure YOU get fed, and YOU get a seat. It seems mad when they are the ones who we are there to try and help and we should be the humble ones. The staff are amazing too, they really work hard at a ground level and are very good to us. They always have a smile, and a supply of sweet teaJ. Mmmmmm…
We also had an amusing run in with a rik shaw driver. He tried to charge us 80 rupees, so we took him down to fifty or panchass. Then half way through he said panchass = 60. “No…panchass is fifty.” After some friendly banter it was all fine though lol. That was a random story to tell but it was funny! Bill martin is also staying with us on and off at the moment, Freddy’s brother. We had a huge conversation with him last night. Jon and I had decided that romance and common courtesy was dead until we met him lol. He is an amzing guys, and his and Freddy’s story is a real rags to riches. They came from a village on the tip of India up to Delhi and made a living out of nothing. He now lives in Canada and has a great big family. He talked a lot about a healthy character. In Canada he had a shop, and a guy came in once and started mounting off to him about white people and coloured people. So he set a sheet of paper on the wall and asked him and any of his friends who could stand beside the sheet of paper and say they were white. They are now the best of friends apparently! I don’t know if that story made any sense, but it was one of the most interesting conversations ( and funny) that I have had for ages!
I must go now, I am tired, but I hope that has kept you a bit in touch with me. Two weeks here have flown by in many ways, I feel properly like I am living here atm! Scary!
Miss you all loads!
Duff
The Bucket of Happiness – what does this imply? Ha! A theorem that Jon and I thought up featuring the Jon Bell spring of happiness and sensitivity and the Graham Richardson springback function. For anyone who cares I will explain sometime!
Well, it has been a long week, but we have got through it thank goodness! Last Sunday was a great day. We read and went to the park (exercised!) and then went out to meet a friend of a friend of Jon’s called Rochelle and her friend Sanjana. Not having spoken to many people socially for a while was quite amusing and I’m sure we seemed so random but it was fun! They are Bahai’is working in Connauaght Place up in north Delhi. Anyway, it transpired that Sanjana was interested in working with ASHA and getting her kids that she taught to meet with some of the kids in the slum. And we are also going to the Lotus Temple, the Bahai’I house of worship, which looks beautiful, on Sunday for morning prayers. Cool!
The Southampton team then left on Monday night and spent the evening with us which was really nice and quite sad. Having only met them a few times, it was quite sad to see them go! God bless guys, hope to meet you again soon!
Class this week was harder, inevitably in some respects. English is a darned confusing language! Basically, we didn’t realise just how many fiddly bits we were trying to teach them and as a result got a bit messed up in Zakira – it just wasn’t as exciting as last week I guess. And we both got tired, while I managed to loose my voice. But the kids in Zakira are great. The guys are maybe a bit over zealous sometimes, but they are fun. It is amazing though how much kids can repeat, and then completely forget very soon. The tests proved that much anyway. There are a few kids who are doing well though and we have started to give them extra work so hopefully they can pick up. We are even being taught Hindi during lunch times in Zakira, which is hard, but starting to get through!
Mayapuri is still good too, but still very polluted. I really can’t imagine living there. The first class are good fun and pick thigns up quickly. However, the second are really very inattentive and noisy. A few of them didn’t show up today to watch the cricket. It seems amazing to us that out of possibly 3-4,000 kids, the ones who wanted to learn English, volunteered, didn’t show up. Though it was the minority, it just annoyed us. Then Dr Kiran visited Mayapuri today and after the lessons, we really got into some dancing – I have the photos to prove it unfortunately. They don’t take no for an answer, but I don’t think either of us tried very hard to say no! Dr Kiran is great with the kids, they really do seem very bright and knowledgeable about their own issues now, which is something ASHA manages really well. Paul and Rakesh translated her talk with the Baal Mandal (childrens group) to us and then there was a party lol. It was fun and great to see the kids enjoying themselves. We managed to start a mega game of “What’s the time Mr Wolf” again – and literally all the kids want to hold your hand, they fight over it. It is ahumbling experience in the slums. Everyone makes sure YOU get fed, and YOU get a seat. It seems mad when they are the ones who we are there to try and help and we should be the humble ones. The staff are amazing too, they really work hard at a ground level and are very good to us. They always have a smile, and a supply of sweet teaJ. Mmmmmm…
We also had an amusing run in with a rik shaw driver. He tried to charge us 80 rupees, so we took him down to fifty or panchass. Then half way through he said panchass = 60. “No…panchass is fifty.” After some friendly banter it was all fine though lol. That was a random story to tell but it was funny! Bill martin is also staying with us on and off at the moment, Freddy’s brother. We had a huge conversation with him last night. Jon and I had decided that romance and common courtesy was dead until we met him lol. He is an amzing guys, and his and Freddy’s story is a real rags to riches. They came from a village on the tip of India up to Delhi and made a living out of nothing. He now lives in Canada and has a great big family. He talked a lot about a healthy character. In Canada he had a shop, and a guy came in once and started mounting off to him about white people and coloured people. So he set a sheet of paper on the wall and asked him and any of his friends who could stand beside the sheet of paper and say they were white. They are now the best of friends apparently! I don’t know if that story made any sense, but it was one of the most interesting conversations ( and funny) that I have had for ages!
I must go now, I am tired, but I hope that has kept you a bit in touch with me. Two weeks here have flown by in many ways, I feel properly like I am living here atm! Scary!
Miss you all loads!
Duff
Friday, 25 January 2008
Work is Worship
Heylo my little chickens!
Well I am writing this on word at the moment because I am cheap and the internet costs money lol! So I am not exactly sure where I left off last time.
The week has been long; I spent Mon, Tues and Wed in Zakira and Thurs and Fri in Mayapuri. Generally we get boys in the morning and girls in the afternoon – 13 calsses a week. I remember writing in 2006 in my journal that Kalkaji was oddly beautiful, both through spirit and even physically in some ways. I haven’t been into the slum at Zakira yet, but I get the same feeling from it. However, the same can not be said about Mayapuri. It is set in an industrial area and holds the biggest scrap market in Delhi. So the thin veneer of dust that covers most of India is turned into a black layer which even permeates the air. John finds it very hard to sit outside because of the unclean air – you really can taste the pollution. It is one of the most horrible places I could ever imagine living in and I feel – like Fiona said once – that I am in the geography textbook at the section on poverty. It affected me more than ever, which was weird to me.
“work is worship” – written on one of the kids textbooks…However, all five classes of kids seem willing to learn and are good fun! Even when we cant remember their names – we both even thought that one girl in Zakira was a boy until we tried to say larka (boy) at her instead of larki (girl). The girls shouted at us until we realised…that was embarrassing…Fun is being had, and we are keeping the lessons active I think – sometimes just making random noises for the hell of it. The kids are very good at repeating and copying, however, after their first test we have realised that some are much better than others already. It could be about to get tricky…Though the copious amounts of sweet, spiced tea that the women give us certainly do help!
We saw the funeral of a lady who was 105 in Zakira on Wed too – the procession was full of colour and noise – typically Hindu I believe – and was quite a spectacle. There are also some small girls in Mayapuri who come in to find us now during lunch and bring us outside to play games. And she is so cute! She always wants to hold our hands and has quite taken to “What’s the time mr wolf?” – it relaxes you so much but it’s going to be awful going round the slum later and seeing the conditions that she has to live in.
So it has been a week and I feel quite normal living in India. Jon and I were even so surprised to see a white person as we walked back from the market, that we had to stop and cross the street to say hello, in a most untactful fashion “It’s so cool to see a white person!” HA! anyway – we have met some great people, Paul, Felix, Krishna, Rakesh etc etc and tonight we go to Freddy’s with the Southampton team for dinner – can’t wait! We haven’t starved but we have got 5 cans of baked beans in the house:P Freddy has been great, couldn’t survive without him. Anyway, must dash – hope you all are good back home. It’s weird to be here cause it doesn’t seem so far away (still cold!) but I’m very glad I am!
Peace out. talk soon!
G
PS thanks to everyone who has emailed me! keep them coming! i_know_where_you_live_mate@hotmail.com
Well I am writing this on word at the moment because I am cheap and the internet costs money lol! So I am not exactly sure where I left off last time.
The week has been long; I spent Mon, Tues and Wed in Zakira and Thurs and Fri in Mayapuri. Generally we get boys in the morning and girls in the afternoon – 13 calsses a week. I remember writing in 2006 in my journal that Kalkaji was oddly beautiful, both through spirit and even physically in some ways. I haven’t been into the slum at Zakira yet, but I get the same feeling from it. However, the same can not be said about Mayapuri. It is set in an industrial area and holds the biggest scrap market in Delhi. So the thin veneer of dust that covers most of India is turned into a black layer which even permeates the air. John finds it very hard to sit outside because of the unclean air – you really can taste the pollution. It is one of the most horrible places I could ever imagine living in and I feel – like Fiona said once – that I am in the geography textbook at the section on poverty. It affected me more than ever, which was weird to me.
“work is worship” – written on one of the kids textbooks…However, all five classes of kids seem willing to learn and are good fun! Even when we cant remember their names – we both even thought that one girl in Zakira was a boy until we tried to say larka (boy) at her instead of larki (girl). The girls shouted at us until we realised…that was embarrassing…Fun is being had, and we are keeping the lessons active I think – sometimes just making random noises for the hell of it. The kids are very good at repeating and copying, however, after their first test we have realised that some are much better than others already. It could be about to get tricky…Though the copious amounts of sweet, spiced tea that the women give us certainly do help!
We saw the funeral of a lady who was 105 in Zakira on Wed too – the procession was full of colour and noise – typically Hindu I believe – and was quite a spectacle. There are also some small girls in Mayapuri who come in to find us now during lunch and bring us outside to play games. And she is so cute! She always wants to hold our hands and has quite taken to “What’s the time mr wolf?” – it relaxes you so much but it’s going to be awful going round the slum later and seeing the conditions that she has to live in.
So it has been a week and I feel quite normal living in India. Jon and I were even so surprised to see a white person as we walked back from the market, that we had to stop and cross the street to say hello, in a most untactful fashion “It’s so cool to see a white person!” HA! anyway – we have met some great people, Paul, Felix, Krishna, Rakesh etc etc and tonight we go to Freddy’s with the Southampton team for dinner – can’t wait! We haven’t starved but we have got 5 cans of baked beans in the house:P Freddy has been great, couldn’t survive without him. Anyway, must dash – hope you all are good back home. It’s weird to be here cause it doesn’t seem so far away (still cold!) but I’m very glad I am!
Peace out. talk soon!
G
PS thanks to everyone who has emailed me! keep them coming! i_know_where_you_live_mate@hotmail.com
Friday, 18 January 2008
The air we all breathe
Heya! Lol I apologise for not blogging before because it is day 4 for me already but I have been very busy already! I will try and keep this all brief because I'm sur you don't have year and I need sleep haha. After all "Time is tissue"
Anyway, the flights were OK and staying at Ruth's was fun even though I still felt a bit weird but I saw some people I hadn't seen for ages and a general good time was had. Flights as I say were fine is not restful - I just wated movies. But as soon as I stepped off the plane I felt like I recognised the place again. It was very easy to settle in, and - though I miss home - I feel very comfortable already. I'm staying with Jon, who is a great guy and has lived in Canada, Kyrgastan spelt incorrectly and England. Impressive. We have managed to scrape together a big pile of fodd and made meals so far which were very edible! Power to us!
SO what have I been doing? Well I got ot the flat and collapesed basically on Tues. Jon was waiting and made me scrambled eggs - an instant bond was formed! Especially after lugging my luggage around when the taxi driver couldn't quite find the right apartment...The to the ASHA Polyclinic where we got frightned by the amount of work it is going to take to teach these kids ENglish! We are in two slums teaching 4 hours a day five days a week, starting on Monday. And apparently we have kids who have no english, and are quite young. O and did i mention we have only my TEFL course as a guide. O and useless textbooks apparently. And two days. AHHHHHHHHHHH! Lol it's exciting anyway! We went out for dinner with Paul and Felix, two workers and slept like babies. Today was spent with a team from Southampton in a slum they will be working in. It was weird going out to visit because it was much like Kalkaji, small and cramped. But the people get on with it and so whilst you feel so guilty, you have to think that that is why you are here. To help. Cheesy but simple and we both think that we can so lets go for it! However, one thing did get me. THe women told us a story through Kiran which basically involved their councellor doing nothing to help them. She was only in it for the money. Quote Dr Kiran "THe very air we breathe here is corrupt." Gives you something to think about...We also visited a market and did some food shopping for riduclous prices. It feels a bit more like a home now lol.
OK I am tired now so sorry that wasn't overly stimulating but it brings you up to speed, I can write in more detail later if you can be bothered. All is well anyway and after meeting Dr Kiran and Freddy Martin (wife and husband founders of ASHA) again, I remember how immense and just how human they and everyone a ASHA and in the slums are. It's gonna be great. Unless I don't get sleep so Namaste for now and will blog soon!
Love and coconuts =)
G
Anyway, the flights were OK and staying at Ruth's was fun even though I still felt a bit weird but I saw some people I hadn't seen for ages and a general good time was had. Flights as I say were fine is not restful - I just wated movies. But as soon as I stepped off the plane I felt like I recognised the place again. It was very easy to settle in, and - though I miss home - I feel very comfortable already. I'm staying with Jon, who is a great guy and has lived in Canada, Kyrgastan spelt incorrectly and England. Impressive. We have managed to scrape together a big pile of fodd and made meals so far which were very edible! Power to us!
SO what have I been doing? Well I got ot the flat and collapesed basically on Tues. Jon was waiting and made me scrambled eggs - an instant bond was formed! Especially after lugging my luggage around when the taxi driver couldn't quite find the right apartment...The to the ASHA Polyclinic where we got frightned by the amount of work it is going to take to teach these kids ENglish! We are in two slums teaching 4 hours a day five days a week, starting on Monday. And apparently we have kids who have no english, and are quite young. O and did i mention we have only my TEFL course as a guide. O and useless textbooks apparently. And two days. AHHHHHHHHHHH! Lol it's exciting anyway! We went out for dinner with Paul and Felix, two workers and slept like babies. Today was spent with a team from Southampton in a slum they will be working in. It was weird going out to visit because it was much like Kalkaji, small and cramped. But the people get on with it and so whilst you feel so guilty, you have to think that that is why you are here. To help. Cheesy but simple and we both think that we can so lets go for it! However, one thing did get me. THe women told us a story through Kiran which basically involved their councellor doing nothing to help them. She was only in it for the money. Quote Dr Kiran "THe very air we breathe here is corrupt." Gives you something to think about...We also visited a market and did some food shopping for riduclous prices. It feels a bit more like a home now lol.
OK I am tired now so sorry that wasn't overly stimulating but it brings you up to speed, I can write in more detail later if you can be bothered. All is well anyway and after meeting Dr Kiran and Freddy Martin (wife and husband founders of ASHA) again, I remember how immense and just how human they and everyone a ASHA and in the slums are. It's gonna be great. Unless I don't get sleep so Namaste for now and will blog soon!
Love and coconuts =)
G
Friday, 4 January 2008
The first - 11 days to go
Hello everyone! This is the start of a new blog, which, fingers crossed, will chronicle my adventures in India and beyond. Eleven days to go until I leave for London, stay overnight and hop on a plane to Delhi the next day, I'm not very organised as yet but I think I'll be ready - so long as i can leave with this dratted snow storm. For anyone who has read my blogs before, I'll try to make this one user friendly shall we say lol. But for now, to work!
peace man
Graham/Duff - don't get confused, I'll use both lol
peace man
Graham/Duff - don't get confused, I'll use both lol
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