Taj-Tastic!

Got back last night from a brilliant trip to Agra. The bus journey there and back was in itself an education. Driving through rural areas it was fascinating to see people making their living in the fields, with animals and carts of goods to sell. All the while, all the women dressed in bright gem like colours. Despite it being very poor here, the array of colour everywhere really does change everything.

We woke up at 6am to see the Taj Mahal. This exceeded all my expectations and if any of you (who haven't already been) get the chance to go; jump at it. I would already love to go back. Having seen the image of it so many times in magazines, television etc, it was such a treat to see it first hand. We had a brilliant guide who helped us get some pro photos too, so he was worth his weight! We had a whole day of sightseeing after that and after some dinner, headed to a music and craft festival. Girl shopping heaven. One of the things that has really surprised me here is how taken aback Indian people (or certainly those in Rajastan so far) are when they see westerners- even in a tourist town like Agra. At the festival we were basically mobbed. We got sent to the front of the very long queue as "VIP's" and once inside, I had my photo taken about 10 times with various people who giggled with embarrassment at the sight of a group of white people. One guy handed me his poor baby son (I literally had no choice but to take him) and about 5 people took photos on their mobiles. I knew I would be famous one day ;-)

I was back at school this morning helping the kids prepare for some exams they have coming up. Specifically we were learning about opposites and words which rhyme. They were pretty well behaved today which was such a relief. On Friday I totally lost control of them, it was a nightmare, I had no idea what to do, I couldn't wait to get out of there- white girl running through the slum! One of the teachers in charge has asked me if I have any specific ideas about how they can discipline the children properly "without hitting them." They do have issues with certain pupils and with controlling the children in general. The problems of course start at home and if there is no discipline there, there is not likely to be any in school either. Most of the kids get beaten at home which solves little in the long run. She says they do try to talk to the parents about individual cases but their attitudes are pretty indifferent, just glad to have them away from the house. Any ideas from the teachers/parents among you?? Advice would be much appreciated...

I will write another update later this week. I am planning another weekend trip, this time to Udaipur- south of Jaipur. It's meant to be stunning. It's a 12hr bus ride though, so still debating that one.

Loads of love to you all x

Settling in, school....and Bollywood!

Hi again all, thanks for all the comments! It's good to know people are checking in!

It's been a few days since I last wrote and I have been settling in well. I completed my fourth day at school today and it's going well. To give you an idea of exactly the kind of thing I am doing...for the first 45 minutes today  I was teaching 4/5 year olds the alphabet, then I spent 1.5 hours teaching some 8 year olds "Three Blind Mice" which they're going to sing in front of the rest of the school next week...! For the rest of the time I was reading with individual kids. This morning the coordinator of the school/project asked me if I would run a ten day workshop for adolescent girls in 'grooming' !!!!! I was a little unsure what they were asking me to do (and please don't think I turn up at the school every day in a frock and full make up, ha) but a very big part of life for women here is dressing up and apparently they need guidance on make up application and hair. God really must be looking down on me- I couldn't have asked for a better job! Anyway am off to the market later to buy make up kits on a budget...Jess if only I had know about this before hand I would have brought an extra suitcase! 

The area where the school is situated is a slum but not in the sense I was expecting. The people there are very poor  and the infrastructure itself there is very bad, but there is no sense of danger or depression. There are people dressed in amazing colours, kids and animals everywhere and when you walk through it to get to school, everyone shouts and waves, the kids want high-fives and people run after you. This place is not like township/slum like places I have seen in South Africa. There is definitely a happy vibe.

At the homestay it is now me and three young lads. It is a comical mix; an Irish guy, a jewish guy from Ladbroke Grove who is so theatrical, he's brilliant and 19 year old lad from Derby. Yesterday one of them called me 'Mum'..which went down well....We're all getting along and tomorrow afternoon we're taking a 5 hour bus (it cost two pounds) to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Cannot wait. It'll be great to see more of the country.

A highlight of the past few days was going to see my first Bollywood Movie at the cinema.It was called 'Patiala House' and strangely, was set in Southall, west London! All Hindi/Bollywood movies have a lot of dancing and singing in them and I am truly converted, it was brilliant. During the performance an number of strange things happened. Firstly, mobile phones went off throughout the performance and so did conversations. A man in front of us received a phone call (mid performance), stood up to take the call  and continued to stand for a few minutes while he spoke. No one batted an eye lid. Sadly I had nothing to throw at him but that's an example if the weird things that seem to happen here. It goes from the sublime to the ridiculous. You get an interval mid-film here too, so you can stock up on samosas...

Other things I have noticed;

Man love (in a friendly way): It's everywhere. They like to hold hands and link arms and put their arms round each other. I saw it in the UAE over new year- it happens here too. Quite sweet really.

Rubbish: it's everywhere. There are no refuse collection services, or indeed bins anywhere that I have seen. It's all over the roads, in the rivers, the animals are eating it...

Traffic: Someone told me that over 300 people die a day on the roads in India and I can believe it. It's every man for himself, the roads are competed for by horses, elephants, camels, goats as well as the more common vehicle including cycle-rickshaws and motorised tuk-tuks (my preferred mode of transport). Whatever they are driving, they are all maniacs. In addition to this, if a rickshaw hits a car, the car driver would have no qualms about smacking the rickshaw driver as the lower-caste person is always at fault.

Alcohol; There's none at the home stay and it's pretty hard to find in Jaipur in general. My liver is saying yes...my brain is saying "No!" The urge to pop into a hotel for a G&T has already set in....
 
Looking forward to updating you after or during the Taj Mahal expedition! xxx

Afternoon from sunny Jaipur...

Afternoon all. So I landed here safely from Mumbai yesterday morning. It was definitely a culture shock! There is nothing remotely western about Jaipur and cows, camels, goats ands naked people washing on the side of the road littered the way from the airport! I arrived at my homestay and am currently sharing a room with two girls (one Canadian and one British). Both sadly leave tomorrow so it will be me and three young lads from then on. The accomodation is basic but the family who own it are charming. An old man of 85 and his 5 grown daughters all live in and around the house so there s plenty of life to the place. The food is vegetarian and delicious so far (spicy!) but I am dreading the first sign of sickness as fro m what I understand it is totally unavoidable!

This morning I went to the school where I am volunteering for the first time. This was what I was most apprehensive about. Not entirely sure what was expected of me, or what the conditions would be like. The Vihann Project (the school) is situated in s slum area of the city- approximately a 5 minute tuk tuk ride (more on the roads and driving in general here another time!) from the house. The school has around 100 students; their first language is Hindi so we are tasked with improving their English. They are gorgeous children. Dirty and barefoot, but gorgeous. Today I did one to one reading with a few of them and then assisted the class of another girl (who is a teacher in England)..pretty daunting to think that is what I am working up to but I am up for the challenge and everyone says how quickly the children improve. None of the other volunteers are complimentary about domestic methods of teaching!

Off to visit the inside of the walled Pink City this afternoon and hopefully getting my Indian SIM card later too. I wanted to upload some photos to this post too but the IT facilties here are really lacking. More from me soon and love to you all x

Leaving Tomorrow!

So..the time has finally come! I leave tomorrow on a 10 am flight to Mumbai, where I then change to get to Jaipur. I am intruiged, excited and of course nervous about all the things that will happen over the next four weeks. I will write posts here as often as I can to keep everyone up to date. It should be a nice memory to look back on one day too. Please do comment (politely!!!) and ask questions along the way. I am sure it will be nice to think of people at home following me through the month.

Next post will be from Jaipur.....Have a nice eweekend everyone!