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
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
Em, it all sounds absolutely amazing you lucky thing. Would love to have been a fly on the wall to hear you teaching them to sing!!! Enjoy the Taj Mahal. Can't wait to hear all about it. Miss you xxx
ReplyDeleteI am so utterly proud of you
ReplyDeleteloads of love
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