Chilli Chicken...

Hello Everybody!

Things are much the same over here... Amazing sunrises over the mountains, The commute through the hills by bus (traffic on the commute was bad today... we got held up by a tractor), the glourious sun (but no humidity), the excellent food, the tasty chai, the cute Kids.... and the list continues (jealous??!)

I don't like to talk about food much (it's not a reoccuring theme of this Blog...) but the veggi stuff can get a little same old same old, so last night, the volunteer house tried something a little bit different...

CHILLI CHICKEN

from the take-a-way in Palampur. They say that eating Indian meat is a bit like playing Russian Roulette (because they don't know how to cook it etc etc) but last night was deffinately a winner!

Anyways... must go... it's time for tea (Veg.!) and need to put a jumper on (although it's hot in the day the nights are BALTIC- the jumpers that Ian and Louise gave me have came in very useful!)

Love,

Callum

p.s. a little picture of my smiling face so that you can see I'm well and not too tanned.

Chips Glourious Chips!

Good Evening!

Things here in lil' old India have been go go go! Went away to Dharamsala / Mcleod on for the weekend. We managed to get a Taxi for the 90 minute journey for 800 Rs (approx 9quid) for 11 of us and then found a lovely little guest house for 120Rs p.p (like 1.50!!). Dharamasala is pretty busy but Mcleod which is 9km up the mountain is much nicer, if not a little touristy. There's a large Tibetan community there, because it's where the Dalai Lama lives in Excile. We just spent the afternoon looking around the town, getting Traveller's Cheques changed (it's the only place within 75 KM that does them so i felt very rich with a huge wad of notes!) and looking around the temple (unfortunately Mr. Lama wasn't available for a private audience...) Then, after a hearty meal of CHICKEN (YAY!!! AT LAST!!!) we hit the town (overstatement really...) and spent some time in a cool rooftop bar, followed by a pretty dodgy nightclub filled with Tibetan men.

After a lush freshfruit and pancake breakfast, followed by a couple of people with food poisoning, we headed back down to Palampur. It was really strange because I still got that 'Sunday Night' feeling where you know you have to be up for work the next morning! Last night was pretty chilly- we can feel the winter setting in! However during the day it's still pretty warm- but not too hot!

Today half of my class was missing (i.e. 1 person- there's only 15 people in the whole school!) so I just went over colours with Sahil (the little boy). This quick revision exercise of last week's worked soon turned into a full hour of learning- I'm finding it frustrating when things just don't stick sometimes! That said, I'm still pretty impressed that a 6 year old boy, whose first language is a Tribal language, his second is Hindi and then his third is English but he can still hold a conversation and count to six million and thirty three (hyperbole- he does get abit stuck on any number ending in -9 and any number that begins in F sounds like P e.g. Pifty One, Pifty Two etc etc)

During construction thisafternoon some of the local ladies came to give us a hand. They rolled up with their pick axes and we were half expecting these middle aged, underfed ladies to slow us down. Boy were we wrong! They wiped the floor with us! They could handle a pick axe and shovel far better than us (or any other English builder I've seen for that matter- they didn't stop for Tea / Chai breaks every 30 mins!)

The highlight of today was deffinately the food though (for a change...) The wonderful event that occurs only once every fortnight. The event that has 43 westerners in suspense. The evening that turns us to animals, fighting for food. The event that is....

CHIP NIGHT!!!

And oh they were so good!

Speak to you all soon, do leave a comment!

Callum x

P.S. The picture's pretty much the view from the window... jealous?

Here Comes the Bride...

Hello World!

I'm getting abit too good at this Blog updating malarky at the moment!

There's not all that much to report from today- except for the teacher cancelled School (yeah- they can just cancel school here) without taking into consideration the fact that I'd spent an hour preparing a test for my class (The kids won't escape though- they can have it on Monday! haha). Instead of school we just casually rocked up at a local wedding...

Weddings here are much different to English weddings (possibly an understatement) and the wedding party actually felt honoured to have us there as opposed to us feeling honoured that 7 westerners would be allowed to show up attheir special day. The bride is paraded in on a sort of stretcher covered in a veil and then she sits in a dark room for the rest of the festivities with only a select few (including us!) permitted to see her face. After this comes the food. I may have mentioned in several past posts that the food here is good, however the food at this wedding was the Creme de la Creme of food. There were dishes upon dishes upon dishes served to us as we sat cross legged in rows with leaves as plates. Stephen and Louisa should deffinately take note of this for their upcoming wedding!

This afternoon was spent in meetings and doing lesson plans. Lesson plans are proving to be pretty difficult because nobody seems to really know what the curriculum is so it's pretty much a do what you think's best approach. So next week it's going to be a full exegesis on War and Peace (or days of the week- whichever I'm feeling at the time.)

For Now.. Aacha Ji!

Callum <><

Blog Posts are like Busses...

Hello World!

After no update for a whole week two come along at the same time! How's that eh?!

Breakfast this morning was Bannana Pancakes so it was clear that today was going to be great (it's hard to imagine how a day in themountains couldn't be good!?)and the weather remains glouriously clear and sunny but not too hot which makes it a fantastic climate for us westerners (though the locals are starting to find it chilly).This morning's lesson went really well; I'm teaching my class colours, days of the week and addition at the moment and the lessons are intertwined with outbursts of Duck Duck Goose and the Okey Kokey (or Okey Kokey Dokey as some of the children call it). The children are taught in millitary parrot fashion by their Indian teacher so the funny thing is that while they know all of the col0urs and all of the days of the week they are unable to match the word to the idea and so are totally unaware that the sky is blue or that tomorrow will be Friday.

After lunch, which was eaten in possibly the most scenic place I've ever eaten a picnic, we completed the playground drainage system (a.k.a large trenches) that we started yesterday and then cleared away some solidified mud from the front of the school to tidy it up abit. We finished in plenty of time and so were able to paddle for a little while in the waterfall that's next to the school while we waited for the bus to pick us up at 4pm. However, things in India happen very spontaneously and at 3.55pm the widdow whose toilet we're building next week (she's pretty young, with 5 kids and earns 700 Rs a month- around 8 pounds) came over to speak to us and invite us to her house for Chai- an offer that we couldn't refuse! This made us very late and the bus driver and the girls from the woman's empowerment course who share our bus weren't so impressed!

I think we're going to be going away at the weekend to Dharamshala (wherethe Dahli Lama lives in excile) because it's the closest place that we can find to cash traveller's cheques and there'll hopefully belots of meat :-) The food here is fantastic but I can't help but crave some chicken! Hopefully I'll be able to update soon!

You've been a wonderful audience... that's all folks!

Love,

Callum <><

Good Morning India!

Hello Folks!



Firstly, appologies for the delay in getting a Blog post up... you'll soon realise (just like I have) that things in India happen pretty slowly, crazily, lately but always interestingly! My journal is pretty packed at the moment- there's so much going on all the time so I'll present you with an abridged version of the past week's events in order to bring you up to speed!!



'Breakfast Over Afghanistan'

Last Tuesday's flight was mental in every sense of the word. Firstly, I met Jodie (fellow P2er) in London at 5p to head over to Heathrow together (we had to be there around 1830) wich gave us 90 minutes to make a 45 minute tube journey. However, TFL had other ideas and at 7.50pm we were still stuck 12 stops from Heathrow with no guarentee of getting there any time before 9.00 which meant I was very close tyo not making it here in the first place! However, 50 pound later and some sharp negotiating with a shifty Taxi driver we made it just in time at 8.25. The upside of being slightly late to check in for a full flight was that we got upgraded to extra legroom seats with cool TVs :-)

The flight was otherwise cold, dry and slightly uncomfortable and I can now say that I've eaten Scrambled Eggs and a funny looking sausage over Afghanistan.

'Bus of Death'
Upon arrival in Delhi we were met by some Idex reps. We then went outside and saw a lovely, large, air conditioned coach right in front of us only to be informed that our coach / bus / mobile shed was was parked round the corner and that all 43 of us would be sardined in to it and the luggage would be securely tied to the roof… with a bit of string. The bus ride was most definitely the worst part of the whole experience so far; the heat, the squashing and the length (The journey estimation was 6 hours in India time- or 9 hours in real time!) Upon arrival in Jaipur we were split into our host family groups and Frank and I were allotted the lovely Rita and Rakesh who lived with their children (and servant!!!) in quite a nice district. The Tuc-Tuc there was way better than anything at Alton Towers

'Jaipur'
The next few days were spent watching Bollywood Movies, shopping, having sweaty meetings at the IDEX (in-country NGO) office, and elephant riding at the Amber Fort. We were very lucky to be in India for Diwali and so the whole of the City was covered with fairy lights and children (or mini-terrorists as one person described them) setting off very powerful fireworks all over the city. After 3 days we embarked upon the mammoth 16 hour train journey to Himachel which was surprisingly fun! My preconception was a cockroach infested plastic bed with dim lights and lots and lots of people- but the reality was quite the converse and it was really good to meet some of the other 42 volunteers.

'The Adventure Begins…'
So, here we are in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh and the local area is simply awe inspiring. We're surrounded by the Himalayas and monkeys. The house is huge and everybody's getting on really well. I got the class that I would be teaching yesterday (Class 2- 7 year olds) and we had our first lesson this morning. It's very weird because they're not so used to Westerners up here so we get lots of stairs and random people coming to practice their English and we carry an almost celebrity status among the children, who are very cute, very chatty, very playful but very very very poor. This afternoon we began our first construction project- building a drainage system on the playground so that the children can play in somewhere that's not a mud pit. It's hard work and the tools are primitive but it's highly rewarding. The food here is FANTASTIC and I can't get enough of it (I anticipate that I'll put a stone on- all of which will be muscle from the digging :p )

I hope I'll be able to update the blog more regularly and in bit more detail ( I didn't fancy swarming you with the millions of stories and adventures that have occurred- it'd be a really long post!) and that somebody out there is reading it! I've taken loads of great pictures and hopefully you'll get to see them too! Best go for a cup of Chai and to watch the sunset and the stars… jealous?

Callum ><(((:>



P.S. Here's a photo of the house..

So We'll Start at the Very Beginning (It's a very good place to start...)

Hello Cyberspace!

This is not my first dabble at 'Blogging', it is in fact my third. However the previous two attempts both crumbled into a mess of cyber dust and so herewith the third attempt!

Blogging this time has more of a purpose though. Here, I hope to document and report back on the adventure I'm about to embark on in one weeks time to India... which is very exciting stuff!

And so ladies and gentlemen please take your seat and fasten your seat belt. Please ensure that your seat back and folding trays are in their full upright position and let's get ready to rumble...


Callum <>< x