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?
Callum seriously now, what is it with the food!! I did contemplate getting you all kitted out with the suits for the wedding before you went away but now I'm thinking it was perhaps a good job we didn't!!! :P
ReplyDeleteI am very jealous of the views, and of the weddings?? Does sound like a pretty good idea sat around eating off leaves, but unfortunately I don't think the older ones would be too impressed..lol.
Didn't realise your class was so small, 15 in a school?? NOr did i realise they were so young! Are they well behaved children?
Well I must go and continue with the wedding invites..you'd be impressed with my little card factory :)
xx