Aug 5, 2012 - :)

Oh….and I went to the dentist last week Friday. Basically we have a team of Italian doctors and dentists who are here with the organisation Missione Calcutta. They have worked with Shanti Bhavan for many years and come every year to give all the children and all the staff check-ups and necessary treatment…. for free! They come with lots of donated funds and take care of the children’s teeth and health. My teeth were fine, but many children have had some of their teeth pulled or cavities filled, etc. They are so cute and funny when they come...

Aug 5, 2012 - August already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone! It’s August already, can you believe it! I sure can’t. Time has flown by so quickly. 22 days and mom, Steffy and Suganthi are coming to pick me up at Shanti Bhavan…. Can’t wait for them to see the campus. And the kids can’t wait to meet Suganthi! They are fascinated by the fact that she’s also Indian, and from the same district…Tamil Nadu. But more excitingly I’ve still got three very exciting weeks ahead of me. Mary Mitchell Campbell and Summer just arrived on campus, two very important and fun artistic people. Mary...

Jul 24, 2012 - Birthday in India and Weekend at Shanti Bhavan

Hey everyone, This is going to be a short one. Basically it was my birthday this week and I got to wear a Saree for the first time. I'd bought one when we went to Bangalore. Just because there was a sale and I quite liked the look of this Saree. And I'm very glad i did! Now....I was told it isn't the most comfortable item of clothing to wear, but I must say it was ok. I did feel like it might slide down every hour or so....It didn't, but it's not a nice feeling to think that all day ;) I felt very pretty and loved it when the...

Jul 5, 2012 - Schoolday!!

So, today is School day...The day Shanti Bhavan opened in 1997! The day started as usual, 6:25 on the Physical Training Field with the 4th-7th graders running one lap around the field, doing a few 10sec stretches and 10 jumping jacks, then the 4th and 5th grade girls joined myself and Austin (another Volunteer) for some early morning Dancing. Breakfast is from 7:30 to 8:30 and then classes start on the dot. For the first time this week I didn't have a first period to teach, so I went back to the teachers accommodation, which is located...

Jun 26, 2012 - Chennai

I can highly recommend "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel", best taken reclined in your BA Club seat en route to India. This is was always going to be a strange trip, used to spending multiples of 3 months travelling round the country on a budget, this was a 4 day working trip on expenses in quality hotels and driven everywhere. Still, it doesn't matter what airline and which class of service, it's always an exciting chaos that greats you at any Indian airport. Long queue for immigration but smiles at the desk, an hour to get priority bags to...

Mar 6, 2012 - Chennai (Madras)

Up at 5.30am ready for arrival at Chennai. We were a bit late but this seems to be the norm. We were to be met here by Sanjay, the nephew of Roger's friend, Laxmi, an Indian lady living in Lowestoft. Thankfully he recognised us by our cowboy hats and we were taken back to his mother's house where we are spending the night. His mother, Jaya, met us at the gate of there house, as did their three dogs who greeted us as long lost friends. Jaya had organised a car and driver to take us to a couple of local places of interest so after a shower...

Mar 5, 2012 - Kenyakumari

We had decided to get up to see the sunrise as this was what a lot of people come here especially to see. It is one place where you can see the sun rise and set over the sea from the same place. A lot of people go down to the beach but our hotel faces East and has a flat rooftop so we were able to go up there. A couple of Indian families also joined us. Unfortunately the sunrise was not as spectacular as we had hoped for. The day broke slowly and the sky lightened but a bank of mist hung over the horizon obscuring the sun for a while. Once...

Mar 4, 2012 - Kanyakumari

Heard strange rustling noises in the night and in the morning discovered that a mouse or rat had been into my bag and found a bag of buns that I bought yesterday and forgot about. It had chewed through the plastic that the buns were wrapped in and started on the buns. No time to worry though as we were up at 6am to get ready to go to the train station. The Tuktuk driver was waiting at the gate for us and we were at the station well on time for the 7am train up to Cochi. When we got there we had plenty of time before the train to...

Feb 13, 2012 - Colder Weather

Friday morning I didn’t have Kalari, so I got to sleep in until it was time to go to the medicine man. It was only my third day, but he already had me giving oil massages on my own and he started teaching me how to wrap injuries. I can only imagine what a pro I’ll be by the time I come home! Other than that, it was another normal day working alongside the Ayruvedic medicine man (as if something like that could ever become normal). I also got to know his little daughter who can’t be more than three years old and is the cutest little girl...

Jan 29, 2012 - CouchSurfing on a farm

Kannaiyan was someone we had been in touch for a while, starting back when we were still living in Nahima in Nepal and beginning to plan our India adventure. We found Kannaiyan’s profile on CouchSurfing when we did a broad search of the two southern states, and were immediately excited to find this man who was a farmers’ rights activist and who hosted people out on his family farm in rural India. We stayed in touch with him through email for over a month as we slowly made our way closer and closer to his area, and then finally it all worked...

Jan 26, 2012 - Ooty

Ooty is the most popular tourist destination in the section of the mountains known as the Nilgiris. It is a distinct region because two mountain ranges come together in this zone, and apparently it is very bio-diverse. For us, it was most exciting because we were finally couchsurfing! CouchSurfing.com is a website and a project devoted to helping like-minded people and travelers meet up. It is like a facebook focused solely on interesting interactions. People make profiles about themselves and indicate whether they would like to host other...

Jan 24, 2012 - Coonoor

After leaving Munnar we decided to do something touristy and take an old steam train that climbs through the hill stations and tea plantations. We travelled by bus for an entire day to get to Mettupalayam, the town where the train departs from. Although riding the train is a popular tourist activity, the train lacks the creature comforts that tourist attractions usually provide. Ten people were crammed into a tiny car that was clearly built for five, and there was no place to put our luggage. Thankfully we met some really cool Canadians,...