Madness in the house

Things have been pretty hectic and exciting the last few days. Teaching is going great! The kids are really starting to warm up to us now and are coming out of their shell. The ones who wouldn’t talk and just sat around crying are now starting to smile and colour in with the others. They are so cute and small and Annie and I love cuddling them. The orphanage boys are a lot of fun too, but a bit of a handful. Annie and I have got by far the biggest group so it’s hard to keep them entertained and under control.

Since I’ve been here, there has been a total of 13 volunteers in the house (the 6 Australians I came with, and 7 others). On Friday we say goodbye to 6 of these others – Becca, Katie, Tom, Pratik, Lotta and Alisa. It was quite sad as these were the people who helped us settle in and showed us around. But we dressed up in our sari’s and went out for a farewell dinner (where we saw the most amazing night time views of the city lake) which was nice. The 7 of us left, had a day to ourselves before the madness started.

We have gone from 13 volunteers, down to 7, and now up to 30 volunteers (plus 4 coordinators)!!! It will only remain like this for a couple of weeks, but it is going to be a totally crazy time in the share house… wish me luck!

In other news, I’ve been doing quite a bit of shopping (with some shisha along the way), which is so amazing and fun as I get to haggle. We visited Udaipur’s only roof top pool which was like a little break into paradise – so beautiful. We’ve also been doing lots of cooking lessons. And the most exciting news is… we’ve booked a trip out to Jodhpur this weekend! We’ll be doing a camel safari where we get to sleep under the stars (as well as sightseeing in Jodhpur). It was very last minute but I’m so excited to go.

That’s all from India this week folks!

Settling In

So here I am, at the end of my first week in India. And what a week it has been!! Here’s what I’ve been up to. It only took me a bout three or four days to settle in. I was very homesick on Wednesday, which was hard for me because I’ve never experienced it before, this being my first time away from home over a week. I’m lucky I have the other girls to keep me company.

I’ve started teaching at Bedla Day Care Centre during the day and at the boy’s orphanage in the evenings. The day care centre is challenging because the kids are so young (only 2-6) and don’t understand a lot of what I say, but they are so cute and I love playing with them. The orphanage is fun but the boys can be difficult and hard to control, but they all have a lot of personality.

In between classes we’ve all been doing a lot of shopping in the city (which included buying sari’s!!). Everything is reasonably cheap (although I must say, India is not as cheap as I thought it would be). I’m starting to learn the art of bargaining as well, which is fun. We’ve already had some lunches and dinners out at various spots around the city, which have all been lovely and a nice change.

On Saturday it was Raksha Bandhan (the festival which celebreates the relationship between brothers and sisters) so we all dressed up in our sari’s and visited the boys at the orphanage where we gave them red bracelets and put red tikka in between their eyes.

Other things I’ve been doing are, seeing my first Bollywood film. Which was a very interesting and fun experience as the audience are constantly cheering, clapping, booing and laughing. I’ve also been doing Hindi lessons and cooking classes with the other volunteers and getting Henna done!! Oh and we visited a local disabled school on Independence Day to watch a show, but there was a slight hiccup when I fainted during the national anthem and had to be driven home – oops.

And there you have my first week in India, in a nutshell. Now enjoy my photos J

Washing my clothes like the domestic goddess I am

Making name tags for school

Shoppinng in the city

Sari shopping

Getting ready for dinner

Our henna hands

Sari time!

The orphanage boys

Decorating the boys heads

View of the city

Lunch on a roof top restaurant

Getting henna done

Beautiful roof top view in the evening

Hello India!

Well, here I am. Living in the city of Udaipur, India. After 24 hours of traveling the six of us arrived safe and sound. I only managed to get about an hours sleep during the flights, so I was running off adrenaline. When we stepped out of Udaipur airport we were greeted by about 10 men who all wanted to be our taxi drivers. It was quite funny – they were all really desperate. We were picked up by Ravi (by of the men who lives with us and looks after us) and taken to the share house. The drive there was amazing – watching life go by. Everyone was waving at us and smiling. I couldn’t believe how many cows there were on the roads!!! We had the first day in the house to settle in and relax. We met the other volunteers who were already living there – who are all lovely people! The food is delicious, but dinner was a bit spicy. By the time I went to bed I had been up for 41 hours (with only an hours sleep in the middle on the plane)!! Needles to say I slept like a baby. I've found out that I am teaching at Bedla Day Care Centre with Annie. Bedla is the suburb in Udaipur which we live in. I’ve just woken up and had breakfast, and today we have orientation and get to go visit the actual city. I also thought I'd mention that I don't think I'll be able to put up too many photos while I'm here as the process is terrible slow. Here are some photos from our first day:

My last view of Sydney

Nap time at Delhi airport

Feeling very tired and jetlagged.

On a very different note, you can see me today over at Ask The Duplex with a reader submission.