Day 35 (26th Oct)

Another lovely hot shower and we watched the rest of 'Rang De Basanti' whilst having a scrummy breakfast of guava jam on toast, papaya and pomegranate! O h and red banana!
We had a bit of a chat with Victoria about what we're doing with Celine at the moment and about teaching ideas.
We took an auto back to Karuna Niwas via forum, one of the shopping centres in Bangalore. There we had an Indian style 'snacky' (I was stuffed at the end of it!) lunch which was quite spicy but nice, and I got to try lots of different Indian dishes, as shown below!



Once back we (Me, Maddy, Celine and Victoria) had a chat about what Celine's doing at the moment and where we could go between now and when I go.
We're actually going to kerala tomorrow! YAY! Only staying there for one night but still we're going!!!!! Also Celine says we can have my penultimate week here off to go travelling to Hampi and OOti or wherever. Going to have to knuckle down for the remainder of this week and my final week to sooth my conscious! She's spoilt us so much!
After seeing Victoria off and putting some washing on we had the fireworks... Well lets just say it was educational! Within the space of about 1 minute we'd seen just about every rule in the book (and some more!) broken! Sparklers were flying everywhere and fireworks going off randomly! We relaxed a little after a while though! Perhaps too soon though as I managed to get a hole burned in my trousers by one of Asha Mariya's sparklers!
Had a really nice dinner, apparently it's one of the rare occasions that Celine cooks for everyone.

Day 34 (25th October)

Had leisurely breakfast at about 10am, first hot shower and fast internet connection for 5 weeks and are feeling rather spoilt!
We had a quick look on MG road and got some vegetables for tonights dinner before going to get a much craved after bacon butty at Koshy's! Unfortunately they were out of bread so we had bacon and eggs instead! mm!
Whilst Maddy had her hair cut at Victorias hairdressers (Apparently the most expensive place in town at 10 pounds a cut!) I 'helped' (hmmm!) Vitoria prepare some veg for dinner. I skinned and chopped some rather vicious looking vegetables called bitter gourd (I think that's what it's called!)!
Once Maddy was back we went back to MG road for some shopping.
After we started to watch our first Hindi film of the holiday 'Rang De Basanti.' Didn't manage to finish it but what we did see of it was really good, even with all the subtitles!
After a lovely tea (which we expertly ate with our fingers!) we went out to a party in a hotel, wearing borrowed tops as apparently it was a Bollywood themed night and Victoria had a feeling (which turned out to be corect!) we might want to be a bit more dressy!
Had a really good night trying out our new found Bollywood dance moves (thanks to Ashwell!) and all Victoria and Sudhir's friends were really lovely. Had a fab time dancing away despite the sign by the entrance reading 'Please refrain from dancing!'
Victoria told us earlier that apparently it is illegal for dancing, alcohol and women to be in the same place!! However we were told that this ban is lifted after 10.30 pm!
Had our first taste of Indian firework displays as well! Driving out of Victoria's appartment we saw they were lighting fireworks all along the drive! Thankfully none of them went off underneath us as we drove over them!

Day 33 (24th Oct)

We were working on the pronunciation of 'th' in Alphonz's lesson, they were even worse than you George! We had 'ch's, 't's and 'd's but very few 'th's! No one seemed to want to stick their tongue out!
On the way back from seeing if cyber zone was up and running again yet I popped in to get my eyebrows done and Maddy and I ended up getting full leg waxes! Was hilarious! Maddy kept on squirming away from Anitha and Sushanth's mum! They must think that all English girls are manbeasts now!
We got picked up by Victoria and her boyfriend Sudhir later that evening and she took us to her appartment which was rather snazzy! We're rather excited about the prospect of sleeping in a bed with no mosquito net and having a hot shower in the morning! We met their friend Ashwell and went out for a steak! Yum!

Day 32 (23rd October)

W went over the tongue twisters 'peter Piper' and 'Red lorry, yellow lorry' in Alphonz's and also as quite a lot of there English is actually 'American' we tried to teach them the proper versions! Like 'mum' instead of 'mom' and 'zebra' rather than 'zeeeeeeebra'!

Had run out of our phonics colouring sheets in daycare as Celine hasn't been into town recently. So had to improvise! Mads had the inspired idea of drawing round hands and feet which they enjoyed! I also drew a marvelously accurate aeroplane, rocket and moon(with the help of Maddy!)! Lkshmi helped us in trying to get Jewel and Pranaii to repeat them. We also attempted to teach them the song with actions to 'Heads, shoulders, knees and toes.' but didn't get too far! Think the combination of actions , tune, rhythm and words was too much! Pranaii did later try doing just the actions though which made us feel a little less like tools!

After a venture out to Total we went back to the daycare centre and had a play with Jess, Jewel, Ashish.k and Amu. Lakshmi brought us out some monkey nut type things to eat and right on queue some monkeys appeared on the corrogated plastic roof! Mads rushed to get her camera but by the time she got back Ashish.k had scared them off by lobbing rocks at them!

Day 31 (22nd October)

Finished reading 'The Time and Space of Uncle Albert' today, one of the books Miss Walley has kindly lent me! Was awesome! Loving relativity! Tried to share the joy of physics with Maddy but think I'm fighting a losing battle!

Prenaii (the little shy boy in the daycare) was being rather enthusiastic about colouring today and quite happily chuntering away to me in kanada (One of the many Indian dialects spoken her! I think that's how you spell it!)! Jewel being his usual mischeivous self!

Maddy picked up the photos of our class from yesterday so they should be somewhere on her blog ( madelainescragg.blogspot.com ).

This evening we were once again inundated with huge flying insects! We think they're getting in through a hole in the mosquito net window. Celine says they come out in floods allong with the rain but are harmless ... we still decided to go on a mission to check the mosquito net! Being tallest it was me who had to hoik myself up to check in the face of attack from yet more and plug the hole with a paper towel! We can still hear them thudding into the net everynow and then but they're not getting through now!

At dinner we had a chat with Celine about the Spoken English/Computer Centre, advertising, teaching etc. Also talked about going to see Victoria, Arabella's friend on Friday. Celine says she's also planning on taking us to kerala next week (third time lucky!) by car, and seemed a lot happier about it after we persuaded her that we don't usually travel as badly as our trip to Mysore where Maddy was sick, aand told her about our 36 hour journey to Prague!

Day 30 (21st October)

My biceps are now practically bulging now from all this gym working out we've been doing in the morning!

In Alphonz's lesson we took photos of the class as apparently some of them will be leaving soon. Will be quite sad to see them go as have gotten to know them quite well! But it's good to see that they are going on to using their new found English in a new (hopefully better) job.
I also did a marvelous job of sewing up the white trousers this morning so they no longer trail in the mud!

Had been 'talking' to Arabella via email about how we feel a little 'closeted' and she was negotiating our freedom with Celine so we can go further afield unchaperoned, whilst we played with Amu, Jewel and Jess in the daycare centre. What a gem! I just hope Celine doesn't think we're unhappy and 'going behind her nack' or whatever. She seemed to be happy enough at dinner though and just told us that she'd had a call from Arabella and that if we wanted to go and explore more on our own she'd like us to get out parent's persmission as she'd had emails from both our mums before we came out asking her to look after us and she felt responsible for us! It's very touching she's taking so much care of us but a little restricting!

Oh and in Alphonz's lesson, on discovering she'd forgotten to put a memory card in her camera, Maddy exclaimed 'Oh B#**#@!s!.' Not sure whether everyone or anyone knew what she meant but there was a certain amount of laughter anyway, though whether that was just due to my reaction or not I don't know!

Day 29 (20th October)

Said good bye to Raquell who's going back to Mumbai today. Otherwise a pretty much 'normal' day. Did some more work on pronunciation with Alphoz's class and did the phoneem 'P' in the daycare.

After lunch we went on a quest to find toilet roll! The stuff that we usually get happened to be the most awkward, out of reach one! The guy ended up knocking down half the shelf to get it for us! Or should I say me as Maddy had retreated to the far corner of the supermarket in an attempt to distance herself from this troublesome English girl and her poncy toilet roll!

We helped Ashish.k with some of his homework and did some handwriting with Asha.

Got a call from my mummy!

Day 28 (19th October)

Into second half of my time here!
Had rather a lot of confusion over what was happening with the computers and the electrician! Raquell had told us that the electrician should be coming at 10am to the computer centre so could we be there then (or I think that's what she aid as I was in a half conscious state still at 7am!). But when we spoke to Jiny later (I've been spelling her name wrong!) she said the electricians arrived yesterday!
Anyway we ended up going to Total with Merin and Anitha and had having a pizza corner again! Was lovely and wet there and back!
We went to get Maddy's eyebrows threaded (see charming photo attatched!) and picked up the photos we were getting 'developed' at the photoshop. Both Celine and juny were dead chuffed with their huge photo of everyone in the tree on our picnic the other week!

Had another really scrummy take away this evening with the hand bread and barbied chicken! mmmmmm!

Day 27 (18th October)

Had 3 eggs, a bun, a slice of toast, a banana and an orange for breakkie!!!!!
The kids in the day care wereplaying happily outside so we didn't force them inside to do phoneems! We did give them Arabella's rubix cube to have a crack at though!
We'd started going over some pronounciation and phonics with Ginny in the afternoon when the tweins came in for their lesson, so we combined the two and had the pop and biscuits we'd bought specially for our saturday lessons! We had to almost force the biscuits on the twins! ...The younger ones took less persuasion! Although none of them got as hi and rowdy as we'd dreaded! We did actually managed to teach a bit on birthdays!

Later that evening Ashish.k came round to drop off the rubix cube ...uncompleted!

Day 26 (17th October)

Maddy not feeling too well this morning, think she's coming sown with Sushanth's cold as he was coughing all over ehr in yesterday's lesson!
Raqs came along to Alfonz's lesson this morning which was interesting! She helped organise a 'debate' just before we left for the daycare of 'love' marriages against arranged marriages. Suprisingly 'love' marriages were in the majority!
After daycare and lunch Merin took us to the local tailors to finally get our material made into something wearable! It's going to set us back Rs180 with lining! that's like 2 pounds 25 pence! It should be ready on teh 27th, so just in time for Diwali!
We went to Total (the supermarket) to get some more food etc. and Maddy bought some red wine to make her feel more civilised?!?!?!?!?!
Maddy still wasn't feeling too well so I did the kids lessons which turned out just to be the younger ones as the twins were out with their mum. We did 'questions' and made get well soon cards for Maddy who was coughing and sneezing away reading Mills and Boon!

Day 25 (16th October)

Had a some roti masala for breakfast which is like a ricey pancake. Had one with sugar and a couple with curry!
We went into town to find the hostel Raquelle was thinking of staying at, then went to MG (Mahatma Ghandi) road fo a 'coffee' (me and Mads had juice and hot chocolate!). Then Maddy and I went in search of books in the Gangaram book shop. It was awesome! Was h\huge! Books piled everywhere, and was beaten only by a smaller bookshop we found off one the main street where the walls seemed to be made from piles of books! I bought 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time' and a Philipa Gregory book. Don't actually think I'll get round to reading them by the time I've left but the books are cheaper here than in the UK. Maddy on the other hand who is a lightening reader bought 6 altogether and I bet she'll finish them within the week!
We also had a look at some of thestreet stalls and bought a cool beady necklace!
Getting back to Karuna Niwas was a bit of a mission! Celine had asked Raqs to take us back by bus for the experience... just waiting was an experience! We got an auto to the city circle where we were supposed to be able to catch a bus. It was manic! Didn't have a clue which bus to get! When eventually we figured out it would be about half an hour before the next bus back we caved and got an auto rickshaw instead!
Also whilst out we withdrew (or tried to!) money from the ATM on MG road. Maddy's worked fine but mine didn't! We ended up trying it at about 6 different ATMs! But to no avail! My marvelous mother found out that apparently I can't use my card abroad! SINCE WHEN!!!!! Anyway emergency averted, am now using The Bank of Mads!
Also realised today that I haven't brought any earrings with me so my ears are in danger of closingup so Raquell has very kind me lent me some of hers!
The kids classes were pretty draining today as we were rather tired. Asha Mariya brought along her brother who's back from boarding school for the holiday.
Celine told us yet more stories over dinner!

Backpacking!

After a bit of research on the internet last night and searching through our guide books at great length we have decided we're going to take the Hampi Express which is a sleeper train, sets off at about 10 30pm thursday night and arrives in Hospet near Hampi at about 8am the following morning. We'll then get the regular bus which takes about half an hour over to Hampi and book into a guest house. We then plan to go to to Gokarna by bus spend a couple of days there and then return by an over night bus to Bangalore. This is all in Karnataka.
:D

Day 23 (14th Oct)

Went to the gym this morning!!!!!!!! Sat and had breakfast at the same time as we're usually waking up at!
We managed to ask Celine to photocopy us some of mums's phonics sheets for us to use in the day care 'lesson'. So we took those along with us after Alfonz's lesson. It was only Ashish.k, Asha Mariya and Jewel (the young boy who knows a few words of English) but we had fun colouring in the sheets with crayons! We tried to keep repeating words beginning with the phoneem (S) and getting them to think of words that began and had S in them. Think some of it sunk in!
We did a poster of Celine in Bridget and Ann Mary's lesson and had a good giggle later on when we showed her them!

Day 22 (13th October)

Breakfast in the kitchen with everyone. We had a weird noodly dish with sweet coconut milk which was very nice. I have been asking the names of dishes but I'm terrible at remembering them! SO Raquell (hope I've spelt your name right!)if you're reading this and could help me out on the name that would be fab!
Celine has asked us to start going to the day care for half an hour or so each day to teach English.Planning on just introducing ourselves today and perhaps going through the alphabet?
We went to Alfonz's lesson armed with our instruments which we had promised to take. Guys were obviously much more impressed by the big, manly, shiny sax! Mady also managed to ask 'Why do most Indian men have moustaches?!' This resulted in us being asked whether we liked men with moustaches! To which we mumbled ourselves out of an answer and were then told that the reason for the huge number of moustaches was because apparently Indian women prefer men with moustaches which Roja confirmed!
Next to the day care! Was rather awkward at first as some of the younger ones were quite shy, whilst Mariya and Ashish.k who already know us from their classes were buzzing! However pretty soon they got used to us and chaos ensued! So much for 30 minutes!We only managed to get away about an hour and half later and were ready for our lunch!
We were quite suprised by the varying abilities of English. On little boy knew none what so ever, another knew a few words and the alphabet, whilst a slightly older girl knew rather a lot! This made it very hard to actually 'teach' any English. But we drew out some letters of the alphabet and went through some nursery rhymes on a poster on the wall as the young girl Jess acted teacher!
We managed to make a plan for the children's lessons in the afternoon which we were pretty proud of, with the help of my star mother!
The lessons went really well, and were a lot less stressful!
Lana left this evening back to Mumbai.

Day 21 (12th Oct)

Got the bus into town with Ginny, Merin and Anitha to get our outfits (still bits of material) tailored. Turned out none of them were open as it was a Sunday ,but we had a good look at the market and Maddy bought some ginger and a pineapple among the masses of fruit and vegetables that were on sale!
Later Maddy had great fun attacking the pineapple with a blunt knife! Was very tasty!

In the evening we were desperately racking our brains for ideas for the childrens' lessons where they were starting to get a bit restless. Every idea we came up with just turned out not to be feasible. We were getting a little bit down by tea time, but dinner with Celine, Lana and Raquell helped! Celine and Lana between them made sure there were no awkward silences! Was interesting to listen to them both though. Celine told us a few stories about her travels and also some of the women and children at the centre. She really is and incredible lady and was apparently quite a mischievous nun!

Eventuallly got into bed at 11.30.

Day 20 (11th Oct)

Got round to the subject of alcohol in the lesson today. When we told them the drinking age was 18 in the UK they asked whether it was the same for men and women!
Celine's friend and her niece arrived this evening, Lana and Raquell. They're both really lovely! Celine got us to play some clarinet and sax for them. We got talking about Celine's Christmas celebrations, am quite disappointed I won't be around for them!
Me and Mads did some CRAZY aerobics! Then went to bed :D

Hi everyone!
Sorry I haven't updated you in quite a while but really slow internet, having to get uni applications off and being relatively busy haven't given me much time! Celine's internet should be up really soon so hopefully will get a chance to catch up then. But until then thought I'd let you know that we're both doing fine and are currently at Arabella's friend Victoria's flat in the city centre and are being spoilt with a fast internet connection and even watched some new on the TV! Didn't realise how much we've missed in the past 5 weeks.
We went out for dinner with Victoria, her boyfriend and their friend and I feel really bad but I can't remember their names! Stayed the night and Victoria's taking us round the city centre today. Also probably going to stay another night and try and catch some early Diwali celebrations tonight! Feel a bit guilty that we're missing some of the English lessons and teaching the children, but Celine seemed quite pleased that we were getting out (in I nice way I hope!).
Only 3 weeks left :s !

Day 19

After luch we went to the supermrket but it was closed. On the way back I got my eyebrows plucked at the beauty salon, quick but argh the pain! My eyes were watering quite considerably! Was only 15 RP. Maddy's turn nexy week!
The kids are getting a bit more fidgety in the lessons! The twins didn't come today as they were out with their mum.
Celine bought some doughnuts for us from total and later on was burning murr.

Day 18 (9th October)

We're going shopping today! We met Ginny, Merin, Anita and another lady staying at the refuge at 10 and caught the bus into the city centre. Was 30 rupees (40p) for a return journey, but but a LOT of people seem to use the buses and I'd guess they don't need that much maintainance!
The front of the bus is given priority to ladies! Which was handy for us as it was pretty packed but not entirely sure how I felt about it...
We visited a few stalls off the main street. We took off our flip flops outside and sat around on the cushioned floors with walls of packs of material around us! The shop keepers then began to chuck packs down and we started to look through to see if there was anything we liked. Felt a sorry for the shop owners having to put ALL the packs back up as out of the 6 of us we only bought one pack! Instead of the ready made salwars we hd bought with Celine they were just packs of the material which you have to go and get tailored. Much more exciting! Maddy bought a beautiful blue and goldy one and I got a similar ble and cream one.
The lady we didn't know too well was a hardened haggler! She saved us a fair few rupees! However I felt a bit bad at taking the beautiful silks reduced from 6 to 4 pounds!
We had a really nice lunch as well. Butter naan bread and cream chicken!
Once back we had a half an hour break before the kids lessons. We taught them te bananas of the world unite song!
Had a mass clean as found squillions of ants crawling over one of our kitchen tables! ARGHHH!!
xxx

Day 17 ... so far!

Not having the best start to the day! Smashed a cereal bowl and broke the handle on the mosquito net window in the bathroom!
Spent the first hour of Alfonz's lesson having about the differences between marriage etc. in England and India. It seems that the vast majority of marriages in India are arranged. And if the childern go against the parents wishes they are cut off! Also appears the average age for women to get married is 18-21 whilst for men it's 22-25 !!!!
We also got onto discussing the politics of both countries, one of the men there thoughtthat having one "good' man would be better than having a democracy. I guess we've both had different experiences of different political structures.
xxx

Day 16 (Oct 7th)

Had torrential rain most of last night and must have slept through alarm!
Managed to get to the English centre in time though and weedle a syllabus out of Alfonz, even if it's not for our use! We feel a bit usless as we're not really teaching, we just sit in the lesson, occasionally correcting grammar and pronunciation anc joining in structured conversations.
After 'teaching' we went to cyberzone where the internet was being extremely temperamental!
For the kids lesson we went over the phonics from the previous 2 lessons and introduced the next set. After the phonics the kids became facinated with photos and videos on our phones and ipods and were enjoying fiddling withMaddy's speakers!
It was 6pm by the time they went and we had a bit of a bug infestation to deal with as the door hadd been open for the duration of the lesson! We were running around with flip flops and wet tea towels! I managed to splat a few mosquitos with my flip flop! Next came a HUGE flying bug! Much screaming and cowering ensued until eventually we managed to trap it under a glass! Then we had to undertake the mission of trasfering them outside without them coming back in or flying in our faces and eating us!!!!!
We retreated to the bedroom at 7.30 only to find yet another huge flying bug! This one was not so lucky! Maddy got it with Mr. Muscle and put a mug over it for good measure!
We then had a chat with Celine as she'd just gotten back from Mysore. She managed to reassure us about the teaching. It seams we're going to be teaching a different class which hasn't started yet. She also told us that her friends neice is coming to stay in a while and so we'll have some more company. Then we had a bit of a talk about the typical kind of Indian man with her, and how they generally like the feeling of being needed as the stronger one in the family.
xxx

Day 15 (Oct 6th)

Got up for first official lesson! Took Maddy 20mins to get out of bed! We're hoping as Alfonz, the guy who's taking one of the English lessons, is here today we might get a better idea of what exactly we're going to be teaching etc! I was not to be! He seemed to know even less than us! We were trying to suggest that he taught for the first hour, then we would go over the pronunciation for the words and sentences he had taught, but he seemed to think we had our own exact plan of what we wanted to teach! So once again we bluffed along with some phonics. One sentence was "The fish and chip shop..." which Anil pronounced as "De piss and chip sop"! We also went over some words which sound the same but have a different meaning and spelling like plain and plane.
After lunch we went to the supermarket to get some paper for the kids lessons.
Some random guy approached us and shook our hands on the way there. I think it's just the novelty of seeing a "white" person but was still a bit of a weird experience!
Also at the shop the guy didn't have the right change so instead of giving us the 2.5 rupees gave us a few sweets!
For the kids lesson we did posters of their names with sentences like: "I have a younger brother called George", "I like to swim" underneath their name in bubble writing. It ended up taking the whole lesson so we'll have to get back to the next set of phonics tomorrow!
Oh and I sliced Maddy's finger open in cards! Whoops!
xxx

Day 14

Well we've had quite a hectic weekend! We've taught 3 lessons which we didn't know we had until a minutes before in some cases and have been a little mit miffed about the lack of organisation but have just laughed about it really, and done the best we can! The past few days there's been a Hindu festival going on in the evenings with VERY loud music! We went out to have a peek at the parade last night, Maddy in her pygamas, with very cool drum music going on and lots of bright lights and idols.
We also went to the super market and were brave enough to ask for: a tea strainer, a tea pot, hair bobbles, glue and fly paper! The last cause the greatest amusement as we tried to explain how it worked and what it was meant to do. In the end one of the guys came out with this electrified tennis racket and was demonstrating its effectiveness with a pair of scissors! We didn't buy it in the end!
Are starting teaching properly next week but should hopefully still get time to go on the internet.
Missing you all!
xxx

Day 11

OK guys have finally manage to catch up on my journal! Sorry it' a bit 'we did this and then we did that!' Just quite hard to remember stuff which has happened a few days ago!
Today's another public holiday as it's Ghandi's birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GHANDI! Apparently no one eats meat on this day as Ghandi was a vegetarian. For breakfast we had chicken sausages! To be honest if we'd known about the whole Ghandi's birthday at this point it would have been a good excuse why not to eat the delicious things!
At 10 we went off to see Celine's lawyer about his newspaper article. Overall was a rather weird experience, and am not too sure what to make of the guy. On the one had, he writes this Newspaper, which is basically trying to inform the less informed of what is going on in Indian politics (basically a lot of corruption!), and on the other hand he's writing this extremely stereotypical James Bond style "novel" with lots of AK 47's, tall, beautiful "but bold!" western girls and lots of danger! This he spent the vast majority of the time we were with him talking about, and explaining how he wants us to edit it from the 52 extracts he put it in his newspapers as, so it can be published and made into a book, and at the publishing ceremony he'll be able to say ' oh yes and it was editted by these two lovely English girls here Marty (totally didn't get Maddy's name!) and Sara!' I think generally he's got his head up in the clouds, both with this book publishing business and some of the political ideals I was getting from doing the newspaper. Also have found that most Indians we have talked to here have the idea that England is 'perfect'. On all the bill boards the people's faces are tinted paler etc. It's quite hard to explain but as the only impression they have of England is from books and films they seemed to have taken the most materialistic, stereotypical version of us. How they can deem this as perfect I'm not sure!
Anyway we're off! Have managed to upload some photos from my camera, but onto Maddy's blog as my computer doesn't like my camera!
Also Celine says her computers and internet should be up next we now! We're not holding our breath!
xxx

Day 10 (1st Oct)

It was Id-Ul-Fittr, a public holiday, so we went out for the day with Ginny, her friend from the feast, 2 other ladies (one with a baby, very cute!) and 6 of the children we'll be teaching soon.
Had no idea that morning until Ginny came in! But it's quite exciting not knowing where you might be going the next morning!
We went and did all the touristy bits. Walked in a few gardens, one of which we had a picnic in! Been ages since I went to a picnic! Eas really nice to see the kids running around and playing, despite this grumpy old woman telling them off for running on the grass! Ginny's friend told them to tell her that she's jsut jealous because she can't run around like that any more! One of the girls - I feel terrible but can't for the life of me remember her name - had what looked like burn scars all over her left arm and neck.
We also had a walk round 'Tipi Sultan's Palace' (not worth the 100RP but quite intersting to have a look round all the same), a museum/art gallary (again not really my thing, especially as at this point I was hot and getting a little tired) and a science museum. In the science museum we went to see 'The Science Show.' Used to London's science shows I was quite suprised, but amused, to walk in to find a small room consisting of a few rows of plastic chairs and a slightly raised 'platform' where the guy stood and 'made science fun!' Although to Maddy and me the performance was rather embarrassing compared to what we're used to, the kids were delighted with some of the colour changes etc!
After the science place Ginny and co. managed to get the driver to take us to the park they had intended to take us all to in the first place for a train ride. Unfortunately by this time the trai rides had finished for the day, but the children were happy enough playing in the park.
We had a lovely day and after tea we decided to make a rather fabulous music video of 'Stacy's Mum'.
COMING SOON TO A MUSIC CHANNEL NEAR YOU!
xxx

Day 7 (28th Sept)

Didn't do much today at all.
Finished off the newspaper for Celine's lawyer. Also Alfonz came round and asked if we would write him a roleplay script to use in his English lessons. We decided to d one about a chippy!
Read NewScientist and 'Physics of the Impossible' for a bit.
Cards weren't on my side today!
Tried to get muddy staid out of my salwar pants but to no avail!
xxx

Day 6 (27th Sept)

Getting used to the cold showers now!
Didn't really feel like breakfast this morning, but managed some fried egg and some ricey Indian dish.
Put a wash on and started on 'The Justice News Paper' (note that Newspaper is spelt as 2 different words!) again. It's quite a lot of work and is taking a while to do because as well as correcting grammer etc. We also are having to try and understand what he's trying to say in the first place, but we're getting there.
After forcing down some lunch we decided to go for a walk and get some toilet roll(very exciting stuff!), small packet of crisps for Mads and a kettle for her caffine cravings! We stepped onto the now smooth road outside the gate and managed to make a few cementy footprints before it hit us that we were walking on a newly cemented road and we were directed by the guard into the gutter! Didn't like to think what we were trudging in!
No kettle but found toilet roll and crisps. Was looking for toilet roll on shelf happily chattering away to Maddy about whether we should just get 2 or not, only to turn round to fid 2 Indian guys staring at me like I was some kind of loon! Can you blame them really!
On wa back we stopped at the cyber cafe to check emails, facebook and blogs. Got confirmation from Cambridge that they've received my application and a link for the SAQ form to fill in. Am a bit apprehensive about doing this between India and the UK but it'll get done!
Once back saw Ginny who said she'd do our salwar tops and showed us the rubbish tip. Tried to do a bit of pronunciation with her as well which was a bit of a challenge!
xxx

Day 5 (26th)

Late start as just resting today apparently! Have found new mosquito bites! But shan't bore you with details!
Did some cleaning in the bathroom (yes mum) and ate lunch. Feel like am constantly eating! Don't get me wrong it's all good stuff, but I feel so bad when I can't eat ALL of what Celine gives us, and she gives us a lot! Then after frantically searching for my solo card for 1/2 an hour we admitted defeat and walked to the supermarket centre...place...thing.
Stocked up on reading material and found mounds of Agatha christi! Then went to get some cleaning products. Everything's so much cheaper here!
We were going to get a tuk tuk back, just for the experiece, but the guys we were asking wanted 60 RP for a 5 min journey! I know that's like 80 pence but when we asked Celine later she said we were right not to take it as it should only be 20 RP tops! They were just trying to rip us off because we're foreighners!
When back we had tea! Spaghetti and fish for me with stirfried veg, very nice! But absolutely stuffed! Also Ginny brought us cake from one of the women's birthday last night. We're going to be as big as a house!! A little disappointed we weren't invited to party!
After tea we did a bit of a spring clean with the help of Mr Muscle! Nice to have non'greasy table for a change! Oh and found my sdolo card under a pile of Maddy's photos. YAY! Was starting to worry a bit!
After playing cards where I won!!! for the SECOND TIME today! Celine brought us a newspaper which her lawyer has asked us to proof read. Maddy has decided that she wants to do it now being the English weirdo that she is, and keeps sporadically saying things like "good grief!" and "WHAT!".
Just waiting for a call from home whilst trying (MADDY!) to read the NewScientist.
Oh yeah and we found a huge (dead thankfully) cockroach (we think) in the room! For photographic evidence of me binning it refere to Maddy's blog!

xxx

Just a quickie! I;m being a lazy on the photo front but I think Maddy's putting some up on hers as we speak :D
madelaine.scragg.blogspot.com

Day 4 (25th Sept)

Not quite as early a start as we thought as Reggie had to pick up his wife from the hospital where she works. We got on the road by about 5.30am. It was about a 2 hour drive to Mysore, I wanted to sleep bet at the same time wanted to be looking out the window as we went past the scenery of India I had been really looking forward to seeing. Jungle book scenery! Huge boulders up in teh hillside with green greenery all round, and paddy fields, some drying out. Celine told us before that they have not had as much rain as usual this monsoon, and due to global warming (possibly!) the temperature is hotter than usual.
Our first stop was to look at the plots of land available for Celine to buy. All seemed very nice complared to Bngalore; very peaceful and beautiful. Also they were not too far away from the police station, hospital and shops.
Before going out to see them we had breakfast at the guy who showed them to us house and met his wife, child, mother and father (inlaw?). We had bread, cheese, a anana (oh yes! They're growing on me actually!) and a ricey type indian dish which was good.
Celine then took us to Mysore palace. Some of the rooms were pretty impressive and you've got to appreciate the workmanship, but buildings aren't really my kind of think. We had to take our shoes off to go in though which was quite a novelty! As were the urine stains in the corner of the stairways!
We had lunch at The Palace Hotel. The food was delicious as was not too spicy -apparently they're used to foreigners!
Bird sanctuary next. Wasn't too birdy to be quite honest! But on the boat the surroundings were beautiful and we saw several alligators (or crocodiles not sure which!) on rocks and in the lake.
On way back Maddy didn't feel too well but felt OK later. Beat me the quoterly 5 times at cards , Killed some mosquitos and went to bed!
xxx

Day 3 (24th Sept)

Went out into Bangalore and first stop was to get a sim card. Celine had to go and get it as she said it was nlikely they'd give one to me because of their use in terrorism. Then we went to the police station which was quite a while away as traffic was bad. Made me feel a bit guilty as apparently Celine usually goes in a lot earlier to avoid the traffic but she had to take us lazy bums! Once at the Police station we were told we didn't need to register because we weren't staying for over 6 months! Celine was pleased though as it seems it usually takes a lot of paperwork and time!
Post office was next to deliver Maddy's letter. Was cool as to stick down stamps and envelopes there were little pots of glue! Simple things ...!
Driving round we've seen a lot of slumlike areas, varying in degres of slumminess. The "rivers" are really horrible too, like liquid dirt acrrying rubbish. Also getting used to guys randomly dropping their kegs at the side of the road and taking a leak! (yes the vegetable :P)
We then took a tuk-tuk (awesome!)with Celine to a new shopping centre by the refuge where we had lunch at a pizza place (allong with the cockroach under the table!) and bought lunch for tomorrow.
Was a 15 min walk back but was rather hot at this point!
Finished ALL our tea for the first time!
Maddy whooped me some more at cards and decided she wanted to keep a tally of just how many times she has whooped me just to make me feel better!

Going to bed early as early start tomorrow. We have to be gone by 5am!!!!
Still completely in the dark about teaching!

xxx

St Michael's day!

Hey guys!
Me and Maddy we're coming to and about to have breakfast at about 8:45 when Ginny comes in and tells us we are all going to a function at 10! I know we had over an hour but we needed to suncream and mozzi up etc! And I needed to iron (yes I know what one is mum!) my salwar which I had washed (yes mum I know what that is aswell!) the night before and so instead of being brown around the bottom is just beige instead! Note to anyone going to India and considering buying a Salware DON'T GET A WHITE ONE! Will give you some more detailed posts when Celine gets her internet up and running, but anyway the function!
It turned out to be a feast for St. Micheal's day for the single mums at a convent near by. So after a wonder round we attended their service... their 2 hour long service I might add! Was a bit awkward as not sure how much we were expected to join in, us not being Catholic! But I tried to bow my head at the aprpriate places and stood, sat and knelt when everyone else did!
After we went into the gardeny place and had our first proper indian curry which was a little too hot for me to eat all of what was on my plate, but I did my best without crying! Then had a ricey, bananary, nutty pudding which was nice, but strangly caused me to feel the burning in my mouth more!
And that's been about it for today! We dropped of an English roleplay for Alfonz which we promised we'd write for him yesterday, and have been trying to avoid the mosquitos whilst waiting for Celine to return!
Anyway I'm off,
Best wishes to everyone,
xxx

Saturday 27th!

Ok guys quick update as incredibly slow computer time running out!
Jerry is ... or should i say was!!!! our roomy, we have soe photos for you when we get the chance to upload them, his web has mysteriously disappeared so unfortunately I can not tell you with certainty whether he is alive or dead unfortunately!
A salwar kameez is like a really long top with huge pantaloons!
No we haven't got the squirts yet!
Going to have to go1
Glad things are all normal there!
Hope uni is great Helen and everyone else,
xxx

Day 2

Jerry has survived and relocvated to the oposite corner of the dorway!
Today we're going into the town to register with the police, find some more local clothing, get money our and find an internet spot which is where I'm at now (obviously!). We didn't get out till much later than we planned because Celine was waiting for a guy who was supposed to turn up at 9 but got here at about 12! Both Maddy and I have bought 2 salwar kamises (I think that's what they're called!), and then met Celine's sister and her husband who were both very nice. We're on our way back now. Sorry I haven't been able to upload photos yet, but hopefully I'll get the opportunity soon. Boy its varm in here!
Anyway I think I better go now Celine's waiting for us upstairs.
Hope you are all well!
xxx

Day 1

Maddy has just murdered Jerry the spider! Jerry lives in the corner of the doorway and Maddy's just sprayed it with insect repellant, she's had it in for him since we arrived!
We had a slow starting day and got up at 11am! had 2 fried eggs on toast a banana (oh yes!) and then about 20mins later lunch! Which for me was prawns (slightly spicy!) rice and veg. Had shower before brunch which was cold and rather pathetic but just about managed to wash!
Then Ginny, Celine's assistant took us to the classroom we will be teaching in and we met prf. Alfonz who had just finished teaching his own English class. We talked to him for about half an hour about our familys education and future aspiriations which was quite hard to explain because of the limits of vocab for careers etc. Also it seems like in India it is not the done thing to go to university without know where you will eventually end up!
We were then taken to the beauty parlour, one of Celine's small enterprises run by the women where we saw a lady get her eyebrows plucked using string! We also went to the daycare centre for a short while and saw some of the kids there eating lunch, all were very cute and friendly if not I bit shy! Celine says we will be doing some English teaching there too, but mainly on pronunciation.
When we got back Celine was coming in with a huge fridge, iron and ironing board for us! The to make us feel more guilty we then watched Ginny drill holes in the wall so we can put our mosquito nets up properly as the metal poles didn't work too well! Celine didn't seem to be too bothered about the holes though and was impressed with us having mosquito nets which only needed one hook!
After tea which was a pasta dish, some eggy potatoey, oniony thing, boiled eggs and veg we went to bed pretty well straight away in our newly put up mosquito nets!

Arrived!

Well We've arrived in India! The flights went really smoothly, no delays, and Celine was there waiting for us in her red Shari when we arrived. Had a rather interesting first experience of Indian traffic, a lot like Peru but faster! It appears there are no real rules of the road appart from honking your horn to let people know that you will be coming through! And our first siting of a cow was in the truck in front erm ... releaving itslef! Was about an hour and a half drive to Karuna Niwas (So dad you were miserably wrong!) and about 30 degrees outside!We settled into our room, which I have pictures of which I will try to upload at some point and Celine then took us to a restaurant for tea. Was quite hot in the restaurant so Celine asked ... no told the waiters to put the fan on for us, which then fused and caused all the lights in the place to go out! thankfully they got them back on again!
Celine asked us about our families and told us about all she is doing at Karuna Niwas at the moment including renting out rooms, a beauty parlour, computer courses (not yet set up) and English language courses (That's us!). She also told us how she is trying to move the location, as her curent building is becoming over looked and she said privicy for the girls she houses there is very important because of the taboo of having children out of wedlock etc. This week Celine says is just going to be for resting and exploring the surroundings a bit, buying so less obvious clothing and going to see a couple of the temples etc. which I'm very much looking forward to. Western clothing stands out a lot more than we thought it would and I felt a lot more comfortable in the kaftan you got me thanks mum!

Abyway first night we went straight to bed just about and had fun trying to put our mosquito nets up without any hooks!

Hello!

Hello everyone!

As you can see I have made a Blog! yay! And the plan is that I put photos and stuff up on it! yay!

As you will probably see Maddy is far outstripping me on the whole blogging thang and I have no intention of even trying to compete with her, however if anyone can help me in trying to make it look a little bit more interesting that would be lovely!

We're leaving on Saturday the 20th from Manchester if anyone wants to come and bid us an emotional farewell? And I arrive back in Manchester on the 15th November, again gifts and emotional welcomes will be gratefully accepted!

Anyway those uni goers try not to forget me as you have an awesome time at freshers weeks and meet new, more attractive, more interesting friends (likely!) I shall miss you all much.
Laters!