Monday 28 September
Dessera - no work - holiday
we just relaxed around Sangam and painted some more pictures for our new creche's walls
gwen and jill left as their time had some to an end
Tuesday 29 September
back at our creche
we had fun with the kids as it had been a holiday and we were given a lot of money leaves
the money leaves need to be kept inside a book and they are worth their weight in gold
Wednesday 30 September
today was our usual wednesday off where we have our Hindi class
we also had a great day as we tried out a course at the polytechnic of the muslim girls orphanage
our choices were indian tie dyeing or candle making
I choose tie dyeing and it was so interesting once we saw our completed squares
in the evening jane, arielle and I went out with some guys jane met in Leh on a rafting trip
we had an interesting evening, saw some new parts of pune, and went to stonewater which is next to hard rock but is more techno
Thursday 1 October
today we were back at work and it was hard work!
we always find that we never do anything right with the kids
in the morning I took the little kids 4-6 and we did animals games while mollie took the older kids 6-14 with friendship bracelet making
in the afternoon we had a crazy time and made paper hats out of newspaper ... it was chaos but great fun and even two weeks later the kids still wear their hats in the afternoon
I felt really nauseaus and slept all afternoon/evening
we had a trefoil lady come early before their old lady event who collapsed and was in ICU for over a week with severe dehydration - so if you get the runs, do something about it don't ignore it!! especially in India
Friday 2 October
Gandhi's Birthday
holiday for mobile creche so .... I went to door step school
in the morning I cleaned our CVP area in the programme room, and tried to finish laminating my amazing flash cards
in the afternoon I went to help the swedes at door step school
door step school is another community organisation Sangam works with ... the kids seem more wealthy but there are some street kids who I amazingly got involved in a fun game of cat and mouse
I had an interesting rickshaw ride to door step school .... it cost me 100r and was a pune ticky tour!
Saturday 3 October
Mumbai
today we had an early start to catch our 7.15am train to mumbai and it was really fascinating ride, in the women's carriage ... it was all 5 cvp's mollie linnea sara katusko and i plus our new programme vols jane and arielle
we got to mumbai and went straight to our hostel - the salvation army red shield hostel, it was clean and cheap and had a good breakfast
then we headed straight down to the gateway of india to try for elephanta island ..... but of course we could not go as it was threatening rain and the boats were not going so we decided to try again on Sunday
we had a delicious lunch at a real bakery and then we split up and went to the museums
I went to the Prince of Wales museum which was filled with all sorts of good stuff ... especially statues of hindu gods and goddesses
we had a nice cool down in Barista and then it was time for shopping!
we had a great time shopping on coloba broadway at the stalls linning the roadside
I brought a really cool maxi dress that is short enough for me and some jewellery - stone necklaces
we had dinner at Leopolds - leopolds is a mumbai travellers/expats institution - it was also targeted last year with the mumbai bombings which makes me a little scared as it is like right in the heart of tourist central
I had bad chilli pains so I had some spaghetti bolognaise and it was delicious
most interesting about leopolds was they served yardies on their beer menu and random french ladies asked you to pose for pics for their mag/newspaper articles
I went home early after dinner with linnea who ate some bad chicken and katsuko while the others went to a club near the maidens
Sunday 4 October
Mumbai part two
during the evening a massive storm hit mumbai, it was very firece electric, the lightening lit up like a light bulb and the thunder was so loud it was like a drum over your head .. so it was safe to say we did not get much sleep that night!
in the morning it was still raining so we made the decision over a delicious breakfast of semi normal bread, hard boiled egg and an amazing banana to find some other things to do instead of elephanta
so we went to gandhi's house which was pretty cool and we even managed to catch the bus there!
and then we went to see what was showing at the cinema but it was all in hindi so we spent a couple of hours at a bookshop with a cafe and then we went to have lunch at a very recommended restaurant by mumbaites and the guide book .... it had food from all over the world
it was ok, I wouldnt rave about it!
after lunch we walked through the maidens as the rain had stopped a bit to the shopping area to spend some time poking round in the department stores
it was a real treasure of a walk as we saw some great things like the university and some cool buildings and some neighbourhoods ... after a bit of a search we found the Bombay Store and had a good nosey round, they have some nice stuff, I brought another cushion - 'I love India'
then we went to Barista number 2 and had a drink while waiting for our train back to Pune
on the train on the way home we had sleepers so we had a bit more space and we could stretch out and sleep if we needed to
I read the whole way home, one and a bit books. our carriage was mainly full of young muslim men who looked very handsome in their white shirts and caps but they did not close the toilet door once they had finished and the smell in the carriage was unbelieveable and indescrible
Monday 5 October
the most memorable part of today was discussing at lunch with the teachers that we went to Mumbai for the weekend ...they couldn't believe it!
a new kid started who has a special need and his name is sonja and he loves me and gives me the 'eye' all the time - should teach me for trying to help him cut things
Tuesday 6 October
today Eszter came to visit us in the afternoon and we made pom poms
the kids loved making them and then pulling them all apart!
Eszter invited us over for coffee and ice cream and we had a great evening chatting
Wednesday 7 October
today was wednesday day off
the trefoil event started today and we had our hindi lesson in the lounge which kept getting interupted
then we rushed over to Karmini's school
Karmini is Kirti our yoga teacher's twin sister and she is the principle of a DES private school english medium
we had a great time listening to the kids recite poems and make diwali lanterns
in the afternoon we had our CVP meeting with Mina and Eszter and we did some things with the event like 'meet the family' and the crazy musical chairs game we all play
we also booked our goa accommodation - third time lucky and we went out to buy salt for making play doh and tried to get bus tickets to goa and back for our diwali holiday
Thursday 8 October
today decided to make a sign for when the trefoils come to visit us on their bus tour
we had drawn the outlines of the letters 'tara mobile creche nyati' and the kids coloured them and stuck all sorts of sequins and glitter all over them
in the afternoon we attempted to get the kids to do the alphabet with playdoh but they ended up making kitchen things like chapatti rollers and bowls but they all had a great time anyway
after work we decided to try and get these bus tickets for goa incase we had any trouble - we noticed a couple of travel agents in vishrantwadi but they were both closed/shut down so we caught a rickshaw into the train station and hit the travel agents lining the road by the train station ... after much negotiation we managed to get the tickets we needed for a semi reasonable price
we then went to get the train tickets for my birthday weekend in mumbai / the third attempt to get to elephanta island / shopping part two
we missed dinner completely and come home and went straight to laminate our sign - which turned out fantastically and really stunning ... so dinner was late but worthwhile
Friday 9 October
today we hung up our birds and attempted to hang our sign
and then we made diwali lanterns with the kids
it was international nite so we stayed in and had a laugh at the old ladies and their presentations
i did not know cinderella was a british fairy tale
Saturday 10 October
this morning we went to visit the buddhist meditation centre which is close to sangam
we learnt about the activities the buddhists are working on with the dialits
the dialits are the untouchables and are the subcaste which clean up human excretement
their work seems amazing, and much needed
after chai and questions we did a meditation which was scary kind of ... we sat on cushions, and did a breathing exercise with four parts but it made me a little dizzy and scared of falling the 6 inches to the ground from the cushion as well as my legs falling alseep
apparently buddha could sit for 3 hours cross legged - amazing!
in the afternoon a craft afternoon was organised, i wrote some diwali cards and did some shopping at the stalls which had come in from a couple of our community partners - maher and ishwari
in the evening we decided we needed pizza so went to pizza hut and then onto high spirits
Sunday 11 October
today we had to go and buy some bits for our site, like books and crayons and things
we went to the big bazzar as we had been suggested but it was rubbish just one big department store
so we ended up at landmark on MG road
in the afternoon I attempted to upload pics and videos but they did not work so I had a swim
it was tuna casserole for dinner so we went down the road to our local safe restaurant and had a nice dinner of nooodles and mango lassis
I will attempt to attach photos and video but as so many people use the internet here now our wireless connection is not as great and I have had too many failed attempts today
this was updated just for you anna xxx
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