Tuesday 27 December 2016

Mauritius 11.12.16 - 26.12.16

In my 15 days staying at the Royal Palm in Mauritius I have been;

Relaxing by the pool, swimming, water skiing and canoeing.

Playing tennis

Enjoying the beach

Out on the boat

Swimming with dolphins
It was so amazing to see them swimming around, they are so fast. I managed to follow a pod under me for a while and then they were off but then I hear some more and I look to my right and there were more swimming right next to me!

Snorkeling
We went out on the glass bottomed boat many times to the reef. I saw so many different types of fish - some with long noses, some spotted and striped and others very tiny or large. I also saw some starfish, octopuses and clams. The zebra fish were so friendly and got very close to us, it was so amazing to see them so up close.


Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve we had lunch on the beach - it was such a lovely setting with the clear turquoise water lapping on the beach. In the evening there was a big party with carols and drinks by the pool before my wonderful meal of pepperoni pizza and chocolate dessert. Before we danced the night away at the bar.


Christmas Day
It started with Santa arriving at the hotel on water skies. Then off to the magic show before the presents for the children were handed out, I even got pulled up to help with the act - very amusing as it evolved me trying to throw a ball into a large pocket. A late breakfast of pancakes with Nutella before we spent the day chilling, reading and swimming of course. In the evening I had lasagna at the Italian, it was delicious.


I think I broke someone's heart in Mauritius...I had an employee of the hotel try to serenade me with his singing, he kept telling me I was beautiful, gave me a red rose and finally plucked up the courage to ask me out for drinks. Fortunately I had to work so no drinks night for me.

Wednesday 14 December 2016

My journey from Goa to Mauritius

What another experience to add to the many I have had...

Firstly I had to say goodbye to some great people at the Jungle, some friends I hope to see again. Then an hour drive to the airport with a fantastic taxi driver.

My flight to Delhi was fine. Get a pre-booked taxi and another couple get in, the taxi driver drops them at their hotel then to mine. Turn up at the hotel for the night and Kritika arrives to take me out for dinner. I also got to meet her mum. It was great to see Kritika again before I left India. Go to settle in for a few hours kip to find the dirty sheets with hair all in the bed. Nice!

Not a good night's sleep with all the shouting in the corridors. Up at 4 am to get to the airport. This is where the issues start...

I get to the airport with plenty of time, line up to check in. I'm not allowed to check in. Firstly a problem with my passport and visa which gets taken away and checked with immigration. It was all fine, I get it back then the next problem was with my flight out of Mauritius...they needed the ticket number, I only had the booking number. I even find the flight online in manage my booking they still don't believe that I have a flight booked, then they asked where my visa was for South Africa, "I don't need one" I replied. Off to the manger I go. He was very kind and sorted out the problem for me and printed out my ticket details. Finally I am allowed to check in with not long to go until the flight was to leave, I had no time to get water or breakfast.


The flight was fine, got some food and sleep. The girl next to me fell asleep on my shoulder.

Arrived in Mauritius

Had an hour wait in the passport control line...nearly to not be allowed into the counrty. Second issue! The man was grilling me about my onwards flights...
"You fly from Cape Town to the UK?" He said.
'No, I'm flying to Hong Kong' I replied.
"Then you have a flight home?" He questioned.
'No I am flying to Australia, I don't have a flight home.'
"You must have a flight home!"
'No I'm staying in Australia.'
"So you are Australian? What is your address there?" Questioning me more.

We just kept going around in circles.

'I have a visa to work there, I don't know where I am staying yet.' I was telling him.
"Where is your visa? It's not in your passport." He said confused.
'I have an e-visa, so it's not in my passport.' I explained.
"Oh"
'I have the visa paperwork, would you like to see?'
"Yes...This is not your visa!" He seemed more confused.
'I know this is the number of the e-visa,' trying hard to explain.

He works in passport control...how does he not understand!!!

Eventually he stamps my passport and let's me in, phew.
Then I was on my way to collect my bag and an hour ride in the taxi to the Royal Palm. It was great to see the Gilbertson's again. The kids have grown since I last saw them.

After unpacking, I watched the kids play in the pool with a blow up doughnut and for dinner I had a Indian curry, just in case I was missing Indian food!



Tuesday 13 December 2016

Things I will and won't miss about India and some tips.



Well...India was such a different experience to any other counrty that I have visited before. I loved learning about the culture, religion and trying new foods.

The things I will miss:
The friends I made,
The food I enjoyed,
The lovely architecture.

The things I will not miss:
The roads...amount of traffic!
The Indians not knowing what personal space is in a queue,
And the tuk-tuk drivers not knowing where they are going!

Some tips for others travelling to India:
• I never suffered with a bad tummy so take pro-bioticis before you go, every day you are there and a week after you have left. Still take some imodium just in case.
• a sleeping bag liner...it was such a life saver, I had a very dirty bed one night.
• go with half a suitcase you will need the other half for all the things you will buy.
• at markets always barter, you can always get it much cheaper.
• say no to people wanting photos with you...especially men, you don't know what they will use it for.

Monday 12 December 2016

2nd time in Goa 04.12.16 - 10.12.16

After a long 3 hour drive from Pune to Mumbai then a delayed flight to Goa and again another taxi ride...I finally got to the Jungle.
I arrived late so I had the security man show me to my room, kingfisher...to find that the sheets are not clean and a pair of shorts in the bed so the security man went and get me some clean sheets and helped me change them. Then he took me to show me the common area, he was like off you go and make some friends but I was so tired I went and unpacked and got into bed.

I spent the week catching up on my blog, making new friends, eating and drinking and spent some time at the beach.

My first day I decided to take a trip to the beach and guess what I found there...yes cows!  They are everywhere in India. In the evening I found some people chilling so I joined them and went out for a drink...I was super hungry after not eating for 11 hours so Abdo, Glen and I went in search of food and came across Goa's Ark - delicious food. It was then time to meet everyone again for the rave, we all tried to get into the beat but gave up, some went back to the Jungle but I went with the boys to the beach were we sat listened to the rave behind, watched the waves lap on the beach and saw the distant boat lights flashing.

The next day I went down to the beach with Alex and Devon...we lay down on a sun bed, the next minute I have a cow headbutting me off it! Frisbee time, we played a game that if you didn't catch it you had to loose a limb I ended up trying to catch it with my head. In the evening we were going to go out and everyone was chatting at the hostel...when suddenly Alex and I saw a flash of light in the sky; what was it! We went to investigate just in case aliens had landed but we only found a very comfortable chair so ended up chatting for hours before it was bed time as the others decided that 1am was the best time to start going out to party.
Up early the next morning for the market. Glen, Alex and I spent ages going around the colorful stalls. Glen got annoyed with all the men selling drums, drumming them in his ear...with a hangover it's not great! Alex brought a whole new wardrobe and many women saying 'come look at my stall' then men (only selling mens cloths) 'come have a look see what you like'...I don't think I will find anything for me in there! I just brought a very big sheet for the beach. Then in the afternoon it was time to test it out with another trip to the beach.  As most people went out the night before they were all having an early night so we got sat playing card games. Then it was off down to the beach with Alex and a guy from Denmark (whos name escapes me) to find some music to dance to. We found a reggae/jungle night and with a sand dance floor we were set.

Thursday was just a morning chilling and after lunch I headed down to the beach with Devon, Alex, Glen and Max. This time I actually got into the sea, it was quite warm; the boys played frisbee. Pub quiz night...I was in team one and we called our selves 'The Fact Hunt', we actually won the quiz with 17 points but we would have got more if the boys had listened to me and put Europe down as the answer to the question - which continent has the most heritage sites? - anyway we still won. For winning we got a crate of beer to share, as I am not a beer drinker I was nice enough to share mine out. 2nd place was Devon's team with 16 and 1/2 points but they won a round of shots because they won the best team name of 'The Sexy Quizners'.

Friday was my last day and night at the Jungle. Naturally it was an afternoon spent at the beach but before that for the morning I was catching up on the blog, playing card games and did a little packing. We watched the disappointing sunset on the way back from the beach and then got ready to go out. We sat chatting and drinking around in the hostel before I managed to get few to come for dinner at Goa's Ark as I really enjoyed the food there, everyone that came said the same thing! We then walked down to the beach to find a good place to party but nothing special was happening so the boys played a game of pool and back to the hostel we went. When we were at the local beach in the day they were setting up something and people were saying it was a festival. Devon and I then took a walk down there to see what was happening but we were not missing out on much so it was then time to head back to bed.


I really enjoyed my time in Goa and met some great people...thanks for a wonderful week.

Monday 5 December 2016

Monty's time at Sangam

Monty had such great fun exploring Sangam and a little of Pune. 

He climbed the water tower


Took a ride in a tuk-tuk


Played in the playground


Feed the chickens


And finally meditated with Buddha


Sunday 4 December 2016

Week 4 at Sangam 26.11.16 - 03.12.16

Saturday 26th
This was my last weekend in Pune so we had a packed day trying to fit things in. We went to the places best for shopping - MG road and Laxmi road. I finally found the cow statue I wanted. We ate lunch at Ram Krishna a great place with great Indian food, I had Aloo Gobi (potato and cauliflower curry). In the evening as it was Lisa's last evening so we all went out to the Shisha Cafe bar for a jazz festival, some great music was played.


Sunday 27th
Sunday was spent getting lots of forms done, presentations finished and videos filmed. Stacey, Montey and I completed the Sangam treasure hunt and along the way meditated with Buddha. Had another 2 hour dance lesson in the afternoon.


Monday 28th


9th day at site...I had Joselyn come along with me to B.K.S. I first took her on a tour of the place and introduced her to the staff. When the children arrived we made a paper woven poster. This week there are many preparations for the disability day so for the afternoon we watched the children practicing their singing. In the evening Stacy and I climbed the water tower to watch the sunset. It was so beautiful and the bird were tweeting away and flying around us. As it was getting dark it was time to climb down and I started to see the bats flying around, some are so tiny and others are huge!


Tuesday 29th
10th day at site...I had Karlia come along today to visit so again I took her on a tour of the place and introduced her to the staff. We didn't get a chance to do the craft that we had planned because today there was a big dance competition all day. Lots of school had come and it was great to see all the kids enjoying themselves. When they were on stage their disabilities seem to disappear and they put on a great performance. I had yet another dance session before heading out to Kirti's (the yoga teacher) house for dinner. We meet her twin sister and then went to feed the buffalo's and cow.


Wednesday 30th
Up early in the morning for yoga before our last Hindi lesson were we carried on learning about food and how to order in a restaurant. We visited another community partner called Deep Griha society, they work in the community to offer different programmes - medical, dental and nutrition, HIV and Aids support, sponcering a child's education, clothing and health care, skills for the youth and woman to get jobs. I then spent the rest of the day finishing off my presentation for the closing ceremony and drew my star on the wall. These 4 weeks have flown by.


Thursday 1st
11th day at site...today the children were again practicing for the event on Saturday so I helped the teachers make flowers out of ribbon. On returning to Sangam the Christmas decorations were out and then we had a group Christmas photo on the roof.


Friday 2nd


12th day at site...again there were practices going on all day. I spent the morning watching the dancers. Then I helped put up all the flowers on the background of the stage, ready for the next days presentation.


 When returning to Sangam we had our closing ceremony and we had to do our presentations. Emer went first and did a talk with props, Stacey did a slide show with lots of photos. I decided to do mine as a pass the parcel game; I had everybody read out about my time at Sangam each time a layer was unwrapped. At the end of the ceremony we all planted a tree in the garden which they called 'a flowering tree'. I hope one day to come back and see how well it has grown. Because it was our last meal as a 3 at Sangam we got to choose what was for dinner...it was butter chicken with rice and puri with chocolate cake for dessert.



Saturday 3rd
We had to say goodbye to Stacey. Then it was off out with Emer and some of the SV's to watch the presentation at B.K.S. It was lovely to see all the children in their beautiful out fits. There were so many school and parents that came to watch the performances and there was even a bouncy castle and a fire truck. It was then time for me to say goodbye to the teachers and children I had been working with. This was a sad moment and they wanted me to stay and come back in for Monday. I then spent the rest of the day sorting out my things and packing.




Saturday 26 November 2016

Week 3 at Sangam 19.11.16 - 25.11.16

Saturday 19th
Stacey and I went to explore some more of Pune. First we visited Pataleshwar Cave Temple, it was so peaceful there. The cave had been carved into the rock, it was dark and cool and on the walls were some carvings. Ding, ding,  ding , bang, bang, bang came from the Temple above; people drumming and ringing bells as a some kind of ritual to the gods. We found some Dosas for lunch; it looks like a big very thin cripsy pancake but it is made from rice flower and dal. We then found a shop which sell local hand-made Indian crafts but I preferred going to local markets instead. I booked in for a massage but it was not was I was expecting and didn't feel very relaxed afterwards...first she started off by pulling all my limbs and pulled my legs up and folded me in half, she spent ages on my ankles and legs which did not sort out my aching back.


Sunday 20th
I had quite a lazy day except we had to move rooms...so I had to pack my bag and move across the courtyard from the oven of Guide house 3 to the fridge of dorm 1. The winter has set in, hot still in the days but chilly in the mornings and colder nights so I have 2 blankets on the bed.

Monday 21st
6th day on site...again I spent some time teaching deaf children some new games, they enjoyed running around trying to chase each other. This was not really an exciting day, when I returned to Sangam it was just spent getting activities ready for site.

Tuesday 22nd
7th day on site...today I started off teaching origami to mentally challenged children then the dance teachers and I did some bollywood and ballet with them. In the afternoon  I taught them a new game called hot potato (a bit like pass the parcel but if the ball stops on you your out of the game)...they loved this game and just wanted to play it again and again all afternoon. Getting back to Sangam I was thrown into a private dance sessions with Govan...this was a new style for me it was a fusion of belly dancing with hip hop.

Wednesday 23rd
In our Hindi lesson today we learnt about fruit and vegetables and colours Athens how to ask for a kilo of food at a market. For lunch we had to get dressed up in out saris as we were off to a wedding. This was such a great thing to experience...when we arrived we sat down and got given a handful of coloured rice. The Goom walked down the aisle with his flower veil and his family then the Bride the same. Through the out the blessing everybody threw the rice then it was time to eat. In the afternoon we had a session with Becky and got given some tasks to complete and then it was time for my next dance lesson. In the evening me and Josilyn watched a French film before bed.


Thursday 24th
8th day at site...waited and waited and waited, finally some children arrived at B.K.S. I made boxes with the deaf children and over lunch they spread the word so I continued that in the afternoon, they loved making these. YEAH! They had money I  the cash point over the road, it took 20 minutes to queue but I finally had a small amount of money. Before dinner Stacey, Emer and I all had a Warli art session learning about an Indian tribal artwork.  It was very interesting to learn about and make our own scene. They had no perspective on things so it didn't matter how big or small they drew the paintings in that scene.

Friday 25th
Again my site was closed today due to a public holiday so I went along with Emer to Maher. I got to visit the mens house but most of them were out working so it was just a quick stop before we went down to the main house. I took another tour around and stopped off in the craft room and helped the woman make angels. The children that reside there also had the day off school so I spent most of the day entertaining them...in the afternoon we sat down under a tree and made boxes from paper and then it was colouring time, they love colouring. In the evening Stacey, Emer and I went out to an Italian restaurant called Dario's; such delicious food - definitely worth a visit if you want a change from Indian food. On the way there I even walked on a path, a real path with bushes a log the side, I think this is the first path I have walked on in India. It was such a lovely evening and I felt that I had escaped Indian for a few hours.



Saturday 19 November 2016

Week 2 at Sangam 12.11.16 - 18.11.16

Saturday 12th
Weekends are my days off. This Saturday I went down in to Wadi again with Stacey and Emer. This time we took more time to relax and wonder around than when we were rushing in the challenge on Thursday. We did do some material shopping for Saris then took it across to AJ the taylor for measurements. I was now so excited to see what it would be like when it was finished. I was in a singing mood in the evening so it was on with Mama Mia.

Sunday 13th

What an interesting day this turned out to be! I spent most of the day relaxing at Sangam while people were arriving for the OBPS event (Olive Baden Powell Society). As they were arriving there were many activities to do so I got to drive a tuk-tuk,  brought some things from stalls and played an Indian game. It was drinks and canapés before we had our welcome ceremony. As this we are huge event we had to have our ceremony in the field on the stage instead of in the hall. Royalty got welcomed first - Princess Benedikte and Princess Azizah. Then we were all welcomed with a tilak (red dot on forehead), garland, our 50th birthday pin and a piece of coconut and sugar. Then we had to go and light a candle. Afterwards we were singing songs around the campfire.



Monday 14th
Today my site was closed due to a public holiday. So I went with Stacey to her site at Tara Mobile Creche. I spent the morning with the 3 to 6 year olds, we taught them a new game and made shape pictures. The children go home for lunch so when they returned I spent the afternoon with the 6 to 15 year olds playing some new games. Stacey and I went over to the construction site to watch the children put a performance to their parents. On our way back to Sangam we stopped of at AJ's to collect our saris to quickly change into them for an evening at Sanskruti, the bus was late picking us up and then it took 3 hours to get there with the traffic. Don't worry we arrived just in time for the birthday cake cutting - which was so delicious! After dinner we spent the night dancing away in our saris; I even got asked if I was Indian.



Tuesday 15th
3rd day at site...I took a dance sessions again with deaf children and played puzzles in the afternoon. A girl asked me to help her with this hard puzzle and she was so happy when we had finished it together. During my day we had a visit from some of the members from OBPS I went to talk to them about my short time thee already and then they took a tour around to see the children hard a work. We got pizza take out because there was a big gala dinner for OBPS, which we then had to get ready quickly and got there in time for dessert, I was sat at Princess Azizah's relatives table. There were  presentations, one being the presence to of OBPS getting a knight hood from the Princess if Denmark and to finish the night off we danced.


Wednesday 16th
Has our 2nd Hindi lesson in the morning followed by a meeting and then a 2nd challenge. This was the Pune challenge we has to visit different sights around Pune and answer questions about the area or place. We did very well at this and only missed out 2 answers.

Thursday 17th
4th day at site...I tried to have a conversation with the deaf teachers in the morning and they were asking me where I was from, where I was staying and if I liked cricket. With the children I did some origami, friendship bracelets and played some outside games. In the evening we had a special dinner as Lisa was leaving her post at Sangam soon, it was a pink flamingo party and we had to wear pink and all items at the party were pink!

Friday  18th
5th day at site...one of the deaf teachers taught me how to make rose flowers and when the schools arrived I had mainly boys that are mental challenged, they had so much energy! As they had a lot of energy I played lots of ball games with them but one boy took a shine to my bag of games and decided to fill his pockets with my bits and bobs. I managed to gain it all back and then her left the classroom and came back with stuffed pockets filled with things from around the school. I was so excited to be going out to the cinema this evening to watch Fantastic beasts and where to find them. Nelly,  Carly, Stacey, Emer, Karlia and I were disappointed that it just didn't happen...still really want to see the film. We got back to Sangam and watched a bollywood film instead called Ki & Ka.


Saturday 12 November 2016

My first week at Sangam 05.11.16 - 11.11.16

Saturday 5th
Arrived

Sunday 6th
This was my first full day at Sangam. After breakfast we (the other Tare and I) had a welcome meeting, got taken on a tour of Sangam, given our uniform and badge. After lunch we participated in talks with some locals - asking questions about their life in India. For the evening we where all invited to different local houses for dinner, because there is a group of people here on a programme we had many people to mingle with. I got invited to Priya's house with Olive (87) and Lucille (from Kings Lynn). Priya works at Sangam and we walked down the road to her house and meet her grandma, mum and auntie. We had a lovely time there looking at photos of Priya's family and dinner was delicious but we had to eat rice with our hands and sit on the floor. Priya did Mehendi on my hand and arm too then at the end we gave a gift to them for having us for dinner.



Monday 7th
Today with the big group we visited 2 Temples, a school for the blind and a centre for woman to learn skills and sell there  crafts. The ladies cooked us lunch there and sold us some things...I brought some biscuits and cards. I tested out the pool today at Sangam and then for dinner we had a 50th Birthday celebration dinner and afterwards went around and spoke with different staff to hear about their time at Sangam.



Tuesday 8th
Stacey, Emer and I visited all our sites today so we could see where each of us will be based. First we visited Maher, this is where Emer is volunteering, it supports abandoned children, the elderly and mental health in men and women. Next we visited Tara Mobile Creche, Stacey has been placed here, this is an organisation that sets up pop-up creches where they are needed for children of workers from construction sites. After finding some very local place for lunch we where off to visit my site, Bal Kaylan Sanshta (BKS), this is a centre for special needs; different schools come each day to use the facilities. This was the last evening for the group so they dressed up in their saris and for dinner we had a Maharastrian feast. We all sat on the floor with a banana leaf plate and got served lots of lovely food. Afterwards we learnt an Indian dance with sticks. This was so much fun, I was dancing around in circles and got a bit dizzy!




Wednesday 9th
I got up early to climb the water town his morning. It was lovely to look down on Sangam but the air was very smokey.




This was the day that the Indian government announced that 500 and 1,000 rupee notes were no longer legal currency. All banks and ATM's were closed all day and the whole country seemed to go into panic mode. They will be replacing the 500 note with a new smaller one and a new 2,000 note will be issued instead of 1,000 note. I'm not sure what they are thinking...it's bad enough getting change for 1,000 rupees let along 2,000!
Today I had my first Hindi lesson, we learnt some simple useful words; thank you, sorry...etc and to ask questions like what is your name? I spent the rest of the day coming up with ideas for games and activities to do at my site. This was a busy day for the staff as they were preparing for the OBPS (Olive Baden Pow Society) event.

Thursday 10th
This was my first day at my site (BKS), as the children where on Diwali holiday, I spent the day painting the musical tree in the sensory garden. On returning to Sangam us Tare were given the Wadi challenge - this was to explore the local area and to find certain shops and items, we had to get the bus back too!

Before I painted the tree

Friday 11th
My second day on site was spent finishing printing the tree, then teaching a dance class to deaf and dumb children. They seemed to really enjoy the session. After lunch it helped out in the art room and made giant flowers. There is going to be a big celebration and show on the 3rd of December so it will be busy preparing for that; the flowers are being used for the set on stage. To get to and from my site each day I have to take a tuk-tuk, in the morning I have to go over and get one from the stand and then just flag one down on the way home.  I spent the evening just chilling with the SV's  (Sangam Vounteers).

After I had panted the tree