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

Sunday 6 November 2016

Arrived at Sangam 05.11.16



After a delayed flight and a 4 hours car ride to Pune I finally arrived at Sangam. I had my introduction talk and shown to my room and roommates; Stacey (from New Zealand) and Emer (from Ireland), they are also a Tare. Tare means star in Hindi and we are doing a community programme for the month.


Saturday 5 November 2016

End of the tour - Jess's blog

Tour is over and I had to say goodbye to everyone. This was a sad moment because we had all really gelled as a group and much fun was had by all. I wish everyone safe travels and all the best in the future and for some, a see you again very soon!

Here is the link to Jess's blog:
https://jessjournalofjoy.com/

She was the first person I meet on the tour and she will be traveling around Asia for the next few months if you want to read her blog also...it will not be like mine.


This picture is of Monty and Llama (Jess' mascot) riding through the desert in Pushkar.

Goa 03.11.16 - 04.11.16

We spent 2 nights in Goa before the end of the tour. As our flight was so early we arrived in time to have breakfast then we had to wait a while till we could check into our rooms. Most (or all) of the group went for naps to catch up on sleep but Kate was too excited to sleep so we went for a wonder...we found the beach and had a paddle, walked around the town and had lunch. Then it was definitely time for a nap! That evening we went out for drinks and food at a karaoke bar. We found out Dino likes to hog the mic...it was so much fun. On returning to the hotel a few of us decided it was a great idea to go to the beach. I don't like the sea at in the day so there was no way I would get in at night so I was cloths and bag watchman. Dino got in...it was the first time he had ever been in the sea and he kept saying "why is it so salty?"


The next day was spent at the beach, I did Mehendi on Jess's back...an Indian family stood around watching saying it was very good!



After lunch it was time to visit the tattoo parlor (don't worry I didn't get another tattoo), it was Kate who had some Hindi written on her arm and it spelt yolo (stands for you only live once).


Before our last meal together as a group we had a farewell speech. Then out for dinner and dancing, it was our late night we went to a club but it was Bollywood night. The song we learnt our dance to came on and Riley and I busted the moves out on the dance floor and the locals were so surprised then they started teaching us other moves.



Tuesday 1 November 2016

Over night train 01.11.16

Today we had to travel from Udaipur to Admedabed by coach to catch the over night train to Mumbai. We left in the morning and had some spare time in Admedabed so we visited Gandhi's museum and a shopping mall where we had Pizza Hut for dinner. Onto the night train we board; it was not what I was expecting it to be. We had a carriage with sections but the whole train was open, so no compartments, each section had 8 beds; 2 at the end and 3 on either side. I was on the top bunk, there was no room to sit up so once I was on the train and had set up my bed I decided it was time to get ready for bed and jut sleep. I was surprised  how well I slept considering the consent rocking motion, the lights going on and off and the inconsiderate people that where "shouting" at each other in the middle of the night. We then arrived in Mumbai at 5:50am.





As we only had a night in Mumbai we went out for breakfast then took a taxi tour around Mumbai visiting:
Nariman Point, Haji Ali Dargah, Malabar Hill, Marine Point, Jain Temple, Tower of Silence, Hanging Garden, Mani Bhavan, Washing Laundry, Antila House and Dharavi Slum.
Washing laundry is the biggest laundrette in Asia,  we saw all the cloths and sheets hanging in colours all around.  Dharavi is the biggest slum in Mumbai, we got to walk around on a few streets and said hello to the locals and children returning from school. One of the weirdest things I found was all the satellite dishes on the roofs.
For the evening we visited the Gateway of India before we had dinner which turned into singing and dancing the night away but one problem was we had to leave the hotel to get to the airport at 3am. I had an hour of sleep and Kate 30 minutes so we both slept through the alarms! It's OK we where not the last ones up even Dino slept in! We all got to the airport OK and caught our flight to Goa.