India Week 3 - No spice please, we're British

Dear all,

They say if you can do three weeks in India you can do it for life.

Last Sunday evening we were caught up in more incredible Ganesh celebrations as Padma told us to accompany the students to a dance and singing 'festival'. Driving through India at night time was incredible and something we haven't done yet - the bright lights of Hyderabad city centre were blinding and it almost felt as if we were in an Indian New York City, if you managed to look past the cows and rickshaws. It was really nice to be a part of the celebrations and see the students perform again - I'm very fortunate to work in a school with such a talented and passionate group of young people. At the end of the night, the bus had to take everyone back in two loads, and Elena and I were left with a group of male students and teachers and were the only two girls. It felt a little strange initially after learning all about India's standards and perception on genders mixing, but we sat with a guitar and taught them songs and sang and laughed while we waited for the bus to come back and after a while it felt really natural and nothing to worry about.

This week I tried as much as possible to throw my self into the role of teaching with my new positive attitude and slightly lighter feeling in my stomach. I really enjoyed teaching LKG this week. Teaching small children aged 3-5 can be difficult anyway, as you have to try your hardest to make it fun and constantly hold their attention, but when they are both blind and speak very little English, it's even more of a challenge. Elena and I give them baskets of toys to play with - building blocks, beads and necklaces, puzzles etc - and prepare them for their exam next week, asking them questions like 'Put ten beads on the string for five marks' and 'Put the circles in size order for five marks' etc. We also have a basket of animal toys, and get them to feel the animal and their marks to identify it and then learn the name. I had a breakthrough when one of the littlest boys, Shridha, came up to me and proudly shoved a toy donkey in my face and uttered 'DONKEY' with a big smile on his face. One small step for man, one giant leap for Miss Lottie Atkin. It may not seem like a big deal, but the fact that he remembered the marks of the toy donkey through feeling it and remembered this new, unknown English word filled me with pride. I almost cried as I showered him with praise, which got me a weird look and a 'Lottie m'am teacher, cow?' My new approach to not getting stressed in the classroom and learning to relax is really working too. I've decided that every lesson is not going to go according to the plan I lovingly slaved over the night before, and when all else fails, singing is your best option. The children love hearing songs and chants and stories, and singing really simple stuff with them like 'You Are My Sunshine' and 'The Wheels on the Bus' is really effective and they seem to really enjoy it.

Hanging out in the girls dorm after school. They love to paint our nails and sing with us!

So even when your lesson on adjectives doesn't quite go the way you thought it would, whack out an old nursery rhyme and everyone's happy.

Life at Devnar was super exciting and jam packed this week. On Friday we celebrated the end of Ganesh and were allowed to borrow Padma's beautiful sari's and jewellery to dress up in. I honestly felt like such a little princess, though I don't think I'd be able to wear one everyday. I have a lot of respect for the female members of staff at Devnar and the women of India who cook, clean, haul big heavy objects about, pick up children and run up and down the stairs in beautiful heavy sari's when I can barely manage to walk to the shops without falling over. The day involved ceremonies and a massive dance party in the middle of the school courtyard with drums and music and a lot of excitement. The boys asked Elena and I to join in, which quite frankly, did not take a lot of persuasion on my behalf. It was an incredible feeling to be dancing with everyone, in the rain as well, to the loud music and hearing all the laughter and shouting around me. I genuinely for a second felt like I was in a scene of a Bollywood movie and enjoyed every single moment of it. Then we watched a group of students picked up the Ganesh statue and moved it out into the streets, where the celebrations continued deep into the night.

Ganesh festivities at Devnar

Saturday was a half day and Elena and I took our very first solo adventure into Hyderabad. We got in a rickshaw all by ourselves and ventured to the big post office down the road to get envelopes, then went to the big fancy supermarket to do our first big food shop. I'd like to think India has totally turned me into a responsible adult - we're buying toilet paper, cleaning products, mineral water and fruit (we'll ignore the jar of Nutella that costs way too much in the basket as well), I'm organising when to hand wash my clothes every other day and, most recently, we cleaned up a rotten watermelon from the fridge in our room and cleaned the whole thing from top to toe with bleach. We were SO proud of ourselves. We spent the rest of the day cleaning and relaxing - we're truly starting to get into a routine with things. On Sunday we were requested to wake up at 5am to accompany Dr Goud, the founder chairman of the school, on a trip to a medical camp in a rural Indian village. We were hurried into the boot of a TOYOTA (there Elena) with people we didn't know, and made Nutella sandwiches and ate boiled eggs that Padma had lovingly made for us as we drove through what felt like scenes from the jungle books. Once we arrived, we were treated to a second breakfast at the house of the doctors we were visiting, and then taken to the medical camp. It was insane - it was jam packed with thousands and thousands of people, all from rural and impoverished backgrounds, all queueing up to see the doctors that had driven from Hyderabad to help out. As we have no medical experience it was hard to actually assist with the check ups, but we kept all the hundreds of children entertained and ended up having a full fledged meet and greet session with the people from the village. Seriously - we had queues and queues of people asking to have their photo taken with us, which was so surreal. After an afternoon of meeting the people of the village, having random babies thrown onto your lap and taking photos with everyone, we were driven to a bungalow at the side of the road and given spicy egg and spicy mutton and roti for lunch. The spice left a tingling sensation on our lips but we felt too rude to refuse, so we powered through. We're still getting odd looks from members of staff or people in restaurants when we ask for only a little bit food, and is it very spicy? If so, we can't eat it I'm afraid. This was definitely one of the most surreal experiences we've had so far - totally random but so much fun. Dr Goud then, very kindly, took us on a boat ride across a beautiful river about 1km down the road from the bungalow (in what can only be described as a washing up bowl made out of bamboo sticks, yet it fit about 20 of us in it) and to the temples where we were blessed (I think. It's very hard to know what goes on when you don't speak the same language, but I had rice thrown at me and drank some tea, which was nice). I sat in the boot of the car again on the way home feeling very full, very blessed and very happy with my new Indian life as I watched the insanity and bright lights whiz past me.

Feeling like celebrities!

Children at the medical camp.

Our mode of transport...

...and the exact moment we realised what we were getting ourselves into!

India, I've discovered, is like one big party (when we're not working). Everyday I can always hear some form of drumming in the distance, a random firework going off at night and people are always throwing rice at you and rubbing red paint onto your forehead. Everything you've heard about India is true - the colours, the smells, the people, the laughter and the constant positivity in the air. Even the poorest people you come across have a warmth that you can't help but notice. India is also beautiful. Even when you're making your way down a street covered in rubbish, pot holes and stray dogs walking around, there's still a certain charm and charisma that comes from the friendly local shop keepers waving at you and children running around your legs asking your name.

This week has definitely been a good week, and as El and I sat down for dinner last night - egg rice as we're still only allowed plain food - I said that Devnar was finally starting to feel like home. Everything is becoming familiar - the trips to the market in the morning to buy our fruit for breakfast, sitting outside in the evenings reading our books and playing with the kids, hand washing our clothes and putting them out to dry in the classroom next door. This week we're teaching the kids the words to 'Happy', complete with a dance and everything, after school so that they can perform at the World Sight Walk this Sunday. I knew as soon as I'd settle into a routine I would start to feel much happier here - and I am.

Baby steps, eh?

L x

India Week 2 - A little bit better

Dear all,

El and I started our week of positivity bed bound with a joint case of an icky Indian stomach bug.

After my last post, I went and sat outside in the sunshine watching the boys play cricket and contemplating my new Indian life. Watching the students play cricket here is amazing - they use a ball with a bell in it so they can hear it and play flawlessly without any problems at all. Despite not having eaten a full meal since the night before and feeling a bit ill, I was starting to feel a little bit better about my current situation. Poor El was starting to feel rubbish and slept most of that Sunday while I tutored one of the girls with her physics homework. She doesn't need to know I cried my way through GCSE science, and I seemed to manage okay.

On Monday we dragged our sick bodies out of bed to teach the LKG class at 11:30am, only to return back to bed straight after and sleep most of the day. By the time the evening came, Padma insisted she took us to the doctor down the road. In typical Indian fashion we were told we were going to leave at 6pm and ended up setting off at about 8pm. Up until then I had been feeling okay, a little bit tired perhaps, but the lack of solid food since Saturday night was catching up with me and I suddenly felt very bad indeed. The doctor's was a very surreal experience - he sat and examined Elena for forty minutes while I had a lie down on his little bed, and then came over to me, decided we were near enough suffering from the same problem and sent us in a rickshaw to the shop down the road for our first dose of Indian medication, fluids and cornflakes. A trip in a rickshaw at night when you're suffering from your first Indian stomach bug was not the one. When you're feeling ill, all you want is your mum to come in and give you a cuddle and feed you your medicine and look after you, not hang out outside a shop at night time trying to get your medication and being stared at. As I struggled back tears at the thought of being desperately homesick, Padma came and gave me a cuddle and said 'Don't cry, I am here', which just made me sob even more. The adult inside of me told me to pull my self together and to laugh at the situation.

Which we did, eventually.

On Tuesday we were excused from lessons and instructed to strict bed rest as we had to be well enough for our appointment at the Indian police station for residency permission on Wednesday morning. El and I spent the day lolling about, moaning about the heat, moaning about our bodies and just moaning in general. We had to make our selves look vaguely presentable to go to the doctor's again in the evening, who seemed pleased with our progress and laughed his head off when I nearly fell off the little bed at a light exploding in his office from a power cut. He thought my heart racing at a million miles an hour was adding to my illness, and sent me back home to bed. Wednesday morning marked four days without having eaten anything but two bananas and an apple, so getting in a rickshaw to the Indian police station was a struggle. It was like applying for my VISA all over again - close to tears and exhausted, we were there for nearly three hours before we were given our residency permission. Cheering with joy, we returned back to the school and got ready for hopefully our final doctor's visit. He seemed pleased with how we were doing and I felt pleased with how I was feeling, despite having little to no food in my body. It was time to start feeling a little bit better.

The doctor's

Thursday was the start of Ganesh festival and Elena and I got to wear our sari's for the first time. The school was excused from lessons, and El and I sat and watched as we saw the school prepare for the celebrations. An enormous statue of Ganesh was erected on the stage area and decorated with flowers and fruit and lights. The school gathered for the day service, which was taken by the director of the school, his wife and Padma. I'm not sure what was said as it was all in Telugu, but it was beautiful, and included candles, scents, throwing rice at Ganesh and praying to the statue. There was a lot of special yummy food coming from the canteen, and I finally managed to break my five day non voluntary fast and eat a little something! There was another service in the evening too, which was beautiful and held at candle light. The school was in high spirits and everyone seemed really happy and full of life, which was wonderful to be a part of.

The statue of Ganesh

El and I lookin' fly

I had a full day of teaching on Friday and Saturday. Next to LKG I taught three older classes this week, and taught them all about my life in England and my friends and family back home. I feel so proud when the students come up to me and say 'Lottie M'am, your mother's name is Stephanie, no?' or 'Lottie M'am, you live in castle, no?'. Teaching them about Warwick Castle was harder than I anticipated - when I show the children who can partially see a photo they think it is my home, not my job! I wish.

Yesterday afternoon we were ready to make our way downstairs when it turned out one of the students had locked us in the room from the outside. We spent a good half an hour screaming out the window (when I say we, I mean Elena did while I fell about laughing and filmed her), and eventually resorted to throwing notes attached to Oreos out of the window to gain people's attention. It worked, and we were eventually rescued by a confused looking student who opened our door as if nothing had happened. Downstairs, everyone laughed at our red faces and anger, but we soon managed to laugh it off and forget about it when we were caught up in more Ganesh celebrations.

Out in the streets of Mayuri Marg there were drums, people dancing in the street, huge lit up Ganesh statues the size of small houses and people serving food and holding dance performances. Left, right and centre there were people asking us to dance, inviting us in for food, bright lights twinkling above our heads and loud drums pounding in our ears. We met a man who we'd met previously in the town last week, who serves free food and water every year at Ganesh celebrations for the children of our school and to the public in this massive empty multi storey car park, and has been doing so for twenty years. He insisted on inviting us in to eat, but as we were still under strict instructions to avoid spicy food and already ate at home, we decided we'd help out instead. There was a continuous line of students and staff and members of the public snaking it's way down through the car park, with Elena and I traipsing up and down it with buckets of food shouting 'Samba? Pompou?' to everyone and serving them. It was definitely more fun being able to help out and give something back than to be a guest, but we promised the man who runs it that we'd return on Monday to eat there. I arrived home with a ringing in my ear, my feet covered in dirt, my body covered in mosquito bites and glitter in my hair. I realised I was filthy and I also realised I didn't care. Was my new Indian life finally catching up with me? I felt the happiest I've been so far this trip, and El and I stayed up late listening to our happy play list and chatting about the day.

I don't want to rush into it things, but it's so good to feel happy and good to feel like I'm settling in, but with so long left of my trip I don't want to come to a set conclusion just yet, in case the obstacle of home sickness and adjusting to India comes back again. After all, it's only been two weeks, and I'm still finding it difficult and I'm still learning, and I think I will have moments like this all year. Moments like accidentally bringing national shame upon the school* by throwing the rice at Ganesh with my left hand, moments of losing my temper with my students and having them fall about laughing. I've been having consistent, vivid dreams of life back in England and wake up in the morning thinking I'm in my own bed and I'll be able to pop downstairs to my dogs and my family and eat toast in the kitchen. But I'm not, and it quickly dawns on my when I wake up in the morning.

*This probably didn't happen, but I definitely felt like it did at the time.

But you quickly learn to pull on your snazzy teaching tunic and massive balloon sized trousers and head down stairs and get on with your new Indian life. Elena and I have started taking walks after school around Mayuri Marg with an ice cream from the corner shop and go out and explore the colours, diversity and chaos that lies right on our doorstep. Freedom, or lack of it, is definitely the hardest part to adjust to so far - I'm used to being able to go wherever I want whenever I want in England, be it driving my self or hopping on a train, but here we have to wait and be supervised to go anywhere outside the immediate surroundings. I know it's for a good reason - India is, to quote from my friend Tabitha, 'scary as shit' and it's going to take a lot of getting used to.

It's definitely been a better week. Being caught up in Ganesh festival and constantly being surrounded by music, dance, high spirits and yummy food amidst starting to teach and settling into the madness definitely helps, and I'm having a better day every day. Elena and I have almost finalised our travel arrangements for October which I'm so excited about. Counting down helps - it's only a few weeks until our October holiday, after that a couple of months until Christmas, after that a few months until our summer travels and then two months until we come home. I don't want to spend my time counting down, but it helps in the initial beginning stage when you're feeling a little bit crappy.

Stay tuned I guess!

L x

ps. Everyone has, very kindly, been offering if there's anything they can send El and I. I'm mostly craving a big ol' bowl of cheesy pasta which you unfortunately cannot post, but if anyone wants to send some Nutella, M&M's and ear plugs our way then hit a gal up!

India Week 1 - Everyone smiles in the same language

Dear all,

Today is Sunday the 13th of September which means I've officially completed my first week in India.

I will be the absolute first to admit that this initial week has been a struggle, and that the next couple of weeks will also be a struggle. Whenever I used to tell people that I was moving to India for a year to work in a school for blind children, they'd look at me with shock or slight apprehension and go 'Gosh, you're so brave!', and I'd shrug it off, thinking that what I was about to do was no big deal. But now I realise that they're right - what I'm doing is brave and it's now occurred to me that I have to become a stronger person than I am to cope with the obstacles I've faced this week. I can, in no way, make a judgement or conclusion of India after only being here a week, and I don't think I'll be able to at the end of the year either.

It really didn't hit me how much I was going to struggle with homesickness and settling in this first week. My mum and my sister dropped me off at Heathrow airport on Friday the 4th, and I was absolutely ready to go, bright pink suitcase in hand and adventure rucksack all packed on my back. As soon as I saw the rest of the India gang sitting on the floor outside Caffe Nero, I knew I was ready, hugged my mum and my sister goodbye and sat down to join in with all the excitement. Checking in? Easy. Security? No problem. Boarding the plane? So much fun. Plane journey it's self? Slept the whole way. Before take off, I read a card that my sister wrote me that said all sorts of lovely and emotional things, and for the first time in the journey I've been planning this, I had a seed of doubt in my stomach. Before I had time to even think about it, the plane sped its way down the runway and all of a sudden I saw the beautiful lights over a London night and I knew, I knew that it was going to be okay.

We landed in Mumbai the next morning. With swollen feet and a puffy face, we were greeted by an intense wall of heat and a complicated flight transfer system, but eventually we were all shoved together on the next plane to Hyderabad, where we were met by our deputy country rep, Abhilash, who bought us all cokes and water and bundled us onto a bus to Hyderabad city centre. Our initial views of India were everything we thought it was going to be - goats in the road, rickshaws dodging in and out of the traffic, six people crammed onto one small motorbike, cars beeping their horns, and an impressive monsoon that made the streets flood. We arrived at a guest house where we were to stay for two nights. Exhausted, jet lagged and in need of a shower, we collapsed in our air conditioned rooms and ate Indian pizza before getting a well deserved twelve hour snooze. The following day we had an all day country orientation with Bharavi, our country host, and got our first taste of spicy Indian cooking. It was so much fun staying in the guest house all together - we even managed to bribe the receptionist for the WiFi password and stayed up late listening to Bonnie Tyler and planning our summer travels. The following morning, my partner Elena and I were put in our first Indian taxi and were driven to Devnar Foundation for the Blind. We got our second glimpse of Indian traffic jams and Hyderabad - a beautiful, diverse and busy city absolutely full to the brim of life, colours, smells and people.

Hyderabad - India

Arriving at Devnar was more overwhelming than I anticipated it to be. When we stepped out the car, we were almost immediately greeted by an army of small children, pulling on our hands and feeling us over where, shouting 'Madam, madam, what is your good name?' and 'Madam, madam, where are you from?'. We met Padma, who is our Indian mummy for the year and our go-to-gal - she's brilliant, always feeding us chocolate and biscuits and making sure we have everything we need. We also met the director of the school and spent the day getting to know our new school and all the staff and pupils. We have a room with two beds, a desk and our own bathroom, with a water supply that cuts out randomly throughout the day (but will always work in the morning for our showers, we've discovered) and only supplies cold water. You'd think that would be nice in the Indian heat, but actually, it's really cold here at the moment! We've decorated our room with photos and fairy lights and unpacked everything to make it feel more like our 'home from home.'

Our home from home

I hadn't anticipated to find it so difficult to settle in this week. I think I had it in my mind that I'd step straight off the plane, head to Devnar, teach my first class and be amazing at it and immediately feel like I was at home. I hadn't taken into consideration that I was going to be teaching blind students who don't speak English. Everywhere we go we are greeted by students feeling our hands and feeling us to work out who were are, then asking a million questions. It's absolutely beautiful to see how much passion and enthusiasm the children have - for learning English, for overcoming the obstacle of being blind and for life. They're extremely intelligent - most can speak Telugu, English and read Braille as well. They walk with their arms around each other to get around, and can easily get from A to B without a problem, shouting 'SIDE' if there's an obstacle. It will never fail to amaze me or surprise me how they differentiate El and I through touch. It's difficult to communicate with the staff or children that don't speak English, but if I've learn anything this week it's that a smile goes a long, long way in tricky situations. We haven't taught many lessons this week, only a few, which mainly consists of LKG (lower kinder garden) who are little rascals but so sweet - we basically just sit and sing songs with them and play with toys, but it's hard to get their attention when we try and teach them something new. I taught one older class all about my home and England, and had to try hard not to well up during the lesson!

I feel so sorry for Elena, who has had to put up with me crying nearly every night this week. Though Devnar is beautiful and the staff are amazing and welcoming, it is a lot to take in in the first week, and on the first night, when we went to sleep in our new home, I suddenly found my self lying awake in the dark and realised that a year, right now, seems like a very, very long time. If I was popping home in a month or two I'd feel completely fine about my current situation - hey, I've only been gone for a week! But the fact that I'm not going to see my family, my friends or the 'normality' that is my life back in England for a year cripples me with homesickness and sadness. I know that in a few weeks I will feel completely settled here and the year will fly by, but right now I'll be honest and admit it's tough. Elena is definitely finding it easier than me - she has the energy and patience to constantly spend time with the children and be adventurous with the food while I wallow in despair in our room and pick at the rice. There's going to be a lot to get used to - teaching, eating with our right hand, looking after ourselves and emerging our self into the Indian culture. I cannot expect everything to happen in the first week - we are here for a year and this is going to take time.

This is, by no means, a negative outlook of India and my project. It's honesty.

With all that said, I cheered up a little bit yesterday when we got to go and visit the shops down the road for the first time. As we are quite new and Padma is very protective over us, we haven't really been able to leave much, so our outing to the shops was definitely exciting. We got our first sari's for Ganesh festival and a few tunics and trousers to teach in. We also went to the local shop and bought a mop and cleaning products, which to Elena's amusement I am very excited about, as I can finally tackle the grime that has already built up after a week in our bathroom. This morning we were told to wake up at 5am to accompany the children on a school trip to a place called 'HiTech City', which turned out to be this awesome outdoor event in the middle of a blocked off motorway. It involved a lot of dancing, singing, music, and lots of local charities and organisations campaigning for Eco friendly solutions and less pollution, which was awesome to see. The kids from our school performed a dance and sang and played cricked and we raised awareness about the school and what they do. It definitely perked me up a bit - watching a mass crowd of people dance at sunrise was definitely the sort of India I had in mind. 

My first sari!

Teaching unfirom

Now back at Devnar, El and I are both taking a day of rest as we have both got our first case of an 'icky Indian stomach and are currently bed bound. Tomorrow is a new day and a new week and I'm trying my absolute hardest to be really positive about it. It's so tempting to sit and countdown the days until I get to go home, but I know that when that day eventually rolls around I'll regret having done so. I think my biggest fear is that life is going to go on without me at home - which of course it will, it's completely natural - but that doesn't stop me being scared of people forgetting me or relationships changing or losing touch with people.

Still, it's all part of the adventure isn't it? Elena said to me the other day that you either need to think big or you need to think small. Thinking big is 'Wow. I'm in India, the country I've wanted to be in since I was a little girl, doing something I've wanted to do for a long time. Isn't this amazing?'. Thinking small is 'Wow, look at that mosquito bite. I should probably do something about that.' It's when you think in the middle of the two that the seeds of doubt start to grow. I think my problem is that I'm thinking too much - I just need to relax and fully immerse my self into my new Indian life. My England life will be there ready and waiting when I get back and I'm sure, to my surprise, that hardly anything will have changed.

Spilling all my feelings out into a blog post has definitely helped, so keep an eye out for regular updates! Tonight, El and I are skyping our country host to organise our October holiday, which may or may not involve staying in a tree house and riding elephants. Excited doesn't cover it!

Thank you for listening to my ramblings once again, and stay updated by liking 'Nomad gone Mad' on Facebook!

Love always,

L x

Short & Sweet - Goodbye

Dear all,

The suitcase is packed, my passport is ready, my goodbyes have been said and the leaving drinks have been heavily drunk.

It's time to take the first step of the journey I've been planning for two and half years and finally, finally go and live my dream. Today is the day I get on a plane this evening at 9:20pm and fly to Mumbai, then to Hyderabad, and start my life as a teacher for blind students in India.

I just want to take this opportunity to say a million thank you to everyone for their kind good luck messages, gifts, their donations, their endless love and continuous support. You know exactly who you are and I couldn't have done it without you.

I can't wait to update this blog and public platform with photos and videos and updates. I simply can't believe this is happening.

See you on the flip sideeeeeeeeee!

L x

p.s. Sorry this is such a short blog post - I'm currently lying on top of my suitcase and crying because IT WON'T CLOSE.