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.
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.
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!
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!
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