Dear all,
I am finally facing the music and confronting the fact that I have not paid any attention at all to this blog for a good two months. It's crazy how fast time goes and how quickly it all seems to go by when you're so busy! Since I last updated you so much has happened at Devnar School for the Blind, so I'm going to try my best to cram it in as best as possible:
Christmas & New Year
Christmas time at Devnar came and went in a flash and even though I was really worried about spending the festive season away from my family, we ended up having the best time. We kicked off the Christmas week with the Devnar nativity and we were so proud watching our students perform after working so hard with them leading up to the big day. In the days leading up to Christmas there were so many celebrations, festivities and parties that I completely forgot about a cosy cold Christmas in the UK with a hot roast dinner. The truth was, Christmas in India was way better. We decorated our little Devnar room with all sorts of decorations and the kids were so excited that it felt almost more festive than usual, in a hot Indian summer kind of way. On Christmas Eve the LVP girls came for our Christmas sleepover, and we went out for dinner at Paradise restaurant in Begumpet and had a complete feast of the best Indian food in Hyderabad, and of course, the world famous Hyderabad biryani. On Christmas morning we opened stockings in bed, just like at home, and went downstairs to celebrate with the kids. Their faces on Christmas morning and being smothered in hugs and kisses made staying at Devnar for Christmas completely worth it. We spent the day playing games, eating chocolate sent from the UK, opening presents, skyping our friends and family, and Elena and I even managed to finish off the day watching The Grinch. The time between Christmas and New Year was relatively relaxed as so many days were cancelled due to the festive season, so Elena and I spent a lot of this time shopping, guiltily eating pizza, playing with the kids who didn't get to go home for the holidays, going to the library and exploring around Hyderabad. On New Years Eve we decided to stay at Devnar School as well - there are so many years of partying to come that we were more than happy to sacrifice a night out for the excitement and festivities at the school. We saw the new year in with lots of dancing, a massive cake fight and lots of kisses and cuddles from our students and aunties. It was probably the best New Years Eve I've had so far, even if we were washing cake out of our hair and saree's at 2am...
NB: Between these two points we also went on holiday to Goa, but we were ill for most of it and didn't get up to much, so it's not worth writing about, but we got some nice photos:
Republic Day
After recovering from a rubbish holiday to Goa (However, huge thanks to the wonderful Marianne de Nazareth for letting us stay in her beautiful house in Pilzerne, the house and the surroundings made it worthwhile!), the death of David Bowie (not even finding baked beans and scrambled eggs in Goa could make me smile) and Annual Day dance rehearsals, we were met with Republic Day. In typical Devnar fashion we weren't informed until the day before and were told to be ready for 6am - also in typical Devnar fashion we were ready for 6am and didn't start the program until 9:30am. But when it did start it was beautiful - it was really incredible to see all of the staff and students and honoured guests, of all different religions and backgrounds, unite for one reason only - for the love of India. The moment was marked with lots of dancing, singing, and our little LKG students dressed up as historical figures such as Ghandi and Mother Theresa. Our older 8th to 10th class students performed a stunning dance dressed in the Indian colours and I'm not even embarrassed to admit I got a tear in my eye. It was half a day of celebrations and we had the afternoon off, so Elena and I went on a spontaneous cinema trip and were surrounded by people dressed as the Indian flag. Winning.
Desk Officer Visit
As the end of January marked nearly the halfway point we were lucky enough to get a visit from Rosie, our desk officer from Project Trust, accompanied by David Lyons on Thursday the 28th of June. Coincidentally, or perhaps deliberately so they could get some awesome footage of a typical birthday cake fight, Rosie's official visit landed on the same day as my partner Elena's birthday! There was way too much excitement in the air with not only a volunteer's birthday but also two people from the UK coming to visit AND our country host Bharavi, his wife Sugathi and the founder chairman of the school, Dr Goud, and his wife, the correspondent Mrs Jyothi Goud, coming as well. The night before, when El was in the computer lab, I quickly decorated our little room with streamers and Happy Birthday signs, and even conquered my fear of balloons and managed to blow a whole load up for her as a surprise for when she went to bed. I woke up really early the next morning and gathered all the little kids I could find, stuck party hats on their heads, and woke Elena M'am up with cake I got from the bakery the day before and happy birthday candles. We sang at the top of our voices and Elena, dazed and confused and still in her moo moo, was (hopefully) delighted at all the attention. We got dressed in our nicest saree's and all of our Indian jewellery to mark the occasion. After singing to Elena in the school assembly we sat patiently waiting for Rosie, David, Bharavi and Sugathi to arrive like kids on Christmas morning.
We had a wonderful few days. It was great to show off to Project Trust the work we've been doing for the past half a year and we had the best time. Rosie unfortunately was only able to stay for one day but we crammed lots in - interviews, lesson observation, lunch with The Gouds, a massive cake fight and a blind cricket match (and almost taking David and his camera out with the ball - sorry again!). We were really fortunate enough to be taken out to dinner by the Gouds at a yacht club in Hyderabad that evening as well and we had the most delicious food and enjoyed really nice company and a stunning view of the lake at night. It was the perfect end to Elena's birthday and Rosie's visit.
Lucky for the Hyderabuddies, David stayed on in Hyderabad for two extra days when Rosie went off to visit the rest of the projects, as he is making a short film for Project Trust about the volunteers in India. The day after Elena's birthday he spent all day filming at LVP, and in the evening we all went out to Dialogue in the Dark, a restaurant in Hyderabad where you eat in complete black out darkness. It was a really awesome experience but especially interesting for Elena and I as it gave us a perspective of what our students have to go through everyday. It was a real struggle for me to eat just one meal without being able to see, so I can't even imagine how hard it must be for my students to get through every day life visually impaired, yet they do it with such optimism and thrive. Of course the meal was accompanied with lots of silliness and giggles - it was really funny listening to everyone trying to eat their meal, and one of us may have left with ice cream on their nose (hint: it was me). On top of all of this the food was so good!
The next day David came back to Devnar and spent the day filming, providing a really nice day again. He spent the day getting footage of us playing with LKG, interviewing Elena and I, interviewing the teachers and aunties and staff, and generally getting some really nice shots of kids playing and life at Devnar. Again we were lucky enough to have lunch with the Gouds and ended the day in classic Devnar style - lots of dancing and we managed to get David up on stage! We're so excited to see the footage when it's ready.
David had to leave Sunday evening but the Hyderabaddies first went shopping at Secunderabad market and then to Bharavi and Sugathi's house to see David off and to pay a visit to our favourite country hosts. We really enjoyed having David and Rosie here to not only celebrate Elena's birthday weekend but also to show them all the hard work we've put into our project for the past six months!
...and the rest
'Life is moving very nice', as my 8th class student Abhishek would say, at Devnar. After our Desk Officer visit and Elena's birthday we were immediately thrown into Annual Day preparations, which involved, as usual, a lot of dance rehearsals and costume making. The actual day itself was lovely - the Governor of Tamel Nadu was present which involved a mass security set up at Devnar - metal detectors at the entrance, armed officers surrounding the Governor and even a scary looking man with a machine gun. There was lots of singing, dancing, acting and speeches, and what made it even better was that my friend Susie and her friend Catherine came to visit from the UK! If you're reading this, I'm so sorry again - I really didn't know how long it was going to be, haha! Elena and I were forced into going up onto stage and dancing with our 10th class students and ended up dancing with the whole school until way past midnight - it was like New Years Eve all over again and once again made me realise just how awesome my project is. We went out for dinner at our favourite restaurant with Susie and Catherine the next evening, rounding off a wonderful couple of weeks.
I've also started a new project at Devnar School - thanks to the fantastic Kate Warner in Australia I've been able to set up a Pen Pals Project. I write letters together with the students about them selves and asking questions about Australia - a sighted one by me and a Braille version by my students, and send it along with a photo to the primary school that Kate works at in Australia in the hope of starting a letter writing project. I'm so excited about this, I really hope it takes off as it means I will have officially left a mark on the school in my own way! I've really enjoyed sitting down with some of my students and writing letters, learning more about them and how they wish to portray themselves and learn about students in other countries. Fingers crossed - the participating students are so excited for a reply and to make friends.
Other than that I am nursing two new ear piercings,
mourning the loss of our groovy green kettle, we rearranged our room to
make space for ALL THE ACTIVITIES and are just really enjoying life at
Devnar.
Many blog posts ago I was moaning about the food, the culture, and the general culture shock of India but I am so happy to say that I have finally found the euphoric feeling I was looking for when I first arrived. I can't even explain this new energy and happiness India has given me, but I'm glad it did, because I think I've honestly reached a point where I never want to come home.
Woahhhh we're halfway there!!
Hopefully it won't take me another two months to update you again...
Stay happy!
L x
I am finally facing the music and confronting the fact that I have not paid any attention at all to this blog for a good two months. It's crazy how fast time goes and how quickly it all seems to go by when you're so busy! Since I last updated you so much has happened at Devnar School for the Blind, so I'm going to try my best to cram it in as best as possible:
Christmas & New Year
Christmas time at Devnar came and went in a flash and even though I was really worried about spending the festive season away from my family, we ended up having the best time. We kicked off the Christmas week with the Devnar nativity and we were so proud watching our students perform after working so hard with them leading up to the big day. In the days leading up to Christmas there were so many celebrations, festivities and parties that I completely forgot about a cosy cold Christmas in the UK with a hot roast dinner. The truth was, Christmas in India was way better. We decorated our little Devnar room with all sorts of decorations and the kids were so excited that it felt almost more festive than usual, in a hot Indian summer kind of way. On Christmas Eve the LVP girls came for our Christmas sleepover, and we went out for dinner at Paradise restaurant in Begumpet and had a complete feast of the best Indian food in Hyderabad, and of course, the world famous Hyderabad biryani. On Christmas morning we opened stockings in bed, just like at home, and went downstairs to celebrate with the kids. Their faces on Christmas morning and being smothered in hugs and kisses made staying at Devnar for Christmas completely worth it. We spent the day playing games, eating chocolate sent from the UK, opening presents, skyping our friends and family, and Elena and I even managed to finish off the day watching The Grinch. The time between Christmas and New Year was relatively relaxed as so many days were cancelled due to the festive season, so Elena and I spent a lot of this time shopping, guiltily eating pizza, playing with the kids who didn't get to go home for the holidays, going to the library and exploring around Hyderabad. On New Years Eve we decided to stay at Devnar School as well - there are so many years of partying to come that we were more than happy to sacrifice a night out for the excitement and festivities at the school. We saw the new year in with lots of dancing, a massive cake fight and lots of kisses and cuddles from our students and aunties. It was probably the best New Years Eve I've had so far, even if we were washing cake out of our hair and saree's at 2am...
Waiting for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve!
Hyderabuddies on Christmas Day at Devnar.
Christmas Day!
NYE Cake fight!!
NB: Between these two points we also went on holiday to Goa, but we were ill for most of it and didn't get up to much, so it's not worth writing about, but we got some nice photos:
Photographic evidence that we managed to have some fun
We took a day trip to Hampi on the way to Goa and I think it's my favourite place in India. I can't put into words the feeling I had watching the sunrise over this beautiful place at 6:00am.
Republic Day
After recovering from a rubbish holiday to Goa (However, huge thanks to the wonderful Marianne de Nazareth for letting us stay in her beautiful house in Pilzerne, the house and the surroundings made it worthwhile!), the death of David Bowie (not even finding baked beans and scrambled eggs in Goa could make me smile) and Annual Day dance rehearsals, we were met with Republic Day. In typical Devnar fashion we weren't informed until the day before and were told to be ready for 6am - also in typical Devnar fashion we were ready for 6am and didn't start the program until 9:30am. But when it did start it was beautiful - it was really incredible to see all of the staff and students and honoured guests, of all different religions and backgrounds, unite for one reason only - for the love of India. The moment was marked with lots of dancing, singing, and our little LKG students dressed up as historical figures such as Ghandi and Mother Theresa. Our older 8th to 10th class students performed a stunning dance dressed in the Indian colours and I'm not even embarrassed to admit I got a tear in my eye. It was half a day of celebrations and we had the afternoon off, so Elena and I went on a spontaneous cinema trip and were surrounded by people dressed as the Indian flag. Winning.
Sai Sethwick and Nikeel clearly loving the assembly...
Mr Egbert and I
Really good decorations at a blind school...
Desk Officer Visit
As the end of January marked nearly the halfway point we were lucky enough to get a visit from Rosie, our desk officer from Project Trust, accompanied by David Lyons on Thursday the 28th of June. Coincidentally, or perhaps deliberately so they could get some awesome footage of a typical birthday cake fight, Rosie's official visit landed on the same day as my partner Elena's birthday! There was way too much excitement in the air with not only a volunteer's birthday but also two people from the UK coming to visit AND our country host Bharavi, his wife Sugathi and the founder chairman of the school, Dr Goud, and his wife, the correspondent Mrs Jyothi Goud, coming as well. The night before, when El was in the computer lab, I quickly decorated our little room with streamers and Happy Birthday signs, and even conquered my fear of balloons and managed to blow a whole load up for her as a surprise for when she went to bed. I woke up really early the next morning and gathered all the little kids I could find, stuck party hats on their heads, and woke Elena M'am up with cake I got from the bakery the day before and happy birthday candles. We sang at the top of our voices and Elena, dazed and confused and still in her moo moo, was (hopefully) delighted at all the attention. We got dressed in our nicest saree's and all of our Indian jewellery to mark the occasion. After singing to Elena in the school assembly we sat patiently waiting for Rosie, David, Bharavi and Sugathi to arrive like kids on Christmas morning.
We had a wonderful few days. It was great to show off to Project Trust the work we've been doing for the past half a year and we had the best time. Rosie unfortunately was only able to stay for one day but we crammed lots in - interviews, lesson observation, lunch with The Gouds, a massive cake fight and a blind cricket match (and almost taking David and his camera out with the ball - sorry again!). We were really fortunate enough to be taken out to dinner by the Gouds at a yacht club in Hyderabad that evening as well and we had the most delicious food and enjoyed really nice company and a stunning view of the lake at night. It was the perfect end to Elena's birthday and Rosie's visit.
Lucky for the Hyderabuddies, David stayed on in Hyderabad for two extra days when Rosie went off to visit the rest of the projects, as he is making a short film for Project Trust about the volunteers in India. The day after Elena's birthday he spent all day filming at LVP, and in the evening we all went out to Dialogue in the Dark, a restaurant in Hyderabad where you eat in complete black out darkness. It was a really awesome experience but especially interesting for Elena and I as it gave us a perspective of what our students have to go through everyday. It was a real struggle for me to eat just one meal without being able to see, so I can't even imagine how hard it must be for my students to get through every day life visually impaired, yet they do it with such optimism and thrive. Of course the meal was accompanied with lots of silliness and giggles - it was really funny listening to everyone trying to eat their meal, and one of us may have left with ice cream on their nose (hint: it was me). On top of all of this the food was so good!
The next day David came back to Devnar and spent the day filming, providing a really nice day again. He spent the day getting footage of us playing with LKG, interviewing Elena and I, interviewing the teachers and aunties and staff, and generally getting some really nice shots of kids playing and life at Devnar. Again we were lucky enough to have lunch with the Gouds and ended the day in classic Devnar style - lots of dancing and we managed to get David up on stage! We're so excited to see the footage when it's ready.
David had to leave Sunday evening but the Hyderabaddies first went shopping at Secunderabad market and then to Bharavi and Sugathi's house to see David off and to pay a visit to our favourite country hosts. We really enjoyed having David and Rosie here to not only celebrate Elena's birthday weekend but also to show them all the hard work we've put into our project for the past six months!
Messy cake situation
My Indian family
Showing Rosie our little shack at Devnar
Sugathi, Bharavi, Rosie, David, Dr Goud, Mrs Jyothi Goud, Elena and I.
The Hyderabuddies and honourary Hyderabuddy David at Dialogue in the Dark.
...and the rest
'Life is moving very nice', as my 8th class student Abhishek would say, at Devnar. After our Desk Officer visit and Elena's birthday we were immediately thrown into Annual Day preparations, which involved, as usual, a lot of dance rehearsals and costume making. The actual day itself was lovely - the Governor of Tamel Nadu was present which involved a mass security set up at Devnar - metal detectors at the entrance, armed officers surrounding the Governor and even a scary looking man with a machine gun. There was lots of singing, dancing, acting and speeches, and what made it even better was that my friend Susie and her friend Catherine came to visit from the UK! If you're reading this, I'm so sorry again - I really didn't know how long it was going to be, haha! Elena and I were forced into going up onto stage and dancing with our 10th class students and ended up dancing with the whole school until way past midnight - it was like New Years Eve all over again and once again made me realise just how awesome my project is. We went out for dinner at our favourite restaurant with Susie and Catherine the next evening, rounding off a wonderful couple of weeks.
I've also started a new project at Devnar School - thanks to the fantastic Kate Warner in Australia I've been able to set up a Pen Pals Project. I write letters together with the students about them selves and asking questions about Australia - a sighted one by me and a Braille version by my students, and send it along with a photo to the primary school that Kate works at in Australia in the hope of starting a letter writing project. I'm so excited about this, I really hope it takes off as it means I will have officially left a mark on the school in my own way! I've really enjoyed sitting down with some of my students and writing letters, learning more about them and how they wish to portray themselves and learn about students in other countries. Fingers crossed - the participating students are so excited for a reply and to make friends.
Working hard with Kalyan on the Pen Pals Project
...working equally hard in my LKG lesson
Celebrating half a year in India the best way: cuddles with Aiyaan.
Elena and I on Annual Day.
The Hyderabuddies on Annual Day.
Many blog posts ago I was moaning about the food, the culture, and the general culture shock of India but I am so happy to say that I have finally found the euphoric feeling I was looking for when I first arrived. I can't even explain this new energy and happiness India has given me, but I'm glad it did, because I think I've honestly reached a point where I never want to come home.
Woahhhh we're halfway there!!
Hopefully it won't take me another two months to update you again...
Stay happy!
L x
'Life is moving very nicely for you, Lottie M'am.'
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