During Diwali, Anna and I went to Kerala, which is in the South of India, as we had some time off from school, (for photos see facebook). We did many things including a backwater tour, rode an elephant through a jungle, bathed an elephant and saw tea plantations. We had a great time and although we did lots we had a very relaxing time. Riding an elephant was definately an experience, there is a much greater side to side movement than riding a horse and I was very glad of the handle on the saddle when we started going downhill! However, it was good fun and I am very glad that I did it :) We went to watch the elephants being bathed in the morning at the river and there was about 30 people watching 4 elephants, who were 4, 5, 7 and 39, Anna and I had our punjabis on which we think gave us an advantage. We were beckoned to walk through the water to a rocky area which was very close to the elephants, I asked if we could help to bathe them and I was told no. Then later on, one of the guys told us we could and we washed one of the little ones, it was good fun (we were the only ones who helped bathe them!) The elephants use their trunks like a snorkel and play too, it is quite funny to watch.
In Kerala, the state is mainly Christain due to the large European influence, so we didn't see much Diwali celebrations but we did hear the occassional fire cracker (yes, not fire work, they just go bang and are not pretty). Apparently Pune and Delhi sounded like a war zone so I am glad that we didn't have that, apart from fire crackers the main Diwali thing seems to be to spend time with your family. When we arrived at Pune airport, there was a load of fire crackers set off right outside the entrance when we had just entered the building which made me think that at home that would have set off a terrorism alert but here everyone continued with their lives as it is Diwali! It was a bit strange.
We saw spice and tea plantations which were interesting to see them growing and learn where they come from and how the tea leaves are processed and made into the tea you drink. It was also interesting to see the spices growing on the trees such as pepper, nutmeg, cardamon, vanilla and a cinnamon tree, we even saw rubber trees!
Yesterday we went back to school and it was the kids first day back after Diwali break so first thing in the morning there was less kids than normal but they slowly appeared. They did seem to be a bit more hyper than normal, I did body parts with them which seemed to be a good theme as they already knew some parts so I could build on their knowledge. Also, I could combine a revision of colours and numbers such as hair and eye colour and number of fingers. We did a version of beetle drive but drawing a face, did a memory game with body part flashcards, body part bingo and songs. The songs I did was 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' which they already knew so it was a good starting point then 'one finger, one thumb, keep moving' including different body parts in each verse, which worked well. They love songs with lots of actions and they don't have to understand the words to enjoy it but they still repeat english words and if the action ties into the worrd meaning then hopefully they might get a step closer to learning some more words!
Today was our Wednesday session and the CVPs went to a sari/punjabi making factory where they weave the material, they used a system like the old computers with notches to process a particular pattern to lift certain threads up. Then we went to one of the main Ganesh temples in Pune and finally we all went out for lunch which was really nice. In the afternoon, Mina (community relations manager), Aruna (House and property manager) and Christa (community realtions intern) who had been with us for the morning headed back to Sangam while Kristen, Gerda, Anna and myself headed down MG (Mahatma Gandhi) Road to do some shopping.
In Hindi lessons for the last two weeks we have been starting to read and write Hindi script which is very complicated as there are over 30/40 letters but then when a vowel comes after a constanant, you combine the vowel and constanant together to make a new combination letter! It is interesting to learn but I don't know how useful it will be, but I am starting to recognise characters when we are out but could not tell you what it says and definately not what it means! Oh well, we try and we have fun trying :)
Talk soon, Phir Melenge (see you soon in Hindi)
xxx
