Ah to be cold at night in India

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Hello everybody! It's just Alice here, Tara's away at a village school so I have all of the control muahahaha! I don't have my camera lead though so it may end up as just another essay!
sooooo, this week has been very hectic and happening! There's a lot going on with work, but also within bangalore as there has been a judgement passed by the court over Cauvery river that runs through Karnartaka and the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu and it turns out that Karnatka is entitled to only one third of the water, so there have been some protests and we have monday off as an official strike day. Quite annoyed though, as we planned to go to a beautiful beach village near Goa this weekend and we have had to change out plans due to safety and transport measures grr!
So this week we have visited a couple of places, we had another day out in Bangalore on Tuesday checking out the shops and yesterday we helped out at the children's home doing arts and crafts and a theatre group did a little play! it was quite upsetting to see some of the children though, as obviously some are in a bad emotional state, two kids had just been dropped off that morning by their mother and were just crying non-stop. there's not much we can do though but try and cheer them up. apparently some families have to give up chosen children to homes as they just don't have the means to support the whole family. the day was fun and successful, though and the boys were great. Tara and I went into Bangalore centre later with Lenka, and met her friend Yogesh, who showed us around a beautiful hindu temple and drove us around on his scooter! A tad scary in the middle of the crazy traffic though! he thinks that bangalore has the best traffic system in the whole world ha!
I lost my sunglasses so bought some more in a mall yesterday, they were 1690 rupees which is about 20 quid, but are worth about 150 quid back in england!the [rices are great, but im getting used to it now, so know what is expensive and hesitate on soending more than 200 rupees on anything! it does all mount up.
It is lisa's birthday today and so we have planned a big Austrain style meal and then we will have drinks on the roof watching the sunset ands then party in the office so the police don't shout at us! you can just pay them off really but then they know where to keep coming back to!
I'm learning quite a few words that come in handy, such as bade and illa for no! used a lot, mostly for beggars as they just won't leave foreigners alone. as I've explained before, we can't really help them just by passing them money or food. simple phrases like my name is.. come in handy, but we are speaking english so shouldn't really use Kannada. It would be helpful for the darned cheeky rickshaw drivers though, some are so awkward!
Just read that snow is causing problems in England! harahar, it is beautiful and sunny here non-stop! not that we can get much to us in the city, the pollution is overwhelming when driving around in a rickshaw!
It really is not long enough to be doing this teaching for a month, but it gives me a good insight into what I would like to do in the future concerning work abroad, and would love to come back for 6 months after uni. and maybe try other Peace Child organisations during summer holidays. It is around 200 quid for a month i think, so we didn't need to pay frontier all that money as they are really just middle managers! we went to Bangalore University school this morn, so the kids were really bright and I'd love to just work there everyday and get to know them! It's making me want to teach more!
it's hard to type and think and be rushed at the same time, so i'm going to go soon! it's not much fun without the pictures anyway, my words mean very little as a lot is just beyond my description powers!the sunsets are great, we watched the sun set at that temple last night plonked on a large rock, and it was so peaceful and warm and colourful! Couldn't get a picture of that, though, tis not allowed in some temples!
ahhh i'm listening to chris moyles now online, I miss British entertainment! All of the programmes in English are American here, not that we get to watch much, but there's nothing else to do at night as everything must be closed at 11.30! wouldn't mind that Billie Piper period drama that i've read about though. watch it!
anyhoot, speak soon and we'll get the piccies up, hope you're all happy! Ali xxxxxxxxxx

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