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Published: February 7th 2014
In the canals!
Only crashed it once!Morning folks,
How time flies when you're not itching mosquito bites eh?! The past week has kept me very busy indeed. First of all, one bright volunteer suggested a few of us venture across to a place called Khollam (a stone throw away from central Kerala) where we spent the weekend on a house boat floating through the backwaters of the Indian Ocean. Just getting there was an experience as it involved riding on one of the famous India sleeper trains. In fact, the first experience of this weekend trip wasn't the train ride itself but, rather, the actual booking of it!! Such complications we must have dealt with in the 1st world before computers and the internet became the norm... I'll leave those of you young enough to not have lived in the times of pen and paper to imagine the difficulties (sorry to the wiser folk reading this who don't need imagination to remember the times).
Anyway, the train ride was fine, albeit slightly uncomfortable due to my lack of soft clothing to form a makeshift pillow. instead, I had a first aid kit sticking out of my bag to sleep on.
Thankfully after we arrived
On the boat!
The fresh fish wasn't bad at all! it didn't take too long to get on to the water. It cost us a mere 28 pounds for the weekend with meals and 3 crew members included (thankfully we didn't have to navigate the thing ourselves!). Unfortunately, it happened to be the 1st of the month in the Kerala region... none of us could have foreseen the issue we were about to experience...
NO ALCOHOL CAN BE SOLD ON THE 1st OF EVERY MONTH!
AND, to add to the torment, it was my friend Giulia's birthday that night. You would not believe this if you heard it in the UK, but I have backed it up with various sources... but the reason behind the prohibition is because the governors of Kerala do not deem the working men of the region responsible enough to spend their previous month's earnings on providing for their family. Indeed, Kerala's authorities have imposed this sanction so that its men do not spend all of wages on alcohol on the night they receive them!
So there we were, just boarding the house boat for the weekend when we were crushed with this offensive rule. Fortunately, we managed to salvage 7 beers from
Going for a dip!
Swimming in the backwaters of the Indian Ocean our travel rep's house (for slightly more than the recommended retail price) and one small bottle of rum which we had saved from the previous weekend. Despite our shortcomings, we had the most amazing day and night in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I managed to shot-gun / bugsy, the lounger on the top deck for the night so woke up to a perfect view in the morning.
The next day we hopped onto a couple of canoes which took us through the windy, narrow canals of the area. It couldn't have been more peaceful. We also managed to convince the captain to let us have a dip in the ocean for a little while! It was just the right temperature and so refreshing.. (don't worry mum, I rinsed myself in the shower afterwards!).
Anyway, the train ride back was a lot more comfortable and we arrived just in time to head straight to school for the first lesson on Monday morning.
Jumping ahead now to yesterday (Thursday), it was finally time for the sports day I had been organising for the past two weeks to take place. This day was for
On land
Some volunteers with some natives just off the shore my school (De Nobili Matriculation High School) to compete against my fellow volunteers for the afternoon. We had three events: athletics, football and volleyball. Altogether, 28 volunteers took part and around 40 students. It was a great event, despite my coming second in the 100m sprint of which I'm pretty competitive usually (they have some fast African's at the school!) and having to retire early from the football match due to straining my left quad.
All in all, although the volunteers lost to the students (which I trained, so win-win for me!), everyone had a brilliant time and they all want to do it again soon. We'll see...
I am sticking around in Madurai this weekend so that I can award the trophy to the students tomorrow evening at the school's anniversary celebrations (a big, big deal in India!). I was told today that I am expected to give a speech in front of the 1200 people anticipated to attend so I have been busy this afternoon writing that! I'll let you know how it goes..!
I've also sponsored the 1st prize for academic excellence for each year (21 trophies!) which I think I'll also have to
On the water!
Captain Johnson in his element give out so it should be a busy night for me. Lot of dancing though which the school has been preparing for all week! Check out instagram for some shots of a 5 year old kid doing some crazy martial arts in his rehearsal for the big night tomorrow!
I think that's all for now. Hope all is well where ever you may be. This trip is making me very proud to be half Indian!
x
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