AnnaOldfield

Weekend on my own On the weekend between the old group leaving and the new volunteers’ arrival nobody was up to much really but I couldn’t bear the thought of staying in the house. I decided to take a bus and see where I ended up with a vague aim of heading towards a ruined temple which according to Lonely Planet resembles Angor Wat. The first bus took me to Dharamsala bus station where I then headed out to a tiny place called Gaggal where there was a wedding going on. Here the final bus didn’t seem to be making any move towards leaving, and I got slightly concerned about getting the bus back with enough time to make all the connections back to Palampur. Instead, I took the bus back towards Palampur but got off ... read more

Since my last blog the previous volunteers has left and the new group arrived. At Malainta we have two new guys - Scottish Chris in Day-care and English gentleman Patrick down at the school. In fact, as is the way of the world , I mentioned to Patrick he reminded me of Freddie, who it turned out he’d met in Paris and spent some time with. We’ve had a good time introducing them to India, taking them on walks which resulted in a ‘dip’ in the river and a ‘function’ which turned out to be the guy’s mother-in-law’s funeral... Over the weekend a group of us went to McLeod Ganj. I managed to persuade a fair number of people to take the bus with me instead of a taxi, but sadly for team India all but ... read more

A consistent theme of India seems to be contradictions and the idea that a different perception can entirely change the way something is viewed. Visiting the Jalianwala Bagh and then watching ‘Rang de Basanti’, a film which showed how media presentation can entirely alter perspectives and the struggle against government corruption, placing the concept in a modern perspective... The question - acts of terrorism or liberation? - is really brought to the forefront. I’d been listening to the song angles by Dans le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, a song exploring a similar idea about different perceptions, and there always being another side to things. There’s the obvious juxtaposition of modern ideas and age-old traditions that the Indian culture is built around. Ancient religion that’s still very much alive and also Western aspirations, modern technology and emmerging ... read more

Weekend blog Last weekend was pretty relaxed - because people have been ill and out of the workplace so frequently we now have Saturday mornings off for lesson planning. I think a lot of it is the fact it goes from very hot to freezing in the course of one day, and also because people eat/drink dodgy things - most notably the dog-brain pakora one guy ordered last weekend, bad quality meat and unfiltered water (from taps, rivers, temples…) I managed to churn out an impressive quantity of word-searches, flashcards, matching pairs games, pictorial crosswords…as well as realizing that IDEX has a textbook that I can use for my class. Slightly disenheartening as they are most definitely two years behind curriculum, and I had to tell them that it was book 2, not class 2, to ... read more

Until my weekend in Amritsar, although I'd seen some amazing things nothing had equaled the mountain views and the valley just outside my house here - the scenery and the sunsets... We left for Amritsar in Punjab State on Friday afternoon, driving past the usual eclectic scenery: terraced fields dotted with brightly coloured figures, temples, shrines and a bizarre umbrella-covered totem-pole type of construction. For the first night I stayed in the cheapest hotel listed in the Lonely Planet guide with five others from my group. The rest thought our decision to go for a budget option mad, opting for a far pricier hotel just down the road. It was, considering the price, surprisingly good. In fact, as we were being shown around there were constant whispers of “stop saying you can’t believe how good it ... read more

India: the first month I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not going to be able to keep this blog chronological, or find time to include much detail (and if I did I’d have no stories to tell), so here’s a review of my first month or so… In Country Orientation After flying in to Delhi we had about a week of in country orientation - talks and workshops on the country, culture and development in India as well as seeing some sights. Seeing the Taj Mahal was an amazing experience as it is just so unbelievably beautiful, all the white marble gleaming in the sunlight and the surrounding gardens. Its so big that you can see it from the plane (as I found out on the way to Kuala Lumpur whilst obsessively checking the in ... read more

I've finally sat down and decided that today I will start my travel blog. I wish I'd started this sooner, as I'd like to include Burundi and KL as well as other minor adventures, but don't know if I'll vere find the time or motivation. Due to a rather problematic dial-up connection and large images I may have to leave uploading photos until I get home, though... I would like to introduce this as a witty, amusing and entertaining record of my travels but I imagine it will just be a brief outline of what's been happening as I am already dreading having to back-date everything by at least a month! Right now I am in Bandla, near Palampur in Himachal Pradesh, a mountainous region of Northern India. It is incredible here, with views of the ... read more