claire_in_india

Photos Asia » India » Himachal Pradesh By claire_in_india June 22nd 2007Right this better work this time... read more

I've now only got a few weeks of teaching left, I can't believe how quickly it has gone. So briefly, this is what has happened over the last coupls of weeks. Bagdro, the ex-politcal prisoner, came and gave his talk to the nuns and it went really well. The nuns were really interested in what he was saying and they asked questions at the end which i was really proud of them for doing because they are so shy and hold him in such high esteem. Many of them said afterwards that it had made them cry and for the next few days we found the older one, his book in hand, translating parts into Hindi or Nepalese so the younger ones could understand. I'm so glad we did it because they really seemed to appreciate ... read more

I've decided it is about time to write a post on the cultural oddity that is Mcleod Ganj. Mcleod is where we often come on the weekend to see our friends who are teaching here and escape from nunnery food to eat delights such as porridge. I can safely say there is nowhere else like it in all of India. It was originally a British hill station in the days of the Raj and was where the Brits would come when the rest of India got too hot for them. Since the early 60s it has been the home to the exiled Tibetan community who fled here to escape persecution under the Chinese invaders. It is now more Tibetan than Indian but there are also a lot of Western travellers attracted by the Buddhist community and ... read more

Last weekend we took a couple of days off teaching and took the opportunity to hop over the state border into the Punjab to go visit Amritsar. I was partly because it doesn't fit in with any of the other travelideas (being in the opposite direction) and partly because it was one of the girls (Imogen's) birthday. Amritsar was an experience. We had to get the bus at 6am (the others had to get up at 3 so I cant really complain) so we got to amritsar at about midday....so just in the heat of the day then. And trust me it was hot! When you went back outside after being in a fan cooled room the heat hit you like a smack in the face. I have mixed emotions about Amritsar. The city itself I ... read more

I've started to really enjoy the teaching side of this experience. It is still hard and I always feel like they are not really learning anything from me, but I do quite like it. I'm teaching 3 hours a day and I'm finding the preparation for that alone is tiring, let alone all those proper teachers who teach five or more lessons a day and properly prepare and mark the work....hats off to you I'm definitely impressed. I have 3 classes, two of which are the same level, they have enough English for you to hold some kind of a conversation with them but it isn't what you'd call correct Queens English and the sentences they use have some very interesting structures! My other class, D, is the complete beginners, who are a delight but dear ... read more

I have affectionately named such things 'Indiaisms' and trust me there are a fair few! So in no particular order; - For those of you who thought socks and sandals was pretty much the biggest fashion error that could be made I present to you...socks and flip flops! Yes believe it or not this shocking combination is a common sight. Why oh why though? If it is cool enough for socks it's too cool for flip flops! They even make socks with a segregated big toe section to enable such an abuse of clothing to happen, and they are invariably a kind of beigey orange colour also...hideous! - Indian dress is beautiful...even when the designs on the salwar kameezs look like they're from your grandmothers 50's curtains, something about the colours or sunlight means they still ... read more

So much has happened since I last wrote an entry that it is impossible to recount it all, much as I want to share it, so I apologise if this post seems to be a mad dash through thousands of things. Firstly I mentioned being invited to a villagers house for tea but haven't written about it. That was certainly an experience. The villager, Krishna Devi, is what you'd call a formidable woman (she is quite frankly terrifying!) She is also, however absolutely adorable and has properly taken us under her wing. The first time we went to dinner her son in law, Anil was there who, being an English teacher in India, spoke very interesting English. Being well brought up English girls we arrived with a box of sweets for our host, who protested that ... read more

Well a left off last time promising to tell you about the prayer flag hanging. I found it really interesting. Buddhists hang prayer flags all over the place; they are always in blue, red, green, yellow and white and they make even the dirtiest scabbiest houseing look cheerful. They are printed with various prayers and images and they believe that each time they flutter in the wind they gain good merit for a future reincarnation. The flags are left to disintergrate when the threads are taken by the wind up to the realm of the Gods. The nuns were hanging them on the hill so they could catch the most wind possible. They were hanging them all around the Hindu temple, Mungla Mati, which I think is pretty indicative of Indian attitudes towards religion. They don't ... read more

I'm now really enjoying life at the nunnery and in the village. Even though we're aren't teaching full time yet more of the nuns are coming to us for tuition which is good...whilst simultaneously being terrifying as it has now hit me how hard teaching actually is! I may have mentions before hope much I love the village, hopefully from the photos I have put up you'll see why. (The photos are a pretty random selection, some of which are on the wrong entry as I got confused, if I can find an easier way of putting photos up I'll put up more) I do not however love the monkeys. These horrendous, wizened faced, ugly vermin will never again be seen by me as cute when they huddle together in the rain because I now know ... read more