On the road again!

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It's been a while since we last wrote! apologies!
We left the project yesterday evening after an incredible 4 weeks. We were very sad to be moving on, we won't be in Chandrapadi for the inauguration of the new and complete houses on March 22nd and moreover extremely sorry to leave our cosy little set up in Kottucherry and the fab people there. Sam "Sham" Roberts, the leader of the pack is possibly the most compassionate and diplomatic person I've ever met. He's got a drive and determination that i never thought existed in someone so young, and is a credit to Build and truly amazing for all that he's achieved out there in the last 2 years, I know he'll be sorely missed. Morgan "Mohan" Brown, Dan described as the most intelligent American who can deliver snippets of US history without bias or whooping and calling for Armeggedon on the middle east - a brill guy, his toes are as long as my fingers! Morgan if you read this, really hope we meet up in Hampi would be lovely to see you again, let us know your plans. Frankie is a lovely fellow Brit who only opened her Lonely Planet guide book to India after 3 weeks of being here! A brave girl with more cleaning products and hair conditioner than most Indian pharmacies! - hope you buy that Enfield Bullet and make it Kerala in one piece!
Anyway, the project itself:
The past 3 weeks. Aside from the odd day of concreting (much to Dan's horror!) most of our time was spent painting the houses and sanding down the door and window frames! We worked with the same team of guys for the whole 4 weeks and really built up a great rapport with them despite obvious language difficulties. I made friends with a couple of crazy ladies on site and conversed via a 3 phrases and the "Mango Song": which the kids in the school taught us. There was much laughter and giggles and screeching (their language, Tamil, lends itself to screeching) throughout the days. Over the weeks word got round that we liked to receive praise for our work and would be graded from day to day by the team. Week 2 saw Dan's painting work on the front of a house described as "nasty", by week 3 he'd made it to number one "super painter", but from that point you can only fall and I soon overtook him on the water tanks! The chap in charge of the painting team ( we named him fluffy, cos despite asking his name several time, I never quite got it - anyway his hair was fluffy!) was just brilliant. He spoke in soundbites only, that seem to come from signs or adverts - "smoking is injurious to health", "safety first work second", "less fear, more speed", "it's paint not poison" - kept us giggling all day! WE bought both him and Peter a shirt to say bye and thanks and one receiving the bag, Peter looked inside it and exclaimed - "is that all, no photos?" Love the Indians and their ability to tell it like it is!
The kids continued to amaze us, they were just wonderful and funny and some of them so incredibly bright, we're convinced Muthavel aged 5 but who is the size of a 3 year old, is going to win a Nobel Prize.
We ate lunch every day consisting of shed loads of rice and Sambar and perhaps an egg if we were lucky, and on return to the site would be asked oevr and over again if we'd eaten. it's like a Tamil ritual - Sabti Ahhhh? by everone we passed - it's considered impolite if you see someone, even if you don't know them, after lunch and don't ask. Your reply has to be a detailed description of everything that was on your plate!
We were invited into the village one day for a wedding feast, having just finished our enormous lunch at the school. we were presented with the same again only much larger quantities and of course you have to eat eat, so the four of us shovelled in more rice and poppodums whilst laughing so much cos our tummies were ready to burst!
3 days ago we saw the final roof being completed by the concreting crew. Dan and Morgan were invited along to celebrate this event in the afternoon with a Pooja (Hindu ritual) and many firecrackers. Frankie and I turned up just in time to see the cockerel dowsed in coconut milk and chilli powder have its throat cut and bled into the final corner of the concrete roof! nice huh! much whooping and screaming ensued!
Sunday's were wonderful, our only day off was spent chilling on the beach, and reading and relaxing - playing football and frisbee (thanks Annis).
WE had a roof party on Wednesday (the volunteer house had an enormous roof terrace). WE cooked burgers, hotdogs and banoffee pie - one of 5 made over the course of the past 4 weeks! and consumed a vile amount of beer, rum, whiskey and vodka! felt pretty rotten on thurs!
So, it was sad to leave our comfort zone and new friends last night, but good to be on the road again. We caught an overnight bus to Coimbatore to meet up with the guys we met on the train in Mangalore but on arriving every hotel we asked in was fully booked so we jumped on another bus up to Ooty. A beautiful Hill station 2200 meters above sea level, it's a joy to be cold after the extremely hot (40) and dusty plains of Karaikal.
We're knackered and hungry so are going to eat.

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