Rob's last week.....

---

I can't believe how soon it all finishes. 3 months really isn't that long when you think about it.

From being alone last week I now have plenty of company. Colin was due to arrive back yesterday morning totally exhausted, which he did. The bigger surprise was Rose deciding that she didn't want to stay in Delhi any longer, and that she'd spend a week in Kanji before meeting her friend Ashley in Chennai before flying home in a couple of weeks. I think she came to this decision on Friday morning. I found out when I was feeling a little sticky, so I took a shower and for some unknown reason took my phone with me just in case, I was due a call from Gemma and Kim. I found out at about 2pm she was coming down, it was up to me to phone Maria and clear her staying at the school. I thought it mad sense if I stayed there overnight and asked Colin to get a bus back there, the children would have been too excited to let him sleep at the hostel. (it was quite difficult when we did go back in the evening.) Then Rose got back to the school between 11.30 pm and midnight, and about 12 hours before I thought I'd be waiting until the summer to see her again. Quite funny really, she just left her flat mates a note that she'll collect some stuff before she flies home and took off. On Thursday I'll be saying 'See you in England' to her for the 3rd time now! Anyway, I got some fudge, 2 bottles of beer and 2 litres of sprite and it was a good surprise.

We caught up in the roof, then Colin arrived the next morning complete with some cheap T-Shirts from H&M for me and a pack of chocolate Hobnobs, which are no more. He also had some mini-eggs for himself, me and Rose managed to steal quite a few. It's good to ave some company again and to be chatting with people, I did miss fluent English speakers, and Kim and Gemma went about 3 days without speaking to me, but they insist they tried to call and I believe them. I'm actually marking more quickly with people and music about, in a bizarre twist. However it's a good thing, I had lots of short questions from 8th standard, 30 tests from 7th and some late paragraph homework from 7th to do this weekend. I've only got through about 20 tests! However I'll give back half the 8th stuff late as they're separate homeworks. They're a soulless class and aside from Srinivasan they really won't care.

Anyway, just a week of teaching left, and I believe it will be an easy week as their exams start on Tuesday. A couple of revision classes each afternoon. But apart from that it will probably means lots of cards and being silly. There's also the issue of getting the flat clean and tidy, which will be quite a task, getting some pupils certificates for their hard work and buying the classes sweets, getting leaving gifts for Maria's staff, packing, and all of a sudden there's a lot to do. Then on Saturday it's off to Bangalore, the flies have gone on my shorts and some of the T-Shirts I bought out are in a bit of a state, so I'll try and get some shopping in there, there will be high quality clothes at expensive Indian but still cheap U.K. rates. On Sunday Nicole and Eileen join us, we'll get a 12 hour train to Trivandrum, then it's off to Sri Lanka on April 5th. My task is to fit everything I need for until we get to Sri Lanka in my smaller rucksack, and when we get somewhere we'll be staying a little longer I'll happily unload the big one for a few days I guess. Taking it around will generally be a hassle, it could well be awkward on buses, but I'll have a good time none the less. I can't wait! At the same time leaving Kanji will be a wrench, 3 months hardly feels like it's been long enough, but there's no point of us being here in their summer holidays.

I hope you all keep well,

Rob.

---