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Blog How time flies! {When you’re having fun!}
Can’t believe that we will back in England in under 2 months time! We have very mixed feelings about it---so happy to be seeing family and friends again sooner than expected ,and enjoying the delights of alcohol and a wider variety of food via pubs and Tescos!!
But frustrated that we may not get all the tasks completed we had hoped to achieve, no new volunteers will be taking over from us and sad to leave some good new friends and sad to move away from our colonial guestroom on the farm which is a peaceful rural idyll.
Things that will be missed---the screech of peacocks
The call to prayer from 3 mosques at 4 in the morning
Dahl!
Living in just one room
Having time to read
Washing clothes in a bucket
Sweating!
Load shedding
People believing that I am important!
Boiling and filtering all our drinking water
Not having to wear a jumper
Children calling out ‘Mango Tree’ as we pass
Zooming around Lahore on the back of a colourful Qingi [a sort of open
rickshaw but powered by a 150cc motor bike]
Being amazed everyday that I am in the 21st century but seeing sights from the 18th century everywhere.
The Government Schools have now closed for the hottest months so we did a ‘farewell tour’ taking a new song ‘Old Abdula had a farm’—with stick puppets!! We sang all the old favourites, ‘Here we go round the Mango Tree’. ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes’ ‘The wheels on the Bus’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle little star’
We, and the children had fun and even some of the teachers began to join in ,after some persuasion, having a go at some animal noises!
We will see the teachers again at the week long training we are planning for the 3rd week in July. This will be our final task and we are busy planning modules on confidence building and bullying , encouraging reading in school Also work on teaching some aspects of maths and science and
some phonics! Do you think they will enjoy the actions in Jolly Phonics!! I have decided to change the pink party pig birthday cake into a purple peacock! This is the plan but it could change at any moment as we are suddenly asked to do something different!
We are going to spend some money on making up a resource package for each school so they will not be able to use the excuse ‘We can’t use matching cards because we have no card/markers etc’ or ‘We cant display any work’ -well, you can if you have some string, nails ,a hammer and clippers
We will also buy some books as described in a previous mail. The plan is to put these resource cupboards together and give them to the teachers at the end of the training as a parting gift.
We had promised Mahin Mar. one of the Government Boys Schools some cloth for uniforms and a couple of weeks ago we took Rabias Mum with us to Kot Rahda Kishen where she
got a good deal on 350yards of mustard yellow cloth! When we took the cloth to the school they were very happy and immediately sent for the ‘sewing lady’ to come and pose in the photos! So come September all the students at GBPS Mahin Mar should look very smart!
Geoff is about to star the computer training with the staff at the Girls High School and we are planning the grand opening of the COMPUTER LAB. We will invite the local dignitaries and cut a ribbon, take photos, drink Pepsi and eat sweets! If only we had a UPS unit or even more constant reliable electricity the training could take place at a regular time rather than ‘Quick—lets do some now!’
The weather is a real challenge now with temperatures reaching 47 degrees c and a humidity of 44 percent somedays! It is very draining ---infact a lot of moisture drains out of my body everyday!
We are so glad to have the air conditioning unit in our room Another little job to remember to do -empty the bucket!
In the winter, Irfan came to eat dinner with us in our room as it was the warmest place because of the open fire, and now he comes because it is the coolest room!
We don’t manage as many walks—sometimes we go out about 7.30, just before it gets dark and the air is like soup. It feels as if you are walking through water and you pass into a really hot patch , and occasionally there is a lovely cooler area. Very strange. Our pace is more of a stroll than a stride but at least you feel as if you have made an effort and had a bit of exercise.
The bird life is still amazing—the pond herons are in breeding plumage and look like a completely different species with their sleek cream and green feathers instead of the mottled brown. The eagrets are sporting orange necks, heads and
beaks and the male peacocks are displaying at anything that moves! The bird noises are wonderful, especially the deep booming of the grater coucal and the melodious calls of the asian coucal -so loud and easy to hear but so difficult to spot in the trees. We have been watching a baby owl and the antics of the ground squirrels as they dash about chasing the minor birds away and each other in a ground squirrel courting race! There are lots of the cutest baby donkeys and even the geckoes have young that look like little jelly sweets!
We are owed some leave still and plan to walk across the Wagga boarder again, take a taxi to Amristar and then a train to the Shimla area to see the mountains and be very British Raj in a nice hotel in a comfy hotel for a couple of days!
I hope that every one who reads this is well and enjoying what I believe to be some warm sunny weather in Britain! If you have
a moment post a comment or a message -I so love it when I log in and it says ‘new message/comment’!
Good wishes to all and take care
Jane and Geoff
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Tony P
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‘new message/comment’!
There, that title should keep you happy... (think about it). You're right of course, time really does fly by when you're enjoying yourself, and what a shame your experience has to come to an abrupt end. Still, it's something you can tell your grandchildren all about - presumably you'll be putting together some sort of 'photo album of all the stuff you've taken pictures of. Now that will be something for you to cherish! Enjoy every minute of your last few weeks and we look forward to seeing you again - good excuse for a night out!! Oh yes, there's still a place for you at our yoga sessions... Take care, Tony.