Dongleless

Hello strangers J Our dongle decided to pack up almost a week ago so haven’t been able to update, which means there’s a fair bit to catch you up on. Firstly on how hot its been – Thursday was unbelievably hot, almost unbearable and me & Lyds both went to bed feeling quite sick because we’d got so hot!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we went back to the Day care centre in Margao and helped with teaching the children about plants and trees – even in our sleep we can still hear them ‘Teacher teacher, flower, stem, roooot!’ They’ve also been taught about how plants need sunlight, water & soil to grow, which is quite amazing considering most of them are only 4 years old & they’ve learnt it in English. However it does mean that every morning they’ve been coming in with heaps of flowers they’ve picked out of people’s gardens though haha.

On Thursday afternoon we helped out again at the kids club for the slum children, who are so cheeky but really endearing. When they get too rowdy the OM girls threaten to wallop them over the head with the cricket bats, I think they would actually go through with it as well!

After a few sweaty games of bat & ball, skipping, piggy in the middle & frisbee, we sang a few songs with them & Lyds then told them the story of the Good Samaritan. Its hard to know when they’re fighting each other & being so noisy how much they’re taking in, but at least it’s teaching them how to share and get along, and planting the Jesus seeds J The pictures at the bottom show how dusty our hands got by the end, although you can’t get the full extent.

Friday we went with our new friends Mandy & John to the day care centre, helped with the groups and then went outside to teach the children some more parachute games. It was slightly less crazy than last time but there were still some bumped heads & children who will run under every time haha – its so exciting it doesn’t matter that you’re a boy and girls are being told to run under, you run under anyway!

There was also a gorgeous little puppy on the field, our driver Joshua picked it up so we could all stroke it.

Afterwards we were able to experience one of John’s tours of the fish market, his enthusiasm about everything is amazing, especially over something which made us gag, but in his words, you may never get to do it again, which is very true. So Lyds, Mandy & I held our breath & had a look round, although surprisingly didn’t feel compelled to buy anything. We left with stinky clothes, another experience to tick off the list, and a picture of a sad looking shark J

Then this morning we woke up at 5.30 because WE GOT TO GO ON AN ELEPHANT! We travelled by bus then train to an elephant sanctuary where you can do stuff like ride, feed or wash an elephant. We decided to go with the wash option because you still get to go on its back, AND theres water involved. The cuteness of elephants is definitely overlooked, they’ve got the sweetest faces & amazing eyelashes haha.

I went on first, was expecting to get wet but not this wet! When they say wash the elephant, what they actually mean is the elephant will wash you, it was amazing though & I’ve definitely never done anything like that before.

Lyds was next, the spray took her by such surprise she repeated the phrase ‘I can’t see anything!’ about five times & I couldn’t even take pictures I was laughing too much, so Francis had to take over.

The journey back however was a nightmare, its been almost unbearably hot today, and the train was packed so not very pleasant, then our bus was so full that the doors wouldn’t close & people were hanging out of them. The next bus was then an hour and a half late, so we were waiting outside for what felt like an age, during which time we were both worried at certain points that we might pass out haha. That bus was also packed, because conductors seem to be on commission, so will squeeze more people in even if there isn’t the space. The standing capacity on the sign said 12, I counted over 30 of us standing, it was an utter nightmare & I’ve never been so happy to see our guest house!

Going to an English speaking church tomorrow which we’re really looking forward to – can’t wait to be going somewhere I can understand what everyone’s saying!

Amy x

My mouth is a desert

It was the hottest day in the history of the universe today. Even the Indians were struggling, so me and Lyds didn't stand a chance. In other news guess what walked up our road yesterday!

Yup, a full blown elephant. On the first day of the carnival a school bus drove into the river & 7 children died, so it was cancelled and postponed. Only for one day though it would seem, as this specimen was seen a day later, followed by a load of men in drag.

We went back to the day care centre in Birla today (which is slightly further away), and taught the easter story to the children, which involved making easter baskets, playing chicken-beetle drive, a few pairs of bunny ears, a story, a song and a whole load of biscuits, icing sugar and sweets (naturally). We’ve only been to this day centre once before so I don’t know many of the children’s names, but they were all super excited about everything we were doing – this was probably partly due to the fact that they were so high on sugar!

One very cute part was when I showed them a wooden heart (one of Josh’s in fact), to tell them about God’s love, and when I asked them what shape it was they said ‘I love you’ haha, which is a good name for a shape I thought.

After that we went to pastor David & Pushpa’s house for lunch again, we’re getting to know them & their children quite well after going to their church on Sunday & seeing them at Monday worship which is held at the day care centre in the afternoon. I know you’re not supposed to have favourites but their daughter Jessia is pretty much one of the cutest things to ever walk the planet – probably on par with a baby kitten. She’s 4 years old & quite small for her age, especially compared to her twin brother, but her English is really good & she’s so sweet, I think she’s going to be very mature when she’s older, you can already see that streak in her. Apart from when she’s showing you how well she can kick the ball INSIDE THE HOUSE, and her parents are encouraging it! It goes against everything we were told as kids!

Lyds & I then decided to be mature ourselves when we came home, and had a clear out of our food and rubbish – only to find that in the absence of a fridge, the infamous Alpen milk had gone sour :/ This would normally be fine, but considering we have yet to have our bin emptied out and don’t seem to be anywhere near to any dustbins, it proved a bit of a dilemma. After deciding we couldn’t chuck it out the window, we decided to put it down the plug on the bathroom floor & hose it down with the shower, as demonstrated below.

When this proved unsuccessful we went for the sink option. This was more successful, however our bathroom had a particularly funky smell until we drowned it with spray, soap & shower gel! Think we will either steer clear of milk in the future, or have a milk party the day we buy it and drink until its gone, perhaps inviting the neighbours if it becomes a struggle.

Think that’s all my updates for today, I’ll write again soon

Amy x

Survival

Just a short one today. We slept round Francis & Alison’s house last night as the guest house wasn’t available, and they’ve got this tree in the front garden with holes right through the middle, couldn’t miss a photo opportunity!

And tonight was our first night properly alone so we decided for the first time to stay in & eat rather than going out. The only thing is our room doesn’t own any cooking apparatus, not even a kettle. Bear in mind this immediately prevents the goodness of pot noodles and of course tea. Undeterred we ventured round to the local corner where we were sure we would find some paper plates/bowls and an easy snack. Wrong!

Instead we ended up eating Alpen out of two beer mugs we purchased, with warm and slightly out of date milk, with plastic spoons that bend backwards as you eat them. So surviving well you might say ;)

On top of this our room is infested with mosquitos and flies, so the walls are swiftly becoming a graveyard for splattered bugs and we’re swatting around like paranoid lunatics.

And we've spent most the afternoon washing our clothes & underwear in a tiny sink with cold water & a bar of soap, and hung them around our room like a chinese laundrette - not a great look when the lady who owns the guest house pops by for a chat.

Apart from that all is good; we’re giving our testimonies & leading Sunday school at church tomorrow, hopefully followed by a carnival which is coming through town. In the meantime we’re going to stick to our crisp and biscuit collection and maybe consider eating out more frequently!

Amy x

End of first week

Me and Lydia have settled into our guest house nicely now, it’s a few minutes’ walk away from the supermarket and some cool looking shops selling saris & handmade things so we’re looking forward to having a nosy. Its also just up the road from one of the top 10 beaches in India (so we’ve been told), which has the most amazing powdery sand & nice restaurant shack things so I think it will be a regular hotspot for us!

We went to the two day centres Wednesday and yesterday morning and did the lost sheep again with the children, this time we had more time and less children though so we were able to make crafts with them, as modelled below J

They are all lovely and really cute, but most are not disciplined properly at home so they regularly have to be pulled off each other! – its really important for them if they are hoping to get into mainstream schools that they are taught rules and manners, as they will not learn them from their families. They are so happy and smiley though despite everything, we could do with learning some lessons from them.

The centre is held in a small room no bigger than a garage, but they have access to a field round the back so we took them a parachute which Mum & Dad’s midweek club helped to raise money for, and they loved playing with it outside. It was the first time most of them had ever seen one, so I think they were a bit dubious at first as to whether we were going to have them jumping off buildings! They eventually got the hang of it although the first few games were fairly chaotic, so we will leave it with them and teach them more games they can play once we’re gone.

We also visited the slum for the first time Wednesday which was probably the most eye-opening experience of my life. I’ve seen pictures before and been appalled by the conditions people are living in, but having it in front of you is completely different and such a shock to the system. There are 4 slums in the area but we visited the one closest to the day care centre and helped run an afternoon club for the Dalit children. About 7 children from the day centre live in this particular slum, more have been invited and given uniform, but never turn up. The boy in the middle is Deepa, he goes to the day care centre. The parents of the boy in the bottom picture have kept his hair long because girls make more money on the streets, so some boys have long hair and wear girls clothes to earn more money.

The picture below is one of my favourites, a little boy from the day centre recognised us as we were walking round the slum & put on the hat we’d been making in the morning. Not only did it look very sweet, but it’s also nice to think that a little bit of what we’re teaching them has gone back to the slum with them, and it will hopefully be a constant reminder of God’s love for them.

We helped with a kids club in the afternoon for about 40 children from the slums, they were so streetwise & cheeky but again really cute, and we’ve seen them while we’ve been out & about too so its nice to be able to recognise them. We taught them a bible story & a song as well, and just played with them for a few hours.

Yesterday after the day care centre we went for lunch with pastor David, his wife Pushpa & their twins David & Jessia.

After that we went to a second slum where Pushpa's tailoring class is held. There we met the girls who are halfway through the 6 month course, and they showed us what they have been making. Many of the girls were the same age as me & Lyds but were already married with children, and many of them have abusive husbands who gamble, so the tailoring class will allow them to earn their own money with the skills they obtain.

Think I’ll finish there for today because I’ve written a lot! Bye for now,

Amy x

Chill day

Hello :)

We arrived in Goa at 11.30 this morning, having been on the train since 3:15 the previous afternoon. I have to say I really enjoyed the journey - it felt much quicker than it sounds & I managed to read the whole of ‘One Day’, which felt very satisfying both in an achieving and enjoying way. Got to sleep on the train which is something I’ve always wanted to do, it was sort of like being rocked which was very nice, and the one time I woke up in the night I just pulled the curtain back & watched the world go by outside the window from my bed. Again I would have pictures but they’re on the wrong camera. Soz. Here is one I took leaning out the open door of the moving train - health & safety nightmare haha.

We spent today at Mum and Dad’s hotel, and will be sleeping here overnight before me & Lyds go to our guest house tomorrow. The hotel is AMAZING, we spent the afternoon lazing by the pool & its 2 minutes from the beach so decided to take advantage of that too!

I’ve got a massive bite on my arm which is indicated below, but in a reversal of the norm Lydia has been bitten 16 times! We did take a picture of her face to try and portray the extent of the feasting, but its not a particularly flattering picture so she has requested for it not to be displayed.

We spent our last day with Roy, Ponna and the boys yesterday at a lake with lovely gardens, baby goslings, and even had a boat ride. Plus I saw my first ever wild chipmunk! There was a miniature funfair there which Erick took advantage of, as well as getting an ice cream which he later dropped face down in the sand. Sods law.

We also had a meal with them & Handel before we went, and Ponna showed us how to put on a sari, using the one Lydia had bought in the day.

Tomorrow we will be visiting the Tender Heart day centre for the first time, which is where we will be spending the rest of our time here. Please pray that it goes well & for me & Lyds as well as we will be moving to our own guest house tomorrow ready for when Mum, Dad & Chris leave on Friday. I’ll write again soon,

Happy Valentines!

Amy x