Finally some pics :)

Our Swimming pool at Sangam
Mendhi that was done on me for the Maha Dinner
Gwen, Me, Manisha and Zan (the Volunteers)
Elephant statue at Empress Gardens
Aga Khan Palace

Update number two

Hey there.

Things are going well over here. Weather is hot and it has not rained again, they are now saying that we have two weeks till the monsoon starts. Is hot while we are waiting for the rain but with rain comes powercuts and muggyness which with no power is a lot worse than just hotness.

Our training last week consisted of going out a lot so this week is going to be harder as we are not going out until wed. We do have a Maharastian Dinner tonight which shall be good. A Maha Dinner is a traditional dinner so we will be eating off the floor and will be dressed up. Am looking forward to that.

We went out friday night and it was loads of fun. The best thing about going out here is that pubs/clubs shut at 11.30. You may think this is early but you get there around 9 so it is plenty of time. Zan and I think it is an excellent time as it is around when you start getting bored/tired and you do not have to be the party pooper and say lets go home as you know the club will do that for you :) Also was fun cos they was playing T20 on the big screen. We meet a couple of Sara's friends from here and they were nice. The owners of the place kept bringing us free shots, apparently they do this (esp for Sangam people) as they know that if they treat us well we will be back and if we really like it then we bring the next lot of people, so it is all really just good business.

Almost breakfast time and am very hungry (still not used to having to wait till 8.30 for food in the morn) so shall end this here. Have a good day. Hopefully photos will be up next post.

Love

Shopping

Went shopping today. Again. Guess what we will prob do a lot here....

Got my Punjabi dress (well the materiel, it is currently with the tailor and will be ready on Saturday so soon shall be able to put a photo of me wearing it up so that you guys can see what a Punjabi dress is).

Also got some bangles. Red and maroon ones to be worn together, they are plain and can be worn separately but look better together. Also got a patterned green set which looks very nice. In this part of India green bangles means you are married but I liked them lots so got anyhow. Who cares if I aint married, it's not like people don't stare anyway and what's one more reason...

Got a few other things as well, birthday present for someone and some stuff for me. And no even if you guess correctly whose present I bought I will not tell you :) Still gotta have some fun.

Weekly update number one

The first rain of Monsoon season arrived this afternoon. Didn’t realize how much I missed rain and the cold until the moment that it started. First it was just a few drops then it got heavier and heavier until it was a proper storm with thunder and lightning and wind and proper rain. Eszter, Katey and I all went out and danced in the rain, that is how excited we were. All thought that maybe the rain was a myth told to get us foreigners through each week.

Before the rain this week has been hot but good. I have been kept busy learning the ropes for the up coming events that are being run in Sangam. There are four of us Programme Volunteers, Manisha (Canada), Zainab (England), Gwen (Malaysia) and me. We are currently staying in a dorm room because our rooms are being painted. In a week we will be moving to our rooms, which are two per room so we have to decide who’s gonna share with whom. That is also one reason we are in the dorm, to give us time to get to know each other a bit. We are all getting along well, which is a good sign as we are going to be working together a lot in the coming months.

Yesterday we had our solo challenge around Pune, which was fun. No where near as scary as I expected it to be. We each were given a pack and in it was some money for the rickshaws (three wheeled taxi bike things. Very fun to ride in and hard to get to go where you want sometimes) and entry fees for places. There were also four envelops and in each was a question sheet we had to answer for that stop, the destination for the next stop and a cheat card for that stop (these were incase we couldn’t find anyone who could read English as they had the place we were looking for in Marathi.

My first stop was a temple. Lord Shiva’s temple although that is not the real name. The proper name is some huge long thing that I cannot pronounce let alone spell, it does begin with O though if that helps J Found some nice people who could answer my questions for me, some who answered in Marathi, even though I couldn’t understand I did notice that they were very happy that they were able to help me, so I smiled and thanked them. They did try after all.

My second stop was a copper workshop. This was the only time I needed to use my cheat card as no-one seemed to know what the English translation was, but instead of just saying so they would point me in a direction so I was walking round in circles for ages. When I used the cheat card this did not help all that much as still got pointed in a vague direction but at least all pointed the same vague way. Eventually found a sop keeper that knew where the place was. Once there I found a very nice guy who could read English to answer my questions. He had tidy handwriting to.

The third stop was the Osho International Meditation Centre. Very quiet and serene. And bizarre, having a big flash place just for meditating. It was in the rich part of Pune which was a interesting sight, especially as we live next to a slum here at Sangam. In the slum next to us there are 10,000 people, and the slum is the same size as Sangam (around 7 acres). Hard to comprehend, even though I have seen it.

Fourth stop was the Empress Gardens, there was no task at this stop as it was our picnic lunch stop. There the rest of the staff came and joined us.

Katey (Ireland) is the Assistant Programme Manager, and Eszter (Hungary) is the Programme Manager, these are the two that we will be working with the most. Eventually you may get to hear about the rest of the staff here. Sara (Wales) is also here but only for another week as she is just here to train us (she is a volunteer from the winter season last year).

We have a very nice swimming pool here, and I have already been for many swims. Yes I am finally using my togs. There are lights in it so we are able to swim after dark which is very good as it tends to be too sunny during the day and after tea we are very full. All of you who said that I would lose weight living in India have obviously never stayed at Sangam. The food is so good that it is hard to stop eating. I am already putting weight on and some of the tight fitting clothing that I brought is no longer comfy to wear at all.

It has been discovered that we do not speak ‘english’ in NZ. It turns out that we speak some other language all together. The amount of words that the other people here do not know is amazing, as is the amount that make them laugh. Top of the list at the moment would be jandels, togs and mufti. Also my supposed accent is apparently rather funny. they seem to not realize that it is them with the accent not me J

We all know that psychologists make stuff up and here is proof

Did a inkblot test just now and guess what I am suposidly...

Thats right an Insane Psychopath
{You obviously don't think like others, you are crazy, dark and twisted but you really don't care. You are likely to end up in solitary confinement.}

Its that solitary confinement that really will drive me crazy but at least you all now know where to find me in a few years time :)

They let me out :)

Yes they let me and, and even better I was then let in. So am now in India, Pune to be exacter. Sangam is very nice and I am tired so yeah.

Just thought you might like to know that I am still alive and happy.

Take care

It's amazing what you learn...

Did you know if you have enough whiskey packing aint actually to bad. The only problem is that to get to that stage you are a little tipsy so packing takes a bit longer, but being more fun it does not matter.

Also when a carpet cleaner tells you to ventilate the room well before using there may be a reason for this, but being late a night I decided not to worry. And then to mix that smell with Raid is not wise - this is all a cockroaches fault. If it weren't for him I wouldn't have had to use the Raid so not really my fault.

Have finally found perhaps the best cd combination for stereo.
Trapt - Someone in Control
Godsmack - Faceless
Fuel - Angels and Devils

Pity am going overseas and loaning cds and stereo to brudda while gone as these cds aint the same on a laptop :(

Can you learn to like something you hate???

Since I have been living in Tga I have had more colds, more stomach bugs and just generally been sicker than any other period of my life. And I think that I have figured out the cause.

Your mother takes better care of you than you realise. When I lived at home she would feed me all sorts of gross stuff but because it was served up on my plate, I had to eat it, that was the rule (still is when I am at home, and it's a good rule). She would also serve up yum stuff that was also good for me, that stuff was the best.

At uni I was pretty good healthwise (well other than real low iron) and that is probab;y thanks to my temporary mum Janine and Peter (1st year chef) who took good care of me.

Auckland has me a bit fuzzy as did not cook when lived there, but then didn't do any grocery shopping much either so had no bad food and the closest takeout was healthy (roast dinners, malaysian or indian food). Also Grandma feed me very well and looked after me great when I went and spent the weekend with her.

But here is Tga I don't cook, and cos the nearest takeout is ndot very good fish and chips I go grocery shopping so buy junk and eat that instead. Figure that when I get back I should start cooking proper dinners etc. The problem with this is not that I am bad at cooking, am actually a decent cook, its that I hate cooking. Its a stupid waste of time and I jsut hate it.

So do you think I can learn to like it???
Lets hope so

It appears we are fighting

Me and Phoenix that is. And if we weren't before we sure are now. And just so you know, He started it, I didn't. Well don't think I did.

The reason that I know we are fighting is cos his radio blew. Well technically it sparked and then just ceased to go, no sound, no lights, no nothing. Very rude I must say. What am I meant to do with no music, cant even hear the stupid ads that the radio plays with songs in between. Cant listen to anything :(

So we are fighting!