Hey Ho,
I hope everyone is fine and dandy. James and i are well. We have just spent a long weekend out of Kolkata.. bliss!
It was much needed after a crazy week. There was a Muslim festival on celebrating/mourning the death of the profit Ali. Someone had told us to go along as "it will be bright and colourful". So we went... there weren't that many people at the beginning, just groups of kids playing the drums and dancing. Another volunteer brought a small drum and joined in. It was all good but were attracted a lot of attention as we were the only non Indians there. Everyone wanted to talk to us or have a picture. Without realising it turned dark and the crowds were out in force. There must have been thousands of people there. Many people had Gurkha hunting knives and were swinging them around, then a bunch of young lads pushed past us knocking us flying, suddenly the place was mental and we were stuck in the middle of it.
The police dragged us to the side (there were 5 of us) and told us not to move until the end. I've never been so pleased to see the kolkata police until then! As we watched the festivities a white flag was marching towards where we were. The flag was covered in red dots. It turns out this is the festival where some people flagellate themselves. The red dots were blood and they were heading our way. I was petrified! There was around 15 men all slicing themselves with razors. It was madness. Blood was flying everywhere. Luckily we were just out of spraying distance.
Although i would never repeat the experience it was fascinating. What was also amazing was the kindness of the people there. They could tell we were uneasy about it all and they were all looking after us. This was another display of how amazing people can be in Kolkata.
After all that excitement we had a calm week. I got a cold that turned into sinusitis. I had traffic light snot that would not shift so i ended up taking antibiotics. Nothing clears on its own in this city! We went to see Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Nights Dream' at the theatre. This was ace; it was Shakespeare done Bollywood style! They broke out into song at least 3 times. Awesome.
Now we're in Puri waiting for out train to take us back to Kolkata. Puri is India's version of Skeggness! It's very small and a little grubby but it is great to get away. It is also a pilgrimage site for Hindus.
There is an amazing Temple called the Sun Temple. It's fascinating as it's covered in pornographic carvings. Our guide told us it was to try and bring people back to Hinduism after they had converted to Buddhism in the 1300's. It was quite funny (and a little embarrassing) as our guide insisted on describing what the carvings were of.. exactly. After the 30Th time of him saying "she is lick and he is suck" i couldn't stop laughing whilst James tried to stay straight faced and interested! If anyone ever comes here. Please get a guide, it will make your day!
We only have 3 weeks left to work and in that time we feel we have so much to do. We are setting up a 'Friends of Arunima Hospice' blog site at the moment. I will post the address as soon as it'd done. Please do check it out when i do because it is a fantastic organisation that needs publicity.
We miss everyone lots so keep in touch. Much love Amy xxx
Sunday, 27 January 2008
Thursday, 10 January 2008
Taxi drivers, groping men... and chocolate cake
I cannot believe its the 13th already. This year is flying by! James and i realised the other day we have only 12 weeks left..nooo!
Work has really stepped up a gear and is very challenging. We are now spending most of our time at Arunima Hospice. We are working on patients case studies. The hospice want to know what the patients think of the place and what can be done to improve it. It's going really well. The patients are really opening up. They all recognise us now and take time to come and have a conversation each day. Whether it's broken English (difficult) broken Bengali (very difficult) or just smiles and hand gestures! Either way it's really nice.
We are also setting up a training programme on HIV in the local English speaking schools. This is great as it means we can build on what we did in Uganda. Then aside from that, James is still helping the government with their research and excel stuff ( i don't really know a great deal about that) and I'm still helping at the injecting drug users project and school. Although as i thought not a lot has happened with the bead making work. It's a real shame but i keep trying to push it but no one really takes too much of an interest.
Kolkata... i still have a love hate relationship with this place. We can have a great day then something will happen that just drives us mad. We jumped in a taxi the other day and instead of taking us 5 mins down the road like we asked.. we ended up over the other side of the city. It is so annoying as everyone seems to want to rip us off.. or run us over.. or something!
I'm still finding it difficult to put up with the pervy groping men. It's horrendous and i don't know how the women put up with it. I have taken to making a bit of a scene when the men get too friendly. This works a treat as it shames them and they scuttle off like the grubby pervs they are! I will add here though - not all the men are like this. Just a select (quite large select) few.
However... The thing i have found with Kolkata is that it's a city that has no barriers. It accepts everyone, this is why there are such extremes. It's a real insight into humanity and is good to be part of it for a while. I am slowly beginning to realise how lucky we are to be spending some time here and experiencing it (even with the crazy taxi drivers and groping men!). I have never been to a place that accepts everyone and i can't imagine there are many more places in the world like this!
It's some volunteers' birthdays today so were off to eat chocolate cake.. mmmmmm
lots of love Amy xxx
Work has really stepped up a gear and is very challenging. We are now spending most of our time at Arunima Hospice. We are working on patients case studies. The hospice want to know what the patients think of the place and what can be done to improve it. It's going really well. The patients are really opening up. They all recognise us now and take time to come and have a conversation each day. Whether it's broken English (difficult) broken Bengali (very difficult) or just smiles and hand gestures! Either way it's really nice.
We are also setting up a training programme on HIV in the local English speaking schools. This is great as it means we can build on what we did in Uganda. Then aside from that, James is still helping the government with their research and excel stuff ( i don't really know a great deal about that) and I'm still helping at the injecting drug users project and school. Although as i thought not a lot has happened with the bead making work. It's a real shame but i keep trying to push it but no one really takes too much of an interest.
Kolkata... i still have a love hate relationship with this place. We can have a great day then something will happen that just drives us mad. We jumped in a taxi the other day and instead of taking us 5 mins down the road like we asked.. we ended up over the other side of the city. It is so annoying as everyone seems to want to rip us off.. or run us over.. or something!
I'm still finding it difficult to put up with the pervy groping men. It's horrendous and i don't know how the women put up with it. I have taken to making a bit of a scene when the men get too friendly. This works a treat as it shames them and they scuttle off like the grubby pervs they are! I will add here though - not all the men are like this. Just a select (quite large select) few.
However... The thing i have found with Kolkata is that it's a city that has no barriers. It accepts everyone, this is why there are such extremes. It's a real insight into humanity and is good to be part of it for a while. I am slowly beginning to realise how lucky we are to be spending some time here and experiencing it (even with the crazy taxi drivers and groping men!). I have never been to a place that accepts everyone and i can't imagine there are many more places in the world like this!
It's some volunteers' birthdays today so were off to eat chocolate cake.. mmmmmm
lots of love Amy xxx
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Sikkim, Darjeeling and 2008!
Hello 2008.. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and grand New Year!
James and I are very well. We spent Christmas up in Sikkim at the base of the Himalayas. It was amazing. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life! (Some pictures are on facebook).
We arrived late in the dark after a very long train journey and just as long jeep journey. As it was dark we had no idea we’d arrived into another world! We woke up the next day, stepped out of our room only to be greeted by Kachenjunga. The 3rd biggest mountain in the world. There were Tibetan prayer flags everywhere. The place was magical… but freezing! We were not used to this at all. So we spent 4 days wondering around monasteries and relaxing. Christmas day was strange; we woke up in our freezing cold, non heated room. We did have a 6 inch Christmas tree and some chocolate coins from my mum.. I mean Santa. We ate wontons and soup and plum cake with some other travelers we’d met. This was really nice but we missed our families and of course the Christmas dinner. I’m still craving stuffing and gravy!
There was a Christmas festival in Sikkim so we went along, James was rocking out to Nepali rock after a go on the local brew. EVERYONE stared, and then joined in!
We then headed to Darjeeling on Boxing day. This again was beautiful but for different reasons. We could still see the Himalayas in the background which was again beautiful. We spent most of our time drinking tea. One day we spent the day tea tasting. We had 17 different types (not full cups of course). It was ACE! I don’t think the shop owner was too happy that we didn’t buy the most expensive though. I think he thought he was on to a winner with us!
We also stumbled upon a hotel that looked like it had been pulled straight out of old England. There was a roaring fire and a huge Christmas tree. We had high tea there everyday!…
One sad thing about Darjeeling was the Zoo. The animals were in tiny cages and were pacing up and down. They looked like they were slowly going mad. We didn’t like it at all and have decided not to go to another Zoo… Especially in India.
Then we have spent New Year back in Kolkata. We headed to Park Street. The ‘happening’ place for New Year. It was fun but a little too overcrowded. The West Bengali men were getting far too excited at the amount of women in skirts. It was all a bit gross really. We had food but headed back to our guest house to see the New Year in with the other volunteers.
Today we have been back to work and we’re off to see a Bollywood film tonight. A perfect start to the New Year I think!
I hope everyone had there own holiday fun. Love Amy xxxx
James and I are very well. We spent Christmas up in Sikkim at the base of the Himalayas. It was amazing. I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life! (Some pictures are on facebook).
We arrived late in the dark after a very long train journey and just as long jeep journey. As it was dark we had no idea we’d arrived into another world! We woke up the next day, stepped out of our room only to be greeted by Kachenjunga. The 3rd biggest mountain in the world. There were Tibetan prayer flags everywhere. The place was magical… but freezing! We were not used to this at all. So we spent 4 days wondering around monasteries and relaxing. Christmas day was strange; we woke up in our freezing cold, non heated room. We did have a 6 inch Christmas tree and some chocolate coins from my mum.. I mean Santa. We ate wontons and soup and plum cake with some other travelers we’d met. This was really nice but we missed our families and of course the Christmas dinner. I’m still craving stuffing and gravy!
There was a Christmas festival in Sikkim so we went along, James was rocking out to Nepali rock after a go on the local brew. EVERYONE stared, and then joined in!
We then headed to Darjeeling on Boxing day. This again was beautiful but for different reasons. We could still see the Himalayas in the background which was again beautiful. We spent most of our time drinking tea. One day we spent the day tea tasting. We had 17 different types (not full cups of course). It was ACE! I don’t think the shop owner was too happy that we didn’t buy the most expensive though. I think he thought he was on to a winner with us!
We also stumbled upon a hotel that looked like it had been pulled straight out of old England. There was a roaring fire and a huge Christmas tree. We had high tea there everyday!…
One sad thing about Darjeeling was the Zoo. The animals were in tiny cages and were pacing up and down. They looked like they were slowly going mad. We didn’t like it at all and have decided not to go to another Zoo… Especially in India.
Then we have spent New Year back in Kolkata. We headed to Park Street. The ‘happening’ place for New Year. It was fun but a little too overcrowded. The West Bengali men were getting far too excited at the amount of women in skirts. It was all a bit gross really. We had food but headed back to our guest house to see the New Year in with the other volunteers.
Today we have been back to work and we’re off to see a Bollywood film tonight. A perfect start to the New Year I think!
I hope everyone had there own holiday fun. Love Amy xxxx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
