Last India Blog
This was written towards the end of my time in Shillong…
August 14th, 2006
It’s Independence Day tomorrow! 15th of August, the day India celebrates its independence from…. I’m guessing England. They’re the usual suspects. And how does this amazing city celebrate Independence Day? By having a bandh. A bandh is when no one’s allowed leave their homes for 24 hours. So as of 10 minutes time, we won’t be allowed leave the premises. We’ve stocked up on Bountys and Apple juice so we should be ok. We hope to spend the day practising our cooking so we can make chow for the students before we leave.
Today I had the delightful task of teaching my class their national anthem. My Hindi’s a bit rusty so it was a tad challenging. But we got through it and soon they were singing like drunken fools. It’s a jailable offence to not stand straight when singing it so we had the stick out to make sure all the backs were straight.
Sharon and Edel left last Wednesday, so now we’re down to two. It’s lonely on the veranda now, just me and Ciara and a lot less alcohol. I have Isa’s daily 2 hour phone calls to keep me busy anyway.
I experienced my first earthquake on Saturday night! I slept through the one last year so that doens’t really count. It was almost over before I figured out what it was. I thought it was a truck passing or something. It was like sitting on a washing machine. It was a fairly big one, 5 on the Richter Scale. But we weren’t near the epicentre so we were fine. The main school had some structural damage, but my school, Providence, was fine so its all good.
We had another school tour on Saturday. We brought about 20 of them to the zoo and the playground. And then finished off the afternoon with some paddle boating and chow. They seemed to have fun. No one went overboard when we were boating. That’s always a good thing.
Wednesday’s the Hindu new year so we’ve another day off school then. Planning on going on a trip around Shillong and visiting the student’s homes. Hamhe is going to be our tourguide for the day.
We’re leaving here a week from Saturday. Where has the summer gone? Still trying to figure out where we’re going to go next. The plan at the moment is to fly to Jaipur and go camel trekking in the desert. We’ve been advised to just turn up at the airport in Calcutta, see where the next plan is going and hop on. We might just do that. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
I’ve learnt a few Indian dances so watch out for my new moves in September.
Later
C
Tags: India, Shillong, Travel, Volunteering
cybersusst
great..!nrnryou learnt something…hope to hear more from you…