School Teacher

Unfortunately I'm writing this update from my sick bed – after a bad fall and spending yesterday in casualty having my ankle x-rayed (luckily no broken bones just a bad sprain). I really wouldn't want to repeat the visit, the hospital was not a nice place to be and the casualty ward was open so I was right next to a lot of blood and groans, I did feel a bit of a fraud. Thank goodness I had Sushila with me to translate and guide me in the right direction. Well hopefully I'm on the mend and will only be off my feet for a few days.

Apparently the children are missing their teacher and hope I'm back soon – I think they enjoyed the pom-poms we made and the dance we did together earlier this week. I never imagined that standing in front of a class of little ones would be so much more terrifying than giving a presentation to a room full of peers. I think I'm improving each day but they are difficult to control and the language barrier doesn't help. Repetition is key and songs are very popular as they repeat everything parrot fashion. No materials are available so creativity is important, using whatever we can find on the beach we'll try and make some musical instruments next week. The classroom is tiny and very dirty, the children all sit on the floor and I know the meal we give them is probably the only one some of them will have all day. Some of the children we know are out begging in the afternoons to earn money for their parents, it really is heartbreaking and I know we can't do anything to change the way they live. Hopefully we can just bring a bit of fun to their lessons.

I haven't had a chance to do much exploring since we arrived but am hoping to head south next weekend to visit a couple of local spots including Palolem beach which is supposed to be the most beautiful in Goa. I did manage a trip to the world-famous Anjuna market last Wednesday which was a fantastic lesson in negotiation. I knew that haggling was the done thing but didn't realise I could be so hard, I did have to question myself when I was walking away from a sale because I couldn't get the price down another 20p – sure enough they called me back and I walked away very happy. The colours are just beautiful in India and I've bought some amazing clothes to wear for work, the jewellery is so cheap and I had to stop myself buying linen bedding, I have to remember I won't be home for a year and don't want my backpack to weigh me down.

The food is becoming more palatable and I'm actually enjoying the spicy dishes (no more kormas when I get home), the occasional chicken is very welcome and the Goan speciality, fish curry, is an absolute winner.

I've had a lot of firsts In India and this week I took a ride on the back of a motorbike which was not as terrifying as I had imagined, noone wears helmets and they are all lunatics on the road so was very pleased to reach my destination in one piece.

My Hindi is not coming along too well as the local dialect is Konkani which is quite different. I'm amazed at how good my fellow European volunteers are at speaking English, it puts me to shame but hopefully I will put that right with my Spanish lessons when I get to Bolivia.

I am quite used to the mosquitos now and even the malaria tablets don't make me feel as sick as they did, so all is well in India and I look forward to getting back to school and writing my next instalment.