Carly's India

Last day at Hebron

2008-06-21T05:18:00.002+01:00

It was the last day of school on thursday. There was a final assembly then the term finished at 10.15. After that the majority of the kids left to meet there parents. The rest of the IG's (Emma, Catherine, Josh, Sarah and Colin) left for Dehli at 6.30am. Which freeed up a bed for Sophie, who got here on tuesday :)

We are still at the school at the moment. Didn't rush off because we aren't going very far. We are leaving this afternoon. Selborne had been well quite without the girls.

Our plan for the next two weeks is:
21-24th in Coonor (old girls hebron),
24-28th at Jungle Retreat (with a very big swim pool)
28th-1st in Mysore,
1st-2nd on the train to Chennai
2nd -4th in Chennai
4th-5th probably overnight at the airport because our flight is at a ridiculous time then home.....

So longs

2008-06-13T19:07:00.002+01:00

Been alot of winding things up this week. The few of us living at Selborne have had a farewell from Selborne on Tuesday including a pressie (a sketch of selborne) and then there was a farewell for all the IG's and leaving staff last night which all the staff had to attend and didn't finish till gone 11pm. Where we also got more gifts (for IG's, cushion covers for girls and wall hangings for boys), also Ros Reid who coordinates the IG stuff gave a short thanks and feedback speech for each of the IG's and our dorm parents gave us our gifts. Then there were the long speeches for the longer serving staff. Some of which were very inventive and funny.

Didn't realise how fast time had gone by until this week when people started saying goodbye. But you never know, we may come back!.....

Avalanche

2008-06-13T18:20:00.005+01:00

Avalanche Lake, our campsite was 20 metres below

Nandita helping the fire and cooking chicken nuggets

The dorm finally managed to get to Avalanche last weekend. We planned to go at the beginning of may but didn't realise how close it was and hadn't got permission from the forest people to go walking. But it was nice to go so close to the end of term because it meant the whole dorm could spend the weekend with each other which was important because a couple of them are leaving.

Avalanche is a big lake. There is Scripture Union centre just above the lake, like two minute walk, which have straw tents (they look pretty cool but I didn't take a photo. On Friday we got dropped off about an hour and a half walk away from Avalanche although we weren't camping at the SU centre but about 5-10 minute walk away because we walked out a different route on Sunday so they could count it as their bronze d of e practise.

At night the firefly's came out. I'd never seen them before but the was swarming...it was really pretty. Friday night the Inglis's (dorm parents), Rachel A and I sat in our tent chatting. My torch was pointing to the roof of the tent. We saw this rat sized creature crawling around the centre of the walls of our tent and it scared us slightly until Stuart pointed out it was the tiniest little insect running around the top of my torch. It was very funny and we felt fairly stupid.

Saturday was our activities day. I led the devotion in the morning eventually. The dorm was split into two groups and one group went abseiling and the other did orienteering, then we swapped after lunch. Abseiling was loads of fun. Somehow I lost at rock, paper scissors and had to abseil first cos the girls are wimps!! The last time I was abseiling was in Y6, but it was a lot of fun. It was down a 15ft rock face and you landed in a nice river of water so I was freezing whilst watching the rest of the girls abseil. The evening was pretty laid back with each walking group cooking their own dinner and then we had more devotions and us four staff gave our testimonies. Then we walked back to the adventure campsite in the dark. Unfortunately we didn't lose anyone!

Sunday we went back the the SU site to cook breakfast because we didn't trust the weather. Rachel A led some devotions then we set off in our walking groups. We stopped about 1 hour into the walk at the '9m falls' which was oddly enough a 9m waterfall. We left the SU site first. We waited for the other groups and then left last so unintentionally spend 1 hour there. We washed our hair...so we made the most of our time! The rest of the walk took about an hour and a half. And was a little bit longer than expected because there was a PROBLEM WITH THE BUS. I couldn't believe it. It didn't break down of anything the driver went to where he dropped us off but we walked out to a different entrance.

9m falls

Couldn't do much but laugh and take the blame....

Some photos

2008-06-03T18:21:00.005+01:00

Photos of formal dinner. I'll name the girls again since they are all there......

Left to right
Top row: Priya, Caitlyn, Lisa, Xanithe
Below them: Katie, Rachel A(dorm support), Cheryl, Pooirnima
3rd row:Julia, Grace, Vani, Esther
Bottom row: Sarah, Harmony, Hannah, Sanjana, Rachel, Christine, Me

Photo taken just before the boys arrived..
Rachel and Cheryl (first two left of me)are leaving at the end of term to go back to Australia. And Rachel A is going back to the UK with Bene

Formal Dinner

2008-06-02T11:12:00.007+01:00

Most of the IG's took this weekend as their second weekend off. Apart from Si, Bene and myself. They went to Jungle Retreat, which is half way down the mountain. It's meant to well nice but Si and I are spending a few nights there when Soph, and Si's parents get here in two weeks. :) We are pretty excited! And it isn't exactly cheap so going twice in one month wasn't really an option. Selborne was very quite since I was the only IG left for most of the weekend. But I was also really nice to have the room to myself,(had the best night sleep in a long time, might have something to do with the girls snoring.) So Si and I won't take our second weekend because I'd prefer to spend the last couple of weekend with the dorm

We had to say goodbye to one of the girls, Catriona, on Saturday. She has gone back to the UK for furlow (no idea what it means) but I will hopefully have time to meet up with her in the summer, which will be ace. Saturday evening we had the Std 9 formal dinner (boys and girls), which was really nice. They gave us our thankyou/leaving present. I got lots of local tea! (Because you can get tea in India, eh Mum!)Two of the dorm girls are leaving to Australia (Rachel and Cheryl) at the end term and one of the lads is going back to UK. Also Rachel, the girls dorm support is leaving to go back to the UK with Bene(they are engaged. So there were a few goodbye speeches. I got a nice picture of the dorm before formal as well which I will post.

This weekend the dorm is going to Avalanche..a kinda outdoor place. Not entirely sure what we do there but looking forward to it. It is almost certainly going to rain but that usually adds to the fun! Then there is one more weekend then term is over. The last day of term is the 19th and we come back 5th July so not long left.

Will post pictures later...they are taking too long to load

Everest

2008-05-29T15:53:00.002+01:00

Went for a jog afterschool with one of the nurses, Alana. We went up a hill called Everest. At one point there is a great view of the town. It had just poured down with rain which made it pretty slippy. The peak of Everest is 2500m, 300 metres above Hebron. It was the route the boys take when they do cross country during the first term.

Hopefully do some more before we come back. Wish I started it earlier.

Kollegal 2

2008-05-29T15:48:00.002+01:00

Just remember...Our taxi got hit by another taxi on the way home because the other driver didnt dim his lights. It wasn't a massive hit otherwise I would have remembered it in the first place but our driver wasn't very happy.

Kollegal

2008-05-27T05:30:00.003+01:00

Just spent the weekend in Kollegal Girl's Home in Kollegal. There were about 30 kids boarding in the home but it is the Indian holidays so some of them go with their parents . During term time there is usually 60 kids boarding. The home is part of a school which has 660 pupils. The term starts again on Wednesday.

The trip down took us through the jungle, we saw wild boar, an elephant (don't think it was wild though) and some deer. We took the Hebron trax down to Kollegal and Paul Dodds, one of the staff members gave us a lift because he has had a lot to do with the home. He stayed the night and left saturday morning. We stayed until monday afternoon, we planned to stay until tuesday afternoon but there was a thunderstorm on sunday evening and Ruthie played in it. She had a fever monday morning so we got an early lift home monday evening, which was a shame and I dont think the girls were very happy with us for doing it.

We spent most of the weekend hanging out with the girls. They had to reweive their beds (it's hard to explain, I will post pictures). They had big rolls of tough fabric which had to be weived to make the bottom of the bed. Took ages. I completed two out of 20 which I was quite proud of, although now I have got sore fingers. The girls also attacked my hand with henna. Si thought I had burnt it...it is a mess and is going to take about two weeks to disappear...great! We went to church on Sunday but the service was in Kanada (dialect) so I didn't understand a word of it. The guy who owns the home is an amazing man and he has just had a baby girls who is two months old. I had long cuddle with home...she even weeed on me. Other than that is was a really good weekend. It was nice to the other side of Indian out of Hebron and being a tourist.

Will post photos when I get the chance.

Now that's rain!

2008-05-21T06:39:00.002+01:00

It's probably not clear from the photo but this is rain, and we decided it would be fun to go stand in it!

Next time no umbrellas!

The Dorm

2008-05-17T07:24:00.005+01:00

Thought I'd post a picture of the dorm since I finally got one.

Top row: Grace, Catriona, Esther, Caitlyn, Anika, Cheryl, Katie, Vani, Poornima, Julia, Lisa

Sitting down: Sarah, Harmony, Sanjana, Rachel, Nandita, Sarah and Hannah (day girls)

Just noticed some are missing...here's another photo!

Red jumper : Xanthe,

Grey and blue stripey hat (my hat!): Priya

Black jacket with roses : Christine

iTunes

2008-05-14T13:03:00.001+01:00

Selborne has just got iTunes.

Today is a good day!

IG Youth Service

2008-05-13T15:35:00.002+01:00

The IG's had to do a youth service for the Y9+ last sunday. Which meant that there was about 200 young people plus teachers. It went really well and we got a lot of positive feedback from it. We even stuck to schedule!

Next friday I'm escorting one of the Y11 girls to a girls home in a town called Coligal, which is about 3 hours from Ooty. We leave on friday and stay there until tuesday. Looking forward to it. Not sure what we are going to be doing but the other option for Ruthie (the y11 girl) is to go to a hospital where her parents work which she didn't fancy, but I get a a long weekend for free. I'm going to forfiet my second weekend off which would be the weekend after but we go to a outdoor centre called Avalanche the first weekend of June with the dorm and didn't like the idea of having 3 weeks off in a row! Thought it was a bit cheeky.

The town has gone crazy with tourists. The rickshaw drivers have double their prices, and the main road to Hebron and the Botanical gardens is packed with people because there is a flower show at the weekend...should hopefully calm down again after the weekend then though.

Shopping :)

2008-05-13T15:30:00.002+01:00

Went shopping after school with Alix because I want to get a trouser suit made. I mangaged to get the suit material for jacket and trousers, a nice blue lining, and material for a pink silk shirt and a present for dad (who will have to wait until i get home!) for 1770 rupees which is 21 quid. Now all I have to do is find a decent tailor to make it. I also brought a very nice saree for graduation which I will make into curtains when I get back.

Weekend Antics

2008-05-05T17:01:00.003+01:00

We were meant to be going to an outdoor centre with the dorm this weekend but we didn't realise it was so soon so it has been postponed until the beginning of June. The girls are allowed to start D of E in Yr 9, which I think is why Si and I are with the Y9 kids. So at avalanche they will usually go on a walk which counts as their practise walk for their bronze, so in preperation for june we took the dorm on a walk. We walked from Selborne to a town called Ketty, I'm not sure how long it was but it took us nearly 4 hours so I'm guessing it was about 11km. We walked up the hill behind Selborne called Elkhill, which is also the name of the 9's girls dorm. When we got to the bottom we reached a town called Lovedale. I had the medium group, started with 6 girls but inherited Ester from the fast group, so ended up with 7. Dispite being in the sandwiched between the fast and the slow group we still managed to lose the groups...it takes a lot of effort but we managed it. We reached Lovedale train station, which is a stop of the hill train which is now historically listed, and stops at Ooty, which was handy for us. We had a food break at Lovedale then walked along the railway line to Ketty, and only nearly got run over by one train. We got to Ketty just after 1pm and had lunch. It was a really nice walk and there were some pretty nice views of the mountains. And some nice tunnels which were carved out of the rock and had bats in them which wasn't that nice. We had the Tempo to take us back to Selborne but there wasn't enough room so 6 of us caught the hill train back to Ooty. While waiting for the train Catriona and Katie ask how much a cow is. They are 15,000 rupees (200 quid and half the price we paid for jet ski repairs!)

It's now tourist season in Ooty because the plains are to hot...over 40C, and for Indian schools it's the school holidays. Which isn't nice because Ooty is now packed with tourists, particulary the Botanical gardens at the bottom of Lushington. We are a pretty big novality because we are white but now everytime a tourist bus drives past us we get hollered at.

This sunday we are running a youth service for Stds 9 to 13, we are doing on 'taking the next step', it's all pretty hectic at the moment!

Palolem cont.

2008-04-22T09:10:00.002+01:00

After we got settled on Wednesday we went for a wonder and a swim. The sea was the Arabian Sea so was really warm. I don't understand how the sea, which is quite large, was warmer than the pool at Hebron. (Although the school is pool is a nice temperature now!) And had a fairly lazy afternoon.

Thursday was also a lazy day. We didn't do anything touristy until the afternoon when we went fishing. Between the 6 of us and two proper fishermen we caught 25 fish in and hour and a half. I caught a tiger fish...the prettish catch! Emma managed to hook a fish through the belly, talk about cruel. We went to a different restaurant for dinner, it had happy hour - if the drinks weren't cheap enough - 'Buy one cocktail get another free'. Emma, Josh, James and Catherine went to find a club which had 'silent dancing', they aren’t allowed to play loud music after 10pm, so they give you headphones so you can dance. All seems a bit odd, plus they couldn't find the club...after all they couldn't follow sound of the music.

Friday morning we went dolphin watching which was cool. Saw about 6 dolphins. Two were swimming together. We were watching them for a good couple of hours. Back at the beach we lounged around again. (Was a very relaxing week) In the evening James and Si went fishing again so Catherine and I hired canoe for an hour and paddled almost to the other end of the bay but got bored and played with the waves. We'd sit and wait for a wave to take us into shore, sort of like surfing but not quite.

We left Saturday lunch time, had the same taxi men to drove us to Palolem. They took us back to Baga to collect the receipt for the jet skis so the lads could claim on the insurance, and waited for us to have lunch. Then took us to the Menezers so we could say thank you for their help. Turns out Derek Menezer knew one of our taxi drivers (VJ) for over 10 years. Our taxis took us to the bus station so we could catch our overnight bus. Where I lost my purse, with all my debit cards and drivers licence and quite a bit of money. And I realised on Sunday on my birthday...it was a good start to the day! When we realised Emma and I went back to the bus station and got pretty frustrated with the language barrier and we were about to give up. Until this guy called Jay asked is he could help. He took us up to the control room to find out where our bus would be, then he came with us to search the bus. The Bangalore bus station is huge...there were well over 300 buses there, and somehow he found ours. It was filling up with petrol so it hadn't been cleaned. We found it, spent a good 10 minutes searching the bus, but to no avail. Which lead to the conclusion that it had be nicked, since it is pretty hard to lose a purse on a bus! So we reported it missing to the police (not sure what it achieved).

We met up with the others in the centre of Bangalore, and met one of Catherine's Indian friends and his brother, Ranju who took us to Pizza Hut for lunch...then treated us to bowling. Ranju won bowling, with Emma and I drawing second with 105 points...we bet the boys :)

We were meant to get a taxi at 3.30 but there was bad traffic and it didn't arrive until 6pm. So with a 6 hour journey back to Ooty I shotgunned the front seat. We arrived back at Ooty just after midnight. It was a very enjoyable week, despite a few hiccups.

Palolem, South Goa

2008-04-22T07:09:00.003+01:00

From Calanguate it took two hours to get to Palolem. With Goa being the smallest state in India, this was the time it took to travel the length of the state. We booked into 3 amazing beach hut..right on the sea front. I shared a room with Si because the huts were quite small and although you could fit three in a bed the rooms were too small for three people to stay there... if you get what I mean. It was the first time I wasn't sharing a room with Emma and Catherine since the middle of February...was a welcomed change!! Si and I, and Emma and Catherine had huts on stilts, was interesting getting our (mine and Si's, we didn't pack light...we did enough of that on DofE, plus it meant we (I) could buy lots of stuff - which I did) suitcases up the 'ladder'. The huts were really simple. It had one door - the front door. Which went into the room the size of a large double bed and enough space to lay a rectangular suitcase horizontal (i have got pictures), which lead to the bathroom, which had a toilet, then a shower, and a since...was basically a wet room. It didn't have a door, just a waterproof curtain to separate the bedroom from the bathroom. We paid a bit extra for these stilted one than the ones on the floor, the only difference between the two was that we could look out our door and just see the sea...it was stunning, but well worth the extra money. Along the length of the beach, which was no longer than 700 metres were separate villages of these beaches huts...but not many had the ones looking onto the bay. Our 'village' was called San Fransisco. The owner was British and had 3 cute dogs and 2 puppies, which were quite sweet. There were quite a lot of dogs on the beach but they weren't vicious like the one in Ooty. They were more like pets. We had dinner at the San Fransisco restaurant...which was basically where were staying but at ground level. They did really nice sea food. Josh ate a whole tuna which was meant to feed 5 people, but he had it all to himself...the waiter brought him a drink for eating it.

The rest of the week was pretty much us just being very lazy. We didn't leave the beach until we left on Saturday...it was that nice.

Jet Ski accident

2008-04-21T18:29:00.006+01:00

This was such a big part the week it deserves its own post!

The boys bartered the owners to a reasonable price for 15 minutes on the jets skis, about 700 rupees (just under a tenner), donned on their life jackets and set off. About 3 minutes into their time Josh crashed into James and caused some damage to the jet skis. A few minutes later Josh picked up speed, caught some air off the waves and unintentionally smacked Si in the back of the head, knocking him out and in to the water. So Josh jumped off his ski and helped Si out of the water (he had regained consciousness but doesn't remember any of it). Us girls were unaware of what was going on. I was filming most of it but missed the accident because I was talking to one of the jet ski owners who was telling me that one the the skis was pretty much brand new. We realised that there were two jet skis in the water with no one on them so ran a good 200 metres to see a gathering of people and Si covered in blood. We walked Si to a taxi so he could get checked out at a hospital. Then i ran back to tell Emma and Catherine what was going on! The owners caught up with me to tell me that there was a lot of damage to the jet skis...two of them weren't water tight because the fibreglass has cracked. Si got some stitches to his head and was concussed for a day or so. The owners were then on the boys back because they wanted payment for the damage and were asking for 60,000 rupees which is 750 quid.

Si is fine now. He had his stitches out yesterday (they didn't give him anaesthetic when the put them in...but did give him an injection in the butt). And then went to town to get hair cut...he came back shaved and has worn a beany since because he has got a furry patch where the stitches were which they couldn't shave. He won't let anyone see it.

North Goa

2008-04-21T18:10:00.010+01:00

The first 3 days off our break we spent in North Goa. It took 6 hours by taxi to Bangalore, then a 14 hours overnight bus journey to Panjim, the capital of Goa. The bus was more like a standard British coach with reclining chairs (so imagine what standard Indian buses are like). We were expecting sleeper buses which have actual beds but we had been told the wrong thing, they we just normal seats...i think these were meant to more comfy anyway. We arrived in Panjim mid morning and got a public bus to Calaguate, the rickshaws to Baga to the hotel called Hotel Fatima's where we were going to stay at until Wednesday. We spent most of the afternoon on the beach, where the boys were pestered to go on some jet skis, as you may have heard wasn't the best decision of the trip!

Monday was spent mainly dealing with the jet ski guys. Us girls did a bit of shopping and looking round. We found a really nice ice cream shop called 'baskin robins', was a bit pricey but well worth it. We had lunch and dinner with the boys. Needless to say we spent most of the day by the beach.

Tuesday was pretty much the same. We were woken up but the hotel staff climbing up the trees to chop coconuts down...which had the potential to be quite dangerous with falling coconuts! We had a lazy morning, then booked out of our hotel because all the money was sorted for the jet ski's but the owners knew where we were staying and the boys weren't comfortable with that. The hotel was alright, it had an odd design and was a slight eyesore..there were far to many colours. It had titch swimming pool that tasted of citrus, and the rooms had big cockroaches and frogs. But what can you expect when we are on budget! We were out of there by midday and caught a taxi to a hotel called Maggie's in Calanguate about 3 km south of Baga. This hotel was a little bit more expensive, but compared to British prices we could really complain... it was a really nice hotel and quite friendly. It's a shame we didn't find it earlier in the week. It had a nice size pool and it tasted better than the other one (not that we go around drinking pool water!). It was closer to ATM's too which was quite important as there were none in Baga. They also did really nice food. We spent one night there but made the most of it! In the evening we went a few kilometres north to Vagator which has a rocky beach so isn't very popular but has very nice sunsets.

Wednesday morning we packed our stuff and locked them in our rooms, then caught a couple of autos to Anjuna, which was about 3km north of Baga, still on the coast. The market was massive, and we were going to the last marked of the season. As soon as we jumped out the autos we were hassled by sellers. There were loads of differents stuff, although alot of the stalls were repeated. The bonus of going at the end of the season was they were trying to get rid of stock so you could get prices pretty low. I brought double bed silk throw for 6 quid, amongst other things. I probably spent to much but I don't plan on going back anytime soon (personally I blame Miller for not being there who would have stopped me...Si just waited for me to buy something then try to get the price lower which wasn't very helpful. It was very tempting to just hit him on the head but I wasn't in a mean mood!). Si and Catherine thought it would be fun to jump in the sea fully clothed. Except Si forget he had pockets so jumped in complete with wallet and phone. Now he had no phone.

After the market we went back to the hotel, claimed our luggage...mine was now alot heavier
and jumped into two taxis to South Goa.

(I've added more photos to my photo page)

Goa

2008-04-11T07:35:00.003+01:00

Parent's week is nearly over - Hurray! It's been a busy week with stuff going on most evenings. Tuesday and Wednesday night was the school performance of 'Fiddler on the Roof', but on Tuesday we were in charge of our dorms, we watched the production on Wednesday night which finished very late. And I was on Bus Duty which involved ticking off the girls on the bus to get to Selborne, which was ackward with lots of girls staying for Fiddler rehersals, and other going out with the parents. I'd say the worst week to be on Bus Duty. I then offered to do it again last night after the Thanksgiving service. School breaks up today at 12.30. Yey. It means we can go on holiday for 10 days :)

We are getting picked up late tonight by taxi to Bangalore. We are staying in Bangalore for the day and get a Sleeper bus to Goa on Saturday evening. We arrive in Goa on Sunday morning. The Sleeper buses have beds on then...which is a new idea to us but apparently quite effective. Unfortunately there are 6 of us going, which is good because it is an even number, but we are 3 girls and 3 boys and we have booked double beds (not sure why.) But I think Emma and Catherine have shotgunned a bed together and James and Josh will go together...so guess who I'm stuck with.

Once we get to Goa we are spending 3 days in Baga, North Goa. Not sure what we will do...spend sometime shopping and at the beach i expect. Wednesday morning we are taking a risk and going to Anjuna flea market (the place in the news recently), but aren't are staying there. Then we are getting the train to Palolem, South Goa, which apparently has nicer beaches so we are renting a beach hut (like in Bourne Supremecy), and to do more shopping and sunbathing. It is going to be pretty hot.
We leave the beach on saturday evening and get another sleeper bus to Bangalore arriving sunday (for my birthday) for more shopping! Then stop off at Mysore on the way back to Ooty to see the palace all lit up. We get back very late saturday evening and make the most off our day on Monday in Ooty (when i can open my parcel of sweets :))

Really looking forward to it.

Praise and Prayer Evening

2008-04-06T18:08:00.002+01:00

This week is Parent's Week. It's a really big and busy week for staff and students. But also a really good oppurtunity for us people who are new to the school to meet the students parents. Most of the Missonary Kids parents have arrived and will stay for the whole week then take the their kids away for the half term break. Wheras the business parents will only come for a few days.
Tonight there was evening where we could learn about what some of the missonary parents were doing around Asia. Four couples spoke on their areas of ministry. They were Japan, Bangladesh, North India and Cambodia. Was a really interesting evening.

The setup for the rest of the week involve Sport Day, music night, 'Fiddler on the roof' performance (it was a club) and teacher parent interview - which the staff are really looking forward to! Amongst other stuff.

Looking forward to our week off!

SC Event

2008-04-06T17:06:00.003+01:00

Every so often the SC (Student Council) organise an event once a term. Last night was the last event for the current SC's. The theme was 'Wild Wild West'. The big pitch was transformed into a sort of wild west market and a lot of people dressed up. The most popular outfit was a cowboy or cowgirl. Then there were the more obscure...cactus, tin of Heinz beans, a sunset, a bonfire and gold diggers. Then we get to Emma's outfit who went as a camel- I went as its butt. We were going to go as a horse but there was no horse head in the props cupboard. Our defense was that we got lost, although I'm pretty sure you can get camels in the desert.

Later on in the evening, when all the food ran out, there were some acts on stage. Most of them were songs, with a couple of dramas done by the IG's. The first IG group did sketch called Flicking Channels, which worked pretty well after the first hiccups with the microphones not working...then when they started working Emma still yelled, deafening everyone in a 1 mile radius! ( I can be mean to her, she is always being mean to me!) The second sketch involved the other IG's who did a sketch which i think they made up and called it the Bangalore bus queue. Basically Hannah got on stage and spoke then coughed...then one by one the next person joined the queue asking to have whatever the person in front was eating. It was chewing gum...so a bit of gum went along the queue...everyone chewed the same piece Hannah had started with. The punch line was everyone asked the person before them what they were eating and Hannah just told them ' I don't know, I just coughed it up!' Was very funny.

April Fools Day

2008-04-02T06:17:00.002+01:00

Got woken up in the morning by the Y7 and 8's thundering down the stairs like a herd of elephants - which usually happens but not normally so loud. Then we realised that no one had rung the bell for waking up. Then we remember it was the 1st April. The year 11's had stole the Selborne bell - which gave the girls (us included) a great excuse to stay in bed. The kitchen staff resulted to using cutlery instead of a bell. The Y11's didn't return the bell until after dinner - which makes them the fools.

The Lushington drive was also blocked by the Y11 boys shaving, which meant we had to walk up the last bit. Apparently last year they let the tyres down on both the buses, which was a step to far, because Selborne relies on the buses in the morning. Apparently about 6000 pounds (or rupees, not sure) worth of damage was done, with broken tables and chairs etc.

Hannah and Sarah also very kindly took my clean underwear hostage and hung it out side their flat. They thought I was at the pool until break so they would be on show to everyone but they were wrong...my underwear was only hanging up for two lessons. In retaliation I stole they flat keys (don't know if they realised).

Now we see why it isn't a big thing a home. Was pretty glad when it reached 12 o'clock

The past week....

2008-03-31T13:14:00.005+01:00

Monday was Black Thunder

I was asked to speak at prayer breakfast on Tuesday morning (every IG gets asked at some point). I almost said no but then changed my mind. It involved staying up until 11 Monday night thinking about what I was going to say, then waking up at 6.50 to start at 7.10, thankfully it was at Selborne. About 50 students turned up in the common room. I had a 10 minute speaking slot, which I just about filled, then the students split into groups to prayer for mostly current issues affecting people in the school, then we had breakfast (hence prayer breakfast). Then off to school.

On Wednesday the IG's did the morning assembly...we did a skit which was very hard to keep a straight face in. But we got good feedback from it.

<---Somebody wrote on her face in the mirror (it wasn't me) - ymra 4 efil!

And Catherine dressed up as a 'chav' - although alot of the kids didn't get it, but it made us laugh (in the end that's what really matters!) (and our room is always that messy!)

Nothing that exciting happened on Thursday, only that half the swimming lessons had been cancelled because the water was too cold! And it was the last day of clubs. My clubs - the tots, had a party. Because Ruth (staff kid, aged 4) loves having parties...it's all she talks about! Her parents are from Cheltenham, and are moving back at the end of term. And I booked onto New Wine in the evening.

Friday was also pretty uneventful. Apart from I forgot about one of my DEL lessons (one-on-one support). And I went for a swim in the rain. Stupid rain.

Saturday we had dorm stuff. The Y9 Boys came round for morning games, and lunch. I was the whistle blower and had to blow the whistle every ten minutes so the groups could rotate. There we 6 different stations and you go round trying to score the most points. Wasn't all that interesting from our point of view but the kid seemed to enjoy it. Although trying to trip up the groups doing the 3 legged race was quite amusing!

Sunday was church and NBC (nines bible club). Si did the talky bit...the listened for most of it. But they are completely mad.

And today was our day off. We stayed in Ooty and did a bit (a lot) of shopping. Catherine, Sarah and myself chose some material for a Salwa Khamis (I chose two cos I was feeling greedy, and they were pretty cheap). Now we have to wait for the tailor to make them, he reckons all 4 will be ready by this Friday. I reckon they will be ready by the following Friday.

This is our last day off until the mid-term break next Friday (11th), when we go to Goa, because it is parents week. Parents week is sort of the same as a parents evening at home but because parent have to come from all over the place they make it over a week. Which completely messes up the timetable but what can ya do! Kids are hardly going to complain.

quest for a swimming pool

2008-03-27T11:13:00.002Z

Because of the stupid rain the pool it 19.5C.
I'm not going to swim in it.
I am trying to find a hotel in Ooty which a heated indoor pool i can swim in a couple of time a week. Not having much luck.

Black Thunder and Farley

2008-03-25T06:15:00.004Z

The school had a long weekend because of good Friday so the Year 9's (boys and girls) went to a house owned by one the parents of a students at the school for the night. The house is called Farley. We left after lunch and walked there (in the rain). The kids then had a task set ...they had just under two hours to build a tents out of whatever they could find. Some of them were rubbish...but some of then were quite good. Si decided he wanted to be a boy scout and joined a group...his group came second - they were penalised for having an IG otherwise they would have won. Then the staff at Farley made us some lush dinner. They had lit two huge camp fires then prepared some dough...the idea was that you roll the dough into a sausage shape and then wind it around a stick, then you hold it over the fire for 10 minutes, then you pull the bread roll off the stick and fill it with mince beef or chicken and cheese. Was yummy. The guys were going to sleep in a bell tent outside but the weather was too bad and the tent had holes. Instead they slept on the hard wooden floor in the lounge. The girls got thin mattresses in the room upstairs.

It rained again on Saturday, although breakfast was ace, so we just played indoor games organised by two family staying at Farley from the States.They had some good games. We stayed for lunch which was Indian, which was also very yummy.

On our day off we went to Metty, at town at the base of the Nilgris to the 'best water park in Asia' - i beg to differ! It was a fun day out after the 2 1/2 hour bus journey down. There were no clouds though which was nice. James and Alana cycled down which told them ages. The water park was fun...maybe not the safest water park. The rides were definitely made for Indian as a lot of the time most of the lads were nearly hitting the end of the rides, we say it's a weight thing. The boys claim it due to their height. Hmmmm.

The bus on the way home drives past Selborne...we didn't want to walk all the way back from the bus station so as the bus slowed down due to the horrendous road works we just jumped off...it was still moving and Tom jumped off while it was still going fairly fast..we valued our legs so waited for the bus to go a bit slower.

Swimming Gala

2008-03-18T11:18:00.003Z

Had the swimming gala this weekend. It rained, but we had it anyway. All the heats were done in the run up to saturday so we just had the finals, which still lasted over 3 hours. Fortunately the weather cleared up a bit about half way through. There were a few new records set, a few disqualifications, a couple of false starts, and a staff v student race. We wanted an IG race, apparently there has never been an IG relay team for the gala, so we got a team together. We raced in to two races and lost both of them...the first one was a close call but on the second one we were well over a length behind, somehow i picked the short straw and went last. there was another staff team, male and female, and both teams won... so technechally staff are better then students at swimming (which really doesn't surprise me!)

There is no school friday because it is Easter. Our dorm is going to a place called Farley (they find it funny that it rhymes with my name) on friday and we are staying over. Obviously making the most of the long weekend. Not sure what we will be getting up to but will be good the spend some time with the girls.

It's raining again.

Weather

2008-03-14T05:01:00.002Z

The weather has been awful. It's been cloudy all week and poured down last night, we have got corrugated metal (not in a slumny sense...it's good corrugated metal!) for a ceiling so it is like sleeping in our conservatory in the rain, so somebody didn't sleep! It's not even monsoon season yet.

Tomorrow is the school's swimming gala. I'm a judge, have to make sure they touch the side properly and don't touch the bottom. I have the power to disqualify :) We have also got an IG team for the staff v student relays...don't really think we are in with a chance of winning, but we will try our best. Hopefully it won't rain tomorrow, because the gala will still go ahead and everyone will get wet instead of just the swimmers.

Fort Cochin

2008-03-11T06:06:00.009Z

tea pot cafe

Each half term the IG's have a weekend off. Ours was last weekend. We went to a seaside town called Fort Cochin. We caught a bus at 8pm from Ooty to Coimbatore. It took 3 hours to get there. From Coimbatore we caught a sleeper train very early in the morning. Despite sleeper trains having 'beds', they are surprisingly uncomfortable and your luggage is always exposed, so you don't want to sleep in case you never see you luggage again. I got more sleep on the bus down the mountain. The train journey was 6 hours long, we got off at Allepey for the backwaters. Because Ooty is in the mountains, it hasn't really been very humid. Allepey was very hot and humid, think it caught us all by surprise. The backwaters were nice and relaxing. We got a boat for three hours and a driver. There is like a mini civilisation on the backwaters, it's not just water.

From Allepey we went to Fort Cochin, which is a bit further north. We got on some autos to our apartment and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. The auto drivers were nutters. One driver, who just turned up - he wasn't driving any of us, got chatting and offered us a tour of the fort on Saturday, which we accepted because it was very cheap. They took us to a dhobi place (washing), a couple of export spice places, a govt store (because we could get free Coke), a Hindu temple and then to see a mongoose v snake fight...but they couldn't get a mongoose, so we settled to see a snake charmer. We then went for a bit of market shopping. In the evening the girls when to the beach to look at the Chinese fishing nets and to watch the sunset. The sunset was stunning. We met up with the boys for dinner at one of restaurant near the sea front. Being by the sea was great...meant we could have fresh seafood for the first time in weeks!

Sunday morning we went back to the Chinese fishing nets to see how they worked. It's all done by a weighted pulley system - quite impressive. The fishermen let us sit on the net while they took pictures of us. Hence the anxious smile, the guy was stood on a single round plank of wood just holding my camera above the sea. (I would have jumped to catch it!)

Sunday afternoon we found a hotel recommended in the Lonely Planet guide for its infinity pool and that non-guests could swim for a small fee, so we got there and they said it isn't for non guest...we weren't impressed. They did recommend another hotel that would let us swim, so we spent 4 hours there. The pool was heated - it was lush and worth every rupee! We ate late at a little restaurant that served Chinese food. We are all pretty bored of Indian food now!

Monday morning, the girls went out for a bit of early morning shopping and breakfast. We then met up with the boys ready to leave, our weekend accommodation cost about 20 quid each for three nights. It was a bargain. On our way to the train station we visited the 'Jew Town' to see the synagogue but it was shut.

We got our lunch whilst waiting for the train...Pizza Hut :) The got the train back to Coimbatore which was 5 1/2 hours where we had a private mini coach meet us to take us on the 3 1/2 hours journey back to Ooty. We arrived back at Selborne just gone 12.30am. We felt it this morning! But it has been worth it. The rest of the guys are great.

Cochin weekend off

2008-03-06T11:20:00.003Z

We are going on holiday for a long weekend off. Us 8 younger IG's are going to Cochin in the neighbouring state - Kerala. Not totally sure what our plans are but they involve a boat trip along the kerala backwaters, the beach and shopping so I'm not that fussed what order it happens in! Although we do have to take malaria tablets for a month after going which is annoying. Si didn't order any so I'm going to be nice and lend him some of mine (because Sophie told him off, then I felt bad for telling Soph! ;)

The journey involves a 3 hour bus journey to Coimbatore tonight, then we catch the train at 2am, get off it a 7am, then we stay in a town called Appelley for the day (for the backwaters i think), then travel to Cochin to get a boat to Fort Cochin where our cottages are. It's going to be a long day and weekend, and very hot. A lot of us haven't left the Nilgiris since we arrived so will we nice to get away for a bit! Will add photos and stories on monday!

C

Sunsets and Selborne day out

2008-03-01T15:31:00.005Z

Last nights sunset Had a Selborne day out. Basically the whole of selborne went out, apart for the sixth formers who had other apparently more important plans! We went from Selborne to a place called Glenmorgan (doesn't sound very Indian to me). About 30 of us biked, it's about 17km. And being the Nilgiri Hills it wasn't exactly flat all the way. The cyclists (I cycled stupidly) left at 8am, and arrived at Glenmorgan at about 11am. The buses with the rest of Selborne beat us there, naturally! We had lunch in someone's garden at Glenmorgan, (can't remember her name, it wasn't some strangers lawn!) Her husband owns are very large tea plantation in the the area. Their lawn could have easily be mistaken for a British lawn. It was sandwiches for lunch - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (amongst other...don't try it - it's just plain strange).

We went for a walk after lunch. We had a choice of a short walk or a long walk. Us IG's went on the long walk. Glenmorgan is situated on the edge of the Nilgiri Hill so we were walking along a few ridges, although it wasn't exactly a ridge in my opinion (been along worse). We were aiming for a place the school has nicknamed Pride Rock (Lion King) because it sticks out like pride rock. Picture below. It was amazing because we were right on the edge of the mountain range - and very high up (still not quite used to the altitude!) so we could see for miles and miles. Will put the rest on the pictures on my photo page. The walk wasn't very long distance wise but it was very up and down, we climbed a good 100metres on the way there and back. Got sore feet because I have only worn flip flops for nearly 6 weeks, my feet didn't like having trainers on them. But it was worth it.

"pride rock" is the rock sticking out in the distance.

Have had a fairly good week. Fell in the pool by accident. It wasn't the pool as such...on the side on the pool there is a hole for the pump full of water, it's about a metre wide and just under a metre deep, I was concentrating on one the swimmers and was walking along...forgot there was a hole there (because it is in a really stupid place), and fell into it. Now I have a very purple bruise on my knee. It did mean I could tell the kids that it was warm cos I had been in it!

Weekend off next weekend...we are going to the beach :)

Tea Factory

2008-02-25T16:38:00.006Z

Went to the tea factory on our day off today. Learnt that tea bags were invented in 1908, but Tetley's invented the drawing string teabag in 1997 so to get every drop of goodness! Amongst other useless facts about tea - although the factory did smell lush (of tea strangely enough...which compared to other smells around the town was a welcomed change!) They do some really nice tea, we tried some cardamon tea, strange thing was they served it with milk and sugar yet boast about how great there tea is - seemed to be missing the point! Will bring some back.(Didn't take any photos, but will steal some of the others) Was the furthest I'd strayed from Ooty since we got here, been living a very sheltered life! Were some really nice views up there, because of Ooty being in the mountain range it's easy to forget how high up you are, and you still don't realise it when you see all the mountains in the distance, but it was nice to see a different view from what you can see from the hebron campuses. Was also good to see where the campuses are in relation to each other.

Went out for a Chinese for dinner. Was yummy. Particularly the sweet and sour pork. Haven't had pork for ages. Am pining after a bacon sandwich.

Support Staff Day

2008-02-24T04:37:00.006Z

The school has a large number of staff employed to clean, cook, maintenance, washing clothes etc around both school sites. They work 7 days a week from very early in the morning til about 7pm. Yesterday was their day off. The workers and their families can to Selborne for the morning then went over to Lushington for lunch and games in the afternoon. A lot the the Lushington staff had never been to Selborne. Because the staff had a day off the dorms did the jobs the support staff do, its fair to say that the support staff do it much more efficiently! And the school couldn't run for very long without them. Our dorm was assigned to morning tea, which meant serving nibbles and doing the washing up. Which wasn't that tasking (we gave it to them on paper plates!).

We took our dorm out for lunch again, for a picnic at the Botanical Gardens. The gardens are right next to Lushington, they share the same entrance...yet haven't been in them until yesterday. Played a few wide games around the gardens, then went into town to do a bit of shopping. The sixth formers cooked us dinner - buritos (indian style), which was yummy. Then we watched Fantastic Four with the dorm. The girls dorm parents the Inglis' have enough room in their flat to project films on to one of their walls which is ace..better than Indian cinemas and you don't get mobiles going off, or a break in the middle of the film, or scenes cut out of it!

Friday nights our dorm has dorm meeting, which include bible studies. I led a group with five of the girls. Was nice to learn more about them and what their backgrounds are and about their familes. There were 6 of us in the room and between us we represented 4 different countries.

Thursday Clubs

2008-02-21T13:28:00.003Z

Thursdays have become club day. For 6 weeks everything is shortened by 5 minutes to allow for clubs to start at 2.30 and finish in time for dinner. It means lessons are 35 minutes long, which for sports is daft because by the time the kids get to the pool, faff around with how cold it is (it is quite nice at the moment), there is only about 20 minutes for a lesson. We then have to let them out 5 minutes early so they have time to get changed before their next lesson. Plus, junior school have different timings to the rest of the school so, originally on a Thursday I was doing 6 swimming lessons and a maths lesson, having one free lesson. Now, because junior school swim 10 minutes before the rest of the school, it’s not worth going to the maths lesson, because I can only stay for 10 minutes, which is a shame.

Having said that it isn't all about me! The kids seem to really enjoy their clubs. I'm helping with the under 4's (tots). There are 4 of them; they are all staff kids, aged 1, 2, 3 and 4, which is quite cool.

Not that we are competing for injuries, but Emma has truly out-injured Si. It is what Hoz call a deep cut. Caused by a pen knife and some wood. She was trying to make a stick so she could turn the light off in our room without having to get out of bed...What can I say?!

Simon did a very stupid thing

2008-02-19T04:26:00.003Z

After boasting about how unclumsy he had been he went and busted his toe big style. Worse than the rest of us (we just werent looking where we were going). I will leave it to him to tell the story!

Who dunnit?

2008-02-17T10:47:00.005Z

Had joint dorm fellowship on Friday night. Where all the dorms at Selborne joins for a short talk and some worship, everyone was packed into the common room except the Year 8's because they are at Avalanche (outdoor centre) - my dorm doesn’t go until May.

Spent the weekend with the dorm again. Think I know most of their names now...still get confused between some of them. Plus this weekend two of the day girls stayed at Selborne which threw me completely cos I hadn’t seen them before but they were part of the dorm. We had a lazy morning, but I was on breakfast duty so no lie in for me (or any other Saturday - it is my duty day). Breakfast duty is where you wait for all the girls to arrive for breakfast, ask for notices etc, say grace, then watch them eat their breakfast, whilst you get more hungry and wish they would hurry up so you can go and eat your breakfast. Midmorning some of the dorm played a really weird game called Killer Bunny. Naturally they gang up on you because you are their IG and that is what you are there for, dur! So I didn't win. The aim of the game is to collect carrot cards, but in order to win you have to have an alive bunny and the matching carrot card. Far to complicated for a card game in my opinion!

We took the dorm out for lunch, it was the first time I gone out for a meal in an Indian restaurant, (Sidewalk doesn’t count, and it’s western!). Plus the dorm pays for its IG's which is ace!

Had a huge game of role play cluedo around Lushington last night with all of Year 9. The dorm parents, Si and I were the suspects. I was Lady Peacock and Si was Ms White (he claims Dr. White). Neither of us were the murders, but there were doughnuts afterwards. Now I am on duty in the Kitchen... luckily not cooking - that would be dangerous! Have to sit in the office in the kitchen from 3.30 - 6.30, not sure what else I'm meant to be doing.

C

Breakfast

2008-02-15T05:01:00.002Z

Had curry for breakfast, will probably have it for lunch too. But not dinner!

Every thursday we have thursday special for dinner. Haven't worked out what it means yet! But we ate it outside and the girls were then late for prep. No commitment! They have prep every night (apart from weekends), for the older one it lasts for 3 hours, in complete silence apart from a couple of short breaks. And we have to be on prep duty every thursday... luckily at Selborne we can share it between 5 of us. Which is ace because we also have to sit in complete silence!

The girls have got hockey tournament in a few weeks so they are getting lots of practice in. Alix, Tom and I joined in on Wednesday night. We played staff verse the schools best team and lost 8 - 2. Seems to be trend here with staff and sports scores.

Because of the rain the pool as been surprising warm. I got in twice yesterday (I was wearing a wetsuit the first time) - I am very proud of myself! Then we sat in the sun and caught the sun a little bit. I will wear more suncream today.

Mike and the Mechanics

2008-02-13T14:47:00.003Z

Have found a fellow fan of the band Mike and the Mechanics - Emma. Now we will blast our speakers so the whole dorm can hear and we'll never get strange looks for liking their music ever again (atleast until July!), everyone else...quiz my parents, it's their fault! ;)

Si and I (if you say it really fast it sounds like cianide) fed a beggar today...probably a mistake because now everytime we see him he is gonna expect food but he seemed very grateful. We brought him some sugarfree cookies. (Si's choice and he paid).

Also... today Si asked for more work....never thought I hear those words come out of his mouth! He doesn't understand why I nearly choked on my drink, I told him that anyone at home would have a similar reaction to his request!

Oreo Icecream

2008-02-13T06:00:00.005Z

May not be very Indian but is very yummy!

300ml cream

1 Tin of Condensed Milk

1 Pack of Oreo's (or similar)

Whip the cream, fold in condensed milk and crushed oreos. Leave in freezer to freeze. Then eat.

Not sure how many people it's for but no harm in eating it all by yourself...and this was with Indian ingredients...must be well nice with 'proper' stuff!

Fiery fun

2008-02-12T04:54:00.001Z

Had another day off yesterday (we do do work honest!), although i have got 4 frees now :)

Had a lie in yesterday morning...got woken up by all the girls stampeding down the stairs at 7.30. I'd been living next door to Emma and Catherine until the weekend, but there is a lady coming to stay for a month so needs the room I was staying in. The other room is a lot quiter than Emma and Catherine's room. The other option was to stay at Lushington until the lady had gone but it was a really stupid idea and would have involved a lot of walking from Lushington to Selborne and back again. Plus, it's much nicer at Selborne!

We went to Sidewalk Cafe for lunch...think it may become a regular occurance. Last time we went Catherine fell down the hill, this time Emma fell down a pot hole (notice that I haven't done anything clumsy yet!), not quite sure how she managed it...i just turned around and saw her with her hand in sewage water. My initial reaction was that I didn't know her! Then I decided to be nice! Some friendly Indian men then gave her some water (pointed a hose at her) so she could clean her leg. We are slowly learning that we always need to be looking where we are going! The irony was we were just commenting on how clean the water was looking - Emma fell in the dirty water.

Had lunch at Sidewalk then Emma and I went shopping! Except I left all my money at Selborne, so Emma went shopping and I looked in the windows.

The Lushington lot came over for dinner and a film. Emma tried to light it with a sparky thing you light gas cookers with. (not a match) Twas quite funny. (notice again it wasn't me!!) Then we toasted cheesy tasting marshmellows on the fire after the film. They weren't nice.

It rained again last night, there was full on thunderstorm, but it means we have got water for our showers and it also meant we didnt have to get in the pool at 8.30 this morning. Which is always good.

Selborne

2008-02-11T05:36:00.000Z

Have posted some photos of Selborne. Got a day off today. Having pineapple for breakfast. It's very yummy.

Had the commencement service last night. The sketch went ok - got good feedback from it. Jokes we didn't find funny seemed to amuse the audience. I blame the cheesiness.

Watched Catch me if you can at lushington last night then walked back to Selborne without the boys...next time the boys are coming with us. Lots of stray dogs.

Weekend entertainment

2008-02-09T11:04:00.000Z

Every Friday (I think), there's a staff v student sport match of some sort after school. Yesterday it was hockey. Somehow staff got the short straw and played two half hour session whereas the students only played half an hour each. First staff played the Y8's and 9's. We lost 1-0. But it gets the better. The second half we played the U19's. We lost 2-0. In fact most the match was played our end of the pitch. We were rubbish.

My school schedule is mostly at the pool, but I have got 3 lessons a week with KS3 Science. Yesterday, the Y7's had double science (which is unlucky), but it's okay because they've got me to help them. Their teacher (Suganti Franklin) has broken her ankle so can't move around very well! The kids are surprisingly bright. Classes are really small, there are 17 in this class, and swimming classes are even smaller. I teach the girls in this science class swimming as well which is cool. It's interesting finding out where all the kids come from. We've been told not to risk asking the kids where they come from because a lot of them have never been in the same country for an extended amount of time. One of the girls in my dorm has lived in 5 different countries, and she's only 14.

Us IG's have to do a skit for a commencement service on Sunday. It's rubbish, and very cheesy. Somehow I got the part of a burping whale and Si is God...can't see the resemblances!

It poured down with rain last night, was gutted, it isn't suppose to rain until the end of April (normally) but the weather has been pretty pants. Quite overcast most of the time.
(Soph - it started spitting yesterday too but Si said that it didn't count!)

Had our first Saturday's with the dorms today. It's something we are going to have to do every weekend, and then we get a day off every Monday. Yey. My dorm (Std 9 girls) and the Std 9 boys (Si's dorm) had a basketball competition this morning. We were going to have it Lushington but it was too wet and Selborne has an enclosed basketball court (because we are better), so we could still play if the weather decided to be stupid. After all the kids played we had a staff v winning team match, and unlike yesterday, the staff won. 5-4, although I think the ref was biased to the students (one of Si's boys), but cheating get you nowhere...we still won!

We are going to watch whatever film is on the cinema tonight...can't remember what it is (has got Nicolas Cage in it)

Have added more photos

Ciao

Kid's Return

2008-02-08T05:06:00.000Z

All the kids arrived back on Wednesday. Means we have to do some work now instead of bumming around! Had a dorm meeting with my dorm (std 9's) on wednesday evening, there's about 19 of them. Seem like a nice bunch of kids.

Lessons started back up again yesterday, spent most of the day by the pool. Yesterday we were teaching Y7, 8 and a sixth form class. Bene and I were astounded that the year 7's could swim better than the sixth formers...it was beyond us, guess it is one of the cultural differences. But will be very weird teaching 18 year olds how to swim - plus most of them are a lot taller than me! The preschoolers didn't show up, but we were already in our swim kit so jumped in the pool anyway. It's still very cold, was 21C yesterday. Don't have any swim lessons today because of mock (or as they are called here 'trial') exams. But did have a year 7 science lesson, very nearly fell asleep.

Me and Catherine were on prep duty last night. Had to sit in the dining room for two hours bored out of our brains. Started listening to an audiobook I brought before I left - Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis...may have to listen to it more than once because I get distracted by the games on my Ipod and forget to listen. I did help one of the Std 10's with a maths question - got one the answers wrong...won't say what the question was because I shouldn't have got it wrong and in my defence I did realise and tell her.

Have uploaded some more photos

Cx

Photos

2008-02-06T16:26:00.000Z

Finally worked out how to upload photos. Wasn't my fault, my area wasn't set up to let me save files - i wasn't being dense!

Here's the link to my photos...will post more later - there are quite a few more.

http://picasaweb.google.com/CHill1989

Permenant link is on the right hand side.

Carly :)

Ooty lake

2008-02-05T16:03:00.000Z

I had one department meeting yesterday with the sport department. Bene and I are spending the next 12 weeks freezing our limbs of in the swimming pool. Think I am taking 18 swimming lessons a week there. Each lesson is 40 minutes long...and most of them are one after the other (27 hours a week). And a couple of lesson are at 8.30am...not planning on getting in for those ones...I value my body temperature. Although we have been offered wetsuits which we will very gratefully take.

Our day off today was nice. Had a lie in till 8am...when the Std 11's had breakfast, wasn't that impressed, noisy lot. Not that it matters cos I went back to sleep! Got up about 10am. The Selbourne lot (Emma, Catherine, Tom, Alix and myself) met the Lushington lot (Si, James, Josh, Bene, Hannah and Sarah) at the little restaurant called the Sidewalk Cafe. We were a bit late (about an hour) because all the vehicles have weird reversing tunes Emma and Catherine got distracted by one planning the wedding tune...Catherine was laughing too much, tripped and took a massive layer of skin of her big toe. So we walked back up to Selbourne to clean it up. Then on attempt two we completely missed the cafe and walked about 7 minutes in the wrong direction, wasn't a very successful morning.

The afternoon however was fun. We had lunch then got 3 rickshalls to Ooty Lake. Josh challenged our driver to overtake the other drivers but he failed miserably, despite the drivers best efforts to go a little faster...plus the roads are a state. Kinda like all the pot holes down by mitton bridge but quite a bit worse. At the lake we got 3 pedellos for half an hour - am still quite surprised that nobody fell in, we had boat swapping, boat dodgems with strangers...a shock we didn't get thrown out. There were also dodgems which we went on a few times. Josh and Si had a go on riding the bucking bull thing, Josh was quite impressive - Simon wasn't (he last about 20 seconds!). Then everyone (bar me and Alix) had a go on a very precarious looking rocking ship thing (I don't like the ship things), it was going up to almost 45 degrees and then didn't have lap supports! Then we left Ooty lake and went to the go-karts. Was a very simple circular lap, yet Sarah managed to mount her go-kart onto the tyres quite spectacularly. Si won a pair of pants binoculars at some shooting game. Then we left the lake.

Had very good pancakes for pudding tonight...most of the staff at the Selbourne had some (kids weren't important!), and then we prepared of the return of the girls.

Weather still isn't great yet - overcast for most of the day, hasn't rained though so I'm not complaining (just a bit miffed!) It's meant to get better! Still not worked out the photo uploading yet.

Cx

ATM's

2008-02-04T15:34:00.000Z

Just spent three quarters of an hour trying to withdraw money from an ATM so i can buy a phone. Which i have done now. Queued for about 15 minutes for the first one to then not be able to get past the first screen, which i was not impressed with. So i went back to the shop to explain i hadn't been able to withdraw cash, so the nice guy in the shop showed where there other ATMs in Ooty were. Got money on my third attempt, but the shop man was very patient...probably because he wanted me to buy the phone and the only way i could pay was in cash. The phone was well cheap, got a very simple phone and topped up sim for 2700 rupees (about ₤30) which should last me a while.

Just had dinner at one of the girls flats at Lushington. Eleven of us ate for about ₤ 1.30 each. It was very yummy. Sarah and Hannah made some homemade oreo's icecream which was lush. Will sneak the recipe and post it at some point.

Day off tomorrow...yey!

Holiday Club 2

2008-02-04T07:53:00.001Z

Had the last day of Going Bananas this morning. Now Catherine is singing the theme tune...we may just hit her. Still haven't worked out how to upload pictures but I have taken lots.

Well chuffed at the saturdays six nations rugby score...but we can't watch them until about 3 days later, so no sly emails with the score in them!

Have now got to spend the rest of the day in department meetings and cleaning up the junior library...we made quite a big mess. But the kids did make us a biiig card and brought us some chocolate, so it is worth it!

Holiday Club

2008-02-01T12:50:00.000Z

All the staff at the school are on a retreat programme, so we get to look after their kids. Hurray! We are doing the kid's programme called 'Going Bananas!', it's about people in the Bible who went bananas for God. We started planning it at the beginning of the week, and we started started yesterday. We have had 26 kids, aged between 5 and 11, apart from one 4 1.5 year old. They seem to really enjoy it. We had one session with them yesterday, which was about Noah, then had two more today. This morning was on Gideon (who Si played and i do have pictures but not sure how to upload them yet) and one this afternoon, which was on Elijah, played by Bene. Each session is about two hours long. The kids are a great bunch...not afraid to get involved, when you ask them to listen they listen! Si and I are leading one of the older groups (Year 6) in the groups sessions. There is a noticable difference between leading a group at home and here. The youngest little boy who's 4 1/2 called Elijah got up and prayed at the end of this mornings session which was well cool. All the songs are pretty action packed - most of them the kids know better than us, but action packed songs wear them (and us) out faster!

Needless to say, all us IG's are shattered, we have still got two more days of it. And we have gone slightly bananas! Looking for to our day off on tuesday!

Swimming pool

2008-01-31T10:45:00.001Z

Swimming pool is very very cold.

Names

2008-01-30T11:04:00.000Z

Some of us went to one of the nurses flat last night, just to meet for a chat. The majority of staff here are either British, Australian , new zealanders or Indian. Anyway, that's not my point! One of the primary school teachers here is called Sarah Hill, not only that but she's a twin, she's not my twin though! Also one of the IG's last year was called Andrew Miller.

Just thought it was strange!

X

Smyrna Home

2008-01-30T10:49:00.000Z

Kids aren't back in school until the end of next week. Although we have been doing some interesting stuff. Visited another home yesterday, although it wasn't a orphanage. It is called Smyrna Home. It was quite a big complex designed for poor and underprivileged families, they also had a team dedicated to disabled children and adults where they rehabilitate them as much as possible, some of the results they were getting were amazing. There are over 300 kids linked to the home that are being sponsored.

They also had an aquarium with some massive fish (also incredibly ugly!) and cute, small stripey blue ones and one terrapin, and other boring ones. They grow there own tea, which they sell to bigger companies. They have a sewing centre.... one person manning one machine can make up to 10 scarves a day. They also make their own Swedish biscuits. Was pretty impressive.

Si's Blog

2008-01-29T08:37:00.001Z

Si has set up a blog too

http://simonstriptoindia.blogspot.com

Banana Lunch

2008-01-29T08:11:00.000Z

Just had a really yummy cultural lunch. Lunch was served on a massive banana leaf, with rice and curry, with a couple of vegetables, poppadom, peppered water, curd, lime pickle. Was very nice. Had to eat it with our right hands - no cutlery, got quite messy. Not sure what we had for pudding but it was nice to. Then we had a banana. They feed us well.

This morning we had a session on cultural clues and cues, which was quite interesting. It's designed so we don't end up offending anyone so we listened! Having said that we were walking from Selbourne (girls dorm) to Lushington (main school and boys dorms) and had some guy take pictures as we were walking - apparently that's normal. I think it will be more useful when we are traveling elsewhere because Ooty (town where we are staying) is used to having foreigners ambush their town.

Something I haven't quite understood is they serve normal hot meals and drinks on metal plates and cups - doesnt metal conduct heat?

Haven't taken many photos yet - not really had the oppurtunity, but will post them I do.

Mizpah Home

2008-01-27T13:14:00.000Z

We visited Mizpah Home today. It's an orphanage in Ooty with about 22 kids, the youngest is 4 and the the eldest is 17. Was really interesting to learn about how the kids ended up in the home. Most of the kids in the home are orpans, with some of them from single parent families were it was unfair to keep the child in the parents care. The home is the brainchild of one of the cooks at Hebron, who when he became a Christian really wanted to make a difference for orphaned children. The kids sang for us, they had great voices, and their english is really good. They were so greatful to Jennifer (cooks wife) and to God for what they have been given. There are so many orphanages in India and around world where the kids aren't the main priority, but in this one they pay extra for the kids to go to english speaking schools so when they finish their education they can work anywhere in India, if they just learned Tamil, they would have to stay and work in Tamil Nadu (area of India we are in). It was a great place to spend our afternoon.

Flights, taxis and inbetween

2008-01-26T12:39:00.001Z

Simon seems to be beating me to blogging, so I will tell my interpretation.
The BA flight was good, apart from being very long, and I'm surprised Si didn't mention the lack of leg room, and the half an hour wait at both airports because we missed our takeoff and landing time, although I think we landed earlier than we were meant to. Si, James and myself had seats together and Josh has the a row behind but on the other side of the plane. Wally. Other than that the flight was quite good. Watched Ratatouille, Rush Hour 3, Atonement and the odd CSI New York (I could have watch CSI for the whole flight but unfortunately it didn't happen).

At Chennia airport we wait for ages and ages for our baggage, not that it mattered, our domestic flight was 6 hours later. Then Josh left his hand luggage by baggage collection and got it confiscated. What can I say! The domestic travel at Chennai was a pain, mainly because none of us had a clue what we were meant to be doing and our hold luggage was way too heavy, collectively about 20kg over the limit, we had to pay 1400 rupees (11 quid, there is no pound symbol on this keyboard) and they weren't exactly clear about what we were meant to be doing, but hey, we didn't miss our flights which was goood.

Landed at Coimbatore, collected our luggage, then found our taxi man. I think it was the most uncomfortable taxi ride I have ever been on, it didn't help that everyone drives like loonies. Then it got to the hairpin bends, which oddly enough was when most of us tried to sleep. Saw loads of monkeys.

We've been invited to go look at stars so will have to stop there.
Will post more soon.
Cx