Thursday, April 26, 2007

Extra Curricular Activities

There were classes for volunteers too. The one we enjoyed the most was our morning yoga class led by Diapak, a very charming young man devoted to his subject. We also went to Hindi classes & cookery lessons. The Hindi classes helped us with our teaching providing us with the ability to ask the children to stand up, sit down, listen, say after me & please be quiet. We did also learn to say well don (Shabbash) & thank you (Danya Vad / Sukria).When we get home some of you may like to sample the lessons we learned in the cookery classes although we think we may not bother trying to impress anyone with Tuna Mayonnaise. Rather a bizarre lesson, that one!

We turned down the chance to learn the art of henna - rather messy & we didn't think that it was particularly attractive to have dense brown patterns painted over our palms, wrists & feet. We missed the lesson on how to wear a sari, too, through pure forgetfulness. Definitely a missed opportunity - for Howard in particular, of course.

Apart from all that we walked, made trips to Palampur to shop & use the internet, when electricity supplies & telephone lines allowed (at our abode, the telephone connection for the internet was made through a mobile phone - a strange & useless arrangement)& we sat in the garden appreciating the magnificent views. Fiona drank as much Chai Masala as she could. There were books & local newspapers to read & much time was spent chatting with our fellow volunteers whose company we really enjoyed. The Brits : Jo, Carol, Andrew, Sandra, Karen, Anne, Barbara. The Scandinavians : Ingeborg, Anne-Marie, Liv, Dorte, Mette. The Austrian : Christian.There was lesson planning, cleaning & ironing to fit in as well, but we won't dwell on that.

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