Happy 4th July!

A lil post to wish all my American friends a happy 4th July.

We're having a party later, which I find quite surreal as we're in India but I'm sure it'll be fun.

Photos to follow!

Ladies night

As a cultural learning experience (read girls getting giddy) we were able to wear saris (or is it sarees?) for an hour or so. It took about that long to get ready!

The female staff, Anju, Monica and Neha, brought their own beautiful saris with them to the home base and dressed us up, including Indian style make up and jewellery.

I was lucky enough to be dressed as a bride, wearing Neha's actual wedding sari! Red is the traditional colour for Indian brides, as white is the colour for funerals.

My didi (term of endearment - older sister), Anju, did all my make up and hair. It is a lot more full on compared to my normal style! Red/pink eyeshadow, liquid and pencil eyeliner, mascara, eyebrow pencil, lip liner and dark red lipstick! Plus an elaborate bindi pattern starting in between my eyebrows and curling around both my eyes.

Then the jewellery!! All gold:
Pendant in my hair parting onto my forehead.
Nose ring that was SCREWED into place (that brought tears to my eyes! "you're supposed to cry, its your wedding!"), that had a chain attached to my hair.
Earrings with droplets over the back of the ears.
A large choker
A large necklace under the choker
A belt with bells
2 anklets
2 toe rings
Bracelets with intricately jewelled chains attached to rings.
Glass bangles.

Phew! It was heavy.

I asked how long the bride had to wear everything, "just for the wedding, not the party/reception" how long would that be? "oh probably 8 hours!" Eek!

When all the girls came out to proudly display our new look the boys were in shock! Martyn as then given a very red tube with a lip gloss style applicator and he had to draw a small line from the centre of my forehead up to my hairline. "Now you are married!!!" :-D

There are many ways to spot a married woman, not a ring on her finger...

A large bindi
Red bangles
Toe rings
The red line in her hairline - this signifies the woman's wish for her husband to have a long life

The sari itself was very comfortable and I would love to have opportunity to wear another one, but maybe without all the jewellery!

A small reflection...

I've now done 5 days of volunteering and have spent just over a week with all the same people in one house. Both of these things have lead to contemplating this experience.

I visit different day cares and speak to the women that work there. Initially I felt uncomfortable, a white woman younger than most of them whom they've never met coming to tell them about how to look after themselves. Very patronising... However they were very welcoming and asked me question after question being intimately personal, just to ensure they would have an answer to their problem. I couldn't write fast enough!

My role seems to be to give advice but its not very well defined so I have also been given Xrays and reports to decipher. I keep telling them I'm not a doctor, but I still get called Doctor-ji!

The amount of work I do day to day varies, yesterday there was a huge storm which had cleared by the time I got to the day care but it still meant that no-one came. I saw an old man who didn't really have medical issues he just wanted to chat. When he found out I was from "London" he started spouting Italian! It was lovely to talk but I was also frustrated. Other people come home after placement and theyve had a fantastic day at day care playing with the children and I've spoken to one elderly chap in pigeon italian! I think my experience is just more of a slow burn.

So, the house; there are about 18 American people, and 1 person from France, Italy, Belgium, India, Germany and China. Everyone is very friendly but it can get loud. It can be quite difficult sometimes to get some space.

There is always something to do, we've watched bollywood films and played cards at the house. We've gone on walks to temples, the market and around McCloed Ganj (north dharamsala). It's really intersting to see the same thing through everyone else's eyes.

As a british person used to high immigration, speakig with the locals isn't a problem but there are many people who haven't spoken to someone with a strong Indian accent so I find myself translating!

Overall, this experience so far is an enjoyable one. It has already given me so many memories and it's only been one week. Who knows what will happen in the next 8?!

International Volunteering

Jess and I have been in India for a week now, probably the busiest week we'll have for a while. We've both had a few days of our volunteering placement now, so I thought I'd write a bit about mine.

I've been teaching in a government-funded school called Divine Public School in Dharamsala. The school has a kindergarten, and in the main school they teach children from 6-10 years old.

Originally I was assigned to teach the 6-9 year olds in classes 1-3. However each day I've been there I have taught a variety of classes, ranging from the youngest kindergarten children to the 10 year olds.

I've been asked to teach mainly English, but will also cover other classes such as maths, art and "general knowledge" (which is everything else).

The teaching for all of the classes seems to learning by rote, so the children have a relatively shallow understanding of the subject matter. By this I mean they can repeat or write out what they've been shown, but don't necessarily understand the sentence, or can't use words in a new context.

I hope I can help the students with their understanding of English with some different teaching styles, and maybe a few games.

A few of the past and current volunteers here have tried to address this whilst on placement and get the feeling they've met with a bit of resistance from staff, which is understandable. Who are we to come in and tell them they're doing it wrong?

I think that introducing new ideas and approaches into a culture without alienating the local people is the biggest challenge that international volunteers face, just behind learning that they're often not right about those ideas! We'll see how we do.

A quick tour...

Dad has asked for another blog post. This is a mini tour of the house, I'll load photos slowly as the internet is slow so check back to see more...

First, is our kitchen/eating area, filled with people for lunch. As its sunny we sit outside too. The food is absolutely delicious. Authentic, and different every day!

Next is our notice board. We get our schedule for the day and people pin up activities that we can join in too.

The view is beautiful, wherever you look on the horizon there are mountains and beauty. It's really relaxing just sitting outside and absorbing the atmosphere.

The girls are encouraged to wear local clothes (salwar Kameez) made up of kurta (tunic), Salwar (baggy trousers) and dupatta (scarf). They are really comfortable and cool which is nice. They are designed to protect the girls modesty, with the dupatta to cover the girls chest. I haven't quite got the grasp of the dupatta, it keeps falling off and flying away!

One of the field workers (Anju) that helps me on my placement is an expert in henna so she did my hand for me. Apparently the darker it is, the more your in-laws like you and mine is really dark! Married women can have it on their feet but I don't want anyone touching my toes!!