Sister is my name

Yesterday I woke up to the sound of pouring monsoonal rain and I REJOICED! The weather here has been hot and so incredibly humid its almost unbearable, but with the rain, the humidity stays away a little and the weather cools of a bit. So I can now sit down for long enough to write!

The first few days where pretty quiet around here because of the funeral, I just tried to busy myself with whatever jobs I could find. Mostly the work is in the kitchen , clearing all the plates from meals away and doing the washing and rinsing of the dishes (which is actually the best job because you get to work with refreshing, cold water!) I’ve been learning to roll chapattis (flat Indian breads made of flour and water) which is actually quite an art! They bake their bread daily (I am a hopeless baker I have discovered), which I’m told is the worst job because the girls have to be up very early (around 4 am). We are woken at 6:15 every morning with music summoning us to get ready for breakfast at 6:45. A lot earlier than im used to that’s for sure!

I’ve been escorted to the markets twice already, catching overcrowded cars, tuk tuks and rickety old buses two and fro for 20cents a ride. I have been trying to buy some Indian clothing to wear, because it is much cooler and a great deal pretty than western clothing I think! So far I have been unsuccessful at finding anything that hasn’t got sequins, sparkles, lace, beading and over the top embroidery covering every INCH of the fabric, so I have given up searching for ready made clothes and instead going to buy fabric and have them made (the tailoring costs around $2, and the fabric no more than $8 for a whole outfit!). So that will be another journey.

I was taken by one of the farm girls yesterday to see the local hospital (her brother is the administrator there) and had the most awkward conversation of my life. We (an irish girl and the farm girl) walked in to the hospital and were greeted by around 30 people sitting in the waiting room. We were taken into the head physicians office to chat. He had the only air conditioner I had ever seen here so far. When we sat down in front of his desk, he rang the bell (one like in hotel lobbies) to call upon his nurses to bring us tea and water. Not really knowing what to talk to this man about, and not wanting to sit there in absolute awkward silence, like he seemed to be content with doing, I starting calling upon all my medical knowledge obtained from watching hours of House, and asked him any medical sounding question I could think of….He said that he saw around 60 patients EACH day! He was happy to answer questions, but never offered any of his own he just sat there staring at us. AWKWARD. He rang for his laptop to be brought in. Then another 3 men shoved themselves into his tiny office and he rang for tea for them. Then he ignored us all and started blabbering on his phone. By this time we were starting to become just a piece of furniture in his office. His nurses (basically slaves!) brought in some blank CDs because he said he “didn’t have any music in his car” so he sat there downloading music. Meanwhile there are around 50 people outside waiting to see him. He must have sensed this towards the end of our extremely quiet visit because he was suddenly sending in for patients, and started examining a man right in front of us. I excused myself and ran out of the room before I burst out laughing at the awkwardness and craziness of it all!!

I have been working in the school the last few days which has been awesome. Yesterday I was in with the littlies, about 6 years old, marking their work and assigning them home work (their parents complain if they are not given homework!!). And then today I was teaching the year 10s (which is like the equivalent of our year 11s) business studies, social studies and, wait for it- Indian culture!! All the lessons are in English because it’s an English based school, so their main difficulty is understanding the books and knowing what the questions are asking. It would be SO hard for them! I am so glad I just finished school last year and things are still vaguely in my mind otherwise im sure I would be totally useless. Like when one of the boys came over with his maths book, I had one glace, saw a thousand algebraic sums and sent him on his merry way. I was asked about physics and chemistry, they too walked away unsatisfied. But the English and social subjects I can do, and have now landed myself three subjects to teach and learn for a while. It’s very daunting, but so fun and rewarding. They don’t have a teacher so they appreciate any help I can give….which as far as teaching goes is unfortunately, not too much!

The social life on the farm is very interesting. The girls and the boys are very much separated even though they live very close to each other. Tuesday Thursday and Sunday nights I am told are “date night” where the boyfriends and the other boys (bother and cousins) can come over and socialize with the girls under supervision. They mostly just sit around talking, there is defiantly no need for pash police as they are all brought up to be very modest and cautious around the opposite sex. It’s very entertaining to watch all the shy giggling though 

Today I was taken for a walk through the jungle to reach the river. We walked through mud to get there. On the way we stopped by the leprosy colony to see their houses, they are very simple but a lot better than what they had before.
I am enjoying myself here, missing my family and friends, but that will soon go away hopefully and be replaced by a longing to never leave this place :P
ill attach photos a little later!!
I love you all!!!!!!!!!