Sunday 17th

On the 3rd of November it was Diwali, the Indian festival of lights. Our overseas representative invited Holly, me and two other volunteers in Hyderabad over to his house to celebrate. This festival is basically like bonfire night to the extreme! Everyone buys their own fireworks and sets them off in the streets. We sat on the roof of the apartment block where we could see the whole city and the hundreds of fireworks all going off at the same time. It was incredible! Then we joined everyone else from the building out on the streets and set off our own crackers and sparklers. This wasn't quite so enjoyable because it was insanely loud and I was stressing out watching the children setting off the fireworks! Yes, this is apparently normal practice here. It was also like walking through a war zone being on the street because it was impossible to know when and where fireworks were going to go off! And people didn't seem to think it was necessary to tell you they had just lit a cracker right in front of you. Later in the week I found out that the hospital we work in had over 50 people admitted on Diwali due to eye injuries from fireworks! We stayed at their house for the whole weekend and ate lots of delicious food. And we ate with our hands for every meal which was an experience for Holly and me because we normally get spoons. I had a great time but it was nice to get back to our hostel room, I was actually missing it after two nights away!

The following weekend we went to a wedding so it was another excuse to wear our saris! The wedding was very different to what we're used to and not at all what I expected. It took place in a massive function hall where people can watch and have dinner in the next room. The ceremony actually lasts for hours and hours so people just come and pay their respects, have some food and then leave. The bride looked so beautiful! I met a thirteen year old boy with very good English, who also spoke another four languages, and I spent most of the evening talking to him about random things. I'm fairly sure I secured an invite to his birthday party in January. We stayed the night with a lady who works at the hospital, her house was incredible! The bed was so so comfortable, I was very close to trying to smuggle out the pillow the next morning. I didn't realise how much I miss my nice, fat pillow back home.
The next day our host, who couldn't come to the wedding, took us to the temple where the bride and groom were doing some rituals that always happen the day after a marriage. It wasn't a great first experience in a temple, it was so dirty and there were flies covering the place. There was also an embarrassing cultural misunderstanding. Our host was telling us that at a temple they put some holy water in your hand which you drink and then wipe your hand on your head. So naturally when I was offered some that's what I did. Except it wasn't water, it was milk. Everyone was sniggering as our host informed me that people don't do that with milk because it makes your hair really sticky! Very embarrassing, next time I will let Holly go first.
After the temple we went on a boat to a Buddha statue in the middle of a lake. We met some middle aged men from Nottingham on the boat which was very exciting at the time, I think I'm getting white person withdrawal. Then we went to the Birla temple which is on the top of a hill and completely made of white marble. It was definitely the most beautiful thing we've seen in India so far! Due to 'security reasons' you can't take and electronics in so I couldn't take my camera so I spent the whole trip wishing I could take photos of everything! It was a very touristy day; we saw massive total of six other white people.

Our work at the hospital has increased drastically in the last week, which is great, so we don't get nearly as much free time anymore. I have been spending time observing in the patient care areas which has been really interesting, and now we are planning training sessions to teach staff how to interact better with patients. When I was observing in one of the reception areas I saw a patient grab the security man by the collar and slap him across the face! It was all very dramatic.
Last week I was in a stationary shop by myself, having a nice conversation with the man behind the till, and then he asked me to take him back to Scotland with me. He ruined what was a perfectly pleasant chat!
On Thursday we went to visit a secondary eye care centre in a rural village. This was very interesting as it was the first time we had left Hyderabad since getting off the plane. I spent the journey looking out the window to see exactly what I expected India to be like! Cows and goats everywhere, women picking plants in fields, women carrying baskets on their heads, roads too small for anything but a motorbike etc.. I'm not sure whether the trip was worth the journey as we just got a tour and had lunch and the drive took three hours there and back! But it was certainly good to see a different side of India.

Yesterday we Holly and I decided to go and see a Bollywood movie in the cinema near the hospital. Unfortunately we didn't realise that the film was released the day before so when we arrived 10 minutes before it started, the film was completely sold out. Luckily a man beside us had extra tickets so he sold them to us! When we went in we couldn't find our seats because it was pitch black and in India row A is at the back so we got very confused. We just sat anywhere but about 45 minutes into the film we got asked to move. Indian films are very long! They are at least three hours so you get an interval in the middle. I enjoyed the film but three hours is a long time to watch people talking a foreign language with no subtitles.

I don't think I have anything else to report just now! On Thursday we are off to Hampi for a long weekend so I'm sure I will have lots of pictures etc to share next week!

1st November

I can't quite believe it's November already. We arrived at our project two months ago today! When I think back over these months and what I have accomplished my first thoughts are, nothing. But if I really think about it, that's not true. The biggest achievement is definitely being away from home this long without any major homesickness! Everything here feels relatively normal now so I don't often realise that it's actually quite a big deal. Being away from family and friends for a long period of time is really tough, especially when I know I'm not going to see them any time soon, but I just have to remember why I decided to put myself through that! Regarding achievements at work, it's the little things that are more noticeable. Like being told by our host that he can see a big difference in the English levels of our nursing students and being told by our students how much they enjoy our classes! In our social life it's also the little things that I notice. Getting public buses on our own, arguing with auto drivers about prices, crossing the road on our own, looking up places on Google maps and then finding our way there, booking holidays, washing everything by hand, the list goes on.. I don't feel as though I have done anything of great importance but all these little things make me feel a lot more independent than I did when we first arrived, two months ago today.

After both Holly and I being ill last week, when it came to the weekend we decided to treat ourselves. On Saturday afternoon we managed to successfully find a western coffee shop so we went there for lunch. My stomach wasn't coping too well with the Indian food so I can't express how much I enjoyed having a cheese toastie and chips! And a chocolate volcano cake for dessert. This place also had free wifi which meant I could go on facebook and twitter for the first time in months so I enjoyed looking at what everyone has been up to. We ended up staying for 4 and a half hours because we were so relaxed!

Then on the Sunday we planned to meet up with Anna and Fidra, the two other volunteers in Hyderabad, and go to a water park. After about an hour and a half on buses, Holly and I found the girls and we got an overpriced auto to the park. When I say water park, it wasn't exactly like what you would expect. It was basically a swimming pool with flumes that was outside! But it was good fun anyway, and nice to be in the water when it was so hot. We had to wear the most hideous 'swimming costumes' I have ever seen. They were basically shiny, baggy trousers and top that pretty much covered us head to toe. Obviously I knew we would have to be covered up in the pool but they didn't have to make us look like idiots. What made it worse was the men are allowed to go in wearing nothing but shorts! Outrageous. Also there was a rope down the middle of the pool to separate men and women. The women's side was made up of me, Holly, Anna and Fidra. The men's side had about 100 men splashing around, having a great time. And staring at us. We did go on some slides but they mostly involved getting so much water up your nose that you can't breathe properly, so we quickly moved on to lunch. After having rain constantly for so many days I conveniently forgot to put on suncream which resulted in me getting burnt for the first time in India. But it turned brown pretty quickly so it's not too bad. Don't worry mum, I'll be more careful next time..

While walking from the water park to the train station we got harassed by a little girl who grabbed onto Holly's bracelet and would not let go. We managed to escape after a pretty embarrassing scene in the middle of the street but then the same girl found us again at the train station! This time she appeared carrying a baby which she kept trying to force us to take. I'm not sure exactly what she wanted us to do with the baby, but I felt so sorry for it getting tossed around and several times it was close to being dropped. I did have to see the funny side when the girl approached Holly with the baby held out at which point Holly turned and ran resulting in her being chased. This provided a lot of amusement for the other people on the platform. It's fair to say we were very relieved when the train arrived!

All in all it was a pretty good weekend. Hopefully we will have another good one as tomorrow we are going to our Overseas Rep's house to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights.

The lake in the middle of Hyderabad.

Casually chilling with some goats in the train station.

Friday 25th

Here's some pictures from the traditional day at our hostel!

Thursday 17th

I apologise again for the long gap in between this post and my last post! It feels like a lot has happened since then and I can't quite remember when everything happened so this post will probably be a bit all over the place. But here goes..

I will start with work at the hospital. Not much has changed in the last few weeks. We have started to realise that if something is supposed to happen today, it means tomorrow. If something is supposed to happen tomorrow, it means next week. Basically nothing happens on time. It is quite funny when you think about it, but it can be frustrating at times, especially when it involves getting us work to do! We have started spending time in the children's rehabilitation department which has been really interesting. The clinic is for children with a whole range of disabilities and it provides speech therapy, physiotherapy and special education to help children and their parents. It is really fascinating to watch but it can also be quite sad. We spend a couple of hours there every day just observing, and then in time we will be able to help with any tasks they need doing. There is also an adult rehab department where we can help out by recording audio books (if they can understand our accents) and learning brail so that we can make brail books. Patients are sent to this department if the doctors can do nothing for their sight so that they can receive counselling and training. They give classes on how to use computer programs and also teach people how to cook and clean so that they can take care of themselves in the home. It's amazing that the hospital provides all of this, and its all free of cost!

Last week we booked the trains for our first long weekend away from our project. At the end of November we are going to Hampi, a small town about 12 hours away by train where there are lots of ancient boulders which form an amazing landscape. There are also lots of temples and ruins to visit so it should be quite nice. We are also trying to organise meeting up with some of the other volunteers over Christmas and New Year which is proving quite difficult since everyone seems to have different holidays! Hopefully we will sort something out and we'll be able to spend Christmas together on a beach in Kerala!

Last week the hospital organised various different sports and arts contests which we went to watch. Here are some pictures of the rangoli (patterns made with multicoloured powders) and mehndi (henna) competitions:

After watching these competitions we went out for dinner with some friends. The first excitement came from being in an air-conditioned car. And then the food. I can't even describe how good it was to have a meal outside the hostel or hospital! I had chicken noodle soup, ginger prawns and chicken biryani (spicy rice with chicken in it). I was in such a good mood after the meal, the food made me so happy.

October seems to have been a constant festival with holidays every week and people celebrating all time! Last week there was a Hindu festival during which people go dancing every night and Holly and I were lucky enough to take part in this. We were taken to a massive outdoor function hall where there was a live band, loads of food and over a thousand people dancing in the same place, at the same time. The atmosphere was amazing, I have photos of the crowds but they don't even do justice to the amount of people there! Of course we were also made to dance but it was actually quite easy so we didn't mind. It was so much fun and we ended up getting in at 2 o'clock in the morning which did not please the security guard who had to wait up for us!

On Sunday we went to buy our first sari to wear for Traditional Day this Saturday. The amazing selection of colours, materials and patterns meant that of course it took ages for us to pick something! We also had to make sure we chose something light-weight because otherwise it would to too heavy for us to wear for the first time! Eventually I chose a dark green and maroon one and Holly chose a royal blue one. I ended up spending much more than I intended but once I saw the one I liked I just couldn't find anything else the same! So even though it was expensive, I had no choice but to buy it. I wrongly thought that we were finished there, but after buying the material you then have to take it to a tailor to get the blouse stitched. We put this off for a few days but as we need it for Saturday and the tailor can take several days, we had to get it sorted yesterday. None of our friends knew where to go but eventually one of their mothers kindly offered to take us. We went to the village beside our hostel where she asked around several people looking for a ladies' tailor, and after wandering down some dodgy looking side streets we ended up in a women's house which was actually the tailor. After a lot of talking in Telugu (I still don't know what was said) she agreed to stitch our blouses for Friday and then we just left her to it. So my expensive sari is currently with a stranger in her house, on a street where I certainly would not go alone during the day, let alone at night. Fingers crossed all will be fine! We then went to buy some jewellery to wear with our saris. I have ridiculous amounts of bangles to wear on each wrist! They will definitely sort out my bingo wings. No doubt we will take lots of pictures on Saturday so I will put them in my next post!

Unfortunately I have been ill since Sunday night. I don't actually know what was wrong as the doctor wasn't very communicative but after two days in bed I am feeling much better now, just tired! Holly was very good to me and bought peanut butter and chocolate which I enjoyed once I was able to eat again! I'm not sure if I ate something dodgy because the last thing I had before being ill was pizza from Dominos! It would be ironic that after eating curry every day for seven weeks the first stomach problems I've had were after eating pizza.. 

Tonight there is a big foundation in celebration of the hospital for all the staff, students and their families. There will be lots of food, singing, dancing etc so no doubt I will have loads of pictures to put up on my next post! 

Here are some random thoughts and pictures that don't really fall into any particular category:

• When I was ill, Holly went to the shop by herself and was in the lift was a man who managed to start up a conversation, ask for her number and tell her he loved her, all between the 1st floor and the ground floor. When they got out she told him she was married so he'd leave her alone!
• We were walking from the village back to our hostel and two men on a motorbike stopped in front of us and watched us walk passed. They then drove on, stopped, and watched us walk passed again. This happened four times. Very odd. 
• We keep accidentally leaving our bathroom light on when its dark, leading to an infestation of hundreds of insects which we spray with repellent which kills them, leaving hundreds of dead insects everywhere.
• I used to love rice. Now, not so much.
• I can't remember what it's like to feel cold.
• We had our BMI calculated and by Indian standards I am overweight.
• I just want to mention how proud I am of my little sister, Isla, who was in a professional ballet at Eden Court last weekend and how much I wish I could have seen it!! My wee star. 

A little boy threw this bag of candyfloss through my window in the car on the way to the hospital!

After discovering how cheap watermelons are, we are eating them daily!

Sunday Fun!

So this weekend we made no plans to do anything because we still don't feel confident venturing into the city alone and everyone was too busy to take us anywhere. So Holly and I  thought we would just walk down the road to the village and explore for a few hours. However, we had only just walked out the gate when we bumped into two girls who were going into Hyderabad to get a laptop so we decided to accompany them instead! So we hopped on a few buses (which we now know the numbers for so we can go ourselves) and headed into the city. Along the way we stopped for some sugar cane juice which tasted really good, despite it's unappetizing dirty green colour, and was so refreshing in the heat. Yes, it has finally stopped raining but now it is insanely hot! We spent quite a while in the electronics shop where Holly and I stared longingly at the washing machines, went cross-eyed watching about 50 televisions at once, and nearly fell asleep on the comfy leather sofas. It amazes me every time we go out that one minute you are walking past homeless people sleeping on the street and the next you are inside a massive warehouse full of 3D televisions, laptops, iPhones etc. Poverty and wealth are just so closely packed together. After this we were taken to McDonalds (again). People seem to think that it's the only food we will like! Apparently, in this busy part of the city, if you stand in the same place for one hour, 100,000 people will go past you! It's crazy. There was an incident when we tried to cross the road involving the lights changing and us getting stuck in the middle with hundreds of vehicles zooming passed on all sides. That was pretty terrifying but we survived to tell the tale and made it to the other side eventually. We would have done some shopping but since it was an unexpected trip we hardly had any money, so we just headed back to the hostel. Every time we go out with friends they won't let us pay for anything which is so nice but we do feel bad. They want to treat us because we are guests! On our way home we had our first street food which was delicious and so cheap! We will definitely go back for more another day.
Last night we played carroms (a board game) with some students during which we were asked if we are married! I think people think we are a lot older than we actually are! While sitting outside a scarily huge cricket landed on my back. A lizard ran out from behind our curtain and I very nearly stood on a massive toad. It's fair to say the wildlife is proving a challenge.

The sunset from the roof of the hospital.

Same again.

Lots of televisions.

Political protests which seem to happen daily here.

'Pani poori' - our first street food.

The view from one of the balconies at the hospital.

Lunch.

Hiding at the back of the library, eating peanut butter out of the jar with a piece of cardboard because we don't have a spoon! Life is good.