Still here!

We hae been quiet for a while because so much has been happening. We moved house and are now residing in a very swish 2-storey place that has just been built. It has taken a while to get set up and we are now cooking our own food and we have cable tv so it feels a bit strange. We may not want to come home!

I wasnt so positive a few days agot though. India is a hard place to get to know. Transport is difficult - it is chaotic and until you learn the systems you are a bit lost. Shopping is also hard. So much relies on small corner stores and tiny little shops. I guess we are used to going to the supermarket or even the markets and getting everything we need in one shot. That isnt so easy here and without our own wheels it is a lot of work to achieve what feels like very little. Needless to say we are all exhausted by tthe end of each day.

I am well and truly into the swing of work here now too and I am loving it. I am still treated like a tourist and I hope the 'special' turns into slightly more of a colleague soon. I am sure it will and it gets a little better each day. The projects we have seen so far have been amazing. So much of the work is really simple, but when there is so much poverty it achieves so much. We have met groups of women who have been trained in sewing and now with their own machines have established small businesses and can now send their children to school. Then there are women who have joined savings groups and they each contribute 25 rupees a week (roughly 65 cents). They then open a joint bank account and can take small low interst loans. SOme used loans to have operations or get medical treatment. Others paid for school fees or covered family emergencies. It is really great to see what I have read and heard so much about.

I dont have much time so I will put up some pics in a separate post in case I run out of time. We are all good (Nick has the cold that I had a week ago) and Jack is loving India. He told me he belonged to India last night, but he cant wait to go on a plane agin.

Love Sarah x x x

sickness, school, cows and traffic - day 2 in India

Firstly, I must preface this entry by sharing with you all that I have brought a crappy Aussie cold with me and I have been feeling stuffy and drowsy for 48 hours.  I got my hands on some Indian-style cold and flu tablets  this afternoon so I hope tomorrow will be bouncier.


Today we emerged from under our sleepy rock to discover bustling Bangalore.
We visited the school where the community development staff I will be working with base themselves. It was very impressive. Super primitive but the kids were all studious and the maths skills of the senior students surpassed mine so I was wowed.
Jack loved playing with kids too and they gave him heaps of attention. He is undoubtedly going to come home with a swollen ego!

The traffic and noise from the traffic is a bit overwhelming. We go to sleep at night to a symphony of horns and they wake us up in the morning. The roads are crowded by trucks, more trucks, cars (big and small), motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, pedestrians, push bikes and cows. To get into the city from where we are staying you have to cross a main road on foot. Needless to say, we haven't done this yet. We'll report  back on it when that happens - hopefully reports wont be sent from the nearest hospital!

This photo was taken by me sitting in our car trying to make a right-hand turn on a main road. This traffic isnt stationery either! Its best not to look sometimes.

The weather is great, food is great, shopping is wacky (I'll write more about all of this another day). I hope you are all well and whoever gave me this cold I would be interested to know how long it lasts!

Lots of love,
Sarah.

We have arrived

We have arrived in Bangalore... finally! It was such a long trip and we were all exhausted. It felt like 24 hours of waiting around. Jack was a legend for the whole trip, but turned a bit hysterical when we got to our accommodation. He wanted to be in his own bed.

I was a tad edgy after the drive into the city from the airport - not because of unpredictable traffic, but because our bags were just tossed onto a roof rack without being tied down. I was sure we would be living in these same clothes for a long time. But there was nothing to worry about. We are already realising all we can do is go with the flow.

I am happy to report that after a nights sleep and a handful of sweet biscuits all is well and we are ready to face this crazy city.

I have no idea where we are. Our plane was delayed leaving Singapore so by the time we got here it was about 1:30am (Bangalore time). So today we will get out and explore and hopefully be able to post some pics soon to show you all our new temporary home.

Love Sarah.