Hello Pondi!

My colleague and I stayed in Chennai for 2 days, then headed off to Pondicherry. Pondicherry is where the volunteer training will take place and so where we needed to be to start organising it all. The task of preparing a 5 day orientation for 7 volunteers is quite daunting, especially as I have only been in India a week myself!

Anyway, we took the 4 hour bus journey to Pondicherry, and somehow I slept for a fair bit of it. I say 'some how' because there was (of course) the buses horn going off every 6 seconds, dust flying through the windows (can you call them windows when there's no glass and it's just a whole?), and we had our rucksacks where our legs should have been. But as many of you will know, Ruth will not miss her sleep! Regardless of what's going on :)

I'm not sure how many of you have the pleasure of recieving photos from Jo C's of funny Ugandan signs (like BEWARE! falling Mangos), but I saw a great sign as we flew past in the bus. It said 'Buy one shoe, get the other free!'. Well you can't beat that can you?!

Pondicherry is a very nice place which has a very meditaranian kind of feel. It was colinised by the French and so we have the benefit of croissants, pastries and really nice bread! Didn't think I'd get that in India. Pondi is on the coast, and the flat is about a 10 min walk from the beach. It's quite rocky near the water, so you can't go swimming. But if you pretended all the people around you were English, you could be a blackpool beach. You can like plastic toys, games and anything else that you think is a great idea, but you never use again. They sell popcorn and ice lollys. Honestly, it's quite bizare sometimes!

And below is a pic of the lovely Pony flat, where we stay when we're not travelling around.

Here is one last pic of Pondy in the monsoon. It was pretty cool to get caught up in it!
Anyway, I best be off and do some work. Hope you're all well!

Arrival in Chennai

Hey all!
Can I just first say a big thank you for your facebook messages. It's been really nice to read them all. You're such stars!

Now lets move onto what's been happening. The flight to Chennai ran smoothly, apart from the connecting flight was about 2 hours late. Not the end of the world though. At the airport I was hit by a wall of heat, as I got off the plane. Hmmm, could be interesting working when its around the 40s! I quickly got into a taxi and found I had jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Soooo hot! No AC in this car, I'll tell you. After um-ing and ar-ing, I eventually got to the hostel where my colleague was staying. It was nice and had lots of character, but not the newest of buildings. But for the price, it was fine.

Anyway, a few of my first thoughts about India...
- They love to honk there horns. And I mean ALL the time. You're in trafic jam - honk your horn. You're at a red light - honk your horn. The road's clear - guess what? Honk your horn!
- Chat up lines exist even in India. Emma and I were asked when bying SIM cards "are you single and ready to mingle?" Nice.
- They love spicy food. Pretty obviuos, but ou try eating a massive pancake thing with a potatoe curry thing in the middle at 8:30 a.m. I suprised myself though. I quite liked it!

I know it's been a short one, but will update soon. Just wanted you all to know I've arrived safe and am well.

Tootles :)

She's off again...

Hello lovely blogger readers. Tomorrow I will begin my Indian adventure, and you are most welcome to join me (be that by reading what I'm up to, or by jumping on a plane!). My role as India volunteer coordinator will consist of training UK volunteers in India, and then visiting them at their respective placements. Consequently I get to travel all over the place. So get ready to hear lots of place names and many amusing stories of what happens on 20 hour train journeys.

Well, I guess that's it for now. I best be off as bags wont pack themselves (well mine doesn't any way. If yours does, keep it quite, otherwise everybody will be after it).

Make sure you leave comments (by clicking on '0 comments') and let me know what you're up to. It'll be awfully lonely in blogger land if you don't!

God bless and next time I'll be in contact from India. Woop woop!