My Birthday Week- part 2

So!  Following on from the last post now we get to the most fun bit- Palelom and turning 30!  On Monday we headed from Dandeli down to Palelom in South Goa, which was another 4 hour taxi ride.  Palelom is beautiful, much less touristy than Calangute, where I live.  There are some amazing little shops and gorgeous restaurants and the beach is breathtaking, and is where they filmed Matt Damon running along the beach in The Bourne Identity (or Supremacy, one of them..).  We stayed in a really nice place called 'The Village Guesthouse' which was expensive by Indian standards but still cheaper than a similar standard of place at home.  It's run by a British couple and there are only 8 rooms which means you get to know the people who run it and the other guests, especially when the cocktail waiter starts serving cocktails on the balcony!  It was so good to have a few days of staying in a luxury place and we felt totally spoilt.  My birthday celebrations started on the eve of my birthday when we got a little boat out to the rocks at the far end of the beach and watched the sun go down with a nice drink- bliss.  Then in the morning Gem had lots of cards for me which friends and family had sent to her (thanks guys!) and presents for me to open, most of which were promptly worn that day!  As we were eating breakfast the owners of the guesthouse and the staff then appeared with a chocolate birthday cake which said 'happy birthday lilybet' (with candles and EVERYTHING!) on it and sang happy birthday which was really sweet, both the gesture and the cake.  We then spent my birthday chilling on the beach before going for full body massages at a little spa.  Now I've had lots of massages at home and this was NOTHING like I've ever experienced- definitely more painful than relaxing but I'm sure it was somehow good for me.....and we got to laugh at each others 'in pain' faces!    In the evening we went out for a lovely meal and met up with some of the other people who were staying at the guesthouse for a few drinks.  A perfect day! 
We came back up to Calangute on Thursday evening before I had to finally wave Gem goodbye which was a bit sad, I've become so used to having her here the last 2 weeks it now feels strange being on my own again, but I will readjust.  I literally cannot thank her enough for an amazing 2 weeks, especially the last week when I have been on holiday too.  So it's back to work for me tomorrow, getting another blast of tanning this afternoon before then though, I have to work on my tan before the rains come!  I'm just trying to upload some photos of the week but it's playing up so I will post this log just so I don't accidentally delete it and then work on the photos..........

Gem's second week (and my week off!) part 1

On Saturday we headed out to the Bison Lodge Resort which is near Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka.  We had to get a taxi there as it was going to take so long to get trains (even in a taxi the journey took 4 hours).  The journey was good though as it meant we got away from the tourist parts and drove through places that were very remote.  We saw the biggest traffic jam of mining trucks ever, all lining up to get work in the big mines which we passed.  The driving is even scarier in this situation as cars just speed down the wrong side of the road to overtake the huge line of trucks!  Bison Lodge was an interesting place..........!  To give you an idea, for anyone who has seen 'Dirty Dancing' it was basically like an Indian version of the 'Kellermanns' resort!  Complete with a big lake, group barbecues and entertainments staff!  We went on 8 hours worth of jeep safaris while we were there but only managed to see deer, jackals, monkeys (which are everywhere!) and lots of different bird species.  We didn't see any tigers and leopards and elephants (oh my) which was a bit disappointing but I guess you just can't depend on wild animals to be in a certain place at a certain time of day. The jeep safaris were fun though (once I'd got over the 4am start.......) , especially when we went off road hurtling down a track only to find it was blocked by a huge tree.  At which point Gem made herself useful, leaping out to help move it out of the road.  I tried but am not very useful in these situations!
Probably the highlight of our stay there was the boat trip across the lake out to a waterfall which we climbed into and sat in, the most refreshing thing on a hot day ever!  We sat there with our guide teaching us new words in Hindi and it was a totally unforgettable experience.  Unfortunately, I managed to drop my camera in a pool of water in the boat so we don't have any photos of us in the waterfall, but the camera has since fixed itself!

 Our cottage

 View from our cottage

The waterfalls we sat in!

Gem's first week

OK here goes- going to write up the last two weeks in sections so it hopefully doesn't get too long and boring, although I am far too good at waffling to keep it concise... anyway, so Gem got here very early in the morning on 16th April.  After a lie in we went to the beach for the afternoon and then in the evening we visited the night market, which was again fab.  Lots of crazy dancing!
Gem then managed to survive without me (just) for the majority of her first week as I was at work during the daytime.  During that week we gave out shoes to all of the children.  We had suitcases full of shoes which had been donated as we have to wait until we have enough so that every child gets a pair.  The process of giving out the shoes was quite hilarious- like Clarks in September but a million times crazier!  All of the children came to the mango house which was lovely as some of them have not visited before and were wide eyed with wonder as they saw where we were based.  The brilliant Indian teachers Ali and Bhakti got the children lined up in an amazingly orderly fashion and then they came through to the 'shoe room' one by one to be fitted with new shoes by the volunteers / Clarks assistants! (my friend Hannah took some photos of this so I will add these onto here when I have them) 

This was easy with the smaller ones as they were very compliant and accepted whichever shoes fitted them and were most suitable.  It was brilliant to see them walk out of the room without taking their eyes off their new shoes, how there were not more collisions I've no idea!  The older children then came in one by one to get their new shoes which was a lot trickier as, being teenagers, they have much more of an opinion on what shoes they want!  Any trainers with labels were quickly snapped up by the boys while the girls wanted pretty shoes, both were determined what they would not be seen dead in!
Later in the week, we took some of the children on a trip to the cinema to watch 'Rio' followed by a wander round Old Goa and then onto an adventure playground.  Gem came with us which was great as she got to visit the mango house and meet the other volunteers and the children.  The film was brilliant if anyone is wondering whether it is worth seeing!  It was in English but there was so much action that the kids had no problem following it, it was funny to see that kids the world over seem to find slapstick comedy hilarious!  We took all of the children round several old churches in Old Goa, I wondered whether they would get bored as they probably would in the UK but they seemed to really find it interesting and were keen to see every bit of each church.

 Curry in the park

We had some terrific thunderstorms during this week, on one evening we were sat at a beach shack and so we could just watch all of the lightning rip across the sky.  There was hardly any rain but the intensity of the thunder and lightning was like nothing I've ever seen before.  I think the weather may be gearing up ready for the monsoon......
To finish the week off we went to an amazing Greek restaurant called 'Thalassa' which is just up the coast in Little Vagator.  I had been before but wanted to take Gem as it's so beautiful, it's situated on the top of a cliff and so there are amazing views over the coastline.  We made sure we got there in time to watch the sunset as it's spectacular, I've included a few photos below.  Right that's the end of the first week so I'm halfway there!

an emotional day.........

Sorry I haven't been on here and written anything for a couple of weeks.  In case you missed me saying before, my best friend Gem has been here for the last 2 weeks, she came out here on holiday and to spend my birthday with me and we've just had the most amazing time.  I cannot thank her enough for making my 30th so BEAUTIFUL!  Sometime this weekend I am going to come and write up what we have done in the last two weeks, I was planning on doing this today but I have a big egg timer in my head that is counting down towards the wedding and so I'm a bit lacking in time and concentration today!  It is an emotional day for this reason (always blub at weddings, never mind the wedding of a prince!) plus Gem left late last night so I'm feeling a bit sad, having been with her all the time for the last two weeks it now feels like I'm missing a vital ligament, plus of course because of my amazing, gorgeous video.  Just watched it again and cried just as much.  I know I'm gushing now but I honestly don't feel like I can say thankyou enough to Em, Becs and Pete for creating the most precious birthday present.  And of course I have to say thankyou to my old colleagues and students at St George's for being dragged into the crazy scheme!  Miss you all but having a fab time.  I promise I will come and write up probably essays worth of what me and Gem have been up to in the last two weeks, either tomorrow or Sunday.  Until then I will upload a couple of pictures just to keep things interesting!

Sunset at 'Thalassa', Greek restaurant we went to in 'Little Vagator'

 mmmmm......

A birthday treat...

I'm very sorry Liz but we had to hijack your lovely little blog as we wanted to show you a little something and to say how proud of you we all are...
We also wanted to say a massive HAPPY BIRTHDAY and hope you have the most wonderful, unforgettable day!
Now we know that you had a little soft spot for a certain youtube video sensation 'Where the hell is Matt?'... you couldn't watch it without blubbing... so this is for you... from us...
(for anyone else who reads this and doesn't know what we're talking about then it might be a good idea to watch this... 'Where the hell is Matt?'... first..)
Hope you like it Lizbeth.... :)

Liz's birthday treat... from Emma Case on Vimeo.
We love you so very much...
Emma, Bee Bee and Petey Pete xxxxxxxxxx

update...

I am currently in Palolem with Gem, having a fab time but will update properly and add pictures when she leaves, I have just celebrated the last evening of my 20's by drinking a vodka and coke sat on a rock watching the beautiful sunset, perfect! x

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY HANNAH!!!!

Hannah hopefully you will read this- with modern technology we don't need to send each other messages through the air!  Hope you're having a fab day and being good! I tried to take a picture holding up a sign which said happy birthday hannah but it didn't work, oh well! say hello to the others for me, take care x

GEM'S HERE!!!

night market

This was the famous 'ingo's saturday night market' which was brilliant, it gave me a much needed 'festival fix', if only for one evening...........

 Sally and her magic kingfishers

beach trip

 Yesterday we took about 50 children to the beach for the day.  It was brilliant, they played non stop for 4 hours until we eventually managed to drag them out of the sea and into their clothes, where upon the majority then fell fast asleep on the bus home.  It's lovely to see how the magic of sandcastles and the sea never fails to amuse small (and big!) children.........

Second week- praying, peas and penguins....

It's the end of another week at the mango house and i think i'm starting to get the hang of things... at least as far as the daily routine goes and what we have to do when.  On wednesday we took our children to a sports day event which was being run by another charity.  Lots of children were there from other organisations aswell and it all started off well, there were lots of sports coaches and the children could choose which sport they wanted to participate in- cricket (very popular!), frisbee, football etc.  It started to get a bit odd when the coaches started giving the children bead bracelets and telling them each color represented sin, jesus etc and by the time it all finished they had given the kids a proper all deep south american baptist christian preacher style rant..... all a bit weird as a lot of the kids are hindu and muslim.  It all made me feel a bit uncomfortable but i think (and hope) that a lot of it went over the kids' heads and they just saw it as a free sports day with some fruit and awards and a free bracelet thrown in!
As for the peas- they are proving the most useful first aid item i have ever purchased!  so far my trusty bags of frozen peas have been used for 1 burn from the curry pan, 1 case of sunburn and 1 burn from an incense stick, gotta love them peas.
 OK finally for the penguins.... once upon a time in deepest brum, my good friend emma taught me a song and dance about penguins which is often used as a silly drama warm up game.  I love it.  So i thought i would try it out with a group of our small children in the small slum, crossroads, on Thursday afternoon.  They loved it.  They found it hilarious and made me do it 3 times in a row before i ran out of energy and had to insist on some calm colouring instead!  I'm not sure they know what 'penguins' actually are so i may have to find out what the word for penguins is in hindi or find a picture of one to show them.  Which makes it more funny that they just loved flapping their arms around, saluting and sticking their tongues out whilst spinning around (it's a very complicated game...).  Bless them.  OK i'm going to sign off and get my lazy bum to the beach- sorry to make you jealous! (I've come to the conclusion that as it's such hard work in the week, I deserve to have blissfully spoiled weekends!).  Will try to get some photos up soon, I've been avoiding taking any pictures of  me as i tend to look pretty melted most of the time but may relent after a kingfisher or 2 tonight! xxx

Swimmimg, swimming in the swimming pool...

I spent a very lazy day peaceful today at the swimming pool at the really nice hotel just down the road from me.  For 150 rupees (about 2 pounds) you can use it for the day, it was nice to feel like you're on holiday in a posh hotel, even if it was only for a day!

'INDDIIAAA!'

Last night, the streets of Calangute went crazy.  There were street parties, fireworks, tears, flags, bellowing music, dancing and many, many cries of 'INDDDIAAA!' to be heard all over the town.  Yes even I, who barely have a grasp of the basics of the game, whooped and cheered with the best of them as the mighty India beat Sri Lanka in the final of the cricket world cup to win it for the first time in 28 years (are you impressed at my knowledge?!). I managed to capture a few photos of the party, although they're all a bit blurry due to the drink spraying everywhere and people moving very quickly!

first week done mcdone

Yes, i have at last reached the gloriousness of friday, thank god as i'm EXHAUSTED!  First week has been an experience- we have been quite short staffed so a case of jump in at the deep end and join in when you're able to.  Think it's so tiring mainly due to the heat, doing anything outside when it's so hot is a bit draining, i'm starting to think that magic word 'acclimatisation' is made up by fairies....  Yesterday was really good as we had a birthday party for all of the kids whose birthday it had been this month, apparently this happens on every last day of the month.  We took music down to the 'field' (not like any english field i've ever seen!) and they had such a good time taking it in turns to do dance routines, i have honestly never seen such wiggly children in my life they're awesome!  We played games- one of which was quite the most bizarre game i've ever witnessed.... tying a balloon to every child's ankle with string and then they run round manically trying to pop each others balloons, so funny to watch.  We took cake and ice cream and handed this out along with the usual meals, fruit and vitamins and they are so polite, every one makes sure they and the others say thankyou which was lovely to see.  Unfortunately i have been my usual accident prone self this week- so far i've managed to bash my head twice, put a really heavy massive pan down on my toe and then finally today i burnt my ankle on the same massive pan which contained boiling hot curry.  It was so painful i was just sat with anything cold that i could get my hands on on it and was then supposed to be going out into the sun again but my lovely friend sally instructed me to go home instead. Probably a good thing as i've only just now been able to bear it without ice on it, will have to put an ugly bandage or something on it before i go out tomorrow so the sun doesn't make it worse. 
On tuesday the indian family who live in the house downstairs and who own my apartment invited me down with the ominous question "do you like spicy food?".  I have to admit i was a little apprehensive that my weak english taste buds wouldn't cope but they gave me the most yummy little pastries with spiced veg in, every time i finished one the grandmother of the house brought me another- at this rate i'll leave here like a balloon myself!  They have a beautiful little boy who screams and waves at me whenever he sees me which is a good response to get!
I have made friends with a lady called sally who is also a volunteer and is out here volunteering with her daughter ella.  They are both lovely and have just moved to the same town as me so hopefully i will be able to see them often.  i went out for some food with them last night, ventured into Baga for the first time which is the next town along from Calangute (where I am) and is where all the nightlife is.  It was good to just feel like I was on holiday for an evening!  Think i'm going out with them and another volunteer, Emily, tomorrow.  We are hopefully going to venture further north to vagator beach which is quieter than the beaches here and then to the weekly saturday night market in the evening. 
This has turned into another mammoth post as I haven't been on all week!  I will leave you with the irony that while i'm desperately trying to get as tanned as possible as i'm convinced i look better with a tan, there is an advert which is on tv all the time for a men's product which turns skin lighter- oh how vain we all are! xxx