one trip booked and one tooth chipped- to go.

Well, good news and bad news folks.  Good first you say?  I booked myself onto a two week group tour of Rajasthan for after I finish at the charity.  It's with a tour operator called 'Gap Adventures' and all looks very exciting.  I've very cleverly (ahem) copied a map below of our route, it's basically a whistle stop tour of as many places as you can physically see in 15 days-



The tour is full so there should be 15 people on it in total, plus the guide, so I'm hoping there'll be some people at least who I'll get along with.  We travel by bus, car, rickshaw and overnight train, oh and camel.... so it all should be very interesting.  The tour starts in Delhi on 10th July so I've got just over a week to pack up here and get myself up there.  I'm just starting to look at the best way to do that.  I also now need to think about what I'm going to do after the tour finishes on 24th June.  Ideally I'd like to go up to Amritsar, Dharmshala and then down to Varanasi before coming home but I've got to investigate how do-able that is.  I've called Qatar Airways and they have flights available at the moment during the week before my visa runs out on 13th August but obviously I need to decide and change my flight asap in case they sell out.

Ok, bad news- for those of you that didn't know, I have a cap on my front tooth as I broke it when I was little.  Well, I HAD a cap on my front tooth until Friday evening that is, when it accidentally broke off when someone accidentally nudged me when I was drinking a drink (orange juice, obviously...).  It didn't hurt and I managed to get into a really good dentist's yesterday who has put a temporary cap on for now and is making me a new one which will be ready in a few days.  So alls well that ends well.  That really didn't sound as dramatic as I'd hoped actually.......xx

good luck st george's year 11!!!

(in case you can't read it, it says 'good luck st g y11!)

Hope the exams are going well you lot, will give you my usual advice of get a good night's sleep and make sure you eat breakfast beforehand! xx

Latest photos....

 playing games at Karaswada

 mapusa market

 random game of cricket, photographed from bus window

bus journey home

 trying on my sunglasses- endless fun

 sinquerim

 fort aguada

Things I love.....

Chickoos, window seats on bus journeys, spotting kingfishers, coriander, the sense of community, bindis, 'what is your good name?', the children in the slums running to greet you with a massive hug, indian sweets, the little dog on my road who has adopted me and follows me to the shop and back, baggy trousers, living 5 minutes from the beach, sunsets, lassis, air conditioning, the indian shake of the head, my landlord's 18 month old son who shouts 'hi' every time he sees me, buying fresh fruit and veg in mapusa market, the natural sense of rhythmn that kids here seem to be born with, samosas from street vendors, chai.......

random photos....

Been off work for last couple of days with totally random dizziness, sort of feels like I've had a few beers all the time but I assure you I haven't, unless I've been raiding the fridge in my sleep...... anyway starting to feel a bit more normal so thought I'd test my 'walking in a straight line' ability by venturing up to internet cafe, here in one piece you'll be pleased to know!  Looking forward to getting back there tomorrow, although I promise if I'm still dizzy I'll go and get it checked out, think it's probably just the heat though.  ANYWAY, while I'm here I thought I'd put a few random pictures on that I just found.....

 My birthday easter egg from the volunteers.

 Packing those 1000 pencil cases......

St Anthony's Chapel at the end of my road- the Goa version of the farm in the middle of the M62!

new photos

Just added some photos to the 'Gem's first week' post, just to let you know (I fear I may be turning into a techno geek.....) x

Update....

OK so thought I would write a general update on what's been going on!  I've found it a bit difficult at times this week to be honest, not really been myself all week but I think it's largely due to missing Gem after having her here for 2 weeks!  Feeling a bit better now after some sun this weekend so hopefully I'll be back to firing on all cylinders this week.  Work wise, we've all been working long days this week as we are having a mammoth spring clean of mango house, everything has been sorted through, cleaned and organised which has taken forever but I think we are getting there.  It is summer holidays here so we have also been busy filling 1000 pencil cases for the children, the only way to do it was to make a proper production line, with gaffer Rob cracking the whip!  I do have a picture but don't have the memory card with me with it on so will have to add it later. 
We took the children on a trip to the waterpark on Wednesday this week which was brilliant, definitely my favourite trip so far.  They had such a good time going down all of the slides, splashing each other and trying to learn to swim.  Our skin all looked like prunes after all day in the water and children and volunteers alike were fast asleep on the bus on the way home.

My sleeping sickness is contagious!

On Friday, one of the volunteers was leaving and so we had a party down at the Karaswada slum, complete with face paints, make up, music and chocolate.  I was on make up duty which involved applying glittery eyeshadow and bright pink lipstick to lots of little faces, who then spent ages admiring themselves in the mirror, little girls are the same the world over hey! They then decided to turn make up artists themselves which meant we all got covered in facepaints and glitter and had our hair styled, they were so sweet though and were so gentle when they were applying our make up with an intense look of concentration on their little faces!

Nothing much else to report at the moment, had a quiet weekend on the beach this weekend which has done me the world of good I think.  I worked out that I've been here 7 weeks now which has gone so quickly.  I think I'm having a phase which I knew I'd have at about this time where I'm sort of settled and used to everything but it suddenly feels like forever since I've seen everyone so am starting to miss my friends and family.  The children make up for it though, I've had some of the best cuddles of my life from them this week! Bye for now..... x

My Birthday week- photos

 The Village Guesthouse

The Village Guesthouse

 Poncho, 'guard dog' of Village Guesthouse

 Palelom beach

 Palelom beach

 more cows

 Our boat taxi

 Birthday sunglasses

 Henna tattoo, which I now like a bit too much.....

 Other guests we met at The Village Guesthouse

 Cheers!

 Spices and Tea

 The arch that is in The Bourne Identity/Supremacy

 Men at work

 For dad- Bradford City beach huts!

Trusty Tuk Tuk- I'm surprised it's taken me this long to put a picture up of one.