Amy and Graham

Jan/Feb 2011

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Apologies for being so tardy with the update of this website. Time it seems is running away with us and 3 and half weeks have already passed. We are both fully settled in to the way of things here and whilst we were never the most rock 'n' roll pair back in London, we might be likened to the Winehouse and Doherty power duo in comparison to our routine here. Generally we retire to bed by 9pm, watch an episode of Green Wing or Spaced and then do a spot of reading or in my case fall straight to sleep. All in all, I rarely see past 10pm. Alcohol is also a apparently a big no no here - I fear we may be considered 'drunkers' if they knew our real ways back in the UK - so for the moment we are teetotalers.

Whilst we are clearly now very boring, India and the kids are very much not. When we arrived at Hebron we were greeted by a terrifying scrum of over 300 screaming children all intent on squeezing our cheeks (apparently chubby and hilarious) and filling our hair with petals. 3 weeks in and our novelty has definitely worn off. At 4.30 everday we head out to play with the kids which begins with the usual questions/demands:

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'my name?', 'games', 'sing', 'you dance', 'one photo','this evening movie?', 'when are the next people from England coming'. This is then followed by Graham and I making sweaty fools of ourselves at kabaddi, cricket or volleyball or thumb wars (which seems to be very popular). The kids are brilliant and it is a real highlight of our day when they finish school (not just because it means we can get let out of our windowless office). We're trying not to have favourites but there are some that are just so well-mannered/polite/inquisitive/cheeky/photogenic that its pretty hard. We have managed to learn about half the names and with the incessant daily testing by the kids we should know everyone by about the time the school holidays hit.

We are due to have our first weekend off at the beginning of March when we return to the home of poo river, Chennai, for a spot of world cup cricket - England vs South Africa. After yesterday's performance againts the barely pro Dutch team, I have a similar amount of hope for Englands success at the cricket as I do for the Scotland rugby team winning the six nations or even a game to be honest. However, it will be nice to have a small break even it is does involve two long overnight journey's on the fart powered, rat infested trains (I have now survived three of these train rides already - see it is all part of 'my journey' to a new me).

On that dreadful joke I will sign off but promise to be back to write more drivel soon.

love to the three people reading this. xxx

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And so to India and our first quick stop in Chennai. As our trusty lonely planet states 'you would be hard pressed to find anything to gush about in Chennai' and it was not wrong. Bleary eyed and pale skinned to the point of glowing our first experience of India was a sensory assault to the point of overload. Luckily, the super cyclist and cultural chameleon Tamil Lloyd Smith (within 3 weeks he's already acquired the 'does it mean yes or no head wobble') was there to soften the blow.Points of interest: poo river, emits a smell so putrid and thick that breathing felt like you were chewing a jobbie. Wrigleys take note, it's a flavour that really lasts all day! The dead body on the side of the road which we have subsequently found out may have been aquired by beggar as a prop - The Indian equivalent of a dog on a string.

30.01.11.

Before I launch into tales of our first day (and first dead body) in India I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone that came along to the above mentioned do. Much fun was had as seen in the 400 photos we took but a special mention goes out to Jody, Dub, Jo, James and Bridges who stuck about for unnecessary Jagerbombs and bundles at god knows what time.