hi im in bangalore now and its my second day now- already feels like i have been here a week! sorry for the small letters- the keyboard in this internet cafe has a few buttons jammed! haha- thats india for you - everywhere is a jam!
So,my flight was really comfortable and went pretty fast. Food was amazing- i had mutter paneer, naan, kheer, chaat salad for dinner and uttapa, idli sambar for breakfast. Slept quite well for most of my journey after watching batman begins. I tried to blag an upgrade in the swanky club area of the plane but apparently the cabin crew couldnt do anything and i should have spoken to the guys at check in- hmmmmmmmmm
Anyway, got to bangalore and was greeted by the driver who took me to my accomodation. As soon as i stepped out of the airport- the air smelt different- polluted but surprisingly not smelly like i expected. SO much noise around you, everyone staring, cows grazing on crap around you!The drive was an hour to my accomodation- i found myself gasping every few seconds and stressing out as the people here drive so crazily so i decided it might just be better if i just closed my eyes and rest till i get to my guest house.
When i got to my house, I was greeted by my landlady- a nice plump warm lady who showed me to my room. Its bigish, very basic, 3 beds with bedding on them, bare walls and an en suite toilet and bathroom. Its clean but far from luxury. At this point, it actually sunk that im in india and doing this all by myself for 4 weeks! Before i could actually unpack or start to even think whether i was going to survive this or not- my other housemates came into my room to welcome me. There are 2 other women that are in my room with me- both are in their 50's and there are 5 boys in the other rooms all that range between 23-34. They were all so welcoming and friendly that in no time we were all laughing and chatting away and i felt that i had been there longer. Later in the evening we all went to see one of the boys (james) perform at the british library. He does part time acting lessons after he has done his charity shift work in the day. For dinner, we went to a really nice south indian rest called coconut grove in the centre of bangalore where all the bars and resteraunts are. We ate loads and drank loads and the bill was around 5 pounds each! Everything is just so cheap here- its great!
Today i had my orientation tour along with the other volunteers. They took us on a tour around the town and we went to the co-ordinators house where she gave us more info and took us to a great upmarket resteraunt for a buffet lunch. Later we went onto mg road, commercial road and roamed the streets. People flock to us and hope to get money - i gave a really cute boy some money that was playing bollywood songs on his flute for me! he was adorable and kept sweeping his hair like shah rukh khan. lol. Later the boys insisted they take us to what they now call their local pub! Never again! There were 5 of us girls there and the rest of the place was full of local men. I had about 5-7 men coming up to the table taking pictures of me from their phones- some asking and some not bothering and after they would then run of with their phones showing their friends and laughing. my friends found it hilarious and it was funny but it did get a bit overwhelming after a while so we told them to stop. YOu just learn to accept the people for the way they are here. The main thing is that they are polite and well mannered and are nice people.
Tonight im having an early night and have turned out a night out in town. these guys like to go to nice places which is good so at least i dont have to just rely on family.
Tomorrow i will start work at the first ymca for older boys at 10, and finish at 1. After lunch i will go back at 3.30 to another ymca for young children and work for a further hour and then head home at 4.30. Im really looking forward to starting my work and getting into a routine!
Right my time is nearly up so i will be in touch soon. sorry for the grammar and spelling. i have to right in a rush!
hope you are all well- i do miss you! dont worry about me here. im good, being looked after well and feel like i have more or less settled now!
Lots of love,
Preema
xxx
