It's all go in India!

Hello all

Lots has been happening here at DUF. The wedding is only 6 days away now, so every spare moment is filled with dance rehearsals, until about 11pm. And they rehearse right outside our room! We really weren't impressed on Wednesday when we'd jsut fallen into bed for an early night at 8pm, and then the loudest weirdest music in the world started to be played repeatedly just the other side of our wall! But we now either enjoy it or somehow block it out; it's worth it as the kids are getting really good at their various performances.

Meanwhile, school has continued as per usual, made more exciting at the end of this week as my box has finally arrived! This means I have whiteboards and posters and all sorts of exciting things to use in lessons, plus the 25 recorders that my brownies raised the money for. Some of the small boys spent over 2 hours tooting outside in the sun yesterday; a couple of them got as far as being able to play 'Mary had a little lamb' fairly fluently.

We've been learning guitar and have made ourselves a fret-board to practise on - from a discarded piece of fencing and some wool! Yesterday we also learnt how to make chapattis. We walked into the kitchen to discover 7 of the older kids involved in a complex yet efficient chain of making, and ended up having a go at all the stages. Our rolling out was a bit to slow, and we can't do it as well as them yet, but we're determined to learn. At least the kids said they were good. Except Tashi added 'well, it was only your first time....'!

My photos and a link to here can now be found on the Lattitude website; http://www.lattitude.org.uk then click 'volunteer' and 'hall of fame'. It's really cool - thanks go to Sofie and Ben for their fantastic captioning! Geoffrey is glad to be featured there as well. I have also been asked to blog on the website of V - a volunteering charity that also paid part of my bursary so I can be here. Their website is http://www.vinspired.org.uk but don't ask me how you'd find my blog there 'cos I haven't got a clue!

I've got lots more pictures to put up, when I can get to a computer that has accessible usb ports. This one might actually, I'll have a go in a minute! Some will come here, but most go onto my Flickr site; http://www.flickr.com/photos/phillynewton so please don't forget to look there as well. Ooh lots of links today. I hope you've all got some spare time on your hands so you can spend some time browsing.

My Lonely Planet was also in my box, so I'm vaguely starting to think about my travel plans for when I leave. We'll be halfway through next wednesday and that's really scary. May will go so quickly, and then I don't think June will even seem to exist. We've made some pretty strong friendships now and it's going to be so hard to say goodbye. We're trying to coordinate it so that we leave at the same time, to minimise the emotional drain!

I think that's all for now, keep your fingers crossed for more photographs soon,

TTFN xxx