Sorry for the lack of posts recently...I take the blame as my stomache has just not been itself lately :-/
It has been a week since the last post so I'll just try to cover the highlights...also, we didn't end up going to Bodh gaya because: 1. my damn stomache! 2. It seemed counter-intuitive to go to a buddhist town on the day of Holi and 3. We are still recovering from our train experience to Varanasi lol. Anyways...
Saturday was Holi which is a Hindu holiday where everyone covers eachother in bright powdered colours. We "played Holi" twice. The first was with the school kids on Friday afternoon. The kids were all lined up in their wheelchairs outside IICP then those kids that can walk, as well as teachers and special ed students etc..went around and spread colours all over the kids' faces as well as eachother, we also got completely covered, but it was so fun :) After school on Friday we went to one of the special ed student's house with her and her two adorable daughters who chatted away to us in the back of the car as we sped through traffic with the windows rolled down listening to Taylor swift blarring on the radio. At her home her youngest daughter (9yrs) gave us an extensive tour of the house and garden which included the oportunity to plant some seeds in the garden as well as the backgound stories of several Hindu gods/goddesses (smartest 9 year old ever!). We then went out to shop for some gold jewellery in a fancy store which was kinda pricey so we really didn't get much.
Saturday we played Holi for the second time with the other 3 girls who are staying here at IICP with us and the grounds keeper Jadev Ji (who is the sweetest most cutest old Indian man that I want to adopt and take home with me to Canada), it was tones of fun...we were literally covered from head to toe. We have lots of pics as Jadev ji had us pose with him in the trees out back (too cute!), we will try to get them posted asap.
We didn't get up to much else on Saturday as we discovered that Kolkata literally shuts down for Holi...it's the only time we have not seen traffic on the roads!
Sunday we decided to go to South city Mall to do a little shopping and wath a movie. We arrived at the mall around 11:30am, but learnt that because the day before was a holiday the mall was not open until 1pm so we bussed to a nearby market where we made a couple purchases including some shorts of the beloved alladin-style (so comfy! and stylish too ;) We did make it back to the mall to catch a flick, but unfortunately the only English movie playing that neither one of us had seen was "World Invasion, battle Los Angeles"...it was pretty awful...a full two hours of non-stop fighting and American army glorification without even a love story to intrigue us :( but it was still fun, we sat there and mad fun of it...and it was worth it for the "intermission" when all the lights came on and vendors come up the aisles in groups offering everything..."hot-dog mam?" "ice-cream mam?" it was too funny! We are hoping to go back today to see a Bollywood movie (we'll keep you posted).
Today we got to go out on the slum project with one of the IICP staff members, which was a pretty awesome experience requiring a post of it's own...maybe tomorrow?
That's all for now! We only have two days left of placement :( I'm going to miss the kids so much, especially little Sudhangshu! I already teared up when they gave us a card yesterday so I'm probably going to be a mess on Friday. I'm going to miss their smiling faces :)
Rachel xo
It has been a week since the last post so I'll just try to cover the highlights...also, we didn't end up going to Bodh gaya because: 1. my damn stomache! 2. It seemed counter-intuitive to go to a buddhist town on the day of Holi and 3. We are still recovering from our train experience to Varanasi lol. Anyways...
Saturday was Holi which is a Hindu holiday where everyone covers eachother in bright powdered colours. We "played Holi" twice. The first was with the school kids on Friday afternoon. The kids were all lined up in their wheelchairs outside IICP then those kids that can walk, as well as teachers and special ed students etc..went around and spread colours all over the kids' faces as well as eachother, we also got completely covered, but it was so fun :) After school on Friday we went to one of the special ed student's house with her and her two adorable daughters who chatted away to us in the back of the car as we sped through traffic with the windows rolled down listening to Taylor swift blarring on the radio. At her home her youngest daughter (9yrs) gave us an extensive tour of the house and garden which included the oportunity to plant some seeds in the garden as well as the backgound stories of several Hindu gods/goddesses (smartest 9 year old ever!). We then went out to shop for some gold jewellery in a fancy store which was kinda pricey so we really didn't get much.
Saturday we played Holi for the second time with the other 3 girls who are staying here at IICP with us and the grounds keeper Jadev Ji (who is the sweetest most cutest old Indian man that I want to adopt and take home with me to Canada), it was tones of fun...we were literally covered from head to toe. We have lots of pics as Jadev ji had us pose with him in the trees out back (too cute!), we will try to get them posted asap.
We didn't get up to much else on Saturday as we discovered that Kolkata literally shuts down for Holi...it's the only time we have not seen traffic on the roads!
Sunday we decided to go to South city Mall to do a little shopping and wath a movie. We arrived at the mall around 11:30am, but learnt that because the day before was a holiday the mall was not open until 1pm so we bussed to a nearby market where we made a couple purchases including some shorts of the beloved alladin-style (so comfy! and stylish too ;) We did make it back to the mall to catch a flick, but unfortunately the only English movie playing that neither one of us had seen was "World Invasion, battle Los Angeles"...it was pretty awful...a full two hours of non-stop fighting and American army glorification without even a love story to intrigue us :( but it was still fun, we sat there and mad fun of it...and it was worth it for the "intermission" when all the lights came on and vendors come up the aisles in groups offering everything..."hot-dog mam?" "ice-cream mam?" it was too funny! We are hoping to go back today to see a Bollywood movie (we'll keep you posted).
Today we got to go out on the slum project with one of the IICP staff members, which was a pretty awesome experience requiring a post of it's own...maybe tomorrow?
That's all for now! We only have two days left of placement :( I'm going to miss the kids so much, especially little Sudhangshu! I already teared up when they gave us a card yesterday so I'm probably going to be a mess on Friday. I'm going to miss their smiling faces :)
Rachel xo
I AM SO JEALOUS YOU WERE THERE FOR HOLI!!!!
ReplyDeletefun fun fun.
Have an amazing time in Kerala. Eat lots of those banana pancake and enjoy the sun in the backwaters ladies!