There are many English speaking people reading my blog so I'll start with English this time.
Tuesday (Nov 23rd) we arrived in Goa, after 30 hours on the train from Delhi, and 10 hours by train from Chekki Bank in Himachal down to Delhi. I liked the trip very much and had a lot to spend my time on.
When we walked out of the train it was very, very warm and humid. A car from Idex picked us up and drove us to the camp. The camp is in the middle of nowhere, at least it feels like it, but still, we're not too far away from town (Madgao) and the beach (Majorda). I like the place, it's beautiful here. But it's not like Himachal, and I spent half of my first day being sad because we weren't in Himachal anymore. I just needed some time to adjust to the new surroundings. After a few hours I liked the place a lot better and felt more home.
Ida is travelling on her own in Goa so we said accha ji (good bye) to her in the afternoon. So now it's only Julie and me left. Vegar got Malaria and was in the hospital in Mumbai until recently, everything is fine now, and he went back to Norway des 1st.
Some pictures from camp
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| Camp area |
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| Coconut trees |
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| Sudha ji! Idex staff, always helpful and kind :) |
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| Our room Julie, Isabel (Germany), Birgit (also Germany) and I share bedroom |
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| Bathroom |
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| Busy reading Shantaram |
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| Dining hall |
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| Recreation Hall |
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| My bike |
A little about my workprojects:
1.workarea; Governmental school 1.class, 09-10.30 monday - friday
It's a small school with only 12 students from 1.-4.class. They're all sitting in one classroom, but have different subjects. There are one principal and one teacher and both are usually there at the same time. The school was opened in 1947 and there were many students until a few years ago when the church nearby opened most of the kids startet there instead. The kids that still comes to the same school are not so fortunate and can't afford clothes and shoes that the other school and church require you to have.
It's only 3 minutes (or not even that) by walking from the camp so it's easy to get there on my own. I'm the only volunteer there, there are no executives (from Idex staff) there with me either because they are busy with other subjects. But I think it's nice to be there alone. It means I have to manage everything on my own, and I like that. I teach 5 1st grade students (4 girls, 1 boy) basic english. When I come in the morning we divide the class in two and the kids and I move to one corner of the room reading, writing, singing and playing.
The kids hardly know any english and I know only a few words in hindi so at times it can be a challenge. But since I understand more hindi than I speak it's easier to know what they're asking about and answer them. And besides, I have the two teachers not far away if I need any help.
So far we've learned the "good morning" and "good bye" song which we sing when I come in the morning and before I leave. We go through the alfabet, usually 5 letteres every day.
Today we played the memorygame after writing and learning F,G,H,I,J.
I think I like kids more than I thought I do because I really enjoy my time with the children. They can be very loud so I have to ask them to "Suno!" (listen), but they're so cute so it's hard to get mad when they act up.
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| The school |
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| My class; Supriya, Munchan, Niki, Bharti, Adity and Mornish |
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| Eager to learn |
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| Nice drawings |
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| One of the girls at school ran after me on my way back to the camp after my second day giving me this beutiful flower :o) |
A rewarding feeling
On my second day of work I planned that we should write and sing the good morning song, but at some point I found out that they didn't know how to write their names. So we wrote down each of their names and it was such a nice feeling to see their proud faces walking around and showing their book where they had written it to everybody. The next day we made nice sheets with they're names and drawings of themselves.
In general I like the camp here. But I feel it's not as serious as it was in Himachal. You have more freedom to do what you want, too much freetime I think, and if you feel like it you can do only one project.
I talked with some of the other volunteers and they said that the program should be made based on our premises. In a way I agree, but still, it's your own choice to come and do a job here. If you want to you can stay a month at a hotel instead and have all the time in the world to go to the beach.
When you decided to come here you also signed a contract saying that your commited to this program and are coming to do volunteer work.
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| Cafè coffee day - Delicious coffee!! |
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| Escimo coffee!! Jummy! :D |
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Madgao library I'm sure they have a system  Madgao is about 15 minutes by car from the camp. It's a big city with a lot to see and do. Yesterday (des 2nd) and I went by bus to check out the place. I bought black fabric and have ordered an european style dress at the local tailor. Looking forward to pick it up nect week.  I'm back there somewhere |
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| Majorda beach Approximatly 15 minutes by bike I spend most of the days between 11 AM and 1 PM here :) |
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| Lena (also Norway) and me at the beach one evening |
Desember 3rd; Not only does my beautiful friend Ingerid Nordli turn 26, CONGRATULATIONS darling ;), it's also a big festival here in Goa. It's a Feast of St. Francis Xavier.
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| People visiting the Church of St. Francis of Assis which contains the relics of Saint Francis Xavier |
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| We took the bus back to Panjim where we had to change bus back to Madgao. No, it's not crowded... :-) |
A funny story... I've heard that there are rats big like cats around camp area, but luckily I haven't seen any yet (knock on wood). On tuesday though a little mouse had found it's way to our room and as you all know I am very scared of them so I refused to get out of the bed. We had to call Sudha and Prekash (another lady also working here) and they brought a long cleaning brush to chase it out. You can just imagine... everybody was screaming and laughing. And I was sitting on my bed with closed eyes because I was terrified and at the same time laughing so hard... it's was just the funniest thing ever!!! But I sure didn't want to look!! :) They finally got the mouse out and everybody could sleep safe ;)
And some writing in norwegian...
Hallo :-)
Ja, da er jeg på plass i Goa. Det er kjempe varmt her, det har dere vel fått høre mer enn en gang :o) Gradestokken kan komme opp i nesten 40 (og kanskje over også) så det er godt med en strand som er passe langt unna til at man kan sykle dit og ta seg en dukkert :)
Første dagen vi kom hit, tirsdag 23.des, fikk vi info om stedet og tildelt rom. Dagen etter dro vi ut og besøkte jobbprosjektene. Ida var med hit til campen, men hun skal reise på egenhånd nå så vi sa hadet til henne utpå ettermiddagen. Så nå er det meg og Julie igjen sammen. Vegar skulle egentlig møte oss her i Goa, etter at han valgte å reise på egenhånd, men han har fått Malaria og har vært innlagt på sykehus i Mumbai stakkar. Men alt står bra til og 1.des reiste han hjem igjen til Norge.
Det var trist å være her første dagen. Jeg savnet Himachal og ting var så annerledes her. Jeg trengte bare litt tid til å venne meg til at ting ikke var som jeg var vant til og ikke lenge etter begynte jeg å like stedet på sin måte.
Jobbprosjektene:
Jeg har to jobbprosjekt her. Om morgenene (09-10.30) er jeg på en statlig skole med kun 12 elever. Skolen ble åpnet i 1947 og dengang var det mange elever, men etter at kirken ble bygget for noen år tilbake går de fleste barna der. De som fremdeles går på denne skolen har ikke råd til materiell (klær og sko) som de andre skolene krever at barna skal ha og får et tilbud på denne skolen i stedet. Det er en rektor og en lærer og hele klassen (1. - 4.klasse) er sammen i et stort klasserom. Jeg underviser 5 av barna i engelsk; ABC, 1,2,3, skrive navnet sitt, osv.
Jeg trives veldig godt med dem. Vi snakker ikke samme språk, men jeg forstår litt hindi og de forstår litt engelsk så vi gjør oss forstått. På dette prosjektet er jeg alene for alle andre er opptatt med andre ting. Men det fungerer veldig bra og jeg sier bare fra til læreren eller rektor hvis det er noe. Jeg merker det er godt å ha litt erfaring fra Himachal.
På ettermiddagene (14.30-16.15) var jeg på et barnehjem og hjalp barna med lekser, men de trengte ikke så mye hjelp for de hadde andre ansatte der så fra mandag skal jeg begynne å jobbe på et annet barnehjem med mange barn (rundt 50 har jeg hørt) og et større behov. Det blir spennende.
Generelt liker jeg stedet her. Ikke like mye som Himachal, men Goa har sin sjarm også, selv om det ikke var helt lett å se det i begynnelsen. Prosjektene er ikke så seriøse som i Himachal og hvis man vil kan man kun jobbe på et prosjekt. Jeg har snakket med noen av de andre frivillige som har sagt at dette bør være på våre premisser. Til en viss grad er jeg enig. Men på den andre siden det var vi selv som valgte å komme hit og jobbe som frivillige. Vi kunne heller valgt å komme hit en måned og ha all verdens tid til stranda i stedet. Vi signerte på en kontrakt og bundet oss til programmet. Dessuten synes jeg vi virkelig har det godt, som jeg har sagt før, for godt. Alt er så godt tilrettelagt for oss. Idex vet ikke hva godt de skal gjøre for oss.
Musehistoria:
Det er mange rotter store som katter rundt om på campen, men de har jeg heldigvis ikke sett noe til foreløpig (bank i bordet). Men på tirsdag hadde en liten mus klart å finne veien til rommet vårt. Og som den pysa jeg er ville jeg ikke flytte meg en millimeter fra senga. Vi fikk heldigvis sendt bud på Sudha og Prekash (begge ansatte her som alltid er hyggelige og behjelpelige med det vi måtte trenge av hjelp, denne gangen intet unntak) som kom med lang vaskekost og prøvde å jage ut denne stakkars musa. Dere kan tro det var leven inne på det rommet på grunn av en liten mus... Alle hyla og skreik og lo og jeg satt i senga med lukkede øyne og ansiktet ned i dagboka og hadde latterkrampe. Hehe!!! :D Heldigvis fikk de jaget ut musa. Og alle kunne sove trygt ;)
Ja, da er det på tide å legge seg. Jeg har litt over to uker igjen og jeg nyter hver eneste dag jeg har igjen her til det fulle. Vi sees snart :o) Hyggelig at du tok deg tid til å lese bloggen.
Phir milange! :-)
