My First Four Weeks
I’ve been in India for nearly four weeks! I can’t believe how quickly I’ve settled in. The first few days I was overwhelmed by the changes from Scotland and I thought I’d never get used to seeing elephants, camels and cows walking amongst the traffic but now if I don’t see one I think it’s odd!
One thing I didn’t need any time to get used to was rickshaw driving! Rickshaws are little tin cans mounted on three wheels that are powered by a motorbike engine and are driven by the craziest men I have ever met. They endanger your life more times than you can count and then try to over-charge you for it! If you’re an adrenalin junkie and love haggling (like me!) then you’ll love it!
A pleasant surprise for me was finding wonderful chai- Indian tea! Back home I am not a tea or coffee drinker…and I was going to India of all places, home of the tealeaf! My Mum was terrified I’d offend someone by refusing their tea, not bloody likely! I’m more likely to annoy them with my badgering for another cup full! Many discussions and debates have been held about what chai tastes like. We have come to the conclusion that it is very scrummy, tastes of cinnamon, sugar and liquefied chocolate digestive biscuits. You need to drink it and then you’ll understand that last part!
I should probably stop rambling and actually talk about what I’m working on here! I am working on an English teaching programme that was started by previous volunteers. What it involves is planning lessons that will (hopefully) help the staff improve their spoken and written English. I go to the Ramtekedi and Bibiwadi Centres to teach the staff while Lindsay (a fellow Scottish Link volunteer) teaches at Tadiwala.
I came out here thinking I would be teaching kids so to find I would be teaching adults was very scary and daunting! Especially as I am only 17 years old and freshly chucked out of high school! But it’s been very easy to settle into as everyone has been so nice and welcoming and all of them are very eager to learn, which makes my job so much easier!
Yesterday (5/9/05) was a nice surprise because it was Teachers’ Day in India! So I received a lovely rose from my students (even though I’ve only been a teacher for 3 weeks!).
Hopefully the next 5 months will be as enjoyable as these past four weeks!
-Catriona McDougall
One thing I didn’t need any time to get used to was rickshaw driving! Rickshaws are little tin cans mounted on three wheels that are powered by a motorbike engine and are driven by the craziest men I have ever met. They endanger your life more times than you can count and then try to over-charge you for it! If you’re an adrenalin junkie and love haggling (like me!) then you’ll love it!
A pleasant surprise for me was finding wonderful chai- Indian tea! Back home I am not a tea or coffee drinker…and I was going to India of all places, home of the tealeaf! My Mum was terrified I’d offend someone by refusing their tea, not bloody likely! I’m more likely to annoy them with my badgering for another cup full! Many discussions and debates have been held about what chai tastes like. We have come to the conclusion that it is very scrummy, tastes of cinnamon, sugar and liquefied chocolate digestive biscuits. You need to drink it and then you’ll understand that last part!
I should probably stop rambling and actually talk about what I’m working on here! I am working on an English teaching programme that was started by previous volunteers. What it involves is planning lessons that will (hopefully) help the staff improve their spoken and written English. I go to the Ramtekedi and Bibiwadi Centres to teach the staff while Lindsay (a fellow Scottish Link volunteer) teaches at Tadiwala.
I came out here thinking I would be teaching kids so to find I would be teaching adults was very scary and daunting! Especially as I am only 17 years old and freshly chucked out of high school! But it’s been very easy to settle into as everyone has been so nice and welcoming and all of them are very eager to learn, which makes my job so much easier!
Yesterday (5/9/05) was a nice surprise because it was Teachers’ Day in India! So I received a lovely rose from my students (even though I’ve only been a teacher for 3 weeks!).
Hopefully the next 5 months will be as enjoyable as these past four weeks!
-Catriona McDougall
posted by Volunteer at 10:55 pm
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