It is Friday 19h January and I am sitting in a small cyber café in a suburb in Delhi where the power seems to run on a motorbike, which has cut out once already (there are no exclamation marks so I can’t quite express my enthusiasm/surprise).

I really like India. E.M. Forster wrote that India is a muddle and he is spot on. But it is a great muddle and somehow works. There isn’t anything anyone could have said to prepare me for India because there is variety everywhere. There is no one India. In Delhi people dress in jeans and jumpers at this time of the year. We even have a heater in our room as it is so cold at night. I have seen teenage girls in miniskirts, business men in suits and tiny children in rags begging in the same square metre. The head teacher at the school I am working in said that when she goes to the East of India, she cannot be understood and she is wearing different clothes, eating different food. One thing that remains constant is the spirituality. I am surprised by the number of Christians I have met and the fluency with which everyone speaks English. It is their second language here and in my school, English is spoken as much as Hindi. I also feel very safe as the locals are extremely kind and hospitable, we have had no problems at all.

The hostel we are staying in is basic but the eight of us out here together are making it home. I am sharing a room with two other people and we use the same shower, which varies in temperature, and a long-drop as the toilet. This has not been a problem at all, especially after my experiences in Tanzania until…we found out the two couples in the group had en suites with toilets (exclamation mark) so we now use theirs.

I am working in a school called Ashkay Pratishstan with Amy, Luke and Stephen. It is a school for physically and mentally disabled children. It is a great organisation and I love working there. They run classes for sport, music, arts and crafts, academic subjects and vocational courses for older children to help them integrate into society and become independent. The children are adorable and light up when they see us. We have already helped decorate a classroom with the alphabet and today helped run the music class. Our working days are Tuesday to Friday, from 9.30 until 1 or 2 but I think we will end up staying longer to help with projects that are coming up and also prepare lessons.

After school today we were taken by a physiotherapy student to a spinal injury centre which is the best centre in India, where patients come as far as Saudi Arabia. It is privately run which highlights the desperation of the poor. However the government pays some money for poor patients to be admitted for free but even then, they are put on a separate ward.

We travel back from school in an auto-rickshaw which is an experience (exclamation mark) but even this I am getting used to. It is another example of the muddle of India yet somehow it works. Instead of indicators, they beep. Instead of wing mirrors, they beep. So basically beep long and hard and you will get passed, as long as there isn’t a cow in front of you.

We have visited the centre of Delhi once but we are having a proper orientation day tomorrow. When we got here we were left to our own devices which unsettled us all a bit as we were promised a 2-day orientation. When we did get into the centre, I loved it. The markets are amazing and I had to hold back from buying all the colourful bags, purses, scarves etc. I bought one bag so I don’t have to use my rucksack and look like a tourist. It was only here, for the first time, that we got hassled to buy things but I didn’t mind, as it was quite comical and mild compared to Tanzania.

So that’s my first installment. I have to admit it has taken me a full five days to feel like this. The first three days were very difficult. Leaving home and those I care about, knowing I wouldn’t be back for nine months and then living with seven people I didn’t know, four of which are couples was quite overwhelming. Yet I am settled now and looking forward to working more at the school and seeing more of India.

I hope you are all well and thank you for your lovely messages.

Xx

P.s. Food is fine, a lot of rice and some things I haven’t got a clue what’s in them but no Delhi belly yet, touch wood.