Hey Guys!

Sorry it's been a while, I bet you've all been desperate for updates, hehe! So where was I.... Aha, the second day of volunteering went much as the previous, the kids grizzled away for hours, hit each other and drew on the walls. However, I began to notice the differences in the abilities of the children. Amazingly a select few actually knew all their alphabet and numbers and were able to write the entire thing down too. One kid particularly stuck out, a child with a bowl cut and boys clothes, a clever boy you may think. Well no, after 4 days of saying 'Good boy', I discovered that the star of the class was actually a girl... whoops! In the afternoon we finally headed to the beach at Colva, where I ate the most amazing platter of prawns (soooo good after an exclusively vegetarian diet at the camp). We also went to the market with the vendors attempted to rip us off like they do with the Russian tourists, but alas for them we were far too intelligent! As a result, I got a top down from 1200 rupees to 200.

The following day we taught the children without a teacher once again. We gave them some colouring to do and were amazing by their sharing skills. At no point did they snatch the crayons, but shared really well. One little kid even collected them all up at the end of the lesson and returned them all to me! It made me feel guilty that I thought they would try and nick them! In the afternoon we went to Majorda beach where we were attacked by so many hawkers trying to sell us their crap. At one point there must have been about 15 of them laying out their sarrongs and necklaces! That evening we got a taxi down south to Palolem beach, where we promptly found ourselves a beach hut for the niht at only 300 rupees for 2 people (about 4 pounds). At best that night's sleep can be described as an experience. I genuinely feared for my life! There were so many holes in the walls and the majority of the girls discovered cockroaches, lizards and frogs bounding around. The following day we swiftly moved to a more luxurious hut at an extortiate 400 rupees a night for 2 people (about 6 pounds). We sat on the beach all day, drank mojitos and watched the sunset. It was a truely beautiful beach. In the evening we went for dinner at a genuine Italian restaurant (actually run by an Italian!) and then went to a silent disco party until 3am!

On Sunday, we spent another day on the beach and walked further down to a small cove. Bhavini drank the local alcoholic beverage, fenny, and got pretty pissed (yes when an Indian says 'you want to try some fenny' it does sound very suspect). After eventually locating a restaurant strongly recommended by the Lonely Planet and then had to leg it back to where our taxi was waiting for us!

Will update you on this week soon!

Back by popular demand, the things I have learnt section! :

'Caution and care make accident rare' is a sign seen on many buses, and can clearly only be meant as irony....

Kids with nothing will fight over the skankies germ filled ball

Being told you are extremely white (after a weekend on the beach!) by an Indian is a massive compliment.

In India, your clothes will never look clean.

The Rajastani silver bracelet you buy from a market stall and promptly lose, will no longer be Rajastani silver when you re-purchase it cheaper :(

Bowl cut and boys clothes are no guarantee that a child is a boy!

LOVE YOU ALL!!! xxxxxxxxx