So, I am presently sweating away in India - it is quite hot and very very humid - gasp!

I will start by giving some info about why I have even gone to India. I am here through Global Contact which is the travel organization part of MellemFolkeligt Samvirke, a Danish NGO. Presently I am in the state of Goa in a town called Colva right at the coast. I will be here for 3.5 more weeks and during my stay here I will learn about how to deal with poverty and hopefully make things a little bit better for people in development countries. We will learn about understanding different cultures, to speak a little bit of Hindi (I now know how to say hello, thank you and ask people for their name and give mine!!! Yihaa), consider subjects for possible campaigns back home or projects to execute over here etc.

I am here with 5 other danes plus our 'guide/teacher' - my 5 fellow students are 19, 19, 20 in two weeks, 20 and 21 years old respectively and our teacher (Danish as well) is 27 years old. So I am the elder but the age difference isn't a bother, at least not yet, and they are all very nice persons.

So, my journey so far… As most of you know I defended my ph.d. last Friday on the 26th of September. Everything went just fine - the opponents where very nice people and no mean questions! Afterwards I had a reception with food and drinks and lots of guests and really nice presents - thank you all! I then left for Copenhagen on Sunday afternoon to spend the night with Malene over there (thanks for the shelter once again!) as my flight departed Monday morning at 08:00. I flew with British Airways from Copenhagen to London and then from London to Mumbai and I had a very pleasant flight…. Mumbai airport was then an experience. No problems going though immigrations and then I had to pick up my bags but at the belts no screens were working so you had to ask to figure out where the luggage would arrive. Moving on - as I had to fly on to Goa I has to find the domestic flights terminal and as soon as I went that direction airport personel flocked around me to help my with my bag and check-in (which was done in a make-shift hall where construction was going on at the same time and they had no computers but just pen and paper…). I was then led to a few seats and given a bus ticket and told to wait for my number…. And then the guy held out his hand asking for money - which I didn't have as I hadn't had a chance to find a money exchange counter yet so I felt really uncomfortable and ended up giving the guy 2*10 kr, which he can do absolutely nothing with but then at least he went away. Which led to me worrying about whether my bag would then actually make it to Goa. But after waiting a while we tourist where finally shephers upon a bus along with the locals and driven to another terminal - I got off there as nobody made any announcements but it turned out to be the wrong terminal so I ran back and made it back abourd the bus (phew) and ended up at the right terminal 2 hours after my arrival in Mumbai at 00:15. Where I had to wait for my flight at 05:20 - the terminal was thoroughly air-conditioned so by the time of boarding I was freezing and shaking all over. But ok flight, arrived in goa at 06:20 to 28 degrees and was picked up by the local organization as planned and driven to the old colonial Portuguese villa where we are staying (sounds nicer then it actually is).

Here I learned that 4 of the others had had a horrible trip here (I arrived two days after the others due to my defence as they suddenly changed the departure date) with delays, flight cancellations, horrible bus drive from Mumbai to Goa (where I flew) and then - no luggage!!!! Two of them got their bags the day of my arrival but nobody seemed to know where the bags belonging to the last two were…. But fortunately they arrived on Wednesday and they were so happy to have their clothes back! Thank god it wasn't me!

Every morning we start out with yoga at 07:15 - the two boys have already dropped it after the first morning but we girls try to stick at it. The yoga lesson is given in our 'garden' (see pictures when I manage to find a place that can upload them!!!) and I find it very hard to relax sometimes as I am worrying about what kind of beasts might drop onto my head while I am lying there with my eyes closed…. Of other exciting things this week we yesterday took the local bus to Margao which is the second largest city in Goa (I think)…. Again this was quite funny. We thought the bus was crowded when the 7 of us got on board but somehow the bus driver managed to squeeze in 20 more people on the way from Colva to Margao. The bus was so crowded in the end that you could pretty much stand still without holding on to anything and just let the pressure of human bodies keep you upright. It was soooo hot in there and when we got out my pants were literally soaked right through from my sweat and the people I had been leaning against… Yum… Today we then went to visit the local school, which is run by Idex (MellemFolkelig Samvirke's local partner organization) and a group of volunteers here, and the houses around it. And that was very interesting and sad at the same time. These people are incredibly poor - they live below the poverty line defines as having less than 1USD to live for per day. We were invited in to the houses of the local people and they were miserable but they were very proud and we smiled and said thank you and drank the tea they so kindly offered us while feeling guilty for accepting what little they had. The rooms were approx. 8m2 big and in here two families would live - no beds to show of in some of them and in most cases the house was run by the 7 or 11 year old eldest daughter of the house who had to cook, do the washing and look after the smaller children who were too young to be helping the parents earn money for the daily bread. Horrible.

And the school - well, it was a 10m2 room - oh, probably have to tell that the houses were built of the leaves from palm trees - where approx. 15 children, 1 main teacher and 6 volunteers plus the 6 of us were in at one point. But the children were so so soooo cute and sweet and seemed happy. They sang songs in English and recited vegetables/fruits/animals/other objects from different charts and then had a meal at school - supplied by the volunteers as leftovers from their dinner the night before - which would probably be the only meal the children would have all day. Heart-breaking. Just wanted to tug a few of them under my shoulders and take them home with me (which I could probably do as they were so tiny and light).

Well, I think this is enough for now - we have tonight and the weekend off and we have to try and figure out what to do and what to see. More info also on the house and pictures will follow.