Hello everyone,

I thought it was time to write my first blog to fill you in on what I have been doing in my first week in India. Well what can I say, it has been very hectic and I have so many things to tell you already.

In my first few days in Delhi, I met up with the other volunteers and we went sightseeing, visiting the Lotus Temple, India Gate, the Humayan Tomb and Kutub Minar, it was a very busy day and in the evening we caught an overnight train to Jodhpur which was an unforgettable experience. We were in a sleeper carriage with other locals and ended up playing uno for most of the night because no one could really sleep, it was so much fun and in the morning we were woken by drums and singing...it was very surreal.

When we arrived in Jodhpur we checked into a small guesthouse which was very nice, with hand paintings on the walls and a lovely rooftop restaurant. The view was amazing and the food was nice and spicy! After lunch we took a 90 minute jeep ride to Osian town and visted a hindu temple which is almost 2000 years old (dedicated to a hindu goddess Sachiya mata) and then took another 30 minute jeep ride to a desert village (Ketasar).

We were met with a very warm welcome by the local family we would be staying with and the children started playing with us straightaway. We made our way to the highest peak in the willage with Nansuk (the son of the head of house Gangaramji) who was very friendly and as we watched the sunset, children from nearby came to say hello and wanted us to take photos of them, they were so cute!

It was so overwhelming and seeing their poverty made me realise how lucky we truly are. Looking around all I could see were small huts, a few trees and vast amounts of desert, it was breathtaking.

We walked back to the house and I helped Nansuk's wife Gita make rotis and they all managed to turn out as round as a circle! The food was delicious and we sat on the floor with our legs crossed eating with our hands, I loved it! We then sat around a campfire and danced to folk music with the children, it was so much fun.

The children had made up beds for us outside and we slept under the stars that night, it was a first for me. We were woken by Nansuk at 6:00am and it occured to me that it was my birthday today, we had some chai before taking a camel ride to watch the sunrise, my camel was called Papu and he was very friendly, we made up songs to sing to him. Watching the sunrise was out of this world and there are no words to decribe how I was feeling.

We then made our way back to the house and had a lovely lunch with the family, taking lots more photos and saying our goodbyes. We took the jeep back to Jodhpur and stopped off to see Jasawant Thada Memorial and the Mehrangarh Fort.

We took an overnight bus to Udaipur, where I will be teaching English for a month to children, I have settled in here and the other volunteers are all very friendly. I start teaching from Monday and I am so looking forward to it.

Even though it has only been a week, the experience has been overwhelming and it is diffcult to describe in words, i feel lucky to be here and I can honestly say India is so diverse and truly magical.

I will be in touch soon with another update on how my teaching is going.
I hope you are all well
Take care
Love Poonam