Week 5 : Sun.15 Feb – Sat.21 Feb

Well another week has gone flying by! Two more months and I’ll be on a plane home again!! Andrew’s response to that would probably be ‘too bad, so sad!’ – it will be sad though I’m enjoying been back in India and spending time with Wendy and Ian and the kids and meeting lots of great people from around the globe here in Ooty! Started doing a little bit of painting this week – think I need a lot more practice!! Have also had to do a Junior School Staff Development session on ‘De Bono’s Thinking Hats’ and been working with DEL (Department of Enhanced Learning) sharing ideas on how to help students in their learning. Friday afternoon went off for a wander down to the market and managed to pick up my supply of fresh peas (that’s me shelling some) I love fresh peas, hate frozen peas! There was so much hustle and bustle down there! I haven’t managed to get lost in the market yet, thankfully, I just stick to my landmarks and I seem to do okay!!
On Saturday evening we had the Standard 9 boys dorm (19 boys plus the Dorm Parents and helpers – about 26 in total) arrive for a BBQ – with BBQ Chicken in a yummy orange, soya sauce and ginger marinade and huge burger patties. Then once it grew dark we all watched a movie on the front lawn. They set up the big screen, and the boys brought their sleeping bags to keep warm while they watched the original ‘Dad’s Army’ movie – it was a great evening with a few of the boys learning the art of BBQ-ing on a wood-burning BBQ from ‘Mrs McCabe’!

Week 4 : Sun.8 Feb – Sat. 14 Feb

Sunday evening we had the ‘Commencement Service’ for school – this service is to official start the new term and everyone is required to dress in their formal school uniform, hence I had to get dressed up so here’s a shot of me in my ‘salwar kameez’ that I had made – bit posh really!! It’s been a bit of a busy week really with people arriving back and visitors coming and going for dinner to add to all of the that are the little incidents like the lovely treats that the cats bring in to share with us – the other night Maddie decided she’d like to show us her prize for the evening – I forgot how much Wendy hates rats!! She was just heading off to bed when I heard this yelp! On going out to check I discover Wendy in the lounge and the cat on the stairwell with a tail hanging out her mouth, Maddie then processed to drop the rat and start playing with it like a ball, pounce on it then set about to chomp down on it – poor Wendy was forced to witness and hear the crunching sounds of rat bones been squashed in the cat’s vice of a mouth! Not a pleasant sound! We finally got the cat out with a tail hanging out its mouth, I have too say I even felt a little queasy after the whole incident!

Week 3

Had Bible Club for Staff Children on Monday and then had Tuesday and Wednesday off getting ready to start the new school term. On Tuesday Wendyand I and the kids went to Kluny Manor for lunch - it's an old manor that has been done up and is now a restaurant and accomodation. It's a lovely place with an awesome view of Ooty - it's the kind of place you go to when you want to get away from the hustle of bustle, fro a bit of escapism without leaving Ooty itself!

Then on Thursday school began and it's really just been a couple of days getting used to how the school does things and assessing where the children I'll be working with are at!

Week 2

This week has been rather busy with one thing or another - orientation, Bible Club and life at home! On Monday 26th was India's Independence Day so they had an official flag raising ceremony at Hebron School, which I didn't go to instead Wendy,

Lauren, Ashlee, Andrew and I went for a drive out to Emerald Lake. We got misdirected a few times and had to do a little backtracking! Here if you ask someone how do you get to say 'Emerald Lake' and they don't know instead of saying 'NO' which is considered harsh and you don't do, people try and please you and say "Yes ma'm, this straight way" even if they have absolutely no idea! What to do!! Anyway we finally made it and went to Red Hill Tea Plantation for lunch - it has some of the most amazing views of the Niligiris. On Tuesday we went to Coonor as part of our Orientation - we took the old steam train from Ooty to Coonor, then went from there to CMS which is an orphanage where we had a look around - bought some crafts from there and then left for Brooklands Quest House for lunch and a wander through the shops in the afternoon even though a good deal were shut! People seem to think that I come from a different planet and speak a foreign language - they keep asking me to repeat myself! What's with that! When we were at Brooklands one of the school staff children, he's about 2 or 3 years old and said to me in his Northern Ireland accent, 'I'm a dog!' I asked him to repeat what he said as I thought he said 'I'm a dork!" And they think I speak with a weird and uncomprehensible accent!

Later on in the week we began Bible Club for all the staff children while their parents were at the Staff Retreat. The topic was 'Junior Heroes' and had a great time doing craft, playing games, singing, reading bible stories etc. The children then presented for a few minutes on Monday morning to their parents.

On Saturday afternoon all of the staff, staff children, IGs and Standard 11 students went out to Glenmorgan Tea Plantation for the afternoon - it's absolute gorgeous out there! Hasn't changed much in the last 15 years but it was lovely to visit the Vidaras again! Then in the evening we had some of the Freedom Firm staff and children over for dinner at the McCabes. It's been a busy week!