Tuesday 4 October

I am currently sitting on a train waiting to go back to Gordon’s Bay. Yesterday I enjoyed a half day spa treatment. It was amazing. I had to get up early around 7am in order to get pick up at 7:30 and taken to Zevenwacht. My appointment was for 8:30. I decided to leave extra early so I could make sure that I got there on time. It was a good thing to because I got there just in time. There really was no rush though because the day started with breakfast and it was my favourite: museli (granola). It was served with plain yogurt and there was lots of fruit and some pastries included. It was delicious. I savoured every single bite. My first treatment was a foot massage and it was heavenly. It included a leg massage and I was surprised by how much my shins hurt. I think they’re sore from running very much. The actual foot massage was wonderful and it lasted 55 minutes in fact all the sessions lasted that long. The view was stunning even though the weather was crap, gray and rainy. The spa place was seated on top a hill overlooking Cape Town and it was a wonderful view to behold. Once the session was over, we were served fresh juice and then I had a head and shoulders massage. I’ve never had a head massage so I was very interested to see how it was. The shoulders part was very good especially since they have been sore lately. The head massage was nice too. They put oil in your hair which is supposed to be good for dry scalps. It was very nice but my favourite was the full body massage especially the back massage and the hot stones. They massaged your feet, legs, back and arms. It was absolute heaven and a great way to end the spa day. It definitely went by too fast. Ali wants to go back before she goes home so I’m definitely looking forward to an entire day of spa treatments.

My original plan after the spa day was to get a taxi to the nearest train station and go to Cape Town to visit my friend, Maggie who ran track with me in high school. She is studying abroad here for a semester. She actually lives in the same house I lived in two years ago oddly enough. Anyways, Mangwanai (the spa place) was kind enough to provide free transport. The driver took me to Maitland an area that I’m not familiar with. However he dropped me off at the train station so I was able after much to do find my way to Cape Town. It was only after I was in the minibus headed to Mowbray where Maggie lives that she texted me telling me that she was sick and couldn’t hang out (of course). I had just gotten to Cape Town so I wasn’t about to leave so I called up Esther, my friend from the school I used to volunteer at two years ago when I was here before. She was available so I visited her instead. The original plan was to leave at 4 so I could make sure I got back to Gordon’s Bay before dark. But Esther invited me to spend the night and even though I wasn’t prepared at all to spend the night, I decided to stay. She first introduced me to all her co-workers. She works and lives on the premises of a seventh day Adventist church. After introductions, we went to Pick n Pay to shop for dinner. Esther made pap, sauce with beef and cabbage while I sat on her bed watching TV. South African TV is very confusing and hilarious. I was very amused by their various soaps and TV programs. Lots of them are in different languages mainly Afrikaans and Xhosa. But they do have subtitles some of the time. While dinner was cooking, Esther took me on a walk to Newlands Forest. She walks every day and always the same route. The route was almost all uphill on the way there and then downhill on the way back. It was beautiful though. That’s one thing I love about Cape Town and Gordon’s Bay doesn’t really have it: hiking trails. Or maybe I just haven’t found them yet. After the walk we bathed and then enjoyed a well-deserved meal. It was very salty and very good. I loved it. I even tried to eat in the way you’re supposed to eat it: by hand. It was difficult especially since the pap was boiling hot. Pap by the way is ground up maize (or corn) sorta like mashed potatoes but thicker. It was really good. After that we watched more TV until we finally fell asleep.

In the morning I slept in while Esther went to work. I could have honestly spent the entire day in bed but after breakfast I decided to walk up to the Newlands Forest again just because it was such a nice walk. I walked a different way then I did with Esther but I made sure to keep note of where I was going. I finally stopped at a bench that looked like it had been put there just for me. It overlooked Cape Town and the view was beautiful. I could have sat there for hours taking it all but alas I had to meet to Esther so I enjoyed the view for a while before finding my way back. It was lunch time by the time I got back so Esther and I enjoyed leftovers and some more TV. It was really lovely. After that it was time to go because getting anywhere in this country takes a while. I had to take a minibus from Claremont to Cape Town and then take the train from Cape Town to Strand and then finally take a taxi from Strand to Gordon’s Bay. In total, it took about three hours which is double the amount of time it would take if you took a taxi but it was cheaper and I enjoy travelling this way especially when you’re not in a rush so I can’t complain.

So this weekend was nice and relaxing... for the most part. After of a week of being on the other side of the world, I was feeling a bit lonely and quite sad about why I had come. Other than this not being the exact opportunity that I foresaw in my future, I have figured out that I just need to adapt to my surroundings and see how things go. After leaving the village at the end of week, I was still feeling new and uneasy about the city: Jodhpur. I took the rural bus from the village to the city and although people were very nice and made me sit down, I couldn’t help notice that I constantly being stared at, especially by the young girl beside me who never took her eyes off me the entire hour long drive. Once I arrived in the city, I had to figure out what bus would take me to the place I needed to be across town. That was a joke. I actually got on the right bus, thanks to a police officer who was standing close by to my dilemma.

Soon after arriving and settling down from my ride in, I found out that a friend of a friend was actually in Jodhpur for the weekend and we decided to meet up. Manni, a fellow British traveler, and myself all met for coffee while meeting other Europeans on Saturday night then met up the following day for the tour of the Jodhpur Fort. The fort is the center of attention in the town and sits atop the hill at the center of the city. Maharajas resided in the fort for hundreds of years and brought it through many sieges that occurred up until the mid- 1900’s when they moved to the palace across town. The architecture of such a historical place in a country so widespread and cultured was the perfect way to take me out of a slump. Being able to be a tourist first in the city that will be my home for almost a year is a good starting out point since I now know the history and stories behind the Blue City. What was also helpful was going on the public buses everywhere I needed to go during the weekend. Hearing the streets and neighborhoods will not benefit me unless I know where they are, so I traveled by bus around the city and back to the village. I am getting used to the people staring at me now, although it can be overwhelming at points.

This week is the week of Diwali, and although it is only celebrating one day, the women have taken the first three days of the week off to celebrate. Yesterday a couple of us went to the market in Pipar City, probably 20 miles from the village, and shopped for Diwali and visited the block printer to buy materials for the crafts center. The block printer was really intriguing and it is amazing to see how some producers still strive to produce quality products with natural ingredients. The block printer is run by three brothers and their families (actually three generations) and they still print all materials by hand while using only natural dyes and fibers. This makes their fabric much more expensive than the machine processed products, but who wouldn’t want natural quality that supports the work of true artisans rather than printed and processed material?

On the way back from the market, however, the car broke down and the we had a flat tire. This always seems to happen to me in foreign countries. Or for that matter, I just have really bad luck when I am anywhere near a vehicle. The driver changed it relatively quickly and we returned to the village to relax and enjoy the quiet week of Diwali.

Friday 23 September-Sunday 25 September

This weekend Harriet, Rodrigo and I went to Hermanus for the annual whale festival. I actually went to the festival two years ago when I was here previously. The weather was pretty bad last time I went. I remember it was cold and rainy. But Friday when we went the weather was beautiful, sunny without a cloud in the sky. We rented a car and because of a mistake with the car company (their fault not mine) we got upgraded to a huge Toyota SUV. This thing was a monster and I was pretty nervous about driving it. That and the fact that they drive on the left hand side here made me a bit anxious. But it didn’t take long to get used to it and the fact that I was so nervous made me extra careful probably more so than I would have been usually.

We left Gordon’s Bay at about 4 after I went and picked up the car and since we were in no rush, we stopped at the dam in Gordon’s Bay. It’s located on the mountains that overlook our fair city and both Harriet and Rodrigo had never been. There is an absolute beautiful view from up there and I really just wanted to show them that and drive up the super windy road that takes you up there. We took a few pictures before heading back down and embarking on our journey to Hermanus. Hermanus is located about an hour and half away from Gordon’s Bay and we took the long way so we could get a chance to drive along the coast. The drive was beautiful, lots of curves which was kind of scary but overall it was very enjoyable. We even saw a whale on a way there so I had to pull over just so we could get a glimpse of this great giant of the sea. It was awesome.

Finding our way to the backpackers took some doing but we finally arrived at our destination: Hermanus Backpackers. It was a very nice backpackers and the price included breakfast which you know I loved. We relaxed for a bit before going to see where the action was and finding our way to the main part of Hermanus. We met up with some other volunteers who were just coming for the night and had dinner. I can’t remember the name of the place but I know the food was good.

After dinner, we went to a concert. Mel had highly recommended a band called Prime Circle so we went to check it out. The opening band was a group called D7 and they were so good. I loved them. They were this a capella group and they were fabulous. I took a video of them because I loved them so much. They beat boxed, sang and even busted a couple moves. Prime Circle however was not my cup of tea. They reminded me of Nickelback and those kinds of groups from the 90s. It was honestly torture and I felt really bad because we spent R130 to get into this concert and didn’t want to waste it by leaving. So we sat in the tables at the back, talking and mostly trying to drown out the music. Horrible, I know but they just weren’t my style. Eventually we did decide to call it quits and walked back in the dark to our nice comfy beds.

Saturday bought bad weather. Not rainy but cloudy and not very warm. We had breakfast which consisted of toast, porridge and tea/coffee. Not exactly a five star meal but I ate because of course I had already paid for it. We spent the morning watching a rugby game England v…..I can’t remember. I was with a bunch of Brits so I just remember cheering for England. I think it was Scotland or maybe Ireland, one of the those countries. Anyways, we spent most of the day wondering around the different shops and stalls, looking for souvenirs. Oh and then there was the car situation. So as I stated earlier the car company messed up on their end by not getting me the right car. So the plan was to exchange the SUV for the car I had booked at 11 but the car company called me and said that because of the festival the car would be late. I spent most of the day trying to call them to figure out when the car got there with no luck. Turns out the car company closed at 1, something you think they would mention in the voicemail they left me. It was very annoying especially after I learned on Sunday about them closing at 1.

But no worries, we still had a great time. We walked back to the backpackers and chilled there for a while playing cards and pool, having a good time. Then Sunday we had to exchange the car which was a hassle of course so really we only ended up exchanging the car having lunch and then driving back since I had to return the car in Strand. It was fine though. It was a great weekend.

Friday 23 September-Sunday 25 September

This weekend Harriet, Rodrigo and I went to Hermanus for the annual whale festival. I actually went to the festival two years ago when I was here previously. The weather was pretty bad last time I went. I remember it was cold and rainy. But Friday when we went the weather was beautiful, sunny without a cloud in the sky. We rented a car and because of a mistake with the car company (their fault not mine) we got upgraded to a huge Toyota SUV. This thing was a monster and I was pretty nervous about driving it. That and the fact that they drive on the left hand side here made me a bit anxious. But it didn’t take long to get used to it and the fact that I was so nervous made me extra careful probably more so than I would have been usually.

We left Gordon’s Bay at about 4 after I went and picked up the car and since we were in no rush, we stopped at the dam in Gordon’s Bay. It’s located on the mountains that overlook our fair city and both Harriet and Rodrigo had never been. There is an absolute beautiful view from up there and I really just wanted to show them that and drive up the super windy road that takes you up there. We took a few pictures before heading back down and embarking on our journey to Hermanus. Hermanus is located about an hour and half away from Gordon’s Bay and we took the long way so we could get a chance to drive along the coast. The drive was beautiful, lots of curves which was kind of scary but overall it was very enjoyable. We even saw a whale on a way there so I had to pull over just so we could get a glimpse of this great giant of the sea. It was awesome.

Finding our way to the backpackers took some doing but we finally arrived at our destination: Hermanus Backpackers. It was a very nice backpackers and the price included breakfast which you know I loved. We relaxed for a bit before going to see where the action was and finding our way to the main part of Hermanus. We met up with some other volunteers who were just coming for the night and had dinner. I can’t remember the name of the place but I know the food was good.

After dinner, we went to a concert. Mel had highly recommended a band called Prime Circle so we went to check it out. The opening band was a group called D7 and they were so good. I loved them. They were this a capella group and they were fabulous. I took a video of them because I loved them so much. They beat boxed, sang and even busted a couple moves. Prime Circle however was not my cup of tea. They reminded me of Nickelback and those kinds of groups from the 90s. It was honestly torture and I felt really bad because we spent R130 to get into this concert and didn’t want to waste it by leaving. So we sat in the tables at the back, talking and mostly trying to drown out the music. Horrible, I know but they just weren’t my style. Eventually we did decide to call it quits and walked back in the dark to our nice comfy beds.

Saturday bought bad weather. Not rainy but cloudy and not very warm. We had breakfast which consisted of toast, porridge and tea/coffee. Not exactly a five star meal but I ate because of course I had already paid for it. We spent the morning watching a rugby game England v…..I can’t remember. I was with a bunch of Brits so I just remember cheering for England. I think it was Scotland or maybe Ireland, one of the those countries. Anyways, we spent most of the day wondering around the different shops and stalls, looking for souvenirs. Oh and then there was the car situation. So as I stated earlier the car company messed up on their end by not getting me the right car. So the plan was to exchange the SUV for the car I had booked at 11 but the car company called me and said that because of the festival the car would be late. I spent most of the day trying to call them to figure out when the car got there with no luck. Turns out the car company closed at 1, something you think they would mention in the voicemail they left me. It was very annoying especially after I learned on Sunday about them closing at 1.

But no worries, we still had a great time. We walked back to the backpackers and chilled there for a while playing cards and pool, having a good time. Then Sunday we had to exchange the car which was a hassle of course so really we only ended up exchanging the car having lunch and then driving back since I had to return the car in Strand. It was fine though. It was a great weekend.

It is the end of the week here in Chandelao. I have been in the village for about four days and have gone to Jodhpur for the weekend to have hindi lessons and see the other interns. This week has been my first week here in India, and it has not been an easy transition. First, when I arrived, I was constantly passed around to people in FSD and not given orientation very well. Every night I was staying in a different place and not knowing what was going on. Once I arrived in the village, it was nice to be able to get settled in my room and have somewhere to leave my things. The room is nice. I am staying at a hotel in the village that is an old fort from the 1740’s. It is an amazing place to be living since it is so historical. I get three meals a day and it is extremely quiet and quite lonely. There are really only two people who speak english there, the hotel owner and the manager of the women’s center. Radhika, the manager, will only be there for one more week and then she is moving away and will no longer work there which will leave me to work as the manager there. I don’t speak the language and don’t know anything yet so this is not sitting well with me. I thought I would be doing development with the rural women, and the center is already running and I am not sure what the point of me being there is just yet, except run the center that I know nothing about.

Other than that, there is a ton of wildlife in the area, including a monkey that keeps running around the hotel grounds. There are two pet dogs at the hotel, Hazel and Kitty, which are nice to have around. The tourists come to the hotel and stay for a few days at a time and will at least give me some people to talk with. This week there were two Swedish people who came to check up the solar project that they are funding, which has yet to be started since the solar system has not reached the village and only 2 women have been trained. There were also two Australians who got to the village last night and will be there a few days. It is quite interesting to have conversations about the difference in cultures of India, America, and the other countries that are home to the tourists.

The isolation of the village will not give me very fun details to report on on a daily basis, but hopefully I can figure out something to work on. The pictures are of the hotel and crafts center where the women make traditional handicrafts from the Indian state of Rajasthan by hand.

Friday 23 September

Tomorrow is Heritage Day but since tomorrow is also a Saturday, the school celebrated Heritage Day today. The programme was supposed to start at 9 but it didn’t end up happening until 10:30 (typical). But it was worth the wait. The dancing and the singing was amazing. It was utter chaos though. They set up desks into a square and the stage kept on getting smaller and smaller because of the kids crowded into the square.

As soon as I got to school, I went and found my teachers. Normally we’re supposed to meet at noon but yesterday (Thursday) we found out about the presentation so I knew today was going to be chaotic and it was. But walking through the school was awesome because most of the learners were dressed up in traditional clothing. They even had paint on their faces. All of the volunteers got face painted as well. It was really cool and an amazing thing to see.

Anyways, next week is probably going to be more of the same chaos that I have been experiencing for the past couple of weeks. One teacher said she wasn’t sure what she was going to do next week. Another wasn’t even sure if she was going to be here. Luckily one actually knew what she was going to be doing: what she was supposed to be doing this week. And the other teacher was absent. I would say I was surprised by this but really I wasn’t. You certainly learn how to be flexible in an environment such as this.

Regardless, the programme truly was amazing and I can’t wait to look through all the different pictures people took. The coolest I think was when one of the teachers asked Matt and I to dance with the learners. It was so much fun. I absolutely love their dancing. They have this move which involves picking up one of your legs at a right angle and shaking it. It’s kinda hard to explain but I love it. I just think it’s so cool. We have been talking about starting a dance club at the school and Mel wants me to be in charge. I really just want to learn their dances to be perfectly honest. So I’m thinking that maybe we could start out by having them teach some of the volunteers some of their dances and then we can teach them some of ours. We’ll see how that goes.

Friday 23 September

Tomorrow is Heritage Day but since tomorrow is also a Saturday, the school celebrated Heritage Day today. The programme was supposed to start at 9 but it didn’t end up happening until 10:30 (typical). But it was worth the wait. The dancing and the singing was amazing. It was utter chaos though. They set up desks into a square and the stage kept on getting smaller and smaller because of the kids crowded into the square.

As soon as I got to school, I went and found my teachers. Normally we’re supposed to meet at noon but yesterday (Thursday) we found out about the presentation so I knew today was going to be chaotic and it was. But walking through the school was awesome because most of the learners were dressed up in traditional clothing. They even had paint on their faces. All of the volunteers got face painted as well. It was really cool and an amazing thing to see.

Anyways, next week is probably going to be more of the same chaos that I have been experiencing for the past couple of weeks. One teacher said she wasn’t sure what she was going to do next week. Another wasn’t even sure if she was going to be here. Luckily one actually knew what she was going to be doing: what she was supposed to be doing this week. And the other teacher was absent. I would say I was surprised by this but really I wasn’t. You certainly learn how to be flexible in an environment such as this.

Regardless, the programme truly was amazing and I can’t wait to look through all the different pictures people took. The coolest I think was when one of the teachers asked Matt and I to dance with the learners. It was so much fun. I absolutely love their dancing. They have this move which involves picking up one of your legs at a right angle and shaking it. It’s kinda hard to explain but I love it. I just think it’s so cool. We have been talking about starting a dance club at the school and Mel wants me to be in charge. I really just want to learn their dances to be perfectly honest. So I’m thinking that maybe we could start out by having them teach some of the volunteers some of their dances and then we can teach them some of ours. We’ll see how that goes.

So... I finally made it to Jodhpur after much a-due. I got my visa last week and had to wait to get my flight ticket because they were so expensive. But I left on Wednesday from Houston, and arrived to Jodhpur on Friday at noon. The flights were grueling and extensive. The first flight was to London, and luckily I choose the right seat and was allotted 3 seats without anyone next to me. That was nice, except I couldn’t sleep so I watched movies the whole time and felt terrible once I was in London. I had a 10 layover in London! Luckily I rented a miniature hotel that was in the airport called a Yotel (the purplish pictures below), which was like the size of a closet, but I got a couple hours of sleep before having to venture through the airport city to find my terminal, which took me 45 minutes on public transportation.

Anyways, I had a mini-freakout while getting on the flight to Delhi, which was surprising because I hadn’t felt anything until then. It’s not like I was numb to the idea, I just had no idea of what to expect, and still don’t really. But I calmed myself down and had to sit next to an older Indian couple who didn’t speak a lick of English and somehow convinced me to fill out their arrival cards because they were in English. After arriving in Jodhpur, I was terribly tired and got some errands run then checked into the guesthouse for the night. The other interns were meeting the program coordinator and myself at the guesthouse for dinner, so I took a nap then went to rooftop cafe. I met them all, all girls at this time, but chose not to eat and went straight to bed after taking a much needed shower and popping an ambien.

Today was pretty uneventful, I had my first Hindi lesson, which proved to be easy enough so far... Mai Hannah se hei (My name is Hannah). I didn’t learn much yet, but I will. Other than that, I got a cell phone, some Kurtas, long Indian shirts that women were with leggings and scarves called dupras, which I will get tomorrow. Other than that just a few orientation things and dinner with the interns. Tomorrow I go to work at the village, I think.

A few weeks back I talked about going around Strand, Gordon’s Bay and Somerset West trying to collect books for the ACJ library. Well, Sunday was library day so all those books that we have been collecting and were finally supposed to put them in the library yesterday. There were about 50 GVI volunteers from all over. Mostly coordinators from different parts of the world. Richard, the CEO of GVI was there as well and on my team. We were in charge of the arts and crafts room and we were the lucky ones who got to clean up poo. Yeah, we found poop in our room so our first step was to clean that up and bleach the floor to get rid of the smell. That was first than we cleaned the walls and gave the walls a fresh coat of paint. This actually ended up taking quite some time because of limited supplies so spending lots of time searching or waiting for different things and then limited people. We originally had about four and we kept on losing team members. One of the learners had to go to another group and then Richard had a flight to catch so he left early. It was ok though. We got more helpers after lunch with was held at the orphanage. It was really good but it took forever. We were supposed to eat at 1 and we didn’t eat until two. I helped put food on the plates which apparently has to be done in a very particular way. It was fun though and the weather was crap so that meant we had to run back in forth from where the food was being prepared to where everyone was waiting.

Once lunch was done, it was back to work and we got more people to help which was good but it also made things very chaotic. I worked with Catalina on the words “arts and crafts” which you wouldn’t think would take very long but it certainly did. It looks really good though and the others worked on the rest of the walls drawing animals. I really wanted to do spatter painting though but no one else seemed to think it was a great idea LIt would have been so much fun. So the end result where lots of animals and other random things on the walls and we actually didn’t finish. Today at school some of the learners were finishing up…..They worked during break and then they were supposed to come back afterschool but I don’t know if that actually happened. Currently the arts and crafts room is still sort of a mess. There are a lot of random drawings on the walls but we do have plans to fix it up. Overall, it was a great day because ACJ now has a library to be enjoyed by all the learners!

A few weeks back I talked about going around Strand, Gordon’s Bay and Somerset West trying to collect books for the ACJ library. Well, Sunday was library day so all those books that we have been collecting and were finally supposed to put them in the library yesterday. There were about 50 GVI volunteers from all over. Mostly coordinators from different parts of the world. Richard, the CEO of GVI was there as well and on my team. We were in charge of the arts and crafts room and we were the lucky ones who got to clean up poo. Yeah, we found poop in our room so our first step was to clean that up and bleach the floor to get rid of the smell. That was first than we cleaned the walls and gave the walls a fresh coat of paint. This actually ended up taking quite some time because of limited supplies so spending lots of time searching or waiting for different things and then limited people. We originally had about four and we kept on losing team members. One of the learners had to go to another group and then Richard had a flight to catch so he left early. It was ok though. We got more helpers after lunch with was held at the orphanage. It was really good but it took forever. We were supposed to eat at 1 and we didn’t eat until two. I helped put food on the plates which apparently has to be done in a very particular way. It was fun though and the weather was crap so that meant we had to run back in forth from where the food was being prepared to where everyone was waiting.

Once lunch was done, it was back to work and we got more people to help which was good but it also made things very chaotic. I worked with Catalina on the words “arts and crafts” which you wouldn’t think would take very long but it certainly did. It looks really good though and the others worked on the rest of the walls drawing animals. I really wanted to do spatter painting though but no one else seemed to think it was a great idea LIt would have been so much fun. So the end result where lots of animals and other random things on the walls and we actually didn’t finish. Today at school some of the learners were finishing up…..They worked during break and then they were supposed to come back afterschool but I don’t know if that actually happened. Currently the arts and crafts room is still sort of a mess. There are a lot of random drawings on the walls but we do have plans to fix it up. Overall, it was a great day because ACJ now has a library to be enjoyed by all the learners!