No Power, Smokeless Chulhas and Pune!

 I gave a lesson on Smokeless Chulhas and cook stoves today.  I thought it was going to be too quick and easy so I put in a couple of questions involving % of fuels etc.  Oops, it made the lesson last 4 hours! I don’t think the teachers were overly impressed.  It so difficult though as the students all have such varied maths skills. Some manage it in a few mins and the others take 40 mins to calculate 20% of a basic sum.  It’s something we need to clear with the director when he gets back.  The school needs to confirm one way or the other. Part of me thinks that students shouldn’t be able to ‘graduate’ from a school if they can’t do  2 x2 but the other part of me remembers what this school is all about and the importance of practical skills. It’s a tricky one.  I think that you would struggle in life without having even the most basic concept for numbers but perhaps here it is not needed.

Today was my first lesson for a few days. Power and internet was rubbish towards the end of last week then we were away to Pune at the weekend (Yay-first weekend off!) and then yesterday it was Independence Day so there were no lessons for the students.

We went to Pune on Friday afternoon after Abi’s lecture. Her lap top had broken so she was using mine so I was on a school computer.  This was a horrid taster of what it could be like working here without a lap top! I think within the 2-3 hours that afternoon when she had my comp we had 3-4 power cuts! You just don’t realize how common they are when on a lap top as you don’t lose all your work and have to restart your machine all the time!

Luckily we were travelling with a teacher as otherwise we woulnt have had a clue where to even get the bus from in Pabal.  It turns out it left from the other side of the village (the side we didn’t even know existed!)  As we were a bit late the only seats available were at the back of the bus. Turns out there was a reason for this-It was so so bumpy! It was genuinely like a roller coaster it was that bad! I couldn’t believe it. I reckon I left my seat every 10-15 mins and got flown into the air. Just crazy!

Our bumpy bus! Makes the no 38 from Linlithgow look classy!

We had to change buses in a town called Rajgurnagar.  Because it was a Friday evening the buses were v late and busy. We let ‘the crowd’ go and waited for one where we could fight for a seat. (found out where the term ‘Bagsied’ comes from-they just chuck their bags though the window to reserve their seats-what is even better is that they also chuck their babies through-‘Babysed’)

We finally reached Pune (after 5 hours of travelling instead of 2!) and found our way to Korregon Park where Graeme is staying. Graeme is also with EWB, he is working with Shelter Associates and is creating a website for them. He is a computer genius and fixed Abi’s lap top.  We went out for dinner to this place recommended to us called ‘Malaka Spice’. We thought it sounded nice but when we got there we were surprised to find out that is was South East Asian food and very posh!  It was lovely though and had a tasty meal that included a brownie and ice cream at the end and a sneaky beer J.  It cost us 10 pounds a head which is a lot of money here (normally the total bill for 3 people eating is 10 pounds!) but it was fun to see another side of Pune.

Our fancy meal in a 'Western' South East Asian Restaurant

Graemes apartment (room plus bathroom) is very posh compared to our accomodation at Pabal. He has beds that you cant feel the metal frame through and a shower! Whats evern more amazing is that the shower has hot water! It was amazing to have a warm shower!-Ive never felt so clean! I thought I was satisfied with my bucket of cold water every morning but it looks like you cant change a westeners habit that easily!

A warm shower! I had no idea I missed it so much!

The next day we headed to Kelkar museum which was beautiful and houses 20% of this dude’s collection.  There was lots of beautiful doors and old toys and kitchen ware.  We got charged 10x more than Indian people but it’s ok.  I think it’s important to support their museums as so much of their historic locations are not preserved and it shows that money can be made from preserving historic items.

Having fun at the Kelkar Museum

Then, from recommendation of one of the teachers here in Pabal we went off on our quest for ‘Sweet Home’ an Indian sweet shop. After filling 2 boxes with tasty treats with items that I’m not convinced contain anything but sugar we considered the stressful quest successful!

Us munching into our first box of Indian sweets ( Im sure they are made of rice aswell!)

In the afternoon we went to see Pataleshwar temple which is an old cave temple.  I was properly impressed with it. It was so quiet compared to the rest of Pune and so peaceful!  There was a man singing a prayer inside which sounded amazing and really added to our experience.

In the evening we had dinner at a restaurant (again recommended) called Georges where we ate too much then wobbled into an auto to see our first bollywood film!  We went to see Phirir, a ‘thriller’ set in Newcastle! Hehe-Newcastle!  It was very funny to see the UK (and British people!) portrayed through an Indian directors mind!  It was in Hindi but it was pretty easy to understand the plot. I was a bit disappointed that there was only 1 song and dance but the police in the film did storm a house to some funky music so that made up for it!  Before the film we had to stand for the national anthem and then half way there was an ice cream break. Oh and also to get into the cinema I had my rucksack checked 3 times. They are super strict after the German Bakery bombings in 2010.

Abi & Graeme binge on chicken at Georges.

On Sunday we checked out the western style supermarket. It’s crazy you can pretty much buy anything there and it felt very strange.  This confused me as at home you can buy things from lots of different countries and you don’t think twice about it.  We bought a loaf of bread and jam and some bleach for our skanky sink-proper treats!

After a lunch consisting of rice and more rice (unfortunate ordering of food-normally when we order things we don’t know they at least consist of something other than rice!) we hopped back on the epic bus ride to Pabal!  I have never had to push so much to get on a bus!-its ridiculous, you don’t even need to push-I think people just get excited!

We introduced Graeme to Vigyan Ahram and Pabal and also the rules of meditation and dinner.  We were going to make him work them out for himself but we aren’t that mean!

The Monday was Independence day so we stood in the procession and saluted the flag when it was raised.  It did feel a bit funny seeing as they were celebrating being independent from us but there wasn’t even a hint of this which was lovely.  Then we watched the students give a variety of performances from drama (no idea what it was about!) to dance (traditional and bollywood style) and singing. It was very good and almost every student performed. So we were called up to do something. What do 3 Brits pull out-yes it can only be the Hokey Kokey! Hehe. They seemed to be entertained by it and we even had to stop at putting our left foot in as it was getting too rowdy!  I love it-when I was in South Africa the kids at the school absolutely loved it!-turns out it can cross countries and ages groups really quite easily!

Bit of bollywood dancing!!

Who needs the Edinburgh Festival when there is drama at Vigyan Ashram?! (No I have absolutely no idea what it was all about!)

These boys made pretty good Wise Medicine Men-they also had a chicken!

So the next few days I will be preparing a Diesel Engine lesson which will be a learning curve J lets just hope there is internet!

Solar Cookers, Atoms and lots of Henna!

 On Friday I gave a lesson on solar cookers.  I was informed just before I started presenting that this was a cross curricular lesson so my class size doubled to include home and health as well as my class.  The lesson was ok but I feel my other lessons have been better. Although I tried to make it as interactive as possible I didn’t include any exercises and instead it was really just informative.  I’m ashamed to say that I caught one or two of the home and health students snoozing, but I put this down to the big class size and not everyone being able to see my slides clearly J. What did add extreme value to it though was the tour of the ‘Solar Park’ on campus afterwards.  This was constructed in 2010 and supposedly all the cooking for the students takes place here in summer.  I had used these solar cookers as examples in my lesson and the students reacted really well to seeing them in real life and seeing demonstrations with newspaper.  I’m not going to lie-until I saw a piece of newspaper go up in flames after about 5 seconds on a relatively cloudy day I had my doubts about solar cookers! But they must be pretty powerful things in summer!  The students were able to identify how they worked from my lesson so I was pleased with the outcome.

Following my lesson, me and Abi headed into town for a Friday afternoon market treat! Most of the market had packed up but there were still a few stalls left so we stocked up on bananas and pomegranates.  As we were making our purchase we were once again asked for our photo and were snapped away at as if we were celebrities!  Then we headed for that well awaited ‘Thumbs Up’ otherwise known as 14p cola. It was tasty after the long week-that’s our first fizzy juice since being in Pabal-I was very excited!  Then we (obviously when in India) got chatting to the owner and his wife in a mixture of mahrati and splatters of English.  From the sounds of things everyone has sons and daughters that are engineers.  And everyones father is a farmer. It’s a definite trend!  I complemented her Mindi (Henna) even though it was pretty scuffy but just trying to make chat as know we are drinking tea.  And she grabbed my hand and got her ‘cone’ of henna and started decorating away! Abi got an ‘A’ in the middle of the hand and I got a big ‘S’.  Then a passer by who came into the café sent his daughter round to decorate us properly and she did a beautiful design on the backs of our hand!  I loved this experience and am looking forward to heading back for another ‘Thumbs Up’ soon!



Us dancing with the girls!



That evening after dinner the girls invited us back to their room for dancing! It was great we danced to 1 song from their phones repeatedly-it was very much fun and I tried to learn some Indian moves! We also both got henna’d again. I got a beautiful design up my left hand this time with flowers and leaves.  It was really lovely to spend some time with the girls as none of them are in our classes and obviously during meal times etc we have to be quiet. That evening after being henna’d on our hands we tried out designs on our feet. I don’t think I’ll have a blank body part when I come home! 



 

My beautiful henna

 

Abi squeezed on the back too! who needs a car?!





The students of Depuk's old school



On Saturday we finally had our first proper morning off.   It was great, we went to Depuks  (computer teacher) village (3 on a motor bike=quite a squeeze but very entertaining!).  First we went to his old school where we ‘presented’ to the pupils. They couldn’t understand a word we were saying so it was a bit random and Depuk was translating but I’m not sure he was actually translating what we were saying! I spoke with the boys after and Abi with the girls-there was very much a divide!  They were all lovely and we spoke about the favourite topics of Indian children, families and cricket!  Depuk announced that we must return to survey some of the student’s houses.  I’m not sure what we are supposed to be surveying but he didn’t seem to understand when we enquired over this!  We were offered rice from the school and we ate it with our hands! We were both very pleased with ourselves that we had mustered a new skill until we stood up and realized how much mess we had made in the progress!

Me attempting to pretend I knew famous cricket players!



Us at the almost edible temple

Then we zoomed off to his farm and met his extended family-it was very confusing trying to work out who everyone was but they were all very lovely!  Then he took us to this amazing temple which looks edible! There is a big festival here in March.  Then (again randomly!) we went to the local government office and drank tea while looking at pictures of the village.  I think Depuk wants us to write a blog for the village and was trying to get all the information for us.  Luckily they could not get us this information on a Saturday. I didnt point out to him that we weren’t able to ready mahrati script but he didn’t seem to think that would matter!.

When we got back to his home (2 rooms=kitchen and bedroom/living room-I asked how many people slept in the room but couldn’t really get an answer) his mother was in the process of making us a lovely lunch of crazy crisps, chapatti, bajis and this chilli dip thing. It was very tasty and exciting to have something different.  She then filled our bags with ground nuts and we zoomed back to Pabal!

Depuk's mother making our lunch

I had such a lovely time on this visit. I was just overwhelmed with the kindness of Depuk and his family. I think we are going back another time and look forward to it!

Us with Depuk and his lovely mother



As it was rainy on sat afternoon we just worked away-I needed all the time I had to get my head round atomic bonding!  I was supposed to be preparing a lesson on solar panels but the details in the curriculum skipped so much  to p and n type semi conductors that I had to go onto BBC Bitesize standard grade chemistry and revise my covalent and ionic bonding! So instead of completely overwhelming the students I divided the lesson into two. The first which I delivered today was all about atoms and bonding and Wednesdays lesson will be on semi conductors and solar panels.  I was dubious as to whether this was indeed valuable for the students so seeked advice from staff.  I was informed that it was necessary and the students would benefit from it.  I delivered my atom lesson today and I admit I had resigned to the fact that the students wouldn’t understand a thing and half would be asleep.  However they were fully engaged and keeping up with me. I was so very proud of them and pleased. Turns out when you give atoms smiley faces, arms and legs they are less scary! I briefly went over semi conductors and totally lost them but thats ok as I will focus on that in the next lesson.

It is difficult to gauge the understanding of the students before hand. Some can’t do 2x4 and then others were able to tell me what and ion was!  We are going to suggest to Yogesh the director that the classes should be sorted into groups of levels.  Before this wouldn’t have mattered but with theory we think it is necessary.  Also I’m keen to find out who on earth made the curriculum and decided that it was a good idea to teach about semi conductors without any background.

Today we headed into the village with Mukesh and Sidart for a snack. It was great we had a potato burger thing (like what the kids made last Saturday) and this selection of spiced rice and noodle things and tea. Per head it was 25p. We tried explaining that at home it would cost closer to 5 or 6 pounds per head and they finally clicked that’s why we need to get paid more in the UK!

Im pleased with how my lessons are going.  I’m trying to deliver what we have been asked for and what I consider is easily replicated when we leave.   Abi is packaging her lessons into a big project which is a great idea but I don’t feel that the energy & Environment lessons really fit into this.  Yesterday I was called by a student to come and see their wind turbine.  I had no idea that they were building this and will need to do some investigation work on what other ‘projects’ they appear to be doing. It looks like you don’t get told anything unless you ask a couple of times!  I try and include interactive excersises and questions into the lessons but am still keen to keep the hands on practicals for the teacher as this has been his job for the past 10 or so years.  I do feel like I have gained his support and respect now which Im very pleased about. He has given me advice on my lessons such as the atom one and asked to get copies of the slide shows to date.  I have learnt it is necessary to be patient with him and our conversations which can be difficult due to the language barrier.  Now that I now he thinks I’m ok I’m no longer worrying about him shouting and not smiling-that’s just the way he communicates!

I am a little concerned with how much time I seem to spend in front of my lap top preparing and researching lessons when one of things I had been looking forward to most was getting outside and doing physical work and communicating with lots of people.  We were told by one of the senior management the other day how he couldn’t do what we do and sit in front of a computer for hours on end and how great it was that we could do it.  This helped as again it reinforced that they are grateful for what we are preparing and presenting.  It does make me feel very proud to think that the presentations will be used again. Even if its just some of them used some of the time I think our project has been successful. I’m going to have a look through my ICE workbook later this week and start thinking about my objectives that I could be working towards while I’m here.  It’s a pretty selfish thing to think about but I think it is an extra thing that help me stay motivated.

So tomorrow I will finish my solar panel lesson. Then on Friday afternoon we are heading to Pune to see Graeme. I am looking forward to having a full day off from work and my lap top! We are hopefully going to see a Bollywood movie and go to the zoo and to a museum. Im excited about a few days in the city but I’m sure I will be itching to get back to the quiet of Pabal by Sunday! Also very excited about the rickety buses that take us there!



Surveying and sweet things with my spicey curry!

Today, like the past other few days has gone really quickly. It’s pretty crazy what a routine can do!  I’ve been prepping a solar cooker lesson today which I will deliver tomorrow. Since my last update I have given another two lessons and we have had the big Vigyan Ashram day! 

Food Lab students selling their produce to visiting school pupils

Saturday was admittedly pretty crazy and I was very impressed with how much all the staff and pupils had pulled everything together.  Everyone was dressed in their finest saris for the open day that hosted around 1500 people-many of those school children.   The new (not quite finished yet) building was set up with chairs and stalls.  The stalls exhibited some of the pupils work in previous years and also sold some produce they have been making in food lab. Obviously we supported the students in this and almost cleared them out of biscuits and toffee! 

We were hoping to interview a few students who studied here last year yet were only able to interview one due to being pulled away all the time.  The guy we interviewed was not a typical ex student! He had previously applied to NASA and had reportedly cheated in his exam so the media turned on him big style and all his funding for uni was dropped.  Vigyan Ashram took him in an obviously he performed very well. Now he is awaiting confirmation of his funding to an American university. It was such an interesting story but a shame that we didn’t get any others to compare it against.  It was funny though as when were chatting with him we constantly had a group of about 50 school pupils around us-I think they must have thought we were an exhibition!

We also planted some trees and got our photos taken for some publicity thing, Then in the afternoon we showed round a group of Americans who were over for a few months learning hindi. It was lovely to show off the campus and the students work to them.

Gora planting trees for publicity stunt!

Since then its all quietend down a bit. I gave a lesson on Monday on ‘Maps and Plane Table surveying’ which I think most of the students got so I was really pleased. I was also impressed with myself for teaching a lesson on something that until a few days ago I had no idea what it was!  I sat in on the practical and was a little disapointed with the lack of structure around it. Its difficult as they only have one set of equipment so the majority of the students didnt have anything to do. Then the teacher set everything up for them anyway so they didnt have to really think.  I tried suggesting things to him but he wasnt taking any of it in which was a shame.  Ive recorded my experience and hope to talk it through with him and a translator soon. I also need to try a bit of research and see if I can source another plane table from anywhere!

The level of understanding between the students is so varied that it suprises me every lesson. There are some students that get most things than some who cant even do 2x4.  We are going to suggest to the school that with the introduction of theory lessons they may need to think about grading classes so that people dont get left behind or get bored. 

The students setting up the plane table

The students using the alidade to spot a distance

That evening we went to a teachers home for dinner. It was so lovely, we had so much food including rice patty things, this coriander and coconut chutney and a sweetened bottlewort which is like a HUGE marrow.  Her neighbours were in helping cook so we ‘chatted’ with them and showed our photos and things. I think they were surprised to see a photo of my mum and dad in shorts and not long trousers and saris!





Me having dinner at Ranjid & Palavi's home-not all the food is laid out yet!



Then on Wednesday I gave a lesson on ‘Dumpy Level Surveying’. Again I was really pleased with how this went as most of the students showed to have a good understanding at the end of the lesson. I was also extremely pleased when the teacher came today to ask me for print outs of it so he could carry out the practical.  This proved to me the value of what we are doing, as material is needed to help with practicals. I was very pleased!

We had planned on heading to Pune this Saturday (our day off) but I think we r going to hold off till next week when other EWB volunteers will be there too. This sat we are hopefully going to visit one of the teacher’s villages which is about 8km away. Also we think we may have been invited round for dinner on Saturday at another teacher’s house but we are not sure.

Just an update on the food situation. I had spicey wheat stuff and crisps this morning for breakfast. It was tasty but it was definitely random! Then a few days ago for lunch we had a thick daal, spicey rice, red curry, chapatti, sweet wheat stuff and crisps! I almost exploded I was that full! We have also had a couple of these jelly sweet things with our curry. They are a bit odd but make for a very interesting combination!









Preparing Lessons, Milking Cows and Dinner Duty!

For the past few days we have been mostly preparing lessons.  So we have been cooped up in the DST office with the friendly gekkos.  There is an open day at the school on Saturday so all the students and teachers are busy preparing for that.  It’s amazing how efficient they can be when there is a deadline-even the construction workers that are building the new finishing school appear to be on fast forward!  I am looking forward to it as we will get the opportunity to meet previous VA students. We are hoping to have brief interviews with them to see if we can identify any gaps in the school that we could try and fill.

I am currently preparing 2x lessons, one on maps and ‘plane table’ surveying-which I am embarrassed to admit took a lot of googleing for me to work out what it was all about! Basically its just a table on a tripod and there is an alidade which you look through and draw a parallel line on.  Then you measure the distance of the point from the tripod and mark that on the drawing to scale. I know-it’s so simple-it was beyond me!  And the second lesson is on leveling.  I’m looking forward to these lessons and will hopefully get a play with the equipment tomorrow.

Students making a rain gauge

In my last lesson (which took closer to 3 hours rather than the 50 mins expected!) I taught about the weather and weather instruments.  I gave the students material to make specific instruments and let them design them themselves.  This was a fun activity as it got them thinking and scavenging the campus for further materials.  We then used the instruments to calculate wind speed and direction.  I was caught out with conversions, it took approximately 25min for the students to convert m/hr into km/hr. I will try and make this more clear next time.

My class with their weather instruments

We had a stroll into Pabal the other evening to go and see a grave of Mastani, a Muslim wife of a popular Maharasta king.  It was very beautiful but pretty run down as the government don’t appear to look after their historic monuments. 

Pabal is a funny village, its roads are made from mud which gets pretty filthy when it rains.  The buildings are random, with some made of concrete, some with corrugated iron and some with wood.  There are also pigs running around everywhere.  We think they are lovely but the locals believe they are dirty as they eat all the rubbish-its just as well though as otherwise the town would smell of rotting food.  We thought someone owned them but they are wild. 

Me attempting to milk an angry cow

On campus we have quite an array of wildlife also. There are loads of squirrels which are so cute and mischievous.  We get little birds flying into our room and we even have an old nest inside.  There is a huge family of rooks that sleep in the tree outside our room and the make such a horrible gargling racket! Very eerie! There are also lots of gekkos and some big lizards that help clear away some of the pesky flies and mozzies.  And the school stray dogs that bark away at night and the occasional rat that runs above us in the kitchen.  We’ve been told that there are snakes as well but I’ve been trying not to think about that! J  As well as the wildlife we have goats, chicks and cows on campus.  I held a chick a few days ago and already it has grown so big! They will get sold at the market in a few weeks.  The goats are great-we feed them our apple peelings every day and they get very excited!  I also finally plucked up the courage to milk a cow the other day. I was a bit rubbish at it but I was told that the cow was angry and not giving much milk so it was not just my technique.  I need to get up early to milk the friendly productive cow in the morning one day.

One of our dinner ladies preparing rice

I’m on ‘Dinner Duty’ this week (or maybe 2 weeks-I’m not sure!) it means that I’ve got to help set up dinner for the students with some other students.  I’m not very good at it though as I can’t seem to put cups down in a straight line! Then after dinner (which I need to wolf down which I find difficult) I check the other student’s plates that they have cleaned.  It’s funny as all of us on duty I’m sure secretly enjoy the power of turning people back for having a spot of soap on a plate.  I only do it as that’s what has happened to me in the past few weeks!

Week 1! Trusses, Bio fuel & Soak Pits

We have now been at the engineering school Vigyan Ashram for a week.  We have our own room with ‘delux western style toilet’ J.  We eat with the students and as we are guests we get to sit at the table. The food is very tasty, but I do sense that in a few weeks time I may have grown tired of rice three times a day!

We have smoothed over our first few teething problems that were mostly due to confusion in translation.  We were unsure of relationships with management and the teachers but that is now much better.  We obviously want to work with the teachers as they will be the ones implementing our lessons when we leave.  Both the engineering and energy teachers have broken English, and our marahti is obviously terrible so it was tricky initially. 

At the moment our project involves creating (and teaching with the help of a translator) theoretical lessons which are based on powerpoint.  We really weren’t sure about this as the cost for projectors is very high.  However, we were constantly reassured that this was what they wanted.  The idea is that these can be easily used in other schools that share the Vigyan Ashram curriculum.  So far we have delivered a lesson on trusses complete with construction of a bamboo truss (thank you Clare Farm!).  I am helping with the ‘energy and environment’ class and managing thus far to dodge electronics!  I have delivered a lesson on biomass plants and will give one tomorrow on  soak pits and sanitation.  Abi is helping with the engineering class and so is developing ways of teaching about moments and pulleys and relating them back to the projects that the students are working on. (design of wheel barrow, seed planter etc)

There are about 50 students here including just 5 girls.  This is because it is an engineering school that is meant for school drop outs. Supposedly village girls are lucky to go to school the first time so getting a second chance is almost unheard of-last year there were none.  The students come and stay at VA for 1 year.  They work Sunday through to Friday.  They stay in one class-either food lab, energy & environment, engineering or animal husbandry for 3 months.  Then they rotate.  They all have to work around the campus, some do the biomass, some look after the cows/goats/chickens, others control the water or clean rooms.  They earn money for this that goes towards their school fees.  I think they learn a lot from this as well as from the lessons.

The name of the school was explained to us the other day by Amma-the wife of the founder of the school.  Vugyan=science and Ashram is like a temple.  So during the day the students learn about science but when in the kitchen they must treat it as an ashram.  This means no talking-it took us a while and a few strange looks until we worked this out! They also practice meditation and general thoughts and manners in the kitchen.  I think the two work very well together and we have been lucky to join them in meditation a few times already.

Yesterday we had a lovely day with the ladies who cook the meals.  They invited us to make chiptaties (which is surprisingly difficult!) and then to accompany them into the village to go to the market.  From looking at Google maps its clear to see that the village is a market town.  They have a market every Friday and the village was very busy.  It was great seeing all the exciting looking vegetables and trying to work out what on earth was going on-sometimes she gave bananas instead of money and then we left the bags of vegetables in a sweet shop-bizarre!  Me and abi treated ourselves to some overpriced apples that had been imported from chillie-they are about the same price as they were at home but the ladies were horrified at the cost!  We are rationing them now J  they then took us into a temple which was so very beautiful especially compared to the rest of the village! We followed their invites and prayed and touched our heads with ash.  Then we all hung up bells for a god-Ive yet to google it to work out what it meant!

Us making chipatits!

Today I have spent the day producing my lessons-animations take a terribly long time!  We are trying to eliminate words wherever possible however we are told they will be translated for when they use them again.  

Pune

After 3 flights from edinburgh (including one in business class :-)) we arrived in Mumbai. We were met by our taxi driver (who bumped his car even before leaving the car park!) then zoomed and honked our way to pune.  We are staying in a teachers hostel where we have our own room which is great.  There is no shower but a bucket which is fun.  We had a stroll yesterday and bought some traditional clothe s and some local cuisine.  i had my first dosa-which i thought was going to be like a pancake but more like a big crisp!

Today we met with Yogesh and discussed our project.  we will be creating theoretical lessons and material which we will teaching through a translator.  The lessons are only 40 mins and the rest of the day will be assisting with the practical skills and preparing for the next day.  We will be traveling to pabal on saturday.

journey begins!!