I am writing this and watching the battery on my computer quickly die, so may have to write more tomorrow. The last for days have been a bit of a whirlwind of trains, taxi's, beaches, more trains, rickshaws, and of course kids! Annie (one of the other volunteers) and I jumped on a train early Sunday morning for a 12 hour train ride to Goa. Because of Diwali we didn't have work until today. The train brings you to Madgoan and then you have to take a taxi (or the bus) to wherever you are going from there. So we, along with a couple Swiss girls, took a taxi from there to Palolem which is about an hour from Madgoan. We got to Palolem safely (which is still a surprise sometimes...) found a guesthouse and spent the next couple days enjoying quiet beaches on the Arabian Sea. Monday: got up, walked along the beach, went for breakfast on the beach, walked some more on the beach, have a drink, walk some more, check out the shops, have lunch, walk around the beach and shops some more (jump in the water a couple times), run into Sebastian (other volunteer who went there the day before us), go for dinner and drinks, watch the beginnings of Diwali celebrations going on in the streets, bed. Tuesday: woken up by fireworks/crackers/bombs (like fireworks, only super loud and don't really do anything) at 6am, tried to get back to sleep but they kept going off so got up and went for breakfast, then rented scooters, and cruised up to Agonda Beach (about 30 mins away). Only one minor accident with Annie missing a bridge and crashing into the side of it. Luckily some very helpful Indian men helped her up and drove the scooter across the bridge for her. A bit of a scraped knee, bent key for the scooter (which a waiter nicely hammered straight for her), and some scrapes on the scooter and all was good! Then spent most of the day cruising around checking out the area and other beaches. Dropped off the scooters, had to do a bit of haggling/negotiating to avoid having to pay too much for the scrapes on the scooter, went shopping, then drinks on the beach and watching fireworks and listening to bombs going off, went for dinner, had fireworks set off right behind our table on the beach (seriously about 2 metres behind us) and I promptly had my leg mildly burned by sparks as we were scrambling to move away from the exploding fireworks behind us! After that excitement, decided best to go to bed away from explosives! Wednesday: Taxi back to Madgoan to catch our 9:30 am train, 12hour train ride back to Mumbai, jumped on the wrong train once we were in Mumbai, had to take an autorickshaw, back the complete opposite direction to get to our apartment (amidst fireworks, bombs, and firecrackers going off everywhere).
Today! Today was sports day at the school, which meant an early start to get things set up. I agreed to go even earlier (be at the school by 7am) to meet a couple of the teachers and help them get all the equipment to the private school where the sports day is held. When I left the apartment to grab a rickshaw, I had to walk a couple blocks to find one, and then found only one, which I thought was strange as there are usually tons right on our street. Heading to the school there was barely any traffic, only a couple rickshaws, no taxi's, which again pretty unusual. Got to the school, and had to call Tania for something and she asked me how I got to the school as apparently there were no rickshaws running today as the leader of the very right wing political party is critically ill and was on life support overnight. He also happens to live in Bandra (where we stay). Because of this there was a very high chance of riots happening if he died.... good to know. After talking to a couple of the teachers Tania decided to go ahead with sports day and keep a listen for what was going on. Thankfully, aside from a pretty noticeable increase in police presence, no riots today! And the leader (Bal Thackeray) is apparently off the respirator and stable at present. So, sports day went well with lots of games and yelling and excitement, a few arguments from kids, but relatively smoothly considering everything!
Tomorrow is back to normal work day, unless Bal Thackeray dies, then we will be staying safely home in the apartment away from the riots! Mom, don't worry, I am very safe and will keep you posted about what happens.
Ok, I am very tired as it's been a long and eventful day and my computer battery still hasn't died!! So, good night!
Today! Today was sports day at the school, which meant an early start to get things set up. I agreed to go even earlier (be at the school by 7am) to meet a couple of the teachers and help them get all the equipment to the private school where the sports day is held. When I left the apartment to grab a rickshaw, I had to walk a couple blocks to find one, and then found only one, which I thought was strange as there are usually tons right on our street. Heading to the school there was barely any traffic, only a couple rickshaws, no taxi's, which again pretty unusual. Got to the school, and had to call Tania for something and she asked me how I got to the school as apparently there were no rickshaws running today as the leader of the very right wing political party is critically ill and was on life support overnight. He also happens to live in Bandra (where we stay). Because of this there was a very high chance of riots happening if he died.... good to know. After talking to a couple of the teachers Tania decided to go ahead with sports day and keep a listen for what was going on. Thankfully, aside from a pretty noticeable increase in police presence, no riots today! And the leader (Bal Thackeray) is apparently off the respirator and stable at present. So, sports day went well with lots of games and yelling and excitement, a few arguments from kids, but relatively smoothly considering everything!
Tomorrow is back to normal work day, unless Bal Thackeray dies, then we will be staying safely home in the apartment away from the riots! Mom, don't worry, I am very safe and will keep you posted about what happens.
Ok, I am very tired as it's been a long and eventful day and my computer battery still hasn't died!! So, good night!
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