Finally made it! Travelling took a long time, especially the 13+ hour bus trip. We are here in Manali and although it's not cold, it's also not the minus twenty Google tells us it is. We have a couple of days finding our feet and then tomorrow we head out to the village where the school we'll be painting is.
The boys are doing well and it's fun seeing them try and sort themselves out, especially for food - it typically takes us an hour to find somewhere to eat! Apart from generally tiredness, we're all still feeling really good too.
This place is amazing. Manali looks great and is pretty fun. The short time we had in Delhi was good but I must say I'm glad we wont be spending any more time there, the pollution and noise was too much. Here is a lot cleaner, and a little slower pace and quieter.
Ok apparently we're off already, they just needed a Facebook fix. It's just about 2013 in NZ already so - HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Another adventure...
I should have thought of doing this long-overdue update sooner but I'm sure most people who'll be reading this will know a fair bit about my upcoming trip anyway.
In short - I'm off to India. Like last time, mostly with a focus of doing some volunteer type work but, unlike last time, I am going with some students. It's through an organisation called World Challenge and 6 of our boys from school signed up to take on the challenge and they needed a teacher to go with them. I am EXTREMELY lucky and grateful to be that teacher (I was told the boys put together "a short-list" of who they'd like to go, I'm not sure I want any more details than that!). It is their trip and they have had to plan and organise themselves for the last 18 months or so to get to this point. In country the boys are responsible for what we do, where we stay, how we get there, and what we eat whilst there. There is a huge amount of support and structure from World Challenge, especially with the provision of an experienced and qualified Expedition Leader, Pete, who ultimately will make sure we stay safe, have a lot of fun and do a lot of good. My role is really just pastoral support to make sure they don't act like muppets or miss home too much.
So general itinerary is to go to Sydney to meet up with another 3 students and teacher from a school there who are part of our trip and spend a day in the airport getting to know one another and do some build-up work. We then have a stop over in Thailand before landing in Delhi. We jump straight on a bus for an 18 hour ride up to Manali where we spend a week doing painting/building/whatever at a local school and getting to know the community. We then embark on a 13 day trek across the Himalayas to McLeod Ganj where we stay for a couple of nights before taking some R'n'R back down Dehli and Agra way. It's going to be truly amazing, if not a little cold (Google the weather in Manali at the moment!).
I have no idea if I will have a lot of opportunities to keep this blog updated as I don't call the shots and am at the mercy of the boys who may or may not take us to many interweb connections. Who knows. As with last trip, there's probably a high probability that even with an interweb connection, I'll lose motivation or inspiration to keep ya'll entertained and engaged. I wont even say I'll do my best at this. I'll do whatever happens! But please do check-in and leave a comment from time to time - it's actually been quite a kick to quickly go back over posts from my trip to Rwanda. [I realise I need to write more to follow up from there at some point too. One step at a time though.]
Ok dishes done, bed made, clothes laid out, bags packed and checked, tickets/passport etc checked. I get picked up at about 4.30am which is a litlle over 5 hours away. Might try sleep if I can. I've travelled alone before and felt way more relaxed about things but this trip has me a little on the anxious side of things, I guess because of the added responsibility this time around. It'll be awesome and can't wait to start.
Until next time...
Paul
In short - I'm off to India. Like last time, mostly with a focus of doing some volunteer type work but, unlike last time, I am going with some students. It's through an organisation called World Challenge and 6 of our boys from school signed up to take on the challenge and they needed a teacher to go with them. I am EXTREMELY lucky and grateful to be that teacher (I was told the boys put together "a short-list" of who they'd like to go, I'm not sure I want any more details than that!). It is their trip and they have had to plan and organise themselves for the last 18 months or so to get to this point. In country the boys are responsible for what we do, where we stay, how we get there, and what we eat whilst there. There is a huge amount of support and structure from World Challenge, especially with the provision of an experienced and qualified Expedition Leader, Pete, who ultimately will make sure we stay safe, have a lot of fun and do a lot of good. My role is really just pastoral support to make sure they don't act like muppets or miss home too much.
So general itinerary is to go to Sydney to meet up with another 3 students and teacher from a school there who are part of our trip and spend a day in the airport getting to know one another and do some build-up work. We then have a stop over in Thailand before landing in Delhi. We jump straight on a bus for an 18 hour ride up to Manali where we spend a week doing painting/building/whatever at a local school and getting to know the community. We then embark on a 13 day trek across the Himalayas to McLeod Ganj where we stay for a couple of nights before taking some R'n'R back down Dehli and Agra way. It's going to be truly amazing, if not a little cold (Google the weather in Manali at the moment!).
I have no idea if I will have a lot of opportunities to keep this blog updated as I don't call the shots and am at the mercy of the boys who may or may not take us to many interweb connections. Who knows. As with last trip, there's probably a high probability that even with an interweb connection, I'll lose motivation or inspiration to keep ya'll entertained and engaged. I wont even say I'll do my best at this. I'll do whatever happens! But please do check-in and leave a comment from time to time - it's actually been quite a kick to quickly go back over posts from my trip to Rwanda. [I realise I need to write more to follow up from there at some point too. One step at a time though.]
Ok dishes done, bed made, clothes laid out, bags packed and checked, tickets/passport etc checked. I get picked up at about 4.30am which is a litlle over 5 hours away. Might try sleep if I can. I've travelled alone before and felt way more relaxed about things but this trip has me a little on the anxious side of things, I guess because of the added responsibility this time around. It'll be awesome and can't wait to start.
Until next time...
Paul
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