March Blog

March started off with a function for the 10th class students, as they are leaving school after their exams in April. Everyone got dressed up in their best sarees and clothes, and we watched so many dances performed by the 9th and 10th students. Some were absolutely hilarious as, the boys in particular, get very into their performances. Lots of miming of the song, ripping open of the shirt and a LOT of vivid facial expressions. Jo, Emily and I were crying with laughter. By the end of the evening we ourselves got up on stage with some of the 10th class girls and tried to dance. It was a bit embarassing but it was fun. Hopefully our dances for the big 'Annual day' function next month are better. The girls and I will actually be performing rehearsed dances. I in particular am looking forward to that. I'll keep you posted in next months blog post :).

In other news, on the 15th the girls and I caught a 5 hour train to the amazing city of Tirupati in south Andhra Pradesh. We went to visit a few other Project Trust 

volunteers that live down there, so we could all celebrate my favourite festival Holi! As Holi (the festival of colours) isn't very big in the south of India, the girls and I decided to have our own little Holi festival with some of our friends. We did the throwing of the powdered colours on the roof of Ellie and Mei's (our PT 

Tirupati friends) working women's hostal. Also joining in on the celebrations was Rosalieke, Claarje and Lindsay, who are volunteers in Ongole. Ongole is 30 minutes from my village Tangutur. :) The eight of us were throwing the bright coloured powders at eachother for ages. The colours stained our clothes and skin a bit, but we had a blast. I did have a blue parting in my hair for the next week though. The view of the mountains were stunning in the setting sun. I was gobsmacked.

Also, during our Tirupati trip, the girls and I visited the beautiful Balaji Temple at the top of the mountain. I was on cloud nine wandering around the stunning, sacred grounds of the many Temples kept up in the mountain. I was in awe of everything around me and I had a permanent smile on my face. One of the Temples is even made of solid gold! Flocks and flocks of pilgrims everywhere, mostly all with their head shaved. Head shaving is so common here as it's a way to give offerings to god, in particular Lord Venkatesh/Lord Balaji (an avatar of Lord Vishnu -the preserver of the universe). Once we managed to get past all the bald pilgrims, we found a jeep/taxi back down to the city. It was a frightning experience. The only thing stopping me from completely falling out of a fast moving vehicle, going down a steep, windey road, was a flimsy safety bar (that was eaily unhooked!). Not to mention the driver looked about 16 years old. He kept blaring out Telugu songs really loud and taking both hands off the wheel. By the end of it I was partially deaf and my heart was stuck in my throat. Safe to say that drive scared all of us half to death. All in all, we had a good trip to Tirupati. Even if it meant a few near death experiences here and there. :)

Keep posted for next months blog post as the girls and I will be performing dances on annual day and we will begin our tour of north India. The three of us are travelling for 3 weeks. First we fly to Delhi, then we go to Jaisalmer (deserts and camels :)) and Jaipur in Rajasthan, then we head up to Amritsar to see the Golden Temple, then we go down to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and finally we head to Varanasi to see (and hopefully bathe) in the holy Ganges river. We are very excited :D