Arrivals and departures

January was the month were things changed and ended. We all knew that the time would come, but yet I felt a bit like it was just suddenly there without any warning. The first very big change was that Fabindia School got a new volunteer. An 18 year old girl from England, her name is Imogen. She doesn't have anything to do with UWC, but her Godmother had contacts with the school and she was allowed to come and volunteer for only 5 weeks. This was quite a challenge for Sanna, Airiin and I, especially before she arrived actually. The thought of suddenly having a fourth girl living with us in our house, going with us to the hostel and teaching with us in the school, wasn't exactly what any of us wanted. Imagine how it is to be together ALL the time for 5 months straight. The maximum amount of time the three of us have spent apart during our time in India is a couple of hours. Thus, we have developed this very internal way of talking and being and joking around and just enjoying and the thought of a fourth person seemed to threathen this way of living together. But, actually it was bad at all when Imogen arrived. It felt strange in the beginning, but she is a very sweet girl, who is good at adapting very fast. She didn't steal our kids from the hostel as we had feared and she also thought it was funny to act slightly retarded at times. She even likes our dog, Balls, who lives outside our house and who always enjoys our leftovers. The name refers to a repulsive tumour-kind-of-ball which is hanging from the anus of the dog and yes, it is a female! Okay, I will not go into further details, hehe...
Imogen got class 3 and 7, which are the classes that none of us wanted, and I sometimes felt a bit bad about that. It is not easy to just come in like that and only stay for 5 weeks. But I think she is enjoying and she says that being with us makes it much easier for her.
A few days ago, another dramatic change occured and that was the departure of Airiin. I had known for long that she would be leaving in the end of January, a whole month before Sanna and I, but yet I didn't realize it until the moment I hugged her intensly at the trainstation, with the train waiting for her. She is going to Jordan for some time and then home. I know that I will miss her immensly, because we are so use to each others present, small habits, voices, jokes and retarded behaviours. I am very happy Sanna is still around, but we do feel like an ambutated three-part-flower.
Seeing her leave also made me realize how hard it will be for me to leave Fabindia, in fact India as a country, or Rajasthan to be more precise. The kids were crying on her last day and the goodbuy was not a nice one. But can there be good goodbuys? I myself have less than a month left, I am leaving on the 25th February with Sanna.
The third big thing happening in January was the visit of my mother, Lise and her friend Mette. They came to Bali about a week ago and spent some days going with us in the school bus, to the hostel, seeing the school and classes and just experiencing some of the wonder of the world I have been living in nearly 6 months now. Wow, it is amazing to have my mother here, it really is! Many times, I have seen or experienced something that I wanted her to hear about or know about and now I've actually had the chance to show her with her own eyes! A bit surreal of course, to have your mum walking around the dusty streets of Bali, but also wonderful. Right now, we are in Udaipur again, because I wanted them to see this magical city. It is so much fun to be here with the two ladies and they are going quite crazy shopping, because everything is so exciting and cheap. Wonder how everything will fit in the suitcase... Mette is also a lot of fun to have around, because she has this very Danish way of seeing everything and she reminds me of how beautiful and horrible a country India is in the same time.
The last big thing happening in this month (this might shock some of the previous volunteers) is that Kailash has stopped working for Fabindia school and this includes cooking and cleaning for the volunteers. He has been with us from the very beginning, has cooked hundreds of meals for us and cleaned our house endlessly for around 10 Euros and 70 Dkr a month. He has taught us Hindi and we have visited his family. But something happened that just couldnt be forgiven and instead of waiting to be fired, he left the school himself. In the beginning we wanted him to stay and cook for us and only stop working at the school, but this was not allowed. We have seen him only once after he left, the day Airiin was leaving and he came to say goodbuy to her. Basically he has harrassed a senior student, one of my good friends, severely without understanding what he was doing to the student. It has been happening for months, but it was not until now that the principal ma'am got to hear about it and decided that it was too severe to be ignored.
It is a very difficult situation, because we all cared for Kailash, he has meant a lot to us, but in the same time, I do think what he did was very wrong and so I agree with the decition. Now, principal ma'ams maid is cooking for us. It is very sad that it had to end like this, but unfortuantly neccesary.
I will end my entry by repeating my endless thanks to all you who are still reading my blog and dropping me comment. Tak tak tak tak!!
I am entering my last weeks of my volunteering experience and I hope they despite all the changes and the departure of specially Airiin, but also Kailash, will be enjoyable. I just want to be with the kids.

New Year in India

Every year, when it turns January again, I always feel it kind of takes me off guard. Suddenly, it's a new year and time to reflect backwards and ahead. 2006 was in many ways a very good year for me. I finished my IB with a good result, I had a great Summer, but most important of course have been the 5 months I have now spend in India. From the very confused and overwhelming beginning to now, where I really feel comfortable and home. I have a bit less than 2 months left in this country and Fabindia School and although it is quite a considerable amount of time, I am sure it will pass within a blink of an eye.
The two weeks before the Winter break started, were extremely busy for Sanna, Airiin and I. First, the trustees (those important people, either Americans or Indians who provide the fundings for the school) came to visit the college and I helped organizing a little show for them or function as they call it here. There were Indian dances and then I had written a school song on the melody "Bella Ciao" (I'm sure Johanna will know this one) with lyrics like "In our school, we speak English, so when we grow up, we can do a lot of things" and "We are learning, about the world, we have science and mathematics too" and finally "We are happy, to be here, because the best school, is Fabindia School". Not very brilliant, but the trustees loved it and thought it was a great idea with such a school song and now principal-ma'ams wants the choir to sing it every Saturday, so the whole school will learn it, hihi.
The three of us also had a chance to dine with the trustees and there were some really powerful and great people there, who were very interesting to talk to. It made me realize that there are some strong forces behind the school and that's very encouraging. Especially one man, from Cambodia and the US (double citizenship) who had survived the genocide during Pol Pot in Cambodia and who was now travelling around the world, made a very deep impression on me.
After the trustees had left, we started organizing a Christmas Play with the students from class 1 to 4. This was not so easy as we had thought, first of all because none of the students new the story of the birth of Jesus in detail, and secondly because we had a bit less than 2 weeks to put everything up. We managed though, right on time, but only because we had all the hostel children as actors and could therefor practice with them in the evenings also. A few days up to the performance on the 23rd we were all very stressed out, but eventually the show was great, the children said all their lines the right places, we had gotten costumes and even hay for the crypt. Along with the Christmas Play I had taught the choir 3 Christmas songs (Jingle Bells, War is Over and Long Time Ago in Bethlehem) which they sang when the play was over. It felt great to do some Christmas things with them and all the students really seemed to enjoy the programme!
Christmas Eve was a very enjoyable evening for me and the girls. We had vastly decorated our house with Christmas decorations, some made by students in the school, some we had made ourselves from the things our families had been sending. We had ordered special food from a restaurant and bought each other presents. It was all the good things of Christmas, but without the commercialized stress, pressure and over consumption.
My birthday on the 26th December (and yes, I turned 20!) went even better. From morning till evening Airiin and Sanna presented me with in total 20 small surprises, gifts, letters, cakes, pictures and the like, which made it into one of the best birthdays I've had. They had even managed to get a bottle of red wine for the diner! (but don't tell anyone, hehe)
The past 5 days, we have been in Udaipur again, simply enjoying ourselves. On New Years Eve when 2007 dawned, there were a few rockets that we enjoyed from a roof top, but they finished already at 00.15, so I wouldnt call it a wild night, hehe.
I found out that the warm hospitality is not only found in smaller towns like Bali. I went into a small shop to buy some post cards and the woman who owned the shop was eating some food. She immediate invited me to share the food with her, asked her husband to bring me chai, showed me her little son and told me about her life. When I left, she gave me an extra post card "Because you are my friend", she said. That's just how Indians are, at least most of them.
Oh, if you found my last entry about the military interesting, take a look at the comment I got from Johanna, a last year's volunteer. She experienced exactly the same attitude as I described.
I wish everybody, who is still making me happy by reading my blog, a very happy new year! Who knows what kind of surprises are hidding for us and will reveal themselves on the way... :)
Godt Nytår!!