Week 2 in Udaipur - GapBreak volunteers

We are now well and truly into our third week in Udaipur. Teaching is going great! The kids are really starting to warm up to us now and are coming out of their shell. The ones who wouldn’t talk and just sat around crying are now starting to smile and colour in with the others. They are so cute and small and Annie and I love cuddling them. The orphanage boys are a lot of fun, but a bit of a handful. Annie and I have got by far the biggest group so it’s hard to keep them entertained and under control. Sophie and Lauren are really starting to enjoy teaching their younger class, as they are getting to know their kids’ individual personalities and capabilities, to which they’re adjusting the lesson accordingly. Their students are becoming much more comfortable around them and are really starting to open up, making the experience much more rewarding. Hannah’s really enjoying herself at the other day care. The kids are a lot of fun to teach and she feels like she’s really getting to know them. Maddy’s year 3 group are an energetic bunch (especially Bansilal who is the loudest singer in school). They are a competitive bunch and enjoy playing maths games. We’ve now finished all our cooking classes and have learnt to make chai, naan, chapatti, samosas and many other delicious things. We’ve also had 5 Hindi lessons which were a lot of fun and are very helpful. In between classes and on the weekends we’ve been doing trips into the city which involve lots of shopping. We’ve also visited Udaipur’s only roof top pool at Udai Kothi which was so beautiful and refreshing. As I wrote last week, 6 of the volunteers in the house have left us and gone home, and on Friday night we had a farewell dinner on a roof top restaurant which overlooked the lake. I have never witnessed anything more majestic and beautiful. Since then we have gained lots more and we now have 30 volunteers living in the house which is absolute madness – but also a lot of fun. Meenaji (our cook) is doing a fantastic job preparing the meals for everyone. The 6 of us have also planned our first weekend trip for this coming weekend. We are going out to Jodhpur and then on a camel safari! We are all so excited and I will show photos in my next blog entry.