Day 9

Namaste,

We started this week the same as last week, although we entered this school week with a lot more confidence and a lot more know how when it came to teaching and adapting to each of the classes. We began the morning with a plan in mind to make Valentine's Day cards and bracelets as we would be leaving before Valentine's Day. The original plan was for the last group to go the Mary Rice Centre tomorrow. 

However, the plans changed after the first class when it was decided that the last group (Therese's group) were to leave for the Mary Rice Centre after the first class in school. We continued making cards and bracelets. This was a challenge in itself bearing in mind we were a few men down. If we weren't there they probably would have managed quite well as they were all great at braiding (except maybe the boys).  We tried to do Valentine's cards with Class 4, (emphasis on tried) and had the brilliant idea with only ten minutes left of the class to take out the feathers. Against the odds, we all managed to make it out alive after wading through oceans of grabby children with burning desires for just 'one more' feather. 

Meanwhile, at Mary Rice we, Alana, Emma R, Amy and Savanna, got stuck into teaching the children with special needs. We did colouring by numbers, play-doh and dancing! We really enjoyed helping them with their work, and we were treated to a few performances by the kids. (Dr) Dan from Cork even gave us a few tunes on the tin whistle. At 2pm it was home time for the children, so we were brought to see some of the older students dance. We were given a crash course in Bollywood and classical Indian dance, as well as cricket. Alana hit a whopper that sent the Indians running across the field! 

After that we were all re-united in the yard of St. George's where we chatted, played cards and had a rather frantic, yet still very fun game of basketball. To conclude the day we had delicious Indian takeaway and gathered ourselves for a very packed day tomorrow. 

- Emma O'C, Jessica and Lily-Ann 

Day 8

Namaste,

The day started early, with everyone waking up at 5 to attend 6am mass in the Mother house, although for some of us (Emma, Orla, Jessica, Caroline and Emma) woke up in a panic to a knock at the door at 5:20, the time we were meant to leave at, and managed to get dressed and out in the very impressive time of 3 minutes!. After attending this mass we had the chance to visit Mother Teresa's tomb, the gift shop and to have a look around the mother house. When we came home some people went back to bed others went out to the yard with the kids.

At 1:30 we set of on an adventure, with Mr. Jim, around the city using every mode of transport possible. We started by taking the metro to the centre, from there we walked to the dock where we got a ferry to the Howrah Train Station beside the Howrah Bridge. This is the largest train station in East India where many street people take refuge.  We walked through it with Mr. Jim who stopped to check on a few people of whom he was concerned about.  We then walked along the bridge and got great views of the flower market below it. From there we got the bus which was very packed and sweaty. After that we had the very anticipated ride in the Tuk Tuks which lived up to their expectation, they were really fast and our favourite mode of transport by far! Sadly we had to get the bus again. Next we took the tram which was about as fast as it would be to walk but it was comfortable. We went into the 5 star luxury hotel in the city centre, we were all amazed by the beauty of it and the fact that it had an outdoor pool. It really put into perspective the drastic difference between the poor and the wealthy in this country. From here we got back on the metro and went home.

We were all exhausted and absolutely starving, our hearts sunk when we saw dinner was rice and curry yet again although it is always delicious. To our absolute delight we were allowed to order Dominos. After a long wait it finally arrived and we just finished eating it.We are all very happy and extremely full!

Day 7

Namaste!

Teddy bear day (yes, it's a holiday here), started with a lie in. Despite the whole extra hour of sleep we were wrecked getting on the bus. You'll be glad to hear we used a different bus company, equipped with the luxury of seat belts. Our first stop was a beautiful Hindi temple, called Birla. We were blessed with orange tikas (a dot of paint in between our eyebrows), to signify our third eye, which many of us didn't know we had! They also give us protection from the gods against evil and enhance our supernatural powers.

The temple was made of white marble and contained impressive statues of the Hindu gods (a few of thousands). The Art History and Classics heads were impressed by the 'realistic drapery' and domes. We learnt that, unusually, no offerings were allowed in the temple so that people can be judged based on goodness rather than material offerings. 

Next we were back on the bus and on the way to the next temple. It was a Jain temple (Jainism is a branch of Hinduism that believes in non violence). We weren't allowed to take photos, but the inside was covered in a mosaic of mirrors and coloured glass. 

The next stop on our tour was India's first zoo. Lily-Ann mistakenly insulted a pelican and was squawked at, which scared everyone in the vicinity. 

We were all really excited for lunch in an Indian restaurant (surprise surprise). We ate our way through many a basket of naan bread and tried lots of new dishes. 

Our last stop was the Victoria memorial. We were impressed by its grandeur and surprised to learn that Queen Victoria never visited India. In the gardens, we found ourselves being asked again and again to take photos with people. This was fun at first, but quickly became annoying. Amy even attempted a few camera duels, which involved taking a photo of them before they take a photo of you. 

When we got back, we played with the street kids we've made friends with throughout the week and took some great selfies with them. After a day of sightseeing, we all plan on chilling out for the evening before our 5am start tomorrow for morning mass.

Day 6

Hi, how are ya?

Today we split up once again, with Ms Quirke's group consisting of Emma O, Jessica and Lily-Ann going to St. Mary's and the rest remaining in St. George's.

In the morning the girls in George's made paper-and-straw rockets with classes 2, 3 and 4, who seemed to love launching their rockets around. Later in the afternoon we held a flag quiz and we have never seen any group as excited as when we held up the Indian flag, showing their enthusiasm by chanting 'INDIA! INDIA!' for about 30 seconds.

Meanwhile, after taking the metro into Dum Dum, Ms Quirke's group had a similar experience to the day before, taking a tour of the school before helping out in the Mary Rice Centre. On the tour, we visited class 11 and class 12 which were filled with students around our age who were working hard towards their final exams. They were prompted to tell us all about where they were from and what subjects they were doing. They also tried their best to teach us a small bit of Hindi (which Emma struggled with) and we tried to teach them a little bit of Irish (which Lily-Ann struggled with). After the tour we went to do some quite complex worksheets with the kids in the Mary Rice centre which involved a lot of confirming with each other that the word 'ninety' did in fact have an 'e' in it and many similar spelling errors.

Later when we arrived back we split into our groups once again and some teachers and students from St. George's took us on individual walking tours of the city where we got Pepsi and ice-cream and had great conversations with some of the older students. After that we played basketball and hung out with the kids again, but Orla had a tough time, and was victim of the third bird poop incident of the trip as well as getting walloped in the face by a football (twice). There were several attempted kidnappings (by his brother for tickles) on Emma R's adoptive child, Gummy bear which brought out Emma's inner 'mother bear'.

The end of the day was very relaxed today, with a bit of napping and a bit of singing before getting ready for our day of tourism tomorrow.

- Lily-Ann, Emma O'C, Jessica

Day 5

Hi, how are ya?

The day started off with the group splitting up to go to different locations. One group of us went to St. Mary's School and the Mary Rice Centre in Dum Dum while the rest of the group stayed in St. George's School to teach the children as we had done previous days.

The group that remained in St.George's School continued teaching as we had done before, we can definitely tell the improvements from our other lessons from previous days as today we were no longer hoarse from telling the whole class to be quiet. We have definitely formed strong bonds between the children as well as we were asked today by one of the students where Orla was and after telling them she was in Dum Dum we were met with the response of "She has a fever!", in which we feverishly told her that she was fine! Other than that the whole day in St.George's went smoothly with games of basketball, football and various hand games and we enjoyed it immensely.

Those of us that went to Dum Dum also had a great day. We travelled to Dun Dum by metro. As we left quite early the metro was relatively quiet and we even managed to get seats. When we reached St. Mary's we were given a tour of the school. We visited several different classes and had the opportunity to speak to some of the students our age who were preparing for their upcoming exams. They were all really friendly, complimenting Orla on her "yellow" hair and filling us in on their dreams to join a convent when they finished school.

After the tour we went to the Mary Rice centre in St. Mary's, a school for children with intellectual disabilities. We helped them with their work, learning about opposites and different nursery rhymes. An hour or so later we took a short break and after we did colouring sheets and played with plastecine and play dough. Despite the children drawing on both themselves and us, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The brothers' dog Judy was also a big hit.

We then began our "quick" journey home which lasted about 40 minutes due to getting lost despite asking countless Indians for directions. After playing basketball with the street kids outside we went for a "quick" shopping trip. This shopping trip lasted roughly from 3-8 pm. Needless to say no one feels like shopping again any time soon. The day finished with colourful rice, a calm reflection and a serious game of spoons.

Day 4

We left George’s at 12:30 and had quite the wait for our bus to the Hope foundation. A group from CBS Midleton (Cork) joined us and we had a great time chatting with them and hearing their experiences so far. The fact that we stole their bus from the airport on Day 1 thankfully did not hinder the banter.

We had lunch in the Hope cafe and some of us ordered brownies!!! However the carrot tasting chicken sandwiches weren’t as exciting. We were given a presentation on the Hope Foundation, and then we were shown around their training centre for young women. We were amazed by the women in the tailoring unit, who produced beautiful clothing to be sold in the Hope shop.

We then visited the Hope Hospital. We saw the Ambulance that Ms Mooney fundraised to purchase and learnt that it would be used for night patrols in the slums. We were given a tour of the hospital and were impressed by the homely environment and equipment that had been sponsored by Irish people.

Lastly, we were welcomed into the Hope home for girls. They showed us around and danced for us. It was lovely to see how proud they were of their home and how they were so confident despite their impoverished backgrounds. We sang Riptide for them and they gave us a handmade card to thank us for coming.

It has been an exhausting day, but a rewarding one because of all the memories and friends we have made.

Ps. The naan bread is top notch.

Xxx The gals.

Day 3

Hi, how are ya?

An earlier start for us today, getting our lessons together for our classes. The classes started at 8 am and focused mainly on spelling and reading. We tirelessly worked through our lesson plans as well as picking up hordes of children for piggyback races. At break we introduced them to the birdy dance and the macarena which they repeated to us any time they could throughout the day. After that we merged our groups and decided to move on to more creative lessons which included spelling themed fortune tellers and other origami beyond our comprehension.

After school for about an hour we had an intense Coup (thanks Kate Cox!) and Uno session before 'strolling' through the streets of Kolkata. We walked for about an hour gaining...a few stares and then we got to Mother Teresa's orphanage. Amazingly, Emma got defecated on for the second time! When we arrived, we were amazed and entertained by all the kids living there, we didn't understand a single word they said and vice versa but it didn't matter to either of us as the fun we had didn't warrant the need for language. We made our way home back through the busy streets, where the top of Lily-Ann's flask flew off and was smashed to smithereens by a bus and two motorcycles.

We then got back we managed to spend ten minutes catching up with our friends in the yard, watching them playing football and admiring their skills that they clearly withheld when we played with them.