Today is the day after Indian Independence Day, a national holiday here, where celebrations were held to mark 60 years of independence. The other volunteers and I celebrated by spending the day at a beach resort. At one point, in full sun, the temperature reached 117 degrees fahrenheit, or 48 centigrade! It was quite warm, but lovely to jump in the pool or paddle in the sea to cool off. I'm now a certified master at getting into and out of hammocks and could quite happily sleep in one! Maybe an adjustment to my room when I get home....
Work is as busy as ever, with 11 keyboard classes per week, and at the moment I'm covering some of Nina's sessions as well while she's out of town. There is a possibility that I might be leaving
Chennai for a few days at some point, to do some work with school choirs in the hill stations near Ootycamund. This is an exciting prospect for two reasons : first, I think it will be a lot of fun and very rewarding; second, it will be cold!! Alison, one of the other volunteers, was in a similar place last weekend and said the temperature was only 18 degrees - sounds heavenly! Next week I'll be half way through my placement here, 6 and a half weeks in, which doesn't seem possible.
I've been working with the choir at St Mary's and although they are noisy, energetic and excitable girls (aged about 7 to 15 - I wore my glasses instead of contacts last Sunday and one of them told me I look like Harry Potter!) they are I think showing some signs of improvement. The church is celebrating an anniversary in late October and I've been charged with getting the choir up to scratch. I don't know if I can get them singing in harmony but at least they are heading towards all singing the same note!
Some big news - I'm already thinking of when I can come back to India! I have an obsession with tigers and Debbie from Gap Guru, the rep covering the whole of India, is going away this weekend to do a recce with a tiger project to see if volunteers can be placed with them. The role would involve about a dozen volunteers living together in a cabin in the jungle, working with Project Tiger on the conservation, monitoring and protection of the rapidly diminishing tiger population (from 40000 in India to fewer than 1500 in the last 100 years) - this means tracking, counting, studying and reporting on tigers and any evidence of poachers, preserving their natural habitat (tigers, not the poachers). They are also now involved with Indian elephants, and the experience would include various outdoor activities like rafting and rock climbing. If I hadn't been working this weekend I would have invited myself to go with Debbie but I'll have to wait until it's officially on Gap Guru's books and come back in maybe a few years - if there are any tigers left by then..
Must go, young minds to educate!