Laura Baxter

Gap period: Aug to Nov 2006

Hi,
I'm Laura. I am 23 and work as an Assistant Psychologist in the UK.

I wanted to take a break from work to gain experience living and working in a different culture. So far, I have settled into my project at the centre for autism, and taken a number of trips to Agra and the Himalayas. Over the next few months, I will be travelling to Jaipur and taking a Tiger Safari as well as continuing to gain experience in the field of autism!

Laura Baxter   Weekend Trip   Project in Agra   Arrival in Delhi

I have so much to fill you all in on - I'll try and be relatively brief though! The weekend before last I went on a weekend trip to a hill station called Mussoorie, with two other volunteers, Habibah and Reetu, who are absolutely lovely, but are both going back to the UK this week.I miss them already! Mussoorie was a beautiful place, with amazing views of the Himalayas. Our driver was a bit of a weirdo, and would hardly speak to us!

The first day in Mussoorie it poured with rain, and was freezing cold, which was so nice. After 4 weeks of being very hot in Delhi I was really pleased to be wet and cold (I made good use of your kag-in-a-bag Amy!). We managed to fit in lots of sightseeing over the weekend, and of course shopping! I had a great weekend - if any of you are ever in Delhi I'd really recommend an excursion to a hill station.

Last week at the centre for autism was really busy, as we were preparing for the inauguration ceremony of the National Centre for Autism (where I'm based) The actual ceremony took place on Friday 8th. The chief guest was Sonia Gandhi, the Congress President, and I was part of the group of people who lined up to welcome her into the ceremony, so I felt very important!

After the ceremony the teachers from the school held a 'jam session' outside, which involved lots of dancing! We took turns in leading the dancing.the teachers were all doing really beautiful Indian dances moves, which I couldn't equal, so I decided to do some 'Saturday Night Fever' moves, which went down pretty well (I think!).

I spent last weekend in Delhi.shopping mainly on Saturday, and then going to Rocky's (the father of the family I'm living with) 50th Birthday party in the evening. On Sunday I went to a beauty parlour with three of the other volunteers for a bit of pampering! It was amazing.I had an Indian head massage, pedicure, manicure, facial, and hair-wash for 700 rupees (about 8 pounds!). It felt very extravagant, but was lovely! This weekend we're planning to visit a national park which should be fun - I'm hoping to ride an elephant!