Simon signing in -
Well, here we are, in Bangalore finally. On first glance, it appears to be a very green and lush city and not as intense as Delhi (albeit we were in Delhi for only 6 days).
The guys, Jai and Cheryl, here at Better Future have also welcomed us to their city with warm open arms and have just been incredible with their valuable guidance and assistance. This is where I'm sitting right now typing this blog, under the canopy of the roof terrace surrounded by fabulous palms with the sound of a thousand cars going past in the distance.
Our accommodation is not far from Better Future (around 25mins walk) which is great. The area we are staying, Indira Nagar (named after Indira Gandhi), is one of the four 'posh' areas of Bangalore (so we are told) which means we have a lot of good amenities close by. Our room is within a serviced apartment and at first we were given a small back room with tiny bathroom. The room and bathroom were okay, though the following day one of the other rooms came available so we jumped at the chance to move ourselves to give us some more space. This of course came at a small rate increase, though we think it is worth it. Within the apartment are two young Nepalese guys of which only one speaks (!) English. They try to be of assistance where possible.
This week, Rein and I have just been taking it easy and working together with Better Future to set up our next three months of volunteer work. Me, working with APSA (Association for Positive Social Action) and Rein, with the Spastics Society of Karnataka. We both have a meeting with APSA tomorrow at 11am where we will meet our contact, Sheila, and be introduced to the organisation and all of its staff, workers, students and children. Rein will go directly to SSK on Monday to start off his volunteer assignment. Other than these, we have also just been trying to get other 'items' set. Phones, wifi (which remains unreliable, so please don't expect a blog update on a daily basis ;-), registering with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office and just finding out where best to buy shopping items and food. With this, there is a lot of walking which saw me have my first accident.
Last night after dinner, Rein wanted to try a new direction home which would have been quicker (I do believe him, but none the less). Walking along the road I was just going straight, looking at the homes and people as I passed when all of sudden I vanished one meter into the ground! Shocked and scared I screamed and pulled myself out. Rein had ran over to help me too as did a couple of locals (at first watching idle by the side amazed at this fat ass Westerner being dragged from a hole in their neighbourhood). Well, I was in a little pain and I could stand up. I had in fact fallen into the sewer. LUCKILY, this part of the sewer was dry. LUCKILY AGAIN, I decided at the last minute to change from flip flops to shoes. The hole which I fell in was actually along the footpath. In most places here the sewer actually runs along the footpath and is somewhat irregularly covered by walking tiles and all over the place there is big open holes some with 'mush' which you can only imagine what that is and how it smells. This answered my earlier question to Rein as to why people walked on the road and not the footpath (a habit Rein had already copied).
Arriving back to the apartment by auto-rickshaw, I rushed to the room to inspect my war wounds and Rein helped me to get started on disinfecting and bandaging. The two smaller gashes were not too bad and I have a scrape bruise the size of a lunch plate on my ass.
This morning I woke to still be able to stand and walk and got going to our first appointment for the day. The Regional Foreigners Office. This is where anyone who is from outside of India must come to register if they are staying here for 6 months or more. Well, it was crowded and we saw more Westerners in there than our whole time since being in India alone! The process was not too long, though as was expected, he were missing one or two documents so we will have to try again tomorrow!
This weekend, relaxing and perhaps check out a few of the sights of our new home.
Simon
Well, here we are, in Bangalore finally. On first glance, it appears to be a very green and lush city and not as intense as Delhi (albeit we were in Delhi for only 6 days).
The guys, Jai and Cheryl, here at Better Future have also welcomed us to their city with warm open arms and have just been incredible with their valuable guidance and assistance. This is where I'm sitting right now typing this blog, under the canopy of the roof terrace surrounded by fabulous palms with the sound of a thousand cars going past in the distance.
Our accommodation is not far from Better Future (around 25mins walk) which is great. The area we are staying, Indira Nagar (named after Indira Gandhi), is one of the four 'posh' areas of Bangalore (so we are told) which means we have a lot of good amenities close by. Our room is within a serviced apartment and at first we were given a small back room with tiny bathroom. The room and bathroom were okay, though the following day one of the other rooms came available so we jumped at the chance to move ourselves to give us some more space. This of course came at a small rate increase, though we think it is worth it. Within the apartment are two young Nepalese guys of which only one speaks (!) English. They try to be of assistance where possible.
This week, Rein and I have just been taking it easy and working together with Better Future to set up our next three months of volunteer work. Me, working with APSA (Association for Positive Social Action) and Rein, with the Spastics Society of Karnataka. We both have a meeting with APSA tomorrow at 11am where we will meet our contact, Sheila, and be introduced to the organisation and all of its staff, workers, students and children. Rein will go directly to SSK on Monday to start off his volunteer assignment. Other than these, we have also just been trying to get other 'items' set. Phones, wifi (which remains unreliable, so please don't expect a blog update on a daily basis ;-), registering with the Foreigners Regional Registration Office and just finding out where best to buy shopping items and food. With this, there is a lot of walking which saw me have my first accident.
Last night after dinner, Rein wanted to try a new direction home which would have been quicker (I do believe him, but none the less). Walking along the road I was just going straight, looking at the homes and people as I passed when all of sudden I vanished one meter into the ground! Shocked and scared I screamed and pulled myself out. Rein had ran over to help me too as did a couple of locals (at first watching idle by the side amazed at this fat ass Westerner being dragged from a hole in their neighbourhood). Well, I was in a little pain and I could stand up. I had in fact fallen into the sewer. LUCKILY, this part of the sewer was dry. LUCKILY AGAIN, I decided at the last minute to change from flip flops to shoes. The hole which I fell in was actually along the footpath. In most places here the sewer actually runs along the footpath and is somewhat irregularly covered by walking tiles and all over the place there is big open holes some with 'mush' which you can only imagine what that is and how it smells. This answered my earlier question to Rein as to why people walked on the road and not the footpath (a habit Rein had already copied).
Arriving back to the apartment by auto-rickshaw, I rushed to the room to inspect my war wounds and Rein helped me to get started on disinfecting and bandaging. The two smaller gashes were not too bad and I have a scrape bruise the size of a lunch plate on my ass.
This morning I woke to still be able to stand and walk and got going to our first appointment for the day. The Regional Foreigners Office. This is where anyone who is from outside of India must come to register if they are staying here for 6 months or more. Well, it was crowded and we saw more Westerners in there than our whole time since being in India alone! The process was not too long, though as was expected, he were missing one or two documents so we will have to try again tomorrow!
This weekend, relaxing and perhaps check out a few of the sights of our new home.
Simon
Thank you Simon, your septic escapades were a wonderful addition to my lunch break!
ReplyDeletejust wondering if amputation was imminent? Only joking (well I hope so)... take care of you, and keep out of sewers! Big hugs from us all xxx
ReplyDeleteBy the way, that is Chris and the Paris gang xx
ReplyDelete