At the moment, we’re in the run-up to the long summer holidays at school, which is closed for the whole of May due to the heat. I can hardly believe that I’ve been living in India for more than six months now, though the time since I published my last blog post in particular has flown by. At the mid-term seminar, which took place in Chennai, it was interesting to chat with the other volunteers, some of whom had had similar experiences. At the same time, I was amazed at just how much the placement locations differ and that it was clearly much easier for some to settle in than for others. So far, however, I am very glad that a certain familiarity has simply set in regarding my placement, and I have learnt to accept the situation as it is here, and not to despair when there are periods of boredom and few tasks.
The last few weeks were actually one such period, when the children were sitting their final exams and there was consequently little to do. During the day, the office is closed because of the exams, so our morning task is completely cancelled. Most of the time, as soon as the office reopened, we went to do our work. Nevertheless, I was glad that I was out and about for part of the exam period, as I was lucky enough to have my family come and visit me. It was also great to see more of India. I travelled around Tamil Nadu and Kerala; with the public transport network, spontaneous travel is usually possible. I am very grateful that these visits gave me the opportunity to simply get to know even more facets of the subcontinent, and even though I have only travelled in the south of India so far, there are clear differences between the regions. In the different states of India, it is not just the language (including the script) or food that usually varies, but in some cases different rules apply too, for example regarding road traffic. The possibilities for travel in India seem endless, yet we have decided to stick to southern India for the coming summer holidays. The main reason for this is the climate; according to the locals here, next month is set to be incredibly hot. In the north, however, it is said to be even more unbearable in places. Furthermore, we feel we want to explore the south even more, as it too offers a wealth of possibilities.
Over the holidays, the boarding school pupils will be at home with their families and the campus will be empty. However, we’ve been told that a few staff members from the office will be popping in here and there over the holidays to clear out the offices and tidy things up a bit. We do have a fixed plan for the start of the holidays, but after that we’re still open to what we might do and might just stay here. People here don’t expect us to stay, though; in fact, some encourage us to make the most of our time in India as best we can.
All in all, though, it has to be said that the climate is already really hard to bear at the moment. I’m simply not used to temperatures like this at all back home. Fortunately, the people here are understanding if we do end up escaping to the mountains during the holidays, where temperatures hover not between 30–40 degrees, but rather between 20–30 degrees.
I’ll report on where we actually ended up and how my last three months in India have gone in my next – and probably final – post.
Until then…
Best wishes from India!
