Hey everyone!

I hope you are all well and getting excited about Christmas? I'm still loving every second of being out here. The group is getting on amazingly well and we all seem to be integrating brilliantly. I'm sure I have made a lot of good new friends already. The house we are staying in is grand.
I'm staying with two other guys from my original group and we have a decent sized room and toilet and a balcony that looks out onto the Himalayan mountains - it is stunning. I can't wait to show you my pictures. The only downside is that there is no shower so we have to wash ourselves out of a bucket and the water is freezing! That is more than dealable though! As we are in India there are a lot of rules to follow, especially as we are in the more conservative countryside area.
Boys and girls are not allowed in each others room and we must wear Indian style clothes on our placements. I bought a long Indian shirt and can't wait to wear it out - it is still so warm here and the lesser clothes the better!

On our first full day at the camp we got shown around the four different schools we could be working in - Thalla, Malenta, Drovi and Sukeri. Each have there positive points, mainly that the kids are really enthusiastic and willing to learn. However in some of the school the teachers beat the kids quite badly. I really did not want to see this so I chose to work in the Day Care centre at Malenta. This means that I will be working with infants during the day, doing surveys in the afternoon and teaching teenagers English later on. I love the views I get from Malenta school and it is in the heart of a really nice community, whereas the other schools seem to be a bit out of the way. We were also given a tour of Palampur town also. The town has all the mod-cons a medium sized city would have in the UK, albeit with an Indian theme! The market is truly a spectacle to be seen and I still love bargaining my way and practising my Hindi with the locals. We usually take a taxi into town which can seat 6 people but in India, this means 10! Cramped but lots of good conversation to be had!

I was so excited to be properly starting my placement today and it was every bit as good as I hoped. Although the kids were strange with me at first, it didn't take long before we were colouring in and playing games. I'm going to work on a lesson plan with the other volunteer at my placement Jo, to make sure these kids have a good foundation on which to go into primary school with. In the afternoon we went for a trek into the mountains as the other kids have their exams just now so we cannot teach them. We were about 2000m above sea level and it really is quite hard to breathe! We took a break at a rock pool and went paddling in freezing water that comes down from the Himalayas - refreshing! Later on we were invited by the community to attend a funeral mean. Unlike back in the UK, death here is celebrated and the life of the individual is remembered fondly. We ate of a massive vine leaf and ate until we were stuffed! The food just kept on coming and with no knifes and forks we got to each Indian style - with our rights hand fingers - my fingers are still stained now despite much washing! It was such an experience though and a fabulous way to finish my first work day here in Palampur.

We have the choice of taking a long weekend this week and be able to go travelling with the other group as they have theirs just now too. I really want to do this but some of my group want to save their pennies and weekends for later on. We will wait and see what happens! I definatly want to go to Amritsar though to see the Gold Temple - the other group have been and their photos are stunning!

Strangely enough, I'm running out of things to say so I'll end it here - tired too after a hectic day! I'll write soon though.

Take care,

Christopher.