Namaste Everyone! I hope your all doing well and still feeling full from Christmas dinner?
Christmas over here was such a different experience from back home. As the kitchen in our volunteer house only has hobs, we had to build a barbecue outside and collect firewood to get it going. Such a mission! It was worth it though, such a good team building exercise. We all did our part whether it was peeling potatoes, roasting tomatoes, cooking goat or creating gravy.
The task list seemed endless but we got through it and had Christmas dinner only a couple of hours late, not too bad all things considered! It was so strange cooking Christmas dinner under a boiling hot sun with eagles circling above our heads and snow on the mountains in the distance - definitely an experience.

As it was Christmas we had a long weekend off from work and some of the group decided to go to Mandali, where there are lots of different extreme sports to get involved in. I decided to stay back in the house as a few quiet volunteers were here and I thought it would be a good chance to get to know them a bit better. I wasn't disappointed! We all went our for a meal in Palampur on the Friday, which, as always, does not disappoint. Back at house we had our own little party and everyone's character shone through! I think the Stars in their Eyes competition really brought people out of their shell! Our Indian hosts were the judges and obviously I won best act in the group category - although I had to fend off stiff competition from the likes of Meatloaf, Van Halen and Bob Marley. In the end my duet with one of the other volunteers as Charlotte Church that proved triumphant. Although I think it was more the fact they were laughing at us, rather than our tone deaf singing that swung it in our favour!

My day Care Centre work is coming along really well. Unlike the feedback I'm getting from the other volunteers who are teaching older kids, I can really see my kids improving. They all have a basic understanding of numbers in both English and Hindi and other elementary things like colours and shapes, which considering most are around 2-3 years old is pretty good going! We have been working pretty solid despite our Christmas weekend as these holidays do not exist in the region where we are. Explaining Christmas has been a massive challenge, although I think most of the kids seemed to enjoy the Christmas songs.

For New Year some of us are going to Chandighar which has an amazing rock garden that constantly rates as one of the top sites in India. However, I am going to go to McCloud Ganj again. I think I have fallen in love with this place and its relaxed and friendly attitude. Apparently some of the clubs in Chandighar charge upwards of 1000 rupees entrance for New Year (about 13 pounds) which in the grand scheme of things isn't a lot. However through the surveys I have done we I have found that most families in the area (and big ones at that) earn roughly about 12000 rupees per annum. Suddenly paying a 1/12th of this to get into a nightclub looses its appeal. I'm sure however the groups splits up and decides to celebrate the coming in of 2009, it will be amazing. I don't think I will ever have an opportunity like this again so I'm not about to miss out on even a second of it!

The other volunteer group that were here before us leaves this Sunday.
Despite only spending little over 3 weeks with them, close bonds have been forged already. I'm going to miss them all but already we have arranged to meet up when we all get back to the UK - good times! The new group arrive a week later and we will spend the remainder of our time here with them.
It's going to be weird acting like the father figures and showing the new guys around town considering we have only been here for such a short time.
I'm looking forward to it though as I'm sure it going to end in me having another 16 friends who will get to share this brilliant experience with me.

I'm going to end this email with a wee bit of a rant I'm afraid. I really haven't been hearing much from you guys back home and I'm quite disappointed. I really want to hear how you are all doing and what you have been up to. It really brightens up my day when you send me an email so thanks to those of you have done so! To those of you who haven't, get on the case :)

Much love,
Christopher