Friday 25 February 2011

Day Six and Seven

We finished off our meetings with our partners from Afghanistan today, and then all had lunch together at a restaurant serving Southern Indian food. It was sad to say goodbye to our colleagues but we hope that the decisions we made in our meetings will help us to produce some great project work together.In the afternoon we visited Humayuns Tomb and the Lodi Gardens. Both were very restful and beautiful and a lovely way to finish off our Delhi trip. It was then off to the airport to catch our flights.

Back home now, with some wonderful memories. It was a fantastic experience, and very productive for our project.

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Day Five

This will probably be my last post from Delhi. Tomorrow we will be in meetings and travelling for most of the day, then we go straight to the airport. The last post will be done when I return to the UK!

Today we spent the day at the British Council. We did some training for staff there, and discussed where our International work is likely to take us in the future. We went to a restaurant that served Southern Indian food for our lunch, and we had to eat with our fingers - there was no cutlery. It was a messy business but actually rather fun! On the way we saw a protest march by a huge number of people. Lots of the roads were closed.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12549050

The traffic here is very busy and very noisy! Our journey to work was not too bad this morning.



The journey home was much busier!

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Day Four

This morning we had a fascinating experience. We went on a guided trip organised by the Salaam Baalak Trust. http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com/. This charity was set up after the success of the film Slumdog Millionaire to help the many street children of Delhi. The charity estimates that about 4 or 5 new runaway children arrive in Delhi every day on the trains. These children are then forced to live a terrible life on the street, begging and stealing to survive. The trust helps the children by offering them a place to stay, medical help and education. Many of the children go on to have successful lives. We were guided on our walk by a former street child who showed us where the street children would have to live as well as the shelters that the trust runs. We were very lucky to meet some of the children in one of the shelters.
In the afternoon we worked with our Afghan colleagues at the British Council offices again. We had lots of fun uploading photos and writing comments to each other.

Monday 21 February 2011

Day Three

Today was a bit quieter. We began by going to the British Council in Delhi where we had a meeting with the three teachers who have come from Afghanistan - Ahmad, Asadullah and Kochi. We talked about all the work we have done so far, and we agreed that the Kite project we did was very successful. We then began to talk a little about what we plan to do over the next year, though we have lots more to talk about with this! We finished the day by going to the Imperial Hotel for tea, where we had a chance to find out more about each other, what our countries and homes are like, and share photographs. It was a very interesting day.
Hard at work!!

Sunday 20 February 2011

Day Two!


Today we caught the train to Agra. At the station we were met by a driver and tour guide who took us round Agra for the day. Our first stop was the Taj Mahal. This was a beautiful place, and we could see why it took 22 years to build. Our guide told us all about the story of why and how it was built.
The craftsmen who built and decorated the Taj Mahal 400 years ago have passed the skill of their trade down through their family, from Father to son. These men still have those skills today, and every Friday they go to work on the care and restoration of the Taj Mahal. Our guide took us to meet some of them to see how they work.
We then went to see the Agra Fort. This was an incredible building made from red sandstone that is still found in Agra today.
Our final visit was to Itimad-ud-Daulah's Tomb, which is known as 'The Jewel Box of Marble', or as our guide called it, the baby Taj!
After all our fantastic sightseeing, it was back to the station to catch the train home.

Saturday 19 February 2011

Day One

Day One now completed! It's very noisy - lots of beeping from the cars! We went to the British High Commission today, and travelled using the Metro. It was a lot like the London Underground, but with more security. We had our bags checked and went through a metal detector gate. It was lovely at the High Commission, and very quiet. Like an oasis. We had a nice Costa coffee at the coffee bar there, then it was off to the Red Fort. We met our rickshaw drivers who took us on a tour of Old Delhi. We saw the spice market, the pickle market, the sari market and lots of shops selling beautiful things. We had a snack which was a bit like a deep fried sugar coated pretzel.
After our tour, we took a tuc tuc to Connaught Place. There are some very nice shops there. We had our tea, and then came back to the Hotel. Now it is off to bed early as we are up tomorrow at 4.45am to catch the train to Agra!

Thursday 17 February 2011

Ready to go!

All packed (I think!). Passport, visa, clothes, and very important - camera! Early start tomorrow - taxi coming at 7.00am. I'm meeting one of the other teachers - George Glass from Inverness - at the airport. We are flying from Terminal 5 at Heathrow so the journey to the airport is quite easy for me. George has to drive from Inverness to Edinburgh, then fly down to Heathrow Terminal 1 and get the bus to Terminal 5. I think he is starting at about midnight tonight - that's not nice - so I expect he will be spending most of the flight sleeping. I have already checked out the inflight entertainment, however, and planned my movie viewing. Should be able to squeeze three in if I am lucky!