Can't help but wonder.....

Not going paragliding after all. The statistics for accidents in this area means even the local Indian population tell you not to do it, it is too risky. I take their warnings seriously, I mean who thinks giving machetes to 3 year olds isn't dangerous but paragliding is if the risks weren't rediculous?

I have nearly set my mind against joining the Australian Army now. I see every day children being groomed to join the military and it just perpetuates the concept that fighting and violence are ok. I don't want to inadvertantly support that thinking within my own country.

It has me wondering what to do and who to become instead. I can't help but wonder whether I will now become a Uni bum for the next few years of my life....

I think I'm turning Hippy!

School Picnic

We have begun the solar system of Paper Mache with the children after spending ages making a model for them to work off...There are always problems when you have 21 children in your class and only 9 planets (including Pluto) and a star to work with!
Picnic near the river tomorrow which I am really looking forward to. Courtney and I bought 360 lollies to hide around the area for the children to find and eat! Really quite late at night here so had better make this post short as I want to be up bright and early to set it all up!
I am going white water rafting this weekend again on the Beas river and next weekend I am arranging (slowly) to go paragliding. Really jumping feet first into the whole extreme sports thing over here....just need to get fit so I can do the really hard core stuff!
Love to you all and enjoy your weekends!

Sickening Moment

Had a heart stopping moment whilst teaching today. I had just got the grade 1 class to begin playing the game sleeping lions, whoever invented that game deserves a Nobel Prize btw, when I turn my back towards the far corner of the room. A mistake I should have known not to make, as it is the corner where the two naughtiest boys in the class sit. I hear a loud, hollow thud sound and as I turn around I see a boy lying on the ground letting out a piercing scream. It really is a moment of shock when you realise a boy who was sitting with his head lying on the desk pretending to be asleep one moment can be seriously injured the next. I ran to him and it was immediately apparent that he had hit his head upon the desk. Whether from getting up and running or from clambering on his chair and falling I am still unsure, the only eye witness accounts are all spoken by 6 year olds in shotgun Hindi. He had a minor abrasion on his forehead as well as quite serious swelling which formed instantaneously.
What was worse is the attitude and actions of the teachers when I toke him downstairs to be treated. Instead of comforting him and providing medical care, they began admonishing him in loud tones and no one seemed to be moving to help him. It was a time like this that I wanted to scream at the Indian culture around me!
You realise the inadequacy of schools here when anything goes wrong. The first aid kit consisted of all of 6 bandaids and roll of Cotton wool and one bottle of dettol.
None of these were any help to a sore little head that needed a cold pack and a clotting agent. All I could do was sit and hug him in my lap until he stopped crying and make sure he didn't fall asleep as I image he would have had a concussion.
I imagine all teachers have to deal with seeing children hurt themselves, it is so heart breaking it would put me off teaching altogether!

The sight of huge bunches of balloons being carried through the streets reminded me so strongly of a short story written by Holly Flude, I just had to capture this image for her..so here you go Holly, this one is for you :)

Whilst just wandering in the back streets of Amritsar I came upon a bull, fully dressed in ceremonial garb. The people leading it were very admit that I should take a  picture and I was more than happy to oblige!

This is me taking one of those self conscious tourist photos in front of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, a very hot and dazzlingly beautiful day.

Those Moments....

Had a surreal moment one night ago.....
Had gone to Manali after school, already with a developing head cold and the bus trip back was in pitch darkness, the light only showing the very edge of the precipice as you drove along at such a rate you would become airborne on the ridges as well as the potholes. My signalling to the ticket master resulted in me being let off far past my stop and lugging my gear for twice the distance I needed to normally, I found myself walking beside a man in thongs, traditional Himachel pants and jacket and a Cabana hat!
His flowing fruits and flowers jolted with each shuffling step and I couldn't help but wonder whether I was hallucinating on my Cold and Flu tablets!
After parting ways, I couldn't but help noticing that I looked at all around me, considering how out of the ordinary everything is here and how much I have already accepted things as they are. It made me wonder how it is that people who are surrounded by difference, and what greater difference than that between humans, cannot come to accept and enjoy all as the wonderful extravagances of Mother Nature?