after a truly awful start to the week, things are looking up. I was still  sick from monday to wednesday and finally made it to the doctors by mid-week. he wanted me to go on antibiotics and have some tests done- far too much hassle though- so i decided to see if things would just settle down. Luckily i feel okay now- although its fair to say that none of us are particularly great. Too much curry is definitely a bad thing!

          meanwhile, we have finally finished working at the school. i cant say i was sad to say goodbye. i was truly ready for a nice change of scenery. we did get an invitation to Madame Dalmiers house though (shes from one of the richest families in India and is a benefactor to the school) and the food was awesome. i still couldnt eat much but managed to force down the butterscotch icecream for dessert!

       also on wednesday we went to a lebanese restaurant with our friend Myra. I stupidly attempted some alcohol (why do I do these things??) and thoroughly regretted it. The place was pretty posh and we had some lovely apple sheeshas to smoke- so quite a nice night. yesterday we had a huge shopping trip to the Main Bazaar in the city center. I have decided that its one of my favourite places on earth. ive bought so many new clothes and presents (for some lucky, lucky people) that i think ill have to have 2 extra bags on the trip home. i also got the pleasure of seeing hundreds of filthy, unwashed, dreadlocked backpackers who all think theyre so great. (ive developed a dislike for anyone who thinks its cool to not wash for weeks.) crazy fools.

      and to top it all off- we're going to pizza express tonight to say a final farewell to Delhi.

     ill let you know how i get on in Dehradun. Im living with a family for a week and then staying in a flat share with the rest of the guys for the last 3 weeks of my stay. im not looking forward to being force-fed dal for a week but at least i should finally get some clean clothes!! joy

Sorry I havent been writing much about India. Its all a little hectic. As my last entry says, we spent the majority of last week in bed. Once recovered, we did manage to celebrate with a night at pizza hut and then seeing Ice Age 2- which was awesome.

    Also at the weekend we visited a friends house. Her grandfather was president of India in the 70s and her grandmother is techniquely a princess- so you can imagine what the house was like!!! Afterwards Mollie, Lauren and I decided to go out to the Taj hotel to try and dance. It was fun but well expensive and so we returned home having only bought 2 drinks between us!

       We also attempted to go to the Main Bazaar for some shopping. As always, I went with the intention of buying gifts for everyone back at home and ended up buying stuff for myself instead. But another trip has been planned for this weekend to make up for it! On sunday we leave for Dehradun- I cant wait. Im now a little fed up with Delhi, the food, the dust, the heat, and even the people.

    On the plus side- it is now only 5 weeks til i get home and maybe then ill finally be able to eat some nice food again!

So...... after my epic plane journeys on monday, i arrived at Delhi airport at 3am with Phil. it was absolute chaos- which pretty much describes Dehli in general.

   There are cows on the road, beggars who come up to you and literally try to take the clothes off your back and the jewellry off your hands. its dusty to the point that you are constantly dirty and your clothes are never clean. its sweltering hot and unfortunately i am the only one out of the 6 of us who has already succumbed to Delhi belly!!!
 
     and i cant explain why, but I LOVE IT!!

   we live in the 3rd storey flat of a guy called the Colonel. hes an absolute hero, who is always wearing colour coordinated turbans. he cooks us fantastic meals and we have the use of his two servants. (although we all find that a bit wierd.)  he is always giving us advice and to be honest we couldnt have picked a better host. i even find the fact that there is no hot water in the flat exciting. we have to shower by dangling our various body parts under the cold tap on the wall!
    on thursday we did a day trip around delhi to see all the monuments, temples and markets of the new and old cities. it was such an eyeopener. poverty everywhere- and even more obvious than the Brasilian favellas. but we got to see all the sights, do some shopping and try on saris in a huge market. i am going to return to england with about 20- they are all so colourful and when youre wearing them you feel very elegant. goodness knows when ill wear them- down the pub perhaps??

     we also visited the schools that we'll be working at. the projects look good and hopefully ill get a chance to actually teach while im here.the level of spoken english is very high so i have been assigned to the science and maths classes-  im in heaven. ( such a geek.) the lessons start on monday, we have to get a rickshaw at 6.30am every morning. far too early for my liking.

     speaking of rickshaws- my friends and i got conned for the first time today. whenever you catch a rickshaw you partake in the usual bartering to make sure youre not getting ripped off. so me, siobhan and sarah were really pleased when we got into one whos driver didnt try to charge us too much, we let our guard down because he was chatting to us and being very friendly. so when he offered to point out a nice market on the way- we said ok. unfortunately he pulled over in a rough looking area and told us to get out and go into the market to buy something. he wouldnt take no for an answer so we demanded for him to take us home. in the end we got out of the rickshaw and ran off without paying. he followed us for a while but must have lost interest. im so proud of how we handled it- its really difficult not to just give in and pay more money. but just goes to show that everyone is trying to con you out here.

           i think ill have a fantastic time in india. im so excited about seeing the Taj Mahal next weekend and about moving up to Dehrandun after 5 weeks. its closer to the Himalayas and should be cooler. i also may be able to work in a hospital while im there which would be awesome. i neednt have worried about the food because the Colonel arranges lovely homecooked meals for us and where we live (the Defence Colony) is close to lots of nice markets.

    so all in all im having a great time. the guys in the flat are all really nice people- some are at the start of their GAP trip and some, like me, are at the end- its a good mix.

Well, the bridge climb was awesome. I met lots of nice people and had spectacular views despite a rainy morning. it was a great way to top off my time in sydney. im hoping to take a train up to the blue mountains on saturday to go and see what all the fuss is about and also planning to catch up with all my mates before i go. im nervous about India but also very excited, its going to be strange leaving the kids and ill miss the family so much.

   im also well excited about going home now too. it was dads birthday this weekend so i got to speak to all my family and got a little homesick. ive been hanging out with my cousin and we managed to get tickets to a rugby league match (the team lost again- im a jinx) but afterwards we got hugely drunk and played pool til we couldnt drink anymore. st paddys day was a bit of a let down- i met friends in town and the atmosphere was great- but as always i got too drunk too soon and packed myself off to bed by 8pm. im such a lightweight.

     Probably wont update the site again til ive settled in India. So wish me luck- im gonna need it.