for some reason my lst blog didnt postr so i will get to it as soon as im back in manali.

well its been 2 weeks since i last wrote a blog and well the first week at school was nothing special, lots more reading and hindi learning so pretty much the same as usual. Last weekened Elyse and i went to Kullu and i bought a sari and another salwaar kameze which i dont need. howver in the 4 shops i went into somehow i managed to either lose or have my credit cards stolen. so after much searching and stressing i called mum who cancelled them straight away. they literally just disappeard and i cant think where. although on the bus ride into manali we did see an elephant which was really cool. we were sitting next to the bus window when all of a sudden this massive ear and eye appears and we realsied it was a elephant!. its weird to see one in kullu becuase they dont live in the Himachal. that saturday night i stayed at DUF (the childrens home) and we played for hours with the kdis letting them do our hair and use our cameras, theyre all such wonderful kids. i talked to Aunty (who runs the home) and the money everyone gave me is going to go towards the yr 11 and 12 education for 3 girls who could otherwise not complete the years at school becuase of lack of funds.

on sunday we did lots more shopping and got more shorts tailored and another jacket made which will be handy for europe.

this week we talked to the principal about our sittuation and wanting to leave because of not feeling as though theirs a need for us in the school. howveer she took it very personally and kept saying what a negative impact it would have on her and on us. but in reality the other teachers support us leaving and its only her that has an issue with it and i dont relaly value her opinion. so she gave us a few more classes which we actually alreayd took (music, art, library) and she gave us one english class per week which for me is at the same time as their test period so i cant actually teach. so we only have one class per day and the rest of the day is spent reading again. iv nearly memoried the hindi alphabet though but their are some bits which i just ant get the hang of.

we went to a teachers house on wednesday night and played with her daughter gracie, her husband is from melbourne and shes from Nagaland. so because we were guests she cooked us a special nagaland dish - chicken gizzards. it was possibly the most foul tasitng thing iv ever eathen. despite all the spices and flavours it tasted absolutely revolting but ate it to be polite.

last night i had the bus ride from helll to get to daramsala. it was a public bus so just a seat with i think possibly the two fattest indians sitting next to me. the bus was packed and i had my bag on my lap the whole time being squished up against the window with one of the fat men leaning up agaenst me. so i decided to try the elbow technique where i just continueed to ebow him until he moved over onto his seat. unfortuanly he clearly found comfort in by elbow and began to use it as a support. so in the end i just had to keep shoving him with my body over every 5 mins for 10 hrs! it nearly drove me insane. however the one thing i do love about india is th efriendliness. for example when we stopped in mandi (half way) a couple just invited me to have dinner cos i was standing there all by myslef looking like an idot. i declined and went and bought a drink and began talkng to another man about the austrealian economy (failing my yer 10 economics class really didnt help becuase he seemed to know a lot more than me) . just by talking to peopl you learn so mcuh about india.

so today im in daramsala with 2 hrs sleep and offf to have chai with daisy jo and her mum.

speak to you all soon

mis you loads

xxxx