Don't 'Complan', it's just water.

Here is the latest update for you all!

This is the Aussie-themed apple pie we had! Yum yum!

The funniest Indian graphic I have yet seen. One of the guys we had dinner with last night was born and raised in Kolkata, and he said that Complan was like a nutritional weight management for growing kids etc. So what you see is a boy growing too big for his shirt. But without knowing this, you could come up with some pretty hilarious captions. 

On the way home in the taxi last night. Took just under an hour to get there, and a little less on the way back. Only cost us each 50 Rupees = approx $1.50 in NZ. It was on the ride back when it starting pouring down, with thunder and lightening, and huge gusts of winds!

This is the sight I came home to last night - the rain had spread across the spare bed, onto the table next to it, which unfortunately had all of the items that you see on the bed..

The lovely (dying) flowers on my bedside table. So much pollen everywhere!

Good morning/evening to you!

I have no idea where to start updating, because a lot happens in just a couple of days. Yesterday morning Nate, Judy and I went to meet a guy who teaches english in Kolkata, and have arranged to learn Bangla from him on Mondays and Wednesdays, which I am so excited about! It will be good to slowly learn the basics, so I can at least have a brief conversation with the ladies at FS, and to be able to get into a taxi and know what to do etc.

Last night we went to dinner at some friends of Nate and Gabs, in South Kolkata - the richer part. It was so nice to be in a big group of people laughing and chatting in the same language, and eating a 'western' Mexican meal. So yum! I can only remember a couple of names of the people there, but they were all so welcoming and took me in. It's nice, because we are all here for similar reasons, and we have varying periods of time for how long we have been here, so we could share stories and advice etc.

I got to start doing basic design processing yesterday which was nice. It is a bit different to what I am used to, but I do like it.

Hmmm there is so many more things to tell, but I really cannot think of them all right now!

Well I am going to get out of my pyjamas now, get ready for work, and thank the Lord that the rain has stopped haha. Tonight there is a farewell party for one of the girls who is moving to NZ to study, but I am not entirely sure whether I will stay for long, as last night the jet-lag kicked in... I began to feel quite dizzy at dinner - I think a few of them thought I was just really shy, until they found out that I had arrived only two days earlier.

All in all, the days are getting warmer (it is noticeable even just after a few!), my feet are getting dirtier, but I am learning to love the city that I first thought was a mass of people just trying to live. But I am beginning to see it as so much more, as a functioning city that is just going with the flow of everyday life. It is just easier to get swept along than fight the current... I haven't quite understood the fact that I am in India yet, it is all still very surreal, and the sights I see haven't really sunk in.

I miss you all, but not too much!

Much love.

x

It is so lovely to be home.

I have just spent part of the afternoon relaxing in the garden with Smokey (the cat), who has been a psycho and chasing his own tail and my feet. But now the sun is out, these flowers are just such bright colours and so pretty to look at - naturally I had to whip the camera out:

This is my amazing film camera that I scored for $2 on TradeMe. It is a Minolta Uniomat, and I am in love with it's saturated photographs it produces. You can see examples of these in my Flickr account.

Mum and I started a fitness bootcamp this week that starts at 5.45am (!) on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I didn't go to the next session, nor will I go to any further sessions... I was ill in my first and only trial after eating something bad the night before. Just became a bad experience overall. Dancing, walking and going to the gym suit me much better as forms of exercise.

Back to Auckland tomorrow to do a couple of shifts!

x