The most perfect moment of my existence.

It had been days of merciless, sweat-breaking heat; it was the excited voice of one of the women that broke through my concentration at work, "Bishti, bishti!"

My heart leapt - finally.

I ran outside to the balcony, plunging my hand into the crying sky, exclaiming my excitement with bursts of laughter. All around me others were doing the same, and we all shared the same smile with each other, lit with bright eyes.

My feet hurriedly carried me down a flight of stairs to the open courtyard in the centre of our building, and childlike again, I laughed, splashed, and clapped in the soothing rain's heavy tears. (Think Bollywood classic rain-dance scene).

Hearing pearls of piercing laughter behind me, I turned to see the faces of tiny humans, faces pressed against the bars to their creche. We ran to them, lifted them into the air, and led them into the presence of the rain, watching their expressions contort in mixed emotions; first the shock of the cold, then the smiles that split their faces in two from ear-to-ear, with an escaped giggle or scream here and there.

One of the girls immediately made herself comfortable in my arms once her feet had left the ground. She wound one arm around me to play with my hair, the the other hung by her side, and at times would hold my own arm. Her hed nestled into the hollow of my neck and shoulder, and I stood there, swaying in the rain, humming a tune I don't know, and closed my eyes, with her enjoying the cold against her bare back.

Holding my arm against her skin, it continued to shock me just how pale I have become since being here; I have taken every step to stay out of the sun (due to the heat), so I have become almost transparent, I swear!

From time to time she would lift her head right back, looking straight up into the path of the droplets of water, her smile frozen on her face, and I just stood in awe at the simplicity of her excitement. Rain back home would rarely cause this expression. For a split second she would make eye contact, grin, then continue her silent wonder at the falling sky, her bottom lip beginning to quiver from the cold.

The cracking sound of head-meets-concrete brought us all back to reality; one of the little boys was too excited, running around, and learned the consequences of gravity. His cries of pain caused a slight anxiety at first among us, but then we all couldn't help giggling, surrounding him, and smothering him in a thousand kisses.

Leaving the children to slide, splash, and squeal, I let my feet again traipse back up the stairs, and into my office, where I stared momentarily at my computer, and wondered, "Did that just happen?"

x

Rain, rain, and more rain.

For the past week and a half, more often than not, we have been cooled by nightly electrical thunderstorms. It has been the most uplifting period, being able to witness the sheer force of nature, and the spectacle of forked lightening all around us, chased by the constant growling of the sky.

Enjoy.

Anna found a sneaky way of climbing up onto the roof so we could watch nature's light-show.

x

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

Hello there!

So I have picked up my laptop on a typical slow, Auckland rainy day, with Rose in hand, and entered the tempting world of real blogging (real, in comparison to Tumblr).

I shall introduce myself: My name is Alanna, I am 20 years of age, and I study a BDes, Maj. in Textiles for Fashion at AUT - I am currently nearing the half way point of my degree.

I live in a lovely flat in New Zealand with three amazing girls who I am so privileged to include in my life.

My current long term plan is to set up a craft on-the-side business, as I super love handicrafts and anything that has the home-made authencity appeal to it; be it sewing, knitting, crocheting, book-binding etc. I will be using my inter-semester break in July to focus completely on this.

Hence the creating of this blog - where I can purge all of my creative ideas and inspiration onto these posts.

Oh, how much fun I am going to have, and how little uni-work I am going to achieve.

So, welcome to my world! x