First Update!

Hello everyone! This is the first chance ive had to get to a computer so far, so sorry this has not come sooner. We are now in Chennai (Steve, Luke and myself). and today was our first whole day. We flew down yesterday from Mumbai where we'd spent the last few days getting over jet lag and getting used to India and also a bit or orientation invloving talks from various oasis staff. for those particular about grammar/punctuation, im sorry but i have lots to write so its now going completly out of the window!

this is going to be very long as it is the first week. later updates will be more personal, but have been up to so much need to get it all in to start with (nb steve t!).

Flight was delayed 2 hours, and arrived in mumbai in the midday heat. very humid and hot. we were immediatly set upon by some porters insisting to puch our trolleys. most of us ebded up pushing ours with a porter holding on aswell desperate to earn some rupees. no sign of any poor kids etc yet. long cramped but thankfully airconditioned taxi ride to the YWCA (unfortunatly steve claire beth and co i dont think it was the same place you stayed).

i have so much to write about this week so will have to pick out only a few events!

first day after arrical changed and went for a walk on the streets, and to the gateway of india. sat on the grass for am hour or so chatting to majella the bangalore director who met us with leena at the airport. claire- majella is so funny! you were right about her being really nice! she remembers you. this majella has a very english sense of humour and is great fun. first full day had first authentic indian meal, and loved evry second! prob one of he best ive had, though mainly because of the situation etc etc. no one else is as keen on the food as myself and rox. ate with hands, aided by a large peice of naan. please nobody ask what we ate cos i have no idea except it wasnt too spicy for me!

love mumbari, the noise and bustle. cabs are so much fun to ride in! only been innone auto rickshaw so far and that was fun, especially cos i was percde in the front with the driver! did a small 'rupee runaround' where we split into 2 teams and had to follow a list of this to do using all the forms of transport. this had to be cut short though as a chnage of plan meant using half the time to travel to leena's (some sort of oasis mumbai director i think. top person) house instead of the arranged destination. c\became quite frustrated at the lack pf difficulty in this, after heatring great stories from steve and claire etc. however did become quite challenging as i will describe in a mo. went to the badesh restaurant as part of our ruaround. the other team did not eat like we did, which will become significant later! now can handed taxis by myself, and then used famous indian trains for the first time. got seats, but got a few large bellys bouncing around my sholders! good experience though. on the train for an hour as leena's house is in new mumbai, on the outskirts of the city. the city itself i think is great as it is located completly on a big peninsula, and for some reason this looks cool when you fly over it! has some dosas for supper. v nice. leena's family all christa\ians and tey are all so happy and content despite living in a tiny flat. on way back experienced indian male friendship first hand as one chap decided to sit on another to chat to his friend ans use my leg to support himse;f! odd, but i found it as funny as everyone else did!

beig asked for money onj streets a fair bit. having to turn lots down etc etc. there arent as many as i had imagingt however, having been told many stories. but then again we were quite sheltered for our few days. have been giving bananas whenever i have them and been asked. have given money occasionally when we felt it was right. met a eunuch on the train clapping her hands. ignored her and majella got her to go away.

the four of us who had eaten at the badesh then got sick, so i was officially the second person to get diarrheoa! passed after only 12 hours or so though. jo got very sick as did steve. church on sunday. amazed by passion of indian people in thier prayer. worship was repetitive, cos they only sang one song each time it was time to sing! great sermon on mission. will explain finer details about indian church when back in uk. shopping on fashion street. got some trousers (x2) and brown indian style shirt which i a now wearing. previously we had been taken to westside, a very western clothes shop, and press ganged into leena into buying some clothes! will describe more fully in later updates when it is relevant.

then flew down to chennai monday, thus splitting up the 6. flightwas very good, and jet airlines surprisingly efficient. ryanair is sooo bad in comparison!

arrived in chennai and met by a guy named swarmy. will tell you about him in future, good testimony! then taken to our flat. we have a main room with nothing in but a few chairs and lots of books left by previous team, a connected place to eat with a little fridge, a kitchen, a kettle that doesnt work, a toaster that doesnt work, a room where we sleep with 'en suite'.........hmmmm........has a western loo tho! then one other room which we have labeled the chill out room which has an indian toilet connected. 2 mins from the office, which is very small, and 5/10 from a proper shop! and this internet cafe 1-/15 mins away. loving it! weather here is less humid and polluted but very intense sun. the people are great and the flat is great and THERE ARE LOADS OF TREES!!!! we had been told there were none by previous team, but then again, they had not done very well apparently and has had many arguments with becky, the chennai director. we went up this huge hill today where there is this catholic church which st thomas (of 12 disiples fame)had something to do with, and there seem to be as many trees as houses!!! not many sky scrapers like mumbai. i think ive just been bitten by a mosquito. how annoying. anyway. today went sight seeing before visiting one of the projects. small little group of 'houses'. 20 or so kids (apparently there will be at least 2x the amount during non school times!) which we played a version of duck, duck goose with. couldve played the same games for days and they would not get bored! great fun, but got covered in horrible sand stuff from the floor cos we were playing too. back at the flat, the previous negative team had sdaid there was no shower, and only a bucket etc. lol there is a shower, but it wasnt working. so i fixed it and now we have a realy nice (in my opinion) shower! luke and i are goingto give the place a really big clean, cos he was a hospital cleaner and really wants it clean!

i myself am well. loving it out here. down south it is much more chiled out than mumbai. i think, as i have lots more to say about things and my thoughts and so on, i ill write another update tomorow or the next day. it is 10 40 now, so should be getting home.

thankyou so much to everyone who texted me etc before i left and night before, was really good of you! :)

i will reply to your emails tomorow/ the next day.

thanks for reading, more to come soon!

love,

josh xx