So it’s been nearly a month since I arrived in India, and I think I am beginning to settle into life here. I’d like to say I’m picking up the lingo… and it’s not like the children here aren’t eager to teach me, it’s just I’m very bad at languages anyway. My failure to remember what they teach me is met with grave faces of disappointment. I find their names hard enough to remember anyway.

I’m hoping the day in hospital I spent (due to food poisoning) has meant I’ve toughened up my stomach for future foods I may encounter. The people in the local village have also stopped gawping at us - which may be a sign we have been accepted, or simply that they have lost interest in us!

So anyway - my work at the orphanage is now in full swing. The American guy, Zane, has now left completely which means I have taken full control of his 6th standard Class. There are 5 in my class and they are around 13/14 years old. Their names are Hitesh (the sporty one), Ravi (the know it all), Dinesh (the funny one), Paresh (the clever one) and Kumar, who is the class wimp (but also my favourite!) The school day begins at 7:45am with a recital of the “Me and My Nation India” statement which denotes something about remaining loyal to the India and ‘their brothers’… I then have to take them through 30 minutes of Catholic studies. This practice is a bit farcical. I would probably describe myself as an agnostic at best, and the children when I ask them state that they are Hindus. Therefore neither of us believe or I think want to go through this practice, let alone every day. Never the less, the school has many rules like this which we are expected to abide by and we go through Bible studies every day. Myself and Will have asked Father Francis if maybe we could teach them about other religions, and make it into more of a ‘religious study’, but he tells us that this is not necessary… Lessons are 30 minutes long and I have the official Maharashtran textbooks in which to plan them. They’re very much like old year 8 textbooks I remember but a bit more boring. According to my class, Zane used to just let them copy questions and answers each lesson without doing any actual work. I’ve therefore had to resort to bribery, and have a stash of English sweets I brought with me to use as prizes for tests I am setting.

The education system here is rather regimented (along with most things at the orphanage). Geography for example has a very limited spectrum. I have taken to teaching them about individual countries, as they are clueless about world geography and eager to learn about it. I began with the UK, and then moved onto America - California in particular because that’s where Zane was from, and finally India - which they appear to have no idea about geographically.

The other subjects I teach are Maths, Science, History English and Grammar (I’m spared teaching the Hindi and Marathi lessons). We also have PT (Physical Time), which the other teachers in the school use to put the children through a series of yoga-type exercise routines. It’s pretty weird. I’ve created a ‘Cricket Test’ in theme with all the other tests we’re made to set the children. They each get 3 overs ‘in bat’, with -6 runs for if they get out. The winner is the person who scores the most runs. It’s very simple.

We have lessons through until 1 pm when we have lunch. At 2pm the school has 2 hours supervised revision time when the children must study for tests they have been set. I have been given control of the 2nd Standard, a class of 8/9 year olds. It’s a challenging 2 hours every day due to the fact the first week I was here I gave them the impression it was OK to either jump all over me, swing from my arms or play thumb wars/rock,paper,scissors. They are very clever kids though and learn most of what they need to know for the next day’s test within 15 minutes.

Between 4pm and 8pm we normally play a big game of football or cricket within the grounds of the orphanage. This is a bit tricky as there are coconut trees everywhere and piles of gravel or bricks left over from unfinished building work on site. The games normally go quiet well though, and we sometimes get the local fishermen involved who are at the school using the onsite rope making machine we appear to be host for. Due to the array of obstacles, every game is rife with various injuries to the children (mostly the smaller ones getting a ball to the head) but also cuts and bruises. It was discovered early on that I had brought a roll of bandage with me from the UK. Since then I seem to have taken on the mantle of school doctor. Most days, I am met with cries of ‘Brother Joy!’ (what they call me...) ‘Look! Look! Bandage! Bandage!’ pointing at dubious looking grazes at points on their body. I have to make an on the spot diagnosis and decide whether they are worthy of a bandage. The roll has now run out and I will not be purchasing another one… The day finishes with 45 minutes of final study time before dinner. This takes place in the big bedroom they sleep in which is full of military-style 3 storey bunkbeds.

Myself and ‘William Brother’ (what they call Will) have decided that we are going to try and get at least one day away from the orphanage per week. Last week we took the 8 hour train journey to Aurangabad, and found out the hard way that it is best to reserve these long journeys… It did give me a chance to finish the book that all travelers in India seem to be reading ‘Shant Aram’ – VERY recommended if anyone is stuck on their next book.

We took the trip in order to visit the Ellora Caves, a collection of 34 Hindu, Jain and Buddhist Caves that have been excavated in mainland Maharashtra. They were well worth the journey, and we experienced no monsoon rains while we were there either. The Indian tourists that were there however seemed more content taking photos of myself and Will rather than the caves themselves! We then had a bit of lazy day in Aurangabad and were disappointed to learn that the heats of the regions "Mr Asia Championships" were to be held there the next day. Very gutted we were to miss out on that one.

We decided to get the overnight sleeper train (reserved) back to Mumbai, which didn’t leave until midnight. Luckily we managed to find an English language cinema and caught Ice Age 3, a Samosa and a large Coke for the equivalent of about £1.80!

This week we have been a little less adventurous and I write this from a dorm in the ‘Delight Hotel’ in downtown Mumbai. We travelled down from Vesai last night in order to catch some of the Ashes, only to find bad light was to stop play after 1 hour. A hot day is forecast tomorrow so we plan on being tourists for the day and may go in search of some of Mumbai’s famous Mosques and Temples. I’ll leave it there as the internet café I’m in keeps losing power and I need some dinner!