The school closed down for a few days due to the nationwide panic here regarding H1N1. Although this became eventually became a state ruling for all schools, it wasn’t helped here at the orphanage by the other teachers who insisted on teaching their lessons in face masks. The exams I’ve just written for every subject have also been cancelled. My classes themselves have continued to have their ups and downs. I’ve tried my best to stick to the curriculum but have on the whole have wavered off onto my own agenda of what I believe matters in life!

I’m getting used to their sudden (although very occasional) outbursts of violence which have to be expected as the children here will have been to exposed to it from a very young age. It’s tough dealing with it sometimes though and knowing what to do.

On a more positive note, one of my students, Hitesh, had his 14th birthday a few weeks ago. It fell on a Wednesday and I decided to ignore the fact we had school all day, and introduced them to some birthday and Christmas games I’ve grown up with. This included a chocolate treasure hunt (in the coconut trees that surround us), pin the tail on the donkey (a HUGE success), a failed attempt at a memory game, and some musical statues. He thought I was going to buy him a mobile phone for some reason… I soon put him right on that one.

Independence Day was celebrated here on the 15th August which coincided with the Inauguration of the Virgin Mary (a big day in the Catholic Church). Here at St. Gonzalez Ashram we were to host a number of processions, speeches, flag raising ceremonies, singing and dancing. As I may have mentioned, the school/orphanage is built within the grounds of Vasai Fort which meant a large number of people from surrounding villages came to enjoy the party. The children here had been practicing various speeches in the weeks running up to the day and on the whole it was a big success.

I have learnt since that the celebrations are normally much bigger than this, with double the amount of people – however again due to Swine Flu a lot of villagers decided to stay indoors and it was a bit more conservative.

The day finished with a screening of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ on the Star network (shown in Hindi). We took the opportunity to go in search of a well deserved beverage after the long day, only to find it was a dry day and we would have no such luck! The local Shisha café would have to suffice.

A regular activity over the past few weeks has been a 515pm football match with the fishermen from the local village. We normally play a 10 Vs 10 game with one Gora (a white person...) on each team. Although good fun, these games are a bit frustrating because they are SO uncoordinated and have only very limited English. The games are also very stop/start due to fact they all scream ‘HAND! HAND! HAND!’ at any whisper of a possible handball.

Because the pitch had been ruined yesterday due to a sudden resurgence of the monsoon, I decided to take them through some training routines. These actually went down quite well - however the match we played afterwards confirmed my suspicions that they had learnt nothing and the ball continued to fly into the jungle that surrounds us here.

Having been on a few long train journeys into Maharashtra, we decided last weekend to take a risk and go only a few stops north of Vasai to explore the more local surroundings. We ended up in a place called Virar, 20minutes up the coast. Having picked one of the hottest days to do this excursion, we were in hope of some entertainment quickly and we weren’t disappointed. After wandering around aimlessly for all of 5 minutes, a local group of boys pointed up to the mountains looming over us and gestured enthusiastically. It was enough for us! and 10 minutes later we were at a type of flea market at the foot of these mountains surrounded by 100s of Indian tourists. It turned out we were at the foot of the Jivdani temple and were about to embark on the 2100 steps to the top. A well worth experience, with excellent cheap food at the top as well, not to mention the spectacular view we had.

The weekend just gone, the three of us (Myself, Will and Greg) headed back into Mumbai for some Premiership football and the last of the Ashes. It was also the start of the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival, and on the Sunday we headed to Dadar ‘a suburb of Mumbai’ in search of the famous Elephant idols that litter Maharashtra at this time. This involved being blessed quite a lot by little Indian men and being made to say a prayer to the particular idol, which is known for its good luck.

Approaching the end of my stint here at the orphanage now. It has probably been the most bizarre 2 months of my life. Not only the fact I’m in India and everything that comes with that - but also the eccentric Catholic boss I’ve had and the 24/7 company of the strangest group of children I’ve ever encountered. I hope to come back before I leave the country, if only for a few days.