Day 4 and 5- whitewash madness!

Hi all,

Apologies for the lack of post yesterday, there was great excitement about visiting a western-style fast food joint last night which meant we ran out of time. Pizza hut and a KFC-like dinners two nights in a row is a welcome break from curry! But have no fear, we are back to the Indian tonite :)

Yesterday (Thurs) was a day much like Wed, with the team split between two houses. One team continued the whitewashing in one house, and the other was working on cementing and brickwork on the roof of another house. Yet again everyone worked very hard and we flew through the tasks. There was also a noticeable lift to morale and energy in the team, with everyone seeming much more lively. Either we are adapting better to the heat or it was pizza-inspired!

At night we hit CK Chicken, another sign of India striving to emulate the western world. It is much in the style of KFC back home. In one hand it is sad that the Indian people seem to think our lifestyle is something to follow- when you see the state our country and society is in sometimes it makes you wonder.

On the other hand- that was some goooooooood chicken!!! :D

At night Lorna and Susan led us in our reflection time, with a discussion about some of the struggles we have had this week- for Lorna it has been the heat (which was a widespread struggle in the group), for others it was the food and the last big struggle has been the language and culture barriers. Thankfully, no-one seemed to suggest that any of these struggles were ongoing- it seems like we have overcome them, and we can only thank God for that.

Today we were split into 3 groups, 2 for whitewashing (again!!) and one group working on cementing a roof. The whitewash has literally coated many of the team members by this point, with it being extremely stubborn to wash from hands- we were white enough to start with!! Blair also had an unfortunate incident with one homeowner as he tried to help the old man down from a ladder, only to realise that the old man was wearing no underwear and only had a cloth wrapped round him- Blair still shivers in fear at the memory of that sight

Johnny and Sam also had an unspoken competition to see who could get the most whitewash in their eyes- Sam's painful red eye is an unfortunate sign he won that

After lunch we were treated to a "cultural experience"- a traditional dance and performance group...or so we were assured. What it really was- an hour solid of loud drums, some dude on a clarinet and two women who, i swear, were just making up a dance as they went along. Then some guy performed rather cool circus-style tricks, and one of the dancer women was chased for 10 minutes by a man dressed as a giant peacock.

Still havent a clue what that is about.

For the finale members of the BB team and the Irish team were invited up to join in the dancing, with Lorna really getting into the swing of things while Glen and myself stood at the side and tried not to dance. Susan was also dragged up and forced to dance with the crazed dancer ladies.

Andrew, Blair and Sam were also all invited up but were too chicken, and clearly not confident in their manhood- i hope they read this (buk buk buk chickens!!)

So we have returned to the hotel now and are looking forward to a good Indian dish tonite :)

A few more note-worthy happenings-

Andrew and Adam have been late. A lot.

Roger and Adam decided to push one of the Irish girls into the pool when she was simply sunbathing beside it, prompting much shouting and a lot of laughter

William is now part-man, part-whitewash

Johnny continues in his attempts to woo Lorna, drawing her a picture and sharing a sort-of-romantic breakfast with her this morning.

Johnny has also been running away from anything with 8 legs

Dale told us he is really bad at throwing. Even knowing this, he continued to try to throw a ball today. He proved that he is really bad at throwing

Lorna has had to borrow Roger's swimming shorts, which actually look more suitable on her than Roger

Adam Stewart has entertained us all with a high-pitched squeal every time he jumps in the water

Badger continues to wow us all with chemical speak, today attempting to explain what DEET was. Bug spray is all we needed to know. He has also finally settled into the food, with his toilet visits much decreased :)

Blair is a woman who just about finished a tiny pizza, even though he spent close to an hour complaining about being really hungry. He also absolutely hates Indian music and spent most of the hour today watching the traditional dance with his fingers in his ears

Sam turned an odd shade of yellow today when any whitewash touched his arms. We still cant quite work that one out

And Glen has been sleeping an awful lot- old age is really catching up with him! He is also the only member of the team who hasnt white washed yet, and we still arent sure how he is getting away with it.

Susan has taken all of Adam's ginger jokes well, but it is only a matter of time til the red-head anger gets the better of her

So we are heading for dinner now, we hope and pray that everyone back at home is keeping well. Thank you to everyone who has left comments, we will be passing them on to the team tonite after our reflection time. We would still appreciate any more, so get signed up and comment to your heart's content!!

All the best,

Michael McConkey, BA, BB, KIA, RSPCA
and the undisputed fastest swimmer in the group (mwahahaha Johnny...)