On 28th December 2016 at around 10.30pm my plane touched down in Delhi and this new life that i had been planning for for six months was finally beginning. I had some kind of idea how i thought life might end up looking but at the same time had no idea how it would all work out or i guess, if it even would. So a year down the line, a year of living in Jaipur and making India my home, what are my reflections and thoughts on the whole thing!
I think you never know what to expect when you move somewhere new, never mind to a completely different country. I think you also, or rather i did, have these notions that i was completely starting again and would be closing that chapter on my old life and it would completely begin again, instead it has been both a merging of the two countries and old ways creeping back in. For example i never thought i would return to the UK at all and yet i went back in August and i ended up doing some massage work for three weeks which was a huge help to me and something i plan to continue doing a couple of times a year. So having the best of both countries which is an unbelievable privilege.
Firstly where did it all begin in India and how do i end the year. At the beginning of the year i started teaching in a slum school. When i came out here i wasn't sure initially what i would be doing for the charity but as one of their teachers had left it was a natural progression that i would step in to the role. I then began to teach the children in one of the slum schools and was staying in an annexe attached to the apartment of the guy who ran the charity. I had this vision, that i would learn to cook Indian food and go out with friends and learn Hindi and keep working with the charity and making a difference. Beyond that I hadn't thought too much of how it would all look.
How it looks now!.....I no longer work for the charity, after 8 months of working hard for them and putting up with a lot of issues I decided it was time to move on to other projects. I'm ending a year in India with having set up my own massage business. I began creating it back in March but did not begin to set it up properly till September after i had spent a month in the UK obtaining a new visa. I'm ending the year with my massage business up and running and I do massage work for around three hotels. It's a slow progression but I'm managing to end the month with a little bit of money left over for the odd treat and it's a great feeling to know I have hit self sufficiency.
I hoped to end the year working in social causes as that's why i came out here and I'm happy to say that along with my friend, we are setting up our own NGO and so social causes are still important to me. I also help out and have links with several other NGOs here and am dabbling with the social causes here and there and so am still very much actively involved although perhaps not the way I had anticipated.
I guess that has been one of the biggest changes, as i came out here to work for that particular charity and anticipated putting in maybe two years for them. When i left the UK i also had no plans to start massaging again or only a little bit here and there. I didn't envisage that living in India would be so difficult or how much i would be affected by not working and earning money. Mentally it began to play on me and massage is a real passion of mine so i was really missing it. I also think i expected to find paid work or spend less than i have. I've always been careful with my money but I found out India is not as cheap as you first expect it to be. So i end the year doing a different job to the one I first thought i would be doing but i feel that what I'm doing is right for me. It's also exciting trying to bring remedial massage to India and to be able to help people.
I also end the year with a wonderful bunch of friends who i know i can rely on and who mean so much to me. They make me smile and their people i can count on and who have helped me out so much. I guess i never thought i would find my place or people and I've realised not only am I at home in India, i have a lovely bunch of supportive friends who i can count on. I have a wonderful partner who is kinder than i could have imagined and who puts up with my weird ways. I get to work with people that are getting used to my strange British behaviour and am creating a strong hold here.
I don't cook as much as i would like but that is largely to always being so busy working on numerous things as i try many ways to make a holding for myself here. I do enjoy baking though although a lot of that I do for friends. I'm still learning Hindi, that has quietened down a little over the last few months as i focus on work projects but i still try to study at home and not only have i managed to keep this up but i really hope to be semi fluent by the end of 2018. It's pretty cool ending the year being able to converse with people a little and every day i feel like the language is clicking with me more and more.
When i moved out here i also had this rather daft notion that i would get mahendi done regularly and wear lots of Indian clothes and live a very Indian life. I think that was a naive view i had and I also realised that things i began doing in the beginning in an Indian way, slowly got changed back to some of my old ways and i don't mind that. I feel like i am finding a way to live in a new country whilst still being my own person and finding my place with that.
It's hard to believe a year has passed and it has been a tough one. Fortunately it has been one where you don't realise how tough it is until you're reflecting back! It was tough though but it was always going to be. When you swap an easier lifestyle for a more complex and challenging county that's exactly what you're going to get and although sometimes i wish it was easier, I always thrive on the challenges. That being said, i think i never envisaged it taking so long to get so many things sorted here. For example it took me six months to try and set up a bank account and i only managed that due to a friend! Honestly, my friends and i tend to rejoice when we manage to get something sorted out and it's not actually difficult!
I guess i never knew what to expect my life to look like after a year. As i say, i think i envisaged still working for the charity, spending time with those colleagues and being part of the family and living a very conservative life. Where i find myself, is having set up my own business, earning enough money to get by, having a good group of friends who are supportive but that i can have fun with, being actively involved in social causes and setting up an NGO and having someone who makes me laugh and happy. More importantly, after a year, i basically just feel at home! It is my home. I continue to still be challenged, shocked and learn new things all the time but it's a place i feel i need to be right now.
As for where i see myself in a year's time, i hope it's not too different from now, but only better as right now, I'm super happy and I'm living a happy life.
I think you never know what to expect when you move somewhere new, never mind to a completely different country. I think you also, or rather i did, have these notions that i was completely starting again and would be closing that chapter on my old life and it would completely begin again, instead it has been both a merging of the two countries and old ways creeping back in. For example i never thought i would return to the UK at all and yet i went back in August and i ended up doing some massage work for three weeks which was a huge help to me and something i plan to continue doing a couple of times a year. So having the best of both countries which is an unbelievable privilege.
Firstly where did it all begin in India and how do i end the year. At the beginning of the year i started teaching in a slum school. When i came out here i wasn't sure initially what i would be doing for the charity but as one of their teachers had left it was a natural progression that i would step in to the role. I then began to teach the children in one of the slum schools and was staying in an annexe attached to the apartment of the guy who ran the charity. I had this vision, that i would learn to cook Indian food and go out with friends and learn Hindi and keep working with the charity and making a difference. Beyond that I hadn't thought too much of how it would all look.
How it looks now!.....I no longer work for the charity, after 8 months of working hard for them and putting up with a lot of issues I decided it was time to move on to other projects. I'm ending a year in India with having set up my own massage business. I began creating it back in March but did not begin to set it up properly till September after i had spent a month in the UK obtaining a new visa. I'm ending the year with my massage business up and running and I do massage work for around three hotels. It's a slow progression but I'm managing to end the month with a little bit of money left over for the odd treat and it's a great feeling to know I have hit self sufficiency.
I hoped to end the year working in social causes as that's why i came out here and I'm happy to say that along with my friend, we are setting up our own NGO and so social causes are still important to me. I also help out and have links with several other NGOs here and am dabbling with the social causes here and there and so am still very much actively involved although perhaps not the way I had anticipated.
I guess that has been one of the biggest changes, as i came out here to work for that particular charity and anticipated putting in maybe two years for them. When i left the UK i also had no plans to start massaging again or only a little bit here and there. I didn't envisage that living in India would be so difficult or how much i would be affected by not working and earning money. Mentally it began to play on me and massage is a real passion of mine so i was really missing it. I also think i expected to find paid work or spend less than i have. I've always been careful with my money but I found out India is not as cheap as you first expect it to be. So i end the year doing a different job to the one I first thought i would be doing but i feel that what I'm doing is right for me. It's also exciting trying to bring remedial massage to India and to be able to help people.
I also end the year with a wonderful bunch of friends who i know i can rely on and who mean so much to me. They make me smile and their people i can count on and who have helped me out so much. I guess i never thought i would find my place or people and I've realised not only am I at home in India, i have a lovely bunch of supportive friends who i can count on. I have a wonderful partner who is kinder than i could have imagined and who puts up with my weird ways. I get to work with people that are getting used to my strange British behaviour and am creating a strong hold here.
I don't cook as much as i would like but that is largely to always being so busy working on numerous things as i try many ways to make a holding for myself here. I do enjoy baking though although a lot of that I do for friends. I'm still learning Hindi, that has quietened down a little over the last few months as i focus on work projects but i still try to study at home and not only have i managed to keep this up but i really hope to be semi fluent by the end of 2018. It's pretty cool ending the year being able to converse with people a little and every day i feel like the language is clicking with me more and more.
When i moved out here i also had this rather daft notion that i would get mahendi done regularly and wear lots of Indian clothes and live a very Indian life. I think that was a naive view i had and I also realised that things i began doing in the beginning in an Indian way, slowly got changed back to some of my old ways and i don't mind that. I feel like i am finding a way to live in a new country whilst still being my own person and finding my place with that.
It's hard to believe a year has passed and it has been a tough one. Fortunately it has been one where you don't realise how tough it is until you're reflecting back! It was tough though but it was always going to be. When you swap an easier lifestyle for a more complex and challenging county that's exactly what you're going to get and although sometimes i wish it was easier, I always thrive on the challenges. That being said, i think i never envisaged it taking so long to get so many things sorted here. For example it took me six months to try and set up a bank account and i only managed that due to a friend! Honestly, my friends and i tend to rejoice when we manage to get something sorted out and it's not actually difficult!
I guess i never knew what to expect my life to look like after a year. As i say, i think i envisaged still working for the charity, spending time with those colleagues and being part of the family and living a very conservative life. Where i find myself, is having set up my own business, earning enough money to get by, having a good group of friends who are supportive but that i can have fun with, being actively involved in social causes and setting up an NGO and having someone who makes me laugh and happy. More importantly, after a year, i basically just feel at home! It is my home. I continue to still be challenged, shocked and learn new things all the time but it's a place i feel i need to be right now.
As for where i see myself in a year's time, i hope it's not too different from now, but only better as right now, I'm super happy and I'm living a happy life.
