Some mischievous visitors!

Life in India is always interesting, probably because it is so different from the UK!  In the UK we do not have peacocks wandering around or making a cat call every night as they settle down for the evening, we do not have parrots flying over us each day (unless your in a certain area of London!),  we do not have cows wandering freely everywhere, or elephants running red lights or camels pulling carts to work.  Nor do we have cheeky monkeys that break in to your house because you forget to close the gate and steal your bananas!

I first came across this group of monkeys when at 6am one morning, which is never a good time for Dannie, my friend and I were awoken by a loud banging noise outside.  I went out first to investigate and found a little monkey swinging on my neighbours metal ladder attached to the house and getting great fun out of making such a loud racket!  There were about nine monkeys.  One had clearly stolen a top from somewhere and decided it would be great fun to put the top over his head, but not fully down so he couldn't see and then put his arms through and run around like a little ghost.  He seemed to love doing this!

I watched them for a while and then headed in to tell my friend who had also been woken by the noise.  As she came to investigate they decided they would come check out my terrace. So next thing we knew there were three monkeys on our terrace, reminding me that it was their terrace and for me to back off!  How nice!

The next morning they decided to be our wake up call again but decided to start a little earlier at 5.30am....I was not impressed!

However this particular group of monkeys really proved they lived up to their name when one afternoon whilst sat in my lounge, I wander towards the kitchen and see the back of an animal.  It was a lovely grey blue colour and my first natural reaction was, it was a cat!  Then I realised no, not a cat, a monkey!  Three monkeys to be precise and they were all trying to steal my big bunch of bananas that I had left on the kitchen top!  There was no way I was going to lose the bananas I had just bought, so I went charging at them......then realised they could bite so I ran the over way!  They slightly chased me and were hissing at me whilst I shouted back at them from the comfort of the half closed door!  They had each got a banana and were going back for more, which is when I figured I would chuck the cushion at them.  Fortunately this worked and they scarpered, they each only had one banana and one dropped half of his!

After they left I locked the screen door, which is what I should have done in the first place!  A few moments later I hear a crying sound and it is the monkey back and crying for his other half of the banana he dropped.  So like a fool I am.....I felt sorry for him and chucked the other half out!

Having your bananas stolen by monkeys is not your every day UK experience and although I was down a few bananas for my oat cakes it was a funny experience!  These monkeys probably frequent my terrace once a week that I know of, sometimes I can just hear them outside calling.

Today as I walked home from work, down our very quiet residential street i came across a man with his camel and cart, just plodding along as you do.  The novelty doesn't seem to wear off......

What a difference a year makes and a change of perspective!

When i wrote in here almost four weeks ago i was feeling a little down and frustrated and as is always difficult for me, having time and patience, the time and patience to allow things to happen in life rather than rushing through it!  Time and patience is something i still struggle with but reading my blog post from 8th March makes me aware of how much has changed in four weeks!

I try to be a positive person, to see the good in situations, to believe things happen for a reason and that some situations require the time to see them through and when we look back we can understand what their significance was.....but i'm only human and there are times when it can weigh me down and that was certainly the situation four weeks ago.  I love living in India and to me it most definitely is home.  That doesn't mean there aren't plenty of frustrations, after three months of living here it annoys me that people still want to come and say hello to me as I walk to work just because I am a foreigner and female,  Almost every day for three months, it gets wearing!  To be fair I don't get it that much but that's mainly because i stick my music on and block them all out and i'm usually very oblivious to most things!  I know they are staring and talking about me anyway so they can do that without my involvement!  I guess I get used to the place but i'm still interesting and new to some people!

Then there is the bank account I have been trying to open for the past two and a half months and I still haven't been successful;-)  Internet finally got sorted and oh that made life easier for me.  Dannie without internet is not good!  Things can take a long time to get sorted and once they are you can breathe a sigh of relief and get ready for the next challenge!  Just the other day they turned off my sim because I had had it for three months and as a foreigner that's as long as I was allowed it, fortunately my two bhai (Indian brothers)  managed to sort that out for me:-)  It took three visits to the phone shop but they sorted!  Their good brothers to me and look after me well....as brothers should do!

So how does life look at present!  Firstly it is hard to believe that it was a year ago that I set off for two months on my travelling expedition with 1 week in Nepal, 1 week in Tibet and 8 weeks planned in India, the one place I just wanted to be in, never realising that I would in fact actually want to make it permanent!  Those two months were great because they were very tough, having to deal with many situations and dealing with them on the whole on my own, things did not work out as I had hoped and I had to deal with various challenges and I now realise the importance of them as it seems to make things easier second time round and make me aware of what is still important to me.  So if it had not been for those two months of travel and seeing what India was like I would not be sitting in my apartment now, feeling cosy and at home!  So time does indeed tell on many situations!  It also helps, as having seen a small proportion of India already it means i am not desperate to rush out and see lots of it at present and right now i want to focus on getting settled here and working on helping to educate the children and provide them with the best learning environment.

So from this time in India.......

To this time in India!

So the business has begun!

It's taken a good week to put my website together, so out went plans with friends and in went late nights working on the content and learning about meta tags and thanks to amazing software, I now have a website that looks pretty darn good to me!



My lovely friend Josie who came for a week and brought out resources for the school took some of the photos and some of my former clients will recognise some of the photos from my previous UK website....always best to recycle!  So, here it is!.

https://jaipurremedialmassage.000webhostapp.com/

So i just hope, no, let me rephrase that, i know in time that my business will thrive and become the success it deserves to be.  I love massage and continuing massage and helping people is a passion for me and one i am going to pursue ardently.  I figured if the 50 hotels i contacted didn't want me and the gyms and physio places wouldn't get back to me, that's their loss and i will go it alone instead:-)

I already had one client from my facebook page and another thanks to a local contact, but hopefully in time my website will be as much of a success as the UK one was.

I love it when a plan comes together!  It's amazing what we end up doing in life when we put our minds to it, I never would have thought that i would create two websites in my lifetime.....thank goodness for simple software;-)

Oops, photos!!

I figured i really should start sharing some photos with you all, especially now i finally have internet!  That way you can see what life is really like in India and just what kind of work i have been up to with the children.  The work with the children is always good fun and it keeps life varied and interesting!

When things are tough, count your blessings!

So, i'm not allowed to quit right now but life doesn't give me a break either and help to set up my massage business in a more efficient and productive way. Money is going out but none really comes back in. I find out that due to the failings of my solicitor i have had to pay the service charges on my flat which belong to the previous owner, a charge of £236 and none of them are my charges at all!! It's just one thing after another and although i knew things would be tough, i'm not sure why they have to actually be this tough. It's already difficult enough moving to another country and creating a new life, never mind having to deal with financial problems due to issues with the  boiler company i use who refuse to return my money, of which i am having to escalate to the ombudsman, then the huge bill that is not mine thanks to the failures of the solicitors, I'm desperately trying to set up a massage business of which lots of people tell me that they can help me with it but no one has really delivered on this. If i hear one more person tell me how lovely that is or how they must get booked in for a massage....just book in and experience it instead of just talking about it!!

So......with things being difficult i want to reflect on how far i have come in the ten weeks of living in Jaipur.

• Found somewhere to live that is mine for the next 10months
• Have begun doing some Bollywood dancing.
• Have been looking for and finally have us signed up to learn how to cook Indian style.
• Have been taking Hindi lessons
• Have made two good friends here
• Have visited Chokhi Dhani, Amer Fort, Bangarh Fort and many restaurants and eateries
• Have taken part in several special occasions with my work colleagues, especially involving cake!!
• Have organised the fundraising campaign for work so that we can build a new classroom, along with increasing our facebook likes, organising a huge amount of donations from the UK and liaising and connecting with three different schools.
• I contacted around 50 hotels in the area to see if they were interested in using my services. Sadly none were interested....
• I have bought my massage equipment and have had my first client.
• I have created a facebook page for my business and am in the process of liaising with local business/gyms/physios/guest house owners to increase my clientele.
• Took part in a Bollywood shoot to earn a small amount of money...but it's money!
• Tried beyond belief to set up a bank account and obtain internet, you would think that was easy....it is not!!
• I have attended temple regularly with my work colleague
• Got my mobile phone sorted out here
• Found the beer shop and the means of purchasing groceries

So, although there have been challenges in the last ten weeks, i have had many wonderful experiences and i have tried bloody hard!  Let's see what the next few months bring!

Oh, it's 2017!

I haven't had to write the date that much this year and when i do i forget that we are indeed in 2017. A new year and for me a new country but still life has continued to be hectic and to still throw up plenty of complications or forks in the road. Sometimes i wish life could be predictable, but then i did choose moving to somewhere completely different to what i already knew, so i should have expected this!

At present i am trying to work out how i can set up my massage business here in India. I am being given lots of advice by people and it is hard to know who i should listen to and who i should thank for their advice and move on and to ensure i am not coerced in to something i do not actually want to do. Not knowing the system out here does not help! I worry about it but then i remind myself that i set up a very successful mobile massage business in the UK, when my massage tutor told me that a mobile business would never work as you won't get enough interest. I ended up working so many hours that i was regularly turning work away and was fully booked up most weeks. That is why it is always important to listen to your own inner voice, as it often know the way and can guide you best. So today i will spend some time in quiet reflection trying to figure out how to make this all work.

Money is such an odd thing, i don't particularly like it and am not materialistic and yet not earning some money, even though i am working really hard by putting so many hours in at the NGO makes me feel uncomfortable and knocks my self esteem. I don't like not being self sufficient and i want to be able to provide for myself and have money coming in rather than relying on savings. It's amazing how some of your self worth can be tied to the earning of money and feeling successful be it by whatever you set the margin for that. For example i have worked hard for the NGO i am with. In two months i have turned around their Facebook page and use it as a platform to educate people about child poverty and the work we are doing. I have fundraised lots for them and for the past six weeks have spent a lot of time coordinating with various people, a client of mine bringing out 23kg of free resources for us that people have donated, not to mention there should be enough for a second person coming out at a later date. I have introduced interactive learning at the school which the kids absolutely love and they will come running to school to learn this new way of teaching and to play the 'games'. Their learning has improved and they have grown and developed educationally which is a huge success....and yet it is not enough because i am earning no money to be able to support myself.....strange! I guess i have just always been self reliant that right now not earning anything and relying on savings worries me and it is not how i like to live my life. I know i will be much happier when i have money coming in and can fully support myself.

I guess right now my massage business is my biggest focus and finding my way forward with all that and learning to stick to what i believe whilst being open to ideas from others. I don't think much else has happened since i last wrote. The NGO work is keeping me busy as always and it is remembering that sometimes i need to step back and not be pushed in to doing more and more work as it is easy to get caught up with working so much and not leaving on time. India seems to be a place where you often have to enforce your boundaries and remember who you are.

I have had some wonderful times this week though with fantastic meals out and a trip to the cinema to watch a Hindi movie. There were little bits of English here and there which helped me! However i find you don't need to be able to speak the language to work out what someone is saying or the gist of the film. That is another thing about India, i can be having a relaxed day and then someone will message me and say, lets meet in an hour or we go out for a quick bite and six hours later and having changed venue two or three times i finally get home! Expect the unexpected and i am certainly finding that living out here!

From planning to living!

So from initially planning all this and following through the process in October when i last blogged, a lot has changed! Firstly we are now in February which means that i am now living in India rather than just planning the move! I would have continued with my blog in the run up to it all but life became so hectic. I am never one to do just take it easy and i always push myself to the limit and this was no exception. In the five months from August when i came up with this amazing idea, until the end of December when i actually followed through on it, i was house sitting as i didn't really have anywhere to live, then finally found a lovely lady to live with who became a great friend. I got rid of everything i owned that was in storage, it is amazing how little we need. I bought a flat in order to let out as an investment which brought all its own problems too from difficult solicitors, never ending processes and demanding tenants! I closed down a very busy massage practice that i could have happily kept on running and had such lovely clients and finished off everything that needed completing in the UK in order to come out here. It was bloody hard work! It involved days with very little sleep and so much stress....and it is still stressful but it was definitely worth it and not once have i ever questioned my decision!

Despite having now rented my own place out here so i am committed to being here for eleven months and happily so, as well as in the process of setting up my own massage business here, it still feels a little strange to think that i am not going back to the UK anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, i don't want to go back, but I still talk about my 'clients' and then realise they are no longer my clients as i don't have that business anymore. It seems strange to think that i won't just hop in my car and drive to the New Forest where i used to like to go walking or just to pop to the shop for a meal deal....I lived on these! In other ways though it feels i have lived here for some time and i feel more settled than i have in a long time. The plane journey out here was long and dragged on, although i had a lovely lady next to me for company, but when the plane finally touched down i felt a lot more peace because i am where i am meant to be.

For me this is a spiritual quest if you will, it is me fulfilling whatever that drive and intuitive feeling is within me that asks me to do this and because of that it makes it easier to be here. It also leaves people feeling confused about me being here, that i would 'give up' all i had in the UK to move to another country where i am not paid, where i do not have a lot of my previous home comforts and live in a society very different from the one i have come from. My response always tends to be the same, that it depends on what you value in life and where your priorities lie. I have never been materialistic and to me some of the richest people are the people who have no money but have the richest and most generous hearts and i would rather be like those people. Sadly people still look at me somewhat perplexed but i am doing what i believe in, what i love and each day i am rewarded with beautiful moments, whether it is the children from the slums trying to share their sweets with me despite having so little, them dancing for me or running to greet me with such happy faces when i arrive at school or friends spontaneously taking me to temples or surprise trips out. Sometimes though i definitely wish i had picked the easier route, ignored the voice inside and picked the 'safe option', at least then i would have breakfast bars and my comfort zone!

So, two months in India and how has it all gone! I am now in to a routine with the NGO that i work with and work Monday to Friday 9am to 3.30pm with them and we run the classes for the children between 11am till 2pm. The conditions these children live in are true slum conditions where their houses are constructed of bamboo and plastic sheeting, including the school that i work in. Each day we put down sheets to keep off the dust and dirt from the ground underneath. The surface is not flat so it can make it interesting when we play an activity as things can slide! The weather is beginning to warm up now so that's a bit better for them, but during the winter months it was cold for the people as they have no real way of keeping warm, as such they didn't sleep much at night which is sad to think of kids living this way. The children enjoy coming to school but they are wild children, it is the only life they know and for them, playing on the broken down buses and climbing up them is their playground, so you have to expect them to be pretty extreme. Some of the children really want to learn and as soon as you turn it in to a game they all want to play and suddenly the school is full of children.

We tend to have our regular children who come almost every day where as other children drift in and out and even now i am still seeing some children i have not met before. Working with these children is hard work and tiring and they can frustrate you and push all your buttons, but they can also make everything amazing and when you consider the quality of life they have and are likely to have you can't help but be moved. It is sad to think that some of these beautiful children who want to do well and are hard working at school live in a situation that is hard to break out of and provides them with little opportunities. Someone once asked me how i could work with them and did i not find it too overwhelming but when you work with them and see their smiles and the way they interact and just behave as children, you know why you do. I love working with these children they bring a unique happiness to me, not because they live in a slum but because they welcome me in that pure way that children do and even in their wild ways there is an innocence to them and you can't help but connect with and care for them. Having worked in education for eight years with children with special needs really helps though and making educational games has become my speciality. Who knew alphabet snap or shape memory games would be so popular! I have not introduced them to the fishing game yet!

As for life in general in India, after a while it feels like you could be anywhere. I walk to work every day which is a twenty minute walk, stick my music on, day dream and I could be walking to work in any country. I have learned to negotiate the traffic which means crossing the road in front of the cars whenever you want and gageing who will stop and who won't! Walking in to the slum is a normal part of my day and although the people sometimes view me with curiosity they have been welcoming and see me as a regular fixture. Although one lady insists I put cream on my face to get rid of the dark circles under my eyes and they think I should put eye liner on to make my eyes more noticeable! They were very supportive when I got bit by a dog and they will walk me through the slum if there are lots of stray dogs around to make sure I am OK. Despite the fact that my colleague mainly speaks Hindi and I speak English, we work well together and the language barrier does not pose any real problems. I have friends here who I can relate to and places that we like to hang out that could be anywhere in the world, after a while you forget that you are the odd one out. I have only been asked for my photo a few times thankfully and whilst there are plenty of stares I don't notice these too much unless I am laughing whilst someone almost crashes their bikes because they are too busy looking at me!

The next two months should be busy as i try and establish my massage business here or find alternative means of making some money. My intention to be in India is long term and as such i need to find a way to make that viable as i do not intend to leave anytime within the next few years if i can help it. There is still so much i want to do to help people out here and seeing as i feel i am here for several reasons, i don't envisage leaving until my intuition tells me it is time to go....which i sense is not going to happen for quite some time and not while i deeply love India.