Thunderbirds are go.

After a week of shopping, failing to learn hindi, arguing with tuktuk drivers and lying around complaining about how hot it is, I finally started work.

I was given a placement in the slums of Ambedkar Nagur, in west Jaipur, teaching English and computer skills to girls and women alongside a German girl, Larissa, who had also just arrived.

The first bit was a little awkward. The two of us and seven Indian women, varying in age from 12-30, sat crosslegged in a tiny, bright yellow room around two chunky grey monitors that looked like something Marty MyFly would have been familiar with. 

Ok, not quite this bad.

We all smiled at each other for about 20 minutes, with Larissa and I occasionally trying to make conversation and learn names, but the women just giggled or gave us the classic Indian head wobble. A small crowd of children and goats gathered at the door to stare at us and try to touch Larissa’s blonde hair. Finally I decided to get out my photo album and just start talking, whether they understood me or not, and this turned out to be the right move- they all wanted to look at the pictures and give their opinion on my family; and then we managed to get them to go around in a circle and tell us about theirs and this broke the ice a little and gave us an idea of their individual English skills.

The consensus was that they thought my niece was very pretty, my boyfriend looked very strong*, my mother was also very pretty, my dad looked friendly but funny** and they all stared at the pictures of my sister Suzanne for ages and wanted to know if she had been in any Hollywood movies. Story of my life.

Conversation I have a lot: "Wow, your sisters really hot. You guys don't look alike."  "... Thanks."

After that, we got onto to some computer work and although we didn’t get a lot done, I definitely feel like we made some progress. It’s awesome how eager they are to learn and I can’t wait to go back on Monday.

*They were all appropriately scandalized and thrilled at my admission of having a boyfriend.

** It’s because he was wearing short shorts. I keep telling him…