Diary report of being in India, october 22th

Daily report 22.10, Vitus

After having Indian breakfast in Jai Singh Palace, we started with a bus trip. After about half an hour we reached one of the touristic attractions of Jaipur. It's called the Amber Fort which is placed on a hill about a very big lake. Before reaching the Amber Fort everyone took picture with this great building in the back. To enter in the Amber Fort we had to drive there with small jeeps with up to 5 students in each jeep. Inside the Amber Fort we spend some hours by walking in a group and listing to the story of the Fort. Inside the Fort were many elephants with tourists on them. To get back to the bus we took again a ride in the Jeeps. The next point on our program was the Jaigarh Fort, where one of the biggest cannon is placed. When we walk on the Fort, we saw many monkeys and you had a great view over Jaipur. For lunch we went back for the hotel. Later on in afternoon we went with a small group of Indians and German for a small shopping tour. We were supposed to meet at 21:00 at a bus stop. But a group of 4 German students got lost with a rikscha. After the Indian helped them getting to the hostel with many phone calls. But finial they reached the hotel, the rest of the group visited a temple called Birla Mandir. When we reached the hotel, the 4 lost boys had to explain themselves in front of the teachers.

22.October 2013, Christian

After we had breakfast in our hostel in Jaipur at 8 o´clock, we went by bus to the Amber Fort at 9 o`clock. Because Amber Fort is located on a small hill , we had to drive by jeep the last of the line. That was pretty exciting . When we arrived finally in Amber Fort , we participated in a tour and were able to make beautiful pictures because the view from up there was very nice . We were almost 2 hours in Amber Fort , we saw many elephants , and many students have bought something . After we went back to the valley by jeep , we took the bus to a much higher mountain , and had a very nice view from there . Unfortunately we could not take pictures . However, there were many monkeys who have given us a lot of fun . After this trip, we drove back to the hostel by bus and have eaten lunch there . Before then we went shopping in Jaipur, we had almost 2 hours of free time in the hostel . During this time I slept mostly . As we left the bus to go shopping and to the subsequent visit to the temple , we unfortunately had to Jan- Ole leave the hostel because he was a little sick.

When we arrived at the market, Vitus, Henriette, Nishant, Paramveer, Ishu and I decided to go to the city of Jaipur with the TukTuk. There we were at Addidas, Puma, where Vitus has bought a t-shirt, and then at Mc Donalds. At 19.15 o´clock we all met up at the meeting place, and then to visit a temple in Jaipur at night. Unfortunately, not all students are released at the meeting point. 4 German students get lost in the market and wanted to go back to the meeting point with the tuktuk. This has not worked for some inexplicable reason. At the temple we could once again take beautiful photos. After the temple visit, we drove back to the hostel, where we had dinner and then had free time until bed at the hostel.

Diary report of being in India, october 21th

Day 11, Monday, october 21th, Constanze 
In the night from sunday to monday we had our bustrip to Jaipur. At 8.15am we arrived our hotel. Then we were divided into groups of three people and checked into our room. We had to sleep with three people in a double bed, but that was okay. The hygiene was good, too. At 9am we had breakfast. You could choose between toast with marmalade, rice with sauce and curd. At 9.30 am we went to our rooms and had time up to 1pm. Because it was not so easy to sleep at the bustrip everyone slept during this time. At lunch we had rice with peas and a cheese sauce and another sauce. To this we had indian bread, curd and a salat with cucumber, tomatoes and onions. After having lunch we started a sightseeing trip at 2pm. What we first noticed was that scooterist wear helmets. Then we saw the yellow city which is a big market for shopping. Then we went to a place with many sundials. We saw the biggest sundial of the world and took pictures. And we saw a building which describes the longitude and the latitude with the aid of the sun. After that we visited the Hawamahal, a palace of wind. We went to the top of this building and had a beautiful view. At 17pm we were back in the bus and drove to another palace, the palace of water. It was a palace which was built in the middle of a lake. On our way to see the second palace we saw a children which performed magic. After that we went to a scarf shop. At 6 pm we drove to a market and had time to go shopping for two hours. Luckily we visited the market with indian students, because they have a good knowledge about the prices. Everything was cheaper than in Germany and many students bought jewellery or scarfs. For our dinner we went to McDonald what every german student made very happy.

Diary Entry, 21st of October, Christopher

We had a long night journey to Jaipur. Many pupils slept on the floor in the bus. After we arrived at our hotel Jaisingh Palace we brought our baggage to our rooms. I was in a room with Ruven, Jari, Falk, Aman and Beenu. We had a delicious breakfast in cafeteria of the hotel and afterwards time to rest. The Germans and the Indians played card in the garden and talked a lot. Some also slept after the hard journey. Before starting our sight seeing tour through Jaipur, we had lunch. With the bus we drove to see the biggest sun dial on the world. It was very, very hot there and everyone was happy about a place in the shadow. Passing the shops of Jaipur, we walked to the palace of air. At the top of the palace one could have a look over the whole city. We left with the bus again and drove to another palace which is placed in the water. One had a great view on the hills there. We watched a little girl with green eyes performing magic tricks. Everyone was very impressed and the most German students gave her some rupies. The next station was a small shopping mall where we stopped for 45 minutes to have a look inside. One got the chance to buy saris, scarves, jewellery and other souvenirs. We got another chance for shopping one hour later on a real Indian market. It was full of people and you could buy almost everything you want. The Indian merchants often try to make us Germans buy their stuff. After a while it was really annoying to say “no thanks”. Another experience that was not so nice were the little children begging for food and money. It was not so easy to deal with that because one is not sure about giving them something or not. In the evening the Indian guys made us very happy. For dinner we went to McDonalds so that we could have had some French fries and also some chicken. To come there we had just a two minutes walk from our hotel. On the streets were many cars and many dogs. One had to keep always attention. At the end of the day all the pupils sat together, playing cards, talking about their experience and some also started missing home.

Diary report of being in India, october 20th

Diary 20.10.2013, Tomke P.

 At 9 am we woke up. After making us ready we ate breakfast. Then our exchange partner told us that we have to wait for the bus until 11.20 am. So we played cards with her and our host sister until the bus arrives at 11.30 am. So we drove to school for celebrating the Diwali festival. It was very interesting and a lot of people, especially children, came and want to take photos with us or they want to shake our hands. Some also asked for our names. The school organized some camels where everyone could ride on for some money. After a while some of our Indian exchange students worried about the Germans because so many people want to take photos. Some of us were nerved of the people because they sometimes were very brash. So we should go into the cafeteria. We got some eating there and played cards. At about 2.00 pm nearly the most German students were taken to their host families. There they had to pack their whole luggage. Me and some others had to wait until 16.30 pm in school. After finally getting home we also packed the rest of our luggage. Then Aina, Henri and me drove with our host mother and our host sister to the market for getting a mandy-tatoo. When we were back in home we ate dinner a last time in the families. After that we took some last photos with the family. In addition we played with cards again because there was some time left until we were picked up to drive to school. We said goodbye and thank our host families for the very interesting and exciting time. So we drove to school. At about 21.30 pm we started our night journey to Jaipur. Some students cried because their exchange students could not come with us. 

Day 10, Sunday, october 20th, Johanna

This was the last day in our host families. Because we packed the most of our stuff the day before and the diwali festival at the school started at 10 am, we had the chance to get up late.

After taking one last shower, we had breakfast with our hosts before we went to school. All the german students with their hosts and all the indian students with their families came there to visit the festival. For the Diwali festival, there were lots of stands in which one can play many games or win something. For example, there was one of them were one have to shoot balloons, many others were one can buy food or cold drinks. Some of the german students were riding camels and Jari did even play on the stage together with the indian music teacher. When everybody was hungry we went to the dining hall, where we get lunch. The only problem were the people, especially the children, who didn't stop taking photos of us. Some of them even touched us and asking for our names. After a while they had to close the dining hall, so nobody else can get in because the children didn't let them eat.

After 2 pm every host family spent the last few hours with the germans individuallymarmelade. We, for example, visited the elder sister of our exchange partner and her husband and we got our suits.

Diary report of being in India, october 19th

Diary Entry, 19th of October, Ann-Kathrin

When we came down this morning exceptionally everyone was awake. Like every day we had tea and toast for breakfast. In the car we heard loud music until our host brother told us that he and our host sister were in a bad mood, because they were sad that we were going to leave. Both started crying and Laura, Johanna and I felt very sad, too. But they had to promise that they won’t cry again that day so that we could enjoy the last day together. Although we were late for more than 30 minutes, a lot of pupils came after us, even the teachers. Then finally the presentations started. The Indians prepared a nice atmosphere in the primary school where we had a beamer and a screen. During the break we got bananas and something to drink. After that everyone expected that we were allowed to leave, but the planning changed again. I was looking forward to buy our suites for the diwali festival the next day but I did not get that chance. I was mad. Before driving to another Vasant Valley Public School for younger children we had lunch in the cafeteria. In the school we met sweet open children and Edwin tought them a “Boogiedance” from Germany. We got some light refreshments and then started to visit a shoe factory. We went inside the factory to see how they make shoes. Everywhere were so many toxic atmosphere gases that one asks oneself how people can work there for such a long time. I felt pity. Again we waited for over an hour, but then we got a present in form of gym shoes. We all were very thankful. Our host brother was waiting at school. When he told us that our host father did not eat anything until we were coming back home I first realised how much they integrated us in their family. All the three of us felt bad so our host family tried to make us feel fine again and brought us to a market where we could have a look around for souvenirs and also could order a suite. In the evening there was a dinner at Praneta’s house. We did not stay that long, because Laura was a bit ill. After the packing we played cards like every evening and talked about similarities and differences between both our cultures and plans for the future. Our lovely host sister cried a lot. I knew that I was going to cry the next day as well. We were lucky to stay this week with this wonderful, anxious family. We had so much fun and I am sure that I will miss them a lot. I can not wait for them coming to Germany next year.

Daily report, Saturday 19th October, Laura

The presentations of our projects which we had worked out in small groups the previous days took place in school today. Actually it was planned that the presentations start at 10 o'clock, but our teachers arrived because of another item on the agenda only an hour later, though, the complete planning delayed. At 11.30 we could start with the presentations. All groups introduced their results in short lectures to a certain topic. Many groups use powerpoint presentations to the better clarification of her results. All pupils were integrated in the presentations and it worked well. All pupils assembled in the day room and we did good informed after the presentations were ended, that our program was changed at short notice for the repeated time. Instead of a free afternoon in the guest families a visit of a school and a shoe factory stood on the program. We had still lunch together before we set out. Then we went to another school by bus. We were very cordially greeted there. They had prepared something to drink and eat and led us through the school building. After we had said goodbye, we drove on to the shoe factory. Arrived there we were received with a very nice speech. We then were allowed to visit the factory in smaller groups and exactly have a look how they produced sport shoes and footballs. The inspection and the facts, which were explained to us were interesting ,but because of the heat and the extreme smells inside the factory some students didn´t feel very well after the inspection, so the atmosphere was a little subdued. After that, it came to a discussion between a teacher and some pupils but after a while the people calmed down, however. All pupils were picked up back at the school and could spend a little time in their guest family´s. Later in the evening, there then was a small celebration at the house of Praneeta and her family. We were eaten jointly and spent some time together before everyone returned into the guest families and a long day came to an end.