2nd Update

Another week has flown by and already we have been away nearly two weeks. We moved into our new house the day after I posted my last blog, which is far nicer than our temporary accommodation was.  We have two double rooms both with en suite, although Stolly seem to be struggling with their hard mattress (mine and Fretters is marginally softer). Rooms are constantly cool with a fan in each one and there seems to be a lack of mosquitos in the new house as well. Saying that we had a mini scare this week as the first night in the new house I woke up with what appeared to be around 150 mosquito bites over my legs, arms and back (picture above). Still not entirely sure where the rash/bites have come from but suspect it was an allergic reaction to the mosquito killing machine in the room, as since that’s been turned off the rash has gone down. The bathrooms are nice although there is no hot water on the island, the pipes smell of egg, and I found a baby scorpion whilst showering on Thursday morning! The atmosphere in our café seems can best be described as quirky, with some ‘different’ characters, who get moody when I fail to finish the mountain of rice they provide us with. The food has become slightly more varied in the sense we now had 3 different curries, one that was too hot for even the experienced curry eaters in our party to eat, but the rice and noodles remain the main daily dish.

           The weather has been hotter this week than last week and we seem to have avoided some of the rain that we had for a few days in our first week, with temperatures being constantly 32c plus. On Friday morning, we played some cricket with some of the Indian teachers, with home made bats and stumps. In the first ever international match in Lhohi, England came out on top and now lead India 1-0, with nearly daily games to follow.  Friday night was a unique experience as well as we were invited to a Wedding reception on the island. We weren’t really too sure what to expect as we turned up at the school for the reception, but all the classrooms and the yard was transformed with new decorations, and the food wasn’t too shabby either, so all in all a good night.

 

The football sessions are in full flow now with daily morning sessions (except when England had played the night before) at 6am with the younger students and the occasional afternoon session with the older kids. There are a few exceptional footballers in both sets of groups and you can see some of the younger kids have the potential to be great players when they’re older. The older kids never seem to tire though and as were gasping for breath on the floor, they seem like they’ve just started their warm up.

We also began our English classes this week, with an hour each day Monday-Thursday for mixed ability students. The girls are a lot better at English than boys as they seem to be able to concentrate for more than half an hour, but many of the children seem to speak better English than some of the locals, and all seem keen to improve to a certain extent.

On our trip to the atoll capital Manadhoo last week, me and Fretters made acquaintance with an English teacher from India, who initially invited the 4 of us to go snorkelling on his island. It now turns out we are going for a two night stay there next weekend, to snorkel, and teach English in school on their island, so we seem to be in high demand (not too sure why if you saw our lessons!)

Yesterday we had the chance to go to a totally uninhabited island and snorkel around the reef whilst trying to catch some fish. It was definitely a lot harder than it looked, as we managed to catch an impressive 0 fish between the four of us. Thankfully some locals had already caught some fish for us so we enjoyed curried fish and chicken sausages for lunch. We had to row there and back and on the way back managed to catch an impressive look at the sunset from the middle of the ocean.

That’s it for another week and I’ll blog next week just before England’s Euro final, after we ease past Italy tonight, and Germany in the Semis!

Still Not a Bear 

Dodge