ideas for cheap stuff

Well there isn’t actually all that much substantial I can say about Kolkata cos we haven’t been up to anything major. The best thing we did was yesterday when we went out to visit Lisa and Kathleen at the Hope Foundation. This is a school and home for young girls and it was so great to meet them. We went in and they all welcomed us as Therese Aunty and Lydia Aunty. We then sat in front of them on the floor and they stared at us for a while and we at them. Lisa got me to sing a song so I picked this one my mam used to sing, which I loved, called “I wished I lived in Monkeyland…” and then they sang us some songs and a few of them came up and did a song or prayer or poem on their own. Some of them spoke quite good English and all of them were adorable. They all craved our attention but Lids and I had prepared ourselves so we weren’t over-whelmed. Its a difficult job the people there have but oh so worthy. The main lady in charge Mama Pushpa is simply wonderful. Just amazing how she can manage them all! We visited the Indian Museum, which had to be seen to be believed. Most of the exhibits haven’t been updated since the 1960’s and they have cobwebs and then the smell. All the stuffed animals are falling apart. Its just so dilapadated. There were good parts to it as well, its just the bad were so much more amusing. There was dead babies in jars though, which brought me back to when we went to the Koerperwelt exhibition in Koeln, Germany. Not too kool. Gone out for pints in locals, which was nice. Good beer here methinks. The Bengali people seem particularly friendly and we’ve gotten chatting to quite a few randomers, though some men tend to come off very arrogant and money orientated. Had a few shopping experiences which were annoying and funny. I actually dislike shopping intensely so the fact that I have to haggle somewhat gets to me. Twas hilarious buying my rain-jacket last night. Your man wanted to charge me the equivilant of 25 euro for a crappy rain jacket. I got him down to 7. I probably could’ve gotten him down further but I was getting ansy. Today Lids did some amazing bargaining, before she got sick, and the shop-assistants start calling me her bodyguard! Wasn’t too impressed with that comment I tell you. On our way home from shopping I found a post office and went in to post my cards and was struck with that same useless tossers feeling I’ve gotten when I entered the Dehli Tourist Office and the police station. There was 10 or so men behind the counters but no one came over to the stamp desk to sell me stamps for 2 minutes till I waved and got their attention. Then this lad came over and asked how many stamps I wanted. I asked him how much it was to send a postcard to Europe and you’d swear I had 10 heads. He repeated himself and I said 9. Finally he figured out what 9 times 8 was and took my money. Another man came over to help him figure out the change and they gave me my stamps. Next pantomine ensued when I found that there was no sticky stuff on the back to stick the stamps on. Another 2 mins before someone noticed that ause I was asking where I could get gum to stick the stamps on and then I got a pot of glue. Some of the cards I sent, particularly Sarah’s, are absolutely sopping in glue so apologies if they get stuck together or something. Then I had to look around for a postbox and when I found none i had to wait another minute to get someone’s attention to take the damn things and by this time Lids was dying for water cos she was feeling faint. I swear 10 people to do 1 job makes everything harder, not easier! We’re staying in the dorm room now of the Salvation Army with a lot of girls who are working in Mother Teresa’s. They’re lovely but I couldn’t do that job and not let my hair down by going out dancing or drinking at least once a week. We’re gonna change to somewhere better tomorrow cos those rooms are damp or something.