Hi Everyone!
Today we have seen two very different aspects of India – life in the city and life in the countryside. We were taken out to a rural town called Diamond Harbour where CRS(Cathedral Relief Service) have another school. We were greeted by some beautiful girls who showered us with petals and blessings. We had a bit of lunch and watched someIndian dancers including some really young children who performed for us. Teddy Edward looked at some rice paddy fields. Obviously a LOT of rice is eaten here and it needs space to grow where it is very wet. The traffic is still unbelievable even in the country and it felt a bit like a rollercoaster at times as the bus swerved to avoid bikes, other buses, cars or cows!! The roads in some places were really dirt tracks and in Diamond Harbour the River Ganges is right by the side – we even saw a dolphin🐬 Squeezed in along each side of the road were little stalls selling fruit, meat, clothes,sweets, garlands- virtually anything!
We woke this morning to pouring rain😱which something neither Miss Gill or I had ever seen in India, however by the time we were out of Kolkata it had stopped. We found out it was St Valentine’s Day ❤️ today and lots of girls and women were dressed up in their beautiful saris.
After tea we went for a walk along the streets of Kolkata. There were thousands of people out so it was a squash everywhere. We looked at a huge market and I bought some lovely silk material from which to make something. I had to barter hard for a good price but it worked! All of life happens on the streets. There are people washing themselves, cooking their dinner, chatting with friends, reading a newspaper and working.
Valentines’s kisses to you all!😘💕
Further adventures in India... 
Hi Miss Gill & Mrs M, I like the pictures and I liked reading the blog. I hope you are having a good time in Kolkata. I like the carriage in your photo. It wasn’t raining here today, but it was very cold and windy. I did learn shapes, the reception and year 6 got measured and weighed. Love Libby.
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We’ve seen some pictures of ice and snow at home- it’s difficult to imagine when we’re in such warm weather…even the rain yesterday was warm! xx
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Hi Miss Gill and Mrs M….
Hope you are having a nice time.Is It hot where you are it’s very cold here. I love the photographs on your blog.
I miss you very much and look forward to you coming back to school.
Love from Mina.🤗🤩🥳🥰 xxx
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We are having a lovely time and looking forward to seeing all the teachers again today. We miss all of you but the week is whizzing past and we’ll be back before you know it! xx
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Hi Miss Gill & Mrs M! Do you know the names of the children dancing? I love their clothes. And is that the bag pipes that man is playing? Your pictures are great! Love from Ellie xxx😍💖😽
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Hi Ellie, we know the names of some of the children at school but not the ones from yesterday because we only saw them for a few minutes. It’s not bagpipes he’s playing, it’s a bamboo clarinet and, depending how you blow it it can sound like a clarinet or a saxophone. He was a really good musician and he makes the instruments himself to sell. xx
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Ah ha! It’s a bag of clarinets under his arm (we thought it was a bag pipe!!) would have loved to have heard him play! X
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He was amazing but the blog won’t let us upload video- you’ll have to wait until he has his international breakthrough! 😘
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Hello Miss Gill and Mrs M,
We have really enjoyed reading your Blog and looking at your pictures. We really liked the beautiful colourful Saris. Did you see anything unusual being sold at the markets?
We are having our breakfast at the moment, we are eating porridge and it is 07.30 here. What do you have for breakfast and what time is it there? What are the drinks like there?
We liked the picture of the man playing the thing that looked a bit like a wooden whistle. What did it sound like?
Lots of love, from Ed and Ruby xx
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You can buy pretty much anything on the street here- all types of food, shoes, bags, clothes, toys, fabric, and all the stall holders follow you around trying to get you to buy their things. They are very persistent!
Here the drinks are often very sweet, especially the tea which is drunk out of little clay cups that you throw into the gutter to be washed away by the rain so that they clay ends up back in the river ready to be used again, a bit like recycling. We are drinking a lot of water though, because it’s so warm. xx
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Wow looks very busy! Hope you are enjoying it out there cant wait to see you and is teddy Edward enjoying it because it looks like he is. Seeing a dolphin would have been very exciting. From William
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Teddy Edward is having a fabulous time, he especially like the dolphin which he saw from the roof of the house we at yesterday that overlooks the river. We are sooo busy but it’s all very exciting wouldn’t want to miss anything. Hope you’re having a fun time and we’re glad you’re enjoying the blog. 😁
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Hi Miss Gill and Mrs M wish we were with you when you saw the dolphin we are soo jealous. We were very interested to find out the name of the instrument we are looking forward to watch the video of the man playing it. We were sad to hear that clay cups get thrown away into the gutter we can’t imagen doing that here. The photos are fantastic and we are glad you both are having a busy but nice time and we are looking forward seeing you Tuesday. Have a safe journey home. Love Mrs Fletcher and the Infants.
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