So now its Wednesday and we will be leaving very soon.  We have had lots of experiences, lots of emotional moments and lots of laughs, and now we are all very sad to be leaving.  The Brothers have made us so welcome that we really do feel at home here.  There are so many stories to tell which will all unravel over the next few weeks.  Hopefully some of them will appear here, so this is really just the last post from India.  The young people have been simply the best – in fact the Brothers said that they have never had a group like this one!  We are all really proud of them.  Well done Team India 2016!

On Tuesday we went to the nursery and primary school at Viyalanmedu, which is in Trichy.  We had a brilliant morning there – the little children just stole our hearts.  Its an English Medium school so all the children learn English from when they start.  It was amazing to hear tiny children all reciting the alphabet and counting in English.  Our young people went straight into the classes and started chatting and singing to the children, while we had an opportunity to see around the school and the grounds.  Its in a lovely setting and there is a lot of ground around it which the Brothers are hoping to use to expand the school.  We also had time to speak to the staff (they were able to leave their classes because our pupils were doing such a great job teaching them!), they were really keen to hear about our experiences of teaching in our schools compared with their school.  We told them their little ones were better behaved and had a better command of English than our pupils.  Ha ha – joking!!  Everyone really enjoyed visiting this school  and we all left with our own stories about our experiences.  We shared them later on Tuesday evening – more tears!

Sorry again that there are no photos – once I get reliable internet access I will add to this post.

On Monday we went to Madurai, which is about 150 km from Trichy, to visit the temple there. It is the biggest temple in Southern India and one to which people from all over the country make pilgrimages.  Its really busy and extremely hot, but also quite awesome.  We had a guide to show us around and explain about the various areas in the temple and what all the different statues are.  It was really interesting.  We weren’t allowed to take cameras into the temple, so no photos unfortunately.

We went out at night for a meal with the Brothers.  The girls wore their saris again, and looked lovely all over again!  (although we did need to make friends with the staff at the restaurant, to make sure they were folded properly).

We lost all the internet connection on Monday and it hasn’t been seen since!  I have found a sneaky way around it but I can’t load any photos. Sorry about that, but at least I can let you know what we have been up to.  More to follow.

Mrs Sinclair I know you will have been waiting for this.  The difference in the Rainbow Project hall is incredible.  Look back at the photos from the last 2 trips and then look at them from this trip – the hall is fantastic.  Its a great place for everyone to meet.  The Brothers held a week long summer camp for the children in May.  We have a video to share – the work they do on this project is simply wonderful.  The day was lovely – there was a traditional Indian dancer who was amazing, she also works with the children and some of them also danced; the Aussies sang (guess what?), and they saved the best till last (well apart from the Rainbow children of course) – we sang (guess what?), and did a Canadian Barn Dance (with full audience participation).  The new school year is just about to start and the children received school books, uniforms and money to pay their fees for the next year.  This is all only possible because of your generosity in supporting this project.

There are so many photos from today – this is just a snapshot of the work that goes on.  Lots more sunglass moments for everyone!

Sarah has cement socks and all of her white clothes are now blue – she needs a lesson on how to use the washing machine!

Thats the blog up to date again.  I was going to show you some street scenes but I’ve been blogging for 3 hours now and there is a mozzie that has developed a taste for my arm – so dear pupils, colleagues, friends and family there had better be lots of comments on these posts or the next one might be Temples and Tantrums! Tomorrow is Operation Rainbow day and there will be lots to report from that.

OK then, a couple of street scenes to finish off with …

We had a sight-seeing day today which included visiting the Hindu temple at Thanjur, the Holy Shrine at Poondi, and lots of interesting street scenes.

We met the elderly gentleman who tends the cattle at the Brothers’ house, bringing the school lunches on a cart, so the boys took over and pushed it to the school.  Don’t worry Mrs McLagan – we did a dynamic risk assessment first!

We visited the children at St James’ Primary School in Mangamanuthu.  We did a lot of singing with them – Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes went down well!  There are hundreds of photos from there because they are just gorgeous!!