The last update from Kodai

So this is it. We've come so far together, but all good things come to an end

The farewells have begun, the exams commenced, and my time is up.

I cannot put into words how thankful I am for this experience

Wednesday was a great day. I received my certificate for the Tahr Pin, which I present to you now:

It's so beautiful :')

There was also a pizza party in the band room for advanced band. At the end of it the band leader Ms Gemma presented me with this:

I call him Joo-joo

It's carved out of a single coconut. Really cute and beautiful. I hope customs will let me keep it. 

Because classes officially finished, I've been saying thankyou to my teachers. I want to leave here with no bad connections or problems. I may never see these people again, and I don't want there to be any sour feelings between us. 

For exams I'm not going to study much. Maybe for an hour before the exams but that would be about it. 

I realize that this is probably the only time that I could do this, but I have better things to do than study. I am going to see Kodai one last time before I leave.

On Thursday I had my first exam, english Language and Literature. For the exam we had to answer 2 questions on a poem written by Wilfred Owen, the famous war poet.
I received the poem 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' and I didn't do too badly. With only 30 minutes study time I was happy with the work I put forward.
It gives studying for an exam a whole new perspective to study when you are surrounded by people working and you're watching Avatar the Last Airbender. When I get back to Australia I'll study hard, I promise, but for now I'm going to enjoy my time. 

The photo exhibition went off well. Although not to many came they complimented our works. One person even asked me to send them a couple of my photos. I consider that a sale and a profit to my self-esteem.

My corner of the display

On friday was my Maths exam. I think I did ok for 30 min of revision. The rest of the day I watched Avatar the Last Airbender and rode a bike around the compound and dorm. Everyone else had a lazy day as well beside the exams and revision. I finished my testimony and will polish up tomorrow. I'm a bit nervous about how it will go and be received.
also on friday, there was a spectacular sunset where everything turned pink. I ran outside with my camera. Here's a photo of it:

View from the science building. 

On Saturday was the Christmas banquet. It's a big feast where we all eat and celebrate the near-end of the school year.
In the morning I helped get it all ready from 9-11:30. I was setting tables, and wrapping bowls in some silver mesh. But the time I left it was looking pretty good.

After that I went and had lunch with Antonia and the 2 exchange students that are coming from Kodai to Aus. We had a nice chat about life in Aus and I can't wait for them to come.

On the way back I went past some shops looking for gifts. I ended up buying a Hippo plushie. I think I'll give to to Matthew, since he's sort of like a Hippo. I'll buy myself a tiger plushie and a cat for Lachlan. That seems fair :D

Saturday evening was a Christmas banquet. It was a great evening where we all got together and shared a meal. The weather was terrible though.
Rain and a very cold wind chill made it tough. The food was alright, but considering that they had to cook for around 700+ people all up, they did a great job.
After to food, different groups played christmas songs from their heritage. There were Tamil, Mallu, Korean and a couple other a think. It was great to hear all their different cultures.
At the end we all had a sing-along to some classic Christmas Carols, then Santa came!
All the kids ran up to him first, then us older students came.  It was very funny to see the little kids and the big 11 and 12 graders all grabbing for sweets. I guess some things don't change with age.

Once the frantic grab for treats had been extinguished the banquet closed and I went back to dorm. But, I went a different way. Tonight, I was staying in Lochend dorm with my mate Dhawan.
I had taken my stuff across during the afternoon.

Lochend was an amazing dorm, a lot different than East House. Everything's organised and more spacious. Here's a comparison.

The Lochend spare room

My East House room

It reminded me of the show Yu-Gi-Ou GX (I doubt any of you will know what I'm talking about. It was a kids show from ages ago.). In the show, there were 3 houses/dorms. Each one had a corresponding colour. Red was the least fancy yet had a lot of fun, yellow was a better place to be than red, and blue was a mansion for all the older and better students. Sleeping over in Lochend felt like going from the red house to the blue mansion. 

I'm not saying East house isn't as good as Lochend, I'd very much prefer East House, it's just so different. 

Anyway, I had a good night there.

In the morning, I had to be out of the dorm by 8:45. This was because I needed to get to school and have breakfast in time for Church music practise. 

I got ready quietly and left the dorm, the time there went too fast. 

The rain had continued throughout the night and into the morning. When I left it was raining heavily, but I managed to get to breakfast with my feet only moderately drenched. 

I only then realised that the Powerpoint presentation for my Testimony was back at East House. So I ran back to dorm in the pouring rain to try find it. After 10minutes of precious time slipping away and no results, I took my computer and brought it back with me to school. I ate a speedy breakfast then went down to music practise.

Thankfully, everything working out well and the Powerpoint got onto the church computer. 

Music practise went well, and the service began. It came to being my part of the service. I was nervous, but knew that I had a purpose in this, to tell people the truth about my time here. I got up and the congregation applauded me in welcome to the lecturn. 

And I presented my testimony. I had it recorded so my parents could see it, but when I was speaking I felt them with me. The first couple lines of intro were cut but here it is, my testimony to the KIS church on the 17/11/2013.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4xrg0f2n6m1mn5b/Testimony.MP4

When I finished, I was so relieved. I'd done it. My first time speaking in Church formally. I get the feeling that I'm going to be sharing my story/testimony a couple more times soon, but I feel up to the task. 

I got a lot of positive feedback. Some even said that I was going to become a preacher (I guess it could run in the family). 

That afternoon, it was all very foggy and cold. I was hoping to go for a walk around the lake but that didn't happen. 

I originally wrote something that I regretted here. I wrote it when I was down and I didn't know what I was thinking. I honestly didn't intend to keep it in this blog, but forgot. I'm really sorry if it offended anyone. What I wrote wasn't true and I wish I had never written it.

On Monday, I had no exams. FREEEE!!!!

So that morning I missed breakfast because I slept in and then I went to the local food shop called Spencers. In preparation I'd made a list of all the items I'd need and also made a map of the area so I didn't get lost.

I think India's made me so much more organised and independant, I don't think I would have done that for going to Coles back in Melbourne. 

Anyway, so I made the walk down there. Spencers is a very humble shop, compared to the Woolworths and Coles back home. It was more similar to a 7/11 shop. Lot's of sweets and the basic dairy products. 

I acted like a complete tourist in there. Not knowing what to do, trying to help and then failing. I ended up getting most of the stuff I needed. When I paid for it, they didn't have 5 rupee change for me. So instead they gave me 5 Cadbury Choclairs, since they are worth 1 rupee each. When I was in the shop I thought they were free, but then my roommate explained it to me when I got back. 

It was a great experience and I'll get better with more practise. 

The rest of the day was spent finishing Avatar the Last Airbender and preparing.

That evening after study hall some of us started to browse youtube. We watched some very strange Bollywood videos, then we introduced some people to Nyan cat. I hadn't laughed that much in a while. Bollywood Nyan cat was... different.

On the Tuesday morning I had my Psychology exam at 8:15. Armed with 10 minutes of revision between breakfast and the exam, I completed the exam with half an hour to go.
I then spent half an hour trying to get a pass to leave school, because we are only allowed to leave at certain times. The going back and forth between the Main gate, Vice Principals office and High School co-ordinator made me break a sweat. Eventually I did manage to get through though.

On the way back to dorm, a random person thrust a flyer at me. When I accepted it I thought it was advertising. It turned out to be a Christian flyer, encouraging people to turn to God. It was far from what I expected.

I then started to write some letters to people back home.

I wrote this at 5pm, just before my dad arrived.
I don't know what I'm feeling. I'm not excited I'm slightly nervous, I'm not sad. I'm stuck in the middle and I don't know how I should respond to my dads arrival. I feel distant, like it's not really happening. All this time I've put it out of my mind and now it's finally happening. My stomachs tense, once again I have no idea whats going on around me. It's time I suppose. My hearts hidden and afraid to come out again. I geuss I'll just have to wait and see.

I've began to choose which cloths I should take and leave. I don't know what to choose.

After about 15 minutes, it came time to go down to school to wait for dad. Once I was down there and waiting, I began to get nervous. I didn't know how it was going to go but I wanted to see him. I waited there for 30 minutes till I got a phone call saying that he was at the hotel and coming to school now to see me. I stood outside the gate waiting anxiously. Then I see him. The pale faced guy jogging towards me.

Sorry for the blur but I was excited. What followed was something just as special, it was just as I had hoped. There were tears, laughter and great joy.

After that we went down to Tibs for dinner, I was still shaking for a long time after the meeting. In Tibs we stuffed ourselves full for a meal that costed $7 Aus Dollars.
We talked a bit about news and life here. We were both very tired from the day.
After Tibs we went back to his hotel room and sorted out some stuff for wednesday.
Then we went to my dorm and had a nice chat with my dorm parent. Then dad went back to his hotel, I finished the letters and went to bed.

The wednesday began at 6:40 with Kevin waking me up for my Physics exam. It was a golden morning and the day was just as good.
The exam went ok, but it felt like some of my past tests, and I failed all of those. O well, I was happy with how I went with 10 min revision. I finished the exam and found dad in the finance office. We spent the morning looking around school, trying to show him the setting of my life for the last 4 to 5 months. We went to Aby's for lunch with Anand, the boy from KIS who's coming to Carey for a semester. He will be staying at our house and I thought it would be good for my dad and him to meet before he makes the leap across the Indian Ocean.
Lunch was great, and whilst we waited for the food we played a couple of games of UNO.
After lunch we went to Bryant park which was a magnificent place to go. It cost 110 rupee to get in with a camera, but was a great walk around for 30 min. I highly recommend it.

Then we began to walk around the Lake. With the magnificent day it is one of the highlight of my time here. It as great to take some time to talk with my dad.
For the day I had to wear my Darth Vader shirt that said "Who's you daddy?". It seemed appropriate and funny for the occasion.
I really missed my conversations with dad. During out entire 3km walk we managed to keep talking. It's made me excited to go back home, but I still want to stay.

Today I ran into quite a few people who complimented me on my testimony. Also some higher-ranking people in school (the Principle, Vice-principle, Dean etc) said farewell to me.

Throughout the day, I wasn't too sad, but i was more excited. It won't last though, I can be sure of that. I want to just stop looking to the future from my current perspective and try to enjoy the present. That is possibly the most important lesson I've learnt during my time here. But today is my last day none the less. I may not be back here for a while. I don't know how everyone else feels about that but I know that it's hurting me on the inside. When I get back to Aus I'll need some time to recover.

After the Lake walk dad went to his hotel room and I went to dorm. For half an hour I talked on skype and wrote some blog, dad just chilled and watched TV.

At 3:30 we went down to a local café. I had a nice hot chocolate and dad had a laté. It was a nice way to relax and just chat. It was at Cafe Coffee Day, a very beautiful place to go.

Then we went on Food Distribution, where we delivered the excess food from lunch to the local orphanage. I wanted to give dad the experience of a bumpy ride in a seatbelt-less 4 wheel drive. He really enjoyed it. Once we got to the orphanage we gave them the food and talked a bit with the kids there. Dad started a conversation with some of the kids about cricket, how dad was a spin bowler at their age and what style they bowled. Then the kids showed us a new way to roll a car tyre. It was said to be just like Batman's motor bike. You put 2 sticks into the groove in the tyre, one of each side. You put some water in to make the inside of the tyre more slippery. Then you push the sticks forward into the tyre and it makes the tyre begin to roll forward. It's a lot easier to control that using one stick, and also looks a lot cooler.

So after the orphanage we went back to dorm and packed my bag. It took a while to sort out everything. We went to dinner, taking with us an Aussie flag and some permanent markers. On the way we stopped to place an order at a small portable food shop that we call 'Cart'. It was an order for everyone in dorm. 22 egg fried rice, 10 garlic chicken and 1 veg rice. We then went to dinner.
Surprisingly, not many people were there. I guess that they were out celebrating or whatever. So did and I had some school food. It was average for school food, so a good experience for dad. Down there a couple of people wrote messages on my flag. It's hard to believe that I may never see those people again. Life can be cruel sometimes.

After dinner we went back to dorm and finished up packing. At 8 I went with a couple of guys to collect the food (which we had arranged with the cooks to be the pickup time). When we got there they said that it'd be ready in 5 min. Us, being experienced Indians knew that this meant anywhere from 15min to 30 or beyond. So we went and got some Mountain Dews (that tasted like lemonade) and waited. Luckily, this time the food was ready by 8:25. So we carried all 5 large paper bags full of the food back to dorm. One there we divided it up between everyone in dorm and gave it out. Everyone enjoyed it and there was none left.
Then I went and started making desert with Kevin. It was crushed ANZAC biscuit with cream and vanilla essence. There were also Tim-Tams and Oreos for them to enjoy.

At this time dad left to go back to his room. I grabbed my Aussie flag and went around to everyone in dorm to write something on it. I haven't read them all yet but when I can I will. I'm gona miss those crazy guys. Being in dorm has been amazing. It makes home life so boring.  I just wish I could have gotten to know everyone here better, that I could tell them how much they've changed my life.

To go home is what I must do. I need to finish High school. I need to see the one girl I've been thinking of ever since I've been away from her, the one I've been thinking of since grade 8.


But God has a way of placing me right where I need to be, and with the people I need to know too. It's been an absolute pleasure knowing you all, and I hope to catch up soon.

The Unaccompanied Indian Explorer is no longer unaccompanied.

Throughout my entire my time here I've always had company, and no matter which country I'm in, it will always be with me. Yes, I'm talking about God but also friends. The people at KIS are forever with me.

I'll write blogs of my final exploration with my dad. But until then, this a vert teary eyed, broken hearted Australian saying seeya later mates. 

Another what's-update

The beginning of the end

(30th Blog post. Never thought I'd get this far). 

Less than 2 weeks to go. I can't help but count down each of the days in my head. 

Dad's already started to pack his bags, not sure if I should too.

First up, paintball (2/11).
It was rainy, it was slippery, it was cold, it was foggy, it was amazing.
The 4 hours that I spent down at the Ganga campus to play paintball was some of the most fun I've had here. I ended up playing 3 games, 2 of which were victories. The mask kept fogging up and I couldn't see where I was shooting, but I was the runner and run I did. The games were capture the flag. I ended up getting 3 out of the 5 flag captures for the matches. In one of our matches, it was 3 vs 3. We ended up scoring 3 flags, all of which I scored. Afterwards, one of the people on the other team told me afterwards when walking back to dorm 'You're so fast. I looked away for one moment then when I look back you've already taken the flag.' (The guy who said that did shoot me in the butt as I was running with the flag once though). I don't mean to sound proud, but I was pleased that I found something I'm good at.
Getting 3 flag captures in one game won us a free trip to subway.
That night though, I found myself potted with little red and grey spots. Getting hit in game wasn't painful but when you're trying to get to sleep that night, the internal damage really shows itself. The bruises on my bottom were not painful luckily.

Here are some of the photo's from the day.

The battle ground

Monkeys watched from above

The beauty of Ganga campus

The team 

The shoes and sox were ruined
(Yes, I did get shot on the ankle)

A good conclusion to a great day

It was great playing paintball, though when I return to Aus I don't think I can play till 18. I wish I could do it again.

It's Diwali!! The festival of lights.

Diwali is the celebration of Rama’s victorious return after defeating the Sri Lankan Gods and returning from exile. They lit the entire city with little candles and oil, it turned into using crackers. 

Apparently it’s like a war zone in the cities. There would be fireworks that fill up the entire sky. 

You can smell the explosives in the air at night. 

On Sunday (3rd), I went with a group of other people to visit a temple on Diwali. The group consisted of around 20 girls and 2 boys (myself included). Although I think that there's quite a few Hindu boy's in the school, they didn't come on this trip. We weren't allowed to take photo's inside the temple, but outside was quite pretty too. 
There were quite a few shops. Some selling sacrifices of flowers and food, and little gift shops. 
Here's some of the photo's:

The variates of shoes that waited outside

Inside the temple was some great classical Indian architecture with carved pillars and sculptures. The main deity for the temple was a peacock with a spear. I hear that there's millions of Hindu god's, so I guess it's possible to have a peacock with a spear as one of them. 


We arrived back from the temple at 5. Went back to dorm and relaxed for a bit. It was then dinner time. Dinner was normal/average, no special feast like at Hogwarts.

After dinner at 6:45 was the school fireworks. It was down on an oval called Bendy next to the school. We all got a good view, and so did the locals. The show went for about 20 minutes and was really impressed at the show. It doesn't quite compare to Sydney at the Opening Ceremony in 2000 but still entertained everyone who watched, especially when a spinning cracker would hurtle towards the school (and us).
Here's some of the pics:

The rest of the evening was great. We had our own celebration and watched some soccer.
Whenever I say soccer, there's always a couple of people (mainly Ishaan and Anant) that correct me.
I can't wait to show them proper football, Aussie style.

We've had a simulator MUN conference here in Kodai.
It was like a UN conference, where we all sat down representing a country and debated a topic.
I was representing Turkey for the conference. The topics were death penalty for minors, religious minority violence and balancing media freedom. Out of the 2 meetings we have that ran for 2 hours each, we only covered the death penalty for minors topic. For me it was a great experience, seeing how the UN works, and understanding why it can be so difficult to get a resolution passed. I know now why it takes them forever to make a decision.
My partner and myself in the activity mainly sat back and watched as the world argued around us.
I've been thinking about bringing it back to Aus, because I haven't heard anything about it at Carey. It's a great group and I think anyone who takes part will benefit.
It's one of those things I am glad I was fortunate enough to take part in.

On Friday the 8th was the school winter concert. All the schools bands and orchestra's played. I was in the Wind band and Advanced band. It was great listening to the music and remembering my performances at Carey. The groups played really well and am really proud of my fellow percussionists. I was personally very happy with my performance, and received a couple of congratulations from people afterwards.
After the performance we moved the snare drum and xylophone into a private practise room for me to practise for my music tuition scholarship audition that will happen when I return to school.
In the mean time though, there's no more band practise which means I can enjoy longer breakfasts with vegemite toast.

Lately I've been having strange dreams about my return to Aus. I dream that I'm returning to school or church for the first time. I'm relieved to be back because everyones happy. My most recent dream was going into a band practise and seeing Mr Digby (a music teacher) there, and he said "Ash! I'm glad you're back, we needed you".
It's the sense of need that is common in each of my dreams. I find that people always said that they needed me, and that makes me concerned. I know that they don't really need me. In the case of music there's tons of other percussionists, so I'm definitely not needed there.
So if I know I'm not needed, why do I tell myself that I am.
Maybe I want to be needed, that I want to feel important?
I'm worried that I'm creating this sense of need to try and bring me back to Aus easier, that it's my heart trying to trick itself into wanting to go back.
When I wake from these dreams,  I look up and see the slanted tin roof above my head, and know that for a little longer, I am happy.

On Saturday, I had a slightly crazy time. It started with breakfast and then going to Youthrise Social Experience. Social experience (SoEx) is community service opportunities. They are organised each saturday mainly by the NHS (National Honours Society) and YouthRise. I haven't been to a Youthrise SoEx before, since I'd always had hiking on, so it was my first time going.
We went to the Sacred Heart School which was about 15 minutes drive from school. Once there we tried to get some games going. We couldn't find a ball so we used my hankie in a game called dog and bone (aka numbers). To play the game everyone is first split into 2 groups. You are allocated a number, and if your number is called out you need to grab the bone (my hankie) which is in the middle. Once you have the bone the other person who has the same number can tag you and the hankie does back in the middle and a new number is called out.
After that we started to do running games around the church. That was good until one kid tripped and fell. I was running with them then afterwards they'd all come up to me and tell me how they went in the race.
Although it was my first time there, I started to get to know them. It's something about their bright, open smiles of pure joy that makes it show in you. The 2 hours I had playing soccer (aka football) and running with the kids was one of the best moments of my time here. I hope that I can bring my camera next time to try and capture the beauty of the situation. The weather was so great that morning that I've ended up with an annoying sunburn on the back of my neck.

After returning to school myself and a friend from dorm called Dora delivered romantic and friendship cards that were addressed to people in dorm.
Then I went down to lunch. Whilst there, I had a great time with some other people talking about great memories from field trip.

Then at 1:10 I went and did SoEx which was a food drop off at Mercy home. I have done it several times before but I couldn't when hiking took over my Saturdays. We dropped off the excess food from lunch and then went and saw a go-cart that a couple of grade 12's were making as a CAS creativity project. They had made it from the ground up. It reminded me of all the possibilities that the IB program encourages.

Then once I got back I handed in my photo's for the Photo exhibition that will happen on Thursday for printing. As a exclusive to this blog, I present a sneak-peek to my exhibition photo's.

Some of them were from in class photography class shoots but others were from great moments throughout my time.

On that Saturday night was the choirs concert. All the different choirs groups performed for an hour. It was a great evening with some Christmas classics and modern mood too. There was even some dancing from Mr Vancil (The choir conductor) that I saw.

Now some stuff I'm going to do in the coming week or so.

• I'm going to share some of my testimony for 5min or so in church next week. 
• Catchup with the students that are coming to Australia on exchange and get to know them.
• Get ready for exams
• Do a bit of exploring before dad arrives
• Try make the most of my remaining time. 
• Start packing my bags

I think I'll write another blog, the finale before I leave Kodai, so this I hope isn't the last one. 

In my travels with dad in North India, together we'll record our journeys through words and photos. Then, once theres some time, we'll write it up together (I expect that you may be a little bored of my writing style, so I'll let dad add some of his 'dad jokes'/views to the mix).

I hope you have a great week, whether that be studying for exams, writing reports or thinking about your christmas wish list (I've already started). 

Seeya soon.

If you want to get in contact with me about anything, please feel free

to email me at: comanduash@gmail.com