I've often pondered the age-old question of "Which religious order or group of religious men is the most solid?"

After a week in Mundgod, i now know the answer.
Tibetan monks.

These men are monsters, they ride motorbikes around townwith there heads shaved. Yesterday, i saw a young tibetan monk fully robed playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City on the pc in an internet cafe. Oh, those monks of Tibet, they never cease to amaze me.



But anyway, Mundgod has been interesting, i've been put in Loyola school but i have no work to do as of yet. I'm staying in a boys hostel for older students, my room is homely, especially the bathroom,i've got a bucket and a tap and a charming little hole in the ground. The worst part of my room is that there is an open sewer right outside my window, so ican smell it whilst i try to sleep. It's alright though, it's weird how you adjust to things.


More importantly, on Sunday I went to a little Siddi village with Fr. Francis and 3 other volunteers. We had mass and then played volleyball against the women & children of the village after. I was a little off my game admittedly, my confidence did sink when the opposing team began to hit the ball towards me as they knew i was the weakest player. However, in the true manner of a champion, i still managed to win 3 of the 4 games because alongside me was Fr. Francis, comfortably the best player on the court. Had it been football he'd have been an amalgamation of Michael Essien and Kaka, combining power, determination and work ethic with a subtle grace and lightness of touch.


That was not the end of my sportingactivity for this week oh no, i played basketball yesterday against Prasanth. Prasanth is a 19 year old "physical instructor" so essentially he is the school's PE teacher. Unfortunately though, he happens to be the least co-ordinated man i've ever seen. He's shorter than me, and not much heavier. I'm not sure whether he had ever played basketball before but he was terrible. I have only ever played basketball once i think and i know i am really quite incompetent. But he was just abysmal. He didn't even know how to shoot properly and all that is is throwing a ball using two hands.

Ah Prasanth, I do wonder how he got his job. Indian's care little for sport except for Cricket so there are very few athletes for a country this size. Everyone is thin and seemingly born without any natural agility or co-ordination.

Oh well, i just got interrupted because i got a call advertising wedding arrangements. Which obviously reminds me that i have a new phone number because i'm in India.

+919611972153

This has been a very long post, so i shall finish soon but before that i will announce my regret that i havent been able to get my pictures posted onto the internet yet. I've seen some bizarre things.
I once saw 8 people on one motorbike including a father, 6 small children and a grandfather. I've also seen two dogs fight over a large sheet of plastic wrapping then witnessed the crushing disappointment for the triumphant dog when he realised that the plastic wrapping wasn't edible.


Oh yeah, and yesterday i rode a bull-cart. If you don't know what is it's a little wooden cart pulled along by a bull. I suppose it's all in the name. But it doesn't matter, it was probably the most indian thing i've done since i got here. The fact that it was the least efficient mode of transport ever only made the experience sweeter.

One boy asked me after seeing my excitement at the bull-cart,

"Don't you have Bull-cart in UK?"

I just couldn't resist the urge to laugh in his face. He didn't mind, he's very thick-skinned is Joji.


Anyway, thanks for reading.
Ed x