Visiting the school at Suryapet

Trip Start Dec 29, 2009
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Trip End Apr 17, 2010


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Flag of India  , Andhra Pradesh,
Wednesday, February 3, 2010

In the morning we visited their school AVV High School.  We had a lot of fun at the school - nobody was remotely interested in us - they just loved meeting the children, particularly Jake. Patrick disappeared at break time and apparently a big group of children took him all round the village to meet everyone. We were introduced in assembly and then the children sat in a few classes. I can’t say we really helped in terms of any academic influence although we did have one class doing a great Mexican wave. The school is in a beautiful setting and the building is great with comfortable white washed classrooms, blackboards and proper desk seats. There is a ground floor, first floor and a roof. The headmaster and all the staff were really welcoming and the headmaster made a point of telling me how great it has been and continues to be having project trust teachers. I was really impressed with the way Connie and Emmy dealt with all the children (they get very overexcited and are all clamouring for attention). Only other frustration not really enough work for them - they do an hour extra at the local primary school but it seemed to only be a couple of hours a day and they have to hang around for a lift in the jeep back to the campus
Connie and Emmy chatting to Phoebe
Connie and Emmy chatting to Phoebe
. The problem is there is really nothing else for them to do since there are no longer opportunities for doing extra teaching within the campus.

We had such a good time, Emmy and Connie were lovely and it was a fantastic experience for the children. I hope that I will meet them again at the project debrief. We left midday and headed for Vijiyawada - spotted a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere and had to do a u turn to have a good coffee. Patch at last lost one of his front teeth that has been wobbly for ages, it seemed to come out in a chicken burger which Phoebe then finished off and the tooth was never found! We met a biker from Canada in the coffee shop who was the only other tourist we were to see for quite a few days. Suryapet, Vijiyawada and that area are definitely not on the tourist trail. The hotel Ilapuram where we decided to stay after checking what the Lonely Planet said is one of those indescribable and easily forgettable hotels which is clean and has everything that you need but zero warmth and no customer service, they were definitely doing us a favour letting us stay there. The man in charge clearly doesn’t like dealing with women and so I made sure I did all the sorting including haggling on the price for two rooms, one with three beds. He continually answered the phone while we were talking, cleared his throat making the most disgusting noise and barked orders at me constantly so no pleasantries there and we were pleased to escape to the Minerva Coffee Shop where at least we got a few smiles, dhosas and chips for supper and one of those hair raising tuk tuk journeys that always cheers you up.


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