I am a short-time (3 months) volunteer and now it has been my 7^th week in India. I enjoy my stay here very much. It took almost four week time to me to accustom myself to new surroundings. And now the time is going by very quickly and I am very sad to think about leaving India.

Before coming to India, hadn’t a real idea of the country. The differences between Germany and India are so huge, that you can’t imagine what India is.

My first Indian experience was the taxi trip from Bangalore airport to the FSL office. I was so scared of the traffic and the driving manner of Indians. As the best, there was an accident on the way! But we arrived safely to the FSL office.

First week was an orientation week, so I stayed in the guest house in Bangalore. The introducing program held by stuff was very interesting and important for me.

My first shock was the bathroom/washing facilities – not using of toilet paper and no shower tap in the bathroom. It took some days or maybe weeks to get used to that as European native. In general, the hygiene in India is very different to German. All the restaurants, hotels, public toilet are so dirty compared to Germany. For a European native it is indeed very difficult to get accustomed to that   way of life. The same thing about water quality and the mountains of waste and dirt everywhere.

By this time I met some German volunteers and they helped me to get accustomed to India. They explained me many things, showed me nice places and shops and we travelled together.

Either my host family has a big positive influence on me. The food of my host mother is so tasty every time! So I don’t need to eat in the restaurants outside. All other members of the family are also very friendly and helpful and I am very happy about this situation. I am very thankful to them tooIt was also not a problem to me to be at home by 8 pm or to turn off the light by 10 pm. I knew from the beginning that there will be some rules and I just have to follow them.

The only thing I had doubts about was working with disabled children. But from the first day in the project I loved my students and I am enjoying every day at my school.  It’s like communicating with children who don’t speak your language. You just use your hands, learn some Kannada words, use a little bit English and just give them all the love back which you are getting every day from them – you will never have communication problems!

I also started to teach my students yoga – they are so happy about it and enjoy my classes very much. After one month of regular yoga I can really see improvement of the students and I am very proud of it!

Now I am looking forward to enjoying my rest time in incredible India!