Fire's and Rescues

It's only 2 more weeks until I will have completed my first term and will be on my way home for Winter break. I can't quite believe just how quickly these 4 months have gone. I'm so excited to see everyone, but know I will miss this place a lot too. I discovered after project week (10 days) just how much I'd missed everyone, and I think Christmas will have a similar effect on me. 

The day I wrote the last post was an eventful one. Little did I know that only 4 hours after leaving the med centre, the fire alarm would go off and fire service members would get called to an emergency situation. I ran to the meeting point, extremely confused as we hadn't yet been briefed on what to do or wear. There we found a jeep waiting for us with 2 stretchers on the back. We were told that someone (unknown who, or how badly) was injured on the top of Mount Wilkinson, the mountain next to the college. There is actually a triveni called First Aid Service who are meant to deal with things like this, however they have not completed their training yet so fire service were called up instead. 10 of us jumped in the jeep and were driven to the bottom of the mountain, where we then had to run 30 minutes up the hill carrying stretchers, pillows and first aid kits. 


At the top, we found a girl who wasn't a student, but was staying in the college. She had fallen and hurt her (previously broken) ankle, and kept on passing out then fitting because of the pain she was in. We put her on the stretcher and began the trek down, in the dark over hazardous terrain. We had a few flashlights, but with 6 people carrying 1 stretcher at a time and extras holding the lights, things were very crowded. 







Eventually, we made it down at around 7:30pm after leaving campus at 4pm. The girl was so thankful to us all and we were so proud to have worked well under difficult conditions. We bonded really closely, even though we were only about a quarter of the full fire service team. 

That brings me on to my next topic; FIRE'S! After hours of tedious grass cutting using machetes in fire service, we are now actually on to burning. We are creating a 'fire wall' of burnt grass in a ring around campus which is meant to slow the fire down, giving us extra time to fight it before it reaches campus. We have to wear jeans and a hoodie, as well as balaclavas, gloves and goggles whilst running to the fires, so it's pretty hot and hard work. We have these things called beaters which are basically a small metal sheet on the end of a bamboo rod, and we have to beat all the oxygen from the flames until they die out. The grass is still a little wet from monsoon season, so the fires are still pretty small, but we've had a couple of big ones. You get such a big buzz when you're there and someone is chanting and you're rhythmically beating away at the flames with the others around you. All of the fires so far have been started by fire service members, either during our sessions to create the fire wall or as a 'drill' to test our speed and ability under pressure. No matter what you're doing when the alarm goes off, you have to drop everything and run to the meeting point to grab goggles, gloves and beaters. You pair up with the next person who arrives and it becomes your responsibility to make sure you are always with them and always know where they are. Apparently, fires happen quite often when it's dark so you have to be alert as to where your partner is and if she/he is safe all the time. 

So, here's to many exhausting, exciting and exhilarating fires of the future! I'm really looking forward to diving headfirst into this experience. (not literally).

-Kate

Project Week and Exeat

We left MUWCI on Friday 19th October and travelled 90 minutes in a bus to Pune train station, where we caught a 27 hour long train to Delhi. We stopped there for a few hours to get subway and frozen yoghurt, before carrying on 5 hours in another train to Dehradun. Next, we caught a jeep for 5 hours into the mountains, passing some amazing views of peaks and lakes. We arrived at our 'base camp' where we met our guide and other people who would be walking with us and had some amazing food before setting up camp for the night. 

The hiking itself wasn't too hard, although as a group we walked very slowly. We walked 8km on the first day, 14km on the second, 8 on the third, 14 on the fourth and 8 again on our last day. At night, temperatures dropped below freezing and I woke up shivering a few times, but the sky was amazing - we saw so many shooting stars! The group bonded really nicely, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself throughout the week, it was hilarious to see some people's reaction as they saw snow for the first time. I didn't shower for 10 days, but it was totally worth it and the food was phenomenally good!

We arrived home on the Sunday night, and on the Tuesday, my Mum and Chris arrived. It was so nice to see them and catch up on everything that's been going on! They absolutely loved campus (I think) although they were a bit overwhelmed at the amount of people they were meeting. They came with me to PCH (Paud Children's Home on the Wednesday) and really enjoyed themselves. On the friday, we left for Exeat (basically a long weekend) with Mum and Chris, and two of my friends Martina (half Malaysian) and Marija (Norwegian). We travelled on a sleeper bus to Aurangabad which is a city inland of Mumbai. We stayed in an amazing hotel called the lemon tree and went to see the largest handmade rock temples in the world, called Ellora caves. We also went to a mini Taj Mahal and we were meant to go paragliding too, but because of Diwali (a huge Indian festival), the sports centre was closed so we just chilled by the pool. We then flew to Mumbai and dropped Mum and Chris off at a very fancy hotel called the Taj, opposite the Gateway to India. However, my bag did not arrive as it had been put on a flight to Delhi by accident. The three of us then went on to our friend Shiv's house for our remaining two nights in Mumbai and we celebrated the eventual arrival of my bag, and my friend Elize's birthday. We went on Shiv's yacht for one day which was absolutely amazing and just chilled for the rest of our time there, of course fitting in time for a little shopping! 

However, the day I arrived back to campus, I got really sick. I couldn't keep any food down, had a fever of 104 degrees and I fainted. Because I couldn't eat, they put me on a drip for 6 hours to try and rehydrate me, which actually worked as I feel a lot better now! I'm still not out of the med centre, but I can actually eat food and drink water now. Today there is a 1st year vs 2nd year football match, a pool party and karaoke which I really want to go to, but doubt I will be allowed to!

Mamma mia rehearsals are going well, its a lot of fun and I get along really well with the other cast members! My wrist is a lot better now too, although I still feel pain if I put too much pressure on it. 

Again, sorry for the disjointedness of this post - as you can tell I'm not the best writer about!

Kate