Vaazhthu!
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Kodaikanal brings my second Workaway experience, and a ridiculous amount of rain. When I arrived in the town my host picked me up form Dominoes (it was unimaginably difficult not to buy a huge pizza whilst I waited) to take me to his home not that far away. The oldest house in the town, it was a beautiful wooden cottage surrounded by a well kept colourful garden. I was given a tour of the house, the surrounding smaller cottages and the vegtable garden. I loved it. Something very British about the whole place, which was probably enhanced by the fact I was freezing cold and it was miserably wet. Home from home.
My host was very chatty guy who made you feel at home in an instant. His mother the same; absolutely lovely and obviously pleased at the prospect of having another female in the house to talk to, this was a family of men. The father had a stroke a few years back and was still incredibly ill but very much still a part of family life. Another volunteer joined in the evening who had been volunteering at the farm a couple of hours away. Becca; she was my new favourite German. It was great to hear her stories, and see her pictures and videos of her experience so far. I was excited. (and in case you want a read as well – Mind Bubbles)
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My first day consisted of gardening and jam making. Unfortunately the pouring rain once started, hadn’t ceased, so I was unable to go out exploring after work. Little did I know this was what I had in store for the remainder of my stay.. (I hope you like my clearly exaggerated weeding there, and my stupidly smug self with my jam)
Due to the the weather being so bad our days consisted of marketing and PR work; it was semi creative work and I enjoyed it, we were busy little office workers sat in the dining room clicking and typing away whilst sharing stories, having debates, learning about each others way of life with both each other, our host and his family. I’m pretty certain that I put on a fair bit of weight here too.. the fact that we couldn’t really go exploring, doubled with the huge tasty meals served three times a day. I don’t think I ever had less than two servings. The only downside to this place was the cold, if the weather had been different I imagine my view of Kodaikanal would be a lot different to what it is. The old heritage house was obviously not insulated and therefore we sat there working with hats, scarfs, jumpers, socks, water bottles, and a fire on in the evenings. I was not expecting this.
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Aside from the work, we mainly stayed in, wrapped up, eating beautifully home cooked Indian food, and chatting to the family. We did eventually get to venture out when the weather ceased for a bit. Becca and I managed to go into town and walk around Kodai Lake before it started pouring down again, not even the huge umbrella could save us, we were drentched in minutes. Kodai Lake was man made by us Brits in 1863, supposedly because we wanted to do a spot of fishing. And of course we were stopped for the obligatory photo with some Indians, though trying to make them a bit more exciting than your standard pose. Before we headed home we went to the shops to buy some more warm clothes.. we desperately needed them. Not realising however, that whilst we were in the shop had picked up the same ‘outfit’. We now wore the same green fleeced Adidas jumper and matching green joggers. What a sight. The only time either of us parted from our new beloved outfits was when we headed into town, which wasn’t often.
After 5 days two german guys who’d been working up at the farm joined us. Fresh blood! Both awesome, and could make you laugh with just a facial expression; they were a great combo. I was clearly outnumbered by Germans though, and Becca still continued to try and speak to me in German, it usually took several attempts before she realised why I look so bemused.
Although our host could be difficult at times he did look after us; one night he held a movie night in one of the cottages that was vacant of guests. The fire was blazing, massive telly with sky movie channels, a great alsortment of snacks, minty mojitos and REAL CHEESE.. ahh it was great.
On Diwali we got a day off, and the fairly decent weather seemed to be holding out for us! We were asked to make a video on our volunteering and Kodaikanal in general. So this is how we spent our day (even when the sun ran away). It was great fun, and I was just ecstatically happy to be out of the house and exploring, even if it wasn’t far. Our video showed Kodaikanal and volunteering, in a different silly fun light. With a lot of awful singing. Watch this space. In the evening our host bought us beers and snacks and let us party in one of the cottages for Diwali, it was great! The first time I had really drunk alcohol in months.. probably shouldn’t have played drinking games with extra strong mojitos though, I’m pretty certain those pesky Germans were cheating. Although I don’t remember writing the below, it’s clear proof that they were. And apparently I Love Eckernförde.
It was a very different experience to my first workaway. Being accepted into someones home and due to the unusually bad October weather spending the majority of my time there with the family. It was a great learning experience, and at times could be tough going when your working together and living together in such close proximities and don’t always see eye to eye on certain issues. Discussions easily turn into heated debates when the people involved are stubborn (i’m included in this, obviously). Kodaikanal wasn’t what I expected it to be, much bigger than I had envisaged, and maybe if there was glorious sun for the most part my experience my feelings of the place would be quite different. However, it still was an enjoyable time. I’ll miss my 3 little Germans. Not including the one that’s now following me to my next destination(s). I won’t have a chance to miss her for a while.
Kātal x
Motto Paddo 