Week Without Walls - 2nd trip to Gujarat

Week Without Walls - Gujarat, India

Every year our students go on a week long field trip called Week Without Walls.  Our 8th graders study the Indus Valley Civilization in Social Studies and last year our teachers wanted the kids to go see some ruins since we are in India. Those teachers are not here this year, but we continued the trip.

On Monday morning we met the kids at the airport at 3:30 am!! and flew to Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat.  It is on the upper left corner of India, on the Pakistan border. 

We had 45 students, 13 teachers, a nurse and 4 security guards.  We arrived in Ahmedabad (with all of our luggage!!) and went to a Taj hotel to have buffet breakfast.  We left for the long drive to Dholavira around 8:30.  We were in two big busses instead of 6 little ones this year.  We went a more direct route and had no blown times like last year.  This year we had the company Jungle Lore help us with logistics.  They had us stop at some great bathroom stops that were a lot better than last years!  They had Cafe Coffee Days at them!  and they found a Dominos half way there so the kids got something more substantial than junk food on the bus.  

Taking the kids to the bathroom cracks me up!!  We have western toilets in most places we go to in Mumbai (sometimes a bathroom has both western and squat toilets). But squat toilets are more common in other parts of India. Some of them are VERY sketchy, but Jungle Lore plotted out some great ones for us.  The kids still complained.  Said it was disgusting- ha!  They should have seen what we used last year!  At one of the Cafe Coffee Day stores I took the opportunity to use a western toilet.  One of my boys was coming out of the bathroom and said it was so disgusting he couldn't use it - said there was poop everywhere.  I found that hard to believe so I peeked in and saw nothing.  I got closer and saw two turds in the toilet.  That is it and he would use it.  Poop is supposed to be in the toilet!  just flush it!!  We were lucky to be in a place with flushing toilets!

 We stayed at Dholavira Resort and Spa - India is a little loose with the words "resort and spa"  :)  We arrived around 6pm - long drive! The huts held 5 kids and had a running tap for a bucket shower.  We had so many adults on the trip that we didn't have enough room in the huts so Nupur and I stayed in a tent.  It had a fan, toilet, and bucket shower.  Monday night, a famous Gujarati folk singer came to perform for the kids. 

On Tuesday, we split the kids into two groups and half went to the fossil park and half went to the excavation sites of Dholavira - a Harappan site. I went to the fossil park first - we had to walk a LONG way in the heat.  We only had 2 cars to ferry us back and forth.  So people would pile into the cars and the rest would walk until the cars came back.  The kids found fossilized wood and shells etc in the fossil park. Last year at the Rann of Kutch we saw the most amazing salt flats, but this monsoon Gujarat got a lot of of rain and it was all sea.  When we got back, there was a potter there so show the kids how the clay pots were made (that we found in the archeological site)  they got to use the wheel and made pots. 

 My group went to the archeological site after lunch ( it is 30 miles from Pakistan) and the kids got to see all the ruins which were really cool.  We went back to the campsite to rest, play games, and plan skits.  

  

On Wednesday we drove back to Ahmedabad.  We stayed at the YMCA which the most amazing YMCA I have ever stayed.  It is great for the kids.  We had all the girls on the second floor and all the boys on the third floor.  The room doors open outside into a courtyard so we could sit out there while the kids played or used the pool.  

I am very intolerant of Indian food - it makes me sick.  It could be I am sensitive to the spices and oils or that my lupus meds have destroyed my stomach lining so it is sensitive.  I do NOT eat it in any circumstance.  I am psychotic about it and if I smell spices I don't eat it.  On these trips I usually only each granola bars which is not great.  This year we ate at dominos a few times and Dholavira served boiled eggs and fruit.  At the YMCA they made one non veg dish and it looked good so I ate it.  I got what looked like plain rice with veggies.  I took two bites and stopped because it tasted Indian.  I woke up barfing in the middle of the night.  augh!  it could be the rice.  or could be on monday a girl barfed for two hours on the bus in a plastic bag right next to me - maybe I caught it.  Miserable. 

I didn't get to go, but the kids got to see  Ghandi's Ashram(Sabarmati Ashram), the Adalaj Stepwell, and the Akshardham Temple.  In the evening, the kids did their skits and played in the courtyard.  We left Friday morning for our 12:30 flight. 

Now we get a week off for Diwali.