Diary notes

Arrival in India:

September 12, 2010
"The boldest drivers with the largest cars and the loudest horns usually have right of way, unless the road is blocked by a cow, which is considered holy in India. Despite jet lag, climate and tiredness, we didn't sleep a wink during the drive – we were inundated with so many new impressions of things we'd never seen before..."

Christoph and Matthias, apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany

At work:

September 27, 2010
"Already during the meeting, we were drenched in sweat, thanks to the 40°C heat index. But still, we were very motivated as we started measuring the building and drawing in the positions of the installation systems..."

Christoph and Matthias, apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany

September 28, 2010
"The entire day was spent cutting, welding and punching. Come the end of the day, not only were the first Mepla and PE pipes installed but also the first Geberit cisterns in the toilet building of the Penthakata School..."

"The most spectacular part of the day was the return trip that evening to the hotel. Typical for India, our ten-person group plus driver were crammed into one three-person auto-rickshaw..."

Christoph and Matthias, apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany

September 29, 2010
"Today we had lunch at the school again. There was rice, fish, vegetables and curry sauce. A few of us had a chance to see how the food was prepared: The fish was cleaned outside on a concrete slab, also yielding some ingredients for the sauce. The scene was surrounded by dogs, cats and ravens..."

Jonathan and Stefan, Apprentices from Jona, Switzerland

September 30, 2010
"The wall connections are now all in place and we started digging waste water ditches about half a meter deep… During our lunch break, we were almost eaten alive by mosquitoes, which are really bigger than the bugs we have at home..."

Jonathan and Stefan, Apprentices from Jona, Switzerland

October 1, 2010
"There were problems with the electricity supply and most of our tools weren't functioning, so Michi Brodmann and Michi Schmadel had to fix this first.... In the afternoon, we experienced our first tropical rain storm, which meant we had to stop working on and off..."

Michael B. and Michael S., apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany

The weekend:

October 2 and 3, 2010
"On the way to the temple, we saw that all the market stalls were still closed. It felt like 50° C in the sun, so we weren't much in a shopping mood anyway. We bought the entrance tickets and were surprised at the price of 250 Rs per person, quite expensive for India. Only later did we realize that the Indians also know how to cash in on tourism. Ashwid showed us his entrance ticket, which cost only 10 Rs..."

Robin and Georg, apprentices at Pottenbrunn, Austria

At work:

October 4, 2010
"One group started work on the installation of the two 2,000 liter water tanks on the roof of the main building. The Indian helpers had set up bamboo scaffolding on the 10-meter high outer wall for attaching the vertical water pipes. We first thought it looked very rickety, but then we saw that bamboo is a very stable building material. Another group started work on the discharge pipes that needed to be laid along the sanitation building. This required a ditch 20 meters long and 60 cm deep that had to be dug out by hand. Then the rest of us had to lay the discharge pipes from the teacher WCs..."

Michael B. and Michael S., apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany

October 5, 2010
"Today started out with a surprise. On our way to work, we got caught in a a torrential rainfall, even though after breakfast we had all gone to our rooms with dry feet... During the work on the ditch, Otto Griesshaber wanted to replace an old discharge pipe, but then the locals pulled him aside. There was a snake in the pipe. No one knew exactly whether it was poisonous or not (the grinning school director said: "Probably yes?!"), so the pipe had to be dug out..."

Christoph and Matthias, apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany

October 6, 2010
"The group from Pfullendorf had brought along 200 Euros from their apprentice fund. Friends of Otto Griesshaber contributed another 80 Euros. This money was to be spent on a good cause. We had thought to buy school notebooks, but the teachers told us that they really needed a sound system to make announcements during the morning roll call and at school festivities. So, Otto and another teacher took a long trip to another city. It took three hours to get there and then another three hours to get back..."

Jonathan and Stefan, Apprentices from Jona, Switzerland

October 7, 2010
"Today the weather was even worse than it had been on previous days. Steady rain, storms and one meter waves gave us a boring day in our rooms. Fishermen on the beach said that it's a cyclone… Despite the awful weather, six of us headed out to the school. Heinz Waldvogel was inspecting the hospital in Bhubaneswarso, so Norbert Peuckmann and two Indian Geberit employees took on the task of training local plumbers to work on the hospital expansion..."

Christoph and Matthias, apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany

Last day of work and goodbyes:

October 8, 2010
"Today it's time to say goodbye. Saying goodbye to the teachers, our cook, the Indian workers at the construction site and, above all, the many children at the school... A woman teacher said some words of welcome and told us that they would not be able to offer us any material gifts but rather heartfelt gratitude. Then, the children performed traditional dances that they had learned specially for us... Waiting for the bus, we were constantly surrounded by flocks of them all wanting our autographs and paper airplanes. On the return trip to the hotel, we stopped at the school children's native fishing village and saw first-hand the extent of their poverty and need..."

"Even though India is a completely different world for us with a different way of thinking, it was still a wonderful educational experience for us all, one we will certainly never forget. We got so many impressive insights into the Indian way of life, making it clear how high our own living standard is and how good we have it at home. We should learn to better appreciate the small things in everyday life and become aware of the fact that the majority of the Earth's population has a much harder time of it than we do."

Christoph and Matthias, apprentices at Pfullendorf, Germany