Ladies and Gentlemen let me introduce to you ....

Hi Everyone

It's been a while since we've blogged but a lot has happened.  Our fun money has run out so we needed to refill the penny jar.  After walking across Spain and volunteering in India (and who could forget our great jobs at the Science Museum blowing things up and driving steam trains) a normal 9-5 job seems a little mundane.  So .... Science in a Van was born! 

A massive thanks must go to the Black Friars who inspired us to follow their great example, Michelle, Viki, Bec & Megs (our teacher focus group), Wesley College who let us practice on their kids, Mum (our sponsor) and Edith (Audio Visual Production Manager). 

Check out our website (we already have a couple of bookings - very exciting!) www.scienceinavan.co.nz

Most of all, keep your fingers crossed for us, keep praying and if you have friends that are teachers in NZ - let them know about us.

Love Al & Em (Mr and Mrs Science in a Van)

PS - you should see our business cards - they are hot!

One down eleven to go.

Well it been just over a month spent in my new home in New Zealand. It was an interesting introduction to my new home. I helped Emily's uncle Peter to move a scuptuer from were it was on display to a art gallery. By the he makes his art out of bricks. Yep big heavy bricks!!

A few days after many Radox baths there was a call from Auntie Glenn. The rat that stole her Christmas mince pies was now dead in her washroom. Now being Christians me and Emily felt we had to rush to her aid. So we rocked up with shovel in hand and singing "there's a rat in the kitchen" then dug a hole. Em said as i dug the hole she would pick up the rat. Off she went to pick it up there was a cry "its alive"!!! So me and Emily celebrated the resurrection and danced with joy. But Glenn wanted the thing gone, So i went in elbow high in a black bin bag. I picked the limp thing up, it moved sligthly. I laid it down to give it a last chance to run... but it didn't have the energy to move one bit. So i carried it out and laid it in the hole. It was hard to bury it but it was so full of poison it wasn't going any where fast. I would like to point out it was the poison that killed the rat not the mince pies it had stolen off Auntie Glenn's table ... they were yummy!

The rest of my time has been taken up travelling around and seeing friends and family. We had a great time on Xmas day at Em's Uncle Peters. There was a fantastic new year at Huntly race track seeing stock cars. After the racing we went into Auckland, set up our fold-up chairs on a quiet back street with a view of the Sky Tower to watch the New Year fireworks. There was a relaxing time on Waiheki island where we went swimming in the lovely sea.

Day to day life is taking shape. I have a work visa and waiting to hear from a job at the Papatoetoe Historical Society http://www.nzhistoricalsocieties.org.nz/members/papatoetoe.html

We have also found our place at MCC in Auckland. Its a little home from home of MCC South London. I know my local magic dealer and on February the 8th I will be going to the magic meeting. On Sunday's down at the local park the mini steam trains run (this will get its own blog) http://www.planmyplay.co.nz/CustomContentRetrieve.aspx?ID=106768.

So, one month down, eleven to go. All going well i think i can manage it.

I'm not saying there isn't lots to do in NZ but ...

We've been keeping very busy making our own fun.  Our sister Edith got a video camera for Christmas and we've been putting it to good use.  You may watch these videos as long as you don't tell immigration that George is in the country... okay???



He has even been practicing his magic ... 

A early Xmas present from us!

So travelling around as we are you pick up many things which you haven’t witnessed before. It’s a bit like George Harrison from the Beatles fell in love with the sitar. So I am going to share a few things with you that we have seen in India. Do remember India is an advanced and vast country and has many influences from overseas. Also me and Em have been quite chilled in Jodhpur and watch alot of TV. So the first things were a bit addict to is something called Minute to win it. It similar to millionaire but as the guest are not up to the general knowledge level they take part in games. Click to see a preview.

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Also if you want to see more and how to make the games for the family Christmas see here. http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/how-to/index.shtml

We also saw this, it’s beyond words.



Know for something of an Indian flavour. This man is the daddy



Since the Cammino and working at Project Why me and Em are trying to live light and fast. So were not doing presents this year.This is an early Xmas present from me and Em Enjoy. If you’re having problems on thinking what to get a loved one for Xmas I know a great charity http://projectwhy.org/Donate.html.

Launchbox FUN!!!

We have been using bits and pieces from the Launchbox over the last few weeks.  Unfortunately at Okhla where we were for the first two weeks didn't really have enough room to make the contraptions.  Now we are based at the Women Center which has more classrooms and a lot more space.

Check out the kids watching the lovely Danny explain the Launchbox and the Launchpad Gallery.  We prepared the kids so they knew that they wouldn't understand everything Danny said but to shout out any words and objects they recognised in the video.  That turned into a lot of fun and noise!

Together we viewed the "On the Move" video.  They were absolutely spellbound!  We shouted out words like rolling, falling, fire, dog, turning and burning.  

 
Here is the contraption that Alan made to inspire the kids to make their own.  We labeled it with the vocab we wanted them to get to grips with (we are totally turning into proper little teachers!).

Here we are building a seesaw.

Getting them fired up with the Stupid Egg trick!

Adding the final touches on their Big Machine!

Here's some video of the girls practicing their new vocab! 

Over a few days they built their own contraption.  They absolutely loved the experience. In mainstream Indian classrooms it's very much one answer for each question.  If they teach the sky is blue and a child might answer sometimes it can be pink or grey, this answer will be wrong.  Opinion and testing out theories isn't really the deal.  In many poorer schools we have been told the teachers only turn up to take registration and the rest of the day the kids play.  In India boys and girls attend school at different times.  At the women's centre the boys come in the morning and go to the normal school in the afternoon.  The girls attend in the afternoon after they have been to school.   

It's a fantastic project that not only supports the kids in this area but also runs classes for the local women (like sewing skills) and provides a bedroom where women can take refuge if needed.

If you donated money to this project before we left or are still collected (I know MCC South London is currently collecting pennies) you're money is definitely going to a grass roots charity that is making a hell of a lot of difference!  A massive, massive thank you to Lex and Danny who put the Launchbox together for the kids xxx

Night night don't let the track bite

Standing on Platform one of Delhi Sarari Rohilla with the Delhi smog enhanced by the wedding season fireworks blurring the lights of the trains as the hollow haunting horns sound the arrival. As we stood amongst the crowd with the sound of Chai, chai, chai rang in our ears and smell of platform food overload our nasal senses.

We found carriage S1 on the 1035 sleeper to Jodphur Junction and boarded finding our beds 25 and 28. We climbed up to our top bunks and laid down and observed. The excitement and high pace energy of the kids from a family near us amused us for a while. A mans ritual of whipping down the bed laying a blanket the perfect shape of the bed then covering it with two further blankets and topping it of with a inflatable pillow. Me and Emily wrapped in a double blanket and heads on our bags showed we were not as experienced but very ready and excited for what lay ahead.

The horns sounded and we were of the rocking motion of the train and the rhythmic chatter of steel wheels on the track made for a soothing felling and masked the light snores.As we laid back and our train cut its way throw the night we could hear trains call out in the night. The relaxing ambiance changed for a definite efficient tone of overhead announcements and platform chaos as we entered stops along the way. All in all we both had a good sleep and the experience was great.

The excited family next door woke us up with there hollering and very demanding whining for their mother. The 0630 alarm call was a little early but it did mean we could get up slowly and chat to the older Indian couple down below. They were heading home and enjoyed the chat and a quick read of the Jolly Post Man. The man with the bedding cleaning ritual must of felt the cold as him and his friend were top and tail on the lower bunk.Once the wake up chai was in then the nut cutlet type things were severed with the finest white plastic bread and Heinz tomato sauce on the side which then was washed down with more Chi. We arrived at our destination.

The experience of this sleeper was great. It was well used and slightly worn yet well maintained. The open track long drop toilet was in good condition no worse then some loos on Southeastern railways back home. I would say to anyone travel by Sleeper and don't be put off by standard class it's where "real India" travels.

Huff and puff in India

This blog comes with a warring. And that warring is this and my next entry is me banging on about trains. So if you keep reading and think your never get the time back you were warned.

So first things first the National railway museum in Delhi. This is a great place on 10 acers with a vast collection of historical trains and carriages from the colourful history of the Indian railways. There's a lot covering the times British colonial ear. It's nice to walk around a well layered out disused siding with trains sitting on the track looking slightly weathered and the odd scare from there working life. There is also a nice under cover museum. With many items ranging from name plates, signals, railway cups and a Elephant skull.

Many of the trains came from works in England and my first instinct was to write about them but then i found a great example of something which i find interesting. It came in the shape of this little yellow beast 25630.
Its a fireless steam locomotive built in Germany in 1953 working as a Factory loco (works shunter) at Sindri Fertilizers, Sindri. Now as you may are not know a steam engine usually works by a fire in the fire box heating water in the boiler and that becoming steam and that pressure is used to drive the pistons to then move the train. But this has no fire. How this works is there a a fixed boiler plant that produces the steam at a great presser. That presser is feed in to the tank on this train. The problem is that this train has a slow speed and cant go far away from its boiler plant. But this type of train was used in shunt yard and factories like chemical plants and explosive factories were you don't want sparks from the fire flying around. This is a great looking train and very creative way around a problem. This idea was tried out in the early days of the London underground.

This Elephant skull is from a wild elephant that charged a mail train on September the 28th 1894 on a rail bridge 220 mile from Calcutta. The loco and its 7 carriages was derailed and the Elephant was found 40 feet below. The impact of the collision and the fall the Elephant was dead. The skull is on show in the Delhi Rail museum. One tusk was given to James Bell the engine driver while the other is at the board office in London.

All in all the train system is amazing over here from it in city Delhi metro to its long distance rail roads which I will be covering next time.