Final phase!

They’re back, they’re brown and boy are they excited! Two phases done and one to go...it’s exciting times at Raleigh India Fieldbase that’s for sure!

Echo 3 was first off the bus, followed closely by Charlie 1. Tango 5 was next, with Charlie 2 hot on their tail. Echo 4 had the furthest to come so arrived (looking rather tired) just in time for supper.

Like the last change-over, everyone was straight into cleaning their kit and sorting everything out, before jumping on the bus and enjoying some down-time in Mysore for the afternoon. They all got back late afternoon and settled down for an evening of skits, loop competition winners and the world premier of the 11J Raleigh music video.

 Welcome home!

This change over, I was one of the judges for the skits and I have to say they brought tears to my eyes, they were absolutely hilarious and everyone had put so much effort into them. Tango 5 decided to include a few videos in their skit in an “I’m a celebrity get me out of trek” style. Sleeping bag leech attacks, Claire and Ali’s mud fight and some excellent dance moves set a pretty high standard for the rest of the groups. Echo 4 followed with some very creative turtle outfits and a medley of songs describing their time in Velas. Echo 3 also put their time on project to song, while Charlie 2 and showed us how to chat up girls ‘Indian style.’ It was a tough call, but the winners were Charlie 1, who put together a massive mega-mix and told us all about Mallagalli through a mixture of rap and song.

After the skits, Echo 3 was crowned the winner of the loop – with their fantastic hospitality and delicious cooking winning it for them. Next it was time for the music video! Armed with popcorn, our beautiful Fieldbase usherettes, made sure everyone was comfortable before, Hannah, pressed play. Laughter filled Fieldbase as everyone saw themselves releasing their inner pop star to ‘When the going gets tough.’

Charlie 1 with their winning skit

The next day the graduates had the chance to shine as they took the reins and took over Fieldbase to put on ‘Grad Day.’ It was a relaxing start to the day, with Jenni leading a yoga session after breakfast. The grads (with a bit of help from Fieldbase) had arranged two beauty therapists to come in for the day. They set up their pampering rooms on the roof and everyone queued up for a massage, pedicure, manicure, head massage or facial. The boys weren’t left out and the barber from Jaypura came down to give them a shave, hair cut or head massage.

Elsewhere in Fieldbase, the school had been set up as a chill out room for everyone to relax, catch up and listen to music. The caterers also came in to give everyone a lesson in making parotta (Indian bread) and a delicious vegetable curry for lunch. After lunch, there were some more beauty treatments and chilling out continued, before we had an epic BBQ, with chicken, lamb, lots of yummy salads and pretty much anything else you could think of. Everyone helped out with the salads and Andy and Ali did a fantastic job of manning the BBQ. And of course, you couldn’t have a BBQ with pudding, so after the boys had done, the girls took over and filled the BBQ with nutella filled bananas – the perfect end to a yummy meal!

Starting the day with yoga

Preparing a salad for the BBQ

Tucking in to a delicious BBQ

With full tummies and contented smiles, everyone settled down in the chill out room to watch their film of choice, Superbad, before heading to bed to have a good nights sleep after a lovely, chilled out day.

 Chilling out

Movie night!

The next day everyone finally found out where they were going for their third and final phase. So...For the last time, here are the phase three allocations.

Charlie 1 – Malligalli, community  

Kath, Rachel and special guest PM Lee

Gemma, Veerle, Valerie, Will, Victoria, Dan, Shafeeque and Hannah

Echo 3 – Gandathur, environmental

Anthony and Ali

Alex, Lucy S, Robyn, Megan, Victor, Claire and Julie

Echo 4 – Velas, environmental  

Maggie, Jon and Claire

Anna, Aaron, Matt, Anne, Lisa, Maya and Harriet

Tango 5 – Demon Mountain Trek  

Charlie and Johnny

Emma, Steph, Esmee, Jake, Lizzie G, Jamie, Lavina, Leticia and Shruti

Tango 6 – Misspulimala Trek

Ed, Sian – joined by Andy for the first few days

Lucy C, Lukas, Jenni, Kate, Lizzie H, Sterre, Albertine, Stewart and Suthakar

And our Fieldbase medic for phase three is Hannah

After finding out their allocations it was all hands to the decks as, for the last time, bags were packed, kits were checked and the busses were filled with everything they would need to make their last phase the best phase ever!

It’s my last day in Fieldbase today as, unfortunately, I have to head back to the UK early. So, it’s goodbye from me, it’s been lovely writing the blog and keeping you all updated with what everyone’s been up to. But don’t worry, my lovely fellow Fieldbasers will be looking after the blog and letting you know all the gossip from 11J!