A working holiday is fun when you’re surrounded by a completely different culture and working with colleagues you’ve never met before on a program you haven’t ever been a part of.

Today was the beginning of our learning adventure in India. Delhi is unlike any place I’ve been before – it has masses of people swerving in and out and around each other with horns blaring. This is particularly true of Old Delhi where the city was originally founded by the Moghul invaders.

We saw the Red Fort built by the Mohguls made of sandstone and visited the Red Mosque that was made from the sandstone left over. Donning the compulsory fluoro robes and taking our shoes off we hotfooted it across the burning pavers to admire the mosque from the internal courtyard. The pigeon droppings we’re a bit crusty as we stood surrounded by the local paparazzi admiring the onion shaped minarets and the carvings.

After this we headed off on our tour of what our tour guide, Raj, called the crazy markets. Walking single file we had to compete for space with rickshaws, motor bikes, tuk tuks and other people. What a sensational experience for our eyes ears and noses! Incense, spices, food cooking, people, colour, humid heat and blaring horns assailing us as we dodged puddles and tried to keep from being run over. We walked and walked in and out of laneways with something new to see at every turn. Amazing!

It’s a good thing we had spent the earlier part of the afternoon developing our theories of practice to focus on for the following days classroom observations. There is no way we would have had the brain power or energy to attempt them after our excursion to the old city.