Date: March 12th 2012.

Site: Basket full of stories

What I’ve done: The wheel rolls aground for one final turn as I gather our discoveries together back in Kolkata. Back to the beginning, the hidden shelves of the book shop, the woven songs in the flower garlands and the tailors transforming your imagination into a suit fit for a king. Time has come for me to make sure that I have everything I want to return to the UK with. I’ve been touching base with the people who gave me missions to complete, whilst meeting fellow artists such as Ansuman Biswas (you can find his work at www.ansuman.com) who is working in the University and schools of Shantiniketan. Oh and all is happening in temperatures twice as hot as those in the UK.

What you’ve done: The UK students have been drawing up ideas for our final workshops together when I return to school next week and the staffs at Life Vision Academy have been dreaming up future adventures for us. All the ideas sound very exciting. Everyone back at ground control will help in putting what we will create together up on the site, before we take our final bows.

What I want you to do for me: It will be very exciting for me to return the schools and Seven Stories back in the UK. It will be fun to exchange our stories too. To remember what we have done take a look back at the website via the calendar at the bottom of the home page. Hopefully the articles are an inspiration and just imagine how we will use the stories and what we will be creating together soon! You could also start to collect interesting materials which we can use in the workshops. If you do then you could put them in the treasure chests in your classrooms for safe keeping till I return.

Where next: It’s the giant metal bird for me, back through time and across the seas, dodging flying carpets and rocketeer’s on the way. A massive thank you to: Bengal, Nagaland, Assam, Sikkim and Nepal for sharing your stories with The Fairy Tale Hunter.

See you all in the UK soon.

Site: Outside with Tagore

What I’ve done: Great time’s afoot fairy tale hunters. I arrived in the country town of Shantiniketan in lower West Bengal just in time to catch the Spring Full Moon Holi! Can you guess what that might be I wonder? This is a mission that I have carried in my bag for over three months and involves discovering the home school of Rabindranath Tagore. Can you remember the book shop of Kolkata that gave it to me back in December? Find out just what happened to me and how I was covered head to foot in magical colours in the day of the drama play Mayar Khala.

What you’ve done: Your teachers will have been telling you about Rabindranath Tagore in class. Maybe you have tried an outdoor classroom storytelling experience for yourself. If you have any photos of your outdoor classes send to me at the control centre. We have all travelled a very long way in our imaginations and very well done for all your hard work and enthusiasm. The stories will stay with us all for a lifetime!

What I want you to do for me: To all fairy tale hunters of the world! I only have a few precious days left away from home so keep sending your messages to me and any final missions for me here and in my final week in Kolkata. I wonder how you are doing with starting to write an article about the Fairy Tale Hunter’s adventures in the Himalayas. If you have started remember to ask your teachers to send it to me at andy@yetifairytales.com.

Where next: After such a long-long time away next week I will return to Kolkata and then jump aboard the giant metal bird. I’ll see you all back in the UK very soon. It will be gone in just a blink of an eye.

Date: March 1^st 2012.

Site: Mountains of Darjeeling

What I’ve done: Goodness me! Round and round in circles I’ve been. Folk saying “go here and go there”. Lost in the jungle and rescued by monks. Sent fluttering after wild goose chases and scuttled down blind alleys. So much so that I’ve missed sending you a mission blog, so I better catch up quick.

Out in the jungle I delved into my bag of tricks and drew out a mission that was given to me a long time ago, whilst in the sky over the Indian Ocean. I was told to go to the ancient Tibetan trading route city of Kalimpong in Darjeeling, for there I may just find travellers stories from the mountains in the old “Haat Bazaar”. So I heaved my artist bag of tricks and my treasure chest onto the roof of a passing bouncing jeep and here I am!

I’ve already noticed that there are people here from many different places, talking many separate tongues, some even whispering about the yeti whilst munching on their spicy “momo’s” for dinner. If you look on your maps you can trace how I got here. Try following the roads from Gangtok (via a spinning-tale netting trip to Ravangla) to Meli and then up and up and up to the top of the mountain.

What you’ve done: Thank-you to the teachers of Life Vision Academy for your email about how you enjoyed our work together (I’ll show the certificate to everyone when I get home). It is great to know that you are following us, even though you have no electricity for eighteen hours a day, so you have to use a cyber café to communicate to us! I’m looking forward to receiving your latest work to show the children in the UK.

What I want you to do for me: I’ve not long left now till I return to the UK, so it would be fun for all of us to look back at all the wonderful work we have done over the winter. You could even write a special review of the Fairy Tale Hunter’s adventures in the Himalayas, and ask your teachers to send it to me at andy@yetifairytales.com.

Where next: See if you can discover who Rabiindranath Tagore is and where he used to live, because that is where I’m off to next. I’ll give you a clue; it’s on my way back to Kolkata and the giant metal bird.

Bye for now fairy-tale hunter visitors to Seven Stories, the hunting teams at Life Vision Academy, Old Hall Drive and Hylton Red House and all the fairy tale hunters across the world.

Site: Disappearing into Sikkim

What I’ve done: This is the first of two weeks in Sikkim, as we conclude our hunt for fairy tales in the Himalaya. It has taken me quite some time to travel across from Nepal and I’ve journeyed via the capital of Sikkim, which is called Gangtok, to the north and finally arriving in the “fairy-tale” home land of Dzongu. I was given a mission by two researchers from Japan and the owner of the Hidden Forest in Gangtok. The mission was to find the Lepcha people, because they are the guardians of the ancient stories of these mountains. To find out what happened and how I met with another school, take a look at the latest articles I’ve sent you all.

Guess what! I’ve tracked down some more story books; they are full of amazing tales, even some about the yeti! See if you can find out about the Lepcha people and just why they are so special to our quest for fairy tales of the yeti. You can find Sikkim in between Nepal and Bhutan on your project maps.

What you’ve done:

I wonder how the yeti theme project is going at Old Hall Drive in Manchester; hopefully you are having lots of fun creating art about mysterious stories in the wild snowy mountains. Also I bet that the teachers at Hylton Red House, in Sunderland have discovered some secret reassures of their own to show you. Your latest art work is already on the web-site so take a look for yourself and tell all your friends.

What I want you to do for me: It has been a very long time since I saw you all in the UK. Hopefully you are all full of amazing stories of your own. It would be brilliant to read them, so send your fairy tales to andy@yetifairytales.com. Keep asking your teachers for any news about how to send your stories, pictures and articles to me so I can put them on the web-site. It is wonderful to see your work on display.

Where next: To the west of Sikkim. I wonder where I will be going? Perhaps you could suggest a place and send me a mission.

As ever I look forward to hearing from you soon. Don’t forget it won’t be long before I must jump aboard the giant silver bird back over the oceans and across the world to the UK so if there are any last special treasures you think I will need to bring back in my treasure chest, let me know. Bye for now fairy-tale hunters of the world.

Site: Last week in Kathmandu.

What I’ve done: This is the final week in Kathmandu. I have concentrated on working with the children of Life Vision Academy. There was one final mission set by Kesar Lall (do you remember him), which was to follow a local annual story festival that has involved telling one story for the last month. To find out what happened during our final workshops, take a look at the latest articles I’ve sent you all.

I have also tracked down several story books, which I can’t wait to share with you. It does make my bag of tricks very heavy though! I have a couple of meetings planned as a result of a bonus writing event for the project, it concerns the Himal Magazine based in Kathmandu. They have asked us to do an article about the project, which they will publish. If you think that sounds fun you could email your ideas and try looking for them on the internet for yourselves.

What you’ve done:

The “kid’s cave” on the web-site is looking great and I have received a lot of very good comments from visitors to the site from all over the world. So keep your ideas coming. The children of Life Vision Academy send their extra special thanks to the schools in the UK for their connection in the project together. Life Vision academy would like very much to stay in contact with you all in the future and now they will rely on accessing the internet to follow me for the next month (until I return to the UK).

What I want you to do for me: It would be great if the UK students could let me know what you would like to say to Life Vision Academy as I will be leaving soon.

Thank you teachers in Nepal for all your hard work in supporting me and I look forward to your next mission for me to complete. It may even be in Sikkim!

Where next: Sikkim! I will arrive in Gangtok next week and dive straight into finding the local fairy tales to send back to you. I will be there for two weeks. To get there I will travel for two days by bus. Try looking at your maps to follow me on my journey over the boarder via Siliguri, in West Bengal, India.

I hope that the students in the UK will enjoy their half term break and that the weather is ok as I hear over skype that it is snowing with you as well! I look forward to hearing from you soon, bye for now. 

Date: January 30th 2012.
Site: River tales. Nuwakot Valley.
What I’ve done: After receiving a new mission from Mr. Kesar Lall (Nepals most famous Yeti Tale Hunter) I decided to go on an adventure following the Trishuli River Valley in the shadows of Gosain-kunda and the Langtang Mountain range. Perhaps you can find these places on your maps? To find out what happened, including humming birds, owls and bananas, take a look at the latest articles I’ve sent you all.
I hope you are having fun creating new fairy tale stories in Hylton Red House and Old Hall Drive. I look forward to reading them on the web-site. There will be three final workshops at Life Vision Academy.
What you’ve done:
Thank you for your “WANTED” posters from Old Hall Drive and extra special thanks to Liam from Hylton Red House for your email home work. Liam is now a full member of the Guild of Fairy tale Hunters. Well done Liam I am very impressed with your hard work. All the work you are doing is being sent to the web-site by your teachers so check-out the “kid’s cave” on the site.
What I want you to do for me: Please tell me if you like the books you are reading in class about fairy tales. What do you think fairy tales tell us about the world? The children here do not study art, music or drama, can you imagine school with-out those subjects? I look forward to articles about them.
Thank you to your teachers for all their hard work and I look forward to your next mission for me to complete.
Where next: I think I said I was working on the 5th January by mistake (!!!) in my last mission blog…of course I meant to say February (…how time flies by so quickly when we are out adventuring). So to re-cap I have 3 final art workshops over the next week, here in Kathmandu. So “get-your-skates-on” UK students, if you want to send the students of Life Vision Academy any final messages!
I’m taking shelter from massive thunder storms back in Kathmandu for my last week here then I will travel across the mountains past Everest and on to Sikkim. Why do you think I am going there?
Bye for now.