A night in a Nepali house

I thought this deserved its own post, so the last one wouldn't be super long. On Thursday Caitlin and I spent the night at the house of one of Rupa, one of the girls in Class 9. It was really interesting to see just how a typical Nepali family lives, and to take part.

The house was very small, only 2 rooms made from brick, that wasn't covered over inside, so there are open brick walls on every side. The main room has 2 beds, the stove, a tv and a cupboard to hold clothes. The other room has another bed, another cupboard and a desk. The family has 6 people, 5 of whom still live at home - Rupa, her parents, one sister and one brother, one brother is older and has moved out.

I think the house is one of the few in the area with a television, because there were lots of children hanging around watching through the afternoon. They were all kids from school, and it was nice to see them out of their uniforms and in their natural environment. Once it was dark we went for a walk through Biren Chowk, to see the village by night. Everywhere we went we ran into kids from school, so by the end it was quite a big group. The village looks very different at night, it actually felt more alive than during the daytime when everyone is a work. I think we visited about 4 homes on that walk, and walked the length of the village on the main road. All the while being taught more and more words in Nepali.

Dinner was the traditional Nepali meal - dal bhat (rice with a lentil stew) and vegetable curry. the curry in particular was delicious. I have no idea what spices were in it, but the potatoes in particular were fantastic. Breakfast was the same again, but a different curry, and a little bit of meat. I'm not sure what animal it was, they just said it was meat, so who knows! I've never had rice for breakfast before, and I'm not sure if I want to do it often, I didn't feel as if I got much energy from it, I feel better after a breakfast of a few eggs, or the like. Overall though, it tasted amazing.

The power was on most of the evening, and so was the television. There were a few Nepali channels, and many in Hindi, which shows the cultural influence that India has. Rupa said most of her family, including herself, understand Hindi, as it is very close to Nepali. There were also a few English channels, mostly with really bad movies from th 90's, and many channels with music videos, so we watched a number of Nepali and Hindi music videos - very colourful!

Life in Nepal starts and ends early. We went to bed around 9, and were up by 7, the rest of the family having been up since around 6:30ish. We didn't do much in the morning, just hung around (with the tv on again) until it was time for school.

It was certainly an interesting experience, staying overnight, and it has made me ever the more grateful to have been born where I was, with the opportunities I have. You don't really realize how lucky you are until you see people who have so much less. Studying hard and getting a scholarship to university in Kathmandu or abroad is really the only way out of this town, and it is difficult to do this. Despite this, everyone is very happy and very generous - this family doesn't have much, but still invited us into their home and gave us lots to eat (it was the fullest I've been since coming to Nepal!). It just goes to show that you don't have to everything to lead a happy life.

its been a month!

Ok, I should probably begin this by saying that I did end up getting my bag back. I got it about 10 days ago, and it has been wonderful having all my stuff back again. This past week has flown by, with many changes.
Firstly, Caitlin and I no longer teach Classes 1 and 2; instead we teach Class 7, and will begin Class 6 in about three weeks when the student teachers leave. Although I'm sad to no longer have the really little kids, it has been nice to only deal with tons of noise once a day, instead of three times. Classes 5 and 7 are great at sitting quietly and working, especially Class 7. We're working on past tense with them right now, and I'm finally feeling like I'm actually imparting knowledge on someone, as opposed to keeping the peace for 40 minutes.
Last Friday David Graham, the over of AV, came to Gorkha, so everyone had dinner at the Gurkha Inn, which was a wonderful evening. On Saturday morning my house got up early to come into Gorkha again, to go to the Durbar (the temple that was the home of the prince who united all of Nepal about 250 years ago), which is up the mountain and has fantastic views. We got there around 9, and spent about an hour before heading back down the hill. Surprisingly enough it felt like further on the way down. Its a little over 1300 steps from the town up to the Durbar, but it didn't feel like it on the way up because we took a backcountry route.
Sunday was back to school, but because the Golden Jubilee is coming up, pretty much everything revolves around it right now. The school is being repainted, so many of the classes have been moved outside so the insides of the classrooms can be finished. Its made it a bit more difficult to teach, as there are no blackboards outside, which are the only teaching aids we have. At times I've resorted to writing one or two words on a piece of paper and holding them up for the class to write down. Luckily I'm doing directions with Class 3 right now, so being outside works pretty well, as I send them through obstacle courses around the yard.
Classes are only being held in the morning right now, to give time in the afternoon to prepare for the Jubilee. So one day we will have periods 1 though 4, the next 5 through 8, meaning that we only teach each class every other day instead of every day. In the afternoons we tend to hang out in the classroom being used for dance practice, and talk to the students in class 9. (Class 10 are doing nationwide exams right now, another reason for half day classes)
Yesterday the four of us came up to Gorkha again to visit the house here. We went for dinner at the Gurkha Inn, and today walked up to Saraswathi, one of the other schools there are volunteers at, to see the view of the valleys from there. It was fantastic - from home we can see the valley across to Gorkha, and a little down the valley to the right of the town. From this vantage point we could see all down both valleys. The only damper was that it very very hazy, so the mountains weren't very visible, but otherwise it was a fantastic view. What we could see of the mountains was beautiful though - they looked like they were floating, and as Julia said "It looks like they've been painted onto the sky" It was also nice to see one of the other schools. This one is about 3 times the size of Ratna Rajya, with many more students (although they weren't there today because its Saturday). I couldn't see into any of the classrooms, but they looked to be around the same size, just more of them. The main difference between this school and mine is that all the subjects are taught in English, so the entirety of the teaching staff speaks quite good English, while at my school the level of English among the teachers is quite poor.
We've so far been swapping hosting with the Gorkha house every Friday night, which has become a nice ritual, albeit one that is so far only two weeks old! Its nice to be so close to each other that we can visit often.
It's hard to believe that it is four weeks from yesterday that I left Canada, and four weeks from Monday that I arrived in Nepal. The time has gone by so fast, but at the same time it feels like a long time. We were looking at pictures from the first few days in Kathmandu, which feels like ages ago. Luckily, many more months to go!

Ratna Rajya Secondary School - Birin Chowk

So now that you're all caught up on life, and I've been there for two weeks, its time to talk about my school. I am teaching at Ratna Rajya Secondary School, in Birin Chowk, a village about the size of Laxmi Bazaar. It's about 2.5 km down the mountain to get there, which Caitlin and I walk every morning and afternoon. The teachers seem to think this is hilarious, and are having trouble understanding that we like walking. Yesterday they were still incredulous, especially because it was pretty hot - they said that our faces would like like a ripe apple when we got home!
The school has kids from ECD (think kindergarden) right through to Class 10. We teach Classes 1,2 and 5 together, I teach Class 3 and Caitlin teaches Class 4. Next week we are going to start teaching Class 10 as well, which I am very excited about. The classes have between 30 and 60 kids in them; each year has its own classroom where the students remain, and the teachers move around.
The school itself is rather poor, and is apparently the poorest of those AV's are teaching at this year. The building is concrete, as are most buildings in Nepal, with no electric lights in the classrooms. Therefore we are dependent on what light comes in through the windows (glassless, just open space with bars across) and through the door. Its amazing how quickly you get used to the lack of light, and its usually so sunny outside that enough light comes in anyways. There is a blackboard at the front of each classroom, which is the extent of the teaching materials, unless we bring in something of our own. Quite the change from laptops, smart boards and projectors I'd gotten used to at Queens! Next month the school is celebrating its golden jubilee, which is very exciting. All the teachers are talking about it all the time, and the entire school is preparing. Its shaping up to be a great party!
The kids themselves are wonderful in person, but most are very rowdy in class, the younger ones especially. Class 5 is quite quiet, as is Class 3 once there is something on the board for them to work on. The biggest difference I see in those classes is that when a student has finished his/her work, they will stand up for you to take a look. Class 5 is pretty quiet about this, but Classes 2 and 3 like to call out to you to be sure you know they are finished. All very well, but when there are 40 kids all doing it, it can get very loud! Today I brought in a chart to Class 3, where they get a checkmark for doing their classwork and a checkmark for being quiet, and anyone with 2 checkmarks gets a sticker next to their name. The chart itself went over very well, and everyone was excited about finding their name, but for today I think it increased the noise level rather than decreased it! Very few kids got stickers, but I am hoping that those who didn't will want them once they see the blank spot next to their name next class.
Class 1 is by far the most trying part of the day. They have learned their letters and numbers up to 10 already. At this point it is time to begin teaching simple words and phrases, but we are finding it extremely difficult to convey the message when we they have next to no English and we have just as little Nepali. The problem arises when they get bored or frustrated, both emotions they take out in typical 6-year old fashion - lots of noise and moving about. They are getting better, but it will take time and patience! On Tuesday we played a game where I yell out a letter of the alphabet, and they have to make that shape with their bodies. They didn't seem to be getting it, but yesterday were clamouring to play all class, so we played at the end. Its very cute to see these little kids doing the YMCA, because I've taken to calling the letters in that order. I'm going to make a movie of it on my camera at some point.
School runs from Sunday to Friday, although Friday is a half day. Saturday and half of Friday are the weekend. It was odd to go to school last Sunday, it felt like Monday even though it was actually Sunday. The first 2 weeks have gone by relatively quickly, albeit with lots of frustrations, but the classes have been getting better. 10 more weeks to go, so here's hoping it keeps getting better!

Welcome to Laxmii Bazaar! - January 12, 2010 -- where I live

I have a home in Nepal!! We were supposed to move in on Sunday (10th) but the house wasn't ready yet, so we (me, Caitlin, Amy and Kirsten, my housemates) weren't able to actually move in until Tuesday (12th). We'd been staying up in Gorkha, a town about 10 mins by bus, since Sunday. Don't bother trying to find Laxmi Bazaar on a map, it can't be done. I tried many times before leaving Canada. Gorkha is there though, and Lazmi Bazaar is about 4km south. The only internet is up in Gorkha, so I go there fairly often.
The house is tiny but we love it. There are five rooms including the bathroom, two of which are bedrooms, one kitchen and a living room. Everything is painted pink, which will take some getting used to, as I am not usually a fan of pink. Furniture wise it is pretty spartan, but we do have a table in both the kitchen and living room, and four chairs to go with each. There is no hot water, so it is either a cold shower or a bucket bath. So far I've opted for the bucket bath. We don't have an actual toilet, but what is known as an Asian squat toilet. It's essentially a porcelain hole in the ground. We even have to burn our toilet paper!
The stove is gas powered, which is nice because we experience power cuts many times daily. The only thing we need for cooking that takes power is the rice cooker, but it is possible to cook rice on the stove (I don't do this, because I have a bad history with rice turning out horribly when I attempt it on the stove). All our water needs to be boiled for 5 mins before we can use it, so the stove is on pretty much non-stop while people are home.
The best part of the house by far is the roof. We have a 360 degree view from it, which includes the valley and Gorkha on the other side, with Himalayas on the other side of Gorkha. On the other side is more valley with forests and farms. It is gorgeous, I'm hoping to get some pictures of it up on here soon. On clear days we can see very far, including the sunset over the moutains, which we try to watch most afternoons (mostly because the roof in the sun is a wonderful place to relax). It's been foggy a few days though -- we tend to wake up with the house enveloped in fog, but its usually gone pretty quickly. On rare occasions the fog lasts until late in the afternoon, which it did twice last week. My school, which is about 2.5km down from the house, is enveloped in fog every morning. Its actually quite fun to walk down into a cloud!
That's all I have time for now, so I'll talk about my school next time!

A Day in Kathmandu - Jan 9, 2010

So as I mentioned in an earlier post, my luggage didn't make it to Nepal with me. So for the past few days I've been living in what I wore on the plane and a few other things I picked up in Kathmandu. However, I kept thinking that my bag would show up, and so didn't buy anything like toilettries or the like. Now that we are heading to our villages tomorrow, I need a sleeping bag and other things that I can't do without any longer. The result... a day shopping in Kathmandu with Carmella (who also lost her bag) and Gaurav.
We began the day by driving down the mountain from Shivapuri. I don't think I described the road in my earlier post, so I'll do it now. The road is tiny, only big enough for one vehicle at a time (at one point we came upon a bus, which had to back down the road to the intersection!), very windy and very bumpy. I felt something like a bobblehead doll for the first hour or so, until the roads became smoother. After about 5 mins I began to enjoy it though, it was kind of like ATV-ing, but in an open air jeep.
Once we reached Kathmandu we went back to Thamel, to buy a new backpack and sleeping bag. I've never had a new bag hiking backpack before, so that was pretty exciting. The sleeping bag I got is only -10, whereas my old one was -40, but that was the best I could do. Immediatly after we went for lunch, to a Middle-Eastern restaurant in Thamel called OR2K. It was a beautiful restaurant, with cushions on the floor and low tables, so you took off you shoes and sat on the floor around the table. Extremely comfortable, and very relaxing. I had a three cheese panini, which tasted amazing... a nice break from rice all the time, although I guess I'd better get used to that.
After lunch we headed to Bhat Bhateni (I think I spelled that right), a department store, to buy clothes and toilettries. I did pretty well, but had A LOT of trouble finding pants, because I'm so much taller that the Nepali people are. I was able to find one pair at last, but couldn't find any shoes, because they didn't have any big enough for me!!
We were supposed to leave Shivapuri on Sunday (jan 10), but there was a strike planned in the Kathmandu Valley for that day, which essentially paralyzes the area in which it is occuring. Therefore it was decided we would leave Shivapuri a day early and head out of the valley. Because of this Carmella and I didn't head back up the mountain, but met the rest of the group in Kathmandu. After a LONG (about 7 hours) bus ride, we finally reached the Riverside Inn, where we spent the night. The trip shouldn't have taken so long, but we got a flat tire, and then there was TONS of traffic - people, mostly trucks and buses, trying to get out of the valley before the strike began.
The most interesting part of this was that it went back and forth about 4 times whether the strike (in Nepali, bunda) would actually occur. In the end it did, so we were happy to be out of the valley and not stuck in one place for a few days. Despite the long bus trip, we were also very happy to not have stayed in Kathmandu Saturday night, which would have involved getting up at about 3am to get away before the bunda began at 6am.
So now I am still bagless, but I have some more clothes, and I can finally take a shower without having to borrow everything. It's a wonderful feeling. I'm pretty much given up on getting my bag back, as there is apparently still no trace of it in the system. Oh well, such is life.

Shivapuri - Jan 6-9 2010

The past few days have been spent up at Shivapuri, a National Park in the mountains north of Kathmandu. The trip there was quite fun, as we began in a van that took us about 1.5 hours, through the outskirts of Kathmandu and through a bit of the countryside. The roads are very thin, and it can be a bit interesting when two vehicles pass each other, especially when there is a cliff down one side, but I am glad to say we made it in one piece! After driving we walked about 2 hours up the mountain into the park, which was a beautiful walk. It was nice to be walking again, I really missed taking long walks while I was working so many hours in November and December. It definitely served to get me excited for the safari and free travel time, which will include lots of trekking!!!

The view here at Shivapuri is amazing. It is too beautiful to even capture in photos. We look out over a valley, where there are lots of farms and villages, to the Himalayas beyond. On a clear day we can see right down to Annapurna. It is truly amazing! Shivapuri is like a combination of resort and reteat. The amenities are pretty basic, but we have toilets and hot showers, which is really all I need. This is when the real trip begins, as we have been doing Nepali lessons and preparing to teach. It has been really great to be here, as everyone in the group has really had the chance to begin getting to know each other. There are 15 of us in total, split into three groups of 4 and one group of 3. I am the only Canadian, Magnus is from Norway, and everyone else is from Britain.

Our days are pretty full, but I am usually so tired that I sleep well and am awake and ready to go for breakfast at 8. (this is totally not me, at home I don't even know that 8am exists!) Our classes are all done outside in the sun, with the mountains as a backdrop. I have never had such a beautiful classroom. The sun is quite warm, but once it is gone it does get very cold. Our lessons run until dinner at about 7, (but with lots of breaks and it is very fun, not at all strenuous), and after dinner we have free time, which I tend to spent sitting around the fire with a few beers. Really a very wonderful way to spend an evening.

On the second day everyone woke up to see the sunrise, which was ok, not as spectacular as I was expecting. The sun first hitting the mountains was beautiful, but the rising of the actual sun was blocked by a ridge, which was a bit of a let-down.

Just a note: I haven't ha the chance to get online in quite a while, so I am writing this blog from a journal, so I am writing it here as if I am typing it on the day I wrote it.

So I have arrived in Kathmandu, but just me. No bags. But more on that later. The flight from London was extremely smooth, as was the changeover in Delhi, and we arrived in Kathmandu, met Guarav, the AV representative here in Nepal, and I am now settled into the Turong Peak Guest House here in Kathmandu. Yesterday was pretty much a write off, we wandered around Thamel (the touristy part of Kathmandu) a bit, and had some dinner at the guest house. Thamel is filled with trekking shops, which reminded me quite a bit of how there are Starbucks and Second Cups on every street corner at home, here there are trekking shops everywhere you look. After dinner (dal bhat and rice) the entire group went to the Rum Doodle, the bar frequented by those who are intending to climb Everest. The drinks were fantastic, although my first one was pretty much exactly the same as those I had on New Year: lots of alcohol with a little coke for colouring. I had the chance to try some Nepali beer, which was quite good, and, appropriatly named Everest beer.

Today was tourist day. We went to Prithipatanth (I think I spelled that correctly), a Hindu holy temple, where cremations take place. It is along a river, which is the holiest river in Hinduism. There were quite a few people there who had done pilgrimages to see it. Next was Bouddanath, a Buddhist temple, complete with tons and tons of prayer flags, which were quite beautiful. Lastly was the holy city of Patan, which was built around the 13th century. It was absolutely beautiful, but my favourite part was that when you walked into a courtyard, the sounds from the street were immediatly lost, and it was very quiet and peaceful.

After playing tourist it was back to the guest house for dinner and some shopping. Because my bad hasn't been located yet (the airline has no idea where it is, let alone when I might get it), I did some shopping for warm clothes, as the training course that starts tomorrow is up in the mountains and apparently quite cold. The weather here in the valley has been beautiful, around 15 degrees during the day, and not dipping too much at night. It has been sunny and beautiful, which has been wonderful.

Kathmandu is very unlike anywhere I have ever been before. The buildings are built right next to each other; there is nothing like a house with a lawn and a garden, so far at least. The well-built and poor buildings are right next to each other. The street fronts have all been shops (we had the chance to see quite a bit of the city while driving around today, so this is not just the touristy parts), with people living above and behind them. There are very few sidewalks, so you walk on the side of the road while jumping out of the way of cars, and very very few street signs, so you have to be sure to remember your way by landmarks. As a whole I quite like the city, but I am looking forward to getting into the countryside tomorrow!

London in 36 Hours

My trip has officially begun! After a fantastic New Years in Montreal and a whirlwind afternoon packing, I made it to the airport and onto the plane. The trip itself was uneventful (apparently there was lots of turbulence and they had to suspend drinks service, but I didn't notice, cause we all know I can sleep through anything), and I was able to find my hostel with no problems.
And then I set out to explore London. I've been here once before, so I had a rough idea of where things are, and the added benefit of having done a bunch of stuff already that I didn't feel the need to repeat. After so many hours in transit, I decided a walk was in order, so I set off for Kensington Park and Hyde Park. I spent a wonderful few hours just walking around and stretching my legs. There is a river/pond (kind of like Brown's Inlet in the Glebe but about 3 times as big), and there were some Canada geese hanging out there. Unfortunately they were just as loud and annoying as in Canada. The squirels were huge too, probably becuase I couldn't go 50 feet without seeing another person feeding them; they reminded me of Kingston squirels.
After my walk I went to the Museum of Natural History (museums in London are free, which is fantastic), and have decided that I absolutly have no interest left in science. None of the exhibits interested me, so I didn't end up staying long.
By this time it was dark, so after a quick dinner I headed out with the camera to Westminster, to see Big Ben etc. at night. When I was last in London we were busy every night so I didn't get the chance to see some of the landmarks all lit up, so I filled the night going to see Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye (all of which are right next to each other, so it wasn't that much of a journey), the Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace. The first four were beautiful, all of them were lit up nicely. Buckingham Palace was a big dissapointment, the lights were rather dim and it didn't look very grand. However I'm not sure if this was because it actually because it wasn't lit very nicely, or because it was 8:30 pm and I was going off two hours sleep and eight hours walking.
Today I spent the day at the Imperial War Museum, my favourite place in London. Despite being there for almost 6 hours, I only saw about half of it. The exhibits on the 2 world wars, of course, the children's war and conflicts since 1945. There was also a presentation of the winners from their video competition, so I watched those. The first two were ok (I thought the second was actually kinda boring) but the third was my favourite by far. It was about the legacy of the Holocaust in Vilna, and how it has affected the remaining Jews in the city. So because I didn't see the whole museum, I guess I'll just have to go back!
Now I'm on my way back to Heathrow to meet the group to go to Nepal. Another long flight, but I'm really excited to get going. Despite actually being away from home now, the idea that I'm spending 5 months away from home still hasn't really sunk in, but I'm sure it will once I arrive in Nepal. I have no idea what to expect, so I've decided that no expectations is the way to go. All I know is that I'm not looking forward to the 3 hour hike with my super heavy bag (its right on 50lbs). I'm not sure what the internet facilities are going to be like, so my posts for the next few months will be pretty sporadic, but I'll try to keep everyone updated on what I'm doing. For now, this post is long enough, so I'm off to the airport!

PS. My email is sarahrebeccaedwards@gmail.com. I'll be checking it as often as I update this blog, and answering emails when I do, and its the best way to contact me.