Week 5- When did the end get so near?

Saturday was quite a restful day, Tina and I went to Bhat Bateni supermarket and picked up spices, and I bought a mortar and pestle for spice grinding. On the way there our cab drove through a group of people who were protesting and on the way back our cab let us off in the middle of police officers who were suiting up in riot gear. It was perfect, as Robin and Patti had earlier that day said to stay away from demonstrations and places where there are lots of police officers on duty. We spent most of the day relaxing after that (it was very hot). That night Mann and Lolita invited us to their house (Self Help Nepal) for a family dinner. All the children were dressed up, as were we. We had some yummy dahl baat and were treated with a cultural dancing show. At the end of the night we were encouraged to perform ourselves, so Tina, Isha, and I sang Bohemian Rhapsody...it was magical. Gocool, Mann, and two of the older boys from the house walked us home. We drank tea and watched Singing Icon Nepal (Nepal's american idol) and had the news translated for us. We were hearing of the updates of the constitution. We learned later that it had been extended for 3 months under certain provisions, such as the prime minister must step down. 

Yesterday was an incredible day. It was Republic Day in Nepal, so all the schools were closed, but we still needed to fill our day with some work experience. Tina and I headed off to Self Help Nepal around 10 am and Gerrit and Isha were right behind us arriving around 11am. We arrived to very excited children!!! We had brought Uno Stacko...it's like Uno and Jenga combined. We played that for a while, then just started having block stacking competitions. At one point, I was playing with Deepak, Man and Lolita's son (the people who run SHN) and all of a sudden he fell asleep in my lap. He was so sound asleep that he slept through wrestling being cheered at, people playing music, and people poking and prodding him. About 2 hours later, it was time for tippin (light lunch) and he was still asleep. We lifted him in the air, said is name, blew raspberries on his tummy, turned him upside down...there was no waking him! We left him sleeping on the couch. That afternoon we played a bit of badminton and then went home. Last night, we piled into cabs and went to Thamel. Camosun College International was hosting a thank you dinner for Action Autonomie Nepal (Mann and Gocool representing the org). We went to Helena's and had delcious meals (I had cauliflower with cheese sauce, salad, and garlic bread) and a chocolate cake for dessert. We presented thank you plaques and small token gifts of appreciation.

Today was another day at school. I spent the morning with the kindies and sang songs, bonded with the dance/music teacher, and played a lot. I also taught an English 5 class. It was the best ever! We played Heads Up 7-Up, Hangman, Silent Strawberry (silent ball), and a super intense game of Simon Says. On our walk home we stopped and bought freshly made donuts from the woman at the end of our street....they were only Rs 5 each...we got 11 for Rs. 55 which is less than $1. We shared them during our seminar with Robin and Patti.

It's wild thinking that there are only about 10 more days left until I'm home! It's also weird thinking that the apartment I'm going back to is the same size, if not bigger that generations of families live in throughout Nepal. A house half the size of my apartment may fit 5 or 6 people in nepal, but in North American standards, it's small for one. I think culture shock will effect me more on the way home for sure. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.

I flipped through all my photos yesterday and realized that I have about 1000...which is almost as many page views as I have on my blog. I hope you're all enjoying the read and have had as much fun following my journey as I have had writing about it. Only a few more posts headed your way before I touch back down on North American soil...but who knows, maybe I'll continue blogging about the post trip phenomena when I return. I'll also add pictures too!!!!


Namaste!

Strikes and School

Monday was your average day at school, playing with the little kids, getting my glasses bent so badly one of the lenses popped out (i got them mostly bent back), and visiting the houses of children after school. The kids at the Himalayan Helpless Child Academy are wonderful, they fight over who gets to have us over after school. On Monday we went to Saru Rai's house. She served us with ice cold cokes (freshly bought) and cookies (also bought). The house is a bed (plywood attached to the wall with a thin mattress on top), a single element, a television, a few shelves, and a couple water jugs. Simple. Her father greeted us and welcomed us into their home, her mother is either in India or in the field working (not quite sure which). It was very nice.

On Tuesday, we had another Bandh....this time, we went to the children's homes we had visited earlier in the trip. I went to Mann's house (Self-Help Nepal) with Tina, Gerrit, and Isha. We played Uno for an hour, played outside most of the day, enjoyed chow chow soup with mann, his wife, and his best friend and his wife (who are coming to Canada in July), played a bit more, watched some Harry Potter and came home. It was really fun hanging out with the kids and not needing to teach.

The next couple of days we were at school again. I split my time between getting to know the little kids and teaching the older kids. After school we went to Monica and Bipaana's houses, both of which are in the same compound that Saru Rai lives in which is next to the school where the carpet factory workers live. Again, we were very kindly welcomed into their homes. Bipaana tried to feed us Tang with water that we couldn't drink so we made up a story about how we would drink it on the road and poured it into our waterbottles. Genius!

Today (Friday) we had another bandh. This time, it was the maoists who are striking. They are supposed to be giving up their weapons, but they don't want to. Apparently, a bunch of buses were burnt as part of the protest and men with bent rebar and guns were at Samakhushi chowk. We went to the children's homes today and kept to the back route. We aren't in any danger being tourists, but we want to make sure that we don't get caught up in anything. The constitution is supposed to be done by tomorrow, so I guess we'll see what happens! Apparently we should expect a strike tomorrow, and Sunday is a holiday...so a few low key days ahead of us sounds good. We are all pretty tired and many are sick, but we just keep on trucking. Tomorrow night we're having dinner at Mann's house and the following night we're going into Thamel for a Camosun Thank You Dinner for a few of our key supporters here in Nepal. It's crazy thinking we need to start saying our thank yous and goodbyes. But I guess every amazing experience has to come to an end eventually.

Between this post and the last one, I think I've given everyone enough reading material for quite some time....less than 2 weeks to go!


Namaste

Birthday in Pokhara

Life in Nepal is certainly less than boring.

Friday we loaded up our tourist bus and started our loooong drive out of the city. As it was about a week before the constitution was supposed be passed, there was a strike! Tourists are allowed to move along the roads, but locals are not. We had no problems leaving Kathmandu, but as we approached the city limits we saw the tail end of a truck, and another, and another parked at the edge of the road. The first roadblock we drove up to had over a kilometre of stopped vehicles heading towards Pokhara. We drove past the line up and were finally stopped at a large group of mainly men shouting and cheering at a speaker. They stopped our vehicle and thoroughly inspected it to ensure that we were all tourists. They even gave our tour guide a hard time. We passed through a few more road blocks and stopped for lunch at a hill top cafe. It was dead, as nobody was getting through the road blocks. We all enjoyed delicious meals and continued on our way toward Pokhara. Along the way we passed huge buses packed full of people, with people teetering precariously on top heading towards Kathmandu to protest. But a few roadblocks later, and we were the only vehicle on the road. Each roadblock was just a group of male citizens, some with weapons, and occasionally one or two police officers sprawled on the side of the road looking bored. The men would stand in front of the vehicle so that it stopped, surround it completely, open the door, inspect everyone thoroughly inside, demanded Gocool to explain his presence, and some even required Amanda to present her passport. We were waved through all without much trouble. At one of the last of the 15 or so roadblocks we went through, there were two clueless german tourists who had no idea why there bus had been stopped. We picked them up and drove them into Pokhara.

We arrived around 4:30pm and we had left at about 9am. It had been a long day. We were staying at the Holiday Inn Pokhara, complete with free wifi and a pool. The first thing many of us did was jump in the pool, we felt a whole lot better. It's pretty hard to get clean by just sponge bathing and hair washing...yay full body immersion!!!! At 6:30 we were driven into town and went to the Fewa Lake Restaurant. It was next to the lake and had live cultural dancing and music. We stayed there until our pick up time of 9pm. We had way too much food to go around, and drinks that are a mighty bit stronger, and a whole lot cheaper than at home. The only problem with the holiday inn pokhara were cockroaches. Lovely. I found two huge cockroaches in my bed, but discovered they were quite skittish. So after removing them from my room I tossed and turned in my bed lots to scare any more of them away. Steph (the other one) was my roommate, she had been visiting next door and had brought Amanda and Sarah over for a quick hangout before bed. When they came over they immediately spotted two spiders, one was complete with an egg sack. We removed them both, and as I was getting the egg sack out the door a giant flying bug flew at me out of the night and I shrieked running and jumping up on my bed. Absolutely petrifying!

MY BIRTHDAY!!!!! We woke up at 4:45 and got in the bus, we drove up to a very popular lookout. There, we saw an amazing sunrise and an absolutely gorgeous view of the mountains. We then drove back and I showered. After a quick breakfast, we started out on our jam packed day. We first went to a huge cave, it had a temple and an underground waterfall (beat that Canada). After our walk down, we walked back up, crossed the street, and saw the above ground portion of the waterfall. We also made wishes in the wishing well there. Next, we were off to the World Peace Pavillion. We drove up a treacherous road (very scary, I wouldn't have driven a bus full of people up there) and then did a 20 minute hike up to it. It was very neat there were people there praying and you could walk on the pavillion but you had to take off your shoes and socks at the bottom of the stairs (a very typical act in Nepali culture). We had a fantastic view of Pokhara and made another dog friend. On the way down we had another animal interaction, except this time it was to make way for the water buffalo who had decided at the moment that we passed by that it was the perfect time to head down the hill at a faster pace than we were walking. We had to scramble to get out of their way, because they weren't waiting for us. At the bottom we had a Mountain Dew party and got all hyped up on caffeine and sugar just before our trip to the Gorkha Museum.We drove back down the crazy road, and got out at the Gorkha museum....oops, wrong location, actually a bird museum.....and then off at the real Gorkha museum. It was an amazing museum and had personal stories, equipment, clothing, and told the history and present work of the Gorkha's. The Gorkha's are the elite military group of Nepal and have been part of wars all over the world that they have no personal stake in. They are paid very well by the English government and they hold a very high honor for taking on that role.They participate both in wars as well as development programs in Nepal. Many of the bridges that connect remote communities, over rivers to cities were built by them while not at war. After the Gorkha museum we went back into the main area of Pokhara (the tourist area). We went out for lunch, and at the end of it, I was mostly surprised by a cake. Gocool gave away the surprise but then tried to cover by telling me that we had to wait for our bill because the people who were working there were doing homework.... it was a good attempt. Finally, we went for a canoe ride across the lake to an island temple, we got caught in the downpour so we played two truths and a lie for a while. Then, we paddled back, it was lovely. Back at the hotel we had a quick rest and outfit change then we were back to town. After a short bit of shopping we went to The Amsterdam for a celebratory dinner. We ate great food and drank Gorkha beer and drank shots that had names that are too shocking for my blog. Everyone had a great time. There was a cover band who played everything from Bob Marley, to Sublime to ACDC to Bon Jovi to Pink Floyd - and they were fantastic at all of it! Gocool came out with us which was absolutely fabulous, I'm so happy he joined in on the celebration.

The next day we got back on our bus and drove to a huge gondola ride. Well, less of a ride and more of a form of transportation. It takes you all the way up to a hilltop temple. This temple is the temple of the wishful goddess. If you bring her a sacrifice and make your wish, it is quite powerful. To describe this temple without making it sound horrible is a challenge, but I will try. I saw the beauty in this place, and there is no way I will do it justice. As you walk up, the first thing I witnessed was a water buffalo being butchered and its blood streaming into the crowded courtyard. At the far end was a line of hundreds of people waiting with their goats and chickens for their turn in the temple to ask their favour. There are monks sitting in one corner and men walking around barefoot in the blood in the other. Watch your step because you never know where you'll find a pool of blood instead of a pool of water. The blood is said to be god, and is powerful when stepped in. There were no other westerners, nearly everyone there was on a pilgrimage. Most people choose to take the gondola and pay Rs. 150 to have their goat ride up in the goat basket, in the past you hiked the hill with your sacrifice. The animal is not wasted after sacrifice, it is eaten as a final aspect to the sacrifice. After witnessing this incredible event we drove back home passing through many more strikes stopping traffic into Kathmandu and saw much more of an armed police presence.

What an amazing way to turn 20. So much culture, so much fun, so many memories.


Namaste

Sunshine and Terraced Farmland

We were lucky enough to find a driver who could and would take us to Nagarkot to start our adventure to Gocool's village. We drove out of Samakhushi, through Bhaktapur and out of Kathmandu Valley. We drove up winding paths, through hills until we reached Nagarkot. The views along the way were breathtaking. I saw my first glimpses of terraced farming practices as well as many women hauling large baskets of wheat on their backs up hills that the bus was whining about climbing. These woman looked quite at ease (if you can use that word to describe someone carrying a huge load, up a busy hill, clothed in vast amounts of cloth, and barely breaking a sweat). We could look back over Kathmandu Valley, watching as we left the hustle and bustle of the city behind. There were many small villages and stops as we drove through the hills, but after 2 hours, we reached a beautiful hotel. Robin told us that it was called The Hotel at the End of the Universe, but it was actually something like the Comfort Hotel, or some slightly less generic sounding name.

The hotel was absolutely gorgeous. It overlooked a valley and if you used your imagination, the Himalayas were just beyond the clouded skies. The hotel was built in pieces, so the bottom section was about 10 years older than the middle section, which was about 8 years older than the top piece. We sat on the open patio for a while gazing out over the valley while we drank fanta and coke waiting to discover our rooms. Gerrit, Isha, Robin, and Patti each had their own individual room. They were like little cabins below the hotel. Amanda, Sarah, Caroline, and Steph had the "honeymoon suite". It was the entire upper floor, complete with a wooden heart on the key chain and a few GIANT spiders. Tina and I had a lovely room, at the end of a petrifyingly dark hallway, across from a haunted room. The room had eerie wind/moaning sounds, and dripping water. IT was really fun to walk back to with no light after dinner that night....nawt!

After arriving and settling, Tina and I read/took naps. I took a shower, and it was nice and hot and I could actually stand upright!!! I read out on the balcony until the sun set at around 6:30. I got some super cool photos through my sunnies as the real sunset wasn't mind blowing. We all had dinner in the hotel restaurant, and all woke up the next morning feeling a little icky.

Fearing spider attacks and tossing and turning kept my room up most of the night. We woke up at 5:30am to catch the sunrise and a glimpse of the Himalayas. It was absolutely gorgeous. We could see the Himalayas with just a dusting of snow. The sun rose quite quickly over the mountains and lit up the sky. Many great photos, followed by a stumble back to bed. At 630 we woke up again, packed, and went to breakfast. At 8:40 we left for our hike down to Gocool's village. It took about 2 hours and we arrived at his home around 11am. Along the way we took many photos, made friends with a few dogs who followed us the entire way, and visited the village's school where Gocool's mom teaches. Once we arrived in the village we were greeted by members of Gocool's family and a delicious lunch prepared by his mom. We also saw a buffalo getting a bath by our cook Chondra's sister.

It was very hot and the entire walk back was going to be up hill and in the direct sunlight. We opted to take a truck back up the hill. This meant about a half hour walk back up the hill and then piling into the back of a pick up truck. The truck then weaved its way up the hill careful to just barely miss falling off the edge of the cliff...did I mention that there were also no shocks. It was rather petrifying, but also fun. About an hour later we were back at the hotel, a little shaky, but all in one piece. Well, Isha hurt her toe, but that was just entering the house in Gocool's village, not doing anything to daredevilish.

Back at the hotel, we cleaned up, nursed our sunburns and then got in the bus. We took the 2 hour drive back to our Samakhushi house, took naps, ate dinner, and went to bed. Good day.


Yesterday, was Buddha's birthday. Which meant, no work! We went to a cultural dance festival, which was painful, to say the least. We got there at 10. Well actually we arrived at the location we were told to go, at the time we were told to go. (both wrong) It was actually noon at the Yeti Party Palace. Not 10 at the Indreni Party palace. Luckily they were pretty close by. Between the time we arrived and the actual start time a few of us went and found an ATM and then to the Bhat Bhateni Supermarket. Cans of iced coffee never looked so good.

The festival was a bit of a challenge for me to sit through. It started with half an hour of introduction, then a long speech. About an hour and 20 minutes in we saw a dance. Then there was another speech, and another dance, and then another speech, and then a stand up comedian. ALL IN NEPALI!!! So I played with my recently purchased Rubik's cube to help me stay awake (hadn't slept too well the past couple of nights due to spiders and heat). Then, the announcer called each of us, from our group, up on stage to be presented with special scarves that only the guests of honor receive. We got a huge cheer from the crowd. The other interesting piece was that the world's smallest man was there. It was interesting how much attention he got and how everyone was shoving cameras in his face. I felt a little uncomfortable about how he was being treated.

After a few hours of the show, we left. The heat was too much after 5 days of no rain. Tina and I went to the tailor shop across the street from the internet cafe we frequent and ordered custom made kurthas. They are those tunics with light pants. Mine is black with pink flowers, it is quite lovely. And was about $12.


Today, we were back at school. I taught English 1, and English 9. English 9 was really fun, we wrote poetry. Some of the kids wrote absolutely amazing poetry. Better than many native English speakers. We also taught English 5, those kids are frustrating. In the afternoon we didn't have classes. Amanda and I had both bought these gel pens that were for drawing tattoos on skin. So, for about 2 hours, all we did was draw tattoos on children. It was fun. Then, it finally started to rain. All the kids ran out from under the shelter and we spun around in the rain. I taught them Singing in The Rain and we sang and spun away!!

No Nepali lesson tonight, so hopefully early to bed, and some homework.

We're off to Pokhara this Friday, until Sunday. Yay for having my 20th birthday in a hotel with a pool, in a beautiful city in Nepal!!!

3 more weeks!!!

Namaste

Bandh!

Wednesday, Tina, Isha, Gerrit, and I had a great adventure! After our group seminar on Social Justice issues that our practicum placements are facing, we hoped into a cab to go to Thamel. Gerrit needed to pick up his camera from a camera repair shop he had visited the day before with the help of Gocool. We told the cab driver where we wanted to go and bargained our ride at Rs.150 (about $2). 15 minutes later we arrived at our destination, or so we thought. Once the cab drove away Gerrit realized that this was not the right place. We walked up the road, about half an hour, until we reached the Thamel Chowk. This is where we should've gotten out of the cab. Oh well. This was our first time back into the city after staying in our suburb for just over a week. In other words, it was our first time seeing other white people after a week. The first tourist I saw, actually shocked me! We then developed a game, it's sort of like punch buggy, but it's based on white people. It's a very amusing game! We also saw an anatomically correct baby boy doll sitting in one of the windows of a shop. Also, shocking. Gerrit's camera was fixed and we spent some time wandering around Thamel, doing some shopping. I found two gorgeous pashminas. Pashminas are actually, native to Nepal, and Nepal is fighting for the rights to the pashmina.I bought them each for Rs. 300....about $4.00. When it got dark, we decided to head home. We hailed a cab, bargained a Rs. 200 ride and headed back to Samakhushi Chowk, just as the nighttime monsoon hit. When we got out of the cab and looked around we realized that we were about 4 "blocks" from our street and then the additional 4 "blocks" from our house. So, we had to work our way through super muddy areas, with huge puddles, in the dark. By the time we reached home we were covered in mud and soaking wet. That's when we discovered that Gocool had invited some friends for dinner. We were definitely not dressed for the occasion.

Thursday was just like any other day, school, rest, Nepali lesson. We also had one on one check ins with Patti and Robin, which were rather pleasant and productive!

Friday there was a bandh (baan-duh). A bandh is a city wide strike that essentially shuts down everything. The goal is to stop traffic. This strike was called by the ethnic groups (which there are 62 of) of Nepal. The constitution of Nepal is supposed to be finalized by May 28th, and this is after the deadline has been pushed back multiple times. One of the pieces being discussed is whether or not to split up the country by provinces based on ethnic groups. The ethnic groups seem to want this, so they are calling this strike to put pressure on the constitution assembly to make this idea a reality. As well as, to put pressure on the constitution to be finished this time.

This meant that Friday was a really relaxed day. We got up and were served delicious banana pancakes that filled up your whole plate. Then, most people napped and relaxed. Then, after a few hours, the group as a whole went for a walk aroudn the neighbourhood. The streets were quiet, only a few motorcycles were along ring road. Earlier that day, Gerrit saw a truck full of police sitting with guns watching everyone. I think it may have been a preventative measure against riots. Some shops in Samakhushi were still open, but the schools were not! After our walk around people did homework and slept. I prepared for our evening gathering. That evening we had a Children's Song and Games Talent Show, hosted by ME! Everyone signed up for the talent show in the week before hand. That night I dressed up as an undercover member of the Superstar Canadian Practicum Placement group. And said that we had decided that everyone needed to brush up on our songs and games to play with children. It was very fun! I had a t-shirt on that had duct tape writing saying: SCPP on the front and McCONNELL, CC (for camosun college), Nepal 2011 on the back. I had to hide on the roof behind the water tanks to make that shirt so nobody would catch me. I also wore sunglasses and a canadian bandana the entire time. At the end, I rewarded everyone with a Certificate of graduation of the SCPP program. Essentially, I ran a campfire on the roof of a house in the middle of Samakhushi, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Today, we had another Thamel adventure. This time, the whole group went. We left right after breakfast, at 9 am. I stuck with Tina and Isha for the day. We did some shopping, and then found real coffee. I had Nepali Tea, but the the other ladies had coffee. It was on this beautiful rooftop terrace looking over Thamel. And the building was unreal, there was a marble staircase, two kitchens, and beautiful furniture and decorations, much different than anything else we've seen. We continued with our shopping for another couple of hours when we decided to stop for lunch. We splurged and went to a place called the Roadhouse. Again, we had delicious coffee and lots of water. I had a veg burrito and Tina + Isha had chicken caesar wraps. Yum! We did our final bits of shopping and headed to our designated meeting place of the Pilgrim Bookstore. It is the best bookstore ever (I guess that's why it's world famous). I bought a lot of stuff there. I bought an amazing cookbook, so expect some Nepali delights upon my return, as well as some spices, and other gifts. I'm most excited about the cookbook as it teaches you how to make everything from samosas and momos to chiya and roti. I can't wait to test these recipes out in my own kitchen!

Speaking of good food, on Wednesday morning, we had a chickpea curry with this delicious deep fried bread. I think I found the recipe in my recipe book, so I hope to have some guinea pigs to test it on upon my return! (I doubt that'll be too much of a challenge.)

As we walked through Thamel many people asked our story. As soon as they realized that we were living here for a while, and working in the schools, we were treated like locals. Many places cut us deals that they weren't giving to other tourists, and the whole tone of the interaction changed. It was quite lovely. The only thing that didn't change was the attitude of the wandering salesmen, who leered at us and then tried to sell us tiger balm.

At 4 we planned to all meet up as a group outside the Pilgrim Bookstore. When we met Isha, Tina, Gerrit, and I were talking to a Nepali man. Moments later a car (taxi style) drove onto the end of the street and started making an announcement in Nepali from the loudspeaker on top (think Blues Brothers style). Our friend explained that it was calling a strike for Sunday. Sunday, is a working day in Nepal. What was interesting was that everyone stopped what they were doing. The streets filled with people instantly, and people started to run towards the car as it progressed down our street. We decided that before any sort of riot or massive event happened, that we should probably skidaddle. We hurried in the opposite direction, hoped in cabs and headed back home. What I found to be amazing was how soo many people were enthusiastic about getting involved in the politics. I can't imagine a car announcing a political rally driving down the street in Victoria and watching as everyone poured out of shops, and business stopped. People in Victoria seem quite apathetic in comparison to the Nepali people. It is amazing to see this sort of energy and commitment to politics. It's nothing like I've every experienced before.

Unfortunately, this strike may impact our ability to go to Gocool's village. It's a 3 hour drive to the village, and if there's a strike we may not be able to go. Strikes are not supposed to influence tourism, but depending on the size of the strike it may be impossible to travel. Sometimes burning logs fill the streets, preventing passage, sometimes armed guards stand in the streets, or sometimes it's just understood that you don't travel on these days. I guess we'll have to wait for Gocool's word on what is the safest way to continue.

The nice thing about not being in Thamel anymore, is that I don't have to put up with the wandering salesmen, or put up with seeing scantil clad tourists behaving in culturally inappropriate ways. (I think living in a suburb is getting to me.)

2 weeks in and still loving it, can't wait to share pictures and good food with you all.

Namaste

P.S. I now know the nepali alphabet, and how to write "my name is steph" in the nepali writing. Also, I've noticed that I tend to speak in the broken english that I hear everyday...I figure that the more I speak english like the Nepali, the sooner I'll speak nepali like the nepali people.

P.P.S. A conversation just before we left the house:

Steph: Sniff sniff?
Sarah: Burning garbage?
Steph: Doesn't it smell like pot? Or is that just me?
Tina: Burning garbage on a pot plant?
Steph: Ahhh, that's so kathmandu.

You want ME to teach Class 10???

SEB school parents' day was incredible. We walked there and arrived at around 11 am, of course running on Nepali time, the event didn't get underway until closer to 11:45am. We never expected what we were about the experience. We sat through until 4 pm, all while enjoying amazing dancing, singing and a skit. These students were very committed to putting on the best performance possible. Not only did their performance showcase Nepal's culture, but we listened to 5 hours of Nepali. My Nepali ear is getting much stronger and I am able to pick out key words and phrases. At one point, a teacher and 2 students made their way through a crowd of 500 people sitting on plastic chairs under a giant tent serving chiya and biscuits. It took them atleast an hour, if not longer - but it was delicious! This parents' day outdid anything I have ever experienced in Canada, professional or amateur.

Sunday, we went to the Social Work College. It is a very young college, but has many big dreams. The students are placed in incredible practicums working all over Nepal. It is mandatory for them to do one remote practicum in a small village. Awesome! There are over 30, 000 NGOs in Nepal, some of which were founded by these social work graduates. Others are practicum placements for these students. We participated in one discussion about the cultural similarities and differences before lunch. At lunch we had wonderful daal bhat, and more discussion. After lunch, we attended a Volunteersim and Civics class, where we had a very indepth and mature discussion (unlike many I've experienced back at home in school). After class, we were invited for chiya, donuts, and samosas. I think I talk a lot about food in my blog, but you can't help it when the samosas are the best you've had, and the donuts blow timmies out of the water.

Yesterday, was the first day at school that I didn't feel like I had no idea what was going on. In the morning we were invited for tea at the house of the other volunteers. We talked a lot about toursit sites, the culture and the educational philosophy of the school. It was quite enlightening. Then, Amanda and I were given a schedule to follow for the day. We taught english classes and social studies classes. And did quite a good job, if I do say so myself. The teachers think it's a joke when we say we're not teachers and so we get no help from them. They laugh harder the more we try to tell them that we're not teachers and that we aren't here to teach their english classes for them. So much for just being an assistant in the class.

That night, we had a two hour nepali lesson where we learned soooooo much. It's great. Then, we had a big dinner with all the teachers and a bunch of students from the social work college. It was an exhausting day, and when we finally got to bed I fell asleep within seconds.

Today has been pretty relaxing. Walked to school, got an actual schedule, taught a class, visited the Day Centre where Steph and Caroline are working, and came back to school and ate some lunch. The afternoon was a little more challenging. Amanda, Gerrit, and I were told to teach Social studies 9 then 10. In the first class one of the students got the teacher because we didn't know what to teach as it was Nepal's history and in the second class I taught Canadian history. Which was fun (Amanda said that I rocked it!). I'm disappointed to be teaching. I like it, but it's definitely not what I came here to do. But, it's what I'm stuck with for the next month, so I might as well think about it positively!!

Tonight we have another nepali lesson and hopefully early to bed!!!

If you don't already know, Camosun is creating a blog about the Nepal trip. It has some pictures as well as some information about the trip so far. This is the link http://nepalinternationalfieldschool2011.blogspot.com/

Hope Canada isn't too cold!

Namaste

Our Samakhusi House

Wednesday morning, we were loaded into our bus and driven away from the idillic Hotel Moonlight. We drove along Ring Road, a large circular road that is the closest thing to a Nepal 6 lane highway - except there aren't really lanes, road signs, or lights, and there are lots of pedestrians. We drove about 20 minutes and arrived in Samakhusi. It's a small suburb with quite a few little shops and a very friendly vibe. We unloaded ourselves from the van, luggage and all and walked down a little side street. We walked to the third house on the right....what we found was unlike anything any of us had ever expected. There in front of us was a gorgeous 3 storey house, 2 bathrooms (with flush toilets), and many little balconies. The rooms each have 3 beds, we have a sitting room complete with a tv, and a wonderful rooftop to do our laundry on. Our neighbours live in similar style homes, but I believe that they are multi family homes. We have a cook and a cook's helper Shondra and Prakesh, they speak little english, but make amazing food! I'm sharing a room with Isha and Tina. We are the quieter room that goes to bed earlier than most.

The first day we settled in, had wonderful daal bhat for lunch and then hung out for a while relaxing. That evening Mann took us to the Self Help Nepal Children's Home run by one of the men that Cecile supported. They live in a very large house, full of very cute and friendly children. It is quite clean and rent is about $704 CAD a month. Wow. We then went to the house that Mann runs. It is nicer and a bit newer, the only downside is that it's on top of a huge hill. Quite a trek. We were served tea by one of the house didis. Didi means sister and is a term that many children use with their caregivers. We then took the city bus home, that is quite an experience. A boy leans out the window trying to attract customers, and they cram as many people as possible in the vehicle. When you get out you bargain with the helper as to how much you pay for the ride. We had spaghetti for dinner that night, weird.

The next day we were taken to our practicum sites via hired bus. I am working at the Himalyan School for Helpless Children. There are 215 students at the school, and about half of them are orphans or come from the terai region and live in the hostel on campus. The school is funded by a German NGO and the chairman of the school owns a carpet factory next door. I think that the school was built around 10 years ago. It was built to teach the kids of the carpet factory workers. Many of the students live in shacks right beside the school, as well. The school system is quite different from ours. They have different teachers for every subject, and nearly everything is taught in English and Nepali is only used to explain concepts. There is a lot of repetition and memorizing. No games, or creativity. These students though are incredibly intelligent. By the end of Class 1 they can count to 100 in english and nepali, as well as read words most canadian students couldn't read until a few years later. I visited a class 5 and they were doing algebra that I didn't see until grade 8 or 9. They are pushed to learn a lot, so that by the time they graduate they are mostly bilingual and intelligent in many subject areas. I'm not sure quite yet as to what my role in the school will be, but I hope next week will bring more clarity to this matter. Friday after school, Gerrit and I hung out in the "playground". It's just a rectangular fenced in piece of concrete. We played for about  1 1/2 hours! All we had was a hacky sack and a ball, but the kids were having so much fun (as were we). We played anything and everything that we or the kids wanted to play. They were super disappointed when we had to leave. Seeing these kids play with so little reminded me that you don't need a lot to have a lot of fun. These kids are some of the happiest kids I have ever met, and most of them have little more than a school provided uniform, and a mattress to sleep on.

One thing I found really interesting at the school, was that the students were wary of me coming out to play with them.They were super receptive to Gerrit, but less so to me. I think this is because men are usually the ones who play with children, while women do not. Especially at the school, men are the playground supervisors generally, while the women stay inside. This is the first blatant example of gender roles that I have witnessed so far.

We have started to take Nepali language lessons from a friend of Gocool's who is a teacher. We've learned lots of words and phrases already and have started to use them. Most of them so far are about food, so we use them at dinner and breakfast. I'm remembering a lot, which is nice. Hopefully, we'll be able to use it in the local markets soon and be more accepted and less stared down.

On Thursday night, we went to the largest supermarket in Kathmandu. It is like the Walmart of Nepal. It's along ring road, so we took a bus there. We got essentials like peanut butter, tea to take home, chocolate, and fanta. We didn't go to the other levels, but apparently they sell everything you need. The nice thing is that it is all at a fixed price so you don't need to bargain with people. On the way home we took a bus as well. This time it was even more crowded!!! The best part is while we're sitting on a bus surrounded by Nepali people, seeing goats, chickens, and cows roadside as we drive past, what cues up on the driver's cd but.....Ke$ha. Hilarious! Who could've guessed that I'd be having sensory overload of all the things that are so different about a bus ride in Nepal and a bus ride in Canada, and Ke$ha would come on the radio.

Today, we are going to the English Boarding School where some of the students are working. They are having parent's day. It's a big deal, and the kids have been rehearsing for months in preparation for today. It should be a really neat experience. I'm excited! I think I may also buy an umbrella today as monsoon season has started a bit earlier than expected. Last night, our teacher Gopi and Gocool were riding Gopi's motorcycle to our house, and they said that they were quite deep in water the whole way. The other steph got an umbrella for 150 rupees, so like $2.00 canadian. I think I'll splurge especially because it's a half hour walk to school and a twenty minute walk home everyday.

I can't believe I've only been gone a week, it feels like much much longer.

Oh, and one more thing. Gocool told me that there are no spiders here.....yay! Except that the first night we went to bed what did we find on the wall? A substantial spider!!! So there are spiders, and I do sleep in my bug net for fear of the 8 legged monster. It's great you can tell all of the people who have spider fears because they have bug nets up now.


I think that concludes everything that there is to update. Everything is so different, new, and exciting. I feel like I could write a book just on the past week alone. (No mom, I'm not writing a book.)

Hope all is well in the homeland, namaste...or because it's nighttime there....shubaraatri (soo-bah-rah-tree)

Monkeys, Marijuana, and Temples

May 3, 2011


This morning we met at 9 am after another wonderful buffet breakfast in the hotel and met with Cecile, Mann and Gocool.

I should explain people:

Gocool: Our tour guide/translator/knower of all that is Nepal

Cecile: The founder of Action Autonomie Nepal, our contact organization

Mann: The person who runs one of the houses for children that AAN built

Cecile told us her life story, and how she founded this organization. It was very interesting, and rather insipiring.

After that, we hopped in the bussette and hit the road. We drove about 20 min away, through Lalitpur and to Patan Durbar Square. Another gorgeous area with pagoda style buildings intricately designed. Complete with statues, ornate wood carvings, and a rich history. We went to the Patan Museum, which was inside one of these buildings. It has the traditional art of Nepal. Many carvings depicting the gods. Most of the pieces were cast bronzes and gilt copper work. We took a lot of pictures and saw many beautiful pieces of work. I believe, that nearly every piece of work involved religion to some degree.  For lunch we went to the museum restaurant and had a typical nepali meal. Rice, lentils, curried veg, and deliciousness. A girl could get used to this.

We noticed while eating lunch, and driving along the roads that there is free growing marijuana everywhere, like everywhere. There is so much of it that it is sometimes hard to see because the leaves are all growing on top of each other. There is one day a year that it is legal to smoke marijuana and that is a holy day. Also, many holy men smoke it to help reach their holy state.

Then, we were off to visit the holiest river in Kathmandu. This is where everyone of the Hindu religion is cremated after passing. On our way to the river, we passed through parts of town that are not to the same standards as the tourist areas. We saw your typical shacks created out of garbage lining the river. Gocool explained that people who had no land, lived along the rivers edge in these shacks. Unfortunately, this means that they are exposed to some of the dirtiest drinking water in Nepal, on top of their already unsanitary living conditions. We drove along Ring Rd., which is one of the larger roads in Kathmandu, but also drove along their 6 lane road that the Japanese (I think) government helped fund the building of.

We finally arrived at the parking lot of the holy river. Walking down to the river we were approached by many people again, wanting us to buy trinkets. We all refused and kept walking towards the river...and then....we saw.....MONKEYS!!!!! SOO MANY MOOOONKEYS!!!! It was beautiful. They're super cute, and don't appear dangerous. (Although, later I did see a monkey steal candy from a small child) I got lots of amazing photos of them. It was very exciting to finally get to see monkeys in their natural habitat. They are one of the holy animals. We also saw another holy animal, cows. They were chillin all over the place. Just hanging out, waiting for some food and someone to take their picture, I suppose. Later, we saw deer too!

The cremation process itself was incredible to witness. It's hard to describe, but I'll try. There is a murky river and it is surrounded on either side with high up walls and temples. Standing on the far shore looking across, there are about 8 platforms where cremations occur. The body must be fully burnt away and then the ashes are brushed into the river. But first, the clothes are removed and tossed into the river and the body is wrapped in a sheet. The oldest son of the family lights the platform. Then, it's covered with dry branches to help expediate the burning process. There are people all around, tourists, family, friends, holy men, and priests. The air is thick with smoke and the atmosphere is rather quiet. If you look further down the river, there are children collecting the dropped clothing and other useful items of garbage. Monkeys play throughout the surrounding trees and buildings while tourists snap photos. It was unlike any thing I had ever experienced before. And likeley to be unlike anything that I will experience in the future. It just seemed so amazing to know that you would be put to rest in the same spot as every relative and friend (assuming that they are all Hindus). We walked up a lot of stairs and through many smaller temples and buildings until we arrived back to our bus. Leaving the monkeys behind.

Next, and finally we were off to see the buddhist stupa in Bodhnath. It was really neat. You may only walk around the stupa (and all stupas) in a clockwise direction. And, for this one, you are supposed to walk around 3 times. As you walk around, you must spin the prayer wheels on the base of the building. By sprinning these prayer wheels you send these prayers to people and let god know you're in his house. There are many prayer flags attached between the base and the stupa's head. Inside, there are large prayer wheels. While we were there we saw many Tibetan monks. Mann was telling us, that this is one of the few places where 4 different relgions can practice together at the same time. Apparently, at night time it is a gorgeous area as it is lit up. It was very busy and there were people praying and spinning prayer wheels continually.

Just before we left a man who was talking on his cell phone walked straight up to me and put his phone up to my ear. I froze for a few moments. Then I said, "No, thank you?" And pushed the phone away. Odd. Gocool thought it was hilarious.

We got back to the hotel finally around 4:30 and had a debried of the trip so far with the group. Then, we went to dinner. Tina, Amanda, Sarah, and I ordered a bunch of different food and shared. My favourites were definitely the vegetable momos and the vegetable friend rice. Delicious!

Now, I have to go write a journal entry for Robin and Patti  due in 12 hours!!

Namaste

Day 1 - Shock and Awe

May 2, 2011

When I looked out my window this morning I saw a Nepali woman doing some laundry. She had two buckets - I believe one to be a wash basin and one to be a rinsing basin. She stomped around in the rinsing basin and then pulled out the soaking wet clothes that were then hung up on the line to dry. I suppose this is the same sort of laundry experience I should expect when cleaning my clothes in the house we will be living in shortly.

The cleaning standards here are quite different than ours at home, but they also seem to oddly prioritize. In the lobby, everything is scrubbed to perfection. Windows, floors, walls, even the reception sign are disinfected. But, in my room the blankets weren't the cleanest, there was garbage under the bed, and the walls could use a good washing. Oh well! I brought my own pillow case, so that makes things a little more homey.

The people at the hotel are super friendly. They want to carry your bag, and help you in any way possible. And, unlike many other people we've met in tourist areas, are not expecting any sort of tips in return. I wonder if this relates to the Nepali people's friendliness, or their desire to maintain a thriving tourist industry.

Fun fact: Nepal has the only non rectangular flag in the entire world! The original flag is combined with the newer flag to make their current stacked triangle flag.

Driving here is very very interesting, there are no road signs, traffic lanes, or sidewalks. There are no posted speed limits but they seem to vary between 5 km/h and 50 km/h depending on congestion. There is a lot of honking...one honk generally suggests that you need to stop, and multiple mean that it's good to go. However, a lot of honking happens. So my general thoughts about what honking means is, "I am doing something on the road, please be aware that my actions will affect you in one way or another." It's a little crazy. There are licensing laws, and all commercial drivers have a "helper" that aids in navigation. When I say navigation it's less, "turn right, turn left" and more, "yes, you have 5 mm of extra space between you and that motorcycle."

Fun fact: In Nepal it is seen as repulsive when you blow your nose with a tissue. Instead, you must dig for gold, the more enthusiastically, the better!

So today was an incredibly busy day. After blogging, I hung out in the lobby while we waited for Gocool, Patti, and Robin to be ready for our seminar. We learned that on Monday and Tuesday we were experiencing the cultural sites of Kathmandu. On Wednesday, we are moving into our house and having a tour of our new neighbourhood. On Thursday we are going to tour the practicum sites and possibly start our practicums on Friday. On Sunday, we are going to the college in Kathmandu. They are very proud because they are the only college that offers a Social Work and a Masters of Social Work degree. We're going to get a tour of the college in the morning and then get to sit in on their Civics class in the afternoon.

We walked into Thamel to have a quick tour. We saw a ton of jewellery, scarf, and bag stores. Very amazing all around. Gocool led us through bustling streets teeming with people, cars, buses, scooters, motorcycles, and rickshaws. The buildings are beautifully made, with intricate details and carvings but are very dirty and falling apart in many places. There are very few, if any traffic rules other than, "don't hit and don't be hit".

For lunch, we stopped at The Yak Restaurant. I am in love with Nepali food. Over half of their menu was vegetarian....sooo many options. I have never had so many options. I decided on a vegetarian korma on rice. Best ever! We had anise seed as a post meal treat. It tastes like licorice and is served instead of those gross licorice candies we get at home!

We continued walking out of Thamel and headed towards Kathmandu Durbar Square. Durbar means palace (there are three in the Kathmandu Valley, I will visit 2). Along the way we saw many electrical wires wrapped around the metal utility poles. Apparently,when one breaks/stops working, they just wrap a new one around it. Don't touch the poles. We also saw many shrines along the way to the different Hindu gods. Marigold flowers have a religious significance and are delivered to these sites by those paying their respects.

There are many temples and religious sites around this area. I'm not sure what role they play in religious practice. They are large buildings with red roof tops and red decorations. They are intricate carvings alll around every edge. No foreigners allowed inside. We were approached by MANY people trying to sell us little trinkets. They were quite persistent. The buildings in the square are all from the 12th to 18th centuries. It is there that Kings are crowned. We climbed up the stairs of the Maju Dega temple, it overlooks the whole square and it was built in the late 17th century. We also saw the Kal Bhaairah stone interpretations. It was originally found in a field north of the city, but moved to its current location by King Pratap Malla. Fun fact: It is used by the government to have people to swear to tell the truth.

We also went to see "Kumari- The Living Goddess". She is believed to be the incarnations of the goddess Taleju. She is chosen around age 4 from a specific bloodline and she must meet a criteria of "42 perfections" to be chosen. She is then taken from her home and moved to Kumari-Ghar. She only leaves her temple during special parades and events. Apparently, her feet are never to touch the ground and she is waited on completely. She is required to step in (carried-in) to view once per hour to see her admirers and so that they can see her.

I saw and heard numerous dog fights today. The group dynamics of the dogs are crazy they're quite territorial and team up against stranger dogs. They also fight each other if things are running smoothly.

For dinner, we went to the hotel restaurant and had a buffet of delish curries from the Nepal area. Yummy!

Namaste 

4 Countries 1 Very very long day

10:00 am
May 2, 2011
Hotel Moonlight
Thamel, Kathmandu, Nepal

Two really awesome things about using public computers in a country that is not primarily english speaking:

1. The keyboard is in Nepali, with some English....but very few of the symbols (such as brackets, commas, periods, etc.) So excuse my mistakes

2.Justin Bieber is the desktop picture on all three of the computers.

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On April 29th, 2011 I took off from the Victoria International Airport at 7pm to start my epic journey across the world. Tina, Amanda, and I took the 7 instead of the 8 as we were early, and there was extra space on the flight. Upon arriving in Vancouver (23 minutes later) we followed all of the signs through to our connecting flight. Then we began a 7 hour wait for our plane.

We decided to make ourselves more comfortable, so Tina began to rearrange furniture, Amanda helped....I took a nap on the floor :) We played a game of crib, me against Team Amanda and Tina....lots of fun! Finally, around midnight we met up with the rest of our group. Everyone at this point was super tired, but not as tired as they were going to become over the next 36 hours or so. At 2:20 we were called to begin boarding, and at 2:45 we were taking off to Hong Kong.

The flight to Hong Kong is a 13 hour flight and it was running a little late so we didn't land until 7:30 Hong Kong time (approximately 15 hours ahead of home time). I was in the second to last row on the plane right between Tina and Isha. Isha fell asleep immediately. Tina and I decided to watch television shows in the back of seat entertainment centres. My first bevy on the plane was a beer, and thank goodness for that choice. Because, after a beer and a dinner of chessy pasta I was lights out for a good 4 or 5 hours.

Most of the flight I napped, or watched Desperate Housewives. When I wasn't doing one of these activities I was watching one of the two coolest features of the entertainment centre. Cool feature 1. You can track your flight all the way across. We flew from Vancouver, up along the coast, up the edge of Alaska, across to Russia, down to Japan, and to Hong Kong. Flying into HK we were astounded by what we could see. It was tons of pockets of high rise buildings surrounded by rainforest. Gorgeous! Not very much urban sprawl. The women's washroom at the HK airport arrivals had a mommy and daughter toilet stall. There was a small toilet and a normal size toilet in the same stall!

We took the train into town from theairport and then transferred to a free shuttle. We noticed that the train was very clean (it even had carpets) and there was no graffiti. Also, in all the stations every cart (loose or captured) were neatly lined up and organized. Hong Kong felt like Sydney, Australia meets china town. It's a beautiful city with a clear poor population. Many buildings have the bottom floor as retail and the top 20 floors as decrepit, run down housing. There were your stereotypical air conditioners and laundry hanging out the window. Often, these low-income areas would be on top of fancy stores, such as Cartier, and Tiffany and Co. It was a weird juxtaposition. The one thing that I didn't see, were any people living on the streets. It was very clean, everywhere.

We saw the YMCA which was celebrating its 110th anniversary this year as well as my new favourite kitchen tool. It was a a BEJEWELED STAND UP MIXER! It's beautiful. It's amazing. It's the Kenwood's 60th Anniversary Limited kMix "Diamond" collection.

We ran into Robin, Patti, and Garret on the street and they told us about this noodle shop, that was in an underground plaza. WE went there and had quite an enjoyable experience. Very little english was spoken, and the shop was full of locals, no other tourists. I had noodles with veg, curry sauce, and egg. We explored many shops and then went down to the harbour - Victoria Harbour, I believe it's called. We walked along the promenade and took pictures of the different boats and buildings that scattered the far shore. Next, we went to the HK Art Museum, entrance was 10 HK Dollars, which is approximately $1.20 CAD. Good find! It was incredible. There were all sorts of types of art. We saw contemporary art, sculptures, antique clay works, calligraphy, and scroll work. These works of art date back to hundreds and hundreds of years ago up until nearly present day. All these works were done by asian artists, most of which are Chinese. It was incredible.

We stopped at 7-11 for some water and met back up with rest of the group. We took the shuttle and train back to the airport, got some Ben and Jerrys and some dinner and boarded our final flight. It was a 6 hour flight with a hour touchdown in Bakha, Bangladesh to let some passengers off and a few more passengers on. Amanada and I had a beer and I was sound asleep again. I woke up only a few times. Once to say "Oooo Bangladesh" and another about 45 minutes before the end of the flight, and a couple other times for juice and water breaks. Apparently I tossed and turned a bunch. But I think I was so tired that I didn't even notice. Amanda was very helpful getting me juice and water, as I was very tired and not super understandable in my groggy state.

We touched down in Nepal at 10:30pm and it was suchh a relief to be there finally!!!! I loved HK and I loved all the travel, but I was exhausted to the max. We went through immigration (I got another stamp!) then went to collect our bags. There are many men trying to help you with your bags, who all expect a large tip. I feel that I was politely assertive when I said No. Gokul and his friend came and picked us up from the airport in a Bussette. He'll be our guide throughout our entire trip, he's very nice and super helpful. The airport was full of uniformed guards carrying large sticks and whistles prodding people along. Almost like cattle herding, but with people. Patti mentioned to me as we were waiting in line for immigration, that Nepal relies on the tourist industry for their economy. This means, that tourists get preferential treatment over residents. We were bumped through many lines and didn't have to get our bags scanned in customs.

Our driver drove us to the Hotel Moonlight in Thamel (a tourist area). I felt like we were driving through slums. It was 11pm there, so there was nobody on the street, except a few dogs and a herd of cattle. The streets were lined with garbage and all of the shops had colourful garage-style doors covering their entrances. When we arrived we were served mango juice and our bags were taken to our room (no need for tip, part of the hotel's responsibility).

Amanda and I are room buddies. Last night, there was a rainstorm, dog fight, party in the room next door and some much needed horizontal rest taking place. We woke up at 8:00am and showered. Our bathroom is a big open room with shower, toilet, and sink. The beds are hardish and the pillows aren't that soft. It's great for a tired head and body, because after that little sleep, it stops mattering what you're sleeping on. We went for breakfast in the hotel restaurant, it was a buffet. Eggs, toast, cauliflower, mango juice, instant coffee all made their way into my tummy. It was delicious.

Today, we are meeting at 11:30 as a group to have our first little seminar and then we are going to go explore our neighbourhood, and take part in a cultural excursion. I have already taken so many pictures, and can't wait to explore and take many more. My feet and ankles were substantially swollen last night as I went to bed, and are less swollen this morning, hopefully they will be unswollen shortly.

All for now, more news coming after more adventures.

Namaste