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!
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!
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