Earthquake

Ok, sorry guys I've been a bit lazy about posting after getting into the teaching rhythym. To be honest, we're kept pretty busy most days with homework club in the mornings and evenings, 3 lessons and loads of marking. Our weekends have been pretty good, a couple of us went on a mountain flight in a tiny aeroplane around the Himalayas, which was awesome. Last weekend we organised a sportsday for the boarders, complete with tug of war, sack race, egg and spoon and sprints! We did the best we could, given that our facilities are basically just a concrete square with a basketball hoop.

This Sunday, our lives were (literally!) shaken up by the earthquake that hit Sikkim, India in the evening. Alice and I were just lying in our beds marking, while Sarah was in the shower. Suddenly, our beds started shaking, but initially we thought nothing of it because thats what happens when the cheeky students start banging on our door. But it continued and got stronger, and suddenly we were all running out of the school! (Sarah lagging behind a little because she still had to get dressed!) The bizarre thing was that at our schools, in the case of any sort of emergency, we would have had a strict plan (no running, keep calm, line up outside, do the register etc.). But here, it was literally every man for themselves! Some of the teachers were pushing past the students to get out of the building, and no one rounded up the students outside to see if there was anyone left inside!

The shaking continued for about 1.5 minutes while we were standing outside, and it felt quite like being on a boat, a couple of us actually got "seasick". We went back inside after about 45 minutes, but felt a two smaller tremors afterwards.

The next morning was hilarious. All my students came rushing up to me either to "congratulate me on me new life" and shake my hand, or to shout "Happy Earthquake!" as if it had been some sort of festival. There was also a rumour going round the students that another earthquake was due at 2.45pm that day, which obviously never came.

We have finished all the material we were meant to cover in our classes, so our most recent lessons have just been silly activities. I'm filming Prince of Persia with my class 6s and a scary story with my class 5s. Only 2.5 more days of teaching. I've grown really attached to some of my students, but at the same time I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to London, and finally, next Wednesday, HOME!

See (most or you) soon!
Namaste.

Pokhara revisited

It was Josh's 19th birthday on Saturday so we decided to take a break from teaching, took 2 days off and went to Pokhara for a "long weeekend" (=normal length weekend). We took the bus out at 5.30 am on Friday morning and spent the afternoon shopping in Pokhara. After a lovely (western!) dinner and some cocktails, we decided it was time to lose our Nepali clubbing virginity. Predictably, the man:woman ration was approximately 70:1 but, surprisingly, we were probably the most modestly dressed girls in there! Standard nepali politeness also meant that for once, there were no sleazy men rubbing up against us!

The next day was spent on a boat on the lake, where we held a couple diving competitions but mostly just chilled and enjoyed the peace and sunshine. We started off Josh's actual birthday with a few experimental homemade shots from Bamboobar, exploring flavours like Rosemary&Basil, Black Pepper and Chilli Vodka. Didn't love it, not gonna lie.

Pokhara was great, but spending 15 hours on a bus over the course of 3 days was a bit of a challenge. It's back to teaching for now. Today's homework gems:

On a "Who is your best friend and why?" essay: "I am black but my soul is white"
Definition of culture: "To and of for religion and; or jungle or forest."
On a test on problems in agriculture: It is black.
On a letter about why Pythagoras should not have been murdered: "You bullshit bla bla bla"

Rooftop journey to Namobuddha

Our first week of teaching has been exhausting, exasperating, confusing, hilarious and most of all, a lot of fun. Its so weird to see the teacher's perspective! I know realise how annoying it is to mark late work and how BORING marking homework really is. Initially most of our students put us to the test; they either didn't do their homework at all or copied it off each other. After a couple challenging lessons they (most of them, at least) have now finally understood that they need to be quiet when Fiona-miss is talking :)

On Saturday, our first and only day off each week, we went on a field trip to Namobuddha with the kids that live in the school. The school trip was like nothing I had ever experienced before. For starters, the teachers had no idea how many students were actually on the trip. Secondly, there weren't enough seats available, so naturally they just chucked one of the school benches into the aisle. Kids were running up and down the bus, climbing over seats and singing and dancing. Just outside of the police checkpoint at the exit of Kathmandu Valley, our bus stopped and Ghanshyam, the school administrator casually said: "Ok Friends, you would like to go on the roof? Is more comfortable up there!" So up we went!

I need to mention at this point that the road we were travelling was a mountainous dirt track, with a mountain on one side and a a 20m drop on the other. The track had the usual potholes in it, but because it had rained the night before the road was also quite slippery. Certain parts of that journey are probably the most terrifying thing I have experienced in Nepal. All the students and teachers were so used to it though, we had about 20 people up there, including some teeny tiny children!

I need to leave now to get ready, as we're going to celebrate Sarah's birthday in the fanciest French restaurant in Kathmandu! Who knows, maybe we'll even get some cheese!

introductions

today was our introductory teaching day, on which we essentially had to answer the student's questions about ourselves. there were somereal gems id like to share!
miss, how many teeth do you have?
miss, what is your favourite mountainous animal?
miss,who is your favourite scientist?
miss, if you had to save a child, a woman or albert einstein who would you save??
what is your national bird?
what are the names of your parents?
what is your favourite river?
what things do you like?
what is the law in switzerland?
can you repeat the names of your parents?
what is your favourite bike?
who is your fittest football player?
who is your hatest footbaall player?
who is your best indian dancer?
repeat for three different classes, 40 mins long! it was hilarious. sorry for all the ttypos btw,writing on a kindle

Bandipur

So we're finally back in Kathmandu, it's only 17:30 and I can barely keep my eyes open. The journey to Bandipur was quite a challenge. 

 As is the Nepali standard, if you get on an empty bus, you will have to wait. For a looong time. The bus will only leave once it is full, meaning that people are wedged in between seats, sitting on the roof and on the floor next to the driver. Thus, only 2 hours after getting on the bus did it actually start moving.

Bandipur is a tiny mountain village that requires a 30min drive in a jeep on a mountain pass, and then another 5 minute walk because no motorized vehicles are allowed inside the village. We decided to splurge and stay in the Old Bandipur Inn, which was beautiful, had amazing views, and served western food (don't judge, daal bhat twice a day, everyday, is no joke).

Yesterday, as we were having breakfast, our hotel manager casually mentioned that there was another transport strike on, and that he didn't know when we would be able to leave safely again. Bandipur is beautiful, but there is only so much to do in a village of about 50 people. As such, most of yesterday and this morning was spent sitting and hoping for the strike to end, because we were all running out of money. Predictably, Bandipur neither has ATMs nor currency exchange points!

Thankfully, we managed to get out mid-morning today. We're off to pick up our tailor-made kurta salwaars now. It's good to be "home"!

Transport strike

The last 3 days were spent in Lumbini, in the south of Nepal, which is the alleged birthplace of Buddha. The town itself is tiny and very rural, with only one restaurant that we ate in every single day. Our hotel, although recommended by the Lonely Plane,t was the worst so far. It was 35 degress at around 100% humidity and due to power cuts our fan only really worked for about 2 hours a day. Lumbini is pretty much a Buddihist Disneyland, google the place, the monastries are amazing and really really new. I didnt actually get to see any of it apart from on the bus, because I was stuck in our hotel with food poisoning. Joy. I THINK I'm fully recovered by now.

We're having a chilled out day in Kathmandu today and there is a transport strike on in our district. Apparently what happened is that a young man hired a hitman to kill his girlfriend and hasn't yet been convicted for it, so people are protesting today. If you were to take a taxi or a bus in Patan today, you would be stoned. It think we might just take a leisurely stroll.

The girls at the school were so happy to have us back last night that we got an awkward rendition of Barbie Girl, it was awesome :)

Lumbini

First of all, we DID see a Rhino! A mother and baby, it was amazing!

Yesterday we had a chill day, because we've all been feeling a bit tired, hot and dirty. We went on a crocodile-watch in the morning, and then napped until midday. In the afternoon we went to the Elephant Breeding Centre in Chitwan, where we saw two twin babies and one tiny elephant, only 65 days old!

Today we took the bus at 8am to Bahirauwa(?) for about 5 hours, and the sweltering heat made it almost unbearable. From there, we changed to a local bus. I can now say that I have experienced the REAL Nepal. Tourists got seats, but we had people on the roof, hanging off the sides of the bus, sitting on top of each other and in the aisle. By the time we got to Lumbini, we were all exhausted. The sun was blazing down, and we just tried to find any suitable hotel as soon as possible. Once we had organized our rooms, we checked out the Lonely planet and realized that we were about 3km out of town. Thus, we strapped on our packs and walked to the town centre in the blazing heat.

We hadn't eaten anything all day, so we went to the only restaurant recommended by our guidebooks. Most of our stomachs are feeling a bit funny by now, so dinner was dry bread. Yum yum yum. Currently sitting at a computer powered by a generator, because there has been another power cut. Definitely time for bed :)

Sauraha

We arrived in Sauraha yesterday, which is just at the entrance to the Chitwan National Park. Our lodge has tiny little cottages, and has a pet elephant, Pinky, which likes to wander around. After our arrival, we were told our hotel would take us "sightseeing" and that we could wear flipflops, big mistake! The monsoon cam pouring down on us as we were strolling through the jungle, we got covered in leeches and most of our sandals broke and got stuck in the mud. After drying off, we went to see the Tharu people's national stick dance, which was a lot more exciting than it sounds.

Today after breakfast we went for a jungle trek, this time fully prepared with hiking boots. We saw monkeys, antelopes and ate some medicinal leaves, but sadly did not see the famous greater one-horned Rhinocerous. Maybe we'll see one on our elephant trek this afternoon! After our trek, I got some specia treatment and our guide let me feed and ride the hotel elephant by myself down to the river. At the river, we bathed and splashed, and gave her a massage by walking around on her belly :)

All in all, a great day so far!

Pokhara

I'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in Pokhara, Nepal. We arrived here on Monday, after a 7 hour bus ride on dodgy "roads". We've done sooo much so far, including a sunrise trek in the Monsoon rain to Sarangkot, visited a Tibetan village, had insaanely cheap full body massages (the guys got shaves), did a six hour pony trek to the World Peace Pagoda (got horribly sunburnt), visited and climbed through a bat cave, and went paragliding this morning. Initially I was terrified, but it turned out to be an amazing experience.

Nepalese people are so incredibly happy and friendly. the staff at the school are amazing and so helpful with everything! 

Tomorrow we are off to Chitwan National Park, to do elephant safaris, spend a night in the jungle and wash the elephants :) So excited!

Leaving London

I spent the last two days in London. After an epic journey from Heathrow to Kentish Town yesterday due to some tube malfunctioning, I spent the rest of the day window shopping on Kensington High Street. Today I got to see Katie for lunch!!! We did our traditional Yo! Sushi & Starbucks combo, and now I'm back at Rici's packing up all of my stuff. Flight goes at 8.45. Wish me luck!

First post!

I'm sure you've all deduced from the title of this blog that I'll be using this outlet to document and share my Nepali adventures with those of you who remain in Austria/UK/Poland/USA/Sweden. Who did I miss?

Last week, Alex, Katrin, Victor and I spontaneously decided to drive over to the Czech Republic. My first post will therefore give you a little summary of last week's 24h trip to Prague! 

I’m having a bit of a packing nightmare so I'll let our amateur photography speak for itself. Use your imagination!

Good company.

Good food.

Good beer.