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!