It's hard to actually believe that I've only been here a week. I'm sure most people say this about their gap year, but the first week seems to stretch out, as there is a lot to experience!
We first arrrived in Kathmandu (the capital) on the fourth, and one of the first things we tried was the Nepalese tea. This has spices in and is much milkier than the English tea, it's also much nicer! The roads around Kathmandu generally have no pavement and there are more motorbikes than there are cars. To warn anyone in the way they generally use their horns. This means that there is a constant blare of noise when walking in the streets, which you quickly learn to get used to. On the first evening we went to the Rumdoodle pub, this is where all the people who have climbed Everest come after they have done it. They then sign a footprint on the wall. However, when reading the footprints you generally seems to find out that most haven't climbed Everest, but instead got the base camp and just wanted their name on the wall, still an impressive feat.
On the fifth we then went for a day tour around three of the main Kathmandu temples. The first one, Pashupati temple, was Hindu, and is by a sacred river. They have cremations here every day, up to 10 in one day. Three were going on whilst we were there. The attitude to death is very different in Nepal and is much more open than in England. There is a seperate place where the Royals are burnt and after the massacre in 2001 apparently a large proportion of the population shaved their heads in mourning.
The Bhuddist tem
ple we went to had the prayer flags everywhere. There are five colours; red, blue, yellow, white and green and these represent fire, water, cosmic, air and earth. They are draped around this amazing structure which is painted all in white and consists of a square base with a dome on top, and on top of this 13 levels which represent something along the lines of the 13 levels of enlightenment. There are also massive eyes painted on it near the top, and the bright colours contrast well against the white. As it was a warm day it also meant that the sunlight reflected against the white background and so, contrary to what was expected, most of us where standing in tshirts!
After Kathmandu we trekked to Shivapuri. It wasn't a long trek and only took a couple of hours, we also didn't have to carry our bags which made a huge difference :) The view at the top was amazing, and took us all a little by surprise as most of us had been concentrating on where to put our feet to prevent us from falling.
Shivapuri is an amazing place. During the day when the sun is out it's
very warm, and wearing shorts and tshirts is normal. However, when the sun goes in or standing in the shade it gets very cold, and many people had to use their sleeping bags to stay warm at night. Luckily Hari and I had a fire in our room which stayed warm all night :) As there is very little air pollution that high up the stars at night are so much clearer and it's quite a shock to see so many. It's definitely something you have to see for yourself, as no picture would ever come close to doing it justice. I have taken some pictures of the views, however, and will try to upload them when possible.
On Sunday we moved into our houses. It was a relief to be based somewhere, as we had moved from England to Kathmandu to Shivapuri and then to a place called Riverside, where we stayed overnight to break up the journey before getting to our houses, in a week. The town I am staying in is called Gorkha, and is quite large by Nepalese standards. It is 1200-1400m and is spread along a hillside. The school that I am teaching in is called Saraswoti and is a 30minute walk from the house. The road is very dusty and yesterday a bus came past so we returned home with clothes that didn't seem to have been washed in a week!
We are all teaching in pairs, although there are four of us living in the house, the other two teach at a school slightly closer and more in the centre of Gorkha. My teaching partner is called Ed and we were thrown in a the deep end slightly. Being asked to teach a class having no idea what level they're at and having done no prep is not what we expected on the first day! To be fair, we were given the text book and so we could read from it but it's hard to guess how much they've understood. They kids are still amazed at our white skin, and apparently were telling the teacher how white we looked.
Everyone is really nice and helpful and I'm trying to pick up Nepali, a great source of amusement to the teachers at lunchtime, the food is really good and we're cooking for ourselves with some basic Nepali meals that we were taught, I'll try and put up some of the receipes.
Hope everyone is well and England isn't too cold.
We first arrrived in Kathmandu (the capital) on the fourth, and one of the first things we tried was the Nepalese tea. This has spices in and is much milkier than the English tea, it's also much nicer! The roads around Kathmandu generally have no pavement and there are more motorbikes than there are cars. To warn anyone in the way they generally use their horns. This means that there is a constant blare of noise when walking in the streets, which you quickly learn to get used to. On the first evening we went to the Rumdoodle pub, this is where all the people who have climbed Everest come after they have done it. They then sign a footprint on the wall. However, when reading the footprints you generally seems to find out that most haven't climbed Everest, but instead got the base camp and just wanted their name on the wall, still an impressive feat.
On the fifth we then went for a day tour around three of the main Kathmandu temples. The first one, Pashupati temple, was Hindu, and is by a sacred river. They have cremations here every day, up to 10 in one day. Three were going on whilst we were there. The attitude to death is very different in Nepal and is much more open than in England. There is a seperate place where the Royals are burnt and after the massacre in 2001 apparently a large proportion of the population shaved their heads in mourning.
The Bhuddist tem
ple we went to had the prayer flags everywhere. There are five colours; red, blue, yellow, white and green and these represent fire, water, cosmic, air and earth. They are draped around this amazing structure which is painted all in white and consists of a square base with a dome on top, and on top of this 13 levels which represent something along the lines of the 13 levels of enlightenment. There are also massive eyes painted on it near the top, and the bright colours contrast well against the white. As it was a warm day it also meant that the sunlight reflected against the white background and so, contrary to what was expected, most of us where standing in tshirts!After Kathmandu we trekked to Shivapuri. It wasn't a long trek and only took a couple of hours, we also didn't have to carry our bags which made a huge difference :) The view at the top was amazing, and took us all a little by surprise as most of us had been concentrating on where to put our feet to prevent us from falling.
Shivapuri is an amazing place. During the day when the sun is out it's
very warm, and wearing shorts and tshirts is normal. However, when the sun goes in or standing in the shade it gets very cold, and many people had to use their sleeping bags to stay warm at night. Luckily Hari and I had a fire in our room which stayed warm all night :) As there is very little air pollution that high up the stars at night are so much clearer and it's quite a shock to see so many. It's definitely something you have to see for yourself, as no picture would ever come close to doing it justice. I have taken some pictures of the views, however, and will try to upload them when possible.On Sunday we moved into our houses. It was a relief to be based somewhere, as we had moved from England to Kathmandu to Shivapuri and then to a place called Riverside, where we stayed overnight to break up the journey before getting to our houses, in a week. The town I am staying in is called Gorkha, and is quite large by Nepalese standards. It is 1200-1400m and is spread along a hillside. The school that I am teaching in is called Saraswoti and is a 30minute walk from the house. The road is very dusty and yesterday a bus came past so we returned home with clothes that didn't seem to have been washed in a week!
We are all teaching in pairs, although there are four of us living in the house, the other two teach at a school slightly closer and more in the centre of Gorkha. My teaching partner is called Ed and we were thrown in a the deep end slightly. Being asked to teach a class having no idea what level they're at and having done no prep is not what we expected on the first day! To be fair, we were given the text book and so we could read from it but it's hard to guess how much they've understood. They kids are still amazed at our white skin, and apparently were telling the teacher how white we looked.
Everyone is really nice and helpful and I'm trying to pick up Nepali, a great source of amusement to the teachers at lunchtime, the food is really good and we're cooking for ourselves with some basic Nepali meals that we were taught, I'll try and put up some of the receipes.
Hope everyone is well and England isn't too cold.
If my experiences are anything to go by, you will get stared at until you come back to the UK, not by the same people but by randomers in the streets etc. Except maybe if you do some touristy bits, then they are used to our white reflective skin!
ReplyDeleteKeep it going with the Nepali, so worth it in the end, though it was scary yesterday when I was trying to speak to someone in Spanish and had forgotton most of it! But that's my fault for not practising since I got back.
It's warmer now, ha ha. xxx
PS Yay I managed to comment, the relationship that I share with technology is improving!