We have now left Gorkha! It's strange not going back to our pink house in the middle of a field, but we are leaving for the Annapurna Base Camp trek on the 2nd so we have lots to look forward to.
As we had some time when the kids had exams we decided to see a bit more of Nepal and travel to Lumbini and Bandipur.
Lumbini is the birthplace of Buddha and the marker stone showing exactly where he was born is in the Maya Devi Temple. It was very peaceful here and there were lots of monks meditating. Can't say I'm sold on the idea of Buddhism, but it was still a nice place to wonder around. We also got bikes and cycled to the monastries in the area around the Maya Devi Temple. There is a big project for Lumbini and lots of different countries are building monastries and some of them are amazing. The Nepali one is beautiful, the decoration is bright and colourful and bold and they have some very cool paintings on almost every surface. The Korean one is half finished and is currently a concrete shell. A huge concrete shell - I would love to come back and see it when it's finished because it looks amazing. As Lumbini is in the Terai (the flat bit of Nepal in the south) it was hot. Boiling hot. And also mosquitoes everywhere. However, I have already been eaten alive by every mosquito in Asia, so really I've given up counting the number of bites I have.
Bandipur is an old town that the Nepali government restored to attract tourists and show them some of the old style Nepal. It was a very clean place; slightly disconcertingly clean as there is strictly no rubbish. We stayed in a very nice guest house and the owner has a daughter who's living in Sutton and working at the Rosemary Hospital. It was quite weird asking him where in London his daughter was living and finding out it was only 20minutes walk from me. Small world. In Bandipur there is the biggest cave in Asia. It was great fun climbing round the cave, and reminded me of rock climbing when sailing. The cave was great; lots of bats :)
Sorry about the short entry, we are now in Pokhara where the prices for the internet are more than double that in Gorkha. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time in Gorkha to go on the internet as we were packing and cleaning. And also head office cut off the internet so there wasn't really much hope...
Hope you're all well.
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Last Day at Saraswoti
On 11thMarch was our final day "teaching" at Saraswoti. Although it was the last day of term, the final day of proper teaching was the 10th. The kids all have exams starting on the 14th Mardh (the first day of the Nepali month) and so the Firday was a holiday for them to prepare.
We were asked to buy a pencial for each child we taught, and so I had to buy 164 pencils. As Ed had already been to the stationers I didn't get as strange a look as I expected.
I walked into my grade 4 class and was immediately inundated with yellow flowers. Each child had got me a bunch and so the whole of the front desk was covered in yellow flowers. I also got five of the best sudents a certificate and a stamper pen (and so by the time I left each child's hand was covered in stamps). It was strange leaving the classroom for the last time and it reminded me how much I'm going to miss teaching all of the classes!
Grade 5 was also much louder than normal and, cheefully, I could let them be as loud as they wanted :) We played hangman and they got stars for the correct letters. As I had a huge excess of stars I was giving them away to any child and so, in mamy of the pcitures, they all have stars on their collars. One boy gave me a picture he had drawn himself, which he obviously put effort into, and it was very kind, definetely one of the things to remember them all by.
Grade 6 were close to rioting. I don't know this class as well as the others as I have only taught them for a short time, but there are 55 of them, which is bigger than any of my other classes by about 15 students. There are also a lot more boys than girls and so they are much much louder. The behaved until the girls started giving me a tikka (this meant smearing my face with red power) and the boys started running about. To their credit they did sit down evenutally when I yelled at them. So, I left grade 6 very red, with two Nepali flags and two gifts!
Grade 7 were the final class I was saying goodbye to. It was the quietest they've ever been as I think they have a better idea of how important they're exams are. Still, when it came to photos the boys were relatively enthusiastic and the girls weren't; just by that it shows they are older.
We then had the leaving porgramme. I thought this would be standing on the stage and them saying thank you. I was very much mistaken. We stood on the stage, some teachers said thank you, tikka-ered us and gave us flowers. One of the boys in my grade 7 class said a short speech, syaing thank you and then a child (or two) from eachclass came up on stage.
They each tikka-ered us both (which meant smearing both cheeks with red powder and the smallest ones having to stand on tiptoe to reach Ed) and they also gave us gifts. It was very unexpected and very generous. I am now laden with presents and had a whole bag full on the way back from school. Not to mention a bagful of flowers.
Teaching for two months is a relatively short time. It takes that much time to get to know the kids as people and to know the dynamic of each class. Due to the ever-changing Nepali terms we weren't able to teach for longer, but I would have liked more. It's a shame but Saraswoti definetely didn't do the leaving programme by half-measures. It was a good way to say goodbye to the kids but I also think they enjoyed it as much as we did. Especially those who were tikka-ering us...
We have our final day at Saraswoti on the 17th March as all the exams for the classes we've taught are on the first four days of the exm period. We will then get the teacerh's goodbye and will leave for the final time. Which will be very strange and also very sad!
We were asked to buy a pencial for each child we taught, and so I had to buy 164 pencils. As Ed had already been to the stationers I didn't get as strange a look as I expected.
I walked into my grade 4 class and was immediately inundated with yellow flowers. Each child had got me a bunch and so the whole of the front desk was covered in yellow flowers. I also got five of the best sudents a certificate and a stamper pen (and so by the time I left each child's hand was covered in stamps). It was strange leaving the classroom for the last time and it reminded me how much I'm going to miss teaching all of the classes!
Grade 5 was also much louder than normal and, cheefully, I could let them be as loud as they wanted :) We played hangman and they got stars for the correct letters. As I had a huge excess of stars I was giving them away to any child and so, in mamy of the pcitures, they all have stars on their collars. One boy gave me a picture he had drawn himself, which he obviously put effort into, and it was very kind, definetely one of the things to remember them all by.
Grade 6 were close to rioting. I don't know this class as well as the others as I have only taught them for a short time, but there are 55 of them, which is bigger than any of my other classes by about 15 students. There are also a lot more boys than girls and so they are much much louder. The behaved until the girls started giving me a tikka (this meant smearing my face with red power) and the boys started running about. To their credit they did sit down evenutally when I yelled at them. So, I left grade 6 very red, with two Nepali flags and two gifts!
Grade 7 were the final class I was saying goodbye to. It was the quietest they've ever been as I think they have a better idea of how important they're exams are. Still, when it came to photos the boys were relatively enthusiastic and the girls weren't; just by that it shows they are older.
We then had the leaving porgramme. I thought this would be standing on the stage and them saying thank you. I was very much mistaken. We stood on the stage, some teachers said thank you, tikka-ered us and gave us flowers. One of the boys in my grade 7 class said a short speech, syaing thank you and then a child (or two) from eachclass came up on stage.
They each tikka-ered us both (which meant smearing both cheeks with red powder and the smallest ones having to stand on tiptoe to reach Ed) and they also gave us gifts. It was very unexpected and very generous. I am now laden with presents and had a whole bag full on the way back from school. Not to mention a bagful of flowers.
Teaching for two months is a relatively short time. It takes that much time to get to know the kids as people and to know the dynamic of each class. Due to the ever-changing Nepali terms we weren't able to teach for longer, but I would have liked more. It's a shame but Saraswoti definetely didn't do the leaving programme by half-measures. It was a good way to say goodbye to the kids but I also think they enjoyed it as much as we did. Especially those who were tikka-ering us...
We have our final day at Saraswoti on the 17th March as all the exams for the classes we've taught are on the first four days of the exm period. We will then get the teacerh's goodbye and will leave for the final time. Which will be very strange and also very sad!
Holi
The 28th February is the festival of colour, aka Holi, in Nepal. And the Neapli's don't go halfway when it comes to Holi.
The main aim of the day is to cover any person within sight with colour. This is mainly done by water and powder. Walking down the street you are liable to ambush. Literally, as many children stand on their balconies or roofs and throw water balloons at you. As the only white people from here to Pokhara, we had no chance of being subtle.
All 15 volunteers were in Gorkha or Laxmi Bazaar and had stayed overnight and so the day began with preparation. You can buy the coloured powder in a lot of places in the week leading up to Holi and so we filled balloons first with powder and then with water. We also filled one litre water bottles with powder / water and made a hole in the top in a form of water pistol. We then turned on each other.
So, already covered in colour (most of us were wearing white t-shirts to get the full effect) and now without water balloons we braved the streets of Gorkha. 100m out of the house and we had our first battle. We had only just stepped out of the house when they headed towards us. This then worked out to our advantage as we joined forces and they knew how Holi worked a lot better than us.
Everyone throws coloured water from the rooftops but the people on the ground still have powder. Literally handfuls of powder. This they smear over you. About 10 of them attack one person and cover them in powder, which dries and leaves you with a different coloured face. Think lions attacking a gazelle and you get the idea.
So, after an hours circuit around Gorkha we returned to the house looking slightly different. Everyone had red/blue/green faces, hair was matted and mine was a nice shade of purple, everyone was soaked. The white t-shirts were very colourful and generally it had been brilliant.
Everyone who is on the street gets into the spirit of Holi and goes out expecting to get covered. I would like to think that we gave as good as we got but, despite being 15 of us, I doubt it. You really need powder instead of water to attack people with, but we were always going to be No. 1 targerts. To the point where one of the teachers at school on Tuesday mentioned that he had heard about us going round Gorkha. So, basically we didn't have a chance.
My hair was still purple after washing it twice and only eventually, after leaving conditioner in for 15minutes and washing it four times did it fade. I can only say I'm very lucky my hair isn't (or wasn't) blonde.
The main aim of the day is to cover any person within sight with colour. This is mainly done by water and powder. Walking down the street you are liable to ambush. Literally, as many children stand on their balconies or roofs and throw water balloons at you. As the only white people from here to Pokhara, we had no chance of being subtle.
All 15 volunteers were in Gorkha or Laxmi Bazaar and had stayed overnight and so the day began with preparation. You can buy the coloured powder in a lot of places in the week leading up to Holi and so we filled balloons first with powder and then with water. We also filled one litre water bottles with powder / water and made a hole in the top in a form of water pistol. We then turned on each other.
So, already covered in colour (most of us were wearing white t-shirts to get the full effect) and now without water balloons we braved the streets of Gorkha. 100m out of the house and we had our first battle. We had only just stepped out of the house when they headed towards us. This then worked out to our advantage as we joined forces and they knew how Holi worked a lot better than us.
Everyone throws coloured water from the rooftops but the people on the ground still have powder. Literally handfuls of powder. This they smear over you. About 10 of them attack one person and cover them in powder, which dries and leaves you with a different coloured face. Think lions attacking a gazelle and you get the idea.
So, after an hours circuit around Gorkha we returned to the house looking slightly different. Everyone had red/blue/green faces, hair was matted and mine was a nice shade of purple, everyone was soaked. The white t-shirts were very colourful and generally it had been brilliant.
Everyone who is on the street gets into the spirit of Holi and goes out expecting to get covered. I would like to think that we gave as good as we got but, despite being 15 of us, I doubt it. You really need powder instead of water to attack people with, but we were always going to be No. 1 targerts. To the point where one of the teachers at school on Tuesday mentioned that he had heard about us going round Gorkha. So, basically we didn't have a chance.
My hair was still purple after washing it twice and only eventually, after leaving conditioner in for 15minutes and washing it four times did it fade. I can only say I'm very lucky my hair isn't (or wasn't) blonde.
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