Hello everyone, this latest post finds me at the start of another four month adventure in the rather chilly city of Kathmandu, Nepal. Before I start, this is my first time posting from the Blogger app so I have no idea how this will turn out!
Anyway, I'm here for four months on a teaching placement in a village school and a few other adventures in-between! I've been here for two days now having got in at 3pm on Wednesday from Muscat. The local rep from Oyster Worldwide (the company that organised my trip), Basant, met me at the airport and brought me to the hotel Utse in Kathmandu's central tourist district of Thamel. After grabbing half an hour of sleep I met Basant and my fellow volunteer Rebecca for dinner. After some great Tibetan food we were soon off to bed after a very long journey.
Yesterday we were allowed a lie in until 9 before one of Basant's staff, Absana, took us to his office for a chat with him about our placement and how we could spend our weekends. After our chat Absana took us out to get mobile phones sorted out and get the materials and measurements for Rebecca's teaching Kurta (a local dress). After this was done we had lunch at the hotel another of Basant's staff, Ghasil, took us out for a walking tour of the city. Our first stop was the "Monkey Shrine" (as it's inhabited by a large group of local monkey's) at the top of a VERY long and steep staircase in the west of the city. From the top you could see the whole of Kathmandu valley and the shrine itself was very impressive!
The view of Kathmandu from the top of the shrine
The shrine itself
Me at the top of the shrine, the bird in the background is an eagle. People sometimes climb the trees around the shrine to feed them!!
Looking towards the mountains at the bottom of the shrine
After descending the other side we headed to Durbar square not far south from Thamel district. Whilst it was a bit busy the buildings were very nice. I didn't get any good photos there so I think I'll go back another time. As for the city itself, it's bustling! Dodging mopeds, bikes and cars aswell as people as you cross the road and walk along it soon become routine! After pretty much a full day of walking we got back in the hotel just after 5 in the evening. We cleaned up and had a rest before catching up on some emails and Skype calls back home. After another great dinner we headed up to bed just before 10.
So then, on to today; I got up at 7:30 after a great nights sleep for breakfast at 8 with Rebecca. At 9 we had our Nepali language lesson with Rama, a local teacher. on the roof of the hotel. He gave us an overview of some key words and phrases we'll need to help us along throughout our time here. I've learnt already that speaking even a little Nepali goes a long way! After our lesson Basant took us to his office where his wife Parana talked us through life in our village and school alongside some teaching ideas (pictures).
Me and Rebbecca on the roof of Basant's office earlier today
Fully briefed, I got some cash out before Basant took us for lunch as a final treat before Dhal Bhatt takes over! After dropping our bags at the hotel me and Rebecca headed out into Thamel for some last minute supplies before we head out to the village tomorrow. This evening has been very relaxed as we've mainly been re-packing and chilling before we go tomorrow. I doubt I'll have access to the internet over the next two weeks (we're staying with our host families over the coming weekend to get to know them and settle in) so I'll post when I have access again. Teaching starts on Sunday so I'm sure I'll have plenty to tell you.
Take care everyone and thanks for reading.
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