New teaching and Himalayan vistas

Hi everyone, here's another update for you. 

After a very busy week I'm back in a rather damp Kathmandu once agin! So what's been happening?

This week has seen some big changes to our teaching schedules. For a start, Rebecca and I are now teaching 3 classes solo a day! As we've now been teaching for almost 3 weeks we felt it was time to give as many classes as possible our time. I now take class 5 twice a day alongside class 7 just after lunch. Rebecca now takes class 6 twice a day along with class 4 mid-morning. Alongside this we're both taking an extra after school session on Tuesdays and Thursdays to help class 7 and 8 with their writing skills. I'm happy to say our first session on Thursday was fully attended and a big success! 

Lesson planning in the sun, one of the perks of having a balcony outside the staff-room! 

Rebecca with some of class 4 acting out their "class story" creative writing task 

We also taught for the first time at Basuki on Wednesday. The level of English here is much lower than at Singerey (as English is the students' third language! - alongside Nepali and the local dialect) so we're hoping to just increase their vocabulary alongside some basic writing and speaking. The walk to and from school offered some particularly special views this week, always a bonus considering the rather tricky route up and down the hill! 

Mid morning view over the Kathmandu Valley en route to Basuki 

Walking home from Basuki, I don't think many walks home in the world offer ciews like this! 

We arrived back in Kathmandu yesterday to meet Up with Sophie and Laura, who have just completed their first week of their placement in Godawari (around 10km west of us). We had a catch up and showed them around Thamel before heading to the Roadhouse cafe for Pizza. Much desired after Sophie and Laura's first week of Dhal Bhatt twice a day!

Not your average Valentines day meal! Me, Rebecca, Sophie and Laura enjoying a pizza at the Road House cafe. 

I missed home this morning but was soon having fun again :). After taking Sophie and Laura out to get some cash we grabbed some snacks and chilled in the hotel playing cards and enjoying some much needed down-time. Dinner tonight was at a small and lively Indian restaurant, discovered and thoroughly enjoyed last weekend by me and Rebecca following a recommendation by Lizzie. We tucked in to delicious Paneer masala (a soft Indian cheese in Masala sauce) along with some fresh garlic naan and some very welcome Masala tea (it peed down with rain for most of the evening!). 

For me, this week was a little challenging. Whilst I'm enjoying the teaching and spending time with my host family I sometimes find myself at a loose end in the evenings. Time does drag in the village when you've got nothing to do. On the upside, I'm truly appreciating the little things I take for granted at home; things like hot showers, 24 hour electricity and a well insulated house chief among them. All things considered though, I've enjoyed the challenge and am learning a lot about myself. I've gained a lot from my first month in Nepal (I arrived exactly a month today!) and can't wait to see what the next month has in store :). 

Tomorrow we part ways with Sophie and Laura to go back to our villages for another week. After the bustle of Kathmandu I'm looking forward to some peace and quiet in the village! That's all for this post everyone, hopefully see you next week :). 

Making Momos and a reunion!

Hi everybody, just a quick post for you this weekend. 

Week three has flown by and me and Rebecca have been very busy. Tuesday was yet another school holiday so we got some washing done and also got the chance to make Nepal's unofficial national dish, Momos! These simple and delicious steamed dumplings are to die for, especially when you get the chance to make them yourself. We spent the afternoon cutting up the vegetables before stuffing and folding the mix into homemade pastry parcels (this is a skill let me tell you!). After that they were steamed for between 5-10 minutes and eaten straight from the pan with a tomato curry sauce. We ate a lot of Momos that afternoon! 

Rebecca and Madhav making Momos :) Rebecca is rolling the dough whilst Madhav fills and constructs the Momos. I was helping Rebecca. 

Enjoying the results, yum! :) 

This week also presented our first chance to visit Basuki school, the government school where we will now be visiting on Wednesdays. The hour and a half walk up the pine covered path to the school was a challenge, especially in a shirt and tie in the mid-morning sun! Rajan is the headmaster here and the school itself is far more basic than Singerey, along with the student's levels of English. We spent the day observing a few classes and putting together a few lesson ideas. We also met another British volunteer (from a separate organisation), Lizzie, who will be at Basuki for a month. Sadly on the way down I was hit with stomach cramps which meant I missed out on the chance to go to a birthday party with Rajan, Susma and Rebecca. From the stories I heard the next day, it was a great party! 

Yesterday we caused a little bit of madness at Singerey when our outside game of charades with Class 4 led to all of the surrounding classes joining in from their classrooms! The kids are enjoying our classes and next week Rebecca and I hope to begin teaching on our own. We're both looking forward to the challenge. 

Class 4 during the charades game :) 

That evening Rebecca and I headed back to Kathmandu to meet up with Sophie and Laura, our fellow Oyster volunteers who arrived on Wednesday. We had dinner at the Utse and caught up along with answering any questions they had. They left for their village this morning and we'll see them in 2 weeks time after they've settled in. 

So next week represents a significant milestone, next Saturday I'll have been in Nepal for a month! Time has passed really quickly and it's only another month until our action packed March adventure (more on that nearer the time)! I'm loving my time here and can't wait to see what the future holds :). 

Thanks everybody, see you next time! 

My first two weeks in the village!

Hello again everyone, this post finds me back in Kathmandu after my first 2 weeks of teaching in the little hill-side village of Lubu, south-east of Kathmandu. Firstly, apologies for the lack of photos on this post, the app doesn't like a lot of photos for some reason. Anyway, Rebecca and I arrived at the village  late on the morning of Sat 19th. We were both given a very warm welcome by our host families, for Rebecca it was Madhav Chand (who is also the headmaster at our school) and his wife and for me it was the lovely Radjan Chand and his wife Susma. 

Me and Rebecca with my host family; Radjan and Susma. The red patches on our head are Tikka blessings.

We had an afternoon to settle in and unpack before we started at the school the next day. My house is very traditional compared to Rebecca's. It's constructed almost entirely of mud and wood, complete with some very low doorways (especially for me)! My room is small and comfortable but the view isn't bad in the mornings. The village itself is very quiet compared to Kathmandu but this isn't a bad thing. Sadly though I was confined to my room for most of that afternoon on account of the FREEZING cold and a fair bit of rain. Although the rain clouds parted around 6pm offering me an amazing sunset view over Kathmandu and the distant Langtang mountains. After dinner (my first of the local staple; Dhal Bhatt. Which is very tasty!) I was soon of to bed. 

Morning view of the Langtang mountains from my room 

So then, our first day at Singerey School. I woke up at 7:30 to an amazing view of a mist covered Kathmandu valley. A morning shower in the FREEZING outdoor shower room soon woke me up though. After breakfast (dhal Bhatt of course!) I put on a shirt and tie for the first time in almost a year and met Rebecca and Madhav for the walk to school. We arrived just in time for morning assembly, where all the children lined up and said the school prayer followed by the national anthem. After a quick tour of the staff room we began our first classroom observation, this would take up our first two days so we could get to know the kids and their abilities. Our final observation of day one was a bit more hands on as the teacher suddenly left, leaving us with 18 enthusiastic kids! As this was the final period of the day we improvised with some "Simon says" and a drawn out question and answer session where I tried to explain how to make chocolate! Back home at the end of the day I helped Susma prepare dinner. Rajan's sister and niece joined us and stayed the night en route to a doctors appointment in Kathmandu. 

The next day was our final day of observation so we looked in on class five as they practiced there English speaking. After that we were left to crack on with some lesson planning. We sat outside and soaked up the sun on the balcony opposite the headmaster's office. After lunch we got hold of some school text books for some lesson inspiration. That night Rajan invited me out for a walk to show me around the village. Not wanting to be cooped up inside I accepted. He showed me around and explained the community farming and forest scheme whilst I or tried out some Nepali with him. He also showed me around his as yet half finished new house opposite the school. He even asked me to choose my room for my next visit! The roof had some great views of the valley though. 

And then came the day we had been waiting for; our first day of teaching! Our timetable has us teaching 1, 40 minute period a day to classes 4,5 and 6. Our day started with class five and I lead a "describing family" lesson. After a break Rebecca read "Where the Wild things are" to class 4 and asked them questions about the story. 

Class 6 finished our day and we lead together (as this class is particularly large and noisy!). We went over adjectives before getting them to create and describe their own storybook character. So at the end of day one we went home with some great ideas and the discovery that all the kids loved my "good work" stamps. We taught up until Thursday; focusing on adjectives and nouns with class 5, creative writing (which is almost non-existent in the curriculum!) with class 6 and some follow up lessons on "Where the Wild things are" with class 4. Friday was teacher's and parents day so we got the day off. Rebecca came over to plan some lessons and play Uno in the morning which left us the afternoon to explore the mountain road at the back of the village. 

Saturday was the warmest and clearest day of the trip so far, the whole village seemed to be in a good mood! We sat on the roof of Rebecca's house chatting and playing cards. In the afternoon Rebecca headed into the nearby town with Madhav's son, Prasant, on the back of his motorbike. So I headed home to read and have a kick-about with Susma's son Sissir and some of his friends. 

Me and Sissir and the bottom of the garden 

Sunday was a real treat! Earlier in the week Basant had invited us to his wife Prana's cousin's wedding! So we headed into the outskirts of Kathmandu to join in the ceremony. The wedding itself was in two parts, the engagement and then the marriage ceremony. The whole process took about five hours. In-between rituals Basant introduced us to some of his family and friends. We met 3 ex-Gurkhas, a Dean of some 100 colleges and the sister of an ex-PM to name just a few! One truly memorable part of the ceremony was when the groom had to bid for his shoes back after having them "stolen" by his sister earlier in the ceremony. He eventually paid 10,000 rupees ($100!) for them. Apparently he got a good deal but I wasn't so sure. Overall it was a great experience and we were very lucky to have been invited. Not many visitors to a Nepal get to see this. 

Me and Rebecca with Basant's wife Prana at the wedding 

Our second week at the school passed very quickly, mainly because we only taught on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday we were invited on a trip with classes 8 and 9 to a photo exhibition documenting the effects of climate change on the Himalayas. It was a very interesting trip and some of the panoramas were amazing, if a little shocking as some compared past and present snow and ice cover across the region..... 

Me reading to class 4 earlier this week 

Thursday and Friday were days off owing to a number of festivals so we read, played cards and went for another walk on Thursday. Yesterday we packed for a return trip to Kathmandu, our first since arriving at the village. After a cramped and maybe a little dangerous minibus ride we arrived safe and sound. Whilst we're here we'll be topping up on essentials, catching up on some sleep and having something other than Dhal-Bhaat to eat! 

So that brings you up to date, my first two weeks have flown by and I'm looking forward to the months ahead. I should be in Kathmandu every weekend now so I'll keep you updated as and when something happens. 

Take care everyone and thanks for reading. See you next time!