Hi everybody!
I'm back in Kathmandu once again and at the end of my penultimate week in Nepal! I have to say it's been a very relaxed week in the village this week. Rebecca and I have only taught for two days this week owing to a fair few days off during the week. Monday night was a lot of fun though, I ended up having a volleyball match with one of the neighbours in our front yard for an hour or so before giving Sissir a bit of a volleyball lesson (even if we spent most of it running up and down the hill after the ball went astray!).
Tuesday was the first day off as it was Nepali Mother's Day so I did everything I could to make Susma's life a lot easier for the day :). I washed up after breakfast and did some washing for her but she drew the line at me washing the porch (apparently it could be done another day). She and Sissir headed off to her mother's house for the day around 11 so that left me a chance to do some washing and do one final session of lesson planning. The rest of my lessons for the trip are now all planned and it was strange to see an end to my lesson plans...... Tuesday also saw me and Rajan head to a neighbour's house for dinner as Susma was staying the night at her mother's. We had a lovely meal and my Nepali served me well, the family were very impressed with my efforts :).
Wednesday saw us return to Basuki for the first time since the month off. Our route up has changed somewhat with the building of some new roads, but most of them are now horrendous dust bowls! The humidity didn't help either, I must have drank a whole litre straight down when we arrived at the school! It was nice to see some of the teachers again and get back to teaching. We'll only be going there once more and then that will be it for our time at Basuki!
Thursday was another day off so Susma dispatched me and Sissir down the hill on a shopping mission for soap and washing powder. Nice to be out in the fresh air even if a huge storm was blowing in! Monsoon season is beginning now and Thursday evening saw a rather large thunder and rain storm hit the village. Mind you, it was nice eating dinner and listening to the storm outside :). The storm continued through the night and into Friday morning so we got a bit wet walking to school. School seemed to have been optional that day for the kids (possibly on account of the rain) as attendance was well-down from usual numbers. My first lesson with class 5 had only four kids! Me and Rebecca decided to merge our classes and do a games session on account of the weather, after ten minutes a teacher popped in to say that school was to be cancelled that day on account of one of the founding members of the school passing away. After an assembly and minute's silence school was dismissed.
Rebecca and I headed into Kathmandu soon after to link up with Ollie. This weekend sees the group come together on rather sad terms, it's Sophie and Laura's last few days with us! As a final farewell we organised a meal out last night at the Utse with Basant and one of his staff, Jatak, along with Ram (our Nepali teacher) and Ratna (our guide from Langtang). Basant ordered a huge spread of food and we all had a great time sharing stories and experiences of our time in Nepal. It also gave us the chance to thank Basant and everyone else for their truly incredible support over our time here. We really couldn't have done it without them! The meal was also a chance to say happy birthday to Basant, and not to disappoint we'd ordered a chocolate cake! We all had a great time and it was the perfect "last supper" for the group and everyone that's helped us over the past 3 or 4 months.
Today is our last chance to spend time together as a complete group before Ollie, Rebecca and I have to go back to our villages. So we're planning one final lunch together before we finally have to go our separate ways. It will be sad to see Sophie and Laura go after going through so much together and having such an incredible adventure! I'm so happy to count them amongst my friends and we'll all miss them. No matter though, we're already planning a group reunion in Nepal (when we all have money again!).
The gang's all here! Thanks so much everyone for a truly incredible 4 months together!
Our "last supper" :)
As for me, next week is my final full week in Nepal before I fly back to Oman on the 15th. I can't believe it's coming to an end so quickly and I will be truly sad to see the back of an incredible four months here. But I'm trying not to get too emotional (yet) as Rebecca and I still have one more week to go. I'm not sure when I'll post next, it might be next weekend or possibly even when I'm back in Oman. Watch this space to find out how my Nepali adventure will end.
Thanks for reading guys, see you next time.
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