Hey everyone! Finally a chance to update, I'm back in Lakeside in an internet cafe and it's freezing here! Last time I updates I was still living here so will update on some stuff we did...There's a famous viewing point at Sarangot near to here so at 5:40 last friday we left to watch the sunrise. It was super cold but absolutely stunning. As the sun was rising it cast a pinkish glow over the towering Himalayas, they looked sooo majestic, I was in total awe of our creator. Later that day we (Jess & Brighton two volunteers from California and Jackie and traveler from Oz) went up to the Palace Peace Pagoda (famous temple) which again had amazing views and was great to share the experience with others. Other highlights of Lakeside so far... drinking masala tea, watching paragliders in a cafe whilst being serenaded by some beautiful guitar sounds...lush. I managed a quick visit to the orphanage too and was great to meet the 5 children staying there -Suki (the 'mam') is amazing and all the people involved have such a heart for the children. Hopefully I'll be spending my last month at the orphanage.
Ok so rewind to last Sunday, I moved to a place called Tumke with a family there's the Mum (still don't know her name just call her ama - mother), gran and 13 year old Bikram. This was a big shock at first and although very basic living (hole in ground toilet, bucket shower etc) it was being far away from Lakeside and the other volunteers that I found the hardest. This has definitely got easer as the week has passed but I look forward to catching up with other volunteers. School was off for a couple of days so Bikram became my tour guide and showed me the local area. I really enjoyed meeting more of his family for a cousins birthday (celebrated much like in England with a big creamy cake!) and I met his uncle Shivash. He is involved in research into HIV/Aids children in the country and how money can best be spent in order to advise the government. He is a great contact as he lives in Kathmandu and has offered to show me the sights and sounds which hopefully I'll get the chance to do before I leave.
It's been mega cold here the past few days but apparently that is a sign that it's soon going to get very warm! I'm suprised to say that I'm still really enjoying Dahl Bhat twice a day(even in the morning!) also loving Buffalo milk and rice and as mentioned above masala spicy tea!
I had my first few days of school this week and everyday I teach English 4 out of 7 lessons. It's fairly straightforward no mega planning like in England. The most challenging class for me are the 7 year olds as they still have very little English and there's about 42 pupils altogether! I'll be at this school for 2 months until their academic year finishes so watch this space how it goes...
That's it for now I guess, this week has had many ups and downs, I'm still getting used to many new things but ever thankful for the opportunity to be in such a beautiful country. Love to you all (email me your updates please - melarnymel@hotmail.com)
Namaste x
masala tea ... best foreign drink ever. fact.
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