Monday, 21 March 2011
Monday, 7 March 2011
Trekking part 2!
Hey everyone ok I'm back and ready for part 2...
Left off at day 10 I think pass day and had the epic journey up and down. We finally reached Muktinath and joined the rest of the 'family'. A hot shower here never felt sooo good! The weather was amazing for the whole day so we spent the rest of the afternoon on the roof of our hotel reminiscing about the day with again stunning views to inspire. Had out first celebration beers of the trek that night but everyone was completely wrecked! Had such a great night sleep being back down at lower altitude that night so very refreshed for the next day.
D11 - The original plan for today was to walk a few hours to Kagebeni but Hem was a bit worried about Amy's little finer which was pretty swollen still and had no sensation in the tip. So we stopped at a health post on the way, two women there were lovely but they recommended we go straight to Jomsom, so plans changed and we managed to catch a truck ride the rest of the way, this side of the trek landscape wise was quite different, still great views of the mountains but the landscape is much drier. The hospital at Jomsom was a completely contrasting scene to what you'd see in England, just a few guys sitting round in the ER room chatting and then a guy who looked like he was about 18 'the doctor' took a quick look at Amy's finger and said it was early stages of frostbite but the finger would be fine. Relief! We managed to join Sarah and Sue in one of the guest houses and then joined by johan and Andrea later so second round of celebrations that evening! (Oh almost forgot, I woke up with botox like lips today, hilarious, combination of the sun and cold I think but managed to go down after a couple of days)
D12 - Bust for about 4 hours to Tatpoani...oh. my. life...I thought the bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara was a little hairy but serious;y thought we were going to tip over a few times on the way. Any way we made it in one piece and parted ways with Sue and Sarah, we stayed in such a beautiful guest house with orangery and greenery all around, a real difference in temperature here too we could sit comfortably in t-shirts! We also, big surprise, met the Swedish boys here, (this was the case all the way around the circuit, kept meeting up with the different groups). The rest of the afternoon was spent in the hot springs there relaxing :) That evening the rest of the groups caught up with us and looked liked we'd be doing the same route all the way to Pokhara (which for me and Amy was a relief to not just be with our guide).
D13 - Big ascent up to Ghorepani. It was boiling for the first half of the day but really beautiful scenery trekking again, reminded me of the village I stay in. We had to ascend about 1800m today but managed to arrive in Manang by 4ish. Enjoyed a fun evening with the brit boys, andrew and Marianne, I think the end in sight...Was strange after the pass because everyone felt like that was it you'd achieved coming through, the end. But there was still a whole second half of the trek to go!
D14- Early rise at 5 to walk up to Poonhill for sunrise, alot more tourists here than we had sen throughout the trek so far but enjoyed some delish masala tea while waiting for the sun to rise. Really beautiful views from Poonhill, hard to capture it all on camera really, pleased we got to visit there though as its a famous viewpoint and felt more special to know you'd really been through some of the mountains you could see. Descended the rest of the day to a village called Hile before the final day.
D15 - A gorgeous trek to NayaPul, passed alot more trekkers now heading up to Ghorepani or en route to Annapurna base camp. It was a beautiful end and then bus back to pokhara.
There's soooooo much more I could say about each day but don't think I do it justice so wait for photos and more stories when I return. One of the biggest highlights was meeting such an amazing group of people, very varied in backgrounds but good to share the experiences with others. Had some fun times picnicing on the lake with everyone back here. I'm heading back to Tupke in a couple of hours, was really strange saying goodbye to Rin and Amy, will miss everyone alot but hope that it's not a permanent goodbye.
Want to hear how you all are now please :)
love x
Left off at day 10 I think pass day and had the epic journey up and down. We finally reached Muktinath and joined the rest of the 'family'. A hot shower here never felt sooo good! The weather was amazing for the whole day so we spent the rest of the afternoon on the roof of our hotel reminiscing about the day with again stunning views to inspire. Had out first celebration beers of the trek that night but everyone was completely wrecked! Had such a great night sleep being back down at lower altitude that night so very refreshed for the next day.
D11 - The original plan for today was to walk a few hours to Kagebeni but Hem was a bit worried about Amy's little finer which was pretty swollen still and had no sensation in the tip. So we stopped at a health post on the way, two women there were lovely but they recommended we go straight to Jomsom, so plans changed and we managed to catch a truck ride the rest of the way, this side of the trek landscape wise was quite different, still great views of the mountains but the landscape is much drier. The hospital at Jomsom was a completely contrasting scene to what you'd see in England, just a few guys sitting round in the ER room chatting and then a guy who looked like he was about 18 'the doctor' took a quick look at Amy's finger and said it was early stages of frostbite but the finger would be fine. Relief! We managed to join Sarah and Sue in one of the guest houses and then joined by johan and Andrea later so second round of celebrations that evening! (Oh almost forgot, I woke up with botox like lips today, hilarious, combination of the sun and cold I think but managed to go down after a couple of days)
D12 - Bust for about 4 hours to Tatpoani...oh. my. life...I thought the bus ride from Kathmandu to Pokhara was a little hairy but serious;y thought we were going to tip over a few times on the way. Any way we made it in one piece and parted ways with Sue and Sarah, we stayed in such a beautiful guest house with orangery and greenery all around, a real difference in temperature here too we could sit comfortably in t-shirts! We also, big surprise, met the Swedish boys here, (this was the case all the way around the circuit, kept meeting up with the different groups). The rest of the afternoon was spent in the hot springs there relaxing :) That evening the rest of the groups caught up with us and looked liked we'd be doing the same route all the way to Pokhara (which for me and Amy was a relief to not just be with our guide).
D13 - Big ascent up to Ghorepani. It was boiling for the first half of the day but really beautiful scenery trekking again, reminded me of the village I stay in. We had to ascend about 1800m today but managed to arrive in Manang by 4ish. Enjoyed a fun evening with the brit boys, andrew and Marianne, I think the end in sight...Was strange after the pass because everyone felt like that was it you'd achieved coming through, the end. But there was still a whole second half of the trek to go!
D14- Early rise at 5 to walk up to Poonhill for sunrise, alot more tourists here than we had sen throughout the trek so far but enjoyed some delish masala tea while waiting for the sun to rise. Really beautiful views from Poonhill, hard to capture it all on camera really, pleased we got to visit there though as its a famous viewpoint and felt more special to know you'd really been through some of the mountains you could see. Descended the rest of the day to a village called Hile before the final day.
D15 - A gorgeous trek to NayaPul, passed alot more trekkers now heading up to Ghorepani or en route to Annapurna base camp. It was a beautiful end and then bus back to pokhara.
There's soooooo much more I could say about each day but don't think I do it justice so wait for photos and more stories when I return. One of the biggest highlights was meeting such an amazing group of people, very varied in backgrounds but good to share the experiences with others. Had some fun times picnicing on the lake with everyone back here. I'm heading back to Tupke in a couple of hours, was really strange saying goodbye to Rin and Amy, will miss everyone alot but hope that it's not a permanent goodbye.
Want to hear how you all are now please :)
love x
Trekking epic!!
Helloooooo everyone, oh my can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I blogged feels like tooo much to say and such little time as always...ok so incase you didn't know I've been away trekking for the past 2weeks, the Annapurna circuit trek to be exact. Will do my best to summarise all the highs and lows of the past 15days!
Ok, so I went trekking with 2 other volunteers, Amy a nurse from Perth and Rin a geologist from Belgium. We also had a guide (Hem) and porter (Ram). I feel soooo thankful for how amazingly well I got on with both Rin and Amy, we really gelled as a group from day one which is lucky as I've been sharing a room with Amy everyday since! Oh will mention actually Rin is 85%blind, so for him I gues even more of a challenge although he had trekked many times before.
Day1 - We started at a place called Besisahar and walked for about 3hours to our first nights stop in Ngadi, this was a really beautiful day and idyllic guest house, quite lush scenery on the way. D2-3 we went up to Chamje and then on to Bargachap (2160m). On the way I passed two volunteers I'd met at the school i teach in (think Ive blogged about them, asaf and lisa!) what are the chances hey! Landscape wise the first two days were very pretty, D3 was ok but more road walking and rocky views. Its crazy actually as the long term goal is to have a road going all the way up to Manang, will completely change the trek and feels like a real shame but there's no stopping the development...
Ok back to D3, had a beautiful lunch stop in place called Tal and chatted to some travellers who had come down from Manang as there was too much snow to pass higher up. D4 was absolutely amazing walking, after a quick ascent to Danaque the views of the Manasalu range were sooo stunning then after lunch a glimpse of Annapurna2, our final stop for that night was in Chame.
Oh so far I've not really mentioned much about our guide...Overall he was responsible and knew his stuff but he was quite unprofessional towards me and Amy, which put a downer on things a first but in the end I think it made us more determined to enjoy the trip and rally round as a group. Our porter Ram or Rambo as we liked to call him, carried two big bags for most of the way, totally mountain machine, really lovely guy though.
D5 we arrived in Upper Pisang, Amy felt really rubbish all day, had caught some sort of stomach bug so was really hard work for her. The temperature had really started to drop now as we were walking through more snow. We were lucky as most people stay in lower pisang but because we were so high up the views of the Annapurna's from the guest house were awesome, seemed sooo close!
D6-7 Rins birthday! celebrated with pringles, mayonnaise and toblerone...Amy felt much better so it was a great day trekking through the snow to Manang (3540m) Oh have to mention, Amy had never been in snow before so this was quite an experience for her! We had a birthday feast on arrival in Manang around a big heater and felt really happy that so far none of us felt any sort of effects from the altitude. The next day was rest day for acclimatisation but it didnt look good for going higher as snowed most of the day. We met Andrew from the US here and spent most of the day playing cards and drinking tea!
D8 - Hooray, sun is shining! We were really pleased as woke up and the sky was clear so Hem decided we should head up to Yak kharka, this as a great days walking, its hard to describe how amazing the moutains were pretty much all the way from D4 onwards. The snow this day was getting deeper which made it harder work, you could slowly begin to feel the effects of altitude from this height I'd say, mainly just more laboured walking. It was great to arrive in Yak Kharka just before snow storm began again, from here also I need to mention the formation of 'the family'...
Basically all the way up we came across groups or individuals who were doing the same route as us, it was in Yak kharka huddled round the heater that we started to get to know each other even more. There was Sarah interior designer from Sweden trekking with Sue from Singapore, 2 Swedish guys, Andreas from Germany who we met in Manang, Johan from France, Andrew - US, Jack and James - UK, Marianne - UK, Anker - Holland, German couple and Paulo from Chile. There is way too much I could tell you about all their stories so you'll have to ask me another time!
D9 - We were sooo lucky to be with many groups from here on up as I'm sure otherwise Hem would have turned around in Manang. Anyway it was decided to carry on up to high camp. Again the morning was beautiful and was a stunning trek up to throng phedi (4540m) we lunch stopped here before the 400m ascent up to high camp. his may not sound too bad but the hours walk up after lunch was a killer, due to the altitude it just made every step sooo much harder and you were out of breath much quicker. Me and Amy finally arrived in high camp only to hear that Rn was really struggling on the way up, had been sick and couldn't see very well, this was pretty worrying as seemed like altitude symptoms. He managed to make it up to high camp but was really uncertain for the next day...That night at high camp was probably the worst I've every slept, it was soooooo cold and I had a pretty bad headache here not the start you want for the night before pass day...
D10 - PASS DAY! woke up at 4:30 and had to be ready to set off at about 5, apparently groups try and do the trek early as it can get pretty windy after midday. I can't quite explain how difficult this ascent was...nothing can prepare you for wind chill (-20!), I had pretty good equipment but was still such hard work as your extremities are freezing and your out of breath so easily! Amy was really struggling with her hands on the way up so we swapped gloves for a bit and I managed to put some spare socks i had over her gloves, she actually ended up getting early stages of frost bite in her little finger but more about that later...I think what kept me going was when Hem said only 45mins left and it was the first time I stopped to look around, actually the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, hard to take many pictures up there as I was sooo cold. Once at the top (about 5460m I think) a few groups were there but only stayed for about 5 mins to take quick pic! The descent was another epic in itself....Oh almost forgot! Rin that morning decided that he wouldn't be able to go up so our group split from there and he descended the way we came with our porter while Amy and I went on with our guide. We were really sad to have to part ways but it was definitely the right decision. Anyway on the descent down I'm pretty sure i spent more time on my backside, the snow was mega deep so many section just decided to slide down! The first tea shop stop we had was such a relief, couldn't quite believe we'd managed to do it!
Phew, I'm gna leave it there for now and finish blogging the second half of the trip later :) Will try and get pictures up as soon as I can!
Hope you're all well, much love xx
Ok, so I went trekking with 2 other volunteers, Amy a nurse from Perth and Rin a geologist from Belgium. We also had a guide (Hem) and porter (Ram). I feel soooo thankful for how amazingly well I got on with both Rin and Amy, we really gelled as a group from day one which is lucky as I've been sharing a room with Amy everyday since! Oh will mention actually Rin is 85%blind, so for him I gues even more of a challenge although he had trekked many times before.
Day1 - We started at a place called Besisahar and walked for about 3hours to our first nights stop in Ngadi, this was a really beautiful day and idyllic guest house, quite lush scenery on the way. D2-3 we went up to Chamje and then on to Bargachap (2160m). On the way I passed two volunteers I'd met at the school i teach in (think Ive blogged about them, asaf and lisa!) what are the chances hey! Landscape wise the first two days were very pretty, D3 was ok but more road walking and rocky views. Its crazy actually as the long term goal is to have a road going all the way up to Manang, will completely change the trek and feels like a real shame but there's no stopping the development...
Ok back to D3, had a beautiful lunch stop in place called Tal and chatted to some travellers who had come down from Manang as there was too much snow to pass higher up. D4 was absolutely amazing walking, after a quick ascent to Danaque the views of the Manasalu range were sooo stunning then after lunch a glimpse of Annapurna2, our final stop for that night was in Chame.
Oh so far I've not really mentioned much about our guide...Overall he was responsible and knew his stuff but he was quite unprofessional towards me and Amy, which put a downer on things a first but in the end I think it made us more determined to enjoy the trip and rally round as a group. Our porter Ram or Rambo as we liked to call him, carried two big bags for most of the way, totally mountain machine, really lovely guy though.
D5 we arrived in Upper Pisang, Amy felt really rubbish all day, had caught some sort of stomach bug so was really hard work for her. The temperature had really started to drop now as we were walking through more snow. We were lucky as most people stay in lower pisang but because we were so high up the views of the Annapurna's from the guest house were awesome, seemed sooo close!
D6-7 Rins birthday! celebrated with pringles, mayonnaise and toblerone...Amy felt much better so it was a great day trekking through the snow to Manang (3540m) Oh have to mention, Amy had never been in snow before so this was quite an experience for her! We had a birthday feast on arrival in Manang around a big heater and felt really happy that so far none of us felt any sort of effects from the altitude. The next day was rest day for acclimatisation but it didnt look good for going higher as snowed most of the day. We met Andrew from the US here and spent most of the day playing cards and drinking tea!
D8 - Hooray, sun is shining! We were really pleased as woke up and the sky was clear so Hem decided we should head up to Yak kharka, this as a great days walking, its hard to describe how amazing the moutains were pretty much all the way from D4 onwards. The snow this day was getting deeper which made it harder work, you could slowly begin to feel the effects of altitude from this height I'd say, mainly just more laboured walking. It was great to arrive in Yak Kharka just before snow storm began again, from here also I need to mention the formation of 'the family'...
Basically all the way up we came across groups or individuals who were doing the same route as us, it was in Yak kharka huddled round the heater that we started to get to know each other even more. There was Sarah interior designer from Sweden trekking with Sue from Singapore, 2 Swedish guys, Andreas from Germany who we met in Manang, Johan from France, Andrew - US, Jack and James - UK, Marianne - UK, Anker - Holland, German couple and Paulo from Chile. There is way too much I could tell you about all their stories so you'll have to ask me another time!
D9 - We were sooo lucky to be with many groups from here on up as I'm sure otherwise Hem would have turned around in Manang. Anyway it was decided to carry on up to high camp. Again the morning was beautiful and was a stunning trek up to throng phedi (4540m) we lunch stopped here before the 400m ascent up to high camp. his may not sound too bad but the hours walk up after lunch was a killer, due to the altitude it just made every step sooo much harder and you were out of breath much quicker. Me and Amy finally arrived in high camp only to hear that Rn was really struggling on the way up, had been sick and couldn't see very well, this was pretty worrying as seemed like altitude symptoms. He managed to make it up to high camp but was really uncertain for the next day...That night at high camp was probably the worst I've every slept, it was soooooo cold and I had a pretty bad headache here not the start you want for the night before pass day...
D10 - PASS DAY! woke up at 4:30 and had to be ready to set off at about 5, apparently groups try and do the trek early as it can get pretty windy after midday. I can't quite explain how difficult this ascent was...nothing can prepare you for wind chill (-20!), I had pretty good equipment but was still such hard work as your extremities are freezing and your out of breath so easily! Amy was really struggling with her hands on the way up so we swapped gloves for a bit and I managed to put some spare socks i had over her gloves, she actually ended up getting early stages of frost bite in her little finger but more about that later...I think what kept me going was when Hem said only 45mins left and it was the first time I stopped to look around, actually the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, hard to take many pictures up there as I was sooo cold. Once at the top (about 5460m I think) a few groups were there but only stayed for about 5 mins to take quick pic! The descent was another epic in itself....Oh almost forgot! Rin that morning decided that he wouldn't be able to go up so our group split from there and he descended the way we came with our porter while Amy and I went on with our guide. We were really sad to have to part ways but it was definitely the right decision. Anyway on the descent down I'm pretty sure i spent more time on my backside, the snow was mega deep so many section just decided to slide down! The first tea shop stop we had was such a relief, couldn't quite believe we'd managed to do it!
Phew, I'm gna leave it there for now and finish blogging the second half of the trip later :) Will try and get pictures up as soon as I can!
Hope you're all well, much love xx
Friday, 11 February 2011
Sugar cane and Sunsets
Hey everyone, so I'm typing this for the first time from Tupke!!!!! School is half day on friday and Im trying out the internet cafe while the electricity is still here.
Once again this week seems to have flown by, I'm really enjoying having the company of Izzy and Miguel, Bikram has really taken to having Miguel around and has created their own comedy topi club (this is a nepalese hat that all the old men wear!).
Ok so highlights of this week...on Monday I had some really great discussions with both students and teachers about money, politics and religion in Nepal. They are such a tolerant country with regards to religion even though most are Hindu. Overall our conversations always seem to revert back to how corrupt their government is and how frustrated they are that their resources can't be properly utilized because of the greed of many in politics. I do wonder how this will change over the next 10-20 years...Anyway that same day i tried sugar cane for the first time (sooo delicious) whilst watching the colours of a wedding up the street where we live, amazing sounds of drums and crazy trumpets will all the neighbours flocking for a sight of the bride and groom, i'm really hoping i'll be invited to a wedding while im here! After this i had a little hike up the hill to watch the sunset and read my book, such bliss.
Tuesday we were all off school for Puja so I went with Izzy and Miguel to a firends house. The younger sister (suman) then showed me around the area and she made me my first roti (like a ticker chapati). Suman also goes to the school I teach at, she's lovely but has major eye problems. Her eyes have been deteriorating since she was born so that now she has only partial sight in one eye. I think she just has cataracts and its frustrating as if she was in England the problems would have been easier treated much earlier on in her life. She has now to start thinking about the possibility of her future being without any sight, I know this gets her down as you can imagine. Izzy is taking her to a specialist eye hospital in Kathmandu soon to see if there's much they can do or how she can be supported for her future, so watch this space and pray!
I'm off to visit a temple tomorrow with one of the teachers from school so really looking forward to that although think we're travelling like 3/4 hours outside of pokhara valley!
Ok, will leave it there for now incase internet cuts off! It's been sooo lovely to hear from you all so please keep emailing me. Oh also I'm off trekking in a weeks time but more on that next week...
Peace and love xx
Once again this week seems to have flown by, I'm really enjoying having the company of Izzy and Miguel, Bikram has really taken to having Miguel around and has created their own comedy topi club (this is a nepalese hat that all the old men wear!).
Ok so highlights of this week...on Monday I had some really great discussions with both students and teachers about money, politics and religion in Nepal. They are such a tolerant country with regards to religion even though most are Hindu. Overall our conversations always seem to revert back to how corrupt their government is and how frustrated they are that their resources can't be properly utilized because of the greed of many in politics. I do wonder how this will change over the next 10-20 years...Anyway that same day i tried sugar cane for the first time (sooo delicious) whilst watching the colours of a wedding up the street where we live, amazing sounds of drums and crazy trumpets will all the neighbours flocking for a sight of the bride and groom, i'm really hoping i'll be invited to a wedding while im here! After this i had a little hike up the hill to watch the sunset and read my book, such bliss.
Tuesday we were all off school for Puja so I went with Izzy and Miguel to a firends house. The younger sister (suman) then showed me around the area and she made me my first roti (like a ticker chapati). Suman also goes to the school I teach at, she's lovely but has major eye problems. Her eyes have been deteriorating since she was born so that now she has only partial sight in one eye. I think she just has cataracts and its frustrating as if she was in England the problems would have been easier treated much earlier on in her life. She has now to start thinking about the possibility of her future being without any sight, I know this gets her down as you can imagine. Izzy is taking her to a specialist eye hospital in Kathmandu soon to see if there's much they can do or how she can be supported for her future, so watch this space and pray!
I'm off to visit a temple tomorrow with one of the teachers from school so really looking forward to that although think we're travelling like 3/4 hours outside of pokhara valley!
Ok, will leave it there for now incase internet cuts off! It's been sooo lovely to hear from you all so please keep emailing me. Oh also I'm off trekking in a weeks time but more on that next week...
Peace and love xx
Friday, 4 February 2011
Almost a month...
Hey everyone so that's right it's almost been a month in Nepal which is crazy, this week sems to have flown by as ever in the daily rhythm of daahl bhaat and school! Im back in Lakeside for a sly hot shower (soooooooo good) but don't pan on actually being here every weekend just we had 2 full days off again.
Ok so highlight at school this wek was the visit of a few people from the 'mountain trust'. Fromn what I gathered they financially support a few of the students and are all about promoting awarenes in education and health care...The main couple were from Middlesborough would you believe and so typically British ha! But Alan was exaplaining that they want to support the Nepalese more by sharing skills and training up others rather than just throwing mone at them. I agree with this although somehow there is a fine balance in doing that where you aren't just presuming our ;wetern way' of doing things is better...I know in the ontext f the kids education the idea was to develop higher level thinking skills so they would begin to question mre rather than just look for right/wrong answer which seems to be the case with thei textbook teaching. Anyway, also with the couple were 2 volunters, Asaf from Israel and Lisa from Sweden they were a lovelycouple who had metand travelled from India, they were contemplating spending a wek at the school so will wait and see i that happens. Oh the kids put on a cultural dance performance for the 'guests of honour' (I was included in this!) which was really beautiful to se.
Izzy and her brother Miguel arrived on Thursday so it was great spending the evening chatting with them, Izzy is ike a celebrity in the village, it's her thrid year visiting and she can understand/talk Nepalese really well! I'm looking forward to having them around the next 3 weeks and Izzy might be back after that one Miguel has flown back to Colorado.
The weather sems to suddenly have changed alot seriously hot today and the mountains were soooo clear when I arrived yesterday.
Right I'm off to walk around the lake, I hope everyone has had a joyful week.
Love x
Ok so highlight at school this wek was the visit of a few people from the 'mountain trust'. Fromn what I gathered they financially support a few of the students and are all about promoting awarenes in education and health care...The main couple were from Middlesborough would you believe and so typically British ha! But Alan was exaplaining that they want to support the Nepalese more by sharing skills and training up others rather than just throwing mone at them. I agree with this although somehow there is a fine balance in doing that where you aren't just presuming our ;wetern way' of doing things is better...I know in the ontext f the kids education the idea was to develop higher level thinking skills so they would begin to question mre rather than just look for right/wrong answer which seems to be the case with thei textbook teaching. Anyway, also with the couple were 2 volunters, Asaf from Israel and Lisa from Sweden they were a lovelycouple who had metand travelled from India, they were contemplating spending a wek at the school so will wait and see i that happens. Oh the kids put on a cultural dance performance for the 'guests of honour' (I was included in this!) which was really beautiful to se.
Izzy and her brother Miguel arrived on Thursday so it was great spending the evening chatting with them, Izzy is ike a celebrity in the village, it's her thrid year visiting and she can understand/talk Nepalese really well! I'm looking forward to having them around the next 3 weeks and Izzy might be back after that one Miguel has flown back to Colorado.
The weather sems to suddenly have changed alot seriously hot today and the mountains were soooo clear when I arrived yesterday.
Right I'm off to walk around the lake, I hope everyone has had a joyful week.
Love x
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Tapaiilai kasto cha?
Hey everyone (above title means how are you in Nepalese) I'm back in Lakeside for a few hours because we've had a 2 and half day weekend (normally only 1 and half) and decided to bring Bikram and one of his friends through for a trip. This week seems to have gone pretty quickly i guess I'm in more of a routine. I'm pretty lucky as only teaching 4 lessons a day feels quite straightforward. Although having said that I was trialling out some discussions for conversation practise with the older classes (14-16yrs) but they just get totally embarrassed! I mentioned earlier perhaps that class 2 i have were a bit tricky but this week they've bee pretty lush (due I think to the persuasion of stickers) I normally get home from school at 4 ish so have time to explore, read or write almost forced reflective time which is great. The weather has changed and got much warmer sun shines all day but still pretty cool in the evenings and not inviting in the morning to have a cold water bucket shower!
Bikram went away for a couple of days this week so it was just me and ama (mother), I hadto try and speak some more nepalese and we managed! Will be interesting how much I can speak by the end of 5 months...
Yesterday was a glorious day, I set off to explore further into the local hills, such beautiful scenery. About 2hours in I heard a voice shouting 'Melina!" and realised it was one of my pupils. She invited me in for a cup of tea and I couldnt believe what her daily walk into school must be like (at least 1 and half hours walking she said!). This open hospitality is very typical of the Nepalese I've met so far.
Not much else to report right now and time as always is ticking...I think a volunteer from America (Izzy) Is coming this week with her brother so look forward to more company. Keep me posted how you're all doing and will try and get an address as soon as poss for sending letters!
Much love x
Bikram went away for a couple of days this week so it was just me and ama (mother), I hadto try and speak some more nepalese and we managed! Will be interesting how much I can speak by the end of 5 months...
Yesterday was a glorious day, I set off to explore further into the local hills, such beautiful scenery. About 2hours in I heard a voice shouting 'Melina!" and realised it was one of my pupils. She invited me in for a cup of tea and I couldnt believe what her daily walk into school must be like (at least 1 and half hours walking she said!). This open hospitality is very typical of the Nepalese I've met so far.
Not much else to report right now and time as always is ticking...I think a volunteer from America (Izzy) Is coming this week with her brother so look forward to more company. Keep me posted how you're all doing and will try and get an address as soon as poss for sending letters!
Much love x
Friday, 21 January 2011
Moments and memories
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
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
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