Nepal UniBreak from Lauren Ross

Fun in Nirmal Pokhari....


Well arriving in Kathmandu was hectic, never experienced anything like it! It was so overwhelming! I hopped in a taxi with one of the guys from the organisation and we bumped, swerved and beeped our way through the masses of people, animals and dirt that packed the narrow streets until we reached Thamel where I met up with all the other volutneers and had curry and naan and a cafe that was to ebcome our local haunt in kathmandu caled Thamel Brasserie. After eating I was suddenly i was thrust into language lessons and then me and another girl plus one of the guys from the organisation squeezed into a cab (whose driver became our regular driver known as 'the crazy bad man' but really he just had a big personality and loved to tell us all the local gossip and blast hindi music). Up the hill we went until we reached the monkey temple (which was beautiful but i was worried about rabies the whole time!) we went at sunset and looked ovr kathmadu and then had tea in this tent on the side of the road while we waited for our taxi to come back. All this was packed into my first day in this full on country (after two days of airport travel) so by dinner i was like feeling a bit ill (i didnt eat), oevrwhelmed and exhausted but I started to feel a whole lot better when we went to this great bar called the funky buddha and I got to know some fo the volunteers better over a few Everest beers. After this we continued the party on the roof of our hotel which became known as the 'rangi changi bar' (Rangi Changi is a contradictary Nepalese term which can mean anythign from happy, sad, crazy, drunk etc etc). In the narrow city streets (which are clogged with dust and pollution at night it looks like its snowing!) everyne beeps their horns and dont stick to their side of the streets and there are no footpaths so u walk on the side of the road, dodging vehicles and people. It is liberating and some how it all works and its so much fun!!the smells are just amazing (spices, cow u name it, it all wafts past u!). The next day I had more language lessons after breakfast and then went to another hge temple in the older part of Kathmandu (which was beautiful with all the prayer flags and we spun the prayer wheels). We then went to the holy river where they cremate the dead. This we an eerie and surreal experience as this ceremony takes place in such a public forum (it is like a crumbling stadium where monkeys parade amongst the people who sit in the stands and watch the burning take place below, and sadhu's (holy men) lie half naked and out of it on the temple steps, asking foriengers for their money). It was a bizaare thign to witness. On our last night in Kathmandu we went to this really cool reggae bar with these two south african guys I met in the hotel and it had this live band (all 4 who went into one toilet cubile on their break to do god knows what) and there was this older local who was dancing by himself in the middle of this bar, he looked like a spinning top he was twisting and turning so fast (almost like a russian cossack!) but it was so good to watch because he was so joyful. The same day we went to Dermer Square and we got to see where the living Goddess lived (a five year old girl chosen from certain criteria by either the president or king and then she must live away from her family for 5 years, her feet must not touch the ground and then after the 5 years she can never marry. It was a bizzare experience like stepping back in time) I also got a funny pick up line from a local in kathmandu, he said 'you come with me and we make laugh together' (I thoughts thats one Ive never heard before!) So after an exhausting 3 days in Kathmandu, all the volunteers (like 10 of us) got on a bus early i the morning headed for Pokhara. We were all so out of it that most of us were able to sleep despite the bumping and swerving road and the cold air that ran under the windows. We finally made it to Pokhara where we would stay for one night in a nice hotel room with a hot shower (luxury!!) Pokhara is beautiful compared to Kathmandu especially lakeside where we stayed. Along the streets are trees painted at their base red white and blue and strung from them across the streets are flags of metallic strips which look great in the sinlight. This is nothing compared to the lake which stretches across to steep lush mountains and has boats rowing across it. From our hotel balcony we could see the Anapurna range (the fish tail) which we saw at both sunset and sunrise with all the pinks and oranges reflecting off it!!

The first day we arrived in Nirmal Pokhari (the village) (after a really steep and rocky climb in a 4wd up the mountain) we trekked to the top peak of the village and sat and looked out over Pokhara with the collossal himalyas rising above it clear as anything!! BREATHTAKING!! Our host family is lovely and compared to other families they are quite wealthy but still the living conditions seemed quite basic at first! They have two brick farm houses with a courtyard that the chickens run wild through. Anna and I share a room which is bare brick with cracks to the outside (similar to a barn) but it is comfortable enough. Outside our door lives the buffalo and the goats (and the bloody rooster crows at 5.30 am right outside every morning!! Its a running joke that one of us will eventually snap and ring its neck!!) Anyway that night after eating dhaal bhaat with our hands (which am now thoroughly sick of and if I ever see a legume again I will happily shoot myself!) anna and I were gettign ready for bed and as I was about to hop in I saw this massive spider at the head of my bed (like as big as a saucer!)Both of us nearly dropped dead and niether of us wanted to chase it around the room to kill it so we called on one of the Dutch boys livign upstairs to come down and help. So down Sjurat came in little short shorts (so funny) with a bucket and then proceeded to tickle this spider so that ti ran away and we couldn't find it! So Anna and I had to sleep with this massive thing in our room thinking all night it would end up on one of our faces! The next night when the spider reappeared, Laxman (our host) ran into our room and promptly smacked the spider with his bare hand and then chased us with it (we later joked that he'd 'high-fived' it!)
Where we live is on the side of a steep hill so walking up and down has been getting us pretty fit because we do it so many times a day.Down below us is a natural tap. The first time I went to it Ashley came with me and we washed our hair and clothes with the local women who laughed at me when I got soap in my eye and ahsley struggled to help me by splashing water in my face! The second time I went down with James who is Fillipino background and gets mistaken for a Nepali. So when he proceeded to take is shirt off and rub soap all over him in front of me and this group of nepalese women there was not much I could do to keep out of the local gossip circle as that loosed moraled western volunteer who spends her time with half naked men! (Very funny) At night we have been playing cards and last night we danced with our host family (the house has been packed because there has been a festival) and we showed them western dances (macarina and spice girls) and they showed us some hindi and nepalese dances (we all looked like gyrating worms it was ridiculous!) For the festival we walked all the way down th mountain and had noodles with himalyan sauce and watched the local karate competition and listened to a singing competition. We then missed the bus so we had to walk back up the mountain in the afternoon (and when I say mountain I'm talking aout the Himalayan foothills so it was a 2 hour steep climb upwards!) After that I was absolutely exhausted but exhilarated and we went back to the house where we had a small ceremony in which Sita (our host 'mum') placed tikkas on our foreheads (red paste with rice) and flowers in our hair. All of this ceremony, plus weaving baskets, cooking, carrying water, flattening millet, is all part of their daily lives that we have been a part of (on our first day half the village turned out to dig a channel for water and us volunteers got stuck in and did some digging!)

On top of all this I have been working in the resource centre and at the secondary school. At the resource centre (A tiny room under someones house that is forever dusty no matter how many times the kids sweep it) we do drawing, reading and games with the kids (I have done the hokey pokey so many times I now do it in my sleep). The kids are so affectionate and climb all over us, some of them are really bright for there age and know english really well! We taught them the lion king song (in the jungle...) which they loved and we put music to it and we are going to get rice to put in our empty water bottles so that they can have musical shakers. Every day we walked 20 minutes to the secondary school (which is both primary and highschool up until year 10). It is a basic 2 storey building and the kids stay in their one class room all day. It has been both challenging and rewarding, challenging because the teachers don't turn up soemtimes or they let you take classes that they're meant to be taking without you knowing. Instead they sit around in the teachers room and read newspapers. Its very frustrating because its such a selfish attitude when there are children just sitting int hese classrooms without a teacher. Despite this I have been having a ball with the kids (especially some of the older years). It has been difficult the first week because I had to wing it in terms of what to teach them, but I figured if at least they're entertained and engaged then they will look forward to coming, so for example yesterday I promised my year 8 class I would dance for them at the end of class which I ended up doing (john travolta moves and all) and I ahd them all clapping a beat for me (whether they were laughing with me or at me I dont know but we al seemed to have fun!!) We've now sat down and created a syllabus for teaching which will hopefully gives us more structure in the future.

So thats basically what I've been up to so far, its been both challenging and amazing and I've been having some great laughs along the way. I am missing some of the comforts of home (like salad!) but its amazing how quickly you get used to the Nepalese people and their way of life (although a lot of our human traits are universal so despite the language barrier we can relate to each other in many ways). I'm plannign to do a trek now instead of going to India! Anyway I'll try to do another email at some point. Hope you are all good and I would love to hear what you are up to!

Lauren (or Laxme, the Goddess of Wealth, which I was dubbed on my first day here!)