COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Nathan Pauletto
We've done a lot in the last month. We went to Kathmandu with our host father and some friends. Before we went to dinner and the clubs we paid for our school gift...a new wall too surround the school with steps and gate! Our school sits on a somewhat small cliff and kids were always falling off and getting hurt, so this was a great way to modernise the school in a way the whole village would be able to see and appreciate. Afterwards we had an enjoyable night of great Nepali food and dancing, then a not so enjoyable time of dragging certain members of our group home to our locked hotel at midnight. We certainly got to know our host father on a more intimate basis. Uniquely Nepalese experience. After that we more or less remained in the village. Teaching really hit its peak now. All the games we taught we're finally catching on, kids would come to school excited, they were actually getting what we were saying! This was difficult to come to terms with though. Such a massive difference was already sweeping the school. Teachers were changing, kids were learning. The whole attitude towards education and everything we were doing was incredibly uplifting. The sad part was realising we aren't here forever. How could we ever make this sustainable? Then Ryan came.
KEEP had been contacted a month prior to this by an American working in China, Ryan, who had a laptop to donate to a deserving school. Our Agent Kabita instantly thought of us. Ryan stayed with us for 10 days before leaving to the catch the last of the trekking season, bringing with him a brand new HP laptop. Kabita also told us the next batch of volunteers would be coming to our village!
This made everything so incredibly better. More teachers, more funding, more hope for little Kakre. It's awesome to be part of something sustainable, yes, it's only a small difference on our behalf, but with more people coming all these small differences will be something so huge and positive for the school and entire community.
A week after, Bella and I took Saroj, our host brother, to Thamel on one of our routine visits. Leigh stayed behind with Ryan to plan a run with a group he's found here, the Himalaya Hash House Harriers. They planned a run through our village, which would have been awesome to see but we needed to buy some supplies and gifts for the family. We thought Saroj's eyes would explode. We tool him to see Madagascar 3, which he loved! This followed by Pizza and Ice Cream meant one very tired little Nepali and a night of pretend parenting. We even let him sleep till 9! A nice change from the usual 5am start. Our day started with our other reason for a trip to Thamel, gift shopping! With Saroj's help (he was able to get us the cheap 'Nepali' rate), we bought gifts for family and friends, including skipping ropes for the girls, a chargeable radio for Hem and some chocolate for Saraswoti. We returned to the village late in the afternoon, splashing out at the local 'momo palace' for the best momos in town! (Momo’s are sort of like a steamed dumpling, only a thousand times better)
Kabita came to visit on Monday, two days later, as she studies the red panda here. Leigh and I were hanging out to trek the routes but may have to cancel our plans. We're well into the Monsoon season now so trekking is inadvisable, especially in Lang Tang which although has beautiful scenery is frequented by landslides. It was sad to see Ryan go, just enough time for him to get a taste of village life but not long enough for a true experience. It really bought our own departure into light. Two weeks left! All those days of sickness and craving our mum's cooking which seemed to drag on for weeks seemed like only yesterday. Ah well, we were only hoping to get as many flowers as Ryan did when he left!
Our last two weeks at school were a mixture of teaching, games and preparing some musical items for our farewell. The teachers were very keen for us to teach some Australian songs and dances...right. Bella succeeded in teaching the nutbush to grade three for Ryan's farewell, now it was time to come up with something else! Next on the list was a uniquely Nepalese rendition of 'Glamorous' by Fergie. Wow. We had to change a few lines, make it more child friendly but it worked! The kids loved it. Everytime I taught class three the lesson would inevitably dissolve into a dance party, all the kids belting GLAMOROUS! at the top of their lungs. Unfortunately my dance lesson to year four didn't quite take off. Granted I only started a week before our farewell they did pretty well at it though! Sadly we never performed, the kids just weren't ready for it. Also it was dubbed, -ahem-, promiscuous by the group. It's best described as a 'slutty macarena'...which actually sums it up pretty well. Guess I haven't changed that much!
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