This week, we got licked by a rhino

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Brendan Dennis

This week, Zenaida got licked by a Rhino.

On one of our long weekends we went to Chitwan National Park Reserve. Other than offering scenic views, Elephant safaries and a variety of wildlife, Chitwan also prides itself on houses made of elephant dung, 106 species of birds, Sloth-Bears, and 2-3 rhino mauling per year. We managed to avoid any sort of moral peril thanks to our tour guide Babu, whose catch phrase was 'Don't worry, chicken curry.'

Whilst in Chitwan, we visited a rehabilitation centre for injured animals. This is where the previously mentioned moment occurred. At the centre was a baby Rhinoceros which had been horribly injured by a tiger. When we first saw it timidly poke it's head from the room it quickly shied away. We stood, waiting anxiously to see if it would make another appearance. Suddenly, it began a clumsy gallop towards us and became rather friendly. We felt the stand-on-end hairs on its rough skin and were able to examine it from close. Then, it proceeded onto Zenaida's feet.

Now, this was the moment. Here we were, in the company of a creature that otherwise would be frightened or threatened by our presence (as we discovered on our elephant safari when we saw one charge away as we approached) and it was slobbering all over Zenaida's feet, just as a dog might. I am almost certain there are very few people who can describe the sensation of having a rhinoceros on your toes, and I am definitely certain that none could do it as articulately as our Zenaida.

Other amazing things included: an elephant safari; canoeing in croc infested waters; seeing baby elephants, including twins; and seeing what I can only assume is 105 of the 106 bird species at Chitwan. We heard about it's most feared animal, the Sloth-Bear. An animal so viciously impolite that you can hear it eating from one hundred metres away. On top of its disregard for manners, it spits acid in your eyes before mauling you to death. Mums at home, we survived - 'don't worry, chicken curry.'

These indescribably, fantastic moments are happening so often in Nepal. Moments that seem so difficult to grasp even when reflecting upon them only days later. For instance, in Kathmandu, we met a man named Alex who was a firm believer and messenger of the destruction of the earth in 2012. He kept saying 'Gain familiarity with the synchro-flow. As you do. Just this.' He also happened to have a gig at a dingy bar up the street. What seemed like only moments later, we were there watching him belting out sounds that could only be compared to the sound of a ukulele and bagpipes simultaneously being played, badly. Then, Ben was on stage with him. Ben was, as Ben does, shredding. We watched Ben playing on a stage in a crappy bar, with a man who believed the CIA shut down his facebook, while he was being fed a banana by the owner of the bar and drinking tequila shots. As Grace might say, 'this just got su-rreal.' It was nothing short of epic.

And as Nepal starts to feel more and more like home, moments like this keep following us. No complaints. And just to tease some more I shall retell a few. Finding myself in a cafe' surrounded by old Nepali men, and despite the fact that they have a collective English Vocabulary of 50 words, and that I have a Nepali vocabulary of 20, managing to hold a three hour conversation which included three different card games, two cups of tea and one glass of warm buffalo milk with sugar*.

Vanessa coming to school despite having been inflicted with what we have affectionately called 'The-one-vom-bug' and continuously being offered Beaten Rice with curd and sugar**, which isn't the nicest meal at the best of times. Making not necessarily legal bets on a barefoot soccer match with the local Nepali men taking place on a field on top of a mountain, which is less of a field and more just like a particularly wide dirt road. You never feel more alive than when you're playing soccer on top of the mountain that overlooks your village and having a dog pile of smiling Nepali 18 year olds because you've just scored the winning goal.

No one ever mentions home sickness now unless we have left our village. It's on reflecting on the incredible times that we can feel at home here, and because we feel as though we are swimming in a plethora of amazing moments, it is hard not to feel like we are home.

*Everything in Nepal has sugar.
** Everything.