You only live once in Nepal

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Education
WRITTEN BY: Joanna Pidcock

YOLOIN' is a phrase we volunteer antipodeans have coined during our first week here in Nepal and it stands for 'you only live once in Nepal'. Sure, we might be shamelessly ripping off the pop culture phrase 'YOLO', but in our first week we have truly had some unforgettable and completely original experiences.

Some of the international volunteers arrived in crazy Kathmandu earlier than others, but when we all met each other on Saturday night we were relieved to find that we were all exceptionally cool and wildly good looking people.

I jest, but we were very thankful that we all got on so well from day one.

The bus trip from Kathmandu to pokhara can take anywhere from 5-8 hours, and is characterised by a veritable symphony of horns from every vehicle imaginable, amazingly colourful trucks with 'safe drive long life' and'speed control' written across the front bumper as they drive like complete lunatics (OH THE IRONY), and a collection of obstinate cows that have absolute right of way on the roads. Our trip included all these things and more. We had our first drop toilet experience on the side of a highway which was ...memorable, we also witnessed the biggest spider I
have ever seen at the restaurant where we stopped for lunch.

And most importantly, we had the constant entertainment of Kalden, our Tibetan
guide and new best friend, or 'DJ Kalden Harris' as he became on the trip. We were treated to musical delights as varied as The Rolling Stones, the seminal classic of our generation 'Call Me Maybe' and Taylor Swift's masterpiece 'we are never getting back together'. In the words of Eliza: 'Taylor Swift speaks to my soul'. Ne'er a truer or more eloquent word was spoken.

All of the volunteers have managed to make ourselves quite at home in Pokhara. Felicity has received a marriage proposal which she politely declined, and we have all become experts at taking 'bucket showers'.

We are living in the Tashi Ling Tibetan settlement with families who have welcomed us into their homes and their lives, and I know I speak on behalf of the volunteer group when I say that I am humbled by their generosity. We can often be found drinking tea in Sonam's backyard and 'having a cheeky wifi' as our phrase goes, or as Josh said 'maintaining my online presence'.

Teaching has been a baptism by fire- on my first day I was taken to my classroom and left to teach grade 5 alone! We all came back from school on the first day completely overwhelmed and realised how underprepared we were, but after a group lesson planning session we felt (kind of) ready to face day two. All the volunteers have gained immense respect for the teaching profession and none of us could have imagined how hard it would be to
keep a class of 30 ten year olds entertained for 45 minutes!

The kids are all beautiful, enthusiastic, bright and funny, although we have
discovered that they turn into an angry mob when only one of them gets a sticker on their work... The thing that we are finding most difficult about teaching is that these kids have only ever learnt from textbooks, and when we try to teach them creatively, they struggle. I think it will be an amazing journey to watch their minds open as they get used to learning with song, dance and art.

We can't wait to spend the next 3 weeks together as a little antipodeans volunteer family, we have already experienced so many amazing things and I'm positive that there are many more amazing things still in store for us in Nepal.