Half way through a trip of a lifetime

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Meg Hemming

As we pass the halfway point in our time on the placement, we are all shocked by the realisation that we will soon have to say goodbye to our families and this beautiful county. The count down to arriving back in Australia, that started as a kind of goal to us all, has now become a dreaded deadline! For the past 2 months our lives have become fairly routine. Wake up, drink tea, play cards, eat breakfast, go to school, teach, eat lunch, drink tea, teach some more, walk home, drink tea, wait for dinner, have dinner and sleep!

We've all become accustomed to being waited on by our host families and will need to be reminded how to fend for ourselves when we get home. Morgan, Phoebe and I have only once been asked to assist in one house chore: Pealing the beans and peas.... We have not been asked to help with anything else since! Kasia and Abby are continuing their pilgrimages to and from their school each day, even as the temperature skyrockets! To add to the worries and concerns of our parents I will add, that they got the fright of their life when kasia spotted the 2 metre brown snake that had been slithering silently beside their feet! After hearing their heroine tale, phoebe and I decided that the tiny grass snake we had seen on a second story window of our house, was not as scary as first presumed.

The children at the school we teach are all use to us now, and greet like we're rockstars each morning! We have all chosen the ones we are to bring back home with us (they are small enough to fit in our carry-ons anyway!). We've learnt about the challenges faced with learning English in a government school. The most noticeable difference is the gender inequality in the classrooms. It's always so rewarding to help the kids who would otherwise be left behind in learning because they are considered 'slow'. Morgan has taken to a boy in grade 3 who, because of his vision, has been labeled 'dumb'. The boy has the best handwriting and speech in the class, but can not read whatever is on the board, so the teachers don't bother with him.

The two schools we teach at have summer holidays at different times with the duration of 10 days. Kasia and Abby have planned a trek, starting on Saturday. While the rest of us, starting holidays later, think we will spend it doing a few adventurous things! After our home stay ends we are being transferred to an orphanage in the next town over.
So stay tuned for the next action packed blog!