Sunday 21 September 2014
Festivals, elephant rides and Buddah's birthplace
COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Jess Kellett
Hello everyone! The three of us are now in Kathmandu for our last weekend here all together, it's hard to believe that our two months in the village are nearly up. How time has flown!
We have been sup1er busy these last few weeks. Recently we spent the weekend in our village celebrating Teej, the two-day women's festival. We dressed in red saris and gold jewellery, and spent the afternoons dancing with what seemed to be all of the women and children in the entire village.
Last weekend we travelled down from Kathmandu to the famous Chitwan National Park in Nepal's Terrai region. The first thing we noticed getting off the bus was the heat. The second was probably how flat the land was, having gotten used to the hills of the Kathmandu Valley over the last two months. We spent our time in Chitwan sightseeing, going on a jungle walk, a visit to the elephant breeding centre, a canoe ride through a crocodile invested river, and an elephant safari! We rode elephants through the park, seeing deer, monkeys, crocodiles and rhinos with their babies - definitely a highlight of the trip.
We then travelled down near the Indian border to Lumbini, a small town known for being the birthplace of Buddha. We spent a day exploring all of the temples, monasteries and ruins that surround the main attraction, the Maya Devi Temple. This site, sacred to both Buddhas and Hindus, marks the exact spot of Buddha's birth with ruins, a large pond, and the pillar of Ashoka. Despite the 40-degree heat and 11-hour bus ride back to Kathmandu, we all thought that Lumbini was definitely worth the trip.
When we're not celebrating festivals or travelling around the country, we are settling in to our role as teachers. More confidence and well prepared lesson plans, along with stickers of course, has meant the kids are learning lots and still enjoying our lessons, which is so great to see! But it's not all hard work at school - Fridays are half days here, finishing at one, so sometimes the school just cancels lessons altogether and has a special day for the students. A few weeks ago it was a school-wide volleyball competition, and more recently we held a spelling bee day for the older kids, complete with running races and a memory competition for the year 4s and 5s.
Last week we celebrated my birthday in our village. Our host family went all out with a big dinner, presents, and even cake brought over from the next town! Next week we get to do it all over again for Tarnya's birthday and can't wait!
Now we are in Kathmandu for our last weekend here all together. Next week will see the end of our teaching placement and the start of one of the most important festivals of the Nepali year, Dashain, a two-week long festival in which families gather together to celebrate. We will spend this time in an orphanage just outside of Kathmandu, followed by two weeks of trekking, whitewater rafting and sightseeing. We are so sad to be leaving our village and our school, and know how much we will miss our wonderful host family and the cheeky kids we've gotten to know so well. But at the same time we couldn't be more excited for the adventure ahead!
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