Hello Nepal!

COUNTRY: Nepal
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Teaching
WRITTEN BY: Jess Kellett

Hello Nepal! After a crazy first week in Kathmandu and two exhausting weeks of teaching, we are on our way to Pokhara! Time to update everyone on our time here.

Arriving in Kathmandu was a big shock - as well as the heat, there were lots of new sights, smells and sounds to take in. The taxi ride from the airport was my first experience driving in a country with (apparently) no road rules. Technically, traffic drives on the left, but this seems to be more of a suggestion than a rule, and right of way is given to the car with the loudest horn. It was a pretty scary drive, but definitely exciting to see the city for the first time.

It was a big relief to make it to our lovely hotel in one piece! The views of the city from our balcony were beautiful - the entire city spread out below, bordered on all sides by mountains.

We spent our first few days exploring the street markets of Thamel. Then we began our three-day orientation, learning about Nepali language, history and culture.

On the last day of our orientation we were taken on a city tour. Our first stop was Swayambhunath, the monkey temple! Next we went to Durbar Square, where we saw the Kumari, a young girl worshiped as the living incarnation of the goddess Taleju, as well as many more temples. Lunch was at a rooftop restaurant overlooking the famous Boudha Stupa, one of the largest stupas in the world; we were also able to walk around it afterwards. Lastly came a somewhat confronting visit to the Hindu crematorium.

On Sunday we were taken to our new home in Nursery, a village about three hours away from Kathmandu. Our host family is lovely and were very welcoming. Host father Kamal is quiet but sweet, and our host mother Leela, a teacher at the local kindergarten, is beautiful, very caring and always making us feel at home. And our little brother Sirjan is super cute. He's curious, very cheeky, and great at English! He's taking well to his new job of Nepali teacher to the three of us.

We were also very excited to find our house equipped with electricity, a Western toilet and shower - cold of course, but perfect after a day in the sweltering Nepali sun. Unfortunately last week there was a landslide nearby which took out our electricity for a few days. We were very grateful for our head torches then, and it was a good introduction to bucket showers.

We are settling in well to village life and have begun our work in the school. The school is very basic. The classrooms are hot, small, and lacking in books, proper whiteboards, and all the comforts of Australian classrooms. What the school lacks however, the kids more than make up for in their enthusiasm! The younger kids walk us to school hand in hand, and we are greeted each day with 'GOODMORNING MISS!' shouted from every classroom. Teaching can be very difficult - we are finding it to be a very steep learning curve - but so much fun at the same time.

We have all had a fantastic, exciting time here and are very excited for the adventures ahead - especially Pokhara this weekend!