Goodbye Nepal?

Well it's been a strange day to say the least. We said an emotional goodbye to the kids this afternoon - lots of hugs and a few tears (me doing the crying, typically, not anyone else!). Got back to the Volunteer House to find that there had been a riot in the middle of town and three of the volunteers here had been caught up in it - they were running to try to get away from the rioters and the Police - Emma even took her flip-flops off and ran in her bare feet - thankfully they were OK. Santoshi got caught in the resulting traffic jam and was offered a lift by a friend with a motorcycle - they swerved to avoid a bus and crashed into the barriers in the road - no physical injuries but a Police report had to be filed and they then fined the motorbike driver!

And to top it all off, yep, you've guessed it, there's a strike tomorrow. So Alison and I are packing to go to the airport at 11pm and stay there for the night. There's no way I'm risking not getting on the plane in the morning. Wish us luck!

Ann & Alison
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Photos

Carlyn and I after we'd been tika'd (I don't understand why this is underlined and can't find a way to stop it!!)


The chariot I helped to carry in the New Year procession


Urmila (left) writing in Alison's journal, with Rajina watching


Ramilla laughing - Alison had to tickle her to get her to laugh - the minute you get a camera out the girls go into serious posing mode, it's really funny


Jeny Rai (8), Alison, Ramilla (9) and Anu (10) - Alison is a giant in Nepal!


The view from the road down to Basundara, our main shopping area


On the way to Basundara


Shops at the side of the Basundara road. One is empty - new premises for Antara Consulting perhaps?!


The Garden of Dreams (bit of a contrast to the outside world, eh?!)


This is probably our last post from Nepal. It's 10am here and we're about to go and spend our final day with the kids who fortunately have a day off school today. I predict tears by this afternoon!

Everything seems to be OK with travel plans - seats are confirmed on the Air India flight and accommodation and travel is organised in the UK. Now we need to keep everything crossed to ensure there's no unexpected strike (or bundha) tomorrow. The Maoists are gearing up for another conflict here during May and June apparently and are planning a national strike on Saturday 1st May, which is International Labour Day. They've called a few strikes over the last months and everything has to stop - no public transport, no shops open, and there has even been trouble if private cars are seen on the road - they have been known to set fire to cars and motorbikes in the past. There's a story here of someone having had to walk to the airport (2.5 hours!) to catch a flight....not the sort of obstacle we need! The political situation is very messy here, and although the Maoists are now part of the government they are protesting that the constitution hasn't been written yet (the deadline is 28th May but it looks as if there's no hope of that being met) and their mission now is to get the government out and rule themselves. I really hope that their threats are empty and that Nepal gets the chance to settle down peacefully and get its government together properly because as always it's the man in the street who suffers most in these situations. Next year is Year of Tourism in Nepal and it would be nice to think that it could go ahead without any bother.

We'll be sad to leave here, but we're looking forward to being home (although looking forward less to work and school!). I realised recently that I haven't had to cook anything for 8 weeks - we've been spoilt by Santoshi our brilliant cook (she's making paratha tonight for us because it's our favourite), she's lovely.

Will probably do a final post once we're back home and can sort through our photos.

See everyone soon!

Ann & Alison
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Slight change of plan

The thing I dreaded has happened - disruption to travel plans - although not from the source I might have expected. It's a long story and I won't bore you with it, but believe me I'll be reluctant to book a Flybe flight ever again after this! We've changed our travel plans and are now going to take the overnight sleeper from London to Inverness on Wednesday night, arriving in Inverness on Thursday morning. Neither of us has been on the sleeper before so that should be fun, and because it doesn't leave till 9pm from Euston we get to spend the afternoon and early evening in London - Camden Market here we come! I bet the prices will scare the wits out of us after being here, though! :)

We spent the last couple of days playing at being proper tourists. Yesterday we went to Patan with Pieter and Carlyn, two of the volunteers here. It is just south of the river and is now part of Kathmandu but it used to be a small city in its own right hundreds of years ago. It has a beautiful royal palace, part of which has been converted into a museum so we had a good wander round looking at everything, it was a good day. The Durbar Square there doesn't allow cars so it had the advantage of being fairly quiet and feeling relaxed.

The day before we went to the edge of Thamel to the Garden of Dreams - a beautiful garden designed in the 1920s by a very rich Nepali along the lines of English and Italian formal gardens. It had ponds and grass and flowers and fish and despite being right next to the main road was surprisingly peaceful - a mini haven in the midst of the madness.

The kids were off school today (and apparently have tomorrow off too because it's the last Sunday of the month?!), so we've spent most of the day with them. Whilst we're both really ready to come home, and are looking forward to it, there is a lot of sadness at the prospect of leaving the kids when we go. A number of them have been writing notes and drawing pictures to tell us that they love us and will miss us, and all of them are asking when we will be coming back. I don't honestly know whether we'll be back in Nepal at any stage (cost being the major obstacle) and it's hard having to say that we can't guarantee we'll see them again. We've promised to email and write, particularly to the 5 or 6 kids that have really befriended Alison, and we'll make sure we keep up with that. We've also decided to sponsor the two sisters that we've become very close to, Anu and Anita. Michael has offered to set up a separate bank account for us to put money into and to give us control over what it's used for - I've said I'd like to make sure that it's there for the girls to have things like new shoes or school books when they need them, or if it's more appropriate for them to save it up to go towards fees for any further education or training they might want to do when they're old enough.

Anu & Anita's mum died about 3 years ago, and their father came to NOH distraught because he couldn't manage to look after them and also work. Apparently there were no extended family to help out and without an income here you lose everything - there's no such thing as a Benefits system. Michael says that he's a good man, and that he sees the girls regularly - he took them home for the school holidays while we were here, although we haven't met him. We can't afford much every month, but a small amount goes further here than at home, and we hope that this will be a way to stay part of the girls' lives and to improve things for them as much as we're able to. It's been a difficult decision because there are other kids in just as much need, and if I could afford more, I'd happily send it to help them out too. We might try to continue some fundraising activities after we're home and send some lump sums to help out with other kids if we're able.

I'm going to post this just now and then download photos from the camera to put a separate post on for those.

Ann & Alison
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On the home straight

After nearly a week of watching the internet news updates it looks as if UK airspace has reopened and we stand a good chance of getting home on Tuesday - for a while there I did wonder if we'd be stranded. I've been assured by Air India that our seats are confirmed and won't be given to anyone who's been unable to travel, so fingers crossed all will be well and both us and our bags will get home on time (even though I have the jinxed suitcase, Evelyn!).

Unexpectedly on Friday (after my last post), the New Year procession came marching up our street, just as we were waiting for dinner. We charged downstairs to watch and take photos - there were lots of people dancing and a band dressed in all their finery; women in bright blue saris with flowers in their hair; lots of red tikka powder all over everyone; and a large Ganesh statue draped in flowers and garlands. The statue was being carried on two long poles (like a sedan chair) by about 12 men on each side. There's a fair hill on the way up our street so they were sweaty and exhausted looking! I was busy saying how heavy it looked as it passed when the man at the back of the poles on our side of the road put his hand out and said Happy New Year. I took his hand to shake it and he pulled me off the step and put me in the line in front of him! The statue was incredibly heavy (I still have the bruises to prove it) but I managed to help carry it up to the temple at the top of the street (about 150 yards - yes, I'm a wimp). Everyone thought this was hysterically funny - I guess it's usually only men who are allowed to take this role - and loads of people were shouting, cheering and laughing and taking photos on their phones - ah, my 5 minutes of fame - ha ha! After having my face suitably covered in red tikka powder and being forced to dance around like a loony for a little while I was released back into reality. Carlyn, one of the other volunteers here, was also involved in the dancing and has pictures on her camera of us when we got back - she's away rafting at the moment but is due back soon so I'll post a photo and you can laugh at me looking ridiculous.

Life has been quiet following that excitement. The kids are back at school and we've been going up in the afternoon to help with homework. Well, I say help - one of the older girls asked me to help her with trigonometry yesterday afternoon and I hadn't a clue - school was such a long time ago....! Alison and I went into Thamel a couple of days ago to get photos transferred from the camera onto a DVD and to eat chicken satay (oh yummy, yum), and we're going in again this evening for dinner with Blake, a volunteer who's off travelling in Cambodia and Vietnam shortly. She left the volunteer house about a week ago to meet her sister and they've been trekking in Langtang, which is up near the border with Tibet and looks beautiful.

Well, I'll be off for now - away to wash the final two blankets and then pack all the rest up for the summer. The electric has been mysteriously on for ages over the last few days - not sure what that's about, but we're not complaining - so I'll try to post some photos later on if I can.

Ann & Alison
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Day to day life

Electrickery


The house and piece of waste ground across from where we're living. The waste ground seems to be used communally - the little boy in the picture goes to the toilet on it regularly (not what you want to see whilst having a cup of tea and watching the world go by, believe me!); people stop to read the paper; a board game is set up on a large oil drum; and people were singing and dancing here at New Year.


This elderly lady lives in a small house at the back of the waste ground and spends all her days sitting here, sometimes with a small black dog for company


The 'restaurant' (term used carefully, you'll notice) next door to us has its dish washing facilities on the waste ground too - nice.....You'll see all the rubbish that is everywhere - plastic bags are now embedded in the soil, they've been there that long. Everyone throws rubbish away here with no concern for where it lands. Having said that, the owner of the 'restaurant' next door does come out and sweep his bit of road, then throws the rubbish about two feet to the right!


Having posted quite a lot now, and not having too long left here, it suddenly struck me that we'd put up lots of pictures of the kids, and of 'touristy' type things, but not much that shows the day to day life here in Kathmandu. I'll try to take some photos of our local shops, and the busier shopping area down the road from us - the butchers' shops in particular are a sight to behold (complete with goats tethered outside and chickens in boxes waiting for their demise). There are also a couple of original houses left in the area, from before all the modern development, so I'll try to get some pictures of those too, and if it's possible to somehow show the bedlam and chaos that is the roads and traffic here if I can - although I suspect it has to be experienced to be believed! It's sometimes hard to take photos without feeling obtrusive, but I'll do my best.

The kids are back at school on Sunday, and those that have been away for the holidays will be back by tomorrow evening. We're going to spend our last week being tourists and getting to all the places we still want to see, and hopefully being able to help out with homework in the late afternoon after school. Strange to think that after tomorrow we only have one Saturday left to spend with all of the kids together. We're going to try to get small gifts for the girls that Alison's been playing with over the last couple of weeks - some have their noses pierced, for example, but don't have earrings to put in them, so they use pieces of stick! Although, talking to Sita today about her piercing it transpires that the school rules forbid jewellery - if they wear it, the Principal marks their grades down - they're also not allowed to have a fringe at school, and spend all their time trying to plaster my fringe across my head so it doesn't exist!

It's still really hot here, but we had another thunderstorm during the night and lots of rain, so it was a little cooler this morning. It feels awful to complain about the heat, but it makes it impossible to do anything or go anywhere because you just end up sweaty and tired - yuck.

I've been reading about the Iceland volcanic ash that's lingering over home - some days the heat haze and smog here are so bad you'd think we had it too! The hills across the road appeared yesterday after the previous thunderstorm, and I'd almost forgotten they were there.

Will try to post more photos as we get them.

See everyone soon!

Ann & Alison
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Bodhnath photos

Small temple dedicated to the goddess of smallpox!


Buddhist gompa (monastery) - there was a service when we were there; the monks were chanting and playing music on huge ancient horns. It made me quite emotional - Alison thought I was nuts!


The main stupa at Bodhnath, with the eyes of Buddha watching all four corners of the Kathmandu valley



It turned out that the New Year celebration is being held on Saturday at the site where we went for the picnic with the kids a few weeks ago - if we've got the energy to hike over there! There was a group of Nepali men singing and dancing on the bit of waste ground across the road last night which was quite funny - alcohol had obviously been involved and they were initially singing and dancing under their own steam. Then they all vanished and came back in a micro (minibus) which was parked on the waste ground with the doors open and music blasting from the stereo. When we went to bed we could hear a party going on in one of the houses at the back, with music from Kylie Minogue, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Beyonce and The Three Degrees - it sounded bizarre enough on its own but when you added the barking, howling dogs....unique!

We went up to see the kids yesterday afternoon and they were all dancing, it was great. Some of the girls did traditional Nepali dances and the boys were all trying to be cool - there was even some breakdancing going on! I've got some video but I don't think this computer will cope with uploading it onto the blog - I'll maybe try later if I get time to sit and be patient (it's sooooo slow!).

Breakfast calls again, so I'd better go. Only 11 days till home now - it's going to feel strange to be back - 24 hour electricity and a washing machine - it'll be like luxury!

Ann & Alison
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Happy New Year!

It's Nepali New Year's Day today and in their calendar it's the year 2067! There's a celebration tonight, I think, culminating at the small temple just at the top of our road.

We went to Bodhnath yesterday and it's beautiful. It's a Buddhist stupa surrounded by houses, cafes and little shops - really peaceful and gorgeous in the middle of the madness. My camera battery's charging so I'll get some photos on once it's done.

There was a massive thunderstorm last night - it lasted about 4 hours and the lightning was pink! In addition to looking amazing, it had the added benefit of frightening the life out of the local dogs so it was unusually quiet last night. Nepali dogs sleep all day and bark all night - it's like the dog chorus, you can hear them from miles away - it's a joy.....

Santoshi has just yelled that breakfast is ready - it's one of our favourites today, potato and chickpea curry with rice and dahl - so I'll disappear just now. Not sure what time the electric's on later but will try to post photos when I can.

Ann & Alison
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More dentistry

I forgot to include this photo on the earlier blog - it's a shrine to toothache - if you have toothache, you nail a rupee to the shrine and your toothache is miraculously cured without the need to visit the dentist - amazing!

Shopping, shopping, shopping - instalment 2

Even the cows were shopping


Cleaning day at the temple


Rickshaw rank


Transport in Old Town


Dentist anyone?


The teeth in the bowl were real (the flash has obscured them a bit) - I had to drag Alison and Emma away from this window, the gruesome pair!

Shopping, shopping, shopping

Alison and Emma improving their karma


Tibetan hair extensions - yes, really


Emma at a shiny, sparkly shop


Very quick post - only 15 mins of electric left! Went into Thamel with Emma today and shopped till we dropped - spent quite a long time in the old town, down an alleyway with lots of 'shiny, sparkly shops' (bindis and bracelets!). I got blessed by a holy man and now have a big red blob on my head; someone touched Alison and then crossed themselves (is she really a Goddess?); we improved our karma by spinning prayer wheels in a temple; we wandered down 'dentist alley' - euw - and spent ages just looking at the general chaos - great fun.

Run out of time to post more photos - will try again tomorrow with the rest.

Ann & Alison
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Circus painters, and swimming

The street outside our house - why did the chickens cross the road?


The daredevil circus performance by the painters across the road. The scaffold is only tied on with two bits of rope at the top


We spent ages watching them (occasionally covering our eyes when we were sure they were going to fall!)


Swimming - the deep end


The shallow end

Busy, busy, busy

Thamel


Playing the stones game - hours are spent throwing a stone up in the air, picking various others up off the ground and then catching the one you threw - I'm rubbish at it


Emma and I posing for the camera - obligatory when you hand it over to one of the girls!


Jeni Rai with tiffin (lunch) - a huge cake!


Rasmita practicing hula hooping

I can't believe it's over a week since I updated the blog last time. It's been very busy, plus we've tended to be out during the times that the electricity's been on so there's been no opportunity to sit down and write this.

We've spent most of our time up at the top house with the kids, playing cards or a word/picture game that we bought, and Alison's been brushing up on her basketball, skipping and running around. There's been an epidemic of tickling as well - that's always popular up there!

We had a second thunderstorm the night after the first last week - it was spectacular - huge bolts of lightning and loud thunder that went on for about 3 hours. One of the volunteers here managed to get some amazing photos so I'm hoping he'll email a couple to us.

We took three of the girls (Anu, Anita and Anu Maya) out to do some shopping and have lunch at the big supermarket last week. They'd been sent some spending money and Michael (the founder of NOH) had been intending to take them but had lots of other things to do that day, so we offered to go with them instead. As I think I said before, the supermarket has escalators - a rarity in Kathmandu - and the girls hadn't seen them before. The youngest one, Anita, leapt on and off like a pro after the first trip up the escalator, but Anu Maya (the oldest) was really scared - after four trips she was still really nervy and had to hold my hand! We spent ages in the toy department and of course the girls only wanted Barbie dolls (well, the Indian equivalent) - the more shiny nylon tacky dresses with the dolls the better it seemed. After they'd decided on their dolls, we went to the Bakery Cafe for lunch. It's staffed completely by people who are deaf, which worried the girls for a few minutes, and then they ate the biggest lunch ever - pizza, chips and momos (tibetan dumplings) followed by huge ice creams and washed down with Fanta. The Fanta here is the most intense orange colour - we've dubbed it 'nuclear'. What became very clear during lunch is how conscientious the kids are about not wasting food. There was too much for them, really, but they were determined not to leave it, and were visibly upset when Alison left a few pizza slices because she was too full. It's a humbling reminder that we have so much greed and waste at home - in our own kitchens every day.

There was an expedition to the swimming pool on Monday morning followed by a birthday tea for all the kids with a March birthday. The swimming pool's in a leisure club that's still being built just down the road from here, called The Nature Club. The pool's finished, but there's building going on everywhere which is so typically Nepal. The kids had a brilliant time - although I think the water was pretty cold - there wasn't much swimming going on but lots and lots of splashing and screaming! The swimming costumes here are all really sweet - it's not the done thing for a Nepali girl to show off her body in a swimming costume, so they all have little skirts which are really cute! It was funny, though, watching all the boys posing and trying to look cool in their swimming shorts - some things are the same the world over!

I"m sure there are other things I should tell you about, but for now I can't think of them - we're just trying to make sure that we fit all the things in that we want to do now before we leave for home - like visit a couple of the big temples here, go to Bhaktapur for Nepali New Year (April 14th - it will be the year 2067 here), and finish washing all the blankets! If you'd like to see how Emma (the Volunteer Manager) has been getting Alison to contribute to the running of the house, have a look at www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/duncanemma/3/1270221727/tpod.html (don't think that will show as a link, but copy and paste and hopefully it'll work).

Have stuck a few photos onto this post but there are more to come off the camera from swimming and playing at the house, so I'll try to post a few tonight or tomorrow.

Ann & Alison
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Half way

Well, that's us at the halfway mark with our trip - 27 days till we get on the plane home, and somehow I think they'll go more quickly than the first 27.

The kids finished their exams today and are on two weeks' holiday now. Quite a few of them are going home for the holidays - those that have one parent, or other extended family to stay with, so the numbers will be lower over the holidays. Our favourite kids (no, we don't have favourites, of course not - well, ok, we do) are going to be away over the holiday so hopefully we'll have time to catch up with them again once they're back for school. We're hoping to spend as much time with the kids as we can over the fortnight and then maybe try again to help out with those that are being home-schooled for the two weeks before we leave. There are a couple of trips planned I think, including swimming on Monday at the local health club. We pass the health club on the way down the hill to the supermarket - it looks like a construction site, so that'll be an interesting day out I'm sure!

We went shopping to the big (and very swanky) supermarket at Bhat Bateni the other day (it has escalators - ooohhhh!!) and amongst other things Alison found hula hoops (the sort that go round your waist, not the sort in packets - we miss them) so we picked up a few. We took one down to Babita's house (there are 30 girls there and there's no garden, just a roof terrace). The kids had never seen one before and thought it was hysterical - they were all having a go - think we're going to need to go back to the supermarket and buy more! We've also bought some story books to read with the kids and to form the beginning of a library for them - Lauren, a Professor of English who's volunteering here has also bought books, so hopefully they'll have a wee library that future volunteers can add to. The kids don't seem to read for pleasure very much - the focus is all on study.

We've nearly finished our blanket washing duties - only another three to go and they'll all be done. Not sure I ever want to see another blanket in my life, particularly not one that has to be washed in cold water in a bucket...but it's been good to be useful.

There was a huge thunderstorm tonight with sheet and forked lightning and really loud thunder. We all watched it from the roof terrace until the rain started and we had to take refuge. It was amazing. Five new folk have arrived today - from one of the most exclusive private schools in Switzerland - think we've all got culture shock (they're very clean and shiny!) - so it'll be interesting to see how that goes. I think they're going on placement to Bigu sometime in the next few days (which is where I'd go if it wasn't so far - it's a Buddhist nunnery up in the mountains and looks amazing). They're looking at whether they can start a programme of sending a group of students every year to volunteer in Nepal, which would be really good.

Anyway, it's way past my bedtime - it's 9pm for goodness sake - we're usually in bed by 7.30pm - and I now have the cold that Alison has generously passed on to me, so I'm going to head for bed and some more Beechams.

Will probably have photos to post sometime into the holidays, so will catch up again then.

Ann & Alison
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Who to choose?

We were thinking that we could take some of the kids out for a treat.At first we were only going to take Anu and Anita,but then it turned into Anu,Anita,Ramila and Shushmita!

There is a really nice little restraunt that sells pizza and stuff so we will take them there.Then we will take them for ice cream.Then we will take them to the garden of dreams!

We will tell you how it went.

Alison : )( :

Photos from the picnic

The line of 130 kids on their way to the picnic


Lucky, one of three dogs the kids have


Alison, Anita and Anu


Ramilla and Shushmita looking cool


Just a quick post to put some photos on from the picnic on Wednesday.

It's howling a gale here today but also incredibly hot, so at least all the washing's drying really fast - we're in charge of washing all the blankets in the house before they're packed away for the winter - in a large bucket with cold water and soap powder - wahey! Mind you, it's that hot that the water from the tap on the roof is warm!

Must also remember to try to take some photos of the roads and transport here - our last journey into Thamel was in a 'micro' (a 12 seat minibus) with a total of 26 people on it...two hanging out of the door and the guy who collected the money somehow hanging on behind them. There are no traffic lights so turning out of junctions just means risking it and trusting that the traffic coming the other way will slow down for you - it has to be seen to be believed!

Food beyond our wildest dreams

Having posted about our food cravings, we ended up going out for dinner to say cheerio to two volunteers, Jake and Carlyn, who are off to Dolpa for a few weeks to teach in the village school there (it's up in the mountains and looks beautiful). Jake decided we should go to the 'all you can eat buffet' at the Hiyatt - a 5 star American chain hotel on the outskirts of the city. We wandered in looking like star-struck hicks from the sticks - it really is a 5 star hotel - from the foyer through to the swimming pool in the garden! The food was wonderful and needless to say we all ate far more than we needed to - a couple of the boys had five trips to the buffet!

However, our karma must have been watching us because it was a school holiday today (a religious festival - something to do with blessing houses I think?!), and we were invited to go on a picnic with all the kids. It involved a very long hike down a big hill and then up another big hill to an open space with trees and grass where the kids could play. Added to the fact that it's ridiculously hot it was just a bit of a struggle - we've definitely walked off our dinner from last night!!

The electric's just about to give up the ghost for this afternoon, so I'll post some photos from today when I can - most of them were taken by Ramilla (who has discovered a tendency to chop people's heads off in pictures) and Anu Maya (who's got a real knack with the camera). The minute you take a camera out of your bag the kids are all desperate to look at the screen on the back to see all the photos, and then to take more.

Hope everyone at home is well and life is good.

Ann & Alison
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Kids, kids, kids

I've been unable to post anything for a while because in addition to the electricity supply being erratic, the internet has decided to start playing up as well. One minute you're connected and the next minute you're not!

We spent Saturday and Sunday up at the top house playing with the kids, which was great. Saturday is the only day that they have off school (no such thing as a 'weekend' in Nepal), so they should have been back to their exam schedule on Sunday. However, the ex-Prime Minister died on Saturday so there was a national holiday on Sunday for the funeral. Amazingly, enough electricity was found to enable it to stay on all day – so the funeral could be televised!

Alison's made some good friends, particularly with some of the younger girls who live up in the top house. Anu and her sister Anita are lovely, gentle girls – Anu has taken to sitting beside me and getting a cuddle whenever she can – heartbreaking when she looks up at you and tells you she doesn't have a Mum. Ramilla and Shushmita are cheeky monkeys – full of wicked charm and nonsense. Ramilla in particular has a really dry sense of humour – beyond her years – and loves nothing more than a good laugh. They spent most of Saturday and Sunday playing skipping games and games with stones where you throw one in the air and have to pick others up at the same time (needless to say, I'm hopeless at it!). Alison was shattered by the time we got back to the Volunteer House from all the skipping and running round.

Outside of being able to spend time with the kids on Saturdays, we're struggling a little with the volunteering side of things, though, to be honest. There is a group of girls that aren't ready for school yet (various ages – some very recently rescued Kamlari) and we've been trying to help out with their home learning because it seems that this is where there's most need at the moment. They meet in a small room down in Anita's house and it's absolute bedlam. There's lots of talking and shouting, and running around, and it's impossible to know what they're actually supposed to be learning from their jotters. Also because their English isn't good yet, it's difficult to try to talk to them and help out that way. Education here is strange in that the kids are taught everything by rote and repetition – so you can have a child who can spell fairly complicated words for you, but has no understanding of what the words mean. It makes it really difficult to feel that you're doing anything constructive, and understandably Alison finds it hard going. Right now I'm not sure what we're going to do till the school holidays (a week and a half away) when it will be easier to spend time with all the kids and play and chat with them. I know that any time with the kids is valuable in helping them learn that adults can be trusted and not all adults beat kids or are bad to them (which is what a lot of these children have experienced so far), but I feel frustrated not being able to be more actively or obviously helpful.

Aside from the kids, the main topic of conversation lately has been food! While what we get here is good, there's a limit to how much your taste buds can deal with rice, lentil dahl and vegetables – we now dream daily of bacon sandwiches and cheese toasties! We were in Thamel yesterday to change money and do some shopping and found an Italian restaurant that made pizza that actually tastes like pizza – you couldn't have found two happier people – until we went into the supermarket across the road and found marmalade (from Dundee!), crisps and proper chocolate. We've both lost a little bit of weight (and our appetites have definitely shrunk) but I can see us pigging out big time when we get home – oops.

Kids' photos

Shushmita (not sure how well this picture will come out - looks a bit dark on this computer!)


Ramilla (left) and Jenny Rai trying to look angelic - even though they're cheeky monkeys! If I could get Ramilla in my rucksack, I'd steal her!


Skipping




Anu and Anita skipping




Alison and Anita

Elephant washing at Chitwan


Elephant washing me at Chitwan!



More washing...!




The cement crew on a house at the back of us in Kathmandu - they formed a chain that moved pans of cement up onto the roof all day in the baking sun.



Elephants at Chitwan waiting for us to get on!

As you can see, we've survived the plane ride to Chitwan and back (it turned out it was with Tara Air, so no yetis!). It was really hot and humid but quiet compared to Kathmandu. The first evening we went for a nature walk and encountered a large rhinoceros (our guide called them rhinosaurus, which was hysterical) having a wash in the river - we stood on the bank and watched it for a while (warily - apparently several people have been killed in the last few years by angry rhino!). The elephant safari the next morning was great - you climb up a huge set of steps to a ramp and then get onto the elephant from the back, with four people to each howdah. Our elephant was a female, aged 25, called Jampack-koli (or something like that). We were out in the jungle for about an hour and a half and saw two crocodiles, two rhino (up very very close), different types of deer, monkeys, and lots of birds. After a quick break, we went down to the river to bath the elephants, which was just brilliant. It's very easy to forget when you're on top of an elephant being sprayed withwater from its trunk that there are half a dozen of them who've all been to the toilet in the river (euw). I don't have any photos of Alison being 'bathed' because the guide was trying to take pictures of us and also of another couple who were on the trek with us, but I'm hoping there might be some on the couple's camera - they've kindly offered to email us any pictures that we don't have.

The hotel in Chitwan wasn't quite what we'd expected - I think we got the worst room in the place and when Alison opened the window the content of an ants' nest landed on her arm, eggs and all - yuck! We got moved to another room which was spotless, though, and there were no more beasties. The staff were lovely, and the grounds very beautiful with fruit trees and humming birds. Unfortunately, we were struck with a dose of 'delhi belly' for a day while there and missed a canoe trip, but you can't come to Nepal without having at least one 'horror story' and if that was ours, we're very lucky! The best part of the trip for me was the fact that the hotel was located quite close to the Government elephant centre, so in the evening all the elephants came down the main street of the village to go home for the night - really amazing watching an elephant wander down the street with its keeper, alongside people, bicycles and horse carts (very few cars, which was nice).

We're now ensconsed back in the volunteer house in our old room (the dungeon, as it's been nicknamed), and feelig more at home. Heading up to give the kids a hand with homework in a couple of hours and then they have exams scheduled for 2 weeks from tomorrow. We're going to help out getting them ready and walking them back and fore from school because they're on a split rota, half in the morning and half in the afternoon, so it's a bit chaotic without some assistance. I've also been helping Emma with some administrative stuff (there's no escape from work, eh?) and we're looking forward to the school holidays. Despite occasionally considering changing the flights (ups and downs are normal here), it looks as if we'll be here for the whole duration, which is really good.

Will sign off now - electric only on for another hour so shouldn't hog the computer!

Ann & Alison
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