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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