Bridge has started working at this HIV/Aids orphanage-daycare-school type thing, we were going to go there today but it is a holy day so we couldnt. She said it was really sad, the kids there either suffer from HIV/Aids, or someone in their family does. They have been expelled from school because of it too, and htey are basically looked down upon within the community. The woman who runs it also told Bridge that they are in need of volunteers and the last one they had there was too afraid to play with the kids...very sad. Bridge likes it because she is needed there much more than the hospital which she is also doing. The HIV orphanage also asked her to write a report on the status of their school/learning facilities, so that was pretty cool. The orphanage that we both work at has been good too, the people are so nice. we are thinking of planning a little day trip with the kids (there are only 13 there), where we take them to this zoo which is like 100 rupees a person...a little over a dollar. The kids have never been, and never really have the opportunity to go so we were thinking of doing something like that for one of our last days here.
Were going to do a portion of the Annapurna circuit next weekend with a few of our canadian friends who are doing the whole thing. We will bus to Pokhara on either wed/thurs and then leave the day after and do the first couple days and then bus home from one of the villages. So that should be exciting/interesting...haha we arent really the typical trekkies that you see here! everyone is so hippy-ish/trekky-ish haha.
This weekend we just stuck around in Kat, worked and puttered around. We had a pretty sweet day today...relaxed, and then went to Thamel and walked around and then 4 of us went and found a spa where we got full body massages, soooo great! and it only cost us about 10$ for an hour.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Orphanage May 27
Today is a holy day in Nepal (celebrating Buddha's birthday) so all the kids at the orphanage didnt have school (thank god, cause we didnt have to help them with their homework that is too hard for us!). Instead we went to the orphanage at 930am (usually we got at around 330-4) and before we went, me bridge and our friend Angus, went to the supermarket and bought a few games for them to play. We bought Guess Who, a jewelry making kit, a skipping rope, a soccer ball, and a painting game. Alot of their games are really worn out and ratty and when they dont have to do homework they arent really left with that much to play with. so when we showed up with all that stuff, they were sooooooooooo excited! "thank you sistaaaaa, sistaaa helpp me, sistaaaa how do you do thisss, sistaaaa come play" haha it was pretty overwhelming for the 3 of us, and after a few hours we were beat. They loved it though, it was awesome. They are so appreciative and so cute. Usually when we go there, every fwe days we bring a little thing, like some chocolate/bananas/lechees (fruit), just because it makes our day cause they get so happy and their little 'thanks you sistas' is soo great!
TOmorrow is the 28th and the due date for the Constitution, we still dont have word about what is going to happen, but I think that is pretty likely that they will not have come to an agreement (seeing as nothing here is ever on time EVER), so it is probable that there could be a strike or at least some protesting. The last thing we want is to be stuck in a volunteer house full of like 20 people and not be able to go onthe streets or have any space orrrr not be able to work.
TOmorrow is the 28th and the due date for the Constitution, we still dont have word about what is going to happen, but I think that is pretty likely that they will not have come to an agreement (seeing as nothing here is ever on time EVER), so it is probable that there could be a strike or at least some protesting. The last thing we want is to be stuck in a volunteer house full of like 20 people and not be able to go onthe streets or have any space orrrr not be able to work.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Monastery
Today was a pretty cute class at the monastery. Put all of our practice playing boardgames/charades back home, into use over here. I got them playing charades to learn different words/actions and they were laughing so hard because each one would act out different actions (like lazy, sleeping, bored, ashamed, angry, etc) and they were soo cute. Yesterday was funny too cause I got them playing pictionary using different English words so that was prety funny too. I find that they learn really well with games, and they really like them. Its really impressive how fast they pick up English too, they just retain everything. Thursday and Friday i am not teachign because they are going to a temple/stupa to pray starting tonight (wednesday) BUT they invited me to come haha! I had to reject the offer because I couldnt really understand what the explanation of exactly what it was they were doing there other than praying, but i thought that was pretty awesome. They are celebrating the birth of Buddha, which is this saturday...and I think it might even be the same day of his death but Im not really sure. Anyways, a lot of people here will be celebrating on saturday.
Gotta hit the orphanage!
Gotta hit the orphanage!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Everest
We have officially seen Mount Everest and 7 other of the tallest mountains in the world. Yesterday (may 25) we did a Mountain flight, and flew by all the Himalayas and Mount Everest. It was pretty sweet, didnt get superrrr close but definitely cool to see, and got some good pictures. They are insanely massive, Everest is over 8500 meters. I cant even imagine how anyone could climb that thing. I read in a paper here the other day that there was a record for youngest person to climb to the top, and he was thirteen i think. no idea how a 13 yr old could do that.
Bridge and I are thinking of doing a trek this coming weekend, or mabe next week. We want to go with a couple of the volunteers weve met here cause we dont want to go alone, so I think were going with these 2 guys from Canada, and one of their sisters and another girl frm our house. We are going to do a couple days of the Annapurna circuit, which is normally a 20 day trek but we are just going to do 2 days and then bus home cause we have towork and are definitely not that intense! We may not go though sort of depends on the weatehr and stuff...its moving into monsoon season so it rains (ie downpours) at night and massive massive thunder storms, its pretty cool to watch. Oh and also depends if we can even get up north because we are expecting a strike at least on the 28th...so maybe wwe wont be able to. Well find out in the next couple of days!
ANyways, were off to work! xox
Bridge and I are thinking of doing a trek this coming weekend, or mabe next week. We want to go with a couple of the volunteers weve met here cause we dont want to go alone, so I think were going with these 2 guys from Canada, and one of their sisters and another girl frm our house. We are going to do a couple days of the Annapurna circuit, which is normally a 20 day trek but we are just going to do 2 days and then bus home cause we have towork and are definitely not that intense! We may not go though sort of depends on the weatehr and stuff...its moving into monsoon season so it rains (ie downpours) at night and massive massive thunder storms, its pretty cool to watch. Oh and also depends if we can even get up north because we are expecting a strike at least on the 28th...so maybe wwe wont be able to. Well find out in the next couple of days!
ANyways, were off to work! xox
Sunday, May 23, 2010
May 24
We are back in Kathmandu after suchhh an awesome weekend. Sensory overloadddd here...it was so nice being in the mountains, the air quality was so much better, and not nearly as much noise. Kathmandu is just so noisy and so polluted. Coming back yesterday was such a pain too, we took a bus which should normally take 6 hours but actually took 12. There were protesters on the highway (the highway is like 10 feet wide with cars driving however,wherever they want (no lanes, no street lights). so the protesters stopped traffic completely for about 2hrs, then driving the rest of the way was just bumper to bumper (AND these cars/busses are the MOST UNenvironmentally friendly vehicles ive ever seen) so taht was pretty annoying. luckily we "splurged" and got air conditioning on our bus cause it was about 45 degrees in the mountains. But holy,, the Himalayas were the most unbelievable mountains. and driving home yesterday was rainy and thundery (which is great cause then you can actally see the mountain ranges). But the coolest mountain range we saw was teh Annapurna Mountain range...they are these hugely rigid and snow capped mountains...they were absolutely unrealll, we were blown away. I have never seen anything like it. It was a pretty great weekend...while me, bridget, and our friend Layla went paragliding, the 3 other volunteers we went with rented motorcycles (pretty ballsy considering the way people drive here - me and bridge arent into that, dont worry momma!). Anyways so they rented 2 motorcycles and both boys drove, ad then the girl was on the back of one of them, and they went up the mountain to where we were paragliding and i guess onthe way down (it was a pretty windy road), steve (a korean friend, who didnt have anyone on the back of his bike) drove head on into a military truck...he was fine, got a cut on his leg, but VERY VERY lucky. and the military men like paid for everything (it was like 800 rupees...which is sooo cheap - like 12$...to be completely treated and xrayed at the hospital). But ya, pretty scary to hear about when we got home.
oh haha and also bridget and I have somehow managed to get ourselves nepali clinger boyfriends. (not actually but they are very very eager to hang here)...they legit want to get married haha. last night wewent to this bar/restaurant that weve been going to for food and to hang and stuff and our server, his name is Bupal, wants to marry me, introducing us to his brother and following us...(not in a creepy way, he is friends with one of the boy volunteers) but Nepalis just LOVEEE white people haha he was saying he wants a traditional Nepali wedding in the country and I would wear a Sari haha. Bridget also has a jewelry man who wants to marry her and move to Canada. He sold her some earrings (this is the matching discount guy) ahah she also may ave another boyfriend from last night who let her go behind the bar and make drinks, he wants to marry her too, he said hed give her a job as a bartender if she watned it haha.
Anyways thats the update! Gotta go to work!
oh haha and also bridget and I have somehow managed to get ourselves nepali clinger boyfriends. (not actually but they are very very eager to hang here)...they legit want to get married haha. last night wewent to this bar/restaurant that weve been going to for food and to hang and stuff and our server, his name is Bupal, wants to marry me, introducing us to his brother and following us...(not in a creepy way, he is friends with one of the boy volunteers) but Nepalis just LOVEEE white people haha he was saying he wants a traditional Nepali wedding in the country and I would wear a Sari haha. Bridget also has a jewelry man who wants to marry her and move to Canada. He sold her some earrings (this is the matching discount guy) ahah she also may ave another boyfriend from last night who let her go behind the bar and make drinks, he wants to marry her too, he said hed give her a job as a bartender if she watned it haha.
Anyways thats the update! Gotta go to work!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Adventures
We took a bus (it was 7 hours) through the Himalayan mountains into Pokhara yesterday. Arrived at about 11pm, the city was shut down (there is a curfew here too of 11pm). WEve had a pretty awesome couple of days...yesterday we went rockclimbing AND repelling (when you shoot down a rope down the side of a cliff/rock)...pretty f-ing scary. it was only 30meters but its pretty wild when all that is below is a bunch of rocks. that was just outside of Kathmandu, and today (in Pokhara) was even moreeee coool!!! we just got back from paragliding! we ran off a mountain starting at 1400meters and then the parachute or whatever you want to call it, catches the wind and then pulls you up (you go with a pilot too). we reached up to around 2100meters above the ground...SO exhilirating! we did a half hour flight but it was probbaly more like 45 minutes in teh air. we did this really cool thing too where you get reallly really high in the air (in the clouds and above the mountains) and then the pilots drop the shute so that you spiral down at intense speeds, about a 1500 meter drop...you really feel that g-force where your cheeks kinda blow up a bit and your legs feel like they are like 400pounds going against the wind. Makes you pretty dizzy after too cause you drop so fast and as you drop you are spinning pretty fast. SOOOOO cool though, probably the funnest thing ive ever done. we got a certificate for paragliding too haha!
It is nice to be here in Pokhara because it is alot tamer and calmer than it is in Kathmandu...and the air is sooo much cleaner cause of all the mountains. there arent horns honking every second like there are in Kat, and you dont have to worry about crossing the street because there isnt as chaotic of a system, even though there are still no rules, there are alot less cars on the road. It was pretty funny though, we were expecting to come here and have this nice little getaway on the lake and go swim and what not...hahah but as with everything else in this country, the lake isnt the typical lake that we see in North America..pretty polluted (actually really gross) haha and the "beaches" (cant even really call them that but for lack of a better word) are green and muddy and not pretty. so, so much for that! Its still amazing though.
anyways! Off to go for a hike, will be back in Kat tomorrow for work on monday. Will try and upload some pictures if we go into a cafe where the internet isnt ridiculously slow. I dont know if ive already mentioned how everyday there are 12 hours of when the city has no power. divided into 6 hour intervals. so we basically have to work around those times that the power will be out. its pretty frustrating at night. Its wild too cause Nepal has enough hydro electric power to supply the whole country but I think what happened (so i hear) is that they sell alot of it to other countries (part of their corrupt system) and make profit from that.
It is nice to be here in Pokhara because it is alot tamer and calmer than it is in Kathmandu...and the air is sooo much cleaner cause of all the mountains. there arent horns honking every second like there are in Kat, and you dont have to worry about crossing the street because there isnt as chaotic of a system, even though there are still no rules, there are alot less cars on the road. It was pretty funny though, we were expecting to come here and have this nice little getaway on the lake and go swim and what not...hahah but as with everything else in this country, the lake isnt the typical lake that we see in North America..pretty polluted (actually really gross) haha and the "beaches" (cant even really call them that but for lack of a better word) are green and muddy and not pretty. so, so much for that! Its still amazing though.
anyways! Off to go for a hike, will be back in Kat tomorrow for work on monday. Will try and upload some pictures if we go into a cafe where the internet isnt ridiculously slow. I dont know if ive already mentioned how everyday there are 12 hours of when the city has no power. divided into 6 hour intervals. so we basically have to work around those times that the power will be out. its pretty frustrating at night. Its wild too cause Nepal has enough hydro electric power to supply the whole country but I think what happened (so i hear) is that they sell alot of it to other countries (part of their corrupt system) and make profit from that.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
May 20
Work is going well over here. Bridget has been at the hospital the last couple days, still a bit disappointed, but she did get to watch a few surgeries (an apendectomy, gall bladder removal, tendon repair, and more things but we dont know what the procedures were called). She says that it is kinda hard to watch because it doesnt seem like the doctors are doing really precise or gentle work, and their instruments are not that sanitary, nor are the rooms that they are doing the operations. SHe says that the doctors wear like flip flops around and like floral shirts haha. Definitely not a formal, north american hospital.
The monastery has been awesome the last couple of days...i made a bunch of different topics to teach each day, like the other day we covered body parts and clothing, and then we did colours, and the 5 senses. The monks are awesomeeee! Today I think we are going to cover the months and the days of the week...most of them know numbers and the alphabet, its a bit tricky though because there are a couple veryyy beginner monks and it is hard to move at a speed that doesnt bore the other ones, and isnt too fast for the slower learners. I went to the orphanage yesterday with one of the other volunteers...the kids are awesome, we mostly just worked on their homework. I dont know if i already wrote this but the Nepali people call eachother brother and sister (in their accent it sort of sounds like brothaaaa and sistaaaa). At the orphanage yesterday i was helping this girl, Copila (she is 7 but is smaller than a 4 year old), with her computer science homework and she was asking me to check her work, and i guess in her exercise they were to label the different computer parts...so as im reading down her list and checking things off i stop one of her answers because she has written "hard dicks" and im like sort of boggled and trying to figure out what part of the computer she is even referring to, so she was sorta hassling me being like "sisttaaaa what is the matta sistaa, it is hard dicks" haha, its hard for them to put the 's' before the 'k' so even when i clarify it still sounds like that haha. Pretty funny. Its pretty interesting/sad though because they go to school 6 days a week, and they do dictation (like spelling tests) and they are taught words the way that their teacher believes them to be spelled, so the teacher sometimes teaches them the wrong spelling and if they spell it properly on the exam then they are marked wrong. Just part of the confused system here though I guess. Nothing is perfect.
Tomorrow (friday) we are going to Pokhara with 3 other of teh volunteers. On our way there we are doing a rock climbing thing for 4 hrs (thats including like all the training/equipment/lunch/lounging haha there is no way we would be able to climb for 4 hrs straight). Should be a nice weekend though, it is on a lake in the middle of the mountains and hotels for the night are like 8-10$. and the bus for 5 hrs is like 5$. We are going to come back on sunday, im not sure what our computer situation will be like there so i donno when i will be updating, may not be until sunday.
Bridge and I found this massive disgusting beetle-looking/cockroach-looking bug in our room 2 nights ago... sooo gross, we were not having it! we tried to kill it but it was soo fast and ran underneath bridgets bed. There are 4 beds in our room (2 of them unused until the end of the month when more volunteers show up) so we just slept in the beds that were farthest from the roach!
anyways gotta get ready to go to the monastery.
xoxo
The monastery has been awesome the last couple of days...i made a bunch of different topics to teach each day, like the other day we covered body parts and clothing, and then we did colours, and the 5 senses. The monks are awesomeeee! Today I think we are going to cover the months and the days of the week...most of them know numbers and the alphabet, its a bit tricky though because there are a couple veryyy beginner monks and it is hard to move at a speed that doesnt bore the other ones, and isnt too fast for the slower learners. I went to the orphanage yesterday with one of the other volunteers...the kids are awesome, we mostly just worked on their homework. I dont know if i already wrote this but the Nepali people call eachother brother and sister (in their accent it sort of sounds like brothaaaa and sistaaaa). At the orphanage yesterday i was helping this girl, Copila (she is 7 but is smaller than a 4 year old), with her computer science homework and she was asking me to check her work, and i guess in her exercise they were to label the different computer parts...so as im reading down her list and checking things off i stop one of her answers because she has written "hard dicks" and im like sort of boggled and trying to figure out what part of the computer she is even referring to, so she was sorta hassling me being like "sisttaaaa what is the matta sistaa, it is hard dicks" haha, its hard for them to put the 's' before the 'k' so even when i clarify it still sounds like that haha. Pretty funny. Its pretty interesting/sad though because they go to school 6 days a week, and they do dictation (like spelling tests) and they are taught words the way that their teacher believes them to be spelled, so the teacher sometimes teaches them the wrong spelling and if they spell it properly on the exam then they are marked wrong. Just part of the confused system here though I guess. Nothing is perfect.
Tomorrow (friday) we are going to Pokhara with 3 other of teh volunteers. On our way there we are doing a rock climbing thing for 4 hrs (thats including like all the training/equipment/lunch/lounging haha there is no way we would be able to climb for 4 hrs straight). Should be a nice weekend though, it is on a lake in the middle of the mountains and hotels for the night are like 8-10$. and the bus for 5 hrs is like 5$. We are going to come back on sunday, im not sure what our computer situation will be like there so i donno when i will be updating, may not be until sunday.
Bridge and I found this massive disgusting beetle-looking/cockroach-looking bug in our room 2 nights ago... sooo gross, we were not having it! we tried to kill it but it was soo fast and ran underneath bridgets bed. There are 4 beds in our room (2 of them unused until the end of the month when more volunteers show up) so we just slept in the beds that were farthest from the roach!
anyways gotta get ready to go to the monastery.
xoxo
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
work
May 18
we have officially began our work here. Bridget is working at Helping Hands in the hospital and has been there the last 2 days...she finds it a bit frustrating because the doctors do not pay much attention to the women volunteers, and they arent as helpful or "teacher-like" as they should be. Today she saw a couple surgeries but was a bit disappointed because they didnt really describe what they were doing and the diseases/injuries they were curing. Her and a couple other of the volunteers went and checked out this Lepracy clinic to see if they could maybe volunteer there too, and they were interested, but the hiring process is a bit long, and in Nepal they dont really rush anything so it will probably take acouple of weeks to get anything going, in which case it doesnt really make sense for her or the others to work there. Well see though!
Today was my second day teaching in the monastery. the first day i just sat in on a class which one of the other volunteers taught, and listened, ad then today i taught my first class. "class" at the monastery is more of a small, probably 12ft by 12ft room, where the monks sit on the ground and I sat either in a chair or on the ground also and teach basic english. Today i only had 5 students because we divided the class between beginners and intermediates, and they are also in a 15 day thing (I cant remember what it is called) where they pray almost 9 hours a day. but today was SOOO great! tey are sooo excited to learn english and are so polite and kind and friendly. they call me "our miss", and they are so curious about us white people, so they ask so many questions. Today I was going through comparatives with them (like young vs old, big vs small) and I asked them to make sentences and they told me taht i was big, and old, hahaha in Nepali standards I am (i clarified the old part though). It is a very satisfying feeling though to teach them something that they value so much. One of the monks today (who was TWELVE--my youngest student) wrote a sentence for me saying "today I am happy because I have got this golden opportunity from our miss to learn english"...he is the best at writing and spelling in English. I nearly cried it was so cute! Later today I went to a different 'orphanage'but this one was more of a daycare for single parents. all the kids are around one or 2...it was pretty heartbreaking...they all have the little ethiopian potbellies that are from being malnourished and dehydrated. They were super cute though, so many of them are just tiny though, this little girl i picked up was probably 5 pounds. I think i am going to alternate between working at this daycare and working at the orphanage that me and bridget have been going to. Afterplaying with them for so long though you start to feel pretty dirty, they all have really typical colds (like coughing and running noses--and they have no tissue or toilet paper or medication so it just runs and runs), alot of them have had lice too so they have recently had their heads shaved so its hard to distinguish little girls and boys. So bascially when we come home from work, after being outside in all the pollution and playing with the kids you really really want (And need) a shower.
This weekend we are planning a trip to Pokhara with a couple other of the volunteers, it is a 5-6 hour bus ride (around 5$ canadian) I think North of Kathmandu. It is apparently beautiful. We are also looking into a group flight over/around Everest at some point on this trip.
We are expecting a strike in the next couple of weeks at some point, as the Constitution is due on teh 28th, and the people want to make sure that their wants and needs are included by that date. Nothing serious, and surprisingly it doesnt really worry anyone (us included). There is word going around that the strike may not even occur because they are reaching agreements, whcih would be nice too because that way we will be able to get to work (if the strike happens, our work is too far for us to walk, however i may be able tow ork at the monastery because it is within walking distance...but Helping Hands and both orphanages are probably over an hour walking, and most likely closed.
Anyways, time for bed over here!
xox
we have officially began our work here. Bridget is working at Helping Hands in the hospital and has been there the last 2 days...she finds it a bit frustrating because the doctors do not pay much attention to the women volunteers, and they arent as helpful or "teacher-like" as they should be. Today she saw a couple surgeries but was a bit disappointed because they didnt really describe what they were doing and the diseases/injuries they were curing. Her and a couple other of the volunteers went and checked out this Lepracy clinic to see if they could maybe volunteer there too, and they were interested, but the hiring process is a bit long, and in Nepal they dont really rush anything so it will probably take acouple of weeks to get anything going, in which case it doesnt really make sense for her or the others to work there. Well see though!
Today was my second day teaching in the monastery. the first day i just sat in on a class which one of the other volunteers taught, and listened, ad then today i taught my first class. "class" at the monastery is more of a small, probably 12ft by 12ft room, where the monks sit on the ground and I sat either in a chair or on the ground also and teach basic english. Today i only had 5 students because we divided the class between beginners and intermediates, and they are also in a 15 day thing (I cant remember what it is called) where they pray almost 9 hours a day. but today was SOOO great! tey are sooo excited to learn english and are so polite and kind and friendly. they call me "our miss", and they are so curious about us white people, so they ask so many questions. Today I was going through comparatives with them (like young vs old, big vs small) and I asked them to make sentences and they told me taht i was big, and old, hahaha in Nepali standards I am (i clarified the old part though). It is a very satisfying feeling though to teach them something that they value so much. One of the monks today (who was TWELVE--my youngest student) wrote a sentence for me saying "today I am happy because I have got this golden opportunity from our miss to learn english"...he is the best at writing and spelling in English. I nearly cried it was so cute! Later today I went to a different 'orphanage'but this one was more of a daycare for single parents. all the kids are around one or 2...it was pretty heartbreaking...they all have the little ethiopian potbellies that are from being malnourished and dehydrated. They were super cute though, so many of them are just tiny though, this little girl i picked up was probably 5 pounds. I think i am going to alternate between working at this daycare and working at the orphanage that me and bridget have been going to. Afterplaying with them for so long though you start to feel pretty dirty, they all have really typical colds (like coughing and running noses--and they have no tissue or toilet paper or medication so it just runs and runs), alot of them have had lice too so they have recently had their heads shaved so its hard to distinguish little girls and boys. So bascially when we come home from work, after being outside in all the pollution and playing with the kids you really really want (And need) a shower.
This weekend we are planning a trip to Pokhara with a couple other of the volunteers, it is a 5-6 hour bus ride (around 5$ canadian) I think North of Kathmandu. It is apparently beautiful. We are also looking into a group flight over/around Everest at some point on this trip.
We are expecting a strike in the next couple of weeks at some point, as the Constitution is due on teh 28th, and the people want to make sure that their wants and needs are included by that date. Nothing serious, and surprisingly it doesnt really worry anyone (us included). There is word going around that the strike may not even occur because they are reaching agreements, whcih would be nice too because that way we will be able to get to work (if the strike happens, our work is too far for us to walk, however i may be able tow ork at the monastery because it is within walking distance...but Helping Hands and both orphanages are probably over an hour walking, and most likely closed.
Anyways, time for bed over here!
xox
Sunday, May 16, 2010
May 16
Weve had a pretty cool last couple of days. on the 14th me and bridget went to the orphanage that we will be working at. there are 13 kids and it is a bit of a trek from our house but we just take the bus and then walk. The kids are sooooo cute...they range from like 3-15, but the 3 year olds look pretty young because they are so small (most nepalis are really small but i think its especially true when they are malnourished and what not). they are amazing though, they speak english so well. when we first arrived, they all formed a line around where we were sitting and came up to us and said "namaste" while bowing, and then introducing themselves and asking our names and where we were from. and then they are just so curious about us and our interests and canada and literally everything. they go to school 6 days a week until 330 so we will be going to the orphanages at 4 each day. we just play with them and they read to us (in english) or teach us nepali if we ask. were basically there to just be their friends. its super cute and impressive. People here LOVE when foreigners speak or even try to speak their language. They get very excited and smiley, its so great. ive learned how to say "may name is kaylen" and count to three, and thank you/please/your welcome/ and sorry. they thought it was pretty funny when we asked how to say sorry because your always bumping into people here and we always say it but i guess here they dont really use it. sort of wierd. yesterday was really cool too we went to this temple that is one of the most improtant temples in nepal (and asia) where they cremate people i cant remember what it is called...it was insane...they had all these pits everywhere and in one vicinity you have just the everday nepali who was to be cremated there, and then in the other vicinity was where the political leaders and elite and stuff are burned. and we saw it all! there were like 4 fire pits going and we watched them bring someone to one of them for burning, it was wild. Nepali's when they are dying some of them go up to this temple and just wrap themselves in blankets and then wait to die, doing this means that they basically get a direct passage to heaven and dont have to worry about coming back as anything weird. So that waas veryyy cool, you would think it would make you feel sick to look at it or see that type of thing happening, but it doesnt seem that weird when you are there, i guess its because its part of their traditions and cultures. wetook a bunch of pictures so ill try to upload some later on. We have started using the public transportation here too which is pretty hilarious....its basically a bunch of busses, or vans, or tuktuks where someone is leaning out of the door the whole ride yellling a list of places it passes (all in nepali and veryyy fast so its pretty hard to understand) and then you have to yell back and tell them where you are going while the bus is still in motion and if your lucky it will stop and get you. then they just cram them packed too so like 20 people arejammed in this small van. Bridget just left for her first day in the hospital, I may go there one of these days (there really is no system here, you just kind of go where you want when you want), I am going to the monastery for my first day of teaching pretty soon. Waiting for someone to show me where to go...haha no training needed for this either apparently...so I may pick up some books and stuff to make lessons for them after today.
So! theres the update!
xox
So! theres the update!
xox
Friday, May 14, 2010
Namaste
May 14
Bridgy and I just moved into the volunteer house, it is really cute but a bit further away from where we were before. there are i think about 11 other people staying here, and we just found out that one (actually maybe 2) of them is actually from vancouver, but haveyet to meet him. We passed out last night at about 8pm, sooo exhausted from walking around and checking places out and the heattttt! its so hottt! Today we walked around Thamel some more, you cant ever really get bored of it cause its always buzzing, and there is the coolest gear to look at. we woke up at about 5:45 this morning too so we also had time to go and visit this monkey temple. Pretty cool, but we the monkeys arent actually that cute, theyre pretty mangy and they come pretty close so we tried to keep a distance so we dont get rabies. They all look like theyve been bitten at by other monkeys or animals and their asses are all pink....really arent the cutest creatures. The pictures we have taken are UNREAL, its not like we are good photographers, but it is so easy to catch a pic of the coolest people. They wear teh most beautiful colors and the women's saris are stunning. Its wild cause this place is so poor and the people have next to nothing, but they look so amazing all the time. Usually we have to ask people if we can take a picture before, so that they dont get offended. There are also these people who dress up alot and really work it so that they can get tourists like us to take their pic...then they want money. pretty typical work. There are women who walk around with babies in their arms too and an empty bottle and pretend that they need you to buy them milk, but apparently they sell that milk back to stores or something, its sad. We went to Durbar Square yesterday too and walked around snapping pics. I just noticed that most of the pics i tried to post the other day didnt work, so i will try and post my more recent ones later on today (theyre better anyways). We are in love with this country, the people are so friendly, even though a lot haggle you they are a very 'peaceful people'. There is the coolest stuff that they sell in their little stores, I am going to buy some stuff towards the end of the trip, bridge and i have become pretty good at haggling with them and bartering haha. Bridge is working on a guy right now for a pair of earrings...she tried to get the "matching discount" cause they were both wearing purple...he liked that. Theyre pretty bad at bluffing too, when we dont get the price we want, usually we just walk away and then they come runnng back. some dont bluff though, those ones are annoying.
anyways weve made friends with some peeps in the volunteer house so i think were going to explore. I think that bridge is going to start in the hospital tomorrow, and I will probably go to the orphanage tomorrow. I start teaching on monday. It is a very open schedule and we basically have full autonomy for our schedules. (except the teaching that is set), haha should be interesting considerin i havent taken english since grade 12, and i am supposed to be teaching english (with very minimal structure!).
Will try and post pics tonight, this computer seems a bit slow, but if im feeling patient i may uplaod the best pics we have so far.
xoxox
kk and bridgy
Bridgy and I just moved into the volunteer house, it is really cute but a bit further away from where we were before. there are i think about 11 other people staying here, and we just found out that one (actually maybe 2) of them is actually from vancouver, but haveyet to meet him. We passed out last night at about 8pm, sooo exhausted from walking around and checking places out and the heattttt! its so hottt! Today we walked around Thamel some more, you cant ever really get bored of it cause its always buzzing, and there is the coolest gear to look at. we woke up at about 5:45 this morning too so we also had time to go and visit this monkey temple. Pretty cool, but we the monkeys arent actually that cute, theyre pretty mangy and they come pretty close so we tried to keep a distance so we dont get rabies. They all look like theyve been bitten at by other monkeys or animals and their asses are all pink....really arent the cutest creatures. The pictures we have taken are UNREAL, its not like we are good photographers, but it is so easy to catch a pic of the coolest people. They wear teh most beautiful colors and the women's saris are stunning. Its wild cause this place is so poor and the people have next to nothing, but they look so amazing all the time. Usually we have to ask people if we can take a picture before, so that they dont get offended. There are also these people who dress up alot and really work it so that they can get tourists like us to take their pic...then they want money. pretty typical work. There are women who walk around with babies in their arms too and an empty bottle and pretend that they need you to buy them milk, but apparently they sell that milk back to stores or something, its sad. We went to Durbar Square yesterday too and walked around snapping pics. I just noticed that most of the pics i tried to post the other day didnt work, so i will try and post my more recent ones later on today (theyre better anyways). We are in love with this country, the people are so friendly, even though a lot haggle you they are a very 'peaceful people'. There is the coolest stuff that they sell in their little stores, I am going to buy some stuff towards the end of the trip, bridge and i have become pretty good at haggling with them and bartering haha. Bridge is working on a guy right now for a pair of earrings...she tried to get the "matching discount" cause they were both wearing purple...he liked that. Theyre pretty bad at bluffing too, when we dont get the price we want, usually we just walk away and then they come runnng back. some dont bluff though, those ones are annoying.
anyways weve made friends with some peeps in the volunteer house so i think were going to explore. I think that bridge is going to start in the hospital tomorrow, and I will probably go to the orphanage tomorrow. I start teaching on monday. It is a very open schedule and we basically have full autonomy for our schedules. (except the teaching that is set), haha should be interesting considerin i havent taken english since grade 12, and i am supposed to be teaching english (with very minimal structure!).
Will try and post pics tonight, this computer seems a bit slow, but if im feeling patient i may uplaod the best pics we have so far.
xoxox
kk and bridgy
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
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