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