A week in photos

CHICKENS in cages

Women in lines at Pashupati Temple

Goofing off with the lads

TWISTER!

The school Umbrella kids attend

Walking home from school with some of the lads

On a chess game box, bought in Kathmandu 

They're such show-offs!

Washing up after dal bhat

Eights months and going strong

Teej

This is a Hindu festival celebrated by the women. For me and the other female volunteers, it meant we got to dress up in saris and spend the afternoon eating and dancing with the female staff in Umbrella. There were SO many red/gold/green saris, the music was loud, the dancing was crazy and the food was delicious (except for the buffalo meat, it was really tough). Basically it was a chance for all the women in Umbrella to get dressed up, eat, dance, chat, catch up and laugh at the silly Westerners trying to figure out how to walk in a sari. :)

I learned later that traditionally, on this day, the women fast, and only drink water if their husbands give it to them. They fast so that their husbands will have long healthy lives. Right....

So many beautiful saris

Some of the volunteers and the house Didi, dressed for the party!

 Children's Day 

Today I had a hamburger and ice cream meal for the first times in AGES! A number of kids from each house had been invited to attended a Childrens' Day celebration at a near-by international school. It was a lesson in humility today. It was the paupers visiting the fancy rich kids. The self-righteous organizers were so pleased with themselves that the children at the school had donated so many bags of clothes, school supplies, games and miscellaneous items. We were constantly thanking them for inviting us to their school, organizing this event and saying how thrilled our kids must be, like going to the zoo or the park. It was exhausting. When I asked my boys later if they'd had a good day they shrugged their shoulders and have a noncommittal, 'Yes sister.'

Some less than pleasant moments of the day:

There were prizes for some of the games we played. The top 7 winners got prizes and the other got 'consolation prizes.' One boy got a pack of new coloured pencils and a pencil case. Inside the pencil case were someones used pencils. Half of them were missing. The boys face fell so fast, it broke your heart to see.

When getting the snack set up

One of the teachers: “How many kids do you have?”

Me: “Um...I'm not sure.” (I'd just been told that morning that I was going to accompany the kids to the school, I'd hardly had time to ask how many was I taking)

Teacher: (incredulously) “You don't know how many kids you've brought!?”

I then did a quick head count and told her '27'

Teacher: “Oh, we were only expecting 25.” Like two more kids it going to make much of a difference.

When the teachers were trying to organize the games and tell the kids where to go, one of them was roughly grabbing the kids arms and pushing/pulling them to where they were supposed to go.

While I was making sure that all of our kids were getting food at lunch, one of the teachers came up to me and said, “Your table has been laid, please call your friend and come and eat.” (Yes ma'am!)

The older kids (and a few of the young ones) at the school were walking around with ipods, ipads, fancy cell phones and fancy clothes. There was even a girl in a princess dress and a tiara. Can you say class discrepancy any louder?

It was an interesting day.  

Some of the girls inspecting their goody bags

Musical chairs 

6 people in a taxi 
The taxis here are tiny, and yet it is quite feasible to fit 6 large Westerns in them, as long as you're willing to squish. :)

I've been gone from home for eight months now.  3 months to go! 

Bikes and Prisms

Bike update: I've had it for three days and already I have a flat.  $10 later I've got a new tube, new tire, and he gave it a bit of a fix up, oiled the brakes and pedals. :) Hopefully That's all the work it will need for the next three months. :P  I swear that thing has been more of a hassle than a help since I bought it. :)

In other news, I FOUND PRISMS!!!  "What does she want prisms for?" you may ask.  Last week I noticed that one of the boys had a small, badly chipped prism.  Despite the state of the small bit of glass, he was having a grand time holding it up to his eye and trying to walk around the house like that.  I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if he had two, whole prisms?'  And thus my search for two small triangular pieces of glass began.  I checked household shops, stationary shops (they sell stuff needed for school, and some kids need prisms for school), toy shops, miscellaneous shops, more stationary shops, SO MANY SHOPS, and no luck.  Finally, at one of the miscellaneous shops, the owner said he didn't have prisms, but he gave me the name of a book distributor that might have them.  I headed down there this morning (after getting a my flat tire repaired).  The book place had wooden block prisms.....not what I was looking for.  BUT, the sales lady suggested I try down the street, at a science supplier shop. BINGO!!!!!! Two small prisms for $2.50! I can't wait to show them to the boys. :) 

On Bikes and Spring Cleaning

I bought a bicycle today. This is likely an invitation to end up in an accident, but I really like the freedom and mobility that bikes offer, so I bought one. Second-hand, but with new brakes. $30USD. Not too bad. And I promised I'd give it back to the shop at the end of my three months. This afternoon I rode it into town for the first time, to test it out. It's been a long while since I've ridden a bike with a straight cross bar, it takes some getting used to. :P Besides one instance of the chain falling off, and discovering that one of the pedals gets sticky, the ride was a success! And takes so much less time than walking. :)

My new bike! It's going to need a name...

This morning I attacked my room. I decided I don't want to live with the dust magnet carpet for the next three months, so I took it out. The amount of dust under the carpets and in the carpets was enough to......well, it was allot. I moved the shelves out, upended the beds, swept and mopped and gave the room a good airing out. Productive day accomplished!  

To Market, To Market

Last Friday I accompanied my house father (Suban) to market to purchase vegetables for the 5 childrens homes for the next month. Considering there are some 120 kids, plus ~20 cooks, tutors, and didis who are also eat at the houses, there were a lot of veggies – tomatoes, potatoes ($60USD worth), onions, ginger, garlic, green beans, squash, bitter gourd, green onion, limes....and more. We left around 7:30 this morning, me of the back of Suban's motorcycle. In the 20 minutes it took to get to market, we travelled on one nicely paved road. The rest were in various states of bumpy. :P The market was fascinating. Most of what I write here I inferred from observation only, Suban and I didn't speak much beyond instructions to 'follow me' and 'take your tea now, I will be back soon.' The market appeared to be a wholesale affair, catering to organizations, restaurants, and the veggie wallas who roam the streets, baskets full of produce attached to their bicycles. There was an entire warehouse sized building dedicated to potatoes and onions.

I followed Suban around as he visited various stalls, scoping out the best produce at the best price. I could tell that this is a job he takes on often, he shook hands and greeted most stall owners whos produce we eventually purchased. After making the 'check out the produce' rounds, we went around again, this time to collect the bags of tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, etc. that had been prepared for us, and to pay for the purchases.

There are vans you can hire who will delivery your acquired goods and it was into one of these that we loaded our bags. I peered over the shoulder of the guy who filled out the invoice, with the name and address of the Umbrella office, under the 'price' section he'd written 375.00. I'm assuming this is the price of hiring a delivery van. 375 rupees is ~$3.75.

The market was a photographers mecca, there were so many colors of dress and people and veggies. There were bicycles and motobikes so overloaded with purchases that you wondered how on earth their owners would be able to ride them through the chaotic streets of Kathmandu, there were street kids plying through the cast-off veggies, searching for something to eat, there was the grains stall with sack and sack of lentils, beans, rice and seeds of so many colours. However, as I was conspicuous enough as the only white person, I didn't feel comfortable pulling out my camera and trying to take shots of these people going about their daily business. It was an amazing experience though and I hope I'll be able to accompany Suban again, on his next trip to market. :)  

Some photos of my time in the past week

'We are a family! I got all my brothers with me' 

Boys being boys 

On a walk to a monastery 

I did not take this photo.  I had given my camera to one of the girls and  she took loads of photos.  I saw this one  when I was looking though them later, I cropped it and lightened it up, but that's all.  It's a stunning image 

SARI SHOPPING!!!

Me and one of the lads after dal bhat (rice and lentils) 

Such a poser!

I can't get enough of the amazing views here 

Hanging out with the lads

This is my room, that I share with a fellow volunteer.  It's dinky, and the carpet is full of dust.  But it's home for the next three months and the view out the window is pretty nice :) 

Dog Bites and Rain: Just another day in Kathmandu

The other day I was bitten by a dog. Yesterday I got caught in a rainstorm. Although the later seems much more benign than the first, it was no less exciting. I'll start with the dog.

The afternoon had gone well enough. On the walk home from school, I picked a flower or two (typical hippie, I know). The boys caught on and soon I had a lovely bunch of wildflowers. :) After dropping them off at the house, I went over to the volunteer house to get a mug to put the flowers in and to grab my journal, so I could write a bit while they worked on homework. I had almost reached the gate of the boys house when this little yappy dog comes bounding up behind me. I turned around to chase it away, thinking it was just another one of the many annoying barking dogs that roam around the neighbourhood, when it reaches up and bites the back of my knee. Thankfully, some of the boys arrived at that point and chased it off. Lucky for me, i was wearing long, thick pants, although I have a small scratch, there's no hole in my pants, so I wasn't actually bitten. I even forgot about the whole incident until later that night when I was taking a shower. I survived till the next morning, so I must not have rabies. :)

The following afternoon I finally remember to bring my camera with me when we went to pick the kids up from school. We'd only been walking for 10 minutes or so when it starts to rain. At first it was just a slight drizzle, so I was able to keep the camera dry by hiding it under my shirt. But soon the drizzle turned to a downpour. My shirt would no longer suffice. I ducked into three small shops, asking for a plastic bag to wrap my camera in. They would have to do for the moment. When we arrived at school it was chaos. Few of the kids have umbrellas or raincoats, so the breezeway was packed with kids trying their best to stay dry. This is only my second day picking up the boys, and I'm having a hard time picking them out of the crowd. I know that I'm meant to walk with the 2 or 3 youngest and am hoping that they'll recognize and come up to me before too long. I end up with one of the 3, he says that the other two are walking with some other boys. Ok then... By this point, the rain has let up a bit, but my camera is still in danger of water damage so I ask the lad if he'd mind putting it in his backpack. He's a smart one and has a poncho that goes all the way down to his feet. :) I got quite a few looks on the way home. Drenched white girl, no umbrella or raincoat, walking barefoot in an area of town that's not often frequented by foreigners. I had a grand time puddle jumping. :)

A note on my placement:

I've been placed in Kanchenjunga House (named after the third highest mountain in the world), 29 boys aged 12-17 (approx.) It's interesting being around SO many boys. I eat dal bhat (rice and lentils) with them in the morning, walk them to school, pick them up, have dal bhat in the evening and hang out while they do homework. They go to school Sun. - Fri. Saturday is their one day off when they get to watch t.v. lounge around and whatnot. The volunteers are encouraged to plan activities for Saturdays – hikes, arts and crafts, games, projects, etc. I have a slight disadvantage in my house because I'm the only volunteer there. There isn't someone who's been here for a few months to help me learn the ropes. It been a challenge. The boys are grand though, so it's really not too bad. :)

Have you donated to your favourite charity yet?

http://www.mycharity.ie/event/jewelinnepal

On a side note, I thought the Swiss flag was the only one that wasn't a rectangle. The Nepali flag isn't either. It looks like this: