Sunrise/ Sunset

I feel as though I have been so flat out the last few days and haven't fully caught up on sleep yet, so I apologise for the delay in getting this latest entry out.

After teaching again Thursday and Friday, we were lucky enough to have a day off to ourselves. After finishing at the school on Friday we had a couple of cars come and get eight of us to head up to the mountains. We were headed for the village of Nagarkot, some 2000 metres high with breathtaking views of the Langtang Himalayan Ranges. The drive was fun (any driving in Nepal is fun; CRAZY fun!) and we got to see a piece of the countryside for the first time since we got here (we also literally saw a chicken cross the road but did not stop to find out why). We arrived at the hotel in Nagarkot with only minutes to spare until sunset, so we raced like mad up the stairs to the roof of the hotel to see one of the most stunning sunsets I have ever witnessed. After this we had dinner (a delicious Nepali buffet of Dal Bhat Tarkari and sides) and then chilled out having a few drinks.

New friends, good food and beautiful sunset at Nagarkot.

We were all kind of excited that we had somewhere nice and quiet to sleep for once compared to the constant noise at our Hotel in Kathmandu; the downside though was that we had to be up at 6am to see the sunrise. Words cannot describe how amazing the sunrise was; suffice to say it was completely worth the early wake up. The sunrise from Nagarkot looks over the Himalayas, so the light reflects off the snow capped peaks in a way that invokes feelings of awe and wonder. Awe that these peaks are almost 3 times the height of Australia's tallest peak (the tallest I had seen before) and wonder at how anyone could ever get sick of looking at them.

Sunrise over the Langtang Himalaya Mountains, Nagarkot.

On our way back from Nagarkot we headed further out to the "village" of Panauti (pronounced Pan-ow-tea); I would almost call this place a small city rather than a village though. Panauti is the village that Bec Ordish from the Mitrataa foundation calls home and is about an hours drive outside of Kathmandu. When we arrived, their was a victory celebration for the Communist Party (who must have won the local seat in the election) so there were people everywhere and a big procession. We had to pull over for a bit to let it pass. After this, we meandered down to the river where we saw local women washing their clothes and bathing. It was a hub of activity and it was interesting to see this facet of Nepali life. What struck me most was that people will drink and bathe in the water, yet they do not think twice about throwing their rubbish in there. I thought quite a lot about why the people here in Nepal have no problems littering and why they do not try to promote trash collection and proper disposal. I imagine how Nepal would look if people made more effort to keep their cities and towns clean. If anything, this makes me realise how much we take trash collection for granted back home.

The sights of Pinauti

Saturday was our only day off, so we were back at school on Sunday and Monday. Since Sunday, we have got to teach our classes on our own which has been fantastic. Planning lessons has been a little different to how we would do it in Australia but I have made do with the time, resources and equipment I have. One thing I have learnt is that if you give a stamp to one class, you have to expect that the entire school will also want one (my dragon stamp was the choice for boys and the butterfly one for girls); even my teacher wanted a stamp. This is something so simple, yet giving the students a stamp was a big deal for them as they do not seem to get many 'things'. It was a real novelty and it was so gratifying seeing how happy they were to show their 'ink' off to the rest of the school. I even got mobbed by the grade 3 and 4 kids at lunch time because they wanted one.

As a teacher, I am learning more and more about my teaching style and how I would do things differently in Australia. For example, most Australian classrooms are at least double the size that I have to deal with here; this means that it is harder here to do anything other than sitting at a desk. I enjoyed taking the grade 1 children outside to learn about division today rather than just taking notes from the board. In Australia as well, there is not as much pressure as there is here to teach to a test. This can be frustrating because you want your students to be free thinkers and embrace different types of challenges. I want to teach in a way that is student centred and encourage higher order thinking; I don't want to just stand at the front of a class and tell them what to learn because it is going to be in their end of term exam; I want to encourage discussion with them and allow a level of freedom to learn at their own pace. I feel like the pace of learning here is not suited to a large percentage of the students.

The rest of this week will be spent at the school and on Friday we fly off to the city of Pokhara to chill out on our last few days in Nepal; I can't wait.

Playground shenanigans, Riviera International School, Chabahil, Kathmandu

Finally Teaching

I don't feel like I have done a great deal the last few days although today was definitely busy.

Tuesday was the Nepalese Federal Election and due to major security concerns throughout the country it was declared a public holiday. No cars, buses, taxis or motorbikes were allowed to be on the streets and for this reason, we were pretty much not able to leave the immediate vicinity of our hotel. You couldn't even purchase alcohol anywhere until after the polling booths closed at 5pm. This didn't bother anyone as we all felt like we needed a day to just unwind and chill out. The garden in our hotel was our place of refuge from the outside world again. 

Wednesday was declared an official public holiday so we went to the Mitrataa Hostel for what would be our final official visit there. We completed our Nepali cuisine Master Chef competition and the food was great. It is so weird (but very fun) to eat everything including rice and currys with your hands. We will go back to the hostel before we leave Nepal but it will be in our own time. It will be hard to say goodbye to all the kids there as we have all developed a strong bond with most of them. 

Today was our first day of doing what we actually came here to do and what the strikes prevented us from doing: Teaching. Riviera International Academy was all ready for us when we got there this morning (one kid was so excited that he threw-up in the front row at assembly; atleast that's what we like to believe). The students, from Kindergarten to Year 10 all looked so smart in their school uniforms and were all excited to be back after ten days of strikes. The school assembly kicked off the day where they all sang their school song, national anthem and then we all had a turn of introducing ourselves to the school. While at the school I am teaching year 1 and 2 maths; my Associate Teacher is Kanchan Shrestha and she is incredible. She is only 19 years old, studying science at university full time, teaching full time and tutoring 9 children every afternoon; she has no teaching qualifications and is just so excited to have me working with her. I think she expects to learn a lot from me which places huge expectations on my shoulders (although I am very flattered that she thinks that I know a lot). I do have more teacher education than she does but she has had a lot more professional experience than I have. At the end of today she was asking me what I thought of her teaching, if there was good things or bad things, what was different and what was the same. I told her that there was nothing negative in what I had seen, only different things; I said that I like to look at the positive side of everything she has done and learn from it. 

The school lining up for assembly

In Class 1, they are learning Division; it was interesting to see how Kanchan taught, she has fantastic rapport with the students which is most likely helped by her helpful and bubbly personality. Everything is rote learning and is not student centred like I am used to; the learning is also not scaffolded which I initially struggled with. This in no way reflects upon Kanchan's teaching abilities but instead reflects how in Nepal they are always teaching for a test. I couldn't see this as a negative but only different to what I know. The students do not seem to struggle as much as what I thought and considering they are learning in English (which is their second, third or fourth language) they are doing very well indeed. 

Class 1 learning division

Kanchan and I discussed how I would teach the same subjects in Australian schools and she was so intrigued by the methods we would use. She said she would love to try different teaching methods but due to the strict testing nature of their education system it was hard to veer away from the repetitive, fast paced rote teaching and learning style. I would say that my first teaching day at Riviera was a success. Kanchan pretty much threw me straight in to teaching which I think was fantastic. The children were all so excited to have someone from another country come teach them and they were even more excited that I was a man (most of the teachers are women; much like Australian schools); I was even called ma'am a few times. 

Kanchan Shrestha teaching Class 1

I am really excited tomorrow; I teach in the morning and then in the afternoon our group is travelling outside of Kathmandu for the first time to a place called Nagarkot. Nagarkot is apparently the only place where you can see both the sunrise and sunset over the himalayas so we will spend the night there before visiting the village of Panauti (Bec from Mitrataa's home) on the way back to the city. On that note I will finish up. I am certain to have a lot to report on with my next blog. 

Election Day

It is such a nice day here in Kathmandu; the sun is shining, the company is good and we don't have to do anything today. The federal elections are on today and due to uncertainty over safety, we have been told to stay either in the hotel or not to venture too far from it. This gives me an opportunity to reflect on the happenings of the last few days.

Saturday was a day off and due to a change of plans (thanks to the election) we had to stay in Kathmandu. All of us decided to visit the Monkey Temple (officially known as Harati Devi Temple). This temple is a world heritage listed site and we can easily see it atop a large hill from the roof of our hotel. To get there was only a 20 minute taxi trip and we asked to be dropped at the bottom of the hill so we could climb the stairs to the top. Apparently there are something like 360 steps all lined with people selling their wares and many beggars along with the occasionally water bottle stealing monkeys.

The sights at the Monkey Temple

This little excursion was a real eye opener to me for many reasons both good and bad. When arriving at the base of the steps, we were immediately confronted with various levels of poverty; for example, one child we saw would have been only two or three years old and he was naked from the waist down lying face down on the cement in his own urine while his mother sat nearby without much of a care (although, she may have simply felt powerless to do anything; i don't know). It is hard to see this knowing that you cannot really do much to help. Even if you give them money or food, there is no guarantee that a) they will spend the money on food or, b) that they will even eat the food (chances are they will sell the food for money to buy drugs).

When climbing the stairs, we very quickly learnt that you have to hide your water bottles in your bag otherwise the monkeys come up to try and steal them. It was a bit funny to see this happening to one of the girls in our group (the joke was on me though being the only one with a backpack; guess who ended up being the 'pack horse'?). The last part of the climb was quite steep but once at the top, the view of Kathmandu, although quite smoggy, was rather spectacular the temple though was a different story. Don't get me wrong, the buildings and temples at the top were quite simply, amazing and the importance of them in the Buddhist culture cannot be ignored (it is a world heritage listed site). What got me though was how very filthy and uncared for the entire site seemed. There were multitudes of people selling anything from water to buddhist statues to mandalas in any available space. There were people squatting in some of the buildings, rubbish strewn through all the beautiful gardens surrounding the site, lots of stray dogs and cats and some of the most unhealthy looking monkeys I have seen. What upset me about this place was that it was completely over-commercialised (which took away from the spiritual importance of the place) and that considering every tourist (and there was lots of us) pays an admission fee yet it seems no money is spent on upkeep of the site. It was the first time I was truly disappointed with Kathmandu; I found it really hard to see a positive side to it.

The view of Kathmandu from the Monkey Temple

On the way back down I was unfortunate to witness a child being beaten by their mother. It was a young girl who appeared to only be about 6 or 7 years old and she was screaming while her mother kicked her in the back and hit her. I didn't know what to do; all instinct told me that I should be stopping it but by doing so I would have found myself in trouble (no doubt a Nepali man, or numerous men) would have beat me for not minding my own business. It was really sad but beatings of children are apparently common here and it is just something I have to learn to accept. I guess the positive to this is that with the increase of education among the younger generations it may gradually phase out and become socially unacceptable, much the same as it has become in Australia.

To end that little trip, we got to the bottom and discovered a growing group of men congregating. We had been told to avoid any large gatherings of people due to the likelihood of protests (again in the lead up to the election). So on that note, we got the first cab we saw and headed back to the hotel.

That night, some of the girls from the Hostel took four of us to see a very highly anticipated Bollywood movie ( I have no idea what it was called but it was a Bollywood version of Romeo and Juliet). It was a really cool experience and the girls were quite funny. One of them couldn't understand why I was laughing at one point; she said "Do you understand" to which I replied "no", she looked at me with a kind of cross face and said "then why are you laughing?". It was quite a funny little conversation and I will admit that I think I was only laughing because they were.

Sunday was the first day of our Mitrataa Masterchef competition and our group was the first to cook. Each group had to do a take on the Nepali staple Dal Bhat Thakari. It was so much fun but very hectic with 4 team members and 5 kids all in the kitchen (the Mitrataa kids weren't allowed to touch anything, the rules were that they had to tell the Aussies how to do things). We cooked Yellow Dal Bhat, Cauliflower Takhari, Tomato Pickles, Potato Pickles, Boiled Rice with Dry Food (dried fruits and nuts), Gudrhuk (a Nepali root vegetable) and Banana Splits with crushed cashews, honey and ice cream for dessert. The meal turned out really good and we all got to learn how to eat everything with our hands Nepali style (not as easy as you might think).

Our Mitrataa Masterchef day

I don't have a great deal to report on for Monday as I was unfortunate enough to experience Delhi Belly (or what we have nicknamed the Kathmandu Poos here), so the day was pretty much spent in bed and the bathroom. So, rather than oversharing (even further than I already have) I will sign off. Hopefully all goes well with these elections today and I have nothing too scary to report on. 

Maosits Causing Mayhem

It's been a couple of days since I have done a blog entry so I thought I had better get some stuff written down before I forget. It is worth noting that we have had to be very flexible here in Kathmandu due to the political instability. The Maoist party is causing all sorts of problems throughout Nepal with rolling strikes pretty much since I have been here. The Maoist party are bombing vans that are operating when there is a strike and when they don't do that, they either pull the drivers out of their vehicle to beat them or 'sticker' their car (literally covering the vehicle in un-removable stickers). As a result, there is a lot of military around the place wielding machine guns as well as the United Nations making their presence felt (to ensure fair elections). The school we have come here to work with has not been open at all since we have come as they have apparently had bomb threats in the past. If their bus is seen picking up children for school they become a target. The Year 10 class has remained at the school as they live on campus.

Grammar games with Class 10

On Wednesday we began with teaching the older children at the Mitrataa Hostel; we have been focusing on debating skills with the topic of "Nepal should spend more money on Tourism".  As it has been the first type of teaching I have done here I have found it a little difficult with the language differences. The students all speak Nepali as their native language however, it is a rule that they must speak English. It has meant that I have to listen very carefully to understand them and it also means that I have to speak slower for them to understand me. I am not saying at all that this is a bad thing as it is teaching me a great deal about patience and understanding plus the students have been enjoying teaching us some Nepali words such as 'TaChina' which means I do not understand or my new favourite saying; 'ke-ga-nay' which means 'what will be will be'.

Myself and three others visited the Class 10 students at Riviera in the afternoon; I helped teach Social Studies which was really great. They are a very enthusiastic bunch of teenagers with a passion for learning more. They are also fiercely patriotic which I discovered on Thursday when we talked about modern day slavery of Nepali people in the Middle East. We read this article about how Nepali people are being tricked in to working in Qatar and the terrible conditions they face when they go (which includes their passports being taken from them, sub-standard living conditions and zero pay until they pay off their travel debts). These students have a strong belief that the Nepali people should stay here and help to develop the country and make it a safe and attractive place to live.  As a social studies task, we asked them to write a letter to someone giving them advice about what they could do instead of moving to Qatar to work and some of the responses they came up with were truly moving. In reading their responses I have felt a great deal of hope in that these kids will lead the next generation of Nepali people to prosperity and free the country from the incredible amount of corruption that plagues their every day lives.

Today, five of us decided to brave the crazy Kathmandu roads and walk to the Mitrataa Hostel. It only took us 40 minutes which was good and we got to see a different side to the city. We were made a little uncomfortable at one point when about ten armed Nepali soldiers walked past us; we later found out there was a protest not far from where we were and they must of been heading there. I am putting this all down as experience; I wouldn't say I was scared but it definitely reiterated the importance of being careful. We are fortunate though that tourists are not targeted in any of the protests and so this helps to reassure me that I am safe. In fact, while I have been here I haven't once felt unsafe (except for on my first day when two stray dogs were barreling towards me. They ran straight past me thank goodness).

A giant tree growing out of a very small temple

At Mitrataa the students did their debates and they were fantastic. These girls are so very smart and take their education seriously. This is a real credit to Bec (the founder of the Mitrataa Foundation) who has done a great deal of work in promoting the importance of education for empowering women in Nepal. We had three debates and gave out prizes and they all had a good time sharing their ideas. These girls, just like the year 10 students at Riviera are also fiercely patriotic and it makes me so happy to hear them speak so fondly of their country, its people and culture.

I could probably go on writing for hours tonight but it is going to be a big day tomorrow. It is a free day tomorrow and Bec (the founder of Mitrataa) is going to take us all to Panowti, the village she lives in for the day. It is about 30 kilometres outside of Kathmandu, so I am really excited about exploring the countryside a bit and maybe catch some fresh air (I miss it). After that, some of us will be going to a Bollywood movie with the Mitrataa girls which shall be an experience (no subtitles apparently).
Until then  :)

At the Garden of Dreams

Mitrataa Hostel Madness

To say that today was absolutely amazing would be the understatement of the century. Today was meant to be a normal school day which would mean we would visit the school at 9am and meet the teachers and students but as there are elections coming up on the 19th of November the country has had rolling strikes. Today though was only a partial strike and so we had half the day to explore Thamel. We all navigated our way along the narrow busy lanes to find Durbar Square. I imagined Durbar to be like any major city centre; lots of shops, tourists and office buildings. I was of course, completely wrong. Durbar Square is full of so many different ancient temples and market stalls. We got to see the Living Goddess; an 8 year old girl who is considered sacred in the Hindu religion. I found this a rather confronting situation; a local guide explained to me that this young girl is chosen because of her beauty and is taken from her family to live in a temple in Durbar Square with a caretaker who appeared to be a 70 year old man. This girl seems to be extorted and displayed for tourists and religious followers alike. Her family is allowed to visit on occasion but I still feel for her; it seems like a sad, lonely existence for her.

Me in Durbar Square

After some tea at a local cafe, we had word that we could visit the school as the teachers would be there, so we all jumped in some cabs (which are super tiny) and headed out to the Riviera International School. We were greeted by the principal who was a very friendly and enthusiastic man and he took us on a brief tour of the school. I will be teaching year 1 and 2 and I was surprised at how very small the classrooms are compared to how many students they have. The classes would be the size of a medium sized bedroom but handle a capacity of up to 40 students at a time. I got to meet the year 1 and 2 Maths teacher that I will be working most with. Her name is Kanchan Shrestha and she is only 19 years old. Kanchan's father passed away only last year at only 36 years old and so with her mother, they both support her two younger sisters. Along with this she tutors other children outside of school hours and is in her 4th year of studying a full time science degree at university. That to me is truly remarkable and I take my hat off to her for what she does.

The name says it all. 

 After visiting the school we walked down to Boudhanath Stupa which is a world heritage listed Buddhist site. It is also the home picture on this blog but it does not give the site justice as it is massive. We enjoyed lunch at a rooftop restaurant (I had Vegetable Korma) and took in the beautiful sites of both the Stupa and the amazing mountains in the background.

To end the afternoon we all jumped at the chance to visit the Mitrataa Foundation Hostel.The hostel is home to displaced children either due to being orphaned or due to bad home situations. The foundation has a focus on empowering the education of women therefore the majority of the children are girls (there are four boys here that came along to remain with their sisters). I strongly recommend taking a look here at their website. When we all got there we sat in a circle in what I am guessing was their main living space and we took turns in introducing ourselves along with something that made us happy today. After this we played games. The games were good old fashion group school games and the children had an absolute blast (and so did we). We were all laughing so hard and the kids were really warming to us all. They were trying to teach us the words to a traditional Nepali song; one of the little boys was trying to teach me and I will admit I was struggling big time.

I found being in the hostel rather emotional; in a good way more than anything. It was so wonderful to see all these children acting as one big happy family. The hostel just had this fantastic, happy, hope-filled energy that was just insanely contagious. I already feel like I just want to come to the hostel on my days off and help out around the place.

I don't know how today can be topped; it truly feels like we did a weeks worth of stuff in one day and I feel like this blog entry doesn't do justice to the actual experience.

Some of the kids in the Mitrataa Hostel.

Welcome to Kathmandu

After what felt like an eternity and after a very quick stop-over in Guangzhou we arrived in Kathmandu. Once at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu we grabbed our bags and headed for customs which funnily enough was just a bunch of soldiers checking our baggage stickers to check that we had the right bags. Walking out of the airport we found our transfer which was just a small van that had to fit 11 people each with 2 suitcases and a carry on bag; where to put it all? The roof of course with no need to tie it all down, just tetris it all in carefully and drive slowly and nothing should fall off. Well thankfully nothing did fall off; the driver did well and before we knew it we were at Kathmandu Guest House and straight to bed.

My first full day began with a 5am wake up thanks to the man chanting in the courtyard on one side of the room and the kitchen staff readying breakfast on the otherside of the room. They are a noisy bunch in Nepal. Once everyone was together we met in the beautiful gardens of the Kathmandu Guest House to discuss what would be happening. We were warned to be prepared for anything in Nepal and so I wasn't surprised to learn that because of the upcoming federal elections on the 19th November, there is rolling strikes (or Bandas as the Nepalese call them).  Apparently there will be 10 days of strikes starting today but it didn't stop most businesses in Thamel (the suburb I am staying in) from opening.

We explored a great deal of Thamel today; it is a very popular tourist area. So many different stores selling everything from hiking gear to pirated movies but a really fantastic atmosphere nothing like I have ever seen before. The pushy sales people that you find in most touristy places around the world don't seem as 'in your face' as they did in China or Thailand which is a relief.

From a cultural point of view it is very different here. One thing that I have noticed today is that it is not unusual for men to walk around holding hands or having their arms oround other men. It is unusual in the sense that it is nothing more than just comradery here as opposed to how most westerners would view it as 'being gay'. I think it really shines a light on how such very simple things are perceived in different cultures. In Australia, if two men walk around holding hands it takes on a completely different connotation whereas here in Nepal, no one bats an eyelid.

Day one ended with a great Nepalese dinner (Panek Paneer with Garlic Naan for me) with some new friends at a rooftop restaurant followed by a couple of drinks at a nearby bar.

Waiting in Warrawong

So it's only two more sleeps until I head to Nepal and I don't really know how I am feeling. Excited for the prospects of what I will encounter? Yes, definitely. Excited for the doors this opportunity will open for me? Absolutely. You could say I am excited all up but really I am a little apprehensive with the thought of leaving my family behind. It's never easy saying goodbye to loved ones before a long trip but I justify it by looking at the opportunities this experience will provide me in my teaching career.

I've read a lot about Kathmandu and done my research on everything from the currency to the gym situation (yes, sad I know) and there is not anything I am really worried about with visiting this city. I think the fact that I didn't know a lot about the place before applying for the trip has helped me just accept that it is better to just 'go with the flow'.  I understand that there will be a plethora of cultural differences that will challenge me on a daily basis but I guess past trips to China, Singapore and Thailand will have given me some coping experience.

Teaching in Nepal is going to be a great challenge but to be completely honest, I really haven't thought much about that part of it. I think it has something to do with the fact that as far as their schools and curriculum is concerned I really don't know what to expect. Like I said before, I am just going to go with the flow and enjoy the experience.

I really enjoy being immersed in a different culture as I learn a great deal from just observing. I am fascinated by how different things are to how I percieve them to be or how I might do something differently  at home. I feel a connectedness to places that I allow myself to be immersed in and I like to see the positive aspects of my surrounds.

I think I will just try and relax over the next few nights and get a good sleep in preparation for the long flight. I'm looking forward to meeting the rest of the group that's going and talking about our thoughts and expectations relating to the trip.

I guess this explains what I am thinking and feeling before the trip and I will touch base about my first impressions of Kathmandu once I get there.