Samir + Amy

A Peek Into the Life of Nepali School Children

For the final two weeks of our trip, we volunteered at North Star elementary school in Jitpur village, which is 30km from Katmandu.  During our stay, we taught English and computer classes for students in grades 7/8/9, as well as some basic teacher training for school teachers and the volunteer group we were with.

Travel essentials in Nepal

A few things that we needed at all times during our travel in Nepal:

Dahal dal is the best in Nepal (seriously though)

The food the Dahals served us was some of the best we have had in Nepal (no joke)

  All meals were based on bhat (rice) and dal (lentil soup) and one or more veg curries.  Almost all the food was grown on the family farm and freshly harvested that day.  The food was also much spicier than any other traditional food we've eaten here - I was in heaven.

  Meals were eaten on the kitchen floor with our hands, in traditional Nepali style.  It's a lot more hygenic than it sounds.  The kitchen is meticulously cleaned, no shoes are allowed, and all food is freshly prepared and served immediately. 

  Mother Dahal serves all family members and waits for them to complete their meal before serving herself.  She continuously ladels out more food unless one can communicate that your stomach will explode if there is more dal inserted into it (Pugyho! Pugyho!)

  There are also curious rituals and rules that escape western logic.  For example:

• women on their periods were not allowed in the kitchen
• sitting directly on the floor was unacceptable, so simple straw mats were provided
• the family shares from a single water pitcher, but it must be consumed without touching the lips
• food may only be eaten with the right hand (although even the Dahals were a little lax on this one)
• food is spilled on the floor while being served across the room (picture a long ladel containing watery soup being thrust across the room). so the kitchen is a mess immediately after the meal, and then immediately scrubbed clean
• tea is served without fail 3 times daily (starting at 6:30AM)
• slippers must be worn throughout the house except in the kitchen or the bedroom

 
Avoiding the landmines of cultural faux-pas kept us on our toes and led to lots of giggles all around.

Dahal dal is the best in Nepal

The Dahals were our host family for our week of volunteering in Jitpur village.

  We were initially aprehensive about the living arrangements.  Would we be able to communicate with our hosts?  Would the food be safe for us to eat?  What would the bathroom facilities be like?  How would we keep ourselves entertained in a village that barely has access to power and no communications (internet etc)?

  Our concerns turned out to be unfounded, because our time with the Dahals has been the most memorable of our entire journey.  The family has been incredibly warm, generous, welcoming and entertaining.  Living with them gave us a taste of the closeness of Nepali family life - and the result is a desire to return and see these people again.

  Sanju is the oldest girl at 22.  She acts as part time matriarch, cooking and cleaning when her Mom is away on the farm or at the family shop. 

  Ranju is second oldest at 19.  She is currently at college in Kathmandu in economics and finance.  She loves cheesy English ballads, which she regularly blares on her cellphone (received by bluetooth from friends!)

  Sriju is the youngest sister at 14.  She attends a local private school, and has a hilarious sarcastic wit that comes through loud and clear in Nepali and basic English.

  Bijay is the youngest child at 12.  He loves being in front of the camera and has perfected all the Hritik Kroshan dance moves.  This guy is also hilarious and loves to laugh.

  Mother Dahal is a typically hardworking Nepali woman. She juggles a family of 7 with farmwork and managing the family shop.  She's undisputed head of the household when she's around.

  Meg Dhal is the father and he also works a lot. He's a principal at the local gov't public school, and manages the shop.

  Hajurama is Meg's mother, and she helps out as best she can. She's also the house pyro, taking care of burning garbage when necessary.

  We spent every evening at the Dahal's house playing games and exchanging songs and stories with the Dahal kids.  The language barrier seemed to disappear around our topics of card games, 'best curries', indian dance moves and tales of exploits during the school day.  The Dahals were endlessly curious about our lives in Seattle and the ways of the western world. 

  Amy even introduced the group to yoga and she held lessons on the balcony every afternoon - attended by the kids and the neighbors with their typical enthusiasm.

  Our final night with the Dahals was an emotional one, with exchanges of gifts and sentiments of gratitude. 

  Our thanks to the Dahals for making this foreign world a friendly and familiar place.

Final days in Nepal

We are nearing the end of our time in Nepal. Posts have been sporadic due to hectic schedule and lack of net access. Sorry!

We spent the last week in a village outside Kathmandu volunteer teaching at a local school. The experience has been at times fulfilling and frustrating. Our host family has been warmer than we could imagine.. We will be sad to leave our new home. More on them later.

Part of our Teaching has included a media class for grade 9s.. Where the kids filmed documentary on life in Nepal for schoolkids.. Struggling to edit it right now with the meager tools available to us.. YouTube link coming soon.

Namaste friends & family!

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Life on the mountain

We just completed a 3 day trek through the Himalayas that destroyed us.  Amy had a blister the size of texas and my thighs will never be the same again.  The sad thing is that it was a walk in the park (literally) for our Nepalese guide - he was nice about our physical ineptitude, but I could tell he was snickering at us on the inside. 

We got a real taste of rural mountain life, which was often shocking and beautiful.  Nepalese people are tough.  We were regularly passed on our trail up the mountain by barefoot women twice our age and half our size, holding unreasonable loads for long distances.  Porters are paid less than US$3/day to haul bags for vacationing westerners along these punishing trails.  I'm proud to say we carried our own bags (but just barely made it).

Nepalese people are resourceful.  Their vertically oriented existence makes farming and access to basic resources, like water and power, challenging.  Daily treks up and down the mountain are a necessity, as are efficient use of farm animals and cooking techniques.  Houses are perched on cliffs, farm fields are cut into the hillside and people work to live (often going without).  However, when contrasted against the helpless squalor of India's poor, there is something more dignified about the rural Nepalese existence.  They seemed happy. 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to view much of the greater Himalayan range on this trip due to hazy weather - but this glimpse into a world so different from ours made the journey worth every step.

Rub a dub dub, time for a scrub

What would your main concerns be if you were asked to bathe an Elephant?

I was primarily concerned about crushed limbs (ours) and finding a big enough shower head (for him).  Turns out that neither is a big problem, as long as you have a big enough bath tub (like a river) and if you stay out the way when the elephant decides to pitch you off his back so he can dunk himself under water.

It was a truly unique experience  :)

Ashes to ashes

People go to Varanasi to die. 

Vinay, you're one in a million

Most of the time, India's many, many scam artists, swindlers, toutes posing as impromptu tour-guides are not to be trusted.  After two weeks of harassment, we've been trained to trust no one who offers us services off the streets.

After searching for 20 minutes in vain for some much needed yogagic therapy in Varanasi, we finally succumed to the services of a young (looking) guide, Vinay, who claimed to know "1000 percent" where the Yoga Center of Varanasi hid.  We were running out of time before the scheduled class of 4pm.

Vinay lead us through back alleys, bamboozling bazaars, through fly infested yoghurt shops, possibly through someone's living room, through tight spaces that rickshas and cars could not travel.  As he sprinted along and we struggled to keep up, he chanted:

    "Do not think.  I am your mind.  My mind is your map"

After 10 minutes we ended precisely at the Yoga Center, on schedule. 

Vinay refused a tip, if only we would come to his uncle's shop aftewards to "browse, not buy".  Normally, my relationship with a guide would end right there, but something told me Vinay was different (maybe it was the Lariam).

After our 1 hour yoga lesson, we agreed to go to Vinay's shop, which he said was frequented by "film icon Goldie Hawn".  As usual, we started out in browse mode only, but the ladies found a few things they liked so we didn't leave empty handed.  We even got to browse a nice family photo album features some nice photos of Goldie Hawn posing with the owner and Vinay. 

Sometimes, when you let your guard down in this country, people here shock you in a good way.  Vinay the honest guide: you're one in a million. 

Jungle walk in Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Elephant rides are less comfortable than you imagine them to be.  Maybe it was all those stories of Rajput kings riding them to state visits that made me think they were a luxurious form of travel. 

Comfort aside, Elephants are the best way to travel in the subtropical jungles of southern Nepal, when you might come across irritated one-horned rhinos or tigers.  When we were deciding whether to do a jungle walk on foot, we made our final decision after our would-be guide indicated that evading tigers involved nothing more than sharp wits and the ability to climb trees at short notice.  No thanks, jungle Jim.

The rhinos look straight out of Jurassic park. I mean the armour, the horns - hard to believe they're still widely roaming the jungles here.  I love that the elephants and rhinos barely even notice each other in the same field.. us humans were going bonkers up there and the animals didn't know what all the fuss was about.

The jungle is full of other interesting creatures and critters including deer, kingfisher birds, various snakes, lizards, crocodiles (are they lizards?) and monkeys.

It was a unique experience and well worth the resulting sore bums..