Can you REALLY play football???

The major sport here is some good old fashioned football (yes, its a ball you kick with your foot...how did American's come up with the word soccer). If you can play it, you rock. If you are a teacher and you can play it....you are a hero (not me). Being that I don't understand the concept of foot-eye coordination, even the small students had amazing skills in my eyes. They could create a game of football with everything from a rock to a tiny pencil sharpener. I rarely saw them get to play with an actual football. I have no idea how to control a tennis ball or cricket ball with my feet...but these kids sure do!

Last Day of School

A final memory with my homeroom class....Class 4B.

And a little extra time for being silly!

Science Exhibition

At the end of the school year, our school puts on a big exhibition including math, science, art and computers. Which for me meant....let the chaos begin. I taught all three sections of Class 4 science along with one section of Class 2 science (my roommate taught the rest of Class 2).

Coming up with projects, selecting and organizing the kids into teams, keeping track of their progress, and being done on time....well, it was a challenge, but the final product worked out just fine. My roommate came up with the idea of doing a whole theme for Class 2...so we learned about 6 organs of the human body. The choices for Class 4 were: plants, the 3 states of water, soil erosion, the rotation of the earth, nutrition, and air is matter.

Class 2 group for the human eye....exciting!

The full body picture AND science lab mannequin...even more exciting!

And....Class 2: The Human Skin

Class 4....showing how water washes away soil when there are no plants.

And the winners of Class 4: Food and Nutrition! (I may have gotten some extra help from my own nutrition teacher back in junior high...thanks Karen!) The kids explained to all the parents what a balanced diet means and what it should contain using foods available in our village here in Nepal.
And...this creative contraption was used to show how the sun (or a kerosene lamp) shines unevenly on the earth (cricket balls) which causes the 4 seasons as the earth rotates.

Darjeeling....#2

A little more sightseeing around Darjeeling....

This is the Japanese Peace Pagoda built just outside of Darjeeling. The Japanese have built a number of these in different places around the world to promote peace, and in person they are really stunning.

The Ghoom Monastery is one of the oldest and most holy monasteries in the region. Although I'm not a Buddhists, the insides of the monasteries I have visited are something to appreciate. The artistic ability and detail in the paintings, carvings, and wall hangings are incredible.
Both of these pictures are from the main Hindu temple that sits on tip of the main hill in the center of Darjeeling. I think the pictures speak for themselves in showing the atmosphere and color.

I had to throw in one picture of myself so that you at least believed I went in person and didn't just take all these pictures off the internet (and no, I have no idea how to use photoshop). You can see in the background how big the city is and in the top left you can also see some of the mountains. And in January....it was FREEZING.
The people of Darjeeling and the surrounding area have been fighting to be an autonomous state for many, many years. I don't know much about the history, but from asking different people there has been a demand for Gorkhaland since the time of Indian independence. The region is currently part of the very large state of West Bengal and people are unhappy because they have no real voice in the government, plus things like the roads are falling apart.

My visit was great...even if I was alone. I couldn't believe how much of an influence still existed from the British. The area was nothing like the rest of India, but the people were friendly and the mountains were awesome so I was happy!

Darjeeling! (That's India)

Yes, I know I'm a little behind on the timeline of things, but a least I'm still working on keeping you updated!

Way back when....we had our winter break, I took a solo trip. We had a month long break because it's too cold to be in the school. So, my destinations: Jhapa and Darjeeling. I had to choose somewhere that I could get there and back in a few weeks and wouldn't cost too much money.

First, I headed on an all night bus to the southeast corner of Nepal to a region known as Jhapa. It was amazing to see how completely different the southern part of the country is from the hills where I live. It is flat and hot without a big town in sight there. I had heard amazing things about the two schools that the Jesuits run in Jhapa so I thought it would be a good place to visit. I got to see the schools, a totally new part of Nepal, and could stay with the Jesuits. One of the schools is a St. Xavier's school with classes 1 through 10 where the students are taught in English. The second school is in a village surrounded by tea gardens and was built to serve the children of the tea workers as well as the small local farming village. The experience showed me so many new things....from bicycle rides through tea plantations to students running around with no shoes!

After Jhapa, I hopped on a bus to the Indian border so that I could head on to Darjeeling. Darjeeling is a famous hill station that was built up and visited during the British colonial days as a place to escape the summer heat of south India. I had heard a lot about this place since arriving in Nepal, and being that they even speak Nepali there, I thought it would be a perfect adventure.

Once the bus reaches the Indian border, you have to walk to take a rickshaw across this bridge, which is literally the border. The river bed below is a huge expanse of emptiness where you cross between two very chaotic border cities.
I was the only foreigner in site that day and therefore, the only person stopping to get my passport stamped at the two check posts. This one is on the Indian side of the border.
After another bus and a three hour ride in a jeep up a winding, bumping road hanging onto the sides of the hills, I was amazed to see this huge town built into the hillsides. But, the best part was the backdrop, Kanchenjunga, the world's third tallest mountain peak.

Darjeeling was built up during the British rule and although the city is old now, the British influence is still very clear. The road and even the tiny railroad were all originally built during that time. I could not believe how far we had traveled and how big the place was so far away from any other city.
And yes, I was kind of scared of the monkeys.
One of the main tourists sites is the zoo and the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute. It was the most exciting place I've ever been, but it was interesting. I most excited to see the snow leopards and even though they were in captivity, I can see why people in this part of the world are so enamored with the beautiful animals.

Below is another picture of the mountains from a walking path around the city.

An Extra Taste of Life

Just thought I would put up a few more pictures from the daily side of life.

My class taking the class photo for the school yearbook. We are class 4'B'.
View of the Himals....from school! This picture is not doing it justice. If you have time you should open it up big on your computer. Some of our students get this view from their classroom. It's crazy!
Table tennis is big here! And out of my class 4 boys....I hear that Sandeep is pretty awesome.
They are also extremely excited if I ever attempt to play with them!
Mmmmmm.....one of the tastiest things in Nepal....hot chiya (milk tea) from our very own chiya didi at the bus park stand by our house.
Nothing like grading papers by candle light. We are currently up to 12 hours a day with no power, which conveniently always happens to be all during the day....and then they give us electricity from something like 1am - 7am. Thanks guys....just in time for me to wake up!

What's Your Biggest Luxury?

Are you a fan of simple living? Maybe you car pool to work or use energy efficient light bulbs? But, we all still indulge in luxuries right? So what is yours? An SUV instead of a fuel efficient mini car? Maybe you love your grande latte from Starbucks in the morning?

Well, this morning I rewrote my definition of luxury. And here's how it goes: WATER. That's it. One simple word....water. Yes, it is a luxury. Not hot and cold running water at all times of day and night. Nope, just plain water. Like, enough to wash your hands and brush your teeth with in the morning (and notice I didn't even ask for the flushing of the toilet that comes before the hand washing).

There is a percentage of the world that has no clue what it is like to be without a reliable, clean source of water. But here's the news flash that most of the people in that group miss, your the minority. Yes, I know that you have seen the images of women on television lined up to fill their mismatched buckets and bowls of water at the community tap to carry it along the dusty road back home. But, don't scoff at me yet, have you really thought about it? Well, I had to this morning...only for a few hours...and let me tell you something. It wasn't fun.

I had a great morning planned starting with a little sleeping in. Decided to roll my way out from under the covers at about 8:00. Thought I would maybe make some coffee and then wash those sheets that have been sitting in the corner waiting to be freshened up for when I no longer need the warmth of my sleeping bag. Sleepy-eyed, I make my way out to the charpi (toilet...but you throw the water down with a bucket rather than flushing), and discover...no water. Nothing to panic about, there is an extra bucket of soapy water left over from the other day when I washed some clothes. I throw that down the toilet and don't think twice. Surprise number two, I can't wash my hands. Well, I guess I will use the tiny bit of water left from just rinsing my clothes because it only had clean clothes in it. Problem solved.

Wrong. Problem still coming.

The thing is, we live in a village up in the hills and are known for having a plentiful supply of water. While most of the village houses do not have running water, they can fill up tanks at their house for use during the day. Otherwise, they make the short trek with buckets to the village tap and carry water back home, which gives them more than enough for drinking and cooking. Really, my house is lucky, we DO have running water all the way to the house. But, it's the dry season now, so we run out. Lately, we've been running short each day, but not so bad that I've registered what this means. Only yesterday, I was feeling a bit lazy and didn't fill up a single bucket with water. Not the kitchen buckets, not the toilet buckets, nothing. Which brings us back to my morning of consternation.

After the make shift hand washing, I wander to the kitchen for my morning cup of coffee. We do not have a tap in the kitchen so usually a few buckets of water sit on the floor to use for cooking. This morning they were sitting with only the smallest puddle in the bottom. And now the morning wake up call really kicks in...THERE IS NO WATER. I have one last trick up my sleeve, we have a water pump, but it only works when there is electricity. And guess what, yep, this morning no electricity...and the loadshedding schedule says I'm out of luck until noon. Crap....that's 4 hours! Alright, that's life in Nepal right? I figure, I'll combine those puddles of water from the bottom of the buckets for at least one little cup of coffee, I'll just have an apple for breakfast (no water required), and then I'll head to the city to catch up on emails and when I come back...there will be some water.

I get my cup and half of water boiling and save the last half of cup to rinse out our coffee press....stylishly held together at the moment with numerous applications of duct tape. I get to the sink (a cement hole on the floor) and find ants. Damn. In my laziness yesterday, not only did I forget to fill up the water buckets but I didn't finish washing the dishes. One bowl is infested. What to do? No water....remember? If I just had one....one little bucket of water all my problems would be solved. I could wash my hands, wash the ants out of the sink, and be on my way (let's not even talk about how much water it would take to wash those sheets). Ok, I can handle this. I hold the ant infested bowl out the window, knock the ants out, flick the remaining ants off my arms and inspect the sink. The rest of the ant family is looking for a new spot....I have to squish them with my fingers. I lean back out the window to see the ants climbing on the walls. I attack with a broom and then spread turmeric on the window ledge...ok, did I really hear that turmeric can deter ants or am I just losing my mind at this point? Ant problem postponed for the moment...now if only I could wash my hands. Oh well, I wipe them off on my pants.

Whew, everything is ok now. At least until I have to use the bathroom again. I drink my coffee and head into my room to change into some jeans so I can head to the city. Problem still not solved. I cannot even brush my teeth or wash my face. I am losing my will to keep trying. EVERYTHING requires water. When did that happen?

I commence on a silent rant in my head. I can't even wash my hands! How ridiculous is that? Is it too much to ask to just brush my teeth? Seriously! Just my teeth! Let's not even talk about trying to shower or wash clothes. My sink is filled with dirty dishes. Your welcome stupid ants. Hope you come back in an hour. I can't do anything! I'm stuck. Frozen, trying to start the day.

It's now 10:15, and just as I've lost all of my previously positive attitude. The power comes back on. A moment of grace of the electricity Gods. I burst into action! Run downstairs and turn on the water pump. Take all the buckets out to the tap. Brush my teeth with the first trickles of water. Take the first two buckets back to the kitchen and boil drinking water. Start in on the dish washing and pouring the ants down the drain. I fill up extra buckets for the toilet and take the kitchen buckets back for round two. I my face and my hands! It's incredible!

I admit, maybe I sound a bit dramatic about being without water for just over 2 hours. But, it really did put a damper on my morning, and it got me thinking about the lives people face when they do not have access to water. It really must control a person's life. I still think I'm inconvenienced when I miss a shower here or there. Even after living here for over a year, I still take water for granted. How can you not when you grow up with an endless, beautiful supply that can be hot or cold at your demand? So, if you've read this far, do me a favor. Try to go a day without using any water besides the small amount you drink or cook with. Or, at least count or think about it every single time you turn on some water. It will make you think.

Now answer this question again.....what luxuries do you have? Is your list a little longer?