Nepal Village Home Stay and Volunteer Work

Sunday, October 18, 2015
Kathmandu, Nepal


I have been led to assume that the last blog post covered our return to Pokhara . I am currently typing this on my phone in a place with no internet, so I haven't had the chance to read it. Thus, let's begin with the return to Kathmandu.

The bus ride was simply exquisite. Our bags, and Jack's giant stick, were thrown into the back, and we all squeezed onto the bus. This time, we were not alone; the rest of the bus was filled with other travelers. We stopped for lunch, with 40 people unloading to eat at the restaurant. They fed us buffet style, 4$ for as much as you can eat. All but Tim succumbed and paid the 400 rupees, with Tim having his trusty tin of tuna. 

Soon, it was time to gather back on the bus. Everyone was aboard and ready to go when we realized that guy Alex (Bismuth) was still in the bathroom. We soon saw him exiting the bathroom nonchalantly, walking over to the sink to wash his hands. Our copious shouts eventually garnered his attention, and so he finished washing his hands, hopped up the steps to the road, and jogged over to the bus . The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, until we pulled into Kathmandu.

The bus stopped, and we were told to exit. Once we did however, we were confronted by a slight issue. We had no idea where we were. Soon our bags were unloaded, and we were left befuddled as to which way to go as the bus left us in the dust. Luckily, a local pointed us in the direction of Durbar Square, and we were off! We must have been quite the sight, with our big backpacks on our back, and small ones in front. Quite a few people stopped and stared at the procession of pregnant backpack turtles heading through the city.
 
A few minutes into our walk, we asked once again for directions. The lady we asked pointed us back the way we came. Fortunately, a passerby happened to be paying attention, and he argued with the lady for a few seconds before deciding to simply walk us to our destination. To me, at least, he was an angel in the guise of a man, leading us weary travelers to where we could rest. 

The walk was only half an hour, but after 9 days of trekking and with the double backpacks, it was as trying as any journey I have so far been on . Jack, of course, had his stick, a giant, green staff he was determined to carry all the way to America, but the rest of us weren't so fortunate. Eventually, though, we managed to return to our beloved Monumental Paradise Hotel, where we were given keys and soon fell on our beds. 

The next day, we went to visit the Royal Palace. The entire royal family had been murdered several years earlier, and eventually the place had been opened as a museum. No pictures allowed unfortunately, and neither were cards, as I found out. I had to leave all my decks in the locker before they would allow me entrance.

The palace was beautiful. Vibrant colors, spacious corridors, rooms left as if the royal family may walk back in at any moment (other than the signs and the fences, but, I think if I were to live in a place like that I could probably deal with those small barriers). There were a number of paintings of those you could only assume were previous rulers, two of which were particularly interesting; judging by the dates written underneath each painting, one had taken the throne when he was two . Then, several years later, he had abdicated.... In favor of the man in the next painting, who had taken the throne at the age of two.

Along with paintings of infant rulers, there were several animal skins, apparently displeased with their lot in death, judging by the faces. The tigers especially seemed fairly pissed off that someone had seen fit to taxidermy them. Several were rugs, but at the base of the main stairs were two fully formed tigers, standing on their hind legs and roaring. Or at least, acting like they were roaring, because despite what seemed on their part to be a great effort, I could hear nothing.

One other interesting aspect of the palace were the bedrooms. In each gust bedroom were various displays of wealth, not the least of which being a huge mirror that reflected the bed in each. But, the room which we learned was the personal room for the king and queen were off to the side and somewhat modest. Their mirror was quite thin, compared to the wall of reflective glass in the other rooms . The entire room itself was much smaller than the other guest rooms. Obviously, they cared more about making an impression on their guests than themselves.

Eventually, our walk through the palace was done, and we were left to our own devices on how to get back. Everyone seemed to manage it. While I can't say how many got hopelessly lost, everyone managed to make it back to our hostel in time for our 8 pm meeting. 

The next morning, our time in Katmandu was at an end. We were off to the village, with our next home stay. 

But first, we visited Bodhnath Stupa. A massive structure rose in the center of the square (I call it a square, but it was circular), surrounded by walls with insets filled with cylinders you could spin as you passed by. We were allowed to walk around the structure, but could only go clockwise, and we could not go around an even number of times. You were only supposed to traverse the area 1, 3, 5, etc times, though it was not heavily enforced . All the same, I do not know of anyone who went against either tradition.

After we had our fill at the stupa, it was back on the bus and away to the village! The drive was not a long one, and soon we were standing underneath the school for which we would work. 

We were given the names of the students who we would be staying with, and were led away to our separate houses. We each stayed in a home with one other person from our group, and I personally stayed with Tim.

Each home welcomed their respective travelers with open arms, and my experience was no exception. Tim and I were shown our room, and then the host mother proceeded to try to stuff us with enough food to last a life time. I do not know where Tim keeps it all, for I have never managed to eat more than half of what she gives us, while he consistently eats the entire first serving or more.

Each day we would struggle to communicate, but eventually each side could get their idea across . We even learned some Nepalese words, though not really how to spell them. An important one for me was "pugyo", which means enough, I'm full. 

Tim gifted the family with 2 jars of peanut butter, and ever since, it has been served to us for breakfast. And, on the last night, I had an impromptu dance performance with the music Tim had downloaded for free on his phone. Overall, it was a good experience, even though Tim was disappointed that he never got to milk the cow.

Not all our time was spent at the home, though. A lot was spent working on a school. The children were at another area that had been rented while the place we were working on was being finished. When we arrived, the place was derelict. A 3 story gray building devoid of life, with debris strewn everywhere and a courtyard littered with bricks and stones. We may have only been there 6 days, but an honest change came about the place in that time. The courtyard was mostly cleared of trash and bricks, and quite a bit more level . We filled three of the first floor classrooms with new benches that now have a fresh coat of paint. There is still a lot of work to be done on the place, but we certainly gave it a good start.

On the last day, we had a meeting with a number of school children and some teachers. The first activity was an open Q&A between the two groups, where we could ask questions of the children, and the children could ask questions of us. The next event had us split into three groups, where we competed to get the most points by getting the correct answer to thoroughly random questions. We were helped by the children, thankfully, as apparently they had studied this stuff. Among the questions were things like "who is the prime minister of Nepal?" "who discovered America?" "what is the fear of blood called?" "how do you find the area?" (that one had to be clarified; they were asking for the area of the circle) and, of course, "where do rabbits live?". Overall, it was a fun game, and once it ended one of the teacher brought out tea . There is no better way to end a friendly competition than with a hot cup of tea and children who are way too energetic for the time of day gallivanting about. 

Now, no blog post about this experience would be complete without a more in depth mention of the children than that last line. We didn't interact with them as much as at the last school in Kathmandu, as we were working on a different site than where they were learning, but they left an impression all the same. Whether it was one of them running around slapping everyone after lunch, or another putting her hands together to say namaste before sticking them as far in her mouth as they would go, there was certainly something to remember. 

It seemed like MA and Sam were the two interacting the most with the children, with MA constantly being entreated into play fights with small boys and Sam consistently covered with them when they visited us at the workplace. That is not to say that the rest of us didn't have our moments, however, for the friendly faces of smiling children made sure that not a single person in our group was left out .

Eventually though, our time in the village came to an end, and now we are resting in Kathmandu, excited for tomorrow's plane ride to New Delhi. 

Our time in Nepal has, sadly, come to a close, but hopefully India will prove to be just as fantastic.

Griffin

 
 

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