Celebrating our 'festival' for a change

We have had another busy week at school and have experienced more of village life which has been fun. School has been going well and we are beginning to notice the progress some students have made in our classes which is encouraging and makes it much more enjoyable. Our grade 2 class have continued to be very sweet and are beginning to settle down, being a little less naughty which makes the day a million times better. They're class teacher told us that they keep asking 'when are Gemma miss and Alice miss coming?' and tell her they really like our teaching style which was very sweet and quite rewarding. The English teacher continues to badger us about teaching health, a request from some parents so we attempted to teach them the food pyramid. We were actually quite proud of ourselves as some of them understood which is quite an achievement given their English is not the best! It also turned out to be pretty entertaining as some of the children admitted to eating bowls of sugar on a daily basis. Despite them being so skinny the children seem to eat a ridiculous amount of junk food and very few vegetables which is sad. This week was Valentine's Day so we decided to do a fun lesson with our combined class and teach them about our 'festivals' for a change. We made origami love hearts with them which was very sweet and they loved it. In the following days our grade 5's seem to spend most of their time making origami tulips and hearts to give us which was lovely so we now have a vase of flowers each to brighten up our house! Overall, we are both enjoying school and it's been fun to have some more relaxed lessons with our pupils.

At the weekend 3 of the other 5 volunteers living in Syangja came to visit us and stay in the village. It was a bit of a squeeze as we only have 2 beds but it was good fun to show them village life. On Saturday morning we got up early and took them up Bahakot hill to see sunrise. It was not quite as spectacular as last time as the mountings didn't glow pink but it was still amazing. I love watching sunrise up the hill as it's so peaceful, calm and so beautiful. It is such a relaxing start to the morning if I can be bothered to drag myself out of bed. KK then took us for a walk to the village on top of the hill opposite us. He used to run up there as a boy in half an hour which is very impressive. It was a beautiful walk up stone steps through the jungle. There is a boarding school at the top which a lot of children from the village go to when they are older. No wonder they are all so fit and strong if they hike up these hills everyday! At the top we were rewarded by incredible views of the Annapurnas and a tasty meal of chow mein. We spent the rest of the day sunbathing and relaxing l. As I lay there sunning myself surrounded by incredible mountains I couldn't help but think back to a year ago when I was stressing about dissertations- what a contrast!

KK has just finished building a new house in the village but before they can enter the house a ceremony has to take place which we were lucky enough to be invited to. To be a teacher seems to be a very highly respected job so they often get invited to parties to eat. At lunch time we went to KK's house along with all the other teachers to have some lunch. We had a delicious meal of rice, chickpeas, potatoes, cauliflower, mula and of course sal roti. Sal roti is a Nepali bread which is made out of rice, ghee and sugar that they seem to have at all the parties and is very tasty. After school we were invited back to have more food so we were extremely full by the end! In the Hindu culture a couple cannot enter the house to sleep or use it until this ceremony has been carried out. KK and his wife sat with the pundit the entire day worshipping which is very impressive given they sit cross legged for all that time! In the afternoon they then put a garland of flowers, which the ladies in the village had made around the entire house and a trident on top to keep the devil away. In the evening they held a traditional village dance with their family and friends in the village. This was similar to the previous dance but a more friendly atmosphere so Alice and I were pulled up to dance a lot but it was good fun. I think we are definitely improving! There were several very young children there who were very sweet and we were amazed to see them last until it ended at midnight. The Nepalese don't seem to be too bothered about children's bed times. At the end of the dance they had some speeches and brought out a huge plate with money, fruit and candles on it to encourage people to donate some money. We late learnt that this money goes towards helping women in the village. Overall, it was a tiring day of eating a lot but it was great to experience and learn more about their culture and village life.