Long gap!

Something Anila (runs the teashop) always says when we haven't been for a few days!

It's big though, to make up for it.

So, what have I done in the 2 weeks since the last time I posted?

Lots and not much, in the usual way.
Last week (ie, 2 weeks ago), passed by in a mad blur of song and dance. We taught a (Western) song, and learnt a (Nepali) dance to perform for the opening of a children’s park in Tindharia. It was frantic, it was stressful, but we managed to pull it off, and it was really fun (in the end).

Teaching the song was quite fun. The students learnt “We are the World”, which the teachers chose but which we ended up teaching (I’m sure I remember the other teachers asking us to *help* teach the song, not teach it on our own! It was fine, and we didn’t mind at all, but their idea of “help” is clearly different from ours). Because they had so little time to learn it (less than a week), we ended up teaching it to them instead of our afternoon classes (all of our loud, noisy classes with the younger ones are in the afternoon, so this was a welcome change!). And since the general order of things is to be as last minute as possible with just about everything, everyone was quite used to the pressure, and they learnt the song really quickly.
Learning the dance was a wee bit more stressful. I am not a natural Nepali dancer (actually, I’m not much of a dancer, period. I’ve got to say, I’m quite disappointed by the fact that my years of synchro experience have not crossed over into a natural aptitude for dance). And our dance teacher is a natural dancer of all styles, and couldn’t quite understand why I didn’t remember every step she did (after only demonstrating once – grumble grumble). Nepali dance is easy, if you’re Nepali and can understand the lyrics (and have been doing Nepali dance since you were tiny, like most of the people seem to have done here). However, I am not Nepali (and my understanding of Nepali is shockingly bad), so I did find it quite difficult. On Saturday I was frustrated (I’d actually really wanted to learn a Nepali dance, but not in so little time), on Sunday I needed a drink more than I ever have before (would I ever learn it?), on Monday I had a tiny glimmer of hope that I might actually manage to do something vaguely resembling a dance on Friday, but on Tuesday I sunk back into depression (practice did not go well, and we only had a few days left). Somehow, however, I managed a breakthrough, and by Thursday felt ok. We certainly weren’t going to be perfect, but at least I could go through the dance without blanking out and staring desperately at our teacher (who never looked impressed). We did a dress rehearsal on Thursday for the school, and it went well.

Our dance teacher wasn’t nearly as horrible as I’ve made her out to be. She actually is so sweet, it’s just that her style of teaching is very different from anything I’m used to, and she wasn’t into baby steps when it came to learning the dance. She also knew very little English (so she actually taught us more Nepali than anyone else has done), which meant that everything she said was really blunt and exaggerated (“That’s WRONG!” accompanied by semi-disgusted laughter)
The programme itself was a typical opening ceremony – lots of speeches (made even more tedious by being in Nepali, so we had no hope of understanding them),and dances by other schools. The big event was that BBC World was filming it – the announcers made the poor camerapeople (man and woman) come up to the stage to be acknowledged – they were clearly more comfortable to be on the other side of the camera! The students sang really well though. It dragged on for a bit, and we were to be the special event at the end, which made it feel even worse (it was really hot, and the speakers were really loud = splitting headache to accompany the boredom). Our performance went really well though. The students all cheered really loudly. The event was pretty much over after we danced, and we had masses of people coming up to take our picture. It was all really fun in a slightly embarrassing way (I was dressed as a Nepali man, complete with facial hair).
We went to a student from Regal Academy’s house to have tea straight after (still in full Nepali dress). It was quite funny – he did NOT recognize us, and looked completely terrified to see these strange people sitting in his living room. Apparently after we left, he told his parents: “those are not my ma’ams”! So funny,
We then headed straight off to Darjeeling (after quickly changing out of the costumes, and washing off the mustache). It was just us two, hanging out, eating lots and doing some shopping, and it was the perfect way to end the week. That evening we went to a posh hotel called the Windamere for a pink gin. It was pricey, but so worth it, and we ended up meeting a guy there who goes to UBC! Love the random connections. He was really nice and we ended up meeting up with him the next afternoon.
On Saturday we went to the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre in the morning. It was really interesting, and lovely and quiet. We poked our heads in a few of the workshops, and it was really nice to watch everything being made. The carpet workshop stood out - it must take so much patience to make them, as hours of work goes into them. The gift shop was a disappointment - bit of a missed opportunity there - after spending time watching people make gloves and carpets and shoes, we really wanted to buy something to support them, but everything was hidden away in piles behind glass, and staff weren't exactly jumping to show things either. Funny moment in the shop though - we walked in and there was this large family of Bengali tourists, who immediately all wanted to take our picture (and kept thrusting forth small children to pose with us). Apparently I was "Barbie". Not sure how to take that!

Sunday was also a slow day, but we were incredibly lucky as Mrs Thapa happened to have come up to Darjeeling so we hitched a ride back with her in the school van (well timed, as we'd run out of cash!).

This week has had its events as well. On Monday a cyclone hit Kolkata, and the storm made its way up to us on Tuesday. This meant no school (howling winds and pouring rain all day) on Tuesday, but also no water and no electricity for 4 days. The past 3 evenings we ate by kerosene lamp. It was really nice actually, and slightly disappointing when the power did go back on! New house shirts arrived for the students this week as well, and Mr Thapa (so generous), gave us a shirt each. I'm now a member of Orchid house, and am very proud of my green and white shirt. They look really smart, and the students all look really good in them.

This weekend we're at the school. Didn't really feel like going anywhere, and travel would have been difficult anyway. Our area was fine after the storm, but there've been lots of landslides, and I think over 60 people have died due to the storms in West Bengal (with some still missing).

The big thing for us now is: only 4 weeks left!!!!!! Can't believe it! And only 2 weeks of teaching (actually, I'm quite pleased by that) - they have exams in the last 2 weeks of June, which we'll be around to help.