Another week goes by…
Meaning we have less time here! I knew that this would happen: I would get lulled into thinking that I’ll be here for ages and then suddenly there’s only a few weeks left before we have to go. I’m still shocked by it. Time is now going far too quickly. I don’t want to leave here. I must come back, as soon as possible.
This is a long post, to make up for last week’s being really uninspired.
This week was the last week of teaching. Classes went really well – I think everyone knows that it’s the end of term, and they were all on their best behavior, which only encourages my memories of them to be even more rose-tinted. I’m going to miss them all so much!!!!!!!!!
This week we’ve been mostly concerned with teaching, spending time with the boarders, helping out with cooking (Saru left, so now Mrs Thapa has to do all the cooking as well as all the other things she does), and typing up exams (there are roughly about 75 exams to type up – a big job). It hasn’t been all work though – on Monday we went to the wedding of the sister of one of the Blue Diamond Teachers. The most exciting thing about this was that we were able to wear our saris again!!!! Second best part was the food – absolutely amazing. I ate so much (I love how here it’s encouraged to pile your plate high with food and then go back for seconds – or thirds) that I felt ever so slightly ill the next day, but don’t regret a bite. If I don’t have an Indian wedding, I’m definitely having it catered Indian-style. It was a traditional Nepali wedding, but we were there purely for the food (as usual).
The rest of the week passed by in a blur of photo-taking (I made all of my classes decorate pretty nametags for themselves, and took pictures of them all, the plan being that I will never forget their names) and games (there was no way I was actually going to do anything but fun lessons in my last week!). I'm going to miss them all so much. I know I'm repeating myself, but it's true. They are so, so sweet!
And for those who are interested, a quick description of the food at the wedding:
The tamarind chutney they had was the best I’ve ever tasted (tamarind chutney being one of my new favourite foods), with chunks of ginger and peanuts (no seeds even) – I definitely need to learn how to make it. There was also veg biryani (had multiple helpings of that), a chicken and veg curry, mutton curry, deep fried fish, paneer curry, dal (soooooooo good!), tamarind chutney, celroti (we’ve seen that a lot at weddings), cucumber, deep fried bread with sesame seeds on top (incredible), and gulab jamun (Indian sweet – tasted kind of like a doughnut hole that had been soaked in sugar water so it was all gooey and delicious inside). I think I might be forgetting a dish. But it was all absolutely amazing. Just the memory of the food lasted me throughout the week.
Last weekend we stayed at a monastery near Pedong (where the dance festival was), where one of the other volunteers is teaching. It was really special, and I’m so glad we went. The monastery is tiny (there are only about 30 monks), and near a collection of houses that are too small to even be considered a village. It was really quiet (no trucks!) and peaceful, especially at night. The area is absolutely stunning – they’re surrounded by mountains, so the view is outstanding, and the land is really lush (all the plants are this brilliant shade of green). And it was wonderful to be able to spend time with the monks, who are so special. Because the monastery is so small, and the monks are all quite young (the oldest ones are early twenties, the youngest ones about eight or nine), it has a family feel to it.
The monks are all so sweet. They’re really happy and lighthearted, and so generous. When we first got there they were a bit shy, but several games of Junior Uno (not as much fun as regular Uno, I have to say) later, they all opened up and were cracking jokes all the time from then on. I don’t think I ever saw them not smiling or making jokes. We went for a walk in the evening, and it was just like a walk with the boarders – jokes, races, singing songs, making fun of each other – except that it was all 15 – 20 yr old men, as opposed to 12 year olds. They were all so, so nice. I feel so lucky that we were able to meet them.
This weekend we are in Nepal!!! Our journey worked quite smoothly - the 16hr bus ride was a bit of a bore, but had incredible views while we were in daylight (some of Nepal is really flat and hot, and then when we woke up this morning, we were in the mountains, and they completely magical). I'm liking Kathmandu so far. It's HOT here though - good practice for when we go off to do our "proper travelling". As much as I wasn't all that keen on going to Nepal (hassle, time that could be spent enjoying my last few moments in Ghayabari), I'm enjoying it now that we're here. I think it will be a good way of easing into the whole rhythm of travelling as well.
What we've seen so far of Kathmandu (not much), is that it's very touristy (I'm still finding that a bit of a novelty, and so quite enjoy it - I always play "guess the nationality" when I see biggish groups of tourists walking about), very dusty (lots of people walking around with those medical-looking facemasks - a little reminder of Vancouver), and full of little stupas (gompas/temples) everywhere. They all blend into the background, so you don't notice them at first.
Indian Embassy was closed this morning, so fingers crossed everything will work out smoothly tomorrow. I have a bad feeling that we'll have to be here for about a week (HOPEFULLY not longer - am desperate to get back to the school), but we've got a few ideas of what we'd like to do here in that time, so it should hopefully be a good one.
Pictures to come...later!
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