An abridged recap of my first month in Nepal. You can safely assume that on any given day I: ate daal bhaat (twice), taught between 0-3 lessons, the weather was hot and sunny, I was intimidated by Bernie the peacock, the electricity was off. 8th March - The One with the Spooky Double, in which our exhausted heroine is met at Kathmandu by a Nepali lad the spitting image of her brother David. 9th March - The One with the Monkeys, in which our enlightened heroine...

Greetings from Lakeside, Pokhara! After a strange couple of days involving a sacrificial goat, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and a wild animal (not all at the same time) I have waved goodbye to my worthy volunteering efforts and am gearing up fro a few days enjoying the fleshpots of tourism before heading into the wilderness. Amongst the fleshpots I am currently enjoying are Broadband, Diet Coke (I've had none since leaving the UK, just an occasional bottle of real C...

A sneaky update today - I've cut my afternoon class and done the hot and dusty trek into Naranyghat to change money and pick up bits and pieces before I depart for Pokhara on Saturday. Cockroaches in my room for those of you wondering. Frankly, I'm so bored of daal bhaat now that it's tempting to try them in garlic as suggested. Great day yesterday - went to a local festival (called Bikram Baba, which I keep mishearing as Big Rum Baba). It involves queues to ge...

Greetings from your Nepali correspondant - Namaste. Not a huge amount to report this week - the days kind of blend a bit really! It's getting pretty hot in the Terai now, mid 30's most days. I'll be teaching on my own for a week from tomorrow - Chris (the other volunteer with me at Sitamai) has returned to Kathmandu today. Lots of volunteers over at Happy Home though (currently Sukan, Lara and Kelly). We've been helping the kids revise for exams this week (afte...

Hi everyone! Thanks for all your mails and messages this week - I can read them but am having difficulty replying to anything - the vagaries of the Nepali communication system! The Happy Home kids loved their day out in the jungle, bless them. As did we! The bus journey home was a bit nutso though... some very crazy driving! Having had a couple of days off, we have knuckled down to proper teaching the rest of the week (today is our only day off). There's one v...