Well, we survived and are now having cappuccinos and brownies in Kathmandu's best coffee houses! I feel pretty much as I expected to feel at the end of our week's village stay - very relieved to be back in the city, but also very glad I had the experience! We'll do this blog in 2 halves so you get both our impressions - as we each stayed with a different family and they are a bit different, and as in Nepal things are different for the men anyway G's perspective is different from mine. And I warn you this is quite a long one as it was such an event for us so if you get bored it's your own fault!

I had been half dreading it; the whole not quite knowing how things would be, just that they would certainly be different. When we first arrived last Monday lunchtime we met with reps from all of the families we would be staying with and our teachers gave them some instructions e.g. not to give us their tap water to drink, to make sure all our food is completely cooked, not too spicy or oily - (aren't we fragile creatures ?)- and to talk to us only in Nepali. To this one woman said that wouldn't be a problem as she only knew Nepali and of course she turned out to be my new Aamaa! Off we went through small goat herds and cauli and potato fields as well as a couple of other people's houses back to a three story wood and mud house where I met Hajur Aamaa, who's 90 you know, doesn't speak a word of English either and is also deaf as a post! We have some tea and I work out that the other two direct members of the family are a son and daughter who are both out at work though not in the fields as expected. The son, Umesh, 23, is the local "priest" or Guru who in the Hindi religion performs "pujjaa" or blessings for families on request, weddings etc and identification of auspicious dates, while Usha, 24, the daughter, works for an NGO. I struggle to chat for a little while with the ladies but then the rest of the extended family descended and bombarded me with questions - quite intimidating but at least some of them spoke a little English. They all had houses in the vicinity and were related by all having the same grandfather. Then Umesh came home who also spoke some English, as did Usha, and both were keen to improve so we agreed to help each other with language skills which was a bit of a relief.

After a wander round the village we returned for the first dahl baat of the week and also to my relief this wasn't as bad as I expected, and the vegetable curry it was served with was very tasty. I later found out that I was pretty well off in my house as I had a different veg every meal - spinach, cabbage, mushroom, etc as well as a couple I didn't recognise and all were really nice. I also got roti one meal and noodles at another while some of the group got dahl baat and potatoes all week with nothing else at all! And I was also better off than the people who normally like dahl as I had expected it to be awful and it wasn't, but they had expected to like it and found it really watery and tasteless compared to Kathmandu so were disappointed. The atmosphere was nice too. We had been warned that the women always do all the work and then feed the men and guests first, not eating until they had finished and left, and that they were always very shy and probably wouldn't talk for the first few days. But here, perhaps because there was only one man in the family, and because the kitchen was quite big and cosy they all sat together, admittedly while Aamaa did most of the work, but chatted and joked together and then while Aamaa did serve everyone first, she ate as well when everyone said they had been served enough.

The next adventure was testing out the charpi and while it was a distance from the house and no running water, it was clean and private so again not as bad as I'd anticipated. Then time for bed. I had been given Usha's room while she shared with Aamaa which was a bit embarrassing but at least they were being paid for the privilege. The bed wasn't exactly comfortable but again, not as bad as most of the others said theirs were. I guess this is always my salvation - I dread things so end up being quite happy.

After one sleepless night the next morning I had the opportunity for a first wash in public but after seeing the crowd at the local tap I'm afraid I wimped out and decided I would wash privately in the charpi with a bucket of water! My new family thought I was weird but were kind enough to humour me, and even gave me my own bucket! I also later found enclosed showers available near where we were having our lessons so every other day I was able to go down there and shower and wash my hair in comparative luxury, albeit cold water!

Tuesday morning my family were having their own pujjaa . I asked why and I think the answer was just because! Umesh started about 7a.m., drawing out the reiki - see the photos - and then spending 4 hours along with 2 other guru's chanting and burning wood and rice etc. It was to bring good luck for the household and was the first since the new Nepali year started. I believe other pujjaa are held anytime anyone wants anything, maybe an illness cured, financial gain etc and another family in the village had one to try and get their little boy to behave better but it didn't work! Anyway, I found it all very interesting though was a bit worried about the big fire built on the floor downstairs in a wooden house. Another embarrassment that morning was that they wouldn't eat anything before their pujjaa and fasted for that day, but of course they still fed me that morning. Oh well.....

Anyway, so much for the facilities, what did we do? Every morning we had language classes as normal and then would do something in the afternoon. One day we visited the local school where the kids were very excited to see us. Some sang songs for us, and then we had to reciprocate so sang Jingle Bells. Not exactly seasonal but the only one we all knew the words to! Other days we had to plan a community project to do with the village using us as labour but only spending ~£3 a head. This involved all the families as well as the local head master and health worker to decide what we could do. It was eventually agreed we would clear up round the school grounds - unsurprisingly litter is a problem here too - provide some games and sports stuff for the kids and help the teachers with some educational aids. This is a government school for the poorest families so there isn't much in the way of resources. We also agreed to hold information sessions as they were all fascinated by how we lived so we had one session with a couple talking about their life, then two single girls, then two from the Philippines etc. They all covered the sorts of prices of things in our countries, what was good about our life and what we preferred here, and tried to emphasise that life abroad for them would not be a bed of roses though could possibly be easier for the women! The final sessions were on health issues - separate ones for men and women. Lots of women turned up and that one went really well, though no men came for their one - typical!

We spent a lot of time doing stuff with our families as well. My normal day started at about 6a.m. though Aamaa was up by 5 at the latest. We'd have tea and a snack - popcorn, puffed rice or biscuits at 7a.m. then if Umesh was about he and I would go off for a walk, or if not I'd help Aamaa and Usha with the manual work - cutting grass with a scythe, gathering manure from the goats feeding area - still trying to get it out from under my nails! - peeling potatoes etc. I was quite lucky as I never had to go potato collecting from the fields which was really heavy work - these women are incredibly strong! The thing that amused me most, though wasn't a surprise after all I'd been told was when Umesh came back to find me helping Aamaa clear up the goat poo and ask if I was alright doing this as I didn't have to work. I said I was fine and rather than come and help he just stood and watched! Still he was a nice lad really, just a product of his culture!

While being with the family was hard work because of the language they were really sweet people. I don't mean that to sound patronising but there is definitely innocence about them that we have certainly lost in Britain. They are incredibly warm and open and genuinely seem to like us and want to be with us. The sad thing though is that they really believe our lives are so much better than theirs. Of course we have more access to education and health care, and we have more "stuff" but they have such a good support network with all their friends and family around them, and they have much less cynicism than us, I wonder who really is the poorest in a lot of ways! The women also see us as inspirational - I suppose like teenage girls want to be Britney Spears - well maybe not now but you know what I mean - or whatever Hollywood star. Usha and another cousin Kirti who came to stay were so jealous of my fair skin and light hair and it was just ridiculous as they are both stunning with their dark skin and eyes, again see the photos. They dressed me up in a sari one night and raved on about how beautiful I looked. It was a red sari - their wedding colours. Personally I thought I looked like a tomato and for once Gordon agreed with me! But they were lovely girls and I did enjoy being with them! I told them about Romeo and Juliet and other love stories from our culture and they were most fascinated by the fact that I had had other boyfriends before Gordon. They will have an arranged marriage of course, though they dream of a love match which is happening more often now. And while I am glad I got to choose for myself, I do wonder about our statistics like teenage pregnancy, divorce etc, and whether we should be so sure our system is the best?

So, that's the main things for me. I guess staying in the village must have helped my language a bit, if only stopping me being embarrassed at making mistakes. And I saw a lot of the culture in action but I guess the main thing I'll take away from it is what a life of hard work is really like and how stupid we are not to appreciate everything we have! We are certainly going to keep in touch - Umesh and Usha visit Kathmandu fairly often as their older sister Uma lives there with her husband. So we will invite them for food, though they won't like it if it's not dahl baat! And we have been invited back to stay whenever we want, though perhaps we will go for the day but stay in a nice hotel we say in the next town! OK, over to Gordon......................