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OK....so first things first....do not fear, we are hoping to continue the writing of our blog, it may just become a little briefer, and less regular but hopefully we can update you. We leave Nepal tomorrow (Weds) on a local night bus to Sunali (Indian border) and then on a train to Varanassi....our first stop.....the land of the dead.....Thanks to Josh we now have a kind of route sorted as he sent us the most incredible detail on where to go.....
Grandad.....sorry its late....Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you....May God bless you, may God bless you, may God bless you, happy birthday to you. How old are you now, how old are you now, how old are you now, happy birthday to you....Hope that you had a great day......And also to the upcoming birthdays when we are in India....Jane, and Pubba B.....
So today is Tuesday we are back from a week in village and are just beginning to pack up our 'Penthouse Suite'....We arrived back on Sunday....to the BEST welcome from the security Guards!!! kindly Shaym had fitted a new gas cylinder in our shower....but its not right, and we have quite a gas leak....so have had to have pretty much all of the windows open since...suprisingly it hasn't blown up when we have showered so i think its more of a consistent but small leak....Yesterday we went for our last expensive meal at 'Roadhouse' our favourite pizza place....and today a hoovering (Sorry Nanny....vacuuming!) session, and then out to supper with School Governer type important people, so our last night and one of polite convo....there will be good food and hopefully wine too though....
But NOW.....take yourselves back a week to last Wednesday....we awoke at 5.30am to finish packing our bags for the big trip....sharing a rucksack as we literally have nothing! Mr '1 Star' ran up the stairs and called Rose....Kanchan (Grade 4 teacher) was on the phone...'have you checked my reports Rose'.....very Nepalese indeed with the very last minute....Rose had never recieved the reports so hadn't checked them...all a bit of a palava! Anyhow....left the Penthouse and got into our vans....Me I and Rose J....in the DRIVING SEATS!!! It was meant to be just to pose for a photo, but no....very silly Jk had left the keys in the ignition so off Rose drove out of the gates and to the end of the road until JK took over!!!! GOOD EFFORT...Not so filled with confidence i let 'No money no honey take we wheel'....and off we went to Bhaktapur to pick up the IB students....Here we had a second breakfast with the drivers AKA 'our favourite men'! In JK's van Rose actually said that she wanted to marry 'No money no honey'....JK straight away told him....very funny!
Packed the vans, throwing the IB students bags onto the roof....despite their size "JK' and "No money no honey' are VERY strong! On the road with some banging beats, me and Rose of course took the front seats to be with our man (No money no honey)....our last ever journey with him....the perfect tune...Stevie Wonders 'I just called to say i love you'....a very emotional moment indeed as we serenaded him....
Stopped off for lunch, and ate the boniest fish EVER, and of course Dahl Baht....(Dahl and rice) our staple food for the next five days....after lunch we said an emotional goodbye to our man and then off we strolled to our village....OH MY BUDDHA....the heat!!! It was unbelieviable...and there was absolutely no shade....a classic quote from one of the IB students...'You guys are seriously red, maybe you should apply some lotion'....and then 'at least you might tan....isn't that what all of you people want'.....its true we are weird with the tan thing, but they have whitening cream in all of the shops....so maybe its 'same same but different!'....so we walked for an epic 4 HOURS....we were only told it was a two hour walk so Nepali time, and half of it was up the steepest hill EVER! So us, we forgot to take any water, so by the time we reached the top we weren't feeling quite so good....but my oh my was it worth it.....when people say the world is small.....this experience opened up our eyes to just how big the world actually is! Just SO basic.....
We walked down into the village where many people had 100 percent NEVER seen white people before, and for at least the first two days we felt as if we had two heads more than ever! Our family was an old couple with one babu (child) who was laying down with millions of flies over his face on our arrival, we thought that he was close to death as he was literally quite unresponsive for the rest of the evening....it later appears that this babu was a grandchild and there were 4 other babu's living in this house....their parents were working in the town that we had come from and so the Grandparents did all of the looking after them...A lovely man who reminded us VERY much of gramps, always pottering about in the garden.....and he was SO nice to his wife bringing her a drink every now and then and helping with the cooking which is literally unheard of in this patriarchal society....
Also staying with us was 'Yadav' and 'Anup' both teachers at Ullens....we all had to share a room....Supper at 8pm...Dahl Baht....which being in the village and all we ate with our hands....quite an experience, but after 5 days of this i would say that we are pro's....its just a very different culture....the hosts don't eat until you are finished, and it is almost a race to finish first, and once you are finished you leave....a little awkward with the bed and getting changed situation (as we are in Nepal) so we decided to go to bed....an incredible amount of flies, and in general just dirty....So 9pm and unsure whether or not we should turn out the light 'Yadav' came upstairs and turned on some Nepali beats....until 10.30pm when the man decided it was time to sweep the floor....in our bedroom!!! We couldn't believe it! Very funny.....! Too sleep, and then Mr Snozzle Snorer 'Anup' began....Not a bad night....
Yo..so tis Rose now, I shall tell about the second day....(just like to mention how proud I am of myself that i infact drve on nepali roads, jk was very casual about the whole situation, i think i could have gone the whole way!)
So day 2....as its the culture here to all live together with each other, they are used to having a full house, and that means they dont care about being noisy. None of the tip toesing around when theres things to be done....so 5.30am we were awoken by the whole house moving around, shouting up to each other. The house is made of three levels, bottom floor kitchen area, first floor bedroom, and top like an attic that turned into a bedroom for all the babu's!
Came down at 7ish, for a cuppa tea which the grandad added beaten rice into, very interesting, a bit like rice crispies!! The tradition in the village is that they wake at 5.30, drink tea, go to work till 9/10am when they have lunch then work all day till supper at 8/9ish...2 meals a day! AMAZING. So we hung out till lunch time, which of course was dahl baht....standard. MASSIVE amount of rice, which you have to finish, as I found out...he was not impressed when i didnt finish everything!!
So headed to school after lunch to get to work....not before the children all handed out flowers to us, LOADS of flowers...made sanding the doors a bit tricky with a handful of flowers!! So we sanded the school biulding...a tiny school, very dirty and plain. Just amazing and basic.....each classroom had one black board then benches. The floor was just dust, and the walls were muddy. So after sanding we got on painting the school white...its going to look goooood. We actually managed to do ALL the painting in one day, and finish the paint...more has been ordered!!
The Ullens kids did some teaching, made some posters for the children, like abc's and shapes....the children speak no english, so hard for us to interact. But Yadav said to me, 'you go teach'....i walked into the classroom, where I was stared at....tried to communicate and NO response. When I say language barrior, I mean Language BARRIOR....so I fetched a ullens translator and managed to get through a little bit....it was a challenge! So took them outside, where we found a football....we taught them donkey....with the help of a translator again. Wanted to do Simon Says but the ullens kids said they wouldn't get it!! So football it was....went down a storm!! kept them going for a while.
The children all have a school uniform, all of which are filthy, dirty, ripped or only have half of the school uniform. many had no buttons on their shirts and most of the girls had saftey pins in their skirts as they were too big....BUT they were all chewing gum.....truely the weirdest thing ever to see. the poorest of the poor, with filthy uniforms and dirty faces and hair, chewing gum....it was a sight to see!!
Had a light snack of noodles which the school provided. Then carried on painting...the children all had gone home now. most went home to walk the goats and buff, or work somewhere on the fields! A very different life style! One thing I want to do is give them all a very good wash....they just dont care that they have last weeks food/snot/curd all over their faces. but still they are very cute!
So after an epic day of painting, we headed home. We have made a breakthrough with the babu he is in fact very much alive, and he loved us chasing him around the house....so went back and helped the babu and the man grind corn for the animals. Then we sat with him in his kitchen and watched him cook....the dhal had a lovely looking beatle swimming around in it, which was thankfully removed prior to eating....probably the cleanest animal in the village after that boil!!
So another mahoosive meal....the hosts cannot eat at the same time, for them being they have to wait for the guest to finish beofre they eat....so after waking at 5.30am they have to wait for us slow coaches to finish before they even start!
Did our teeth, where Meg had a classic quote. the stars here are fantabby dosey! As NO electricy most of the time....so we were staring at the stars when meg says, 'Oh my god, what was that???'.....Meg that was a shooting star!...'WHAT...well what i thought was a shooting star wasnt a shooting star!'....I wonder what she thought a shooting star was...this one she thought was a UFO or something...she's crazy!!
So headed to bed, with the world and his wife, as all the grandparents babu's had turned up to join in the fun...they must have heard about the whiteys arrival! So the night was full of babu's crying, phones ringing, shouting to different levels....great times!!
Tis all for today....we will do the rest of the trip tomrorow....if you wish for more infor on any particular topis please feel free to leave a message on our message board.....
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