Last night another volunteer arrived in the middle of Satsung, our nightly family meeting. She is the other tutoring volunteer and seems very enthusiastic about getting started.  We now have another new novelty toy for the kids and so the baton has been passed.  She will only have to carry it for a few days however until the last volunteer arrives.  The room situation will have to change as well.  I will be rooming with another volunteer for a few months so that prior room requests can be honored.

Today I ventured to try some street food.  I had heard it was good but knew that there was a minor risk in trying it.  Maggie has had it a few times before and has gotten sick a few of those times.  Two of the other volunteers have tried it as well and have not gotten sick yet.  It was good but with the odds not seeming to be too heavily in my favor I do not think I will be trying it again too soon.  I believe it was called chaat, or something to that effect.  It was a lot of mashed potatoes with various spices and what looked and tasted like a few orange peas with some onion sprinkled on top.  Everything was cooked so it wasn't as risky as eating plain vegetables from a vendor and it was served in a little bowl lined with some sort of leaf with a fried tortilla/cracker/roti/chatpati on the side.  I'm not sure what exactly it was but roti and chatpati are two different names for the same thing.  We have it quite often at the house, though it isn't fried, and is much like a tortilla and/or pita bread and we typically eat it with some mixture of potatoes, cauliflower, green beans, pumpkin leaves (yuck), or some other fuzzy, leafy, bitter green of which I am not a huge fan.  That being said I was still pleasantly surprised by the food when I arrived.  Other than two of the greens the food is actually pretty good, and going to Zeyana's, the restaurant in town, provides some much needed variety and sort of reinvigorates the palate.  To put it in plain english, because I am not sure that that is what is actually happening with the palate, Zeyana's mentally prepares us to continue eating the same few ingredients every day.

By the way, googling these foods may give you an idea of what I am eating but google seems to have some sort of stake in the way these foods sell.  It all looks so much more squeaky clean, appetizing, and aesthetically pleasing in their image search.  None of this is a complaint about the food, I am just trying to accurately describe my experience with it.  I am being well fed and have had no problems to date.  Although tomorrow is still in question seeing as I tried the chaat, but that would be my own fault, a risk I was willing to take just to say I did it.  Quite the noble reason, I know.

Also I was pleased to learn that there seems to be a bacon deficit in the world so I am not the only one suffering from withdrawal of one of the finer things in life.  Misery does love company, though misery is too strong of a word in this case.


The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

Tutoring has been going smoothly.  I've had the seventh graders practicing conversations in small groups about controversial things like whether or not the students should have to wear uniforms to school or if they should be allowed to chew gum in class.  I hope I don't create a mutiny for Maggie to come back to.  They write down their reasons in conversational form and then practice in front of the class.  Some of them have gotten very creative with it which has been encouraging but now they are asking for to mix it up.  After editing their written conversations I chose a few particularly troubling sentences and wrote them on the board today.  I asked if they could identify any of the problems and discussed with them why certain things needed to be fixed.  They appeared to be retaining some of what I said.  Tomorrow I will use what one of the school supervisors gave me which is a list of the proper pronunciations of english prefixes.  Obviously I know how to pronounce these words but it has been so automatic for so long that I really did not know how to explain it to these kids.  This will be a big help and will hopefully make understanding what these kids are saying much easier.

Yesterday we began to organize the after school activities.  Though organization was the goal it is still a work in progress, unfortunately.  The kids are all signed up to play two sports each which include soccer, basketball, volleyball, track, and badminton.  We may start a frisbee league as well as the kids already love to play and a few sports are over ridden.  Currently we have over sixty girls who want to play badminton and we only have four or five rackets.  Pretty much everyone loves soccer so that sport has been flooded and gets disorganized quickly.  The two extracurricular fellows would be overwhelmed if they had to run everything by themselves so the rest of us are glad to help.  I originally wanted to be an extracurricular fellow anyway and now I get a tiny bit more exercise out of it.

On Monday we celebrated one of the quieter kid's birthdays.  We bought him a remote control car, which I suspect won't survive long unfortunately, but he seems to be enjoying it a lot.  As soon has he opened his gift he was gone, leaving all of the other kids to finish the left over cake.  Everyone had a blast and it turned out to be a great night.

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

So I've had this lingering thought about the Nepalese people and then I actually read something about it in Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, so I thought I'd share.  But first to put it into context, just walking around town can be a bit of a shock.  There are roads and stores just like every other city, but these roads are unpaved, uneven, covered in trash, infested with stray dogs, and shared with free roaming goats, cows and chickens.  It is not always a pleasant smell either.  But when you get over all of that and lift your gaze to the people and their shops you begin to see something else, something intangible.  Sure there are a lot of people who seem to be just sitting around idly, but then again many of them are sitting in front of a small hut turned shop, or even a larger store, bakery, hotel, pharmacy or bank.  There are N Cell stores selling cell phones, other stores selling Nike and Adidas products, people enjoying fruit, chips, and various kinds of street food.  There is a functioning economy here.  As difficult as one might think life here in Nepal is, these people don't stop trying.  They see that there is more out there, a better quality of life, and although they may not always seem to know the best way to achieve those things (ie bathing in the sewer water) they have a very distinct drive about them.  "Most of the people who live in this rugged country seem to have no desire to be severed from the modern world or the untidy flow of human progress.  The last thing [they] want is to be preserved as specimens in an anthropological museum," (Krakauer).  While Krakauer was talking about Nepali sherpas who climbed Mount Everest as a means to support themselves and bring money into their country, the same principle applies to the citizens of Surkhet.  Here, in one of the poorest regions of Nepal they struggle to keep up, but at least they struggle.

On another note, I began tutoring yesterday.  Yesterday I worked with a group of four third graders on their english for an hour.  I had each student read a short story to me so that I could identify the words that they struggled with most.  Then I helped them to understand how certain letter combinations such as ch, ou, and ie sounded.  This morning at 7:15 I began to work with a large group of seventh graders on their english.  This did not go as smoothly.  I began by trying to figure out what areas of english they needed the most help with.  We started working on adverbs until the students told me that they really needed work on their conversational skills.  I really had very little sense of direction when I began today so I just had a few students practice their conversation.  If I heard an error I would try to jump in and correct them but it didn't seem to me to be the most effective sort of practice.  I will be working with them every day now so I will have to come in tomorrow with a better plan.  I think a few of the students can smell new blood as well and have taken advantage of my ignorance.  After the tutoring session I realized that I recognized that grin on their faces when they told me that they had somewhere else to be.  I won't make that mistake again tomorrow.  Things will get better and at least I have more to keep me busy now.  I will go online and see if I can't find some appropriate lesson plans.  It feels much more like teaching than tutoring, but maybe I am splitting hairs.  Anyway, there are only a few weeks left before the students have a month off for holiday so I have to quickly figure out how to do this effectively.  It will be a good challenge.  I did learn relatively quickly how to be disciplinary.  Two days ago I was playing with one of the smaller girls who can be a bit of a trouble maker at times when she hit me in the face.  I have no idea what the reason was but when I couldn't get her to say sorry and I didn't want to write her up in the book and extend her toilet duty even longer I resorted to time out.  I did not actually expect her to stay in her room but apparently she did, for two hours, missing dinner.  I had completely forgotten she was there when a few of the other girls came to remind me.  I guess she took the punishment to heart.  I felt awful but we got her some food and we are back on good terms.  It's not easy bein' the disciplinarian.


The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

Clarification on yesterday's blog.  Staying sane is pretty easy here.  The lack of variety in the food is what is most difficult about it, which in the grand scheme of things is nothing.  Staying healthy is the only tricky part, especially when dealing with kids who like to play with your face and touch your water bottle and such.  Apparently getting sick here is inevitable, I'm just trying to postpone that as long as possible.

Today I was given some teek by a few of the girls. They got back from temple and wanted to share.
How do I look?

I didn't think Bill Murray down there needed any teek.  On a side note, one of the kids thinks he is a ghost.  I told him he's not a ghost but actually a ghost buster.  The joke was lost on him so I thought I'd share with someone who might appreciate it.


The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

The dreaded day came sooner than I anticipated.  I woke up this morning and my first thought was of bacon.  I am currently craving a burger.  Mr. Doyne joked that we were having turkey club sandwiches for lunch too.  Luckily I have my pringles, oreos, and peanut butter to give me a taste of home.  I have become a regular at the store in town.   I am trying not to think about it too much though.  Lunch is the same exact thing every day but breakfast and dinner usually have a little more variety.

School was cancelled today, though I am not one hundred percent sure why.  I guess there was some sort of educational strike or something like in Chicago.  I don't believe it had anything to do with Kopila Valley though.  But now it is another day of keeping busy with the kids.  I am looking forward to spaghetti with tomato/curry sauce for dinner tonight and movie night.

Its been fun to watch the newest volunteer adjust to all of the wildlife.  He's been bombarded by mosquitos and attacked in his room by other critters.  He seems to be taking it all in stride though, like one should.  He's a good guy and it will be good to have him around.  It will be interesting to meet the other volunteers too who are coming at the end of this month.  I can only hope they are as cool as everyone else here has been so far.

For now, just focusing on staying healthy and staying sane.  The former seems to be the bigger challenge.  Apparently three weeks is usually when volunteers get sick and I've only been here for a little over a week.  We'll see how it goes.



Also, I miss pretzels. So much for not thinking about it.

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

Its been a few days since my last post, I know, but its been a little slow around here.  The kids have three days off for Teej (the celebration of women) and today is their last day off, thank goodness.  Two days ago we went into town to see the Teej festival where there is supposed to be tons of dancing but by the time we got there it was more of a Teej speech.  Somebody was droning on and on about something so we left the festival in search of some other smaller dances which were still quite interesting.

Yesterday we spent a few hours planning a scavenger hunt so the kids would have something to do on their day off.  Hours went into planning it and it lasted a whopping 20 minutes.  It went well but we failed to achieve our goal of keeping the kids busy.  We also had a new volunteer arrive yesterday just in time to help us with the scavenger hunt.  He seems to be adjusting fine and is a good guy.  It's kind of nice not being the new guy and a novelty item to the kids anymore but at the same time it makes it more difficult to learn their names because they are no longer introducing themselves to me everyday.  I have a good number of names down pat already but there are still quite a few I have to learn.

We've also had some very clear days and nights recently, for the first time since I got here actually. The stars are incredible out here.  There is no light pollution to interfere so when the clouds aren't an issue it is quite a sight.  I don't think my camera is capable of capturing them unfortunately or I would have posted a picture.  I can't remember the last time I saw the milky way so clearly.

Today I think we are going to play a family game of some sort.  Most likely frisbee or soccer, their two favorites.  Tomorrow they have school again which will be nice, although it is only a half day.  I'm not sure but I believe I might begin tutoring soon which I am a little nervous about but I know it will be good to have more to do and a steady routine.

I'll check back in sooner rather than later, sorry for the recent lack of updates.

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

So its Sunday here and also the first day of classes since I arrived.  I guess their Saturday is our Sunday or something?  I don't know, but I was thrown for a serious loop this morning when I discovered that.  After 3 lightly toasted and heavily buttered rolls and some chai I walked over to the school to see what exactly goes on there.  It was homeroom still when I got there and just trying to be kind I asked if there was anything I could do to help.  Little did I know that a teacher was missing and they needed a substitute.  Whoops!  With zero experience teaching under my belt and no clue what any of the kids were currently learning I had little choice but to dive in head first.  They literally showed me the door and left me standing, probably wide eyed and ghost white (not that the kids would have noticed that kind of change in color), in front of a room full of kids who only wanted to see my chimpanzee face.  I learned at the Jemez pueblo that kids love that face and I made the mistake of using it here in a game called zoo.  Now thats all any of them ask me to do.

Anyway, with a little perseverance and a lot of patience, I think (emphasis on the think) I managed to teach a few classes a few things.  First I had to teach social (short for social studies) so I basically found a map of the states and did some trivia pointing out various things in America.  Where I live, Maggie lives and Jeff sir live didn't really cover too much.  I showed them our inferior mountain ranges, the great Mississippi, and where the Statue of Liberty was.  I explained that only 48 of the 50 states were part of the mainland.  Then they started asking about Osama bin Laden and the towers.  I quickly explained that it was a bad thing then tried to change the subject.  The kid was too eager to stay on the topic.  He was only as old as I was when it happened and I really didn't want to be responsible for saying too much.  Then the bell rung, "Om Namah Shivaya" (what the guy chants in Temple of Doom as he is being lowered into the lava pit as a sacrifice. Translation: adoration to Shiva).

Then it was english class, much more my style.  I got to sit back and let the kids take turns reading which came as a welcome relief.  A more advanced english class for 8th graders was next.  I had to explain the difference between words like except and accept which was a little more challenging but fun.  Also explaining the different uses of modifiers of words like come and go became quite fun.  I just had the students put them into different sentences.  They got very clever with that game.  "May I go out of this class," "Please go away sir," things like that.  I did not expect to ever be thanked for making class fun.  That pretty much made my day.  Then another social class came in.  They were learning about Nepali history, clearly not my bag.  I was at a loss so we played some heads up seven up, some murderer/detective game that involved secretive winking, and hangman for the duration of that class.  I don't know if I will have to teach again tomorrow but soon I will be tutoring 7th graders in english and math.  It sounds like it will be a real challenge but then again I did say the other day that I wish I had more to do.  I know I'll get something out of it, I only hope that I can manage to have these kids get more out of it than I do.

Maggie is leaving soon for about a month to go to a conference and is bringing one of the girls with her who will be delivering a very personal speech.  She is only 12 years old and is so extremely brave.  It will be about a 20 minute speech in front of a large crowd of strangers in an extremely foreign place.  I can't say that I've ever done anything like that.  She is so great.  I wish I could be there to see it.  As a matter of fact, all of the kids here are great.  They make mistakes and get in trouble as all kids do and should but they really are something special.  I'm learning names here quicker than I thought I would and retaining them better than I did at BC.

Theres something about this place and I'm still trying to put a finger on it but one thing is for sure, the kids here are happy. And that has a very distinct way of rubbing off on you.

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

So yesterday was another atypical day.  We celebrated the Teej festival which is a celebration of women and girls as being equal and valuable.  They wore their Saris which are a formal style of clothing but also beautiful and full of color.  They performed a number of dances which were very elegant.  They then surprised us and invited Maggie and the volunteers on stage to dance.  I think we made sufficient fools of ourselves but it was an enjoyable experience.

Last night we drove into town for some food.  It was pretty good but apparently you have to be careful what you order there.  I guess they made some poor choices last time.  We brought the left overs home to the kids who devoured them.  Maggie's dad got in last night as well, a very nice man who just loves it here.

Today is Saturday so there is no school and it is raining so it is a slow day.  We are sitting around playing cards and reading and playing other silly games.  I learned how to count to 10 today in Nepali.
1 ek 
2 dui 
3 tin 
4 chaar 
5 paach 
6 chha 
7 saat 
8 aatth 
9 nau 
10 das
I hope to keep learning. I have a great teacher and who is a master of trivia and is maybe only 10 years old.  He is also very quick at the hand slapping game.  He thinks its funny that my hands turn red after a while.  I'm going to go find some other games to play now.  Check back in later.

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

Day 1 at Kopila Valley in Surkhet.  Ive only been here a few hours and I'm blown away.

Rewind a little, I arrived in Kathmandu yesterday. The flight, getting my visa, & getting my luggage all went perfectly fine.  I sat around the bus station for about 5 hours waiting for the bus that would take me to Surkhet.  I met some interesting people and spent about 170 Rupees on hungry kids and a gentleman who knew he could get it out of me just because I was American.  No surprise there, he won. I got on the bus around 3:30 and was pleasantly surprised.  The seats weren't all ripped out like they said they might be, windows opened to let fresh air in when it got packed, and the guy next to me was friendly.  Then we departed... 50mph (minimum) down windy dirt roads, on the edge of cliffs, through the forests, with other busses, motorcycles, pedestrians, tractors, you name it, coming at you.  There is no median here.  Its a game of chicken with everyone you pass.  The driver honks at every turn just in case some other driver is lurking around the corner with a similar death wish.  Believe it or not you get kind of used to it after a while, at least I thought I did.  I would doze off for a minute or two until the honking or the life sparing swerve would wake me up just in time to see the narrow dodge of headlights out the front windshield.  This made the flat tire and the busted engine that occurred seem like nothing but a brief escape from the game that was being played with all of our lives.

Anyway, 19 hours later I made it to Surkhet in one piece with only a sore butt and a scarred memory to show for it.  At this bus station I struggled to explain to a man that the Maggie I was looking for was not an egg or a fistful of pasta but a person.  Eventually I was found by the Kopila Valley manager who brought me to the school just in time to see the Kopila Kwizz Kontest... yes the KKK.  They promised it was just a coincidence.  It was the first annual interschool quiz contest hosted by Kopila Valley.  The Military school superior was upset they did not win.  I met the new principle who seems to be a great replacement for Jeff (who is clearly missed here), Maggie who is as awesome as everyone said she would be, and some of the other volunteers who I get along with already.  Lunch was delicious, though I've been warned it will only seem that way for a few more weeks.  And now it is nap time for the guy who hasn't slept in two days.  The bed is hard and the room is hot but I think I will sleep just fine anyway.

Here is a view from my bedroom to close this out.

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.

Almost Time to Leave

So I have about 5 days until I ship out to Nepal.  I figured I would get this blog started before I leave so I could get used to keeping up with it.  It will take about 3 days to get in but I'm looking forward to it.  I don't know exactly what to expect but thats part of the fun I guess.  I can't wait to get into the swing of things.



The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent Blinknow's positions or opinions.