Yesterday another one of our teachers got married.  The lovely Kalpana Miss had a private Hindu ceremony with her new husband and a select few immediate family members.  It was an arranged marriage, which I'm sure can be a scary thing.  What was a joyous occasion understandably ended in a deluge of tears.  At the end of the celebration Kalpana moved out of her home with her parents and was taken to her new home to live with her husband and his parents, whom she doesn't know the way newly married couples do in many other cultures.  Needless to say she was distraught at the end of the long and stressful day.  That being said, I'm sure she will be very happy once she settles into her new life, as do many couples in arranged marriages.

On the flip side, the celebration was a lot of fun.  Like the wedding I was invited to my first time in Nepal, there were large and colorful tents set up in the yard with seats everywhere and a long table full of food being stationed by many of the women.  We were served some beer, some sort of dairy and diced apple mix, and some locally brewed "Chang" or "Jol" I believe.  It tasted a bit like rice wine or some watered down saki.  I kind of liked it, though my opinion wasn't shared with everyone that tried it for the first time that day.  We then had some rice, beans, mutton, and some other items which are now escaping me.  After eating and socializing a bit in the tents we were invited up to the roof of Kalpana Miss's former home to act as the gratís entertainment for some of the friends, family, and children.  They played a mix of popular Hindi songs and American hits such as Gangnam Style, Taylor Swift, and the timeless Venga Boys' song, Boom Boom Boom Boom (I Want You In My Room).  Kalpana's sister was in charge of the entertainment so she kept the music playing and the volunteers dancing.  This was of course only about 5 or 10 minutes after eating so we weren't in the best shape, but we entertained none the less.

Some time later we headed back toward the tents to give our blessings to the newly weds.  They sat in the middle of the tent, and like the first wedding I attended here, had foreheads caked in tika.  This time we added some more to the tika rice cakes and draped some white scarves over their shoulders as well, as is customary.  Each of the volunteers were laughed at, presumably for committing some sort of social faux pas (one of which was using your left hand, the hand used for wiping).

We returned to the roof to join in some more food, drink and dance before watching Kalpana get helped into her car and drive off, followed by a bus with her dowry strapped to the roof, which was the most emotional part of the day.  Kalpana seemed a wreck but all we can do is hope the best for her and her husband.  I would imagine it to be a very difficult thing to experience but it is not our place to judge the validity of the culture.  I, and the rest of the Kopila family, wish them a successul and happy marriage.

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

The boys had a soccer game against Bul Bule Academy today, a school just around the corner where I believe the house kids attended before Maggie built Kopila Valley school.  There was a light drizzle but the boys were very excited and we had a great turn out to support the team.  They played well in the first half, moving the ball well and getting some solid opportunities against a much larger team in stature.  Bul Bule had kids up to 10th grade on the team while we only had a handful of 8th graders.  Unfortunately Kopila Valley could not capitalize and at one point they had a defensive breakdown which put two of our defenders on the ground and opened up the box for Bul Bule.  They took a shot and snuck it in past our keeper.  It was a lucky opportunity and it made our team look somewhat defeated for the rest of the first half.

John, the boys coach, Principal Deepak, some of the captains and I gave the team some words of encouragement at halftime.  They needed to be reminded that they were only down one goal and that they had been playing a better game than Bul Bule up until that point.  In the second half they came back with a vengeance.  They began hammering the keeper and following up on their shots, taking advantage of second opportunities.  They scored 2 goals on rebounded shots, one scored beautifully off of a cross from the outside, and one last one scored off of a corner kick.  After being down 1-0 in the first half the boys came back to beat Bul Bule 4-2.

It was a very exciting morning which boosted the boys' confidence in themselves.  They have some tougher opponents coming up soon I believe.  It was good to see them play somebody other than themselves for a change because now we can focus on their weekpoints in practice some more and improve the team as a whole.

I'd just like to say congratulations Kopila Valley and Coach John for a job well done today.


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

Yesterday the other volunteers and I learned a little something new.  We learned how to give subcutaneous injections of lidocaine and how to suture up a small wound.  Our resident med school student and soon to be doctor gave us a crash course because he will be leaving in about a week.  We began by making some small cuts through the skin of some volunteers.  They were some very brave and trusting oranges.  We then took some syringes and learned how to properly fill them with lidocaine, flicking all of the air bubbles to the top and pushing the air out of them with a little squirt of the lidocaine.  Yes just like in the movies.  We then practiced injecting into the skin of the orange around the wound without going all the way through.  The trick is to pull back before you push so you can be sure you aren't in a vein.  You only want to be injecting just below the skin and into the fat (hence the word subcutaneous).  So when you see that you aren't drawing in any orange juice, or blood, then you know its safe to inject.  We then practiced suturing up the wound and tying the proper knots which was simple enough.  Its kind of self explanatory if you've ever sewed anything in your life.  Its just a different kind of fabric.

Then came the fun part.  It was time to start "stabbing" each other with needles.  Mallory, our early childhood development fellow, made it sound so professional and non-violent.  We basically did the exact same thing we did with the oranges to each other, just without giving each other wounds first.  By the end a bunch of us had a bunch of numb spots on our forearms.  I volunteered to let Kelly inject me with a little lidocaine and as she was lining up her injection sight she decided to look me in the eye and tell me how nervous she was.  I told her she wasn't allowed to be nervous and that despite how much my trust had just been shaken that she'd do just fine.  I watched her practice on the orange and she didn't kill it so I figured I'd be fine.  Everything went as it should have and we were no worse for the wear.

It was fun to learn a little something new.  Not just how to perform minor procedures like those, but like who was afraid of needles and who not to trust with them.  If it came down to it I'd trust any of them, but I'm not so sure everyone would have trusted themselves.  Something about a small and very sharp object that pricks people the wrong way.


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

Things here are normal as ever.  It began raining the other day and has been a bit gray since.  We have been in the middle of exams this week.  The food has been refreshingly good so I haven't found the desire to go to Zeyana's as often as I used to, but then again I've only been back for about 2 weeks so far.  Things are good.

One of the 2nd grade classes' teachers has been absent for a few days during exams this past week.  Someone thought it no big deal to tell us she was out because of her heart.  Being such a young lady we were all shocked to hear that she had issues with her heart but it came as a relief to find out seconds later that what actually happened was lost in translation.  It had nothing to do with the organ beating in her chest.  The lovely young lady fell in love and was getting married.  That was surprising too, but for a much different reason.  But as it turns out, her marriage was actually one based in love, rather than being arranged.  This morning, a few days after we found out about the surprise marriage, we learned that she would not be returning to Kopila Valley to teach.  I don't think a two week notice is a thing here.  So we are now short a teacher but with so many new volunteers here it was easy to get someone to fill in for a month or so until we are able to find a new full time teacher.

In other news, exams are done at the end of this week, results will be in next week, and then we can identify which students really need extra help and where.  Then I will be able to get into the full swing of things and have a regular tuition schedule.  Let the games begin.



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