A Week In Lukla

This training course has been quite different from the others. The main reason is we are now into the Upper Khumbu  region which is the birthplace of Sir Ed's school building projects and the first lot of teacher training. So many tourists come through here every month, the schools (esp the model school, Khumjung) are inundated with tourists wanting to visit a real Nepali school. What they don't realize is that this region is one of the most well-off in the country because of all the aid money, resources and tourists that are directed here. As a result, the teaching this week has been in English as most of these school teach in English. So it has been a lot more interesting than the previous 2 weeks when everything has been mostly in Nepali! 'Jim Sir' is also here and as the big boss of the guys we have been working with, things have been kept on a pretty tight schedule.

Everyone is much more relaxed in our own roles now and are a lot more friendly, comfortable and light-hearted with us. Stacey is now known as Stracy (as Nepali can't seem to pronounce her name), I'm kanchi (sister, to which I respond Kancha – brother), Andrew is Andrew-ji (informal friendly name) and Peta is Peta-Miss.

We were introduced to the infamous Nepali 5 Dice game the other night which caused much excitement and animation! I swear it is the most excited we have seen some of our trainers! Basically it’s a race to 5000 with 5 dice and a very complicated scoring system. But Jim Sir bought prizes (torches, coke, apples…) and everyone was super into it. There was yelling, and slapping of the table…..5 mins earlier we had been complaining about a loud French group in the restaurant who had obviously not seen beer for a looooong time and were making quite a show about it. So we just decided to be louder. I think we won.

Our Everest mountain flight early in the week was just so fantastic! Jim Sir got us a plane that worked, with 2 very capable pilots (who were just as excited as we were) and off we went. Halfway though they turned round and told us to put our oxygen masks on. Pretty novel! Never before have I actually taken the safety briefing so seriously (it consisted of "Here is your oxygen mask.") We circled up above all the schools our participants are from and slowly got closer and closer and higher and higher and the view was just stunning. Great views of Nuptsee, Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Gokyo valley and lots more I didn’t know. It made me pretty keen to get up something.

Life here this week has been pretty comfortable with easily accessible showers, beer and Pringles which has been the after work staple most days! (safe food you can trust!) It is sooo dusty though – we have resorted to wearing sunglasses most of the time and scarves just to try and keep vital things dust-free (eyes, throat….but ot no avail!) And the hotel we are in is pretty top range by Nepali standards. So it’s a bit of a transition back to Kathmandu (there is even a Lukla Starbucks!)

Earlier in the month we met Peter Hillary, and the most note-worthy thing he did was to compliment me on my camera when I asked for a photo (“Is that a g10?” me “Actually it’s a G12”, peter “Oh, I love those cameras. When I climb Mt cook I just take a few quick snaps hanging off my ice-axe…” me “Well, when I climb Cook I will think of you and do the same…” hahaha)…and then Jim Sir was sifting round down town and ran into Lydia Bradey (first woman to climb Everst without oxygen, and my climbing instructor a few years ago) and she said to say Hi! To me! So I was pretty stoked on life and am feeling like I am tight with all these hard-core climbing folk. The others tell me dreams are free! lol

So has been a good course. Have met some great people – a young teacher called Pasang who sings at the top of her lungs at every chance, a guy called Mingma who is the most enthusiastic, smart and keen young teacher, a key teacher called Bikram who is a little strange and wears a pressed black suit with the top button of his shirt done up and no tie, with a bright white New York Giants cap on, a small girl Karin who has helped colour in all our posters and do odd jobs for us and of course, my new one-eyed friend Lakman whocouldn't quite figure out why the white girl was so excited by his one eye.

The guy I was working with (Suresh) has gone back to do some different training and I’ve started with a new guy, Meen, who has also been in charge of the course here. So he has been busy with that so it has been hard finding time to talk Social Studies with him, but I think we have managed well. He is lovely and prefers to talk Nepali with me (which means very limited conversation) but it is funny at least. And when I do tell him something in English he acts ashtonished and tells me I MUST teach the class tomorrow. The whole day. Every part. I say…..no, no, no, no, Meen…YOU must take this and teach it. Verrrry bad if I do it….etc etc etc. One of tricks to communicating well here (or anywhere) is adapting to the locals expression. This means I say things like verrrrry good, verrrrrry bad, ahhhhh, good morning sir alot and in a funny accent.

The end of our time with these guys has bought about the inevitable report writing so I’m off to do that. Will be really sad to leave the hills and go back to Kathmandu, but I’m hoping the next lots of work for 3 weeks will be just as interesting…I am definitely leaving these hills with a feeling of having unfinished business and am looking forward to coming back and doing a few trips I have heard about that I am super keen for. I wish I was continuing on with the boys here into some mroe remote parts of the country, but I guess a part of travelling and this year is taking the good times and then being brave and hoping the next part of the adventure is just as much fun! As Stacy says "Things always work out good in the end. If its not good, then its not the end!" So thats what Im hoping for the next three week stint in an international school in kathmandu. I will miss the moonlit mountains and the starry skies! Photos come tomorrow

Ka Kite,

Salleri to Lukla

Have had a fantastic last week. Our training course in Nunthala was much smaller than the first one which meant we combined subjects so we had enough participants. I was in with Science and maths and we did a few integrated lessons which meant we all got involved at different times.

The team is gelling well, and the boys are doing a great job at teaching me Nepali, which usually ends in bursts of hysterical laughter on their part as they find anything I say in Nepali ridiculously funny. Good times. They also think I'm very strong as I carried my own pack rather than using the porter, and when I started eating my dhal baht with my fingers as they do, my street cred skyrocketed! Turns out its quite a skill to eat rice with your fingers. But i've got it sussed now and they LOVE me!

We are now in Lukla, which feels like civilisation after our small mountain villages and teahouses. We have been on the old Jiri-Everest track which is the old route that Sir Ed would have walked back in the day. Now most people just fly straight into Lukla. It was aweesome being off the main tourist track and seenig some of the 'real' nepal. Am now sitting in Starbucks (!!!!) using a laptop (!!!!) to type this.

Saw a guy wandering delirously round town earlier and then a few minutes later saw him on a strectcher headed for the health post - not in good shape! Maybe dehydration post Altitude sickness but no idea. Also just saw a bunch of monks walk past the window in procession coplete with flaming sticks, conch shells and bells. No idea what that was about but great to have it as a normal part of your day!!

Have met up with Jim Strang (boss of the Education bit of AHF), and am looking forward to this week with him. Our last training course starts tomorrow in a village half an hour away, and goes for the next 6 days. It feels more like we are in the spring of things now and its pretty enjoyable.

Pics taking too long to upload so will put some up next week when Im back in kathmandu.

Will be in email contact all week so send some love this way!
Ka Kite,
Miri

A day in the life of...

Life in Salleri Village is an interesting time! We are woken each morning with 'bed tea' which is a hand delivered cup of tea to our beds. We then lounge in bed for an hour or so sharing proverbs for the day from a book picked up in Kathmnadu (todays one was 'a radish digs his own hole'.), and looking up interesting stories from the old testament. Every other morning or so we can have the luxury of a hot bucket of water to wash with. Through the paper thin walls we also hear one of our team doing his meditation which is a strange mixture of the sound of a yak heard approaching and a yeti trying to clear its throat.

Breakfast is usually porridge, or eggs and we then hit the school. First up is 'Assembly' which is time for the National Anthem, Brain Gym and other songs. Then into the classroom for the days content. I have run a few sessions with a translator which has been fun. I explained Human Battleships as a game today and was met with blank stares. 'What do you mean, the person dies??' I suddenly realised I was probably reminding them of civil war conflict and they were concerned, but luckily my translator figured it out and explained the person didn't actually die, they only pretend. Phew.

The other day I sat down after a lesson about rain formation in the mountains and there was a very animated discussion happening. Finally they asked me (through a translator, "What is an octapus?". Of course. Reminded me of Jeffery Butt in Geography.

After the day, we debrief and then walk home. I usually get distracted by the small children shouting 'Namaste!' at me, or the chickens, or the century old donkey sitting on the hill. I also found a shop that sells Milky Way bars. Heck yes!! Best 50cents of my life! Back home, get greeted with a hot choco, digestive biscuits and a much needed rest. Usually spent sharing stories about our days. Then back to work planning the next day. These guys know nothing of efficiency. They run these training courses several times a year, yet each night they sit round trying to figure out what to do the next day. Very strange. I'm trying to teach efficiency. I think Im fighting an uphill cultural battle!

We have 2 more days in this village and then a days walk, to a new village where we do the whole thing again. And again.

We are growing as a team though and having a lot of fun. Many questions being asked, and sharing of cultures. I have had it confirmed I can help teach in an international school in Kathmandu for a few weeks after this and might just get to squeeze in a quick trip to Tibet, to get the Lhasa. That would be awesome if it works out!

Love to all, am enjoying keeping in touch on the old facebook.

In the Khumbu

Had an amazing flight into Phalpu this morning. After successfully negotiating the domestic airport, I was amazed that all our gear and people seemed to get on the right plane. We were handed cotton wool, to put in our ears to drown out the loud drone of the twin otter engines. Then our descent consisted of flying down a tight valley and then doing a tight turn at the end to land on a runway with a noticeable dip in the middle of it. Was just stunning!! But great to step out of the plane and breath some good mountani air! Yuss!!

Then had a half hour walk to the village where we will spend the next week. I thought it was nice leaving the police with riot gear behind on the Kathmandu conrners but there seems to be a heavy police presence here too. Today was a celebration of Revolution Day, when the Monarchy ended 5 years ago. We went to investigate the source of the music and found, would you believe it, a FERRIS WHEEL!!! My jaw hit the ground. It was officially the last thing i expected to find in a small village high in the Khumbu village! But ferris wheel it was, complete with other fun park rides, loud music and staslls selling things!

We also walked past about 300 village people lining up to get a new type of SIM card. All the men were lined up along one wall and the women on another, all just standing waiting patiently. They were still there HOURS later. Technology is alive and well in the mountains!

Forst day of 6 day owrkshop starts tomorrow and it is a case of 'wait and see' fr us as we are still unsure how some parts of it will go. But the trainers are a great bunch and Im sure we are in for some fun.

Loving life.

Meet the team!

It has been an interesting week in Kathmandu. Just before I left Pokhara I went to a Tibetian Monastry which was stunning - lots of intricate paintings and statues and the like. Then I sat beside an Italian man on the bus who introduced himself as a spiritual seeker, then I went to a christian church on sunday (was great!), then here we have been to both Hindu and Buddhist temples so I'm feeling quite spiritualled out! And its easter tomorrow!!

It looks like it is going to be an interesting month working with the local trainers here. The emphasis of the training is for us to be in the background and to really encourage the trainers to take the lead and initiative. So far, they have given us a run for our money - optimistically asking for new resources everyday and trying to get us to write the lesson plans. So it is a mix of helping, encouraging and explaining that it is no use me teaching them a geography song in english as no-one else wh\ould be able to sing it. (I dont even have any geography songs in english). So they have conceeded to sticking with their own Nepali songs which is much better!

The photo at the top is some of the boys I'll be spending my time with over the next month - Jugadesh (Maths), Meen and Suresh (Social Studies), Shakti (Nepalese) and ME! Many more, but these are a few. Its pretty chilled out really. 

View from the top of the hotel in Kathmandu - was an awesome spot to listen to thunder rolling round the hills and watch the rain clouds bursting. We had the most epic storm, totally dark by 3pm and the heaviest rain I have seen for a long time. It was AWESOME! Thunder rolling round the hills now too.

Hard at work in the REED office (Rural Educational and Economic Development). We have spent the last few days planning activities for the refresher teacher training courses we are running for the next three weeks.
And drinking tea.

Went to Swayanbhu Temple (otherwise known as monkey temple, as there are so many of them cruising round trying to eat you and your camera...) Many stalls all selling the same things, many prayer flags and wheels, many people, many pigeons...

 Nepalese building site - mystery item in this photo is the half-dead pigeon that Andrew accidently punched in the face. Its on the ground somewhere.

The A Team. Sometimes its A for 'awesome', sometimes A for 'ANZAC' and sometimes A for 'a team' - when we feel like we don't actually have much to offer! Stacey (chch), Peta (Sydney), Andrew (Adelaide) and Me.

Riverside properties in Kathmandu. Location, Location, Location.

Interesting photo - this is at Pashpunath, a Hindu temple where cremations take place. If you look closely in the top left corner there is a body being prepared for cremation. To the right is one in the middle, and the man in the foreground is washing his dishes in the river, where the ashes get swept at the end. This was a pretty challenging place, didn't take many photos as it seemed a bit wierd. Very interesting to watch for a while though.  There were alos heaps of beggars - mothers and babies, disabled and elderly - here. Pretty confronting place.

Another Buddhist temple which was amazing. There was a local festival as it is the day before a full moon so there were thousands upon thousands of people here. Great fun to be a part of such a big crowd for a while but also nice to escape to the roof for a beer and some shade.

The crowds getting in and out of the temple.

Well, must go as I am about to go have a coffee with Sir Ed's son Peter which should be interesting!!! Am quite excited really. We fly out tomorrow in a small plane headed for the hills so the next update will be from there.

Im falling more in love with Nepal - people only come here for a reason so everyone you meet is super interesting. Stories to come in the following days...