On Sunday, April 2nd we checked out of Lemon Tree Hotel and made the 5 minute walk over to the Kathmandu Peace Guesthouse. Once there we checked in and took a rest in our new room. Later in the evening we had supper and met a few of the other volunteers. Our group included people from Brazil, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia, the UK, the UAE and the States.
The next day we had breakfast at 8:30 and then we were taken to the organization's head office. Here we were formally introduced before we started our orientation. We were given information about Nepal regarding culture and religion. We learned a little about the concept of caste along with other complex customs and beliefs shared by the Nepali people.
After our morning session we came back to the guesthouse for lunch and then were taken to Swayambhunath, also known as Monkey Temple. This fascinating World Heritage Site is a chaotic jumble of Buddhist and Hindu architecture as well as a mob of monkeys.
Visiting Swayambhunath is an intoxicating experience, with ancient carvings and paintings everywhere. The mystical atmosphere was heightened by watching the locals make their circumnavigation of the stupa, spinning prayer wheels as they go along.
That night we were taken out for a welcome dinner with the other volunteers. They took us to a restaurant called Bhojan Griha which is supposed to be one of the finest restaurants in Kathmandu. It is known for its traditional Nepali cuisine and lively music and dance performances. We all sat on the floor at our table and got to know each other as we ate and watched the exotic entertainment all around us.
On Tuesday, April 4th, we had breakfast at 8:30 and our language class started at 10:30.
After Lunch we decided to take a pass on the afternoon excursion since we had already been to the place on our own. That gave us a chance to pick up a few items in Thamel and take a little rest before supper.
The next morning, six of us in our group were up bright and early just after 4am. Although it was certainly early it wasn't bright until we walked to the place where we caught our bus that would take us to our volunteer placement near Chitwan, Southwest of Kathmandu.
Buses in Nepal are notorious for being slow, noisy and uncomfortable. We were told that much of the road is rough gravel and road closures are common.
As expected it was a long bumpy ride. Stops and delays were frequent and for much of the trip the bus rattled along a narrow road that seemed to somehow cling to the edge of a cliff. It was an interesting and at times thrilling ride to say the least.
At around 12:30 pm the bus made a stop in a town. We had no idea where we were until a man came on the bus looking for us. It was Shanjiv our local coordinator. We had made it...at least to Chitwan awyway! We were told that this 150km journey would likely take us anywhere from 5 to 7 hours. We made the trip in 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Although we were all a little roughed up we considered our selves fairly lucky after hearing horror stories of flat tires, breakdowns, 15 to 17 hour trips and finding out that two people had died on the same road in a landslide the day before.
Anyway, after Shanjiv met us we waited on the side of the road for about 30 minutes for a truck. Once the truck arrived we climbed in the back and it took us another 40 minutes over a bumpy gravel road back to Padampokhari, the small village where we would be staying.
The village looked like what you would expect in a country that is overwhelmingly rural and poor. Most people in Nepal live in the country side and farming is by far the main occupation.
When we arrived at their farm house we were introduced to the other members of the family, taken for a walk around the area, and met some of the animals, before we were taken to our rooms.
The next day, we woke up at about 6:00am and walked over to Everest Academy. The small plain looking school was surrounded by fields, where people worked away doing everything by hand. The building was built in a rectangular position with the classroom doors facing an semi enclosed area.
We met the principal and were told what they wanted us to do. The school was very basic and the classrooms were bare. The main thing they wanted us to do was to give it a good painting.
Each day we got up early and painted for a few hours. Then we walked back to the house and ate. In the evening we went back and worked until the sun set. It was too hot to work during the middle of the day as temperatures often hovered in the high 30s to low 40s.
We had two large meals a day which is fairly typical in Nepal, the first being about 10:00 am and the second at around 8:00 pm. Every meal we were given daal bhaat.
It was delicious; however, as time went on I found it hard to eat the same kind of food every meal, every day.
One day, the principal, teachers, and staff from the school invited us to go out for dinner with them. For them it was a way to show their appreciation and for us it was a welcomed opportunity to go to a restaurant and eat something other than daal bhaat.
Saturday was our only day off and on April 8th, Jueun and I, along with the other volunteers, took a day trip to Chitwan National Park.
Chitwan translates into Heart of the Jungle and this 932 sq km park is known as one of the best wildlife viewing areas in Asia.
During our very hot, 4 hour jeep safari, we were able to see deer, monkeys, crocodiles and some rhinos.
We weren't lucky enough to see any leopards or tigers; however, we did get very close to some rhinos.
Even though it is a protected National Park many of these animals are still threatened by poachers. Sadly we learned a few days later that a rhino was poached on the very day we were in the park.
As time went by we quickly fell into a routine as we watched the rhythms of rural farm life go on all around us. Padampokhari is likely very typical of most rural Nepali villages.
Cultural concepts such as caste and status still exist and arranged marriages remain the norm. Adult literacy rates are less than 50% and life expectency is only about 65 years old. We could tell it was a place where everyone worked hard, nothing was wasted and the people seemed remarkably self sufficient and happy.
Each day we enjoyed our 20 minute walk back and forth to school. It was nice to see the smiles and hear the traditional Hindu greeting "Namaste" from everyone we passed. Namaste is used to say hello however, it along with the hands brought together at the chest, literally translates into "I salute the god in you." We got to know many of the people, dogs, cats, cows and goats along the way and we took pleasure in seeing Everest Academy look just a little bit brighter with each passing day.
Shanjiv and our host family took great care of us. From the moment Shanjiv rescued us from the bus until the day Ama placed thicka on our foreheads on the day we left, they made us feel like part of their loving family.
We got used to the outhouse, well water, stomach issues and constant electricity cuts and we did our best to deal with the heat and our twice a day servings of daal bhaat. During meals or down time it usually didn't take long for our conversations to turn to travel stories as is the case with like minded people.
We all seemed to enjoy getting to know one another, as six very different people from very different backgrounds came together in a small village to paint a school in Nepal.
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