Just Nepalese Things

Namaste ngajubintharri!

I've been a little bit slack checking in but things have been pretty busy!

On Saturday the Doggies played Freo in the quals. I was able to watch it on my phone and pretty much spent all Saturday just waiting for bounce down.

And OMG how amazing was that first quarter?? Freo didn't get a goal until nearly half time and we were in front by like 40 points and then.... in classic Doggies style we still fucking lose!!!

But whatever, I don't wanna talk about it so why did you bring it up!

This is a blog about my travels not the Doggies losing against Flagmantle!

Kinda not too cut though because Bob Murphy now wears purple so I'll be cheering on Freo! Maybe they can finally win a premiership

Seriously though, CARN FREO!!!

Anyways, enough about footy!

Construction! Two volunteers left and two came in. We managed to finish off the school desks, 10 in total, and made a couple of kitchen cupboards for the school kitchens. Today we finished the smaller one and it is so cute and I'm just a little bit chuffed about it.

And I finally got around to asking and I can share some project photos because it's construction and there won't be any children in the photos.

Our finished desks (last crew)

That's some good measuring right there

Or was it... 🤔

Monday I joined the Women's Empowerment team because our project leader was away in Kathmandu. I was teaching grammar.

Oh dear god!

Like I remember anything about grammar!

I know I'm a failed writer but fucked if I could tell you what a verb is, or an adjective. And nouns are naming words right? Like cat and dog and fuckwit, right?

Um....

Luckily I was teaching them past tense so it didn't end up too badly. But I think I'll stick to construction. Teaching is stressful and there is a LOT of thinking involved!

Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it and it was very rewarding and inspiring to see these women coming to class and learning something new while also being wives and mothers. And English is fucking hard! I was impressed!

Wednesdays are social night for us and we went out roller skating then got a drink afterward. Being social uses up a lot of my energy so I bailed early to read in my room all alone on my own!

And every week we have a competition to submit the best photo for instagram and the prize is a chocolate. This week I won!! I was set on winning before I left so now I can stop scoping out new possible pics, was using up way too much of my brain power.

Told ya it's been a busy week.

Before I sign off I wanted to share some things about Nepal I've learned so far.

Everyone spits. Like they will just spit. Anywhere. Outside of course, not inside, they aren't ferals.

Cows are sacred and the national animal. If you kill a cow here you will be thrown in prison, I think the sentence is 10 years but I could be wrong.

There's a park next to the homestay called Cow Park, not its actual name but what it's called due to the number of cows you see there. You'll see cows just strolling down the street too, like they own it, and I guess in a way they do because no one will hit them.

Cow Park!

They eat with their hands here, right hand only. I know it's very ignorant of me but I thought they would use chopsticks.

Nepalese food is amazing, so is Nepalese coffee! They also grow their own beans.

Pedestrian crossings mean sweet fuck all here! Like, still use them, but make sure you are looking both ways because you will get run over! These mob stop for cows only!

It is always, ALWAYS, cloudy here! I think I've seen the mountains maybe twice this whole time. I'm hoping when I do the Poon Hill trek it won't be cloudy because after hauling my hole up the countryside I want to see something!!

There are soooooo many holidays in Nepal. Apparently the festivals/holidays in Nepal equal more than half the calendar year!

I think Australia should take note. We could add a whole bunch of blackfulla holidays (*cough* change the date *cough*) as well as some Chinese, Indonesian, African, Indian holdiays. Australia is a multicultural country so let's embrace that!

Just before I sign off you can see more (better) photos on GVI Nepal's Facebook and Instagram. I don't have these but I'll try find the links and share them here.

View from Lakeside