The Week That Was

Yep I know it's hump day but it's also a week (ish) since I last posted and a fair bit has happened.

Lets see... I'll start off talking about last Friday - ooh first but - we finally are getting some monsoon rains and thank fuck because the humidity was killing me.

Anyways, back to Friday. It was a big night because it was the leaving dinner for the previous GVI Nepal project manager. A fellow Aussie, she very much made an impact here judging from the tears, speeches, hugs and dancing.

The dress code was traditional Nepalese attire for the gents and saris for the ladies, so yours truly got to dress up in a sari for the very first time. And not only did I feel super feminine and pretty but it was really comfy too! Winning!

There was lots of dancing.

Yes I danced. I did the Nutbush. And I was dead sober (I'm taking a break from drinking while here) so I am extra proud of myself.

2 Aussies brushing up on the Nutbush

Dancing does not come naturally to me and I am not comfortable doing it.

The next morning a few of us went to a Tibetan monastary, a different one from last week. We got to have a personal tour from a monk, got taken around the school and bedrooms and even spent 10 minutes watching a Hindu ghost movie with the kids.

Then at 9am the prayers started and we sat in for most of that too. The monks even passed out masala tea during the prayers so that was nice.

Oh and this is funny, while walking around the monastery I caught a glimpse of a couple of monkeys and got super excited pointing and exclaiming "ooh monkeys" like I've never seen a fucking monkey before.

As if one didn't just hand the keys over to Anthony Albanese!

Lets jump forward to Monday. Instead of volunteering we went to HART (Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust) and got to learn about the amazing work they do!

https://www.hartnepal.org/

Now, something I've noticed. Both the lady at HART and the ex GVI project manager have been working at their jobs for 6 years. I have been working at my job for 6 years. Interesting...

But I digress. After HART we went to the Tibetan community here in Pokhara and enjoyed a Tibetan lunch, some people even tried traditional Tibetan tea. Not me thank goodness because it's tea, milk and butter. Yep, butter. I reckon a whole heaped tablespoon full too just from the sip I took.

Yeah nah, I love butter but not that much.

And Yesterday was a local holiday called Haritalika Teej. It's a female holiday so we had another day off from volunteering and since the rains pissed off for a little while we could finally go paragliding. YAAAAAYYYYYY!

I loved it.

My guts not so much.

I didn't vomit but fuck me my stomach felt like it was put through the wash.

Which is a shame because the ride was so smooth and it was so fun being up there and the view was beautiful and the breeze was actually cool! I could lift up my arms and give my pits a blast of cool air. I'm sure the pilot strapped behind me loved that!

Then it was a trip to another temple, this one actually a group of 3 temples to 3 different Hindu gods/goddesses. A walk through a shut up Old Town Pokhara (again public holiday so it wasn't open) and a nice cold dip in a pool.

Yeah I'm pretty rooted. But I'm having a cracker of a time. If I didn't have Radley I don't think I'd ever go home.

View from the school we're working at