Kala Masi wanderings

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Sujata (the headmaster's 20 year old daughter) and I made the trip down to Bhaktapur today. It is an hour walk down from the village and then a 20 minute bus ride. I am going to be in good shape when this leg of the trip is over!

Yalamber, my friend who works in Kathmandu, went with me to the the village on Fri (Sat?) (I am losing track of the days). He agreed to go even though he said is was "easy" to get there. It is easy, if you know Nepali. The way there bus system works is there is a driver and then there is a guy who collects the money and yells out at each stop where they are going. Our bus guy didn't sound like he was saying "bhaktapur" to me, but Yalamber got us there just fine. We met up with the headmaster there and took another bus. The bus stopped about and hour and a half away from the village because it had been raining. So we walked up,up,up to the village.

I was happy to see I recognized a lot of the kids and they also recognized me. My daily routine usually goes as follows: up at 7 a.m., get ready (if I want to take a shower, it is cold water only), take tea. Sometimes Pradeep (the 15 yr old son ) and I will do for a morning walk. Dhal Bhat and Rice at 10.am. and then off to school at 10:30. The kids are always there before I am. When I walk into the room, the all stand up and say, "Good Morning Miss!" as loud as the possibily can. It is hilarious! I have been teaching English and some math.

Then home for tea and bicuits (crackers). During the afternoon, sometimes we go for another walk and sometimes one of the kids invites me to see their house. They are all pretty much the same, but it is still interesting to see the small diferences.

Dinner isn't until 8 p.m., so sometime between 4-5 p.m., there usually are about a dozen kids hanging out at the house. We talk for a while and then we play cards. I have taught them go fish and crazy 8's and they have taught be a Nepali game. It is a little different than my usual poker game, instead of people complaining about there middle pair being rivered, you can here all across the porch where we play "do you have a 8?", "Do you have a 6?".

After dinner, the family and I talk until bed time. We have gotten good with communicating through writing, panomine and translation books. Also, Pradeep and Sujata have a good functional knowledge of English, so they do most of the translating.

Tuesday is a Hindu festival. I am looking forward to see what will be going on there. More updates when I reach Kathmandu. Thanks everybody for all your messages. It is nice to be able to still keep in touch half way around the world.

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Photos

Nicole with kids
Nicole with kids

Welcoming in kala masi
welcoming in Kala Masi

Kids teaching me Nepali
Kids teaching me Nepali

Comments

[Theresa]

Hi Wonder Woman
Nicole: You are just amazing!! I love traveling the world vicariously through you. Can't wait to see pix of the Hindu festival. Miss you. Safe travels, Theresa

[Michele Snow]

Hi!
Sounds like you are very helpful teaching math and english. Pretty funny that they yell Good Morning Miss! You probably cant stop laughing! Mostly the same here, we got new counter tops installed yesterday. Still a few weeks beofre everything will be finished. Bailey and Shawn say "Hi!" Take Care! Love Michele

[Michelle Murray]

Safe Journies
Hi Nicole! I've just been enjoying your journal entries - how very cool! I'm thinking I need to take a trip there. :) Looking forward to reading more...be safe! -michelle m.

[Ronn]

Great to travel virtually with you, Nicole. Keep it coming. Enjoy your writing style.