Blogg 3

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Blogg 3

Sunday 3 December

Hey guys, well its been over a week since I last posted and I have been pretty busy.
I spent last weekend in Thamel and doing more sight seeing around the Kathmandu area.

Friday night we had a few drinks in a little Irish pub and had some good western food.
On Saturday I went with a small group of girls to see the monkey temple and the Durbar Square in Kathmandu.

The monkey temple is the highest point in the city, so you would have great view, if the air wasn’t so polluted. The temple itself was nothing out of the ordinary, but the 365 stairs it took to get there were good for my butt.

I then ventured into Kathmandu’s Durbar Square. This place was busy and polluted, and the temples are in desperate need of repair. We did see the King’s museum and the living goddess’s house, but it wasn’t that spectacular.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were spent in Dwuakot (my village) completing language class and pre testing the questionnaire we have to do. Pretty boring stuff.

Wednesday we moved to my new village, Gothatar, which will be my home for 40 days. My new family is very nice, with ammaa (mum) and baa (dad), and 2 brothers (dhai and bhai) and 2 sisters (didi). We are living in a 3 bedroom house, with a kitchen, toilet and room with a tap for a shower. That’s it. No lounge room or dining room, just the essentials. My room is nice and cosy, filled with furniture, which is good because it keeps the room warm.

My youngest host brother has Cerebral Palsy which is very interesting. He is about 16 years old and hasn’t received any health care for about 10 years, and is just looked after by his family. He has limited to no voluntary control, has no communication skills, and basically spends 24 hours each day in a bedroom. Sam, my roommate and I are hoping to build him a wheelchair, so he is able to access the community, and can leave the house.

Thursday and Friday were spent in the Gothatar and the next village Malpani completing a survey for VSN, the organization we are volunteering for.

Friday afternoon, 5 of us loaded into the back of a ute for a 1 ½ hour drive up the hill to Nargakot, this town which has some of the best view of the Himalayas in the world. After watching the sunset behind the mountains, we woke at 5.30am and travelled 3 km to an observation town to watch the sunrise. It was magnificent, and no words can describe how amazing it feels to watch the sun glisten off the tops of the snow peaks of some of the world’s highest mountains. The views were spectacular, and from the tower we could see ½ of Nepal, from the Annapurna’s to Mt Everest.

This (Nargakot) has been the highlight of the trip so far. From my bed at the hotel I could see about ¼ of the range, and I spent the entire day relaxing on the balcony or in bed reading, glancing up at the amazing views every 5 minutes.

On Sunday it was hard leaving that magical place, but I will definitely be going back before I leave Nepal.

Nepal is starting to get quite cold. I’m not wear thermals yet, because I’m trying to hold out as long as possible. During the day its really warm in the sun, I’m just wearing a singlet and shirt, but as soon as you step into the shade you have to put a jumper on. At night its pretty cool, and socks are a must, but I have used my big, wind proof jacket only once, that was in Nargakot, but it kept me nice and warm so all was good.

The highest I have been is Nargakot, which was about 2100m, so not that high, and I didn’t get sick

The next week is dedicated to our VSN project and I have no plans for the weekend yet. The plans so far are to spend Christmas in Phokara, and New Years in Kathmandu.

Until next week
Courtz

PS. Happy Birthday mum, I didn’t forget its just that communication is a bit hard these days. Love you, cb.

My family I am living with have a home phone that you can contact me on. I am working between 10am-6pm Sunday to Friday. The on Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night I spend visiting another area. So you can call any time between 6pm and 10 am Monday to Thursday. The area code for Nepal is 977 and the phone number is 6210296. But remember we are 4 hours behind Australia.

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