First week in Nepal

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We met at Delhi airport, both fairly tired and gross looking. Clare had just endured an 8 hour flight on her own after a really crap time waiting for her flight in Heathrow airport. Rosie had just encountered India in a very full on form and was slightly disheveled, but totally in love with the country. It was such a Hollywood film moment, looking through Delhi security gates at eachother, screaming and attracting yet more attention!!

Are flight landed in Kathmandu after seeing the Himalayas and "my supermodel baby" from/on the plane and any sadness about leaving home completely vanished. Getting visas took ages, but we finally found Bishwa and Damche who had been waiting for us for 2 hours.

We drove to the orphanage, totally knackered and entered the house to the sound of lots of children singing. We later found out it was their prayers, which they sing twice a day. Once at 5.45am for 45 minutes and again at 5pm for 30 minutes. The singing is stunning and waking up to their voices is the best start to any day.

The children were so beautiful, welcoming, kind and affectionate. They had no problems making us feel totally loved and appreciated. They call us Rosie Auntie and Clare Auntie or their nicknames for us. Rosie= Snow White and Clare= Little Mermaid.

The next day we woke up to singing and immediately threw ourselves into their daily rutine. Wake up at 5am (we wake up at 7...we can't hack it), wash, pray for 45 minutes, have breakfast, do homework, get ready for school, leave for school at 9.15.

We walked the kids to school and found out that we were supposed to become teachers as well. We were introduced to the 29 year old ex-model Principal, who bizarrely enough was lying in his bed when we were led into his office. It was so serial. He had something about him which was a bit dictatorish and the whole situation was completely bizar, especially because he said "frankly" in pretty much every sentence he said. Anyway he told us that we can teach whatever subject we want - literally anything you feel that you can talk for 40 minutes to a group of kids, many of whom are nearly our age and take full advantage of that fact.

Our first lessons were fairly terrifying, however one lesson particularly stood out for Rosie. She was told to take the lesson on Social Science for Class 7 (11 restless 14 year old boys). What the hell is Social Science?? After a bluffed attempt she resorted to playing hang man for half an hour. Clare's students however were pretty inappropriate trying to distract her by joking that she fancied one of the boys because he said she was beautiful and she gave him the board rubber. Totally not true. But a good diversion technique.

As a pair of completely untrained teachers with zero experience, we were totaly thrown in at the deep end. We had to teach five periods a day on subjects we could hardly remember (Rosie had completely forgotten what Trigonometry was and was rudely reminded by a horrible 12 year old). However it's all fairly character building and the kids and so polite and respectful, but incredible characters. They are all very funny and are constantly interested in most of what you have to say...!

Clare has already experienced the totally scabby stand up loo at the school, Rosie has yet to embark on this adventure.

After school we take the kids home, weaving in and out of the cobbled back roads full of rubbish, with amazing view of the whole of Kathmandu(a dead rat will be spotted on occasion). The kids are so committed to their school work and do homework for hours in the evening mostly by candle light because power is extremely tempremental. They love art and make us draw ENDLESS pictures - of fairy story characters and Hindu goddesses (these take so so long to do!). One morning Clare spent an hour and a half before school drawing "girl and boy fairies" for basically everyone of the 18 kids here. We are pretty much there with learning names - it's not been that easy and at first we named them after disney cartoon characters e.g. grumpy the dwarf who is really an adorable 3 and a half year old called Bishant.

The kids are contantly commenting on how white we are. It's funny how the grass is always greener.

Saturday is Holy day (also the equivalent of our Sunday and the only day without school) so we went to Temple with the children in the morning. It was an incredible experience - very different but just amazing to be part of such a traditional ceremony with the kids. We sat on square cushions mediatating, praying, singing and getting high off inscence. And had ash placed on our forehead and neck as we all left.

In the afternoon, we walked to the main high street in Patan. We just felt the need to orientate ourselves a little better and really needed some money. Our new daily visited courner shop sells Cadbury's chocolate for 1p and 1 litre bottles of water for 2p. It's crazy cheap. We're definitely coming back fat.

On most evenings we sit with "sister" and a couple of children on the floor in a circle cutting a supermarket's worth of coliflower using what look like medival tools and knives in near total darkness and very unhygienic conditions. Although it sounds kind of horrendous, it's such a great experience of proper Nepali family cooking. The food is just the best (apart from what we will get in Thailand according to Rosie... who was born there!) and the kids are bottomless pits and can manage mountains of rice and Dhal within seconds, even though they are fairly tiny kids. We both still struggle to finish one portion that sort of size.

On Day 3 both of us started feeling a little sick, Clare manage to knock her bug on the head within a night, however Rosie had vomit and diarrhoea for about 24 hours. Not very pleasant for her...or the toilet.

As Rosie lay in bed (literally a wooden board with a blanket over it) getting over being ill, Clare took the kids to the playground in a school. They loved it as it's such a change from the usual routine but the headmaster arrived and kicked us all out after a short while. So to compensate for this disappointment, we gave them balloons which is always a winner. They also spent ages plaiting Clare's hair and brushing it with the communal comb. This wasn't so nice as there is a pretty extreme case of lice here, which Clare is thoroughly convinced she now has!

Today, after taking the kids to school, we both got the chance to sit on the back of two motorbikes belonging to the owner of the orphanage and his wife as he took us to buy a Nepali Phone and sim card. We drove at full speed, though the busy streets of central Kathmandu at rush hour without a helmet, wearing flip flops and Clare wore only a short sleeved shirt. Not the best idea, but was soooooo much fun and exhilarating!

We feel really at home now. We have been welcomed into this giant family and are having the time of our lives. It's a completely different world - totally bizar, but it's so perfect for us.

Anyway we will try and keep you all updated as much as we can.

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