Nepal Life Journey

5th September 2009

hollykellylines — Sat, 5 Sep 2009 19:47:00 GMT

Wow, 12 days and no post - sorry guys!!

What can i say? Although i get up at 6.30am and don't have work until 9.30am, and i finish work at 4pm, i still do not find the time to write these posts. I'm enjoying it too too much! Me and Annie (one of the volunteers and my best mate here) agreed that no matter how we try and describe this place to people, you will never understand until you experience this.

The views are breathtaking, the other night my 'sister' and I lay on our roof for hours watching the stars, they lit up the sky like a thousand tiny lights, it was amazing! We also had a real heart to heart and are even closer than before, she is so beautiful and we talk about everything, she is my 2nd sister for deffinate!

Everything's been ticking away (too quickly for my liking!) working, socialising, eating rice lol. Last night i slept at Annie's house and had dinner there, she has a 5yr old brother who is sooo cute but he's an absolute terror, i dont know how his parents cope!

The other day we had an interaction programme with the teachers of Sirutar Secondary School and it was really interesting to hear about their way of schooling. Beating a child is still the most popular form of punishment here in Nepal, but we made some suggestions of alternatives. The education system is not government funded and so everyone has to pay their tuition from the age of 5 to 16. It is 400rupees entry fee then 300 rupees per month. 100 rupees is about 80p to us, but it is a lot to them, so given the option any family would educate a boy over a girl, without any doubt. The Sirutar Secondary School offer scholarship and sponsorship so i am thinking of setting up a charity to offer sponsorship to girls of Sirutar, Bhaktapur. So i hope all of you sign up to become a sponsor, or ill be on ur backs everyday for the rest of time!! lol.

Today, we went to the orphanage and handed out sweets and stickers. The children went absolutely MENTAL over them, it was very humbling to be there, they were the most beautiful and intelligent children you could ever imagine! I met an 11 yr old boy called Surakshya who had big doe eyes and his ears stuck out! He was so shy and told me he didn't really have proper friends at the orphanage, despite being there for 6yrs already. He was so amazing i spent the whole time with him, holding his hand and giving him kisses. He tried to share his sweets with me which bought me close to tears. At the end when it was time to leave i gave him a cuddle, promised to come again (which i will) and walked out before crying. It was a beautiful experience that i would do all over again but it doesn't half make you grateful for everything you have!

Tonight Annie is coming for dinner, we are having cheese curry cos it is my absolute fave! Then my sister is staying in my room cos she told me that she missed me loads last night :-) I will try and get online more often but i can't promise anything cos i'm having way too much fun people!!

Monday we are going to Maiti Nepal which is a rehab centre for women that have been forced into the sex slave industry. I'm looking forward to it loads but i will deffinately cry a lot. I'll update and let you know how it goes.

Love you lots xxxx

24th August 2009

hollykellylines — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:23:00 GMT

So its 10:15am and i'm sat in the internet cafe (which i must say is a steal at 10p an hour!) Sorry i don't update often, i am so busy adapting to this life that i rarely go on the net for longer than 20 minutes!

Anyway back to my story, So we celebrated Thees yesterday. It is where the women fast for the day and go to the temple to pray for the health and long life of their husband, or future husband. I fasted for the day and i tell you what, it ain't easy!!! Got up at 8am and by 9am my stomach was growling in protest! You're not meant to drink the water either but I did because i couldnt go the whole day in that heat not drinking.

In the afternoon we walked the million miles to Luboo to dance by the temple, i found myself dragged up by some wrinkly aged woman, who i doubt was actually over the age of 40, and so i though what the hell|?| lost my inhibitions and danced to my hearts content, amidst cheers and clapping. When i stopped i was exhausted and had to trek home, before collapsing on my bed asleep!

In the evening we ate dinner.. i have never been so grateful for rice spinach and pumpkin in my life! It's strange becaue I have become so used to the food, i don't even mind eating it for breakfast anymore, my body is well adjusted. However, when i think about it conciously I have only enjoyed 2 meals since living in Nepal - and they were both Hamburger and chips with garlic mayo from 'crazy burger' in Kathmandu! It is strange how much food dictated my life before, i ate a lot of crap and far too much cheese, as i'm sure James will agree - it cost us a fortune haha! But now i eat bare essentials and i am getting along fine. If anything I have more energy and get less tired, i feel much healthier also. This is down to leading an active life also, but it is certainly something I know have the strength to change.

I went shopping in Kathmandu for my Sari on friday (im sure you've seen foties on f.book!) They were trying to charge my sister 2400 rupees and she got it down to 1500 rupees (about 13pound) it just goes to show how much you can get ripped off being a foreigner!

Anyways i must go and watch slumdog millionaire in the office now -can you believe that dvds cost a mere 1 pound?? Same with CDs, i got a limited edition Jeff Buckley live at Sine for 1 pound!! Although that's nothing, good news for the smokers is that a pack of 20 costs the equivelent of 40 pence!

I will update again soon and let you know how teaching goes this week, as well as my nepali language and culture classes also. Love you all xx

15th August 2009 - Internet yay!!

hollykellylines — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Apologies for the lack of update, the internet is scarce and power cuts are a way of life so it has been difficult to keep you informed!

We arrived at the airport where our leaders Barat and Bal Krishna greeted us, they gave us each silk scarves and took about a million photos of us. My first taste of Nepali life was difficult to say the least, a man dragged his body toward us begging, his legs were broken and twisted and the bones had obviously re-formed in the wrong way, his hand was backwards, his clothes consisted of some rags. And the project leaders shouted at him to go away. This wasn't as bad as the children with no clothes on begging and crying everywhere in the streets of Kathmandu, they follow you up the road just begging 'please'. We have been told that any money they receive goes to their parents, who make them do this to earn a living. The streets of kathmandu are severely polluted and over crowded, there are no pavements and cars and bikes drive all over the place, if you don't move then you get hit - it's as simple as that.

I'm not going to talk about the hotel because although it was a little shabby, it was a hotel. standard. we did spend some time visiting the tourist places like the monkey temple - it is called that for a reason, there are monkeys EVERYWHERE!! soo cute! lol. It is the temple of lord krishna who had over 1600 girlfriends, as legend would have us believe!

Off we went to our host family and OMG they are just the most wonderful people, they treat u as family immediately and gave me the Nepali name Rashya (to protect) - my mother shouts 'RASHYA!!!' when she wants me lol. I have a mother and father who i am to call mum and dad (ama and buwa in nepalise) i have a 22yo brother who speaks perfect english and loves Eric clapton!! And i have a beautiful 20yo sister called pratima who sits in my room and gossips with me at night! They dressed me in a sari - i am buying one for the festival and pratima is taking me shopping!

The way of life is a very simple one, cold bucket of water over ur head in the afternoon - this is the shower. A disgusting squat toilet in the outhouse (the hygiene in nepal is non existant, this is due to lack of education on dieseases and cleanliness). I sleep on a wood bed (no mattress) with a mosquito net, and the power goes out everynight, we eat by candlelight. Yes it's true, ALL we eat is RICE!! i've eaten so much rice my body is starting to reject it!! We have a full spinach curry at 8am before going to work and then the same at 8pm! And no, i'm not 'getting used to it' - it is disgusting. pure and simple.

Work is very tough, we are pick axing, shovelling and wheelbarrowing tons and tons of mud in the scorching sunlight or freezing rain. But that is getting easier each day. We have half days on friday and day off saturday so we went to the city for my birthday last night. People got me shitfaced and i have been sick twice today haha! Met lots of volunteers from around the world, it was interesting to hear what they make of nepal.

Going to the slums next week for the day, going to be the hardest day of my life no doubt. However, this is why i came here and the whole point of my trip so i must walk in with my eyes open and properly experience the life of these people.

All in all i am very settled. Of course i think of family and friends often and miss them. And i miss James so much that it hurts. But the life isn't all that bad, im enjoying what im doing and the people i have met here. Nepal is the poorest country in Asia and the 14th poorest in the world. But these people have rich lives full of love and happiness, u never see anyone frowning or angry, they accept the card they're dealt and get on with it, never asking for more than what they have in front of them. It is my opinion that the Nepalise are the most beautiful race in the world.

6th August 2009

hollykellylines — Thu, 6 Aug 2009 18:40:00 GMT

So it's 9.45am and i've just pulled my platform 2 t-shirt over my head. I was expecting this to all become 'real' with the platform2 logo firmly emblazened on my chest but it's still just as surreal. People keep asking me if i'm mega excited or nervous at all and in truth i don't feel either, Yesterday i felt apprehensive for about an hour then that feeling died. Today i read some of my groups facebook status's and a wave of excitement hit me for about 3 minutes before it faded.

It's not that i'm ungrateful or anything like that, it just doesn't feel real - it's so far away from anything i've ever experienced in my life. It may be a bit of subconcious self preservation because i'm not 'expecting' anything in particular, that way everything is new and exciting.

Mind you, writing this is starting to get me a little excited and speaking to the guys over facebook is starting to hit me! I will miss my family and friends so much, especially James (who has become my security blanket in recent weeks!) i'm so grateful for all the messages and support i've received it really has helped. I promise to keep everyone updated whenever i can. The first few days are probably going to be a bit mad and i'll be getting to know people but after that i will be in touch! I have most of ur addresses but if there's anyone i've forgotten then message me!

Love you forever and a day xxx