Crazy Weeks!!!

June 12, 2009

It has been a crazy past two weeks. I feel like we have not stopped at all. After going to Chitwan two more volunteers came and so we were busy traveling with them when we were not working. Last weekend Josh, Justin (volunteer from New Jersey) and I traveled to the last resort which is a small adventure resort about 15 km from the Tibet border and went bungy jumping. The location of the jump is off of a suspension bridge that is 160 meters over a raging river. I was the last person in my group to jump because of my weight so I was on the bridge for 2 hours watching people go and by the time it was my turn I was so ready to get off the bridge that I hopped right up and got ready. I was just fine until I stood on the platform and was really going to jump and I froze. I kept telling the guy that I didn’t think that I could do it and he kept encouraging me to just take one step further and one more. It took me a few minutes but I finally jumped. Josh took a video from the side I look totally freaked out. I am going to try and put it on Facebook I don’t know if I will be able to before I get home but if you want to see it just let me know it is pretty funny. After finally being released from hanging upside down you have to hike about 20-25 minutes back up the mountain. It was one of the hardest hikes that I have ever done. Partially because I had just jumped off a bridge but it was hard all by itself. The views were amazing though. Along the trail you had to walk though waterfalls and up steps made of rocks casually placed to assist climbing. They were not stable at all. At one point on the trail there were several children bathing in one of the waterfalls and women doing their wash. Right before returning to the resort there was a small village that I walked though and saw people cleaning and preparing fresh cut rice, and there were goats and chickens everywhere it was really neat to be able to see it. I kept wishing that I had my camera to take pictures but you are not allowed to jump with anything like that on you.

The school that we have been teaching at has a 10 day break, so we took Sunday to travel to Baktupur and Nagarkot with Vanessa (the other volunteer here from Singapore) . The Kathmandu valley was originally 3 different countries Kathmandu, Patan, and Baktupur. Each one is now just a different area of the valley but they each still have their individual Durbar Square. We had traveled to both Kathmandu and Patan several times because they are very close to where we are but Baktupur is about 45 minutes to 1 hour away from us depending on traffic so we had to make a special trip to go and visit it. Baktupur is famous for their “king of curds” which is yogurt curd it is kind of bitter and very lumpy. We tried it at two different place while we were there. The first place was at a restaurant where we paid 86 Rupees for a bowl and it was ok. The second place was a small hole in the wall locally owned place. We paid 15 rupees and it came in a small clay pot that we got to keep and it was way better tasting. It had ginger and cardamom spices in it. Baktapur had many pretty temples including the tallest in Nepal. Baktapur is also famous for its potters square where all kinds of pots and other clay goods are made. It is off season here right now so there was not too much going on but I did see one man sitting at the potters wheel.

As we were leaving a little girl started following us. She latched on to Josh and followed him saying. “Hi hi hi hi hi hi hi one rupee hi hi hi hi hi hi hi one rupee hi hi hi hi hi one rupee hi one rupee hi one rupee hi hi hi hi.” It was so funny because Josh kept saying hi to here and then getting frustrated that she was still there. She followed us for a good 20 minutes until we got into the taxi and drove off. She even started to chase after the taxi but stopped shortly. (We are encouraged not to give money or food to the street children because it makes their lives on the streets easier and discourages them from finding the programs that are set up to help them).

After leaving Baktapur we traveled another 45 minutes to 1 hour to Nagarkot which is a small mountain village that has amazing views and cooler weather. There is nothing to do there except to relax and take in the amazing views. We ate lunch at one of the 2 nice hotels in the village and relaxed in the cool weather and enjoyed the fresh air. From where we were on a clear day you can see the peaks of Mount Everest. It was not very clear the day we were there unfortunately. It was nice to go to the mountains though. So much of them remind me of the mountains of home.

This week we have been working at a different orphanage during the day while the children here are at school. This orphanage has babies and toddlers that we played with the first day. They are so cute and want to be held and played with all the time. The last three days that we have been there we have been helping a volunteer from a different organization paint the playroom. That has been really fun I got very blue doing so though.

I have also been helping cook meals for the kids everyday as well as for the adults here. It has been really fun. I should be able to cook very well when I get home. It is not hard at all. It is just remembering all the spices and having the right equipment. Tomorrow is Saturday and the one day that the kids are home. We are planning on making momos (kind of like a Chinese dumpling) I bought a momo pan yesterday and all of the children are so excited and keep reminding me that it is tomorrow hopefully everything turns out great.
I will post a separate post on Chitwan later I am not done writing it yet. Hope all is well with everyone.

Namaste

Amanda