A week with a Nepali family

After 8 weeks of learning Nepali, I thought it was time to put my language skills to the test and so, I spent a week living with a Nepali family.

I arrived after my language class on Monday evening and after some introductions by my language teacher, I was left to fend for myself. I sat with the mum (Manju) as she made Dahl Baht for dinner and asked her about her family and the food she was making. After dinner, we sat around in the living room and talked a bit, getting to know each other.

The family of 4 was made up of Manju, her husband Mahendra and her 2 sons - 1 son was studying in the States, and 1 son was living at home. I sure was glad to have Sanjil (the younger, 17 year old son) around because he could speak some English which was very helpful with translation, as well as some English conversation when Nepali got a bit much.

I remember waking up on the Tuesday morning. I grabbed my towel and headed for the bathroom, only to be met by Manju who started asking me some questions. Having to think in Nepali straight after waking up was a bit hard going but as the week went on, I got more used to it.

I headed to the bathroom and got ready for a shower, only to find that they didn't have any hot water (oh...AND they had a squat toilet...boo). From then on, each morning, Manju would boil a bucket of hot water for me to bathe with (washing my hair with a bucket of water was not an easy task!).

I headed to school for my language class around 10am each day and would return around 5:30pm in the evening. Waiting for me when I got home was a cup of chiya and some biscuits. We would then eat dinner around 8pm at night, sit around and chat after dinner (or watch TV), and then go to bed around 10ish (they kindly put down a mattress in their toasty warm living room for me to sleep on).

On Friday, Manju took me to Pashpati - a cremation site along a river. It was quite interesting watching people being brought in and the different rituals they performed to get them ready to be cremated. After washing their feet and putting water in the mouths, the dead person would be covered with the correct coloured cloth, then brought to the woodpile to be cremated.

When the dead person arrived at Pashpati, they were covered with a blanket. The thing that surprised me the most was that a bunch of homeless kids would hang around, and after the blankets were taken off the person, the kids would run off with them, happy to have something to keep them warm at night (the idea of using a dead person's blanket kinda freaks me out but I guess you use what you can get).

It was an interesting experience and gave me some new insights into Hindu beliefs and the rituals they perform so that their loved ones will be reincarnated as something better.

It was also a good reminder that I don't need to fear death, and that I have assurance that when I die, I will go to be with my awesome God in heaven, not because of anything I've done to deserve it, but all because of God's grace in sending Jesus to die and rise again.

When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Because of his grace, he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. - Titus 3:4 & 7

Looking forward to more adventures ahead!

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Home away from home

I write this from my new apartment which I moved into just a few weeks ago. I feel like it's been a long time coming and I'm so stoked to finally be settling into this new pad.

After a few weeks of looking around at not so great apartments, a little over a month ago this apartment came across my path as a family from school were moving house and were looking for someone to move in. I checked it out and really liked it, but needed some expert advice on whether this really was a good apartment or not. You see, in Nepal, it's not just about whether you like the look of a place. You've gotta take into consideration what the water supply's like (by February, Nepal will be short on water so working out if you'll need to truck in water and who pays for it if/when it happens is a big deal), how safe and secure the area is and how noisy it gets.

After getting the OK from a missionary friend who's been here for 10 years, I set upon writing up a lease agreement. Unfortunately, the landlord's husband was away for work and wouldn't be returning for several weeks so the lease wasn't signed for awhile.

After he returned and an agreement was made, he got the place painted and I started to move in.

In the weeks leading up to my move, I'd started to scout out who was leaving Nepal and who I could buy 2nd hand stuff from as buying things new is very expensive (if only they had IKEA here). I'd managed to track down 5 people and bought most of what I needed from them, including all my furniture (having a couch is the BEST), kitchen stuff, linens and lots of other bits and pieces.

I also had to get gas bottles filled, a water filter installed, the internet connected and work out who to hire as house help (the thought of having someone come to clean your house a few times a week may seem ridiculous, but it gives local women employment, and with washing machines being a rarity, it's definitely handy having somebody come to wash your clothes).

Then, there was the inverter - a backup power source for when the electricity goes out. Before coming to Nepal, I'd never even heard of an inverter, but with electricity cuts for up to 18 hours a day, having a source of power is a must. After trying to work out exactly what an inverter is and asking around for where I could get one installed for a good price, I decided on the help of a missionary guy who installs inverters as a 'Business As Mission' venture.

So, as I sit here on my comfy couch with christmas lights flashing around me, I'm so excited to be in an apartment that I love and that I can now call 'home'.

Looking forward to many more adventures (hopefully not to do with house disasters!) ahead!

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The Last Resort

I just spent a week with Grade 9s from KISC at 'The Last Resort' - an adventure camp about 4 hours out from Kathmandu.

We set out early on Monday morning, and after arriving at the Resort, we found our tents and began team building games. The guys leading our camp group were amazing at keeping the kids engaged and challenging them to stretch themselves and work better at communication and teamwork.

That afternoon, we walked to the centre of the bridge and we all had 3 goes at absailing down it - the first time the camp guys lowered us down, the 2nd time we lowered ourselves and the 3rd time we raced to see how fast we could go.

Day 2, after a fantastic breakfast (how many other camps cook you omlettes in the morning!) we split up into 2 groups and headed out on a long hike. Most of the way up the mountain required lots and lots of stairs so we'd walk for 5 minutes, then take a 10 minute break. It was very exciting, after 3 hours of walking, to make it up the mountain. After lunch, we headed back down and were totally stuffed so we just hung out and played cards for the rest of the afternoon.

Our 3rd and final full day, we got into our swim suits and got ready for canyoning! I'd never even heard of canyoning before, but it's where you absail through waterfalls - AWESOME!!! It was SO much fun and totally new for me which is why I think I loved it so much!

That afternoon, we headed for the high ropes course and spent the rest of the day doing obstacles between the trees.

In the evening, we were in for a treat. After a delicious dinner, some of the resort staff did fire dancing, and after that, there was live music by some other resort staff! Good times with some fun dancing!

Our last morning at the resort, before breakfast, we all had a go at 'horizontal bungy' which made us all really work up an appetite as it was hard work!!

Overall, a fantastic week of fun activities, yummy food and great company!!!! Probably one of the best camps I've been on EVER!

Looking forward to the adventures ahead!

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Out of the Comfort Zone of the Classroom

For the past 6 weeks I've spent 3 hours a day, 5 days a week learning Nepali. It's been lots of fun and I've slowly been able to communicate more with Nepalis at school and in the wider community.

As part of my language learning, my teacher's got me doing a thing she calls 'CLL' - Community Language Learning. This started a few weeks ago where I would find a Nepali who worked at KISC and have a 10-15 minute conversation with them using only Nepali. I asked them the usual questions about their family, where their house was, what foods they like etc, and they would answer using words and phrases I didn't really understand. Even though our conversation was limited, I enjoyed this time as it gave me an opportunity to get to know some of my colleagues.

Then, about a week ago, my teacher decided it was time to step out of the comfort zone of the classroom and into the community. We walked along the street and found a woman who was with her child at the park. I sat down with them and began asking her the questions I knew (where is your house?, how many people in your family?, what do you do for work?). The conversation was pretty one-way and after I had exhausted my questions, there was no-where else to go. The conversation was over in about 5-10 minutes.

After that experience, I was feeling pretty apprehensive about CLL as I realised how very limited my Nepali was, however, just the other day, my confidence began to grow after my conversation with Nabin.

Again, my teacher and I ventured out of the school grounds and headed up the street trying to find someone for me to talk to. She initially asked an older guy to speak to me but he wasn't too keen. Instead, this younger guy who was nearby volunteered and so I began to speak to Nabin. He was great! He spoke very S-L-O-W-L-Y and if I didn't understand something, he repeated it again S-L-O-W-L-Y, then said it in English, then again in Nepali. I came away with a few new phrases and a bit of reassurance that stepping out and speaking Nepali with the locals isn't too bad after all.

Looking forward to the adventures (that involve speaking Nepali) ahead!

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Pokhara

I recently got back from an awesome few days chilling by the lake in Pokhara.

Pokhara is the 2nd biggest city in Nepal and also the starting point for many treks in the Himalayas. Since I only had a week off from language classes, instead of going trekking, Trish, Esther (also KISC teachers) and I decided to spend a few days chilling out instead.

Our holiday started with a 6:45am bus trip, and after taking 2 hours to get out of Kathmandu, we finally arrived in Pokhara around 3pm. The rest of the day was spent settling into our guesthouse, walking by the lake and checking out a few shops.

On Friday, we took it easy, walking up and down the main strip of shops, stopping regularly to see what was on offer.

On Saturday, Trish, Esther and I headed up a mountain to the World Peace Pagoda. We'd read in our trusty Lonely Planet guide that we could take a more scenic route through the forest so we headed towards the beginning of the trail but got a bit lost on the way so stopped to ask a few 10 year old kids if they could tell us which way to go. They were more than happy to walk with us and ended up being our guides up the mountain (for a small fee of course). Sadly, the view wasn't that fantastic due to the mass amounts of clouds so I'll have to make the trip back up again the next time I'm in Pokhara.

On Sunday, Trish, Esther, Philippa, Debby and I decided to hire a boat and go out on the lake. We had the BEST time! It was so relaxing floating along, reading, eating and chatting. We'd hired the boat for 4 hours but after 3 hours it started raining, and unfortunately the roof on the boat wasn't waterproof so we quickly headed back into shore and spent the rest of day at a cafe drinking chiya.

Monday was our last day in Pokhara so we spent the time wandering from shop to shop buying all the things we hadn't bought yet.

Arriving back into the dust and traffic of Kathmandu on Tuesday made me appreciate our time in Pokhara even more. It's definitely somewhere I'll go time and time again while I'm in Nepal.

Looking forward to more adventures ahead!

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realestate.com - Nepal Needs You!

Just this weekend, I moved out of the house I'd been staying in since arriving in Kathmandu.

The KISC hostel was a great place to stay upon arrival in Nepal, but hearing that I would be sharing a bedroom with another girl and a bathroom with 5 others for the next 4 months quickly put me on the look out for somewhere else to live.

Luckily, an Australian named Antonia (also a teacher at KISC) had a spare room at her apartment and so, I decided to move in with her...for the time being.

Although Antonia's apartment is nice, I want to find a place that I really like that I can set up as my own, and so, began the search for a place to call home.

Now if I were to search for an apartment back in Melbourne, I would jump on realestate.com.au, domain.com.au or one of those other realestate websites, check out apartments that look good, then go and visit them. Not so in Nepal.

I heard of this business called TJ's Home Finder where you go into the office, tell the guy (I don't think his name's TJ) what you're looking for, and he'll help find you a place. So today after my Nepali language class, I went over to TJ's for a chat. He told me about a few places, then I hopped on his colleague's motorbike and we cruised around the area, stopping every couple of minutes to look at a property. I must have gone to 6 or 7 places but unfortunately, none of them were really what I'm after.

I'm hoping to find a furnished 2 bedroom apartment on the 1st or 2nd floor (most 'houses' are 3 floors) that has a good water supply, isn't too noisy (which may be an obstacle as a lot of landlords have dogs) and is close to school. I'm not in a rush to move out of Antonia's, but it'd be good if I can find something in the next couple of weeks so that I can be a bit more settled. Your prayer for this would be VERY much appreciated!

Oh well...looking forward to the adventures (of house hunting) ahead!

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Missing Bek

I miss Bek.

I'm sad that I can no longer go grocery shopping on her behalf, help her finish a loaf of bread or a carton of milk, or keep her company after watching a freaky episode of Criminal Minds.

But I love it when we talk on skype and she tells me all about her day, or plays me her favorite Flight of the Conchords song. I also love it when she starts skype conference calls and I get to talk to a bunch of people all at the same time.

I miss Bek (and lots of other people too!).

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1 Bag, 2 hours and 720 Rupees Later

Today I went to Kathmandu's Cargo Storage building to pick up a bag that I sent over.

We (I went with a Nepali man from school named Bukta) arrived at 10:30am and were quickly surrounded by a group of men. One man asked for my documents and a copy of my passport. Unfortunately, I hadn't brought a copy of my passport so he brought us to a building to make a copy = 5 rupees (7 cents).

We were then told that the building wouldn't open til 11am so we stood around the front of the building while others arrived. It was interesting to watch the Nepali men interacting with each other, smoking, spitting and shooting snot our of their noses. Gross.

At 11:15am the building opened. The man with my documents was already inside and told Bukta and I to wait on some seats. We waited. 1/2 hour later, we were still waiting. Bukta finally went over to a desk to see what was going on. He called me over, and after waiting a little longer, I signed a piece of paper and the man with my documents then led us to another room on the opposite side of the warehouse = 55 rupees (80 cents).

I then went to about 3 other desks and signed my name numerous times before my suitcase was brought out. I then placed my bag in the middle of the warehouse and opened it while a group of men stood around looking to see what was inside. The inspector man (and a few others) shuffled through my stuff before deciding it was ok for me to take = 40 rupees (58 cents)

*note to self - pack sanitary items more discreetly so that Nepali men don't hold them up for all to see and ask each other what they are

The man with my documents then ran around for another 15 minutes doing something, before coming back to us to say it was ok for us to go = 400 rupees for his efforts ($5.84)

While we were in the van, we were stopped one last time on the way out of the complex by the security guys at the gates = 120 rupees ($1.75)

Was an insightful morning and a reminder that what may seem like chaos to me, may somehow have some kind of order to others.

Looking forward to the adventures ahead!

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Kathmandu - My New Home

It's quite late at night but I can hear the animals in the zoo nearby going nuts! There are elephants, lions, monkeys and a random dog barking. Welcome to Kathmandu!

I was sitting in the middle section of the plane totally engrossed in a movie I was watching when we landed in my new home, so I didn't even catch a glimpse of Kathmandu as we were approaching.

The airport was pretty average (what you'd expect from an airport in a developing country) and a little chaotic, but I found my way alright, picked up my bag without any hassles, and was met by someone from KISC (Kathmandu International Study Centre) - the school I'm teaching at.

I was then brought to the KISC guesthouse where almost all new teachers stay when they first arrive, and after settling in a bit, was taken out by a few of the other teachers to the shops to buy a few things. The rest of my first day was spent unpacking and just chilling out.

Today (my 2nd day here), I went to the International Church in the morning, out to lunch with some of the other teachers, and then Esther (another teacher who just arrived the other day) and I went to Patan Square with Antonia (a teacher from Australia!). It was really cool to go out and explore a little bit and be more exposed tothe craziness of the streets!

This week I'll start a bit of KISC orientation but it'll be pretty relaxed I think. The following week (13 Sept) I'll start my language and Nepal orientation program (LOP) which, looking at the schedule, will be full on!

Thanks to those of you who have been praying for me! I'm feeling really excited to be here and know that the peace I have is totally because I'm where God wants me to be.

Looking forward to the adventures ahead! xoxo

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Koh Samui = Island Paradise

I started this blog to keep people up-to-date on my adventures in Nepal, and now that I've arrived, I thought it was about time I posted again (sorry for my laziness over the last few months...now that I'm here, I'll endeavour to post a bit more regularly). But before I write about Nepal, let me tell you about the awesome holiday I just had...

Oh my gosh! If you have ever want to go to an island paradise, then Koh Samui is it! It was amazing, from start to finish!!!!!

Hannah (my friend that I was travelling with) and I were met at the airport by someone from the Samui Reef View Resort where we were staying, and after unpacking our stuff a bit, Hannah and I went and lounged by the pool for awhile, had some lunch, then headed into Lamai - the 2nd biggest city area on the island. After a massage on the beach, we swam for a bit, then grabbed some delicious food for dinner - pad thai, mango smoothie, mango sticky rice and banana and nutella pancake. YUM!!!

The next day, we hired a scooter and checked out other parts of the island. We headed to some waterfalls which were a bit ordinary, then went up to Chaweng - the busiest part of Samui. After cruising around for awhile, trying to find our way, we made it to the beach where we swam, chatted to some Burmese and Nepali people we met, then got red curry for dinner. On the way back to the resort, we found a fruit stand so Hannah stocked up on fruit which we ate on our balcony while watching the lightning. Perfect!

Our last full day on the island was actually spent off the island. We took a snorkeling tour to nearby KohTao and Koh Nangyuan. STUNNING!!!! The beaches there were amazing and the fish and sea life we saw were really beautiful! The highlight was swimming amongst a massive school of fish, as well as seeing this mini shark kinda thing. Was really cool!!!!

On our last day, we headed back into Lamai, hang out on the beach, ate an awesome lunch which we bought from people selling stuff on the beach (smoked corn and papaya salad), got another massage, went back to the resort to pack up our stuff, then was brought to the most amazing airport I've ever been to!

Apparently, the airport was only built 2 years ago, and it is REALLY modern! After checking in, as you walk to the boarding gates, you walk through this outdoor mall area which has heaps of cool shops! Then, you get to the boarding gate which is like a lounge and there is a courtesy corner with free food! If we'd known the aiport was gonna be so fantastic, we woulda arrived earlier! :-)

I'm now in Nepal (arrived yesterday) but will write more about my first impressions when I get a chance in the next few days.

Looking forward to the adventures ahead! xoxo

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A Walk In The Park

Just 1 week ago, I found it harder than usual to get off the couch due to my extremely sore leg muscles...I'd just walked 50km.

On Saturday 1 May at 7am, Cassie, Hamo, Bek and I lined up at the starting line of 'Go The Extra Mile' - a 50km endurance walk to raise money for Dalit (considered the 'untouchables', lower than animals) children in India (www.walk4charity.com/vic).

We'd spent the last 2 months training for the event...going for shorter walks during the week, and blocking out a day on the weekend to do a longer walk.

Through our training, we'd tried to cover most of the trail that we'd be walking on event day. I'm glad we did as some of the terrain, especially in The Dandenongs, was really steep. It was good to have an idea of what we'd be facing on the day.

We anticipated reaching pit stop #1 at 10am, but managed to get the 15km leg done in 2.5 hours. We walked faster than we had in training and even jogged some parts. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it was the faster pace or the cold morning in shorts, but my legs started to get sore MUCH earlier than I thought they would.

We had Julie meet us at pit stop #1, and after walking another 1.5 hours (9kms), we made it to pit stop #2 and were met by Mel with a delicious lunch! The chicken sandwiches and yummy slice were much appreciated!

The first half of the course seemed to fly by. Unfortunately, the second half wasn't so kind. As we got into The Dandenongs, my legs got sorer and the flat paths of the first 24kms were replaced by lots of hills.

At pit stop #3, the base of the 1000 steps, we were met by Jo and by then, we were all pretty stuffed as the 3rd leg, which took us 4 hours to complete, was pretty savage! With only 12kms to go til the finish, I headed into the last part of the course with the sun setting, knowing it was going to be tough, but eager to make it.

Our team name, Step-By-Step was chanted several times as I continued shuffling along the path, and at times, the old New Kids On The Block song was what kept me going (as well as thoughts of why I was doing the walk in the first place).

After 13 hours of walking, the finish line was crossed! I MADE IT 50kms!!!!

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me/us for the walk!! Because of your support, my team has raised $1560...nearly double our team target! I know the money is going straight to the education and healthcare of the Dalit children. If you read this before June 30 2010 and are keen to make a tax deductible donation, go to http://www.walk4charity.com/vic/sponsorwalkermsg.asp.

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Chuffed

Thanks to those of you who have emailed and let me know that you will be praying for me as I prepare to go, as well as while I'm in Nepal. Prayer is powerful and I know that God will work through you in awesome ways.

After sending out that newsletter, the responses I received were mainly from friends and family who I had emailed, although I was quite chuffed when I received an email from my friend's parents. I have known this friend for around 5 years, and only met her parents a handful of times. Anyway, they wrote, saying that they heard that I was going and that they were commited to praying for me. I guess I was just excited to know that God is bringing people outside of my 'circle' to support me and that I don't need to worry about having enough prayer or financial support because God's looking after it and He can stir in the hearts of people to pray and give.

Speaking of giving...today I received my first pledge of financial support! WOOHOO!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I need to have raised at least 80% before I can book my flights, so knowing that I'm no longer on 0% is great!

Looking forward to the adventures ahead!

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It's really happening

As I prepare to send out my first newsletter in just a few days time, I can't believe that once I hit 'send', it's really going to be happening...I'm really going to be on my way to Nepal.

Sure...I've been preparing for this for

AGES. I've done short term mission trips, read missionary's biographies, gone to every mission conference or meeting possible to learn more about where God might want me...but now that I've got my support card ready to send out, and people might actually respond and feel led to support me on this journey, my hopes of going somewhere long-term will begin to become a reality.

I actually set up this blog a little while ago, knowing that when I'm away,

I want to have a place where people can come and see what I've been up to, see pics and hear stories.

Check back in once in awhile and see where I'm at.

Looking forward to the adventures ahead!

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