Heeelllooooooooo friends. As I write the last post for two weeks I can't help but think in a British accent. I am sitting here with my friend Nadine who has the cooooolest accent and can get away with calling food "nice" not tasty, and the monks she teaches "very naughty monks". She's awesome. Last night on our way from the RCDP hostel to our hotel in Thamel, the dodgey van we were taking didn't quite make it up this hill and Nadine, who wassitting backwards, went flying forward and let out the most hilarious scream ever. I swear it sounded like the queen was screaming. very regal.
so that has nothing to do with anything, but for any of you who know my obsession with harryp otter will understand my obsession ofnadines accent.
One moreshout out before i start my story - Parch aka roomie aka Sarah: i had a dream last night you showed up in Kathmandu to travel with me. I was so so so excited when I woke up and then realised you weren't here. I guess i miss you!
Okay, so first off C & I have to give a HUGE thank you to Sue Trembley, Tom & Annette, and The Kerns. Of the many things we've used your donations for, probably the most amazing was the birthday party we planned for Rabin on Saturday. You have to understand that these kids are never given special treatment - they all receive the same food and clothes, and don't have moms or dads who come home some nights with a gift that "they just knew so and so would love". So that fact that we made Saturday Rabins very own birthday party just made him feel soooooo special. We started off by purchasing 200 cookies, 2 bags of skittles, a jar of Peanut Butter and a jar ofChocolate Sauce. We then spent an hourbuilding cookie houses which they kids absolutely loved. I mean, thesearen't the type of kids who get an oreo in their lunch box for dessert. they're lucky if their friends share theirsweets with them at school. Needless tosay they were in heaven. However, it wasnt until after they finished building that charlotte and i reailzed just how much sugar we were feeding these sugar deprived children. Shit. They are going to be OFF THE WALL. So after we got them cleaned up we decided to take them to a local park to run off some of that energy. What happened at this park, you ask? You know...all the normal things one does at a park: run, play in dirty water, harass pigeons and....oh yeah...harrass MONKEYS. And what happens when an 8 year old boy teases a monkey?
HE GETS BITTEN. Charlotte and I did not know what to think. On the one hand, we were peeing our pants laughing. Who gets bitten by a monkey!!?? On this other hand, we were like, CRAP, we need to find this kid a rabies shot. As it turns out, the nurse at the school has a whole supply of these so poor little Achut was able to get his shot the nextmorning at school.
When we got home from the park we played pass the parcel. charlotte and i sang O Canada and rigged it so the best gift stopped on the bday boy, Rabin. His face was priceless. He had won something that he did not have toshare and loved it. Of course, the adults inthe house ate half of his Bubble Tape but we'd anticipated this and brought him into our room and gave him another one andtold him to hide it from Isswari & Mahesh. He beamed.
Our next activity was bobbing for apples and this also was extremely pricess. The kids loved it so much that they kept spitting their applesback into the bin so they could bob again. Sudip, the little 5 year old, was the cutest. He just couldn't get his mouth around the apple if his life depended on it and was getting quite discouraged. Charlotte finally slipped her hand in the spitty water and held up the apple so he could get it and I have never seen anyone so proud. The kids played with those chewed up apples and spitty water until it got dark.
Meanwhile, Charlotte and I decided to give Rabin his big present while the other kids were still playing. Kerns, T&A, and Sue....he has you to thank for this! I don't think I can accurately describe how it felt to watch him openit, and how itfelt to see what he did next. He had the same sort of reaction as hedid when we played pass the parcel. You could see that he didn't really believe this wholepresent was for him (when really it was just puzzle, slinky, stickers from Jenn meeker & candy). You know what he did after he opened it? He meticulously wrapped the present back up, walked into his bedroom, and spent 15 minutes hiding it.
"Rabin, don't you want to try the puzzle??"
"No Miss, I love my present and want to hide it so no one will find it and steal it from me"
This broke our hearts, but we realized that by hiding his present, he had the knowledge that he would always have something the other kids didn't. It was very, very cute.
Due to some unusual circumstances involving a disagreement between Charlotte and I and the owners of the orphanage (revolving around the crooked way theyrun the place), C & I left a day earlier than we expected and didn't get a proper good bye with the kids. so we are looking forward to going back after we get back from everest.
Speaking of everest.....WE'RE GOING TOMORROW!! There are 6 of us in our group and we all know each other from our Chitwan expedition last week. Our guide, Doje (pronouced Dodgey?) is only 22 but he's from the everest region. And get this! He actually SUMMITED Everest for the first time this past MAY! I think thats pretty cool that we get a guide who's made it to the top of the world. He didn't beat around the bush with us and told us it's not an easy trek, and that it gets effing cold at night. Charlotte and I told him we were from Canada and since we live in igloos we'd be fine. Forgetting the language barrier, he totally didn't get my sarcasm and now thinks charlotte and i are strange looking canadian inuits. ooops.
We fly into Lukla tomorrow with is approx 2000m above sea level (kathmandu is 0). Fromthere we spend 11 days hiking up to 5600m and only 2 or3 going down. 4000m is where the effects of altitude start to kick in. I'm not nervous, I'm actuallyquite interested to see how my body will react. For the average active, fit, person, the effects of altitude are not determined by the shape you are in, but rather, the physiologic make up of your body. Just how Lance Armstrong was told he has freakishly long quadricep muscles and therefore should take up cycling, maybe i'll find that i have a crazy high red blood cell count and will stay on the mountain and become a sherpa. Maybe.
I don't think I'll get on the internet there, so I have to say Namaste for the time being. In two weeks time I will have stories of mountain people, yaks, donkeys, and how many times a day altitude meds really make you pee.
Until then, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Love,
Jenny and Charlotte
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Lessons from Nepal #4: Bed bugs bite.
So it's been a couple days since my last post and as my mother pointed out I don't think I ever explained the "how to run from a rhino" comment. When we were in CHitwan we went on a guided walk through the jungle. As we were starting off the guide gave us the usual instructions of keep quite, follow me, etc etc. He then proceded to stop, turn around, and explain with actions, what to do if we are chased by a rhino. All of us volunteers sorta exchanged looks of "....does this happen often"?. We were told not to worry, and that if a rhino charges us we're simply supposed to a) climb a tree or b) if we suck a climbing trees to run in a zig zag pattern. Thankfully, we were not chased by a rhino but I was secretely practicing my zig zag running in the back of the line.
Today is saturday, the kids only day off school. Yesterday we went shopping with Mahesh (the owner) for new shoes and socks for the kids in the orphanage. THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO DONATED MONEY! Part of your money went towards new school shoes and socks :). Yesterday we were also informed that Monday is Rabins birthday. CHarlottes and I were quite sad that we would be missing this birthday so we decided that we would use saturday (their day off school) to celebrate! Using some of the donation money, we went out to the store to buy all sorts of things. We're doing a bob for apples station, pass the parcel, and then we're making "gingerbread" houses using wafercookies & nutella!! We think the kids are going to love it, but i'll keep you posted :)
Charlotte and I were given some interesting news last night. The two older girls came into our room to warn us not to give money to the orphanage owners because they just use the money for themselves. Throughout our time here Charlotte and I have always sort of had our guards up because the people who run the orphanage seem a little off. For example, we are constantly finding the toys and games we brought for the kids upstairs in the owners room. We ask the children, "where are the cards?" and they point up and say "auntie took them". It's all very strange. Of course, I usually march right up there and take them back...but who is going to do that when we leave tomorrow? It makes us not want to leave toys here and it's very sad. THe other day, the second oldest boy complained to charlotte that his eyes were hurting, and through his broken english charlotte figured out that this boy "copied notes from his friends" at school because looking at the board hurt his head. we both put two and two together and realized that this boy needed to see an eye doctor for glasses. I let him try mine on and he said he could see better. BUT, last night the girls came into our room and told us that while we were talking to this boy, the owners (who were in the room at the time) were speaking in Nepali to him and TELLING him to tell us his eye hurt!! The girls say the owners do this so that we'll give them money to get his eyes checked but then they'll just pocket the money. We feel so betrayed because just yesterday I had an intense conversation with the owner about what he does with the money he is given, and he told me it all goes to the children. These girls also say that when volunteers are here, they make Saugot (the same boy with the eye "problem
) wear ripped shoes so that we will go out and buy him shoes. This Saugot character is actually RELATED to the owners - he is not an orphan, he's essentially a pawn in this game. Charlotte and I have already bought new shoes for some of the children who really need them, and we also bought new shoes for Saugot but we aren't going to give them to him.
From the start we knew that the girls did much more work that the average child. Not only do they cook the food, they do ALL the washing and ALL of the cleaning. We realize this isn't exactly how children should live, but we understand that they are being fed, clothed, and sent to school by these people so perhaps doing the cooking and cleaning is how the owners can afford to get by. BUT, the deception and crookery (is that a word?) that they do it in is both shocking and horrifying. The girls also claim that when there are no volunteers around, they are constantly beaten and shouted at. We don't really know what to make of this claim because we have never witnessed it nor have we ever suspected it. THe kids are usually smiling and laughing, and never once have we enountered any sort of bruised, bump or scrape. So that part, we're not really sure. We are sure that the toys we give the kids go missing, and that we sure as hell aren't leaving the owners any money.
We have thought about the fact that the girls might also be making up this story because they see us as a ticket to Canada. But we don't think this is the case for one main reason. Mainly, the girls never once asked anything like "does this happen in Canada" or "we would be better off in Canada". What they did say, is that they are countingdown the days, 365 in fact, until when the oldest boy, Rajindra, turns 18 and he can open up a new orphanage where they all can live.
Who would make up a story like that?
We're very sad because we have one day left with these kids. We don't know what to do. At home, we'd go to Childrens Aid....but do they even have that here? We're going to talk to RCDP about the volunteer deception. We don't think we have the proof to mention the abuse or hitting, because after all, hitting and beating is how children are punished here.
I should go, we have to go buy apples for our bobbing for apples station!
We're off to Everest on Tuesday so I'm hoping I can post some pictures from the party before then!
Love,
J & C
Today is saturday, the kids only day off school. Yesterday we went shopping with Mahesh (the owner) for new shoes and socks for the kids in the orphanage. THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO DONATED MONEY! Part of your money went towards new school shoes and socks :). Yesterday we were also informed that Monday is Rabins birthday. CHarlottes and I were quite sad that we would be missing this birthday so we decided that we would use saturday (their day off school) to celebrate! Using some of the donation money, we went out to the store to buy all sorts of things. We're doing a bob for apples station, pass the parcel, and then we're making "gingerbread" houses using wafercookies & nutella!! We think the kids are going to love it, but i'll keep you posted :)
Charlotte and I were given some interesting news last night. The two older girls came into our room to warn us not to give money to the orphanage owners because they just use the money for themselves. Throughout our time here Charlotte and I have always sort of had our guards up because the people who run the orphanage seem a little off. For example, we are constantly finding the toys and games we brought for the kids upstairs in the owners room. We ask the children, "where are the cards?" and they point up and say "auntie took them". It's all very strange. Of course, I usually march right up there and take them back...but who is going to do that when we leave tomorrow? It makes us not want to leave toys here and it's very sad. THe other day, the second oldest boy complained to charlotte that his eyes were hurting, and through his broken english charlotte figured out that this boy "copied notes from his friends" at school because looking at the board hurt his head. we both put two and two together and realized that this boy needed to see an eye doctor for glasses. I let him try mine on and he said he could see better. BUT, last night the girls came into our room and told us that while we were talking to this boy, the owners (who were in the room at the time) were speaking in Nepali to him and TELLING him to tell us his eye hurt!! The girls say the owners do this so that we'll give them money to get his eyes checked but then they'll just pocket the money. We feel so betrayed because just yesterday I had an intense conversation with the owner about what he does with the money he is given, and he told me it all goes to the children. These girls also say that when volunteers are here, they make Saugot (the same boy with the eye "problem
) wear ripped shoes so that we will go out and buy him shoes. This Saugot character is actually RELATED to the owners - he is not an orphan, he's essentially a pawn in this game. Charlotte and I have already bought new shoes for some of the children who really need them, and we also bought new shoes for Saugot but we aren't going to give them to him.
From the start we knew that the girls did much more work that the average child. Not only do they cook the food, they do ALL the washing and ALL of the cleaning. We realize this isn't exactly how children should live, but we understand that they are being fed, clothed, and sent to school by these people so perhaps doing the cooking and cleaning is how the owners can afford to get by. BUT, the deception and crookery (is that a word?) that they do it in is both shocking and horrifying. The girls also claim that when there are no volunteers around, they are constantly beaten and shouted at. We don't really know what to make of this claim because we have never witnessed it nor have we ever suspected it. THe kids are usually smiling and laughing, and never once have we enountered any sort of bruised, bump or scrape. So that part, we're not really sure. We are sure that the toys we give the kids go missing, and that we sure as hell aren't leaving the owners any money.
We have thought about the fact that the girls might also be making up this story because they see us as a ticket to Canada. But we don't think this is the case for one main reason. Mainly, the girls never once asked anything like "does this happen in Canada" or "we would be better off in Canada". What they did say, is that they are countingdown the days, 365 in fact, until when the oldest boy, Rajindra, turns 18 and he can open up a new orphanage where they all can live.
Who would make up a story like that?
We're very sad because we have one day left with these kids. We don't know what to do. At home, we'd go to Childrens Aid....but do they even have that here? We're going to talk to RCDP about the volunteer deception. We don't think we have the proof to mention the abuse or hitting, because after all, hitting and beating is how children are punished here.
I should go, we have to go buy apples for our bobbing for apples station!
We're off to Everest on Tuesday so I'm hoping I can post some pictures from the party before then!
Love,
J & C
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
How to tip your elephant trainer
Playing with one of the twin baby elephants! elephant twins are extremely rare and their survival is even more rare! this guy was a cute little bugger
Attempting to stay on our elephant...waaaay more difficult than it looks. The girl in the water s Meng...she struggled...with life.
Lessons from Nepal #2 (a little out of order) - There is No such thing as being On Time in Nepal.
Alright, so lets try this again.
Charlotte and I are back in kathmandu after an amazing 4 days in Chitwan National Park. Chitwan in in the south of nepal so it was sooooo hot there. it honestly felt like we were in cuba (caliente!!). ps sorry for the lack of punctuation and caps, this computer sucks.
The drive to chitwan is beautiful - its a (supposed) 6hr bus ride up over the mountains and through a bunch of hillside towns and villages. However, our bus ride was far from beautiful and far from 6hrs. after our bus broke down with a flat, exploded tired, we were held up for several hours by village protesters. apparently there'd been an accident there earlier that month and the police hadn't punished anyone so these people were holding up the one and only road to chitwan. FML. We finally go through but were 2 hours late for the white water rafting we were supposed to do. we got on the water finally, and the rafting was fun but nothing too intense. HOWEVER, because we'd been late starting our rafting we missed the bus that was supposed to pick us up to take us the rest of the way to chitwan. shoot. thankfully an RCDP guy was with us because we ended up HITCHHIKING (yes dad, hitchhiking) in the pitch black. we were picked up and the 8 of us RCDP volunteers plus two british dudes we'd picked up on the way travelled the rest of the 2.5hours to chitwan in the back of a pickup truck. haha. only in nepal.
we finally made it to our hotel and drowned our day with some delishious everest beer. the rest of our weekend at chitwan consisted of elephant rides, elephant baths, jungle safaris and LOTS of Diwali partying. the weekend we were there was the end of Diwali and so the village was lit up with singing, dancing and decorations (there were xmas lights everywhere! felt like home!)
one night we went out to a local bar with the guy who works at the hotel and learned some sweeeeeeet bollywood dance moves. the next night this same guy took us to his village where his family and 9 other families were doing this house crawl sort of thing where they danced, drank and sang at one house, and then would start all over again when they moved to the next house! it was very fun.
the whole 5 days was a much needed break from the orphanage. I love the kids, they are great, but the conditions are pretty horrible. Charlotte got the flu bfore we left (shes better now) and was also COVERED in bed bug bites. i was fortunate not to get sick, but have some weird hive rash all over my body. going to chitwan, where it didn't smell like piss and the streets were clean, was great. One of the highlights was definitely the elephant bathing. we got up on an elepahnt (with extreme difficulty...took us like 5 tries), and he walked into the water and after he fell off the trainer got him to lie down and we scrubed him with rocks! these creatures are so cute. they had 4 of us on an elephant at once and meng (the girl from taiwan) could not stay on the elephant to save her life. it had youtube written alllllll over it.
two nights ago we were back in Kalanki at the RCDP hostel and we met these two guys from the US. After dinner we decided to go for a walk and ended up stumbling upon what we thought was a rooftop bar with live music. after walking around trying to figure out how to get up Lane finally scaled some rickaty stairs and removed a padlock from a gate, and opened the door. two Nepalise guys walked by us and we asked "bar?", they said Yes yes come with us! so we followed through this gate and up this steep spiral stair case. when we got to the top you can't imagine our shock. this was no rooftop bar - it was a family's private diwali party!!!! i don't think we ever received a look of "who IS that?" though, because we were immediately welcomed with open arms. we were hugged, tikka'd (the red dot on the forehead), fed food and alcohol and were introduced to EVERY family member. everyone wanted pictures with us, and at the end, we were in the whole family shot. this would be like 4 randoms showing up to the Dea Family Xmas, and inviting them into the family portrait. it was INSANE and sooooooo nice. at the end of the night they smeared red paint on our faces (symbolizes protection i believe) and we looked like mel gibson from gladiator.
it was an amazing night and really showed us how lovely nepali people are. we're back at the orphanage now and back to the hives and bedbugs. we're looking forward to everest A LOT.
One final thing, i have to give a shout out to my pops....HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!
Living in an Itch,
J&C
Charlotte and I are back in kathmandu after an amazing 4 days in Chitwan National Park. Chitwan in in the south of nepal so it was sooooo hot there. it honestly felt like we were in cuba (caliente!!). ps sorry for the lack of punctuation and caps, this computer sucks.
The drive to chitwan is beautiful - its a (supposed) 6hr bus ride up over the mountains and through a bunch of hillside towns and villages. However, our bus ride was far from beautiful and far from 6hrs. after our bus broke down with a flat, exploded tired, we were held up for several hours by village protesters. apparently there'd been an accident there earlier that month and the police hadn't punished anyone so these people were holding up the one and only road to chitwan. FML. We finally go through but were 2 hours late for the white water rafting we were supposed to do. we got on the water finally, and the rafting was fun but nothing too intense. HOWEVER, because we'd been late starting our rafting we missed the bus that was supposed to pick us up to take us the rest of the way to chitwan. shoot. thankfully an RCDP guy was with us because we ended up HITCHHIKING (yes dad, hitchhiking) in the pitch black. we were picked up and the 8 of us RCDP volunteers plus two british dudes we'd picked up on the way travelled the rest of the 2.5hours to chitwan in the back of a pickup truck. haha. only in nepal.
we finally made it to our hotel and drowned our day with some delishious everest beer. the rest of our weekend at chitwan consisted of elephant rides, elephant baths, jungle safaris and LOTS of Diwali partying. the weekend we were there was the end of Diwali and so the village was lit up with singing, dancing and decorations (there were xmas lights everywhere! felt like home!)
one night we went out to a local bar with the guy who works at the hotel and learned some sweeeeeeet bollywood dance moves. the next night this same guy took us to his village where his family and 9 other families were doing this house crawl sort of thing where they danced, drank and sang at one house, and then would start all over again when they moved to the next house! it was very fun.
the whole 5 days was a much needed break from the orphanage. I love the kids, they are great, but the conditions are pretty horrible. Charlotte got the flu bfore we left (shes better now) and was also COVERED in bed bug bites. i was fortunate not to get sick, but have some weird hive rash all over my body. going to chitwan, where it didn't smell like piss and the streets were clean, was great. One of the highlights was definitely the elephant bathing. we got up on an elepahnt (with extreme difficulty...took us like 5 tries), and he walked into the water and after he fell off the trainer got him to lie down and we scrubed him with rocks! these creatures are so cute. they had 4 of us on an elephant at once and meng (the girl from taiwan) could not stay on the elephant to save her life. it had youtube written alllllll over it.
two nights ago we were back in Kalanki at the RCDP hostel and we met these two guys from the US. After dinner we decided to go for a walk and ended up stumbling upon what we thought was a rooftop bar with live music. after walking around trying to figure out how to get up Lane finally scaled some rickaty stairs and removed a padlock from a gate, and opened the door. two Nepalise guys walked by us and we asked "bar?", they said Yes yes come with us! so we followed through this gate and up this steep spiral stair case. when we got to the top you can't imagine our shock. this was no rooftop bar - it was a family's private diwali party!!!! i don't think we ever received a look of "who IS that?" though, because we were immediately welcomed with open arms. we were hugged, tikka'd (the red dot on the forehead), fed food and alcohol and were introduced to EVERY family member. everyone wanted pictures with us, and at the end, we were in the whole family shot. this would be like 4 randoms showing up to the Dea Family Xmas, and inviting them into the family portrait. it was INSANE and sooooooo nice. at the end of the night they smeared red paint on our faces (symbolizes protection i believe) and we looked like mel gibson from gladiator.
it was an amazing night and really showed us how lovely nepali people are. we're back at the orphanage now and back to the hives and bedbugs. we're looking forward to everest A LOT.
One final thing, i have to give a shout out to my pops....HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!
Living in an Itch,
J&C
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Lessons from Nepal #3: If chased by a one-horned rhino, run in a zig zag or climb a tree
F***
Just spent 20 minutes writing and it deleted. FU internet.
Will try again tomorrow!
Talk about a cliffhanger...
J&C
Just spent 20 minutes writing and it deleted. FU internet.
Will try again tomorrow!
Talk about a cliffhanger...
J&C
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Don't let the bed bugs bite
It's been an eventful couple days. Charlotte is slowly recovering from a bought of the flu (graciously donated by the children of the orphanage) and I am experiencing my first full body hive break out. Oh yeah, and there is a mouse in our room. Getting for bed one night I saw something fuzzy scurry from the top of my backpack under my bed. Of course I kept my cool and did not freak out. NAAWWTTTT. There was lots of screaming and pointing and jumping on the bed until Rajindra and Saugot (the 2 older boys) came into the room to help us get it out. They were useless, and really I think they were just entertained by our antics. After searching the room Mousey was no where to be found and we decided it has escaped. Oh, BUT NOOOO. Charlotte and I were woken up 2 hours later by the "crinkle crinkle crinkle" sound of mousey going through our stuff. I LEAPED out of my bed and onto charlottes. Both of us stood there like morons in the dark for about 2 minutes because we were too scared to reach down and pick up our flashlights. After 15 minutes of banging things and turning out our bags, we finally got mousey to scamper out of the room into the hall.
Normally, this would cause some discomfort to both of us but we would get over it. It's because we are living in such poor, unhygenic conditions that this lovely mouse encounter was just that much more unwelcomed.
Mousey came back the night after, and not only did he scamper and crinkle, HE SQUEEKED at us. C is convinced he was a small rat. I refuse to believe that because rats are 5000000 times worse. Again, Mousey disappeared and luckily he didn't return last night.
We are off to the RCDP hostel tonight because we leave on a 3 day excursion to Chitwan National Park. This is a much needed break from the orphanage because despite the loveliness and cutiness that is the children, the conditions are getting to us. I was fine up until yesterday when i broke out in this gross chicken-pox like hive thingy.
Chitwan is going to be fun though. We get to go on a safari to see rhinos and tigers and leopards, we get to go white water rafting, and even give an elephant a bath.
OH! Mom, please pass this little bit onto Jenn Meeker. Her toy package has been a HIT! We've slowly been giving everything out and the kids love everything. Yesterday we gave out the dolls and the reaction was priceless. Like good little nepalise children they each sat down with their doll and......search it for lice! hahahahaha. So tell her thank you thank you thank you!
Hoping you all stuffed your faces with thanksgiving food. We celebrated with rice and spinach. Yum.
Will have lots to update in a couple days!
Off to see Dumbo,
J & C
Normally, this would cause some discomfort to both of us but we would get over it. It's because we are living in such poor, unhygenic conditions that this lovely mouse encounter was just that much more unwelcomed.
Mousey came back the night after, and not only did he scamper and crinkle, HE SQUEEKED at us. C is convinced he was a small rat. I refuse to believe that because rats are 5000000 times worse. Again, Mousey disappeared and luckily he didn't return last night.
We are off to the RCDP hostel tonight because we leave on a 3 day excursion to Chitwan National Park. This is a much needed break from the orphanage because despite the loveliness and cutiness that is the children, the conditions are getting to us. I was fine up until yesterday when i broke out in this gross chicken-pox like hive thingy.
Chitwan is going to be fun though. We get to go on a safari to see rhinos and tigers and leopards, we get to go white water rafting, and even give an elephant a bath.
OH! Mom, please pass this little bit onto Jenn Meeker. Her toy package has been a HIT! We've slowly been giving everything out and the kids love everything. Yesterday we gave out the dolls and the reaction was priceless. Like good little nepalise children they each sat down with their doll and......search it for lice! hahahahaha. So tell her thank you thank you thank you!
Hoping you all stuffed your faces with thanksgiving food. We celebrated with rice and spinach. Yum.
Will have lots to update in a couple days!
Off to see Dumbo,
J & C
Monday, October 12, 2009
Lessons From Nepal - #1: Never Leave Home Without Your Bike Shorts
Thus far our days look like this: Get up at 7am, play with kids/help cook/help with homework until 930am. Walk kids to school for 10, then entertain yourself from 10-4. So far we've visited Temples, a conserved garden, the Palace Museum, Thamel (the toursit cetntre), and even done laundry. However, both of us were sort of itching to do something active. There are lots of places to rent bikes in Thamel, but if you've been to Nepal (or India...or seen Slumdog Millionaire for that matter) you will know that navigating these streets is impossible and dangerous. We decided the best way to do it would be to go through a company that provided a guide. We'd had our eye on visiting Nagarjun Reserved Forest, but had heard from some that it wasn't the safest place for 2 females to go alone. The bike company we went through had a ride through this forest and since we were with a guide we thought we'd better jump on the chance to visit the forest.
We went to pay our deposit and get fitted to bikes (which were VERY intesne). The guys there all seemed very pro and could speak very good English, so we were confident the place was legit.
"You can ride a bike?" - the guy asked us. We both said duuhhhhh yes we can ride a bike. I attempted to explain that I was big into road biking but I don't think he got it.
"Have you mountain biked before?" - To this, Charlotte answered more confidently than I, but we both said Yes, a little. That was ALL he asked us. We asked about the level of difficulty of the forest ride and he said "so so" or "not that hard".
Charlotte and I went home all excited to g biking the next day. We packed water, a bag of almonds, and one granola bar to split (they provided lunch). We got up the next morning, fueled ourselves with rice (what every good cyclist eats before a big ride....not) and set off.
We had to ride through the busy streets for 5-10 minutes to get to the forest and it was one of the scariest experiences. Thank GOODNESS we know how to handle and balance on a bike thats all I can say.
I'm not going to describe in detail about the ascent because I've chosen to block it from my mind. Keep in mind that I am by NO means a mountain biker. I like my roads smooth and hilly, where I can go fast. Charlotte had a little more experience, but I'm sure she shared a lot of my thoughts as we rode up. The top of the forest was 2000m high, and the 30km loose rock, constant incline ascent took us a gruelling 3.5h. Charlotte was able to stick to the guide. Me...not so much. With about 4km of vertical to go, my tank of rice was emptied and I had next to nothing left. I could feel lactic acid starting to build up in my legs...even though I'd been riding for 3 hours. The last 2km was rocky and steep...so I had to push my bike up to the top where my sugar was waiting for me haha. I met C at the top and she was like...omg, i died, i didn't think I was going to make it. For anyone who knows Charlotte even slighty, for her to admit this, or think she wasn't physically able to do something...it must have been effing hard.
We drank our mango juice which more more like mango syrup and had two bites of our sandwhich. I filledup on juice and cookies and then we decided to head back down.
The decent took us 50 minutes. Less than a third of what it took for us to get up! It was steep at parts coming down but it was tonnnnsss of fun.
Today we are doing fine, minus our bruised asses and hooha's.
So kids, never leave home without the bike shorts.
Missing my road bike,
J (& C)
We went to pay our deposit and get fitted to bikes (which were VERY intesne). The guys there all seemed very pro and could speak very good English, so we were confident the place was legit.
"You can ride a bike?" - the guy asked us. We both said duuhhhhh yes we can ride a bike. I attempted to explain that I was big into road biking but I don't think he got it.
"Have you mountain biked before?" - To this, Charlotte answered more confidently than I, but we both said Yes, a little. That was ALL he asked us. We asked about the level of difficulty of the forest ride and he said "so so" or "not that hard".
Charlotte and I went home all excited to g biking the next day. We packed water, a bag of almonds, and one granola bar to split (they provided lunch). We got up the next morning, fueled ourselves with rice (what every good cyclist eats before a big ride....not) and set off.
We had to ride through the busy streets for 5-10 minutes to get to the forest and it was one of the scariest experiences. Thank GOODNESS we know how to handle and balance on a bike thats all I can say.
I'm not going to describe in detail about the ascent because I've chosen to block it from my mind. Keep in mind that I am by NO means a mountain biker. I like my roads smooth and hilly, where I can go fast. Charlotte had a little more experience, but I'm sure she shared a lot of my thoughts as we rode up. The top of the forest was 2000m high, and the 30km loose rock, constant incline ascent took us a gruelling 3.5h. Charlotte was able to stick to the guide. Me...not so much. With about 4km of vertical to go, my tank of rice was emptied and I had next to nothing left. I could feel lactic acid starting to build up in my legs...even though I'd been riding for 3 hours. The last 2km was rocky and steep...so I had to push my bike up to the top where my sugar was waiting for me haha. I met C at the top and she was like...omg, i died, i didn't think I was going to make it. For anyone who knows Charlotte even slighty, for her to admit this, or think she wasn't physically able to do something...it must have been effing hard.
We drank our mango juice which more more like mango syrup and had two bites of our sandwhich. I filledup on juice and cookies and then we decided to head back down.
The decent took us 50 minutes. Less than a third of what it took for us to get up! It was steep at parts coming down but it was tonnnnsss of fun.
Today we are doing fine, minus our bruised asses and hooha's.
So kids, never leave home without the bike shorts.
Missing my road bike,
J (& C)
Durbar square should be nick-named Pigeon Madness square. Charlotte and I entered the square all excited to explore and what do we have to walk through to get into the heart of the square? A MOB OF FAT, UGLY PIGOENS. For those of you who don't know, my idea of hell is being stuck in a room with pigeons. This, was terrifying. It didn't help that there was a massive cow in the way too.
One day to entertain ourselves, C and I sought out the Kathmandu Durbur square. "Durbar" means palace (I think) and so there are a 3 all over the Kathmandu valleys where big palaces used to be. They're pretty cool - TONS of temples and very very old architechture. There are old men dressed as "buddha" who walk around and try to put "tika" (that red paint you see many hindu people sporting). Charlotte and I get our fair share of Tika at the orphanage so we didn't really want to be harassed by this buddha man, plus, he blesses you and then asks for money. Anywho, I really wanted a picture of him because he's really cool looking. I have yet to be successful because he's quite persuasive.
Here I am holding Achut (who is dressed in his sister's princess outfit), with Ramesh and Radha. This is the girls bedroom where the 3 little girls sleep in the bed behind me, and the two older ones sleep in the older bed. Radha is 17 and she splits the cooking and housework with Anila (14). Radha cooks at night, and does her homework in the morning (from 6-9) and Anila cooks in the morning and does her homework at night. Charlotte and I try to help as much as we can with the cooking and cleaning to give the girls some more time to do their work.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...and saves time when you are paying for internet
So there are 11 kids at the orphanage, but there is a lady who lives upstairs who rents one of the rooms. She's very nice (and pretty wealthy by the looks of it) but she's very religious. Yesterday was Saturday, the kids only day off, and C and I decided to take the 3 older kids to the town of Patan on an outing. She came too and got dolled up to the nines. But she wasn't letting herself be the only one dressed up, she put me in a full fledged outfit (I forget the Nepali name now) complete with earrings, necklace AND makeup. The makeup made me look pretty rediculous but it was fun to wear the clothes. However, it got crazy hot. I also am not wearing matching pants because since these women do not work out AT ALL, my massive tree trunk legs could not fit into her pants. Looking at this woman, you would say she is a size or two larger than both C and me, but I couldn't fit the pants and C couldn't fit the top. C blames the rowing and I blame the skiing.
Charlotte and Puja, walking to school. There are schools EVERYWHERE here. The kids at the orphanage are in "private" schools, so they all where uniforms. Of the 11 kids, they go to 3 separate schools, but it seems like most schools go from kindergarden to 12. It's different here because most of the kids aren't in a grade based on their age, but rather, their abilities (ie. when they started school). For example, the youngest girl is 8 years old, but she is in the equivilant of our kindergarden. She is the only one that doesn't speak English. Most of the kids can speak it (albiet brokenly) but are getting better by the day. Yesterday the kids got their exams back and Charlotte and I were surprised by how many of the kids failed certain subjects. We were also shocked that the owners of the orphanage scolded (by yelling) the kids who did poorly, when we haven't seen them help them with their homework once (even the little 5 year old!)
At Swayambhu, aka Monkey Temple. Way back when the entire kathmandu valley was filled with water except for this one piece of land that stuck out in the middle. Apparently it was blessed by Buddha and became known as Swayambhu. Now it's covered in Tibetan prayer flags which you can see in the background), tourists, and TONS of monkeys.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Gongabu, Kathmandu, Nepal
Namaste from the tiny town of Gongabu. Charlotte and I arrived at the Light for Nepal's Children orphanage on Tuesday but I think "thrown into" is a more accurate description. We were taken by Taxi from our hostel in Kalinki through the crazy traffic of Kathmandu to the village of Gongabu. Gongabu is right on the main river that runs through kathmandu and it is sad how polluted it is here. We're definitely in a poorer part of the city, but they people are nice and friendly nonetheless.
Charlotte and I have our own room in the orphanage which is nice. There is one man and one woman, Masess and Isswara (pronounced "mass-ees" and "ees-war-ee", who run the orphanage. The building itself is the epitome of simple. There is one bedroom for the boys (where all 6 of them sleep in 3 beds) and there is one for the girls (where all 5 of them sleep in 2). The boys bedroom actually has 5 beds but I think they only use three because they don't have enough blankets or linens to have each kid have their own bed. Like most of Nepal, the shower and the toilet are in the same room. But here it is evident no cleaning occurs. There is a constant smell to the orphanage that we are VERY VERY gradually getting accustomed to. The kids also wear the same clothes every day AND to bed (although they wear uniforms at school).
The kids were SO excited to see us. We were greeted with so many little "namaste"'s (hands together in a prayer position). There are two 5 year old boys, two 9 year old boys, one 13 year old boy, and one 18 year old boy. The boys are absolutely adorable. The older ones have quite good english and the little ones are catching on. Although, they still insist on calling both Charlotte and I "Miss". Yesterday we were showing them pictures from home, and C had some pictures of her and Colin and they would point to the picture and say "Miss and Colin!". It's also pretty funny because they pronounce miss "meeese". So cute.
It is absolutely incredible how independent these children are. The 5 years olds initiate their own homework, get dressed, play, walk themselves to school, do their own hair...and the two older girls do ALL the cooking and cleaning. One man we met at the Fair Trade clothing store in Thamel explained to us that foreigners in Nepal are considered guests by Nepalis. We are definitely treated like guests in this orphanage. We get served food first, we get huge slices of cucumber (the rare veggie we get) when 6 kids have to split one slice. I've started sharing my portions with the kids.
Our diet? Rice, rice and more rice. OH! ALSO! Nepali people eat with their hands! It's incredible to watch these people mush, scoop and deliver the food into their mouths without spilling anything! Luckily, C and I are given spoons. I can't eat rice with chopsticks let alone fingers.
Charlotte and I spend our mornings (7-10) and afternoons (4-8) playing with the kids and helping them with their homework. The first day we introduced duck duck goose and freeze tag which they LOVED. Although the lack of medical care was very evident because these kids couldn't play 10 minutes of tag without their hacking coughs acting up. We also brought out the crayons and colouring books that C brought. They LOVED THIS. The little boys focused SO MUCH on every detail. We also brought out the Winnie the Pooh puzzle that Jenn Meeker gave me. They LOVE this and can do it over and over again. Although, it's astonishing to watch them try and solve it. They don't really understand the concept, and again, the difference in 3rd world vs western world upbringing becomes clear. Who knew those silly little fischer price games were so pivitol to child development?
There is so so much to write, I'm going to leave it for another day. Lets just say C and I ventured into Kathmandu to visit the "Monkey" temple. MONKEYS EVERYWHERE.
Dutifully clogged with rice,
J & C
p.s. i'm going to try and upload some pictures, lets hope it works!
Charlotte and I have our own room in the orphanage which is nice. There is one man and one woman, Masess and Isswara (pronounced "mass-ees" and "ees-war-ee", who run the orphanage. The building itself is the epitome of simple. There is one bedroom for the boys (where all 6 of them sleep in 3 beds) and there is one for the girls (where all 5 of them sleep in 2). The boys bedroom actually has 5 beds but I think they only use three because they don't have enough blankets or linens to have each kid have their own bed. Like most of Nepal, the shower and the toilet are in the same room. But here it is evident no cleaning occurs. There is a constant smell to the orphanage that we are VERY VERY gradually getting accustomed to. The kids also wear the same clothes every day AND to bed (although they wear uniforms at school).
The kids were SO excited to see us. We were greeted with so many little "namaste"'s (hands together in a prayer position). There are two 5 year old boys, two 9 year old boys, one 13 year old boy, and one 18 year old boy. The boys are absolutely adorable. The older ones have quite good english and the little ones are catching on. Although, they still insist on calling both Charlotte and I "Miss". Yesterday we were showing them pictures from home, and C had some pictures of her and Colin and they would point to the picture and say "Miss and Colin!". It's also pretty funny because they pronounce miss "meeese". So cute.
It is absolutely incredible how independent these children are. The 5 years olds initiate their own homework, get dressed, play, walk themselves to school, do their own hair...and the two older girls do ALL the cooking and cleaning. One man we met at the Fair Trade clothing store in Thamel explained to us that foreigners in Nepal are considered guests by Nepalis. We are definitely treated like guests in this orphanage. We get served food first, we get huge slices of cucumber (the rare veggie we get) when 6 kids have to split one slice. I've started sharing my portions with the kids.
Our diet? Rice, rice and more rice. OH! ALSO! Nepali people eat with their hands! It's incredible to watch these people mush, scoop and deliver the food into their mouths without spilling anything! Luckily, C and I are given spoons. I can't eat rice with chopsticks let alone fingers.
Charlotte and I spend our mornings (7-10) and afternoons (4-8) playing with the kids and helping them with their homework. The first day we introduced duck duck goose and freeze tag which they LOVED. Although the lack of medical care was very evident because these kids couldn't play 10 minutes of tag without their hacking coughs acting up. We also brought out the crayons and colouring books that C brought. They LOVED THIS. The little boys focused SO MUCH on every detail. We also brought out the Winnie the Pooh puzzle that Jenn Meeker gave me. They LOVE this and can do it over and over again. Although, it's astonishing to watch them try and solve it. They don't really understand the concept, and again, the difference in 3rd world vs western world upbringing becomes clear. Who knew those silly little fischer price games were so pivitol to child development?
There is so so much to write, I'm going to leave it for another day. Lets just say C and I ventured into Kathmandu to visit the "Monkey" temple. MONKEYS EVERYWHERE.
Dutifully clogged with rice,
J & C
p.s. i'm going to try and upload some pictures, lets hope it works!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Kalinki, Kathmandu, Nepal
We are aliiiivvveee! Those homeopathic, organic jet lag pills may have actually worked after all. Although C may or may not have died a little when we first got here, she seems to have regained her strength. It took every ounce of willpower not to go to bed at 6....so we went to bed at 7. The hostel cooked us a pretty good dinner of chicken curry and rice but as we were in the middle of focusing super hard to eat only with our right hands (eating with your left hand is considered gross, because its supposed to be the hand you use to go to the washroom) the power went out. This wasn't like the power went out but you could still see...this was pitch black. Little did we know that this happens every night! something about cutting the power for two hours? Thank goodness for generators.
Today we experienced our first public bus ride. We're slowly becoming accustomed to the third word way of life. Anywho, the bus told us they would stop in Thamel, but really they just stop where they feel like. Thank goodness we were with some girls from the hostel (Anna from Germany and...Shira from Denmark) and they knew how to get to Thamel from where the bus sorta spat us out. We walked through a very non-touristy part of kathmandu which was very eye opening. Shira explained to us that no matter how desperate some people look we should never give beggers money because it just adds to the aready soaring inflation.
We saw more cows (LYING in the middle of the street all high and mighty with their sacred rights), a lot of chidren on the street. One was even going to the bathroom right on the sidewalk. And we don't mean public urination like how Colin (C's bf) likes to write his name in the snow. This was no snowbank. Something to get used to i guess.
We're off to our orphanage in an hour and are super excited to meet the kids and play. We have our iodine tablets so we're ready to kick some Giardia ass.
Honk Honk (the official sound of Kathmandu),
J & C
Today we experienced our first public bus ride. We're slowly becoming accustomed to the third word way of life. Anywho, the bus told us they would stop in Thamel, but really they just stop where they feel like. Thank goodness we were with some girls from the hostel (Anna from Germany and...Shira from Denmark) and they knew how to get to Thamel from where the bus sorta spat us out. We walked through a very non-touristy part of kathmandu which was very eye opening. Shira explained to us that no matter how desperate some people look we should never give beggers money because it just adds to the aready soaring inflation.
We saw more cows (LYING in the middle of the street all high and mighty with their sacred rights), a lot of chidren on the street. One was even going to the bathroom right on the sidewalk. And we don't mean public urination like how Colin (C's bf) likes to write his name in the snow. This was no snowbank. Something to get used to i guess.
We're off to our orphanage in an hour and are super excited to meet the kids and play. We have our iodine tablets so we're ready to kick some Giardia ass.
Honk Honk (the official sound of Kathmandu),
J & C
From Abu Dhabi to....where are we??
We finally made it to Kathmandu after 24h of non-stop travel. The flight from Toronto to Abu Dhabi was pretty much a blur. C stole the isle, I had the middle, and we had this very nice man from Pakistan sitting at the window. We were flying Etihad Airways, which is a branch of Emirates, so it was a pretty comfy ride. Not as comfy as first class though. They get their own beds, and some even have like a whole suite with table, bathroom and sink! We arrived in Abu Dhabi where the 4h layover was relatively painless in the very modern airport. They layover in Dehli was a different story. I ended up befriending this man on the flight who was from Nepal who had been visiting his daughters in Boston (they're in med school there). It was interesting hearing from him his perspective on things. In Nepal, he's a very wealthy business man with a 15 bedroom mansion but he explained that in Boston, he felt poor. It's crazy how cheap things are here!
I'm not going to go into the gongshow that was our experience trying to get from Dehli to Kathmandu...but we FINALLY made it.
Flying into Nepal was unreal. Villages snake through the ENORMOUS mountain valleys and all of the houses look like The Burrow from Harry Potter. So cool. Everything is so green and simple and mountainy and I definitely can't wait to explore.
We were picked up by a nice man who whisked us through the city to our hostel where we stay one night before we head off to the orphanage. That half hour drive was CRAZY. First of all....there are COWS and stray dogs here like we have squirrels. These people drive like maniacs even though you go to JAIL for 20 YEARS if you hit and kill a cow!!! Cows are considered sacrad so these drivers manage to avoid them by the millimetre. Nobody here obeys traffic laws; it's this crazy chorus of honking busses, cars, and mopeds. We could not believe we didn't get in an accident. We passed so many amazing looking shops and restaurants. It's going to be an interesting 3 weeks!
I think this is about all I can write right now. We're both crazy jet lagged and the past 48hr are all mushed together in my brain.
Tomorrow we go to our orphange. So excited to meet the kids and get started!!
Avoiding the cows,
J & C
I'm not going to go into the gongshow that was our experience trying to get from Dehli to Kathmandu...but we FINALLY made it.
Flying into Nepal was unreal. Villages snake through the ENORMOUS mountain valleys and all of the houses look like The Burrow from Harry Potter. So cool. Everything is so green and simple and mountainy and I definitely can't wait to explore.
We were picked up by a nice man who whisked us through the city to our hostel where we stay one night before we head off to the orphanage. That half hour drive was CRAZY. First of all....there are COWS and stray dogs here like we have squirrels. These people drive like maniacs even though you go to JAIL for 20 YEARS if you hit and kill a cow!!! Cows are considered sacrad so these drivers manage to avoid them by the millimetre. Nobody here obeys traffic laws; it's this crazy chorus of honking busses, cars, and mopeds. We could not believe we didn't get in an accident. We passed so many amazing looking shops and restaurants. It's going to be an interesting 3 weeks!
I think this is about all I can write right now. We're both crazy jet lagged and the past 48hr are all mushed together in my brain.
Tomorrow we go to our orphange. So excited to meet the kids and get started!!
Avoiding the cows,
J & C
Saturday, October 3, 2009
T- 5 hours
If there is one thing C and I are good at it's achieving our goals. We've always wanted to do something like this, and now we are doing it. Just like how, throughout all of high school, all we wanted to do was try on Laura Stanley's skating dresses. This pic is proof that dreams do come true.
AHHHHHHHHHHHH.
So we're off in 5 hours and I thought I'd post one final note from my trusty lappy before we adventure off into the world of internet cafes. I've been packed for about three days now because...well, thats what you do when you are home for 5 weeks with no job..you pack. I entertained myself today by going to celebration saturday at Havergal (the reunion weekend at my high school). It was an strange blast from the past, but ended up getting some amazing recommendations from some old art teachers! The Gibbon Experience in Laos anyone? Who doesn't want to live in a tree for a week?
The first leg of our trip is a 13h flight to Abu Dhabi. I would appreciate your thoughts as I sit next to ADD...I mean Charlotte. At least we're flying Emirates is all I can say.
I want to give a shout out to my momma and dadda who abandoned me to go to a wedding. I love you even though you deserted me on my first birthday and deserting me now. Kidding! They threw me a nice going away party last night, and I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who's given me something to take to Nepal for the orphanage. I will update you when we know the best way to use your donations!
So, Charlotte and I are off. We don't reeealllyyyy know where we're going or what we're getting ourselves into but....stayed tuned, and you'll find out!!
If you choose "name" or "anonymous" you should be able to post comments! We'd love to hear from you!
Namaste,
J & C
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