My new Home 'Nangi'

Well, I am here,

I arrived at the village a week ago, but reaching here was an experience on its own. It began with a 7 hour bus ride from Kathmandu, and then an 8 hour bus ride, of which I spent 5 hours on top of the bus, as there was no space inside. Well there was space but I can tell you breathing was a problem, my legs did not fit within the space between the seats, and I am not that big. To top it all off I had a goat under me, yup a Goat where I should be putting my feet. There I was sweating so much, and the bus was at 200% capacity as Nepal is facing a petrol crises. The price of petrol is nearly $3 a litre at times, and you have to wait 16 hours in a line to get petrol, I wish I was exaggerating but I am not.. Hence the bus was packed to its last inch, it felt like the train to Auschwitz in Schindler’s List where the jews were packed in with no breathing space and desperate for air. Ok it wasn’t that bad, but coming from NZ I was amazed, so I got up and said to the driver “I am going on top”, he said ”Its raining” but I had to go. And I was the sole passenger on top of the bus, as it poured down, but in the warm climate its not so bad. I enjoyed the ride quite a bit, later a boy joined me, and we even made a tent on the top of the bus, to avoid the lashing rain, the mountainous terrain made the swerves left and right very interesting indeed…

5 hours later I arrived at my final stop.

I spent the night at the little town and there my guide from Nangi met up with me, and our trek began. He said he was getting a porter for my backpack and the handbag, I said “ no problem I will carry it”, he looked at me and said “ no”. And 10 minutes into my trek I realized how right he was. The trek right from the onset is uphill, straight up, I kid you not. I am not that unfit, but I have to say I was just happy I wasn’t the porter. 6 hours of uphill climbing, thank god for the breaks. We climbed to 7000 feet and then finally 2 hours of just normal walking. When I finally reached the village it was all worth it. The green mountain-top village was a sight for sore eyes, and all my aching legs felt almost fine.

The Village

Now I am at Nangi, my home for a while, and I have a little hut to myself J. Vegetables, Rice, Water are provided to me and all I have to do is cook. The lady teachers were very nice to cook for me for 2 days after school and teach me Nepali dishes. Now I can make roti, tea, rice, dal, potato n beans. YAY!. People are genuinely friendly here, there’s not much to do, and they don’t have much but they are happy. Knowing Hindi is clearly keeping me in the loop a lot. They understand 40% Hindi but can’t speak much. But between little English and little Hindi I somehow manage. The school is the main centre of this region. Children and staff travel 2-3 hours everyday to get here, and then they go back. 4-5 hours walking up n down mountains everyday just to get to schoolJ. I will no longer complain about anything anymore. It’s a much dispersed village, no real centre, no proper road, just tracks up n down hills.

What am I doing?

For the past week I have been helping setup the phone communication that allows them to use a normal phone that connects via IP devices through the internet to a phone exchange. This is their only way of communication to the outside world, other than the 8 hour trek to the town!. Without the Wireless radio stations the entire region was so isolated, so a few years ago when they set them up it was a welcome relief. I have also started teaching English to Class 12, as the English teacher has left the school. Having never taught it was quite an experience. I am trying to get the students to talk as much as possible, as they are very shy. I read stories from their course book and explain what it means. Their English is still not very good, especially spoken. But it’s a great challenge and I’m loving it.

It’s a beautiful place, with white mountains at the distance, green farms all around, children playing, cows eating grass. So when I have done my cooking, washing, cleaning (Which surprisingly takes a long time. Makes me want to thank my mother for all those yearsJ, that I barely noticed.) I sit down and look at everything around me and take a deep breath.

There are many issues that need attention, like electricity going down constantly, no dental help for villagers, no money for children to go to university as their parents are all farmers, etc.. but one by one they are trying to resolve these issues. And doing it all with a smile on their face.

I sit down and look at things often and even in just a matter of weeks I cant believe I have another life back in NZ, it feels all but a distant memory. Living and working here seems much more satisfying, without the so called pleasures of life you start enjoying the simple things, like watching the chicken chase the cowsJ.

More Later….

‘Dhanyavad’ and ‘Pheri Betaulla’ (Thanks, and see you later)

Anukool

To the right are my Cooking teachers... The lack of elecrtricity didnt stop us!