JENNI'S DAGBOEK (2)
Door: handsnepal
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Jenni en Philip
28 December 2010 | Nepal, Kathmandu
MONDAY 29 NOVEMBER
We went to the school assembly at 10.30 as we wanted to hold a small ceremony to show the teachers and pupils the new board we had paid for and that Mr. Julphe had just brought back from Kathmandu. This board will be hung in the middle of the village and the arrow on both sides of the board will direct trekkers to the school. We hope that trekkers will then visit the school and of course give a donation! The board looked good but unfortunately it had been made horizontally and we had actually wanted the board to be vertical so it could be hung on the side of the electricity pole. This was however our mistake as we had obviously not made this crystal clear to Mr. Julphe! Nevertheless we knew that somehow the villagers would find a way to hang the board up so we weren’t really that worried.
For a change I gave Grade 8 a lesson in the afternoon instead of in the morning and after school about 20 villagers gathered round the electricity pole to work out how to hang it up without it being an obstruction to porters carrying a high load (bamboo poles for example!). After lots of heated discussions, the board was finally hung to everyone’s satisfaction! Krishna was a big help as he is nearly as tall as Philip and twice as agile, as he climbed up a ladder in his flip-flops and teetered on the edge of a window sill in order to be able to hang it up! We are really pleased with the result so it was definitely worth the €50 it cost. They used weather-proof paint as otherwise the letters will fade within a year.
In the evening we talked a lot to an Irish lady with her Danish husband and their 3 teenage daughters who were travelling round Asia for 3 months. We offered to take them round the school and village the next day as they were taking a rest day.
TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER
At 10.30 we took the Irish lady and her family to the school morning assembly and of course they really enjoyed watching the children doing their morning exercises and singing the national anthem. We showed them round the school as well and agreed to meet at 14.30 hours to take them to the river to relax in the sun and to see the corn mills.
After taking my 2 classes and having lunch, we phoned Stephanie as we had asked her to transfer the remaining € 3000 for the school and villagers to the school bank account. By giving her all the necessary codes, she was able to do this using Internet banking which meant we didn’t have to go to Kathmandu to do this. We used the public phone in the house of our opposite neighbours and after 2 attempts (the connection failed right at the last moment) the deed was done!
In the afternoon we took the Irish lady and her family to our favourite place by the river to show them the corn mills which are water- powered as they are situated next to the river. They really enjoyed seeing them and relaxing in the sun – but again no donation! I think next time we’ll just charge a flat fee!
After that we had a quick meeting with Pasang to tell him about the misunderstanding with the villagers and that the € 1000 was meant just for the villagers of Golphu and not for other villages. He understood the misunderstanding but he said he had already told Maya this. Philip had had the brilliant idea of doing a survey among the villagers to find out the size and age of everyone in each household, their source of income, whether they were unable to send some or all of their children to school due to lack of finances and most importantly to reassure the villagers that the €1000 was only for the villagers of Golphu and to ask their opinion on what they thought this money should be spent on, so that all the villagers benefit. It will also give us the opportunity to talk to everyone in the village and to get to know them a bit better. We can also determine which families should receive the support of a donor who wants to support a mother per month and another donor who wants to sponsor a child to go to school. Rajan had already offered to help us and when we asked Pasang he said he would be happy to come with us and translate. It shouldn’t take too long to do the survey as we reckon there are only about 200 people in Golphu . The Headmaster had told us there were about 400 people in Golphu but he included 2 other villagers (Godong en Gurunggaon) which are about 15 minutes walk from Golphu but are officially part of Golphu Bhanjyang.
We then went to our first dinner date with one of the teachers, Maja and her husband Krishna Gurung who live a few doors away from us. Rajan had luckily also been invited because he could translate and because he is friends with them. It is so nice to be invited everywhere for tea and dinner as it gives us the chance to see inside the houses and to slowly get to know people. Of course dahl baht was served (rice with lentils and curry sauce) and it tasted good – we just don’t have to eat it every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner as the Nepalis do! They also gave us Tibetan rakshi which is the local rakshi but served hot with honey, butter and sugar – delicious!
As usual, the room is small and dark and the ceiling is really low so Philip had to lower his head to walk! The floor is concrete but luckily they put a rush mat covered with a cloth in front of the fire for us to sit on. Of course this means you have to sit cross-legged on the floor which is difficult for both us to do for several hours, but especially for Philip with his long legs! It is considered extremely rude in Nepal to point the soles of your feet at someone, so we also can’t sit with our legs stretched out in front of us! The interior of the house is the same in every house: the fire is on the ground so they always squat to cook and there is no furniture just shelves on the wall where they keep their plates, cups, forks, knives, spoons, pans, cooking utensils, food and spices. Somewhere in the room is mostly a bed but sometimes the beds are upstairs.
After the meal, some more teachers came round for a drink and they started talking politics with Philip (my favourite subject!), so I played with their 3 year old son who nearly fell asleep in my arms! At one point I had to dash back to our lodge to go to the toilet as contrary to what we were told, there are no public toilets in the village – just a few private toilets. We left at about 20.30 hours as everyone always goes to bed very early in Nepal.
WEDNESDAY 1 DECEMBER
After my morning lesson, we decided to walk to Thodong so see if we could use Internet but Krishna (the son of the Lama with Internet on his laptop) wasn’t there. We didn’t really mind as the 30 minute walk there and 15 minute walk back is lovely and we had decided beforehand to have lunch there and then discuss what questions we wanted to include in our village survey. You see sometimes it’s difficult to find some peace and quiet in Golphu without being disturbed by the children who love to play with us or to just sit really close to us and watch what we are doing – this is especially so if we are working on the computer! We prefer sitting outside in the sun as it’s really cold in our room.
We decided to keep the survey short and only ask the following questions: who lives in your house and how old are they, how long have you lived in Golphu, what is your source of income and what do you think we should spend the € 1000 on so that all the villagers benefit. We should be able to gain a fairly good impression of the villagers by asking these questions.
In the afternoon caught up on my diary and played badminton with the kids. We had bought 2 rackets and 2 shuttlecocks in a village we stopped at on our way back from Kathmandu. Needless to say the kids loved to play! We intend to leave Purphi the badminton set when we return to Holland so she’ll be really pleased about that.
THURSDAY 2 DECEMBER
I only took 1 lesson today before school as Rajan had prepared a special lesson for his Grade 10 pupils as next week all the pupils have to take their half yearly exams. They get 3 days off beforehand to prepare for the exams (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) and then the exams are held every morning for 3 hours from Tuesday till Friday. They then get 3 days off again and the week after they take the final 4 exams. Then they get a week off to recuperate!
At four o’clock, we set off with Rajan to start visiting the villagers with our survey. Pasang didn’t turn up but we reckoned it was because of a family dispute that morning, which I think all the villagers heard! Later Rajan told us, as with most family quarrels it was sparked off by something small and got totally out of proportion! It was really interesting to do the survey as mostly we were invited inside so we could see the inside of their homes, but also the information they gave was very interesting . We also think it is good to visit each villager individually so they can get to know us a little better, although of course this is difficult because of the language barrier. We visited 6 homes and stopped at 1800 hours as we were getting hungry! We agreed to meet Rajan the next day as well at 16.00 hours to continue the survey.
FRIDAY 3 DECEMBER
After my 2 morning lessons we went for the second time with Rajan to do the survey – later on Pasang joined us after apologizing for not coming with us yesterday. As we thought, he was embarrassed after the quarrel and had stayed indoors all day reading and studying, as he didn’t dare show his face!
Half way through the survey, Lahtul from the Namaste Lodge in Kutumsang and 2 of the members of the School Board from Neyemba suddenly turned up as they wanted to talk to us! Luckily Rajan and Pasang didn’t mind this unexpected interruption and in fact Rajan was a great help. They told us that their bank couldn’t provide an IBAN number (International Bank Account Number) which is necessary for international money transfers. Luckily Rajan was able to explain the International Banking System so they will now open an account at the Nepal Bank in Kathmandu which is the same Bank as the school in Golphu uses so that’s good as we know that bank transfers to this bank works.
We carried on doing the survey till 19.00 hours and then went to our second dinner date with 3 of the teachers and of course Rajan who is not only great fun, but he can translate as well. We had told Rajan that we really missed eating meat so he had promised to cook us some chicken. The spiced chicken with fried potatoes, washed down with Tibetan rakshi was really delicious, even though it was apparently a very bony chicken! They provided us with a bowl to put the bones in, but they hardly used it so either we got the bony bits or they just simply eat the bones (I suspect the latter)! Then to our utter horror they started cooking the second course, which was of course Dahl Baht! Despite our best efforts, we really couldn’t eat much of the Dahl Baht as the chicken and potatoes was a full meal in itself. It never fails to surprise us how much they can eat and especially at night just before they go to bed and yet they remain really slim!
Much to our amusement and surprise, Rajan got a bit tipsy! He had told us before that as a Brahmin (highest caste) his family do not allow him to drink and although he disagrees with this, he dare not defy them openly! IF he drinks it’s always with a few select friends whom he trusts not to say anything to his family. Obviously the teachers we ate with were part of this select group. We left at about 22.00 hours which is pretty late for Nepalis but we had a great evening, even though we still have difficulty sitting cross-legged on the floor for the whole evening, so we wiggle around a lot, to stretch our aching limbs!
SATURDAY 4 DECEMBER
Today we went to the wedding of our Lodge Owners nephew. As usual everything was a bit unclear to us but if you just go with the flow, it’s much better. At about 09.00 hours we walked for half an hour to the house of the bridegroom in Thodong with Purpha the cook and Purphi. There was a beautifully coloured tent where all the visitors were greeted and then served with Tibetan tea (which I hate as it’s made with salt!) and a small plate of fried potatoes. Then Purpha showed us his house which he of course rarely stays in as he is the cook at the Lodge in Golphu, and he showed us his cousins’s house where he gave us some milk tea.
After about an hour we decided to walk with Purpha and Purphi to Chipling where the bride lives as we presumed there was far more happening there! After about 1½ hours of a lovely walk we arrived in Chipling where most of the wedding guests were, as usual dressed in really colourful clothes. As Purpha was the bridegroom’s cousin (and I think because most people know why we are in Nepal) we were given the best spot on the floor in the bride’s house to watch the events of the day. As usual everyone sits on the ground in groups and they chatted away happily and lots of jokes were made. The bridegroom sat on the floor in front of the Lama and waited for his bride to come downstairs. Finally she came down but she wore a shawl right over her face and shoulders as she was very shy. We thought she looked really miserable but we were told later that all brides act in this way due to shyness.
After a while we went outside to stretch our legs and enjoy the sun and discovered that half of Golphu was also there, so it was nice to be able to talk to some familiar faces as Pasang and Phool(the other English teacher) were there and they both speak English. Most of my pupils were there as well and they are definitely less shy now as most of them said Namaste to me first.
Purpha then took us inside a house where we were served Dahl Baht and we felt most embarrassed but also relieved because they sat us down on the only bench and table and gave us a spoon to eat with (Nepalis often eat food with their hands). As expected it was very spicy but we were really hungry after our walk and managed to eat half of what was on the plate!
There didn’t really seem to be a ceremony, things just kept on happening all day long. The Lama gave his blessing and of course they both received many khata’s (white scarves) and even the guests received a few as well! At about 1500 hours everyone gathered outside and it was then that Purpha explained to us that Sherpa bridegrooms must carry their bride on their backs to their homes! We couldn’t believe our ears as the walk back was mostly uphill and would probably take 3 hours! But sure enough the bride was put on the bridegrooms back and a large shawl was placed over her covering her completely. It must have been really uncomfortable for her and the bridegroom didn’t look that happy either! Then everyone sang and danced for about 10 minutes round the happy couple (!) until finally accompanied by cheers and singing and dancing the bridegroom set off on the long journey home! We then learned that in fact the bridegroom’s friends take it in turns to carry the bride for as long as they can (mostly about 15 minutes) which we were relieved to hear!
We had a few stops along the way and still the bride remained covered by her shawl The journey took about 3 hours as we expected, and the singing and dancing continued for the whole journey (just like the Sherpa party we went to in Dubche). Unfortunately halfway the journey I took too large a step upwards and my toe came out of the joint again! I couldn’t believe it – what a timing! Much to the amazement of the Nepali’s, Philip and I calmly sat down and he pulled the toe back into the joint with only a little bit of trouble! The rest of the way I walked slowly while concentrating on walking only on the heel of my foot! Luckily it didn’t hurt at all – it’s basically just an inconvenience!
We arrived in Thodong just as the sun was setting and of course in true Nepali style, there was a power cut so the he tent was lit by only a few candles! But of course there are always a few handy men to be found and within half an hour we had light thanks to solar powered batteries!
We were served more dahl baht and of course rakshi so after a while Lahtul and Dawa and their friends from Kutumsang got up and started dancing in Nepal style – really great to watch as although the way they dance is different, the idea is the same as is in most cultures – impress everyone especially the young girls!
Then came the moment of every single guest giving the bride and bridegroom a khata (silk scarf), a bottle of rakshi and money! Much to our amusement, one of the men calls out loudly exactly how much each person gives and this was recorded in a book by Pasang who was helping the local lama. Pasang explained later that mostly quite a lot of money is received and this gives the couple a good start to their married life.
By this time Purphi and her friend Barasa Busal had fallen asleep in our arms! But when the dancing started they woke up and we had great fun dancing the traditional Sherpa dance which is basically the same at every festivity!
Finally at about midnight the lodge owner Pasang told us he was going home so we walked back with him in pitch dark but managed to found our way using our head torches! What a wonderful day – we’ve now been to 2 funerals and a wedding, so now all we need is for someone to give birth and we’ve been to the 3 most important ceremonies!
SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER
As usual, the kids across the road woke us up early so we got up at 0700 without having a nice lay in. We both felt tired after the day before and so after a bit of washing we read and slept in the hot afternoon sun in a field just above the school. I also rang Mum and Dad and Philip rang Michelle so that was nice to talk to them and catch up on all the news.
MONDAY 6 DECEMBER
In the afternoon we decided to go for a walk and we ended up at a village that we think was called Thulo Gulphu. We really enjoyed the afternoon sun and most of the path was flat so that was really great! We saw a lot of little villages and farms and villagers beating the millet with all kinds of self-made tools! You could see the villages were not on the trekking route as the villagers were really curious about us and kept on giggling and chattering to each other. It’s really nice to discover the surrounding area with no rucksacks and no deadline in our head that we should reach this and this village before dark, which tends to be the case when you go trekking.
We went upstairs to our room already at 19.30 as it was obvious that Purpha wanted to go to bed early as he had partied all night the night before. It’s becoming a habit now to go upstairs early and then read for an hour, with a blanket over our legs to keep us warm, before we go to sleep at about 20.30!
TUESDAY 7 DECEMBER
Today Mr. Julphe told us the road to Bolde was ready so the first batch of cement should hopefully arrive on Thursday. He also told us the road to Golphu should be ready in 2 weeks! We invited him to Philip’s birthday dinner on Thursday and he promised to invite all the teachers and their families on our behalf. Only 2 of the teachers have family in Golphu – the rest of the teachers are either single or their family lives elsewhere.
In the afternoon we went to the closing ceremony of the Lama’s who had been meditating for a month. As usual everyone from Golphu and the surrounding area was there and as usual there was loads of food and of course Tibetan tea, chang and rakshi. As with the opening ceremony, there was a lot of chanting, blowing of horns, clashing of cymbals and ringing of bells! Then the villagers stood in line to receive a blessing from the Lama in which they first received some rice in their hand, then water and oil, and finally a small portion of dough-like substance which the villagers then ate. Later on everyone, including us, gave the Lama’s a khata (white scarf) as a mark of respect.
After the ceremony we heard from one of the teachers that 2 teachers from the Nenyemba School had been waiting for us in the village for at least an hour! We really must tell them next time to ring us beforehand as apparently they don’t realize that we are not always in the village! As we walked back with Rajan, we met the 2 teachers on their way back to Kutumsang and right there and then in the middle of a mountain path we had a meeting! The 2 teachers and Rajan stood on one side of the narrow path and we stood on the other side, while everyone who was returning from the ceremony walked between us – this kind of meeting could only happen in Nepal! As it turned out they hadn’t actually come for us but to ask the advice of the School in Golphu about opening a bank account which has an International Bank Service. We can’t really help them as we don’t know about banking in Nepal, but luckily Rajan is going to have a meeting with them tomorrow to advise them on where and how to open a bank account with an International Bank Service. We really appreciate Rajan helping us and them, especially as he told us not to talk too much to the other teachers about helping other schools as they wouldn’t like that. Rajan is more open-minded and modern than most Nepali people and appreciates that we want to help more villages and not just Golphu alone. He also told us that his trip to Kutumsang had another purpose – to buy a small birthday present for Philip on behalf of the teachers!
Late in the afternoon a large group of 9 Spaniards with 9 porters (!) turned up at the lodge, which to be honest we didn’t really appreciate! We haven’t had any fellow lodgers for at least a week so we are getting used to have the lodge to ourselves. The high season is now over and although the Helambu trek can easily be done the whole year round, the lodge owner tells us that for 2 or 3 months (December – February) there are hardly any trekkers here at all.
WEDNESDAY 8 DECEMBER
We didn’t do anything special today just the usual learning Nepali, doing some washing, writing up the diary and arranging Philip’s birthday party with the help of Rajan. We had decided to invite all the teachers including their wives and children and of course the Lodge owner and his family to dinner in the evening, so there will be about 25 people we reckon! We would love to invite the whole village but that would be too expensive first of all (even though everything is very cheap in Nepal, we are on a budget!) and there just simply isn’t enough room in the lodge! So to avoid any bad feelings, we decided to invite just the teachers as that is who we have the most contact with. Rajan advised us to buy some chicken as well from his village which we were really pleased about, as we had wanted to eat chicken but didn’t dare ask as we have asked Rajan for so many favours lately.
In the afternoon we walked down the mountain for about 15 minutes and found a nice quiet sunny spot to sit, with wonderful views of the surrounding mountains – we really do feel very privileged to be able to live here in the middle of the stunning Himalayas.
THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER
Finally the news we have been waiting for! Julphe told us that the road to Bolde had now been cleared and a test run had been done with the bus, so hopefully the first load of cement will arrive tomorrow. It will take some time to bring all the 100 sacks of cement to Golphu as obviously Julphe wants to hire local porters and there are simply not 100 porters in Golphu. Each porter can only carry 1 sack as each sack weighs 50 kg. Julphe also told us that the Village Development Committee (VDC) had allocated € 200 to repair the road from Bolde to Golphu so he expects the road to Golphu will be cleared in 2 weeks time. The road has been made in the past by using a bulldozer but the monsoon rains caused very large and deep ruts in the road which makes it impossible for the bus to travel over. It seems such a waste of money to spend € 200 on repairing the road, when we know that when the monsoon comes next year in July, the road will probably be destroyed again, but as Julphe said they simply haven’t the money to make a good road with tarmac, so in his words “what to do?"
In the evening we had Philip’s birthday dinner! We had asked everyone to come at about 1800 and told them that dinner was at 19.00 hours. Normally we eat at 1800 and the Nepalis at 20.00 so we thought this was a good compromise! At about 18.30 Krishna and Marja Sherpa arrived, but they don’t speak much English so that was a little painful, until Pasang popped his head in the door a little later. He retreated very quickly when he saw that hardly anyone had arrived and said he’d come back when the teachers had arrived! At about 2 minutes to 1900 hours all the teachers arrived! In Nepal you obviously don’t arrive until dinner is just about to be served we gathered! We asked everyone what they wanted to drink, but as we have seen before, they go all bashful and say they don’t want anything! Eventually we persuaded them to have a drink and much to our amusement the 4 female teachers wanted a Mars bar! Another cultural difference! We thought we had done a good job arranging the table and chairs in an oblong U-form (if you see what I mean) with people sitting on both sides of the table. Again, much to our amusement after the chairs on one side of the table were all occupied, a few people totally re-arranged the room so that everyone fitted in and were facing each other – it didn’t seem to matter to them that not everyone had table space! Another cultural difference! The atmosphere was a little strained in the beginning as I think no-one knew how to act. Then we were asked what the programme was for the evening! We laughed and said we had no programme, just to eat dinner with friends and have a good time. That seemed to relax them a bit and as the evening wore on, the atmosphere became much better.
Our plan to eat at 19.00 was totally ignored as first of all no one arrived until 19.00 and about 15 minutes later we had the “present giving ceremony” which took about 30 minutes as a few speeches were included as well. They gave Philip a beautiful Tibetan guitar and a woven piece of cloth which we have hung on the wall in our room. After that they sang their version of Happy Birthday. Nepali’s don’t celebrate birthdays as most people don’t know exactly when they were born! In Kathmandu though the modern Nepali’s are starting to celebrate birthdays. This probably explains why they felt nervous as they weren’t exactly sure what was going to happen.
After the dinner of chicken with dahl baht, our attempts to offer a second drink totally failed but they started singing and dancing and of course we had to get up and show them our version of Nepali dancing which they loved! When Philip danced to some Michael Jackson music we’d brought, the room went strangely quiet!! Although the younger generation know this music and love to see Philip dance, the older generation just don’t know how to react to it and certainly not how to dance to modern music!
Suddenly at about 22.00 just like some of the meetings we’ve been to, it was obviously decided that they should now go home and just like that – everyone left!! Mind you 22.00 is way past most people’s bedtime in Nepal, so we were pleased they had stayed that long!
All in all an unforgettable birthday for Philip!!
FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER
Rajan told us that this afternoon a lorry would bring the cement from Kathmandu to Bolde arriving late afternoon. Tomorrow or the day after they would look for porters to bring the cement to Golphu. I must admit we are beginning to get really impatient now – we are so close to starting the work on the school but the actual day never seems to arrive! Patience really is a virtue here!
I also miss giving lessons as I need to do something every day otherwise I get bored, so in the afternoon we walked to Thodong to see if Internet was available, which of course it wasn’t as Krishna had left the day before for Kathmandu! After having a drink and talking to the Lama of the lodge (yes our Nepali is getting slowly better!), he invited us into the kitchen for a cup of tea and a plate of popcorn! We always consider it a complement to be invited into someone’s home and we even had something that resembled a conversation! I have finished reading the book Elephant Polo which is set in Nepal and is written by the former Dutch Ambassador to Nepal, so I have now started reading the book Sensory Biographies about the life of the Lama who lived in Thodong. He was the grandfather of Pasang from the other lodge in Golphu and it’s really interesting to read while I’m in Golphu as the whole book just comes alive! Every now and again I tell Pasang about it as he hasn’t yet read the book and he finds it really interesting (I think!).
SATURDAY 11 DECEMBER
Apparently the lorry bringing the cement didn’t arrive yesterday but was arriving this morning! This is typical of how things are arranged in Nepal – you are never really sure of the exact day when something will happen. This is very frustrating at first, but gradually we are learning that lots of things can happen to affect the planning – such as a funeral which of course always happens unexpectedly and is not limited to just 1 day or a landslide which blocks the way or bad weather! The best way to deal with it is just go with the flow but we have also let it be known that we are now getting very impatient after a month of waiting! Planning doesn’t seem to be their strongest point either for example. The porters have not yet been arranged but no doubt they will get to that today – we hope! They seem to arrange things on a day-to-day basis and don’t look ahead. On the other hand, I don’t think they’re in a hurry and are not as worried as we are that the work will not be completed by the time we leave.
So off we went to Bolde not really knowing for sure that the cement would arrive although they assured us it would arrive in Bolde by about 11.00 hours. It took us only about 45 minutes to walk down and of course the cement hadn’t yet arrived. But then someone told us that the village Bolde was in fact 10 minutes walk further down so after a cup of tea we set off again. Suddenly we heard the sound of a lorry and YES it was the lorry carrying our cement! Of course it wasn’t going really fast but we still had to run to chase the lorry so that we could film the arrival of the cement and take photo’s! This is also typical Nepal – you wait for ages for something to happen and when it finally does happen – you have to rush! Our 100 sacks of cement only took up a small amount of space in the lorry much to our surprise, and the rest of the lorry was filled with supplies for the shop in the village – rice, biscuits, lentils, cola etc!
One poor man had been given the job of unloading the cement on his own (each sack weighs 50 kg) but it only took him about 20 minutes to unload the 100 sacks! One of the teachers stood in the lorry and put the 50 kg sack on his shoulders and then he put the sack on the ground in a pile. He was really dirty afterwards though so he had a quick wash afterwards at the public water tap!
So finally our cement had arrived – now all we had to do was wait for porters to be arranged to carry it up to Golphu which is about an hours walk up for the porters (and 2 hours for us) ! Mr. Julphe had already told us it would take a few days for all the cement to be brought to Golphu as there are simply not 100 porters available in one day. But he said the work on the school could start tomorrow or Monday as soon as 4 or 5 sacks of cement had arrived in Golphu. Slowly, slowly …… we are getting there!
SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER
Today 2 sacks of cement arrived so we were really pleased about that! Mr. Julphe told us more would arrive over the next few days but that he was having difficulty arranging porters as apparently this is the month when everyone gets married so the porters didn’t have much time to collect the cement due to all the wedding ceremonies they had to attend– aahhh!!!
We had been told the school would be shut until Tuesday but apparently that planning had been changed as well, as school started again today! We were pleased about that though, as it meant we could carry on with the village survey as Rajan was back in Golphu. He lives in Gyalthum so he goes back to his home and wife when there’s no school. Yet again, very interesting to find out what the villagers do to earn money and how many people live in 1 home. After the survey we had dinner with Rajan and the 3 teachers again and we really enjoyed the chicken and potatoes. We told Rajan that this was a complete meal for us, so not to be offended if we didn’t eat much dahl baht afterwards! We are getting more and more honest with Rajan as he really is more open-minded than most Nepalis we have met and I think he appreciates our honesty! Yet again the Tibetan rakshi flowed but this time we insisted on paying for half of the meal and rakshi which Rajan very begrudgingly accepted! We told him if he didn’t accept the money, we wouldn’t feel free to eat with them anymore and I think that he understood this ……. a little bit!!
MONDAY 13 DECEMBER
Gradually more and more sacks of cement are arriving but the work has not yet begun so in the afternoon we went for a short walk to a place where apparently warm water comes out of the tap in the early morning. We found the place about 15 minutes walk from Golphu but we had been told the water was only warm early morning so as it was afternoon, the water was no longer warm so we decided to carry on walking to the next village down the hill as we were sure there was a school there. It was a lovely walk and I always enjoy walking new routes – never quite knowing what to expect. After about 40 minutes we reached the village of Barathi and sure enough there was a small 4 class Primary School there. It must have been financed by foreigners as a very good drainage system for the monsoon water had been built in front of the school and there were 4 toilets for 4 classes which is absolute luxury compared to the school in Golphu, which has 2 toilets for 10 classes!
When we got back Rajan told us they had started work on the school! Unbelievable – so we rushed over there to have a look. They had started with Class 3 and half a wall had already been covered with cement and I must admit it looked very professional. Another man (the Sandman we call him, as he also helped collect sand from the river!) was busy in Class 1 and 2 to remove the mud between the bricks – a very slow and painstaking job, but apparently necessary as otherwise the cement won’t stick to the bricks! We asked Mr. Julphe if we could help in any way and although I’m sure he really doesn’t understand why we would want to help, he said we could help removing the mud between the bricks in the other classrooms. I think it’s a question of prestige here! If you are an educated person and also rich, then you just don’t demean yourself to such menial tasks!
At four o’clock we carried on with the survey again – I reckon tomorrow we’ll be finished and then I’ll make a summary of everything we’ve found out and also we’ll choose the 2 families to be sponsored.
TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER
Today we started helping scrape off the clay covering the stones in the wall and removing the clay between the stones in class 10. Purphi came to help as well! Mr. Julphe and Rajan came and watched for a moment in complete disbelief as Philip was hacking away at one wall with all his might, and Purphi and I were attacking another wall, standing on a chair together, dressed in our raincoats so that we didn't get too dirty! Purphi borrowed Philip’s jacket which was of course far too big and nearly reached her feet, so she looked very funny!
We went to see one of the villagers milking her buffalo but we didn’t really see much as the buffalo was in a dark barn and she didn’t want us to get too close in case we frightened the buffalo! It didn’t really matter as it looked pretty well the same as when a cow is milked! Afterwards we did the last part of the survey ending up at the neighbours of Mr. Julphe where we interviewed them and of course Mr. Julphe as well. After the interview they offered us some rakshi and a plate of sweet yams. We have never eaten yams before and I must say they were really good.
WEDNESDAY 15 DECEMBER
This morning we interviewed Dawa Lama, Pasang’s father which was interesting. We also asked if they wanted to ask us any questions and his mother asked about our wedding ceremonies! They had to laugh when we told them the bridegroom didn’t have to carry the bride to her new home! Dawa Lama asked us if we could help to provide a water pipe to the simple Gompa (Buddhist temple) just above Golphu in the hills. The nearest supply is about 1 km away so they always have to use their ingenuity to ensure there is water when large groups of people meet there for ceremonies, especially when there are cremation ceremonies as many people attend these ceremonies. It will only cost about € 100 and it would of course be of benefit to all the villagers so we hope we can help them.
In the afternoon, I helped Rajan give his Class 10 students an oral test on their pronunciation of English which is part of their mid-term exams. I asked them questions and wrote down words on the blackboard that we had practiced in my class and I must admit their pronunciation has really improved, so hopefully I have helped a little.
We arranged with Rajan that his uncle in Kathmandu would take us to Kathmandu from Gyalthum next Wednesday in his taxi. Instead of RS 8000 / € 80 which we had previously paid, we only have to pay RS 4000 / € 40 so we were really pleased about that. We have to go to Kathmandu to extend our visas which are valid until 8 January, look at our e-mail, get some more money and of course we thought it would be nice to be in Kathmandu for Christmas. We do not expect any special events or decorations because being Hindu/Buddhist they do not celebrate Christmas of course, but it will be nice to eat some meat especially on Christmas Day!
We then continued working on the walls in the Grade 10 classroom which I think everyone finds very strange and amusing! When we got back to the lodge 3 trekkers were there, 2 men from Switzerland and one from Italy. We really enjoyed their company and talked non-stop for about 4 hours with them. Although we hadn’t really missed talking to other trekkers in the last week, we did enjoy their company and had a good talk with them about Nepal, trekking and of course our work here.
THURSDAY 16 DECEMBER
It turned out to be a beautifully warm day so after doing some washing and catching up on the diary we went up the field above the school and lay in the warm sun – fantastic! Much to our amazement no kids came to disturb us and we really appreciated the peace, quiet and warmth! The first classroom was nearly finished when we passed by at 1500 hours and it looks really good – the wind won’t be blowing through the numerous spaces between the stones anymore so the classrooms should be a good deal warmer in future!
FRIDAY 17 DECEMBER
During breakfast the Headmaster and one of the teachers from the Nyemba school turned up at our lodge on their way back from Kathmandu. They had opened a bank account there on our request as we have no intention of physically bringing money to them and if we do find money for them next year, we will have to transfer this amount anyway. They wanted to give us the bank details immediately, so in their eyes, it was sensible to give this information to us on their way back to Kathmandu. Good idea in theory, but it still surprises us how they just presume that we are in Golphu and not visiting Kathmandu for instance! They told us that the school benches had already been bought as Lahtul’s father had advanced the money to pay for the 20 benches for Solshing Gaon and the 6 benches for Nyemba. Yet again a good idea seeing as both Headmasters were in Kathmandu anyway to open bank accounts – it just surprises us that they do things without telling us beforehand! But of course in this instance – no problem! Later on we learned that Lahtul’s father had “borrowed” money from the Village Development Committee account – this money will be spent on making a road to Kutumsang, so they don’t need the money at the moment, as the road is still in the process of being made and is nowhere near Kutumsang yet. It still made us laugh though !
They also told us that 6 porters would collect the benches tomorrow from a place 4-5 hours walk from Kutumsang so we decided to go to Kutumsang tomorrow to film them bringing the benches to Nyemba. Apparently they have only bought the frames and will chop the necessary wood themselves in order to save costs. They also told us there was a very old monastery in Nyemba which had been shut the last time we visited, so we hope to be able to visit this monastery this time.
Lahtul from Kutumsang dropped by late afternoon and we had a nice chat. He will also be in Kathmandu the same time as us so we may go with him to a disco or a bar at Xmas as apparently there is some action going on in the tourist area Thamel at Christmas – but of course mainly for the foreigners. On the other hand Lahtul is 22 so probably doesn’t want to go to a disco with 2 “oldies” like us!
In the evening we had the most delicious meal of buffalo and fried potatoes! Purphi had given us some of her buffalo meat at lunchtime so we just brazenly asked Pasang if we could also have some buffalo at dinner. He said of course and told us he hadn’t offered it to us beforehand because he didn’t know if we liked it or not! Sometimes they are just too “careful” with tourists and seem to presume all we want to eat is our own type of food. Hopefully we have convinced him now that we also like Nepali food and especially meat!!
After dinner we put the Ipod on and taught Purphi how to dance western style! She did very well but it was really funny to watch. Philip got very upset today as he heard there is 30-40 cm of snow in Holland now and 2 meters of snow in Austria! For those who don’t know Philip is an extreme weather freak and it sounds like Europe is having the worst winter for years! And here we are in the Himalayas with warm sun until 1600 hours and not one small sign of snow! Apparently the first sign of snow here is a couple of days of rain and strong winds so Philip scans the skies every day hoping for a sign!
SATURDAY 18 DECEMBER
Went to Kutumsang, saw porters carrying 4 benches. In the afternoon the Solshing Gaon headmaster came with his application letter. Talked to a german guy in the evening – good fun.
SUNDAY 19 DECEMBER
Walked back to Golphu and received a free dinner of chicken, followed of course by Dahl Baht. Went to bed early as we haven’t had a good nights sleep for 3 nights as we’ve both got a cold and I spend half the night coughing!
MONDAY 20 DECEMBER
Relaxing day doing household chores and sleeping in the sun in the afternoon as yet another bad nights sleep.
THAT’S ALL FOR NOW FOLKS – HAVE A GREAT BOXING DAY AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
PART 3 TO FOLLOW END OF JANUARY!!
We went to the school assembly at 10.30 as we wanted to hold a small ceremony to show the teachers and pupils the new board we had paid for and that Mr. Julphe had just brought back from Kathmandu. This board will be hung in the middle of the village and the arrow on both sides of the board will direct trekkers to the school. We hope that trekkers will then visit the school and of course give a donation! The board looked good but unfortunately it had been made horizontally and we had actually wanted the board to be vertical so it could be hung on the side of the electricity pole. This was however our mistake as we had obviously not made this crystal clear to Mr. Julphe! Nevertheless we knew that somehow the villagers would find a way to hang the board up so we weren’t really that worried.
For a change I gave Grade 8 a lesson in the afternoon instead of in the morning and after school about 20 villagers gathered round the electricity pole to work out how to hang it up without it being an obstruction to porters carrying a high load (bamboo poles for example!). After lots of heated discussions, the board was finally hung to everyone’s satisfaction! Krishna was a big help as he is nearly as tall as Philip and twice as agile, as he climbed up a ladder in his flip-flops and teetered on the edge of a window sill in order to be able to hang it up! We are really pleased with the result so it was definitely worth the €50 it cost. They used weather-proof paint as otherwise the letters will fade within a year.
In the evening we talked a lot to an Irish lady with her Danish husband and their 3 teenage daughters who were travelling round Asia for 3 months. We offered to take them round the school and village the next day as they were taking a rest day.
TUESDAY 30 NOVEMBER
At 10.30 we took the Irish lady and her family to the school morning assembly and of course they really enjoyed watching the children doing their morning exercises and singing the national anthem. We showed them round the school as well and agreed to meet at 14.30 hours to take them to the river to relax in the sun and to see the corn mills.
After taking my 2 classes and having lunch, we phoned Stephanie as we had asked her to transfer the remaining € 3000 for the school and villagers to the school bank account. By giving her all the necessary codes, she was able to do this using Internet banking which meant we didn’t have to go to Kathmandu to do this. We used the public phone in the house of our opposite neighbours and after 2 attempts (the connection failed right at the last moment) the deed was done!
In the afternoon we took the Irish lady and her family to our favourite place by the river to show them the corn mills which are water- powered as they are situated next to the river. They really enjoyed seeing them and relaxing in the sun – but again no donation! I think next time we’ll just charge a flat fee!
After that we had a quick meeting with Pasang to tell him about the misunderstanding with the villagers and that the € 1000 was meant just for the villagers of Golphu and not for other villages. He understood the misunderstanding but he said he had already told Maya this. Philip had had the brilliant idea of doing a survey among the villagers to find out the size and age of everyone in each household, their source of income, whether they were unable to send some or all of their children to school due to lack of finances and most importantly to reassure the villagers that the €1000 was only for the villagers of Golphu and to ask their opinion on what they thought this money should be spent on, so that all the villagers benefit. It will also give us the opportunity to talk to everyone in the village and to get to know them a bit better. We can also determine which families should receive the support of a donor who wants to support a mother per month and another donor who wants to sponsor a child to go to school. Rajan had already offered to help us and when we asked Pasang he said he would be happy to come with us and translate. It shouldn’t take too long to do the survey as we reckon there are only about 200 people in Golphu . The Headmaster had told us there were about 400 people in Golphu but he included 2 other villagers (Godong en Gurunggaon) which are about 15 minutes walk from Golphu but are officially part of Golphu Bhanjyang.
We then went to our first dinner date with one of the teachers, Maja and her husband Krishna Gurung who live a few doors away from us. Rajan had luckily also been invited because he could translate and because he is friends with them. It is so nice to be invited everywhere for tea and dinner as it gives us the chance to see inside the houses and to slowly get to know people. Of course dahl baht was served (rice with lentils and curry sauce) and it tasted good – we just don’t have to eat it every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner as the Nepalis do! They also gave us Tibetan rakshi which is the local rakshi but served hot with honey, butter and sugar – delicious!
As usual, the room is small and dark and the ceiling is really low so Philip had to lower his head to walk! The floor is concrete but luckily they put a rush mat covered with a cloth in front of the fire for us to sit on. Of course this means you have to sit cross-legged on the floor which is difficult for both us to do for several hours, but especially for Philip with his long legs! It is considered extremely rude in Nepal to point the soles of your feet at someone, so we also can’t sit with our legs stretched out in front of us! The interior of the house is the same in every house: the fire is on the ground so they always squat to cook and there is no furniture just shelves on the wall where they keep their plates, cups, forks, knives, spoons, pans, cooking utensils, food and spices. Somewhere in the room is mostly a bed but sometimes the beds are upstairs.
After the meal, some more teachers came round for a drink and they started talking politics with Philip (my favourite subject!), so I played with their 3 year old son who nearly fell asleep in my arms! At one point I had to dash back to our lodge to go to the toilet as contrary to what we were told, there are no public toilets in the village – just a few private toilets. We left at about 20.30 hours as everyone always goes to bed very early in Nepal.
WEDNESDAY 1 DECEMBER
After my morning lesson, we decided to walk to Thodong so see if we could use Internet but Krishna (the son of the Lama with Internet on his laptop) wasn’t there. We didn’t really mind as the 30 minute walk there and 15 minute walk back is lovely and we had decided beforehand to have lunch there and then discuss what questions we wanted to include in our village survey. You see sometimes it’s difficult to find some peace and quiet in Golphu without being disturbed by the children who love to play with us or to just sit really close to us and watch what we are doing – this is especially so if we are working on the computer! We prefer sitting outside in the sun as it’s really cold in our room.
We decided to keep the survey short and only ask the following questions: who lives in your house and how old are they, how long have you lived in Golphu, what is your source of income and what do you think we should spend the € 1000 on so that all the villagers benefit. We should be able to gain a fairly good impression of the villagers by asking these questions.
In the afternoon caught up on my diary and played badminton with the kids. We had bought 2 rackets and 2 shuttlecocks in a village we stopped at on our way back from Kathmandu. Needless to say the kids loved to play! We intend to leave Purphi the badminton set when we return to Holland so she’ll be really pleased about that.
THURSDAY 2 DECEMBER
I only took 1 lesson today before school as Rajan had prepared a special lesson for his Grade 10 pupils as next week all the pupils have to take their half yearly exams. They get 3 days off beforehand to prepare for the exams (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) and then the exams are held every morning for 3 hours from Tuesday till Friday. They then get 3 days off again and the week after they take the final 4 exams. Then they get a week off to recuperate!
At four o’clock, we set off with Rajan to start visiting the villagers with our survey. Pasang didn’t turn up but we reckoned it was because of a family dispute that morning, which I think all the villagers heard! Later Rajan told us, as with most family quarrels it was sparked off by something small and got totally out of proportion! It was really interesting to do the survey as mostly we were invited inside so we could see the inside of their homes, but also the information they gave was very interesting . We also think it is good to visit each villager individually so they can get to know us a little better, although of course this is difficult because of the language barrier. We visited 6 homes and stopped at 1800 hours as we were getting hungry! We agreed to meet Rajan the next day as well at 16.00 hours to continue the survey.
FRIDAY 3 DECEMBER
After my 2 morning lessons we went for the second time with Rajan to do the survey – later on Pasang joined us after apologizing for not coming with us yesterday. As we thought, he was embarrassed after the quarrel and had stayed indoors all day reading and studying, as he didn’t dare show his face!
Half way through the survey, Lahtul from the Namaste Lodge in Kutumsang and 2 of the members of the School Board from Neyemba suddenly turned up as they wanted to talk to us! Luckily Rajan and Pasang didn’t mind this unexpected interruption and in fact Rajan was a great help. They told us that their bank couldn’t provide an IBAN number (International Bank Account Number) which is necessary for international money transfers. Luckily Rajan was able to explain the International Banking System so they will now open an account at the Nepal Bank in Kathmandu which is the same Bank as the school in Golphu uses so that’s good as we know that bank transfers to this bank works.
We carried on doing the survey till 19.00 hours and then went to our second dinner date with 3 of the teachers and of course Rajan who is not only great fun, but he can translate as well. We had told Rajan that we really missed eating meat so he had promised to cook us some chicken. The spiced chicken with fried potatoes, washed down with Tibetan rakshi was really delicious, even though it was apparently a very bony chicken! They provided us with a bowl to put the bones in, but they hardly used it so either we got the bony bits or they just simply eat the bones (I suspect the latter)! Then to our utter horror they started cooking the second course, which was of course Dahl Baht! Despite our best efforts, we really couldn’t eat much of the Dahl Baht as the chicken and potatoes was a full meal in itself. It never fails to surprise us how much they can eat and especially at night just before they go to bed and yet they remain really slim!
Much to our amusement and surprise, Rajan got a bit tipsy! He had told us before that as a Brahmin (highest caste) his family do not allow him to drink and although he disagrees with this, he dare not defy them openly! IF he drinks it’s always with a few select friends whom he trusts not to say anything to his family. Obviously the teachers we ate with were part of this select group. We left at about 22.00 hours which is pretty late for Nepalis but we had a great evening, even though we still have difficulty sitting cross-legged on the floor for the whole evening, so we wiggle around a lot, to stretch our aching limbs!
SATURDAY 4 DECEMBER
Today we went to the wedding of our Lodge Owners nephew. As usual everything was a bit unclear to us but if you just go with the flow, it’s much better. At about 09.00 hours we walked for half an hour to the house of the bridegroom in Thodong with Purpha the cook and Purphi. There was a beautifully coloured tent where all the visitors were greeted and then served with Tibetan tea (which I hate as it’s made with salt!) and a small plate of fried potatoes. Then Purpha showed us his house which he of course rarely stays in as he is the cook at the Lodge in Golphu, and he showed us his cousins’s house where he gave us some milk tea.
After about an hour we decided to walk with Purpha and Purphi to Chipling where the bride lives as we presumed there was far more happening there! After about 1½ hours of a lovely walk we arrived in Chipling where most of the wedding guests were, as usual dressed in really colourful clothes. As Purpha was the bridegroom’s cousin (and I think because most people know why we are in Nepal) we were given the best spot on the floor in the bride’s house to watch the events of the day. As usual everyone sits on the ground in groups and they chatted away happily and lots of jokes were made. The bridegroom sat on the floor in front of the Lama and waited for his bride to come downstairs. Finally she came down but she wore a shawl right over her face and shoulders as she was very shy. We thought she looked really miserable but we were told later that all brides act in this way due to shyness.
After a while we went outside to stretch our legs and enjoy the sun and discovered that half of Golphu was also there, so it was nice to be able to talk to some familiar faces as Pasang and Phool(the other English teacher) were there and they both speak English. Most of my pupils were there as well and they are definitely less shy now as most of them said Namaste to me first.
Purpha then took us inside a house where we were served Dahl Baht and we felt most embarrassed but also relieved because they sat us down on the only bench and table and gave us a spoon to eat with (Nepalis often eat food with their hands). As expected it was very spicy but we were really hungry after our walk and managed to eat half of what was on the plate!
There didn’t really seem to be a ceremony, things just kept on happening all day long. The Lama gave his blessing and of course they both received many khata’s (white scarves) and even the guests received a few as well! At about 1500 hours everyone gathered outside and it was then that Purpha explained to us that Sherpa bridegrooms must carry their bride on their backs to their homes! We couldn’t believe our ears as the walk back was mostly uphill and would probably take 3 hours! But sure enough the bride was put on the bridegrooms back and a large shawl was placed over her covering her completely. It must have been really uncomfortable for her and the bridegroom didn’t look that happy either! Then everyone sang and danced for about 10 minutes round the happy couple (!) until finally accompanied by cheers and singing and dancing the bridegroom set off on the long journey home! We then learned that in fact the bridegroom’s friends take it in turns to carry the bride for as long as they can (mostly about 15 minutes) which we were relieved to hear!
We had a few stops along the way and still the bride remained covered by her shawl The journey took about 3 hours as we expected, and the singing and dancing continued for the whole journey (just like the Sherpa party we went to in Dubche). Unfortunately halfway the journey I took too large a step upwards and my toe came out of the joint again! I couldn’t believe it – what a timing! Much to the amazement of the Nepali’s, Philip and I calmly sat down and he pulled the toe back into the joint with only a little bit of trouble! The rest of the way I walked slowly while concentrating on walking only on the heel of my foot! Luckily it didn’t hurt at all – it’s basically just an inconvenience!
We arrived in Thodong just as the sun was setting and of course in true Nepali style, there was a power cut so the he tent was lit by only a few candles! But of course there are always a few handy men to be found and within half an hour we had light thanks to solar powered batteries!
We were served more dahl baht and of course rakshi so after a while Lahtul and Dawa and their friends from Kutumsang got up and started dancing in Nepal style – really great to watch as although the way they dance is different, the idea is the same as is in most cultures – impress everyone especially the young girls!
Then came the moment of every single guest giving the bride and bridegroom a khata (silk scarf), a bottle of rakshi and money! Much to our amusement, one of the men calls out loudly exactly how much each person gives and this was recorded in a book by Pasang who was helping the local lama. Pasang explained later that mostly quite a lot of money is received and this gives the couple a good start to their married life.
By this time Purphi and her friend Barasa Busal had fallen asleep in our arms! But when the dancing started they woke up and we had great fun dancing the traditional Sherpa dance which is basically the same at every festivity!
Finally at about midnight the lodge owner Pasang told us he was going home so we walked back with him in pitch dark but managed to found our way using our head torches! What a wonderful day – we’ve now been to 2 funerals and a wedding, so now all we need is for someone to give birth and we’ve been to the 3 most important ceremonies!
SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER
As usual, the kids across the road woke us up early so we got up at 0700 without having a nice lay in. We both felt tired after the day before and so after a bit of washing we read and slept in the hot afternoon sun in a field just above the school. I also rang Mum and Dad and Philip rang Michelle so that was nice to talk to them and catch up on all the news.
MONDAY 6 DECEMBER
In the afternoon we decided to go for a walk and we ended up at a village that we think was called Thulo Gulphu. We really enjoyed the afternoon sun and most of the path was flat so that was really great! We saw a lot of little villages and farms and villagers beating the millet with all kinds of self-made tools! You could see the villages were not on the trekking route as the villagers were really curious about us and kept on giggling and chattering to each other. It’s really nice to discover the surrounding area with no rucksacks and no deadline in our head that we should reach this and this village before dark, which tends to be the case when you go trekking.
We went upstairs to our room already at 19.30 as it was obvious that Purpha wanted to go to bed early as he had partied all night the night before. It’s becoming a habit now to go upstairs early and then read for an hour, with a blanket over our legs to keep us warm, before we go to sleep at about 20.30!
TUESDAY 7 DECEMBER
Today Mr. Julphe told us the road to Bolde was ready so the first batch of cement should hopefully arrive on Thursday. He also told us the road to Golphu should be ready in 2 weeks! We invited him to Philip’s birthday dinner on Thursday and he promised to invite all the teachers and their families on our behalf. Only 2 of the teachers have family in Golphu – the rest of the teachers are either single or their family lives elsewhere.
In the afternoon we went to the closing ceremony of the Lama’s who had been meditating for a month. As usual everyone from Golphu and the surrounding area was there and as usual there was loads of food and of course Tibetan tea, chang and rakshi. As with the opening ceremony, there was a lot of chanting, blowing of horns, clashing of cymbals and ringing of bells! Then the villagers stood in line to receive a blessing from the Lama in which they first received some rice in their hand, then water and oil, and finally a small portion of dough-like substance which the villagers then ate. Later on everyone, including us, gave the Lama’s a khata (white scarf) as a mark of respect.
After the ceremony we heard from one of the teachers that 2 teachers from the Nenyemba School had been waiting for us in the village for at least an hour! We really must tell them next time to ring us beforehand as apparently they don’t realize that we are not always in the village! As we walked back with Rajan, we met the 2 teachers on their way back to Kutumsang and right there and then in the middle of a mountain path we had a meeting! The 2 teachers and Rajan stood on one side of the narrow path and we stood on the other side, while everyone who was returning from the ceremony walked between us – this kind of meeting could only happen in Nepal! As it turned out they hadn’t actually come for us but to ask the advice of the School in Golphu about opening a bank account which has an International Bank Service. We can’t really help them as we don’t know about banking in Nepal, but luckily Rajan is going to have a meeting with them tomorrow to advise them on where and how to open a bank account with an International Bank Service. We really appreciate Rajan helping us and them, especially as he told us not to talk too much to the other teachers about helping other schools as they wouldn’t like that. Rajan is more open-minded and modern than most Nepali people and appreciates that we want to help more villages and not just Golphu alone. He also told us that his trip to Kutumsang had another purpose – to buy a small birthday present for Philip on behalf of the teachers!
Late in the afternoon a large group of 9 Spaniards with 9 porters (!) turned up at the lodge, which to be honest we didn’t really appreciate! We haven’t had any fellow lodgers for at least a week so we are getting used to have the lodge to ourselves. The high season is now over and although the Helambu trek can easily be done the whole year round, the lodge owner tells us that for 2 or 3 months (December – February) there are hardly any trekkers here at all.
WEDNESDAY 8 DECEMBER
We didn’t do anything special today just the usual learning Nepali, doing some washing, writing up the diary and arranging Philip’s birthday party with the help of Rajan. We had decided to invite all the teachers including their wives and children and of course the Lodge owner and his family to dinner in the evening, so there will be about 25 people we reckon! We would love to invite the whole village but that would be too expensive first of all (even though everything is very cheap in Nepal, we are on a budget!) and there just simply isn’t enough room in the lodge! So to avoid any bad feelings, we decided to invite just the teachers as that is who we have the most contact with. Rajan advised us to buy some chicken as well from his village which we were really pleased about, as we had wanted to eat chicken but didn’t dare ask as we have asked Rajan for so many favours lately.
In the afternoon we walked down the mountain for about 15 minutes and found a nice quiet sunny spot to sit, with wonderful views of the surrounding mountains – we really do feel very privileged to be able to live here in the middle of the stunning Himalayas.
THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER
Finally the news we have been waiting for! Julphe told us that the road to Bolde had now been cleared and a test run had been done with the bus, so hopefully the first load of cement will arrive tomorrow. It will take some time to bring all the 100 sacks of cement to Golphu as obviously Julphe wants to hire local porters and there are simply not 100 porters in Golphu. Each porter can only carry 1 sack as each sack weighs 50 kg. Julphe also told us that the Village Development Committee (VDC) had allocated € 200 to repair the road from Bolde to Golphu so he expects the road to Golphu will be cleared in 2 weeks time. The road has been made in the past by using a bulldozer but the monsoon rains caused very large and deep ruts in the road which makes it impossible for the bus to travel over. It seems such a waste of money to spend € 200 on repairing the road, when we know that when the monsoon comes next year in July, the road will probably be destroyed again, but as Julphe said they simply haven’t the money to make a good road with tarmac, so in his words “what to do?"
In the evening we had Philip’s birthday dinner! We had asked everyone to come at about 1800 and told them that dinner was at 19.00 hours. Normally we eat at 1800 and the Nepalis at 20.00 so we thought this was a good compromise! At about 18.30 Krishna and Marja Sherpa arrived, but they don’t speak much English so that was a little painful, until Pasang popped his head in the door a little later. He retreated very quickly when he saw that hardly anyone had arrived and said he’d come back when the teachers had arrived! At about 2 minutes to 1900 hours all the teachers arrived! In Nepal you obviously don’t arrive until dinner is just about to be served we gathered! We asked everyone what they wanted to drink, but as we have seen before, they go all bashful and say they don’t want anything! Eventually we persuaded them to have a drink and much to our amusement the 4 female teachers wanted a Mars bar! Another cultural difference! We thought we had done a good job arranging the table and chairs in an oblong U-form (if you see what I mean) with people sitting on both sides of the table. Again, much to our amusement after the chairs on one side of the table were all occupied, a few people totally re-arranged the room so that everyone fitted in and were facing each other – it didn’t seem to matter to them that not everyone had table space! Another cultural difference! The atmosphere was a little strained in the beginning as I think no-one knew how to act. Then we were asked what the programme was for the evening! We laughed and said we had no programme, just to eat dinner with friends and have a good time. That seemed to relax them a bit and as the evening wore on, the atmosphere became much better.
Our plan to eat at 19.00 was totally ignored as first of all no one arrived until 19.00 and about 15 minutes later we had the “present giving ceremony” which took about 30 minutes as a few speeches were included as well. They gave Philip a beautiful Tibetan guitar and a woven piece of cloth which we have hung on the wall in our room. After that they sang their version of Happy Birthday. Nepali’s don’t celebrate birthdays as most people don’t know exactly when they were born! In Kathmandu though the modern Nepali’s are starting to celebrate birthdays. This probably explains why they felt nervous as they weren’t exactly sure what was going to happen.
After the dinner of chicken with dahl baht, our attempts to offer a second drink totally failed but they started singing and dancing and of course we had to get up and show them our version of Nepali dancing which they loved! When Philip danced to some Michael Jackson music we’d brought, the room went strangely quiet!! Although the younger generation know this music and love to see Philip dance, the older generation just don’t know how to react to it and certainly not how to dance to modern music!
Suddenly at about 22.00 just like some of the meetings we’ve been to, it was obviously decided that they should now go home and just like that – everyone left!! Mind you 22.00 is way past most people’s bedtime in Nepal, so we were pleased they had stayed that long!
All in all an unforgettable birthday for Philip!!
FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER
Rajan told us that this afternoon a lorry would bring the cement from Kathmandu to Bolde arriving late afternoon. Tomorrow or the day after they would look for porters to bring the cement to Golphu. I must admit we are beginning to get really impatient now – we are so close to starting the work on the school but the actual day never seems to arrive! Patience really is a virtue here!
I also miss giving lessons as I need to do something every day otherwise I get bored, so in the afternoon we walked to Thodong to see if Internet was available, which of course it wasn’t as Krishna had left the day before for Kathmandu! After having a drink and talking to the Lama of the lodge (yes our Nepali is getting slowly better!), he invited us into the kitchen for a cup of tea and a plate of popcorn! We always consider it a complement to be invited into someone’s home and we even had something that resembled a conversation! I have finished reading the book Elephant Polo which is set in Nepal and is written by the former Dutch Ambassador to Nepal, so I have now started reading the book Sensory Biographies about the life of the Lama who lived in Thodong. He was the grandfather of Pasang from the other lodge in Golphu and it’s really interesting to read while I’m in Golphu as the whole book just comes alive! Every now and again I tell Pasang about it as he hasn’t yet read the book and he finds it really interesting (I think!).
SATURDAY 11 DECEMBER
Apparently the lorry bringing the cement didn’t arrive yesterday but was arriving this morning! This is typical of how things are arranged in Nepal – you are never really sure of the exact day when something will happen. This is very frustrating at first, but gradually we are learning that lots of things can happen to affect the planning – such as a funeral which of course always happens unexpectedly and is not limited to just 1 day or a landslide which blocks the way or bad weather! The best way to deal with it is just go with the flow but we have also let it be known that we are now getting very impatient after a month of waiting! Planning doesn’t seem to be their strongest point either for example. The porters have not yet been arranged but no doubt they will get to that today – we hope! They seem to arrange things on a day-to-day basis and don’t look ahead. On the other hand, I don’t think they’re in a hurry and are not as worried as we are that the work will not be completed by the time we leave.
So off we went to Bolde not really knowing for sure that the cement would arrive although they assured us it would arrive in Bolde by about 11.00 hours. It took us only about 45 minutes to walk down and of course the cement hadn’t yet arrived. But then someone told us that the village Bolde was in fact 10 minutes walk further down so after a cup of tea we set off again. Suddenly we heard the sound of a lorry and YES it was the lorry carrying our cement! Of course it wasn’t going really fast but we still had to run to chase the lorry so that we could film the arrival of the cement and take photo’s! This is also typical Nepal – you wait for ages for something to happen and when it finally does happen – you have to rush! Our 100 sacks of cement only took up a small amount of space in the lorry much to our surprise, and the rest of the lorry was filled with supplies for the shop in the village – rice, biscuits, lentils, cola etc!
One poor man had been given the job of unloading the cement on his own (each sack weighs 50 kg) but it only took him about 20 minutes to unload the 100 sacks! One of the teachers stood in the lorry and put the 50 kg sack on his shoulders and then he put the sack on the ground in a pile. He was really dirty afterwards though so he had a quick wash afterwards at the public water tap!
So finally our cement had arrived – now all we had to do was wait for porters to be arranged to carry it up to Golphu which is about an hours walk up for the porters (and 2 hours for us) ! Mr. Julphe had already told us it would take a few days for all the cement to be brought to Golphu as there are simply not 100 porters available in one day. But he said the work on the school could start tomorrow or Monday as soon as 4 or 5 sacks of cement had arrived in Golphu. Slowly, slowly …… we are getting there!
SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER
Today 2 sacks of cement arrived so we were really pleased about that! Mr. Julphe told us more would arrive over the next few days but that he was having difficulty arranging porters as apparently this is the month when everyone gets married so the porters didn’t have much time to collect the cement due to all the wedding ceremonies they had to attend– aahhh!!!
We had been told the school would be shut until Tuesday but apparently that planning had been changed as well, as school started again today! We were pleased about that though, as it meant we could carry on with the village survey as Rajan was back in Golphu. He lives in Gyalthum so he goes back to his home and wife when there’s no school. Yet again, very interesting to find out what the villagers do to earn money and how many people live in 1 home. After the survey we had dinner with Rajan and the 3 teachers again and we really enjoyed the chicken and potatoes. We told Rajan that this was a complete meal for us, so not to be offended if we didn’t eat much dahl baht afterwards! We are getting more and more honest with Rajan as he really is more open-minded than most Nepalis we have met and I think he appreciates our honesty! Yet again the Tibetan rakshi flowed but this time we insisted on paying for half of the meal and rakshi which Rajan very begrudgingly accepted! We told him if he didn’t accept the money, we wouldn’t feel free to eat with them anymore and I think that he understood this ……. a little bit!!
MONDAY 13 DECEMBER
Gradually more and more sacks of cement are arriving but the work has not yet begun so in the afternoon we went for a short walk to a place where apparently warm water comes out of the tap in the early morning. We found the place about 15 minutes walk from Golphu but we had been told the water was only warm early morning so as it was afternoon, the water was no longer warm so we decided to carry on walking to the next village down the hill as we were sure there was a school there. It was a lovely walk and I always enjoy walking new routes – never quite knowing what to expect. After about 40 minutes we reached the village of Barathi and sure enough there was a small 4 class Primary School there. It must have been financed by foreigners as a very good drainage system for the monsoon water had been built in front of the school and there were 4 toilets for 4 classes which is absolute luxury compared to the school in Golphu, which has 2 toilets for 10 classes!
When we got back Rajan told us they had started work on the school! Unbelievable – so we rushed over there to have a look. They had started with Class 3 and half a wall had already been covered with cement and I must admit it looked very professional. Another man (the Sandman we call him, as he also helped collect sand from the river!) was busy in Class 1 and 2 to remove the mud between the bricks – a very slow and painstaking job, but apparently necessary as otherwise the cement won’t stick to the bricks! We asked Mr. Julphe if we could help in any way and although I’m sure he really doesn’t understand why we would want to help, he said we could help removing the mud between the bricks in the other classrooms. I think it’s a question of prestige here! If you are an educated person and also rich, then you just don’t demean yourself to such menial tasks!
At four o’clock we carried on with the survey again – I reckon tomorrow we’ll be finished and then I’ll make a summary of everything we’ve found out and also we’ll choose the 2 families to be sponsored.
TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER
Today we started helping scrape off the clay covering the stones in the wall and removing the clay between the stones in class 10. Purphi came to help as well! Mr. Julphe and Rajan came and watched for a moment in complete disbelief as Philip was hacking away at one wall with all his might, and Purphi and I were attacking another wall, standing on a chair together, dressed in our raincoats so that we didn't get too dirty! Purphi borrowed Philip’s jacket which was of course far too big and nearly reached her feet, so she looked very funny!
We went to see one of the villagers milking her buffalo but we didn’t really see much as the buffalo was in a dark barn and she didn’t want us to get too close in case we frightened the buffalo! It didn’t really matter as it looked pretty well the same as when a cow is milked! Afterwards we did the last part of the survey ending up at the neighbours of Mr. Julphe where we interviewed them and of course Mr. Julphe as well. After the interview they offered us some rakshi and a plate of sweet yams. We have never eaten yams before and I must say they were really good.
WEDNESDAY 15 DECEMBER
This morning we interviewed Dawa Lama, Pasang’s father which was interesting. We also asked if they wanted to ask us any questions and his mother asked about our wedding ceremonies! They had to laugh when we told them the bridegroom didn’t have to carry the bride to her new home! Dawa Lama asked us if we could help to provide a water pipe to the simple Gompa (Buddhist temple) just above Golphu in the hills. The nearest supply is about 1 km away so they always have to use their ingenuity to ensure there is water when large groups of people meet there for ceremonies, especially when there are cremation ceremonies as many people attend these ceremonies. It will only cost about € 100 and it would of course be of benefit to all the villagers so we hope we can help them.
In the afternoon, I helped Rajan give his Class 10 students an oral test on their pronunciation of English which is part of their mid-term exams. I asked them questions and wrote down words on the blackboard that we had practiced in my class and I must admit their pronunciation has really improved, so hopefully I have helped a little.
We arranged with Rajan that his uncle in Kathmandu would take us to Kathmandu from Gyalthum next Wednesday in his taxi. Instead of RS 8000 / € 80 which we had previously paid, we only have to pay RS 4000 / € 40 so we were really pleased about that. We have to go to Kathmandu to extend our visas which are valid until 8 January, look at our e-mail, get some more money and of course we thought it would be nice to be in Kathmandu for Christmas. We do not expect any special events or decorations because being Hindu/Buddhist they do not celebrate Christmas of course, but it will be nice to eat some meat especially on Christmas Day!
We then continued working on the walls in the Grade 10 classroom which I think everyone finds very strange and amusing! When we got back to the lodge 3 trekkers were there, 2 men from Switzerland and one from Italy. We really enjoyed their company and talked non-stop for about 4 hours with them. Although we hadn’t really missed talking to other trekkers in the last week, we did enjoy their company and had a good talk with them about Nepal, trekking and of course our work here.
THURSDAY 16 DECEMBER
It turned out to be a beautifully warm day so after doing some washing and catching up on the diary we went up the field above the school and lay in the warm sun – fantastic! Much to our amazement no kids came to disturb us and we really appreciated the peace, quiet and warmth! The first classroom was nearly finished when we passed by at 1500 hours and it looks really good – the wind won’t be blowing through the numerous spaces between the stones anymore so the classrooms should be a good deal warmer in future!
FRIDAY 17 DECEMBER
During breakfast the Headmaster and one of the teachers from the Nyemba school turned up at our lodge on their way back from Kathmandu. They had opened a bank account there on our request as we have no intention of physically bringing money to them and if we do find money for them next year, we will have to transfer this amount anyway. They wanted to give us the bank details immediately, so in their eyes, it was sensible to give this information to us on their way back to Kathmandu. Good idea in theory, but it still surprises us how they just presume that we are in Golphu and not visiting Kathmandu for instance! They told us that the school benches had already been bought as Lahtul’s father had advanced the money to pay for the 20 benches for Solshing Gaon and the 6 benches for Nyemba. Yet again a good idea seeing as both Headmasters were in Kathmandu anyway to open bank accounts – it just surprises us that they do things without telling us beforehand! But of course in this instance – no problem! Later on we learned that Lahtul’s father had “borrowed” money from the Village Development Committee account – this money will be spent on making a road to Kutumsang, so they don’t need the money at the moment, as the road is still in the process of being made and is nowhere near Kutumsang yet. It still made us laugh though !
They also told us that 6 porters would collect the benches tomorrow from a place 4-5 hours walk from Kutumsang so we decided to go to Kutumsang tomorrow to film them bringing the benches to Nyemba. Apparently they have only bought the frames and will chop the necessary wood themselves in order to save costs. They also told us there was a very old monastery in Nyemba which had been shut the last time we visited, so we hope to be able to visit this monastery this time.
Lahtul from Kutumsang dropped by late afternoon and we had a nice chat. He will also be in Kathmandu the same time as us so we may go with him to a disco or a bar at Xmas as apparently there is some action going on in the tourist area Thamel at Christmas – but of course mainly for the foreigners. On the other hand Lahtul is 22 so probably doesn’t want to go to a disco with 2 “oldies” like us!
In the evening we had the most delicious meal of buffalo and fried potatoes! Purphi had given us some of her buffalo meat at lunchtime so we just brazenly asked Pasang if we could also have some buffalo at dinner. He said of course and told us he hadn’t offered it to us beforehand because he didn’t know if we liked it or not! Sometimes they are just too “careful” with tourists and seem to presume all we want to eat is our own type of food. Hopefully we have convinced him now that we also like Nepali food and especially meat!!
After dinner we put the Ipod on and taught Purphi how to dance western style! She did very well but it was really funny to watch. Philip got very upset today as he heard there is 30-40 cm of snow in Holland now and 2 meters of snow in Austria! For those who don’t know Philip is an extreme weather freak and it sounds like Europe is having the worst winter for years! And here we are in the Himalayas with warm sun until 1600 hours and not one small sign of snow! Apparently the first sign of snow here is a couple of days of rain and strong winds so Philip scans the skies every day hoping for a sign!
SATURDAY 18 DECEMBER
Went to Kutumsang, saw porters carrying 4 benches. In the afternoon the Solshing Gaon headmaster came with his application letter. Talked to a german guy in the evening – good fun.
SUNDAY 19 DECEMBER
Walked back to Golphu and received a free dinner of chicken, followed of course by Dahl Baht. Went to bed early as we haven’t had a good nights sleep for 3 nights as we’ve both got a cold and I spend half the night coughing!
MONDAY 20 DECEMBER
Relaxing day doing household chores and sleeping in the sun in the afternoon as yet another bad nights sleep.
THAT’S ALL FOR NOW FOLKS – HAVE A GREAT BOXING DAY AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
PART 3 TO FOLLOW END OF JANUARY!!
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28 December 2010 - 22:48
Marja:
Wow, dat was een hele avond leesplezier, ik heb genoten. Dank voor al het werk om je dagboek bij te houden Jenni!!!
Voor alle liefhebbers die dit lezen, er ligt weer een stapeltje brochures op mijn bureau in kamer 619 d met de bankgegevens van H.A.N.D.S, zodat doneren in 2011 tot de mogelijkheden behoort :)
Als ik de oudejaars trekking win dan is de eerste donatie voor jullie!
Heel veel goeds in 2011 en hebben jullie je "eigen" kindje al ontmoet in Kathmandu?
Liefs Marja -
03 Januari 2011 - 13:21
Richard:
Het was een heel verhaal Jen, maar erg leuk, jullie maken genoeg mee!!
Echt leuk om te horen hoe het dagelijkse leven daar echt is, met al zijn "corruptie" en eigenzinnigheid, maar ja men probeerd daar ook te overleven, erg begrijpelijk!!
De sneew is hier zo goed als weg, maar de winter is nog lang niet over.
Ben benieuw naar deel 3 en misschien ook weer nieuwe foto"s
Liefs Rich en Pam
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