First Day- SAVED!

As I said in my last post, the first update I tried to post was lost in the power outage...so I thought. Thanks to Auto Save, I found it! So, here it is, DAY ONE.

I got here last night around 10 pm. I forgot to bring a picture for my visa so that held me up a little at the airport, but not much. The airport here is very small & much more laid back than other international airports. The people who worked there actually smiled and helped me when I didn't know what was going on. I took this as a good sign.

I was picked up by the volunteer coordinator, Sushnita, and brought to the volunteer house. As we would through the streets to the house I couldn't make out much except that there was "stuff" everywhere. When I arrived at the house the power was out and everyone had been sleeping for awhile. The house manager, Babita, showed me to the girls room by flashlight. I went right to bed, but just laid their for a while listening to all the sounds. Along with the sounds of cows, birds, crickets, people speaking Nepali, there was constant dog barking. There are tons of dogs here, which surprised me. They are all mixed breed, medium size dogs that look like they could use fresh water and an extra helping at dinner, but they're all very calm (lathargic?) and nice. I fell asleep after a while to be awaked to rain coming in the window during a down pour. It felt good though so I didn't close the window and a little later one of my roommates got up and closed it.

The house is two stories and well laid out. It isn't fancy, but it has everything we need. The boys sleep and use the bathroom downstairs and the girls are upstairs near the kitchen. Today there were a total of 9 volunteers here (a full house) and now it is down to 5 of us since the others either went home or to their placements. I'll know more about my placement tomorrow, but it sounds like I will be leaving on Thursday or Friday. I'll be gone for two weeks and will arive back on the 10th or 11th of July.

I woke up at 5 this morning and killed some time reading. I hadn't met anyone but Babita the night before so I didn't know any of the four women sleeping in my room. My bed is a small four post bed with a pad that is about as thick as a sleeping bag. There is a sheet down and then a blanket to cover with, but it was so warm I didn't need it. The temperature doesn't really drop at night here like it does at home. At 6 Pam got up and I had tea and "biscuits" with her and she told me what to expect during my training period (which is resetting my internal clock, learning language, seeing historical sights, working with children in the morning, and choosing my placement. She is very nice and has been here since early May. Her children flew in from Italy and London to spend two weeks with her here. They're leaving on Wednesday to go on a rafting and trecking trip together. Once everyone was up and moving about seven, we ate a standard breakfast of rice, curry vegetables and beans. It was actually very good, but I've been having a hard time eating since my stomach thinks it is night.

Once we finished eating some of us walked down to Papa's House, the girl's home, and help to braid (platt) their hair for school. Their are 47 girls living their at this time and they all wear uniforms to school. Michael is their primary care taker and I've never seen a man braid hair before, or that efficiently. The girls then lined up single file at the gate and we walked them to school. One of the girls help my hand the whole way and told me I should get dangly earings. Most of the girls have their ears peirced and many have their nose pierced. We high fived them on their way into the school gate and then walked back to the Volunteer House.

Sushmita met me at the house and we went into the city to a giant Buddhist temple (that I cannot remember the name of for the life of me). We had to transfer busses & "minis" (toyota vans) three times on the way their and three times on the way back. It was chaotic and cramped. On one of the buses a family of five got on and there weren't quite enough seats so the mother sat by me, holding her infant and wedging her two year old between my leg and hers. I wasn't sure what to do so I picked the two year old up and put her on my lap. She was perfectly content sitting with me and looking out the window. She was the prettiest little girl I've ever seen. It was about 85 degrees today and she was wearing a dingy sweatshirt and sweatpants and sweat kept running down her face. I kept wiping it off or her trying to keep it from her eyes. Finally, we arrived at the temple. The temple was mind blowing. It was huge and their were prayer flags everywhere. We spun on giant prayer wheels and witnessed ceremonial burnings (nothing living!). It was a lot to take in and I'm still not real clear on everything I saw.

After the temple we headed back towards the house and stopped at Sushnita's uncles Nepali restraunt. The food looked amazing but I wasn't feeling well so I didn't get to try it. I'm going to walk back their tomorrow and eat. For $100 US, I got 7,700 ruppees and the food only costs 15-40 rupees per item. An expensive meal might cost about $1 US.

Finally we walked back to the house and I've been reading and resting since. Everyone except for Alan, another volunteer went out for the rest of the day/evening, but I'm not feeling so super and I thinking resting is the only way to cure jet lag.

I miss everyone at home, but I've having a good time here. The people are very nice and the other volunteers are a lot like myself and we have lots in common. I feel like I've known them for a long time (it's been 12 hours).

I'll write again soon.