Nancy’s Big Adventure

   I have returned to Kathmandu after spending just a few days in the village of Ganganagar, a remote area not far from Chitwan National Park. I helped the school children with their English and math homework in the mornings (6:15-8:30) and gathered the village children for basic hygiene and basic English (ABC, 123) in the afternoon. The organization I’m working with is building a new Resource Center in the village, so the classes are held wherever possible – my morning class was in a grain storage shed and the afternoon class was in a field or any open spot.

  The temperatures have been challenging – the other day it was 38.3 degrees C (101 degrees F) – a cool 35.9 C (96.7 F) in the shade. Obviously there is no air conditioning, no ice, no pools, no relief.

Thanks for the comments! I’ll try to answer some of your questions.

What is dhal bhat? Dhal Bhat is a big platter with a massive serving of rice, some dhal (usually lentil or chick-pea soup), and a vegetable curry. Dhal bhat is what everyone eats every day at 9 am and 7 pm, with very little variety. If I never see another grain of rice after this trip, that will be fine with me …. really, I’m serious.

What do the women wear when they are working in the fields? Regardless of how poor they are, the women always wear beautiful sarees or unmarried women may wear tunic and pants. The women haved loaned clothing to me so I don’t dirty my Western clothing.

How many people am I working with? There are currently about 20-30 volunteers working on a variety of placements all over Nepal. Some have been here almost a year, but most volunteers sign up for 4-8 weeks.

Where do we live? While in Kathmandu we can stay at the volunteer house/children’s home or in a local hotel. While in the villages, we stay with a host family.

Do we have “free time”? Yes, we are encouraged to travel and participate in as many outside activities as possible – trekking (of course), white water rafting, bungee jumping, jungle safari …

I went on a brief jungle trek the other day. It was exhausting and quite unnerving, as all there was between Mona (my “sister”) and me and the rhino and tigers and bears was a narrow river, full of alligators or crocodiles or something …. Like I said, it was a brief trek.  I did manage to get a photo of the baby elephant that was on “my side” of the river ….

Every day is filled with new experiences and sights. Yesterday, I saw a truck rambling through the village with about 9 people and a water buffalo in the back. On the way back to Kathmandu from Narazadi, I rode on the roof of the bus, with a goat.  But I’m trying to remember if there was anything truly unusual ….

I’m pleased to be back in Katmandu.  I’m staying in a hotel for a few days, for some quiet time and to enjoy the amenities (hot water, flush toilets, restaurant food).  One more week and then I’ll begin my travels in SE Asia. I’ll post again before I leave!

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 24th, 2007 at 7:49 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.