This morning, like many other mornings, I walked with the younger children to their school.  We follow a path through the back yard, climb steps up a hill, walk out by a corn field, cut through a grass plot, travel down a dirt road, and wah lah, we are at school!  The children all meet on the playground and get some play time in before school begins.  They are so cute!

Our days are busy!  We usually are up at 5.30am or 6.00am as the house is hopping.  There is play time, breakfast, and time to complete any homework that has not been completed prior to preparing for school.  The last two mornings we hurried up to the rooftop to see the mountains - gorgeous!!  The rains have been heavy along with strong winds, which has created very clear, spectacular mountain views early in the morning!  The mountains are usually hidden throughout the monsoon so it has been a real treat to see them.

While the children are at school, I am involved in some work for the foundation like preparing packages of holiday cards (6 cards which were made from the children's artwork), and then with the help of the children, we tied strings around each packet - lots of fun with my little  helpers.  Have also worked on some inventory, filing and other office tasks.  We have also been touring and seeing more of Nepal.  One stop was Bhaktapur which was beautiful - very well preserved architecturally. Yesterday four of us toured land looking for a new site for the children's home which was very interesting.  We also toured another children's home, Shangrila, which has solar power and a program in place to transition the children once they turn 17 years old, again very interesting.  I've been on some beautiful hikes through villages, forests, a pine forest, rice paddies, corn fields, all over the countryside - really enjoyable!  Nepal is a beautiful country.

I am feeling like a local and can easily get in and around the parts of town that I know.  I can ride the micro-bus into town, which is similar to a van back home however here they can fit 25 or 26 people into them.  Being a wide-hipped American, I don't quite fit into the Nepali seats so usually am hanging off the end of one seat and holding on very tightly.  Today I counted 25 people with 3 people standing hanging over others and they picked up one more - pretty funny!

Typical Nepali meals consists of dahl (lentil or corn soup), baht (rice) and some vegetable and spices.  This is always served for breakfast and dinner.  I have had some grilled chicken sandwiches when we were out touring and am getting hungry for more protein.   Looking forward to a barbecue, Pops!

I am doing well, although have been a tasty snack for the mosquitoes.  The nights are really cool, which is great, so have a blanket to cover up with.  I am totally covered, head included, except one side of my face, which gets chomped on.  And if I have an arm outside of the blanket, which I did last night, it gets chomped on.  So I am looking pretty funny!  I did see a gecko last night so I am hoping he is really hungry and eats all the mosquitoes!

My time is going so quickly here!  I have been working with the children on their spelling, their reading, their math, and time for lots of games and story telling.  The other evening, the children put on a show for all of us.  It was great!!  The boys all sang a traditional Nepali song, some of the girls performed a Nepali dance, others performed a bollywood dance, there were a couple solo singers, all the boys sang a song, they were very entertaining.  When the show was all finished, and the applause died down, they cranked up the music and invited us to join them dancing.  We had a riot!!  Never a dull moment!! 

Many of you have asked that you would like to send something to the children.  Some items that they could use include:  head lamps (the kind you use when you are camping) due to many power outages; digital cameras in good working condition, or if you would like to donate a new one (great to teach the children a new skill); and hearing aids - this one is  for the villagers - they refurbish the old models and give them out in the villages.  Anyone who knows anyone with a connection to hearing aids, please let me know.  Thank you. Oh, and check out the latest pics!

Comments

[Yui Chan]

Hey sweetie! Thanks for sharing some more pix. Sounds and looks like you are having a heck of a fantastic time with the kids in Ama Ghar. Yay! What a fantastic view of the mountains you have from the rooftop! Wow! Your experience there sounds so good that you may never want to leave!

Btw, the photo of you with the mask on – is that to cover up the feeding frenzy the mosquitoes had on your face?! Ha!