Monks and Macarena
And we have internet! (or at least we did yesterday and then when I was going to post this it decided to die again...)
Sorry for the extremely bad update but Internet has been scarce this past week and we've been pretty busy. Hopefully this blog won't be this boring anymore.
Anyway, we've been in Nepal for over a week now. On one hand it feels like we've been here so much longer; we've gotten used to the cars' constant honking, the sweat that never seems to disappear from our bodies and never-ending impressions. On the other hand, time has gone by so quickly! Before we know it will be Christmas and we'll be back home again...
But that's not something we're thinking about now, we've got enough going on as it is. I'll try to give you all a short recap of what we've been up to since you heard from us last:
After spending a few days in Thamel in central Kathmandu we started searching for somewhere else to live for the rest of our time here. The girls' home where we are volunteering is situated 8 km (but a 1 h bus ride...) outside of the city so we wanted to be somewhere closer. We ended up in Boudhanath, a really
cool Buddhist area with a nice atmosphere. Our new home is now in the guest house of a buddhist monastary! The tibetan monks are our next-door neighbours and we are just a 5 min walk from the breathtaking stupa (buddhist temple) here in the area. We couldn't have asked for a better place to stay :) The first night here one of the monks took us out to dinner and after talking half the night we realized it was his birthday. Apparently birthdays aren't really a big deal here but we insisted on at least singing Happy Birthday for him... It's going to be really interesting learning more about the monks' lives and what they do.
On Saturday we jumped into a taxi and headed out to the destination of our whole trip: the girls' home in Gokarna. The short ride from Boudhanath went past rice fields and through
lively villages and after a little while we'd been dropped off in front of a brown concrete house overlooking the fields and the mountains. Three little girls greeted us at the door, putting a long scarf around each of our necks (to bring long life). 11 other girls eagerly crowded in the hallway, putting their hands together and saying "namaste". I think we were all a bit touched. We spent the rest of the day there, playing and taking pictures togther (getting out my camera was a real ice-breaker). Their dance teacher came after a few hours and they showed us some nepali and indian dances. We were surprised by how good they are! After showing us their moves they demanded to see a Swedish dance. Our minds were blank (what Swedish dances do we have except "Små grodorna" and "Räven raskar över isen"?) so Hanna came up with the brilliant idea of doing the only other dance that we all know: the Macarena. As a result, the day ended with 14 nepali girls dancing the Macarena with us and thinking that it is some kind of
traditional Swedish folk dance... We had a good time though ;)
We've been out in Gokarna every afternoon this week. The girls are at school until 2 and then we hang out with them in the afternoon. They are all so sweet and so lovely! They have so much energy and a real desire to learn, even though the youngest are only 6 years old. We were also amazed by how good their English is. They go to an English speaking school and we're lucky they do, our honest efforts of trying to say some things in Nepali usually end with people wondering if we are trying to say something really complicated in English... The girls have been trying to teach us and slowly, SLOWLY I think we are making progress. I can now say "What is your name?", "My name is Amanda!, "Hello", "Good bye" (no one really understands
me when I try to say that though...) and today I learn't how to count to 5. Woop woop! It is quite a difficult language, escpecially the pronounciation...
That's all for now, I have so much more to tell you but that will have to wait until later :)
Amanda
Sorry for the extremely bad update but Internet has been scarce this past week and we've been pretty busy. Hopefully this blog won't be this boring anymore.
Anyway, we've been in Nepal for over a week now. On one hand it feels like we've been here so much longer; we've gotten used to the cars' constant honking, the sweat that never seems to disappear from our bodies and never-ending impressions. On the other hand, time has gone by so quickly! Before we know it will be Christmas and we'll be back home again...
But that's not something we're thinking about now, we've got enough going on as it is. I'll try to give you all a short recap of what we've been up to since you heard from us last:
After spending a few days in Thamel in central Kathmandu we started searching for somewhere else to live for the rest of our time here. The girls' home where we are volunteering is situated 8 km (but a 1 h bus ride...) outside of the city so we wanted to be somewhere closer. We ended up in Boudhanath, a really
cool Buddhist area with a nice atmosphere. Our new home is now in the guest house of a buddhist monastary! The tibetan monks are our next-door neighbours and we are just a 5 min walk from the breathtaking stupa (buddhist temple) here in the area. We couldn't have asked for a better place to stay :) The first night here one of the monks took us out to dinner and after talking half the night we realized it was his birthday. Apparently birthdays aren't really a big deal here but we insisted on at least singing Happy Birthday for him... It's going to be really interesting learning more about the monks' lives and what they do.
On Saturday we jumped into a taxi and headed out to the destination of our whole trip: the girls' home in Gokarna. The short ride from Boudhanath went past rice fields and through
lively villages and after a little while we'd been dropped off in front of a brown concrete house overlooking the fields and the mountains. Three little girls greeted us at the door, putting a long scarf around each of our necks (to bring long life). 11 other girls eagerly crowded in the hallway, putting their hands together and saying "namaste". I think we were all a bit touched. We spent the rest of the day there, playing and taking pictures togther (getting out my camera was a real ice-breaker). Their dance teacher came after a few hours and they showed us some nepali and indian dances. We were surprised by how good they are! After showing us their moves they demanded to see a Swedish dance. Our minds were blank (what Swedish dances do we have except "Små grodorna" and "Räven raskar över isen"?) so Hanna came up with the brilliant idea of doing the only other dance that we all know: the Macarena. As a result, the day ended with 14 nepali girls dancing the Macarena with us and thinking that it is some kind of
traditional Swedish folk dance... We had a good time though ;)
We've been out in Gokarna every afternoon this week. The girls are at school until 2 and then we hang out with them in the afternoon. They are all so sweet and so lovely! They have so much energy and a real desire to learn, even though the youngest are only 6 years old. We were also amazed by how good their English is. They go to an English speaking school and we're lucky they do, our honest efforts of trying to say some things in Nepali usually end with people wondering if we are trying to say something really complicated in English... The girls have been trying to teach us and slowly, SLOWLY I think we are making progress. I can now say "What is your name?", "My name is Amanda!, "Hello", "Good bye" (no one really understands
me when I try to say that though...) and today I learn't how to count to 5. Woop woop! It is quite a difficult language, escpecially the pronounciation...
That's all for now, I have so much more to tell you but that will have to wait until later :)
Amanda
