Kathmandu, the start of an adventure. Pokhara, the real deal.

Namaste!

After landing in Kathmandu on the 4th of February, we arrived safely at the Student Guest House in Thamel,  although our drive with a taxi from the airport to Thamel was quite unorthodox in comparison to what we are used to: the traffic in Kathmandu is very chaotic and you’d presume that there are more accidents, but after staying here for a few days, we came to realize that they are the most skilled drivers and they really know what they’re doing. When arriving at the Student Guest House, we received a room for three, where we could settle down. After staying there for one night, we decided to move to a more tranquil area in Thamel, i.e. The Mustang Holiday Inn. Meggie, the friendliest woman we’ve met in Kathmandu, made us feel so welcome and helped us out whenever we had a question about a touristic visit, about Thamel in general, about daily life, weddings, and so on.

When we settled down in the Mustang Holiday Inn, we decided to discover Thamel. We walked around and kept walking and we always seemed to arrive somewhere else. After a few days, our orientation skills got a lot better and we found our way around Thamel a lot easier. It’s a very busy region (traffic, a lot of people, a lot of shops, etc.) but after about two days, we got used to it and we really appreciated the crowdedness. We learned how to fix a taxi for a reasonable price, we started to know how to react to inhabitants who beg for money, we got to know a lot of new dishes (i.a. Momo), … We started to feel as if we were in Kathmandu for a much longer time than we actually were.

After getting to know Thamel, we planned the following days: what to visit?

- We went to Swayambhunath: after facing a very steep stairway (365 steps, one for every day of the year) towards the Monkey Temple, we arrived on top. We received some information about the temple, we got a tika (red dot) on our foreheads and of course, we also got a magnificent view of Kathmandu. Apart from the monkeys, we were definitely amazed by the mountain view. It’s impossible to capture a picture that gives you the same feeling as actually standing there.

- The day after, we visited Durbar Square: a concentration of “the big seven”: 7 UNESCO world heritages which, obviously, attract a lot of tourists. Apart from the traditional buildings, you also had some smaller temples where the locals went to to do their prayers and offerings, but the tourists weren’t allowed to go in, which we respected.

- During our last day in Kathmandu, we visited Pashupatinath. All three of us thought this was the most impressing location we went to. We immediately were welcomed by a guide who had studied in Great Britain and he gave us some general information about the mourning process of the people who had lost a member of their family, the purification of the bodies and eventually also the cremation on the other side of the bridge, including the caste (social system) which is implemented during this ceremony.

After having had the opportunity to visit Kathmandu for a few days to do some sightseeing and some acclimatizing, we were ready to go to Pokhara! On Friday the 8^th of February, we took the Greenline bus to Pokhara. This was a 7 hour drive through the Himalaya with amazing views, but taking pictures wasn't the easiest job to do. After arriving at Pokhara, there were already a dozen of taxidrivers waiting for the people who were on the Greenline bus to take them to a hotel or a lodge. A taxi took us to the Butterfly Lodge where we were welcomed by Govinda, the owner of the lodge and the founder of the Butterfly Foundation. He has been a delight to be around and helped us out whenever it was necessary. When settling down in our rooms at the lodge, we took the time to have a look at the Phewa Lake. A-ma-zing! Beautiful mountains, beautiful sunset, lovely area, a lot more tranquil than Kathmandu, a variety of restaurants (Nepali, Indian, Western, ... foods), shops, etc. Pokhara, to me, seems to be a beautiful region to stay for our internship. 

Govinda's son, Raj, took care of our kitchen so we can cook our own meals once in a while, we got a new bike (driving a bike in chaotic traffic, keeping in mind we have to drive on the left side of the road: scary!) and he also took us to our school, The Siddhartha Lovedale Secondary School. Raj and Kem (an employee at the Lodge) also assured us that they would help us plan our activities, such as Chitwan National Park, maybe some trekking, our flight back to Kathmandu, and so on. We are really taken care of, we feel very at ease. Also the cook of the lodge is great. He already helped Thomas with the Nepali history (Govinda as well), he's so friendly and every time we see him: "Hiiiiii!". 

The Siddhartha Lovedale Secondary School, where we will be teaching our subjects the next 5 to 6 weeks. I will be teaching English, as I expected, Laura will be teaching sciences and Thomas Nepali history. I was very glad to have the textbooks so I could start working on my lesson preparations, but after going through all the textbooks (2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th grade) I have to say I'm a bit demotivated. The lessons don't have that many lesson contents and there are a lot of reading activities and reproductive activities instead of really teaching the pupils new and useful contents such as grammar, vocabulary, speaking exercises, and so on. Tomorrow we start our teaching practice in the school and I hope my pupils will be interested and motivated to study. That way, I will love going there and I will be able to give my lessons in an enthusiastic manner. I know this sounds depressing, but I'm sure everything will turn out fine and we will just have to adapt to the Nepalese way of teaching during this week of our teaching practice.

When I've finished my first week of my internship at Siddhartha, I'll probably post an update on how eveything's going.

Namaskar!