A Day In Dhapasi

Dear All,

I can’t believe we are nearing the middle of our trip, and Tom and I are just getting into the swing of life here.

We wake up, and every few days I try to get some laundry washed and hung before we head up to the 1st girls’ house. There, I very slowly do hair (again I am not sure how Michael and his staff braid 45 heads every morning in record time), no more than 4 or 5 girls on any given day and then we walk the first set of girls down to school.

Since exams started, Kabita attends school at 1 pm and Apsara heads off at 9 am.

After dropping the kids off at Skylark, we pop in to say “good morning” to the new girls from Narti and the “new” boys who are all being homeschooled. Snowball gets a quick cuddle too.

As morning classes start, Tom and I head off to buy some veggies and head back to the volunteer house for a spot of tea and breakfast. By the time we gather our thoughts, it is time for the first round of tiffin.

We meander down to the 2nd house to say “hi” to the kids heading off the school for the 1 pm session, say “hi” to the big kids who finish at 12:30 and then wait for the 1 pm tiffin session kids. I know, it gets very confusing!

This week, things have been slightly different since Apsara finishes school at 1pm, so we have been spoiling her with treats. Yesterday, we took her to KFC (Kathmandu Fried Chicken), and today I cooked goat and pulau for her, and she helped me paint the many Nalgene water bottles Tom had picked up for the children.

At 3-ish, we walk her back to the house so that she can get ready for her tuition session with “Ma’am” who comes to the house everyday at 4pm to do exam prep with the girls. Kabita gets home just after 3:30pm.

By 5:30 pm, we are wiped out and today, I came down with a cold, so we head back to the volunteer house, to wait for electricity and stare at each other wearily but happily.

One week until we take the girls on our first family vacation to Pokhara; I can't wait!

Lots of love,

Fi

Luckiest Tourist in All of Nepal

I was the luckiest tourist in all of Thamel yesterday afternoon. We had finished a morning of shopping, negotiated for a taxi and gotten in, when we were asked to get back out by a policeman because the taxi had picked us up in a “no picking tourists up” section of the street (this is new). We got out and the taxi drove off, then I realized my wallet had fallen out of my backpack into the back seat of the taxi. So I started screaming and running after my taxi and half of Thamel’s rickshaw drivers also ran after my taxi. It took a couple of tries before my taxi (whose driver was completely oblivious to the commotion) was found and my wallet returned. Of course, by this stage, the taxi had driven past the “no picking up tourist” zone and we hopped right back in and came home. When we reached Dhapasi, he made doubly sure that I had not left my wallet behind again!

The kids are all still studying very hard for exams. We are praying very hard that teachers do not go on strike or have a general strike called between now and the 30th of March or else it will ruin holiday plans.

Michael and his staff are amazing; with exams, each class has different schedules, so they are getting ready for school at different times, and coming home at different times, and having lunch at different times. I can imagine the stress of that for most parents with a couple of children but to have 102 kids to cater for, it is just amazing.

I got ready for the upcoming holidays by picking up some classic story books at the Education Book House to read to the girls before bedtime.

You are getting a rash of blog entries because we have been getting electricity between 4pm and 8pm ... we are getting spoilt!

Love

Fi