End of term

Load shedding

This is the term used for turning off the power, leaving everyone in darkness or using generators. The electricity supply simply can't cope with the demand, so a rota is agreed and the inconvenience is shared out. We keep up with it through the timetable posted in the foyer of the hotel.

After dark it's eerie. The traffic keeps up its relentless frenetic activity but bikes and rickshaws become more dangerous objects as they are unlit. You get dazzled by the lights of a motorbike or car and then suddenly there's a bike right beside you as you step around something. Shopkeepers on candle-light use the light of their mobile phones to find goods, but it's all very good-natured.

School update

Yesterday I finally gave in to my cold and stayed off work. I went gratefully back to bed and didn't get up until 2pm. There were folks sunning themselves by the pool and I went to join them (for the first time) but by 2.30 it was already turning chilly. It's really warm for an hour or two either side of midday but cools down rapidly. Sunset is about 5.15 and quite sudden.

So today was our last working day. We had fond farewells from the two teachers, Alina and Deepa, whose English is good enough to have enabled us to establish a good rapport. The other two, Laksmi and Sanu, are very pleasant but can't converse at all.

“The computer room” has finally been made secure, ie the ceiling had a layer of plastic sheeting inserted to prevent the dust and bits of crumbling cement from raining down when Uttam moved about overhead (his quarters are upstairs). For some reason Uttam seemed to think the best place to dry his washing was in the computer room, which seemed a little incongruous to us. Another of those little cultural differences?

Anyway, Rosemary [ I might not have mentioned that there are two Rosemarys and two Margarets in our group of 6 – we have still not managed to use the right names for each other consistently, so you can imagine what it's like for the locals] moved in like one possessed, as there were three brand-new computers sitting around in their boxes ever since we arrived, and she set about installing them.

A further two have arrived but the wiring needs extending round the room to include them.

I'm not sure which past volunteer funded these, but I hope she/he will be pleased to hear of this progress.

The Knitting Competition

Things are getting out of hand!

Brenda and Margaret E have been knitting with the children at the orphanage. It has proved very popular both with the children and the staff who look after them. However, Margaret F having offered to knit a muffler for a child, and Brenda having recently started one herself, this seems to have developed into life or death competitive knitting. All the talk is of the relative merits of different stitches, the yarn used and (most important) the length. A time extension has been reluctantly agreed because Brenda was out all day today on an excursion and the cut-off date is now Monday night.

Watch this space.

Orphans outing

Today they went out in the minibus along with 3 extra staff, packed lunches, skipping ropes, kites and footballs to Godavari Botanical Gardens. This is about an hour's drive from our residence but there is apparently no public green space in Kathmandu except the zoo, so this is the best on offer. Our volunteers told us the children were impeccably behaved and took full advantage of the open space. More than that I can't tell you – I would ask one of them to write here but we've all retired to our rooms.

Photos

Feeling guilty about the pupils who have not had their photos taken over the last 4 weeks, I have taken class photos, printed them at 16”x20” and block mounted and laminated, to be hung in the classrooms. They look great and will be given on Monday when we are going in for the assembly to say goodbye to the school. Margaret and I said goodbye to our classes today as we are going to Pokhara tomorrow on an early flight. It was very sad to think that we won't see these lovely children again. We had a long chat with their teachers at lunch time sitting in the sun. Pleased to hear that, despite the low pay and lower status of teachers here, almost half of those we were talking to intend to make it their profession.

Personally I have only recently become comfortable in the teaching role, though I still have a lot to learn about preparation, organization, and time management. My greatest achievement has been speaking and singing in front of a class of nearly 57. Way Hay I can do it!