I was expecting very basic accommodation, this is very very basic. No hot water. A mattress on the floor. I could have been excused for thinking I was in the local prison, the only difference was I had a key!
In the usual Nepali way, things were not that organised, the vice principle of the monastery did not really know when my lessons were going to be or, indeed where and what classes I would be teaching. A year on the road gets you used to this and I prepared a few different lessons to cater for the ages in the 'potential' classes that I would be teaching.
I had brought a bit of stuff with me in terms of material so spent the early evening making 'stuff'
A knock on the door at around 6:00. It was dinner time. I was given a metal plate and headed after a monk who had been charged with settling me in. I was surprised with the level of English that some of the monks had, it was quite high. I would be teaching the youngster it transpired. 8-10 and 11-13.
Now dinner was an experience, not so much the food, a massive portion of steamed rice, some vegetable curry and lentil soup. It was edible, just although the 'dining area' was what could only be described as a cellar. One lightbulb and all the monks sitting or kneeling on the floor eating. It actually made fagan's den look rather like a five star resort hotel....
I was surrounded by young monks, just like normal, everyday kids, they were curious, boisterous, enquiring. Some had really good English, they have English lessons each day. They wanted to know where I came from, what was my name, was I married. They were incredibly welcoming. After dinner I chatted with a few of them then made my way back to my room to finish off planning for the following days lessons.
Most of the activity stops at around 8:00pm. It's an early start, 4:00am. Despite this, a monk in the adjoining room felt it necessary to practice his 'recorder' or similar instrument till at least 10.00. I was awake quite early, assisted by chanting and gong sounding. I showered, in cold water. It was actually a bucket shower at around five ish and then stood on the balcony and observed the activities going on in the main monastery courtyard. Fascinating, cleaning, brushing teeth, washing under a cold tap in the yard. The place was a hive of activity.
Breakfast consisted of a sweet bread, tea with yak butter and salt. Hmm lovely. I'm afraid there are limits.
After breakfast, I grabbed by stuff for the two, lessons and headed to the office to be shown the way to my first lesson, the old lady saw who served tea in the office, saw I was having problems with the salty tea and kindly provided me with a hot sweet chai. Very nice.
I had been given a timetable by now, I had two lessons. The first one at 7.00am and the next one straight after just next door. As I shown into the first office I was greeted by about 25 smiley faces, all dressed in the burgundy robes with bright yellow trim. The room was packed. The vice principle basically said, off you go. As I had walked in the monks had jumped to their feet. My 'good morning' was greeted with a 'good morning sir' in unison. A asked the students to sit and was given an equally 'thank you sir' . Although the normal lesson was 50 minutes,this one was cut short by 20 minutes, so much for lesson planning. Never mind, you have to think on your feet all the time in this job. I introduced myself and asked a few simple questions to test the water. The English was very basic, but then they were only P1 standard. I had quickly assimilated the time left, the standard and kicked off a warmer. Out of my bag I pulled a prop. Three sticks of dynamite that I'd made the previous evening.. Boom! Was a retort from some of the brighter students , the others looked on in wonderment. Is it real I could see them thinking. I demonstrated passing it around and then counting down 5-4-3-2-1. BOOM. " My Name is Steve. I like Football' not very original I know but was a good icebreaker. Not surprisingly, with 30 students it takes quite a while, but it was getting to know the boys. After we had completed the task they were quite boisterous. Time for bit of fun, after all this was the first lesson.
The rests of the day was free, can't think of another job where you start at 6:00am and finish at 9:00am!
There was a transport strike in the city today, so no taxis, no buses. If I wanted to go anywhere I would have to walk. Bhupi the ED of VIN had called in and sat through my second lesson, I had agreed to call in the office later in the day to finish off the orphanage brochure. To be fair, it's only about 4km away so it was no great hardship and will keep me fit. I got to the office at about 1:00pm and spent the rest of the day downloading some songs for the classes and getting the lesson plan together. I set off back at around 4:30pm, again walking and called in at the nice coffee shop for dinner of fried rice and coke. I'm afraid I'm going to be eating there a lot.
It's a good job I got most of the lesson planning and the 'props' sorted out as there was another electricity cut just as it was going dark. I had bought a few bits form a local toy shop and put an order in for some coloured paper at a small stationers just down the lane. Think the guy thought I was mad with the stuff I ordered. !
Was in bed for 8:30. Another early morning.... When the lights did come on I completed my planning and went to sleep......
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Location:Ring Rd,Kathmandu,Nepal
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