Basketball and Fancy Dress...Goodbye Nepal!

Every year the school hosts an annual basketball carnival and fancy dress competition.  Luckily for me, I was there for both of them.  :)
The basketball tournament consisted of two games, a crazy crowd of students, a new basketball court, medals, and a bunch of awesome Nepali dances.

tipoff!

Girl's team :)

Sittin with the fans :)

I think his shorts were a little big

 I'm pretty sure the teams only practiced once before the "BIG TOURNAMENT."
But hey, whatever works right?  The tournament was only between the older kids who were in grades 7-10.  I'm thinking they should have practiced more like my little tikes did.  Every day after school my kids in class 3-6 would come for a super NOT intense basketball practice. I still can't decide who had the better uniforms...

My favorite practice day EVER

My crazy class 2 boys

 For the fancy dress competition, everyone gets dressed up in a costume of their choosing, they introduce themselves, and of course there are MANY traditional Nepali dances. :)
It is one of my absolute favorite days ever.

oh just reading the morning paper :)

pretty sure the ghost ACTUALLY scared me

The coolest models I've ever seen

The fancy dress competition was held on the second to last day before I left Nepal and I couldn't have asked for a better going away program.  The students are all little rock stars and have truly become some of my best friends. If it didn't hit me that I was leaving Nepal, it finally did when I received yak cheese, tea, and lemons as a going away present.  :)

my favorite cheese and tea :)

I know that I've said this before, but if you ever get the chance to visit Nepal...please do so!  It is such a magical place with millions of  beautiful souls. :)
Until next time Nepal....
As for now, time to enjoy my favorite city ever...aka Milwaukee!  :)

Only One You

Thanks to one of my good friends Katelyn, I was able to introduce the book "Only One You" to all of my students here and do some pretty sweet projects with them.

Let me first start by saying that when I tell them we are going to start a new project, I have their utmost attention.  I honestly can't believe how excited they get for projects!  They MUST be crazy. :)

Class 6 girls

Class 5 boys

When I wrote the name of the book and our new project on the board "Only One You", I asked them what they thought it meant.....they of course said it means "Only One You."   Thank you for re-reading the title to me. :)

This is a book that inspires not only children, but everyone. It's full of wonderful life quotes and has a very powerful message.  When I watched the Youtube clip of the book, I may or may not have started crying. :)

I couldn't get the actual book here, so thanks to Katelyn, I was able to print off the copies that she sent to me.  And since I'm super NOT artistic, I decided to color some of the pages. 
I was actually wondering what the kids reaction would be to the photocopied book...I wasn't sure if it would grab their attention.  But they of course LOVED it.  Which is one of the many reasons why I love this country.... because my artwork here is admired more than the Mona Lisa.

I read the book together with each class, and every time I turned the page they ALL said...."Oh WOOOWWW. SO NICE."  Literally. EVERY TIME.  Needless to say, it doesn't take much to please these kiddos. :)

Best Book Ever.

They Loved the shooting stars :)

I guess I am a pretty good artist :)

One of the activities was for them to color and design their own fish.   This would represent each individual and show them that everyone is unique and special in their own way.

One of our new students :)

LOVE HER

Love her too....Prapti class 6  :)

Another activity was for them to write out their reasons for how they will make the world a better place.  Many of them had some excellent answers such as donating blood and helping their school to be a better place.  Many of them also wrote that they should always throw away dust in the dustbin...aka throw away garbage.
As we were working on this, one of my little students in class 3 tried to throw some paper out the window.  Let's just say he learned a fun little lesson that day.  :)

At last, I gave them these worksheets to take home to keep.  I told them that sometimes at home I keep nice things under my pillow....when I went to one of my students houses just a few days ago...sure enough, under her pillow was her little worksheet for how she was going to make the world a better place.   I guess they do listen.  :)

All of their finished projects were hung in their room and are looking good.
Thank you again Katelyn!!!!

Class 4 with their fish

Class 4 standing in front of their finished project

Randoms

When I first entered the country, they wrote the wrong expiration date on my visa.  I arrived in Nepal on Sept 22 and they wrote that my visa expired on Sept 20th...ummmm am I missing something here?  Note to self and everyone else, always check your visa before leaving any airport!  In order to fix my visa, I needed to go to the immigration office which supposedly "opened" at 10:30am.....and by that they mean maybe 11:00-11:30am, or whenever people decide to start strolling in to work.  These immigration "officials" will literally show up for about 20 minutes and then disappear again, only to be found somewhere sipping tea when there is still a super long line of people. I think it goes without saying that going to the immigration office here in Nepal is an adventure in itself. 

Pretty sure I still can't understand this

I'm sure I've already mentioned this before, but every morning the Nepali people eat dal bhat for breakfast.  And in actuality they eat that for every meal...breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Which yes, also means that I am eating it for almost every meal. Bhat means rice in Nepali and dal means lentils.  So it's rice with lentils usually accompanied on the side with some curried vegetables and a tomato based sauce called achar.  And I'm not gonna lie, I love it.  Even for breakfast. :)

Typical Dal Bhat plate

If people here aren't eating dal bhat, they're eating momos.  Which are my all time fave!  They are just like a dumpling with your choice of meat or vegetables and then they're steamed.  Everyone's favorite are the buffalo momos.  SO.GOOD.

Momos with achar

The Nepalese also drink on average AT LEAST 3 cups of tea per day.  Everyone is always, ALWAYS drinking tea. But I do have to say, although their masala milk tea is probably not the healthiest and doesn't always make me feel the greatest because they use WHOLE milk...it sure does taste amazing.

On some occasions, if you visit someone at their shop, they will usually offer you tea. So obviously, I of course say yes...not to mention, I usually don't have a choice. :)  If they order from a shop, I sometimes find myself wondering why it takes so long for our tea to come....and then I see the owner of the shop moving ever so slowly, coming back with the milk that he just went out to purchase to make our tea.  I wouldn't be surprised if the place where he got the milk from had to quick go out and milk their cows.  There is no such thing as people being in a hurry here.  If you accept a cup of tea from someone, be sure to have at least 45 minutes.  :)

Sharing some tea with some of my faves :)

The culture here is very relaxed...I've learned that when someone says they'll be gone for an hour...that usually means it will probably take anywhere from 3-4 hours.
When someone says see you tomorrow...that could mean see you next week.  There isn't much sense of time here.  Except when it comes to the kids.  They DO notice.  A lot of them have these cute little watches that they are constantly looking at and adjusting to get the time right. During one of the basketball practices we had,  I accidentally ended the practice 3 minutes early....but was soon reminded once one of the girls looked at her watch and said "Teacher, Teacher it's 3:57...we have three more minutes still!!!  Needless to say, we did another few activities. :)

Class 5 b-ball

Class 3-4

Trying to keep these kids under control all the time doesn't always seem to work....but luckily for them, their cuteness makes up for it. :)

Back to Nepal!

Although I enjoyed my time in Japan and other parts of the Far East,  it feels great to be back in Nepal.  Despite the fact that there is often times a shortage of water and my showers aren't always ideal, the power gets cuts a few times daily by the government which means there isn't always internet or light, I have to be extremely careful with the food I eat, the dirt from the dusty roads is starting to take up residence inside my lungs, Oh and did I mention the nationwide fuel shortage?  Very long story short, there is a MASSIVE fuel shortage.  People are parked in GINORMOUS lines at the gas stations, and by ginormous lines i mean that there are cars parked for miles and miles without anybody even in them just queued up IN CASE the gas station opens.  There were a few days that private vehicles were actually banned from purchasing fuel in order to save it for the emergency vehicles here.  Needless to say, people aren't going very far...and if they are, they are either walking, or riding on top of one of the FEW public buses that somehow still have fuel.  Many people (including us) are now cooking over open fires, restaurants have shut down bcuz they have no fuel to cook with....BUT.... despite all of these wonderful things, it is still great to be back here. :)

The line of cars goes MUCH longer than this picture shows...

Absolutely not

Now cooking over fire :)

Bikes lined up for gas, nobody even near them.

It's great being back because the kids here at Maitidevi school are nothing short of amazing.  Their hearts are 100 times bigger than their tiny little bodies.....which means love is literally BURSTING out of them.  :)

Celebrating Dashain!

They are always bringing me tiny little pieces of candy everyday.  I still have yet to eat a bunch of them because I can't keep up.  One of my favorite little girls named Pinkey (yes as in the color.... I know) one day gave me a package of cookies.  I'm pretty sure this wasn't her original intention when she left her house that morning.  She saw another student give me a bag of cheese balls and I think because she saw how excited I got ( I LOVE cheese balls what can I say) she then proceeded to give me her cookies.  I tried to not accept them, I really did, but there was no way I could.  Her feelings would have been hurt...and let's be honest...should she really be eating a package of cookies for lunch?  I think not.  :)

Pinkey getting tika :)

My first few days back, the kids overwhelmed me with their welcome back celebrations they planned and all of their wonderful little gifts.  Three of the classes decorated their rooms by coloring paper stars and hanging them from the ceiling.  They drew me a picture of fish and the solar system (not sure why but I'll take it :)  and gave me a cute little rose thing which I'm really not sure what I'll do with...but was told it will look beautiful in my house. :)

Class 5 :)

Best Wishes :)

fish pic :)

After exams one day, my Class 4 came prepared to make me a Nepali snack.  They all started pouring things into a plastic bag...which who the hek knows if the bag was clean or not...and began to make this lovely little snack.  They all brought in a different ingredient including, tomatoes, onions, oil, puffed rice thing, and some kids even brought in spices wrapped in newspaper...they were very creative I do have to say.  They all mixed it together at once with their (clean?) hands, I still ate it and I do have to say it was REALLY good.  They then proceeded to make it two times after that because I liked it so much.  I'm sure their parents were thrilled to keep spending money on these ingredients.  :)

The first few weeks back in Nepal, although there was a little adjustment phase I went through probably due to the fact that I was pretty much living in a palace in Japan, have been very relaxing to say the least. :)

Oh and random but important side note, a little old Nepali lady looked at me while in line at the local grocery store one night and asked "Korean?"
Apparently I've been living in Asia long enough that I now look Korean. 
The young boy working laughed and said "American."  :)

The Far East

After spending the past year in the Far East part of the world, I thought I would share some of the similarities and differences between Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.  Get excited.  :)

Out of the three countries, Japan is the cleanest and most orderly WITHOUT A DOUBT.  All of the people are extremely friendly and polite...even if they are only acting that way because they "have to."  There is a countrywide noon bell and a 5:00pm bell that lets you know it's time to go home just in case you forgot.  I'm pretty sure the garbage and recycling rules took me about a month to learn.  I think it would be safe to say there aren't too many surprises in Japan.  :)

My garbage/recycling rules that I'm pretty sure I didn't follow exactly. ooops.

 The food in Japan is great....very healthy for the most part and the sushi is of course world class.
The packaging of Japanese food, specifically desserts, is unlike anywhere else.  They take great pride in their packaging because it's Japan and everything has to be done in a particular way.  Sometimes I think they waste quite a bit of plastic on extra packaging, but hey, at least it looks nice. Right? :)  It wouldn't surprise me if I one day bought a bag of potato chips and inside the bag, EACH potato chip was individually wrapped.  That's kind of how things work in Japan.  :)

Everything is ALWAYS individually wrapped

Japanese sweets that always look like perfection

South Korea, specifically Seoul, has A TON of character.  The city and surrounding areas are modern, hip, urban, and full of pretty fashionable people.  The Koreans are also very kind, but you can tell they have a bit more of an edge to them compared to the Japanese.  They are much more individualistic and free to express themselves.

Random family who jumped in my picture

A lot of street music in Hongdae, Seoul

The South Korean food, to be quite honest, looked like barf.  I'm not gonna lie.   I can't judge all of the food because I didn't try it all....I guess I draw the line when I see intestines sitting in a bowl.  But seriously the food did not look appetizing .....and I'm not a very picky eater!  They are however known for kimchee, a red, spicy sauce that is used pretty much on anything and everything.  If you can take the heat, it's actually pretty good.

No clue what it is = not happening.

Absolutely not

From what I had noticed in Taiwan, the people weren't overly aggressive but they also weren't overly friendly.  They seemed to mind their own business but were usually always willing to help if you asked.  Usually.  :)

I was a huge fan of the food in Taiwan, specifically the street food.  It was not only cheap, but REALLY good.  From dumplings, to Taiwanese hamburgers, to bubble tea, I loved it all.  The night markets were my favorite because of the atmosphere.  It's definitely a great place to hang out and try new food, especially with a local. :)

Patty, a local of Kaoshiung who I first met in London :)

Super fresh seafood

Of the three countries, I would have to say that Taiwan was a bit more difficult to get around than Japan or Korea.  Many signs and announcements were sometimes only in Chinese (which doesn't help when the only Chinese I know is Hello.)  If you are lost in Japan, the locals will usually LITERALLY walk you to wherever you need to go.  :)

Here are a few pictures showing the temples, palaces and shrines of the East.  Japan has both temples and shrines, but because Shinto is their main religion they have many more shrines throughout the country.  South Korea has a mixture of temples and palaces and Taiwan has many temples and pagodas of Chinese influence.

Kashima shrine, Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan

Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, South Korea

Tiger and Dragon Pagdoa, Kaoshiung, Taiwan

In all three countries, it is not only polite, but expected to take your shoes off in most places...especially homes.  When people eat soup (ramen), it is polite to slurp.  It shows that you appreciate and enjoy the meal.  This does not mean that I enjoy this sound because I don't....I think it's disgusting.  If you one day find yourself in a ramen house, you can expect to be annoyed. :)

Ramen House, Chiba, Japan

Here's what the changing of the guards looks like in South Korea vs Taiwan...I also threw in London for the hek of it....not part of the far east but it's another changing of the guards.  :)

Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul, South Korea

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, Taipei, Taiwan

Buckingham Palace, London, UK

 The Far East part of the world is a place, really, where East meets West.  Many of the old rituals and traditions of each culture are still practiced today.  At the same time, these countries are on the cutting edge of certain technologies with capsule hotels and bullet trains that will soon be going faster than the current speed of 320km/hour....

LOVED sleeping in this capsule.  :)

These are. FAST.

 If you're wondering which place was my fave (which I know of course you are) I would have to say my favorite of the three is most definitely Japan...but then again I'm pretty sure I'm biased. :)